_{[From here]}

Creepy. It wasn't anything new, but she couldn't help but notice it. Flora set her things on the counter, careful not to have her back towards the stalls as she did so. It would be easy for something to hide in them and attack her, so she was sure to check each one, pushing doors all the way in and making sure there wasn't anyone or anything hiding anywhere. Satisfied that she was alone (at least as far as she was able to tell) she headed for the nearest sink, setting down her flashlight so that the light reflected in the mirror, but wasn't blinding her line of sight. She'd need to see behind her, just in case.

The sooner she was out of here, the better. All of these stalls were making her nervous. Flora turned on the tap. It wasn't distilled water, but it would have to--what?! What was that?!

"Oh, no! You have got to be kidding me!" came the angry whisper.

Even in relative darkness, she could see it. The murk, the off-colour--the fact that it had colour at all made it obvious that was unfit for drinking. Flora bit her lip and let the water run, hoping that it would clear, but it didn't. Maybe she shouldn't have been, but it came as a surprise to her, it wasn't at all like that during the day. So, why the change, now? It was as though this place was taking it especially upon itself to make her plans that much more challenging to accomplish. "Well, I am not about to give up, even if it is." There had to usable water somewhere, and she'd search high and low for it, if she had to. She's come too far already to give up, now.

The tap was turned off with a just little more force than was necessary, and she picked up her things and left. Good riddance.

_{[To here]}

[from here]

"Just my luck," Rita murmured upon stepping outside.

The greenhouse loomed over them in the center of the yard, rain rattling against its glass ceiling and streaming down the walls. Lightning flashed somewhere in the distant sky, and a heavy rumble of thunder followed. It figured that the one night Rita needed to go outside, it would be pouring rain. Fortunately, they didn't need to be out for long.

"Let's try not to waste any time out here," she suggested as she started towards the greenhouse doors. She'd only just gotten her real clothing back - the last thing she wanted was for it to get soaked through. Not to mention the few paper notes and talismans she'd stuffed in her pockets. While they wouldn't be too hard to replace, Rita just didn't want to have to go to the trouble.

[from here]

You know, he'd actually never been in here at night. A part of him would have loved to think "Oh well. It's just a bathroom. What's the worst that could happen?" But knowing his luck, the powers that be would decide to answer that. And if he had to choose one other location in the building where those things might pop up again, well, this would probably be it. Let's just hurry this up, shall we?

After taking a few moments to tentatively check the stalls and any blindspots that something might like to use as a hiding spot, Klavier made his way over to the sink. It suddenly seemed fortuitous that he had happened to think of picking up a thermos when he saw it earlier. Granted, he hadn't thought it would be used for something like this at the time, but he'd take what he could. He wondered if this meant he should consider his luck good or bad.

Evidently, that thought came a moment too soon.

When he turned on one of the faucets, what came out was... not at all what one would want to put on an open wound. The water was murky. Not just mildly dirty: murky. It was foul enough that he could quickly see it, even by flashlight, and he yanked the thermos away before it collected too much of it. But of course, some of it had gotten inside by then.

Oh, you had got to be kidding him. Was this really happening? Was this all really and truly happening to him over the course of a single night? He'd wasted so much time wandering around aimlessly, finding nothing but useless rooms and picking up nothing but garbage. Then he was attacked by those revolting things in the library. Then he was actually bitten by one of them. And then he couldn't find any proper medical supplies to dress his wound. And now... now he couldn't even get some decent, clean water?! Was that really so much to ask after everything he'd been through? Was it?!

And great. Now his thermos was contaminated with whatever this was, too. What a perfect ending to a perfect night.

He was sorely tempted to just throw his now tainted thermos onto the floor, go back to his room, and just pretend this entire night never happened. If not for the fact that his ankle really did need attention, maybe he would have done just that. As things stood, however, he was just going to have to take a deep breath and quickly find an alternative. He could mope and throw a proper fit later.

[to here]