Day 62: Sun Room (Second Shift)

[complicatedliar]

The line of questioning that Rita had begun at breakfast still plagued Loki, as did his own uncomfortable feelings about the entire concept of people being transformed into monsters. It wasn't a useful line of thought, and he needed a better direction to consider.

Hopefully, conversation with Soma would provide that. While she seemed quite stern at times, Loki found her presence oddly relaxing.

Though he had to wonder if perhaps he wouldn't end up seeing her this shift after all, since she might be included in the group that was being herded to the showers. (As much as the statement also was one he greeted with relief, since he was wondering when he'd get an opportunity to bathe. The thought of being trapped in a building with a great many mortals and no bathing facilities had been too horrifying to contemplate.) He'd always been a bit bad at guessing the ages of mortals, mostly because they were so ridiculously short-lived.

Having already established a neurotic fear of the cold with his nurse, there was no difficulty convincing her that he'd be much better off in the Sun Room. Loki settled into his habitual seat, taking a moment to coax one of the cats into his lap. All settled in, he propped his notebook on the arm of the chair and went back to writing.

[Soma?]

Comments

[gald_digger]

Anise tilted her head farther to the side with each attempt Snow made at guessing, until her head was practically sitting sideways on her shoulders. He seriously didn't know!

Straightening her posture once again, Anise supposed the only thing she could do was explain... even if it felt weird to do that for a grown adult. "Well... it's kind of like a mountain, but with lava inside it. Sometimes the lava spews out the top, along with smoke and ash." She used a few hand gestures to try and illustrate the shape of the volcano, and how it erupted.

"It's usually dangerous to live close to an active volcano, but ours is pretty safe!" Anise was quick to add. She assumed it was safe, anyway. It would be pretty stupid if a religion built around knowing the future had its headquarters destroyed by a natural disaster it should have predicted.

[heroesdontshave]

Snow remained silent as Anise explained, watching both her and her elaborate gestures curiously as he tried to envision whatever it was she was talking about. He still wasn't sure what a volcano was but he could get the general gist of it from how she described it. A big thing with something hot inside it that sometimes exploded and spilled out. That... really did sound like something dangerous. Which was why he was relived when she added that little extra tidbit about the one near her home.

"Hah, well that's good to hear. Still think it sounds like a kinda scary thing to see hangin' around, though. Must be weird." Then he laughed a little. "Welp. Don't remember seein' anything like that when I went outside! So I don't think we gotta worry about dealin' with volcanoes and stuff while we're here either. Guess that's one load off, right?"

[gald_digger]

"Scary? Hehe. Sometimes, yeah." Anise had gotten used to it, especially considering the number of times she'd gone inside while working under Mohs. Still, between the ledges that towered over certain death, the monsters inside, and the horrible experiences Anise had in there, she couldn't say she had any happy memories about the place.

She nodded when Snow mentioned the region outside. "I'm pretty sure there aren't any, either." Not that Anise knew well enough to be certain, especially when looking at an alien planet, but it just didn't seem like the right terrain.

"What about your homeland? Anything really impressive or cool, like a big landmark or a historical site or something?" It might've been a difficult question, since it was sometimes hard for people to see the extraordinary parts of a setting they saw every day, but Anise was curious.

[heroesdontshave]

"Hmmm." Snow crossed his arms, looked up, and tried thinking about that one for a sec. Bodhum was a pretty popular tourist destination, yeah. There were a lot of things that attracted people to it, but they weren't really landmarks. Like Bodhum had actual shops where people could go in and buy stuff, which was a nice change from online shopping. And there was the beach, but it's not like they were the only ones in Cocoon with one. Something unique....

"Ah!" He lit up immediately as soon as he thought of it. Of course. "We got a huge fireworks dome! The base platform's way bigger than this whole building and it's built out over the water. The dome itself is nice and high, so you can see it no matter where you are in the city." Though why you would want to see from the city was beyond him.

"Every year, we have a fireworks festival where we fire off the display for a few hours. It's pretty amazing after dark, even for those of us who've been there for years. People come from all over so they can come and see it!" ...He suddenly realized he was talking a little too loudly and consciously tried to talk a little lower with a sheepish smile. "Heh. There's actually an urban legend that the fireworks are lucky. If you make a wish on them during the show, your wish'll come true."

[gald_digger]

“Fireworks? In a dome?” Anise's eyes were wide as she marveled at the mental image. The more Snow described it, the more excited she got. A dome larger than the institute, tall enough to set off fireworks in... it had to be enormous! “I've never heard of anything like that... That sounds really cool!”

And the legend that came with it was just... well, it was totally romantic! “Ooh, I want to make my wishes come true, too!” She sank into the couch a little, grinning. If only it could be that easy...

The intercom sounded then, causing Anise to sit back up straight. “Aww, no fair!” she whined. Here she was having a nice, normal conversation, and the Head Doctor just had to butt in. She looked back to Snow, pouting a little. “I guess I'll have to see you later.”