damned_institute | 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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"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!"

Night 46: M31-40 Hallway

M38

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