Day 28: Bus 2

[misterprince]

The group hadn't made it to the Twin Pines before the nurses started ushering them back to the buses. Sanji didn't believe the small sack dinner he was handed would make up for the meal they would have had at the restaurant, and aside from that he'd still wanted to check the place out. Now he had no way of comparing it to what they served at the

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[small_fortune]

[Waiting for Javert]That had not exactly been profitable. At least they were getting more than a muffin for dinner...

Well, an exploration of a strange city could go worse, he knew from personal experience. In all, he hadn't learned much... it seemed to be an Earthlike world, or a very well terraformed one, but with the potential of alternate dimensions that gave him no real sense of direction or location. The choice of historical settings was another peculiarity. The smell of exhaust from the buses that had been waiting for him was a bit nauseating, after the busy day. Or, that might just be stress mixing with hunger.

Sitting towards the back of the bus, he set into his sandwich immediately.

[unmocked_lawr]

The townspeople had been frustratingly evasive when it came to giving answers about Doyleton's location, but that was only to be expected; no doubt they'd been instructed to do so. After several fruitless attempts at interrogation, Javert had been forced to give up. Still, the trip had allowed him both fresh air and a chance to stretch his legs. For that he was grudgingly thankful, and he was in a somewhat better mood than usual as he neared Magus Park.

Of course, that good mood quickly dissipated when the buses came into view again. Good Lord, did they really expect him to get on one of those things again, now that he had a general idea of how they worked

[small_fortune]

Mark had gotten halfway through the sandwich already, his stomach, or rather Gorge, slightly soothed by the unhealthily speedy eating. He hadn't tasted a bit of it. It was probably for his own good that another patient was rounded up and, upon entering the bus, chose Mark's seat as a good place to start a conversation. Letting any of his Gang run free right now was... well, with this little food, Gorge couldn't work to his full extent, but Mark still didn't savor the idea of choking to death on food inhaled for stress relief. Whatever he lacked in patience at eating, he at least retained in manners, and paused to swallow and wipe his face before answering.

"Well, I established that I'm certain that I'm not sure where I am." Mark offered as a weak joke, looking up at the taller man. "Otherwise, no. My name is Mark." After all, the man was apparently the type to get right to the point, and going through titles and Vor-s hadn't helped Mark any thus far.

[unmocked_lawr]

"Javert," offered Javert, with a wry twist of his mouth, as he began to unwrap his own meal. Best not to say more than his name; there was no telling who'd recognize it, even without his former title, and he felt inexplicably uncomfortable with the idea that someone would.

"I don't believe any of us knows precisely where we are," he continued, "though general consensus seems to be America." So this fellow was new, then? Or close to it? Hard to tell. "I've no idea where in America, though; I'd never left Europe before I arrived here, so it's all rather unfamiliar to me."

[broken_exorcist]

Allen was hesitant to return to the bus after the trip. He knew just where it was going to take him and even if the bus was really, really neat, he didn't want to go back to the institute

[canieathim]

Terrible luck, indeed! A very large, still somewhat sedated fat man lumbered down the rows, choosing at random to sit next to the tasty looking boy with the white hair. White hair was so rare where he came from, he wondered if it tasted better than normal hair. Normal hair was so grainy and rough and icky and didn't taste as good as the nice and soft and juicy flesh that was underneath it, but sometimes the hair was good because it garnished the tasty flesh and made his meal look more appetizing, although any meal was appetizing so long as they were tasty and yummy and he was oh so very hungry.

He couldn't help it as he sat down. His stomach growled quite loudly and vocally. Still, it didn't matter. He would get to eat sometime soon. Lust would have to let him eat! She had to! He gnawed lightly on the back of the seat in front of him. He could have eaten through it, but it wouldn't be as tasty as warm soft tasty flesh. It didn't have a soul. It couldn't cry.

He was really, really hungry.

[broken_exorcist]

Another Akuma? But Allen had no way of knowing if that's really what it was or not. He didn't look like any of the shinigami he'd met so far, but... was he gnawing on the seat?

Allen could relate to hunger pangs easily enough, but even he had his limits! What if the staff got mad at them for destroying their pretty bus! Perhaps he should try to intervene? Didn't the staff bring him food too? Or was his gone already?

He swallowed down the last of his sandwich and tapped the man on the shoulder, "Um... are you... quite alright? I don't... know if that's a good idea..."

[canieathim]

Gluttony looked over at the tasty looking boy, feeling very confused by this. Why wouldn't it be a good idea? It was better than eating people, wasn't it? And Gluttony very much liked eating people. "I'm hungry," he whined to the boy. And he meant it. He hadn't gotten to eat anyone in a long time, and the tasty boy looked very tasty. He was all nervous and that would make him taste even yummier when the fear set in.

[i_slay_giants]

Jack took his food and took the nearest seat, nodding to the occupant and acknowleding his existence. What very odd eyebrows he had, Jack mused. No sense staring, though. He'd probably get plenty of opportunities to try and decipher the reasoning behind their appearence if his seatmate was talkative. If not, well, he'd get to eat in peace.

"Sandwiches, huh?" He said sarcastically and smirked at Sanji. "They're really feedin' us well today, aren't they?

[misterprince]

The first thought on the chef's mind as Jack sat beside him was that there were plenty of open seats, and no reason for the other blond to sit there. He tried to make this thought known by giving the man a glare through the one eye not obscured by hair. It was Jack's misfortune that he wasn't a woman, in which case Sanji wouldn't have minded the intrusion in the slightest - would have been especially polite, even.

Still, there was no point in going out of his way to make enemies. "I wanted to check out some of the restaurants in town, but I didn't get a chance." He tried to keep his tone casual. "Did you?"

[i_slay_giants]

"Nah, I did something-" Shit. He couldn't tell this stranger he had gone to escape and instead wound up getting some cigarettes. What if he was a smoker? He might ask him where he got them from or (even worse!) to SHARE. "...else."

Quick to change the subject, Jack motioned to the bus. "So, I guess it's back to the loony bin with us. That's a bit lame."

[misterprince]

Sanji raised his one exposed eyebrow at the short pause in Jack's response but didn't question it. He just glanced out the window with a frown. Lame indeed. "If you want to make a run for it, now's your chance," he muttered. The tapping he'd been doing before Jack's arrival now continued.

In all seriousness, they had to find a way free from whatever world this was. At the first opportunity, whenever all the crew was together... if they could ever manage to get everyone together, that was...

[1imited_edition]

Rein climbed onto the bus fairly miffed that she hadn't been able to see the bookstore. Hadn't done much of anything, really, besides meet that immoral woman. And Logan, of course. But still.

At least, though, she'd been able to watch over Raine. She took a seat and waited for the half-elf to join her.

[per_ardua]

On the one hand, not getting to see the bookstore was not helping her mood. On the other, Raine could guess that reading something wouldn't have helped her headache at all...

She was cheered very slightly by dinner, though--when she got a box of orange juice. "Perfect," she murmured, giving Reinforce a slight smile. If nothing else, the trip had been a change of pace, a chance to look around a new place... and now she had the ingredients for two kinds of Gels.

All in all, the day hadn't been too horrible... but her injuries had really sapped her energy, and she was definitely not hungry again yet. Holding her dinner in her lap, she leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes, hoping she could sleep at least until they got back.

[notachick]

Okita was entirely too pleased with himself to care that he was back on the devil machine. He'd ended up getting bruised up by the orderly, but he'd also managed to "accidentally" step on his insole seven times on the way back from his sparring match. The orderly was so pissed by the time they'd reached the buses, he'd just thrown Okita on the closest one and hoped someone else had to deal with him. The swordsman was absolutely ecstatic that the nurses hadn't found his candy stash, and the elation was only amplified when he was given something called a cookie. He had no idea what a cookie was, but it looked tasty and filled with more of that chocolate stuff

[notachick]

He hadn't really stopped to ask the detective's age and touched a finger to his lips as he thought about it. He noticed that Kenshin was in a considerable amount of pain and couldn't stop himself from smiling. He would have liked to approach the man at night with his sword as incentive for their upcoming talk, but this was going to have to do. It was disappointing that he had to restrain himself or risk whatever was worse than sedation. "I...don't, mm, know," he managed to say, looking out the window. "Teens, probably