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!]

Comments

[nobleman]

"Remember how I told you when we first talked in this place about how you've come and gone from here before?" Luke never remembered his previous times, even though there were cases where that happened. Guy didn't know why it was that his friend in particular was targeted so consistently, but it probably had something to do with him being a replica. Which really only made Guy more nervous, but physically Luke seemed fine.

Still, what was happening to him in those times when he was gone?

"There's no saying for sure where people go when they vanish like that, but most people assume that they're... well, convinced that they're someone else." The very idea of it was disturbing, but they'd given proof countless times that it was possible.

At that point the bus started, and while Guy was still charmed by the vehicle, he couldn't focus that much on it when he was talking with Luke about something so dreary.

[dispersive]

"Ah, right. I guess I forgot..." Luke had been too pre-occupied with other but equally disturbing thoughts since Guy and he talked. He knew that wasn't much of an excuse and if he had to be honest with himself, he may have actually shoved that information in the darkest recesses of his mind so he could plausibly ignore it.

The replica knew that the latter of his hang-ups was more damaging; the young man had seen first hand what ignorance could do to a whole nation, let alone one person. Still, he needed more information on these spontaneous disappearances before he could really help.

"At least they're alive," Luke suggested to put a bit of a more optimistic spin on the problem, but it was hard to pick between two evils. The redhead hadn't liked either of them, personally. "So--Whoa!" There was a sudden lurch and the sound of something big and metal turning over. A vibration began across the bus, up his seat, and through his whole body. As they began to move forward, the change in inertia pushed Luke back against his seat.

"Damn, it's really loud!" He had to speak up to be heard over the engine and the conversations of the seated patients all around them. The Albiore had been rather noisy outside of it, but inside there had only been a smooth white noise. This bumble bee snarled like a beast.

[nobleman]

Luke made a good point. Being brainwashed was better than being dead, because it meant that there was still a chance of returning to normalcy. Then again, even death wasn't a permanent thing here. Guy wasn't willing to just brush it off when it happened, of course, because there was never any guarantee that someone was going to come back.

And even if they did, a lot of the time things were missing.

Unfortunately, his particular problem there was brought up when Luke reacted to the bus moving. Guy's first response was to laugh, mainly because Luke was the sort of person who reacted to the smallest things. It was because even now, a lot was still new to him, and this place was different from home.

"Not as streamlined as what we're used to, huh?" The sentence left his mouth before he realized it, and then he tried to figure out what he meant. The Tartarus, right? But... there was something else. He'd been on an airship, and part of him knew that, but he just couldn't fill in the blanks there.

He fell silent as he tried to sort through it, but ended up just shaking his head as if to clear it. "Anyway... how have things been for you? I mean, besides the sleeping."

[dispersive]

"Yeah, really," Luke agreed wholeheartedly. You got real spoiled when you had your own airship and pilot at your beck and call. Then again, it wasn't like they had very much time to just cruise and enjoy the scenery anyway. "But I guess, well... This isn't so bad..." he mumbled looking out the window beside Guy. "I mean, it's faster than a carriage, but you can actually see stuff and not just the clouds..." He was pretty sure Keterburg was really pretty but who would ever know since it's always clogged clouds!

He was grateful for the change in subject after he had admitted to something rather odd. Not that Guy would hold scenery-gazing against him, but it sounded kind of stupid in words.

"Things have been fine, I guess--" A memory hit him and he began laughing. "Though, ha! I did meet this one girl! She was really weird. She thought she was a horse and then she got in a fight with my roommate--It was really bizarre..."

[nobleman]

It was good to see that Luke had gotten to a point where he could appreciate things rather than just complaining. There was almost always an upside to things, and this bus was no different. Well, Guy had never had a bad thing to say about the vehicle in the first place, but Luke had never shared his interest in fontech. Which was a shame, really, but he'd moved past that. At least he had some friends and acquaintances here who he could talk to about those things.

He had to admit he was shocked when Luke related a story about someone he'd met. To tell the truth, Guy just wasn't used to Luke making friends in general. There were the people they'd traveled with and become close to over the years, but they'd all ended up in that situation by circumstance. Maybe Landel's was the same, but it was still good to know that Luke was branching out and relating to others.

Guy couldn't help but be proud. Luke had come a long way. A few years ago he probably wouldn't have given any of the people here the light of day. "A horse, huh? Well, for all we know she might actually be one. There are some people here who... well, let's just say they don't look the way they're supposed to. But what's your roommate like?" Guy hoped that Luke got along with whoever it was, but he realized that others might not be as lucky with roommates as he was with Okita.