MHA #10; Saturday Morning [11/12].

[chef_chocobro]

When Ignis got up that morning, he paid little to no mind to the unfamiliar boy in the bed with him. He paid very little to no mind to anything, really, because his main goal right now was clearly to find out where the prince had gone off to. Usually, his Royal Highness didn't venture off too far, so Ignis wasn't too concerned about not being able to find him,, and so he left the bedroom with intention, with maybe a little detour toward the kitchen to see about a small bite to eat and maybe making some coffee.

Yes. Coffee. He may be only eight years old, but he had a very important job, and sometimes you just needed that little extra pep in your step to take it on some mornings.

Of course, once he got to the kitchen, though, all previous missions, even finding Noctis, were completely forgotten about as he noticed a stain up on the ceiling.

A stain!

On the ceiling!

What was it? How did it get there? And, most important of all....how could he get up there to actually clean it?

This stain situation was very troubling, and was clearly about to ruin Ignis' entire morning, if not his whole day!

[[ for that Goose who is not a goose but is instead a child ]]

Comments

[notagoose]

Goose was rather surprised that he hadn’t been woken up for their training, Commander Walsh was very strict about keeping to a routine.

It then took him a moment to realise he wasn’t even at Wolf Den at all, these weren’t the barracks …how did he get here?

Had Killbane made good on his threat to mail him somewhere he wouldn’t be found.

He cautiously made his way out the room and ended up in the kitchen, realising he was hungry and there was another boy there already, clearly troubled by something on the ceiling.

“are you a new Supertrooper?” Goose finally asked after a few minutes, maybe this was a new program. He was meant to be the last Supertrooper but maybe there was a new recruit?

[chef_chocobro]

"No, I'm not," said Ignis, simply, plainly, at first not taking his eyes off the stain. With a frown, however, he was realizing that just looking at it wasn't getting him anywhere, but maybe the other boy would know more about it. So he finally pulled his eyes away, reluctantly, as if it might disappear and then leave the mystery unsolved forever, to look over at him, giving his glasses a slight adjustment as he did.

"Do you know anything about this stain?"

Helpfully, he pointed up, just in case the other boy had missed it. It was, honestly, impossible to miss, but he knew that he was much more observant about things than other children. Even more observant than most adults.

[notagoose]

“Why would there be a stain on the ceiling?” Goose couldn’t help but wonder as he walked closer to Ignis and, following where the boy was pointing, he looked up at the stain in question.

“I’ve never seen a stain like that on the ceiling before,” he tilted his head thoughtfully. “How do you think it got there?”

[chef_chocobro]

"That it precisely what I am trying to figure out," Ignis stated, with another push of his glasses up his nose as he thoughtfully frowned toward the ceiling. "My first impression was that it might be some sort of water damage, but I don't believe that is the case. I'm starting to suspect that it may have been somehow food-related."

[notagoose]

“Food related?” Goose said, rather surprised that someone would waste food like that, “but food’s for eating, why would someone just throw food away on the ceiling?”

Goose stared at the ceiling, trying to figure out what food it had used to be, “how long do you think it’s been there?”

[chef_chocobro]

"I don't know why," Ignis said, with maybe a touch of irritation in his voice, partly for not having the answers to the incessant questions, and partly for the incessant questions themselves. "That's what I'm trying to figure out. But whatever it is, I suspect it's been there for quite some time. It doesn't look..." He frowned a little, feeling like this wasn't quite the word he was looking for, but it would have to suffice, "fresh."

[notagoose]

Goose stared up at that stain, now that he had been shown it for some reason he just couldn’t look away.

“It does look old,” he agreed, “I wonder why no one tried to clean it up?”

Apparently he still wasn’t done asking questions yet, sorry Ignis.

[chef_chocobro]

It wouldn't be so bad, all the questions, if Ignis was more confident in the answers to them.

"Probably," he speculated, "because no one can easily reach it..."

He then turned his attention to the kitchen counters with a calculating consideration, and then he did the same with this other boy.

"Do you suppose there's a ladder anywhere nearby?"

[notagoose]

Goose’s eyes were wide, “you’d have to be really tall to reach that high,”

He then looked back at Ignis, “I’m not sure,” he admitted “this place doesn’t seem like it would have a ladder, it’s pretty basic,”

He looked around, eyes wide, “are all apartments like this?”

He had never been in one before.

[chef_chocobro]

"No," Ignis informed the other boy, somewhat distractedly, as he was considering the counters again with another thoughtful frown. On the one hand, it was going to bother him knowing that the stain had not been attended to, but, on the other hand, climbing on the counters seemed very dangerous and ill-advised, leaving them in quite the conundrum, really. "Not all of them, but some are. I guess it all depends on who is living there."

[notagoose]

“This is very different to Wolf Den,” Goose admitted, “I’ve never seen so much space before, I’m usually sharing a room with the rest of the Supertroopers.”

As if he had been following Ignis’ train of thought, Goose looked up at the ceiling again, “you know, I could probably try and climb up on the counters to see if I can reach the stain?”

[chef_chocobro]

"Climbing onto the counters," Ignis informed the other boy, very matter-of-factly, with a heavy tone of disapproval and a pointed push of his glasses back up his nose, "would be dangerous and very ill-advised. We should find a safer solution."

Besides, some of what this other boy was saying was actually starting to grab Ignis' attention far more than the stain was, which was saying a lot.

"What do you mean, though?" he asked. "Supertroopers?" His frown grew slightly suspicious, giving the boy a far more scrutinizing look. "Is that some new kind of Magitek soldier?

[notagoose]

“We’re going to be trained to be Earth’s best chance against an alien attack,” Goose told Ignis, “there’s a whole group of us, one day I’m going to be really really tall,” he glanced up at the stain again, “maybe even tall enough to reach the ceiling,”

Not that tall Goose.

“and I have very fast healing, I can heal from just about anything so nothing’s really that dangerous for me,” he said confidently and paused, “what’s a Magitek Soldier?”

[chef_chocobro]

"Magitek soldiers are the biomech soldiers that make up the Niflheim Infantry," Ignis reported, his frown growing deeper. "They are a more recent, but unsettling development in the enemy forces, but how could you not know about Magitek?"

But everything else the other boy had said sounded like something out of some video game that Noctis would enjoy playing, and so maybe he just sort of had his head in the clouds a little.

His eyes ended up drifting toward the ceiling again, and he sighed. "It's too bad you're not tall enough to reach the ceiling now," he commiserated.

[notagoose]

That was another unfamiliar word, Goose tilted his head, “I’ve never heard of Niflheim either, is that a planet? is that part of the League of Planets?”

Goose looked back up at the stain, “it would be so much better if I was taller now,” he agreed, “none of the other Supertroopers would call me runt again,”

It didn’t work like that Goose.

[chef_chocobro]

"Niflheim," Ignis sighed, rolling his eyes a little because he couldn't believe he was actually having to explain this to someone, but he supposed not everyone had their fingers on the pulse of current events like he tried to, "is the nation we've been at war with for hundreds of years. I've never heard of a League of Planets before; is that from some video game? Is that from Justice Monsters Five?"

Ignis, of course, knew nothing about Justice Monsters Five, but he did know it was quite popular with the youths.

[notagoose]

“The League of Planets is a real thing not a video game,” Goose told him, “I mean, I don’t know a lot about the politics or that but it’s very important, 9 years ago two alien ambassadors came to Earth because they needed our help and they gave us a hyperdrive in response so we could travel to other planets …it’s like an intergalactic government I guess?” he paused, “Earth hasn’t been part of it for very long,”

There was another pause, “and we haven’t been at war with another nation, at least for a couple of decades …”

Which for Earth was actually pretty good progress.

[chef_chocobro]

The more the other boy talked, the more Ignis' brow seemed to crease with concern and confusion.

"I've never heard of Earth, either," he admitted. And he was not exactly fond of admitting when he didn't know about something, but he was starting to have an idea that was really quite ridiculous, but he wasn't sensing any sort of subterfuge or insincerity from the other boy. "And I'm starting to think that perhaps you haven't ever heard of Eos, either."

[notagoose]

“That would make sense, I’ve never heard of Eos,” Goose’s eyes were wide at that, “do you think we’re part of the same galaxy but we just haven’t heard about each other?” he paused, “the League has hundreds of planets, I’m sure there’d be more worlds who aren’t part of the League …like Tortuna,”

Which was really the only example he could think of.

[chef_chocobro]

"If there is a whole League of hundreds of planets," Ignis noted, with maybe the smallest hint of a smile, "I don't even think I could remember all of them, but I think maybe something different is happening here right now. After all, this apartment is unfamiliar to the both of us, is it not?"

[notagoose]

Goose looked around the kitchen, “I’ve never been here before,” he nodded, “I think I’d remember staying somewhere with a stain like that on the ceiling,”

You know in case Ignis had forgotten about that stain.

[chef_chocobro]

Believe him, Ignis would not be forgetting about that stain any time soon.

But even he would agree that being more informed about their location was tantamount even to such an affront to cleanliness.

"Perhaps," he suggested, "we should have a look outside, and that may tell us a little bit more about where we are. I am starting to suspect we may not be where we initially thought ourselves to be."

[notagoose]

Goose nodded, “it would be like scouting for a mission,” he said excitedly, “they taught us how to do this at Wolf Den,”

“Let’s go outside,” he was rather thrilled by the idea.