DAY 52: BREAKFAST

[nobleobliged]

How one's body could maintain a waking schedule when sleep came unnaturally and in a room without windows, must surely be a mystery. Yet, as if working on cue, Natalia stirred well before her nurse arrived. That was normal. Less so, the weight that sought to press her eyelids closed again, the heaviness of her limbs that made lifting her hands to

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[unheroed]

"One guy" was about as vague as you could get, but Harvey wasn't going to judge the kid for watching what he said. It was a good philosophy to go by in this place especially, and it wasn't as if Harvey had made it clear that he was a squeaky clean, boy scout type. He'd spent a long time trying to promote that sort of image, and it was almost freeing not to have to do it anymore. Even if it meant that people tended to withhold information from him, he usually returned the favor.

So Scott had only seen about as much as he had of the basement, plus the legendary fire-breathing monster that he'd heard so much about. Though when Scott talked about it, Harvey got the distinct feeling that part of him thought it was cool. Well, that was how kids were raised these days. While Scott didn't look like he was a teenager, they had at least fifteen years between them. That was one hell of an age gap, large enough that he was completely within his right to refer to him as "kid."

"Yeah, he mentioned it. I guess he was looking for a fire extinguisher to try and deal with it. Not sure if he ever found one, though." Not that he'd heard of, but it wasn't as if he and Jones kept each other up to date on everything they did. Not in the slightest, in fact. They got along well enough and worked together decently, but they didn't need to be best friends.

As for the idea of taking a big group, well... It worked in theory, but it was a whole different story in practice. "It was worth a shot, I guess," he said with a shrug. "But I think everyone who was in that group last night is going to stick to a smaller number from now on." If they were smart enough to learn a lesson after the first time, anyway.

[vsyourface]

"No kidding," was about all Scott felt was needed on that last point, offering another shudder after that as the memory of his body shifting and squelching around that night flashed back in his mind. If they had gone in smaller groups, maybe he wouldn't have felt so compelled to go after TCITD as hard as he had. Then maybe he, Peter, and all the rest could have avoided the horrors of that night and gotten closer to their goal, too. Note to self for next time: RUN.

He could hear the sounds of people starting to get up as they finished eating, followed not long after that by the sound of the intercom over their heads. Finishing the last of his breakfast, Scott rose from his seat and put an awkward hand on the back of his head. "Anyway, thanks again, man. Dude. Harvey." Whatever. "If you ever need an extra guy or anything, uh, hit me up, I guess?" So long as it doesn't involve shanking Batman or anything.

[unheroed]

All in all, the conversation had been pretty harmless and at least a little informative. Which counted as pretty good in his book, considering how badly his chats with the younger patients tended to go. Harvey still thought Scott was a bit impulsive, but that wasn't always a bad thing. And even though he didn't want to admit it, Harvey did feel kind of bad about what the kid had been put through during that past nightshift. That wasn't something anyone needed to experience.

He was a little shocked when Scott offered himself for any upcoming treks to the basement or wherever else, but what was there really to be surprised about? The kid had already established that he respected him for sticking around that night, and an extra pair of hands (or an extra baseball bat) was never something to turn down, so long as the group didn't exceed about three people. "I'll keep it in mind," he said with a short nod as he stood from his chair. "And the same goes for you." If anything, Harvey was a man who liked for things to be fair.