Night 45: Men's Bathrooms M01-M40

[remedying]

[from here.]Yukari didn't push the door completely open right away; instead, she peered through a small crack, and when there was nothing but silence in the restroom, she then proceeded further in. Before stepping away from the door, she shined her flashlight in every imaginable direction, and thankfully it proved that they were the only occupants

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For the moment, Luke kept his questions to himself, following her the rest of the way to the bathroom. He followed her in, taking a similar pause to see if anyone else was there. Only then did he wonder if she knew any of his friends, but he realized he had a mission to pursue, and that he needed to get that done first. His nose wrinkled instinctively at the sight of the pipes, as he easily remembered what she said. Stinky stuff was in there? Well, this was definitely going to be a pretty interesting experience.

"Just break it off?" he asked, a simple enough question. These pipes appeared to work differently from the ones he was familiar with (from the abandoned factory), and it wasn't like he'd gone and used something like that before. Luke advanced upon them, setting down his flashlight carefully so he could point it up toward the pipes. His fingers wrapped around them and started to shake a little, just to see how he would be able to get them to work to his favor. If there was gross stuff inside, he definitely didn't want Yukari to have to deal with it-but if there was, he needed to know what he was doing to limit how much contact he had with it. The last thing he wanted was to be a walking smelly thing all night.

[remedying]

From where she stood, Yukari aimed her flashlight in Luke's direction to give him even more light. The more of it the better, she always thought, especially since everything was pitch black otherwise.

"It takes a little tugging," she forewarned, placing herself at what seemed like a safe enough distance. "but they'll break off eventually. Just be careful once you do."

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"Just tug and pull a bit. Got it."

Luke glanced toward the position of his flashlight again and decided that, if water were to come pouring down this way, he didn't want it to become a casualty of the circumstances. He released the metal he was holding on to so he could move it away a bit. At least now he had a good idea of where he was gripping. It was a good thing, really, that he was pretty strong, from shoving around boxes, lots of sword fighting, and numerous other excursions. Though his strength felt a bit sapped here (something he hadn't figured out yet, but he figured it was something to do with where they were trapped), he figured he could handle this.

All that aside, it was like Yukari said: a bit of tugging and with more time than he liked-an a few annoyed grunts-and he managed to break off a long pile. He let out a gagging sound as the smell hit his nose and a little bit of water splashed against his issued clothing. "Damnit, I was hoping I'd be fast enough!" he announced, springing away as the water started to slush out. He quickly grabbed up his flashlight, padding toward Yukari quickly with a disgusted expression. "Well, you warned me."

Sure, he'd been through areas that smelled bad, like that factory, but it didn't make this any better.

[remedying]

Yukari simply waited for the inevitable moment, and sure enough, it came. She took a few more steps back, even if she was already backed up far enough to avoid the water turned who the hell knew, but it certainly wasn't enough to avoid the smell. Augh, it was the same as last time, but it didn't make it any less worse to put up with.

Wafting a hand in front of her face, Yukari eyed the bits of Luke's clothing sympathetically; she may have not done anything this time (and thank god for that), but she did have experience with this that she wished she didn't have. "Guess not everyone can get lucky," Yukari murmured, then eyed the pipe he pulled out. "Does that feel good enough to you for now?"

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At her question, he gripped the pipe tight. It was long enough-he'd made a point to go for a longer one-but not as wide as some of the swords he was accustomed to. Luke would have preferred something like that, but until then, this would have to do. He'd fought with eating cutlery before, so he couldn't exactly be picky. In order to confirm it, he stepped back a little from her, just in case, and jabbed carefully at the air, waving it around with ease that showed that he was skilled with a sword.

Of course, Luke was thinking more about whether he could use the weapon and not the fact that there were little droplets inside. Just as he waved the pipe, they splashed out, some rolling down and wetting his hand, some on his clothing, and some proved that Luke probably hadn't moved far enough away for his demonstration. His lips pursed out as he felt it hitting his hand and he winced a little, but decided not to make too big of a deal of it.

Not realizing that he (quite possibly) hit his partner for the night with the water, he replied, "I think it'll take a while to get used to it, but I think it can work. I'll just have to hit things extra hard."

[remedying]

"H-- Hey!"

With her suddenly piercing voice, Yukari jumped back a few feet away from Luke-- and could have sworn she felt something cold and wet suddenly hit her face. That better had not been what she thought it was...

"Forget hitting," Yukari promptly snapped at him with a scowl aimed in his direction. "Watch where you're swinging that thing, for starters."

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That didn't work out so well. Luke watched as she jumped away, and he realized what it was that he did. The scowl made him tense up a little, a surge of guilt immediately moving through him. He'd been trying to make this easier on her. "Easier" didn't include getting some of that nasty smelling water on her in the end. He looked irritated for a moment-not at himself, but at her, and then lowered his head a little to be guilty. "Sorry" didn't usually handle it in most situations, and he remembered being told that it would never be enough.

Of course, it wasn't like anyone's life was at stake. She just would smell funny.

"Sorry," he said, lowering the pipe and taking a step toward her. "I guess I should've waved it in another direction, especially once I started feeling a little bit getting on me. I'll be more careful next time, I promise."

[remedying]

"Alright, alright," Yukari muttered, wiping the side of her face with the end of a sleeve-- she would just hope whatever decided to land on her wasn't especially smelly or gross, or at least it wouldn't stain her cardigan. This was her only pair of clothing that wasn't dull and grey, and if this of all things ended up ruining it, she wasn't going to be happy.

But, as it stood at the moment, it was nothing to make too much of an issue about, so she left it at that. Yukari circled a hand in the air, gesturing dismissively, then looked back up at him expectantly.

"So, you got your pipe, and I want fresh air," she said, eying the exit for a moment. "And we don't want to stick around long enough to become some weird freak's next target. If you don't need anything else, I say we get outta here."

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It seemed as if she was letting it go, which filled Luke with a bit of relief. He took what she said and nodded, as if understanding. The smell was overwhelming, and he could tell that the faster they got out of here, the faster things would work out for them. He lowered his pipe, wishing idly for a scabbard to hold it. Being here now made him realize that it might be a while before he got used to fighting in a new style, as wearing a sword on his back and jumping into battles that way was something he had grown accustomed to. But he would deal and he would learn.

"I agree. You got anywhere in mind or do you want to go separate ways?" After his accident with the droplets of water, Luke didn't want to force her to do anything against her will. She might be willing to drop things, but any growing annoyance-well, he wasn't going to help it along. If what she wanted was to go somewhere else, to find someone else, he would understand.