damned_institute | Nightshift 39: Men's Bathroom (M41-M80)

Entry tags:

armand,
zex

Nightshift 39: Men's Bathroom (M41-M80)

[from here]

It was pitch black inside the bathroom and the close, damp air smelled foul. Armand thought they smelled bad enough during the day. Instinctively, he crouched down low and moved toward where he thought the sinks were, groping in the darkness for the pipes. Every sound he made was magnified and echoed back at him.He wouldn't be able to easily hear if something was creeping up on him, but he did hope that obvious noises like a door opening would be noticed. He hoped.

He found some pipes and then sat while he explored their workings with his hands. Some kind of moisture was seeping into his trousers, and he tried not to imagine what it was. He needed to feel out where the joins were to loosen them. In the dark with no tools. This was beginning to seem more and more idiotic a plan.

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His fingers cramped uncomfortably as he worked. As far as he could tell, the bathroom remained empty. Eventually, the pipes started loosening and come away into his hands. He slipped them into his pillowcase and scooted to the next sink. Although he was tired, he was more adept now at what he needed to do. Soon his pillowcase was as full as he dared to make it. He rose to his feet, brushed off his damp trousers as well as he could, and shouldered the full case.

He slipped back into the hallway, hoping that too long hadn't passed. Minutes could seem like hours or days sometimes. At least by now, he could see decently.

[gone here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/577918.html)]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/577918.html?thread=48289662#t48289662)]

The bathroom was dark but with the faint light behind him, Van could still make out some of the details inside the bathroom. Of course, one major thing was already obvious.

Van frowned and took several steps in, then crouched down by the sinks to take a closer look. "We weren't the first ones here."

"An experience... well, you could call it that, yes." Another new prisoner here... at least Van had the fortune of having allies for his first night. "It's strange, after a while you almost get used to it..."

He'd been here too long, perhaps.

ZEX looked at the sinks, then glanced around the room. "It would seem so. But if someone else can remove pipes, then it stands to reason we can as well." Unless that other person had tools, but ZEX preferred to think of things positively. "There is the bathroom in the other block... if there aren't enough pipes left here, we could check there next."

Damn. Beaten to the punch, and wasn't that always the way? "Well, at least the work's already started for us," he said, attempting to look on the bright side. It'd be easier to detach pipes that were only connected at one end.

Unless whoever had been here had simply taken all the loose ones and left the rusted-tight ones...

Asch nodded. Surely one person couldn't have taken every single pipe there was. He turned to Teisel, who seemed the most likely to know how any of this piping stuff worked. It was possible that Zex would, but he didn't think it as likely.

"Do you know the best way to remove the pipes? Do we just turn them until they detach, or do you have a better idea?"

Van moved toward the end of the row of sinks, to where there were still a few pipes left. They did all have leaky joints, but hopefully none of them had rusted too much. "I think they're designed to be turned. It should be simple enough if the other pipes have been taken so soon."

Taking the joint in hand, he gave it a hard turn, growling softly when it made only a slight bulge. He grabbed hold with his other hand and leaned in, attempting to use his weight to turn it. After a few moments, it finally loosened enough that he could easily unscrew it. "Here we are-"

And then he was promptly greeted with a fantastic splash of water all over his face.

ZEX followed behind Van, hoping to provide light as best he could and also to look at human plumbing more closely. Surely VUX plumbing and human plumbing had to share some similarities, although he doubted that humans spent most of their time in water like most of his own people did.

As it was, ZEX was relatively sure his human body would not be helpful in terms of physical strength, so decided to simply stand by and shine his light where he thought it'd be needed. More helpful than doing nothing, certainly, and it meant he wasn't going to get his uniform dirty either.

The rush of water wasn't entirely a surprise, as ZEX expected something like that, but he made a short startled sound anyway. "Oh! Are you alright?" That couldn't have been pleasant, and if he remembered right, humans couldn't breathe water. If it was water.

"Looks like the joins are pretty much shot. A good twist should do it." And lo and behold, Van was already getting working at one.

Trying hard to stifle his laughter at Van's impromptu bath, Teisel started on the next pipe. This join was pretty rusted, but a few good whacks with the flashlight and some determined wiggling got it loose. Since Van had already liberated most of the water, Teisel was greeted with only a slight dribble of water when he got the pipe free. "There. This isn't too bad."

The pipe was a little over a meter long and had a decent weight to it. Much, much better than smacking things around with a flashlight. Now at least he'd have some leverage and reach. Making sure he wouldn't accidentally brain one of the guys, he gave it a test swing. Much, much better than a flashlight. And it even made a satisfying 'whoosh' sound, thanks to the open ends.

Even Asch had trouble keeping a straight face. In a way, it was kind of nice to see Van look less than perfect. He was always so in control of everything. The person on the bulletin board had told him that he needed enough metal to be the correct weight for a sword. The pipes looked decently heavy; he'd probably only need one. He had the sheet to carry them in, but maybe Teisel had the right idea. The pipe would make a good weapon in a pinch all on its own.

When Teisel moved away, Asch watched him swing. He could probably hit a monster pretty damn good with a swing like that. Not for the first time, Asch was glad to have Teisel as an ally.

He moved closer to the sink, and found another pipe. It seemed to be worked a little lose from whoever had been in here before. It occurred to him that they could be in a world of trouble if any of the staff found out who exactly had been responsible for the mangling of the sinks, but it couldn't be helped. Maybe they'd magically repair themselves by morning anyway; stranger things had happened, after all.

He twisted the pipe for a couple of minutes, moving out of the way in case of a sudden flood. A little water spilled onto the floor when the pipe finally came free, but not too much. He stood up, feeling the weight of the pipe. It was probably enough, really; the thing was heavier than he'd anticipated. And Teisel could just swing it around like that? He was reminded briefly of Largo. Although, in the end, he was pretty sure he liked Teisel better.

Van was silent for a moment after the splash, suddenly feeling far less dignified than he ever wanted to be. "I'm fine," he finally said. "I'm simply, cleaner now." That is, if the water itself was clean at all. He could only hope it was.

At least the pipe seemed solid. Van took a step away, taking a moment to allow himself to feel the weight of it. It wasn't exactly as heavy as his sword, but it would still make due for an impromptu weapon. Teisel seemed to have the right idea. "We may be able to go further than we originally planned with these." He could come back and obtain the rest of the metal another night. Much as he wanted his sword back, he wouldn't want to go without any weapon for an entire week.

"Do you still wish to attempt to investigate the third floor, Admiral?"

"That's good," ZEX said, although his attention was primarily focused on Teisel. He took a step back, although it was unnecessary, when he swung, and giggled a bit in delight. Now his human was a force to be reckoned with! He felt safer already.

It was interesting, how humans managed to swing things, even with their rigid arms. They couldn't quite get the force behind it a VUX could, but they had less room to gather force behind it, given their arms couldn't bend very far behind their backs. ZEX considered getting a pipe for himself... but somehow he didn't think he'd be very skilled with it either way. However, there was the matter of what that human had asked for for explosives... metal was one of them, if he remembered right.

"I suppose it's my turn..." If nothing else, it might be something he could trade. ZEX knelt down and put his hands around one of the few remaining pipes, and tried to remember what the others had done. They'd twisted it... and for a moment, ZEX's arms twitched and flexed as he tried to work muscles he no longer had. No, he couldn't twist this like he could with his normal arms. He'd have to make things simpler... one arm pushing, and one arm pulling towards him should provide the force he needed. How did humans ever live this long?

It took him some more time and effort than the others, but eventually the pipe came free with a small burbling of water. He'd lucked out again! His uniform remained... mostly dry, anyway.

Hmm, this pipe was heavier than he thought it would be. He held it beneath one arm in a somewhat awkward way, cursing the fact his arm couldn't twist properly around it. "Yes, there are some doors upstairs I wanted to look at..." A bit distracted as he tried to keep it from slipping away from him. "I don't think I'll get through them tonight, but I want to know what I'll be up against for reference tomorrow. It shouldn't take very long, I think."

ZEX looked around. "Although, I'd suggest we leave before something finds us here. It's not good to stay in one place for too long."

With that, ZEX made his way to the door.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/577918.html?thread=48427646#t48427646)]

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Nightshift 39: Men's Bathroom (M41-M80)

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