Day 70: Magus Park (morning)

[knightspirit]

Kyousuke was tense as he left the bus, enervated before the day had even begun, yet fueled by a spark of anger and determination. He couldn't say why this was happening again, but that didn't matter so much as putting a stop to it. ... He had to save them. The weight of that pulled at him, but there was nothing he could do about it yet, so he'd just have to bear with it for now. Frustration wasn't going to help anyone right now.

Knowing that, he'd just have to find some way to relax and put it out of mind, however impossible that seemed. Being here helped, a little. It was new, and they were being allowed to wander around instead of suffering the staff's institution farce in the silence of pointless, monotonous activities. Being so far away removed the knowledge that what they needed could be close by, just waiting to be found.

For now, the boy decided to linger in the park for a while. It was nice there, if a bit vacant in the early morning, and he had all day to explore anyway. They called it a "town," but it was really more of a small village from where he was standing, so he doubted there were many sights to be seen to begin with. Maybe he'd just go sit on a swing for a little while and finish his breakfast; he'd been so absorbed in his conversation with Lloyd that he had yet to touch anything.

[ Korra ]

Comments

[fourstonewalls]

Lana almost argued the point -- shaking things up constantly seemed to be the goal. But arguments had their place; and it was not while trying to get to know someone.

"Good. I hate trying to explain that zombies are real when I can scarcely believe it myself. Even when I have the scars to prove it." Actually, the wounds had healed remarkably cleanly and quickly -- too quickly, but that, too, was normal here.

[stellarregions]

"Don't worry. I don't need any convincing," he replied, though he did his best to keep his tone light. He had plenty scars of his own. "Although sometimes it makes me wish I were just crazy like they claim."

Although sometimes he wondered if both things weren't true, there was some solace in knowing everyone else was going through the same thing.

[fourstonewalls]

Lana didn't wince; the only thing that would give away her reaction to anyone who knew her well enough was that she didn't. And Ema wasn't here, so that was no one. Unless someone here could read minds, which wouldn't be the strangest thing to happen.

"I'm surprised they don't make more of an effort in that regard." Her voice was dry. "I do mean about convincing us we're crazy. Not in making it seem preferable."

"Though...no. It wouldn't be, because it would be a lie." And that strayed far too close to having to tell her entire life story to a virtual stranger, so she changed the topic. "I've heard rumors that this isn't even Earth. Makes you wonder why they even picked this, ah, atmosphere for their theme park."

[stellarregions]

"I guess maybe they don't really care if we believe it or not," he replied. "Who are we going to tell?" The townsfolk either completely believed the mental hospital story, or were in on the whole thing, and the only other people they had were fellow patients. When it came down to it, the truth almost wouldn't matter. He'd been tempted, once or twice, to pretend they bought the story being sold to him, but in the end, he just couldn't do it. He just couldn't let them win.

"It might not be," he replied with a shrug that implied the idea didn't bother him in the least. He would have found it much stranger, to be honest, if they were, considering the planet was the crater-riddled refuge of people too crazy or too stubborn to find somewhere else to live, from his perspective.

[ugh, I hate getting colds]

[fourstonewalls]

The idea of being on another planet would have made Ema squeal in scientific curiosity; to Lana, it was just another completely ridiculous piece of information that didn't fit with anything else she knew. Except in that everything here was ridiculous.

"Then why the charade in the first place? Why this entire town? It's one giant contradiction." She folded her arms and glared out at the main drag, as if she could will it into making sense. It worked better on witnesses and scatterbrained detectives than on pavement. "I just get the feeling that if we could figure out why they're doing this, we'd have some way of changing things."