damned_institute | Day 35: Bus 1

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Day 35: Bus 1

Sanji woke up groggily to find his nurse already in his room. He gave a sleepy and half-hearted "Buh?" before realizing that nurse meant dayshift, and he'd fallen asleep after dinner.

"Shit!" He sat up abruptly, which gave his nurse a start. "Nami-swan!" How had he allowed himself to sleep through an entire night? What if she'd tried to return to the basement? What if she'd been waiting for him to appear and protect her? He'd let her down!

"There, there. Calm down." His nurse set a familiar flannel shirt down on the bed and Sanji eyed it with confusion. The last time he'd worn that had been... "Sorry I didn't knock or anything, but I was so excited~!" A pair of jeans followed the shirt. "Today is the field trip into town! Aren't you looking forward to it?"

The chef had to admit, the town had been an interesting enough place the last time he'd been. If he could find Nami early on he might even be able to lead her around... So he didn't complain too much as he changed into the other outfit (which he really wished they'd let him keep - anything was better than the regular gray) and was led out to the first of the buses.

He took a seat near the front, hopefully easily visible to any of his crew - especially to a certain member of his crew.

[for Usopp!]

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While his last trip into town had been merely a confusing diversion, now ZEX found that he felt a bit apprehensive about the entire thing. It wasn't even the threat of being trapped on a bus at night with strange creatures again... it was the fact that he couldn't remember anything that happened during his last trip. What had happened to him? Would it happen again?

Well, this time he'd have his Captain by his side, and surely he'd remember what was going on... and having someone to help if something unpleasant DID happen was comforting in a way, although it still niggled unpleasantly at his pride. He shouldn't need help, and yet...

At least his human clothes were warm enough, although he couldn't exactly find much to say about their fashion sense. Like so many things between their species, it was just very... different.

Unfortunately, it seemed that his Captain wasn't on this bus... a bad guess, unfortunately. He would have to try and find him later on. ZEX sat down after stumbling a little, this time beside a new human with an interesting hair color... hmmm. Kind of silverish...

ZEX tried a friendly smile (human faces were so difficult to maneuver!), completely unaware that his fun with Xigbar the night before had left some telling marks along his neck. "Greetings. I don't believe we've met before... a shame."

"I've heard it before," Mello said. His voice was casual and he spoke without hesitation, but a hot current of tension ran under his thoughts. The decision not to offer his name or a more detailed physical description had been intentional. If, somehow, Ritsuka did have information about his life...well, Mello had to be careful.

"It was on the news," he continued, opting for Matsuda's excuse. "But Kira's a pretty common name. I wanted to ask if you remembered anything else. Other names, maybe, or locations or events."

Vlad wasn't too surprised when someone he didn't know came down to sit beside him. After all, the bus was starting to fill up, and he was always on the lookout for new, intelligent allies. Thanks to the way this place deceived the eyes through altering the forms of non-humans, Vlad recognized this meant he had to accept a bit of a crap shoot on that turn, not assuming anything based on appearances and simply hoping that those he spoke with would meet his criteria for being worthwhile acquaintances.

And the new man was polite enough, although... Vlad blinked for a moment, startled. Yes, there were monsters in this place, some red bruises along the neck were no sign of... well, it could possibly be... oh, it was none of his business, anyhow. Vlad put on his best business smile and offered a hand to shake.

"I don't believe we have. A pleasure. My name is Vlad, Vlad Masters. And yours..?" Even if the man did turn out to be a waste of time, at least the trip into town promised a better view of the surrounding area through the bus windows, without the risk of wandering around like an idiot at night waiting to be attacked by monsters.

"It was just an idea! I mean, if it's going to be more painful to wear shoes that fit really badly, there's no sense in that." Usopp shrugged off the shoe idea. "But if they would fit it makes sense for you to wear them, 'cause I won't be getting very far if I try to go around kicking people, no matter how heavy my boots are!"

He didn't mind admitting that weakness, since it was obvious to both of them. As Sanji seemed to warm up to the idea of the grill, Usopp managed to stuff the rest of his dry muffin in his mouth hurriedly, and while he was chewing and swallowing that pulled out his trusty pad and pen. The truth was, he knew it was frivolous, silly even. But Brook had gotten a piano! Since when did their group stop just because an idea was silly? Even better if he could work out something to keep things that weren't immediately perishable cool so Sanji could at least have vegetables, flour, eggs, that sort of thing. And Usopp's mind just didn't work in logical ways sometimes. Flame thrower, ClimaTact Jr., gunpowder, stovetops... it all swirled together, to a degree.

"I can't promise that it'll turn out, but if we can find the materials, once we put it together even if we can only use it on occasions, it'd be pretty great, right?" Besides, he could use a smaller version of this for his own purposes, chemically. He started sketching. "So we'll need a base to keep the heat from the floor, and then something under it to hold what we use to heat it. We have some chemicals that we can mix that'll release heat, but that might be less reliable or harder to control than just using something flammable and setting it on fire, I'm not sure about that. If we have this base here, put some pipes or something else solid here, and then balance the heating element in between, we just need a wide flat space that won't melt and will conduct heat to go on top, right? Like a griddle? Since we're always having someone going towards the kitchen for something, maybe sometime we can pick that up. Ingredients too, at least anything that doesn't have to be refrigerated. It might be all done in one run, except." Usopp paused, then whispered. "I don't guess you know where we can get, uh, a lighter. Or matches."

Hmm, this human looked a bit different than most... how was it that humans showed their age? He really knew very little about their lifespans... it was a shame that reliable information on them had been so hard to come by for so long.

ZEX stared at the new human's hand curiously. A human gesture of some sort? Hmm... to an extent it resembled how VUX would twist arms together at times... perhaps this was something like that? ZEX took the human's hand, entwining their fingers together. That was close enough, perhaps.

"Mmm, a pleasure to meet you as well." Touching a human always put that smile on his face, regardless of the circumstances. "I'm Admiral ZEX, formerly of the VUX military. Although, I'm relatively certain neither mean much to you... not many here seem aware of the world as I know it, unfortunately."

[Maybe taken :/]

Another night of...very well, not a complete waste of time. That woman didn't appear to be so much of a drag-down compared to several other patients in here (which will not be named).

Scar dragged himself out of bed right before a nurse came in and handed him some pieces of cloths.

The first thing that crossed his mind was 'not again'.

He remembered having to wear something similar last week, during the trip to a human...town? He couldn't quite say what a 'town' was as he had remained near those yellow objects back then. He supposed now would be a good time to see what was so special about these human 'towns', but...that wasn't quite the real problem.

The trip meant those large, yellow and especially loud and scary objects he had to sit in. Though the King had figured out by now they were meant for transportation, he still wasn't quite leaping for joy. Far from it. So after he had somehow 'changed' into his 'clothing', he reluctanly allowed the woman to take him to the 'objects'. The King didn't knew how he had manged, but he climbed inside and went for the first empty seat he could find.

Now all he had to do was wait for the blasted roaring to start. Couldn't they walk? Like any normal creature with legs?

That was an interesting person to have walk up to him out of the blue. Roland recognized him, of course; he recognized both the look at the scent, even if the younger man's power had been diminished since the night before. Thankfully he and the others hadn't been called in to try to put a stop to it; between three demons, even at a weaker level, they could do a decent amount of damage, and the battle would end only when one side was too destroyed to continue. When he and the Embryon AI went after someone with that much power, it was to the death.

But that wasn't really at issue for the moment. Likely the young man- he didn't look much past his mid-twenties, if that- was disoriented and, if his treatment as anything like Roland's, feeling a bit isolated. Understandable; after a light show like that, anyone would feel a little wary about him. ...and for the sake of ego, Roland contented himself that while he couldn't match it, Indra could have quiet easily, if all the inhibitions were removed.

Regardless, the pale man offered a smile and indicated for the newcomer to sit down. "Sounds like you made it through last night all right. Have a seat; my name's Roland."

"Cautionary: expect underperformance in every aspect. There are reasons why the more intelligent meatbags send droids out to dispose of threats." If they were singularly intelligent, they created an HK-47 model and unleshed said droid on the galaxy. "Disclosure: I was designed and constructed by my master to terminate meatbags using whatever tactics, level of stealth, or total death toll required." His master was the only one who really understood how to get the best results. His other various owners had not, best evidenced by their current shared trait of a fatal case of death.

At the words 'Admiral ZEX,' for a moment Vlad was entirely blind to every single bit of the unquestionable leer that was directed his way as he practically leered back, leaning closer. An odd hand gesture... definitely not from his own world, possibly not human and probably from a world different enough that it didn't matter at this point what the original shape was. Vlad firmly clasped the hand, and gave it a gentle shake up and down as a greeting in return, even if it was awkward with their cross-purposes. Oh yes, he was happy to meet this man, or whatever it was.

"Admiral ZEX! Well, that's quite impressive! I hadn't expected to meet someone of such a high rank here. Is the VUX an organization, a country, or...?" Vlad's leer turned into a more general smarmy look as he leaned a little closer to his new good friend the Admiral. Surely there was something to be gained here. "I'm afraid I'm just a simple businessman in my own world. Oh, but I get by."

It was always so nice when humans were warm and receptive and didn't flinch away or tell him to stop touching them! More humans needed to be friendlier, in his opinion, so he was quite glad that his new friend seemed rather friendly indeed. How marvelous!

Although, he was shaking his hand... how strange. There must have been some human social cue attached to that, although he wasn't sure what it could be. He'd ask his Captain later, perhaps.

"Hmm, you're the first to show interest in my rank!" ZEX giggled a bit to himself. "And I'm afraid more between us than a country or an organization! We VUX are a different species from you humans entirely, although I don't think that should stand in the way of... diplomatic progress." ZEX was leering again. "I've always been very fond of your species, you know. It's a shame that things happened as they did between us... but I suppose it doesn't matter much now. Circumstances are quite different here."

"Interesting. Time does move in such interesting ways here..."

Smile still in place, much like how a large predator might smile after spotting something that might make a light snack, He shook his head. "I certainly said nothing of the sort." The shouting was growing louder, but Kagetora ignored him. "I don't generally just give out my name like that."

"Yeah, absolutely." Rose grinned at Ben. She was glad to have some company, although she'd really like to figure out where the Doctor had gotten off to...

That was disappointing, actually, them being separated like that just after finding each other. She'd been hoping to spend some time with him after thinking he was dead at the bottom of the Pit. There were so many things she needed to say and hadn't been able to. Hopefully she'd be able to find him in town.

"So... a long, long time ago," she repeated very, very casually, resting her chin on one hand. "That's... what? Ancient Rome? Or are you from another planet...?" Maybe she could figure out exactly what was going on without tipping him off that she suspected him of being a famous Scot.

Meche woke to a mild headache and the sight of the same mental-hospital room she’d been assigned the night before. Sometime last night, it had occurred to her that this was what would happen--just like on her first night in the Land of the Dead, she’d open her eyes (well, eye sockets, there) hoping it would all be a bad dream.

It wasn’t. Not then, not now. The real question was how she’d ended up here this morning when she didn’t remember having made it back to her room last night.

As her head cleared, she realized it probably wasn’t the best idea to have the evening’s gear sitting around when the nurse came in--Meche had a feeling that not all bad guys were as permissive of escape attempts as Domino. She’d just gotten it all stashed when the door opened.

“Good morning, Maria!” the nurse greeted her. “I see you’re already up and about.”

Meche looked at the woman through newly suspicious eyes. So she definitely wasn’t an angel--but would she be in on Landel’s plan? Being polite still couldn’t hurt either way. “Yes,” Meche replied. “I’m looking forward to seeing the town.”

The nurse smiled, handing her a small pile of clothing and a paper bag that must be breakfast. “You’re going to have a lovely time. Go ahead and get changed, and then we’ll head out to the buses.” Stepping out into the hallway and closing the door behind her, she left her patient alone to change.

Meche unfolded the clothes--a dark green A-line skirt (felt like some kind of wool blend) and a simple white button-up. They didn’t look all that fashionable (either by 1997 or 2008 standards, she guessed), but at least they weren’t desperately far off from her usual style. Maybe somebody’d gotten the memo about her fashion sense. Now, if she could just find the stockings, she could get dressed...

It took her a good two minutes of sticking her hands through sleeves and turning pockets inside out to realize that the bastards really hadn’t given her stockings.

You can get them in a deserted factory island on the edge of the world in the Land of the Dead, and not in a mental health facility in 2008, Meche thought bitterly. Ninth Underworld, here I come.

It was a silly thing to get into a snit about, but Landel had, after all, robbed her of her hard-earned and rightful eternal destiny. Was a damn pair of stockings too much to ask in return? She would’ve even worn nylons.

Feeling like a martyr, she dressed and let the nurse lead her to a bus. Manny would either find her or he wouldn’t, and in a mood like this, she might be better off if he didn’t.

[Waiting for Manny, but feel free to jump in if you like!]

Harry sat down next to Fleur carefully. He didn't want to get too close in case he was still sick but he also didn't want to be away from her. Harry grinned, but it was with the same mixture of happiness and disappointment that Fleur spoke with.

"I've been here for a while," he said. "I've been sick for a few days though." He frowned, letting his worry get the best of him. "When did you get here? Is anyone else here?" He looked around the bus, as if scanning for Weasley red hair or Hermione or even Snape. "Are you okay?" He didn't like the idea that she may have been through a Nightshift while he had been sick in bed.

There were so many questions to ask Fleur and so much to talk about, but he wasn't sure how much he should give away. Fleur seemed old enough that she had at least been married to Bill, but what else did she know? Snape had had no memory of the last few years. What if Fleur also was from some time earlier than him? What if she was later? The thought hit him and he suddenly wanted to ask when was the last time she had seen Ginny.

The first? That was a bit surprising, especially considering the sheer numbers of people who seemed to write 'Captain' as part of their names on a brief inspection of the boards. Surely an admiral would get some attention. But then again, Vlad realized that one could reach a very high rank in name without particular intelligence or skill, the title was just a nice sign of possibilities. As ZEX explained further, Vlad was happy to learn his guess of non-human had also been correct, and...

And... this conversation had an odd flavor to it. Perhaps that was just his species' way. And those bruises on the neck could still just be bruises. And it was still not his business, at all, so he would just continue as usual. After all, he wasn't a prude, about either sexuality or other species. He himself was somewhat trapped between humanity and its natural enemy, though he didn't advertise the fact. And he was a modern man, he'd dealt with a variety of individuals who had alternative tastes, he'd hardly judge, er, that was quite a smile ZEX had, wasn't it?

Managing to hold onto his own smile, although it lost a bit of the leering quality, Vlad leaned back in his seat a bit, hoping it would pass as a movement for comfort and not an effort to back away. "Yes, well, there are so many different sorts here, it's quite exciting for someone like me to have a chance to meet them all, even if it's a pity about the circumstances. A different species and different worlds, so I assume you are from some time or place where travel between worlds is an ease, yes? Space travel, or teleportation, perhaps?"

Teleportation would be more useful, building gates between worlds was what they'd need and something Vlad had done by hand himself, but Vlad had also bought some interests in companies dealing with space exploration and exploitation. Surely not as advanced as whatever the good Admiral here spoke of, of course, but a possible starting point for discussion.

Edited 2008-09-05 22:13 (UTC)

"Maybe you just need more training in the art of 'kicking people,'" Sanji smirked. "I'll try them on."

Usopp had hit a weak point, and as the sniper began drawing out plans for the grill, the chef found himself moving closer to get a better look (practically leaning over the other pirate's shoulder). He chewed absently on the edge of his breakfast bar, still in its wrapper. "... I suppose if it was small, and we were already headed in that direction anyway..." It would be for the good of everyone, wouldn't it? Luffy needed a lot of energy, and the meals here couldn't be providing that.

At the mention of matches, Sanji frowned. He had matches, but not many. They went with his limited pack of cigarettes (of which he hadn't gotten to use last night, having slept through it). A lighter wouldn't work well for a grill, though. If he could get his hands on one of those, he could give up the matches in favor of cooking. Even then, however, he still had precious few. "There isn't a way you could design the grill with some sort of lighting mechanism? Matches and such are hard to come by."

"I told you my name. It hardly seems fair to be talking to someone without at least that much courtesy."

Armand turned to watch out the window. From what this person who was not Takaya said, he didn't want him to see into his eyes so easily. "Though tis true that it feels much longer than that." His hand went to the glass of the window. "Wasn't it fall last week? October perhaps?" Now the foliage was fully green and vibrant.

He felt like shit. He was pretty sure he looked like it too.

The last thing Sanzo remembered was electricity crackling against him, and then a feeling of weightlessness, and then nothing after that.

Sanzo instantly regretted waking up. His body just seemed to be radiating pains and aches from the wounds, even if they'd all been bandaged. Every move he made only strained at them. It didn't help matters that he felt disgustingly weak.

The monk forced himself to get up, and get dressed. As much as he wanted to go and just pass out again, he needed to check on Goku. The monkey'd gotten that idiot notion into his head to go look for Hakkai on his own. And although Sanzo'd waved it off - he wasn't the kid's babysitter, he could do whatever he wanted - well, that didn't mean he shouldn't check to see if the kid actually found something.

....And to see if he was in one piece.

Sanzo slid gingerly into one of the empty rows. At least there wouldn't be a repeat with Homura this round.

"Okay, come by my room tonight? M33, remember?" Usopp answered back, distractedly, still finishing the drawing's last touches. Making something... "Well, it shouldn't be impossible to build a lighter too. It's just, the resources around here are a little thin, and building something like that'll take more time than just setting up a portable grill would. But I think you might be right."

He had to admit, lighting things on fire was a future hurdle that'd have to be addressed, and waiting for convenient matches or a lighter was a nice thought, but it was too idealistic. Usopp knew he'd need more than that, he'd have to design an improvised trigger system for his own machines. "Yeah... yeah, let's say we'll make a starter lighting system for this as a trial run. I'm going to need something like that for weapons too, and we can practice with the grill, since it'll be safer than setting stuff on fire for a weapon, right? It's just making it automatic enough that it isn't a pain to use. I mean, even I can start a fire if I have sticks and enough patience, I'm sure you can too, but nobody wants to spend an hour of nightshift starting fires like that."

With some of the things they'd gathered already, it shouldn't be too difficult. Just drag the right things along each other until you got a spark. But that would have to be controlled, too, especially the chemicals that were already partially processed the way Usopp got them. Even a version of the gunpowder mix might work, with a little something flammable, like a tiny 'firestar'.

"Sanji, if you leave juice out long enough, it turns alcoholic, right? I don't mean for drinking, I mean, for burning." It was maybe dangerous to ask about this when technically he was discussing Calories being Wasted, but this was all theoretical still, right? And... was Sanji chewing on the wrapper of that bar-thing?

Ah, how nice to speak civilly to a human! ZEX only appreciated more as time went on... he'd so longed to do so back during the War, and unfortunately that had been somewhat impossible. Sometimes being trapped in this place did have its benefits, although ZEX wouldn't hazard to say he was happy here. Happy in the arms of his Captain, perhaps, but that hadn't happened frequently enough for his liking, and certainly not enough to make him entirely satisfied with his situation at Landel's.

Oh, it seemed that the human was leaning away from him now. How unfortunate! They should really be closer... much closer, if possible. ZEX wasn't about to let increased distance dissuade him just yet. After all, perhaps with some persuasion...

"Yes, there are all sorts of humans here," ZEX said, with a barely concealed enthusiasm. "I never thought I'd have the chance to see so many! Your species is so varied, so beautiful... so unique..." Trailing off into more explicit thoughts, and ZEX brought himself back after a moment. "And yes, travel between stars is fairly simple as I know it. Hyperspace drives have evolved somewhat in my lifetime, but the general principles still apply. Our ships use a slower drive than yours, though, although we have our reasons for our ship's unique design..." Their lack of speed was their greatest obstacle, but ZEX had found ways around that. That was part of his job, after all.

"ChronoGuard?" Allelujah asked curiously, not having heard of anything with that name before, and he was usually well acquainted with different types of government organisation. "They sort out... historical timelines?" That sounded bizarre. Then again, he was in a mental hospital with monsters.

His visible eye widened when she mentioned other people being present. "Visitors?" That sounded ominous. He couldn't imagine how any of his people would know where he even was. And they definitely wouldn't risk coming in as visitors to get him.

"Oh, I was right?" She hadn't expected it really, but the fact that she was made her think of something. "Wait, so then when you hear me speak, I'm speaking in Japanese, yeah?" she asked, nodding a bit in hopes that this too was also right. The Doctor had explained that thing with the TARDIS translating before, so that meant that if someone was hearing her speak in Japanese, the TARDIS couldn't be all that far off! How else would she be able to understand?!

It looked like he had picked out the right person, seeing how the man was immediately willing to hear him out, or at least have his company. Peter gave a small smile despite all the concerns running through his head about Sylar and took the seat, nodding thankfully to the older man.

"Hey, Roland. I'm Peter. And yeah, I made it through, but I'm still not all that sure what happened..." He pulled a hand up to his head, hoping that it would stop aching soon. It felt like it had been strained and pushed in ways that it shouldn't have, and he got the feeling that had something to do with the way he had resisted "orders" last night.

Still, it was all so fuzzy that it was hard to piece everything together. He'd have to hope that some of the other patients would help him out with that, though he imagined it would be harder to approach anyone he had dealt with directly. This was a good start. "So, it sounds like you're used to all this," he remarked.

"Thank you," he replied with another quiet smile. "I appreciate it. This is actually my second time in Doyleton, so I do know a little bit of the town's layout, although I'm afraid it isn't much." He hoped he wouldn't be intruding on her and her friend, but Rose didn't seem to mind, so it was likely all right. And if, for whatever reason, he felt like he needed to break off and go exploring by himself, that was fine by him too.

"I'm not from Ancient Rome," he replied with a neutral expression, and while it might have been a little funny to some people, the humor was lost to a non-Earthian like himself. "Where I'm from isn't on a map, so I doubt you've heard of it." He'd dodged the original question a little bit, but hopefully it would be all right. Maybe it'd be better to turn the topic of conversation back on her.

"Most people I've talked to are actually pretty skeptical about those who claim to be other planets," he added as he pulled a muffin from the sack. "Do you believe there are other planets, Rose?" Obi-Wan took a small bite of the food, regarding her curiously as he chewed.

"I've got some experience with similar situations. It happens to a lot of people. Taken out of their rooms, given some measure of their power back, then set to guard certain rooms... I imagine that was what you were going through?" Roland sounded nothing if not sympathetic; he knew it had to be rough to not only go through something like that, but also to be in one's own appearance, unable to deny what had happened. Granted, Peter hadn't exactly been the worst when it came to that, but some people were touchy about being countermanded.

...at least they hadn't been eaten?

Still, the way that Peter was rubbing at his head and squinting his eyes betrayed that something was off, if only a headache, and considering what he'd gone through, that might or might not be a bad thing. So, after a split-second pause, he added, "And you're not looking so good, by the way. Sure you're all right?"

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Page 8 of 19

Day 35: Bus 1

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