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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To say the least, it was downright jarring to wake up and not have any idea of how much time had passed since he'd last seen the light of day. Once he realized today was the "exciting" trip to Doyleton, that feeling of being out of balance only increased, and Obi-Wan changed into his clothes with furrowed eyebrows. They were strange clothes by his standards, but they looked like they'd keep him warm for the day, at least.

Still, as he was led to one of the buses and given a sack of food, several questions were running through the Jedi's mind. How long had he been asleep? Had he fallen ill? Or had the doctors done something to him?

Granted, he knew his situation wasn't necessarily unusual, but that didn't make it any less off-putting.

Once he'd found a seat, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He needed to regain his focus before he ventured out into the town. Now wasn't the time to dwell on the should have's and could have's of what had happened.

((Free.))

Rose was confused to say the least when she woke up in the same bed she'd woken up in yesterday. She thought she'd been walking through the halls with the Doctor, but... How'd she gotten from there to here? One more mystery to add to a quickly growing list.

At least one good thing happened: the nurse/evil robot brought a change of clothes. Real, proper clothes. They looked a bit worn, but to Rose that just meant comfy. So it was with great relief that she donned the torn-at-the-hems jeans and old pink sweater. The nurse/robot led her outside, Rose pestering her with questions the whole while. Apparently they were going to a town called Doyleton, just for the day, and they'd return before nightfall.

Rose climbed onto the first bus in line and sat in an empty seat next to a young man who looked vaguely familiar. She decided not to ask if they knew each other, in case she broke the space-time continuum. Instead, she smiled at him and said, "Hi, I'm Rose."

Obi-Wan sensed the woman approaching him before he even opened his eyes. He calmly turned towards her, his hands clasping in his lap. She was unfamiliar, but the Jedi knew that wasn't really much of a surprise. With the way people came and went around here, it would be easy for one to lose track of who was who. Especially for someone who'd been asleep for as long as he had. If he'd been a little younger, he might have felt embarrassed, but right now he was more bothered by not knowing why this had happened in the first place.

Still, for someone who probably hadn't been around so long, she seemed to have a steady, bright energy about her, which was a contrast to a lot of the grim, fearful energy he sensed within Landel's walls. That alone was a nice change, and Obi-Wan quietly returned her smile.

"I'm Ben," he replied, though there was a slight pause before the name 'Ben' that might have betrayed his initial hesitation. This was the first time he hadn't simply introduced himself as Obi-Wan Kenobi, but that had been before he realized just how many people on Earth actually seemed to know him. It wouldn't do to bring any unnecessary attention to himself, and Clark had raised a valid point when he'd said it'd be hard to make allies if everyone thought he was crazy. That didn't mean he intended to hide his identity from everyone -- quite a few people here already knew who he truly was, but there was certainly wisdom in erring on the side of caution for now.

"It's nice to meet you, Rose," he added. His smile turned a little dry. "Even if the circumstances aren't ideal." After a brief pause, he regarded her curiously. "Are you new here, if you don't mind me asking? I don't think I've seen you before."

"Yeah, woke up here yesterday," she responded to his question. "I thought for sure I'd be out by now. I've got this friend, the Doctor. He's good at getting us out of bad places in a hurry." Rose closed her eyes, trying to remember what had happened after her reunion with the Doctor, but there was just... nothing.

But that was something she'd deal with eventually. Maybe the Doctor had some kind of explanation. She'd have to talk to him about that the next time she saw him.

She blew a breath out, smiling at Ben again. "Sorry. It's been a strange couple days." First the planet with the Beast, now this place. "So where are you from?" she asked, trying to change the mood. No sense in talking all about doom and unhappiness. "And when? If you don't mind saying," she added, echoing his politeness.

So she'd only been here for a day. Obi-Wan grimaced a little at the news, and he couldn't help but wonder how many more victims Martin Landel was going to drag into this before he was satisfied. "Is your friend here with you?" he asked. It was interesting how some groups of friends were captured together, while others woke up here alone. He didn't know if there was any special link there, but it was certainly worth keeping in mind. "It's good to have allies, though I'm afraid very few things around here happen in a hurry." The time seemed to crawl sometimes, really.

He shook his head at Rose's apology. "Not at all," he quietly replied. "Most people aren't quite sure what to make of all this when they get here. I arrived almost a couple of weeks ago, and I'm still not sure myself." She seemed to be very composed, all things considered.

As for where (and when) he was from, Obi-Wan wasn't immediately sure how to respond to that. "Not from around here, that's for certain," he answered. "I'm not even entirely sure where home is in relation to where we are now." He paused, opening his sack and peering inside. "As for when...well, I'm not really sure about that either, but...I suspect I'm from a long, long time ago."

That probably wasn't very helpful at all, and for a moment, doubted the wisdom in hiding information that could be helpful to other prisoners. But, well...there was a time and a place for everything, and now probably wasn't the best time to risk drawing unnecessary attention to himself. And he hadn't been lying, exactly. He knew if he tried outright passing himself off as an Earthian, it'd never work. There was too much about this planet he didn't know. Not for the first time, he longed for the vast archives of the Jedi Temple.

"And yourself?" he asked. "Very few people actually seem to be from around here, I've noticed."

"London, England, Earth, twenty-first century," Rose responded off-handedly. "Originally, anyway. Now I'm just sort of... from all over, I guess."

A long, long time ago. Why did that sound so familiar?

Oh bloody hell.

Star Wars. A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... This guy looked exactly like Ewan McGregor! Aka Obi-Wan Kenobi, aka Ben Kenobi. Rose had been just a kid when the new ones started coming out, but of course she flocked to cinemas just like everyone else... and when Episodes II and III had come out, she'd giggled with Shareen over the younger Obi-Wan.

But Ewan McGregor wouldn't be sitting on a bus in a mental hospital in another dimension introducing himself as Ben. There was probably some sort of self-duplicating time-space DNA sort of... thing. The Doctor would know.
Add that to the list of things to ask him about.

Rose resisted the urge to squeal at Ben/Ewan and ask for an autograph.

"Um... Yeah, the Doctor's here..." She glanced around the bus, but didn't see him. Donna was there, talking to a tall strawberry-blonde. And wearing a really hideous dress. Rose gave silent thanks that the clothes she'd been given were an approximate match for what she would normally wear. "Not here here, on a different bus."

"Do have anyone, or are you all on your own?" she asked, turning back to Ben. "'Cause if you like, you could come with us."

Obi-Wan couldn't say he knew where London, England was, or exactly when the twenty-first century was in relation to now. Still, it was a start. He wondered if it would do any good to go looking through the books in the library again, but in the end he knew he'd probably wind up finding more literature than he knew what to do with, and less useful things, like maps or history archives. He could glean information from fictional stories, he supposed. Unfortunately, he simply didn't have the time to sit down and try to separate what he could use from what he couldn't.

It was good to know she had friends here she could rely on. Obi-Wan wouldn't have wanted to be one of those people with absolutely no allies upon arrival, although he knew he would have been more than willing to start out that way if it'd meant keeping Qui-Gon out of Martin Landel's hands.

"As a matter of fact, my former teacher is here," the Jedi replied as he sent a subtle glance in Qui-Gon's direction. It was nice to see him -- he was sure he'd been at least wondering about him, so they'd have to talk later. "We don't have any plans for today, though, so if you wouldn't mind my company, I could walk with you and your friend for awhile." He could just as well explore on his own, but considering how out-of-touch he currently was with all the networks between the prisoners, it'd probably be in his best interest to socialize and get to know others more.

"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.

"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.

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Day 35: Bus 1

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