Day 28: Bus 2

[hajike_tobiume]

Momo tugged on the collar of the light blue sweater she was wearing as she followed her nurse to wherever these buses were, winding her hair up into its customary bun as she went. It was an odd feeling, knowing she was about to go outside of the institute's borders. Maybe the Head Doctor was about to make an error and the shinigami, as well as

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[gentiana_clusii]

Ken didn't consider himself picky when it came to clothing, but what the nurse had surprised him with this morning was almost enough to make him rethink that opinion. He looked like a colorblind raver. The lime-green shirt was bad enough, tight enough that it would be more at home in Yohji's closet than his, but the white vest was just pushing it. He'd been given a denim jacket as well, nearly enough to hide the eye-blinding combination under.

The narrow bus aisle was difficult to manage with crutches, but Ken moved toward the back with his muffin and juice box anyway. He figured he might as well make an attempt at being social, since there was only one other person on the bus.

"Morning," Ken said absently, falling into one of the seats nearby. If the girl didn't want to talk, then he would just wait for someone else to show up.

[hajike_tobiume]

"Good morning," Momo replied automatically, though she was somewhat distracted by the juice box in her hands. It was such an odd contraption. She turned the box over and peered at it, pulling the plastic straw off its side.

The shinigami held the little plastic package containing the straw up in the light and tilted her head at it. Did they expect her to somehow gets the tiny edge of the weak plastic straw through the thick paper that the liquid was contained in? She set the juice box onto the seat next to her where her muffin sat so she could use both hands to extract the straw from it's cellophane confinement.

... and promptly dropped the thing, still in its packaging, onto the floor.

"Oh no!" Momo exclaimed, flustered that she couldn't quite figure the whole juice box thing out. She leaned over and attempted to find where the straw had run off to.

[gentiana_clusii]

At least she hadn't gotten the straw out of the plastic first. The floor of a bus couldn't have been sanitary. "...do you need some help?" Juice boxes could be difficult sometimes, but watching her...had she ever seen one before?

Ken stabbed his own juice box and held it out. "You can just take mine if you want." He didn't care for the overly-sugared fruit-flavored water these things usually contained.

[hajike_tobiume]

Aha! There it was, hiding underneath the seat just in front of her. Momo knelt on the floor and fished it out, not caring how unlady-like she seemed in the process. She stood back up, the little straw held triumphantly in her hand and she sat back down on her seat

[arc_wrench]

Nothing had gotten done! He hadn't killed anything last night! Not even SubZero!

All pacifism and no violence made HK a grumpy little boy. It didn't help that he was now wearing some meatbag's pre-owned clothes. He had been given some faded black denim pants and an over-large t-shirt with some music group's logo on it. It was some sort of cross done up in red, with a little blocky figure in it. possibly a letter. R? He didn't enjoy being befuddled by his clothing.

And he had an old plaid shirt over that. It smelled like musty wool. Taking his rather meager breakfast, he boarded a transport that looked fairly empty. He took a seat half-way back, and started trying to figure out how to get the juice box to work.

[theycutitout]

The clothing she was given to wear into town was actually not unlike to frocks she'd donned aboard Serenity. A flouncy, red, plaid skirt that fell just down to her knees with a simple, white, button-down shirt that was covered with an overly-large, red sweater with sleeves that were long enough to cover her hands. The white knee socks and old, brown loafers almost completed the ensemble. Very modest. Very early century school girl.

Pleased nonetheless with her attire, River pranced onto the school bus as though she'd just had a full night sleep along with some pleasant dreams to boot. She flashed her most impish brightest smile at Daemon before adopting the posture that was needed for her latest experiment. Coming to a rigid halt next to HK, River's usually lively face became a mask of careful indifference

[arc_wrench]

HK twitched slightly in surprise at the style of speech, looking up at whoever was actually getting his speech pattern right.

"Affirmative: Yes, I am HK-47. Apology: I regret that I was unable to locate you at the agreed upon time. I was partially disabled yesterday." He still had faint branching patterns left from the burns he had sustained, visible on his neck and arms.

HK's face was as blank as ever, but he sounded just a little more happy than was usual for him. This unit had seemed more reasonable than most through the paper notes.

[theycutitout]

"Acknowledged. I was also rendered incapable of meeting for similar reasons. Sarcasm: Isn't this frail, meatbag body and its various fluids just wonderful?" River answered, careful to roll her eyes in what almost looked to be a mechanical, programmed response.

"Statement: I am unit RTAM-01, prototype of the TAM series. My creator called me River for various, sentimental reasons typical of a meatbag."

[bastard_sadi]

Whatever realm this institute was in, they certainly had different fashion sense than any one he was used to, Daemon decided, as he glanced around at what the others were wearing, then down at his own outfit

[highlord_ofhell]

Being awakened at this hour of the morning after such a useless night... Mother Night! The nurse was lucky he didn't have his full powers. He grumbled at her good cheer. He frowned at the clothing she thrust into his hands. At least the woman had the good sense to let him dress with only the dubious company of his sour roommate.

There didn't seem to be anything odd about the trousers except that they were a bit too big around the hips, and he'd been given no belt. Well, there were worse things than having to keep in mind that his trousers didn't slide down. The shirt--well, it wasn't exactly a shirt--it was almost as heavy as a sweater but the same oddly machined fabric as the Landel's uniforms. It was a green not found often in nature with a smiling pumpkin on the front with an oddly intelligent-looking and again insanely cheerful bat perched upon it. He reasoned it could be worse

[bastard_sadi]

"How does one prepare for adventures of any size in this place?" Daemon remarked in dry amusement as he made room for his father on the seat beside him. "As prepared as I'm going to be, I believe."

He arched an eyebrow at his fathers clothing, feeling relieved for his simple white cotton shirt. "Nice pumpkin, by the way."

[highlord_ofhell]

"I seemed to have little choice. However, I like the bat. It's... cheerful."

He sat, finally taking a moment to examine the breakfast. His coupons were already forgotten in the pocket of his trousers. The muffin smelled appetizing and he ate half of it thoughtfully, watching the bus fill up. "Have you seen River this morning? Last I saw her, she seemed pretty distraught."

[paranoiatic]

Thanks to everything he'd heard and read during the day, Stork had stayed hidden in his room the entire night. The taunting on the radio and intercom had kept him ... company, if that was the right word, and instead of just cowering under the sheets like he wanted he'd taken up his journal and pens and flashlight and started sketching possible weapons, armor, and ammunition he could craft while here

[hellmunchkin]

[Mind if Phibby joins you?]

Phibrizzo was a bit annoyed to wake up without causing a painful death to befall the cat, but once he realized he still had his scalpels and cigarettes, his anger subsided somewhat. His wounds were dressed and he was given a slightly oversized sweatshirt with the images of various barnyard animals to wear with jeans. How...strange.

Taking his breakfast and juice box, the Mazoku lord was quick to find himself a seat mate to torment, lest this ride prove to be boring and uneventful. Smiling sweetly at Stork, he ventured, "This seat taken?"

[paranoiatic]

((I MIND NOT! :D))

Stork looked over from his awkwardly curled-up position in the seat, distracted from reading the ingredients on the side of the drink box (he didn't know what any of them were, but they sounded like chemicals. Very bad chemicals). Small ... girl? Boy? Boy. Asking him if the seat was taken. Smiling with all the innocence of a child who had never known the horrors of war.

He was immediately suspicious.

"No," he said, crushing himself up against the side of the bus and returning his gaze to the box in his hand. "You can sit here if you have to."

[hellmunchkin]

"You can sit here if you have to."

"...." That was a bizarre reaction. Phibrizzo tried again to come across as the sweet innocent child he appeared. "I don't have to, Mister! But I just thought maybe we could be friends!"

Really, what was the deal with THIS one?

[heartcrown]

Dress for fall? Kairi had been surprised to hear such a thing. Fall on the islands was always the same as every other season. It was always hot, no matter what time of year. When the nurse came in holding some clothes, the once Princess took them with curious eyes and went to changing in silence.

Now sitting on the bus in a large gray sweatshirt, a black scarf, a knee length skirt, and a pair of boots, Kairi couldn’t help but wonder what this fall season was like. Oh, how she longed for the heat of the sun on the beach.

She had chosen a seat relatively close to the front of the bus, so she could see whoever came in. Kairi’s fingers pressed gently against the cold glass of the window as her eyes peered around at the outside world.

What was the town they were going to like?

[bond_off_lame]

Morning had come all too soon for the redhead's tastes, stretched out on his bed like he'd just won a rigorous game of Twister. Fortunately, the redhead awoke from his slumber before the nurse meandered in, which ultimately would've gotten his new weapon confiscated. Axel, having no sense of time, shoved the chakram under his mattress only moments before the door opened to reveal the woman's being smile

[heartcrown]

Axel’s tired voice pulled Kairi from her silent reverie after a few seconds, and she turned towards him with a smile. “Good morning to you too.”

Girl’s night out? Kairi tilted her head to the side as she tried to think of what he was talking about. It took her only a few seconds to remember the night, and the fact how her and the other girls had all been in the bathroom when Axel has randomly strode in. “What were you doing in the girl’s bathroom anyway? Isn’t that almost like a taboo? You’re lucky I didn’t beat you over the head!”

Giggling softly, she played with her scarf, wrapping it around her neck a second time. “What about you? How’d your night go?”

Releasing her scarf, Kairi shoved the straw from the back of the juice box into the small hole, and brought the straw to her lips, swallowing a mouthful of juice as she waited for his answer.

[bond_off_lame]

"Can't a man venture into a girl's bathroom without being accused of lechery?" Axel asked innocently before shaking his head. "I was fetching some water for someone, but that didn't exactly work out the way I planned."

Blood wasn't exactly the best thing to down some pills with. Fortunately the basins in the patient rooms weren't affected by this so it wasn't like the scenario was a hopeless one. Axel followed Kairi's lead and stabbed his straw into his juice box, blowing a good bit of air in the container before letting its contents spill into his mouth.

"My night?" He repeated after setting the box on his lap, stroking his chin while trying to find a good answer. "Well, it wasn't boring, that's for sure. But it wasn't exactly one I'd call ideal either."

Axel let himself slump against his seat, absent-mindedly watching people wander into the bus and take their seats. "Someone I knew had it pretty bad in that experimentation hall, so I had to play hero along with a few other people."