Day 34: Men's Showers

[byname-bynature.livejournal.com]

Artemis Fowl was, yet again, exceedingly displeased to be naked.

As much as Haku insisted that since he had experienced public bathing before, this time would be easier, the feeling was not mutual. Artemis' body was his own personal business, as far as he was concerned, and no one else's. His only comfort was the fact that he was not hideously tattooed anymore with various and sundry insults branding him a moron.

Still, that did not stop him from taking a towel into the shower area once again, Nurse Hedgerow grudgingly allowing it. She could see no other way of getting the boy to bathe. He was as stubborn as ten teenage boys. And after that lecture on psychological torture through means of public humiliation...

The boy let the water run over his head, the towel clutched firmly around his body. And he thought. July. How was it July when it had been fall just a week previous? It was impossible, logically speaking. But what part of this place fit in with any sort of logic Artemis had ever encountered? No, if he didn't let go of the fact that things would be as insane as people claimed he was, he would lose his mind.

His fingers brushed the burn mark Caleb had given him for what seemed the fortieth time. ...He had to get himself together, or this would only be a small taste of what awaited him in the hallways.

[For Omi]

Comments

[daddyslilkiller.livejournal.com]

Omi was feeling quite a bit better about things in general when a nurse came to herd him away from Yohji and Aya for a shower. Breakfast had gone well. He'd have to remember to thank Ken as soon as he could track him down for being the catalyst for it all yesterday.

Maybe he'd also ask Ken if he knew why Aya was acting a bit off this morning. It couldn't hurt.

He stopped outside the shower to pull the bandages off his hand. He hadn't gotten a good look at them the night before, obviously, and they were wrapped by the time he woke up, so this was his first chance to really see them. They looked a good deal worse than they felt, he decided. He was busy enough examining them that he didn't pay too much attention to who else was currently occupying the showers when he arrived. Of course, once he did notice he mentally cursed himself for not staying farther away. He'd been having such a good morning.

...Of course, Artemis's obvious discomfort (complete with towel) was good for a muffled snort of amusement, at least. That was something.

[byname-bynature.livejournal.com]

Artemis was pulled from his grim and dismal thoughts by Omi's snigger. This, obviously, did not sit well with the young boy, and he returned the favor with a glare.

"Can I help you? Or are you content to watch me bathe like a drooling pedophile?" Artemis was slightly surprised at his tone. He hadn't spoken to someone like that in... two days? Maybe three. But the fact that he was naked and showering with other boys made him especially irate and prone to bristling and snapping at anyone and anything in particular.

[forgot-my-life.livejournal.com]

Takaya was feeling a little less snarly than he usually did, though that might have had something to do with the fact that he had spent his night (short as it was) with someone that didn't grate on his nerves. It was a nice change of pace.

Then his nurse told him that it was 'shower day' with an insipid grin and the warlord lost all trace of good-humor.

Thatnkfully, the showers were fairly empty when he arrived, so he was able to grab a stall away from the ones in here and halfway in. People tended to gravitate to the back or stick close to the doors. He should be alright here.

[for-marian.livejournal.com]

Breakfast could probably have gone worse--had gone worse on at least one occasion--but being asked detailed questions about the loss of his fingers had definitely left him in a foul mood. And now it was time for public showers again, oh joy.

So, though it accomplished nothing at all, Leon stormed into the showers and set about slamming things about with much more force than strictly necessary. The soap/shampoo dispenser thing proved ridiculously stubborn, though, and refused to break into satisfying little pieces, so Leon muttered to himself darkly.

[faithful-frost.livejournal.com]

Beaming brightly at his nurse, Haku chatted away about nothing in particular, keeping up the appearence of being a happy teenage boy who just happened to also be in a mental hospital. Easy.

He spotted Artemis easily, the showers weren't crowded after all, and took a place where he would be able to keep an eye on his friend without intruding on his personal space.

[willhexabitch.livejournal.com]

When Reid awoke, he was pissed off. Pissed right the fuck off. Because for one? He shouldn’t have been waking up at all. He’d been awake, outside the building with the undead bear and Tyler, and totally okay with pulling a few all-nighters to get farther away from the place. He’d been buzzed for escape, man. And two?

Oh yeah, he was back inside.

He could tell from the fact that he was back in the same hospital bed, the same white room, in the same damn uniform, with the same Asian dude dozing peacefully in the bed beside his. Goddamn it. Forget being tired and banged up. Now he was just angry and… And fuck! He’d sat up long enough to scrub his hands over his face and hair, then had refused to get up for breakfast. Fuck it. He didn’t go back to sleep, but instead used the time to convince himself why it’d be a bad idea to go postal on everyone and anyone.

Didn’t really work. But he wanted a shower, and the bulletin board told him a lot about what had happened to everyone else out there. Not that he cared, aside from being pretty glad that he wasn’t the only one who’d woken up back inside. Reid wasn’t above being glad about that. And apparently Elle wanted to meet him, which was… something. He wanted to talk to Tyler--who, by the way, hadn’t seemed to try and track him down at all, what the hell was with that--more than he wanted to talk to Elle, but… He could do both. One good distraction, and one meet-up with Tyler where chances were high he’d flip his lid. They balanced out a bit.

He didn’t stay long in the showers. Five minutes to clean and five minutes to do an exhausted zone out. Then he was out.

[willhexabitch.livejournal.com]

_{[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/416815.html?thread=33429551#t33429551)]}

[broken-exorcist.livejournal.com]

The nurses had separated himself and Rinali not long after he'd said his piece, but he couldn't help feeling like he'd screwed up yet again. Was it a simple understanding? Or had she been trying to spare his feelings and stop him before he made an even greater fool of himself?

He didn't have an answer.

So he trudged along after his nurse, realizing much too late where it was they were headed. As if his humiliation at breakfast hadn't been enough, now it was time for public showers. Wonderful. He was glad for the opportunity to wash himself, but he still wasn't entirely sold on the idea of public bathing. He tried to keep his eyes downcast and focused on his own tasks and hope that the others around him did the same.

Allen peeled off clothing and bandages alike before he entered the showers, found it relatively empty, and claimed a shower as far from others as possible. It took a little bit of fiddling before he got the water to a proper temperature, but once it was there, it actually felt fairly good to let the water wash over him. His cuts and scrapes stung at first, but it didn't take long before he adjusted.

[lighthearted]

Even though Sora still felt terrible about making Kaiji cry, at least he had been able to patch things up in the end. He made sure to leave a note on the bulletin for Hitsugaya about it before being led off to the men's showers.

Sora was always torn when it came to the showers. On one hand, he never quite got used to it, since being forced into a room with a bunch of other naked people, even if they were his age, was not something he'd had to deal with before. On the other hand, by the time the shower shifts came along, he was always in serious need of one.

And he liked being in the water, of course. This was nothing like swimming in the ocean, but it was better than nothing.

As always, the boy did best to keep his eyes off of everything else, directing his gaze to the tiled floor as he looked for a spot where he could clean off. However, silver hair was something that was hard to miss, and after a moment he realized that Allen was there. The other teen looked like he wanted to be on his own, but it was better to have good company in this situation, right?

Sora made his way over, deciding to keep one shower between them so they weren't right next to each other. He turned the water on, waiting for it to warm up. "Hey," he greeted, managing to sound cheerful despite the situation.

[grosse-sklaven.livejournal.com]

((Free))

Wasn't it sad? Adelheid only remembered his former skittishness in a public shower after he glanced around the mostly-empty area. Virtually all of the other kids young men were rather embarrassed, one with a towel... hah, several weeks ago he was exactly the same way.

It was a sobering reminder that the Institute was changing Adelheid, for better or worse. Some things he had to accept, for the sake of survival and expedience, and yet what else was changing for him that he might not be aware of? The young man frowned as he set himself to the mundane tasks of shaving and getting cleaned up, wishing that he was allowed to have a bath. That was something he missed; a nice hot bath, with no rush to be out and no one else around him if he didn't want it. It felt like years since he'd last had one...

[dawn-rune.livejournal.com]

Frey had figured out how the showers worked last time, but that had been days ago and he wasn't sure he remembered how to make the water warm. Sighing faintly, Frey resigned himself to a few shocks of too-cold or too-hot water as he experimented with the knob. It wouldn't do to disturb some other bather for such a small matter.

He did nod a quick greeting to the boy nearest him, though, without looking at him for too long. It wasn't that Frey was shy about public bathing--it was the norm in Falena--he was just trying to be polite. "Good morning."

[totallytheseme.livejournal.com]

Hikaru was quite pleased with himself. It almost made up for the generally shitty feelings of...shit that he was doing his very best to repress. If he let himself think about it, it would ruin all the fun of what was going to happen next.

So he didn't. Instead, the Host walked over to the showerhead and started to wash himself, humming something that sounded suspiciously like "guichie guichie yaya dada..."

[hangenki.livejournal.com]

Kaoru had been a little nervous about seeing his twin after last night. He'd been such a dick to his brother and then stormed off in search of Tamaki. Ritsuka had been so frightened Kaoru would barge in and make things worse. Truth was....he just wanted to be there. Nearby. He couldn't change the past but he could make damn well sure that it wasn't repeated.

However, upon seeing his brother, his mood lifted. "Guichi guichi yaya here?" he chuckled, wrapping his arms around Hikaru from behind. "Tamaki and I had it all planned to break into the showers and then fate went and got in the way. How boring."

[osakapwnzu.livejournal.com]

This was pretty much old hat for Heiji by now. Having overslept breakfast and not knowing what the hell had happened the night before wasn't a problem for him at all. In fact, he was humming a TWO MIX song as he strode into the showers, stripped and chuckled to himself about how Shinichi couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.

He pondered a moment about the assignment Homura had given him--to find the mysterious poster asking all of these questions concerning the night. He figured that the best approach would be to just act like a naturally curious patient. No need to reveal that he was a detective or something of that nature. It would only spook the guy or girl.

But considering Homura was... well, whatever had been done to him, Homura didn't exactly remember people very well. Doubtless Heiji was off the hook concerning this little jaunt into detective work. If he wished it, at least. With the client gone...

Heiji sighed deeply and began washing himself. If Homura's memory was truly gone and he was as docile as he seemed on the board, then it was almost as though he had been killed. Homura's wish was for Heiji to find the mysterious poster. And, strangely enough, although the teen detective loathed his leader with most of his being, he felt obligated to complete the job given to him. For the old Homura. The one who owned him in a hallway.

"I must be losing my grip," he groaned, and continued to scrub.

[tsunagari.livejournal.com]

In the showers now, Sai was allowed to remove the bandages from his arm just while he cleaned, with instructions not to scrub the wounded areas. He unraveled them slowly, looking over the stitched up skin impassively. The nurse would wrap it back up before lunch, but for now it got to breathe.

He found himself an empty shower head, no worry for who he happened to end up next to in the process. Public showering didn't bother him. The closest other patient, however, appeared to be talking to themselves. Sai glanced over out of curiosity.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked, plastering on the usual fake smile.

[rectifies.livejournal.com]

A shower, particularly of the public sort, was perhaps the worst follow-up imaginable. Ken would have rather crawled back into bed; the thought of being exposed and surrounded by others frightened him. He wasn't ready for the regular routine.

His nurse, however, remained insistent, and the boy reluctantly took up a stall nearest to the door. Since time wasn't an issue, he sped through the process as quickly as was humanly possible. The woman--who was not expecting him for another ten minutes--gave a startled expression when she suddenly found Ken back in his clothes, hair dripping with soapy water.

"That was quick," the nurse remarked as she led him to the Sun Room.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/416590.html?thread=33488974#t33488974).]

[adorkabledragon.livejournal.com]

Sure, Keman had offered to look after Shadow during the age-segregated shifts, but that was before he realized exactly what that entailed. Until they could find a way to break the spell, Mero was a fully conditioned slave. Who was going to be "attending" him as he bathed, most likely. While Keman had never been terribly body-shy, having his friend...washing him would be awkward, at best.

The dragon stumbled into the shower area with a towel wrapped around his skinny hips and Shadow at his heels.

Hopefully they could get this over with as quickly and painlessly as possible.

[valyns-shadow.livejournal.com]

Shadow followed Keman closely, the stranger a bit huffy as he wasn't allowed to undress Keman. He was caught between being annoyed at having a baby sitter and horribly amused. He knew that the stranger wanted to wash Keman and Shadow could see that the dragon was not looking forward to it.

"My lord," Shadow said when they reached the shower heads. "Is there some place more private where I can wash you?"

Because I want you all to myself, Shadow laughed inside his head.

[reunion.livejournal.com]

After waking up-- late, he noted dimly-- and finding Mother and Yazoo's files still in his possession, there was nothing Kadaj would have liked more than an opportunity to stay in his room perusing them until... well, until nightshift, most likely. What was the point of walking around the institute before then when he had nothing to do? His nurse had other plans for him, though, and he barely managed to stash the files away safely before he was dragged off to the shower, of all things, and instructed to "clean up like the Head Doctor told you to, there's a good dear!"

Snorting, he abandoned the infernal woman as quickly as possible and stalked off to take his shower, largely ignoring everyone around him and resolving to finish soon so that he could... what? Indulge in another fascinating day at Landel's spent doing completely nothing?

It was only when he remembered that the Head Doctor had mentioned something about "new members of the population" that his mood began to brighten. Surely by now Yazoo and Loz had to have joined him again. It had been long enough, hadn't it? After all, Big Brother and his stupid little friend had come back after an even shorter amount of time than this, hadn't they?

The argument wasn't convincing in the slightest when he considered all the other people who'd gone and never come back, but he did what he could to make himself believe it anyway. It wasn't quite as good as actually having them there with him now, but it would have to do.

[rubbermancan.livejournal.com]

Luffy had slept through breakfast again. It was almost inconceivable! His body's internal clock was practically fueled by his hungry stomach, after all. Just how many meals had he missed since he first woke up in Landel's? He didn't like to keep count, but it was definitely too many.

Then again, just missing one meal was one too many in Luffy's book.

In the meantime, he got to take a shower, though! Not that the pirate really cared about getting dirty, but there was nothing like a good romp through the water and the soap suds!

As soon as he'd lathered a bunch of shampoo in his hair, he shaped the bubbles into a beard around his face. The mirrors were handy for styling it just right, and without wasting another moment, he turned to the silver-haired boy next to him.

"Argggh!" he shouted. "I'm Bubble Beard of the White Sea!"

[whiteychan.livejournal.com]

Hitsugaya's shower was brief today. It had been a long night, and he just wanted to take a nap. So he showered quickly, then stepped out and went off to the sun room.

[whiteychan.livejournal.com]

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/416590.html?thread=33524302#t33524302)]

[nakanai-toboe.livejournal.com]

Toboe bounced into the showers, oblivious to practically everything around him--including his own state of undress. (Clothes were weird, anyway.) He stopped short, though, when presented with the puzzle of the faucet handles--how in the world did everyone else get the water to come out? Tilting his head, he studied the taps, then reached out and turned one experimentally, yelping when he was hit with a spray of frigid water. Was it supposed to be this cold?

He twisted out from underneath the spray and turned the other tap on, sticking a hand underneath the water--it was warmer now, but still not very warm at all. But he'd almost figured out the trick now!

[nakanai-toboe.livejournal.com]

[lost-metal.livejournal.com]

[For Tamaki!]


Ed kept repeating the sentence of French underneath his breath as he was escorted into the showers, making sure that he'd remember how to say it when he saw Tamaki. He didn't want to risk making Tamaki's own language sound garbled or ugly. It'd be kind of insulting.

Damn, Envy. He needed to think of what to do about him. He hated planning. Fox's idea was good but he just had no idea of how to go about it. Maybe he should find Fox again.

He walked into the shower and stood beneath the spray, letting it wet his hair. He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the tiles, closing his eyes tiredly.

[the-clown-king.livejournal.com]

Tamaki was surprised - and a little disappointed - when he was told he'd been going for his shower after breakfast. A part of him was almost looking forward to... well, being silly and goofing off with the rest of the Host Club.

But he did want a shower. And...he could apologize to Ed, for how miserable he'd been the day before.

He was also surprised he didn't freeze or panic when he undressed in the changing room, despite everyone there being able to see him. He was used to this, after all.

And...well...it wasn't as though anything could happen in the day with everyone around and staff there. So, towel around his hips, Tamaki headed into the showers and immediately found Ed. He smiled wanly as he took the shower head next to his boyfriend, not sure how to strike up conversation now....

[sasuke-of-sound.livejournal.com]

[[waiting for Usopp!]]

Sasuke emerged from the cafeteria in no significantly better mood than he'd entered. Sai was becoming a source of aggravation that he hadn't anticipated, although if Sasuke thought about it logically he had to remember that the fool was still a Konoha-nin, with all attendant problems.

At least the talk had reminded Sasuke that Itachi's presence meant that he needed to change the nature of most of his alliances here. What was important no longer lay outside the Institute.

With an irritated noise, he glared at his nurse until her offer to help undress him left with her, and only then tossed his clothes aside. It didn't matter to him whom he ended up next to (as long as he didn't collide with anyone), so he headed for the closest one.

[usoppsenchou.livejournal.com]

Normally, Usopp really liked shower time. Any excuse to get naked around water and spray other people or slip around or otherwise play was a good excuse. He wasn't in the right mood today, though, especially after he slept through breakfast and was brought by the nurse without eating to the shower rooms.

Luckily, or unluckily, one of the two main sources of his ill-ease was showering alone still. He saw Sai in the room, but only glanced over at the ninja who was already talking to someone else, and came up to Sasuke's side instead. It was possible Sasuke'd not appreciate the company, but he wanted to talk alone for a minute.

"Hey. Sorry things got so out of hand last night. That was... all news to me, at least." It was an awkward statement, but true. He hadn't allied himself with anybody who Sasuke thought needed killing, and would have liked to have known that Sai did. Sometime, they had to talk about that. Even if it waited for night. But before that, Usopp also wanted to hear what Sasuke had to say about all of this.

[her-lion.livejournal.com]

There wasn't much point in going. Sort of like breakfast. And lunch. And dinner.

He hadn't even been here long enough to collect dust.

Sighing in resignation, the vampire moved to a stall, the smell of mold and bleach assaulting his nostrils angrily. A hundred years had rather lessened his modesty; he undressed quickly, turning the hot tap all the way to the left. The temperature didn't matter very much - he could feel the slightest wave of heat, roasting the blood he'd consumed earlier.

That was a sobering thought.

Foregoing all the human necessities - soap, shampoo, conditioner, all completely useless to him - Edward dried in record time, pausing only to wring water out of his hair.

Fully clothed once again, he met his nurse by the entrance, proceeding to let her lead him to the sun room.

[shyboyblue.livejournal.com]

Tyler got into the showers a few minutes later than several of the others, and a quick glance around the room told him that Reid must have been here and gone already.

With almost no embarrassment, the teen stripped and moved into the showers to find an empty space along the wall. Being on the swim team back home meant that he was very used to the lack of modesty in a male locker room, and this sort of thing wasn't much different than back home. Much, anyway.

He washed quickly, thoroughly enjoying the hot shower for as long as he could get away with lingering, and then he was back out again, toweling dry and slipping back into the ridiculous pajamas or uniform or whatever it was once more. Then, with his nurse as escort, he headed out to look for Reid and find out what the blond had to tell him that was so important.

[Going out here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/416815.html?thread=33429551#t33429551)]

[multiweapon.livejournal.com]

It had been a while since Haseo had the chance to clean up a little. Even though he wasn't fond of the method by which they had to take showers (open and all) it was vile not take the chance when the opportunity presented itself. He could go for a while without a shower just like any normal guy could, but no one wanted to be around some greasy kid who smelled like hell. Haseo made his way into the shower quickly with hopes of remaining unnoticed and ignored. Conversations were fine, but having them in the shower was pushing the lines of decency a little.

Maybe after a good shower he could go to the Sunroom and check his forum-mail.

[sixth-scents.livejournal.com]

Immediately after breakfast, Zexion was ushered to the showers. The communal nature of the showers didn't bother the Nobody; his objective was to clean up quickly so that he would be free to go elsewhere.

Taking an unoccupied shower head, he turned the water on to a lukewarm temperature. Zexion showered quickly; there was no reason for him to stay any longer than necessary.

The Nobody toweled himself dry rapidly and dressed with the same swiftness. Then he was gone, heading to the Sun Room.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/416590.html?thread=33551182#t33551182)]