Day 28: Bus 1

[accursed_rock]

Zelgadis was not happy, at all. Not that this was any change, but the events of the past few hours had given him more to angst about than usual. Nightshift had been dreadful: first he was attacked by a small green man and then covered in leeches, neither of which lead to warm fuzzy feelings

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[theheirshinra]

When Rufus Shinra got on the bus, needless to say, he didn't look like himself. First one had to get over the idea that Rufus Shinra, President of Shin-Ra Company and ruler of Gaia (however temporarily it had been), was on a bus. Something in the mind, or Rufus' at least, refused to believe that. To make matters worse, he was wearing jeans. Never in his life, even as a small child, had he worn such common clothing. It was unheard of! And... a long sleeved t-shirt! There was no silk shirt, vest, tie, or longcoat.

Rufus had plainly decided by this point to ignore his clothing. Repeatedly. It hurt his mind.

Spotting Reno, there was a momentary internal debate on whether or not to join the Turk. Not because he didn't want the redhead's company, oh no, but because Reno was a Turk and therefore adept at sniffing out a lie.

It didn't happen.
It did.
It didn't...It was probably for the best that Schuldig wasn't around because the back and forth pingponging of Rufus' thoughts and the state of denial he was trying to keep

[offduty]

Right. Wasted on saving his ass. Reno kept silent, though, acknowledging Rufus's half-assed agreement with a conceding grunt. He wasn't looking to pick a fight that would just lead them both around in circles. He'd already made his point, anyway.

Although what he would never quite tell Rufus was that the President's safety took precedent over everything else, without question, for the sole reason that if the President were dead, then there was simply no point in following his orders anymore. For his orders to be effective, they had to keep him alive...even if it meant defying his orders in the process. A bit of a catch-22, really, but there it was. This was especially true because Rufus had no heir, which meant the moment he died, the Turks pretty much ceased to exist. No one left to protect, after all.

He let Schuldig and Rufus's conversation buzz in the background, not interested enough to pay full attention. The scenery outside was fucking boring. Like they were in the middle of nowhere. Still, it was nice to actually see

[k4t4str0ph4l]

"In theory, unconsciousness would work," Schuldig replied with a slight lift of one of his shoulders, a sort of half-assed shrug. "The thoughts are still there, but my brain doesn't have to process them so they don't do me any particular harm. Unfortunately in practice, it might be even more dangerous to try something like that than to go into it normally. If I got knocked out somehow and came back to consciousness while we were still within my range of the town...it's hard enough to keep a handle on it when I'm walking into it prepared, but waking up to it unexpectedly? That would definitely end me. And unfortunately, I doubt there's anything either of you two could do to put me out for the entire day. I suppose I could ask the staff nicely to sedate me into a coma, but even if they were willing that'd just leave me vulnerable and below normal operating capacity whenever I woke up back at the institute, which is risky enough in itself

[theheirshinra]

Rufus tried to touch Reno's leg lightly, the best he could do for an apology. It was hard on both of them trying to get used to these new roles, at least in his mind. Throwing a Turk into the line of fire before would have been easy. Now

[offduty]

The brief touch was surprising, but not unwelcome. Reno smiled faintly, which Rufus might've caught if he were looking.

It wasn't much longer before the bus pulled to a stop right by a park and the nurses began herding them off. He slipped out of his seat, intending to do some searching through town for information while he left Rufus with Schuldig. The two seemed to have some unfinished business they were still discussing and his presence wasn't really needed.

"I'm gonna go take a peek around town, leave you two to it," he said, resting his hand on Rufus's shoulder. "Find me if you need me, yeah?"

He let his fingers linger there for a second before he began moving off the bus.

[k4t4str0ph4l]

Schuldig had misjudged the distance between them and the town; they were pulling before he'd had any time to brace himself for any sudden influx of thoughts from the residents.

Of course, as it happened, there was no need for that. In theory, he should have been relieved...

Schuldig's fingers dug into the bus seat as he stared out of the nearest window. He was able to see people milling around out there - an entire town of people he couldn't read, couldn't touch. His fellow patients were his only telepathic contact; otherwise he'd have felt as though he'd been rendered telepathically deaf.

True, his continued sanity wasn't in as much question as it had been a minute ago...but he hadn't exactly been looking for a village-sized reminder of how much his powers were shackled, or the telepathic equivalent of walking into a ghost town. Only his eyes provided him with any proof that people lived here

[theheirshinra]

"I will. Be careful, Reno."

Rufus had caught the tiny smile on Reno's part, a mild relief sweeping him at that. This was all territory that was so new to him, that he stumbled and fell spectacularly more often than not. At least this time he hadn't upset the table when taking his fall. A spot of warmth remained where the Turk's fingers had touched long after he had left.

That relief was stronger when Schuldig wasn't seized by the firestorm of thoughts that Rufus had been expecting. While he would have dared Farfarello for the telepath, it wouldn't have been something he wanted to do. Barely catching the whispered words, he continued to watch Schuldig closely for the least sign of something wrong.

"Isn't that good? With all of us spreading out, doesn't that lessen the strain?"

He ignored the nurse shooing them off the bus for now. Schuldig probably had places to go, but he wasn't moving either of them until he was sure someone was taking care of Schuldig.

[k4t4str0ph4l]

Schuldig shot Rufus another sidelong look. This one, for once, wasn't openly hostile, instead merely questioning in a suspicious, why-are-you-persisting sort of way. "It's good in that respect, yes, although unless the patients spread out so much some of them go beyond my radius it doesn't much make much difference to my telepathy about the density," he replied. "But it means that either the power-dampening abilities and influence of the institute stretch this far, and canvas an entire community - which I hardly need to tell you is an alarming conclusion to draw - or that there's a possibility my telepathy's been permanently hobbled. And either way, I can't get any new information like this...nothing we can reliably trust, anyway, since there's no way of knowing whether or not we're being lied to if I can't get in their heads

[theheirshinra]

Rufus ignored the look Schuldig gave him, his mind clicking along and circling the information he had to go on like a wolf looking for the most crippling place to latch onto prey

[k4t4str0ph4l]

Schuldig laughed bitterly. "And who exactly are you basing that observation on? There are patients who've made death threats against me and I've never even met them, much less inconvenienced them in any way. You don't think there are plenty of people who'd trade my sanity for a snippet of intel? Either you're being deliberately obtuse or you're telling me white lies to make me feel better, not that the latter would serve much purpose when I'm well aware of the truth

[theheirshinra]

"I wouldn't. But you don't believe that, do you?"

Rufus sighed as he shook his head.

"A man makes an error, and you beat him with like a whip, Schuldig, until he surrenders. You're a hard man, and that's coming from a man that most on my world considers the worst."

Letting Schuldig go ahead of him and off the bus, Rufus shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He watched Schuldig long enough to make sure that he didn't keel over and then turned away. It hadn't been his intention to get into yet another argument with Schuldig, thus why he walked away first. When the telepath had sat down, he'd hoped some sort of reconciliation could be made.

A deep part of him was relieved and fearful at the same time. He hadn't sabatoged himself, hadn't ruined everything, although that was more Schuldig's doing than his own. Either way, he headed down the street and away.

((Rufus headed off here: http://community.livejournal.com/damned/245151.html ))

[k4t4str0ph4l]

[To here.]