damned_institute | Day 31: Sun Room (Fourth Shift)

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Day 31: Sun Room (Fourth Shift)

Though perhaps not entirely as successful as he wanted it to be, Homura walked away from lunch feeling satisfied with his efforts. Roland and Fai both had shown interest in the goal, and that was enough for the moment. Homura could be patient, had already been for five hundred years, and felt no harm in waiting another five hundred if he had to. He would have his goals realized, no matter what obstacles he faced, be they from the prison or those trapped within.

But now was time for business of a different sort, and the demi-god made his way to the Sun Room, near the common board. He made sure he could be seen from the entrance to the cafeteria, knowing that one stranger and one member of his own group both wanted to meet with him. It worked out well enough, especially given that the stated purpose of the History Club was simple.

Revenge and escape.

For now, Homura had no intention of revealing that it'd grown more complicated than that.

[Waiting for L and Junior]

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[Waiting for Gin]

All day, meeting new people, or at least properly meeting them for the first time, discussing projects, work, and most of all, gunpowder.

In a way, it was kind of funny, considering that not only did Usopp not have gunpowder, he didn't even have all the ingredients for gunpowder. He just had the knowledge of how to make it (and compact it suitably for his own weapons) and a love of it that spanned pretty much from childhood.

Who didn't like explosions? So long as they went off when and where they were supposed to. And didn't take off any body parts. And didn't kill anybody, unless that was the goal, in which case, 'and killed somebody.' He hadn't really thought about it before, the few times he'd fired at ships. He knew Zoro was a killer, and thought probably Sanji or Luffy had to have killed someone at some point. But thinking of himself in that way was weird.

Even if he'd been planning death-traps that morning. At least he could use the afternoon to think of other ideas, maybe things less dangerous that would work... unless someone else wanted to talk about gunpowder.

Though they hadn't arranged a specific time, not really, Gin had been keeping an eye on all of the people he'd met with from the boards, as well as watching for the people he hadn't met yet, given their descriptions. This one was easy enough, and finally there weren't others about to pester them or disrupt the conversation. Hopefully though, the man would be a bit more coherent than he'd been on the bulletin.

Gin walked over with an easy stride, a friendly smile on his lips. "Ara~? Now you look familiar," he stated. "You wouldn' happen t'be one of th' ones I talked to on the message board, would ya? I was one of th' ones interested in ah... explosives n' the like."

"Oh." Usopp jumped a bit, surprised, as he was addressed. But the new man looked friendly enough. I really did make a lot of new acquaintences when I posted drugged, didn't I? The whole thing was a vague blur to Usopp. But the number of people interested by someone who declared their love of gunpowder couldn't be infinite, it had to be running out.

"Yeah, I was talking about it on the board the other day. I was a little drugged though." He smiled at the other man awkwardly. "I'm Usopp. Nice to meet you." Who was this? Well, nobody he'd met thus far, at least. He was sure of that.

He seemed to have startled the man, though he hadn't been trying. At least he hadn't run screaming in the opposite direction, that was a fair start. Gin missed his old robes, in clothes like these it was awkward trying to figure out what to do with his hands. Usually he just tucked them lazily into his sleeves. He settled for letting them hang at his sides, "Mm, I wondered at that. Y'seemed a little... off." He didn't say it in a rude manner, after all, people were drugged here often enough.

"Usopp-san," he repeated, "good t'meetcha as well. M' Ichimaru Gin."

"I was pretty out of it," Usopp agreed. There was no sense in denying it, considering what he did recall of his postings that day. "I'm feeling a lot better now, though."

At least, like Kaito, Gin seemed friendly. And polite, too. Usopp had traveled too much in his own world to give the accent much thought. "So, uh, Gin-san, what did you want to talk about? I don't have any gunpowder yet, if that's what you wanted to know..." It had probably been obvious from the message board postings, but it was better to be safe and besides, the more people who understood that he did not have that, the safer he figured his room would be.

"Hnn~" he mused. He didn't particularly care one way or the other if a patient was stupid enough to get himself drugged, but he still appeared friendly and concerned. "Glad t'hear it."

As for the rest, the conversation that was interesting, Gin chose his words carefully, mulling over what information he already had. "Yet... ne? Are you expectin' to find some?" Whether he knew where it was or knew how to make it didn't matter, as long as he could find some. The way he'd said it... made it sound as if he already had something in mind. If that was the case, all the better. "Saa... I s'pose I'm just wonderin' what it'd take t'find some. Or make it. Or... ha... well... I ain't too good with that sorta thing. I was hopin' you could at least tell me a lil' about th' basics."

Usopp had really meant it more as a polite way of pointing out that he wasn't in quite as much of a mindset to go along mindlessly with anything someone else suggested (or to start listing things he had, unlike last night; good thing Sai had been there) but it was nice of Gin to say he was glad Usopp felt better.

It was strange, this seemed to be the first person who didn't have at least some experience in making gunpowder. Well, that was also a pleasant change of pace, too. Usopp crossed his arms, thinking of how to answer that series of comments. "Not find, unless the new radio person puts some out for patients, I guess. And the alchemists already told me they can't make it." There had been a new radio person, that hadn't been the drugs, right? "But making it isn't too hard, once you have the ingredients. We're still gathering them."

He figured it couldn't hurt to tell the other man that much about what they were doing. "You need saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal. You grind some of them down together, mix them in the right proportions, and that alone'll have a nice burst although you can treat it so it'll have a stronger reaction. I mostly learned from trial and error." Looking back, it was a miracle he'd grown up with all his fingers.

"Houu..." he said as he listened to Usopp talk about the gunpowder. The more he could find out, the better. While chemicals were interesting and could do some damage, he knew just how devastating gunpowder could be as well. It was a pity they hadn't anyone from the Shiba clan here. They would probably know plenty on the subject.

He tried to piece together the ingredients in his mind. He knew what charcoal was and had a couple of guesses as to where he might find it. Sulfur was a type of mineral and that, he really wasn't sure where to start looking for. The saltpeter was right out though, he hadn't heard the term before. It was interesting how he could ask several people about the same things and always end up with different answers. "You'll have t'break it down a lil' for me if y'can," he said after a moment. He pulled out his notebook and wrote the ingredients down, "Ain't sure what about half a that is. Or where t'find it. Sounds a lil' complicated."

"Yeah, um..." Usopp frowned as he saw Gin write the items down. "I wasn't sure where to find it in here, either. I first found out how to make it out of a book, actually, when I was a kid." He'd had a lot of free time as a kid. Not so much supervision. "It takes some time to get it right. I'm not sure this is really a good place to learn how."

He rubbed the back of his head, scratching under the edge of the pirate bandanna he'd made from one of the shirts. Usopp wasn't sure he wanted to volunteer to make gunpowder for strangers, but he also wasn't sure he wanted to be responsible for directing people on how to blow off their own digits. "Why do you want to know about gunpowder? There's guys who make swords and things, too, if that's more of what you're used to using. Gunpowder can be dangerous if you aren't careful."

"Hmm... it's somethin' like... an assignment really," he shrugged his shoulders. "For the arts n' crafts group. Just lookin' into some ideas I s'pose." He glanced up from his notebook at Usopp. He wasn't sure if the man was trying to keep him from getting it now or just really was concerned about someone getting hurt by making it.

"Mm..." he nearly purred, "M' a lil' better with a sword, I'll admit." He paused, twirling the pen in his finger for a moment, "but it sure would be useful 'round here. Could bust open some doors... maybe do some damage on the bigger monsters... an' I'm sure it'd make a pretty good distraction, ne?" Not to mention the potential fires or chaos it would cause. It seemed like a fairly nice thing to have around.

Had anyone said anything about Arts and Crafts on the board? Usopp couldn't remember. Come to think of it, maybe he should talk to them. Well, directly talk to them, the way he'd talked to Roy. Had Roy passed on anything? Probably not--what was there to pass on, then? The Innovative Captain Usopp with a notebook of ideas wasn't really helpful. Besides, he thought the Cooking club was more in charge of weapons, although Arts and Crafts seemed to do a little of everything. And what was that weird History club about?

"Okay. How about I agree, when and if we get some gunpowder, I agree I'll talk to the Arts and Crafts club? And probably the Cooking Club." Although he didn't really want to talk to Roy again, not about this sort of thing, until he had a working flamethrower to show off. He hadn't had any time to work on that lately! "I don't know how much we'll be able to make right now, anyway. We've got the key ingredient, but not a whole lot of it, and we still need other ingredients and to actually mix them."

"Hnn," Gin considered Usopp's offer. He'd hoped to skim some of it for himself, but if he was involved it would mean that he at least had access to information about how it was made and the ones who made it. That went for several of the other chemicals he'd researched too. "Sounds pretty fair," he told the man, propping his elbows up on the table in a casual fashion.

"But if I c'n suggest, the arts n' crafts club has plenty a members. If y'need some extra hands lookin' for that kinda stuff, m'sure we'd be able t'help. That'd leave you with jus' the expert job a' mixin', ne? We'd jus' need t'know where we can get it n' how much y'need."

"Oh, well, thanks." Usopp was a bit embarrassed, as he added, "But a lot of people are helping me with this project." I have lots of very large and intimidating friends? "I think we'll be okay for now. Still, I'll keep it in mind." Captain Zelnick seemed to not be shy about asking things on the bulletin board, but he didn't seem to be too shy about anything, come to think of it.

"Maybe if things go well, we can all celebrate with fireworks." An overly hopeful idea and it'd be a big waste of gunpowder, but it sounded pretty nice to Usopp right then. Celebrating a success, rather than just gathering up more projects to worry about.

"I'd appreciate that," Gin smiled, not quite sure why Usopp was so hesitant, but it was only his job to look into the means by which they might be able to create different tools, not to actually obtain them. If Toushirou wanted the supplies, he could direct things from there.

"Ara, you c'n do that too, mm? Somethin' big n' pretty'd sure be interestin'," honestly he thought it an incredible waste, but it wasn't really his problem. Maybe Usopp just hadn't realized yet what kind of pinch they were in.

"Yeah, but I'm not really the best at that kind of thing. Still, making fireworks and making really simple ammunition isn't that different." Usopp considered, before adding, "There's other people here who know how to make gunpowder too, y'know." I'm just the only one who got drugged silly yesterday. "But I think there's only a limited amount of the chemicals in the building. Even if we go get as much as is put out every night, it'll be a while before we've got any really useful amount." As in, enough to share.

"How interestin'," he smiled. He did know that much on his own, but since people usually assumed he was just another country bumpkin, playing the fool could be helpful at times. "Anyone y'know who might be able t'help me out? I didn' wanna be writin' that kinda thing up on the boards since I ain't sure if the staff would like it, ne? But if you could point me in the right direction, it'd sure help."

Whether or not there was a practical amount of the ingredients in the building or not didn't much matter to him, he was a patient man if nothing else. As long as it was coming in at a steady pace, a reliable pace, it didn't matter. He could wait.

"Help you with what?" Usopp frowned a little. "Figuring out how to make gunpowder? Or getting gunpowder? I'm pretty sure, if anybody else has been working on it, they haven't been the kind who share." Though the possibility was there. Increased, since the loud commentary about the ingredients in public. Maybe he should ask Captain Zelnick... no, he hadn't posted anything about where, and unless someone was really dedicated to gunpowder it wasn't likely to inspire wild searching for just ingredients.

The finished product, on the other hand... That'd need quiet, as much as quiet could be managed in such a large group. How many? He could think of seven people directly involved, not counting his own crew who wasn't precisely involved but who would have to be kept in the loop.

They were getting near the size of the Cooking Club. Usopp looked momentarily stunned by his own thoughts, imagining. It was probably a little late to declare them all workers of Usopp Factory. But maybe he should start putting the sign up again anyway. "I don't know if I should talk about it too much. No offense! I just don't know if they'd like having other people come up to them asking about it. You remember who else was posting in the original conversation back on the bulletin board?" Because Usopp sure didn't. "That's probably a start, anyway." And not Usopp's responsibility to keep under his hat, er, bandanna.

"Ara... tha's too bad hn... I guess I'll hafta check that list then," he shrugged. Obviously Usopp wasn't about to just hand out the information. Either he didn't want them to have it or he really was afraid of the consequences if someone found out the information had come from him. Gin might have tried a little harder to persuade him if he'd thought it worth his time. However, if Toushirou really wanted it, he could pursue it himself.

"Well tha's much appreciated at any rate. Sorry t'be so troublesome," there was still a little bit of time left in the shift, he noticed, but he wasn't sure if it would be better to stay with this one or try to find someone else to entertain him for the rest of the time.

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Day 31: Sun Room (Fourth Shift)

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