S0ULESSB0NES

"Took you two long enough to get here." Heart Attack called out, waving her hand over to a pair of mutants.

Heart Attack and Anemia were biding their time, picking at their food in the cafeteria. They'd only been sitting at the table they were located at for a few minutes, but, evidently, that was too long of a wait for Heart Attack.

"Yeah, yeah, you're real anal about timing, I know." Vivisection hissed, rolling his orange eyes. He and Bilateral approached the couple, carrying food trays, much like the couple had been carrying just a minute or so ago. "What do you even need us to be here on the dot for?"

Anemia shrugged their shoulders, while they stuffed a fork between their teeth. "You know how she is." They muttered, rubbing their elbow against Heart Attack's shoulder.

"I just like maximizing how much time I got to talk to y'all 'til we gotta get back to work." She clarified, her gaze upon Vivisection and Bilateral intense. "Plus, it's rare that most of us are working on base at the same time."

"Most of us?" Bilateral asked, before taking a large bite out of the neatly cut sandwich he'd been transporting.

Through a mouthful of food, Anemia nodded, saying, "Mhm. Apparently Endo and Lac are on base right now too."

"Autopsy didn't send them out on some bullshit?" Vivisection asked, his face plates shifting slightly, as he too began to eat. "Nice. I haven't gotten a chance to chat with them in like 3 days."

"3 days is too long for you to go without talking to someone?" Anemia asked.

"He's a social butterfly. Or whatever the phrase is." Bilateral answered for Vivisection, shooting him a grin. Vivisection snickered in response.

"I can go longer. I need my social breaks. Love y'all though." Heart Attack murmured, poking at her plate. While Anemia appeared to almost be finished with their meal, it looked as if Heart Attack hadn't taken a single bite of hers.

Vivisection seemed to notice. "You struggling to eat again?"

"No, not really, just…" She mumbled, tapping her mashed potatoes with her fork, "They didn't really have anything on the food line that I can eat today. I dunno. I picked up what I thought I could stomach but looking at it is making me sick."

"None of the meat selection looked appetizing to you? I find that hard to believe." Bilateral asked.

"Mhm. It all smelled raw. Something about whoever was in charge of preparing meals today is off."

"I'll get her to eat at least some of the snacks we have stashed in our personal inventory." Anemia reassured the two, now resting their elbow over Heart Attack's shoulder. "We've got plenty of pastry things stored away."

"You sure you're gonna be able to work just running off of sugar?" Viv asked, cocking an eyebrow. "I thought sugar made you exhausted."

Heart Attack tilted her head back and forth. "Eh. I can manage. I used to eat like one croissant per day and managed to get through training that way, you know."

"That doesn't sound healthy." Bilateral replied.

"Oh it's not. But that was all I could really stomach." She laughed, rubbing her face, "The super scent shit I got is really useful on the field but makes it fucking impossible for me to eat anything that smells slightly off to me."

Vivisection chuckled, and reached across the table, so he could grab her pink nose. "Plug it then, dipshit. Easy fix."

Heart Attack smacked his hand away, causing the rest of the table to laugh. "Man, it's the smell thing, yeah, but also a lot of food just tastes fucking rancid to me. I don't know." She whined, setting her scruffy chin in her hands. "I'm starting to think Cindy might be onto something…"

"What'd Cindy say?" Lat asked.

"She was saying something about how she might be…something something 'there's an old world diagnosis for this' yanno?" Anemia answered for her, rubbing Heart Attack's back.

"Cindy says that about, like, everyone on base." Vivisection scoffed, waving his hand dismissively. "If that were the case then no one could do their jobs."

Bilateral eyed Vivisection for a moment, then turned his focus back to Heart Attack. "What'd she say the diagnosis was?"

Heart Attack looked off to the side, then looked back at Lat. "Uh, last time I saw her, she was trying to filter out a couple of options…she did say she was pretty sure I'm like Atrophy. As in, apparently he has this thing called 'Autism' and she thinks I do too."

"The fuck is Autism?" Vivisection asked.

"Beats me." She replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Me and Anemia tried checking out any information about it at the library but everything was redacted."

"Like everything else in the library." Bilateral huffed, rolling his pink eyes. "I don't get why we even have an archive like that if Autopsy was just gonna censor everything."

Anemia hummed, leaning back and crossing their arms. "I don't know either! I've overhead Hematoma talking with Hemorrhage about how stupid the library's operation is. 'Cause like, yeah, exactly, the fuck do we have it for if half of every entry in there is missing pages or completely censored?"

Each mutant surrounding them gave their hums of confusion.

"Anyway, get this, right," Heart Attack started, leaning in towards the table, motioning her hand in a way that suggested she was beckoning the others to do so.

"What's the gossip?" Vivisection muttered quietly, an excited grin painting his mouth.

Heart Attack glanced around, then laughed. "Word on the street is that Pneumonia and EKG are totally getting it on." She said, an intense look creeping back into her pumpkin colored eyes, "Like all the time. On the clock, off the clock, while they're in the middle of treating patients. Ever since Tourniquet was put on Maternity Watch they've just been at each other! Isn't that crazy?"

"Well how do you even know that's true? Who'd you hear that from?" Anemia argued, looking less than convinced. "I doubt they'd have the time to get frisky like that-"

"Oh no, they are. Like 100%." Bilateral replied, very matter of factly.

Heart Attack and Vivisection turned to look at him, while Anemia looked shocked.

"What, you caught them in the act?" Vivisection asked his partner, eyes squinting.

Bilateral nodded his head, then snickered. "Yeah, uh, I heard Pneumonia whining and EKG dirty talking him the last time I was in the med bay. Which was like, last week. They're really bad at keeping their hands off each other."

"I'm just surprised an Automaton is willing to get down like that." Anemia muttered, wiping away drool that was spilling out of his eye-mouth. "I don't think they're programmed to be interested in shit like that, right?"

"Maybe Atrophy screwed with his programming." Heart Attack suggested. "Maybe Mo was like 'hey handsome, can you make this robot wanna fuck me? i think he's cute!' or something like that."

"What're we talkin' about fuckin' robots fe'?" A familiar voice to the group asked, as she approached behind Anemia. It was never hard to identify Endophthalmitis just by the sound of her voice.

"There you guys are! You're horrible at arriving on time." Heart Attack exclaimed, smacking the mutant's arm.

"Arriving on time fe' wot? Ye' didn't say I needed t' be he'a at a specific time." Endo rebuked, setting her skeletal fingers over her wide hips. "Anyway, wot's wif' the robot fuckin'?"

"Hey Endo, Hey Lac, they're talking about how Pneumonia and EKG are apparently fucking like crazy over in the med sector." Vivisection explained, chuckling. "And how we didn't think robots would be into that."

"They're a thing?" Laceration, the mutant accompanying Endo, asked. "Jeez, how many partners does Pneumonia have?"

"I know right? Greedy bastard." Endo cackled, slapping Lac's back. "Like, save some fe' the rest of us! I can barely keep up wif' a dude as smokin' hot as him."

"You into older guys?" Heart Attack asked, folding her hands beneath her chin.

"I don't discriminate! Old guys need love too."

"So you'd fuck Pneumonia?"

Endo snapped her fingers. "'Olready have." She answered, with a cheeky grin. "He's a fun one."

While the others laughed, Heart Attack recoiled, shaking her head. "I don't know dude, he's like my dad."

"He's nothing like your dad." Anemia argued, giving her a strange look.

"No, I mean, like, he's old enough to be my dad, so I don't think I could see him in anyway other than 'that guy's like my dad.'" She frowned.

"Sure, but you're like 20. When you get older you stop caring." Vivisection mused, shooting her a snide grin. "Not a lot of options around base, you know."

Heart Attack scoffed. "I have Anemia, and they're all I need, thank you very much." She said, folding her arms over her chest as she looked down on them.

"Not if you keep scrambling their brain the way you do." Laceration piped up, a tad quietly, looking off to the side with a devious smile.

Anemia burst out laughing, as did Endo, who patted Laceration on the back. Heart Attack's gray cheeks flushed charcoal.

"Oh, he got your ass." Bilateral sneered, laughing to himself.

Heart Attack shook her leg anxiously, gently shaking the flimsy cafeteria table. "As long as they don't die. The medics can take care of them. They like it!" She defended herself, staring off at the ceiling.

"I do," Anemia laughed, leaning against their girlfriend, "I like it a lot. I like not having to think for a few hours after we get busy."

"I bet ye' make fe' a fun regular in the clinic!" Endo chirped, leaning over the table. "Ye' too cute t' be thinkin' a buncha' thoughts anyway…" She mused, narrowing her green eye at Anemia.

Heart Attack snapped her fingers at Endo. "Hey, flirt with those guys, not my guy. We're exclusive."

"You are? Damn, I was aboutta' ask what that second mouth do." Vivisection murmured, laughing.

"Oh stop it." Bilateral murmured, tugging on Vivisection's arm. "What, are you and Endo in some kind of contest to see who can sleep around the most on base?"

"Hadn't consid'aded that befo'e. That might be fun!" She whistled, bouncing on her heels. "Lac, I know ye' get all silly with Vivi, ye' wanna help me one up him?"

The blue freckles covering Laceration's cheeks lit up, and he laughed nervously. "Ah, I uh, I'm not sure-"

"Damn! I guess I gotta start coming onto the automatons then…" She mused, folding her hands over her stomach. "Is EKG the only horny one?"

"Is sex all that you think about?" Heart Attack asked her.

"Ye' we'a the one discussing someone else's sex life, pe'vert!" She argued, giggling evily, "Ah, my options a'e slim! I guess I could go t' Bruise n' see if she'd be down…"

"Plan that on your own time, we're trying to eat here." Bilateral joked, nudging Vivisection. "Or you can shut her up for a while."

The red haired mutant gave his boyfriend a sly look. "What are you suggesting about me?"

"That you're a whore." Anemia butted in, snorting.

"I know I am. I just don't appreciate the insinuation that I only fuck to get shit done." Vivisection muttered, after he slammed his cup of whatever bright blue liquid he'd gotten for himself, "I fuck to have fun and have a good time!"

"Is that not what sex is about in the first place?" Heart Attack asked, sounding genuine.

"Oh you'd be surprised." He responded, shaking his head. "A lot of people don't understand that sex is for a good time and not something that needs to be miserable."

"Mhm! Some people just don't get it." Endo added, pouting. "Sex should 'olways be a fun time fe' any party involved! It should be romantic an' lovely! Or stupid an' silly! Or rough an' exciting! Just depends on wot ye' into."

"Mhm. Preach to the choir sister." Anemia muttered, giving Endo a thumbs up. She stuck her blue tongue out at them in response.

"Oh, hey, speaking of 'the choir' have you guys heard some of the old world music that Atrophy has in his personal archive?"

"He has his own archive?" Lat asked.

Heart Attack nodded. "He let me in on it last week. He's got this fuckin' huge database of all sorts of things, but I was mostly interested in the music he's got archived 'cause I haven't heard much old world music, right?"

The other 5 nodded.

"Okay, so I was going through the…I think he called them CDs? I was checking out the CDs he has and I found out about this old world music artist that I think sounds pretty good…"

"What's their name? What kinda music do they make?" Laceration asked her.

"I don't remember, it was like…from a defunct country language. I just remember asking Atrophy what some of the names of the songs I was listening to were, and he told me these long ass song titles that didn't make sense to me. It was like a bunch of numbers and openings and a normal song title at the end. It was strange." Heart Attack explained. "Have you guys heard of anything like that? I thought song titles were supposed to be catchy, not like a serial number."

"That's weird…My mom's never told me about or shown me songs with titles like that." Vivisection murmured, trying to think. "All the songs I know have names that're easy to remember, like 'Paint It Black' or 'Gentle on My Mind', simple shit."

"I wonder if it's just like, the gimmick of the particular musician you were listening to…" Anemia wondered.

"Do you think Atrophy would let other people access his archive? How'd you even get to do so in the first place?" Laceration questioned, sounding intrigued.

"I got in 'cause of Cindy," She started, glancing around, "She said I should look into old world things 'cause I'm really interested in what the world was like pre-plague. So she told me Atrophy has a bunch of archives of old world stuff because he knew the automatons would start erasing information about it."

The group of mutants surrounding her looked astonished.

"Damn, what a smart guy! He's got a lot of foresight…" Bilateral cooed, his expression amazed.

"Mo'e like he's paranoid. It paid off but I wonda' how much of a wack job he must've been seen as pre-plague, if he was saving stuff like that religiously." Endo joked, chuckling.

"Since when did you care about how people's images were perceived?" Anemia asked, tilting their head in confusion.

"Bet it's KB trying to come out." Vivisection teased her. "'Cause he seems like the type to care."

Laceration shook his head. "If it was KB she'd drop her accent…"

"Yeah, I'd sound as stupid as the rest of ye' do!" Endo added.

"Oh no, we're not doing the accent debate again." Bilateral sighed, rubbing his split forehead.

"I'm just sayin'! I find it ridiculous some of ye' lot don't unda'stand wot I'm saying! I think ye' guys sound ridiculous, what wif' ye' 'need to shorten every single fuckin' sentence into just a word!"

"Like..?" Heart Attack fished for an example.

"Hrm…'yall-d-ve'." Endo tried to pronounce, her accent making it difficult to sound it out the exact way she had heard it before.

"Hey, that's just Pneumonia, don't pin that on us!" Vivisection exclaimed, reaching over to Endo to rustle her shoulder. "He talks like a…what is it, a cowboy? A cowboy."

"Maybe he was a cowboy pre-plague…" Heart Attack murmured, tapping her fingertip to her black lips.

"Were cowboys known for their horniness?" Anemia laughed, resting their head over her shoulder.

As the mutants began to laugh, a loud buzzer rang through the cafeteria.

"Ugh. Back to the grind…" Lat groaned.

"Well, su'e, but at least we got t' hang again! It's been a hot minute." Endo cheerfully exclaimed, setting her bony hands over her hips. "Me n' Laca'ration a'e gonna be leavin' base soon t' cova' some of the ne'ds researchin' the environment. What's on ye' guys dockets?"

"Inventory check." Vivisection sighed, as he and Bilateral stood from the table.

"We're just doing menial work around the facility today. Nothing crazy." Anemia muttered, twisting their head around in order to pop their neck's joints.

Endo nodded. "Hm…means we should 'oll be off around the same time, 'side from me n Lac, but it's not too big a' difference. We should sneak off t' one of the alcoves n' have a bonfire."

"That'd be nice. Hopefully Autopsy doesn't have us scheduled for any bullshit tomorrow…" Bilateral mused, smiling pleasantly.

"Mhm, mhm. In the meantime, stay safe! We got janitorial shit to do." Heart Attack said, as she and Anemia began to back away from the table, their trays in hand.

"What, like the guns are gonna attack us?" Vivisection replied, snickering, before Bilateral gently punched his shoulder.

"I think she meant more so us," Laceration muttered, "Since we'll be out on the field, and all…"

"Oh. Yeah, that makes more sense." He mumbled, a bit sheepishly.

Saying their goodbyes, the mutants scattered in groups, heading off to their individual areas in order to prepare for the rest of the day's work. Duty had to be served, as much as none of them really wanted to.