AntarcticRomantic
♡𝔞𝔭𝔬𝔠𝔞𝔩𝔶𝔭𝔰𝔢 𝔨𝔦𝔰𝔰♡
René Troxler
Ephemera
health bar
He wiped his eyes clear of his exhaustion. He hadn’t slept since his return. The smell of gunfire and the rust of dried blood smoking was still in his lungs. Water and tea did nothing to clear away the taste of acid in the back of his mouth. René couldn’t fight the bile anymore, so he let it burn. So, he did what he could to distract himself. He stood hunched over the workbench, fighting to finish another project, adamant about not looking towards the now starkly empty space beside his.
“Mea maxima culpa.”
He pinched at the bridge of his nose irritably. His eyes were bothering him and his teeth ground against one another in rejection of the headache he bore. An old familiar feeling was grinding in the pit of his stomach; needing to pace like an animal locked in a cage, waiting-- no-- demanding to be released.
A voice from the door startled him with a flinch, and he turned to face the young teenager he’d met on the caravan weeks before. “Oh,” René remarked with a stunned stare, “It’s you again. Hello. What do you have?” He took the paper into his hand from the desk and read over it. Of course, they would need him to work in the chemistry lab at some point, but it seemed his duty was over once it was confirmed The Key had eluded them. He was one of the few who knew that particular recipe for medication. A sedative that counteracted the effects of ADHD in children. Ephemera himself had been on it at that age, too. “Follow me,” he commanded gently, leading the boy from the Engineering Lab.
The walk was quiet, but he looked over the boy from time to time. “Mathis, right? I see your wounds healed up quite nicely. Did it take long?”
Mathis followed him through the hall, in step with the Templar engineer. "Not long at all, but they kept me out of training longer than they needed to, which was annoying."
“I knew they would, but it’s for the best... you are young after all. How long were you out for?” He smiled, chuckling as he considered the boy’s lineage. “You’re a Werebeast child… probably just starting to physically mature. Perhaps you missed three or four days of training? If you did have a mild concussion after all, they’d want to monitor your vitals and record what they could.”
“A week and a half. It was over kill, my head was fine the next day. They made it longer because I ‘wasn’t listening,’” Mathis responded, though his words were marked with a theatrical roll of his eyes.
“Yes.... the instructors and medical staff at the academy were just as stringent. I suppose it’s good some things are universal with the Order, regardless of which Conclave we’re at,” Ephemera noted, though he ignored the attitude emanating from Mathis. His exhaustion bore his shoulders down and he wiped at his eyes again. A dull ringing had started in his ears and he sighed against it. If he didn’t finish this soon, a migraine would surely form.
The blond looked at his youthful companion and shrugged with an exhausted smirk. “Not that I am bragging, but I’ve read most of the files on record about werebeasts, vampires, and the Mephisto, including some reports and materials that are,” he considered his next words carefully, “restricted to the majority of our Order. What we know about Beastial children is significantly limited, admittedly. Only a handful of studies have been conducted, even fewer have been published for the wider Order to examine; what information there is, most files are sealed or redacted.” He considered the reports he’d read during his time within the academy and after his graduation on each of the immortal races. Information on vampires and Mephisto were the most common, Beasts the rarity. He’d absorbed as much as he could. Anything Holly could give him was a delight to the knowledge-hungry engineer, and how he would devour what he read about their targets. So much of what was known about Beasts came from a single source, but more would be added soon. He just needed more time with the journal…. With his mission done, surely he would be able to.
He found the gaze of the child beside him and smiled warmly. “Don’t worry. I doubt they’ll concern themselves much with you besides a few tests here and there as you age. Dissections only happen on corpses and you seem too obstinate to die,” he mused partly to himself. The steps beside him died away into still silence.
“You are just taking me to get my pills, right?” the brunet asked, a quiver in his voice.
He looked back at the brunet who had stopped dead in his tracks before cocking his head to the side. A curious response from a boy who had been only too eager to show a brave and stubborn face before. Just what exactly were they subjecting this child to? “Yes, Mathis. I was only teasing before,” he said, his voice soft and earnest. Though he wasn’t much taller, he turned and went down on one knee to better level with the werebeast child. “If the program here is anything like the academy I was a part of in England, the only tests they should run as you age and mature is of a physical nature; studies that aren’t invasive. Perhaps even a few studies to determine how your brain functions through menial tasks or comprehensive paper examinations after physical stress on your body through heavy exercise.”
"No offense, but you are kinda old. Things change. Let's go," he said, sidestepping past Ephemera.
His expression shifted, falling into indifference to mask the irritation that gnawed at the back of his neck. “I’m barely your senior, Mathis. I only graduated two years ago... from a different facility.” He stood and in three steps moved ahead of the bratty child he was meant to make a new dosage for. They carried on in silence for a while longer until they reached the medbay. Ephemera spoke briefly with Olivia to explain his requirement for a few of their materials before they continued on to a lab nearby.
He took a pause at the door and eyed the brunet beside him. “Because I am at an officer rank, consider this an order: you are not to touch anything in this room. You are only to sit where I direct you to, keep your hands to yourself, and you are to wear a mask at all times, understood?” The response he received was a curt agreement tinged with attitude. He looked away before trailing his eyes upward in mild annoyance.
Opening the door, his hand lingered by the fingertips with just enough pressure to keep it open for the boy behind him to join him in the chemistry lab. Brief greetings were shared with a few of the lab technicians as they entered, pausing momentarily to show the letter given to him with the recipe needed to complete the task he'd been given. The chemist pointed to a secluded table in the back of the room, clean of materials. Thanking them quickly, he led them both to a corner and set down the request form Mathis had handed him before. Every step was a practice in precision and oddly mechanical, even for the engineer. The blond felt stiff and irritable, even in the simple tasks of putting on lab equipment and handing the boy his own set before directing him to a seat near the lab table Ephemera had occupied.
He moved to a large encased cabinet nearby. He picked up a bin from the lowest shelf and filled it with a few jars of powdered materials carefully labeled with the names specified in the form. One, in particular, caught his attention as it seemed an odd addition: silver nitrate. The substance was common in wound care for disinfecting and other medical and non-medical applications, but in medication for hyperactivity? He shook his head. It was not his to question, only to develop the capsules for the boy.
He returned and began to carefully measure the dosages indicated on the scale in the workspace. Every now and then as he picked up containers he’d look to Mathis. The brunet was spinning in his chair. “Not that I think you’d care, but I apologize if I’m too forward. What kind of animal will you shift to?”
Mathis spun listlessly in the chair he occupied while he wondered aloud. “A bird?” he questioned quietly to himself, “An owl? An owl!” For a moment he could see his eyes light up with the excitement his those of his age often exuded confidently.
“An aerial beast? Fascinating,” he said pouring the powders carefully into a large bowl with a grin. He looked to the sheet to determine how much of the binder was necessary to add to the mix before selecting it out of the tray.
His small features seemed younger suddenly, but they drooped again and the juvenescence seemed to melt away. “Ew,” Mathis muttered, "I’m not going to shift though.”
It was as he began to scoop some of the material out of the jar that he processed the boy’s reaction to his previous excitement. Setting the binder onto the scale he looked at him from across the table carefully. “Why not?” René gave him a curious look. “If your commanders demand it of you to serve the greater good and protect humanity from those of your kind who would do the world harm, wouldn’t it be better to do it?” The engineer shrugged and went back to the task at hand. “I’m sure they’ve already thought of several ways to use your unique ability to benefit the Order, whether or not you're keen on it.”
“They can’t make me," the boy responded, moving away from the table, "I’m not going to be a stupid monster like them, and I don’t have any abilities."
“The way you said that isn’t convincing anyone.” Ephemera looked around the lab at the others working within. His voice lowered, and he continued, his voice growing tense. “You and I both know that’s a bald-faced lie. I imagine they told you and your mates to fight, and when you refused they became more persuasive.”
Gold orbs stared at the brunet with softness his face did not reflect. It appeared stony and frozen in indifference, but the compassion in his gaze spoke volumes of a past he feared the child across from him was experiencing in his present. Memories, uninvited to the forefront of his mind, pushed into his peripheral vision. He took a breath and steadied himself. He didn't have to remember it. None of it was worth remembering. It was better left to the past where it belonged.
"I have no idea what you are talking about."
What Mathis didn’t say, the engineer could interpret from his body language. It was just as he feared. The cruelty behind the program he had endured at the Academy was well and alive in the Americas, too. Of course it was. There were no other explanations for the presence of child-soldiers on the battlefield. The blond was certain there were key differences. After all, where was the Academy of the Holy Order North American chapter for learning? Were they not getting the adequate education intended for future officers? The same ones that would act as child prodigies in recruitment posters and brochures? René turned away and finished the measurements for the tablet. It was clear from the boy’s disposition he was as ready to leave as Ephemera. Gathering the contents he’d measured out, he left the child to his thoughts. As he neared the dry powder mixer, a staff member stepped in his way.
“I’m sorry, but lab staff only.” They offered their hands to take the container from him.
“Oh, yes, of course. How silly of me. When will the tablets be done?” The response came quickly: another four hours. He grimaced before looking back at Mathis. “It appears your medicine won’t be prepared for a while longer. Have you had breakfast?”
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