“in the small cramped dark inside” (a coday ficlet)
tw canon-typical dehumanization, medical abuse and child abuse, violence and brainwashing, child death, death of a minor oc.
There’s a sharp, lancing pain in 2224’s right temple.
It’s been there for two sleep cycles, through training and meals and the mandatory medical examinations that follow reconditioning. 2224 knows that this pain is a sign that he is defective, suboptimal, but he cannot - he does not - doesn’t want to, again -
He does not tell the longneck scientist that examines him about the headache. For now, this physical imperfection remains undiscovered.
2224 does not know why the reconditioning was deemed necessary in the first place. He only knows that now, orders burn, anxiety welling up in his lungs and on the back of his palate until he completes the assignment he has been given.
He pushes it, sometimes. Tries to see how many seconds he can hold out before his hands are compelled to do the task. His record is six.
In the shiny white hallway outside the training salle, his batchmate 2222 shifts forward in the hard, plastoid chair next to 2224's hard, plastoid chair. They are the only remaining clones of their batch, the rest culled for imperfections.
Twosie's eyes dance with mischievous mirth. "You gonna bite 17 again?" he whispers.
2224 smiles uncertainly. He has no memory of biting 17, ever, in his life. He has very few memories of any time longer than two days ago.
Huffing, his batchmate sits back. 2222's eyes look dark, wounded, like - like something 2224 doesn't have words for in his vocabulary.
When they were barely more than tubies, the longnecks had given them thin blankets. Once the blankets had worn through and been outgrown, they were taken away, replaced with reusable poly-foil sheets. 2224 had curled up under the foil, unable to sleep for three nights, jerking awake every time it crumpled under his toes. The look in Twosie's eyes reminds 2224 of that feeling, only worse.
(He doesn't know why he remembers the blankets but not biting 17.)
Despite the headache, 2224 performs admirably during training, exceeding expectations and outpacing 2222 in strength and speed and agility. Things came easy to him, and the things that didn't come easy he applied himself to until the benchmarks were met. 2224 had always been the top-ranked one in his batch. He had tried to help his batchmates when they couldn't make target practice or fumbled in war strategy, but -
Finally they got to the fun part: 2224 and 2222 facing off across a boxing square, monitored by trainers on all sides. 17 is not among them, 2224 notes with some disappointment, but he doesn't have time to contemplate it because 2222 takes his distraction as an opportunity to strike.
2224 blocks the first punch, makes the second. It's over quick, just a handful of blows before 2224 has 2222 on his knees, head locked between his arms.
"Very good, 2224," the head trainer says. 2224 blinks, uncertain at the praise. 2222 redoubles his efforts to escape, but 2224 controls his batchmate easily.
Sweat drips into his eyes but he doesn't dare wipe it away, doesn't dare let his opponent go until he hears the order to release.
"Good," the head trainer says again. Then: "Terminate 2222."
There's a roaring building up in his ears. One. His lungs are filling with seawater, his head with thunder and static. Two. 2222's pulse is rabbit-fast under his palm. Three. The trainer is waiting, expectant. Four. That kriffing anxiety swells on the back of his palate, choking and he can't breathe he can't think -
Five.
Twosie claws desperately at the hands that are holding his head. Six. Like it's happening somewhere far away, 2224 clenches his fists, squeezes, twists.
Model CC-2224 has been reevaluated post-reconditioning (note: the reconditioning process has never before been successfully applied to a CC model) for behavior issues. It is functioning normally and shows much more compliancy at this time. Reconditioning has been marked as successful. This process is now cleared for CC model units.
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This is somewhat of a pet peeve
Can we stop acting like Roach is a bad medic/surgeon? idk WHY people think that. He shows us the result of his work (his own shoulder) and it's honestly amazing. He did that one-handed, and apparently hasn't lost any mobility or sensation in that arm, and it healed up fine with no antibiotics; he really really knows what he's doing.
And why wouldn't he? Knives are knives, meat's meat may sound shockingly nonchalant but that's honestly just what surgeons are like. It's a very mechanical, hands on approach to the human body: see problem, fix problem.
As a cook, Roach knows his way around an organism. He knows anatomy enough to know where to cut. He knows about hygiene too, and the importance of that can't be overstated when you don't have antibiotics (and even when you have them). If you can butcher a pig you can take off a dude's arm, and it's not like he'd have access to any high tech equipment or sophisticated techniques anyway. Field medicine like that is about confidence and speed, about seeming like you know what you're doing so people believe you when you tell them they'll be fine. About doing what needs to be done quickly, hoping the body will sort itself out, and not taking it too much to heart when it doesn't.
Roach is probably a really good medic ok is all i'm saying
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