The rush of the fight for survival had worn off.
The trek back to the ladder, their only sure way out and the location of all the things they still had intact, was long and painful. More than once, Ruby found herself turning around to throw up in some dark corner just because of the smell of the plant monster's stomach juices. She attested another two times at least to the thought of what they'd just been through. She would have to purge the revolting monster's image from her memory if she ever wanted to sleep soundly again. To make matters worse, whether it was psychosomatic or and actual effect of the slime covering her, she was starting to itch horribly all over. One look over to Neo told her that it was probably the acidic substance starting to eat its way through their skin, which was a severe concern they would have to address within a few minutes.
Every time Neo scratched her neck, she just felt her fingers sinking into slime, and she was starting to come away with an increasingly alarming amount of liquefied dead skin under her fingernails. Every time she did it she exposed more new tender skin to the corrosive ooze. Worse, she had no idea what to do to neutralize the acid. Meanwhile, her own stomach had been having problems as well, emptying every few seconds like it was its job to make the sewers dirtier. She wanted out of here as soon as possible, but she didn't remember getting dragged through sewers by her abductor, let alone managing to leave a trail of sandwiches for Ruby to follow, so she had to let Ruby lead the way for now. This took twice as long, since most of the time Neo wasn't throwing up, Ruby was.
It felt like a forever of agony before they reached the ladder, which hung a couple meters over Neo's head. She grimaced at the thought of trying to climb that after someone who kept throwing up, but it was hard to think of a better option. They both desperately needed a long bath anyway, so it wasn't like a little extra would hurt any more. She didn't have to like it, she just needed to get through it. Ruby crouched down under the ladder, motioning for Neo to climb on her shoulders. That was something Neo wasn't about to argue with, so she got on and Ruby stood up. It was a little difficult to stay on, what with the slime they were both covered in, but Neo was rather good at holding on to things when she wasn't borderline dying. From there, it took a bit longer to stand up on Ruby's shoulders, but the ladder became easy access once she was up. Ruby could help herself, so Neo started climbing.
Breaking out into the much cleaner, fresher air of the sunny midday, Neo crawled away from the manhole and rolled onto her back. A few moments later, Ruby joined her and they lay in silence for over a minute. Then, once again, it was time to move. Neo was glad for one thing, at least. Since the slime covered her almost completely, it blocked a lot of the heat from the sun. She watched idly, scratching the peeling skin on her belly, as Ruby got up and picked up the bag they had been keeping their things in. There wasn't much left besides their regular clothes, but Neo was grateful that those were a clear promise for the future. They were reduced to their clothes and weapons now, but Neo wasn't about to complain so long as they got all of this muck off of themselves before it started eating into their flesh.
Ruby pointed towards a nearby building. "In there. I think it was a dust shop. There's a living space on the upper floor, and a bunch of water jugs."
Neo got up. If a bath was waiting that close by, she wouldn't waste time lazing about. Not wanting to be reduced to a pile of pink gelatin, Neo followed Ruby into the building she had indicated and up to the living space on the second floor. Inside, they found several water jugs just as Ruby had said, though more than half of them had clearly burst from being frozen. It wasn't perfect, but it looked like it should be enough to clean the slime off of both of them, if they used it carefully. Ruby opened up one of the jugs which had split, as there was still water in the bottom, and poured it over her head. The water, warm from sitting out in the growing heat, washed the gunk away with surprising ease. Seeing this, Neo wasted no time grabbing one of the full jugs and opening it over her head, letting it go until she was sure her entire body was soaked and the jug was empty.
Ruby emptied another split jug over herself to stave off the itching slime before she went about pouring the full jugs into a small bathtub in the washroom. "We need to do something a little more thorough. Here, get in."
Within a minute or two, Ruby had emptied all of the remaining water into the tub and the two of them were sitting together in a half-filled tub. Ruby was diligently splashing the water on herself and rubbing down her arms and legs to get as much of the remnants of the slime off of her as possible. Neo just sat there, soaking in the water, content to be enveloped by something that wasn't inherently intended to kill her. She sunk down into the water, letting the warmth wash over her, staying put until she noticed Ruby eyeing her. Neo gave her a glare telling her to stop thinking whatever she was thinking.
Looking away, almost like she was embarrassed to say anything, Ruby finally spoke again. "You uh... you should let me wipe you down. We need to make sure there isn't any left, right?"
Neo rolled her eyes, but relented. Ruby smiled, glad that Neo was opening up enough to trust her with washing her. When Neo turned her back to Ruby, pulling her hair over her shoulder so Ruby could clean her back, it reminded Ruby of when she was little and would be washed by her mother, and then for a time, by Yang. She splashed water onto Neo's back and wiped it down with her hands. When she ran her hands around Neo's sides and down along her legs, she noticed the smaller woman arched her back a little with an audible gasp. Ruby could feel her face starting to heat up when that was the reaction she got. It hadn't been her intention, but it looked like Neo was having a hard time controlling her reactions to the physical contact. She suddenly ducked down, dunking her head under the water before coming back up and shaking her head furiously.
Holding her hands up to shield her face from Neo's long hair whipping around, Ruby let out a laugh. She had no illusions that anything besides her laughter was the cause of the death glare Neo shot over her shoulder a moment later, but Ruby accepted that it was a fair response, since her own wandering hands had been the instigator. Once Neo had calmed down, Ruby went back to washing her, starting from her neck and shoulders, then running her hands down along Neo's arms. It was when she started trying to wash Neo's front that the small woman suddenly covered her breasts with her hands.
Ruby pulled back, holding her hands up. "You know, you really should be doing this yourself." All she got in response was a pout face. "Alright, well, I can't wash your front if you cover it up." Neo sulked a bit, but lowered her hands. Ruby wasted no time getting back to work. Moving her arms around Neo's body, Ruby splashed some water up onto her chest. She cupped Neo's breasts in her hands, only doing what she was pretty sure was necessary for a proper cleaning, but acutely aware of when Neo inhaled sharply as she ran her hands over the woman's breasts. She was starting to feel like it was time to move on. "Okay, I think we should take this opportunity to wash our hair, don't you?"
Neo gave a very small nod, trying to hide her reddened face. Ruby quickly hopped out of the tub and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around herself and holding another one out to Neo, who stood up and took it without question. Neo looked back at the tub questioningly. If that was all they were going to do with the water in the tub, how were they supposed to wash their hair? She looked back to Ruby, who smiled knowingly. That didn't inspire much confidence in Neo, but she decided to watch and see what Ruby had planned.
It turned out not to be nearly as bad as she'd expected. Ruby found a small vial of dust, and a somewhat larger vial of a different kind of dust. Ruby explained. "Ice dust, which we make ice with, and then melt it into water. And this," She held up the smaller of the two vials. "This is soap dust. It's not very common, but the Schnee Dust Corporation does use it in some of their products. Now we get a bucket."
A bucket found, Ruby used a created a chunk of ice and melted it with some fire dust, letting it fill up the bucket. She had Neo lie down on her back, dipping the back of her head into the bucket, and added some of the soap dust into the mix. All Neo had to do was close her eyes and wait for Ruby to finish. The sensation of Ruby's fingers on her head was half uncomfortable and half relaxing, and she could feel the suds growing and up around her head. When Ruby had finished, she poured another smaller bucket of dust-heated water over Neo's head to wash out the soap, then unceremoniously hoisted Neo out of the way and lay down herself.
"Okay, now it's my turn." Ruby looked over to see Neo drying her hair with a towel, and absolutely not intending to wash Ruby's hair at all. "Aw, come on, really?" Neo continued not to move to help, so Ruby sprinkled a little more of the soap dust in and started washing her hair on her own. She didn't expect it to come out nearly as well, simply because her eyes were closed for most of the time. When she'd reached the point where she needed the second bucket, she called out to Neo for help again. "Can you get the rinse water? Please? I can't see right now. ...Neo?" The entire bucket's worth of water hit her in the face all at once.
Ruby shot up, coughing and sputtering, trying to get the water out of her nose as Neo backed away quietly. When it looked like Ruby was about to be able to get up, Neo threw a towel at her face. The soft cloth stopped her from getting up to punish her attacker, and she stayed down. Draping the towel over her head, Ruby took a moment to breathe and looked up at Neo, who was still drying her own hair. It was a harmless prank, really, so Ruby let it go.
"Hey... are you gonna be alright?" Neo stopped and turned to look back at Ruby. After a moment of just staring, she just shrugged noncommittally. Ruby sighed, shifting her focus to her feet. She shook her head. "Well... yeah, me too... but... you know, for a while there, I thought I was going to lose you. I know it's not really... we're not friends, I get it, but... I guess what I'm trying to say is... I'm really glad I'm not alone. I'm glad you're safe." Ruby looked up just in time to see Neo throw a shirt at her. She pulled the piece of clothing off her face and let herself laugh. "Yeah. You're right. Time to get dressed."