Day 56: Bus 3

[rocksthecourt]

Waking carried a sense of disappointment along with it for the first time in a long time. Klavier actually sighed in irritation when he realized where he was. Damn it all. So they hadn't managed to move quickly enough to cover as much ground as they had hoped. It was a shame, really. Last night had actually proven to be relatively productive. If

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[forgot_it_all]

Today was the first Doyleton since he started going to the town that he wasn't given extremely stupid, kiddy clothes. Of course, today was also another morning where he woke up frustrated and worried about someone. He couldn't remember how the night ended, but that seemed to be the norm nowadays. He and Tear made it to the torture rooms, but when they'd been waiting for the doors to open, his memory suddenly went blank. It had been terrifying the first time, but now, after over a month of this macabre ritual, Ritsuka was growing used to it.

After tying his hand-me-down boots up over the pair of jeans he'd been given, Ritsuka followed the soldier out to the buses. The announcements gave him a lot to think about and not a lot of answers. They were being followed into town, certainly, but given money? Why now of all times? And why did it take a military takeover for him to finally get some decent clothes that weren't covered in kittens and fuzzy animal prints? Today was just a purple turtleneck sweater under a white button shirt that he chose to leave open. He'd been given a heavy jacket, too, which was nice considering how cold out it was.

Picking up his lunch and heading onto the bus, Ritsuka mulled over the previous night, wondering if Tear was alright and if the people who'd been taken had been treated. What about the other rescuers? Since it was a Saturday, Ritsuka couldn't just ask on the board about them. He'd have to confirm everyone's safety with his own eyes. First of all, he could see Albedo talking to some blond guy - so that was one worry off his list. Second...

Ritsuka stopped when he reached the familiar man's seat. He was busy eating (understandably so), but Ritsuka couldn't help but stare at him not because of that, but because he seemed to be doing better today. A lot better. Ritsuka had worried Peter wouldn't be able to come on the trip at all after seeing him the previous day, bandaged up in a wheelchair. "...H-hey...? Peter, right? How are you feeling today?"

[human_sponge]

Peter had gotten a few bites into his muffin when someone came up to his side. He glanced over only to be faced with a boy who he was more or less at eye level with now that he was sitting and Ritsuka was standing. It was small things like that that caused him to remember just how young some of the patients here were, though he was relieved to see that Ritsuka seemed fine.

Unsurprisingly, the boy had come over to ask about him, and Peter was glad to report that he was doing better. "Oh, I'm feeling pretty good all things considered. I had a friend of mine help me get healed, so..."

He couldn't given any of the details, though; not even to someone like Ritsuka, who wasn't likely to do anything bad with the information. Claire had been pretty clear about the fact that she was still scared to make her power well-known, and so Peter was going to honor that as best as he could.

"How about you?" he asked with a tilt of his head, scooting closer to the window so that the boy could take a seat if he wanted to. "How are your... ears?" Not that Ritsuka had them now, but he still felt it would be best to ask. And how could body parts just appear and disappear like that? The tail was gone too.

[forgot_it_all]

Another friend helped him heal? Ritsuka nodded and let out a sigh of a relief. It was short lived, however, as he realized there were more healers in the Institute than he'd thought. Where were they all hiding? Was it simply that they stuck to their friends? It would make sense, of course, that they'd tend to those they knew before those they didn't, but Ritsuka wished those who had the power to heal would come forward. If Tamaki were still around, maybe he could have pulled them out of hiding, but Tamaki had a charisma that was hard to deny and few others had here.

"I'm glad. It's hard to find healers here, so I was--" He stopped halfway through his sentence, suddenly and inexplicably feeling self-conscious as he realized he didn't know Peter well enough to just open himself up like that. Sure, they'd fought together and all, but it was pretty clear Peter was holding some things back and Ritsuka, too. Moreoever, he didn't want to seem overly friendly, like he was desperate for friends. "...I'm just glad you're alright."

Coughing to clear his throat, he dropped his gaze away from Peter's face and shrugged a bit as the man asked after his ears. It reminded him of Ippo's reaction last night - and of Tear. "Anyway, um, they're fine. It was a bit tough yesterday, but last night it cleared up."

[human_sponge]

Ritsuka was right. It was hard to find healers here. Granted, the way Peter had healed wasn't something that most people could do, seeing how he had used his own power to absorb Claire's. Still, her blood could work wonders, and Claire was donating that when she could, so he couldn't accuse her of not helping. She was doing her best, and he appreciated that.

"Yeah, I'm way better now. I was pretty lucky to find someone." He couldn't even make it seem as if he was that close to this mysterious healer he was talking about, or people might notice. He obviously wasn't going to be as good at covering tracks as Mr. Bennet was, but he would do his best.

It was better to get off of that topic as quickly as possible, though, and so Peter sent the young boy a smile when he reported that he'd gotten better. "That's good to hear. Oh, and I can feel pain again... if you were wondering. That is a good thing, weird as it is." He'd probably pushed himself too hard that night and he'd ended up paying for it, so being able to tell when he was hurt was definitely a good thing.

[forgot_it_all]

Find? Oh. Ritsuka had misunderstood then? Or was it just that Peter was covering up for whoever was healing people for some reason? It did seem like healing caused a person to get tired here, so maybe that was why they weren't coming forward. Whatever the reason, both Peter and the mystery healer were keeping quiet and Ritsuka wasn't going to privy to the information anytime soon.

It didn't matter, to be honest. Peter was better. He was able to sit up and there didn't seem to be a wheelchair anywhere nearby, so maybe he would be free to walk around today, too. He changed the topic quickly enough to Ritsuka and so the boy decided to play along. When adults kept secrets, they tended to stay pretty tight-lipped on it. Nosy 'kids' were often told to buzz off and, even if Peter didn't seem the type to do that, Ritsuka didn't want to push his luck.

"So it was only that one night?" Weird. Did that have to do with the bulletin that went up the next day? And with that weird Project whatever I.R.I.S. had spoken about? Ritsuka dropped his head again, crossing his arms as he brought a fist to his mouth, thinking. If the Institute could do things like that... "Mm...yeah, it's good. You should be careful though, in case it comes back for some reason."

[human_sponge]

In Peter's experience, those strange things that happened really were only meant for a night. The zombies, the malfunctioning doors, and the lack of pain had all been one-time things. He was sure that Ritsuka had noticed that too, but the young boy was still telling him to be careful. He was either paranoid or he spent too much of his time worrying about others. Maybe it was a mix of both, but someone so young shouldn't have to carry all of that on his shoulders.

From what he could tell, Ritsuka was also a pacifist, which made sense. What child really wanted to be exposed to that sort of violence? Who wanted to see their friends injured? The truth was that adults didn't like it any more than children, but they were better able to justify it to themselves. Peter knew that counted for him, too.

No, it was Albedo who had really been the odd one, but that was a whole other story.

"I will," he said in order to reassure Ritsuka. "But hey, it looks like we're going to actually buy things today, huh?" Peter grabbed for his dog tags, seeing the "A Rank" printed on them. "How much money are you getting?" Ritsuka had mentioned that he had been here for a long while now, so Peter was curious.

[forgot_it_all]

Peter may have been agreeing just to pacify Ritsuka, but the boy didn't mind. It was just good to hear that he was going to be careful, keep an eye and ear to the Intercom in case something like that happened again. Most of the weird events here seemed to be restricted to a single night, but Ritsuka didn't want to take any chances. History was bound to repeat itself eventually. People like Landel and this new guy, Aguilar, were too arrogant to think that their actions were going to reap consequences. They would keep pushing at the patients until they all died, or they all revolted.

With a jerk the bus started moving and Ritsuka stumbled slightly. Right. He should take a seat. Dipping his head in a short bow, he sat next to Peter, making sure not to take up much space in case the older man needed to spread out. "Yeah, I guess we are."

To be honest, Ritsuka hadn't paid much attention to the announcement. He'd listened passively enough to pick up what was said, but he couldn't remember much of it. Really, as long as he still got the coupon to go to the burger place, he didn't much care. Maybe he could buy batteries for his camera? He doubted he got enough money to buy another data card. "Uh..." Ritsuka pulled his dogtags out, too, looking them over. The letter S was stamped onto it, which meant-- "25? I think? I wasn't listening too well this morning. What about you?"

[human_sponge]

When Ritsuka moved in to take a seat, Peter made sure to scoot a bit closer to the window. It wasn't like the small boy took up a lot of room, but these bus seats never really felt like they were big enough, did they? He'd mainly taken cabs in New York, but he'd used buses enough times to remember the awkwardness of being thigh-to-thigh with a stranger. Sometimes they kind of smelled, too. Sitting next to Ritsuka hardly compared, of course. As far as Peter could tell, he was a good kid, cat ears and all.

Though as the younger patient grabbed for his dog tags, Peter couldn't help leaning over slightly to see what was there. The name hardly mattered to him, but... wow, S Class? Then the boy wasn't lying about the length of time he'd been here, not that Peter had ever suspected that he was.

"Twenty-five isn't half bad," he said with a crooked smile. "By my count, I'll be getting twenty. That should still be enough for something decent." A small town like Doyleton wasn't going to charge them exorbitant amounts, either. Peter was expecting that the prices were going to blow his mind considering where he was used to shopping.

"Not sure what I'll get yet, but I'll have to do some browsing." Even if this was only the military throwing them a bone, Peter intended to make good use of it. Just the novelty of getting to purchase something again would be nice enough, if he was honest.