damned_institute | Day 30: Patient Library (Fourth Shift)

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Day 30: Patient Library (Fourth Shift)

While he waited for his bulletin board correspondant, Farfarello perused the library's offerings once more. There was no sign of any of the books he'd requested in the suggestion box but he wasn't very suprised that this was the case--even if, by some chance, the Head Doctor actually intended to grant any of the reasonable requests it still would probably take more than a day for anything to happen. The wheels turned slowly, in institutions, and there was no reason for a fake institution to be any speedier than a real one.

For lack of anything better, Farfarello pulled down the Histories volume of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. A little Richard III would keep him diverted for a short while, anyway.

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Ah, so it would be a trade off, in the end. He'd give this one the information on where to find a few things and in return, he'd find out what exactly they did and hopefully how they might be combined for greater effect.

"Th' first question's easy," Gin commented, twirling his pen between his fingers, though he refrained from answering it right away. He wanted to make sure the other boy knew this would be a give and take. "There's a couple places on th' second floor, I c'n draw a map if y'like."

He sighed, "But th' second, well, that's why I wanted someone who knew what they were talkin' about. I know there were a few acids n' things, but I ain't sure what all they do. They seemed pretty common though. I s'pose I was hopin' just to get a gen'ral idea of whether or not I could put together somethin' nasty with basic things like that."

"A map would be good." Farfarello closed his eye for a moment, thinking. Without knowing exactly which chemicals were there he could only provide so much information, but that was fine--it was just as well not to give a potential enemy the means to really fuck you up. He did remember Gin from that night in the Sun Room, though, so he knew the man could probably do plenty of damage even without his help.

"Well, it'd be better if I had specifics, but okay. One thing to look at is how things are stored. If they're in an air-tight container, it's probaby because something bad'll happen when they come into contact with air, or with water. Lye, that's sodium hydroxide," Farfarello gestured for Gin's notebook, wanting to write down some of the chemical names while he was talking, "is one that can cause chemical burns, and gets hot when it comes in contact with water. Even sweat can be enough."

"Acids can be plenty nasty all on their own, but hydrochloric acid mixed with bleach will give you chlorine gas. Gotta be real careful with that one, though, because it'll do you just as much damage as your enemy if you breathe it in." That was the problem with a lot of the really nasty chemical weapons--you were at risk, too.

Gin jotted down the instructions quickly. Both of those sounded easy enough to obtain. Lye was used in soap, he knew that much, and bleach was another cleaning product. He'd seen a few acids in the storage room, so perhaps the one this boy had mentioned would be among them. "Ara," he commented, "sounds like fun."

It didn't take him long to tear out a page from his journal and draw up a map of the second floor's far hallway. He marked the doors that contained the chemicals with X's. "Last hall on th' second floor," he instructed, just to make sure it was clear. "Th' janitor's closet had some of th' cleanin' supplies, but this other one here," he pointed to it before sliding the paper across the table, "had most of th' other chemicals."

He raised an eyebrow, still curious. The boy seemed to know plenty about what he was doing, at least, if the notes he'd taken were any indication. "Anythin' else?"

"Hmm. Know of the janitor's closet, not familiar with the other one. I'll check 'em out." Hopefully. As long as Schuldig and Crawford didn't have any other plans for Schwarz tonight.

"Nothing else I can tell you offhand, without actual chemical names. Lots of things react badly with other things, but there's a whole lot of that kind of reaction out there." Even if his memory was 100% perfect, which it was not, there was no way he could rattle off every volatile chemical reaction possible.

Gin hoped that by 'check them out,' this boy would actually let him in on some of the results. However, there were a few others he'd yet to meet with who might be able to give him some ideas. It was never good to put all of one's eggs in one basket.

"Fair 'nough," he smiled. That seemed to be it. Gin rose from his chair slowly, just in case there was anything else the boy wanted to mention before he found his next target. "Good luck w'that. Have fun, ne?"

Farfarello chuckled, eye half-lidded in pleasure as he thought about things like acids and chlorine gas. "Oh, I will." He waved absently to Gin, already making tentative plans in his head.

[wandering down a few threads!]

Leon's nurse made a comment as he rushed out of the showers that he couldn't have scrubbed nearly hard enough, but it didn't matter. It was so uncomfortable in there. It wasn't as though the young mage had anything to be ashamed of. No, he was a fine specimen of a boy, if he did say so himself. Took good care of the body and all that. There was just only so much naked the kid could stand. Goodness.

They allowed him free choice of rooms and he quickly made for the library. He wanted to look for any important titles he'd missed. Oddly enough, he noticed that the books he'd stolen a couple nights passed had been replaced. Did they keep extras around?

He nearly bumped into Gin as he edged around one particular row, and was about to offer an "excuse me" when something about the man's features threw him off. Silver hair, tall,...smiling? Wasn't he supposed to...

"Oh, hello!" He said instead. "Sorry if I'm wrong, but were you the one asking about having your radio looked at?"

Just as he'd been ready to leave, seemed he had another visitor. The child was tiny in comparison, but he seemed polite and spirited and most importantly, willing to offer help. Gin nodded, "That'd be me. Didn't think I'd meet up with y'so soon."

He scratched his head. He didn't have his radio with him for exactly that reason. "Well, I got a confession t'make," he said with what appeared to be sincerity. "It ain't exactly broken. But I got some modifications to it that I didn' wanna bring up on th' boards."

"That's completely understandable," Leon nodded. He was just glad he hadn't been immediately dismissed because of his age and size. Not yet, anyway. He was willing to act on his best professional level if the man decided he actually needed the help. "My name is Leon Geeste and you could say I'm a man of many talents. Tinkering being one of them."

He held out his hand with a cheerful smile. "Do you have it with you, or is this something that will have to wait until night? If that's the case then a simple description will do for now."

Gin smiled right back at the boy, holding back any comments about whether or not the child should be calling himself a man when he looked barely old enough to survive the nights here. As with everything else though, it was likely not what it seemed. Gin was happy to play along.

"Ichimaru Gin," he replied. The boy was confident enough about his abilities, so perhaps he'd have some ideas. "A description f'now," he said, opening his hands to reveal that they contained nothing. "I wonder," he started, "what kinda things I might need t'broadcast to the other radios. That possible?"

The boy put a hand to his chin. He was of the opinion that it made him look more serious. "In theory it should be possible. If the device is made to receive a certain signal it could be made to receive others, or the one it's set to pick up could be found.."

He shrugged. "The problem would be rigging one device strong enough to send out a signal to the others. And they'd have to have theirs on and tuned to the right place. I don't know how the man on the radio works them so they switch on automatically, but that would be beyond difficult."

Gin had figured that much. If not just the Doctor, but also his rival had ways to send messages over the same system, surely others could too. The other part, causing the radios to find the right spot and turn on at the right moment, apparently would be more difficult. If they had to, they could just inform the patients ahead of time to have them on and focused on the right place to receive the message, couldn't they?

"Ara..." he sighed, though he kept his smile on. "Sounds complicated. Y'up to th' task? If y'let me know what kinda things y'need, I'll see that y'get 'em."

"It could be more or less complicated depending on how simple the device itself is to work. I've already taken a bit of a look at mine." Leon shrugged. He was sure he could figure out any kind of mechanical device given the time and equipment.

"I've got a few tools. They might do the job. Having some extra thin electrical wire might help. Maybe parts of radios that others aren't using or are willing to sacrifice. I won't know too much about what else I'll need until I actually start tinkering with it."

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Day 30: Patient Library (Fourth Shift)

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