damned_institute | Day 63: Bus 3 (Evening)

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.]

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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]

[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."

Ah, and now the man across from him had to exacerbate things, not only by taunting the instigator, but also by trying to involve him in this mess at the same time. No, it was not direct involvement, but Kratos would have honestly preferred to just stare out the window and pretend that he was totally unaware, deaf and ignorant to whatever was about to follow. It seemed such a waste to comment, because it was like beating a dead horse. They all knew what was going to happen. There wasn't any need to linger on it, even for a few laughs.

But, he also didn't want to have to deal with someone complaining about him either, so with supreme effort, Kratos mustered up the energy to actually look at the other man and respond.

"Good. You're not blind."

He couldn't help himself; the poor man didn't deserve the brunt of his ill temper, especially when he was just trying to be friendly and casual or something like that. It was just that this was one of those times where he wanted to give up and start banging his head against the back of the seat in front of him.

[np, and sorry for the repost--icon misfire ;A;]

While some people on the bus were shouting encouragement, many others were reacting with annoyance, indifference, and even resignation. Eugene had been right on the nose when he'd predicted how quickly this would fizzle out. The freedom fighter up at the front wouldn't get far. The needlewoman was on her way up the stairs, and another patient was even trying to talk him down.

This really wasn't going to end well.

The guy across the aisle seemed less than impressed with his friendly little quip. Eugene shrugged, still smiling.

"So I've been told. I mean, it's not like I don't sympathize with the guy, I just don't see the point if the people aren't going to follow his lead and rise up against their oppressors."

Kratos sighed. Was that a jab at everyone else too, now? "There are more pressing issues at stake right now than his childish desire for meaningless heroics." This was so misplaced, so inappropriate that his previous fleeting desire to join in and punch a nurse totally faded away in the face of a new urge to punch the tall blond instead. Landel had just placed another obstacle in their path, and as frustrating as that was, they needed to address it because no one really deserved to be turned into a monster.

(It hadn't touched a nerve at all. He wasn't especially enraged by it at all.)

"Though, I suppose for some, thinking with your head might be too much to ask."

And then the hero at the front of the bus punched a (mostly) defenseless woman. In the stomach. Eugene's sympathy for his cause dried up pretty much instantly.

Saying that he wasn't overly fond of these women and the whole completely messed up situation he had been in for the last twelve hours or so would be a gross understatement. Still, he liked to think of himself as a marginally chivalrous person and hitting a woman crossed a line.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

(Not that he hadn't fantasized about doing something similar this morning once he'd finished drooling all over his puffy blue vest.)

He turned to the guy across the aisle. "Can you believe this?"

"Hm?" Kratos looked up from the far more interesting loose piece of fluff hanging out of the seat cover in time to watch a fight break out in earnest.

"Fantastic," he muttered under his breath. It had only been a matter of time, he supposed. People who didn't think with their head usually thought with their fists instead. With luck, it would be resolved quickly, before the violence had time to spread to the entirety of the bus. Spare me. Usually, he said it sardonically, but right now, he really was hoping that they would in fact be spared. A promising sign was the general lack of reaction to the violence: it seemed everyone at least recognized to some degree the futility of retaliation.

He turned to face the other man. "Don't do anything stupid. You'll only make things worse." The nurses knew what they were doing, as strange as it was to actually place his confidence in them.

Day 63: Bus 3 (Evening)

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