"Right, you do that." Came Franka's cheerful voice, echoing a little in the confined space of glass and tiles. She turned on the shower, heard the door open and shut, and stepped under the steaming jet of water, let it hammer against her forehead, onto her shoulders, closing her eyes as she leaned back to let the blood and filth wash out of her hair without getting any of that into her face or near her nose. She had never gotten used to the scent of infected blood being heated up, it was not even that bad, nor a very strong scent, definitely not now, as streams of water washed it off her and down the drain.<br/><br/>But with scents, it was a weird thing, they hit home before you knew what was happening, landed you smack in the middle of some memory or emotion. What was that part of the brain called, that oldest one, the seat of instinctive reactions and such? Anyway, there scents would go and work their spell. The odour of infected blood would forever evoke the ghost of the formidable stink of rotten corpses lying bloated on the asphalt, in and on cars, on the pavement, almost melting in the summer heat, or of flesh burning, so sickening, or of entrails spilling out. How disgusting even a fresh, hell, a living, healthy body stank if torn open!<br/><br/>Stop. She told herself, and took the shampoo bottle, opened it. The fragrance worked its magic. She took what for her was a generous portion and massaged it into her scalp, producing a heap of foam, scrubbing and kneading a lot longer than necessary, just because it felt so good. She washed her body with the same exaggerated thoroughness, then just stood there, wrapped in the lingering perfumes. She realised she could not even say what it was supposed to smell like, it was a little musky, in a feminine way, with a touch of, what was it, sandal, maybe, and some exotic flower? It sure was nothing she had smelled in nature in the past six years. But oh, it smelled great, just great.<br/><br/>She had brushed her teeth and just begun to waste another few drops of shower jelly for an extra round of foaming fragrance fun, when Hackett came back in. Frank had forgotten all around her for a while, and bumped her elbow against the tiles, so startled was she at the soldier's reappearance. Cursing at herself under her breath, while grinning at her own folly, she rubbed her elbow. "It's hot, and it'll stay that way for hours. But feel free to strangle him, anyway." She laughed, feeling good, really, truly good for the first time in quite a while. This house was the best place in her universe, a sanctuary where the past seemed never to have run into that six year long apocalyptic spectacle.<br/><br/>All her muscles had relaxed, her skin felt vibrant, there was no need to be noiseless, to listen, to hurry, be on her guard, ready to jump, to keep her weapons and whatever else she needed to survive within reach, stay forever alert, on the lookout for danger. That she could still switch into this other state of being was another source of satisfaction. She heard Hackett step into the other cabin, and her shouted comment. "You know, back in the old days, I used to go climbing, mountaineering, such things. After a few weeks or months, once back home, you'd think you knew just how fucking fantastic a hot shower was, clean, fresh clothes, to sleep in a bed, just switch on the light, or central heating, or to curl up on the sofa with a book. But we had no idea what it's really like to miss all that stuff."<br/><br/>She was in as good a mood by now as one could possibly ever catch her in, almost ready to slip into her old personality, the one that would have been at home in these surroundings, taken them for granted. "I could stay in here forever..." That was when she heard Derrick's voice through the door. She groaned in disbelief and exasperation, but a hint of a amusement resonated in her voice as she called out. "Oh, piss off, Derrick, both showers are occupied. Don't you dare come in and pester us. How old are you, anyway, that you can't be left alone for ten minutes? Go make yourself useful for a change, mate..."