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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[spandexorgtfo]

Once Rapunzel and Soma had kindly removed themselves from his room, it hadn't taken Kratos long to fall asleep - grudgingly, he had to admit that it was partly thanks to their healing "intervention".

That being said, this was the first morning where, instead of blinking and then finding himself face to face with the ceiling, he had woken up naturally - the first time in almost a week. There was something to be said about the brief feeling of disappointment that accompanied his slow, gradual return to consciousness...

The door swung open. "Morning, Clarke," the nurse (soldier?) said cheerily as he set down his outfit for the day on the bed: a long, hooded, black jacket, dark turtleneck, and pants. "Get dressed quickly."

Once more into the breach. Kratos stifled a groan as he sat up; his whole chest was still sore. A brief peek at his ribs as he dressed, though, revealed that the color had improved significantly, from an ugly blue-green-black shade to a...lighter version of aforementioned color, and it dawned on him that this was actually ideal: he wanted to avoid spending another day stuck in a chair or on a bench as much as possible. With his ribs hurting less, it might be easier to actually walk around.

...it was rather pathetic how desperate he was to just move. However, a month's stay had taught him that stagnation of any sort heralded some undesirable end, particularly the end where he was dragged off into the realm of delusion and "reality". To be declared useless when he had so much to attend to in his world--he would avoid that at all costs.

Kratos was still trying to wrestle one of his gloves on over his Cruxis Crystal when the soldier/nurse handed him the usual brown bag and directed him aboard one of the buses. Sitting down in the back of the bus, he finally managed to stretch the leather enough so that it fit snugly but not tight enough that one twitch and the Crystal would crack from the force. Kratos flexed his hand experimentally before opening the bag, expecting to find the usual assortment of coupons, snacks, and the infernal juice box. It was all certainly there, but today, they'd added something new.

He fished out the small card from the bag and stared at it with a slight frown on his face. His "name" was printed on the front, along with a picture that certainly wasn't his; the slight smile on the man's face gave it away. Blinking, Kratos flipped the card over, examining it with a critical eye. There was money on this...?

[for that overbearing, touchy-feely teammate of his, Soma]

[madeinthehrl]

For once, Soma awoke with a sense of vague accomplishment. So she and Rapunzel had managed to be of use after all, and Rapunzel had even gotten a weapon of her own, even if it hadn't really seemed like one Soma would have chosen for herself. Her own weapons were gone again, but that was all right, now that she knew they would be returned to her at night. On the other hand, though, it made smuggling anything into Doyleton impossible. That was irritating, especially since she doubted Aguilar would be the sort to leave them be even outside of the institute.

A soldier arrived with clothing, and she dressed quickly and without complaint--a pale yellow sweater, a pair of light blue pants that was slightly too large for her, a puffy white jacket and mittens. That was interesting--did they still want to keep up the facade of civilian life? To the residents of Doyleton, it seemed, she would still Maria Medvedeva, troubled high school student.

She followed her escort outside and to the waiting buses. The bag lunch was a pleasant change from the substance they had been fed yesterday, but not enough of a change to warrant further attention. What was more interesting was the ID card in the bag with her lunch, bearing her name and a photograph she didn't remember having taken. But they could do countless things with image editing even in this day and age...

She looked up. There was a familiar shock of reddish hair up ahead, and she dropped down next to it without preamble. "Are you feeling any better?"

[spandexorgtfo]

The back of the card only had a dark strip at the top and no information on how it could possibly be used as a method of payment. He flipped the card over again, lingering a little longer on the picture of "himself", just as someone sat down next to him and asked a question that only two (or perhaps three, if he counted Sora) people in the Institute had any right to ask.

Kratos looked up briefly to confirm that it was indeed Soma who'd approached before turning back to scrutinize the card. He couldn't possibly imagine how this thing could live up to its proposed function, but perhaps he'd had a stroke of good fortune: Soma was from this world and a time that seemed close enough; she might be able to tell him--once she had finished taking an unnecessary interest in his well-being. Yes, this scenario did seem vaguely familiar, mostly because something like it had played out only the previous morning.

"Did you manage to complete your other business?" A question to answer a question: he was being stubborn.

[madeinthehrl]

"Yes," Soma said promptly. "We reached the second floor and Rapunzel found a weapon." No need to mention what sort of weapon it was; she knew perfectly well what sort of reaction that would prompt. "Now how are you feeling?"

Kratos seemed to be puzzled by his ID card--did they have them in his world? Not that that was particularly important right now. If he was confused, she could explain later.

[spandexorgtfo]

No further details? Well, they weren't exactly necessary, but he would have liked to have learned exactly what Rapunzel was proficient in; he couldn't imagine too many weapons that could be used effectively while dealing with several yards' worth of hair--actually, he couldn't imagine any. "Mm." Kratos nodded slowly. "Good to hear."

He was actually guilty of wishing deep down - so deep that he would never admit it to himself - that they would fail, giving him some sort of presumptuous justification for admonishing the two of them for showing up at his door unannounced last night. As it was, though, he could only be happy - or tell himself that he could only be happy that two objectives had been accomplished; they had had such little progress lately that it would be almost a crime to downplay Soma's and Rapunzel's success for the sake of his wounded pride.

In any case, his tactic spent, it was time to answer...properly. "Better than yesterday." It was what Kratos would have said even if he hadn't been healed, but still, it was technically a valid response.

[madeinthehrl]

Soma nodded decisively. She hadn't really expected any other response from him, but hearing it was still something of a relief. So Rapunzel's ability held during the daytime, then. "That's good to hear. Don't overexert yourself today."

She was vaguely aware that that came out as more of an order than she'd intended, and Kratos was likely to disregard her words anyway, but she ignored that fact. You looked out for your comrades in arms. That was how it worked.

[spandexorgtfo]

Kratos snorted. "You don't need to tell me twice," he said, folding his arms (--slowly: his left arm was still healing). "I'm not desperate enough to risk re-injury."

Of course, there was always the possibility of another unwelcome zombie attack once night fell - in which case, he would necessarily defend himself, or at least defend himself until he found someone else who could. The chance was slim, but...

Best not to jinx things accidentally. "My health aside..." Kratos held up the ID card. "Do you have any idea how this works?"

[madeinthehrl]

Soma was a little surprised when Kratos actually agreed with her--but then he was considerably older than she was, if he was to be believed, and probably had the sense to stay put when necessary. He knew enough not to overexert himself. She highly doubted she'd have the same patience.

She turned her attention to the ID card he was holding up--did they not have anything similar in his world? Evidently not.

"It's a form of payment. How much money you have is recorded on this black line here--" she tapped the magnetic stripe on her own card-- "and when you want to make a purchase, the seller will swipe it through a machine and the amount of money your item cost will be subtracted from the total."

[spandexorgtfo]

Patience...yes, he had that in spades. Experience, as well. The difficulty lay not in the recovery time itself, but in the fact that he needed to recover. For a far longer period than a month, he had been able to easily brush off injuries; even those that lingered for more than a day or so never caused him to be so limited. And for the past few days, it seemed that the injuries had come right on the heels of each other: both arms, his ribs...At one time, he had actually been used to this.

"I see." Kratos stared at the indicated black strip for a few seconds. "That's...quite convenient." It certainly reduced the weight one had to carry. "How worthwhile is twenty-five dollars in this world?" Hopefully, not as useless as twenty-five Gald: that pathetic amount didn't even purchase a basic Apple Gel.

[madeinthehrl]

Soma thought back to the last few weeks she'd been here, comparing prices in her mind. It was difficult to remember precisely, and she hadn't exactly been looking at the price tags when the entire town had been crawling with the undead.

"I think you can get a full meal for about ten to fifteen dollars," she said, turning the card over in her hands. "If it's a fast food place, like the Tasty Burger, then a meal is probably cheaper--six or seven. As far as anything useful is concerned--like an axe from the hardware store--well, those might be more than twenty-five dollars. It's not a lot of money, but if you're careful with it, you might find something worth buying."

[spandexorgtfo]

"Hm...so it's a decent amount." Kratos considered the card again. Food he was unconcerned about: he still had the coupons, after all. If he could get something "useful", as Soma had called it, out of this, that would be for the best. Perhaps he would need to stop by the hardware store some time during this trip...

"I'm surprised they're actually giving us funds now. I would have thought that they would be as strict as possible on such things." He could only imagine what sorts of purchases patients would make. There were probably some restrictions, but still, it seemed like an inordinate amount of freedom coming from a military organization.

[madeinthehrl]

Soma nodded. "It seems like they're stripping away the lies even more now. If we can purchase items here, they ought to know we'll do our best to acquire weapons."

Even so, there had to be at least one layer left underneath this excuse for a military establishment. This wasn't how you ran tests on supersoldiers. Those of them here who had gone through the real thing knew that.

She shook her head. "But it only makes me more suspicious that something might happen in town. If not today, then certainly tonight."

[spandexorgtfo]

"I'm sure there are some restrictions on what we can and cannot purchase; it would be too easy otherwise." A decent knife could probably be bought for how much he had, actually. "If not by the soldiers then by the citizenry." If he were a shopkeeper, he would definitely think twice before selling something with an edge to someone who had been declared mentally insane.

"And they've sprung things on us at least twice before," Kratos said flatly. "It wouldn't be unsurprising if tonight had something 'special' to it; they are looking for results, and there's no better way to determine who has lasting ability than running tests when the subjects are out of their usual environment."