chikaidestroyer | ∞ 101: Quiet disappearance [voice/action]

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∞ 101: Quiet disappearance [voice/action]

[voice]

[It's almost midnight and he hasn't received a response from Raine for almost three hours. Raine could be kept busy after school from time to time, but she had not mentioned anything that would keep her out late today -- especially this late.]

Has anyone seen or spoken to Professor Sage today? She is not answering to messages from her journal.

[action]

[Despite the chill in the air so late at night, Albert stands out on the porch outside of his house. There is fortunately no snow tonight, so he was able to send out Rune to scout around the nearby forests.

Part of him has already concluded that it's likely Raine was abducted by the rogue facilities. She had certainly not been sent back to her world, as her belongings were still intact and the journal system still recognized that she was there. But ... there was the faint concern that something else might have happened. Luceti wasn't safe from its own residents, after all.]

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[He sets the dishes aside then, taking one of the glasses to the sink to fill it up.]

I don't think I feel like baking anymore. I'll give it a try tomorrow.

...Technically, it is tomorrow. [He eyes the clock.]

Later, then. [Caesar rolls his eyes, walking over to set down the glass for his brother. After that, he goes to the fridge to pour some soda for himself.] It's too late for that now. Or anything besides eating.

[He allows a sound of agreement, holding the glass of water with his good hand while he drinks.]

If not for the fact that I was hungry, I would already be on my way to bed.

Good. You didn't make me chop up those vegetables for nothing. [He pours his soda and sets it down where he'll be eating. Now, for food. As he's pouring soup into one of the bowls, he can't help but think of how weird it is to be serving his brother dinner. That's certainly not something he does everyday. ...then again, a lot of this isn't. What a day.

He'll set the bowl down in front of his brother before he goes to get his own soup.] Here. Um... Tell me if you need anything else, all right?

[Albert raises a brow at the offer, but doesn't say anything while he adjusts the bowl in front of him. When he finally speaks, his words are understandably wry.]

You should serve me more often.

[Caesar sets his food down by his seat, then goes to get some bread before he finally sits down. He makes a face when Albert says that.]

In your dreams. When that wound heals, I think it's your turn.

Then I will have to take advantage of this for as long as possible, won't I? You can do the dishes after this.

You just don't give up, do you? [Gosh, what a jerk. Not that he's very surprised by it. Why wouldn't his brother take advantage of this, after all?] Fortunately for you, I was already planning on it. Don't tell me you'll need me to tuck you into bed, too?

[He can sound lamentable if he wishes. He's just a little too tired to make it sound believable.]

That would require staying up late enough for you to finish the dishes and then tuck me in.

I suppose your exhaustion is a blessing today. [Because he would definitely not be doing that...! He takes a moment to try the soup. He's so hungry that he doesn't really care if it isn't perfect.] I think we did all right.

[Albert snorts, but will be kind enough not to point out how much of the actual cooking Caesar had done. He takes a sip of his water, then begins eating the soup as well.]

It's better than nothing.

[Cutting up tomatoes requires a lot of effort, okay. It totally counts.]

If there are no interruptions tomorrow, maybe we can have something a little more filling.

...Are you expecting any interruptions? [He has to ask. Their days tended to be pretty quiet.]

Not at all. But I wasn't expecting all of this, either. [Which is really the only reason he mentioned it.] Of course, I trust you'll spend all your time recovering tomorrow, so I'm not worried about it.

[He's probably going to be doing dishes for a while, huh...]

Just another reason to spend a day reading. You can feed and water Astrid tomorrow.

[Don't forget those other chores...]

[Ngh, he'd have to do those things by himself, too... He'd forgotten all about that. The smirk on his face quickly disappears.]

Right. I guess I'll do that first thing so I can get it over with. Maybe after breakfast.

[Because his brother will probably want breakfast.]

[Albert just smiles as that smirk disappears. And then he continues eating his soup.]

[Caesar will continue to eat, too, but the silence is a time to think of how all of this turned out. He could have done better, if his brother's complaints were anything to go by, but he thought he'd done decently. Decently, considering that this was the first time he'd ever needed to put what he was reading into use.

After it's been quiet for a while, Caesar decides to tell him what he's thinking.]

I've been reading up on this stuff for a while. It's pretty straightforward stuff, but... I didn't want to brag about it until I could prove I knew what I was doing. The same for sword practice.

[The silence is, in actuality, a somewhat painful one for Albert; there is more than a dull throbbing to his wrist at the moment, and eating is not much of a distraction at all. So when Caesar speaks up, he gives his brother his attention.]

And when were you going to know what you were doing if you never put your skill to use? Swordsmanship has results that are visible, yes -- but not your so-called medical knowledge.

I would know it when I needed it. I wasn't exactly in a rush to show it off, you know. [...well.] I'm still not. If I find somewhere to practice, people will expect me to do it all the time, and that's not why I'm learning.

[Albert gives Caesar a deeper frown at his explanation, then lifts his bandaged hand.] At the very least, learn how to bandage correctly.

I'll have plenty of time for that now, don't you think? [He thinks he did okay enough for his first time, you jerk.] But like I said, this stuff is pretty straightforward. Putting it into practice won't be difficult as long as I remember how to do it. It will work well enough for emergencies, which is the whole point.

And to think that none of this would have come out at all if you had it your way. [Because, as Caesar keeps repeating, these skills were only for emergencies.] Do I have to remind you that I did not have to tell you certain things that I did, anyway?

Th-that's not true. I told you now, didn't I? [He was confident enough with himself now that he could tell him.] Besides, isn't that different? It wasn't some important secret. I just thought... if I couldn't prove what I'd learned, there was no point in telling anyone.