Day 43: Sun Room, 4th Shift

[euphemise]

The late-afternoon sun filled the large, open Sun Room. It was almost enough to make you sleepy, Euphemia thought, as she walked in, brushing a little glitter off her shirt. She didn't particularly feel like she was up to much - the worrying about everyone had drained her, as much as she'd tried not to think too much about it

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[human_sponge]

That visit had gone more or less how he'd expected. Peter had known going into it that his mother wasn't going to be able to help them. No, it worked the other way around: they had to help her. He had to admit that the most bothersome part of the whole thing had been accepting that Landel had somehow gotten the jump on their mother, when she was usually the sort of person who was two steps ahead of everyone else.

In other words, it had been a downer to see her, but it hadn't affected him quite as much as Nathan's visit. Besides, if they'd decided to bring Nathan back, the same thing could happen with Angela--not that Peter wanted that. Even if she didn't know who she was right now, she was probably way safer out in the "real" world.

The experience had left him feeling like he needed some down time, though, and so he didn't take the offer to go any further than the Sun Room. He and Nathan had been separated by the nurses (they didn't want them seeing too much of each other and not enough of anyone else), and so Peter was left to find a place to sit on his own.

He picked out a couch that he thought was empty, but then raised an eyebrow when he got closer and realized that someone was actually laying there. Come to think of it, that white hair looked pretty familiar...

"Roland?" The name was out of his mouth before he could even think twice about it.

[intoindra]

Roland's response was in his usual vein of brilliance and pithy wit, well-suited for an author and a leader of men, to say nothing of the dark cunning of a demon and the leader of the Asuras. "...ngh."

Even still, after a moment, he tilted his head ever-so-slightly, his bleary gray eyes seeming a bit less focused without his glasses on- they were beneath the couch so no one would step on them. While Roland was usually pale, now he was even moreso, and he clearly wasn't doing all that well. But he hadn't stood up, so that was all right. "...Peter. How are you?" Maybe talking to someone would help him ignore the pain in the pit of his stomach?

[human_sponge]

Peter had been half-hoping that it wasn't his friend, but that was all proved wrong when the man turned himself around to stare up blearily and Peter was met with a familiar face. Roland looked terrible, like he was coming down with some sort of illness. Peter would have jumped into nurse mode if he hadn't been uncertain whether or not Roland would appreciate being fussed over.

Even more bothersome than that was the fact that the first thing Roland did was ask about him, when Peter really had no injuries or anything wrong with him. (He knew he had that same tendency himself, but he didn't like seeing it in other people -- which maybe just made him even more of a hypocrite, but it wasn't the worst thing to be hypocritical about as far as he was concerned.)

"I'm fine," he said quickly, and without even thinking he ended up kneeling down next to the couch that the other man was curled up on. "But you aren't looking so well, man," he continued with a frown. He wanted to check his temperature, but he forced himself to keep his hands at his sides. "Did something happen?"

[intoindra]

Heh... he had to be pretty badly off, if Peter was saying something like that. Granted, it was pretty damn hard to hide a stomach ache even as a normal human, and for a demon, it was even more difficult. At least he wasn't glowing red like he would have as Indra; all of that atma roiling inside of a demon's stomach could screw them up pretty good. And that wasn't getting into poisoned food, like what he and his comrades had done against a certain other demon to screw him over. All things considered, he had it pretty good.

Didn't mean he didn't feel like death warmed over, though. Especially without a dis-ache or three to take care of the problem for him. It'd go away in time, but for right now? Yeah, not a pleasant situation for Roland. The only positive thing was that, having gorged himself, he probably wasn't going to have too many problems in the near future about staying fed. That was a good thing, as right now, all he really wanted to do was curl up and sleep it off.

It surprised him, though, that someone like Peter was getting worried about them. Sure, they'd talked on and off, but it wasn't like they were 'friends'. Especially considering that Peter had no idea what Roland truly was. But... that kind of concern was still kind of nice. Better than Fred's usual snippiness. "...last night, mostly," he answered with a weak grin, hoping that was vague enough to avoid implications but specific enough that it answered Peter's question.

[human_sponge]

Maybe Roland didn't consider them friends, but for Peter it was a whole other story. He had always been the sort of person who became close to others much faster than the normal person might, and he personally felt that he and Roland had discussed some pretty delicate things together. Just the fact that he had opened up to the man to that extent meant that he considered him one of the people he'd gotten closest to during his time here. Well, other than Brooklyn, but Peter hadn't seen the kid around in a while...

He also knew there was still some tension between them over the fact that Roland was apparently friends with that Heat guy, but Peter wasn't even thinking about that at the moment. All he was focused on was the fact that Roland looked like he was about to throw up, or pass out, or maybe both.

"Last night" was an answer, but it wasn't much of one. Zombies had been terrorizing all of them, but how did an attack lead to Roland ending up like this? Peter didn't see many other people curled up on couches, so Roland obviously hadn't just been attacked normally. Peter tried to run through any other alternatives -- and his expression jumped from thoughtful to alarmed when something occurred to him.

"Did... one of them bite you?" he asked, making an effort to keep his voice down.

[intoindra]

Well, in a twisted sort of way, one could definitely say so. Their teeth had cracked like anything going down, and it was a white enough lie that Roland found himself nodding before he knew it. He felt bad, after the fact, of bending the truth like that, but... better that than revealing the truth of having a cannibalistic buffet.

Though, in retrospect, eating rotting flesh had not been one of his better ideas, even though he'd done it in the past with no ill effects.

The question now presented itself, however. If Peter knew that, would he run off or stay there? The thing Roland wanted to avoid, above all else, was coughing up some zombie bit or another here in broad daylight. On the one hand, talking was doing wonders to keep him from losing control, but on the other, if Peter kept prodding then he might uncover something Roland wanted to keep hidden. ...for now, the demon decided to let Peter decide. He got the impression that Peter probably wouldn't leave even if asked, so he'd prefer to stay just like this for now.

[human_sponge]

Peter ended up even more concerned when Roland immediately confirmed what he had already been fearing. He had picked up on a few different stories about the bites over the bulletin, though he had to admit that he hadn't read all the messages too closely because he'd managed to make it through the night without sustaining a bite himself.

At first he wanted to request to see the bite, but since he couldn't see any visible bandages it probably meant the wound was in a place that Roland wasn't going to necessarily want to show him. On top of that, it wasn't like he had any training for how to deal with zombie bites, so it would be pretty pointless.

"Have you been infected, then?" he asked, and while most people would have made sure to make that sort of inquiry from a safe distance, Peter was still kneeling by the couch. His eyes scanned over Roland's face again, and the man looked as pale and drawn out as ever.

"You might want to go to the clinic tonight," he said seriously. "Maybe someone there would be able to help you."

[intoindra]

"Mm? Don't know, it was a bit blurry after that." Which was true enough; once demons like himself got into a feeding frenzy, it was hard to pull out of the rage and think normally again. Was he infected? That was more of a question... hadn't even thought of it, even though he was vaguely familiar with zombie movies in general. At least, some of the old cultural tropes still survived from it.

It was still a little odd to hear Peter being so concerned, but for now, Roland would take the advice to heart. Maybe going to the clinic would be a good idea, at least to make sure that nothing too odd was going on. Besides, he wasn't sure how Argilla was doing; if she was injured, then going there would be a good thing as well.

After a moment, though, Roland gave a slight smile. He almost wanted to be a little sardonic with his response, but Peter was so earnest and serious about it that he couldn't find it in him. So, he was serious in return, a slightly curious expression on his face as he asked, "...why are you so concerned about me, Peter?"

[human_sponge]

It wasn't good to just not know, but Peter also got the feeling that if Roland had been infected then he would have remembered it. Either way, Roland had now had the idea put into his head, so if it resurfaced when night came he'd be a least a little prepared. There wasn't much more that Peter could do than that. Maybe he felt like they were friends, but it wasn't to the point where he felt he was in the position to offer the man help in the coming night. Roland probably had much closer friends who could do that for him.

The man's question made Peter glance away in slight embarrassment. That wasn't the first time he'd been asked that. He knew that sometimes his worry for people could even become overbearing (he'd lost a girlfriend or two that way), but it wasn't like he meant any harm by it.

"Well, you are kind of laying here looking like Hell warmed over," he pointed out with a quick smile, breaking up the serious streak they had going. "And I know we've only spoken a few times, but... you've always been willing to listen to my problems, so I wasn't going to just look away when I spotted you like this. And... I did used to be a nurse, so maybe there's some old instinct kicking in too." He shrugged, since he wasn't really sure why he needed a reason to be worried.

[intoindra]

That smile- and the point that went with it, of course- made Roland grin a little as well, despite the roiling of his stomach. It was always a bit better to have a brave face to situations like this, and for that matter, Roland hadn't had enough to smile about as of late. He was still finding Peter a rather odd guy- hearing that he was a nurse added to that- but nevertheless, someone friendly was never a bad thing. Especially here. "I appreciate that," he honestly answered, "it's better than lying here in a heap, at least."

A pause, and then he shrugged his shoulders. A bit of an odd motion, considering how he was lying down, but regardless. "...then again, this isn't the worst that I've ever gone through. Give me a few more hours and I'll be good, I'm sure."

[human_sponge]

If he had managed to get a grin out of the man, then Peter had to be doing something right. (He suspected Roland was mainly grinning because he thought Peter was kind of weird and a little off, but Peter was surprisingly used to that.) Still, when the man offered his thanks there didn't seem to be any sarcasm in it, and so Peter nodded in response. He was more than willing to keep his friend company while he suffered from whatever was bothering him (though it did bug him that he wasn't quite sure what that was, still).

He let out a sigh when Roland remarked that he'd been through worse. "Yeah, same here," he admitted. "I guess that's a good thing, though. If we survived all of that, then we'll be able to handle whatever this place tosses at us." He didn't think Landel could make him explode, after all -- well, maybe he could, but he wouldn't. Probably.

This place also hadn't put him into a coma for two weeks straight, so that was one more thing to be grateful for.

[intoindra]

"Well, I didn't survive everything in it, but I get your point." With it being rather distant now, Roland could afford to laugh at the irony of not having lasted through the entirety of the experiences of his world. It wasn't every day that someone got atomized, and while he had been blessedly unaware of most of the physical sensations, there was still the firm realization that he'd been blown into data.

Even still, he had to wonder about that. Heat had survived longer than he himself had, and yet he seemed to be gone... ah, that reminded him, he should probably mention that. "...by the way, I don't think I ever told you this, but considering, you probably would want to know. Heat's disappeared." There was a decided note of regret to his voice at that. He'd promised himself that he'd look after Heat, and just like before, he'd failed...

[human_sponge]

That gave Peter pause. He straightened up in his position next to the couch and slowly made eye contact with Roland as he tried to reaffirm what the man had just said. He hadn't survived all of it? While Peter was quite aware that some patients here had died before arriving, he hadn't realized that Roland was one of them. It was strange, talking to a literal dead man walking. (Not like one of those zombies...)

He really didn't like the implications it had, either. Were they back for good? Could people get second chances that easily? Sure, he'd seen people heal from wounds and even prevented Claire's death in the courtyard a week or so ago, but...

Peter was forced out of his thoughts when Roland continued to speak. He frowned at the mention of Heat, feeling some guilt when he heard that the man was gone. He knew that there were strange circumstances surrounding the whole cannibalism incident, and that Roland considered Heat a friend, so he could definitely feel for him on that level -- and he felt bad that he'd caused trouble for the man by getting so confrontational about it.

He looked away, not sure he could hold eye contact at the moment. "I'm... sorry to hear that. I hope he's all right." Nathan had disappeared and come back, so maybe the same thing would happen with Heat. It was possible, at least.

[intoindra]

Hm, perhaps Peter wasn't one of those people who had a more morbid sense of humor? Roland had always had a sense of proportion about death and dying- his world had been deadly long before the demons had been awakened- and to be honest, death hadn't been as bad as he had thought. Maybe it was still something he'd rather avoid, but there were far worse ways to go out than with a bang that brought someone else down with him.

As for Heat? Roland shrugged, trying to put a brave face on it. It wouldn't do for Peter to know just how badly it stung to have another comrade taken away from him, after he'd sworn to himself that he would never let it happen again. Heh, he should have known better... he never was able to live up to his promises, was he? "'All right' is a bit of an odd phrase when used about him," he quietly admitted, "but I'm sure he went taking a swarm of monsters down with him. Perhaps it is better that way."

[human_sponge]

While Peter didn't have a sense of humor about death, necessarily, he certainly had a different view on it than most people. He wasn't scared of it and had even put himself in close contact with it during his nursing career -- hell, he'd come back from the dead himself. Still, what Roland must have gone through was different. Being dead (really dead) and then coming back into some foreign place with no idea as to when your time ran out again? That couldn't be easy for most people.

It seemed that Roland wasn't all that bothered by the idea of Heat dying, either -- or at least not as bothered as he should have been. Peter frowned. "He might not have died, you know. I told you about how my brother disappeared and then came to see me as a visitor, right? Well, he's back here in the institute now. The same thing could happen to Heat..." Roland's friend wouldn't remember anything (and Peter personally thought it might be easier if the cannibal stayed gone, but that was his own selfish mind getting away with itself), but he would still be back and Peter imagined that would be good enough for Roland.

Before either of them could say any more, the intercom rudely cut in and caused Peter to straighten slightly. Roland was still mainly immobile on the couch... "Are you going to be all right?" he asked. "Maybe the nurses will help me get you back to your room, if our rooms are close to each other."

[intoindra]

"I hope that's not the case," Roland quietly answered, "not unless it changes some of the rules about us... him, rather." He shook his head, not wanting to think about that. A Heat who was still cannibalistic in a civilized society was insane. A Heat that lacked Sera and Serph was dangerous. And a Heat who was perfectly well-adjusted... that was like bringing the dead back to life. And Heat O'Brien had no need for anyone, let alone someone like Roland, still in this incarnation of life.

That wasn't what he wanted to think about right now. He waved Peter off, smiling a little as he slowly started moving himself upright. A little stomach ache was bad, but he could endure it. He hoped. "I'll be fine, I feel better already." Which was half-true; speaking to Peter had helped out a little bit. "You stay safe tonight, all right?"