damned_institute | Day 28: Bus 1

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Day 28: Bus 1

Zelgadis was not happy, at all. Not that this was any change, but the events of the past few hours had given him more to angst about than usual. Nightshift had been dreadful: first he was attacked by a small green man and then covered in leeches, neither of which lead to warm fuzzy feelings.

And now this.

When the nurse had come into his room with new clothes he had a small glimmer of hope-- some thief had taken his normal Landel's wear in the night, so perhaps this was a change in luck. However, it was not the godsend he had hoped for. Minus the threat of sedation, there was nothing in the universe that could make Zelgadis wear a bright lemon-yellow shirt. There was a jacket of a slightly more tasteful variety, so Zelgadis made good us of it-- he put all his coupons in a pocket and pulled up the hood. It was almost as good as his cloak. Well, no it wasn't, but it would have to do.

With mild protesting, Zelgadis was lead to a large yellow vehicle. He climbed the stairs, took a seat towards the back, and readied himself for another frustrating day of being attacked and threatened with spoons.

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Odd as it might sound, Fai was used to wearing strange clothing. They had to keep up with what others were wearing in whatever world they found themselves in, so change was frequent and often odd. Anything was better than those drab uniforms.

He wore plain pants, a tan color with pockets on the sides and a blue shirt that had once carried a logo on the front, but much washing and wear made it hard to even make out. On top of that, a tattered cream jacket with graying bits of fluff still clinging to the hood and collar.

He smiled and hummed softly to himself as the nurses escorted him onto the bus and handed him his breakfast. This place had to be one of the strangest that he'd visited thus far, but maybe he'd be able to catch sight of the others somewhere in town since he hadn't found them in the institute just yet.

((ooc: Hope you don't mind. Let me know if you do.^^;; ))

Haku stood (the wheelchair was thankfully not in sight) and stuffed his hands in the pockets of hsi coat. Old cotton pants, once black and now grey, hung baggy on his small frame. The white t-shirt under the old grey coat had faded words written on it that had taken a moment to work out. What on earth did "FEISTY and NON-COMPLIANT" mean?

Haku managed to get onto the bus without much pain, his ribs re-wrapped tightly once more and took a seat beside a pale man with a smile. He smiled and bowed his head in greeting.

Fai's smile warmed as his new bus-mate arrived. They had a pretty face, though, which made it difficult to tell the gender, not that it really mattered one way or another.

"Good morning," he said brightly, scooting over slightly to give the other more room. He fiddled with the juice box in his hands, "I'm Fai. And you are?"

Haku smile warmed back. "I'm Haku." He bowed his head once more, settling into the seat and placing his own bag on his lap. "It's a pleasure to meet you Fai."

"Haku, that's cute," he replied, finally finding the little plastic straw that went with the juice box and unwrapping it. His posture was relaxed as their journey began, and he sipped at the breakfast juice, his muffin untouched for now.

"So, I guess it'd be best to get to know each other, since we'll be sharing a bench for a little while. Care to tell me a little about yourself? Seems people are coming from all sorts of interesting worlds. What was yours like?" It was entirely possible he'd already come upon it in his travels, but he didn't add that.

Haku brought up a hand and laughed softly behind it, glad when the movement didn't send pain shooting through him.

"I'm afraid I'm not very interesting," he said. "And my world isn't either. It's like most worlds." He looked down and opened his bag, frowning thoughtfully at the items inside. "A few countries, making attempts for power." He looked up and smiled.

"The usual. What about you?"

Haku's description was just detailed enough to suffice and vague enough to leave him wishing he'd asked for more. "Sounds a little scary," he commented. "Must've been hard for you. Ah, unless yours was the one in power I suppose."

"Pity mine's not much better. I travel a lot though, to make up for that I suppose, so I always like hearing about other places. Hard to really tack down just one place I'd call home." It was only a half-lie so he didn't feel that guilty about it.

Haku laughed softly once more and shook his head. "Oh, no. I'm not allied with any one country," he said. After last night, he couldn't think of himself as a ninja of the Mist, so it was true.

"Travel? Oh, I've done quite a bit of that as well." He smiled. "I prefer the colder places myself, though I don't really have a 'home' either."

It seemed a game, these questions and their vague answers. He did love games. "How wonderful," he replied, picking the blueberries from his muffin before nibbling them from his fingertips.

"I prefer them too. Grew up in a pretty cold country," he said, though he wouldn't go into detail on that one either. "I miss the snow," he added after a moment, surprised at his own silly emotion getting thrown in.

Haku pulled two blue berries out of his own muffin. He liked fruit, and the baked treat smelled good. He ate one, thoughtfully eyeing the other in his hand.

"Snow is very nice," he said. He remembered what Zabuza-san had said. "It's comforting." He brought the hand with the berry to his mouth and then blew across it. A thin coating of frost covered it and Haku smiled.

Though he held it in his palm, the frost did not melt. "I was born in a cold country as well." Interesting....

He watched the display with interest, but not surprise as Haku covered the berry with frost. It was a lovely trick, though if he had a mind for it, he might do the same. He promised though, no magic, especially not for frivolous things like that. It wasn't that magic was bad, but him using it that was the problem.

Fai clapped his hands and let out a soft "hyuuu~" that was his best attempt at a whistle. "How pretty Haku! How did you do that?" he asked, though in his own mind he already knew. "Some kind of magic? That's really something."

Haku's smile changed slightly and he shook his head. "No," he said. "Not magic." He wished it were something simple like that.

He popped the berry in his mouth and swallowed it, turning to smile at Fai. "I can't do magic."

Haku seemed a nice enough fellow? young lady? Well, no matter. Fai shrugged his thin shoulders and shook his head, "That's ok, neither can I."

He noticed the other made no attempt to explain the ability, but Fai didn't like to pry where it wasn't his business. "A little something to remind you of home then, I guess?"

Haku laughed once more and shook his head. "Oh no," he said. "I don't like to be reminded of the place I was born." Nevermind that it wasn't home, nevermind that 'home' was an abstract concept that he could only attach to a person.

"Just ... my own sort of curse I suppose," he said with a teasing tone and smile. "Thankfully, this place has taken care of it to some degree for me." Fai knew more than he was giving away, but maybe Haku could draw information out of him...

It seemed he and Haku had a lot in common. Although he could say that he did miss the snow, there were many other things he didn't miss. The color of blood as it spilled over that pure white, or the numbing cold against his worn fingertips. "Ahah," he gave a short, humorless laugh. "That's too bad."

He could certainly sympathize with Haku's curse and his feelings toward it. He was lucky, he knew, that the phoenix seal had returned to his back. It wasn't the same, he could tell, but the effect was enough. Something to hinder his magic. "That's what I hear. Though I doubt many are thankful for it. You don't like it? Ah, maybe you wanted fire instead?"

Haku couldn't stop the laughter then. His ribs ached and he smothered the laugh behind his hand.

"Oh, no. Not fire. Anything but," he said once he'd regained his composure. "And I admit, I'd rather have the curse than be here." He smiled. "You must be fairly new here."

He liked Haku's laugh, even if it was quiet. It was kind of like the way the princess laughed and that was enough to make his smile just a little bit more realistic.

"That's right," he nodded, "everyone says that. I think I might as well have it stamped on my shirt front." He shrugged though, as if it were of little consequence, "I arrived yesterday morning. It's been a real adventure."

Haku smiled and shook his head. "It's just the way you're acting," he said. "Of course, I've been here for a while and I haven't seen you before."

He tilted his head. "I hope you haven't had any big problems Fai." He sounded honestly concerned.

"Seems the people here aren't terribly optimistic," he commented. He'd received several comments on his attitude and behavior and those seemed the key reasons people assumed he was knew.

"Nothing too awful, no," he shrugged. "Met a lot of interesting people last night though. And a very sweet one this morning by the look of things." He smiled pleasantly before drinking the last of his juice.

Haku blushed slightly, because it was a better response than a sigh. "That's wonderful," he said. "It's good to have allies here. There's no promise that the people you knew will show up here."

He chewed his lip in thought. "I know I was unhappy to see people I knew here."

He supposed in some ways he was lucky. He did know that his friends would be here somewhere, whether he liked it or not. That was just how it worked. They popped into a new world, found one another, found Sakura's feather, and then moved on. No one moved on before the other, so then they didn't have to worry about getting lost. Kuro and the others were here, just... where here he didn't know. "No," he said quietly, "I'm really very sure I'll run into them. Unfortunate as that will be, it will happen eventually. We always travel together you see."

Haku smiled. "If that's the case, then I am glad for you. If this is a common thing, then I hope that you are able to move on soon."

He didn't want to squash this man's hopes.

"I hope so as well," he agreed, leaving most of his muffin untouched. "Though I think they'd be hard-pressed to leave everything here in this sorry state." Whether it was their business or not, they seemed to have a knack for getting involved.

"And what about you Haku? Have you friends here? Or all they all back on your world?"

Haku thought about it for a moment with a smile. "There are people I know from my world here," he said. "I don't htink I can be so presumptuous as to call then friends." He laughed softly.

"It's nice to not be alone, but honestly I would prefer to know that they were all safe back on our world."

"Mm," he replied to the first. Indeed, he would be deeply worried if there were people from his own home world here. The options were few in number as far as candidates went, but he would know if King Ashura, at least, were coming. Chii would tell him; he'd been sure to take the proper precautions.

"Very unselfish of you," he said honestly. Not everyone could be so selfless. If given the option, he really wasn't sure which one he'd choose.

[[ack, sorry for the wait! :(]]

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