❦ 13th Record

[iattractmushi]

Valeth-san, Target-san - I'm fit for duty again. Hope nothing dire happened while I was [slight pause] unavailable.

Sniper, Youth, Smoke, Snake, [pause] Silvar [little ink blot] you guys ok?

Lea, Castor, Pollux - [long, long pause] thanks.

[[Yeah, he pretty much booked it out of the Spa as soon as he regained his sight, lol. Now somewhere on Melee island, possibly up a tree.]]

Comments

[Quicklog]

[seeya-next-life.livejournal.com]

Only if you want it to be. [He reached out and sweeps up the cards, shuffling them absently between his hands.] Wanna see how you fare when I ain't walkin' you through it?

[He doesn't really wait for an answer, and deals out two cards to each of them, lifting the corners of his to have a look--the eight and Ace of hearts. There's something ironic about this, and he can't quite put his finger on it. Then he threads his fingers together and gives Cloud a sly look.]

So tell me something. You said it was an accident that you dropped the used crystal in the boiling water, right? [His eyebrows lifted a bit.] Do you usually keep your used crystals?

[Quicklog]

[iattractmushi]

[Cloud watched Lea shuffle the cards. He was pretty sure he had figured out what he was doing, but the other man's fingers moved so quickly...

When he received his cards he copied Lea, peeking at them without showing them... a two with a black symbol of three little balls--must be a club, that wasn't exactly what he'd been expecting it to look like--and one of the 'face' cards, with the symbol of a heart and a 'Q' in two of the corners. So that made twelve. Alright.]

Yeah, it was. [He didn't sound defensive; it was just a fact. It had been an accident.] I've only... found one other, but yeah. I held onto it. Why?

[Quicklog]

[seeya-next-life.livejournal.com]

[Lea isn't trying to make accusations--it was just an honest question. It just happened to be in regards to a rather serendipitous event. Maybe it wasn't a GOOD thing that Cloud and the others had wound up blind, but all things considered, it's a low price to pay for what the accident revealed.]

I've kept mine, too. I've got three I've used so far. [And one he hasn't, but that's not the subject here.] Now... I'm not a man of science, personally, I find the rigidity of scientific method a bit too dull for my tastes, but I can't deny a certain curiosity on the whole topic. [He gives Cloud's cards a glance, inquiring silently if he plans to hit or stay.] If there's more to these crystals than obvious face value, then I think I'd like to know about it, wouldn't you? [A chuckle and a wave of one hand.] Well, perhaps with a little extra caution on the side in future endeavors...

[Quicklog]

[iattractmushi]

[Maybe blindness had been a relatively low price for a memory, but Cloud would have much preferred paying any price but losing his sight.]

Oooh? [He tapped the table just in front of his cards in response to Lea's glance.] Playing around with the spent crystals will... probably be safer than messing with the live ones. [An eyebrow lift of inquiry--was that what Lea was getting at?--and Cloud grinned a little sheepishly.] I'm never putting another one anywhere near a pot of water, believe me.