Who: Kent Brightstar and Chuck Brand What: Just another day in the clinic... When: 8 April 2019 | Morning Where: Reserve Clinic Warnings: Language, probably, creature shenanigans, indecent exposure
"Look, you don't want to be here. I don't want to be here, but here is where we are, so we just have to live with that and move on."
Kent's voice carried out from one of the treatment rooms, any muffling spells around the space having evidently worn off. He'd been a little too preoccupied to check much past the basic warding, which was still holding just fine. It wasn't an angry tone, but definitely one born of frustration.
With files in hand Chuck was on her way back to her tiny office to go over them to see if there was an explanation in them at all as to a current bout of apparent illness one of the snallygasters had come in with out of the blue. She was just passing by the treatment rooms when she heard Kent's voice wafting out. Not that that was surprising, though the lack of angry tone or even his other usual creature sweet-talking tone was.
Chuck rapped her knuckles against the door first, waited a little, before opening the door only slightly (not wanting to potentially let any creatures out) before poking her head through. "Hope I'm not interrupting but... is everything alright here?"
His voice was still carefully modified to maintain calm, but his words were anything but. "Everything is fine and fucking dandy, thanks."
This was a blatant lie, given the fact that he was thigh deep in murky water where a dark figure was swimming back and forth in front of his legs. A slimy tentacle rose out of its surface and had wrapped itself around his wrist. It was attempted to drag Kent further down into the water, but evidently didn't have the strength. The only reason he had his arm practically glued and immobile to his side was because he didn't want to hurt the little thing. (Little being a subject term here, because the shadow looked fairly massive. The treatment room had expanded to support the latest patient, and sank to allow for several hundred gallons of water to be pumped in for just the purpose of treating the ailments of the juvenile grindylow.
"Careful of the sides, Chuck. Don't want you to get pulled in," he warned her. He didn't actually care, but the paperwork was a nightmare. "She's been really aggressive for the past few days. The handlers thought it was just territorial bullshit, but it's really out of character for her. With everything that's been--hey! Enough of that--that's been going on lately, I figured better safe than sorry."
His exclamation mid-sentence had been from an irritated nip to the knee, which hadn't even been enough to break the skin. The creature surfaced long enough to give first Kent and then Chuck a sharp-toothed smile.
Chuck raised an eyebrow at Kent, not believing his words for a second, and even less so when she peered around the door and just barely caught sight of the tentacle wrapped around his wrist.
Stepping past the door she shut it behind her and surveyed the scene -- which honestly didn't seem like it was going too well at the moment. She stopped short of getting much closer the moment Kent warned her, and so realised just what creature was in the pool of water. Grindylows certainly weren't in her purview but she knew enough about them to know what to do and such in a pinch if absolutely needed. "Right... makes sense given everything," she responded, after being slightly unnerved by the grindylow's smile. "Not to throw human behaviours about or anything but, to just y'know rule everything out, it's not some teenager tantrum of sorts is it?"
The tentacle gave another tug, and pulled Kent's hand down in the water. He rolled his eyes, but it completely lacked heat. "She's always been a little feisty, but this is a lot even for her. I'm more concerned with the discoloration I noticed around some of her suckers--like she may have gotten into something. After our meeting with Felix, well, I'm paran--"
This time the grindylow had yanked hard enough that Kent lost his footing--or, more rightly, his foot slipped on the tractionless surface of the tank (who the fuck designed this thing!?)--and he fell completely in with a big splash. The water churned for a moment, and red light flashed beneath the surface. An eerie calm came over the room as the water stilled again.
Chuck was nodding in agreement when Kent mentioned Felix, and would've mentioned her own heightened vigilance concerning the creatures in her care had it not been for the grindylow's shenanigans.
By the time she'd quickly set her files to the floor and got her wand at the ready the water was churning enough that she couldn't confidently tell whether she'd end up hitting the grindylow or Kent with a spell. "Shit shit shit," she muttered. The swearing being somewhat uncharacteristic for Chuck considering it usually only happened when she was riled up. With the familiar red colour of a stunner the waters soon calmed -- even if the situation hadn't.
Pointing her wand at the larger shape she cast mobilicorpus and carefully pulled Kent from the water, and then moved him so that he was laying on the floor and away from the pool. Thankfully the grindylow was no longer attached to his wrist now. What was troubling -- aside from Kent's current unconscious state, however, was when she reached out to inspect Kent's wrist only for it to feel sticky to the touch. Viscous strands were just visible, before breaking apart, between her fingers and thumb as she rubbed them together.
"That's definitely not normal," she commented, before turning her attention back to Kent. Whatever the substance was it didn't appear to be anywhere near his face near as she could tell but for her own peace of my mind she still checked to be on the safe side. Chuck waved her wand at Kent once more. "Rennervate!"
Within seconds of being lifted out of the water, the mucus-like fluid began to blacken as it was exposed to air. Kent blinked slowly as the spell brought him back toward consciousness. He looked down at himself and then bolted upright. "Son of a nut-fucked halfwit," he swore eloquently, as he scrambled to his feet. He looked at Chuck, surmising the situation in a half-second. "Hand in the water, now."
For his part, Kent started tearing off his scrubs, taking special care not to let any of the inky substance touch any more of his skin than it already had. Within seconds, he was standing in the treatment room in naught but his underwear, but even that would have to go before long. He carefully floated the pile to the water and dumped it in, shoes and socks and all. "This crap only dissolves in grindylow inhabited water," he said over his shoulder. "It's a seldom used defense mechanism, and is fatal when exposed to air in large enough quantities. Even a spot will get you sick for days."
Unable to stop herself from jumping back in surprise -- causing her to fall on her bum from her previously crouched position -- Chuck stared back at Kent with Surprise. "What? Why?"
Of course her expectations as far as explanations went did not at all include having Kent strip down to practically nothing. She stared at Kent in further surprise as he did exactly that. Chuck certainly wasn't blind and would maybe admit to Kent being an attractive man, but that was definitely as far as any of that kind of admiration went. As it was, it wasn't until she heard the words about the substance only dissolving in grindylow inhabited water that she got up and rushed for the pool to wash the stuff off of her hand.
"Suddenly glad I wasn't an idiot and jumped in to rescue you," she commented, as she double-checked to see that the stuff was coming off her hand that was still in the water. Then turned her attention to Kent to ask how he was feeling, and... immediately looked away when she realised he was starting to remove the last remaining bit of clothing he was wearing. Chuck started to quietly hum to herself as she checked that none of the mucus-like substance had gotten under her fingernails.
Were it not for the fact that time was a critical factor here, Kent may have spared a second or two on feeling embarrassed or self-conscious. "Probably for the best," he said as he summoned a large bubble of water from the tank. "Though the heroic sentiment is appreciated."
He started using the bubble like a wash basin, scrubbing down his arms, chest, and legs with quick, efficient movements. This wasn't some kind of show. His head was last, and he dunked it in for a few moments before coming up for air, literally. Water sprayed everywhere as he tossed his hair to keep the worst of it out of his eyes. It was at this point, after he'd looked at the sad pile of his ruined scrubs, that he recognized the awkward position he'd put his coworker in. Modesty was already right out the window, but he finally made an effort to cover himself with a hand. "Those were my favorite scrubs," he complained weakly, and then sighed. "Occupational hazard."
By that point, having already ensured her hand was completely clean, Chuck had taken to covering her eyes with her hand and only peeking occasionally to see if Kent was fully clothed yet. No such luck was to be hers apparently.
"Mhmm," she murmured in understanding -- even if she herself didn't have a particular favourite pair. Chuck sighed realising they were still in an awkward situation, and started thinking of a possible way out that would although them both to be free of it without having to actually address it. "Do you have another pair in your office? I could go grab them if you do."
"Yeah, if you don't mind. There's a, uh, set of briefs in there too. Bottom left desk drawer." His face dropped into an irritated scowl. "I know it's not on me, but thanks for the assist. I'll check on the grindylow while you're gone. She's out like a light. Maybe I can figure out what the hell is wrong with her."
"Right." Chuck gave a shrug, which probably looked a little odd since she still had her eyes covered. "Happy to help, and not let one of the better Healers at this place go to waste -- as awkward as this is... right now." Carefully, with her head down and peeking at the floor, she picked up her files. "I'll just drop these off in my office first, and be back with your scrubs as soon as."
Opening the door to just ajar she called back over her shoulder before leaving. "Probably best to lock the door until I get back though."
With Chuck gone, Kent was finally able to drop any sense of propriety he'd adopted for her benefit and set about with getting to the bottom of what the fuck was wrong with yet another creature in his care. If this had something to do with shitty or negligent herbology work again, he was going straight to Felix-- and God help that department.