Day 49: Early Afternoon - Main Street

[hes_deadjim]

Other than catch a glimpse of a few book spines and the first floor, McCoy hadn't gotten the chance check out the store fully. He'd still managed to uncover a few interesting things before he left. It wasn't exactly the answer, or even close to it, about how to get out of here, or what they had planned for them, or even who these people really were

Comments

[bprd_fishman]

Abe walked outside and turned his face up into the rain. The little pinpricks on his face weren't the same as the smooth feeling of water rushing down his body, but the water was comforting to him. Even in this gill-less form the tank, the lake, the ocean felt like home.

He watched as a nurse herded one of the other prisoners inside and took the opportunity to slip off down the road, his hood down to let the rain seep into his hair. The lack of history books merely confirmed Abe's theory that this town existed Outside as the institute did. Trying to walk out of here would be foolishness even if he could escape the nurses entirely, he would only reappear in bed when the sun inevitably came up, but he was curious as to how far the town went. Did it simply disappear at the edges, or did the plains spread out into seeming eternity?

[Niikura]

[oneman_onekill]

Well that kid hadn't been all too helpful, and wandering around town hadn't done much either. All of these stores were so quaint and bland that it got Niikura wondering if this whole town was just an extension of the institute, another set-up for them to figure out.

By now the weather had gone from annoying to bad, and Niikura had to duck under the arms of several nurses seeking to guide him inside one of the two-bit stores populating the town. He needed to find someone else to latch onto, someone who could make this image of the loitering teenager vanish. Someone experienced...

Unfortunately, thanks to the nurses' efforts, those opportunities were fast disappearing, but out of the corner of his eye, the teen spotted someone vanish down the street - a patient. Well! Company always made things better, right? And maybe, just maybe, he could get his questions answered.

Dancing out of the grasp of yet another nurse, Niikura raced after his target. "Hey--hey!" He pulled up alongside the other patient, panting slightly. "Have ya been

[bprd_fishman]

It had been a very dignified (if wet) sneak until the teenager showed up. "No?" Abe said hesitantly, taking a half-step to the side and looking over his shoulder to make sure they weren't being followed.

"No. This is my first time here, I'm just...surveying the premises. I want to see how far this town goes and what might be on the other side of it." He didn't mind the company, a 'normal' person to bounce ideas off wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Usually the more mundane and close-minded agents were annoying, but here he needed someone who knew what baseline normal was. It would make it easier for him to know where the deviance lay.

[oneman_onekill]

"Oh..." Niikura's face fell. Was this guy another dead end too? How hard was it to find someone who'd actually been here before? Or was this the first trip? It didn't seem that way...some people really looked like they knew where they were going.

"Well, mind if I tag along? I'm tryin' to figure this place out too, and two heads are better than one, y'know?" He tapped his own hooded head. And little did Abe know, but he'd just made the acquaintance of probably one of the most abnormal teenagers possible.

[doneinthree]

[:D]

It was with great reluctance that Kirk tore himself away from Faith's company, and not because of the pouring rain outside either. While he'd never be the first person to argue for his sense of priorities, Kirk could say with certainty that he had good instincts, and that he wasn't afraid of getting wet. Something else lurked beneath Doyleton's picturesque surface, and it wasn't going to be discovered while flirting over a burger. Besides, there'd be other opportunities to talk to a beautiful girl - if nothing else, that Jim could guarantee would happen no matter where he went

[hes_deadjim]

McCoy looked up, eying the clouds apprehensively. The sky was just getting grayer and grayer with each passing second, the clouds dark and heavy looking. Whose bright idea was it to put together a field trip in these conditions

[doneinthree]

"I am, actually." Kirk leaned out to look up at the sky, then ruffled one hand through his drenched hair, doing little to dry it. Yet for the simple pleasure of being outdoors instead of trapped inside brick walls, he looked delighted. True, this field trip held only the illusion of freedom, but the choice to refuse to stay out of the rain was still a choice. His choice, in defiance of the daytime staff and their deceptive concern. If James T. Kirk excelled at only one thing, it was rebellion. "There weren't as many buildings to check out in the southwest, so I had plenty of time to explore the whole area. I know, I'm awesome

[hes_deadjim]

He didn't see why Jim looked so thrilled at being outside and rained on

[scintillatingly]

While Sora had failed at getting Venom to take his coupon back, he had at least been able to tell both him and his friend about the zombie attack the week before. He didn't know how much it would matter -- if it would even happen again -- but they had both seemed pretty interested despite that. He could feel good for that reason, at least.

Now that he'd had some food (and some dessert!), Sora exited the Tasty Burger with a second ice cream cone in hand. It had seemed wrong to waste Venom's coupon after the man had thought to give it to him, and while he couldn't eat two full meals, there was always room for more ice cream!

Or so he'd thought, but when he realized that it was only raining harder, Sora wondered if maybe this had been a bad idea. At least the cold weather meant that the ice cream wasn't melting very fast.

Sora did his best to take shelter under an awning. He was going to have to finish this before he could think about heading off anywhere else, since rain plus ice cream was bound to be a bad combination.

[For his

[rischiarare]

Being with Axel - free time, not a mission - had been nice. Roxas had even enjoyed the peculiar smell of Tasty Burger (and enjoyed the taste of its ice cream even more. It wasn't sea-salt like he was used to, but he certainly wasn't complaining. The sweetness had actually made his jaw kind of hurt... in a good way.) Easing back into friendship with Axel was simple; he didn't have to try. It was like he'd forgiven Axel for all the lies without breathing a word of forgiveness.

Simple. It was nice.

Though he'd intended to spend the day with his best friend while he could, a familiar shock of hair (very close to his own) caught his peripheral vision. Following it, he saw it was who he was afraid it'd be.

Sora. His stomach turned uneasily.

The situation with Sora was... so complicated he didn't know if complicated was the right word for it. Admittedly, he felt uncomfortable knowing Sora even existed (funny, since he was the one who shouldn't). But part of him wanted to be near Sora. It was like some inner hand in him, trying to grab on

[scintillatingly]

Just as Sora had been thinking that maybe he didn't have enough space left in his stomach to finish the whole ice cream cone by himself, he heard a very familiar voice and then glanced up to see Roxas standing close-by. The first thing he felt was relief; he'd been worried about his Other. Their connection here was completely different from how it had been back home, so he couldn't even be sure if he'd sense if something happened to Roxas.

At the same time, he knew better than to try and protect the Nobody. They were one and the same, and he wouldn't have wanted someone treating him like that. Roxas held the power of the Keyblade, same as him. He had to still be capable of that here, right? Or... maybe not? Maybe the Keyblade could only be used by one of them at any given time

[rischiarare]

Though Roxas was more than a bit confused on why Sora always seemed so happy to see him, he couldn't say he didn't like it. It kind of reminded him of Axel and... like he and Sora were supposed to be friends. They just kind of clicked. Even if he liked the feeling, the Nobody's face didn't change until his Other offered the ice cream. Smiling like an idiot, he took it with a nod. "It'll be my second too. We could split it?" Not that they had spoons... or anything. But they were kind of the same person, so did it matter?

After pushing his hood back again, he dipped a finger in the ice cream and tested it. Okay, really cold when eating it outside, while raining, while wet. But still sweet, so a little bad weather wouldn't stop him. "Yeah, this is my first time here. I didn't even really know about it before this morning. Has it always looked so messed up?"

[sixth_attack]

Emerging from Callahan's for another visit to the notes he and the other patients left, Sechs was greeted by the ever growing rainfall the town was experiencing that afternoon. Sechs pulled his hood back over his hair and made his way down the dreary street, mumbling and grumbling as he went

[scarletspeedstr]

After having breakfast on the bus, brunch at Twin Pines, and lunch from Tasty Burger, Wally was feeling pretty good. Which was a good thing, since he'd run out of food coupons and donations of other people's breakfasts. Too bad it was starting to rain more heavily now, since the nurses didn't want them to wander around too much when it was like this. He'd have to find someplace to try and stay out of the rain, and maybe someone to talk to at the same time--

And there was someone who looked like they could do with some company and getting out of the rain as well. Better yet? There was a place that looked perfect for a little light-hearted fun right nearby too.

Wally grinned to himself as he sped up to catch up with Sechs and slung an arm around the guy's shoulders.

"Hey Sechs! Just the guy I was looking for. What do you say we get out of this rain?" he said, not even waiting for an answer before steering them both towards his target location.

[sixth_attack]

Suddenly an arm came out of no where and wrapped itself around Sechs' shoulders, squeezing out a muffled grunt of surprise from the slightly spooked Replica. Geeze, either Sechs was too deep in his thoughts to sense this coming or the guy was pretty damned fast! Sechs barely had a chance to look over to see who the owner of the arm was before he felt himself steered away towards an unknown destination. "Wha-- Wally?! What are you--"

Sechs' protests went unheeded and he barely had a chance to struggle before he was already facing the entrance of a store he hadn't planned on visiting. Yeah, he was needing to get out of the rain, and there weren't any kittens or glitter being dumped over his head either, but the perturbed Replica still wasn't too pleased about being suddenly herded around like this--!

"H-Hey! Watch it will ya?!"

Late comment is laaaaaaaate. Dx

[scarletspeedstr]

"Geez, no need to be so jumpy," Wally laughed, still steering the other man towards the building.

"I just figured we should get out of this rain if we were going to talk," he continued, pausing at the door and letting go of Sechs to grab for the door handle. "Besides, the nurses will probably want to chase us all inside soon enough anyway, so we may as well pick our place, right?"

With that said, he opened the door and pushed Sechs through.

[to here]

[exbride]

Anthy had been on her own since noon, but she felt accomplished about where she'd left her last conversation with Utena. Now she had assurance that the prince-girl would protect herself in case of another dire situation during the nightshift. Even if it meant that Anthy ended up shouldering a personal crisis alone, she was too much used to that for the idea to really disturb her.

Now, about that rebel boy. If they could escape from Landel's sooner rather than later, the precautions might not even be necessary. She wandered from shop to shop, peeking into the windows, but she knew better to assume that he would be somewhere as busy as Main Street.

Maybe she could ask a fellow patient about the rest of Doyleton ... Anthy's eyes scanned the streets for someone to approach as she walked through.

[Minato!]

[foolishmessiah]

Minato managed to wheedle out a refill of his soda before heading out of Tasty Burger, wandering around the block of Bohr and Wicker before ending up back on Main Street. Though the rain should have made the entire trip miserable, Minato found himself not minding it at all; he was outside, walking on his own, and deciding where he got to go within the town.

There were also less townspeople shooting him dirty and wary looks, now that the rain encouraged people to move inside.

He shook his paper cup as he started hearing the straining sound of the straw searching for more soda between the gaps of crushed ice. Done already? Now he would have to find a trashcan. The teen stopped on the sidewalk, glancing around for a place to dispose of the cup.

Just a little way down the street, there was a garbage that a girl was passing by. Minato headed in that direction.

[exbride]

With the rain coming down a little harder, Anthy had to peek around the large hood shrouding much of her face to look for a potential guide. She noticed a boy walking her way and deduced that he wasn't one of the townspeople from his demeanor alone. Slowing her gait, she stopped at his side when he reached the trashcan.

"Excuse me," she began, her tone layered with that carefully crafted, soft politeness as a default when approaching strangers. "You're from Landel's, aren't you? May I ask for your help?"

With any luck, he was an old regular. Maybe he knew the best hiding spots in Doyleton. Maybe he was fresh meat like her. Either way, there was strength in numbers, and she had information (for the fleeting moment) she was sure would interest most people stuck in Landel's.

[foolishmessiah]

The girl had stopped to speak with him as he dropped the empty cup in the trash. Minato adjusted his hood and slipped his hands into his pants pockets, studying the girl. She looked younger than him, but spoke politely and softly, as if preparing for a negative response.

He nodded in both greeting and affirmation, head tilted slightly in askance. When did he ever turn away from someone asking for help? "What do you need help with?" Usually he wouldn't voice the question, waiting instead for the other person to explain, but the girl's tone made him feel that the best choice would be to speak a little more than he normally did.