Disclaimer: Usual applies.
*sing-song* Heero on the run, Heero on the run, where is he going, oh!, Heero on the run...
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
A grid separated him from the last of the run; beyond the grid, a small lapse in the vent system in the form of a hallway he had to cross in order to continue down the length of a vent to achieve phase four. Tensing, he took the hook from between his teeth and set it aside, far enough into the dark of the vent that no passerbye could detect it. Besides it he lay down the clothes and a small variety of things he had brought along with him, taking care that the gun was still lodged securely in the waist of his trousers. Creeping into the glow thrown off by the overhead light he unscrewed the grate, pulling it from the opening it sealed and leaning it against its frame in an inconspicuous position once he was on the other side.
After doing the same with the grid across the hall he managed to slip into a smaller vent, too small for him to crawl but with enough space that he could elbow his way along, head bowed much of the way. Several minutes of this exercise tensed his shoulders, knotting the muscle uncomfortably. Monotony set in, the vent he wiggled through a continuous tunnel bridging the distance between himself and his object of focus - over a conference room, then acting as a rendezvous point for two enamored co-workers, a mess hall and a small gym in which two guards were taking their break. Cigarette smoke seeped into that section in the vent and Heero, accustomed but dispositioned to avoid the clingy smell, closed his eyes to keep them from getting irritated.
"Yeah, man. Her parents."
"When are you going to meet them?"
"Sometime - soon, I think." Duo stared moodily at the table surface before grabbing another tangerine. Peeling it slowly, he considered the meat of the fruit pensively. Flecks of the peel dotted the area around Duo's elbows. "It'll be awkward. They haven't seen her since she joined the army."
"Hn." Heero picked a tangerine from the crate - now sitting like a third companion in one of the vacant chairs between Heero and Duo - and picked at the sticker on it. "Lotus Moonfarm, Organic #115." Duo's stare traveled back towards Heero, who didn't seem to have heard him. Duo grunted. "I ask her about them, but she won't give me much." Shrugging, he added, "I don't know. I don't think she's talked with them alot since she moved here."
Heero glanced up at Duo's disgruntled expression. He now picked pulpy peel bits from under his fingernails, mouth working as he chewed the inner corner of his mouth.
"She can be so weird." He grumbled. He peeked at Heero from underneath his bangs quickly. "You know? But she's so great." He reached up and ran a hand through his hair, long strands of which had wormed out of its braid. "I don't know, I wish - I guess I want her to open up a little, about her parents. Is that being pushy? - Maybe it is. Nothing's been easy. But," He growled, apparently at himself, "I don't know if I want to know all that much. If it's that hard to share, then - I don't know....."
Heero held up his mug and Duo took it to fill it up once more.
Yawning, Duo's expression changed, turning more hopeful and, thankfully, sunny.
"Have you seen Howard at all?"
"No." A quirk of an eyebrow accompanied Heero's reply, questionning. Duo grinned.
"Man, I was in contact with him last week - he retired again." Heero sat up a little.
"That means - "
"Yeah. He's back in business with the doctors."
"Where?"
"Somewhere off the coast of Maine, I think - in America, anyways." Heero chewed on his inner cheek for a moment.
"He called?"
"I don't even know how he got this phone number, I haven't given it to anyone but Hilde yet. Ah well." Duo leaned in playfully, saying, "He seemed interested in some parts I have for sale, but I haven't talked about it with Hilde yet. 'Said he would call again before knowing for sure what he needed. What do you think, are they ready for another war?"
"Doubtful."'
Grunting, Heero pulled himself through the last of the tunnel, upending himself on the floor of a vault. His conversation with Duo still played in his mind - it had been three hours along, something he couldn't easily forget. Not that he wanted to, either.
"Creepy. Maybe all of them are back together with Howard."
Apparently not. From the little Dr. J had given Heero before sending him on a retrieval mission two or three of the five minds behind Operation Meteor were working on separate projects. He did say that they had been in contact recently, as well as confirming the call he had made to Duo. He kept from telling Heero the intent of either the call or the project he was on; Dr. J only said - with a grin coloring the otherwise careful, rough voice transmitting through Heero's earphones - that Heero was going to be surprised for maybe the first true time in his life.
The vault was the last step before reaching the object of the mission. Heero came upon a section of floor different from the rest - these tiles of iron were more weathered than the rest, worn. He dismissed the lack of care Dr. J had used in hiding the mysterious object, the tiles behing an obvious cover-up, as few ever came through the vents - indeed, even when reparations were made welders and the like did their work from the outside rather than climb into the vents. Few people had as detailed a map as Heero obtained and the possibility of getting lost was too pesky a risk to take into account. Working quickly Heero raised the tiles, back straining at the weight and knotted muscle tissue tensing further. As the vents echoed with loud noise he slid them to the side; Heero tapped the speaker of his earphone three times before diving a hand into the hole the tiles once hid.
The hole was, at first, a tunnel roughly half a foot in diameter; once Heero dipped his arm in to the elbow the tunnel opened into what felt to be a cavern. Pulling up Heero tied a flashlight to the rope he'd been carrying and lowered that into the cavernous hole; the resulting glow immediately lighted on his find. Perspiration poured out over his skin and he felt his hands moisten; tightening his grip he pulled the flashlight back up, wiped the back of his hand across his eyes and drew out four hooks, smaller than the one he left behind, with dulled points.
He tapped the speaker of his earphone once before asking a question via morse code over it. Silence invaded the small space he occupied for a moment before a set of taps came back to him. He pressed the earphone into his ear so as not to miss any of the relayed message, sending a startled glance down into the hole once it was over.
Tapping once again he attached the hooks to cables, lowering them into the hole. Resounding clicks assured him they were in position; then he pulled, slowly, steadily. The tunnel was just big enough to let the find through; depositing the helmet, tangled cables and PC-like contraption on the floor to his left he fixed the tiles back over the hole, turning them upside down so they're unmarred side could blend in with the rest of the floor.
Turning, he reached a hand out and stroked the helmet, really nothing more than a set of earphones with a mouth and chin piece and sensors that attached to the back of the head - the barest of functions needed to make the headpiece work in its designated form. The cables hung from it to attach to the rest - the heart of the machine. Heero's eyes glinted in the dark; this was what they were supposed to have destroyed the first time they came to this colony, when the other half was blown away in the explosion Dr. J had set off - he felt he should be angry but his emotions confused him once again; he felt numb, that numbness tinged with what could be amazement. The doctor had assured a much younger Heero that the machine was properly demolished in the wake of the explosion. With a devilish grin he'd added that a meteor really couldn't have done a better job, yet which, in later reports, became the truth - a meteor, not a planned explosion, was the reason for the destruction of the colony's other half.
To Heero's left sat the remainder of that explosion, the focus of that old mission - the last, fully operational Zero system in existence.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Relena lay limp and prone in the hammock, a book propped up on her stomach and a wide-brimmed straw hat (Juan's gardening hat) shielding her face from the constant sunlight. No matter the protections involved in the making of the glass shell above her, the sun was twenty times as harmful in space than on Earth as no colony could recreate atmospheric gases. (Due to this skin cancer was on the rise among colony inhabitants, though protective measures were being improved upon in bounds).
Turning a page, Relena failed to catch the blur of movement to her far right, caught up in the words of her novel. She was consumed by a particularly active part when the brim of her hat was given a strong flick, making it slide up to reveal the whole of her forehead. Eyes wide, she stared directly into the face of her traveling companion - but for the pall to his skin and a strange brightening of eyes he seemed at ease. Bringing one hand to the crown of her hat and shoving it back in place, she sat up, offering up the free space to Heero. He sat down, careful not to squash her bare feet.
"Hi." She said breathlessly. She hadn't thought of much but the unfolding plot in her novel since noon - it was late afternoon now. Cocking her head to the side, cheek meeting up with her shoulder as she had them hunched, she asked, "Where have you been all day, Heero?" He swung one leg over the other side of the hammock, straddling it, leaning back so that he sat directly opposite her.
"The center." He nodded his chin at her novel. "What is it?" Quickly handing it to him Relena scrunched herself up more in order to give Heero space, feeling the quaint oddity of their situation in Heero's loosened behavior. She couldn't remember having ever seen him in a very relaxed state - much of their (chance) meetings had occured in turbulent times when they couldn't afford to be relaxed. Folding her arms over her abdomen Relena regarded him calmly, almost somberly - she expected reproach from herself or him, hell, even Juan, but nothing came. Could something so nice be so natural? He had been settled in the hammock with her for barely a minute, yet she felt so comfortable, more so than she had all day - or perhaps she was only just now realizing how at ease she really was. He gave her comfort. She felt herself respond to his body language, however unconsciously given, and gave in to the cushy, lax support of the hammock.
Yet, after watching him further - with more sublety - she realized he was tense. The lack of resistance he put up as he melted into the hammock - just like she was doing! - was accompanied by some sort of strain. The tilt of his head, face pointed upwards, eyes wide open, his skin glistening, shoulders held against the hammock rather than melded to it. Wonder replaced her shortlived, happy surprise at their cool, friendly behavior - questionning, wanting wonder....
Heero handed back the novel and she took it, letting it fall on its cover on the ground. Clearing her throat lightly, she brought Heero's attention on herself.
"This," She waved a palm outwards, fanning the area of the garden, "Is Juan's. He did everything, even the grass." Sighing, she said, "Isn't it beautiful? So peaceful, even with the sun and the moon staring in on a person all the time..."
"Have you been out all day?"
"Yes. Why?"
"You're red, across your face." She sat up a little.
"Oh! Is it bad? I put on sunlotion, but that was an hour ago...." Reapplying every hour had become habit, how could she have forgotten? She touched the skin across her nose and cheeks, wondering if it would be tender - it wasn't, just very, very warm.....she didn't feel warm all over, though....Shaking her head, Relena let her worry fall. "Oh well. I'll put something cooling on it tonight. Heero, I haven't sneezed all day - what's different about this place from the other colonies?"
"Different take on bacteria here - fewer plants, fewer people..."
"Oh." She rubbed her nose with her knuckles. "I only noticed this a moment ago."
They were silent for a moment, Relena's eyes concentrating on the sweat moistening Heero's skin, Heero's stare directed vacantly at her kneecap.
Relena looked up suddenly, turning her nose towards the Inn. Sniffing, she recounted the reports the odors sent her - cooking was being accomplished, translating into dinner, stewed fruits and meat that was surprisingly appealing making up the brunt of the smells. Then, the short Bing of a bell being rung. Relena giggled under her breath - Juan was having fun using the dinnerbell, now that he had agreeable guests to serve. She made ready to get out of the hammock, raising her upper body from it and stepping on the ground with one foot - the other caught on the edge of the hammock and she fell forward with a soft grunt. Relena landed on her side, shoulder-first.
Heero helped picking her up again, dusting her arms off with quick sweeps of his hands while he searched for any freak injuries. She stood patiently for a moment before taking hold of one of the flicking hands, smiling in a musing, friendly way.
"Heero, I'm fine, you could just ask." Letting go of his hand she reached up to smooth her hair into place. "Hungry? That was Juan's dinner signal - he's a very good cook, too, he made me lunch."
Stepping beside her they left the greenery, entering through the back door. Heero was satisfied that she hadn't received any scrapes - the bruise on her shoulder, which even she hadn't picked up on yet, was insignificant. In a way, he felt he had triumphed over all general accidents, unusually jittery nervousness concerning the Zero system aside.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
"I really don't want another HygieneSpray." Relena mumbled to herself later that night. It was too early to sleep but she was tired enough to consider some very lazy sport to amuse herself with. She wasn't usually given to but would have considered taking a long bath - bubbles, foam, lavender soap, candles, everything. It had been years since she had done anything like it.
On small colonies, water was conserved to an exceedingly dangerous degree. Billing was most expensive where water was concerned on all the colonies; hence the shock when a larger colony let it rain. On smaller colonies, though, water was so rare that its inhabitants went without actual washing, or scrubbing of pots or boiling of tea. Juan had gone to much trouble getting his garden legalized, paying a small fortune for its upkeep even though all the plants therein were bred for just such captivity. In such places, cleanliness was achieved through HygieneSprays - a person would uncloth in either a private or public bathhouse, to which one paid access and could buy membership, and be sprayed down for exactly sixty seconds with a mixture of nature-friendly chemicals and water (only enough water to fill a teaspoon, though). However quick the experience it was unbelievably dissatisfying to one accustomed to showers.
Instead, Relena journeyed to the local steamroom, luckily reserved for women that night. It stood just outside the residential buildings, a concrete hall with a booth outside that, in return for a small fee, spit out a one hour admission. The changing room was bare but for a wall of cubbies storing its visitor's belongings; the only other door there led immediately to a large, tiled room with fold-out chairs and a five-foot-deep pit of cold water in the center of it. Yet another door brought one to the steamroom. There were no windows; the tiles were a pattern of lilac and blue tones opposite white, all diagonal-shaped. To the right, opposite the entrance to the steamroom, were a row of booths with wide nozzles popping out the ceiling in each; HygieneSprays. ("Save me." Relena mumbled).
Setting her towel around her waist - and enjoying the freedom of nakedness - Relena walked into the steamroom, stopping only to dip her toes in the cold water pit (the water was icy). Shuddering, she opened the door; dry, scorching fumes dove at her. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust even though she was not entirely inside.
"Close the door, for heaven's sake!" Jumping a little, Relena hurried inside letting the heavy door fall back into place. The steam cleared from her eyes and she saw three women, equally naked, lying or sitting on towels set on benches against the wall. The benches were wide, the backs of them tilted back so as to give relief to stress-ridden guests. Gingerly stepping out of the light shining from above the door Relena found a seat amongst the others, laying her towel out slowly.
One of them waved from where she sat, knees brought to her chest, hair lank and moist framing her face.
"Hi." Relena nodded at her.
"Good evening." She felt they all recognized her and wished they hadn't. The tension that came of it was, of course, imagined, made up by paranoia, but Relena felt it nonetheless and it irked her. No one said anything else; Relena focused on breathing, as the dry air seemed too much, to thick to consume. It was so heavy she wondered it didn't bruise her lungs as she inhaled. There was even a feeling of suffocation as, with each breath, she barely felt the air pass through her mouth. Rubbing a hand against her chest, where the air seemed to be pressing the most, she shut her eyes and waited.
The door opened outward as one of the guests left for a quick dip in the water outside. Laying inside too long could be extremely unhealthy, sometimes dangerous. The maximum length of time spent in the steamroom was fifteen minutes. During her first fifteen, Relena let her mind go numb and clammy and concentrating on such bodily functions as breathing set her to rest.
Leaving her towel on the bench Relena picked herself up, quickly retreating into the very bright, tiled room. She wasn't quick getting into the pit; the shock of the water hit her before she had her calves in. Gasping, she plunged in, rearing up at the startling pain and tingling. Her arms rowing like mad, Relena clambered out again, standing at the edge of the pit in bewilderment. Dear Lord! Her skin yet raced with the feet of small mice skittering all over; shuddering convulsively Relena went back into the steamroom to sweat it out before repeating the experience.
In the end, she did take a HygieneSpray, but a very quick one. The dips into the pool and the steamroom had not cleansed her as she had hoped, though she'd been told her skin would be in the peak of its condition by morning.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Commentary appreciated.
*sing-song* Heero on the run, Heero on the run, where is he going, oh!, Heero on the run...
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
A grid separated him from the last of the run; beyond the grid, a small lapse in the vent system in the form of a hallway he had to cross in order to continue down the length of a vent to achieve phase four. Tensing, he took the hook from between his teeth and set it aside, far enough into the dark of the vent that no passerbye could detect it. Besides it he lay down the clothes and a small variety of things he had brought along with him, taking care that the gun was still lodged securely in the waist of his trousers. Creeping into the glow thrown off by the overhead light he unscrewed the grate, pulling it from the opening it sealed and leaning it against its frame in an inconspicuous position once he was on the other side.
After doing the same with the grid across the hall he managed to slip into a smaller vent, too small for him to crawl but with enough space that he could elbow his way along, head bowed much of the way. Several minutes of this exercise tensed his shoulders, knotting the muscle uncomfortably. Monotony set in, the vent he wiggled through a continuous tunnel bridging the distance between himself and his object of focus - over a conference room, then acting as a rendezvous point for two enamored co-workers, a mess hall and a small gym in which two guards were taking their break. Cigarette smoke seeped into that section in the vent and Heero, accustomed but dispositioned to avoid the clingy smell, closed his eyes to keep them from getting irritated.
"Yeah, man. Her parents."
"When are you going to meet them?"
"Sometime - soon, I think." Duo stared moodily at the table surface before grabbing another tangerine. Peeling it slowly, he considered the meat of the fruit pensively. Flecks of the peel dotted the area around Duo's elbows. "It'll be awkward. They haven't seen her since she joined the army."
"Hn." Heero picked a tangerine from the crate - now sitting like a third companion in one of the vacant chairs between Heero and Duo - and picked at the sticker on it. "Lotus Moonfarm, Organic #115." Duo's stare traveled back towards Heero, who didn't seem to have heard him. Duo grunted. "I ask her about them, but she won't give me much." Shrugging, he added, "I don't know. I don't think she's talked with them alot since she moved here."
Heero glanced up at Duo's disgruntled expression. He now picked pulpy peel bits from under his fingernails, mouth working as he chewed the inner corner of his mouth.
"She can be so weird." He grumbled. He peeked at Heero from underneath his bangs quickly. "You know? But she's so great." He reached up and ran a hand through his hair, long strands of which had wormed out of its braid. "I don't know, I wish - I guess I want her to open up a little, about her parents. Is that being pushy? - Maybe it is. Nothing's been easy. But," He growled, apparently at himself, "I don't know if I want to know all that much. If it's that hard to share, then - I don't know....."
Heero held up his mug and Duo took it to fill it up once more.
Yawning, Duo's expression changed, turning more hopeful and, thankfully, sunny.
"Have you seen Howard at all?"
"No." A quirk of an eyebrow accompanied Heero's reply, questionning. Duo grinned.
"Man, I was in contact with him last week - he retired again." Heero sat up a little.
"That means - "
"Yeah. He's back in business with the doctors."
"Where?"
"Somewhere off the coast of Maine, I think - in America, anyways." Heero chewed on his inner cheek for a moment.
"He called?"
"I don't even know how he got this phone number, I haven't given it to anyone but Hilde yet. Ah well." Duo leaned in playfully, saying, "He seemed interested in some parts I have for sale, but I haven't talked about it with Hilde yet. 'Said he would call again before knowing for sure what he needed. What do you think, are they ready for another war?"
"Doubtful."'
Grunting, Heero pulled himself through the last of the tunnel, upending himself on the floor of a vault. His conversation with Duo still played in his mind - it had been three hours along, something he couldn't easily forget. Not that he wanted to, either.
"Creepy. Maybe all of them are back together with Howard."
Apparently not. From the little Dr. J had given Heero before sending him on a retrieval mission two or three of the five minds behind Operation Meteor were working on separate projects. He did say that they had been in contact recently, as well as confirming the call he had made to Duo. He kept from telling Heero the intent of either the call or the project he was on; Dr. J only said - with a grin coloring the otherwise careful, rough voice transmitting through Heero's earphones - that Heero was going to be surprised for maybe the first true time in his life.
The vault was the last step before reaching the object of the mission. Heero came upon a section of floor different from the rest - these tiles of iron were more weathered than the rest, worn. He dismissed the lack of care Dr. J had used in hiding the mysterious object, the tiles behing an obvious cover-up, as few ever came through the vents - indeed, even when reparations were made welders and the like did their work from the outside rather than climb into the vents. Few people had as detailed a map as Heero obtained and the possibility of getting lost was too pesky a risk to take into account. Working quickly Heero raised the tiles, back straining at the weight and knotted muscle tissue tensing further. As the vents echoed with loud noise he slid them to the side; Heero tapped the speaker of his earphone three times before diving a hand into the hole the tiles once hid.
The hole was, at first, a tunnel roughly half a foot in diameter; once Heero dipped his arm in to the elbow the tunnel opened into what felt to be a cavern. Pulling up Heero tied a flashlight to the rope he'd been carrying and lowered that into the cavernous hole; the resulting glow immediately lighted on his find. Perspiration poured out over his skin and he felt his hands moisten; tightening his grip he pulled the flashlight back up, wiped the back of his hand across his eyes and drew out four hooks, smaller than the one he left behind, with dulled points.
He tapped the speaker of his earphone once before asking a question via morse code over it. Silence invaded the small space he occupied for a moment before a set of taps came back to him. He pressed the earphone into his ear so as not to miss any of the relayed message, sending a startled glance down into the hole once it was over.
Tapping once again he attached the hooks to cables, lowering them into the hole. Resounding clicks assured him they were in position; then he pulled, slowly, steadily. The tunnel was just big enough to let the find through; depositing the helmet, tangled cables and PC-like contraption on the floor to his left he fixed the tiles back over the hole, turning them upside down so they're unmarred side could blend in with the rest of the floor.
Turning, he reached a hand out and stroked the helmet, really nothing more than a set of earphones with a mouth and chin piece and sensors that attached to the back of the head - the barest of functions needed to make the headpiece work in its designated form. The cables hung from it to attach to the rest - the heart of the machine. Heero's eyes glinted in the dark; this was what they were supposed to have destroyed the first time they came to this colony, when the other half was blown away in the explosion Dr. J had set off - he felt he should be angry but his emotions confused him once again; he felt numb, that numbness tinged with what could be amazement. The doctor had assured a much younger Heero that the machine was properly demolished in the wake of the explosion. With a devilish grin he'd added that a meteor really couldn't have done a better job, yet which, in later reports, became the truth - a meteor, not a planned explosion, was the reason for the destruction of the colony's other half.
To Heero's left sat the remainder of that explosion, the focus of that old mission - the last, fully operational Zero system in existence.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Relena lay limp and prone in the hammock, a book propped up on her stomach and a wide-brimmed straw hat (Juan's gardening hat) shielding her face from the constant sunlight. No matter the protections involved in the making of the glass shell above her, the sun was twenty times as harmful in space than on Earth as no colony could recreate atmospheric gases. (Due to this skin cancer was on the rise among colony inhabitants, though protective measures were being improved upon in bounds).
Turning a page, Relena failed to catch the blur of movement to her far right, caught up in the words of her novel. She was consumed by a particularly active part when the brim of her hat was given a strong flick, making it slide up to reveal the whole of her forehead. Eyes wide, she stared directly into the face of her traveling companion - but for the pall to his skin and a strange brightening of eyes he seemed at ease. Bringing one hand to the crown of her hat and shoving it back in place, she sat up, offering up the free space to Heero. He sat down, careful not to squash her bare feet.
"Hi." She said breathlessly. She hadn't thought of much but the unfolding plot in her novel since noon - it was late afternoon now. Cocking her head to the side, cheek meeting up with her shoulder as she had them hunched, she asked, "Where have you been all day, Heero?" He swung one leg over the other side of the hammock, straddling it, leaning back so that he sat directly opposite her.
"The center." He nodded his chin at her novel. "What is it?" Quickly handing it to him Relena scrunched herself up more in order to give Heero space, feeling the quaint oddity of their situation in Heero's loosened behavior. She couldn't remember having ever seen him in a very relaxed state - much of their (chance) meetings had occured in turbulent times when they couldn't afford to be relaxed. Folding her arms over her abdomen Relena regarded him calmly, almost somberly - she expected reproach from herself or him, hell, even Juan, but nothing came. Could something so nice be so natural? He had been settled in the hammock with her for barely a minute, yet she felt so comfortable, more so than she had all day - or perhaps she was only just now realizing how at ease she really was. He gave her comfort. She felt herself respond to his body language, however unconsciously given, and gave in to the cushy, lax support of the hammock.
Yet, after watching him further - with more sublety - she realized he was tense. The lack of resistance he put up as he melted into the hammock - just like she was doing! - was accompanied by some sort of strain. The tilt of his head, face pointed upwards, eyes wide open, his skin glistening, shoulders held against the hammock rather than melded to it. Wonder replaced her shortlived, happy surprise at their cool, friendly behavior - questionning, wanting wonder....
Heero handed back the novel and she took it, letting it fall on its cover on the ground. Clearing her throat lightly, she brought Heero's attention on herself.
"This," She waved a palm outwards, fanning the area of the garden, "Is Juan's. He did everything, even the grass." Sighing, she said, "Isn't it beautiful? So peaceful, even with the sun and the moon staring in on a person all the time..."
"Have you been out all day?"
"Yes. Why?"
"You're red, across your face." She sat up a little.
"Oh! Is it bad? I put on sunlotion, but that was an hour ago...." Reapplying every hour had become habit, how could she have forgotten? She touched the skin across her nose and cheeks, wondering if it would be tender - it wasn't, just very, very warm.....she didn't feel warm all over, though....Shaking her head, Relena let her worry fall. "Oh well. I'll put something cooling on it tonight. Heero, I haven't sneezed all day - what's different about this place from the other colonies?"
"Different take on bacteria here - fewer plants, fewer people..."
"Oh." She rubbed her nose with her knuckles. "I only noticed this a moment ago."
They were silent for a moment, Relena's eyes concentrating on the sweat moistening Heero's skin, Heero's stare directed vacantly at her kneecap.
Relena looked up suddenly, turning her nose towards the Inn. Sniffing, she recounted the reports the odors sent her - cooking was being accomplished, translating into dinner, stewed fruits and meat that was surprisingly appealing making up the brunt of the smells. Then, the short Bing of a bell being rung. Relena giggled under her breath - Juan was having fun using the dinnerbell, now that he had agreeable guests to serve. She made ready to get out of the hammock, raising her upper body from it and stepping on the ground with one foot - the other caught on the edge of the hammock and she fell forward with a soft grunt. Relena landed on her side, shoulder-first.
Heero helped picking her up again, dusting her arms off with quick sweeps of his hands while he searched for any freak injuries. She stood patiently for a moment before taking hold of one of the flicking hands, smiling in a musing, friendly way.
"Heero, I'm fine, you could just ask." Letting go of his hand she reached up to smooth her hair into place. "Hungry? That was Juan's dinner signal - he's a very good cook, too, he made me lunch."
Stepping beside her they left the greenery, entering through the back door. Heero was satisfied that she hadn't received any scrapes - the bruise on her shoulder, which even she hadn't picked up on yet, was insignificant. In a way, he felt he had triumphed over all general accidents, unusually jittery nervousness concerning the Zero system aside.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
"I really don't want another HygieneSpray." Relena mumbled to herself later that night. It was too early to sleep but she was tired enough to consider some very lazy sport to amuse herself with. She wasn't usually given to but would have considered taking a long bath - bubbles, foam, lavender soap, candles, everything. It had been years since she had done anything like it.
On small colonies, water was conserved to an exceedingly dangerous degree. Billing was most expensive where water was concerned on all the colonies; hence the shock when a larger colony let it rain. On smaller colonies, though, water was so rare that its inhabitants went without actual washing, or scrubbing of pots or boiling of tea. Juan had gone to much trouble getting his garden legalized, paying a small fortune for its upkeep even though all the plants therein were bred for just such captivity. In such places, cleanliness was achieved through HygieneSprays - a person would uncloth in either a private or public bathhouse, to which one paid access and could buy membership, and be sprayed down for exactly sixty seconds with a mixture of nature-friendly chemicals and water (only enough water to fill a teaspoon, though). However quick the experience it was unbelievably dissatisfying to one accustomed to showers.
Instead, Relena journeyed to the local steamroom, luckily reserved for women that night. It stood just outside the residential buildings, a concrete hall with a booth outside that, in return for a small fee, spit out a one hour admission. The changing room was bare but for a wall of cubbies storing its visitor's belongings; the only other door there led immediately to a large, tiled room with fold-out chairs and a five-foot-deep pit of cold water in the center of it. Yet another door brought one to the steamroom. There were no windows; the tiles were a pattern of lilac and blue tones opposite white, all diagonal-shaped. To the right, opposite the entrance to the steamroom, were a row of booths with wide nozzles popping out the ceiling in each; HygieneSprays. ("Save me." Relena mumbled).
Setting her towel around her waist - and enjoying the freedom of nakedness - Relena walked into the steamroom, stopping only to dip her toes in the cold water pit (the water was icy). Shuddering, she opened the door; dry, scorching fumes dove at her. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust even though she was not entirely inside.
"Close the door, for heaven's sake!" Jumping a little, Relena hurried inside letting the heavy door fall back into place. The steam cleared from her eyes and she saw three women, equally naked, lying or sitting on towels set on benches against the wall. The benches were wide, the backs of them tilted back so as to give relief to stress-ridden guests. Gingerly stepping out of the light shining from above the door Relena found a seat amongst the others, laying her towel out slowly.
One of them waved from where she sat, knees brought to her chest, hair lank and moist framing her face.
"Hi." Relena nodded at her.
"Good evening." She felt they all recognized her and wished they hadn't. The tension that came of it was, of course, imagined, made up by paranoia, but Relena felt it nonetheless and it irked her. No one said anything else; Relena focused on breathing, as the dry air seemed too much, to thick to consume. It was so heavy she wondered it didn't bruise her lungs as she inhaled. There was even a feeling of suffocation as, with each breath, she barely felt the air pass through her mouth. Rubbing a hand against her chest, where the air seemed to be pressing the most, she shut her eyes and waited.
The door opened outward as one of the guests left for a quick dip in the water outside. Laying inside too long could be extremely unhealthy, sometimes dangerous. The maximum length of time spent in the steamroom was fifteen minutes. During her first fifteen, Relena let her mind go numb and clammy and concentrating on such bodily functions as breathing set her to rest.
Leaving her towel on the bench Relena picked herself up, quickly retreating into the very bright, tiled room. She wasn't quick getting into the pit; the shock of the water hit her before she had her calves in. Gasping, she plunged in, rearing up at the startling pain and tingling. Her arms rowing like mad, Relena clambered out again, standing at the edge of the pit in bewilderment. Dear Lord! Her skin yet raced with the feet of small mice skittering all over; shuddering convulsively Relena went back into the steamroom to sweat it out before repeating the experience.
In the end, she did take a HygieneSpray, but a very quick one. The dips into the pool and the steamroom had not cleansed her as she had hoped, though she'd been told her skin would be in the peak of its condition by morning.
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