Death. Such a flimsy, foreign yet ever-present concept. Always tugging at the back of one's mind.
Noctis might have had little interaction with Dr. Klemens. His parting, however, still caught him off guard.
He wasn't really distraught over the sudden passing of the man. Noctis had seen his fair share of death throughout his life in the outskirts. Sometimes at the hands of starvation, sickness, or, more often, other humans every so often. It had been far too commonplace to truly rattle him. As long as the body eventually showed up mostly intact, the cityguard wouldn't really ask questions.
One truly had to throw evidence into those lazy assholes' faces and repeatedly persuade them to open an investigation.
It was just that he had given his best effort to distance himself from such affairs or thoughts. Of course it never fully worked.
Reminiscing, picturing every crevice of that dirty, run-down place while reporting his own insights in the investigation. While reminiscing, Noctis remembered the thing that had originally attracted his suspicion. Suspicion was a harsh word; attention seemed to fit this context more. Attention, in the form of a wall-sized, brown rectangular object.
"Ohh, if you check the wreckage of the apothecary, be sure to check the bookshelf with much care."
Raising an eyebrow at the words, or at least Noctis assumed he had done so.
It was still quite difficult to interpret the blurry shifting golden lights shining through his eyelids. He worked mostly on assumptions built from the etiquette of conversing, gaining little through the shifting thread-like lights.
Funnily enough, it might have been that Noctis could read the man's mood better than most people present, who had their eyes wide open and were not obstructed by a veil of golden thread that was slowly tinged with a hint of bloody red the longer the gold-masked man stood in front. Considering the signature golden mask hiding every change in expression, Noctis truly might have been closest to taking a peek behind the mask.
Just to be sure not to interrupt the higher-up in front of him, in case he had misjudged what he saw, Noctis waited a moment.
After hearing nothing for a few more seconds, Noctis finally added on, a bit exasperated at his need to interpret the expression and sounds of the man, without himself having the gift of clear sight.
"Let's say I had a hunch. A hunch that was interrupted by the sudden high-priority breach."
As he spoke, a suspicion in the form of a feeble, almost indistinct thread wove itself in his mind's eye, making him frown visibly.
"Hm, hm. I'm truly not used to interacting with well-versed seers. They are far too rare in our city.
I hope to see great things of you.
Anything to add on?"
Staying silent for a moment, in the end Noctis shook his head. The thought seemed too outlandish to address to a person of such high standing. Maybe I'll speak to Recks or Darron about it later and ask for their opinions.
Noticing the golden luster enraptured by a hint of red slowly burning through his eyelids intensify for a brief moment, making Noctis flinch back an inch.
Why is he so close?
Without explanation or word, it suddenly weakened and almost extinguished after the short outburst. The fading light was encompassed by the sound of steps growing distant with each resounding clack of heels hitting the metal floor
Noctis breathed out a sigh of relief after the light had grown sufficiently distant, his eyes finally reopening.
It was stressful to interact with Authority Wielders of higher ranks. The man with the golden mask did not even try to intimidate or use the suppression of his higher Authority, yet Noctis couldn't help but feel on edge.
He never could truly tell why that was. Noctis had interacted with many people over the years, so he was very aware that this wasn't simply that they had higher status than him and because of that acted differently.
Maybe it was because the higher-ranking Authority Wielders were capable of wiping him out without a second thought… No, that didn't seem right. If one followed that logic, a guy with a gun in his pocket should have evoked the same emotions, yet it had never done so.
Being near higher ranks was simply a weird experience altogether.
Noctis had heard from Darron that the higher-ranking Authority Wielders could, to a certain extent, suppress the ones below, but Noctis never truly understood the extent of that.
Maybe it was something he would only understand once he reached those higher ranks, or maybe Darron was simply bad at explaining things.
His eyes fully open once more, his gaze careful to avoid the source of light, now surrounded by three less noteworthy men made of thread. Funnily enough, the less noteworthy ones were far easier to distinguish since the amount of thread they were made of was not so overwhelming.
If the man's threads didn't have that blood red tint, in their golden luster, it would have been truly difficult to tell which strings belonged to him.
The red coloring, what a mysterious thing. I've only ever seen a similar tone with one man…
"Sooo… What was that all about? You okay?"
Knitting his eyebrows together, a bit startled at the female voice's words. Noctis' gaze relaxed as it traveled over to Trisha, who had observed the peculiar exchange in silence.
Ohh, I forgot that she was here, Ips. Not giving a chance for her to notice Noctis's fopa.
"Do my ears deceive me, or do I spot a hint of worry in your voice? I'm truly touched, my lady."
Shaking her head in exasperation, maybe a slight hint of annoyance finding its way into her voice.
"There was no such thing, but do you perhaps wish for such emotions so desperately that you have fallen for your own delusions?…"
Staying silent for a moment, she added on a more somber note.
"You do have something there below your eye."
Frowning slightly, Noctis half-hazardously wiped away whatever had gathered below one of his eyes.
There on his hand, a few more droplets of blood had smeared his pale white skin. This abysmally sight was able to evoke another sigh to escape from his lips. A sigh of annoyance and worry.
Peculiarly enough, Trisha was feeling very similar emotions at the moment, just for a very different reason.
Shaking her head as if to get rid of some thoughts, Trisha asked her heart not truly in it.
"So what are we going to do now?"
Raising an eyebrow at the question, Noctis was unsure of that aswell.
While grumbling about the implications of this encounter, Noctis half-hazardously threw out an almost random reply.
"We?…"
"We?…"
Pretending to be offended, her tone overemphasizing the word, Trishas gaze turned dangerous, as the silence stretched on.
Noticing his lapses in judgment, Noctis threw out something else this time, thought through a bit more thoroughly.
"Ohh—Right, how's little lightning doing?"
Noticing the spark of anger, showing clearly in her gaze, slowly being replaced by one of confusion, and then something else that was followed up by the rise of anger once more.
Noctis quickly noticed his error and corrected it.
"The second disciple. Sorry for the…"
It was quite a stupid mistake. How could she know the nickname he had given the guy on a whim?
But what she said next, cutting off his explanation, baffled Noctis greatly.
"So it was you who gave the guy that ridiculous nickname?!"
"What? That name is totally fine. I would even say great." Noctis blurted out, this time him being on the bewildered and confused side of the banter.
"I had an entire plan to give him a good nickname. One cannot be too rash with the delusional type like him and you, Noxy."
Shuddering inexplicably, Nox shook his head lightly. An exasperated breath escaped his lips.
Grumbling under his breath, barely audible to the ear.
"Didn't you almost immediately give me a nickname after first meeting?"
Not expecting an answer, he noticed a light smile creep up Trisha's lips as her ear twitched slightly.
Taking another deep breath as if ridding himself of all the banter, Noctis spoke this time more audibly, a hint of concern in his voice.
"So how is he?"
She shook her head in exasperation. Luckily, Trisha had enough tact and did not let Noctis wait.
"He's fine. He just complained about getting too strong a drug, having slept through all of his examinations."
He fell unconscious? They misjudged twice in a row?
Not going in-depth into the string of thought, Noctis spoke with a little unease hidden in his voice.
"So what tasks are open for the taking?"
Raising an eyebrow of her own, Trisha briefly narrowed her eyes at Nox. Quickly stopping this, her gaze slowly travled across the lively scene, a deadpan expression creeping onto her face.
Falling silent for a few moments, she eventually spoke in a not quite sarcastic tone but close to it.
"Whaaaaat do you think?"
Letting out a forced laugh, Noctis nodded along.
"Ha ha. Yea I guess thats true."
Briefly analyzing Noctis from head to foot, Trishas gaze stopped on Noctis' leg. Then she spoke in a tone not leaving room for refusal.
"Go to Darron and do something that requires little physical effort or… danger."
Oh, little lighting, why did you have to tell them about that?
Suppressing the urge to tease, Noctis let out a sigh of resignation and started to trod over to Darron.
Darron, who was at the epicenter of the chaos, seemed to be the center of it all in an endless whirlwind of paper and flesh swirling around him.
Slithering through the chaos, Noctis passed that annoying bird sitting in its cage unattended, not passing the chance to throw it a mocking look. Sadly, it did not seem to care, simply chirping back in protest.
"Can I help out in any way? Preferably something less physically demanding." Noctis asked with a bit of forced enthusiasm.
Looking him up and down for a moment, Darron nodded a few times as if in thought when a flash of inspiration seemed to hit him.
"Hmm, we do need someone to take care of one unmaned task in particular. I think you'd be a good fit."
Raising an eyebrow at the quick answer, Noctis stayed silent, waiting for his verdict.
"Go to Sector Two's team in the northeast part of the city and ask for Sisyphus. They'll take it from there."
Turning his head to a gold-masked man, not the same one Noctis had spoken to before. This one only had three fingers covering his eyes and was far less distressing to look upon. Darron seemed to be a different person, talking with a certain respect in his voice, unlike when commanding Noctis around.
Some would have taken offense at this. But that was only if they did not know Darron prior.
He would switch around his tone and choice of words whenever.
Noctis hadn't quite deciphered the pattern of his mood swings, only a few parts of them. For example, one of the most vital things was the person he was talking to and their station.
These mood swings, however, did not stop Noctis from complaining about the behavior internally. And you dont explain the entire task, because…?
Not getting his presence acknowledged, Noctis shook his head unconsciously and turned around.
He took this as their conversation being over.
Noctis shot Trisha a last parting glance, lifting a thumb as he walked off, signaling her that his duties were elsewhere.