Day 61: Intercom, Evening

[damned_intercom]

Like clockwork, the intercom came on at the end of the hour. And like clockwork, the Head Doctor began the first of his concluding daytime announcements with abnormal levels of cheer and good will.

"Good evening, everyone! What a fun-filled day we've had, hm? You must all be tuckered out and ready for bed."

Why, the man seemed unwilling to say.

"Never fear. We're nearing the end." He paused thoughtfully. "The main course of our dinner menu tonight is gourmet spaghetti topped with our signature marinara sauce. We have garlic bread and Caesar salad for your sides as well as your choice of vanilla, strawberry, or chocolate ice cream for dessert. As usual, we will have our assortment of drinks and vegetarian alternatives. If you're partial to that little extra omph, we have parmesian cheese available upon request."

There was another pause, this time with papers rustling in the background. "Take care not to stain your letters now. Bon appétit!"

The intercom clicked off.

Comments

Re: M66

[zexloveshumans]

"Really? Who was your last roommate?" ZEX was idly curious; he might as well ask. "Although, it seems that the odds are against you seeing each other again at this rate."

ZEX leaned back a little, not entirely sure how to express the gravity of the situation with human features. They jumbled them up in such strange ways, it didnt make any sense.

"Yes, you could say that. It really was such a shame... I'd always had such a fascination for your species, and after you went under the shield, I thought I'd never see another human again." Until his Captain had appeared so suddenly, and what a delightful surprise that had been! "Coming here where everyone is human, or appears human at least, was something of a shock at first. So many beautiful bodies to admire..." He was trailing off slightly near the end.

Re: M66

[corvus_veritas]

"Oh...Dr. McCoy." Byrne wondered if Zex would even know him. Probably not. In any case, his new roommate was right, unfortunately; odds were he likely wouldn't see McCoy ever again. If that also meant McCoy was dead, then that was even worse, especially since the poor guy was a father.

But it wasn't so great to think too much about depressing details like this, so Byrne went back to thinking about that intergalactic war and the other depressing fact that apparently humans were in a terrible situation in Zex's dimension-place. At least it wasn't a fact that specifically applied to him and someone he'd come to know, right? Instead, he could be content to listen to another non-human person talk about his world (a place that Byrne would never see), how humans fascinated him, how it was strange being human, andandahwnahohawoahwoahwaitwait what did he just say about bodies?

Byrne's eyes shot over at his roommate again, and this time the staring was for a damn good reason. No doubt about it. Zex seriously just said something about admiring beautiful human bodies. Uhhhh. Awkward, much?

"You're, uh..." Uh. "Um..." How the hell was he supposed to even respond to that? "'Admire', you mean...?" Yeah, just what did he mean, exactly? Because Byrne could only think of one meaning for that, and it wasn't a very clean meaning at all. (Even though perhaps he shouldn't think like that because the guy was supposedly an alien, so maybe it meant something...different to him? Uh. Hopefully.)

Re: M66

[zexloveshumans]

McCoy! ZEX didn't know enough about human emotion to know how to hide the striken look on his face, and he probably would not have made the effort either way. After he'd given him such advice before... he'd been so helpful to him. Another of his meager contacts vanished from this terrible place... such a shame. Perhaps he was back wherever he'd come from and was alright. ZEX preferred to think of that option.

"Oh... that is sad news," ZEX said eventually. "I'd spoken with McCoy before... I didn't know something had happened to him."

However, something else he'd said apparently had bothered Byrne in some way, as his expressions and speech patterns changed. ZEX ran over what he'd said in his mind and couldn't find anything objectionable. How peculiar! He might as well elaborate either way.

"Yes, admire." This topic did always brighten his mood somewhat. "Your species is so different from mine, so marvelously varied and strange! Your odd patchworks of hair, your tiny double eyes, your calcium protrusions, your gaping mouth holes, it's all so wonderful to behold." ZEX sighed fondly. "You really are such works of art... it's a shame more of my people don't see things the same way."

Re: M66

[corvus_veritas]

Oh, so Zex did know McCoy after all? Small world. "Yeah...let's hope it's not as bad as it seems. For both our roommates' sakes."

The pained look on the apparently-was-once-an-alien's face made Byrne feel rather bad for telling him that it was a friend, even though he'd had no way of knowing that Zex was familiar with McCoy until now. (This was why he always let the detectives do that whole 'breaking the news' thing to families during murder cases. He'd never found it easy to tell someone such bad news...) He still felt bad, even after Zex apparently said that one thing that was um. Yeeeah.

Well wait. After Zex's explanation, it made more sense. In a 'different cultures, different mindsets' way. So admire did mean...oh. O--okay. Ha. Ha ha. He thinks humans are aesthetically pleasing because he doesn't know much about them or something. Not...yeah. Ha ha. Byrne knew what he meant. Meant that all along. Yep. Yep...

"Oh." He laughed, trying to shake his awkward feelings off. Wasn't really working so well, but at least he was trying. "I understand..." Aaaand leaving it at that. Before this topic got any more awkward. Sheesh.

Re: M66

[zexloveshumans]

"Yes..." ZEX didn't have much hope; too many of his former roommates had just vanished, and he was fairly sure he'd never see them again. So many people lost here. "Perhaps they did get lucky, and they are well." The odds were against it, but who knows?

There, it seemed that Byrne had been eased by his explanation! Really, there was no reason it should have alarmed him in the first place. Humans were such silly creatures. "Ah, I'm glad. I've had so much trouble with people understanding my... unique viewpoint before. My countrymen in particular disagreed with me strongly on several points. Their loss, really."

ZEX turned back to his food to try and eat a little more. Dinner wouldn't last much longer, and McCoy had told him to eat more. He could at least do that much in his memory.

Re: M66

[corvus_veritas]

"Yeah, I can, uh, imagine." And not know exactly how to respond to that except with an awkward smile and holy geez can we get off this topic now. Thankfully, Zex turned to his dinner after that, and so Byrne would do the same. Not just to find an excuse to end that particular thread of conversation as quickly as possible; he might as well finish eating before the night settled in - which didn't feel like it'd be much longer now. Looks like he'd gotten too caught up in conversation to worry about eating or otherwise again...he really needed to quit that.

After finishing one bite of spaghetti, he glanced back over to Zex and said, "Well, ah, try to eat as much as you can and be careful when they let us loose, okay?" Not that Zex needed the warning, he being here longer than Byrne, but the prosecutor wanted to be polite, and even if his roommate seemed a little...weird, he didn't seem like a bad guy who deserved to get eaten by something out there.