Day 59: Game Room (Fourth Shift)

[razing_phoenix]

Guy's head was still spinning from finding out that his friend was back once again. He realized that he'd done a good job of keeping his cool while explaining everything to Luke, mainly because nothing would have been solved if both of them had been reeling, but

Comments

[scintillatingly]

Glad that he had been able to meet someone new and also give her some information about what had happened last night, Sora was in a good mood as the lunch shift ended. While some people had been acting kind of funny about the food, his meals had tasted as good as always, and he knew that was something to be grateful for among all of the bad stuff in this place

[bodhiandspirit]

Rita's mood remained as foul as ever, though she did have one thing to look forward to now. Tonight, she was going to get back to work and find out just what secrets were hidden in the basement. Unfortunately, the time gap between deciding to do something and actually getting to do something was much too long for Rita's tastes. She still had a full shift to kill before she could even start preparing for the excursion

[scintillatingly]

While Sora had been expecting something like Tetris (that was the game that he usually played on the Gameboy), it turned out that this time he'd be playing something else. It was just called "Soccer," which was as foreign of a name to him as Tetris, but it didn't take him long to get the hang of it. There were a bunch of pixelated people on the screen, one of which he controlled. The point was to kick the ball into the net, but there was a whole other team trying to stop that from happening

[bodhiandspirit]

Rita frowned when her question was met with a simple huh, but he then moved to give her space to sit. She could watch? Did that mean he was going to show her how it worked, and then let her tinker with it after?

The mage was reluctant to sit so close to a stranger, but she wouldn't have been able to see anything otherwise, so after a moment of hesitation she took the offered seat, settling in close to the boy. "All right. Just don't take too long," was her idea of being agreeable about his offer.

Now that the screen was in sight, she could see the tiny squares making up shapes of people, numbers and letters, though nothing was moving at the moment. "What do you... do with this?" she asked after a moment, staring at the screen. It looked similar to the device she saw on Nam Cobanda Isle, though the image was simpler and seemed to lack color. Considering where they were, it had to be a game of some kind, but its workings were a mystery to Rita.

[scintillatingly]

It looked like the girl really did want to watch, and more than that, she was eager to play for herself. Sora could understand that. There were only so many of these Gameboys and they usually got taken pretty early on in the shift, so chances were this was her first opportunity to play one herself. It was a good thing he didn't mind sharing.

Once the girl seemed to have settled comfortably, Sora unpaused the game and immediately the little block men on the screen sprang into action. "You just play! It's pretty simple, but it's all we really have." Well, there were the other games that were played on the bigger screen, but those were already crowded with people. Actually, now that Sora looked, Chipp was over there.

But he'd removed his attention from the screen for a second too long, and it looked like the other team had scored a goal. "Oh man!" he groused, sighing to himself as he prepared for the next round "I better not lose..."

[bodhiandspirit]

'Just play'? That was hardly informative, and furthermore, it certainly wasn't something that came intuitively to Rita. She resented that reply

[scintillatingly]

This game was pretty tricky, just like Tetris had been. Sora realized that it would have been boring if it was too easy, but he kind of wished it was a little easier to win. Then again, he was the sort of person who always wanted to get the highest score on things. There was a reason he'd gotten to the top of the standings in the coliseum, after all!

A simple game was nothing compared to the feats that he'd accomplished there, but that only made it more frustrating that he wasn't just breezing through. He was the Keyblade Master! Shouldn't this have been simple?

Not that he wanted to let on to the trouble he was having when someone was watching, let alone someone who was a stranger and a girl. Sora bit his bottom lip and continued playing with greater fervor, when --

"...They what?" This was the first Sora had heard of anything like that. Forcing drugs on people? He was going to guess that she meant something worse than the normal sedating that happened in this place. "I didn't hear, no! What happened?" For a moment, the game was

[bodhiandspirit]

Well, that worked better than expected. It looked like Rita's words really were a surprise for the boy. The distraction was working, though she supposed she might as well fill the guy in now that he was wondering what happened.

"Just what it sounds like. At the start of dinner, they stuck a bunch of people with needles - with the same drugs they're testing in the Medical Wing." Rita wasn't about to mention that she was among those who were selected. The last thing she wanted was a stranger's pity. "Guess they realized that when there's a choice, most people don't choose to be guinea pigs."

As she spoke, Rita glanced at the device's screen, hoping the boy was close to losing.

[scintillatingly]

So it was connected to the whole thing with the Medical Wing. Sora hadn't thought that taking those drugs by choice was a good idea, so hearing that people had had them forced on them only made it worse. He had never gotten any detailed explanations of what the effects were, and while Riku hadn't seemed to think much of it when he'd taken them, but Sora still had a bad feeling

[bodhiandspirit]

The military's selection process... That was something worth wondering about, Rita had to admit. She was partly suspicious that they may have overheard her conversation with Furudo the previous day - when Rita insisted that anyone who actually took the drugs was an idiot. It was also possible that they were trying to sabotage basement exploration efforts...

Or it was all random. They didn't have enough evidence to make any assumptions at this point.

Rita successfully concealed her satisfaction at seeing the boy lose, and took the offered device with only a minimal change in her expression. When asked her name, she didn't look up from the machine, but simply answered, "Rita Mordio."

She made no move to start her own round inside the game, but instead promptly turned the device over and began prying at the compartment on the back. It opened, revealing a set of four cylindrical objects. "The same power source as the flashlights," she observed.

[scintillatingly]

Rita Mordio, huh? Sora had never heard a name like that before, but since Rita's first name had the same number of letters as his (if he was thinking of the right spelling), it seemed easy enough to remember. He was a little curious about where this girl came from and how long she'd been here, but --

But then instead of playing the game, she turned it around and opened it up. Sora wanted to tell her that she wasn't using it right, but it soon became clear that she was more curious about how it worked.

"Looks like, yeah! And if you ever need more batteries, there are a few places you can get them. At night, obviously, but... you can check here, the Music Room, or up in one of the storage closets on the second floor!" If Sora hadn't had more things to do with his nights, he might have come here and snatched a Gameboy to keep in his room and play during dinner. Still, what if it didn't get replaced? Then he'd feel bad for hoarding it.

[bodhiandspirit]

Rita glanced up from the device, slightly surprised when the boy offered useful and relevant information. She'd taken him for just another simpleton, but... maybe talking with him wasn't such a big inconvenience after all

[scintillatingly]

It definitely was practical, although in the end the thing they needed the batteries for most was their flashlights. Sora figured that for someone living in this world who had a more normal life (that is, a life where they weren't held captive by some crazy military force) these batteries could be used in a ton of different things, but in their case it only helped so much.

The boy watched as Rita continued to tinker with the device. Sora almost wanted to tell her that it was there to play, not to take apart, but if that was what she considered fun then it was probably best if he didn't ruin that. Different people liked different things, after all