Togusa grips the coffee cup tight. Even with all the sweetness of the cream, he barely tastes it, the tang of adrenaline overpowering anything else. "If Retrospec is getting us ready for something, I wish they would get on with telling us what it is."

"And stop crippling people in the meantime. I'm usually the first to try to find what their reason is, but this second? I don't give a damn." A deep sigh.

"I had to talk to Barnes' dad, James couldn't come up with a good explanation on his own. I have never spun a lie so fast in my life. But it's fucked up that I have to lie in the first place."

Fynn gives Togusa another sympathetic glance. "Imagine if they did tell us. Just how many not us would try to run? Think about it. Not everyone is built for this kind of stuff." He states as he gazes upon the city before them. From here everything looks so normal, so mundane. However, that couldn't be any further from the truth.

"It's kind of hard to give a damn about the 'why's' when they're running people's lives." He whispers more to himself than tho Togusa. "I don't even know what Barnes is suppose to do anymore. He's too young to be some damn cripple. The boy isn't even eighteen and now he loses his arm?"

He pauses once he hears that last bit. "What did you...tell him?"

Edited 2017-10-19 02:36 am (UTC)

Togusa's eyes shut in a pained sympathy for a second. Definitely not his proudest moment. "Had to claim it was a car accident. What else could do that much damage that suddenly? Driver conveniently had to have died." He sounds sour about that part.

He pauses for a long time, so long it might seem that is all Togusa is going to say on the matter, until he shakes his head. "There's a surgical option. Something that I remember, Retrospec has shown it to me. More of the micromachines, but they're temporary, one-time use, burn up fast. Program them to do a surgery, the heal time is a lot faster."

He waves a hand in the vague direction of the hospital, even though they are very far from it. "Go talk to any surgeon in there, and they'll be able to explain it better than I can." He lets his hand fall. "But it makes me wonder if it's only an option because of me." And yet that makes him sound more defeated than ever.

"A car accident?" Fynn frowns quite a bit when he hears that. "Christ, Togusa! What if the father demands to see the proof? What then? Are you going to forge the entire incident?" There's such a thing as going too far into the rabbit's hole and this happens to be one of them.

"Micromachines? We're talking micro technology?" He arches his brow some. "I know from my memories that all sorts of miraculous wonders were bestowed to us by the fal'Cie. They could easily heal the wounded or sick. In fact, I don't remember anyone missing an arm or leg that wasn't reconstructed through science and technology." Fynn sits there and let's all the information stew for a bit before saying the following.

"Maybe." He replies after a moment of pensive silence. "But is that a bad thing?"

Togusa bristles, his patience far shorter than normal right now. "What the hell else was I supposed to say? How else does a kid lose an arm in a damn afternoon!" He puts the coffee cup down and runs a hand through his hair in frustration as he takes a long breath out. But he does listen. Fynn's not the person to be angry at.

Togusa slowly looks at Fynn in curiosity, melting some of the helpless feeling at the whole situation. He is remembering something similar? "fal'Cie?" He tries to repeat the unfamiliar word. "Something like what your brother can do?" He is slowly piecing together the picture of the world that the two of them (presumably) come from.

But Fynn's last comment is unnerving. Like Togusa can't just take the credit for this. "It'll have been one of the few good things Retrospec's done," he mutters.

His colleague's outburst is met with a deep sigh. "I know, I know..." Fynn mutters under his breath as he looks anywhere but in Togusa's direction. There wasn't much Togusa could say other than that but surely the parents would want to sue the deceased driver's family. That's what worries Fynn most about this grand lie. It could easily unravel at the seams if they're not careful.

"Not exactly." He mumbles his reply as he pries out a cigarette from his pocket. Bad habit, a new bad habit. Stress sort of steered Fynn down this path. "Or maybe it's just like his powers but humans aren't suppose to wield magic." Fynn comments as he lights up. After a few pulls, he explains.

"Ardyn's abilities are...unique." Fynn sighs. "Strangely unique. I still don't know what to think about them but I've never known man to erase time like that." That's exactly what Ardyn does, isn't? "He erases everything done to a person and heals them from head to toe. It's beyond simple tender caring and more like this supernatural bullshit I can't even begin to comprehend." There's an odd hint of bitterness in Fynn's tone that overwhelms him. Not jealousy but definitely something akin to anger.

"Remember, no good deed goes unpunished." A pause. "Ever."

"I've got to trust that James can keep his father focused on him." It's the best that Togusa can do. The man is dealing with enough, Togusa has to hope that it's too much for him to continue to pursue this.

Togusa eyes Fynn producing a cigarette cautiously. Not his choice, but it's a sign that Togusa isn't the only one strained right now. "Humans aren't supposed to wield magic?" Togusa repeats. "Is that why Ardyn's abilities come with so much of a cost? Whatever happened to him, it wasn't supposed to." He shakes his head.

"It's-" Hmm. "I worry for Ardyn. And he's the exact kind of person to lose himself to those abilities. He cares. A lot. It's. Strange. He makes himself so much larger than life, almost into a caricature, but I know he does think highly of himself, and somehow cares for himself last at the exact same time." He glances at Fynn. "The more you two can learn, maybe you can help him before it's too late."