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damned_institute2010-03-27 06:44 pm
usoppsenchou.livejournal.com) wrote in damned_institute2010-03-27 06:44 pm
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Nightshift 48: Courtyard
[from here]
Landing, Usopp leaned over to pick up the weapon, looking around as he did to try and see if there were any more signs of trouble. It was a little eerie to be coming right back to this spot after what had happened, especially considering that Usopp didn't really remember the route he'd taken yesterday to get here. At least the fight on the other side seemed contained for the moment. Usopp had noticed a distinct pattern of violence in his life, and thought yesterday's dose ought to last him for more than a while. Then again, the hand-held lights and the moon weren't enough to illuminate the entire space, with too many shadows for it to really feel safe at all. Actually, it looked like a good place for ambushing people, particularly if you weren't worried at all about hurting them.
The shed itself was sitting temptingly quiet and alone, and Usopp was eager to head toward it as soon as Scourge followed. Somehow, it just felt safer to be indoors, even if it really seemed more dangerous for the patients there.
Landing, Usopp leaned over to pick up the weapon, looking around as he did to try and see if there were any more signs of trouble. It was a little eerie to be coming right back to this spot after what had happened, especially considering that Usopp didn't really remember the route he'd taken yesterday to get here. At least the fight on the other side seemed contained for the moment. Usopp had noticed a distinct pattern of violence in his life, and thought yesterday's dose ought to last him for more than a while. Then again, the hand-held lights and the moon weren't enough to illuminate the entire space, with too many shadows for it to really feel safe at all. Actually, it looked like a good place for ambushing people, particularly if you weren't worried at all about hurting them.
The shed itself was sitting temptingly quiet and alone, and Usopp was eager to head toward it as soon as Scourge followed. Somehow, it just felt safer to be indoors, even if it really seemed more dangerous for the patients there.
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Climbing was an odd sensation. He'd never really climbed in the sense of supporting his own weight by his arms and raising it by increments, he'd always just flown over everything too high to reach on foot. His body was up to the challenge and it wasn't very hard, it just felt...weird.
He paused at the top of the wall to draw his sword and fell, being quite careful not to stab himself in the leg because his night hadn't sucked much so far and he wasn't ready for it to start now. "Is it pointless asking why we're doing this?" he asked after spitting out his notebook.
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He'd found the wall a little slick, though not too much trouble, but Usopp also hadn't thought about the fact that he lived and worked on a ship, where climbing up wet ropes or dealing with slick surfaces was just a part of life. Nor about his slight advantage from being in his own body, since he was used to being the weakest person in any situation by default.
"I'll narrate anyway. We are on a pirate adventure in search of the lost Treasures of the Gardener, supposedly hidden away in yonder shed. Last night, I was made more aware of this great treasure trove, but I wasn't able to pursue it because... because people were already cramming themselves in there like crazy, and also I was crazy, but you don't really need to know any of that. Now we will obtain the precious items inside, which hopefully are at least as useful as some hedge clippers, and after we'll go have a party and get really drunk and wake up with headaches. Or at least, that's how it should go, but this place makes that sort of thing tough, so maybe you'll just wake up with your hearing a bit better."
Usopp had at least started walking while he talked, feeling comfortable and free to mix his usual storytelling in with reality so long as he didn't have a true audience to question the overlap. Reaching the door, he tried it a few times, then frowned at the lock in confusion. Had it been locked the previous night? Maybe he just had been too busy fighting to notice.
Stepping back from the door, he gave Scourge a slightly discouraged look. "I don't guess you have a pin or anything on you. Or--Mighty swordsman 'Manly Pink Fingernails' Scourge, of the planet Whatever Kind of Robot You Are, please destroy this structure's entranceway!"
He punctuated the suggestion with another dramatic sweeping gesture with Kabuto. Zoro or Sanji could have knocked it down easily. Usopp thought he might be able to break it down too, on his own, if he felt desperate enough. Then again, he might just keep bouncing off the door while getting more bruised. Avoiding that sort of embarrassment was what having underlings was for, right?
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Scourge tried the knob, just in case Usopp had been doing it wrong, then scrutinized the doorknob. "Looks about the same as the doors upstairs, Landel isn't too original," he mused, poking one pink-tipped finger at the keyhole. No cards or passcode, just an easily damaged mechanism surrounded by dead organic matter. "Human security systems aren't worth tin. Okay, stand back." Ignorant of any damage it might cause the sharpness of the blade (Lord Recluse could fix it, right?), Scourge jammed the sword into the lock and twisted, splintering wood and scraping against metal.
And maybe Scourge made just a bit more of a show of straining and tearing than was strictly necessary to get the door open. Last night he'd been cowering in his closet, now he was the strong warrior opening doors for the scrawny human he'd generously offered his protection to. This was a good change.
Another jerk and the door wobbled on its hinges. Scourge jiggled the handle and then tugged it open with a pleased expression.
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On the other hand, Scourge proved that being deaf was not the same as being dumb in two senses, opening the door but letting the guy with working ears lead the way into the dark. Usopp sighed before poking the door further open with Kabuto and letting it lead inside. If it was barely more than a long stick without any ammunition, then he'd just find uses for carrying around a long stick.
[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/850813.html)]
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Usopp pushed the wheelbarrow back out into the courtyard with a slight grunt as the floor of the shed was replaced by less level ground. Still, the grounds were neat enough that pushing it wasn't too hard, and certainly easier than trying to carry it all by himself. The problem, as he stopped by the wall they'd come in by, was where to go from here.
He distinctly remembered multiple passages to reach the same spots on the map Sakura had copied for him. But Usopp didn't remember all of it off-hand, and had only been in the Institute a few days, with very little exploring. The way to the shed had seemed so obvious that he hadn't thought to bring the map. So... toss everything over into the place that had been the scene of a fight earlier, and hope to be able to gather it up and run, or try to find another way into the building and back to their rooms?
He looked to Scourge and shrugged helplessly. "I don't guess you have a preference how we go back. We're going to have a hard time holding the victory party, too. No booze, no food, no singing since you're deaf, no dancing since you're not my type... well, maybe dancing. Or maybe I can draw something suitably festive to make up for it."
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Which meant, come to think of it, that in a pinch they could raid Usopp's room for the goods.
"Must be another way into the building. Humans can't fly so they must have put some way of getting in from the ground," Scourge pondered, eying the walls and resettling the burden in his arms. Yet another major design flaw.
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And by the time the song reached a clearly audible volume so too did the source become visible, the undine lifting head and shoulders above the water with deep-ocean eyes fixed upon her latest prey. All the while the sweet song continued, even as she lifted an arm from the water and gestured languidly for them to approach. Closer to the water. Closer to her.
[tiassa]
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They hadn't gotten far when Usopp first heard a melody from the water they had taken such a close path by. He thought for a second it might have been his imagination, but when he turned, there was a woman there. "Scourge? Scourge, look." Not turning his eyes from the figure, Usopp gestured with a wave to the woman starting to rise out of the water. "I think she needs something."
Even looking at her made Usopp feel a little homesick. Partially for his home on the ocean, but also for his village and Kaya, who was impossibly far away now. He didn't notice that he'd left the wheelbarrow unattended as he began to step closer to the pond and the creature in it.
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Scourge dropped his burden with a clatter, keeping just his blade clutched in his gloved hands. "Stay back, Usopp. It's probably going to flip out and attack us at any moment. Grab a blade and give me some backup here."
What was the human doing?
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She only needed one of them, but if the other tried to stop his companion from approaching her, then she'd lose her meal completely. It was rare enough for likely prey to appear here that she didn't want to allow that to happen.
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Besides, "She's calling us." Usopp knew Scouge wouldn't hear the words, but he hoped his expression would clear up his intentions as he stepped closer to the pond. He didn't reach back for a blade. She was small, not dangerous. She just needed something from them. Scourge's fighting tension was barely noticed at all.
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Women who floated around in ponds singing and not talking just couldn't be good news. While Usopp had learned fishmen and mermaids and similar beings could be perfectly intelligent, nice people, he'd also learned they were like humans and could also be complete jerks, and wasn't about to get in the water with somebody acting suspicious.
"And why is a pirate facing a problem like this when he's trapped inland?!" Usopp added with a touch of indignation. It was going to be hard to fit this narrative in when he retold the daring tale. Maybe he could lie and say he met her on the ocean. He'd have to leave out the whole 'mesmerized' bit. That was just embarrassing. Luffy was the one who always got brainwashed, not Usopp.
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The Courtyard of course held its own dangers, though there were equally few people in this area of the Institute as well. For a moment Homura considered changing direction mid-course, as the land beyond the wall remained equally unexplored. But to be this close and turn away from the previously set goal for mere curiosity's sake wouldn't be a good showing as leader. Still, Homura would keep this path in mind should the basement prove to be less useful than rumors would indicate. For now his focus remained on the ground between the group and the door back inside. They were already significantly closer to their goal, and that alone was enough to keep Homura moving.
Then of course, was the ever present danger; passing close enough to the pond allowed Homura to see a feminine figure peeking out from the water. Recalling what had been written on the bulletin didn't immediately forewarn of this specific creature, but Homura wasn't going to take that for granted. He kept his eyes ahead, and hurried his pace until they were at last at the door that would take them back inside.
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