Day 44: Men's Showers, Second Shift

[notachick]

Okita had woken with a start, his breath coming back to him in a rush. Toward the end of the night, he had sworn he'd seen someone in the shadows - someone no taller than a boy of nine, a mask covering his face, blood running down his front. He'd seen him. There was no way of mistaking that outfit or that mask; and Okita didn't need to see the

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[bprd_fishman]

Calm, staying calm, there's a good fish. Abe rushed out of breakfast as fast as he could, eager to be away from people trying to nose into his business. Some water running over his body would relax him even in this body, although a bath would be far better to properly get him hydrated

[brooklynisangry]

"What? What 'n th'-- No! I ain't gonna-- Okay, okay sheesh I get it, I get it!" Only threat of sedation was enough to convince Beelzemon this might be an idea worth considering. Okay. So they were making him take off his clothes, big deal. When he was Impmon he didn't really wear anything... But that was different! He wasn't like... okay, this was real awkward.

He was shooed into the showers, glaring irritably after the nurse with an "Rrrrrgh!" of frustration before heading towards one of the showers, next to another guy. "Hey," he said, flashing a grin full of sharp teeth before staring confusedly at the shower knob. "...D'yknow how this thing works?"

[bprd_fishman]

Abe gave him a weary look, then reached over and twirled the knob until it hit the other end of the temperature spectrum. He wasn't in the mood for more happy people with no problems, especially not ones who wanted to make sure he was in the same situation.

[brooklynisangry]

"Oh, uh, thanks." Well, this was weird. The nurse had said he was supposed to get clean, right? ...He'd never really bothered with that, it wasn't like there had ever been much reason to before.

And the skinny guy didn't look so hot right now. "...Guess ya don' wanna talk, huh. 's okay with me." He could run his mouth off a lot, but he did actually understand the idea of 'having a bad day, the world better shut up right now.'

He looked down, trying to figure out what the heck he was supposed to do. Then he saw something. Something worth momentarily forgetting that he was supposed to shut up. "Aw sunnova--" They'd tattooed his tail onto his leg. "This is just gettin' ridiculous," he muttered, putting a hand to his forehead in exasperation. Couldn't he have just kept the tail instead of having it drawn on him?!

[bprd_fishman]

That was a small mercy. Ironically, the other man's willingness to leave him alone actually made Abe more inclined towards talking to him.

He opened his eyes automatically to see what the man was talking about, then quickly closed them again as they were clouded by the water. Why did humans function in such a silly way.

"Those tattoos," he asked, trying to rub the water out of his eyes. "What purpose do they serve?" The one on his forehead resembled a "third eye", possibly with the aim of increasing prophetic abilities. As for the tail that so perplexed him, Abe had no idea.

[brooklynisangry]

"They don' do anythin', they was just there when I got here," Beelzemon replied, glaring at the leg tattoo before looking over at the other guy.

"I had a tail an' the eye an'... Did they put wings back here?" He turned to face away from the guy, pointing at his back "Cos I had them too. Sometimes. 'f ya never heard 'bout Digimon, 's complicated." It was weird to think that there were some people who still hadn't. But there were loads of people here, and even though the explanation he'd gotten for the whole thing made sense, he still couldn't quite believe it.

[bprd_fishman]

Abe tilted his head, peering closer. How strange, his human body was almost completely untouched and yet this person had gotten tattoos on his before he even woke up.

"I don't believe I have. Who is Digimon?" Sounded uncomfortably like Dagon to Abe. He'd never personally met the god but, as Hellboy had put it during one mission, 'Lovecraft knew some stuff'.

[brooklynisangry]

"Digimon ain't a person, it's what I was! Digimon 's short for Digital Monsters. But that don't mean we're all nasty or anythin', just means we're from th' Digital World." He kept on forgetting people might need more explanation than that. He wasn't called Expositiomon or anything.

"...So, are there wings back there or not?" Not that it would do him any good, he just wanted to know.

[bprd_fishman]

Digital World sounded like the newest pop sociology name for the internet. However, given the wide variety of different worlds people came from, it really only made sense that eventually someone would start naming them. The 'Digital World', obviously, was the name given to the world containing the 'Digital Monsters'.

Abe nodded, leaning back into the water again. "Yes, they're quite elegant," he tried to say, only to double over coughing as the water went down his throat. Damnit, he wanted his gills back.

[brooklynisangry]

"Oh. Uh, than--You okay?" He turned back around to face the guy, worried and really, really confused. "D'ya need some help?" He gave the guy a few thumps on the back, not sure what else to do.

[bprd_fishman]

Abe nodded, still sputtering up the last drops of water from his lungs. It almost felt like he was going to vomit, which was a sincerely disgusting sensation. "Not used to this form," he said, in between resisting the urge to choke. "I had gills before."

Ugh ugh. He'd have to remember not to do that.

[brooklynisangry]

Beelzemon drew back once it looked like he couldn't do anything more to help, still hovering worriedly nearby. "Oh. ...So what were you? If 's okay to talk now." That coughing sounded nasty. And gills? What kind of person that wasn't an aquatic Digimon had gills?

[bprd_fishman]

Abe coughed once more and managed to stand up again, leaning on the shower wall for support. "Fishman, for lack of a better word," he said weakly. His throat hurt. How did humans manage in water, where the slightest misplaced breath could drown you? No wonder he was always left alone on missions involving water, even when backup with scuba gear would be safest.

[brooklynisangry]

"Oh." Well that brought up some weird mental images. The closest he could figure would be a Divermon. Or... wasn't there a Devimon that lived underwater? He couldn't remember, he'd never met one himself.

Oh right, he still didn't know the guy's name. "My name's Beelzemon. What's yours?"

[bprd_fishman]

"Abe Sapien." Beelzemon, Digimon...the linguistics scholar in Abe poked its head up questioningly and asked to be let out. Abe put it back in its box again with a soothing 'later'.

Rather than give him an invasive handshake, he simply waved and tried to put his head back under the shower again with both eyes and mouth closed against the water.

[brooklynisangry]

"Nice ta meetcha, Abe. You new here too?" Pretty much everyone he'd met except Renamon and that tattooed jerk had been new.

Oh right, he was here to get clean, wasn't he. He started trying to figure out how to go about that, wincing when he touched the big bruise on the back of his head. That bulletin board had hurt.