damned_institute | Day 37: Men's Showers

Entry tags:

Day 37: Men's Showers

I wouldn't really call this a locker room. More like a bathroom with lockers. The place was uncomfortably crowded, with almost every adult male patient being hustled into the showers at once, but Phoenix wasn't as annoyed by the claustrophobic, milling throng of bodies as he might have otherwise been. Every extra person was one more person who might end up standing between himself and Edgeworth.

He knew that the prosecutor would have a fit if he found out about this. He'd known since he'd tacked that first response up on the bulletin board. And in a way, he couldn't blame him. Phoenix knew that he jumped into things all-or-nothing more often than most people. At the same time, he had some kind of reality testing. He wasn't going to learn the basics of how to defend himself and suddenly decide that he was Rambo.

He found an unoccupied locker in the southwest corner and glanced around, trying to gauge how long he could possibly stall in a locker room, looking as if he was expecting something, before people started looking at him strangely. It would have been easier if he'd known something of the description of the man he was supposed to be meeting. As it was, all he had was handwriting and a military rank, neither of which guaranteed any particular appearance.

It's not as if there was a better way to plan this, though. "Yeah, meet me by the lockers. I'll be wearing gray and a smiley face, just like about a hundred other guys."

[for Hughes]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Kurogane grunted when he was told they were headed for the showers, but he had no real problem with the fact. With a shower he'd finally be able to get that sticky feeling from somebody's orange juice out of his hair. He'd also be allowed to see the extent of his own wounds without the people in white fussing at him about not removing his bandages. The only problem that left was that others would be able to see his injuries as well. That bothered him.

But he didn't have much of a choice here.

Being forced to use a little stool by one of the nurses, Kurogane was set down at a shower head close to the door. He grunted again when the nurse finally left him, the set about examining the wounds at his leg.

Talking with Anise had put Claude in a considerably good mood, at least for the time being, and he wasn't about to let something like communal showers put a damper on things. True, some people were uncomfortable about the shower shifts, but it had become part of the typical Landel's routine for the blond. If anything, it was too bad they didn't shower more often, but he wasn't going to complain. For one, their captors really didn't have to let them bathe at all if they didn't want to; for another, people could easily interpret his complaints the wrong way, so it was best to just not say anything and take these things as they happened.

It didn't take Claude long to strip and step into the shower area with a wash towel. Fortunately, he was one of the first people to arrive, so it looked like he had dibs on the shower heads. Then again, it wasn't like they weren't all the same(except for the one with the wonky shampoo dispenser from last time, maybe), so he wound up taking the one that was closest to him.

The steaming, hot water felt good to his bones, and Claude took a moment to soak under it. He was mindful not to get his nose splint too wet, however. More than that, though, he made an effort not to let his gaze linger on any mirrors for too long, because then he'd be reminded of how awful he probably looked. Still, that was something else he wasn't going to complain about -- after all, a broken nose and blackened eyes weren't nearly as bad as a broken arm.

Thank goodness for that accelerated healing stuff, right?

Closing his eyes, Claude decided to just let himself relax for a few minutes.

[For Zelnick.]

Oh, it was time for showers again! Brook had enjoyed his last time in the showers since he'd realized then what having skin again really meant, so he went into the showers this time with more excitement than before. A happy tune hummed out on his lips as he stripped down in the changing room - words slipping out every now and then - and he was soon into the showers and scrubbing away at the mess he called his hair. It had taken such a beating a few nights ago that he was going to give it extra special attention!

His favorable conversation with Eileen at breakfast had helped improve his mood, and more importantly get his thoughts off of unpleasant, unanswerable questions as to the nature of his true identity and how he was still trapped in a foreign body. If it was foreign.

ZEX was glad for a chance to think about something else, at least until he found an answer and therefore could stop dwelling on painful things he'd prefer to leave well in the past, and it so happened that one of his favorite shifts happened to be today. Perhaps luck really was smiling on him for now! There could be nothing more distracting than dozens of glistening, wet, naked human bodies around him... it was a wonder that he could even stay coherent under such pleasant conditions! Quite literally like a dream come true for him...

Although, in his dreams, he was always a VUX.

Bah, a minor dip in his mood, but he was quickly back into smoother, more pleasant territory. He didn't see the Captain straight away, but assumed he was here somewhere, perhaps searching for him, and would find him on his own time. And perhaps he could wash his hair for him again! That had certainly felt rather nice...

As it was, ZEX wanted to be in sight of as many naked bodies as possible for as long as possible, so found a shower head and tried to set it up correctly. Human skin could be frustratingly sensitive though, and he ended up struggling with the flow and temperature to try and get it from painful to pleasant. How had his Captain managed it before...?

Being a head taller than most of the guys in here, Teisel didn't feel quite as claustrophobic as he could have. The whole communal shower thing was still awkward and uncomfortable, and brought back unwelcome memories of his time in the Nakkai dig site, but at least the arrangements were a little better here. Sure beat standing in line and getting sprayed with a garden hose, that was for sure.

He'd felt gritty and scummy since his run-in with the pond last night. Settling under the nearest empty shower head, he made short work of scrubbing himself down. His hair was going to take a while to get clean, and he wanted to have time to make sure each tangle and every last bit of pond gunk was gone by the time he had to leave.

Hopefully there weren't any sticks or bits of pondweed snaggled up in there.

[For Xigbar and Luxord.]

By some good grace, Badou had managed to miss the last shower shift. No such luck this time around. The nurses had let him sleep through breakfast, but that was likely just because they didn't want to put up with his whining first thing in the morning if they could help it.

His foot was feeling better when he finally tested it out, which was the first bit of luck he'd had in a good long time. Not limping into a room full of wet naked men was sort of a mixed blessing. On the one hand, he wasn't limping into a room full of wet naked men. On the other hand, he had no excuse to not pick up the soap if he dropped it. So. In and out. Reeeeally quick. He sort of smelled like the ass end of a roadkill skunk by now anyway.

Badou kept his eye to himself and started soaking his hair under a spray of hot water. He only had about six layers of unidentifiable crap - blood, dirt, dandruff, repeat as necessary - to dig through anyway.

Well, Yue hadn't been much good for distracting Schuldig from Artemis. While he'd been diverting at first, Arty's moving through phases of delusion and physical illness were just making ignoring him more and more difficult - no bloody thanks to Haku. If he'd known that Haku was going to be so damnably incompetent at smacking some sense into the boy, Schuldig would have gone over immediately. As it was, he was stuck until lunch.

That meant he needed another distraction - a good one this time. Fortunately, a shower for of naked men with varying complexes was an excellent place to find one...especially for someone of his ego. All he needed was to find Yohji (or Farfarello, if pressed) or someone whose admiration he could lose himself in for a little while...

Or there was ZEX. He'd have preferred someone who'd admire him specifically as opposed to something that admired every human body in eyeshot, but he was desperate. Pretty blatantly so, to be deliberately seeking attention from one of the people he'd been pointedly not eyeballing as any sort of sexual possibility.

He'd spent the last few years as a telepath in Japan; he officially knew way more about tentacles now than he'd ever really wanted to. Just because ZEX didn't have any at the moment didn't reassure him nearly enough.

That didn't stop him from taking the shower next to ZEX, however, studying him out of the corner of his eye. Whatever the alien might look like in his mind's eye, his human form wasn't actually all that bad, even if he wore it like an ill-fitting suit. "You need some help with that?" he offered - not because he was actually feeling helpful, but as a way to get ZEX's attention as he spun the water of his own shower on - pretty close to as hot as he could get it. Another distraction.

Itachi found a space to himself in the showers and set about trying to get the syrup out of his hair. It would still be on his shirt, but he hardly cared. He didn't care much about it being in his hair, either, only it would be a while before he could shower again and it might solidy into some sort of sticky mass, which could be inconvenient.

He felt a bit blank, hardly even able to gather the enthusiasm to weigh the pros and cons of the situation. He had never thought knowledge of death could affect him like this -- after all, it was merely hard fact. Perhaps he truly was becoming weak in this place. It seemed likely, however reluctant he was to accept it. Even without the Sharingan, he had still felt the same strong individual, but he had to evaluate his various transgressions over the last several days. He was losing control, losing his driving ambition, losing his security in his abilities. He was becoming what he most hated, and he couldn't figure out how to stop, since he didn't understand how it was happening in the first place.

Itachi closed his eyes under the spray of water. Why should he even bother trying to get out of here, if he already knew his future? What use was a powerful existence if it just came to an end? He was going to die anyway, and he might as well be dead here, so what was the point?

No. Speaking of uselessness, what use were those thoughts? Of course existence came to an end, that was the beauty of it. He needed to attain the greatest heights while he still had time, he needed to get the Sharingan back even if he died, because without it he was nothing. Without power, without expressing his will, he was already dead. And he wasn't dead. He wasn't dead.

Finishing his shower quickly with a brief scrub over his body, Itachi decided to leave behind the exposed helplessness of the masses and made his way to the Sun Room.

Breakfast had been pretty relaxing compared to some of the other shifts he'd endured. Shallow conversation and some good food was enough to have him feeling quite a bit better than he had yesterday. Best of all was he didn't need that wheeled chair any longer. It attracted way too much attention.

With rest and some food, his body was starting to rebuild what it'd lost, and while he wasn't yet full health, he could walk around on his own now. And as tempting as it might be to ambush Kurogane, there were nurses surrounding him at the moment, not to mention he wasn't sure he had it in him to run very far. Instead, he simply snuck past and headed for the other end of the showers.

On the plus side, the water didn't sting his cuts nearly as bad anymore. The gashes were still there from the birds a few nights ago, but they had begun to scar over. Other than that, he was actually in fairly good shape, all things considered. He poured a handful of soap and started to wash up.

[Yue/Yuki]

Jiraiya had originally intended to take a nice long shower, but that plan was forcibly abandoned after he had caught a glimpse of Kakashi as they were being herded out of the cafeteria. Damn. That made for another one from Konoha that had been captured. Jiraiya couldn't help but notice the irony that it took all of Team 7 being kidnapped to bring them together. Not Team Kakashi, though, as Yamato was still absent.

He showered quickly without speaking to anyone else, although it was from urgency rather than embarrassment. Jiraiya didn't care if the other man stared at the large scar on his chest. (What would he have to be embarrassed about, after all? Even if he was in his fifties, he still looked good, healthy, and able to perform.)

Jiraiya sighed as he finished and quickly toweled himself dry. He had to find Kakashi--the man would be wanting information about his subordinates and would need to be filled in on Landel's. At least he wasn't the only adult Konoha ninja anymore, thankfully. ... But at the same time, Kakashi being here was one less ninja protecting Konoha, and it wasn't a good thing, because Jiraiya didn't wish this on anyone.

For a moment, his mind flipped back to the conversation he had previously with Naruto about Sasuke and Aidou. Jiraiya grinned wickedly as he was led towards the Sun Room upon finishing his shower, letting his next thought distract him from the seriousness of the situation. Oh, did he ever have information about Kakashi's subordinates.

[Moving to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/510510.html?thread=41267758#t41267758).]

It was a wonder that humans didn't just fall apart if their skin was so thin and delicate. It was part of their appeal, he supposed, in that one had to treat them carefully (to reflect their precious nature, one could say), but it did become somewhat irritating when it made things unnecessarily difficult. And a lot of things he hadn't anticipated had suddenly become difficult as a human. Particularly...

No, not worth his time at the moment. Human hands really weren't made for gripping like his arms... hmm? ZEX blinked at the sound of someone near him, wondering perhaps if his human Captain had found him so quickly, but found an unfamiliar human by him instead. Never one to say no to an opportunity, particularly one such as this, ZEX looked his new human friend over quite studiously and without any kind of self-awareness on how his behavior might appear, and his normal, unconsciously lecherous smile settled firmly on his face. This really was his favorite time of day.

"Mmm, if you'd be willing to assist me." In this kind of mood, nearly everything that came out of his mouth was an innuendo. This new human's hair was such an interesting color... "I'm not quite used to how human showers function, I'm afraid." Still staring hungrily at him. "Human skin can be so sensitive..."

If he had his natural tongue, he would have flicked it. Such a shame to be locked out of his normal body at a time like this!

There were far too few opportunities for showers in Yohji's opinion. Considering what they had to deal with during the night and the chances for sport during some of the days, you'd have thought that they'd kind of want patients to shower more than a couple of times a week.

Schuldig was already occupied and he didn't see Ken anywhere (which sent a shot of worry through him although it was too early to start to be afraid just yet) so he found himself a free shower head and wrenched on the water as hot as it would go. He stood beneath it for a few moments, letting the water soak his hair and skin, before he reached for the shampoo.

[Free!]

Ken really hadn't gotten as much of a chance to talk to Yohji last night as he wanted. He hadn't much cared to stick around with Schuldig there.

Maybe Ken wasn't quite as at ease with exposing himself in front of the institute, but it didn't seem to bother him. The chance to shower was appreciated.

"You're gonna melt your skin off with a shower that hot," Ken said, slipping into the spot next to Yohji. He turned the taps on for his own showerhead and tested the spray before ducking under it.

"It isn't half as hot as I'm used to having," Yohji murmured in response as he rubbed the shampoo into his hair and stepped back beneath the spray, rubbing soapsuds away from his eyes.

He turned to face Ken, smiling slightly at his friend. "Morning, Ken," he said.

Mello wasn't fond of the showers, mostly because he saw no purpose to them. They woke up clean every morning and never had to brush their teeth or hair, so the institute obviously took care of their personal hygiene. He'd decided last time that this had to be some kind of social experiment, and his opinion hadn't changed.

He figured that the nurses might let him skip the showers on account of the cast that still encased his wrist, but of course, that was out of the question. Their insistence made sense, considering they replaced bandages every night, but he was still irritated and his expression showed it as he pulled off his uniform. The showers made scheduling difficult...that may have been part of Landel's plan as well.

Waking up fully clothed meant that Mello hadn't had an opportunity to see his body in days. He was surprised by the number of bruises and scrapes he'd picked up when he wasn't paying attention, and annoyed that he'd lost a pound or two from napping through meals and being deprived of chocolate. Aside from the scarring on his shoulder, it barely felt like his body at all. He scowled as he snatched the towel from the nurse's hand and stepped into the showers, then turned on the faucet.

There was no one to eavesdrop on aside from Schuldig, which he did despite being aware that the psychic would know he was being listened to. If his luck continued, Mello wouldn't have to deal with anyone from his world and he could get this over with as quickly as possible.

[luck will not continue]

Edited 2008-11-24 22:06 (UTC)

"Mr. Irons, you have to take a shower." The nurse told Scar as he once again objected to take a shower. Of course, said objections completely fell upon deaf ears because human women obviously couldn't understand the feline's natural dislike for water. No, she thought that he absolutely must take a shower, even though the King had yet to understand how 'becoming wet' related to 'cleaning oneself'. Therefore, taking a shower equaled to jumping into a pond, and neither things happened to be something Scar enjoyed doing. His lack of fur didn't change any of that.

If looks could kill, the nurse would have been reduced to a pile of dust.

But when Scar found himself standing below a yet-to-run shower head, it happened to be obvious none of his glaring had been effective.

[ooc; for Demyx]

[Mello's luck is fail.]

Near had been allowed to rest through breakfast, and for that he was thankful. There wasn't a single part of his body that didn't ache for what he'd done the nights before, even without the extensive injuries he'd suffered. And they were harsh indeed; while his leg and ribs had thankfully not broken, certainly he bore deep bruises and lacerations over nearly the whole of his body. Then there was the worst of it, his left arm, which was heavily bandaged and held immobile in a sling up until he began to undress.

The nurses didn't need to warn him to be careful with the limb. Near desired normal use of it, after all, and that meant certain precautions had to be taken.

Just as others had to be taken for what he wanted to accomplish next; so far as he could see, Mello had made no arrangements for his time in the showers. Perhaps he wanted the time to himself, a desire Near could certainly understand. However, the showers would be the younger's best opportunity to communicate with his rival now that Mello's identity was known by Kira or X-Kira. Steam would decrease visibility, and Yagami Light had no need of glasses, Mikami Teru did. Even for minimal correction, the lack of lenses would obscure his vision, potentially enough to keep the details of Near's face hidden for the moment. At this juncture the teen thought it only a matter of time before the Kiras realized who he was, but there was no need to assist their discovery by being careless.

So Near was slow to undress, not that his injuries would allow much speed. But they gave enough of an excuse for Near to wait until the steam was strong before he claimed the spot to Mello's left.

"Your meeting must have been interesting." Not only Mello's meeting last night, which Near wanted to know about, but the undoubted contact Mello would have had with L. Near knew that Mello wouldn't simply take his word on something so vital, yet he also knew that Mello couldn't disregard it just because Near had said it. He wanted to know what had come of the conversation, though he had seen nothing to alter his own conclusion after hearing the conversation in the chapel.

Wonderful. It was time to shower with the boys again. And they were boys. Hah. All of them.

Rude's eyes did a quick scan for Reno but to no avail. Good thing or bad? You could never tell. They were used to each other, but the towel whipping could easily get out of hand. Especially around this much testosterone. The Turks had their own showers. And they were hardly ever in there at the same time as each other.

Rude began his quick wash routine. Focusing first on the head and ears. He liked to be squeaky clean. Literally, as they found out when somebody decided to drag their hand across his head. And had it broken immediately afterwards.

Armand almost welcomed the nurses' interference, since it became obvious quickly that sticky syrup in hair as long as his wasn't comfortable. He thought Alec did a wonderful job of looking innocent. Armand didn't try to explain very much, thinking that the more elaborate the lie the less likely it was to be believed. The fact that they weren't obviously fighting and were getting along perfectly amiably helped their cases.

Then they'd both been pointed, not without some exasperation, toward the showers. For once, Armand gladly stripped off his clothes, first the shirt and then the thin trousers. The room seemed more crowded than ever, and he lost track of Alec in the press of bodies. Well, he trusted he could find him again if he wanted and concentrated on adjusting the water flow. This was at most his third shower ever, and the balance of adjusting the two knobs still puzzled him. Then he simply stood under the water, letting it start to dissolve the goopy mess coating his hair.

[waiting for Trevelyan]

This must have been what hate feels like.

It took ever ounce of dignity and self-control he had to keep perfectly still for the rest of breakfast, yet it all went out the window the second the intercom went off. The... disgusting piece of french toast was slapped off his shoulder (where it has slid to after he refused to acknowledge its existence at the side of his head) and the Gambler rushed himself out of the cafeteria.

So embarrassing...

With the mad dash to get naked and rush into the showers, Luxord hadn't really noticed that the man he began addressing was not, in fact, Xigbar. There were very few similarities as it was in body type, hair length, and the eye patch, but the major failure to detect the radically different hair color was just his own fault. He supposed paying more attention and not trying to viciously scrub off his skin should be in order, but... Well, he never paid much attention to II in the showers anyway ~~for certain reasons best laid to rest~~.

Of course, the words to come out of his mouth could have been more thought out as well. "II, if your captain is subjecting you to roll around in buffalo feces before downing the pain with alcohol, you might wish to consult someone. If not for the emotional damage, than at least for the smell, for my sake. I tell you this as a friend." God that was an unpleasant smell. At least Luxord only smelt like maple syrup.

As if his breakfast conversation hadn't been enough to put Yue in a bad mood, he was informed that it was, once again, time for showers. Not that he minded the idea of cleaning himself off, but the setting was rather less than ideal.

The slight limp forced on him by his injured leg didn't do much for his dignity, and the guardian had much the look of an offended (and soon to be wet) cat as he stalked his way into the showers, moving purposefully toward a particular spot. Fai was rather difficult to miss, and after the bulletin post earlier Yue rather wanted to speak to him.

"I didn't agree to join any clubs," he began without prelude, as soon as he was close enough to speak to the blond magician. "No matter what Yukito might have said. Especially if 'being nice' is a requirement for membership."

Time to himself would have been preferable. Time spent talking to another person would have been acceptable, but annoying. However, time spent talking to Near was roughly as appealing as slow death by strychnine poisoning. Mello only gave a brief glance to the side before turning back to the showerhead with a mild smirk.

"Yours too."

He'd expected more from Near, honestly. From the looks of it he'd gotten himself dangerously close to death, and Near wasn't one to overestimate his abilities or the abilities of those around him. In fact, looking back on their childhood, Mello couldn't recall a single instance where Near had been badly injured (usually because the caretakers were quick to separate the two of them). He couldn't have had enough time to analyze the subtleties of the barter economy, so anything he looted he looted for personal use. What was he planning, then?

He'd gone to the pharmacy the first night, and although that could have been to verify Mello's claims, it wasn't like Near to risk something as dangerous as going through the sun room for the sole purpose of proving Mello wrong. What else had he been looking for? The pharmacy was bordered by an exercise area and a locker room...nothing of interest there. If his main objective was actually drugs, was he hoping to barter with addicts? Pointless and risky. Addicts weren't reliable sources of information, and if they were going to risk their lives for things to trade for drugs, they'd just as soon cut out the middle man. Most likely, he stopped at the pharmacy on his way to the furthest hallway, which had at least four or five storage rooms. However, he wouldn't retrace his footsteps unless absolutely necessary, especially since he'd had enough time to waste factchecking Mello's bulletin notes.

So, unless Near had some plan completely unknown to Mello, his goal last night must have been the first floor file rooms or the chemical storage. The file room made the most sense, considering the visitors and Near's comments earlier today about how he suspected they might be brainwashed people rather than constructs.

He didn't want to say anything to further the conversation, and he definitely didn't plan on explaining the details of his meeting to Near. He could do his own damn homework.

Mello glanced around the showers, disguising his action by scrubbing shampoo into his hair. Still no Light or Mikami, and even L was absent. This was a rare opportunity, as much as he didn't want to take it. Near had to know what he'd told Mikami, if Mello's plan were to be assured, and the matter of L was still open. Mello planned to take care of it himself, as he did with most things, but he had to know what information Near was privy to so that he could best predict his rival's actions. However, there was a fine line between using someone and collaborating with them. He had to be careful not to cross it.

"Heard a lot of ideas," Mello said as he rinsed the soap from his hair. "Some people think that everyone here is dead out there."

Hopefully, Near would connect that with the fact that Mikami knew Mello was here but wasn't aware of Near. If Mikami returned to the real world with the assumption that he'd die if he did what he'd initially planned, he'd alter his plans for the final meeting. Although Mello didn't particularly care about Near's death, he needed Mikami to lose to ensure his own posthumous victory.

The statement was carefully phrased to hide the fact that Mello had given Mikami that suspicion. They'd deal with L soon enough, but if L was slipping into incompetent madness, it mattered far less whether that conversation was overheard as long as he could disguise Near's identity.

Ah. Well it was pretty obvious who he was talking to. It'd been a while since he'd actually spoken with Yue and not his soft-spoken counterpart. Maybe this wouldn't go quite as well as he'd hoped.

"You sound just like Kuro-rin," he commented, fixing the guardian with a smile that was friendly, if false. "Being nice isn't really required, but I figure this place is nasty enough without us being mean to each other, right?"

He shrugged his thin shoulders and rinsed some of the lather from his arms. "Anyway it's not like a club club. It's more so we can keep track of where everyone is going and that even if it's not safe, at least they'll have someone to go with them, you know?"

At first, Badou just ignored the guy who took the shower head next to him, focused on scrubbing nondescript shampoo into his hair and watching the water drain off in all sorts of interesting colours that it shouldn't be. It was almost clear now, anyway. He hoped the grayish stuff had just been dust from that explosion before he got here.

He got the tail end of that little speech, and despite the fact that the man next to him smelled a lot like maple syrup he turned and cocked an eyebrow. "Man, can you stop talking to yourself while other people are trying to take a shower? It's really fucking weird. I don't need to know what you did last night with pancakes and buffalo shit."

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 14

Day 37: Men's Showers

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject