Day 28: Bus 2

[misterprince.livejournal.com]

The group hadn't made it to the Twin Pines before the nurses started ushering them back to the buses. Sanji didn't believe the small sack dinner he was handed would make up for the meal they would have had at the restaurant, and aside from that he'd still wanted to check the place out. Now he had no way of comparing it to what they served at the asylum and he couldn't help but wonder if the staff had planned it that way.

Somehow in the large crowd of patients and nurses he lost track of his crewmates, something that seemed to be occurring just as often as Usopp warned it would. He had their room numbers now, though. He would find them tonight if not before.

His dinner was eaten quickly and he found it lacking, but he wouldn't complain. What he really needed was a cigarette. Bringing it up on the walk down Main Street earlier had only made him think about it more, and now he was just irritable. He tapped a light broken rhythm on the plastic pane of his window, staring out at the other patients as they were loaded into the buses also.

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[haiiro-no-chou.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Hope you don't mind the intrusion!]

Rukia got separated from Renji in all the commotion, but she at least managed to get onto the bus without anyone noticing the small book tucked against her chest. Its presence alone made her happy in a simple, 'no one can take this from me' sort of way. Even though they were all, for the time being, trapped at Landel's Institute, weakened, and in terrible danger, she had that comfort.

She had Renji's promise.

A small, secret smile on her lips, she made her way down the aisle of the bus. She quickly spotted Renji... and her brother. Hm. Well, that could either be really good or really bad. Before either of them could spot her, she plopped down into the nearest open seat.

Looking at its other occupant, she smiled a little nervously. "Oh, hello. I'm sorry, do you mind if I sit here?"

[arc-wrench.livejournal.com]

HK moved to one side, so as not to be in physical contact with the meatbag, sighing. "Affirmative: Yes, meatbag, I do. But go ahead, why not. A driod's opinion never seems to matter, and the nurses would most likely sedate me if I made a fuss." And he still hadn't properly irritated any meatbags today. He wasn't going to meet his unofficial quota at this rate.

[haiiro-no-chou.livejournal.com]

Rukia blinked, completely taken aback by the man's odd manner of speaking, as well as his answer. She wasn't sure if she should be angry, or just... confused.

"...Meatbag?" she asked, still not sure if she had heard correctly.

[arc-wrench.livejournal.com]

Again with that question! Was it really so difficult for squishy brains to process such things? "Explanation: A simple term to describe all organic beings." Watery sacks of meat. Why did meatbags always consider their design to be a good thing? "Statement: And no, I will not stop referring to meatbags in this way, because I cannot." And didn't want to. But that argument never went very far at all.

[haiiro-no-chou.livejournal.com]

"I...okay," Rukia said, then laughed. What a strange man! Even that couldn't ruin her good, mood, though. She just hoped Renji and her brother were getting along.

The bus was rapidly filling up; since there were no empty seats nearby, Rukia couldn't very well move somewhere else as the man had all but suggested. Deciding to instead introduce herself, she smiled and nodded. "I'm Rukia. How long have you been here?"

[arc-wrench.livejournal.com]

The laughing didn't help HK's mood. He highly doubted that it meant the meatbag had seen the error of their ways and would accept their subordinate place in the universe. "Statement: My designation is HK-47. I have been trapped in this facility and this disgusting meatbag body for four days." Four very long, humiliating days in which he'd hardly killed anyone. It was so depressing.

[haiiro-no-chou.livejournal.com]

"HK-47," Rukia repeated quietly, having never heard such a strange name. She wondered if he had been, like some of the other prisoners at Landel's, some sort of non-human.

Grinning, Rukia arched an eyebrow. "Oh, I wouldn't call it disgusting, exactly..." She wasn't usually so playful with people she'd just met, but HK-47's strange behavior, coupled with her already good humor, had her in an unusual mood.

[arc-wrench.livejournal.com]

"Reiteration: I would, meatbag. It is a fragile, smelly, slow, embarrassing sack of watery parts and weak structural components. If I had a choice between this and being forced into pacifism as a droid, I would happily become docile and... non-violent," he shuddered slightly, "Rather than spend another picosecond as a meatbag." And he almost meant it, even.

[haiiro-no-chou.livejournal.com]

Rukia tried very hard to keep from snickering, and succeeded, though she couldn't seem to make the small, amused smile on her face go away. "What's a droid?" she asked, unfamiliar with the term. "I take it that's what you really are, since you find meatbags so disgusting."

She hadn't heard any of the shinigami mention HK-47, so decided to ask, "Are you involved with any of the people from the 'Arts & Craft' or 'Cooking' groups? We're all working to get defeat the Head Doctor and escape."

[arc-wrench.livejournal.com]

Wonderful. Another meatbag from a primitive planet. "Answer: A droid is a mechanical being, which can be of varying intelligence and design. I am a high-class assassin droid, therefore possessing a very high level of intelligence and efficiency, beyond that of the average meatbag." The only meatbag he would consider to be potentially better than he was would be his Master. She could be almost droid-like in her thinking, and often surpassed him in terms of cruelty.

"Negative: I have been operating with a meatbag assassin. Observation: Large groups always seem to be the ones going the slowest and bleeding the most." He was going to overlook his own injuries for the moment. Most of them had gone relatively unnoticed when he had received them, thanks to his complete disregard for anyone's safety. His burns from being struck by lightning were still faintly visible along his neck and hands, however. That had hurt.

[haiiro-no-chou.livejournal.com]

A mechanical being? That was definitely a first. In a way, though, Rukia could sympathize with HK-47; she was used to inhabiting a body made up of spiritual energy, and being trapped in a gigai - especially one this weak - was frustrating. She nodded. "I think I understand how you feel," she said. "At least to a degree. This is not my real body, either."

She had heard talk of some patients being assassins, but had not yet met one. "What's his name?" she asked. Chuckling at his 'observation', Rukia added, "I'll grant you that large groups do move a lot slower. But I don't know about bleeding the most. You don't seem to have escaped injury." She indicated the fading burns on the exposed parts of his skin.