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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It was him. Momo smiled and sat down, folding her hands in her lap over the paper bag. "Aww, that's a shame. I could use a bit of a laugh," she replied. "I'm convinced this place lacks a sense of humor."

Reno grunted. Yeah, that was probably true. Dull as the ditches.

He put his foot up against the back of the seat in front of him, ignoring whoever might be sitting in front.

"Well, I dunno," he said with a slight smirk. "Kinda depends on who you talk to, yeah?"

Momo mused at how odd the two of them must look sitting in the seat with her perfect posture and folded hands and the mystery man lounging with his feet up like he owned the place. A small chuckled escaped her and she covered it with a hand.

"That is quite true, though the staff does like to make us sit and talk to random others," she replied. "Many are... what's the human phrase - a stick in the mud?"

Reno tilted his head at her as she laughed. "See? Not all humourless."

He tended to ignore his nurse completely and sit wherever the hell he wanted, so that was less of a problem for him. But he still hadn't managed to avoid all the psychos.

But no psycho out of this girl. (Yet.)

"Well, I'm less poetic. I like just to call them fucking dull, but that works, too. You know," he went on, not pausing much between topics, "never did get your name."

The way this man talked reminded her of Renji a little. Out of all her friends, Renji was the one with the foulest mouth. Momo, herself, only tended to curse when she got really upset.

"The poetry comes with time," she replied with a tiny, teasing grin. "And you're right; you never did. Then again, I could be saying the same. Hinamori Momo - Hinamori being my family name." She chuckled. "There's a title and rank that goes along with the name, but I don't feel like using it today." She really didn't feel like being a vice captain at all that day.

"Girl in uniform, huh?" Reno flashed a brief grin. "Well, you've already told me you're a god. Giving me your rank after that is kinda anti-climatic."

Momo. That was an interesting name. It seemed to fit her, though. Kinda cute.

"Reno," he replied. No last name, as usual.

"Shinigami," Momo clarified, just in case Reno didn't remember the term. "No divinity associated and the title and rank just places me in the overall hearchy and, you're right... kinda pointless here unless you're someone who follows the rank and file of the military."

Reno... it was an unusual name. It sounded like it should be the name of a human city somewhere. Probably America - they liked to go for flashy. She tilted her head a little.

"Reno," she said, repeating it. "No family name?" She gave a light laugh. "Don't tell me I've come across a dashing stray? You know... that only adds to the mystery."

Reno glanced over at her. "Yeah, but god sounds cooler. And I've never given much of a damn about hierarchy. Higher-ups are only worth having around so you can pass the bureaucratic shit over to them."

The red tape at Shin-Ra had been amazing. In that respect, the collapse of the company and its subsequent destruction of, oh, about 99% of the employees was kinda good. Got rid of all the middlemen and various crap.

"Actually, I'm just efficient. I mean, family names, it'd be at least one extra syllable I'd have to utter every time I introduce myself. Hell of a bother." He raised an eyebrow. "But you're right, I am dashing. I'd say something similar back, but somehow...I don't think that's a mystery to you."

Momo smiled impishly. "You flatter me," she replied.

She'd been at the institute long enough to get used to people from cultures very different from her own, so not utilizing one's family name was a concept she'd come across before with Signum. Though, she'd gathered more that the knight simply didn't have a family name (though Momo was more than willing to give her the Yagami name since that was the family name of her master). She couldn't imagine anyone where she was from not using their family name unless they've been disgraced but... okay she was thinking about this way too much.

"I do my own fair share of paperwork, as boring as it is, but someone has to do it. My childhood friend actually likes doing paperwork and administrative stuff." She shook her head a little. "I just don't understand why anyone could like paperwork that much."

Reno let out a short laugh. "Hey, count yourself lucky," he replied. "Least you have someone you can kick your work to. Or, you know. Someone who won't bitch or...aim a gun at your head when you try to kick your work to them."

Ah, Shin-Ra. He was still surprised there had been no work related accidents yet in that place.

Momo grinned. "It sounds like you have interesting colleagues."

"That's one way of putting it," Reno replied lightly. "What about you? Or are you the most fascinating of the bunch?"

"Oh, I'm probably not as interesting as the others," Momo answered. "I do ikebana, tend to the gardens, read and I'm an illustrator. You could say I'm... really girly."

She finally leaned back in the seating, forgoing her perfect posture, and thought on her friends. "I've got a couple that live for the fight, one that write really bad poetry, that one that likes the paperwork, one that's into tattooing and a few of them like to drink." She shrugged and smiled. "Occasionally, they drag me out with them."

Now that she thought about it, she seemed really boring compared to her friends.

Sounded like a dysfunctional family, really. Not that the Turks were much different.

"If you think you're not interesting, you clearly haven't met enough people in the world," Reno said. "Count yourself hella lucky."

"I guess it's not that I'm uninteresting as much as I'm generally quiet unless I have to be loud." Momo giggled. "It always startles my division when I start yelling orders; they know then they better move fast."

Day 35: Bus 2

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