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

[tsunagari.livejournal.com]

"Just over half a month." It felt like years, but as a member of ROOT Sai couldn't allow himself to show how much it bothered him, developing emotions or no. That many days wasn't all that much in the grand scheme of things, but he knew others had been around longer with no more to show for it than himself. "Sasuke-kun and Haku-san have been here longer." He hadn't seen Zabuza for several days. That couldn't have gone over well with the younger mist-nin.

He got to his feet slowly, then looked back down at Shikamaru and offered him a hand. "Can you stand?" They shouldn't lay around any longer than necessary. If the other ninja walked around some he might be able to work off at least a little bit of that sedative.

[toobothersome.livejournal.com]

Half a month. Shikamaru processed the information with a relatively blank expression, and when the idea sank in enough to earn the obligatory grunt of displeasure, it sounded more tired than annoyed or dismissive.

He didn't feel like thinking about Sasuke, and though he'd never heard the name Haku, he knew from the bulletin that someone else from their world was present. He doubted he'd speak to either of them, since he had nothing to say to the former and no reason to talk to the latter. What was the longest anyone had lasted in this place?

"I think so," he said in response to Sai's question, then grabbed the boy's outstretched hand and pulled himself to his feet. It was easier to stand than he'd expected, though it still took a moment to steady himself. The sedative wasn't wearing off, but now that he wasn't lying down, he could see that the mental effects were stronger than the physical. Shikamaru wasn't the best person to judge, since acting rashly wasn't his thing, but his emotions were dimmed and even more nebulous than usual. If he'd been fighting Sai out of anger, he doubted he'd still be fighting, but his unfocused exhaustion had moved closer to the forefront of his mind. It was bothersome...given a little extra time, he could work around intellectual sluggishness and fatigue, but no amount of walking could get him closer to watching the sky.

Shikamaru yawned once more and rubbed his neck as he waited for Sai to start off in whatever direction they were headed. Even though he could think, he didn't intend to do it any more than he had to. "How'd you manage that?"

[tsunagari.livejournal.com]

"Manage what?" Sai blinked, unsure what Shikamaru was getting at. "There's nothing to manage. I've just been here. Do you mean to ask how I haven't been killed, or how I haven't disappeared?" The ninja shrugged. "I'm far from the only one that's been around this long."

He began heading back towards Main Street. "We should go to the grocers. The bulletin is there." He would walk slow, so Shikamaru could follow. Hopefully there would be time.

[to be continued here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/671393.html)]