Day 35: Bus 1

[misterprince.livejournal.com]

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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[jokers-wildcard.livejournal.com]

Harley still wasn't completely used the the idea of randomly waking up in her bed in the morning. How she got back there was always a mystery, and a creepy one at that. But none of the nurses ever said anything to her about it, and she didn't plan to bring it up with any of them.

She had woken up with a start, blinking a bit confused and still shaken by the random attack from the night before. But no, just like all the other times, she had woken up in her room... Before she could start thinking about the ridiculousness of the whole thing, the door of her room opened to reveal that same nurse who woke her up every morning.

"Oh, good. You're up already," the nurse said with a polite smile. "We don't have too much time to get ready before we start loading the buses. Try to change quickly so we can leave soon. You're going to have an exciting day!" It sounded more like the nurse was trying to convince Harley to be enthusiastic for this little bus trip.

Before she could ask more about this 'trip,' the nurse had left the room, leaving behind a neatly folded set of denim overall shorts with cartoon strawberries etched onto the chest and a white t-shirt. There was also a scrunchy for her hair and a pair of raggedy, red converses that looked like they had been worn a few times too many. She could have done without the dumb sneakers but the rest she supposed wasn't all that bad... It was kind of cute in a way.

The nurse was back twenty minutes later, shoving Harley toward the buses like they were in some kind of massive hurry. What was the big rush, anyway? These nurses sure had a big stick up their behinds. Then again, what nurse didn't?

She climbed onto the bus, looking around at the others sitting there already. It was maybe a third full. There were plenty of empty seats. But sitting by yourself got boring real quick. Besides, it would be nice to know what was going on.

Without bothering to ask for permission, Harley plopped down next to one of the first people she noticed as soon as she walked in: a big guy sitting alone. If he was one of those big grumps who'd rather sit alone, well, she'd know soon enough wouldn't she?

"Well, don't this look like fun," she said, half sarcastically, half sincerely. "Didn't know we got to go on field trips. We goin' to an amusement park or somethin'?"

[no-barbarian.livejournal.com]

The nurse had handed him a paper sack (for breakfast, apparently). He gazed down at it, or at least in its general direction, while he tried to gather his wits.

Teisel was brought out of his stupor when a pretty blonde sat next to him with all the delicacy of a heavy rock. He missed the first few words of what she was saying, but he caught the 'fun' part. Why was everyone using that word? He certainly wasn't enjoying himself.

"Uh...yeah," he agreed, though he wasn't sure what he was agreeing with. He wasn't at his best this morning. Teisel twisted the paper bag in his hands nervously. She was probably expecting more of an answer than that. "I don't really know where we're going, to be honest. I didn't know we were going anywhere." Or that I was part of a 'we'...

It was at that point that he squeezed the paper bag just a little too hard. "Ack!" He nearly dropped the now-soaking bag, as orange juice dribbled all over his hands and the floorboards. Setting the bag down, he turned back to the woman, wiping his hands on his jeans and trying to stifle a nervous giggle.

"So, do you come here often?"

[jokers-wildcard.livejournal.com]

Ahh, so it looked like she wasn't the only one left in the dark about this whole field trip thing. First they transfer patients with no warning in the middle of the night then they start loading them all into buses without even letting them know where they were going. Boy, this place sure had some weird regulations. What was this, a pound? Were they getting fixed or what?

The guy interrupted this train of thought with his surprised yelp. Harley actually hadn't been paying attention to the bag in the guy's hand until now. Judging by the soggy mess that was left of the bag, his breakfast probably wasn't edible anymore. She made a face at the bag the man was trying to hide by playing on the floor.

Her attention went back up to his face when he asked that question. So he was trying to be funny, huh? That was always a good sign. "Only on Thursdays," she said, a playful smile crossing her lips. "How 'bout you? Got somethin' against banana-nut muffins or ya just not hungry?"

[no-barbarian.livejournal.com]

It was going to be a long day if he kept making stupid blunders like that. Well, at least she didn't seem too put off. So far. First chance I get to chat up a lady in how long, and I drench myself in orange juice. Fantastic. But there was a time and place to angst about his lovelife, or lack thereof, and this was neither. He needed to pull himself together.

"Thursdays, huh?" That was weird. He was pretty sure today was a Tuesday. "Aren't you a little early, then? Or late, maybe..."

He gave the remains of the bag a quick glace. "Oh." He hoped he wasn't blushing. That really had been embarrassing; he wasn't normally so clumsy. "I forgot I was holding it, I guess. I'm kind of out of it this morning." No reason to act like he wasn't. It was probably pretty obvious, anyway.

He looked out the window at the sky. "I wonder if there's an airport where we're headed..." If so, it would only be the work of an hour or so to slip away from this...group and procure an airship. He could still be home by lunch. Or dinner. Was he even on the same island anymore?

But getting a ship came first. He could figure out where he was after that with little effort. He could feel some tension leaving his shoulders at the thought. Everything works itself out in the end. What kind of town doesn't have an airport? Teisel was hard-pressed to figure out why he'd gotten so worked up earlier. Who cared why or how he was here? In a little while, it wouldn't matter.