damned_institute | Nightshift 30: M31-M40 Hallway

[M39]

Being dragged away from ZEX mid-conversation was something of a mixed blessing. On the upside, it meant that Zelnick would have at least few minutes to regain emotional balance before spending the whole night with the guy....

Well, perhaps it was more of a mixed curse. Normally Zelnick didn't begrudge allies their oddities, but ZEX had this amazing ability to jump straight from normal conversation to oh-god-awkward innuendo-laden flirting, and Zelnick couldn't do much but hope that he'd keep away from the latter.

In any case, he paid closer attention to where they took him, this time, not just his room number, and he realized he was actually really close to Yuber's room. Wasn't that convenient?

Once he was in his room, he started to get ready for the night; skillet, knife, pestle, all loaded into the apple basket that had wound up in his closet, along with a couple pens and the radio (hadn't Yuber said it spilled hints at night?). This meant he couldn't take all the apples with him, so Zelnick wrapped them in one of the extra shirts and left them in the corner of the closet. All that was left was to get the flashlight, which he found under his pillow like he did last night.

Then the intercom clicked on.

So that was their lord and master, in this place? After spending the first night confused and the first day hearing the voice of the Head Nurse, he found that the guy sounded pretty sane, until he admitted to killing someone. "The man on the radio--" did he mean whoever was on the other side of the little antique, sending out hints? And the method of death sounded... frighteningly personal.

He unloaded the skillet from the basket and held on to it as the doors unlocked, and sat at his desk to wait for ZEX.

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Okay, at least he hadn't gotten inside by surprise, so that meant... well, something. Usopp was starting to think he should write things down so he could remember to consider them later when his brain was on straight again. If that happens at all.

The idea that they could intimidate someone else was really cheering, since Usopp didn't often find himself in that kind of position, but he wasn't so sure. Mello hadn't seemed intimidated, just kind of bossy and rude. Maybe Sai could tell better, he had been closer. And Sai seemed stronger than Mello.

Maybe I'm stronger too. Or maybe Mello was bluffing and could really lift ships one-handed. But--Sai said he'd take care of it if Mello tried anything. Usopp huffed out a little breath as he thought, or tried to.

"We gotta keep guards now. For the room."

Sai "hmm"ed thoughtfully, taking a closer examination of the door. It would be so much more helpful if they knew how to lock it themselves. But even if they could, they didn't have a key. The mechanism seemed pretty solid in any case. "What we need is better protection for the room in general. Other human beings need not be involved."

If he had some of his regular supplies, as well as access to his own chakra reserves, he could have constructed a useful trap or two that might respond to his and Usopp's unique chakra signatures. However, that would be impossible with what little they had. Usopp had some good supplies, but they weren't proper ninja tools.

And it wasn't the bedroom door that needed guarding the most, in any case. "It would be better to safeguard just the closet. That way our room doesn't become a suspicious target straight away."

"I didn't put the main treasure in the closet, though. It was... it seemed like... people would look there first." Usopp scratched the back of his head. "People can break locks, right? And the closet is getting really crowded." His clothes were sort of piled haphazardly over the supplies for the most part. "Maybe... we shouldn't have it all together. Like, some goes here, some goes there..."

Which was good thinking, as far as he could tell, except he wasn't sure where 'there' was. Sai's room? But what if he needed something to work with? And they already were storing stuff there--or had they moved it back? He couldn't even remember.

"Inventory!" Like that list Captain Zelnick had shown him. "We need an inventory!" Wait... had they talked about this already? "So we can check. See if someone has..." What if someone had come in and stolen something? Would he even notice, in that pile of stuff?

He hadn't really taken notice of Sai referring to the place as 'our room.' It seemed natural; Sai probably spent more time in it than Sousuke did, anyhow.

Edited 2008-03-23 06:41 (UTC)

A hidden vault of some sort would be ideal, but there was no chance the room would have anything like that, and the chances of them being able to create one, and more importantly - have it still be around the next day, were slim. At Usopp's suggestions, the ninja shook his head.

"No, it will be easier to protect one place under these conditions." He moved to the closet door, checking the knob and hinges. "We might be able to put a simple trap together. Something that would notify us that it's been tampered with and at the same time mark anyone who tried to get in so we'd be able to pick them out." Something that they themselves would be able to bypass, of course.

"A trap." What if he triggered it in confusion, if his head didn't clear up? But being marked wouldn't be so bad, as long as they didn't use acid or anything.

Usopp snapped his fingers. "White paint! We got white paint!" That would be perfect! So just set up a system that would dump paint on anyone who tried to open the door. Ought to be really simple, connected to the door, something they could release from the outside once they knew it was there...

It should have been simple but he couldn't imagine it at all. The concept in general worked, but the specifics? Pulleys, something to yank something else over, something to prevent that... he couldn't think of it. And... "What if it washes off by morning?"

Therein lied the problem. Any mark left had a good chance of being gone come breakfast. Even if they caused injury enough to still be visible by then, there would be so many others injured that it could easily be passed off as a wound caused by a monster.

Still thinking, he moved back to the bed and sat down on the edge, hand to his chin. "You're right." He frowned. "There has to be something... A tattooed marking, maybe. Something that will stay."

There were those that still had some variety of special ability in this place. Magic of some sort. If need be, they could try and get one of them to help, but the fewer number of other patients they ended up relying on, the better.

Nightshift 30: M31-M40 Hallway

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