Day 30: Men's Showers (Third Shift)

[notachick]

The lockdown had been interesting. The fact that the staff had enough power to put down a rebellion that quickly and then lock people into their rooms just as fast was something of a feat to be admired. Their efficiency would have been much more impressive if Okita had been on the other side of it, however. As it stood, he had to keep his

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[intoindra]

Shower time. Just great. Roland had managed to get through the lock-down with Farfarello without eating his room mate, this shift promised to be its own exquisite sort of mental torture. Even though Roland knew that most of these men wouldn't offer any sustenance whatsoever, the demon within was demanding to be fed. In part, Roland was jealous of Heat; the man had gotten to feast the night before, and Indra had been left starving when he'd been out.

But then he actually saw Heat. And shook his head as he strolled over to his fellow cannibal. Should be safer, now that Heat was fed... and all wounds aside, Heat could handle Roland if the pale man snapped and went on a feeding frenzy. Hopefully. Though those wounds looked quite nasty...

Turning on the water next to Heat's to a comfortable (for a human) temperature, Roland quietly asked, "How did last night go?"

[intoindra]

Was there ever going to be a day when Heat didn't snarl and snap? Roland highly doubted it, himself; it just wasn't in Heat's nature to be 'patient' or 'kind.' And knowing him, he wouldn't be satisfied with getting to tear chunks out of people: Roland knew that, because he himself knew that one of the great satisfactions of a demon was to consume one's meal entirely, to rip every last particle of data apart and absorb it into one's own being. To feel the last struggles of life fade away...

The man really had to stop thinking like that. It might make him even more hungry than usual. Especially with the smell of demon blood close by. So Roland stuck his head beneath the spray, holding his breath for a long moment before speaking again. "Not for a little while. Argilla and I are planning on joining up tonight and fixing that situation; I was hoping you wouldn't mind coming along."

[intoindra]

"No, I'm not. Just thought that you'd want to be a part." Still, Roland smiled a little. All snarling and anger aside, he knew that Heat was a strong fighter. Uncontrollable, for the most part, but undeniably strong. The fact that he'd survived against those sorts of odds spoke volumes about the other demon's tenacity.

The fact that Heat had accepted was only better. First time that Roland had gotten to fight with his comrades, and hunt with those who knew and accepted his hunger? It might be worthwhile. No, it would be worthwhile. At that primal level, Roland and Heat were the same. Hopefully, just maybe, he could build on that.

For now, though, Roland chose some shampoo, working it into his short hair and letting the sweet smell mask some of the smell of flesh and blood. At this rate, maybe he would make it through until nightfall.

[intoindra]

Of course he didn't want to. Heat was Heat, and the day he did something willingly save eat something or cause problems was the day that Roland would worry something had happened. But that was all right; Roland could at least rely on that as a constant. An aggravating constant, but a constant nevertheless. And such hostility kept him on his toes, at the least.

"That's the situation all of us are in. We can wait for our turns like good little boys and girls, or we can go hunting as a team. Let's meet in the hallway that leads to the recreational field; it's easy to get to, but at the same time, some food might come to us while we wait for all of us to get assembled."

[intoindra]

"I'd rather avoid it," Roland quietly stated, "at least while we're in this state. These people aren't Tuners; we won't get enough data from them to make the hunt worthwhile, not considering that we can't Tune either. ...and neither of us have our weapons, either." If they had a grenade launcher or a shotgun on hand, then perhaps Roland might have conceded the point to the fiery AI. However, they didn't. During the day they were weak, and at night there wouldn't be any support from the Institute. So the best bet was to play nice and hunt things that the average patient body wanted hunted anyway.

With a sigh, Roland moved on to the soap, taking more time to clean himself than Heat did. Then again, he didn't have wounds to negotiate around, so it almost broke even anyway. "And yes, outside. Shouldn't take too long, though knowing my luck, I'm going to get ambushed somewhere between my room and the hall."

[intoindra]

Heat would enjoy that, wouldn't he? But Roland was used to that, and he nodded absently. He knew that Heat would eat him if it came down to it... wasn't that how they'd met in the Institute. His shoulder throbbed at the memory. Finally cleaned off, Roland obtained a towel for himself, starting to dry himself as he glanced to the AI. "That would be why I'm trying to make sure you never get to that state. Besides, if any of us were to become too much of a threat to the patient body, it's possible that we'd be kept in a servile state to the Institute indefinitely. I don't think either of us would want that