Sangamon Taylor (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
toxicspiderman) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
damned_institute2009-04-09 05:01 pm
toxicspiderman) wrote in damned_institute2009-04-09 05:01 pm
Entry tags:
- adelheid,
- aidou,
- blitzwing,
- blue beetle,
- claude,
- daniel jackson,
- depth charge,
- edgeworth,
- edward elric,
- frey,
- guy,
- homura,
- junpei,
- keman,
- kenren,
- kio,
- leon magnus,
- lockdown,
- nataku,
- nigredo,
- okita,
- ren,
- ronixis,
- s.t.,
- sam winchester,
- sanzo,
- scar (tlk),
- schuldig,
- scourge,
- snake,
- sora,
- teisel,
- the doctor,
- the flash,
- the scarecrow,
- wesker,
- willy wonka,
- xigbar,
- yohji,
- zex
Day 40: Greenhouse [Fourth Shift]
Most days, fish and chips (and a cold beer or three) was pretty goddamned high on S.T.'s list of perfect expense-account lunches. Today, the idea of picking at greasy hunks of unidentified bottom-feeder odds-and-ends (politely known as scrod, to the delight of teenagers all across the Northeast) didn't appeal.
He begged off and collapsed into his bed, after using his damp shirt as an excuse to surreptiously check the contents of his closet. Bingo. His nurse watched his little show, unimpressed but (more importantly) unsuspicious. Not that his hairy chest was much of a catch today, pale and sweating from fever. At least she didn't tuck him in.
The intercom woke up up right on schedule, and pulling the sheets back over his head almost won. But a handful of unanswered missives and a vague sense of duty dragged him out to the bulletin, and from there it was easier to stagger over to the greenhouse.
It was warm inside -- a deep, humid warmth that actually penetrated to the aches in more joints and muscles than he could remember the names of. Like a sauna, without the hassle of finding someplace to look that wasn't a mound of pasty middle-management cellulite. Or a sweat lodge, without the opposite hassle of being conscious that he was the only white guy in the room. In fact, besides the nurses in holding patterns, he was the only person in the room.
He located a tray of tomato seedlings going rootbound in their tiny six-packs, and a potting bench whose location was a quick-and-dirty approximation of equidistantly far from anything blooming. He assured his nurse he knew what he was doing, and after a couple of successful repottings, gently sliding the little seedlings out and loosening the tangled roots, she seemed to agree and backed off. It was, by far, the most fucking theraputic thing he'd found in this hellhole so far, and he let himself sink into the rhythm of the task.
[Free!]
He begged off and collapsed into his bed, after using his damp shirt as an excuse to surreptiously check the contents of his closet. Bingo. His nurse watched his little show, unimpressed but (more importantly) unsuspicious. Not that his hairy chest was much of a catch today, pale and sweating from fever. At least she didn't tuck him in.
The intercom woke up up right on schedule, and pulling the sheets back over his head almost won. But a handful of unanswered missives and a vague sense of duty dragged him out to the bulletin, and from there it was easier to stagger over to the greenhouse.
It was warm inside -- a deep, humid warmth that actually penetrated to the aches in more joints and muscles than he could remember the names of. Like a sauna, without the hassle of finding someplace to look that wasn't a mound of pasty middle-management cellulite. Or a sweat lodge, without the opposite hassle of being conscious that he was the only white guy in the room. In fact, besides the nurses in holding patterns, he was the only person in the room.
He located a tray of tomato seedlings going rootbound in their tiny six-packs, and a potting bench whose location was a quick-and-dirty approximation of equidistantly far from anything blooming. He assured his nurse he knew what he was doing, and after a couple of successful repottings, gently sliding the little seedlings out and loosening the tangled roots, she seemed to agree and backed off. It was, by far, the most fucking theraputic thing he'd found in this hellhole so far, and he let himself sink into the rhythm of the task.
[Free!]
no subject
"I tried to tell him he was wrong, and then I thought thought maybe it was just something from his world?" But he guessed he could buy that it just wasn't that common. Luke had never thought about it. "It's probably still not that rare, there, though. ...I think he thought I was kind of crazy for not believing him."
no subject
"I think that for some people it's hard to talk about, or it just seems awkward, and so people try to avoid bringing it up. Maybe people are just more open-minded where he comes from," Guy suggested. It didn't seem right to act like it wasn't there, after all. He didn't even know what percentage of people from Auldrant had that preference, but that involved getting caught up in the technical details again.
"I wouldn't say it's wrong, though," Guy warned his friend with a frown. "You might not understand it, but in that case shouldn't you try to?" He knew that Luke was constantly trying to lose his biases and preconceptions, and that applied here too.
no subject
"This guy sure didn't seem awkward about it." Actually, Luke had been the awkward one. He wasn't sure if that was because he was being hit on, or because he was being hit on by a boy though. The only girl that had ever really come onto him before was Noir, and that was more... different. It was hard to put down why, but it seemed less like interest and more like how she acted. Luke hadn't thought much of it at the time, and anyway, her attention had settled on Guy pretty fast. Luke had watched tons of girls hit on him, so that was really nothing new.
He paused when Guy explained it wasn't wrong, sensing that he was being rebuked a bit, and not quite sure why. "I don't mean wrong like bad, I meant wrong like... Uh. Like I thought he was crazy because that never happens." Luke wasn't sure he was getting the distinction clear, but didn't know what words to put it in. He made a face. "It's not like I really care what anyone does." Of course, Guy was asking him to understand, and he wasn't really sure he did at that, either. He'd never thought of relationships much beyond the fact that he was engaged to Natalia, and that was the end of that.
no subject
"At the same time, though, you don't have to tolerate him hitting on you if it bothers you," he continued. "Just tell him that you'd prefer that he didn't. If he's a rational person, he'll understand." If that didn't work, then Guy might have to get involved. He didn't want someone pestering his friend if Luke wasn't comfortable with it.
He was glad to hear that Luke hadn't meant "wrong" in a bad way, though he had to wonder if the person Luke had been talking to had jumped to the same conclusion that he had. If that was the case, it could have turned out badly, but Luke probably would have mentioned it if so. "Right, well... now you know that it does happen and he's not crazy." As a result, Luke's mind had been expanded a little further, which was good. Guy was always happy to help. He just hoped his friend hadn't been too traumatized.
no subject
"Actually... he's a replica too. Or, something like it anyway." He wondered if there were a lot of replicas here, but Superboy hadn't made it sound like he'd met many. But Jason had known what a 'clone' was too, so it seemed like at least two other worlds had roughly the same technology. "He didn't call it that, though. Have you heard of 'clones'?"
[Ugggh. Sorry I've been failing lately. LIFE HAPPENING. So RP is slow everywhere. I'm happy to backdate, or to close up, which ever you are comfortable with <3]
no subject
Guy was taken aback at the mention of this person being another replica, though. It wasn't like that sort of thing was common -- well, maybe in other worlds, but it had been kept under wraps in Auldrant until Van had taken it way too far. Still, it might be good for Luke to have someone like that who he could relate to, especially since Ion wasn't around anymore.
"Clones?" Guy asked with a tilt of his head. "I don't think so. It's probably just a different term, though. Anyway, it's probably a good thing that you ended up meeting him, even if it was confusing in the beginning." Now Luke sort of knew what that flirting had been about, so hopefully he could get along with this other patient even better.
[Don't worry at all! I haven't been too fast myself. I guess we'll go for a little longer? I had Guy think about how he didn't get to talk to Luke about Asch during dinner shift, so we should cut it off before that, at least.]
no subject
Not that he exactly wanted to wish this place on any of his friends. But Luke would sure feel more comfortable with Jade's intellect on their side. Then they could find Ion and Emperor Peony and get out of here. He poured a bit of water into the pot.
"Anyway, I don't know what I think of replicas being created on other worlds too... But he seemed pretty okay with it. Maybe it's not a big deal there."
no subject
"That's hard to believe, but maybe not. I... I'm not sure how to feel about it, either," he admitted. Everything in him insisted that it was wrong, but maybe in certain worlds it had been necessary for one reason or another. Guy had just been telling Luke that he needed to have an open mind, but now he was coming up against something he couldn't really swallow.
"It would be good to have Jade around, yeah," Guy agreed. Jade was good at putting things like this into perspective -- plus he would have actually been interested by it. Unfortunately, it looked like they were going to have to get through this without him.
Soon after that, the intercom sounded. Guy didn't really want to go yet -- he still had things he needed to talk to Luke about -- but it wasn't his choice to make. He sent his friend a smile as he stood from the bench. "Be careful tonight."