Day 63: Bus 3 (Evening)

[lighthearted]

Sora had to admit, that soup had definitely hit the spot even if he'd had to force the first few bites down. His stomach was full and warm and while the fever was definitely still there, it felt more manageable now that he had some fuel in his system. It was too bad he couldn't carry a water bottle around or something, since that would have also been a help with cooling him down.

Then again, the wind seemed to be doing a fine job of that on its own. A nurse made sure to walk with him as they moved back toward the buses, doing her best to shield him from the wind with her body. It was something that Sora actually appreciated; she didn't have to do that, after all, and with how weak he felt right now fighting the wind was pretty tough.

Still, they made it back safe and sound, and Sora boarded the bus, realizing at a delay that he hadn't even bought anything on the trip. It was a waste, but he wasn't going to dwell on it too much. He already had enough on his mind as it was. Like the fact that he hadn't seen Riku and Kairi all day and couldn't have told them about his illness even if he wanted to. He'd at least had the chance to make plans with Tsubaki, but still, where were his friends? If there was a time when they should have been around, it was now.

Sora leaned against the window, keeping an eye on the other patients that were approaching. He wiped his hand over his forehead and found that it was still covered with a thin sheen of sweat. Not much he could do about that unless he found some medicine or Dr. Facilier worked out a cure. One step at a time, right? He could beat this.

[For Albedo and Nigredo.]

Comments

[freewill]

Being told by the nurses that they would be leaving for the institute was, in fact, a relief this time around. It meant that both he and Renamon were allowed to escape the attentions of that one over-eager woman. After having most of the townspeople be either wary of him or just completely ignore him, it was odd to have one show so much interest.

The walk back to the bus was difficult, with the wind whipping between his ears and making the pounding inside his head feel more pronounced as a result. Castiel was compliant as the nurses searched him, and it was a fast process seeing how he hadn't bought a single thing on the trip.

The bus offered some quiet, but he knew that would only last for so long. More patients were going to pile on and fill it with their conversations; while he normally wouldn't have cared, an excess of sound seemed to only make the headache worse. The windows were rattling from the wind as well, but that was slightly easier to tune out.

The oddest thing was realizing that he had a desire to close his eyes and actually rest. Angels didn't do that, ever, and the only time he slept here was when he was forced into it. Doing it voluntarily seemed wrong, and his saving grace was that he was sure it would be impossible with the noise level.

Instead, he tried to distract himself by gazing out the window, watching the other patients and also the descent of the sun in the sky.

[For Soma.]

[madeinthehrl]

In the end, Soma had decided against buying anything. There wasn't much she really needed that she'd be able to get past the nurses, and she wasn't really in the right state of mind to argue with them if they decided to confiscate anything.

She'd hoped the fresh air would do her some good, but the truth was that she felt even worse by the end of the day. It took effort to even keep walking, and it almost felt like she had to pull herself up the steps and into the bus. She didn't dare pull down her mitten and check on the rash for fear it had spread. Until they figured out what was going on, it was probably best to hide it.

The bus was still relatively empty when she boarded. She spotted Sora sitting alone and gave him a brief smile as she passed, but it was the other passenger on board who caught her attention. She hadn't seen Castiel for a few days; even if she didn't know him very well, he might still be interested in discussing what had gone on that night. Brief acquaintance or not, that wasn't something you just brushed off easily.

She paused beside his seat, inclining her head in greeting. "Is this seat taken?"

[freewill]

Castiel spotted Soma as she made her way down the middle of the bus, watching her curiously. The two of them hadn't spoken in person since that night when they had been collected for that mission, and he wasn't certain that she had anything else to say to him after that encounter. That was answered soon enough, however, as she drew closer and asked if she could sit.

He motioned to the empty space, moving over slightly to make sure she would have enough room to sit by him. "Hello, Soma," he greeted, not sure how else to start the conversation. They had witnessed something of great interest together, but he didn't know much about her beyond that. Perhaps it didn't matter.

"I take it you've been spreading word as much as possible? Have you discovered anything else of interest since that night?" He'd learned an extra tidbit from Renamon, but it was possible Soma already knew that the two traitors had been successful in their escape.

[dividedby]

Despite spending it almost entirely in a new, likely very important location, Zero's day felt like it had lasted longer than it really had. Not much had been accomplished outside of conversation, especially since his purchased first aid kit was still not being returned to him (and probably wouldn't ever be returned to him, knowing his nurse)... Notes on the bulletin board had been somewhat informative today, though. If not a little worrisome.

He had a mission tonight, at the very least. Go to the medical wing and find medication for the ill prisoners, medicines whose names ended in...'cilin' and 'mycin', as one note on the board had said. No idea what those were, so he could only trust that the person who'd posted the note was being honest about those types of medicine being helpful. He wouldn't be the only one doing this, though, as another prisoner had volunteered over the board to find medicine; said prisoner also seemed to believe those medicines would help, so there was a little support for the idea from someone else, at least.

... Although, Zero wasn't so sure a return trip to the medical wing, after the events of two nights ago, would be very safe for him right now, especially since his right arm was still healing. However, time was against everyone here, and if he didn't do something now...

He would just have to be extra careful when going out tonight, he decided. The once-Reploid boarded the bus his obnoxious nurse led him to and took an empty seat, pondering his route tonight and what might happen as far as the threatened infection was concerned. Social interaction with the other prisoners around him, meanwhile, was nowhere near his internal list of 'things to do right now'.

[At least, not until that fabulous vampire comes along....]

[not_heavens_adam]

Johnny's day was, altogether, pleasant. He met some interesting people and had some interesting conversations and had gotten to peruse the town to the extent of his interest. Nothing had seemed overly interesting to him, though he'd contemplated buying cigarettes and thought better of it; he was in a mental institute, surely that wouldn't have gone over very well with his near-stalker of a nurse. Besides, now he actually needed to breathe, so who knew how that might go over when trying to smoke. Really, the best part was that, because his nurse was always just a few steps behind him as if waiting for the vampire to do something, it meant Johnny always had a victim at hand when he got bored enough.

Johnny figured the poor man was probably going to ask to switch charges with another nurse soon enough, as soon as he got sick of all the flirting, anyway. Johnny suspected the nurse was more than happy the day was ending and the time had come to head back, it meant he could lead Johnny to a bus and leave him there without being tormented. Ah well...that just meant the vampire had to find someone else to entertain him.

Once he was on the bus, his eyes swept the faces and he was surprised to notice he actually recognized a few. He hadn't expected to start recognizing people so soon. However, he was much more interested in the faces he didn't know and one such face caught his attention.

Sauntering over, he slid next to the long-haired man without so much as a hello or a request to join him. "Aaah~ I hope the ride doesn't take too long~ I've never been fond of cars."

[dividedby]

Unfortunately, it seemed like avoiding social contact on the ride back to the Institute would not be happening, for it wasn't long before an unfamiliar man took the empty seat beside Zero and the first thing that came out of his mouth was some useless comment about cars. Worse yet, he spoke in an obnoxiously cheery tone like he'd known the Reploid all his life.

Why was this guy giving off a weird vibe...

... In any case, hopefully he wasn't expecting a response, because he wasn't going to get one. Zero acknowledged his existence by looking over and staring at him with his usual stoic expression, and that was it.

[complicatedliar]

Loki was heartily annoyed that his solder had been confiscated upon arriving at the bus. There was little he could do about it, however. An ineffectual tantrum would have only undone all of his groundwork with ingratiating himself to the staff, and achieved nothing besides. So with a cheerful apology that he hadn't known he wasn't allowed such a thing, he moved onto the bus. There were several people he recognized, but the only one he would have wanted to talk to again so soon - Soma - was already discussing something with Castiel.

He moved toward the back of the bus and slid into a seat, then pulled out the engineer's notebook he'd purchased and started reading over the circuit diagrams and calculations. Once he had a better idea of the available technology, he'd be able to start using it.

[Badd]

[tasteoftruth]

He had his mirror and his candies and he'd made somewhat of a difference in a small child's life today. And Byrne was pissy at him but that was starting to become so normal that Badd almost ignored its contribution to the day's mood. Today had been useful. That was it.

Now he just needed to get back to the institute without anything annoying happening. He picked a seat by someone intent on a book, someone who looked appropriately nerdy and quiet. That seemed like the sort of person who wouldn't give a man like him trouble.

Except the book itself caught Badd's attention.

"What is all that?" he asked, opening his free lunch on his lap. It looked like something technological, which was of course far beyond him in even the most simple of details.

[complicatedliar]

Loki had been set to ignore the man who sat next to him - he didn't much care for rude people who presumed to invade his space without bothering to introduce themselves - only he couldn't resist an opening like that. He glanced sideways at the man, letting the book fall closed while holding his place with his thumb as he made a show of inspecting it.

"A book, I should think," he said, voice and expression deadpan. "Pages stitched or glued together and hidden behind a cover. That would seem to fit the description."

At which point someone at the front of the bus started yelling. Loki craned his neck a bit to look up over the seat, frowning with distaste. "And that, I believe, is what's commonly known as an idiot."

[atrabilis]

[Bromodding approved.]

Nigredo hated life--its fleeting trips and whims, its unwanted fractures, to its very core. But as life happened in spite of one's wishes, as a girl had ruined the careful setup he knew would fall, the boy allowed the passage into the next and kept his complaints to the bare minimum. He had nothing in terms of them, after all. Nothing in regards to his own, that is.

The one who had legitimate issues, however, took this time to proclaim otherwise and pressed waveform to waveform. How Albedo could do so was beyond Nigredo. Was it not the elder who had experienced loss? And still, he would continue as if it could be shared. The younger had not forgotten that look, that carefully placed gaze.

"It might affect." Hm. Nigredo smiled wanely at his brother, an expression that soon vanished beneath the flushed skin. The thought was soon lost within the transition; a nurse found them dawdling near the buses and ushered them into the nearest vehicle.

It was here the boy recognized an acquaintance. He had the strange hair and the blue enough eyes to catch anyone's attention, but it was his apparent malady that drew Nigredo's line of sight. Sora appeared sick, in the way Nigredo felt. Keeping one hand attached to Albedo, the U.R.T.V. stepped toward their brother's friend. "Sora," he started. "Hello."

[purgatio]

Idiot brother. The idiot brother that Albedo loved and adored beyond measure. His piece was shared, and to the conjoined hands, Albedo snuggled up against Nigredo's arm, content and secure with his younger brother near him. As just shown-- Nigredo wouldn't willingly allow harm to touch him. He could relax.

On the buses, however, things shifted, and Nigredo stopped to greet another. Albedo lifted his head off of Nigredo's shoulder and peered past him to the brunette. Sora. Right. He knew him, too.

A wave of shyness uncharacteristic to this time's version of himself swept through him, and Albedo didn't care enough to try to force it away. He pressed his face back against Nigredo's arm and kept silent.

[lighthearted]

A few more people got onto the bus and Sora watched as Soma went to sit with a man he didn't know and Lingormr sat down by himself. That was probably all for the best, seeing how what the boy really needed to do right now was rest.

Even as he was letting his eyes start to droop closed, however, he heard someone speak his name, causing him to jolt awake and stare into a pair of identical faces. Nigredo and Albedo. Sora had interacted with both of them, but never together, and the similarity between them stood out far more when they were standing side-by-side.

Except that Albedo was being strangely quiet -- maybe he was in a bad mood, or wasn't feeling well? Sora frowned for a moment, but decided to focus on Nigredo. He was the one he could feel more relaxed around anyway, right?

"Hey, guys," he greeted. "Did you need something, or were you just looking for a place to sit?" There were still plenty of empty seats, but Sora didn't have it in him to tell them to get sit elsewhere even with how tired he was feeling. If they wanted to keep him company, who was he to say no?

[thecamellia]

_[Kurogane!]

With the day drawing to a close, it was inevitable that the nurses started escorting prisoners back to the buses. That was good, though, right? It meant they wouldn’t be stuck outside after dark…

Except inside wasn’t much safer, really.

Either way, Tsubaki didn’t have much choice but to follow along. Once she had taken a seat on one of the buses, she settled her bag on her lap and sat back to wait. The window was a little grimy but it didn’t stop her from peering out at the shapes of boarding passengers.

[seekingmystrength]

He'd been fortunate enough to spend the rest of his time in the Bar without bother. The wary looks of the bartender had been easy enough to ignore, and since the ninja had followed the rule of one glass at a time, there hadn't been any issues until the funds on the card ran out. With the weather going bad and the nurses being their annoying selves, his stay in the bar had been extended until it was time to head for the buses.

Not that he minded.

He was hoping for a ride back that was just as calm as the bar, and took a seat to himself near the back. Slumping against the window, he sighed and gave his arm a look over, finding the rash had gotten worse.

[thecamellia]

There was always the chance someone would sit down beside her first, but Tsubaki rather hoped she would be able to talk to more of her acquaintances. Daylight was fading fast and being able to check up on people would be especially hard once night settled in.

There were some familiar faces engaged in conversations of their own--she found herself listing them off in her head (as well as covertly looking for signs of illness) before movement out of the corner of her eye drew her attention back to the boarding prisoners. Hmm? There was a tall figure in the aisle, one that Tsubaki immediately recognized. Oh hey, Kurogane was on her bus again! That was a fortunate coincidence. He, on the other hand, seemed to have no interest looking for a spot amongst the other prisoners. He went straight to the back and squeezed himself into a seat as she watched.

Hmm… this looked like an opportunity! Without further ado, Tsubaki slid out of her seat to join the man in the back. “Kurogane-san--”

But that was as far as she got before being interrupted.

Toward the front of the bus, another tall man talking, projecting his voice over top of the chatter, and it effectively drowned out what she had been about to say. Huh? What was going on?

[toxicspiderman]

S.T. grabbed a window seat on the bus. Getting on first meant putting up with whoever sat next to him.

Then again, in this scenario, he was probably the twitchy old crazy guy who would talk your ear off. He wasn't drunk, or high, but a month without regular coffee and his body had detoxed enough that a quart or so of high-test had his fingers tapping on his knee.

The buses were on time, which wasn't quite a disappointment. Zombies were becoming old hat. Even if he'd never been big into hunting. It was simple. Bash their heads in or die. No mystical shit or false hope. The geek usually bit it halfway through.

The wind had hit at least twenty, twenty-five knots out there. The windows were creaking, and the trees in the part were thrashing. Not enough to make it dangerous on land. Unless you were a sentient umbrella. He hadn't met any of those here yet.

[diamondstorm]

At least they weren't going to be stuck in Doyleton this time--which she was seeing as a mixed blessing. Item gathering would be easier without the use of the ring, but the mass amount of people unable to properly combat the zombi would be a nearly unacceptable loss. The last time there had been more injuries than she wanted to attest. Still. To the Digimon at least, combat was something familiar and almost comforting. A far easier thought process than the mysteries of the institute that had trapped them.

Renamon sighed quietly as she walked down the bus aisle, slipping into one of the few empty seats left. "Excuse me," was her quiet allowance, and then her eyes slid upward, placing the face to a memory. "--Ah." Something belated, but-- She bowed her head slightly. "Thank you." To the one that had offered her medicine a few days ago when she insisted on movement rather than rest. It was an undeniable kindness that the Digimon had not expected, and she was grateful.

[toxicspiderman]

People didn't start a conversation by thanking S.T. very often. It took him a minute to place the face -- he'd handed her some painkillers. Sounds like they'd helped. "No problem. You look better."

Usually, gratitude meant someone knew of him. He did most of his good deeds in the aggregate. Like that lawyer who'd had a tire patch kit -- most of those guys liked to look out from his twentieth story office and think the Harbor looked beautiful and pat himself on the back for giving a percentage point to GEE. That one had stopped, which was rarer than perfect LSAT scores. S.T. tried to stay humble.

The woman looked healed, but tired. Weary. He'd seen her a dozen times in the halls. Hell, she'd been around as long as he had, hadn't she? That would bring anyone down. The bus engine turned over, and they pulled away from the curb. "Looks like we dodged a bullet this time," he added, flapping a hand at the window. "I'm not sure if I'm glad to avoid zombie whack-a-mole or terminally bored."

[firewhichrefines]

Close, and yet not close enough, was becoming more the rule than the exception. But Sasuke had spent the day not in the habitual frustration but thoughtfully, taking advantage of the relative freedom in the town to eat in peace (without his nurse's harassment) and find a solitude he hadn't realised he had missed so much. In the quiet of a park, perched high in the branches of an older tree, he had had time to consider the disparate information he'd managed to collect in the sparse times he'd been left conscious.

Sakura had been feeling the same effect as she spent more and more time here. She'd thought it was the food, but that hadn't been the case when they'd first started here. Was it a slow-acting poison, perhaps? Calibrated to build up just enough to prevent tolerance, or designed to linger in the bloodstream and grow in effectiveness?

For the first time, Sasuke wished he'd paid more attention to Kabuto and Orochimaru's many seemingly-useless experiments. Their inhumanity could have come in more than a little handy in a 'hospital' that treated its patients with the same sort of care.

In any case, it was clear that there was no choice but to press on with the one lead he had found and attempt to discover as much as he could. So many of his avenues of information had vanished: without information of his own, there would be little hope of rebuilding that network. That meant exploration of all that had become available with the -- with killing Sai for Aguilar's entertainment. That, and keeping closer tabs on all those he spoke with; the turnover here had been so great lately that there was no telling which of his allies had 'left' and which remained.

Occupied with these thoughts and wearing an expression of seriousness rather unusual on so young a face, Sasuke made a somewhat forbidding presence in the bus seats as his nurse left him to "rest after a tiring fun day!"

With the number of patients filing into the limited space, however, it was clear that he was going to have to share space eventually.

[[FOR A NINJA TURTLE]]

[heroesdontshave]

Just like last week, the staff started making their rounds and gathered everyone up for the ride back. He'd already been through this once, but it already felt like routine. And for the record, he hated routine. That wasn't what he was thinking about right then, though. He was too focused on a sinking revelation.

He was really stupid, huh? Selfish and stupid. See, as far as he was concerned, getting out of here wasn't a top priority. There wasn't really much doubt in his mind that if he wanted to break out of this place, he could. It's just that he didn't want to. Not yet, anyway. Finding Serah, Lightning, and the other people who got taken away to who-knows-where was all he cared about. After he'd busted those people out, then he'd work to find the bastards in charge and blow this place apart so nothing like this could ever happen again. So "escape" didn't really factor into his thoughts much.

But other people didn't feel that way, and it was something he hadn't realized at all until it was pointed out to him today. Other people were miserable. They wanted to go home. These aren't fighters or soldiers; they were just some poor people who got taken from their homes without warning and shoved in here. Saving everyone would be nice, yeah, but that wasn't something they were worried about. All they wanted was to get out. Sora. Izaya. Even Hope had said it. And what had Snow done? He'd rejected that without thinking. He'd said they couldn't leave yet. And he'd just been... going along with this whole mess, hoping to find the others without even thinking about the people who were already here. In other words, he'd let those who expected more from him down. Really bad.

He was so busy repeating this realization over and over in his head, that he didn't even notice he'd been led back to those yellow vehicles again until he was already on line. And that's when the deja vu hit him full force. Lines of people, all scared and reluctant as they were forced into vehicles to be carried off to some place they didn't even want to go. It was like The Purge all over again. There were a few differences here, though. During The Purge, any civilians trying to make a break for it were shot on the spot. The staff didn't have guns. Oh, the soldiers during last week's little trip had had guns (concealed but they were still there). But this week, their escorts were completely unarmed. One other difference? This wasn't a train they were being led into. It was a small vehicle. With wheels. It could go anywhere they wanted, not just a track. And if people could break loose and bust out of a train, something like this should have been no big deal at all.

Snow was completely silent as he followed his line, closer and closer, until he finally climbed up the little steps into the vehicle and he was looking down the narrow aisle. This was the part where he was supposed to start looking for some place to sit. But he didn't move. He just stood there, blocking the aisle and staring out at the rest of the people already seated there. By this point, he had mentally worked himself up so much, he was almost kind of pissed.

"So this is it, huh?" His voice wasn't a yell, but it was loud enough to be heard even above the minimal conversation. "We just run around outside for a little while whenever they say it's okay then we file in when it's time to go back? Then what? We sit around and wait like a buncha trained dogs til they give us the okay again? That what you all want?!

"Listen, I get that not everyone here's a fighter... but if we just keep goin' along with this, we're gonna stay stuck in here forever. Don't you see? We can't do it anymore! We can't just do nothing! The way I see it, you can all sit around day after day and wait for someone to come along and save you, -or- you can stand up and make somethin' happen yourself!"

A nurse outside finally noticed Snow hadn't moved further into the bus and poked her head through the doorway of the bus. "Mr. Davidson..."

"Don't let 'em trick you into thinkin' you're helpless. You're not! You just gotta stand up and try!"

"Mr. Davidson."

"We can all get outta here right now if we want. But we all gotta do this. Together! We only get ONE shot."

"Mr. Davidson!" At this point, the woman was no longer calling for his attention. She was scolding, trying to interrupt his tirade. And she was climbing up the stairs of the bus to meet him. But he hadn't turned around to address her yet. He was focused and determined, staring at the rest of the bus, hoping they would understand.

[Bring it, nurses! Your hideous scrubs don't scare me!]

[ichangedforgood]

Robin was already on the bus. She'd made her purchases and been otherwise focused on mapping the city. She always focused on reconnaissance first, actions second.

That was why when a loud man gave a speech at the front of the bus, she had the decency to listen... but not to join him. Her mind immediately began working - the nurse was clearly vested in settling him down. And why shouldn't she? He was calling the other patients to arms. She wondered how long he had been a patient at this establishment to speak this way, to incite a riot that she suspected had not been planned out in advance. He was simply hoping for the best, playing on people's emotions to unite with him now rather than in secret before this crusade.

Idiot.

That was when she started to concoct a plan of her own... just as soon as more of the Landel's staff got involved.

[damned_nurses]

Mr. Davidson had a knack for causing trouble (which was saying it lightly), but she had never thought he would resort to making such a ruckus in front of his peers when they were in the middle of a trip. The nurse slid up the bus steps with practiced ease, an exasperated look written clearly across her face.

"Mr. Davidson, please." She pressed one hand against her hip while the other gestured toward the bus seats. "Take your seat. Now is not the time for this."

[forsworn]

His purchase made, Kratos boarded the bus with mostly the night's plans in mind. He had told Sora earlier that the club would need to shift focus toward finding a cure in the limited amount of time that they still had, but where would be a good place to start? Personally, he knew nothing about the sorts of medicines that existed in this world, although he doubted that any of them would be useful in curing an infection that turned you into a monster. They needed to find someone who was good with this sort of thing...

Where are you when I actually have need of you, Raine?

He was shaken out of his thoughts as one of the patients stood up and began making a sort of speech. The gist of what the enormous man was trying to say became clear very soon, and with a sigh, Kratos settled back into his seat and resigned himself to whatever was about to happen. For a second, he actually contemplated getting up and joining, if only because a part of him was struck by the speech, but that idea was quickly struck down.

Peace and quiet: was it so much to ask for?

[hey Flynn]

[brokensmolder]

[sorry for lateness! D:]

Eugene was pouting.

That evil woman with the needles (no longer even remotely attractive in his eyes after their struggle this morning) had decided that he and Rapunzel had spent far too much time together today and forcibly separated them. Now he was stuck in the "bus" (still out to get him) alone without a shoulder to lean on.

He went to the back of the bus and found an empty seat, sitting sideways and stretching his long legs across the aisle. He was just studying the man across from him (tall, red hair, vaguely annoyed expression) when someone stood up in front and started shouting about freedom.

He couldn't resist a catcall or two.

"Tried that this morning, Goldilocks," he called over the guy's shouting. "The delightful young ladies with the needles didn't like it too much."

Eugene looked over to the man across the aisle, whose expression had gone from "vaguely annoyed" to just "annoyed."

"You know...I don't see this ending very well for our noisy friend up there."

[ippo]

Ippo had hoped for a calm and boring end to his day out in Doyleton, but that had apparently been too big a wish to grant. He had taken the closest seat open when his nurse escorted him back on his bus. Sweaty and sore, the young man felt better than he had in a long while since he had been incarcerated here.

He saw Snow step onto his bus, but when the handsome blond stopped, a knot of dread began to tie itself up in Ippo's stomach. And then the man began to talk, to rally the patients. The boxer would have been lying if he said the speech hadn't struck a chord in him and made his heart beat all the more quickly.

Ippo wanted to believe the same thing Snow did. He wanted to muster that same courage that the tall man found and that he found in the ring, but he was too embarrassed to stand up on his own. Taking a quick look around the bus, he realized no one else seemed to stir. There were questioning faces, hesitation, private whispers to other patients, and some even began to encourage his behavior from the sidelines, but no one stood up.

Eventually Ippo did, but not for what Snow wanted. The blond needed to realize that sometimes heroism came with tremendous backlash. He had had enough of that and Ippo was sure many of the others had as well. Snow was right, but this wasn't the time to prove it all alone. It was hard, but the boxer got to his feet and ever so slowly moved one step forward.

"I--Well, that is... I--" It was hard to form the words, but Ippo did it for the man's sake. "--think you should s-sit down. This... probably isn't a good i... idea."