The fact that the staff didn't even do cavity searches before letting the prisoners mingle in the 'fresher still surprised Darman even though he was coming to realize it was not simply the mistake of a single, foolish guard, new to the job.
All of them were this lax.
How did they know he wasn't smuggling anything to the other prisoners?
They don't, because they don't bother to even check. Idiots. Darman glanced at the guard as he stepped into the changing room, stripping down without hesitation. There was no point in being bashful about nudity - it was what he was born with, just a tool, really, that he happened to be attached to. Some of the females when he'd first found himself here had gone an interesting share of red when he first tried to disrobe in front of them, expecting the standard cavity search that never came. Obviously they'd been brought up differently.
Filing this away as important - he could probably smuggle things to Ordo or his other allies (temporary or otherwise) in the showers without worrying too much about getting caught - Darman entered the showers. It occurred to him that the staff here might be too squeamish about searching, nevermind seaching thoroughly.
Still baffling as to how they captured him in the first place if they were this incompetent in the keeping of prisoners. There was only one other prisoner here with an interesting head of hair that drew a long stare from the clone. Black, long, tapering off into gold.
Pushing away his curiosity, Darman approached one of the "showers heads" - the Earthian term for 'fresher, he supposed - and poked at the knobs until he managed to coax some lukewarm water to come spraying out.
"Hey." Azel came up beside Darman, darting a glance or two nervously around before half-shielding himself behind the other man's larger bulk. At least he couldn't be seen by one half of the room that way, anyway. Not that anyone was looking at him, or each other.
Breakfast had been very good, for a change. He'd made a friend and that cause his mood to improve significantly. "Did you ever find your friend?"
Darman was methodically scrubbing every inch of his body when Azel approached him, working his way through his hair and making sure it was clean: while Landels was relatively clean, he'd learned about the possibility of pest infestation of the body during his Kaminoan flash instruction. Better make sure he hadn't got anything from the other patients.
The clone looked up as Azel joined him and nodded his greeting. "He's still alive, surprisingly," Darman shrugged. "I saw him at breakfast."
He paused to bend his head down and rinse his cropped black hair thoroughly before leaning back and giving a kind of animal shake, sending water spraying. Darman picked up one of the sponges left out - with what he assumed was a bar of soap - and began lathering it up.
"So how was your breakfast?" Darman asked. He meant it along the same lines as learn anything new or useful but supposed it could also suit the purpose of just being polite.
"It was all right. I met someone -- Noah. Another new person." Azel said, doing much the same as Darman was; his training as a mercenary -- or rather, experience -- had allowed him to give up any semblance of modesty long ago. Especially when he had traveled with a group who mostly consisted of men, that was until Reith came along. And then things started to get complicated.
"Are we continuing from where we left off last night?" He asked, assuming that Darman wouldn't mind him tagging along again. As long as he could have a clear goal in front of him, he wouldn't fall to that darkness again.
Good the kid was branching out. Darman supposed that the immediate advantage was to widen potential contacts and allies, but what it really boiled down to was that he was quite convinced that he wasn't exactly the best role model for a nonclone. Nonclones tended to feel most comfortable with other nonclones, he'd found in the few years he'd actually been out on the field and not back on Kamino. This Noah could potentially be a good influence on Azel. Darman felt only approval that Azel had found someone he thought was "all right".
Darman focused on lathering his arms and chest, making sure every inch was clean, not looking up as he replied:
"Yeah, I was thinking we'll try to keep heading down those halls. See if we can make it past the doctor offices next time," Darman paused, thinking. "Might be better to travel in a group though. We got lucky last night we didn't run into any of the local wildlife they like to let loose here, but there's no telling our luck won't run out tonight."
He didn't add that he was also starting to feel some fatigue from all this running about with not much sleep. It wasn't quite as bad as some of the commando missions, with too much kilos of kit and a busted leg, but it could get there. Until he could get a real night's rest, it would be better to have other humans with them, at least to act as a shield or give some kind of warning before they got attacked.
Heartless, probably, but Kal Skirata had always just said that was being prudent. Darman was quite fond of being prudent.
"There's an Earthian called Claire who might be useful...and I could ask the comrade I was looking for to come as well," Darman said, thinking aloud. If there was anyone he absolutely trusted to watch his back that wasn't the rest of Omega Squad or Kal Skirata, it was Ordo.
Darman looked around and spotted the clone in question. Darman gestured for Azel to turn around, and pointed. "That's him. He's one of the best you could ask for if you get into a bit of a scrap."
"I'll ask Noah." Azel said, happening to glance up in time to see the aforementioned man enter the showers. "There he is." And he also took note of Ordo, who was not hard to spot. He turned his attention back to the matter at hand fairly quickly, not wanting to offend anyone by staring.
"I'll be in better shape tonight, too." He added, a minute or so later. "Thanks for letting me go along with you; I don't know what I would have done, by myself in that hallway."
"Probably be food for the locals. That or just bored out of your mind," Darman said bluntly, but quirked a smile to show that he was merely teasing. He was in a pretty good mood right now, especially with the confirmation that they didn't do any kind of searches before the communal showers, and was up for the kind of ribbing he enjoyed with comrades. "Get some more weight on you and you just might be something more than an appetizer for them, Azel."
The clone worked his way to his legs, bending over without any shame or modesty whatsoever, scrubbing at the naked skin with mechanical efficiency.
"Probably a good idea if your friend did come," continued Darman. "Looks like a big guy. I'm willing to bet he's some kind of soldier from the way he carries himself."
Hopefully not a former Separatist with a chip on his shoulder. Or more Jedi.
Azel rolled his eyes at the remark. "Thanks, Darman," He smiled as well, though, after he was done speaking. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather run while they busy themselves with the meat on your bones."
He took his time getting clean, knowing these opportunities were few and far between; he always felt dirty here. Always felt like he needed to clean some invisible thing off of his skin. "Yeah, well, if I can find him later in the day, I'll bring it up."
Darman only gave an amused snort. If they were going to feast on his bones, they'd find out the hard way why you didn't mess with clones...much less a commando. At least the ribbing had got Azel to smile, which was a decided improvement over last night. Good morale was almost as important as being physically fit.
"Thanks," Darman said. He'd probably have to break it to Ordo that some nonclones would be with them - if he planned on even coming, he knew Null-ARC's were notorious for being very independent, to put it nicely.
Darman straightened. He was just about as finished with cleaning himself down as he was going to get, but he wasn't about to change back into the prisoner's uniform just yet. No, he wanted to get a good, hard look at this place, study for blind spots and commit it to memory. Darman glanced around casually at Azel scrubbed down - the kid seemed to be pretty intent on going over every inch of his skin as if there was still grime there. And here he had thought he was thorough!
"What are you looking for?" Azel said, stepping under the spray to rinse off, deciding he was about as clean as he was going to get without removing layers of skin and he didn't really want that.
He glanced in the direction Darman was looking. "I wonder if we'll find out anything tonight. I keep thinking about my file. I want to see it. I really want to know the difference between what they're telling us and what's real."
All of them were this lax.
How did they know he wasn't smuggling anything to the other prisoners?
They don't, because they don't bother to even check. Idiots. Darman glanced at the guard as he stepped into the changing room, stripping down without hesitation. There was no point in being bashful about nudity - it was what he was born with, just a tool, really, that he happened to be attached to. Some of the females when he'd first found himself here had gone an interesting share of red when he first tried to disrobe in front of them, expecting the standard cavity search that never came. Obviously they'd been brought up differently.
Filing this away as important - he could probably smuggle things to Ordo or his other allies (temporary or otherwise) in the showers without worrying too much about getting caught - Darman entered the showers. It occurred to him that the staff here might be too squeamish about searching, nevermind seaching thoroughly.
Still baffling as to how they captured him in the first place if they were this incompetent in the keeping of prisoners. There was only one other prisoner here with an interesting head of hair that drew a long stare from the clone. Black, long, tapering off into gold.
Pushing away his curiosity, Darman approached one of the "showers heads" - the Earthian term for 'fresher, he supposed - and poked at the knobs until he managed to coax some lukewarm water to come spraying out.
Reply
Breakfast had been very good, for a change. He'd made a friend and that cause his mood to improve significantly. "Did you ever find your friend?"
Reply
The clone looked up as Azel joined him and nodded his greeting. "He's still alive, surprisingly," Darman shrugged. "I saw him at breakfast."
He paused to bend his head down and rinse his cropped black hair thoroughly before leaning back and giving a kind of animal shake, sending water spraying. Darman picked up one of the sponges left out - with what he assumed was a bar of soap - and began lathering it up.
"So how was your breakfast?" Darman asked. He meant it along the same lines as learn anything new or useful but supposed it could also suit the purpose of just being polite.
Reply
"Are we continuing from where we left off last night?" He asked, assuming that Darman wouldn't mind him tagging along again. As long as he could have a clear goal in front of him, he wouldn't fall to that darkness again.
Reply
Darman focused on lathering his arms and chest, making sure every inch was clean, not looking up as he replied:
"Yeah, I was thinking we'll try to keep heading down those halls. See if we can make it past the doctor offices next time," Darman paused, thinking. "Might be better to travel in a group though. We got lucky last night we didn't run into any of the local wildlife they like to let loose here, but there's no telling our luck won't run out tonight."
He didn't add that he was also starting to feel some fatigue from all this running about with not much sleep. It wasn't quite as bad as some of the commando missions, with too much kilos of kit and a busted leg, but it could get there. Until he could get a real night's rest, it would be better to have other humans with them, at least to act as a shield or give some kind of warning before they got attacked.
Heartless, probably, but Kal Skirata had always just said that was being prudent. Darman was quite fond of being prudent.
"There's an Earthian called Claire who might be useful...and I could ask the comrade I was looking for to come as well," Darman said, thinking aloud. If there was anyone he absolutely trusted to watch his back that wasn't the rest of Omega Squad or Kal Skirata, it was Ordo.
Darman looked around and spotted the clone in question. Darman gestured for Azel to turn around, and pointed. "That's him. He's one of the best you could ask for if you get into a bit of a scrap."
Reply
"I'll be in better shape tonight, too." He added, a minute or so later. "Thanks for letting me go along with you; I don't know what I would have done, by myself in that hallway."
Reply
The clone worked his way to his legs, bending over without any shame or modesty whatsoever, scrubbing at the naked skin with mechanical efficiency.
"Probably a good idea if your friend did come," continued Darman. "Looks like a big guy. I'm willing to bet he's some kind of soldier from the way he carries himself."
Hopefully not a former Separatist with a chip on his shoulder. Or more Jedi.
Reply
He took his time getting clean, knowing these opportunities were few and far between; he always felt dirty here. Always felt like he needed to clean some invisible thing off of his skin. "Yeah, well, if I can find him later in the day, I'll bring it up."
Reply
"Thanks," Darman said. He'd probably have to break it to Ordo that some nonclones would be with them - if he planned on even coming, he knew Null-ARC's were notorious for being very independent, to put it nicely.
Darman straightened. He was just about as finished with cleaning himself down as he was going to get, but he wasn't about to change back into the prisoner's uniform just yet. No, he wanted to get a good, hard look at this place, study for blind spots and commit it to memory. Darman glanced around casually at Azel scrubbed down - the kid seemed to be pretty intent on going over every inch of his skin as if there was still grime there. And here he had thought he was thorough!
Reply
He glanced in the direction Darman was looking. "I wonder if we'll find out anything tonight. I keep thinking about my file. I want to see it. I really want to know the difference between what they're telling us and what's real."
Reply
Leave a comment