Day 52: Lunch

[purpletaint]

[from here]It was a race. A fight against patience and a Song's call. Still, the sedation's dredges churned through him. Two close at hand had a potent effect--much like the night that they were left in that town, and the morning after. Rubedo had came then. Came for them like something out of place, and wasn't that so ironic afterwards--when

Comments

[zack_fair]

Zack's time in the library had been pleasant enough, and had also been a lot more comfortable than his breakfast. ZEX was perfectly nice and all, but there was clearly a cultural miscommunication going on. Maybe the VUX didn't have issues with openly propositioning each other, but humans usually didn't take to it so readily. Granted, Zack had certainly talked up his fair share of women, but at least they were the same species

[spandexorgtfo]

[hope you don't mind!]

So far it had been a fairly quiet day, which was in stark contrast to all the drama that had gone down yesterday and had culminated in that strange fight he'd found himself in last night. Kratos was looking forward to a lunch spent much the same way.

He had no idea what a 'burrito' or a 'taco' was, but both looked edible, so he chose the option that happened to pop up first: tacos. It was going to be a little difficult eating with mostly one hand, but, as he'd told himself over the past few days, there was no use complaining. And if he had to ask for help, he would do so.

Kratos sat down in the first open seat he saw and glanced out of the corner of his eye at the young man sitting next to him. How was he eating these things...?

[zack_fair]

How was Zack eating them? Well, the answer was messily. He had a taco and a burrito (the nurse had rightly assumed that he could eat a lot), and he'd decided to tackle the taco first. Not quite knowing to to do with it, he'd chosen to eat it like a sandwich, but the hard outer shell broke apart easily and a lot of the filling was just falling onto his plate. He could always just pick it up with some of the chips after the fact, but it wasn't very pretty.

Even if he was preoccupied with his food, though, he still noticed that he'd been joined by a man whose hair shade could have rivaled Reno's. Other than that, though, he seemed nothing like the Turk. Letting out a sigh, Zack set down what was left of his taco and grabbed for a napkin, wiping his face off.

"Sorry about that," he said with a quick laugh. "I'm not really used to eating this stuff. How are you doing today? The name's Zack!" Having also just wiped his hands clean, he didn't hesitate to extend his hand to the man for a friendly shake.

[spandexorgtfo]

The way that the young man sitting next to him was eating wasn't exactly reassuring, but at least he wouldn't be the only one with food dripping everywhere. Kratos managed to pick one up and take a bite, sighing to himself as it cracked underneath his grip. What was the point of having a shell if it was going to break in one second?

He gingerly placed the taco back on his plate and wiped his hand off. "Me neither," he admitted before shaking the offered hand a little stiffly: the brace, as usual, was making things awkward. "Kratos."

...and there was no way he was going to try to pick the taco back up. Kratos twirled his fork absent-mindedly before using it to scoop up some of the filling. "Today...hm. I'm as well as I could be, I suppose." He paused for a brief moment before adding, "You?"

[zack_fair]

So that comment probably meant the guy wasn't from Earth, either, right? Zack shook the man's hand, frowning down at the brace -- he could ask about that later. But Kratos was an interesting name; it wasn't one Zack had heard before, but it sounded like it should belong to someone strong and tough. The soldier wasn't sure if the man fit those labels just yet. For the moment, he just seemed gruff and quiet

[spandexorgtfo]

Kratos nodded slowly as he ate some more of his lunch. The fork was proving to be the most convenient way of eating; he wondered why he hadn't just used it off the bat rather than waste his time picking it up directly. "Indeed they do."

Didn't they all wish the night would last forever? Then obstacles would stay conquered, and narrow escapes would be permanently made. Personally, he was glad that the night had ended when it did; he wasn't sure how his duel would have turned out otherwise. For all he knew, he might have ended up down an arm for good.

"I'm from a world called Tethe'alla." It was much easier to simply choose his country of origin-turned-planet rather than explain the dilemma of the twin worlds--or gods forbid, call Derris-Kharlan home.

[zack_fair]

The name of Kratos' home world was completely new to Zack, but that was no surprise. The fact that they had airships on Gaia now was amazing enough. Space travel still seemed pretty far off, if the failures thus far were any indication. Granted, Zack knew that part of the problem was that Shin-Ra only cared to fund the things they were immediately interested in, but that was a whole other story.

Eventually, his taco turned into such a mess that he deemed the rest of it inedible and moved on to the burrito, which was much easier to handle. All he had to do was hold it in both hands and take a bite, working his way from top to bottom. While it was possible the stuff that was holding it all together might break apart, he was going to be careful so that he didn't repeat what had happened to the taco

[spandexorgtfo]

"No, I haven't." The word didn't sound familiar, but Kratos was sure he'd seen it before somewhere, like on the board. In what context he couldn't remember.

As for his 'home'..."Hm, it's a fairly varied planet: deserts, oceans, forests, mountains, and so forth. There are also cities, towns...typical trappings of any civilization. The entire planet, though, is governed by a central authority located in the capital city." He paused as he tried to find some other meaningful thing to add. "In some ways it is technologically superior to this world, yet I continually find ways in which it is not."

It was a very bland, impersonal description of Tethe'alla, but the truth was that it no longer really was his world. And Kratos's memories of Tethe'alla before the world had been split were hazy at best.

[zack_fair]

As Kratos went on to explain, Zack continued to eat his burrito, though he made sure to keep his eyes on the man to let him know that he was listening. Though as the man went on, it became more and more eerie how similar Tethe'alla was to his own planet. From the landscapes to the fact that there was one big organization that ran it all, it was a little startling

[spandexorgtfo]

"Really?" Kratos raised an eyebrow. He too was noticing similarities, and the Shin-Ra company in particular was starting to remind him of the way Tethe'alla and Sylvarant had once drained the planet for their magitechnology. "What do they use this energy for?" Hopefully, Exspheres did not yet exist in Gaia.

And he had hoped that Zack would not ask about his arm, but some things were simply too obvious to be ignored. Kratos sighed and put down his fork. "I dislocated my elbow several days ago in a fight with a monster. It was heavily armored, and I overestimated my limits. It's since been fixed, but..." He scowled. "...they insist I need this."

[zack_fair]

It looked like Kratos was similarly curious about how much their planets had in common, and Zack didn't mind badmouthing Shin-Ra a bit now that he was given the chance. It was funny, since a few years ago he would have defended them up and down, figuring that it was his duty to do so after he'd decided to join up with them, but they had lost his loyalty a long time ago

[spandexorgtfo]

[is a short backthread okay?]

It was rather eerie how Shin-Ra was using the planet so similarly, but then, the allure of the power of mana was great: massive amounts of energy at what appeared to be no cost at all. But one only had to look at Mithos and the sordid history of Cruxis to see otherwise.

"I see. Yes, in that case, it's all too easy to abuse the planet. My home had a similar crisis long ago; it resulted in a war that consumed the entire world. As a result, most if not all technology relying on the planet is banned." But of course, that just meant an alternative had risen: the potential of the human soul.

The comment about his health drew a dismissive grunt from Kratos. Yes, he was feeling better, but that was beside the point, which was that he couldn't fight properly. "I should hope so; I'm unused to wasting time on recovery."

[zack_fair]

[Sure thing! And sorry for the delay.]

Hearing Kratos' story kind of put things into perspective for Zack, and it was sort of scary to listen to. Mainly because he could see the same thing happening to Gaia. Shin-Ra had already started a war with Wutai; it could have easily progressed into the whole world if things had gone differently. While it seemed like Cloud and the others had done a good job of suppressing Sephiroth, how about Shin-Ra itself? Was it possible that one day things would get so bad that certain things would be banned?

"To be honest, I could see that happening to Gaia, too. It hasn't yet, but..." It could, not that he would ever find out for himself. He didn't know what it felt like once your essence was in the Lifestream, but he doubted that you were aware enough to know what was going on topside

[spandexorgtfo]

"Sometimes, if enough people come to their senses quickly enough, war is avoidable," Kratos said cautiously. It was difficult, though, especially when the prize was nearly unlimited resources. "But...that's a task unto itself."

Mithos had tried, and how had that turned out? Granted, he'd also been up against years' worth of racial prejudice against half-elves, but still: he'd been a powerful swordsman, a boy with the king of Summon Spirits at his beck and call, and still Martel had died because of insatiable human greed.

Kratos nodded as Zack moved on to the other topic at hand, although one word confused him. "'Materia'? What are those?" The other man had mentioned items from his world that were used to perform magic; was that what they were?

[zack_fair]

Shin-Ra was not the sort of company where people came to their sense, at least not in Zack's experience. And the fact that they held so much power meant that they were probably almost impossible to topple. Zack had fallen under their guns, and all he had been trying to do was get Cloud to safety. He'd apparently succeeded at that, at least. Still, he understood that Kratos was only trying to reassure him, in his own way, and so he didn't bother arguing back

[spandexorgtfo]

Kratos nodded; it had been as he'd assumed. "I see. So they're only used in conjunction with armor and weapons...they're never directly applied to a human host?"

Reserving magic for inanimate objects seemed like a more orthodox way to go about things, rather than forcing the alterations upon the users themselves. Having a host did allow for greater output (less parties to go through), but he'd gone through Aionis injections, and he would never wish that experience on anyone else.