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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[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.