Day 51: Men's Showers [Second Shift]

[lawful_perfect]

Bah. So much for yet another suggestion of von Karma's. Such priorities this Institute had. They would implement a foolish suggestion to introduce origami lessons and to offer sewing supplies to select patients, yet refused to allow them to cleanse themselves more often than twice a week -- and, of course, without any additional privacy? How many more of his reasonable suggestions would the Head Lunatic make a point of ignoring?

von Karma scoffed, shaking his head as he entered the shower facility. Fortunately, it appeared that he was the first one in here. As soon as the announcement over the intercom had blared out signaling the shift change, von Karma had been quick to excuse himself from his conversation with Naraku to promptly head for the showers. It had been bad enough last time that there were already three men in the showers by the time he arrived. This time, he would make certain that he would be the first one there.

Without wasting a single second, he disrobed, meticulously washed off the grime from the past several days, dried himself, then got dressed. All within a perfect three minutes, zero seconds, before anyone else had a chance to enter. He would have preferred a much longer time to devote to hygiene, but he didn't want to risk any needless immodesty in front of anyone.

Now finished, he exited the restroom and entered the Sun Room.

[To here]

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[nobleman]

The shampoo in his hair felt great, especially since he was making sure to give himself a light scalp massage as he worked it all in. While he didn't have all that much hair to start with (he couldn't imagine how difficult it was for Anise and Tear to maintain their styles, for instance), he did try to take good care of himself when he had the option. He knew what it was like to rough it, which made him all the more appreciative of the chance to get properly clean.

But Claude was right; this "Latin" that he was describing did sound a lot like Ancient Ispanian in terms of usage. "Yeah, that does sound similar," he agreed. "I guess a lot of places probably have something like that, since languages will get outdated or be replaced with something that's easier to use on a day-to-day basis." It was pretty interesting to think about; Guy would have asked the patients as a whole about it if he didn't already know it would be a waste of time.

"But yeah, I do know Ancient Ispanian." It had been a given considering his upbringing, even if all of that had been taken away from him pretty early on. He'd made sure to continue studying while under Duke Fabre's employ. Van and Pere had also been a help in that sense, as much as he didn't like to think back on those days. "I tried to help teach it to Luke, too," he explained with a smile before he ducked his head under the water so that he could rinse the shampoo out.

He could understand how having someone around to help pass the time would be nice, but Guy didn't see that as the hugest sacrifice. He knew he could have done something else with that time, but in his mind it was pretty much expected that he would stay there to make sure that Claude was okay. He would have done the same for Luke in a heartbeat, and Claude had become a close friend in his own right.

"Well, it was my pleasure," he said as he pulled his head back out and gave it a small shake to get rid of the excess water. "I'm glad I could be of some help. Now we just have to keep crossing our fingers that your vision clears up soon." It hadn't been all that long yet, and Guy knew that, but he couldn't help being a bit worried about it.

[full-score.livejournal.com]

So Guy knew Ancient Ispanian, too? That was interesting, especially since he was supposed to be a servant, right? Were servants on Auldrant highly educated? Maybe it was because he worked for such a prestigious family. But then, why would he be the one who'd have to try to teach Luke? Perhaps Guy was a bit of a scholar in addition to being a bit of a tech geek. There was certainly nothing wrong with that, and it seemed to fit into Claude's impression of Guy being something of a Renaissance man. After all, he had a keen interest in air travel, could build his own house, was an accomplished swordsman, and was apparently also bilingual on top of that. It was a pretty broad skill set to have!

"Wow, that's great!" Claude said, admiration evident in his tone of voice. "Could you say 'Hello, my name is Guy Cecil' in Ancient Ispanian for me?" He wanted to hear what it sounded like, but there was also a chance that whatever was translating their words right now would do the same thing here. Still, it was worth asking, right?

As expected, Guy was polite and perhaps a bit gentlemanly in response to his gratitude. Claude smiled at that, though he mellowed out a little when his friend expressed the hope that he'd be able to see again in the future. It was difficult to know for certain how that would turn out, but Claude didn't want to voice that out loud. Instead, he said, "Yeah, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before something good happens." He recalled the conversation he'd had during breakfast and suddenly perked up.

"Actually," he added, "there's something I wanted to tell you. You mind if we move into the sun room once you're done showering?"

[nobleman]

Honestly, Guy hadn't been expecting that sort of reaction. It was true that not everyone on Auldrant knew Ancient Ispanian, but it also wasn't terribly rare. Most of his closest friends knew it, and Tear certainly had a better grasp of it than he did. It wasn't something that he got to use all the time, but it was definitely something worth knowing, seeing how there were so many texts that hadn't been translated from the ancient language into Fonic.

He was a bit taken aback at Claude's request, but he couldn't blame his friend for being curious, either. If Claude had known another language, he would have wanted to hear it too. Though his friend hadn't mentioned anything like that so far, so it seemed as if he could only speak English. Maybe that wasn't such a big deal on Earth, though, or maybe the sheer amount of languages just made it too overwhelming to try and pick up a second.

Guy was still a bit confused about how languages and translation worked in this place, though. He'd seen tests done over the bulletin, but he couldn't be entirely sure that Claude wouldn't just hear English when he spoke. "I'm not sure if you'll actually hear it and my speaking might be a bit rusty, but all right." Ancient Ispanian was mainly meant to be read and written, after all; still, Claude wasn't in much of a position to judge, so it would probably be okay.

Taking a half step away from his shower and straightening his shoulders, Guy said the phrase in the old language: "Hello, my name is Guy Cecil." Ancient Ispanian did have a rather unique, almost lyrical quality to it, he had to admit. Hopefully that would come through to Claude, too.

He was glad to see that Claude was keeping a positive attitude about his vision in spite of it all, though he did end up a bit flustered when he realized that he'd gotten distracted from his shower due to his impromptu language lesson. "Of course!" he hastily replied as he hurried over to get himself some conditioner. He could have gone without it, but he would just run it through his hair and then rinse it out real quick...

[full-score.livejournal.com]

It sounded like Guy was nice enough to indulge him, even if he prefaced it with a warning that it might not come out as planned. As soon as he spoke, though, Claude was startled to discover that he didn't understand a word of it! Well, except for Guy's name, but that was a given. He wasn't sure if his ear would be trained enough to understand the differences between Ancient Ispanian and Fonic, but there was no doubt that Guy had just spoken a language he'd never heard before.

"Hey, it worked!" he said with a small laugh. "You sounded good just now." Claude almost wished he had a second language of his own to demonstrate, but despite the stellar education he'd received back at the Academy, he'd never gotten around to becoming fluent in a second language. English was primarily used among Federation personnel, and advanced technology made it possible to get real-time translations if the need arose. Learning more languages seemed like it provide a good, healthy challenge, though. "It sure is a pretty language, isn't it?"

As for going out into the sun room, he didn't mean to rush Guy. Claude had no way of knowing how far along he was into his shower since he couldn't see. "Take your time, though!" he suddenly added. "It's not like we get to shower that often, so don't feel like you have to skip out on it."

[nobleman]

So it had worked! Well, that was interesting to take note of, then. Guy had exchanged messages in Ancient Ispanian over the bulletin board in the past, so he was glad to know that it would apply in spoken form as well. He would have to keep that in mind in the case that he ever needed to speak to one of his friends without being eavesdropped on. Which wouldn't work if they were trying to keep something from another Auldrantrian, but still...

He was glad that the language came across as nice-sounding to Claude, but now he was focused on rushing through the rest of his shower so that they could get out to the Sun Room. It would be a lot easier to talk out there, and he was almost done anyway.

"No, it's fine!" he called over his shoulder. "I'm just about finished." He didn't allow the conditioner to sit in his hair for as long as he usually did, but that was an optional part of it anyway. Most people probably didn't even use conditioner on hair so short, but Guy didn't see why not, when it led to your hair being that much healthier and smoother.

He washed it out quickly, though, and then reached forward to turn off his shower. With a glance to Claude's, which was still on, Guy went ahead and turned off his friend's as well. It seemed like something that might be tough to do without being able to see, though he hoped Claude wasn't offended by it.

"All right!" he announced, turning back toward the other man. "I'm done."

[full-score.livejournal.com]

Claude sensed the water next to him slowing and then completely shutting off. Guy had turned it off for him, but Claude wasn't really bothered. If it had been a nurse or someone he hadn't known very well, he might have gotten his feathers ruffled a little. In this case, though, he knew his friend didn't do it to be condescending, but rather out of a genuine desire to help him out a little. That was a pretty big difference because he at least knew Guy didn't look down on him for it.

Regardless, it sounded like Guy was done with his shower. Claude hoped he hadn't rushed too much for his sake. "Okay," he said with a quick smile before starting to make his way over to the lockers. His steps weren't as swift and certain as he wished, and part of him was embarrassed that he couldn't really move faster. But, well...colliding head-on with another naked man would have been a hell of a lot more embarrassing, and he would have felt awkward getting led around with no clothes on. He was willing to play it cool for now if it meant avoiding those two scenarios.

Before he could help it, though, his nurse had swooped down on him, handing him a towel and explaining to him which way his shirt and pants were supposed to go on. Claude bit back his frustration and politely tolerated it for now. This wasn't really the place to get irritated over something like that, after all, and he guessed he couldn't blame the nurses for not wanting him to clog up the changing area for longer than necessary.

After some work, he finally got himself dried and dressed. As he brushed his damp bangs out of his face, Claude tried to figure out where Guy was, but that was when the nurse ushered him to the bathroom's exit.

((To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/958006.html?thread=71853878#t71853878).))