Day 49: Morning - Main Street

[sanguinario]

[From here.]

Easily forgiven? Unlikely. A pair of (presumably) mental patient committing theft. No, it was highly unlikely they would be easily forgiven. Conscience-wise? It wouldn't even stain his thoughts, really. Nothing like ten years of judgemental slaughter to make your mind jaded against the simpler crimes in the world

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[usoppsenchou]

[from here]Usopp slowed down to look around at the store windows, and to be sure Zack was following and still seemed okay with their direction. The town really did seem normal to an eerie degree, a little larger and more advanced than Usopp's hometown but no comparison to a real city. Despite the impression of a rural life, the town was interesting enough to Usopp, shop windows and street corners furnished with things that were familiar from home mixed with a few things Usopp had never seen before in his life

[zack_fair]

When it came to leading or following, Zack was used to both. He'd definitely done a lot more of the former after making First Class, but there had also been times where he'd been the one trailing after Angeal or Sephiroth or even Tseng. For that reason, he didn't mind that Usopp took point as they worked their way down what looked to be the main street of this small town

[usoppsenchou]

Usopp sighed, shaking his head. "I'm not really that hungry either, but you mentioned the food coupons. I guess there are the other coupons, too, but I'm not sure what a manicure exactly is, and I don't want to get a massage in a weird place like this." Being half-naked and relaxed was nice, but he wouldn't be able to relax here even if someone was rubbing his back. The town looked normal, and Usopp still thought it'd stay 'normal' for the patients, but the possibility that man-eating monsters or the undead or whatever would be lurking behind him while he had his guard down wouldn't leave his mind

[zack_fair]

It looked like they were going to hold off on food, then. Zack was really hoping that there was more to this town than the things that the coupons offered, since he wasn't too interested in them either. "A manicure is when you get your fingernails treated and painted," he explained, since Usopp had brought it up. He hadn't known much about it until he'd traveled to Midgar; in that city, people were pretty much always looking for ways to earn money. "It's pretty much meant for girls, though

[usoppsenchou]

"I thought a manicure was something like that, but I wasn't sure. I'm too manly to know about stuff like that." Was ignorance manly? At any rate, Usopp didn't think he would do well with hand treatments, considering how life on a ship had built up callouses. His muscles had built up too, but not quite enough, leaving him behind the other guys on the ship. Even Zack had a manlier build, Usopp thought, but Zack hadn't volunteered what he did at home for berri or gil or anything else. Maybe he was a bounty hunter, and hadn't brought it up for the sake of peace.

Since the bookstore was out, Usopp just kept walking, frowning a little more as the signs of damage seemed to continue through the town. "Geez, whoever came through here was really trying to piss off as many people as possible. I don't know why they'd think patients would do that, though; why would we put up a bunch of smiley faces like the Institute's? It's not our symbol, they should blame the doctors instead

[zack_fair]

Too manly? Well, Usopp did seem to have a bit of an ego, which probably meant that his comment about being the Great Captain Usopp (or whatever it was) had been serious. Zack was glad he hadn't said anything, then. Seeing how he could get pretty cocky himself, he wasn't going to judge the guy for tooting his own horn from time to time. When it came to manliness, though, Zack wasn't quite as limited. He'd found that learning a thing or two about the things that women liked made them that much more open to chatting with him

[usoppsenchou]

"You wouldn't mind? I guess it is out of the weather. It feels like it's coming down harder." Usopp wasn't sure that was true. Still, he felt wetter from standing around looking, and now that his attention wasn't being held by tourism, Usopp was more aware of how cold it was.

"We could just look around and dry off a little. Even if they think someone from the Institute did make all that mess, the owners can't blame us for wanting to get out of the rain." Convincing himself more than Zack, Usopp took a deep breath, then opened the door to step into the building.

[to here]