Day 28; Bus 3

[fyeonly]

There was, Naomi decided, some sort of cosmic irony in all of this. Not that she was trapped in a deranged and possibly other-worldly asylum with a man she'd idolized for years and a boy who was being investigated for - among other things - the murder of her fiance. No, at this point, those were perfectly normal occurrences. Rather it was the

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[kingofknights]

Saber was humiliated. Not only had they crippled her power, driven her from her peaceful ending, and left her to play silly games in a place designated for mad people, but now here she stood, herded into a large, yellow car of sorts in pink, corduroy pants with a tacky, short-sleeved black shirt with the words "Ashberry's Shoes Outlet" written in faded, pink script. The blonde knew nothing of Ashberry's Shoe Outlet and could think of no logical reason why anyone would wish for her to advertise it in such a fashion. And the pink... Even her lace-up shoes were pink! How humiliating. Someone would surely pay for this. It was a mockery of her status as both Servant and King.

And pink... Pink really wasn't at all her color.

[hack_ed]

Ed had won the race, but then everything had stopped suddenly and it was morning and the silly nurse was back with her silly stories. At least the redhead had finally gotten to see a spooooky monster. But now... the nurse had made her wear shoes. Even the baggy of food couldn't knock away these blues

[kingofknights]

Saber looked up at the child as she or he approached. She was silent for a moment, pondering not the request but the actual gender of the figure standing there. 'Ed' seemed perhaps an abbreviation of 'Edward', so the most logical inference was that they were male. The voice, however, seemed high-pitched enough for a pre-teen girl.

Saber blinked, trying not to look perplexed. Regardless, it would do little harm to allow the younger person to sit with her on the trip to this town. She supposed, grudingly, that Ed's assessment of her state of mind was indeed correct as well, though it was troublesome that she'd broadcast her displeasure with her attire so obviously.

"Of course," she replied simply. As an after thought and attempt to make conversation, the Servant continued. "You are also displeased? Might I inquire as to what has caused such displeasure?"

[hack_ed]

Ed thought this person sounded funny, a sort of funny that might actually be fun if the redhead wasn't in such a bad mood. She plopped down next to the new person and gave an over-dramatic, melancholy sigh.

"Ed found fun things to keep last night, but they're all gone now that it's light." She fished out the juice box, stuck the straw into it, and sucked on the beverage glumly.

[byname_bynature]

"Sean! Wake up Sean! It's time for the field trip!"

Artemis attempted to open his eyes, but everything was black. Instantly he sat up and screamed. Oh God, OH GOD I'M BLIND. What am I going to do? I can't see anything, oh God...! The boy started making choking noises, as though he were going to vomit

[undesirableone]

Harry felt good to be in normal Muggle clothing again. It was a little strange to have on jeans that fit in properly. He didn't even need a belt to wear them. The trainers were old, worn and comfortable. The shirt he wore was a faded green while the jacket they had given him was black with sliver stripes down the arms. If he had been in any other mind set he might have been irritated to have been forced into Slytherin colours, but the night before distracted him enough. He wanted to know how Snape was. It was a little weird how they had just simply passed out while in the middle of trying to get the professor to safety

[byname_bynature]

Artemis looked away from the window and up. Well, if it wasn't Harry Potter, in the flesh. This was interesting. Hey... his pants fit!

"Please, be my guest," Artemis said, gesturing to the spot next to him. He turned away from the window to face Harry. Even if his clothes put him in a bad mood, he wasn't about to be rude and unaccommodating. "Apologies for mis-scheduling our appointment. I thought for certain that we would at least be forced to eat breakfast in the institute before striking out on this..." He waved his hand around to indicate the bus. "Fiasco. But it could be worse."

Artemis opened his breakfast bag. A juice box? "It just got worse."

[undesirableone]

Harry shook his head at the apology. "It's not as if you planned this," he said as he sat down. He glanced over the people in the bus again, making sure that Snape wasn't one of them and then smiled at Artemis. "I'll have to get you that tea some other time." He didn't feel like questioning Artemis over the things they had talked about on the bulletin. He wasn't sure he was in the mood to find out just who people thought he should be paired with.

He looked into his own bag and shrugged. "I've had worse," he said, thinking of the cold canned soup his aunt had shoved through the dog door Uncle Vernon had installed on his bedroom door when they had kept him locked up over the summer. "At least they aren't starving us," he added and he picked at the muffin in his bag.

[be_my_tool]

Zabuza got on the bus and sat down towards the back, staring at the seat in front of him. He wasn't in a good mood and the over-alls and baggy flannel shirt they had stuck him in didn't help. He felt confined. His mind kept going over all the things he had told Haku the night before. He felt like he had made a horrible mistake. He felt irritated and sick.

He hated feeling anything.

He not looking forward to having to sit next to someone. He gritted his teeth and waited.

He hated the days in this place.

[verbatim_worm]

Sheska wasn't allowed her journal. She was placed in a denim dress and long coat and pulled out of her room. She'd asked nicely to be left in the library, but the nurses refused. So she timidly hurried onto the bus and sat on the first empty seat, her bum budging into the person next to here.

"Sorry!" she whimpered. "You don't mind do you?"
She felt so vulnerable here, she was too scared to look around for a familiar face. But the one she looked at, the one belonging to the guy she'd disturbed...oh, it didn't look happy.

"I can move..."

[be_my_tool]

Zabuza looked at the woman and glared. He didn't say one way or the other if she had to move. That was up to her. He was silent actually and then turned to look out of the window, wondering which bus Haku was on.

[verbatim_worm]

Sheska quickly looked away and knew instantly that she'd made a HUGE mistake. The problem was....now she was too scared to move. And it might seem rude. He clearly didn't want her there, but moving might seem as though she didn't want to be there. Not that she did, but it would be horrible to have somebody move away from you and not know why or what you'd done wrong.

Her leg began to shake, the heel tapping the floor. Oh, she was so nervous now! No. She had to stay calm and be brave. She had every right to be there. Unless he was saving the seat for someone. Well, he should just say!

"N-nice day for it..." she said, quietly. Of course, it sounded like she was saying it at knife point.

[sneak]

Before he could get any confirmation about whether that man who had been in the room with them had been the real Gray Fox, day had flooded in and he was no longer with Snake, but back in his room. For a moment he thought that he must have blacked out again, or maybe that they had done some more messing with his memories, but how could they have pulled something like that off

[prisonerofdeath]

Fox had, predictably, been on his way to Otacon's room when night had ended. It was as if the place really did not want him to get the tools to Otacon.

Fox had been given plain old, worn pants and a buttoned long-sleeve shirt, and a faded brown jacket to go with it. It wasn't too bad, but the jacket smelled like moth balls.

Neither Snake nor Otacon were on the bus when he arrived, but that kid, Raiden was. Fox took a seat next to him.

"Morning, Raiden," Fox offered as a greeting. There was hardly any reason to add 'good' before it.

Raiden really did look like Raikov... a little younger, perhaps. But the resemblance was remarkable.

[sneak]

Before he had really been ready for it, Fox just walked up and sat with him. Raiden shifted, not entirely sure what to say. He didn't want to sound like a complete idiot if it turned out that he actually was talking to the Gray Fox, but he couldn't get his thoughts in any proper order.

He didn't say anything at first as a result, and just gave the other man a look-over. He had heard the tales of FOXHOUND's best soldier, and how he had ended up in a cyborg suit that enhanced his abilities. That had started the whole ninja trend. But there of course had to be someone under all of that, and this might just be him.

"Are you really... Gray Fox?" he asked, forgetting his breakfast for the moment.

[prisonerofdeath]

Fox just watched quietly as the kid looked him over. A good checking out was standard procedure.

It looked like Snake had mentioned who he was, judging by the question.

"Yes," Raiden seemed nervous in a way he hadn't been last night. And that disbelief about who he was... Raiden had probably heard stories about him. If he was in the same business as Snake, who was himself a living legend, the kid probably know a little bit about FOXHOUND.

And, of course, there was the fact that Fox had been killed twice. Though he wasn't sure how many people actually knew he had died a second time. It would be easy for someone to question that he was in fact Gray Fox.

[son_ofkrypton]

Clark jerked awake

[afraidnot]

So, the day had finally arrived. It was a chance to actually leave the Institute’s walls and venture out into the outside world. She wouldn’t miss out on this opportunity, especially after last night’s failure.

A violet tank top underneath a (hooded) black sweater, along with jeans and boots… Not very “girly” by the Institute’s standards, but Raven was absolutely fine with that. Once done, she headed into the last of the three buses, but not before being given her very own muffin and juice box.

“Cute.” She remarked, noticing how the breakfast seemed like something right out of kindergarten. With her breakfast in hand, Raven entered the bus and looked for an available seat.

“Mind if I sit here?”

[son_ofkrypton]

Clark looked up. A girl stood in the narrow aisle, and while there wasn't anything weird - or wrong - with that, he couldn't help staring a little. Despite her clothes, the first thing that drew his attention was her skin: it had a grayish cast to it, leaving Clark to wonder if she was sick or something. Suddenly aware that he was staring, Clark hurriedly nodded, scooting over to give her enough room.

"Yeah, sure," he said. He paused. Might as well be friendly and it wasn't like it hurt to introduce himself. "I'm Clark."

This strange girl looked his age, as he was realizing a lot of the patients he ran into seemed to be, and except for the skin (and purple hair?), she looked like a normal girl.

[afraidnot]

"Thanks" she said, sitting next to him as she began to chew on her muffin. She was looking forward to reaching the town and exploring it. With any luck, the ride there would also be tolerable. Too bad Raven was already expecting a headache-inducing ride. At least she was sitting with someone decent enough, as far as she knew.

"My name is Raven."