damned_institute | Night 46: M31-40 Hallway

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Night 46: M31-40 Hallway

Emmett left his room empty handed again. It was tougher navigating without a flashlight, but it felt more comfortable. Especially with what he was going to have to do.

Outside seemed like his best bet for hunting. The dogs that attacked them last night didn't exactly smell fresh, but their blood was slightly more appetizing-- and much more likely to be digested by his system than the human food that kept being shoved in his face. Unfortunately there was also the chance that he wouldn't be able to find a semi-living, warmblooded animal out there again. Apparently there had been some Night of the Living Dead theme going on recently. So who knew, maybe it was going to be Swampthing or Frankenstein night-- he did hear that nutjob mention some bullshit like that. If that was the case then his natural prey couldn't be ruled out as an option.

He kept to the wall as he walked down the hallway. It was still early and relatively quiet. Feeding on someone he didn't know was definitely way better than attacking a friend, he was sure the others would agree...

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Given the number of members there had been in the Rumbar Pirate Crew, getting instruments on and off the ship had not been too much of a hassle, even for Brook's grand piano! That was why having friends made things easier, and why Brook couldn't think that he could not get a piano that was less than ten times the size of a true one moved. What kind of musician would he be if he couldn't suffer for his art?! Not that he didn't appreciate having Usopp's assistance, however.

"It's fine for now. I wouldn't want any arms falling off because of it, you know! Yohohohoho!" Brook laughed and nearly hoped that he'd been in his skeletal form so he could have a bit more fun with the idea. He'd never attempted to remove anything other than the top of his skull, but the thought was entertaining. He'd have to try should he ever return to "normal".

Usopp stood up straighter, stretching his back out. Maybe it would have helped if he hadn't worn the coat, but the official Institute clothes seemed so flimsy. Reaching back, the straw hat seemed okay, not that he'd thought it wouldn't be. He'd have to ask later about it. It'd be embarrassing if Luffy had just left it behind, but something about that just seemed too weird. And at least he could give it back over, ideally in person.

Glancing over at Brook a little suspiciously, as if he'd almost heard the possibility for a skull joke if only Brook had his old body back, Usopp decided to address the other part of the topic. "Okay? It's just sitting in the middle of the floor! I don't want to try to move it into the closet by myself."

"You won't have to!" Brook told him, taking a seat on the floor and giving him knee a pat, "I just said it's fine for now. And besides that, I wanted to make sure it works!"

As tempted as he'd been to give a key a press the moment he pulled it from the closet, it wasn't proper to play an upright piano somehow. Not given how you were supposed to play a piano! So Brook had waited patiently to have the small version sitting appropriately before him, and him before it, so that any note struck would be done... well, appropriately!

And Brook knew just what note to hit as well. Stretching one long index finger towards the center of the board, Brook let the fingertip rest atop the middle C before giving a firm press. The key fell much quicker than the average key (ah, he should have remembered that!), however the sound that accompanied the press was not what had been expected. It had not been anything, actually. Just... silence.

"Eh?" Brook lost his grin a bit and slowly tried again. Once more, nothing. "No! No no no!" Smile now gone, Brook pressed at the key a few more times, still finding there to be no sound. "Why aren't you working?!"

Usopp sighed at the knee pat and sat down too for a rest, only to stand up again quickly as Brook's careful key press resulted in nothing. He really didn't know much about music beyond singing, but he was pretty sure that wasn't right, and it was confirmed as Brook seemed to be slightly panicky beside him.

"Did we break it? Do you think we shook it around too much?" And after going to all that trouble not to drop it. Usopp started looking around the machine, but he was still clueless. It wasn't exactly like a ship, where he could see there was a hole and proceed to patch it, or like something he'd invented from his own imagination. For all he knew about pianos, maybe all the music had leaked out, although it seemed unlikely. It wasn't a tone dial. Was it? "How does it work? Can we open it? Maybe we can still fix it!"

Then again, playing also wasn't fixing, and even Brook might not know much about piano repair. Also, there was the fact that Usopp had none of his tools here, unless the scalpels counted...

"But we were so careful!" Brook would never have mishandled an instrument! Not intentionally! There had been the thing where he'd taken off the legs of the piano, but it was for a good cause!

Had he broken it then? Without realizing it? It probably would have been a good idea to test the piano after taking it, but he hadn't thought about things like that! And now... now his precious piano wouldn't play! Brook could just feel the heart in his chest splitting in two! How this tragedy pained him!

"How could this happen?" With a broken heart, Brook's spirits were not too high when Usopp suggested attempting to fix it. While he did know how to fix a normal piano, this one was completely different! No strings (how did it work?) or pedals! Wait, how... did it work? "Perhaps... it's different from a regular piano," he said, trying to hold back potential tears, "It always worked in the room, but... maybe there's something to it."

"Brook, Brook, it's okay! We'll figure something out!" Worried a little at seeing the mood-swinging musician going down, Usopp tried giving his shoulder a reassuring pat. It was easier when Brook was on the ground. "It doesn't look like the pianos I'm used to, except for the keys, so maybe there's some secret we just don't know. What room did it work in? Luffy's?"

Maybe it had to be connected to something back from where Brook had found it, especially if Brook had played it there and not outside. Sort of the way an organ had keyboards that had to be connected to bigger machinery. That wasn't a piano, of course, but it was the only musical analogy Usopp could think of. "There's lots of inexplicable mysteries around here, maybe the piano's one of them! So just be patient for tonight, and tomorrow we can ask people and try to figure it out. Right? We definitely didn't break it, we were so careful."

Usopp had know way to be sure of that, but he felt bad enough for suggesting it in the first place, a tiny lie couldn't hurt.

How was it ok?! A piano that didn't play was hardly a piano at all! If there was no music, then Brook was convinced there was also no soul!

"The music room. That's what they call it here," Brook said quietly. There was the possibility that something kept music from being played in any room other than that one, thus the name, but caging music like that was unheard of! And it was terrible to do so, even if it was possible!

Brook finally let himself sniffle a bit, inhaling a deep breath before sighing it out. "Of course we did not break it!" he repeated, convincing himself of as much, "I could not call myself a musician if I had done something so terrible as to break a piano!"

"Exactly!" Usopp agreed immediately with great and false enthusiasm, hoping to pull his crewmate back into an up-swing. "So there's a different answer we just have to find, and fortunately you have East Blue's greatest detective and mechanic on your side!"

After holding a pose that he hoped was suitably impressive and stern for a moment, he went back to poking at the piano, trying to figure out how it worked. It really did seem too small to make any kind of serious music, but Brook had vouched for the noise before. Could it have been something to do with a 'music room,' then? That sounded pretty limiting.

Limiting a person's natural talents was one thing, but limiting music was just beyond the pale. It would be outright mean-spirited. No wonder people here seemed so upset. Just to check, Usopp hummed a few notes of Sogeking's theme song, and was pleased it came out properly. Preoccupied, he didn't notice his hand hitting a switch in the dark, until he felt it click silently under his hands.

"Brook! Try playing it again?" It was a good thing he was such a genius detective and mechanic.

"D-detective?!" Brook exclaimed, mouth suddenly falling wide open, "Really?!"

Brook had never known that about Usopp before! He knew he was a really good shot and probably had the world's most unique of facial features, but a detective as well?! It certainly did make sense though. Being a good shot was almost essential to being a pirate, so Usopp had to have some other useful skills. He was probably asked to solve the mysteries on board the ship! Brook had thankfully not been involved in any of those as of yet though.

"I had no idea, Usopp-san! Than that means you can find out what's wrong with it, right?" he questioned quickly, just before Usopp told him to give it a try again. Hesitating a moment for fear that his heart could break even more, Brook raised his hand back to the keys and pressed. C. Clear, beautiful middle C resonated from the instrument. It wasn't nearly the quality of a true piano, but a note was a note! Which meant the piano had been fixed!

"It worked! It's really working!" Brook fixed his position before the keys and played two chords together. Not just the middle key, but the rest of them were working too! "You really are a great detective! Here, tell me a tune to play for you! In celebration of silving the piano mystery! Yohohohohoho!"

"Of course! I have an unlimited number of amazing talents that you have yet to uncover. That's the price of being a man of mystery."

Or just lucky. Usopp'd had no idea that there were instruments you had to toggle on before they'd play. Then again, apparently neither had Brook, so maybe it was something unique to this place, like the invisible but loud DenDen Mushi for the ceiling or the extra-convenient small but powerful lights. It hadn't helped that the instrument had been black in the dark, but it was still a bad excuse. Maybe adjusting to this place would be harder than he'd thought. Reaching back a little self-consciously to shift the hat again, he wondered if Luffy was back in his own room yet. Or maybe Luffy was just counting on the weird way people woke up suddenly in the morning here?

Any nurse or monster or even another patient... like Usopp, for example... could wander off with the hat like that. Better Usopp, who'd take care of it and give it back, than someone else. It was a bad idea to leave it. Maybe it had been Luffy's idea after all. The feeling of satisfaction at cheering Brook up and solving the problem was fading, as another problem still loomed. It didn't help that Usopp had a feeling groping around Luffy's dark room for other clues wouldn't help that mystery.

Still, Brook was offering a song, and that wasn't anything to turn down. In fact, it was probably just what Usopp needed, to keep him from starting to get down himself. Maybe they were like a see-saw, each going up and down in turn. "Okay! For the great detective Usopp! The sonnnnng..." First Sogeking's song came to mind, but that'd be inappropriate, since he hadn't done anything, though it was a great song. Binks' Sake was great, and everyone knew it, but in a moody place like this Usopp wasn't sure he wanted a song he'd seen Brook react pretty heavily to before. So, then, something else. "Do you know Ward the Pirate? That's a great one!"

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Night 46: M31-40 Hallway

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