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

[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.

[forgot-my-life.livejournal.com]

Wonderful. Some nut job, pissed off, and talking to himself. Takaya tried to ignore him. Really. Instead, he ducked his head under the spray for a moment before pulling back.

"Oh, for fucks sake. Pull it forward a bit before pushing the damn thing." He didn't want to be stuck here with some guy who couldn't work a fucking dispenser.

[for-marian.livejournal.com]

"I know how it works," Leon snapped at the asshole who was interrupting his little tantrum expression of utter frustration. But the fun had gone out of trying to break things as soon as someone else commented on it, so Leon left off hitting the dispensers for now. Mostly. He still used more force than he really needed to, to get a good handful of shampoo.

[forgot-my-life.livejournal.com]

"Looked like you were trying to rip it off the goddamned wall," Takaya snarled back. If the guy wanted to be a dick, fine. Takaya was game. "Or bitch at it until it fucking fell off the wall."

At least, he thought, he hadn't started talking to himself here.

[for-marian.livejournal.com]

Since that was pretty much what Leon had been doing, he just glared at the other boy for a moment, through the curtain of his soapy hair. "What, you never just feel like breaking something?" At least he wasn't flinging himself at the nurses or other patients and starting a riot. He was just taking his anger out on a nice, inanimate object.

[forgot-my-life.livejournal.com]

"Who the hell doesn't," Takaya snapped. "But it's not the fucking soap dish's fault is it? What will beating the shit out of a piece of plastic do? Did it make you feel better?"

Takaya had thrown more than his fair share of fits here. Broken a nose or two, blacked a few eyes. And punched a wall a time or two. But this kid was pissing him off. Fuck him.

[for-marian.livejournal.com]

It actually had been making Leon feel a little better, until this asswipe decided to bother him. "What the fuck business is it of yours anyway? There's another one right there you can use!"

[forgot-my-life.livejournal.com]

"Fuck you." Throw in the appropriate hand gesture to complement it and Takaya ducked his head back under the spray, rinsing the last of the shampoo out of his hair.

"You want to get off on kicking the shit out of a fucking soap dish, go for it."

[for-marian.livejournal.com]

Leon snarled under his breath and, very briefly, considered letting the insult go. He should, really. Fighting in the nude was a bad idea for males at the best of times, and being in a semi-crowded room with a wet, slippery floor certainly didn't count as 'the best of times'.

But on the other hand, Leon had behaved himself very very well for a week now, when he was more accustomed to just saying whatever he damned well pleased. So, really, if one compared it to the way he tended to behave at home, his response was quite calm and restrained: he only flicked a handful of soap at the other man and muttered, "Bitch."

[forgot-my-life.livejournal.com]

Takaya went very still, ignoring the soap that splattered on his arm for now. When he spoke, his voice was low and the words were said slowly, as though he were trying hard not to just whirl and punch the guy next to him.

"What did you call me?"

[for-marian.livejournal.com]

"Oh, did it not translate correctly? Never can tell with these translation spells. I called you a bitch." Oh, if Leon had one of those shock crowns now, he'd be hammering away at the 'shock' button non-stop. He could just picture this asshole twitching away on the floor.

He didn't even consider what would happen if he had a sword--he'd never draw steel over something so petty. ... Probably. Chal would bitch and whine if he tried, anyway.

[forgot-my-life.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry," Takaya snapped back. "You must have confused me with your mother." His hands still soapy, he flung his own mess of water and soap at the brat in the next stall.

Kagetora was probably sputtering over his crude insults, but fuck him too.

[for-marian.livejournal.com]

"Where did you learn your insults, the local daycare?" Though actually, Leon was quite angered by the comment, being sensitive about the topic of his mother, but he'd certainly never admit it.

Still, he was aware enough of the situation to know that throwing the first punch would be a really bad idea, so instead he grabbed for the removable shower head and aimed the spray directly at the other man's face.

[forgot-my-life.livejournal.com]

Takaya coughed and jerked out of the way of the shower head, reaching out and grabbing his own, though he didn't aim it just yet.

"That's all this fucking place is," he snapped back, shaking dripping hair from his eyes. "But I can safely say my mommy wasn't the one to drop me off here."

His mother didn't give a shit about him or his sister. She'd made that very clear when she walked out on their father, got married to some other guy and raised her new children. All he and his sister got out of the deal was a drunk, abusive asshole who claimed to be their parent.

[for-marian.livejournal.com]

Leon hmphed and re-aimed the showerhead as soon as Takaya moved. "So can I, since she's been dead for over a decade." Of course, Leon himself had died as well, and yet here he was. But Chris hadn't been with the false Hugo who had visited him, Marian had. So clearly, his mother wasn't on the list of people Landel wanted him to think put him here.

[forgot-my-life.livejournal.com]

Takaya lifted his arm to block the spray of water and aimed his own shower head at the shorter guy. "Because being dead means so fucking much to this place."

[for-marian.livejournal.com]

Leon shrugged, ducking his head to make sure the water hit him somewhere other than in the eyes. "There's been no sign that my mother is on the list of people they've revived." That would almost have been nice... Chris might have treated him like a real son, and not some tool that would never quite be good enough.

[forgot-my-life.livejournal.com]

Takaya shifted the spray of water, trying to get the dick in the eyes now. "How wonderful for you. They've got a list of people they bring back now, huh?"

He wondered if he could just brain the guy with the shower head without getting caught. Or maybe trip him....

[for-marian.livejournal.com]

Leon growled as the water hit him in the face, and he stretched out a leg to hook a nearby shower stool with one ankle. He kicked that at the taller boy, then sidestepped to get out of the water spray. "Maybe they do. I don't fucking know. Maybe it's totally random." Certainly Leon was thus far the only person from his world who'd ended up here. Barring the false Hugo and Marian, anyway.

[forgot-my-life.livejournal.com]

The stool cracked into Takaya's shins and he kicked it back over to Leon. "Fuck that. Nothing they do here is fucking random." As he moved, Takaya kept pace with the shower head.

"Everything they do is planned to screw with us. Every-fucking-thing."

[for-marian.livejournal.com]

"Ha! Then they really don't know what the fuck they're doing!" If they really wanted to fuck with Leon, they'd bring more people from his world here, so he could be hated and hunted for the traitor he was.

Leon ducked and caught the stool in his good hand, then pitched it back at Takaya's head. The showerhead twisted in his mauled hand, though, and fell to the floor, spraying around indiscriminately.

[forgot-my-life.livejournal.com]

"Looks like they're doing a pretty good fucking job of-" The arm he'd had up to keep the water from his eyes was all that saved his head from the blow of the stool. It stung, and the corner opened up his forearm in a neat, bloody line. That would bruise.

"You son of a bitch!" He threw down the shower head and moved to sock the other boy. At least this time around, he had a bit of experiance in fighting in the showers. Was this the second or third time now?

[uruz-vii.livejournal.com]

Sousuke had yet again been washing himself quietly in a corner, wondering to himself why he couldn't remember much past talking with Allelujah. No night, no breakfast, no dinner. The thought unsettled him, greatly. He hoped Hinasaki was alright.

He forgot what he was thinking about the moment he heard the great stool battle break out. He watched for a moment, realizing that the two combatants were a boy he'd never seen before and...

Again?

Takaya was pulling back to punch the other fighter. Sousuke caught sight of nurses and orderlies slowly catching on to the possibility of a fight and realized that if he didn't do something quick, Takaya was going to be drugged.

The teen sergeant moved quickly across the wet tile, catlike as not to slip. "Takaya, they are watching!" He made a grab for Takaya's wrist. "This boy is not worth being drugged over."

[for-marian.livejournal.com]

Leon was all braced for the attack, ready to dodge or block or whatever move would work best with the actual punch... and then some new guy showed up and tried to defuse things. He glared at the newcomer, bristling at the way he was being talked about like he wasn't there. "I'm no boy, asshole."