Day 56: Main Street

[mustbethesuit]

After extricating himself from Harvey's company, Peter found himself at an utter loss for what to do. He drifted away from the park (too cold for that), munching on his breakfast muffin and searching out some place where $15 might be useful. The coupon pack was about as helpful as it had ever been. He wandered past Pearl's Prettification Parlour,

Comments

[oneman_onekill]

Really quick with the name-drop there, huh? What was that for? Some of these guys liked to really wait until the last second for introductions, but Faraday had jumped the gun straight away. Either he was desperate for friends or recognition, or he just liked making friendly impressions for whatever reason. Looking for something, probably.

"Third day? Nice." Niikura drew the last word out in a slow drawl, nodding his head in approval. "I'm - well, for ya Western folk, I'm Shou Niikura, but just 'Niikura' works fine. I've been here for a little over a week, myself - ten days, I think, counting today." Ten days didn't sound very impressive, but considering it was a whole week more than Faraday's stay, that probably made him a veteran, relatively.

"Anyway...from L.A., huh? I know a couple of guys around here who also hail from those parts--interestin' people." Actually, that was probably being kind: Gant and Badd were far more than just plain "interesting", and not necessarily in a good way. "Funny thing is they're all involved in law enforcement one way or another." He laughed. "Pret-ty curious trend there, dontcha say?"

[corvus_veritas]

"Really." Hm. Both a veteran and knowledgeable of others from L.A.? Wow, Byrne had practically hit the jackpot here. "Then add me to your tally. I'm a prosecutor from there." And there was no sense in hiding the fact. If he was going to get any information, he had to offer some of his own as well. It was only fair. Besides, they were all on the same side here, right?

There was something bothering him about Niikura's statement, however - specifically, the number of 'guys' he claimed he knew from L.A. How many, exactly? And why were they all connected to the police department? Byrne knew there were at least two here now plus two that used to be here - one of which was Kay, of course, she counted because of him and Badd - but were there any others? From the sound of it, there were, and the thought didn't sit well with Byrne at all.

Couldn't hurt to ask. "Out of curiosity, how many people do you know from L.A.? I've only ran into two others so far." Assuming the kid would tell the truth, the number was the difference between coincidence and a whole different kind of conspiracy theory.

[oneman_onekill]

Geez, another man of the law from L.A.? What gave? All he needed now was a defense attorney (and maybe a judge) and he'd have the gamut, come to think of it. "Speak of the devil, huh? Will do," Niikura said with a grin and mock salute.

"Eh, I've only met two of 'em as well. The rest I just know in passing. Don't know if you know 'em. Damon Gant, Police Chief" - he couldn't help but laugh at that - "and..." He paused as he tried to remember what Badd's first name was. It wasn't that important. "...some detective named Badd. Know those two? Colleagues of yours?"

[corvus_veritas]

Oh thank god. Byrne even sighed a little out of relief. The last thing he needed was to find out that half of the LAPD were kidnapped and brought here for some reason or another. Seriously.

"Those are the same two people I've seen here, actually. And I know both of them, although back home Gant's a detective, not the Chief of Police." On second thought, he remembered Gant saying he was from 2017 or something like that, among being Chief of Police and a few other things. With his testimony and Niikura's confirmation, it seemed to be a fact after all that Gant was Chief, and it apparently happened some time after Byrne had...well. Rather not think about that right now. Anyway, the important thing here was that Gant was Chief of Police. That's all.

"Well, I'm not too close to Gant. But Badd..." Byrne grinned a little wider, even letting one hand leave the warmth of his pocket to reflexively tug at a finally existent scarf around his neck. "He's my best friend, in fact. We work together."

[oneman_onekill]

Niikura blinked. "Huh? Detective? Pretty sure he's the Chief of Police - he always signs his notes that way, and Badd-san confirmed that fact for me. What, are ya from a different time than him? Heard that happens sometimes..." Talk about awkward, though. If this guy wasn't aware of the way time could work around here by now, he'd be in for a rude shock.

"Really? You and Badd-san, huh?" He guessed that would make sense. Badd didn't seem like he could get along with anyone, let alone get them to cooperate with him peacefully. It made sense that he needed someone a little more charismatic - and vice versa. Sometimes in order to get stuff done, you needed a little muscle as well. "He's..." Niikura rubbed the back of his neck. "Gotta hand it to ya, Faraday-san. We hung out together for a night, and man, it was like pullin' teeth sometimes, ya know? He really thinks most of the people here are crazy--"

Wait. He gave the other man a swift look. "--wait, ya don' think the same way, do ya?"

[corvus_veritas]

Hmm. Maybe Byrne should start saying back in my time period rather than simply back home? In any case, he shook his head and responded, "No, I believe you. I think you're right, I'm just from an earlier time than Gant." Wow. Hard to imagine he was so quick to agree with a theory he'd been fiercely denying the past two or three days... But what else could he do? The shocks would come to kill him if he didn't, right?

To Niikura's comment about Badd, Byrne couldn't help but laugh. Really, it wasn't surprising to hear Niikura had been bothered by Badd, especially if the detective had been in that 'everybody's crazy' mindset. (He should've seen Byrne when he first interacted with Badd. Oy.) "Oh, you did? Yeah, he's a pretty stubborn guy! I don't blame you for thinking that. He was acting the same way when we met up last night. But..."

He glanced off in another direction, his smile half vanishing for a moment. "Trust me, he won't think this place is full of crazy people anymore." Not after everything that happened last night.

[oneman_onekill]

"Ohhhh I see--why didn't ya say that in the first place?" Niikura rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Would've saved me from lookin' like an idiot for a second there, heh." It made him wonder how far back Faraday came from, but that could potentially be a kind of sensitive question - not really good form to ask for such personal details when you'd only just met. (Yes, even Niikura could understand the concept of tact.)

"Oh, is that so? Guess I'm supposed to be relieved about that." But really, his issues with Badd had extended far beyond the older man's stubbornness. There was that whole holier-than-thou attitude...ugh, it really rubbed him the wrong way when adults were so condescending like that. He hadn't exactly helped things with his natural personality, but Niikura could tell that Badd's attitude toward him was less by virtue of his personality and more by virtue of the fact that he was some kid.

"What'd ya say to convince him? Out of curiosity." Would always be good to know what had worked for others for future reference.

[corvus_veritas]

"Well..." You're insane? It had been more than just Byrne saying that, of course, there'd been 'you're crazy' accusations on both sides... Not to mention hair grabbing and chest feeling, but that was another thing entirely. Just showing his face to Badd to begin with had started the whole dilemma, really. There wasn't one thing he said to convince Badd that he wasn't some specter coming to get unholy revenge or something. It was a mess of accusations and conversation. It was a bucket-load of misunderstandings. It was...

"...It's complicated," said Byrne after a short pause, letting out a small laugh. "When we met up, we both thought the other was crazy. I guess that was kinda how we realized we weren't." And that was that in the briefest sense. He wasn't about to go into any detail. There were some things you just didn't tell strangers on the street, even if you all were stuck in the same situation.

[oneman_onekill]

"...'complicated', huh?" Niikura tilted his head to the side, eyebrows raised. "I get it. Somethin' personal. Makes sense since ya know each other so well and whatever." He laughed. "Shucks, though. I was hopin' for some pointers. For some reason, every time I try to give people the low-down around here, it just doesn't work out the way I want it to, ya know?" That might have more to do with the flippant way he tended to hand out information, but no one needed to know that.

"But ya did him a great service, lemme tell ya--don't tell him I said that, by the way. But yeah, great service. 'Cause trust me, if he didn't hear it from you, he was gonna get a really rude shock some time or another. Best to delay that, I guess. Make your transition easier and stuff."

He laced his hands behind his head as they walked down the street. "Annnnyway, Faraday-san, got any actual questions for me? I know most people don't just approach random strangers on the street with their best bedside manner unless they're tryin' to get somethin' from 'em. Not that I don't like it, just that I know better."

[corvus_veritas]

Byrne kept pace with the younger man as they walked, his hands shoved deep into his pants pockets in an attempt to keep them warm. "To be honest, if I'd talked to you a day or two ago, I'd have thought you belonged in the loony bin, too! But we've all gotta open our eyes sometime, right? No matter how much it hurts." The truth was the truth, after all. Byrne ignored his own feelings on the subject and instead thought of Badd and his reaction. Was he handling this all well? Well...as well as could, with circumstances like this? Last night had been more than a little traumatizing. Was he doing alright now? Byrne would have to catch up with him later, to make sure he was fine.

For now, though. The kid seemed pretty eager to hear more to the story, but Byrne wasn't about to give away anything else. Instead, he put his focus on Niikura's other statement. "Oh, really? Can't a guy just plain be nice to strangers?" He laughed good and hard at that. If Niikura knew Byrne a little better, he'd know that the prosecutor practically greeted everyone with his best smile and a handshake. Seriously, why would you want to make an enemy out of someone the first moment you meet them? It was foolish, especially in a place like this. Not to mention rude! And Byrne wasn't a rude person.

However, in this case, Niikura was right. And so, after Byrne had a moment to laugh, he settled with a mischievous grin and continued, "But alright, you got me. I figured we might as well swap what we know, since we're all in the same circle of hell together. The more allies we've got, the better our chances of busting out of here, right?" The sly grin changed to a more honest one. "I'd appreciate it if you let me ask you a few questions about yourself and this place. Since, you see, I'm still fairly new and trying to get my head around the mess I've landed in." Byrne was also still trying to obtain a consensus on what made these people special enough to be taken from their homes and made into experiments here. What made Niikura so important? What made any of these people important?

[oneman_onekill]

"That's what I'm talkin' about!" Niikura said emphatically, pointing a finger at the other man. "Sometimes ya just gotta admit that the stuff that's beyond comprehension's possible too." And he would definitely know about that, what with his "powers" and all.

"Ah ha ha well...if I were bein' a friendly guy, I'd go for people in my own age group, ya know? Just the way things work out, since most of us teenagers seem to think that you older folks - no offense, by the way - are pret-ty uncool. But eh, whatever." He shrugged. "Maybe I'm just too much of a cynic.

"But go ahead, fire away. I'll answer to the best of my limited abilities." He'd never said he would say the truth; therefore, the playing field was now wide open.