Day 35: Bus 2

[scarletspeedstr.livejournal.com]

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~]

Comments

[outtokillhim.livejournal.com]

How am I doing? he went over the inane question in his head mock-cheerily Besides being right the fuck next to you and unable to snap your stupid neck? Oh, just fine. Been learning some great arts and crafts lately.

He chewed his muffin slowly, eventually settling on just holding it in his mouth until that became too revolting to hold through with, and he swallowed hesitantly, looking at Hohenehim through the corner of his eye, twitching a bit.

He leaned his head on the window, looking out and said, humorlessly

"It's banana, dumbass."

[only-logic.livejournal.com]

He was completely aware that he was being insulted, and he felt that strange awkwardness overcome him. What was he supposed to do? He was fairly certain that he shouldn't stand for such language, but he never knew how to discipline his children. That had always been a task left to Dante or Trisha. There was just something so fundamentally over his head about dealing out an appropriate response towards such obvious obstinance.

He couldn't do it, he figured out after sitting in silence. There was not a single reply he could come up with that even vaguely sounded parental or dominant enough to garner any attention. Besides, he had cowardly fled, so hadn't he given up his rights to shaking his finger in displeasure like Trisha often did to the boys?

Perplexed by the new hostile situation and without the ability to just get up and move someone more comfortable, Hohenheim peered in his breakfast bag instead. He pulled out the juice box as if it were the most interesting device in the world and made a 'hmm' noise as he poked the straw in and began to drink.

It wasn't so unpleasant sitting in silence for now. The scenary was nice outside, and this was the most placated his eldest son would ever be towards him now. He accepted that, but the silence almost made it seem like he had a small chance.