After an audible click, the door behind the two of them lock in place. The room was rather spacious, and a few items were laid out on the table that didn’t look like it originated from Divon. The bed was considerably decorated with a fine black comforter and a few white pillows. Across from the bed was a black couch to match the bed, clean and free from any debris as if it had never been touched. A wardrobe stood several feet tall, which had plenty of room to fit a week’s worth of outfits in it. Surely, Arch Extent spent some of the golden gems from the box to afford this room. It doesn’t bother her, considering that it’s leagues of an improvement from the dirtied and old raggy beds the Hunter’s Lodge provided. It was a complete upgrade.
“I’ll take the couch.” Winter insists, already having a guilty conscience about the idea of taking the bed.
“You can take the couch or the bed. I probably won’t be sleeping anytime soon.” He rarely sleeps nowadays.
“Can’t sleep?”
“I have work I have to do.”
“Right.” Winter plops herself on the couch, testing just how soft the cushions were with the tips of her fingers pressing in. It wasn't too firm nor too soft. It was just right. “So…What did you really want to talk about in private?”
There’s no easy way for Arch Extent to tell the huntress, so the best method is to be straightforward with her, as usual. “I have to take you to the Knyocke labs. When we were facing those giant…worm things…a lot of my equipment broke when it fell out of the bag. I was planning to analyze your blood sample, but I can’t really do that now.”
“You just can’t pull out a syringe and take it now? What about that thing around your wrist? The bracelet that makes a blue square appear?”
“It’s called a watch. It can’t analyze your blood for me. It’s one of the only working things I have right now. But we need to get to Knyocke so I can at least figure out why you’re really immune. The device I had storing your blood sample was damaged, so your sample was tainted. I can’t really work with it properly because there’s other contaminants.”
The huntress blinks a few times, nodding her head in understanding. He needs a new sample from me and needs the right tools for it. She watches as he takes his watch off from his wrist, placing it flat across the circular table. After the press of a silver button on top, a few blue squares with foreign text appear, and it bedazzles Winter once more. She’s mesmerized as he swipes through a few menus, wanting to understand how the technology works.
“Neil probably knows what watches are…” Winter sighs.
“It’s possible. I don’t know. But…That was something else I wanted to talk to you about.”
“I don’t know what to do. He’s usually very open with me about everything. Why would he try to hide things from me or people like you from me?”
“He wasn’t wrong when he said Tribesfolk are taken by people like me.”
Winter stands to her feet, wondering if she should have heeded Neil’s words. Arch Extent hasn’t done much to show harm, except when they first encountered each other. She still holds venom to his throat over the death of the princess, but that wasn’t what triggered her.
“You can relax, Winter. I’m no match for you here, and if I had wanted to take you by force, I would have by now.” That’s the last thing he’d want to do.
“Can you explain why Tribesfolk are taken from non-tribe people like you then?”
“You’re a test subject. Division 5 is just a test site.”
“I…I don’t understand.” How could she be a test subject? Her world was suddenly being unfolded as if the lifestyle she’s lived had always been a lie. She’s learning to not jump to conclusions with him since he’s been patient with her.
“This planet and the Tribesfolk who live here are just test subjects monitored by two companies. Specifically Seraphic and Nexus.”
“And Nexus is the bad one, right? The one you’re not on good terms with?” Winter relaxes herself finally.
“Bad is a subjective term. But I’d like to believe Seraphic is the lesser of two evils.” Arch Extent flips through a few menus on his holo-screen, pressing his index finger into a low opacity screen to access his documents. He’s trying to search through Seraphic Inc.’s old archive, anything in relation to regeneration and Cosmos Plague. He knows the oncovirus is able to create tumors in the thoracic cavity, create alien-like biomass, and occasionally in other parts of the body at an alarming rate. He wonders if he’s infected, but with all of his prior experience and forged knowledge, there’s no way he is. He doesn’t have any symptoms of Cosmos Plague, and they would have already started to appear. Not only for Winter’s sake, but for his own, he needs to get to the labs with her.
“So…Will anything happen to me when we get to the labs?”
There’s a moment of silence between the two, and Arch Extent leans away from the floating holo-screen. “I promise I won’t let anything happen to you in the way your brother was talking about. I need you to work with me, not against me. Even if Seraphic Inc. wanted to take you away, I wouldn’t let it happen. So, I’m willing to compromise as much as I can.”
I can’t let them take her. She’s the answer to everything. After earlier…With my injury healing, I think Atlas is keeping something from me… just like how Neil is keeping things from her.
“I know you don’t want another princess incident happening. I didn’t get to see it, but I never saw someone so sick like that. It’s just a lot for me to take in.” She sits back down on the couch, her fuchsia eyes swiveling to view the wooden floor boards. Seraphic, Nexus, the fact this world is something else. It’s a lot for her to process, and Arch Extent is well aware of it. He’s not sure how else to tell her everything. He’s already broken so many rules about interaction with the natives of Division 5.
“I know. I’ve actually had a few natives I’ve tried to explain to, but it seemed to be too much for them.”
“Wait! I’m not the only one?”
“No. But the ones I told are dead now.”
Winter doesn’t want to ask any further about it. She can already assume the worst.
“I just need some time to get more adjusted to this. With that watch thing over there especially. Can’t believe it’s not magic.” Winter pulls her head down, working to take her enormous turquoise scarf from around her neck. She folds it neatly, placing it on the side of the couch and kicks off her boots. Arch Extent raises his eyebrows as he looks over, witnessing Winter become comfortable, even to the point she takes off the belt of her corset to unravel it, allowing the obsidian garment to hit the floor. She stretches, laying on the couch and thoroughly enjoying the ease on her back as she lays down. She can’t remember the last time she was on something this cozy.
“You really are more than welcome to take the bed if you need to rest. Like I said, I have work to do.” Arch Extent grows frustrated at finding dead ends in the Seraphic’s archives.
“I think I’m good here. I’m just gonna write a bit before I doze off. It’ll help me take my mind off everything.” The huntress reaches over to grab one of the satchels on the back of the corset’s belt, shuffling her hand around to grab a writing utensil and her personal journal.
“That’s fine.”
-
Both huntress and scientist work at their respective crafts over the next hour or so. Arch Extent had spent the time extensively researching more about regeneration involving Cosmos Plague while Winter was writing her own fictional work. There weren’t any words exchanged, both of them incredibly zoned in on their own tasks.
Arch Extent had kept running into files that gave him denied access, specifically only available for the other Arches of Atlas of their branch of Seraphic. He was aware of being denied access to them due to his position of being the Director of Field Research, but there was one specific title he kept crossing over in terms of regeneration. It was out of his reach, and he’d have to get clearance for it from Atlas. However, that wouldn’t be possible with his given situation. The Arch who was the Director of Bioengineering could tell him the answers he’s looking for.
“Damnit…” The scientist blurts out.
“You okay, Fancy Hat?” Winter looks up from her journal, rubbing her thumb at the top of the writing utensil.
He looks awfully stressed.
“Sorry. Just a bit frustrated.” The scientist closes the holo screen he was on, wich flashed red to deny his access.
“Anything I can do to help?”
“I appreciate it, but it’s nothing you can assist me with.”
A few more moments of silence pass and Winter goes back to writing. At least, not until she looks back at Arch Extent. The man looks defeated and has dark bags forming under his gray eyes. She wants to help ease him so she tries to think of something that she’s at least capable of doing, even if it isn’t working with floating squares coming out of a bracelet.
“How’s that cut on your arm doing?” After all, the Blazerock healer back in Daggermouth stitched it up as best as she could, even warning him about an infection. She thinks he should probably change the bandage. “I bet it still hurts like a bitch.”
“It’s fine.” It’s not even there. It’s the entire reason I’m researching right now.
“I can get new bandages for you. Least I could do while you’re stressing out over in the corner.” Winter hops off from the couch and she sees Arch Extent immediately protest at her. He turns away from the holo-screens and faces the huntress, trying to keep a poker face on.
“No need. I already took care of it.”
“You sure? Can I at least see how it’s doing? I know I’m the reason for it, and it didn’t look pretty at all. It’s gonna leave a nasty scar.” The huntress walks over to the Arch to at least get a much better view of
“It’s fine, really, Winter. You don’t have to do anything for me.” If only it left a scar…She has no idea.
“I just think you should take a break. When I get really frustrated with things not going my way, I try to walk away. Kinda like earlier. And when I’m less frustrated…I come back to it.”
“I can’t just take a break, Winter.” Arch Extent sighs, his hand goes to rub his eyes, which only gives more evidence for Winter to push that he needs a break. He doesn’t know what he’d do if Winter saw the wound heal. He just couldn’t explain it as if it was out of nowhere.
“You’ve been staring at that thing for at least an hour or more. At least give your eyes a break and put the squares away. You probably can’t figure things out because you’re not taking a step back. I know when I get frustrated with writing what I want my characters to do, I just gotta step away to let myself process.”
“Is that what you’ve been writing over there?” Arch Extent inquires.
She wants to almost gulp, not expecting that to slip out. She’s never really shown others her writing, fear of embarrassment washing over her knowing that what she wrote wasn't something she’d show to the average person. She’s always loved writing fictional stories, of romance and heroes, sometimes lewd and sometimes even extra spicy. It was works that were always filled with magic but she felt she always struggled with it.
“Uh-yeah. I like to write books in my free time.” She never thought she’d be admitting this to the scientist. For her, it’s embarrassing. Her half gloved digits clutch to the leather bound book she was carrying.
“I didn’t take you to be an author.”
“Well, I’m not really an author. I don’t have anything published. Maybe one day but…” She prays one day she’d be able to share her stories with the world.
“Can I read it?”
“What?!” Winter brings a hand to her mouth, and Arch Extent gives out a small reassuring smile when he sees her immediate reaction. She’s nervous as hell to share her thoughts, especially when the few times she’s shown Neil, he didn’t have any interest.
Would Fancy Hat even be interested in what I write? There’s no way.
“Sorry if it’s too personal. I understand.”
“It’s not that. It’s just…I don’t think it’s that good. And no one has ever wanted to read my writing. I’d bother Neil all the time, but he’s not interested. I’m just surprised to have someone interested, ya know?” Winter twiddles her fingers together slightly.
“You’ll never know if anyone likes it if you don’t put it out there or share it.” Arch Extent did have a point.
“I know that. Are you being serious or are you just trying to get my hopes up?”
“You told me I should take a break. I’m taking your advice and doing something else.”
Damn. He is being serious. Winter blinks in response to her client. She didn’t actually expect him to genuinely listen to her advice.
“Oh, well, alright. But, please don’t judge it too harshly. It’s uh…It’s a bit all over the place. And it’s…It’s kinda mushy.”
“...Mushy?” He cocks his head to the side.
“I like to write romance.” Winter feels herself fluster at the thought, never really having anyone to share that kind of content with. “And uh, other really fantastic-like things.”
“I’ll give it a read and tell you my thoughts. I’ve never really read any type of literature from the natives of this planet, so it’ll be a first for me.”
-
Arch Extent spends time reading through her journal, thankful he’s capable of understanding the Divon written alphabet so he can piece together words with ease. He’s really stunned at her writing, if anything, impressed by it. Some events seemed quite out there, even a bit disorganized, but her grammar and structure was quite sophisticated.
She really is a lot smarter than she looks. And she just keeps surprising me.
“So, uh, I know you’re not that far in, but thoughts so far? I gotta know, suspense is killing me!” She feels like she’ll burst if she doesn’t get an answer from him. Her fingers of each hand clasp together, ringling and rubbing against the other as she waits anxiously. She has no idea if Fancy Hat enjoys it, but he seems into it. It takes everything in her to refrain from commenting on spoilers, future events, whatever she could think of.
“I really like it. So, an exiled prince, huh?”
“Y-Yeah. What do you think?”
“I really like it, actually. Keep working on it.”
Not only did he give praise to Winter, but he also rewarded her with a content smile. She’s only seen the man stressed, panicked, everything other than positive expressions. Unless you count his neutral expression as positive.
“Thanks, Fancy Hat. I’m...I’m glad I stayed the night here.”
“Me too.”
It’s a shame she’s a test subject. She’d do well on earth. Maybe I judged her too soon?
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