damned_institute | Day 28; Bus 3

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Day 28; Bus 3

There was, Naomi decided, some sort of cosmic irony in all of this. Not that she was trapped in a deranged and possibly other-worldly asylum with a man she'd idolized for years and a boy who was being investigated for - among other things - the murder of her fiance. No, at this point, those were perfectly normal occurrences. Rather it was the soft, pretty, feminine pink sweater dress she'd been stuffed into in the morning. A chance to wear normal clothes, and she looked like a soccer mom. The white blazer and white boots only made her look like a soccer mom who maybe hadn't given up gogo boots.

It was humiliating. Why couldn't she have jeans and a sweater? And sneakers? Something she would conceivably wear? Not this damned pink monstrosity. And her nurse kept saying how pretty she was.

She didn't care if she looked pretty.

Grumbling to herself, and taking it out on her muffin, Naomi was shoved onto an empty bus and told to 'sit tight'. Oh, she'd sit tight alright....

At least she was relatively certain L was alright. She'd spent the whole night with him, and other than falling on his ass, nothing had happened to him. And hopefully nothing would happen to him in town, either....

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"There were people that tried, in mine," Shana admitted at his frowned outburst. "We're still trying. Granted, this has interrupted us a bit, but maybe someday..."

"The elves won't like it, but we'll keep trying anyway," she finished, a crooked smile flitting across her lips. "What about your world? What is it like where you come from?"

"My world's a lot like this one," Tamaki admitted. "The same technology and everything. I'm from a place called Japan - have you heard of it? There's lots of people from Japan here." A whole lot. Maybe Shana had met one!

"I've never heard of it," Shana replied with a sheepish smile, shaking her head. "Sorry. Technology... You mean like this big iron wagon thing? Do you know how it works? Is it magic or something else? I've never seen anything like it!"

"You mean the bus?" Oh, how strange! She didn't even know what a bus was!
"It runs on gasoline that powers the engine. The engine makes the wheels turn. It's not magic - I don't think this world has magic. At least, not outside of the building." Everything he'd seen led him to believe it was all done by normal technology.

"Gasoline comes from oil, and oil comes from the ground."

Shana wrinkled her nose in thought, tapping her fingers against the metal wall. "I still don't understand," she admitted reluctantly, shaking her head and sending scarlet curls tumbling down around her face. "We don't have anything like this where I come from. Oh, we have oil, of course, we have lamps that burn oil and such. But I don't know what an engine is. We have wagons that can be pulled by animals, but nothing like this."

"Oh no, not that sort of oil!" Tamaki shook his head. "Not...um...animal oil. Black oil. You know, it's slick and smells horrible? It's very valuable in my world, we use it for so much! But there's only so much of it." Or something like that. Global issues weren't exactly Tamaki's strong suit.

"We haven't had wagons pulled by animals in centuries!" he exclaimed. "And we use electricity for light. Like in the hospital." He pointed back to the building. "And engine's a...it's a big block of metal with things in it that makes things go."

Elena's foot was rather swollen and wrapped in bandages and she had to walk with crutches, which sucked, but she was still in a very good mood. She was out of those awful, awful clothes and actually looked kind of cute, if she did say so herself.

The nurses had given her a long, green sweater, a gray pleated skirt that looked like it had come out of someone's school uniform, gray knee socks, and a barrette for her hair that matched her sweater. The outfit made her look about twelve, but it was better than what some of the other girls had to wear. Plus, it was nice to be in a skirt again.

And today was she had her first date.

Tamaki was sitting next to an extremely pretty girl about their age, but she did her best to beat back the jealousy. He was just Hosting her. That's what he did.

Elena hobbled over to the pair, choosing the seat behind them.

"That's...very informative, Tamaki," she teased. Looking over to the girl, Elena held out her hand. "I'm Elena. Nice to meet you."

Shana glanced up with a shy smile, although she looked at the girl's outstretched hand curiously, not knowing what she wanted.

"I'm Shana. Tamaki's been very informative. Did you... did you want something?" she asked, still staring in bewildered confusion at Elena's outstretched hand.

"How am I supposed to know how engines work?" Tamaki asked, shrugging and smiling. He had a car, and he knew how to drive, but he had his own driver and didn't worry himself with how cars ran that much.

"You look very cute, Elena," he added, continuing to smile at the blond girl. They were going on a date today! He hoped it went well. He hadn't really ever been on a real date before.

Elena grinned to hide her blush and withdrew her hand. "Sorry about that. Nice to meet you, Shana. Where I'm from...when you meet someone, you...shake hands." She laughed nervously. "Never mind."

Maybe it was to reassure herself that she actually did have a boyfriend, and that they actually were going on a date, or maybe it was out of an unconscious desire to show the prettier girl who Tamaki belonged to. Either way, Elena answered Tamaki's compliment with a quick peck on the lips. "Thanks," she said brightly. "I think I look like a twelve-year-old on her first day at prep school, but it's better than what they could've forced me into."

She turned to Shana. "Oh, and I think I know a bit about how engines work, if you're still curious."

Feeling rather awkward, Shana gave the pair a slightly crooked smile and shook her head. "No, I, uh... thank you. If it's not magic, I'm not sure I'd understand it anyway. I can go find another seat if you two would like to sit together," she offered, getting to her feet and hoping to squeeze past them.

Tamaki blushed vividly when Elena kissed him, even though it was hardly a kiss. But it was still the first time her lips had touched his. He cleared his throat some, not wanting to look like a complete fool.

"Oh no, that's alright!" He shook his head at Shana. "We're going to have plenty of time together once we get into town. There's no need for you to give up your seat! And Elena can probably explain how buses move far better than I can!"

Elena grinned at the way Tamaki was blushing, but she was having a hard time not blushing herself. This was so awkward!

Then Shana started to get up, and her face fell. She hadn't meant to chase the other girl off! (Had she?)

"No, it's okay! Please, stay! The more the merrier, and all that. Plus, I do know a bit about magic...so..."

"I don't want to be in the way," Shana replied awkwardly, still hovering on her feet. It was clear the two were very close, and she knew she'd want privacy with a special someone if she had the chance.

Before she could slip past, however, the contraption they'd been herded into gave an abrupt lurch. Not expecting the bus to move that suddenly, Shana gasped, reaching out for something to steady herself even as she lost her balance.

Buses were not the easiest places to stand when they started moving, after all.

"Oh! Lady Shana!" Tamaki rose smoothly to his feet, offering the girl a hand to steady her. "You really should sit down, it's not safe to stand up in a moving vehicle!" That would only lead to accidents.

"It would be horrible if you fell and hurt yourself! I didn't bring any of my medical supplies with me...."

"No, you really wouldn't be in the way," Elena said quickly, half standing up herself. "It's fine. Really. You should sit down before--"

The sound of a key in the ignition and the bus roared to life. Shana had, obviously, never been on a bus before (or on any motor-powered vehicle, apparently--fascinating!), and was freaking out.

"Hey, hey! It's okay. You'll fall and hurt yourself if you keep standing. Sit down, and...tell us about your home, or something. Please?"

Shana sat - more because she couldn't keep her balance standing than any real desire to sit. She plopped down on the seat with a rather startled expression as the bus started moving down the road.

"Is that normal?" she demanded in fascinated skepticism, turning to press her face against the glass to see how the 'bus' was moving.

"The bus...moving?" Tamaki blinked. "Well, yes... oh, it's been ages since I was on a bus like this, but they do move. And it's a bit of a jolt, of course, but it isn't so bad...."

He glanced over at Elena, shrugging. People from other places was perfectly normal, but he'd never seen anyone so fascinated with a bus before. Buses were just common things!

When Elena asked Shana to tell her something about her world, Tamaki just leaned over to speak directly in the blond girl's ear.

"It's not a very nice world," he explained, remembering what Shana had said.

"Perfectly normal," Elena laughed. God, this was weird. "Don't worry. It's supposed to do that. Even if I do feel like a fifth-grader on my way to the Natural History Museum or something."

She hadn't really been on a school bus since then! She usually rode the train to school.

Looking over at Tamaki, she grabbed his hand and smiled gently. "Mine isn't very nice either," she reminded him. "But home's home."

"Some of it's nice," Shana replied with a smile, glancing back at them. "There are places where it's nice. The Citadel was home for a while, and there were good people there. People that became friends. And the dr... the Kin. My family who raised me. Well... some of them were nice. Mostly my foster mother and my foster brother, Keman. But he's here now anyway, with Valyn and Shadow. The four of us got pretty close back home before..."

She paused. There were so many things she was used to keeping secret. So many things she wasn't sure she should or could talk about, even here. And there were things she was now confused had even happened, like Valyn's death. Which was impossible, if he was here, right?

"...before we all woke up here," she finally finished after a short pause.

"You all woke up here together?" Tamaki frowned, puzzled a little at that. "All of my friends here... we all came at different times. And those times are all wrong, too." He shook his head. "But it's good you have family and friends here! It would be awful to be all alone in this place." He looked down at his hands, pausing a moment before going on.

"I know this is a horrible place, but... it isn't all bad. So many people are allowed to see people they'd never see again otherwise, and meet wonderful people they'd never meet any other way...."

He knew it was an unpopular opinion, but there were good things about the institute.

"Valyn?" Elena laughed, absolutely delighted. "The tall prettyboy with the pointy ears, right? I've met him! He's a bit stiff, but he's a nice guy." And they'd actually been talking about people from his world showing up. He hadn't wanted them to.

Apparently Landel's had gone ahead and done it anyway.

She nodded in agreement with Tamaki. "Yeah, mine too. It may sound strange, but...time doesn't exactly seem to be fluid, here. Everyone from my world comes from my future." She tried to not look bitter. "So I'm a kid here, but they all remember me as an adult. It's kind of disorienting." Then there was the whole "bringing the dead back to life" thing, but this place had already proven that natural laws weren't exactly an issue.

And there were good things about this place. Tamaki was one of them.

But the bad tended to outweigh the good.

"We didn't all wake up at once," Shana corrected herself. "Valyn's been here some time, he's said. Keman, my foster brother, showed up a few days ago. Shadow and I were the last two to arrive, and we awoke within a half day of each other. We all come from almost the same time, though, despite the difference in time we've spent here. The last thing Keman, Shadow and I remember are all the same. Valyn was taken... a short while before that," she answered evasively.

"I don't know how that works, but they've done it. We've no magic in my world that even comes close to comparing to that. Or if there is, I've never heard mention of it."

"Oh, there's no magic at all on my world. I don't really get how they do anything here. I'm sure it's all very complicated." Tamaki just shrugged. He didn't understand how they did it. And he probably never would. But he didn't need to understand. He wasn't that sort of person.

"Elena! You've been spending time with handsome men besides me?" Tamaki was only teasing, of course. "I'm jealous! Should I be challenging this person to a duel? I can't bear to think of another man laying his hand against your silken cheek...."

Teasing and flirting.

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Day 28; Bus 3

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