Granny Thayer, Demon Slayer || Collab with SophieKestrel

Chapter 12: Murder at the Motel

In the morning, Violet discovered the one thing worse than 'there's only one bed,' which was 'there's only one bathroom.' And currently, said bathroom was emitting some splashing and tuneless humming while Raj shifted from foot to foot outside the door.

While Violet had packed dentures, she had not thought to procure any Depends. And though her bladder was usually quite trusty, she and Arty shared in common the need to relieve themselves as soon as they woke. She remembered numerous times that she and Arty flashed each other pained smiles outside the restroom, selflessly gesturing the other through while hoping their offer would be refused.

When ten minutes turned into twenty and twenty into thirty without any sign of change, Violet rapped on the door. "Saya, is everything quite all right in there?"

"Of course, Granny," Saya called back. "I'm just doing my pre-mani-pedi cleaning."

"There's a... pre-cleaning? Why?"

"Why do you brush your teeth before you go to the dentist?"

"To make their job easier?"

Saya laughed. "No, Granny! Because you don't want them to judge you!"

"Oh. Well then, how much longer do you expect this, er, 'pre-cleaning' to take?"

"Well, I just have to scrape beneath each toenail, and then soften the ridges on my nails, and then scrub the calluses from my..."

But Violet didn't hear the rest. She and Raj had already exited the room and started down the hall in search of another bathroom.

In the main lobby, Bart was on his laptop, open to a page with an orange W icon.

"Bart?" said Violet.

The laptop snapped shut. "I was just doing a favor for a friend!" he said, fidgeting with his blue fedora. "Promised them a few extra reads, just to be nice, but I would never read that by choice!"

"I see," said Violet, ambivalently. Well, if you're not too busy, would you mind pointing us to the nearest restroom?"

"You can use the one in the eatery," said Bart. "But, fair warning—the second stall is zombified."

Violet and Raj soon located a restroom door with a handwritten note: 'Man, woman, or whatever, but no zombified produce, please.'  When they finished in the restroom, they examined the rest of the eatery. It featured three partially-zombified velvet booths that seemed to be munching on their non-zombified portions. Only one customer braved the eatery, hunkered over a bowl of leafy greens in the least zombified booth.

"Good morning, LB," said Violet.

Even if LB was ostensibly the sensei here, he was now part of Violet's team, and she felt both responsibility and concern for his well-being. So as Violet slid into the booth across from him, she performed a discrete scan to assess his wellbeing. A few new scratches marked his arms, and some sleek black hair had escaped his man-bun, but he appeared otherwise unharmed.

To avoid sounding like an overbearing mother, Violet forced a humorous tone. "So, where were you last night, LB? You missed a great bonding session!"

The crunch of lettuce muddled his voice. "Ah. Well." He took another bite. "Iswewjithforefht."

"What was that?"

LB swallowed. A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead. "I slept in the forest."

Raj edged past a cannibalizing portion of leather to sit beside Violet, and he fixed LB with a frown. "That sounds uncomfortable... and dangerous."