damned_institute | Day 29: Cafeteria, Brunch

Hitsugaya left the chapel no less frustrated than before. The head doctor once again had chosen not to hide his face, yet promised he would be making an appearance at some time in the near future. He didn't like being patient, but there wasn't much choice. Either the head doctor would show his face, or he wouldn't. Renji had already seen him, and knew how to find him. That was enough.

The thought of eating made him slightly nauseous as usual, but he knew he needed to get his strength up. He could either be weak and try to force his way through brunch without eating anything, or he could be smart and actually give himself something to eat. And there was rice. Rice and fruit. He took a heaping pile of rice, and grabbed as much watermelon as he could fit on his plate, then proceeded to an empty table. He scanned the room, watching for Momo. He wasn't exactly looking forward to their conversation, knowing how she'd acted yesterday; however, he knew he had to speak to her, and there was a good chance that she would show more restraint now that the drugs were out of her system.

Thoughtfully he consumed his rice and waited.

[free at the moment, pester if you wish]

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An unease that Qui-Gon shared. While Jedi had and did kill in defense of themselves and others, no real Jedi ever could find pleasure in such an act. The revelation that their captors were just as much a prisoner of Martin Landel as the patients was very troubling. It didn't change the fact that they would have to defend themselves, but it certainly complicated things. Qui-Gon so far had believed that the staff knew something they didn't, that they were just as much in the know as the Head Doctor. Now he knew they were victims. Pawns.

And it had been the Force - or the utter absence - that had perverted them last night.

Qui-Gon's expression was thoughtful. "I had believed that as well," he said. "But now we know it to be otherwise, and this does change some things."

The priority to defend themselves and their other patients remained the same. But Qui-Gon knew it in his heart that he could not ignore what he witnessed last night. If they could manage to investigate Martin Landel, and somehow escape, they couldn't very well just leave the staff. They would have to be freed themselves, although Qui-Gon supposed that they were at the disadvantage of not even knowing they were prisoners, unlike the eclectic, growing number of patients. But that was for another time. He knew that Obi-Wan would be at his side, but dropping We must save the staff as well into his lap right this second wouldn't be wise.

No, Obi-Wan was still probably adjusting to the fact that they still had a long journey ahead of them with Martin Landel and focusing on the prisoners. Nevermind factoring in the staff, on top of that.

Qui-Gon switched subjects to something more immediate. He'd ripped out his journal page earlier, closing his journal. Now he passed the page to Obi-Wan across the table.

"That trip into the Earthian town gave me an idea," he started. He tapped at the paper, covered in neat notes and some crude diagrams. Obviously making blueprints hadn't been one of his Jedi skills, but he figured they still were serviceable. "We should look into building a commlink. I'm not sure what Earthians use for ranged communication, but we can probably assume that such things won't just be given to us. Commlinks would make it easier to keep in contact with each other, especially during night shifts."

Obi-Wan knew that they couldn't stop defending themselves. But Qui-Gon was right -- knowing the identity of these monsters would likely shift their priorities and how they conducted themselves during battle. They would have to take better care in the kinds of conflicts they engaged in, that was for certain.

As of now, he was unaware of Qui-Gon's definite plans to save the staff too, but years of being by the Jedi Master's side gave him at least an inkling of what he was thinking. Obi-Wan couldn't say he entirely approved (he was still pretty iffy about the idea of liberating all of the prisoners by themselves as it was), but now didn't seem to be the time to discuss it.

Obi-Wan took the ripped page and gazed at the crude diagrams. "A commlink?" he echoed. Come to think of it, he'd been thinking they needed some kind of communication device to keep in touch. "Yes, that would certainly be quite useful. But do you think we'll be able to find the parts for such a thing?"

Qui-Gon shrugged. "I can't say, unfortunately. Earthian technology is low tech, and there's no promise that they have any equivalents yet to any of the parts we need. But it can't hurt to take a look and see what we come up with."

There was also the question of how to "procure" them...actually, it could probably be viewed as stealing at this point, but Qui-Gon decided that one had to make exceptions every now and then. Sometimes rules had to be bent. Then there was the matter of size. Earthian components, if any could even be found, could be much larger in size, and there was always the chance that if they did manage to build a commlink, it would be bigger than they were used to. First, Qui-Gon thought,let's see if we can even construct one that works at all. They could worry about size after that.

Obi-Wan couldn't say he was an expert in Earthian technology either. However, he wouldn't have been surprised if there were people here who were better versed in all of that. Perhaps he could find someone who knew more and then talk to them about it.

"Were you thinking of something similar to what we were looking at back in town?" he asked after a moment. "Because I honestly did see similar things in the music room here. Actually, I'd been meaning to take some parts during the nightshift and pick them apart on my own time, although I admit I wanted to get a better weapon before venturing out for that sort of thing."

Qui-Gon nodded. "Exactly."

He listened as Obi-Wan described what he'd seen in the music room. That would indeed make things much easier if they could try the devices in there than waiting for another trip to Doyleton.

"Arming ourselves would still be a priority," Qui-Gon said after a moment. He briefly considered trying to construct a lightsaber, but without the proper tools, and the focusing crystals, it might be an exercise in futility that was also dangerous. An improperly made lightsaber could very well explode in their faces. "We can probably start searching out parts once we have some kind of weapon for ourselves."

"It would be ideal if we could get both done in a single night," Obi-Wan mused out loud. It'd certainly make up for all the nights he'd wasted in the past. But he also recognized the dangers of aiming to do too much at once.

"I just wish I had a clearer idea of what kind of weapon we'd need," the Jedi added. "We do have the materials needed to ask the alchemists to make us a blade, but there's quite a waiting list, from what I understand."

Not to mention a blade was far heavier and clumsier than the grace and precision that came with a lightsaber. But even if they had lightsabers, those would be difficult to wield without a proper connection to the Force.

He hated to admit this, but Obi-Wan almost wished he had just a plain old blaster. They were ugly and loud, but at at least you could fight from a distance with those.

"We'll have to wait our turn then," Qui-Gon said. "But we should probably try to notify them we're interested as soon as possible."

He could sense Obi-Wan's distaste at this distance. Obi-Wan probably didn't like the idea of real blades any more than he did, but there wasn't much they could do about it. Lightsabers didn't drop out of the sky. Attempting to make one could turn deadly at the worst, especially considering the fact they really didn't know that much about Earthian materials. Right now they would be better off leaving the weapon making to the patients who had the know-how, at least for the time being.

"I already expressed my interest on a list several days ago, but I haven't heard back from anyone," Obi-Wan answered. "Perhaps I should leave a notice or seek someone out personally, unless you can suggest a better alternative." He didn't like the idea of relying on the alchemists for weapons, especially when it weakened them for a period of time.

"How have your meditations been?" he asked after a moment. "Have you made any progress?" His own hadn't been anything special, but that certainly wasn't new. Obi-Wan hoped that Qui-Gon had been able to do more than himself, at least.

Day 29: Cafeteria, Brunch

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