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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Rangiku nodded, giving Donna a reassuring smile. "Yes. I'm Japanese." Sort of. She wasn't certain how long the other woman had been around so she wasn't about to launch into an explanation of shinigami and Soul Society just yet.

Her enthusiasm was a little overwhelming admittedly. "Yes, I hear you as speaking Japanese. That's uh... fairly normal here at least though. Everyone hears their own language no matter what world they're from. It's been like that at least since I arrived here." And Renji hadn't mentioned anything so she assumed it had always been like that. "How long have you been here?"

And the people here knew that they were hearing their own languages. Well that just cinched it; the TARDIS had to be around here somewhere. Now the question was just how long it had been here. "Just a day. You?"

Uh... she actually had to think about that one, which wasn't particularly reassuring. It had been a Sunday, she remembered that much at least which meant she'd been here for... "Two weeks," she said sourly. "Two weeks I've been here, but I know there are people who've been here for more than a month." It was far far too long. "And no-one has managed to get out on anything but the Institute's terms so far."

Two weeks would have been tolerable, but a whole month? If the TARDIS had been here for that long then just where the heck had she and the Doctor been? This definitely was not anything she remembered happening before Shan Shen, and things were supposed to have been going back to normal.

Had she gotten something wrong? Maybe that whole killing herself with a truck hadn't been the best idea, and she'd caused another alternate reality as a result! Wouldn't that be just wizard...

"Well then, isn't it just lovely that they're treating us like a bunch of school children to do so?" No smile for that, just an eye roll and all the sarcasm she would give for this early in the morning.

"It is rather frustrating," Rangiku agreed with dry amusement at the woman's sarcasm. "My captain especially hates being treated like a child." Although considering how much he looked like one, it was probably more understandable really. Not that it made him any happier.

"And this trip, unfortunately, offers no chance for escape either. They have people around the perimeter and seem to have a rather larger number of people present than you ever see in the Insititute." Except for that riot. That had shown them how much force they actually possessed.

Donna did not so much have the problems with being treated like a child as she did with having to deal with someone who earned the treatment. "Does he earn it?" she asked, curious. He could be pretty bratty and still hate the resulting treatment people gave him. But was someone who had others calling him "Captain" supposed to be respectable?

"So no running for it. Gottcha." Donna nodded. "You've been to this place before then? Anything fun to do?"

"Nope, he just looks like it," Rangiku replied with a sweet smile. "He's very professional about everything." Which was probably why it rankled him so much when he was treated like a child, even when people were just trying to make him happy. She didn't know why he had such a problem with being given sweets by people.

"You'd likely end up sedated if you tried," she replied with a shrug. "And as for fun..." She tapped her lips thoughtfully. "There's a beauty parlour that you get a voucher for," she said. Assuming that was this woman's idea of fun. "It's nice to be pampered after killing things during the night."

"Oh, I see," Donna understood but was slightly jealous of that. Men just didn't understand how wonderful a thing it was to be mistaken as younger than their actual age. Donna would take being treated younger if it meant she was being looked at that way. Of course, that meant "younger" as in still an adult, but still younger.

Donna made a face at the mention of sedation, but then perked up at talk of pampering. "Oooo, is there? I'll have to be sure to go! You know, I didn't even shower yesterday; I feel so dirty! A good manicure would do wonders right about now..." she trailed off, dazing just a bit.

Assuming that Donna was human, then Rangiku sort of doubted that considering Hitsugaya did look much like a thirteen year old human boy. "I think he'd much rather look older so that people took him seriously," she said with a little shrug.

"They don't let us shower half as much as I'd like," she said with a grimace. Fairly shoddy for a hospital environment.

"That's the problem with men. Never know a good things when they've got it." Donna folded her arms. "And who doesn't 'let' people take showers? This Landel guy just keeps giving me more and more reasons to give him a piece of my mind!" She readjusted herself in the seat.

"Oh, that's for sure," Rangiku replied, pursing her lips in irritation at the thought. Certain men just didn't realise when they had a good thing, or couldn't see it when it was right in front of them. Typical.

"Oh, believe me, I think everyone here would rather like to introduce Martin Landel to the sharp edge of a sword."

There was a tone she recognized. Donna turned her head over and peered at Rangiku's face. Someone she was thinking of, probably. Donna let her mind go to the Doctor for a moment before she shook her head out. No, he wouldn't even think about things like that enough to overlook them. Probably.

"Forget the sword, his backsides meeting my foot!" Though showing a sword up his ass did sound like it'd be just as pleasurable.

The shinigami couldn't help but laugh at that, enjoying the mental image of Martin Landel getting a foot in his backside... or other more intimate places too. "That would be very satisfying," she agreed with a grin. They could line up. Every single person in the Institute getting the chance to kick the bastard while someone took photos for posterity. Who wouldn't want to be involved in that?

"Yeah..." Donna's head lolled to the side, "How far away is this place, anyway?"

That was a good question. Rangiku shrugged awkwardly. "It took a decent amount of time to get there on these vehicles last time, so I assume it must be a good distance away," she replied, wishing that she could be more specific.

"Ugh..." Donna was already getting restless stuck in the bus seat. Sure it was a fairly smooth ride, but she would have taken the few seconds getting tossed about the TARDIS to this anyway. Well, at least there was company.

"So this Captain of yours... he's in the military, I'm guessing?" she asked, trying to find something to talk about. If they were going to be stuck on a ride for a bit, they might as well make the best of it. "Your sweetheart?"

"Mmmmm, sort of," Rangiku agreed, tapping her lips and wondering how to explain it. She'd only been here for one day. The whole idea of other worlds and magic might not have sunk in yet. Or even been broached. "Where I'm from, there are thirteen divisions which fight against... well, monsters although a little different to the ones you see here at night. He's the captain of my division. I'm his second in command."

And then came the question. Rangiku just stared at Donna with wide eyes for moment, trying to imagine the idea of herself and Hitsugaya together and thankfully failing. Then she started laughing raucously at the sheer insanity of that idea. "Oh no. Not at all," she said when her laughter died down. "He's rather too young for me after all. And I don't think he even views me in a romantic or sexual manner ever. Thankfully." That would be bizarre.

"Monsters." Yeah, she knew what those were. "Sounds fun. But you said you were from Japan, didn't you? You have ali-- monsters there too?"

Oh, the Doctor would love to hear about something like that. Divisions fighting off aliens in Japan, but calling them monsters. There were even captains and... Rangiku was probably a lieutenant if she was a second to a captain.

"Is he too young, or is that just how it'd look? You did say that he looked it." But with how she'd laughed, Donna had put to rest any thoughts of this woman being romantically involved with him anyway. There wasn't even any nervous blushing which would have been a dead giveaway. However, with how the woman looked, she probably had someone.

"They're called Hollows," she said. "Big nasty creatures with white bone masks. It's a little difficult to explain to a human, especially if you come from a world that doesn't have them," she said, smiling awkwardly. "Needless to say, they're bad. But hunting them is only part of our job." She could ask if she wanted though and Rangiku would answer. They weren't hiding things from people.

"Both," she said with a touch of amusement. "He's a prodigy. Well deserving of his rank and power, but definitely at least fifty years too young for me. I'm proud to serve him though."

"Ahh, so you're not human either. That explains it then." Aliens fighting aliens then. Well, she supposed a fight was a fight no matter where you were. It left her wondering if aliens lived in Japan though. That was a little too Men In Black for her, but the Doctor had never said there weren't aliens living on Earth. They sure ended up on the planet enough to take up residence.

"How young is he then? Or, well..." She'd said fifty years, and that was definitely not a human age range, "How old would he look if I saw him, to a human, I mean?"

Well, she took that better than Rangiku had anticipated at least. "No. I'm a shinigami. A death god. Some of us were human. Before we died anyway," she said. Some of them had been born shinigami, the nobility, but a lot were those who had died but had enough spiritual energy to become shinigami later.

"He looks to be around thirteen," she explained with a fond smile. "With spiky white hair. He's called Histugaya. He's in charge of one of the groups who work towards taking this place down."

Donna listened, thought a bit, then nodded with a smile. "All right then."

She didn't really think that she was talking to someone who'd been dead before or apparently still was. Even with Donna's own run in with "death", she was pretty sure that kind of thing did not happen often, and especially not with a whole group of divisions with people like Rangiku. Donna could only think that something was getting lost in translation somewhere so she wasn't able to understand it outside of those terms. Well, at the very least she wasn't mistaking Rangiku as being Celtic.

"Thirteen is pretty young. But he must be cute though! Not even old enough to have hit puberty yet..." she trailed off, snickering a bit. Well, if he looked that young, then no wonder he had problems with being treated too young.

"There's a few of us here," Rangiku continued. If you ever need people to travel with at night, we work for something called the Arts and Crafts Club," she said with a wry smile. "That's what it's called on the bulletin to try and keep at least a little bit of secrecy." Not that it seemed to make any difference.

She snorted in amusement at the description of Hitsugaya. She wasn't certain about the puberty thing really but... "He's rather oblivious sometimes," she admitted. Poor Hinamori. "And very cute. The cutest Captain of the Gotei 13."

"Maybe I'll give it a look," she decided, nodding again, "And he'd have to be the cutest at that age. Or looking it." Apparently Rangiku wasn't against teasing her Captain for some fun. Donna liked that. "With the way you put it, I'd have to guess that he's bad with women?"

"As long as you don't spend the nights alone. Even armed it's dangerous. Can you use a weapon?" she asked. It was one thing to use scalpels and railings, quite another to be able to use a proper weapon.

"I don't think he even thinks of woman in that way at all," she admitted. "He's too oblivious to see when someone likes him."

Day 35: Bus 1

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