damned_institute | Nightshift 36: M31-40

Usopp was still worried about Sousuke, but he didn't have time for that. His first visitor came by even sooner than he'd expected, although he was relieved to hear Junior's familiar voice.

"Yeah, one second!" He'd been in the middle of changing his clothes, leaving his boots off for Sanji's future possible benefit. Even if it had lead to a misunderstanding the other night, it was just too comfortable to work in his own clothes instead of the Institute's uniforms.

Coming to the door, he opened it, smiling. "Hi, you had some stuff you wanted to drop off?" It looked like the shorter man was loaded down, considering the pillowcase in hand. Junior had said he'd had other plans for the night, so maybe he was dropping off things for multiple people...

Sai came to a stop a few feet away. It appeared as though the pirate was already busy with someone else. Not wanting to cause any difficulties, he held back and leaned against the wall for the moment. He didn't intend to stay long, so he shouldn't be getting in anyone's way.

Though he hadn't expected Usopp to go anywhere, it was a small comfort knowing the pirate was still around after everything that had happened that day.

Junior glanced up at the other man and nodded. So Usopp had a different outfit, too? Where was everyone getting them from?

"Yeah. Sorry if this is too early." He lifted the bag up a bit. "I picked up some pill bottles from the pharmacy a few nights ago that I thought you might be able to use. Magnesium and lithium. They can't be pure, but they're probably as close as we can get in here."

He glanced over when he noticed someone leaning against the wall, probably waiting to talk to Usopp. It sounded like he'd have a bunch of people coming by tonight, before heading out. "Anyway, I don't want to get in the way. Where would you like me to put them?"

Usopp was surprised to see Sai appear near Junior, although not too surprised; the ninja tended to drop by regularly. Was he going to be going to his training session with Mello after this? Usopp still wasn't sure...

"No, sorry, I'm just slow getting started." Usopp widened the door. He hadn't pulled anything out of the closet other than his clothes and shoes, so the floor was unusually clear. "If it's too many to just hand over, you can put them on my desk, and I'll put them away?" Keeping the chemicals organized in his closet... keeping the closet organized at all... was becoming a real chore. "You're not in the way of anything, really, I can't leave until a few other guys show up. Oh, if you don't know him, that's Sai, he works with me a lot. He's a ninja, so he's kind of quiet and sneaky." Usopp shrugged a bit, as if to say What can you do?

The ninja nodded as he was introduced, waiting until Usopp had finished speaking to say anything himself. He didn't offer the usual smile.

"I'm just checking in," he said. "Usopp, if you need anything at all I'll be in room M3. If this changes I'll try and let you know first." When it came down to it, the pirate had priority over Mello, and there were others the blond could find to help him if he searched well enough.

Junior just nodded at Sai's introduction and gave him a wave with the hand that was holding the pillowcase, but let him say what he needed to first. He'd only heard of the guy briefly from Mello, but the man had said that they worked together and that Sai was sort of like Usopp's bodyguard. It sure sounded like it, at least from the way Sai was talking.

"Ah, okay. It shouldn't be too many, I just wasn't sure." Junior knelt, laying his things on the ground as he opened the pillowcase and rifled through it. After a moment, he finally pulled out about six or seven bottles cupped in his palms and held them up. "There's a few of each, and should hopefully last a few nights, depending on what you use it for. I can try to grab you more another time, and see if I can find that saltpeter you mentioned."

Sai seemed to be a little... serious. Was it because of the introduction? Usopp hadn't been totally serious, and he thought he'd probably said worse things about the ninja in friendly terms before, but maybe Sai was thinking about Mello. Usopp still disapproved of the idea of Sai 'training' him, but nodded. "Okay, have a nice night, wish me luck!"

Then, his attention was fully back on Junior. He sat down in response to Junior's sitting, just because it felt rude to stand over the already shorter person and loom waiting. "... Oh, thanks! I need to talk to some people, but I think for now, just having these will be enough. More saltpeter would be good, I wish I had directions for where it is, though. I need to ask Zelnick specifically... or I'll go myself some night." After all, Zelnick had been the first one to show up with it. "Thanks for bringing me these, and good luck tonight too." He stood up, holding the bottles.

At the pirate's words, Sai did smile briefly. "Good luck to you as well, Usopp."

He still didn't like leaving his friend alone, even though he would probably remain in his room for most, if not all, of the night and there were plenty others around who wouldn't want to see him hurt. In the future, perhaps they could work out some sort of communications system.

It didn't take long at all for Sai to leave, but Junior hoped he'd get the chance to meet the ninja again. He probably would, if he went with Usopp some other night. For now, though, he had other work to do.

The redhead gathered his stuff back up after Usopp took the bottles, and gave him a smile and a nod. "Sure thing. Good luck to you, too. Hope you guys find some good stuff tonight." With that, he turned and went back down the hall to meet up with his group.

Waving his guests off in turn, a bit awkwardly since his hands were full, Usopp turned back to his room and kicked the door lightly shut. First, to start pulling out the medical supplies he had saved for Chopper, then to start equipping himself for then night's trip. Hopefully his crewmates would be here before long.

He left out the bottles Junior had brought, to see if Chopper would have more concrete ideas on what to do with them. Chopper might be a doctor, but that was chemistry too, right? Besides, Junior had mentioned he'd found it in the pharmacy. He didn't think the other patient would mind if the items went to a friend, so long as they went to a good cause, but maybe he should have asked...

Well, it'd be fine. If it was a problem, he'd go get some more to make up for it. Tonight, Usopp needed to be focused on his goals. Cleaning out the broken glass and the spilled flour and chili in his bag was a pain, but he had to do that before he could try repacking it for the night. Seeing that reminded him of the twinge in his chest from where Chopper had landed on him. It didn't hurt too badly right now, but when he was actually straining himself, it might be a different story...

Sanji's kicked the door a couple times as a means of knocking. (His hands were currently full with wood and cigarette.) His voice was a bit more amiable than the noise would let on, however. "Hey, Usopp! Open up!"

If for some reason their friend wasn't in his room, and if Chopper said he was he was sure he would be, he'd just dump the burden on the bed and move on. The lack of shoes would be disappointing, but he'd manage.

Edited 2008-11-02 04:12 (UTC)

Usopp jumped a bit at the sound of kicking, but Sanji's voice made him relax. "Don't be impatient! I'm coming! Gimme a minute--"

He stood up again from where he'd nearly finished cleaning out his poor bag, putting the broken glass bits with the shattered window fragments he'd saved from his first night, and headed over to the door, opening it.

"Hey! You brought the right wood, too!" Usopp's expression lit up. He'd been a little worried Sanji would insist on getting his closet space back, bringing all the branches. "Thanks!"

Chopper was happy to have gotten the room number for the clinic from Sanji; it meant that he wouldn't have to check all the rooms nearby looking for the right one.

When Usopp opened his door, Chopper peeked around from behind Sanji. "There's still a lot more left in Sanji's closet," he commented.

"Yeah," Sanji grumbled. "And taking up plenty of space." He didn't plan on whining too much about the wood, seeing as he didn't really have anything else he planned on keeping in his closet at the moment. Hell, all the clothes could probably go. They were all the same thing and bound to be replaced continuously anyway.

There were more important matters to attend to, however. "So, still willing to part with those hideous shoes of yours?"

"Don't insult them!" Usopp reached out to start taking sticks from the others. He couldn't work with the wood tonight, but he'd planned on balancing them up in the closet by the sign, once he made a little more room... "Those shoes have gotten me through some tough times! Like when I had to hike through the dreaded Swamp of Monster Bird-Snake-Dragons for three straight months when I was twelve. By the way, if they start smelling funny after you've been sweating in them a while, that's why."

Leaning to push the door open some more, he headed into his room, expecting them to follow for a moment. "The boots are on the floor there. Chopper, lemme pull out the medical stuff after I put these up... someone brought by some things from the pharmacy tonight too, I thought you might be able to use them. It's magnesium and lithium. He brought a lot, so if you want to take a bottle or two of them, you're welcome to." Usopp had some vague ideas, which might work out if he experimented a little, but he thought the doctor might have more concrete thoughts of what to use those chemicals for.

Chopper followed Usopp into the room, and then moved out of the way so that Usopp could get wherever he needed to for the medical supplies.

"A bottle of each would be nice," Chopper said. He didn't want to take too much if Usopp had other uses for them, but he also didn't think he'd need much of either here. It really depended on what he had to treat, but if he needed more later, he could restock.

After Usopp's comment about the stench, Sanji just stood over the shoes for a moment and stared at them as though he expected to see whisps of bad odor rising up into the air. Seeing nothing, he bent over slowly and picked them up at the back, holding them at an arm's length.

They looked wearable enough. With a sigh, he made his way to the edge of the opposite bed and sat down to put them on.

They were still ugly.

Usopp dug around more in the closet, before finding the place where he'd been keeping the drugs and supplies Yuber had brought over a few trips. Yuber was a really helpful guy to have an an ally... he did need to ask about him, Usopp resolved. Maybe the disappearances happened in groups. Or something.

"Okay. Those bottles are on the desk, Chopper. Here we go, the other things. I have a spare mortar and pestle, plus some bandages, and these bottles too." They were either chemicals he didn't know or drugs, labeled 'Xanax,' 'Codeine,' 'Tylenol' and 'Robaxin.' Judging from the Tylenol, which was the only familiar one, they were completed drugs. "I know at least one of these is a pain killer. I don't know what the others do, but I thought you might."

Sanji's wary treatment of his shoes went unremarked upon, since at least Sanji wasn't complaining about the fashion anymore.

Chopper moved to the desk, taking one of each of the labeled bottles before turning back to Usopp, who'd gotten out the supplies.

"Thanks!" he said, grinning. He would definitely need the bandages, and the mortar and pestle were a necessity when it came to mixing medicines. His grin turned to a troubled frown when it came to the bottles, however. He took them from Usopp, looking at their labels carefully. He didn't recognize the names.

"I... I'm not sure," he said, setting the bottles on the floor to free his hands. He opened the bottle labeled 'Tylenol' to look inside. A number of pills were inside. They must have been premade medicine, but he didn't know what their effects could be. "Maybe I can ask at the clinic..."

"That would be your best bet." Sanji nodded. He stood, testing out the shoes. The fit still wasn't too bad. Both of them had rather large feet. "There's got to be someone in there from a world that's similar enough to this one to recognize some of them." Most of the people in the clinic had seemed young, but given the age of their own doctor it didn't seem worth pointing out.

"Did you want to head over there next?" The chef wasn't even sure what their plans were after they finished things up here. Usopp likely had others coming by and wouldn't leave with them if they went.

"I've had the same problem... everything here's a little different." Usopp commented, when he saw Chopper's confusion at the medicines. "I'm sure somebody'll know, anyway." Even if Chopper didn't know the medicines right away by their name in this world, Chopper was still a doctor. He knew about how to use medicine in general, and Usopp was sure he'd figure it out. Easier than Usopp could, anyway.

"Are you guys heading out now? I was going to go to the shed again tonight, if I could... Brook said he was going to meet with me, I think, but does he know what my room number is?" Usopp scratched the back of his head. "Maybe I should go to his room. Have any of you seen him tonight?"

"Yeah, I want to go there next," Chopper said in reply to Sanji, nodding. The fact that he didn't know what the medicines were bothered him a little, but it just meant there was much more out there for him to learn. If he was going to be a good doctor, learning about another world's medicine wasn't an opportunity to be missed.

"I haven't seen Brook since... since last night," he told Usopp. He started to gather the medicine bottles together again before realizing that he wasn't going to be able to carry everything. After a moment's thought, he pulled off his shirt, intending to use it to wrap everything into a bundle.

"Ah. Ah, no need for that." Sanji bapped Chopper's head lightly and walked past him. He pulled an extra gray shirt from Usopp's closet. It wasn't as though the pirate would be needing them soon. He would have snatched the pillowcase, but given that the sniper still planned on going out that wouldn't be fair. "Use this instead."

As far as Brook went, Sanji hadn't talked to him that day either, but he'd seen him around in passing. Someone that tall with an afro that large was hard to miss. "Brook's around. You can always stand outside your room if you think that'll help him find you."

"Sure, go ahead and take that, there'll be more." Usopp gave permission even though it hadn't been asked for. He was starting to repack his own bag now, from things found near the top of his 'tools' division in the closet. "But be careful not to jostle things on the closet floor, okay? It could be dangerous."

The way Sanji had said that... Usopp hadn't been thinking of the weird ex-skeleton vanishing between their agreement to meet on the board and the night's events, but it was possible, wasn't it? Or he could be brainwashed or kidnapped. He frowned a little into his bag, but then glanced back around with a more even expression. "Yeah, I'll head out in a moment to look. We should have agreed on a meeting spot or something, but I wasn't expecting him to volunteer."

Actually, when Usopp thought about it, although he'd met with lots of people, he didn't have plans to meet with anyone else for the actual exploration. Well, hopefully the path wouldn't be too dangerous...

Chopper looked up when Sanji pulled an extra shirt from the closet. "Ah... okay," he said. He pulled his own shirt back on before taking the extra one from Sanji.

He set to work wrapping the items together carefully.

Nightshift 36: M31-40

M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33

Re: M33