damned_institute | Day 35: Bus 2

Wally woke as the intercom crackled to life and was surprised to find himself back in his room. The last thing he'd remembered was feeling relieved at finally beating off those dragonfly-lizard things. There'd been that weird intercom message, then... he wasn't quite sure what had happened after that, but he was certain it hadn't involved falling asleep. He'd be half-wondering if he'd dreamed the whole thing if it hadn't been for the nagging ache on his back and ankle from where he'd been bitten. A quick check revealed they'd been bandaged, apparently while he'd slept. He wondered if he had Kal to thank for that. Maybe he'd get the chance to ask later.

He jumped as the door swung open to admit the familiar face of the nurse who'd woken him yesterday. "Up already, are we?" she said cheerfully as she busied herself pulling out clothes. A blue shirt and a pair of jeans were passed to him. Wally blinked, he hadn't been here long, but he'd gotten the impression that the grey-and-smiley-face combo was standard.

"Does this mean I'm being released?" he asked, hope creeping into his voice.

The nurse turned back to him, pity etched on her features. "I'm afraid not, dear." She smiled brightly as she continued, "but today's when all the patients get a special field trip into town! Won't that be a treat!"

Wally stared at the clothes, his mind working away. He'd been trying to get into town and to a phone last night before he'd been attacked. But if they were going in today, this might be the perfect chance for him to contact the Justice League. He smiled warmly and thanked the nurse as she left to allow him to change, then happily allowed himself to be led to one of the buses, picking a seat about halfway down and sliding in to look out the window. It seemed like today was going to be brighter than yesterday, at least in the area of possible phone calls and rescues. About the only dark patch he could see was that the contents of his paper-bag breakfast were going to be nowhere near enough to fill the yawning pit that had taken the place of his stomach, and even that was tolerable when he was positive he wasn't going to be here much longer.

"And you say that time goes rushing by, but it seems so slow to me, and you see a blur around you fly, but it takes too long, it seems so slow to me..." he sung absently.

[Oh Captain, my Captain~]

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Even Tia would have been surprised to wake up one morning with no memory of how she'd gotten to bed. Tony had experienced something a bit like it the day before, but it still felt creepy. He sat up, vaguely wishing for a window so he could at least see outside.

Across the room, he thought he saw a lump that was likely Kvothe still asleep. Seems he was the early bird today. He yawned again and stretched. Suddenly, he remembered the recorder and panicked. Where was it? He felt around the back of his waistband and found the plastic cylinder.

Hurriedly, he hid it in his desk, taking instead the notebook and a pen. The Doctor who made the announcements had said they were going on a field trip today. It wouldn't be anywhere near as interesting as Heron Lake, especially since Tia wasn't here. He was wondering where he could brush his teeth when the nurse came in with a pile of clothes. Almost familiar clothes. Jeans, sneakers and a short-sleeved knit shirt with a little alligator on the breast. The shirt was faded a bit, unless it was supposed to be that pale a shade of pink.

Pink?

"Are you sure that's clothes for a boy?" he asked, scratching his head.

"Just put it on."

There wasn't any arguing with a tone like that.

"Yes, ma'am."

Tony put on the jeans and shirt and picked up his notebook and pen, wishing he could think of a way to sneak the recorder with him. Normally something like that would have been easy, but he was unsure of himself and reluctant to try and fail. She'd take it away if she saw it.

So he followed her to the bus and accepted his bagged breakfast. On the bus, he found an empty seat next to a thin young woman wearing a hoodie. She almost looked like she would have fit in at Haskell House.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" he asked, standing in the aisle and conscious that he'd be blocking the way in if he stood too long.

Anya's head snapped up at the sound of a voice, prepared to offer some caustic remark. But then she saw the shirt the boy was wearing, and she couldn't help snickering.

"You look like an Easter egg." Pink? Really? Pink on a teenage boy? "Unless you're gay, the nurses here have an evil sense of humor," she said, pulling he hoodie tighter around herself to hide her own shirt (which she was sure had a big fat Approved stamp from Satan).

She turned her head to look out the window. Then she remembered that the boy had been asking permission to sit next to her. "Oh. Yes. Sit," she said, turning back to him.

Tony looked down at his shirt. Her initial reaction had alerted him that she might be rude, so what she said surprised him, even if she did laugh at him. "I didn't have any choice." He agreed about the nurses. "Your clothes look normal enough."

He quickly sat down beside her, pulling his arms and legs clear of the aisle. "Thanks. I'm Tony. Do you have a name?" His food bag was a bit squashed, but he didn't care.

"I am Anya," she responded, resting her head back against the seat. "And yes, my clothes are, for the most part, quite comfortable."

She shot a glare in the direction of the front of the bus, where the nurses seemed to have gathered. "Except for the bunny." Bitterly, she allowed the hoodie to fall open, revealing the fact that her t-shirt wasn't just plain gray: it was gray with a bright yellow portent of fluffy doom on it.

Tony didn't seem to see anything particularly sinister about the bunny. He frowned. Well, maybe the caption. "I'd offer to trade but I don't think the nurses would like us to take off our shirts." He honestly would much rather wear a dire rabbit instead of this pink thing.

"No," Anya agreed adamantly. "They are all sexually repressed prudes." She would much rather be wearing a pink alligator shirt, but she suspected that wasn't going to happen.

"Having been here nearly a week, I have observed a tendency in the nurses to watch us with the tenacity of a house fly banging repeatedly into a window because it can't figure out what glass is. I surmise that, barring our escaping altogether, it would be difficult for us to find a place where we could switch shirts away from their beady eyes."

She crossed her arms and slouched down, pouting miserably. "I miss real clothes."

"Sounds like an entire staff of Mrs. Grindleys. Have they told you anything about why you're here?" He tried to keep in mind everything about this place that he'd been told yesterday, and that did include something about how the staff pretended they were someone else.

"You see, I haven't been here long, just since yesterday. I don't quite understand what these people are trying to do with us." He hadn't been there long enough to miss something as banal as clothes yet. "I miss my sister."

Day 35: Bus 2

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