Nightshift 27: Men's Bathrooms (M81-M120)

[swollenmothman]

[from here]

As he opened the door, Dib cried out in disgust. "Eugh! It REEKS!" Clamping his nose with his free hand, Dib scanned the place with the flashlight. The light wasn't as strong as Dib would have liked, but he could still see the rusty sinks and stalls. "I think it's safe to say we're in a bathroom," Dib remarked sheepishly, his voice

Comments

[accursed_rock]

Zelgadis stepped into the room behind Dib. It was an odd place-- metal cubicles on one side, plaster basins on the other. The whole place smelled of decay, which was quickly explained when Dib turned the handle on top of one of the white basins-- blood, red and thick, rushed out.

What kind of place was this?

Zelgadis ignored the ranting of Dib, most of which he didn't understand anyway, and stepped towards the basin. Slowly draining, but still pooled in the basin, was the blood. He watched it drain for a moment, then ripped a piece of his shirt off and placed dipped it in the blood.

It didn't seem acidic-- the shirt absorbed it well enough, but where was it coming from?

[swollenmothman]

It took Dib a bit to realize that his apathetic companion had followed him; he was too busy documenting what could be the paranormal phenomenon of the decade - no, the century! "Now, to test out the toilets to see if they bleed too." He made a swift turn to head towards one of the cubicles when he finally noticed Zelgadis, who, for some weird reason, ripped out a piece of shirt and dipped in the sink.

"Ehh," Dib started, raising an eyebrow in confusion, "why exactly did you just... do that?"

[accursed_rock]

Zelgadis ignored him and instead pressed a finger to the blood, gently licking the tip of his finger.

Yes, it had that same metallic taste. It was most definitely blood.

He saw that Dib looked towards the cubicles and decided to discover what was inside. Opening the metal door, he saw a round white seat-shaped item on the floor. It too had a basin of blood in it.

"Yes. This is blood. Definitely blood."

And now to decide what this new found information required. Should he get the hell out of here?

Probably.

[swollenmothman]

"Interesting," Dib remarked as he jotted down some more notes about the strange abundance of blood. "Man, if I had my camera with me I could take a bunch of photos too. Hey wait!" His eyes lit up with an idea. "Can I have your bloody cloth piece? Once we get out of here I'd like to have some of my colleagues do some tests to it. I can't do any of them myself. I'm not an expert on blood-sucking creatures; I'm more of a extraterrestrial specialist." A pause, then, "That's aliens, in case you didn't know."

[damned_monsters]

They weren't from outer space, but their grotesque forms were alien enough that perhaps they'd count. The five leeches had been drawn by the scent of blood - the thick, disgusting, metallic, cloying perfume pulling them from their hiding places to slide along the walls and ceilings. Slick and heavy, their languid bodies, covered in rotting slime, pulsated along toward the duo.

Perhaps Zelgadis shouldn't have been standing so close to the sinks. The leech lifted its ugly, gaping mouth from the wall, threads of mucus hanging from its body as it turned its attention to the closest patient. Slowly, it began to contract, readying to strike.

The others were creeping, their wet skin making sucking noises as they moved, toward Dib and Zelgadis - not as fast as their companion. Soon, they would feast on glorious, fresh blood.

[Kaze]

[accursed_rock]

[OOC: Oh god, oh god, we're all gonna die]

Zelgadis turned towards Dib and handed him the cloth. Somehow his entire monoglue had gone over Zelgadis' head-- he had no idea what half the terms he was using meant.

[OOC: I guess I'm leaving this open for the monster to come at Zel.]

[swollenmothman]

Dib raised an eyebrow as he took the cloth and put it in his pocket. "You sure don't talk much, do you? Well, thanks anyways, this will come in real handy..."

Then the noises started again. Oh man, this wasn't good... Not at all...

"I... suggest you get out of here, Zel," Dib warned. "Something very freaky is going to happen..."

[damned_monsters]

Dib was right, and Zelgadis should have moved. The leech sprang with an unnatural speed, hitting the man's shoulder with its full weight. The nearly foot-long creature was heavy and slick, sticking to the fabric and to his skin. The real worry was the mouth, however, which was turning toward his neck, teeth ready and eager to sink into delicate flesh.

Shrrrk. Another leech, just as long and just as heavy dropped from the ceiling, landing on Dib's back with a thud. Drops of slime fell after it, hitting the boy's head and face. The last two slid down the walls, creeping slowly forward, hoping for a meal as well. The disgusting creatures turned gaping mouths toward the duo and started to contract as they readied to spring forward as well.

[accursed_rock]

Zelgadis fell as the leech monster jumped onto his back, pinning him face down on the floor.

"What the hell?" He yelled.

He could feel the slime of the creature seeping through his clothes and the contraction of its muscles as it readied to strike. He'd better do something quick.

Magic is more instinct than intelligence, especially when one has been trained in it since childhood. Stupidly, Zelgadis readied a spell,

"Diem Wing!"

He hoped to launch the leech of his back using the blast of air. It didn't hit him until the leech came to strike at his neck that his magic wasn't working.

"Damn!"

[tendencytohiss]

If the leeches were attacking the other people, the other people probably were stuck here too. Which meant they weren't demons (at least not all of them) and that helping the grey-skinned one would be cultivating needed allies, and certainly not a good deed of any kind. Right.

Crowley raised his knife and stabbed down, piercing the leech before it could bite into the man's neck. He was able to pry the thing off and fling it away, but it still moved, albeit sluggishly, against the wall.

"Persistent. Bloody things don't want to die," he muttered, turning to focus on the leeches that had first tried to attack him, crawling toward him now, leaving trails of ooze on the floor behind him.

"Oh, this is lovely."

[accursed_rock]

Zelgadis shuddered as the leech leapt towards the back of his neck, but it stopped quickly before reaching its goal.

Zelgadis rolled to over and saw a good-looking man with black hair had stuck the still crawling leech with a knife. He breathed a sigh of relief and forced himself upwards.

"Thanks."

He was beginning to hate this place even more than usual-- being attacked by monsters and not having his magic was an unhappy conundrum. It was like being between a giga slave and a mazoku... or something.

[tendencytohiss]

Being thanked tended to make Crowley a bit twitchy - for one thing, it meant he'd done something someone felt was good. In this case, however, it also indicated gratitude, the critical first step in cultivating allies.

"I don't suppose either of you have got any weapons on you. Blasted things are traveling in packs."

And closing in on them. If only he had his abilities in full - instead of stabbing at them he'd turn the things into houseplants. And then set them on fire.

[swollenmothman]

Right after Dib gave his warning, something happened. Heck, a lot of things happened, but the speed of the happening was too great, even for Dib's magnificent-yet-misunderstood intellect. Once they did happen, however, he gathered a few things.

First, a monstrous demonic leech from Hell squeezed out of the plumbing and went straight for Zel's neck.

Then, some... guy jumped out of nowhere and stabbed the thing to death, grumbling in a totally awesome British accent as he did.

Finally, there was pleasant conversation, which jarred rather heavily against the previous seconds of paranoia and doom, but at this point Dib didn't care.

"Eh, weapons?" Dib asked, looking at the knife a little bit nervously. "No, no I don't. I just woke up a few hours ago with nothing but this lame jacket, notebook, and flashlight."

[damned_monsters]

[ooc: Just to establish posting order it will go like this; monster- Aziraphale - Zelgadis- Crowley- Dib. Please don't break posting order for any reason unless you discuss with everyone in the thread, including me

[tartan_wings]

[from here]

Suddenly the wall he was edging against fell away, and Aziraphale stumbled into the bloody lavatory. The door swung shut behind him. He stared at it, confused for a moment before realising it was a door. He turned away from the door, noticing that there were other people besides himself in the lavatory.

Noticing a familiar face, he beamed, "Crowley, I thought I'd find you here. I knew that if I were reassigned you wouldn't be far behind. They seem to think you're a corrupting influence on me, but we'll show them, haha!" Scanning the room, he continued, "Are these friends of yours? I had no idea you had other friends...not that you couldn't...mind you, but rather...oh."

He paused, a little flustered still at having fallen through the door. Noticing the rather large leeches on the floor, he inquired, "Crowley, these...things, they aren't your doing, are they?"

[tendencytohiss]

(ooc: Apologies on breaking posting order before! Since Zelgadis-mun asked to be skipped, I assume he's trying to fight them off in the interim?)

They'd landed on him, the impact sending him staggering for a moment. That was just not on, he thought, and kicked out with the leg one was clinging to, the force snapping it off and sending it into the wall. It was alive but stunned and out of the way. The second one was more of a problem - harder to reach, but he still had his knife.

Several seconds later, Crowley had managed to pry off the leech, and was bleeding slightly from where he'd grazed himself (twice.) The leeches were still closing in on them, and attacking the gray-skinned man and the kid, neither of which had any weapons - which was terribly helpful. Perhaps he'd have been better off running, after all.

And Aziraphale was in the room, wearing the same terrible clothing and looking confused and utterly himself, and bless - damn it all, hell knew its trade. It even felt like the angel, a dampened but still immediately