Night 47: Courtyard

[number1smiley]

[from here]With a little push from her hands on the top of the wall, Teresa gained enough momentum in her vault from the greenhouse yard to be a good couple feet away from the wall. Landing in a three-point stance, the large metal weapon barely clearing the ground, Teresa too a quick look around. She didn't see anything, didn't sense anything,

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[usoppsenchou]

This was not the night Usopp had expected. Actually, when he thought about it, he wasn't sure what he'd expected, but this wasn't it, he was sure of that.

Keep the patients safe and inside. Keep them from wandering off. Try not to hurt them too much, they're sick and all. It wasn't complicated, there were no scary monsters or dinosaurs or assassins, and he was even in a good position, for once. Usually Usopp found himself in a struggle by surprise, and wound up having to try to scramble to make up for it. With luck, there wouldn't even have to be any of the usual screaming and running and hitting with heavy objects here.

First some woman did a jump out of nowhere over the wall, landing and running out of range around a corner before he could stop gawking and fire. He'd thought about following her, but it was important he stayed here. So Usopp'd waited patiently, and then someone else came along... led by a weird, shiny light that vanished, leaving the poor crazy guy standing talking to nothing. Was crazy here catching? Was that the horrible secret problem?

Whatever it was, Usopp couldn't just let another patient get past. They might hurt themselves... or get sicker... or make him sick, even. Crouching further behind the shed to aim, not pulling Kabuto from over his shoulder for such a close shot, Usopp launched a rotten egg towards the confused man's head.

Not pausing to watch, he shouted over in his best manly, intimidating voice, "This is your only warning! This place is under the protection of the great and terrible pirate captain Usopp! No less than eight thousand of my loyal, bloodthirsty crewmen are waiting around these walls! Return to your room now, if you want to end this night alive!"

It came out a little shrill, but it was loud, at least.

[usoppsenchou]

"What?!" Usopp stepped further out from the shed, red-faced, one hand clutching the smaller slingshot tightly, before he pointed it towards the man. "You're wrong about all of that! I've been on a ship as big as an island, and besides, the really big captains these days have fleets behind them anyway! And I'm more of a pirate than you could ever imagine, you... eyebrow faced... crazy guy!"

Usopp remembered that some of the patients were 'special,' that they might even attack, but he was too angry to worry again yet. "That was a warning shot, and this is your last warning, go back over that wall and back into that hospital or you're going to need a whole lot of nurses!"

It didn't help that he'd missed the head. Sure, he'd been in a hurry, but that was no excuse at all. He pulled the slingshot back with a sphere of ammunition in it this time, scowling.

[usoppsenchou]

Crazy. Not even slightly crazy, the man had to have some kind of terrifying degenerative brain disease. There wasn't any point in standing around arguing, and even if the guy wasn't attacking, he wasn't going anywhere either. Usopp had a job to do, and took a deep breath in through his nostrils, feeling oddly shaky. He didn't usually start fights with people he didn't know, just jumped in or ran away depending on the trouble. But if the option was to stand here talking to Mr. Island until Usopp started seeing more lights and started thinking he was an archapelago...

"Because you didn't go back over the fence." Usopp let go. Even at this tiny range, the smallest explosive he had wouldn't kill the man, but Usopp expected it to at least knock him over if not out, maybe singe him a little. Hopefully he'd have the good sense to run after that. "Hissatsu! Kayakuboshi!"

[usoppsenchou]

The man was running, but Usopp couldn't chase, momentarily dazed. I missed twice in a row?! Well, one shot had grazed him, but it didn't really count as much of a warning shot if it sent the message Usopp couldn't hit him.

Not that he had time to worry about it, two more people were coming out. Hoping the man was fleeing in the direction of his room, Usopp muttered under his breath and started fumbling for better gear. Zero out of two patients so far. Franky would definitely call this Usopp's least super week, when he heard.

[down to here]