Day 48: Men's Showers [Second Shift]

[moral_liberty]

The world seemed to move more slowly in the showers. Kaworu believed it was the strange half-realized familiarity. He could remember the feeling from before. His mind reached for similarities, of which there were many, but each one was slightly inaccurate. The size was different, the tiles were not the same colors as either the facilities at SEELE

Comments

[sdatislife]

After breakfast had ended Shinji had reluctantly allowed himself to be ushered off to the showers by a nurse. The intercomm had reminded him again that this place wasn't quite what it seemed to be, that there was more behind the clean, white exterior. If he didn't know about the night shifts he probably would've been happier. The nurse had left him then. Slowly, with a bit of reluctance, he undressed. He felt tired. Fatigued. Parts of him had a dull ache that didn't seem to fade. He tried to ignore it as he neatly folded his clothing and set it aside. This place was better in some strange way. There was nothing to make him go mad. The Eva wasn't here. His father wasn't here

[moral_liberty]

Kaworu turned to Shinji, and when he smiled it was accompanied by a single deep breath. The showers smelled like soap and metal and Lilim. That was almost identical to NERV, although he had to wonder if he was imagining it. With Shinji in front of him, everything slid into place, whether or not it belonged there.

"Shinji, you remain." Only when he said the words did he feel the emotions, just at the edges of his consciousness where they usually remained. It was something like a release to say it. Their connection was tenuous, but it was real. This place was as real as it could be, made so by their belief. And Kaworu wanted to believe, though his reasons bore no influence on the world.

"I'm glad," Kaworu said, and then stopped as he waited for the words he needed to assemble themselves. The obstacle was expression rather than hesitation. "My life has no meaning without you."

[sdatislife]

"Ye-yeah. I'm still here." Shinji glanced away and stepped into the stream of warm water, letting it play over his thin, pale frame. The warmth soaked into his skin and muscle, eased the fatigue he felt. It made him feel a bit better. To be honest, so did Kaworu. At the same time, there was the undercurrent of confusion and fear - Kaworu was still supposed to be dead and Shinji was supposed to have killed him.

His face turned red and he was glad of the water and steam that was starting to fill the room. It helped him hide. "W-what? Don't say that."

[moral_liberty]

Kaworu laughed, lightly, quickly, after not having done so for what felt like at least a day or two. Yousuke had said something like that to him, in this same place. Shinji sounded almost similar, pulling in on himself in a way that made Kaworu suspect his scrutiny would be undesired. Shinji's reactions were smaller and quieter, though. He didn't recoil or look at Kaworu with suspicion, but there was color in his face and he wasn't smiling. Although Kaworu had been initially amused by the way life moved in repeating cycles, it slipped away as he saw Shinji trying to fade into the steam and tiles, and away from him.

"Why?" he asked plainly. He wanted to know, but it wasn't curiosity. Curiosity was the desire to inspect, to look at every angle, to trigger reactions. The reaction had already taken place, so there was no need to pursue that further. Now he was left with only an absence of security over his actions.

[mitase]

Oh, this was definitely Hanatarou's least favorite time of the entire week, and hearing it mentioned on the intercom immediately destroyed the good mood he'd been in. He didn't exactly drag his heels on the way to the showers, but he certainly wasn't moving fast at all, and the nurse had to almost push him into the room once they finally arrived. Fortunately he seemed to be one of the first people to arrive in the showers, but...that wouldn't last long. More would certainly be arriving soon, and someone always inevitably saw him as a target.

He wasted a little time folding his clothes into unnecessarily neat piles before edging warily into the shower room proper. Only a couple of people were there at the moment, and he didn't know either one of them. Nor did they seem to be interested in him. So far, so good. The shinigami found a nice spot out of the way where he would hopefully continue to be unnoticed, and started to wash as quickly as possible.

[Nataku?]

[stringless_doll]

Nataku's mood had very little to do with the showers and a lot to do with the mostly wasted night. He tried to tell himself they weren't going to do anything very important anyway, but it was pretty depressing to think like that and, as far as he was concerned, entirely untrue. They might not be sure of what they were doing, but Homura wouldn't have set them to anything if he thought it was a total waste of time. Sigh.Well, wasted nights weren't anything new. If he got upset about every one of them he'd spend all of his time here sulking around, and that was for grouchy old people who weren't him. There would be a lot of other nights

[mitase]

"Huh? Oh!" Hanatarou's usual way of dealing with situations like this was to ignore his surroundings as much as possible; even though he realized that the "if I can't see them they can't see me" idea was completely wrong, he still couldn't help but try. As such, he hadn't even noticed anyone approaching until Nataku had spoken up, and he gave a startled jump and sharp glance to his side that turned into a relieved smile. "Nataku-san! Hello..."

He hadn't seen the boy for several days now -- not since the raid on that room upstairs, wasn't it? Nataku seemed to be in pretty good shape...well, currently, at least. So he must have been doing okay, and the description of his night as "boring" would explain that.

The shinigami's smile turned a little sheepish as he shrugged. "I guess it was. I was going to try to go out and do, er, some stuff. But I didn't even get out of my room before the night ended."

[stringless_doll]

Nataku had certainly surprised him even if it wasn't entirely intentional but Hanatarou hadn't cracked his skull open and he even looked pretty happy to see him. Nataku grinned a little sheepishly, trying (and mostly failing at) apologetic. He couldn't exactly say he was sorry when he really wasn't.

He busied himself turning up the heat on his shower and soaking his hair. "I hate when that happens. Did you fall asleep or something?" He thought he should remember something about where Hanatarou might have been but he was drawing a blank at the moment. "And what's 'some stuff'? Is it dangerous? Do you want my help?"

Maybe being in a place where he could indulge his curiosity as much as he pleased was having a negative effect on him after all. He still had to figure out this whole business of asking just one question at a time.

[purpletaint]

Like in the time past, he felt himself drawing a lack. A complete absence of what was and what had been. He moved after the woman in front of him, silent, presence still. Because here there were only two things able to affect him. And neither had been seen.

They were there, however. A reach away for one, and too far to count for the other. The point of their presence so close but endlessly far... Here was madness. Here was an absolute hold on his sanity and security tossed to the winds. The night before, the day before, the night before... Everything had vanished in a haze. The only knowledge a constant of what he was without. Dazed, he might be, but that truth remained. And so, something became to harden within, something becoming used to an absence of meaning.

[little brother.]

[falseblack]

Waking up seemed no different than crawling through muck. Moving proved no better, not with a haze-filled existence and a night of questionable results. From how quiet the boy moved, his nurse wondered if he'd caught the beginnings of a cold. Further investigation confirmed her suspicions: "Nigel's" throat was too dry for a proper response, his breathing too congested. She considered placing him in his room for the day but ultimately decided to let him continue the routine. He wasn't that sick, and a shower might be beneficial.

So Nigredo followed the nurse into the showers, feet padding softly against tile and mind blissfully blank. He did not consider her choice when she picked a particular stall nor protested the presence of the one beside him. He didn't even stop to remember the events that occurred the last time the variant had showered.

Instead, he stepped under warm water and sighed. The effort brought on a painful series of coughs, which Nigredo tried vainly to cover with his left forearm.

[purpletaint]

The ticking in his head worsened, a telltale sign of one too close (not close enough). He froze, wary; water dripping down with no notice. And how would this play out?

Silent, it seemed. He was ignored, and for the first time, this was fine. Complications had rose and how would things lessen in this but to worsen? No, he held no hope, no-- Eyes darted to the side at the sound, perhaps an echo of another's voice in his mind. The words were unclear but the meaning remained close. And how had he done so far?

His hand reached to touch his sibling's elbow, concern seen under a veil of disenchantment. "...Are you okay?"

[falseblack]

The voice was a hammer in his skull, and still, Nigredo moved sluggishly. He lifted his head--weariness seen in every inch of his features--and eyed Albedo. It was nice to see his brother having lost his former fury. And was that him being concerned? The younger couldn't tell.

Nigredo dropped the gaze and turned back to the spray. Since he could not adequately speak, the link communicated in his place. {I caught a cold.} The fifth in his entire existence. This particular one, however, had symptoms of another nature, a far cry from the others he had the fortune to go through.

For one, he never lost his voice. Truthfully, however, Nigredo couldn't mind. It gave him an excuse to remain quiet.

[scintillatingly]

Running into Axel again had been pretty weird, but Sora was glad to see that he was doing well enough, even in this place. He couldn't wish anything bad on the redhead; not when he mattered to Roxas, not when he'd given up his own being just to make sure that Sora could get through to the Castle That Never Was. He hoped that the Nobody would be able to find enough people to fill him in on what was going on in this place, though, since he had a lot to catch up on.

For now, though, it was time for showers. Sora knew that he was due for one, and so he didn't hesitate to enter the steamy room. He undressed shyly and then moved into the communal area, eyes mainly keeping to the tiled floor. Despite that, he did notice that his roommate was here, but he decided he shouldn't talk to the boy right now. Hanatarou got nervous enough when he spoke to people with his clothes on, so Sora couldn't imagine what he'd be like in a situation like this

[scintillatingly]

[To here.]

[whos_da_man]

Communal showers sucked, but Junpei was okay with them. This meant he had some time away from vampires, irritating adults and chicks that wanted to kick him in the balls and/or thought he was crazy. Normally, he would have taken the time to catch up with Ken, but the squirt had been gone for about a week now.

Junpei didn't like how these stupid showers reminded him of how many people he cared for were gone. Stupid evil nuthouse.

[free]

[forgot_it_all]

It was weird to wake up and go immediately to the showers. Ritsuka had always been one to shower and bathe at night - his mother's rules and all. But here, he didn't have a choice and he'd take a good shower when he could get one. The only downer was that when he woke up, the ears and tail were gone. He could almost feel them like phantom limbs, the barest hint that they were still with him hanging in the air - or maybe that was just his imagination. They'd felt so real last night and now, with the daylight, they were gone like a dream

[whos_da_man]

Junpei noticed the kid when he showed up under the head next to him but didn't really look over until he said something.

"Nah," he said. "You're too young to be queer so I don't care." Junpei looked back to the suds in his hands, letting the boy have his privacy. He was about Ken's age. Damnit.

"I'm Junpei. Iori Junpei."

[forgot_it_all]

Too young to be--? Wow, that was... Yeah. Ritsuka gave Junpei a look like he'd just grown a third eye and then looked back to his shower. What a weird thing to say.

"Ritsuka. Aoyagi Ritsuka." Might as well be polite, even if the guy was on the strange side. Maybe he thought sexual preference only emerged after puberty, in which case Ritsuka felt like he'd just taken a blow. He wasn't that short was he? He was almost thirteen! He'd be growing soon enough, or so he hoped, and then people couldn't assume he was too young for anything. Not that he wanted people to think he was old enou-- Ugh. Now he felt awkward. "That was kind of a weird thing to say. You worried about that or something?"