Dayshift 49: Bill's Hardware

[yin_yang_fox]

An effort at movement only shuffled the Digimon around, leaving one place to end in another. A hardware store wasn't the worst she could think of, but it still rankled. The humans outside, nurses and otherwise, that were almost panicking at the natural movement of rain was irritating, more fierce a sensation than she would have believed

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[full_score]

It'd been good to hear that Dad was in good health, and to verify that Leon was around (in the company of other patients, no less). That still left Ashton and Dias, whom he'd had less luck in trying to locate. But with the day coming to an end soon, and the sky practically dumping buckets onto the town, there wasn't much he could do about it. Claude would just have to trust that his friends knew how to take care of themselves until they could make contact again

[notthistrain]

Cloud had made it inside before the downpour, but he was still suitably wet from walking around the streets before that. He saw a couple patients in more water-resistant clothing and wondered what nurse he had to suck up to in order to be given one of his own. It didn't matter as much at the moment, since he was out of the rain, but what about when they were led back out to the buses? Someone had better loan him an umbrella. He was about to check and see if there were any umbrellas in the hardware store, but then he remembered he didn't have any money they'd accept here anyway, so it didn't matter

[full_score]

He'd been in such deep thought that he hadn't sensed anyone approaching him. Upon hearing a quiet, unfamiliar voice, he quickly turned toward the source -- a blond man around his age who was dressed in what looked like hand-me-downs that didn't look like they quite suited him. He even had a beanie like him, albeit a black one. Claude didn't recognize him, but the easy way he'd approached him greatly contrasted with the the suspicious way some of the townspeople were acting toward the visiting patients. He was probably from the institute, then

[notthistrain]

It wasn't surprising that the man didn't recognize him. He'd only been in the Institute a few days and there were enough patients (enough unusual looking patients) that he could see where he might get lost in the crowd. Actually, it was a refreshing change of pace from being recognized by people he didn't even remember.

Cloud nodded. "Yeah, I haven't been here but a few days and this is my first time out here. It's friendlier than I expected." He said this with a smirk that conveyed the exact opposite. The only real explanation for the townspeople's current attitudes involved events that he hadn't been around for.

No sense skipping out on greetings, of course. He held out his hand. "Cloud Strife."

The other blond had revealed himself as a patient with his smile, something none of the townsfolk had given him all day. He didn't feel as bad scouting the place for something to snatch for that reason.

[full_score]

Ah-hah, so he was new. Well, relatively speaking, anyway. A few days could seem like forever in a place like this, as Claude was well aware. Taking a closer look at him, he made sure to commit his face to memory. Never knew if they'd wind up bumping into each other again later on, right?

When the other patient offered his hand, Claude reached out grasped it in a firm handshake and a friendly smlie. "Claude Kenni. Nice to meet you...Cloud." It was an unusual name, to be sure, not to mention it sounded kind of similar to his own. The fact they were both blond-haired and blue-eyed hadn't escaped him, either, but none of that seemed worth outwardly commenting on at the moment.

"I'm not sure if you heard about what happened last week," he added, "but things can get pretty crazy if we're caught outside the Institute after dark. That's partly why I'm in here." Claude didn't want to seem overly pessimistic, so he gave a small shrug in an effort to seem more at ease about it. "You know, just in case."

[notthistrain]

The coincidences were definitely noted - hair, eyes, name. It was surprising that they hadn't run into each other before then, really. Hell, they were both wearing similar hats, even. He wondered if the staff had anything to do with that. He could see them getting a kick out of it...

"I did hear. Thankfully, I had a friend here already when I arrived. Well, I'm not thankful that she was stuck here, but you know what I mean." He imagined this sort of thing was said often between patients in this place. Oh, you're here too? I'm glad. Except not really, but yeah. No one wanted to be stuck here without anyone else they knew around.

He had a point about the locale, of course. If a zombie invasion was to happen, this would be one of the best places to be. At least here they'd be able to arm themselves. Maybe those pliers over there... No, he needed to look for something small he could slip into his shoe.

[full_score]

Claude could definitely relate. When he'd first arrived, it hadn't taken him long to run into Ashton and Dias, who'd had considerably more experience with the Institute than he or Leon did. While it would have been ideal if no one he cared about had been wrapped up in Landel's game in the first place, having the support of his friends definitely made adapting to their captivity easier. After all, it was better to have help than to go at something alone if he could, right? Still, sometimes he wondered why Landel went after specific groups of people, while others were brought here individually. There had to be something more than what met the eye, but what?

Either way, it sounded like Cloud had already been given the run-down of the dangers of Doyleton. With that in mind, it was easy to see why he might be interested in the hardware store too.

"Yeah, I get what you mean," he said with a nod before his expression grew a little more curious. "Do you have a lot of other friends who're in town too, then?"

[notthistrain]

No knives. That should have been a given. Most things worth grabbing weren't small enough to hide easily, either. No doubt they be checked before they got back on the buses, too. No smart staff wouldn't take such a precaution. Cloud was trying to scope the place out without looking too obvious about it, and this was difficult.

"Yeah, there's a few of us. We all arrived at similar times, it seems." With other complications, of course. Yuffie had been here before all of them, along with a couple Turks, and he had apparently been there before even though he didn't remember. He just wasn't going to bother Claude with all the details, friendly as he was.

It was starting to get late, meaning they'd either be led back to the buses soon, or they'd be faced with hordes of undead. ...The fact that he had to take a moment to decide which was worse should have bothered him more than it did.

[full_score]

Friends who knew each other arriving at similar times didn't seem so unusual for this place. Claude didn't entirely understand it, though he guessed it made sense for Landel to target people who were in close proximity at around the same time. Then again, it wouldn't explain why Ashton and Dias had been in the institute for awhile by the time he and Leon managed to show up. And if Dad was here now, did that mean Mom or their comrades were in danger of winding up here as well

[notthistrain]

"Something like this, yeah." The technology wasn't exactly the same, and the conditions weren't the best for him to be viewing the town in he was sure, but it wasn't too dissimilar from what he was used to. He wasn't going to be gasping in shock at any of the items he ran across any time soon. If anything, this place seemed a little behind his world, if only just. Though Landel himself probably had access to devices way beyond what he was seeing here, if his hold on the place wasn't completely magic oriented.

...There. Some of the screwdrivers on a nearby display just might be small enough for him to sneak out with. Something that small wasn't actually going to be all that useful, but that was really only half the point. Cloud wanted to sneak out with something just for the sake of sneaking out with something. Stick it to the man and all that

[full_score]

Claude wondered what sort of world Cloud was from. If he was from Earth, it seemed like he would have come out and said so, though it was also true he hadn't said he wasn't from Earth, either

[notthistrain]

Cloud, on the other hand, held no such feelings toward the townspeople. They might be innocent, sure. They might know nothing about anything that went on back at the Institute. But something fishy was definitely up if they'd all turned into the undead the week before. Not only that, but they certainly hadn't treated any of them with anything resembling kindness since they'd arrived. Perhaps if at least one of them had graced himself or his friends with a smile he might have felt a little bad for the theft, but that wasn't the case

[full_score]

"Hm?" Claude shoved his hands into his pockets and glanced back over toward Cloud when he heard him speak. It was difficult to act natural with the sorts of things that were running through his head. He knew he couldn't exactly blame Cloud for what he'd done, but Claude still wished he hadn't seen it. Regardless, he forced himself to push the matter aside for now. Instead of dwelling on what just happened, he offered what he hoped was a convincing smile. "Oh, sure. Technically, we're from different planets, but I was on their world before I wound up here with them."

He wondered what it was about Expel that had gained Landel's attention. Did he know about everything that had happened with the Ten Wise Men? Claude couldn't imagine why else he would have bothered capturing any of them. But, then, if that was the case...what else did he know? And did he capture other people for similar reasons

[notthistrain]

"Different planets?" Cloud blinked. That was interesting. If Cid found out that there were people in other worlds who'd managed to go between planets he'd probably get crazy jealous. Then again, it might just be the traveling part that he really wanted. Another planet was just another mass of land, after all - another place to ground him when he belonged in the sky.

When Cloud thought of beings from other planets, the first thing to come to mind was Jenova, which kind of took some of the intrigue away. But if they were friends, then the circumstances couldn't be nearly the same, and he did want to know more.

"Were you the alien visitor, then, or were they? Do you look much like each other?" Everyone was the same species here, that much was clear, but he knew there would be others like Red XIII who'd been changed from their original form in order to better fit in. It was strange just thinking about it. Hell, maybe Claude didn't even look like that where he came from.