damned_institute | 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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He supposed it was, considering he'd met people who claimed to be gods and who had never heard of places and things he took for granted. "It does seem that way, yes," he agreed with a soft sigh. "I'm from 2308AD. Or at least, that's what it was when I woke up here and I haven't met anyone else from my own world here yet." He wasn't certain how he'd deal with them if he was honest.

Three centuries into the future - Thursday had to admit she was impressed. No wonder she didn't understand bits of what he was talking about - orbital elevators and the like.

"It was 2004 before I turned up here. I haven't met anyone from my world either - at least, not really." She wondered briefly if meeting fictional characters counted, but decided not to mention it. Armand at least didn't want his fictional status exactly broadcast, and she was pretty sure the others she'd met wouldn't want it either.

He smiled weakly at her. "Everyone seems to be from much much earlier than I am," he said with a touch of amusement. "It's a little disconcerting to have no-one who knows the nations or technology you talk about." And it was difficult to go too in depth without giving everything away. Sousuke seemed like a good enough man and in a similar position, but he still didn't know whether he could trust most people.

"I'd rather that they not be here admittedly." Unless they brought mobile suits.

"I'd imagine so," Thursday said, smiling back warmly. "Really, I've always wondered about the consequences of throwing all these people together like this. As far as I'm concerned, it can't be good for the historical timeline of any world. And I haven't heard of any other worlds who've got people who can sort that kind of thing out - not like the ChronoGuard, anyway."

She nodded firmly at Allelujah's comment about people from his own world not being here. "Absolutely. But...well, they do have some people from our world here. Not in this institute, but outside of it - have you heard about the visitors?"

"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.

Thursday nodded, smiling slightly. "It's one of the jobs they do - make sure things are going the way they ought to. I don't know if you've got time travel where you're from, but it's pretty prolific in my world, and it needs policing like everything else."

The smile vanished, though, when Allelujah asked about the visitors. "That's right. Every Sunday, some of the patients get visitors. They're people you know from your home world, but they've been...brainwashed into thinking that you're the person the nurses claim you are - that you're hopelessly delusional, and that you lead a 'normal' life."

Her eyes hardened noticeably. "It's always one of the people closest to you. I've heard they return from the dead on occasion. They brought in my husband last Sunday. I don't know whom to expect this week."

Day 35: Bus 1

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