Day 42, Afternoon: Morris Park

[scalyfishman.livejournal.com]

With the early morning’s embarrassment out of the way, Depth Charge had decided to devote a chunk of the day to familiarising himself with Doyleton: its ins and outs, the stores, the street names. Anything that could prove useful if he ever managed to escape- that, and having something to keep his mind busy after the incident in the used car place. Not only had he looked stupid, he’d looked careless and stupid, and neither of those were looks he really wanted to go for.

Finally he drew his circuit of the town to a close in a run-down park just off of Kelley Street, and boy did it ever look like slag. There was something oddly refreshing about it after the squeaky-clean stroll he’d taken around Perfectville, and anyway, he could hear the sound of a stream in the distance. Good enough for him.

The paper bag he’d been given on the bus was starting to feel irritatingly heavy to him, so it didn’t take long to pick a bench and sit down to eat. Depth Charge opened it up. Ah-hah. There it was. His old adversary. The orange fruit.

What was it Mori had done? Peeled the top part away? With the care of a ‘bot picking the wires on a ticking bomb, he began to strip the outer layer off of the fruit. So far so good. At this rate he might even be able to eat the slagging thing... 

[What light through yonder window breaks? Tis the East, and Lugnut is the sun!]

Comments

[hajike-tobiume.livejournal.com]

[One solitary emo-soaked shinigami free for the taking. She'll try to keep from getting emo all over the place.]

Momo hadn't eaten again. With no one she knew aware that she had barely eaten anything in a week around, she wasn't reminded that food was something she was not supposed to be ignoring anymore. Her breakfast had been given to Taura, save the juice box, and she'd only used her coupon at Tasty Burger to acquire a bottle of water. So, with only that in hand, the shinigami found herself in Morris Park.

Standing under a tree, her eyes fixed upon a spot by the benches. This was where Byakuya had verbally ripped her apart for her part in Aizen's betrayal. This was where Signum had come to defend her, striking the noble. This was where she'd told her closest non-shinigami friend about what had happened to her in the Chamber of the Central 46.

She felt so distinctly different now than she was then, yet so very much the same. Fai's words lay heavy upon her heart. Was she just running away? Should she continue pushing Hitsugaya away, even though he's not her Hitsugaya? She didn't know if she should, but she did know one thing; she was scared of letting him close just to lose him again.

[bullygeneraleva.livejournal.com]

Well, after a circuit around the town Evangeline had reached the unfortunate conclusion that there was basically nothing worth stealing here, unless she could hotwire a car and make a run for it. And even then, her legs probably couldn't reach the pedals so she'd need a co-conspirator. Seriously, this was supposed to be small-town America, wasn't it? Would it have killed them to throw in a gun shop?

Well, it would have if she'd had her way.

At any rate, only the hardware and electronics stores seemed to have any promise, and not enough that she felt like stooping to shoplifting. Maybe if she could have stolen the entire store it would have been sufficiently grand, though even that was terribly petty by her standards. Looking vaguely annoyed, she made her way to one of the parks and stopped under the shade of a tree... the midday sun always tired her out when her powers were fully sealed like this.

Except that the shade was already occupied. Evangeline looked the girl - no, young woman - over... and she didn't exactly look good. Depending on the reason, that might make her Evangeline's sort of person, though...

"Hey," she said, the full extent of her greeting.

[hajike-tobiume.livejournal.com]

A single word of greeting pulled Momo from her thoughts. Turning toward the sound, she eventually laid her good eye upon a girl. That was odd. Momo was a small woman and yet, this girl was practically a head shorter than her. She was even shorter than Hitsugaya. So was the way of the world, it seemed.

"Hello," she replied as was her place to return the greeting. She really wasn't sure what to follow up with other than something about the weather, but that was too cliche. Besides, it wasn't as if the weather was particularly interesting.

[bullygeneraleva.livejournal.com]

"You don't look so great," Evangeline pressed; she hadn't really expected the woman to volunteer, so she'd be dragging it out of her. It was probably inevitable that she'd have to; hers wasn't a face that invited a response from the melancholy.

Because for the most part she wore her heart on her sleeve, and she was very much a sadist... or something close to one. There was no succor in her voice, and only the barest hint of warmth in an otherwise cruel smile.

[hailmegatron.livejournal.com]

Wandering aimlessly through the town, Lugnut had... done his best to observe, as Megatron had asked him to. Streets and buildings were an awful lot bigger when he wasn't in his true body, though; he'd felt weirdly small, dwarfed by a sky he couldn't touch and structures he should have been able to destroy with the barest effort.

He hadn't seen Blitzwing, either, and that made him uneasy-- he'd been damaged, apparently badly, by that "Arlene" person, and how were they to take revenge on the attacker if they didn't see each other, couldn't lay out a plan?

Morosely shuffling along, Lugnut found himself approaching a rather less-tidy version of the open organic-coated area they'd been let out on, with a familiar-ish person, picking at something round and brightly-colored. Depth Charge... well, at least it was someone he knew, even if he wasn't as good a companion as Blitzwing.

It wasn't until he was looming near Depth Charge that he realized he wasn't sure what to say. Hello? Ugh, but that was almost friendly. He couldn't be friendly to an Autobot-Maximal.

[scalyfishman.livejournal.com]

Likewise, it wasn't until a rather large, rather familiar shadow fell across Depth Charge's path that he realised he wasn't alone. Automatically he stiffened, hands freezing around the orange; after the run-in he'd had with Scourge 'cons were the last thing he wanted to have to think about, but at the same time he knew that he and Lugnut needed to talk. Cybertronian to Cybertronian. Scary stuff, but it had to be done. Knowing where they stood with each other had been difficult enough before, but now there was a Megatron of some sort strutting around the place like some kind of human-ised Primus. And just about everyone in the Institute knew how Lugnut felt about that.

Reluctant to let up just yet, though, Depth Charge settled for cool indifference and answered without turning around. "You. Haven't you got a puppy to be kicking someplace?"

[hailmegatron.livejournal.com]

[yeah, it is~ though he's down to one crutch instead of two.]

"... No?" Lugnut replied, rather blankly. A puppy? Wasn't that some small organic creature? Why would he kick one...?

He was silent for an awkward moment, staring at the Maximal, and shifted his weight onto his good foot.

[scalyfishman.livejournal.com]

... never mind. Sarcasm wasn't just lost on this guy, it was dead and buried. "Forget it."

Depth Charge turned to face the Decepticon- and promptly realised that, sarcasm or no sarcasm, kicking was probably out of the question. Just what had he done to his foot? "Slag. Is this what happens when I'm not there to save your skidplate?"

[toobothersome.livejournal.com]

[continuing from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/661449.html?thread=55124937#t55124937)]

Sai's nod wasn't lost on Shikamaru, but it took the usually intelligent ninja several seconds to figure out what it meant. Oh. Right. The plan. That was good. It would be a pain to do that again. Not that he actually could, but in theory. It'd definitely be a pain. Shikamaru felt a dim, submerged spark of discomfort at the suggestion that he'd had a bad day, but by the time he noticed it, it had already been extinguished.

"Er. Yeah." He yawned loudly, looking up to the nurse and then to Sai before leaning back and resting his weight on his palms. "Sorry about that. Your dad's probably a cool guy." Did Sai even have a dad? Whatever. This whole thing was too much thought. He raised one hand to rub at his eyes, but the haze of sedation didn't lift. It was going to be a long afternoon.

[tsunagari.livejournal.com]

Sitting down next to the other ninja, Sai waited until the others were gone before he said anything else. "The man they say is my father here is Danzo-sama," he supplied. "I don't remember my actual parents, so I wouldn't have taken insult.

He leaned in a bit closer, giving Shikamaru a quick visual examination to make sure he wasn't reacting poorly to the sedative. "I apologize. Will you be all right?" A glance around to make sure no one was watching too closely... "I have it in my pocket. I'll have to find a better hiding spot before they come to bring us onto the buses.

[toobothersome.livejournal.com]

Danzo, huh. There were a lot of negative things to be said about Danzo, but he couldn't remember any of them and at the moment, he didn't particularly care. With a sigh, this one more drowsy than annoyed, he settled against the ground and folded his arms behind his head. It was pretty comfortable, for grass. Not that grass wasn't always comfortable. In fact, he couldn't think of a single instance of uncomfortable grass, except for maybe the prickly pale stuff when it didn't rain or the frost-covered tufts early in the morning. There were the places where grass didn't grow at all, like Suna, but even sand wasn't so bad, aside from getting all over everything and being itchy and meaning that he was in Suna. Yeah, he supposed, the ground was pretty nice. Not as nice as the sky, but-

Oh. Sai was saying something.

"Huh?" Shikamaru used an arm to shield his eyes from the sun. What was there to apologize about? It wasn't Sai who'd sedated him, and it'd been his own plan in the first place, so...oh, wait. Right. "I could have done without ending up on the ground," he said with a quiet snort. As far as the vial went, well, Shikamaru knew that he wasn't in any condition to provide suggestions. "You'll come up with something," he said, shrugging.

[tsunagari.livejournal.com]

Shikamaru appeared to be responding perfectly normally to the sedatives, which was good. From what little Sai knew of the way the other ninja normally acted, he figured there was very little he had to worry about in regards to what he might get up to for the rest of the day. Chances were, he'd just stick to laying around here. That was fine. Sai didn't have any other plans.

He began examining his shoes. The soles and tongue were too thin to hide anything in. He could attempt to keep it inside the shoe in other ways, but he'd forgotten how thoroughly that item of clothing was checked. If he ended up with a limp because of it, it was likely to get checked for sure. Perhaps his headband...

"Have you spoken with the others today at all?"

[stringless-doll.livejournal.com]

[For a little birdy~]

After lunch with Kenren and Hanatarou, Nataku had left them both to their own devices. He didn't think Hantarou would get into any trouble in a town like this, and Kenren was Kenren. Any trouble he got into he'd get out of just fine. They could have explored together, he supposed, but he was surprised to find himself seeking solitude as the day drew on. He'd thought he would never get tired of spending time playing and talking with friends. Apparently, he needed time to move at his own pace too. Time to figure out what else he was supposed to be. It had never bothered him before, just living for small freedoms and knowing what he never wanted to become, but now that he had some choice in the matter, what did he want? Unless something changed, it was a question with no answer.

On the opposite side of the town, he found another park. It was more rundown and wild looking than the one they'd arrived in but it was a park none the less and, more importantly, there were trees he could climb here if he avoided the ever-present nurses. He ditched his gloves on the ground and pulled himself up into the lower branches of an oak. If he kept climbing, would the orderlies come up after him? Could they even climb trees?

Well, the day was almost over anyway. If he was only allowed to come here once a week, he might as well make the time he had worth it. Maybe there would even be a nest in the higher branches. He braced his foot against the trunk and reached up for the next branch.

[no-ones-son.livejournal.com]

Jason was just leaving the run-down park after his encounter with Two-Face when he spotted the kid currently climbing one of the huge, spreading trees that dotted the park.

Any of the local kids would be kept well away from the crazies, so he must be another prisoner and probably a meta too. But he was still a kid hanging around a run-down, empty park on his own when it seemed pretty common for people to just disappear around this place.

Wandering over to the base of the tree, Jason barely paused long enough to pick a branch that should support his weight before he jumped up to grab a hold of it. Flipping himself up to balance precariously on the slippery perch, he launched himself up at a higher branch with barely a glance. Grabbing hold of it, Jason swung himself upwards in an arc, to catch an even higher branch with his legs so he hung upside down near the kid. "Any reason you're hanging around here on your own?" he asked casually, like he wasn't dangling from a tree branch. Nightwing wasn't the only one who could hold conversations in the most awkward of positions after all.

[stringless-doll.livejournal.com]

He'd expected the first person to approach the tree to be an orderly but it turned out to be some guy he didn't know. Another patient, probably, since other people seemed a little skittish around them and this guy was leaping branches like he was born to it. Nataku watched him, golden eyes bright with interest.

"I'm dressed for it." He replied dryly. He'd flipped the hood off his head again, but the general design of his sweater (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7310403) pretty much gave it away. A panda in a tree.

Well he thought it was funny. Not one to be out-done, he pulled pulled himself up after the man. He wasn't nearly as skilled, but he had no trouble making smaller jumps to reach the branches or pulling his body up above them. He hooked his legs over a branch roughly opposite the man and stuffed his hands in the front pocket of his sweater to keep it from falling off.

"That was pretty cool. Like a squirrel or a monkey." Which, in Nataku's book, were pretty cool things. "So how come you're here alone too?"

[no-ones-son.livejournal.com]

Jason snorted, dryly replying "Cute." God, he'd never get the appeal of dressing kids up in cutesy crap like that. If it were him when he was a kid he'd have broken someone's jaw for their trouble.

"A squirrel?" Again with the cutesy stuff? Jason was almost offended by the comparison. "You keep sayin' stuff like that and I'm gonna push you out of the damn tree," he said jokingly. Him like a small, furry, harmless rodent? Not likely. But climbing trees wasn't ever going to be impressive no matter how acrobatic, so he couldn't complain that much. He missed the rooftops of Gotham where you could cross the city without ever touching the streets below. It was a lot better for putting on a show but for now the opportunity to stretch out was welcome enough. Even if it got him called a squirrel.

"I was looking around, trying to get away from all the fucking nurses. Getting a bit sick of being watched everywhere I go," he replied offhandedly. It was true, even if it wasn't the main reason he'd come to the run down park.

[coldest-blood.livejournal.com]

The run down park was not nearly as pleasant as the rest of the town's homey facade seemed, but at least it was a little more isolated. A little, but not much. James was frankly amazed at the turnout of hospital staff to watch over a pack of mental patients, many of whom looked as though they couldn't possibly have even reached the age of twenty yet. Even if there hadn't been anything else to make him suspicious, that would have.

He'd wondered at first how the staff were planning to keep their charges from just slipping off into the town, but the reactions of the other townsfolk were telling enough. Any stranger would probably be suspect today, and as small as the town seemed to be, any stranger would stand out. It was beyond inconvenient, and suggested at least one of the people making the decisions was marginally clever. A pity.

He kept an eye out for other sojourners as he made his way along the path, footsteps crunching softly over ground that held what seemed to be the beginning of winter's chill. And that didn't seem quite right, either. In fact, he was beginning to think he'd be amazed if anything suddenly did seem to make sense.

[janus-006.livejournal.com]

Alec hated this place and everything about it. He hated how the weather was never consistent, he hated how the town was so fake, like this was a movie and all of the budget was used on Nightshifts, and he hated the clothes he was forced into. Thankfully, this wasn't as bad as the flannel affair he'd had thrown on him on his first outing, which was embarrassing enough. A hooded sweatshirt was more tolerable...somewhat. (The acid-washed jeans, however, were not.) It still made him feel like a bum, and as someone who was used to Italian suits (and beginning to tolerate the uniforms here), it was less than satisfactory.

Alec was even starting to get bored today. That changed rather quickly when he entered the park and began wandering the paths. Very quickly he found himself practically face-to-face with the man who both was and wasn't James Bond. Only one way to take this without launching himself at the man who killed him and pummeling him to death (yet).

"Hello, James," he said neutrally.

[coldest-blood.livejournal.com]

The brief flicker of surprise in Bond's eyes would be all but impossible to spot for anyone who didn't know what to look for. Even then, it was not precisely a telegraphed emotion, nor was the irritation at being caught at a disadvantage that followed.

He'd never met the man in front of him. He knew it, he was certain of it. There was something familiar...the cafeteria, the day before, he realized. Even then, the other man shouldn't have known that name, since the staff seemed so very determined to use the false one he'd been handled. If they even knew it was false in the first place.

"I'm sorry," he replied, perfectly, emptily polite. "I think you'd mistaken me for someone else."

[janus-006.livejournal.com]

Not a flicker of recognition. Could this really not be James? He'd been certain...!

No, it had to be. The false politeness, so perfectly British, couldn't come from anyone else. He'd heard that tone before. Fine. If he was going to deny having known him, having killed him, then Alec was going to pull no punches.

An idea occurred to the former 00. Even if his blood boiled at the sight of him, surely it would be better to have James as at least some sort of ally. Don't kill him. Yet. If he truly did not recognize his fellow 00-agent...that presented a lovely opportunity. He'd never have thought he'd try to enlist Bond's help, especially not after Cuba, but...things changed. And if he had to break out the big guns, if he had to prove his former friendship by telling Bond how his own parents had died, information he didn't share out too willingly, well...!

"I doubt it, 007. We're very old friends, you and I." The code number would get his attention, if nothing else.

[silvervestige.livejournal.com]

The book store had gotten suffocating and Kadaj had no desire to spend his entire day humouring that child, useful as the information may be. False memories were no different than the false names. Though he knew he'd be a fool to ignore it all, every story Leon shared was a piece that could fit easily into the same puzzle. This puzzle was a net, and it surprised Kadaj himself that he hadn't tried tearing it to shreds yet.

No matter which way he looked, it just went to show that the people here weren't any better than stains on the face of the planet-- they were stains on the face of the planet. At least that much reminded him of 'home'. Would this really be the place where he'd find her? Lured in by an impostor.

The few snacks and coupons left to them had been long abandoned as pointless favours, so rather than looking for a place to redeem them, he chose to retrace his steps to the outskirts of the park across the street.

Where to go from here...

[Unknowingly waiting for a certain ninja.]

[thatdamnedninja.livejournal.com]

From a pleasant enough lunch with a dude who channelled Reeve, to finding out that there was some kind of faker Wutai--it had to be fake, it just had to be--on this weirdo planet, Yuffie wasn't sure exactly what kind of mood she was in by the time she set off for her next appointment. Whatever. She didn’t have to think about this now, did she? The most pressing matter was the one right in front of her, and answered to the name--

-- Holy shit, was that Kadaj?

Yuffie froze. She hadn't seen that guy in days, had assumed that he'd disappeared just like all of the rest of them. And damnit, she'd been glad about that, since, yeah, he was a homicidal maniac who wanted to destroy the world. Who needed a guy like that around? Not her, that was for sure! Still… Yuffie gave herself a little shake and stood tall, gathering her courage. And her voice. "Hey!" She called. "Hey, Larva-Boy!"

[silvervestige.livejournal.com]

Hey! Hey, Larva-Boy!

It took a second for the voice to register, but no time at all for Kadaj to realize that it was shouting at him. Was this supposed to be funny? Another instance of false familiarity?

No... His gaze took in the girl. It wasn't false familiarity, not this time. He recognized this one. This one was from before, one of Big Brother's friends. His lip curled in a sadistic grin as he remembered how fun it was watching the city crumble while they battled Bahamut. If only she'd been crushed along with most of the others.

"Well, well..." he practically laughed the greeting, growing quiet as he closed the distance between them with a few strides. It wasn't fair. Why should she be allowed to be here when Mother wasn't? His voice didn't quite match up with the icy glint in his eyes. "If it isn't one of Big Brother's friends!"

[thatdamnedninja.livejournal.com]

Still as creepy as ever. This isn't good. Can I take him? Or should I climb a tree and run away really fast--, no way, I can't do that. Ugh, why'd I have to catch his attention, his eyes a really freaking weird and he looks like he wants to tear out my heart and replace it with a… a blender, or something. Yeech, that'd hurt. But I can totally take him! Yeah!

The inner monologue lasted all of a few seconds, just enough time for Kadaj to cross the distance between them. There was just enough room that she'd be able to slip out of range if he made a lunge, just barely enough; she knew he was fast. She was faster. She always was. Almost always.

She hoped.

There was confidence in her stance, her right hand braced against her hip, her left hand ready to do -- something, if necessary. "If it isn't the maternally-deprived loser," she retorted, almost nonchalant. The ice in his eyes was matched by the fire and steel in hers. Maybe this wasn't the greatest idea she'd ever had, but there was no backing out now, and anything she said he deserved three times over. "What happened? Lifestream spit you back out again when you kept whining for that slimy tentacle monster you call a mother?"

[notachick.livejournal.com]

[[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/665221.html?thread=55276421#t55276421) and watching the Yuffie/Kadaj thread]

Morris Park was overgrown in a way that the banks of the Kamo had been overgrown when one got too far north or too far south. No one was there to take care of the underbrush and so the weeds and tall grasses grew amok. This park, so far south of the main street, was unkept in the way that said it was merely too far to go to worry about. Okita liked that though. It meant fewer people were around to watch what he was going to do in the evening.

Moving further under the trees, Okita was pondering taking a little jaunt-about when he thought he heard a familiar voice. Yuffie's voice, he expected, but the other? Following the sounds, he crouched low against a tree and stared incredulously at the scene in front of him. Kadaj. The boy who had been one of the only ones to prefer Okita's 'demon' to his 'human' side, and had all but disappeared, was back.

And talking to Yuffie.

That...was probably not good. Keeping a wary eye on the beginnings of their fight, Okita waited, watching to see what exactly would happen.