Day 63: Bus 1

[gald_digger]

As soon as Anise achieved wakefulness, the Head Doctor's words from the previous night immediately came floating back into her mind. People were getting sick. They were going to turn into monsters. That thought alone was chilling enough, but it was nothing compared to the terror that struck her when she sat up and saw her own hand. A red blotch covered the back of it, extending upwards to the wrist. Where did that come from?

The signs are already showing. That was what Landel said.

It couldn't be. Not her. If it was really true, then her life was as good as over. No... it had to be a mistake. Maybe the Head Doctor's words had scared her to the point that she was attributing random things to his threats. She was being paranoid. That was all it was.

And yet, no matter how many times she told herself that, she feared what might happen.

A nurse came to her soon, bearing an outfit for her to wear on the field trip. The striped shirt and gray skirt weren't particularly appealing to Anise, but the purple coat she was given wasn't so bad. It was a little big on her, but it was a nice, feminine color... and the extra long sleeves served to cover most of the strange rash. Anise didn't want to look at it, and she sure as heck didn't want anyone else seeing it.

When it was time to board the buses, Anise quietly took the lunch bag, climbed aboard, and sat down. She didn't look anyone in the eye. Even after sitting down, she merely stared down at the contents of her bag. The muffin didn't look the least bit appetizing - not while her stomach was busy twisting itself into knots, anyway.

[free!]

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[a_sin_for_him]

So this was the trip into town that she had heard so much about.

Lust hadn't known what to expect, and her thoughts come morning hadn't been on the day ahead. Rather, the night behind. Some progress made and she knew she should be pleased with that. But there were still so many questions! They chased one another round and round her mind and sometimes it felt like her head was going to burst!

She didn't imagine this little jaunt was going to clear anything up, either. But she was content enough with the clothing the nurse gave her - a cream colored sweater and a long green skirt with a black long jacket - and they were being given money. Or whatever apparently passed for money in this place. What sort of things could be bought in this town? The packet of vouchers gave some insight into what to expect, but only a small glimpse.

And now, on the bus, Lust realized how good it felt to be getting out of the institute. She didn't mind it as much as others she'd met, but now almost beyond them she felt the constraints of the walls.

Now if only she had some pleasant company for the trip....

[Free as a bird!]

[seekingmystrength]

[Yours if you want him. Just let him leave if you don't?]

"Sit down Mr. Cross, right there!" With how Kurogane had been acting that morning, the nurse had had it with her charge and was intent on making him miserable for at least one part of the morning if she had her say. Currently she was forcing him towards sitting with a woman already on the bus. "Lord knows you need to learn how to talk to a woman properly," she huffed, her look daring him to ignore.

Kurogane growled low, wondering why the hell she'd care how he spoke to others. He'd never said more than a few words to her, and most of those had been out of earshot. Just to get her off of him, he took the pointed seat long enough to watch the nurse stomp off before moving to get up.

[a_sin_for_him]

"Getting frisky with the nursing staff?" Lust raised an eyebrow as the man was deposited beside her. She was mostly teasing - she couldn't imagine the situation here was that desperate. It was interesting, the way the staff treated them by day. Did they know anything at all?

[seekingmystrength]

Kurogane looked back to the seat, better taking in the woman he'd been directed towards. There were so few women in this place that it was hard not to notice the few there were. This one he'd seen before, a long time back. Like that Renji guy, he'd seen her then but not for a good while. Either he'd not been paying enough attention, or she'd been one of those who had gone and come back.

Whatever.

"Who'd want to?" he grumbled, still angry at the woman, but partially at himself. Another night of chaos and a morning just as terrible had put him in a worse mood than even his normal, and snapping at his nurse had seemed a good way to relieve the stress at the time. Now it just seemed like a poor decision on his part. Being sick was hell for his senses.

[a_sin_for_him]

Lust shrugged and glanced out the window before looking back to her current companion.

"In this place? Who knows? Stranger things have happened." She shifted slightly in her seat, leaning back against the crook of seat back and window to better appraise whatever his name turned out to be. "I'm sure someone's tried it in an effort to glean information."

Pity so much of the staff was female, really.

"Have you been to town before?"

[seekingmystrength]

... she had a point.

Kurogane had seen every kind of idiot there, and probably every manner of staff too - from the Head Doctor right down to the most pathetic of lackeys. And that wasn't even counting the monsters he had met.

Taking in her reasoning more, he found himself lowering back into the seat. He wasn't used to speaking with women here, but by the way she spoke, she appeared to be thinking about the aspects of this place more than most of the patients he got saddled with. Maybe he'd learn something useful from her as he had with Hijikata.

"Yeah. It's nothing much during the day, but it can be hell at night if they leave us." The subsequent times there had been less monsters roaming the streets, but after that first night he wasn't leaving anything to chance. Landel could always pull a repeat performance if it struck his twisted fancy.

[a_sin_for_him]

"Leave us? Overnight in the town?" Lust's eyebrow shot up and she leaned forward, suddenly very interested in this surprisingly helpful young man. "How do they contain us? What measures are in place to keep us prisoners if left in the town overnight?"

She assumed it fell prey to the same changes as the institute, turning decrepit and filled with danger. But it was a town. It wasn't the same, and the force and foresight needed to turn it to something akin to a cattle pen would be...well...worrying, to put it mildly.

[seekingmystrength]

Her wording confused him a moment, enough for him to turn his expression down on her in consideration. Contain? They weren't contained when that event happened. Unless there was something he was unaware of, there had been more than one patient who had left the town then - one in a car they'd hotwired.

"We weren't held there," he eventually settled on for an answer, "If you're asking why no one got away, it's cuz we woke up back there when it was all over," he added with a thumb back over his shoulder.