Day 28; Bus 3

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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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"Yes, it's definitely west," Claude said, scratching his cheek some. "Sorry, I've, uh, had a lot on my mind, so I'm not thinking entirely straight." He took another bite of his muffin and swallowed. "Anyway, it's clearly labeled on that map I gave you a couple of nights ago, so you shouldn't have any problems if you ever need to find it."

He seemed oblivious to the fact Asch ignored the "friends" part of his comment, so he didn't comment on that. Instead, he furrowed his eyebrows at his roommate's remark, nodding in agreement. "The thing is, I just wish I knew why they were doing all of this. There's got to be a reason, right?"

Then again, for all he knew, they'd all been abducted simply because they were easy or convenient targets for some reason. It was frustrating to think about, especially if they'd just been brought here to rot away as lab rats.

He nodded when Asch confirmed he hadn't been on a bus before. "I see." Somehow, it hadn't occurred to him that maybe his roommate had wanted to draw as little attention to that fact as possible. "They're kind of loud, aren't they?" the blond remarked, taking another sip of his juice. "Where I come from, the models are much more sleek and a bit quieter. This is my first time riding on one like this myself, come to think of it."

Frowning to himself, he gazed down at the small bit of muffin he had left. "Yeah, I'm actually kind of looking forward to it, to be honest. This breakfast isn't satisfying at all. Maybe I'll get a burger or something. It's not like a steak, but at least it sticks to you for awhile."

The blond opened his mouth as if to add something, but then his eyes were drawn to the window, and he seemed genuinely startled. "Woah, are those fall leaves?!" he blurted without even thinking. Sure enough, he was staring out on an array of golds, reds and oranges. It was a feast for the eyes, and it almost made his mouth water to look at so many natural colors. They reminded him of a crisp apple, or maybe even the flaky crust of a freshly baked pie.

Claude would have liked a piece of pie with his muffin.

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Considering that Claude had both run into some strange creatre and had his friend taken the previous night, it was understandable that he mix some things up. At least he had caught the mistake and corrected himself; Asch wouldn't have appreciated wasting any time or energy on false information.

"Well, if it's already on the map, I guess that's what matters." On that thought, he probably should look over the map the next chance he got. It'd be smart to try and familiarize himself with the rooms and areas that were listed, after all. Then he could focus on checking out areas that had yet to be labeled.

"Who knows why they're doing it?" Asch sure didn't, though he would've liked to. "Maybe they're using us to see what they're capable of. Or maybe they simply enjoy screwing with people's lives. It's anyone's guess."

The God-General nodded slowly in agreement when Claude commented about the bus being loud. "The ships where I'm from are usually only this loud when you're near the engine room."

Come to think of it... This thing obviously didn't have an engine room. So where the hell was the engine? Asch frowned slightly as he wondered about that, but it was awkward enough having to admit he had never been on a bus before. There was no way he was going to make himself look even more like an idiot and ask about that.

"Compared to what they usually give us, this," he indicated the bag containing his still packed breakfast, "isn't much. So, I'd have to agree." Actually, he still had his doubts about the so-called 'Tasty Meal', but anything was better than a single muffin.

Speaking of that, all the talk about food made him realize just how hungry he was. Though considering he had only eaten breakfast the previous day, that wasn't surprising. As his roommate looked outside, Asch used the opportunity to finally take out the muffin that had been packed for him.

Chewing a bite of the muffin, the redhead watched the scenery outside the window. The occasional glimpse between trees showed some kind of town below, but other than that, it looked as though they were in the middle of nowhere. There didn't seem to be any buildings between the Institute and the town.

"What? Surprised to see it's fall?" he asked, glancing back to the blond.

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It was true that a map was a very useful item to have in Landel's. He was still grateful Ashton had given him copies of his own. Otherwise, they wouldn't have had the faintest clue on where to go last night. He was still baffled Dias hadn't bothered to familiarize himself with the building more, now that he thought about it. What would they had done if Claude hadn't been there to lead the way?

"I can't say I understand sick people like Martin Landel," Claude admitted. "But I do wonder if we've all been thrown together by chance. Did they just pick us all at random, or is there some purpose in having us all together like this? It's strange that they've pulled people from planets other than Earth, too. That's what's bothering me the most right now, to be honest."

He finished the last of his muffin, frowning to himself. "Then again, I guess it makes little difference in the end. Escaping will still be our ultimate goal, won't it? But I doubt it'll be easy to get everyone back to where they originally came from."

Buses didn't have engine rooms, but Claude figured he didn't need to tell Asch that. "Well, this is a road vehicle, so it's different from a ship." He took another sip of his juice before pausing to shake the box. Damn, it was empty already. "What kinds of ships do they have on Auldrant, anyway?" he asked once he turned towards his roommate again.

When Asch asked him if he was surprised to see it was fall, Claude grinned a little awkwardly. "Something like that," he admitted. "They don't have very many trees where I come from, so I've never seen a bunch of fall colors in real life like this." He hadn't stayed on Expel long enough to see the autumn. And although he'd seen them on holodecks, it was a different experience, getting to see so many trees with his own eyes. Especially Earth trees.