Backwash [Omori/Mouthwashing]

Long-lasting Freshness

2 months after the crash.

You looked down at the box of mouthwash. Almost empty. You considered drinking one but decided against it.

You turned around and saw Kel on the floor, holding a bottle of mouthwash. "Ughhh..." he groaned out.

After grumbling a bit to yourself at the fact that Kel was getting drunk again, you crouched down next to him. "How many have you had? Those  will kill you befo–"

Kel interrupted, "Before anything else. I know. My mom... she was so sick. I needed to make money for her to afford healthcare. Hero was helping me out, so he got me this job as a maintenance apprentice... I don't know. I guess I shouldn't have chosen this job. I just hope she doesn't feel like it's her fault..." Kel flipped over as he spoke, still holding onto the bottle.

"We're not done yet, Kel. We can still survive this," you say, almost trying to convince yourself. Did you even want to survive this at this point?

"Just take it. I'm sick of looking at this stuff," Kel said, holding up the bottle of mouthwash to you. You took it from him. He kept his hand up in the same position after you took it from him.

Eventually, you decided to leave Kel to his own devices. He'd probably fall asleep, then wake up with a hangover and a backache.

You walked upstairs to the breakroom, finding Hero holding a bottle of mouthwash, unopened, and Aubrey waving around the axe, spinning in circles as if she wasn't holding a potentially dangerous weapon.

"Hero?" You said. Hero didn't respond. "Hero?" You called out slightly louder. This time, he turned his head over to face you, humming a question. "Were you thinking about drinking that, too?"

"Honestly, yeah. I know it'd just make me get sick, though. I could never hold down my booze," Hero joked before pausing, "Hey, you know, there's some extra painkillers in the emergency cabinet in the hall between here and medbay. We could use those once we run out of oxycodone pills."

"Should I get them now?" You asked Hero.

"I mean, you'll need the axe. The cabinet is blocked by emergency foam," Hero muttered.

"Aubrey's too drunk to be trusted with an axe right now, anyway. I'll see if I can get it off her for now," you say, cautiously getting a bit closer to where Aubrey was spinning. "Aubrey!" You called out.

Aubrey slowed down before stopping her spinning entirely. She looked around, unable to see you from her position. "Basil? Where are you? Did you turn invincible?" She seemed entirely unaware of her recklessness.

"It's invisible, and no, I'm right here," you said, approaching to come into view of Aubrey now that she wasn't spinning around with her axe like it was a throwing hammer.

"Basil! My main man! How's it goin'?" She asked, waving the axe enthusiastically.

"Are you done with your... uh... axe spinning? I need that," you explain calmly.

The pink-haired girl tittered. "This? Why, Basil, this was bestowed unto me by our great ex-Captain Sunny, the man responsible for this party. I can't just go around handing it out willy-nilly."

"Well, I need it to do something useful, Aubrey. Getting more painkillers from the emergency cabinet. So I need the axe," you explain again, with more irritation.

"You want the axe so bad? Fuckin' take it, then." Aubrey promptly smashed the axe into the sky simulator, prompting a massive error message to pop up as the screen cracked and glitched. Her anger seemed rather sudden, but it wasnt surprising given how stressed she was when not drunk. The red glow from the error message wasn't quite as comforting as a fake sunset, either.

Aubrey sat down on the floor shakily after her outburst. You grabbed the axe from the screen, having to yank pretty hard to get it unstuck. Aubrey yawned and spoke unprompted, "Everything's shaking... are we going home already?" Then, she passed out on the floor, too drunk to stay awake.

Of course, she just had to throw the axe at the screen. She just had to make everything worse for everyone. You growled to yourself before moving with the axe over to the hallway. You took out your residual anger on the foam, cutting away the excess to gain access to the medicine.

After one or two swings, you could open the door completely. You put down the axe on top of the foam and opened the cabinet.

You heard Hero walking up behind you as you grabbed a bottle of isopropyl alcohol. You never know. It could always come in handy.

"Nice, what kind of pills are they?" Hero asked you as you grabbed one of the bottles to check.

"Paracetamol. Probably not as effective as oxycodone. The pills are five hundred milligrams each," you elucidated for Hero.

"Hm, yeah. Definitely should save those for only after we're out of our main supply," Hero duly noted. He then made a request, "Basil, can you give Sunny his pills again..? I always end up feeling really–"

"Are you serious?" Basil asked the medic. "Are you kidding me? I've been working my ass off to try and help this ship, trying to save everyone, and what have you been doing besides shying away from doing your fucking job as medic?"

Hero opened his mouth to speak, barely getting a word out, "Well–"

"Nothing! That's what! Nothing but sitting around and waiting to die! It's do this, do that, get the axe, get the code scanner, chop up the foam, but not too much! And most of all, give Sunny his fucking medicine! But I'm bearing, I'm doing what needs to be done, because I'm useful! I'm proving my worth!" You gripped the air as you spoke, hands shaking.

"I-I'm sorry, Basil, I didn't know you–" Hero was cut off once more.

You hit the wall with your fist once before speaking up. "Go check on Kel. He's drunk as piss. He needs his brother. I'll get Sunny his pills. I always do."

Before Hero could say another word, you stormed off to the medbay. You looked down at the pitful sight of Sunny and grabbed a pill bottle from the table, putting down the paracetamol you had picked up earlier.

You took out one of the pills and got ready to give it to Sunny. "Hey, Sunny. I know. I know I fucked up. You were right all along. I wasn't worth shit. But don't worry. I'll make it all okay, again. You'll be back at home, all better in no time. Okay?" Sunny stared at you forgivingly.

"You're the best friend I could ever have asked for," you say, tearing up. You give Sunny his pill promptly, him choking it down with his usual effort. With that, you begin to cry. "I'm sorry," you mumble as you turn and start to walk away, unwilling to face your old friend after what you had done last time.

Tears fell from your eyes as you left the medbay and went back towards the cargo hold.