Description

Panel One: A communal shower room with a few rows of tall shower columns. Each column has four shower heads on top, with a handheld sprayer, as well. Several other students are currently washing up, some chatting while they do so. Cal, wearing a bathrobe, is shocked and says, "This is how you shower?" DJ, wearing a towel, seems confused.

Panel Two: Some frames of Cal-o-vision - Two students are shoulder to shoulder. "Crowded..."

Panel Three: Water puddling around a drain in the floor. "Standing water..."

Panel Four: A vent in the ceiling. "Inadequate ventilation..." Cal thinks, "This is so unhygenic."

Panel Five: DJ smirks and asks, "What? Don't you have showers on the Outside?" Cal angrily replies, "Yes, we have showers!"

Panel Six: Cal looks uncomfortable as he adds, "Just... Not like this."

Panel Seven: DJ thinks. "Hmm..."

Author Note

Poor Cal. He can't catch a break, can he?

The showers at the Academy are modeled after the ones in the changing rooms at my school's pool. There are three main shower areas in the Academy; Male, Female, and Enby. This is worlds away from what Cal's used to! Since heating water uses a lot of energy, I figured that most homes in villages on the Outside don't have showers or baths in their homes. It would be more efficient to have several small bath houses in town, and I drew up some sketches after the showers I've seen at campgrounds. A building with a row of separate, semi-private stalls with walls that go up about four and a half feet on each side. One half is devoted to showers, and the other half has tubs, also private. Ventilation would be as simple as screened, open eaves that easily lets in lots of light and air, and an attendant cleans each stall after it's been occupied. Going to the bath house with your friends would be a common thing, so it's not that there's a bunch of naked guys hanging out that freaks out Cal, it's that they're all so close together and sharing the same space.

Imagine being raised in a germophobic society and then stepping into that. *shudder*

But Issue Two is chugging along! I should have it finished before the end of the month, and in time for Steel City Con! ^_^ If you're going to Anime NYC this weekend and want to buy a hard copy of Chapter 1, stop by Megaroad Toys in the dealer's room! Evie's going to be working there, and she has twenty copies with her. Look for the big island with all the yellow gatchapon machines, cool model kits and other sweet merch. That's Megaroad!

Schedule Those Shots!
- Bran