damned_institute | Nightshift 36: East of the Institute

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Nightshift 36: East of the Institute

[from here]

As she walked, Elle tried to think of all the things she wanted to do if this worked. Drink a slushy, fall asleep in her big warm bed with her comfortable pillows. Shock a patient or two.

Trouble was, Daddy wouldn't let her do any of those things.

Especially if she didn't straighten herself out. Snapping at people and being grouchy wouldn't make him proud of her. She needed to be better.

"Sorry," she said to the boy grudgingly. "You're a robot from another planet?" Maybe that would get him talking again and she could space out. Deluded raving wasn't as good as silence, but at least he'd think she was being nice without her actually having to interact with him.

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"I did warn you!" At least, Usopp thought he had. He'd definitely made noises before running, he didn't really remember what he'd said. Probably something about leaving, but considering that he'd been running on automatic and he was very creative, it might have been a recipe for explosives or a short Captain Usopp story instead. "Anyway, anyway, that's not the point! If there's water..."

Well, that was their natural environment, right? Even if he sneezed loudly, before rubbing his aching nose, and decided the air had more moisture in it than before. Cold moisture. "I thought we were inland. Maybe it's a river or something..." He started walking ahead, vaguely in the direction of the sound. The passage was getting more and more difficult, but as lost as they were by now, there wasn't any turning back, and he might as well head towards the water if he was heading anywhere. Besides, holding still in the cold was bad for you, wasn't it?

Brook didn't remember a warning, he remembered rambling! Maybe it wasn't worth worrying over. "Hmmm, if you say so then," he consented.

"What is the importance of water?" he asked, looking down. When he thought about it more though, he realized what it might mean. They could be nearer to the ocean than they thought! If they could get everyone to a port and find a ship, then they could get out of there!

But the ocean didn't usually sound like running water, so a river was more plausible. The river could possibly take them somewhere though!

"Right behind you, Usopp-san!" Brook announced so that this time he wouldn't be left behind and started following along behind. "It's a bit chilly though, so maybe a part of the water is frozen?" he suggested as they went, being slightly realistic for a change. Anything was possible though. "I do hope not!"

Usopp nodded back, sneezed, rubbed his aching nose a little more, and kept walking. Really, even if they magically found an ocean right around the bend, it wouldn't do them a lot of good. They didn't have their ship, or their navigator, or any reason to believe that they could sail home. They might be able to go someplace better than this, though. There had to be a limit to the range of Landel's influence, right?

Still walking, he noticed the amount of snow increasing, even as they moved closer towards the sound. He also saw a few more dark patches, which he studiously pretended not to see at all. Something on the air was starting to smell bad, although there was a salty touch to the smell, or maybe it was just wishful thinking. After the blow and then the cold, it would be no surprise if his nose had gone a little numb.

"Even if it's frozen... you can break through ice. It'd still be something to tell the others, if we found something like that..."

Maybe the cols wasn't so wonderful anymore. Brook still liked having the feeling of it prickling his skin, because he had skin now, but he was losing some feeling in the areas where his skin was showing. Going numb wasn't good for feeling any sensations! He sniffled just a bit himself (was his nose running? How wonderful!), but he wasn't sneezing yet.

"What would we break it with? And yes! We would definitely have to tell them! Everything about being out here, of course!"

"R-right. Big, important... news report. About the stuff outside. 'Cause we accomplished a lot tonight." Usopp sniffled loudly, realized one of the sniffles he'd heard hadn't come from him, and glanced up at Brook. Then he untied his cape, opening it, and gesturing loosely to Brook.

"C'mon under here. I have a smaller body. I lose heat faster, so I need extra warmth. S-so two peoples' body warmth's better, right?" At least the bedsheet should be large enough for both of them, although traveling like that would be even slower.

Brook nodded, then paused when he realized what Usopp was saying. "We did?" he asked, confused. They'd gotten outside of the wall, that much was certain, but they hadn't done much more. Except for the bleeding snow. Did they have to report something that creepy?

He looked down again when Usopp offered his cape, but shook his head at it, holding up a hand. "It is all right. I should have planned ahead better. Yohohoho! And besides, it would be difficult for me to bend down that much and be able to walk! I'd look like a hermit crab!"

Usopp looked a little annoyed at the refusal of his offer. Especially since Brook was ignoring the lie Usopp had given for motivation; Usopp didn't lie about being weaker very often, after all. But he shrugged it off. "It's a whole bed sheet, I think it'd reach. If your toes and fingers start falling off, it isn't my fault, okay?"

Distracted from their surroundings' atmosphere by the annoyance, he stepped ahead, and turning around another corner, saw in a distance what looked to be the source of the sounds he'd heard. The water was frozen over, as Brook had predicted, and looked calm if weirdly... discolored. The beach looked strange too, as though it were covered with large white pebbles. Whatever water they'd heard must have been coming from the lake at an outlet somewhere not too far off, Usopp decided, but the lake itself gave him an uncomfortable feeling. At any rate, it wasn't water they could sail on.

Brook laughed. "Then I'd probably turn back into a skeleton wouldn't I?! Yohohohoho!" Some humor was good for this kind of situation! Or in any kind of situation really.

He viewed the beach and frozen water as well, frowning at the ice more than the color. It didn't look easy to break apart, that was for sure. But then again, who would want to break apart ice on a lake! "It looks a little strange, doesn't it?"

That thought just made Usopp shudder violently, which he covered by pulling the sheet closer around himself.

It was hard to see, especially with moonlight shining off of white snow and ice (where it wasn't stained, and he wasn't sure he wanted to see what was staining it.) The whiteness around the shore from stones or... something... didn't help. He tried pulling out his goggles, squinting through those, but they didn't cut down on the glare at all. Finally, squinting, he made out a little more detail, recognizing one of the odd round white shapes as a human skull.

Stumbling backward, he nearly fell over Brook, turning white as the snow or-- "BroBroBroBrook! That's, it's, that's, those are..!" Despite the cabin he'd seen on the shore, he turned away from the lake entirely, shutting his eyes and covering his ears for a moment. Didn't see anything, didn't see anything, didn't see anything...

Stumbling into Brook didn't help when the former skeleton had had enough problems when he'd been a skeleton with just seeing himself in the mirror! The moment he saw the skulls being pointed to, his mouth fell well beyond the point any normal person's would or could and went back as well, right onto his butt.

"Skulls! There's skulls!" As if that wasn't obvious. "Why are there skulls?!" He pointed, demanding an answer that wouldn't come. Unlike Usopp, Brook didn't have enough sense to just look away and pretend he hadn't seen it, because he had eyes now so he knew what he could and couldn't see! And he saw skulls!

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Nightshift 36: East of the Institute

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