toxicspiderman: Photo of a grassy, tree-lined riverbank.  (Specifically, The Charles River) (bucolic)
Sangamon Taylor ([personal profile] toxicspiderman) wrote in [community profile] damned_institute2009-04-09 05:01 pm

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!]
nobleman: (Default)

[personal profile] nobleman 2009-04-15 11:01 pm (UTC)(link)
"Well, I guess he's comfortable with the idea. Not everyone is, obviously." Luke certainly wasn't, but that also had to do with the fact that it was completely new to him. Guy got the feeling that if his friend had some time to accept that it was something that happened, if rarely, then it wouldn't bother him so much.

"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.

[identity profile] heliokleptic.livejournal.com 2009-04-17 04:00 am (UTC)(link)
Luke made a slight face. Thinking about being hit on by a guy was kind of awkward, but it wasn't like he was hurt or offended or anything. It was just... weird. Still, it sounded like he'd given Guy the idea that it might have been worse, so he just waved it off. "He stopped. Uh... once he found out I didn't really get it, anyway." Belatedly, he remembered the pot needed water, and reached across the table for a water can. "Anyway, he's really nice." He paused, realizing he had been so caught up in other things he hadn't even told Guy about meeting another replica.

"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]
nobleman: (Default)

[personal profile] nobleman 2009-04-17 02:46 pm (UTC)(link)
So it sounded like Luke had made friends with the guy despite his confusion; Guy wasn't too surprised to hear that. Even though Luke had once been the sort of person who generally made people want to stay as far away from him as possible because of his obnoxiousness, now he made the effort to be friendly whenever possible -- and usually his earnestness earned him friends.

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.]

[identity profile] heliokleptic.livejournal.com 2009-04-19 07:12 pm (UTC)(link)
"He's pretty nice, and... yeah. When I mentioned being a replica to my roommate, he mentioned clones too. But Superboy said he was grown in a tube or something." Luke shuddered a little, to show what he thought of that idea. "It's too bad Jade isn't here. It would probably be pretty interesting to him."

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."
nobleman: (your hard times are ahead.)

[personal profile] nobleman 2009-04-19 10:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Who would have thought making replicas (or clones, as the term might be) was so common? Guy personally thought it was pretty disturbing, but according to Luke some people found it normal. Would Auldrant have been like that if Van had succeeded? Everyone and everything would have been a copy -- would Van have even told them?

"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."