[Sumiho and Eidos - A Sideview]

[lampluminous]

“So, do you know why he left?” Sumiho sipped at the tea he had managed to get one of the servants to bring, looking over at the dark-haired boy laying on the bed, who was messing with some sort of holographic display. They were at his mother's mansion, where Lucius had been staying in now when not at school. The room was somewhat minimalist, other than a television with a game system hooked up, a low table and bed. And a conspicuous box where Lucius kept various things they had brought from the future that may or may not break causality if brought outside of the room-- so, you know. The usual things.

“Boredom maybe? Anxiety? Who knows what the guy’s thinking half the time— I still don’t fully understand why he wanted to follow you back to where you’ve been goofing off at, but you don’t see me or Lucius complaining, now do you?”

The boy— Eidos— was the split personality of one who went by the name ‘Lucius’, while the one they were speaking about went by the name ‘Landrobe’. The holograms were made from their power to "program" things using a phone, even though it took time to do. It did look very impressive, at least, to watch Eidos and Lucius use it...

... Not that these were any of their real names, of course. But when you deal with time travel, you have to take a few precautions. Not something Sumiho really cared about, of course, but his existence was a bit… different.

“But the matter of the fact is, he’s off in another dimension. After I had told him to abandon all of this… though I’m still a little surprised you didn’t jump on going. Seems right up your alley, causing trouble in another world.” Eidos let out a curt laugh at the remark.

“And what would I do if Lucius woke up and freaked out? Much as I’d want to, they’re not exactly a sink-or-swim type. Last thing people would need is someone having a nervous breakdown in addition to someone who probably needs medical attention.” He waved it off slightly. “Besides, I want to get this project done before I jump into anything, and I only have so many hours that I’m aware.”

Of course. Lucius tried to avoid Eidos coming out too often if they could help it— but the problem was, he would come out after they had a full sleep cycle, and vice versa.

Needless to say, Lucius did not get a lot of sleep. And it showed sometimes in Eidos’ eyes. Sumiho poured another cup of the tea.

“Get up and have something to drink. I’d hate it if you fell asleep while we were still talking.” Eidos grumbled slightly, swiping his hand to make the holograms vanish, before sitting up, stretching. Sumiho offered the cup to him, bemused. “You act annoyed, but you still listen, don’t you?”

“Oh, shut up. I don’t want to end up falling asleep either.” Eidos sipped at the tea, making a face at the slightly bitter taste. “Still, you want to know why he ran off like he did? Honestly, I think he’s scared.” “Scared?” “Yeah. Maybe it’s just a feeling he has, like something’s reaching it’s end. I mean, you know that in our time, this period we’re in-- it’s a ‘blank period’, right?”

Sumiho nodded slightly. It was always kinda odd. Records were struck, video and news vanished. All anyone knew was that some sort of incident ended up occurring during a major festival in Domino City that resulted in a war, but details on it were suspiciously absent. Imagine their surprise that it ended up being a dimensional war… but why were the details so vague for them?

“Does he think that there might be a reason coming up for why this period was ‘blank’?”

“I mean, it could be. Or he’s just getting antsy about his mortality.” Eidos shrugged. “The collar he has on, like the rest of us, does pause his aging a bit while he’s here... so he doesn’t end up desyncing with the original time, and all. But it isn’t a cure-all for what’s wrong with him.”

“I just don’t get why he’s doing it.” Sumiho shook his head. “It feels unlike him. Blank period aside-- he isn’t a heroic type. He’s more the villain, if we had to be honest. Emotionally detached, selfish, arrogant… Why did he want to involve himself here?”

“I think I like my “he’s bored” theory, myself.” Sumiho gave a look over at Eidos, who just calmly sipped his tea. “Well, it’s about as much of a guess as anything we could say, right? He probably feels like he can’t do anything usually, anyway, so might as well try to throw anything he can at the wall to see if it sticks. Well… Least as long as his body holds out.”

Sumiho really hated thinking about Landrobe’s health, or lack of thereof. Hypertension, kidney disease, chronic pain and weakness…

Someone like Landrobe would be at home, or in a hospital. He should be resting. And yet he throws himself into Action Duels and then goes on this whole trans-dimensional trip? Really? What an idiot…

“You could always do your weird stuff and see if you could cure him, you know.” “I could say the same to you. Besides, my “weird stuff” isn’t so precise that I could just take the disease out of him.” “Well, my programming won’t let me cure him without years of research and getting a PhD.” It was always somewhat the same.

Both Sumiho and Eidos (and Lucius) had an amazing ability to readjust things to their liking, in their own ways… and yet they couldn’t do anything about the mortality of someone they knew. And it’s what really put a pressure onto them. Sumiho put down the empty cup, and then laid back on the floor.

“There’s no point really in trying to theorize so much about what he’s thinking, is there. Even with my powers, I can’t tell what he’s thinking. Makes me feel like he doesn’t think at all.”

“Honestly...” Said Eidos, messing with one of the cookies left in the bowl. “I think that’s more accurate than any of us would want to admit.”