damned_institute | Dayshift 34: Men's Showers

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Dayshift 34: Men's Showers

Albel had wasted an entire night, but he couldn't quite figure out how he had actually wasted it. He had left his room early, didn't stand around doing nothing and no pathetic worm had dragged him down. Finding Fayt's room and smack the foolish maggot against the nearest wall shouldn't have taken a full night, but yet he found himself back in his bed before he even had so much as located the right door.

What the hell?!

But he didn't have much time to think about it, as one of the wenches instantly stepped into his room as soon he sat up. Had she had been waiting behind the door or something? He ignored her useless babble along the way to the showers. Apparently, he had slept through most of the day. Perhaps the lack of sleep was taking it's toll, though the warrior wouldn't even think about admitting that thought. And who cared about it anyway? The days were useless!

By the looks of things, Albel was the first one to arrive. Not that he cared. After stripping himself of his clothing he stepped inside the shower area and picked a stall by random. It took some fiddling with the knobs before the water temperature was good enough, but he eventually let the water wash over his body.

[Free!]

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Tyki glanced in Peter's direction for a moment, but let the subject rest. "Right." he answered, glancing back towards the wall. "It's my third day here."

Figuring he was clean enough now, the Noah reached for some shampoo and divided it over his hair before he began massaging his scalp. Who would have thought he'd be able to wash his hair in his white form? Such luxuries were usually only available when he was living the black side of his life, definitely not to a band of hobos.

"Well, I ain't starving, so I guess it could have been worse." And he guessed the nights could be entertaining. At least, when no one was stealing his smokes and left him with a broken nose. But Rhode had seemed pretty upset back then, so he figured this place must be pretty bad after all. "I could do without the man-eating bugs and squirrels, though."

And he'd very much like his powers back, too. And the Tease. It was weird not to have them around, considering he was so used to them. He was even starting to miss the butterfly-shaped golems. Huh.

"Or did ya mean the showers?" He flashed Peter a crooked grin.

Here was another patient who was on their third day, just like Wolfram, and yet Tyki was acting like he was already settled and used to the routine. Peter figured that some people just adapted that easily, but it did strike him as odd.

Though when the other man mentioned starving, it made Peter realize that maybe this man's life had been even rougher on him before being brought here. Seeing how Peter had been born into such wealth, there was no way he could relate, even if he had refused his father's support as he had gotten older. Even in that case, he still would have had the fortune to fall back on if things ever got bad enough. Though that certainly wasn't the case now. There was no one to contact, or to bail him out.

Even more monsters were mentioned, and ones he hadn't yet heard about before, so he made sure to make notes of them. He couldn't imagine how squirrels could be dangerous, but they were rabid, weren't they? He knew that he was probably better off not running into one, as ridiculous as it sounded.

"No, no," he said with a small smile, "I meant all of it. But... you were starving before you came here?" he asked carefully, not meaning to offend. Still, considering Tyki had been the one to bring it up in the first place, he thought it would be all right.

He was pretty much all soaped up by now, so he started to wash off.

Tyki wasn't offended. It was one of the few aspects of his life that he was fairly open about. It was usually his black side that he needed to edit out if he was talking about his life.

"Yeah, guess that's one of the bad side of bein' a hobo." Tyki answered with a shrug. "Getting fed three times a day is a nice change." He briefly wondered if he'd gain weight during his stay here. He definitely didn't want to get as fat as the Millennium Earl. That, and he'd probably have some explaining to do whenever he met the gang again.

Figuring the shampoo had done its job well enough, he stuck his head under the spray and began washing the stuff out.

Here Peter was faced with something he could hardly even imagine. With a frown, he quietly got some shampoo and started putting it in his hair as he thought it over.

For someone like Tyki, he wondered if Landel's was an improvement from the norm. It had to be, if he had been begging for food up until now. Though the presence of monsters that were threatening one's life as much as starvation must have probably made the experience a little less enjoyable.

"I'm sorry," he said, even though he knew it probably sounded flat to the other man. "What... what happened?" He didn't know if that was the right thing to ask, or if it might be taken the wrong way, but he wasn't sure how someone ended up living on the streets like that. It was something he'd never had to worry about. He had agonized over what his career should be, sure, but that was very different.

Peter's reaction wasn't all that surprising. It wasn't the first time someone took pity on him whenever he explained his situation. But the thing was, he didn't need it. He liked his white side as it was; the polar opposite of his black one.

"What are ya sorry about? It's not as bad as it sounds. Sure, you don't always have anything to eat, but it keeps things from gettin' boring." he answered, grin still present of his face. Like he was confirming it really wasn't as bad as it sounded. Which it really wasn't. "Besides, bein' a tramp makes a man creative." he continued, raising his finger to strengthen his point.

"As for what happened? I dunno." Another shrug. Before his Noah had awakened, he didn't knew any different than living on the streets. "Been living like that since I remember."

So maybe Tyki had just been born into that sort of situation, and maybe it wasn't something a person could pull themselves out of so easily where he came from. Peter wasn't about to judge, in any case.

At one point he might have been able to agree about life being boring, but the way it had changed for him in the past months had more than made up for the time he had spent studying to be a nurse and then taking care of others. Not that there was anything wrong with all of that, but he couldn't deny that he had always been looking for something more.

"Creative?" he asked, not sure what the other man meant. As he waited for an answer, he dunked his head under the water to wash the shampoo out.

"Yeah, creative." Tyki answered, smirking before he began his explanation. "If you can't go to the store and get food, you're gonna look for different ways to get it."

And no, he wasn't just implying he was stealing. Stealing was only one of the many ways a man could get money (or food). Cheating with poker was one of his personal favorites.

Peter figured he could understand that. If someone was going to die otherwise, then what choice did they have? He was glad that Tyki had managed for this long, at least. It wasn't like Claude, who had taken from people just because he knew he could get away with it.

"So, do you think you're better off stuck in here?" he asked. It was hardly the same as a homeless shelter or anything like that, but he didn't think anyone could deny that the food was good, and they could have as much of it as they wanted. If Tyki just stayed in his room at night, was it really all that bad?

Then again, Tyki had probably left friends back home. That was always what drew people back - they had lives they needed to live. And in Peter's case, people he needed to save.

"Nah. The food's good, but this place sucks anyway with the rabid animals and those fake nurses runnin' around here." Tyki answered. "And there are a few people that need me back home. I really can't afford to lazy around here, ya know."

And he wasn't just referring to the other Noah, who were practically the family he never had, and the list of people he needed to delete, but he was also talking about his friends. Especially Ease. He had promised the kid he'd be back soon. So yeah, he had something to return to when he got out of here.

And there was one massive scolding by a certain fat man waiting to welcome him home. But that on itself wasn't all that different; he was ironically used to it.

And honestly? A few walls had never stopped him, even with his powers gone. But he figured he needed his Tease back first, and take Rhode with him. But until then he was stuck here.

"That, and they won't let me smoke here."

In the end, it seemed like everyone had the same reasons for needing to get out of this place, so that was one thing that connected them all. Though Peter got the feeling that there had to be at least a few around who found this place preferable to wherever they had come from.

That certainly wasn't the case for him, even if he had to worry about the Company back home.

So Tyki was a smoker? Peter wondered how he got his hands on cigarettes when he had a hard enough time finding food, but he wasn't about to ask. Realizing that the shift was ending (was the intercom announcement coming on? It was hard to hear with all the showers going), Peter reached forward and turned off the water.

"Well, hopefully we'll find a way out of here soon," he finished, even though he didn't think that was too likely. "I'll see you around," he added, and he actually meant that, adding a small smile to prove his point. With that taken care of, he moved away to go dry off and meet a nurse.

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Dayshift 34: Men's Showers

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