damned_institute | Dayshift 49: Bus 2

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Dayshift 49: Bus 2

Morning hit without warning, with the sheer knowledge hitting the Digimon before anything else that today they were going back to Doyletown. Her feet hit the floor and she rotated her right shoulder experimentally. The skin stretched tight, soreness persevering, but it moved fine. She stretched her fingers then curled them into a fist, staring at the tanned skin that was her right arm. If something happened this time... She would be more useful. Her mind replayed the events of last week, and Renamon stilled, considering.

There wasn't much time left to her as the nurse bustled in with an armful of clothes, the same shade as the weeks before. The woman murmured a cheery complaint that it was too cold for skirts and left Renamon to change. The pants were preferable to the past two weeks, though the other item she was left with gave too much to irony. She frowned at it for a minute, then slid it over her head, reflecting that this motion in days or weeks past would have left her shuddering. It meant she was becoming used to this human body, and that was nothing that boded well. She grabbed her notebook before being led to a bus, and slid into a seat halfway down the aisle, pressing against the window. Again, the previous night had been more than short. Was it just her, or was there something more to it?

[for Haseo!]

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The night before almost seemed like a particularly strange and vivid dream, but no -- there was still a trace of a headache lingering behind Hanatarou's eyes, reminding him of how he'd kind of overdone it the night before. Hopefully he wouldn't run into Nataku again soon, because he was pretty sure a lecture would be in order; at least there hadn't been an opportunity for his friend to doodle on his face again, because he probably would have taken it.

...he hadn't, had he? Hopefully there hadn't been some time that he'd missed during the whole thing.

Fortunately, though, the nurse didn't say a word when she arrived to shoo him out of bed, but her opening greeting and bundle of non-grey clothing reminded him that it was another field trip day. Hanatarou dressed himself in the unfamiliar clothing (http://i39.tinypic.com/24v1ph4.jpg) without really paying attention except to be grateful that the green dragon-y jacket hadn't made an appearance again this week. What if something like last week happened again? He hadn't planned anything.

At least he spotted a familiar face once he boarded the bus, and paused beside her seat with hands nervously crushing the paper bag he'd been given. "Er, good morning, Senna-san," he offered. "Do you mind if I sit here?"

The girl had been staring out the window somewhat despondently, chin in her hand as she leaned her elbow against the side of the bus. A familiar voice drew attention, Senna's head shifting slightly towards the sound before realizing the owner and turning fully, offering a wide grin. The shift brought two things to her attention to annoy her. She hadn't retied her hair, and now thinking about it, fully awake and aware, it'd be difficult with one arm in a sling. Good job, Senna. Maybe you can bribe a nurse to do it.

Still, she kept the grin, shaking her head. "Nope! I don't mind! It's really good to see you."

It was? Hanatarou blinked once, but only smiled and settled down onto the seat next to her without putting his thoughts into words. He was glad to see that she was still around, especially when so many people seemed to be disappearing recently, although...well, it didn't look like she'd been terribly fortunate lately.

He absently rolled the top of his bag closed a little more tightly as he tried to decide whether she'd be annoyed if he mentioned it, then finally nodded toward her and hesitantly said, "Er, you're...um. Are you doing okay? I mean, if you, well, needed a healer..."

...Ah. Right. On the board he had said that, hadn't he? She let out a small laugh, shrugging with her better arm. "I'm okay," she assured. "It'll get better with time and stuff."

She leaned back against the seat, now playing with her own paper bag. "I wouldn't want to bother you anyway. You seem busy enough as it is." She glanced over, offering another smile. "How's your medic stuff going? I saw some of that on the board."

It would get even better if she'd let him try to heal it, but...well, if she didn't want him to, then Hanatarou wasn't going on insist. He'd just go back to feeling a little awkward about being a healer sitting next to an injured person he hadn't helped and pretend that he didn't notice the bandages. "Oh? Okay," he agreed, with a small shrug. "I haven't been...er. Well."

He glanced down at the bag and forced himself to stop destroying it in favor of unrolling the top and looking inside instead. "It's going okay? I think. There were several other people who were interested, at least." Round bread with something on it, an apple, and a little carton of milk. Not the most appealing breakfast, but then, most of the ones here weren't. "Enough that we had two groups going out last night."

Still so hesitant and shy. To his choppy dialogue, she leaned over, nudging him in the shoulder. Senna smiled. "It sounds like it at least. If you have that many people." Her mouth quirked. "You know... A&C has been slow lately. If you ever need any help with stuff, lemme know, okay? I could try to be useful."

If she stopped getting herself and others hurt. She was on a roll lately, of so much fail that it was pathetic. The only good thing about last night was that no one got more hurt and they got to explore another part of the town. Otherwise.... She flicked the bag in her lap, debating on whether to open it. Otherwise, she didn't to get a little better. She needed to become stronger, to protect the people she cared about.

"If you'd like to come along? We could always use more people." Hanatarou hesitated in the middle of pulling the apple out of his bag and glanced over at Senna with a shy smile. "Last night we had several healers, but, um. Well, only one person to help keep an eye on the rest of us."

After he'd been reminded last night just how weak using their abilities could leave the healers in the group, he'd realized that they needed more non-healers to protect them even when there wasn't a monster or something in the area. If Nataku hadn't been there to catch him, after all, he could've fallen over and hurt himself just like that...and wouldn't that have been kind of sad. He wrinkled his nose a little and finished the paused movement, examining the apple thoughtfully for a moment.

"Also, um. I...I noticed this morning," he began, keeping his eyes fixed on the piece of fruit as though expecting to suddenly find some blemish on it. "Er. Hitsugaya-taichou is...well, gone."

She nodded enthusiastically. "Sure! I'm up for it. Got a sword to back you up and everything." One person and a group of healers? Didn't bode well, and she was a little worried. "So let me know if you're short-handed."

Not that she was much use one-armed. It'd probably be a smart idea to get someone to speed the process, but she couldn't justify her friend wasting his energy on her when their were other people that needed it more. Still, maybe she should--

Hanatarou's next sentence stopped her thought process cold. The girl froze, eyes wide. "Wh--R-really?" Again? No, it....

One more person for the group was always a good thing, and for more reasons than just the obvious. With every person who joined there was the potential that Hanatarou might find someone who was much better at running the group than he was (which, really, wouldn't take all that much) and would be interested in dealing with making sure the details were all taken care of. Maybe one of the people who'd showed up last night? Neither Kibitoshin nor Tsukasa seemed like the type to take charge, but he hadn't spoken with Peter very long. And more people might show up, too.

It occurred to him that maybe they should have planned for the paramedic group to meet together in Doyleton, just in case something bad happened like last week. Was there a bulletin in town that he could use? And more importantly, would other people check it? He'd have to look into that later.

For now he just turned the apple over in his hands, shoulders hunching a little at Senna's reaction. "I...don't think anything bad happened. I noticed it. Um. Last time. It's just, well, he's not there anymore. The only other one I could sense was Hinamori-fukutaichou."

Not there anymore. Did it mean he had died again? Or did it mean he had just disappeared without a trace? The Hitsugaya that had came back had been different from the one she had worked with. Was she right, in what she said to Meche? If he came back again, would he be even more-so? Would he come back?

Senna took a breath, then opened the bag, pulling out the bread to nibble on. "...right," she said softly. "At least Momo's still--" Shit. Senna's eyes widened slightly. Momo. Again, Hitsugaya had vanished, and Senna hoped to everything that Momo wasn't as torn as before. Did she know? Of course she did. Senna wondered how she was doing, if--

Again, she took a breath, trying to smooth her thoughts. "This place really sucks, you know."

"I know." Hanatarou sighed quietly, regarding the apple for a little bit longer before finally taking a bite. People kept appearing and disappearing without any warning -- maybe Hitsugaya would be back again, and maybe not. And maybe one of the people who'd been gone for even longer would reappear. He felt a little guilty for wishing that some of the people he missed would end up trapped here again, but, well. It would still be nice to have them here.

But really, that was kind of a depressing thing to think about, especially when there would be plenty more to worry about once they got to town. After a moment's thought he perked up a little and cleared his throat quietly. "Er, but. Last night we ran into something interesting? Did you hear any of the messages on the radio?"

The past few days had been more than rough. You would think she'd be better at things with shitty situations by now, but stuff like this... Was still too bad for words. She kept nibbling on the bread, thoughts her own for a brief moment.

Which slid to some interest when Hanatarou spoke. She shifted, pulling a knee up to sit sideways to face him. The girl shook her head. "Nuh-uh. I never have it on me. Did something happen?"

It seemed to have worked to shake Senna out of the bad mood, at least for the moment, and Hanatarou's smile lost just a little of its uncertainty. "I never carried it, either," he admitted with a small shrug. "Mine was actually just sitting in the drawer because I didn't think it was, well, useful." Fortunate, then, that the paramedic meeting had still been going when the first message came over the air. Otherwise he'd never have known a thing.

"But, um, this woman said something about a person who was trying to help us. That he was hurt. So we took a radio with us when we split up, last night." He gestured vaguely with the half-eaten apple as he spoke, wondering for a moment just where Nataku had ended up. It would probably be good to find him today, if possible, if just to thank him for his help. "And then later she sent another message saying that he was out in the forest."

Woman. Wasn't there a chick that had been talking on the radio? She had heard about that, but she didn't think there was anything that had came from it. That she had told them about someone being hurt seemed sorta weird--people were hurt all the time. So what was the thing that was special here?

She frowned in thought, tilting her head. "Did you find anything?"

"Ah...yes. We found him." Hanatarou took another bite of the apple and chewed thoughtfully, wondering for a moment if the "him" they'd found in the forest was really the "him" mentioned by the woman on the radio. It didn't seem likely that he could be anyone else, but what if? How many people were out there, anyway? And why were at least some of them trying to help the people stuck in the Institute?

None of that part made any sense to him, so he'd leave the reasoning to others. The most important part was that he'd been able to help someone who'd really needed it, and hadn't screwed up. Mostly. "He was hurt pretty bad, so it was a good thing we had two healers in the group. I think we got there just in time."

"Man," the girl exhaled. So the chick on the radio was right at least. Maybe Senna should start listening to it if there were people out there in trouble that needed help--though that still begged why that guy was so different. "I'm glad you found him. Did he seem okay after?"

She shifted again, wrapping her good arm around the knee she had raised; bag dropping to her lap. "Was he anyone you knew?"

Hanatarou hesitated, then gave a small nod with he attention focused entirely on the apple he was holding. "He was...better?" he said, sounding a little uncertain about that. Better, but not completely healed. Even with two healers they hadn't been able to fix him up entirely. All right, he'd been pretty badly hurt, but still, it felt wrong.

"I'd never seen him before, though." The healer sighed and nibbled at the apple. "Whatever happened to him was pretty bad. He didn't say what did it, though." And fortunately they hadn't run into whatever it was.

Better didn't sound much like good. She mulled over this, finishing off the last of the bread. "Weird that he didn't explain it." Wouldn't people want to warn the others about stuff that was that bad? She didn't know.

"Strange, though," she added. "That the radio lady gave a heads up for him. Wonder what was so special about him more than anyone else." Couldn't be severity. She had seen Hitsugaya's body, and that defined the word. Lethality of the monster? No. The guy, Roland... He was dangerous. She didn't get it then. The difference in this case.

"Oh...well, um. I don't..." The healer hesitated uncertainly, but before he could come up with a coherent response was distracted by the sight of the town outside the window and the feel of the bus they were on slowing to a stop. He wasn't quite sure whether to be relieved that the ride was over and they could get some fresh air, or worried that they'd returned to this place again. The memory of last week was entirely too vivid, after all.

He settled for shoving the apple core into the bag with the rest of his untouched breakfast, then pushed to his feet with a glance around as the rest of the occupants started to file out of the bus. "Did you have any plans for today, Senna-san?" If so, she was ahead of him. He hadn't even considered it at all, which probably wasn't wise if things went bad again.

The hesitance had slipped back in. Guy needed to be broken of that. He had nothing to be cautious about--Hanatarou was a good guy, better than most. But that ended that it seemed, since the bus had come to a stop. She better get off. She'd have a time dodging glances at the pet store, after all, and--

The question came as curious. She stood up, shaking her hair once, then carefully stuck the apple, coupons, and drink in the pockets of her jacket. Good. Hand free. That done, she grinned at the other Shinigami. "Nope! No plans for me. Why?" she wondered teasingly. "Are you going to be my date?"

Everyone else was starting to leave, but Hanatarou stayed where he was for the moment, waiting for Senna to finish gathering her things. He halfway wondered if he should offer to help carry things, if she wouldn't let him try to heal her arm, but she seemed to have everything under control. Instead he started to turn away, stepping into the aisle and back to that she could move out -- but immediately froze at the question, his face instantly turning scarlet.

"Ah, I j-just, er, didn't, um. Have any plans," he replied, tugging at the hem of his jacket. It wasn't that he didn't like Senna or anything, but, well. Date? Good thing Sora wasn't around to overhear that or he'd get teased again.

And back to the stuttering. Senna kept the grin, making sure the things in her pockets were secure. That done, she followed him into the aisle, smiling lightly. "Alright then," she responded. "Then I am stealing you, sir."

She reached out to grab Hanatarou's hand, pulling him slightly towards the front of the bus. "We'll have an adventure or something."

[to here] (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/861511.html?thread=68275015#t68275015)

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Dayshift 49: Bus 2

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