damned_institute | Day 35: Bus 3 (Return Trip)

Takaya climbed up, glaring at the nurse who tried to help him and jerked away from her attempted touch. "I'm fine," he hissed, before stalking to the back of the bus. He spared a moment to glance at Armand, embarrassed and ... frightened of the man, before taking his own seat as far as possible from him.

Maybe he'd get lucky and someone would sit next to him that didn't want to talk.

Well, that had been mildly interesting, at least in that if he escaped the Institution, he at least knew some of the nearby assets. Not that they were great in number, but if allowed to operate on his own without the inconvenience of nurses, there would be nothing in the town to stop him from taking what he wanted. Besides, he would not have accomplished much more if allowed to spend the day in the Institution instead. His one regret was that he had not been able to gather more information about Special Counseling or garner himself a History Club assignment, given the absence of a bulletin board. Also that he had not found a sweet shop, but in the large perspective that was not a high priority.

Itachi climbed aboard the "bus" again, finding a seat to himself and staring blankly out the window. He was prepared for the machine's motion now, and he should not have that irritating reaction again.

[for Zelgadis]

Xelloss still wasn't in a bad mood when he returned to the buses. In fact, he asked his nurse politely, "I hope you'll go slowly, a very good friend of mine has a sore on his behind that'll be quite aggravated by bumps if the buses are in too much of a hurry!" as he was herded on, although he doubted that would increase or decrease their speed at all. If Landel decided to play the same game again, lovely, if not, perhaps next time. Or perhaps something wonderful and new.

He sat down at a blank seat again, despite the risks of having another seatmate like this morning, and contemplated the growing darkness outside. Honestly, he felt as though he were anticipating presents. Perhaps it was just from his successes last night, successes that still ached in his leg muscles (such an odd sensation) but that were lovely to be able to consider. Xelloss hadn't had enough progress recently. Tonight, he already had a mission for himself, and perhaps Lord Hellmaster would also have requests. It was good to have purpose.

"I knew you two were sweet on each other," the nurse had trilled when she finally came power walking up the path two them. "Come along now, dears, it's time for us to go." Miku had felt her head catch on fire, and obediently helped Sousuke into his chair before the nurses hurried them along.

The whole day had finished on a happy note, even if the Institute was likely going to attempt feeding them to those horrible birds again. She slipped down into a chair, tiny prickles of her sixth sense warning her to be careful of most of the men currently on the bus with her. Miku reminded herself that just because she had a protector, she would be foolish indeed to be carefree of everything.

She leaned her head against the glass and looked out at the rest of the patients being herded about like cats. Night was coming, she had to be prepared.

When they rounded up the patients again, Allen couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty that he'd spent a good portion of the day in the toy shop, looking in awe at all the strange devices and wondering what half of them did. He hadn't been able to find Rinali, which only served to increase his worry, and it was with some apprehension that he finally boarded the bus and took a seat near the back.

[for Falis]

Zelgadis had been is a daze most of the day. Never leaving the bus, he had simply replayed last night's events continuously in his head. Despite this, he still could not convince himself of what he had seen, plainly, in front of him-- Mason was dead.

He searched the bus as though he might still be there, smiling. The first person to reach out to him in this retched place. The only person to call him a friend.

He sat down, still seeking Mason out, but when he turned to see his seat mate he realized it was a trap.

"Xelloss!"

[Waiting on Guy~]

The worry Dias had been trying to suppress over the course of the day had gone far beyond the scope of his conscious efforts to control it by the time the patients were herded back onto the buses to return to the institute. He'd spent the entire day searching for Ashton without so much as glimpsing the man, and while Ashton might not stick out in a crowd quite like Dias did, Dias still knew him well enough that he'd have recognized him if he were there to see. Unless Ashton had remained behind at the institute - and given that he'd promised to meet Dias on the buses, he wouldn't have unless something were considerably wrong or he had no choice in the matter, anyway - or...

Dias stared out of the window without really seeing anything, one of the rare instances where his normal powers of observation were completely absent. Until he knew for sure, he wouldn't be able to put this out of his mind.

Even though he hadn't accomplished much, Guy still had to admit that the day had been pleasant enough. It was nice to just spend some time with an old friend, and he was pretty sure that Anise was appreciative for the fact that he had let her get her nails done. And he'd even gotten to see Claude for a quick second!

Now he just had to cross his fingers that what happened on their way back last time didn't repeat itself. Entering one of the buses at random, he was surprised to see that most of the patients hadn't made it back on yet. In fact, he could have gone to sit on his own, but there was no fun in that, and he didn't want to risk having a girl sit next to him.

He sighed to himself, wishing he didn't have to take that sort of thing into account. There weren't very many girls in this bus yet, though, and Guy took a seat next to a long-haired man, offering a smile.

"It's okay if I sit here, right?" He doubted anyone was that picky at this point, but who knew? Maybe this guy was afraid of men, as weird and coincidental as that would be.

That had been a highly unproductive day. Falis never left the park because Yukari had never left the park. Her plan of observing the girl to see her reactions to various people went nowhere since the girl spent the entire time talking to someone she'd just met upon exiting the bus instead of moving around. This just meant Falis was going to need to use another tactic tomorrow since she had plans tonight.

And speaking of those plans, Falis grinned when she saw the nurses had forced her onto a bus the little exorcist had also chosen. She supposed this was acceptable since they weren't letting her stick around to get herself on the same bus as Yukari. The princess headed to the back of the bus and plopped herself down next to Allen. She gave him a toothy grin, wondering idly if the French braid they'd put her mane of hair into helped or hindered her intimidation ability.

"Have fun today?"

Yuuhi dropped into his seat, filled with a sense of worry and anxiety. He hadn't managed to find that toy for Diva and if a child was hurt because of it, he'd only have himself to blame. He hadn't managed to do anything but upset Kurogane and who knew where the ninja was now. After he'd scrambled up a roof just to escape, Yuuhi'd lost track of him.

Would they be back in time for him to pick up the metal from his room and take it over to Homura? He hadn't seen any assignments posted for the History Club, so maybe he wasn't obligated to do anything tonight. In which case, he'd actually be able to look for Sakura and the others like he'd wanted in the first place. There had to be a way up to the third floor. He was convinced there was something up there that they weren't meant to find and if the others were anywhere, wouldn't that be where they'd been hidden?

Yuuhi glanced lazily out his window, his faint smile and relaxed demeanor betraying nothing of conflicting feelings running through his head.

[yukito]

Of all the people Allen wanted to see, the crazy akuma girl wasn't one of them. She pounced on his empty seat and smiled that predatory smile of hers. Allen tried unsuccessfully to scoot further away in his seat.

"I..." he started, still a bit surprised by her entrance. "The weather was nice and I saw a couple of shops. What about you Miss..." he trailed off, hoping she'd take the hint and give him her name this time.

Aww... The boy was trying to get away from her. Falis was tempted to put her arm around the boys shoulders just to see if he'd squeak.

... what the hell. Why not?

With a grin, the bounty hunter slung her arm around Allen's shoulders and purposefully dodged the prompt for her name. "I stayed in the park and kept an eye out for anything interesting. It was boring. I'm looking forward to tonight instead," she said, giving him that grin again.

It might not be home, but at least being in town gave Yukito a chance to be outside and get some fresh air and stretch his legs a little. He'd spent most of the day wandering the town rather aimlessly, just seeing the sights and trying to take his mind of things, and by the time he boarded the bus he felt at least a little better.

How long that would last once they returned to the Institute remained to be seen, but when he spotted a familiar face and paused beside Fai's seat, Yukito's smile was sincerely cheerful and bright. "Fai-san? Is anyone sitting here?" The situation of their last conversation had been somewhat less than ideal, and this time the blond man didn't seem quite so preoccupied so maybe he'd want to talk.

Once again, Allen was struck by how strange it was that someone who ought to be an Akuma was still so warm. That thought only lasted a moment before his cheeks began to flush red and he tried to squirm away, only to find there was nowhere to go!

"M-miss, that's- You really oughtn't- I-" he squeaked, almost falling out of the bus seat as he tried to move. Tonight? What was tonight?

Realization dawned on him after a moment. She was the one that wanted to go Akuma hunting. Allen could feel his spirits sinking even further. This was not going to be a very good night.

Success! Okay, maybe Falis was being mean, but this was just too much fun. She had always been a bit of a bully growing up after her family and village was destroyed and she'd never been ashamed of it. The bounty hunter grinned and moved her face a bit closer to Allen's when he blushed.

"What? I'm pretty, aren't I? Don't tell me you don't think so..."

Yeah, she was being mean.

Yuuhi glanced up, smiling to match the boy as he stood beside the seat. "No, go right ahead," he assured, sitting up slightly to give Yukito more room.

"Did you have fun today?" he asked, hoping to keep the conversation light.

Allen managed to keep from falling on the bus floor, only by hanging on to the seat in front of them and looking anywhere but at the woman who was now only a few inches from his face. It was like dealing with Rhode, only fully grown. At least she wasn't saying she was in love with him. He'd probably start running in the opposite direction.

"N-no, I mean- y-yes, you're pretty b-but um- I- that is-..."

"Well, I didn't exactly do much," Yukito replied, settling down into the empty spot with a quiet laugh. "But I did enjoy the chance to be outside. It's definitely not home, but it's a nice little town, I suppose."

He tilted his head to one side a little, regarding Fai curiously. "How was your day? I guess it's been a couple of days since I talked to you last, but you seem to be in a better mood than last time."

Falis grinned and let go of Allen, patting him on the top of his head before leaning back into the seat.

"It's okay - you're cute in that wants-to-kill-me way, but I've got a girlfriend so it would never work out," she replied wistfully. She gave Allen that toothy grin again as she looked out of the corner of her eye at him. "Too bad... you'd be missing out."

Xelloss blinked once, still looking out the window, before turning with his usual closed eyes to look at Zelgadis. "Really, Zelgadis, this is becoming a habit." The man had some strange way of gravitating towards him, didn't he? Even though he didn't seem to want to.

Zelgadis seemed more off than usual, however, blank, despair tinting him rather tastefully. Usually the chimera was stronger than this. Had he been refused free ice cream with his tickets? Or had the man come here because of something that had happened? It would be nice to imagine it was a friendly warning about a potential danger or problem from a fellow prisoner, but Xelloss knew the odds of that were low and instead braced himself to be accused of a new crime. Honestly, it was the worst part of all, being accused so often while not actually getting to perform the cruel acts he was credited for. "Do you need to talk to me about something?" But his tone, as always, was perfectly polite.

Hanyuu yawned as she climbed back onto one of the buses. All things considered the day hadn't been that busy, but constantly trying to keep her emotions in check (and having a bit of a breakdown, however brief) was surprisingly exhausting.

The spirit slid into an empty seat, leaning against the window as she closed her eyes. Thinking about returning to the hospital and the coming nightshift made her nervous, so she did her best not to think about either of those. With any luck, maybe she'd be able to sleep through the night again tonight.

Why was this always happening to him? Xelloss always appeared at the worse possible moment, and there Zelgadis was, sauntering leisurely into his trap.

He looked around the bus, ready to find another seat. No luck.

Zelgadis turned to the mazoku, ready to defend himself should Xelloss attack him outright. The trickster priest didn't movie. Instead, Zelgadis was taken by surprise at the seemingly innocent question.

Do he need to talk to him about something?

...Was that a hint? Should he keep the mazoku talking? Why would he be so obscure about it?

When was Xelloss not obscure, though?

"Y-yes." He stuttered, hoping to buy himself time.

[Would you mind a matching purple-haired girl? ^^]

Well, Senna's talk with Falis had been... interesting. All in all, the day had gone by fast. She couldn't even remember what all she did to pass the day by. Odd.

A nurse led her to a seat on the bus, and she plopped down next to a cute little girl. "Hi," she said smiling. "I'm Senna."

[waiting for Sora~]

The day had been... quiet. Naminé preferred to stay on the streets, seldom entering any of the shops (she hadn't even used any of her coupons; Naminé seemed to be as shy as ever) and instead just taking in the sights and sounds of Doyleton. She was a bit more familiar with the area, but also more wary. What was the purpose of sending them out to a trip like this? It left a bad taste in her mouth, like the Head Doctor was simply taunting them, and it was no surprise that she chose to remain in the bus for the better part of the afternoon.

Evidently, she had dozed off, as Naminé was jolted awake by the sounds of people getting on the bus. Did she... did she really spend the whole afternoon sleeping?!

In the end, the tag game hadn't happened, and while that was disappointing, Sora also knew that it was probably for the best. After what that monster had put him through last night, physical exertion was the last thing he should have been doing right now.

But he was still going to head out tonight, against better judgment. The idea of spending the night with Kairi, knowing they didn't have any task to complete or clue to follow - it was pretty refreshing. He would just have to hope that they could take it easy, which might be doable so long as they didn't go to any particularly dangerous areas. He would have to see what Kairi wanted to do, though.

He waved goodbye to his friend when the nurses came along, hoping that he would actually get to properly explore Doyleton next week. He had spent both times just sitting on the bench in the park - he supposed there was nothing wrong with that, but he wanted to check out the shops sometime!

For now, though, he just had to worry about getting back on the bus without losing his breath. He succeeded, luckily, and was even fortunate enough to spot just the girl he was looking for. He smiled and headed over to Naminé, trying not to think about how strange it was to talk to the girl after just seeing Kairi.

"Hey!" he said, slipping into the seat next to her. "Long time no talk!"

Day 35: Bus 3 (Return Trip)

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