damned_institute | Nightshift 36: M31-40

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.

The chef paced back and forth a bit, just giving the shoes one final test before deciding they would be good enough - at least for tonight.

"You take care of yourself," he said to the sniper. "Brook too." Though asking Usopp to look out for their other crewmate's safety might be a bit much, it was still the proper thing to say. "If you need us again before you head off we might still be two doors down."

Then he made for the door again, glancing back at Chopper to make sure he was coming along.

Usopp paused to watch Sanji in the shoes. Were they fitting comfortably enough? Maybe he should add some padding, or take something out? He wasn't a cobbler, but he wasn't a shipbuilder either and that had never stopped him from trying.

"Yeah, I'll make sure nothing happens to our new nakama," Usopp agreed nobly, waving a bit as he realized they were about to head out. Was he going to be looking for the afroed musician alone at night? That was a little scary, now that he stopped to think about it. But he was armed, and Chopper and Sanji had things to do...

"Good luck in the clinic, too!"

Chopper finished wrapping the bundle, tying the corners of the shirt together. He carried the bundle to the door, but paused in the doorway.

"Thanks again for the medical supplies, Usopp!" he said, grinning. "If you need treatment or anything, just let me know, okay?"

He freed a hand to wave at the sniper, and then hurried after Sanji.

Back to packing, then, and finishing up by grabbing both his pillow case and, on further thought, his bedsheet for good measure. There was no telling what would be out there.

For self-defense, he had his slingshot, but hadn't brought much in the way of fragile weaponry aside from the usual flour stars. And there was the hammer, too, tucked at his waist instead of in his bag. Well, Brook was going to meet him, or he was going to meet Brook, or...

At any rate, Brook had stood in the path of a rampaging Chopper. True, he'd been thrown into a tree, but he'd taken that pretty well too, considering. They'd be just fine. If they found each other. And didn't encounter anything too bad. Usopp kept telling himself that as he headed out the door, only pausing to use flour and spit to paste onto the closet a warning: 'No Boobytraps.' Hopefully reverse psychology would be simple enough that it'd confuse anyone overly intelligent, the kinds of people who would puzzle out his room number with ease, for example. If not, at least he was honest.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/489285.html?thread=40333381#t40333381)]

Nightshift 36: M31-40

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