[potential spoiler warnings: readers beware!]predictatorSeptember 28 2010, 14:22:49 UTC
Seeing Shizuo during breakfast had been unexpected, to say the least, and the whole encounter had put off Izaya's mood. It had ended in his favor (he'd survived it, after all), but the idea that it even could go the way it had was wrong. The strength of the staff was not to be trifled with, and Izaya now knew that even better than before.
What a shame that they hadn't been armed with knives instead of needles.
Nevertheless, he'd come out of breakfast with a bad taste lingering in his mouth, only to spot another surprise on the other side of the sun room: the familiar head of a certain dullahan, only it was attached to a body... And that body was not Harima Mika's.
Celty, then, with her head restored a step further than it should have been? Or another subject of cosmetic surgery to match the looks of that head, the one that should have been stored away safely in his possession. There was only one way to find out, and that was to talk to her.
Izaya headed in her direction, though not straight for her. If it was Celty she'd recognize him, and if not... If not, there wouldn't be any harm in recognizing her. Once he got close, he began to loiter, looking around as if trying to decide where to go and what to do.
[/is a walking spoiler, y'know...]sortaheadstrongSeptember 28 2010, 21:24:50 UTC
As she sat, Celty found herself running a finger along the open side of the notebook, carelessly flipping the pages and making them flap. Just sitting wasn't doing anything to confirm or deny or do anything productive in this situation, but at least her hands could be busy with something. She was too nervous to go talk to anyone after what trying had gotten her the night before. Who would want to put someone else she just happened to look up and see in that kind of situation?!
Eventually though, Celty did find her eyes trailing up as people came and went by in the large room. They all looked like patients, and technically do did she with the outfit. The smiley face was strange, but despite that the place still felt and smelled of a hospital. But did hospitals move their patients around like this? Some looked like they had injuries and should have just been resting! Like that guy who'd helped her...
She found herself watching two teenagers, wondering why they would have been in a hospital, when something on the darker side of familiar came to view. She blinked a moment, straightened and nearly left her seat before catching herself on the couch's edge. It definitely looked like who she thought but... him? At a hospital? Maybe if Shizuo had caught him, but then there wouldn't have been anything left to have sent to a hospital except for maybe a scrap of fur formerly belonging to a coat. Little care you could have given that.
But who else could look that much like him except for... well him?!
Even though she knew she was staring, Celty didn't move from her seat for some reason. She only sat, debating what to do and grasping at her notebook as if for dear life. Familiar was one thing. Helpful,... another entirely.
[but you're not spoiling several specific plot points in just a few sentences]predictatorSeptember 29 2010, 05:34:33 UTC
Izaya was careful not to look in the direction of the woman who may or may not have been Celty right away, instead maintaining a bored look as he surveyed the room, but it wasn't long before he grew tired of that and 'noticed' her.
She was staring openly. Did that mean she did recognize him? She hadn't moved from the spot she'd been before, clutching something-a notebook?-in her hands, but she was definitely staring at him. He met her gaze, studying her for a moment before taking it as an invitation, an opening to find out more.
He pointed at her, then at himself before approaching, as if questioning whether she was looking at him or something else. "I'm sorry, did you need something with me?" he asked.
Izaya glanced down at the notebook in her hands, taking a discrete look at the woman's neck in the process. No scar... If this was a case of surgery (be it cosmetic or other), then the goal must not have been to make it look like it wasn't her real head, the way it had for Harima.
[always have to be difficult, don't you?]sortaheadstrongSeptember 29 2010, 10:49:38 UTC
At the pointing and question, Celty couldn't help but snap from her staring daze and look to either side of her. Of course no one else was near her, so he had to be pointing to her and asking her. She pointed at herself then as her eyes found their way back to him, just in case she was still missing something. Had she really been staring that badly?
No, scratch that, there was a more important question: If he looked and sounded so much like the one she knew, then how did he not know who she was? Someone else would ask what he had, but...
Oh! Realization struck Celty like a rock and she let her hand fall. Right, that's right! He wouldn't know that I look like this!
Whatever she looked like! She knew from dreams what she should've looked like, but with no mirrors to speak of in this place she hadn't been able to check on that. And since Izaya wouldn't know his courier without a bike and helmet, she couldn't expect that he would recognize her like... like this!
Now that she understood his confusion, she quickly fumbled to open her notebook, nearly dropping it for her rush. She paused only a moment after getting to a blank page, just in case something wanted to come out at her, before scribbling down one word - large and rushed - just for confirmation. As quickly as she'd gotten it down she turned it around to him and pointed to the paper, which read only -
[of course! ♥]predictatorSeptember 30 2010, 00:11:25 UTC
That confirmed it, Izaya thought as he read his name written messily on a piece of paper in the woman's notebook. She really was Celty. It definitely had to be her.
"Oh?" he said aloud, leaning towards the paper with a look of surprise on his face. "You know who I am?"
He pulled away from the paper slowly, looking at her face again-her face; she really, truly had her head, but how had she gotten it? It should have been hidden away safely, kept away from the body it belonged to, but here it was and here she was, and the two were now attached.
"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage; I don't know who you are," he continued swiftly, giving only a brief pause. "Oh, but I do know someone who writes instead of talks; she uses a phone instead of a notebook, however, and is always wearing a helmet because she-... Ah! You wouldn't happen to actually be... Celty?"
The way he responded to the name, and the the way he babbled on about it, made Celty as sure as he was becoming that this was definitely the person she knew. Her head nodded quickly when he started getting close and she was probably smiling despite not really thinking about doing so. Because finally there was someone she knew here! It wasn't Shinra like she'd been hoping for, but... well, Izaya had to count for something at least. He really wasn't her first choice, but he was better than nothing!
Part of her almost had her getting up and hugging the man, but again she kept herself from any movements that would be too rash. She turned the notebook back, not checking for horror movie monsters this time and turned the page to have a much cleaner space to write more calmly. This time when she turned the book back to Izaya, it asked a very cleanly question. Or as clean as her Japanese could possibly get -
Where is this place? Is Shin anyone else here?
- it asked, some illegible scribbles marking words through for her thinking better of it.
Celty hadn't offered confirmation, but the lack of denial had served as confirmation enough... not that he'd really needed it, anyway. He stood waiting for her to finish writing in her notebook-the writing was neater this time, but the phone certainly was certainly much more convenient, wasn't it?-but upon reading it, he moved around the couch to take a seat at its other end.
"Asking me questions?" Izaya asked, with a smile. "Normally I'd expect payment for this, you know, but since you're such an excellent courier, I'll make an exception just this once. I hope I can continue to count on you, after all."
He waved a hand lazily in the air. "I'm not sure where we are; America, maybe, but we're definitely not in Tokyo any more. All I'm sure of is that this place called Landel's Institute, and it's a mental hospital... or so it seems right now, like this. The doors unlock and night and monsters come out; I've wandered out at night myself, but woke up in my room again come morning. From what I've heard, it sounds like it's the same for everyone," he said, giving a clean account of what information he was sure of, untainted by rumor. There would be a time for rumors, but right now he wanted to keep Celty on his side, if he could. Especially since...
He looked away as look of disgust flitted across his face, leaving a frown. "As for anyone else here that you or I would know... I don't want to talk about that. I've wondered if Shinra was around here somewhere, but I haven't seen him..."
The frown vanished and Izaya turned back towards Celty. "More importantly, you got your head back... and it's even attached. I wonder if this mean you'll be getting closer or further from being human-like from here on out."
She didn't care if he wanted to act like an information broker just then, this was important! And he should have realized that from the fact that not only did she not have her PDA, but she had a head! Her head! She thought. What other head could it have been?!
After giving the notebook a huffed slam towards the ground, hoping that the gesture made Izaya realize that this wasn't a joking matter (and that she'd been a plenty good enough courier to have earned some answers without paying him!), she brought it back and turned to write again in case he told her something she needed to write down.
America? A mental hospital? Like... for crazy people? Again Celty contemplated why Izaya would be in a hospital, but stopped upon realizing that nothing made sense because of her being there with a head. She needed to figure that one out before she could even start on sorting anything else. Because the rest was just sounding too strange to make sense.
She started writing again as Izaya continued to speak, trying to ignore his talk of her head. He was as surprised as anyone who'd known her face as a kitty-eared helmet would have been, but he didn't have to go rambling about it. When he got to the end though, she paused and looked up at him. Human-... like? What on earth?
Eventually she shook her head and went back to writing. Understanding him had never been something she'd ever wanted to attempt. Like with Shinra, there were just people who were too far out there that knowing too much about them would only be bad for her. So she let it go and got down her next question, praying he'd keep from any "payment" talks as she turned it around -
A drea nightma dream?
- she tried. She never had asked anyone in a dream if it was one, since there'd never been others in her dreams, but she'd try anything by this point. Things were too surreal not to!
Izaya waited for Celty to scribble down her next question, a smile on his face as he watched her. It was curious that she was still writing to communicate, when she had a mouth with which to speak... Was it due to a lack of practice during the years she'd been apart from it, or had she never spoken with it, or was she simply unable to? Her head was attached and she could move it, but maybe her vocal cords didn't work at all...
A question for another time; Celty had turned the notebook back towards him. A dream...?
"Hmm, no; I doubt that," Izaya answered. For one, if this had been a dream, the only way Shizuo would have appeared in it would be as a dead man. "Ah, I doubt it's the afterlife, either; though if it is I can't say if it's supposed to be heaven or hell." It didn't seem peaceful enough for heaven and there wasn't enough strife for hell, but either would be fine if it was one or the other. Still, he was certain enough that he-and Celty and Shizuo-were alive. This was reality.
Two forced words and a gasp were not enough to convince Celty that talking was something she should attempt just yet. And Izaya's words, while ringing true, didn't alleviate any doubts about this being reality either. The dream shot down along with an added "no, you're probably not dead", led Celty's hand to writing, shakily, her first and biggest fear about the place.
ALIENS????
her next turned page read, if Izaya could manage to read it past the slight shaking caused by her hands.
If they were in America, then there had to be some kind of abduction involved! And aliens were notorious for that! It wasn't like those kidnappers in Ikebukuro who just shoved victims in their vans; this was going clear across continents! That just didn't happen!
Izaya stared at the paper in surprise for a long moment. Celty had found herself in some sketchy hospital, and she was asking about aliens? He couldn't blame her for not being well-informed about various shady groups who might have had an interest in her head and her body, but aliens? Really?
He slowly looked from the paper to her face, giving a short laugh in spite of himself. "Aliens? No, no; I don't think that's it either! Whoever it is that's responsible and running this hospital is human," he said.
He paused, looking thoughtful. Maybe he'd see if aliens were her only concern on the side of the unlikely; Celty herself was something of a supernatural being that you wouldn't usually meet, but did that mean she wouldn't be concerned about the possibility of others? After a moment he added, "Probably. I haven't met him or seen his face; there's the man on the intercom, but a voice alone isn't enough to determine that by. I still don't think he might be an alien, but there's always the possibility that he's not human. I won't rule that out completely."
What a shame that they hadn't been armed with knives instead of needles.
Nevertheless, he'd come out of breakfast with a bad taste lingering in his mouth, only to spot another surprise on the other side of the sun room: the familiar head of a certain dullahan, only it was attached to a body... And that body was not Harima Mika's.
Celty, then, with her head restored a step further than it should have been? Or another subject of cosmetic surgery to match the looks of that head, the one that should have been stored away safely in his possession. There was only one way to find out, and that was to talk to her.
Izaya headed in her direction, though not straight for her. If it was Celty she'd recognize him, and if not... If not, there wouldn't be any harm in recognizing her. Once he got close, he began to loiter, looking around as if trying to decide where to go and what to do.
Reply
Eventually though, Celty did find her eyes trailing up as people came and went by in the large room. They all looked like patients, and technically do did she with the outfit. The smiley face was strange, but despite that the place still felt and smelled of a hospital. But did hospitals move their patients around like this? Some looked like they had injuries and should have just been resting! Like that guy who'd helped her...
She found herself watching two teenagers, wondering why they would have been in a hospital, when something on the darker side of familiar came to view. She blinked a moment, straightened and nearly left her seat before catching herself on the couch's edge. It definitely looked like who she thought but... him? At a hospital? Maybe if Shizuo had caught him, but then there wouldn't have been anything left to have sent to a hospital except for maybe a scrap of fur formerly belonging to a coat. Little care you could have given that.
But who else could look that much like him except for... well him?!
Even though she knew she was staring, Celty didn't move from her seat for some reason. She only sat, debating what to do and grasping at her notebook as if for dear life. Familiar was one thing. Helpful,... another entirely.
Reply
She was staring openly. Did that mean she did recognize him? She hadn't moved from the spot she'd been before, clutching something-a notebook?-in her hands, but she was definitely staring at him. He met her gaze, studying her for a moment before taking it as an invitation, an opening to find out more.
He pointed at her, then at himself before approaching, as if questioning whether she was looking at him or something else. "I'm sorry, did you need something with me?" he asked.
Izaya glanced down at the notebook in her hands, taking a discrete look at the woman's neck in the process. No scar... If this was a case of surgery (be it cosmetic or other), then the goal must not have been to make it look like it wasn't her real head, the way it had for Harima.
Reply
No, scratch that, there was a more important question: If he looked and sounded so much like the one she knew, then how did he not know who she was? Someone else would ask what he had, but...
Oh! Realization struck Celty like a rock and she let her hand fall. Right, that's right! He wouldn't know that I look like this!
Whatever she looked like! She knew from dreams what she should've looked like, but with no mirrors to speak of in this place she hadn't been able to check on that. And since Izaya wouldn't know his courier without a bike and helmet, she couldn't expect that he would recognize her like... like this!
Now that she understood his confusion, she quickly fumbled to open her notebook, nearly dropping it for her rush. She paused only a moment after getting to a blank page, just in case something wanted to come out at her, before scribbling down one word - large and rushed - just for confirmation. As quickly as she'd gotten it down she turned it around to him and pointed to the paper, which read only -
Reply
"Oh?" he said aloud, leaning towards the paper with a look of surprise on his face. "You know who I am?"
He pulled away from the paper slowly, looking at her face again-her face; she really, truly had her head, but how had she gotten it? It should have been hidden away safely, kept away from the body it belonged to, but here it was and here she was, and the two were now attached.
"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage; I don't know who you are," he continued swiftly, giving only a brief pause. "Oh, but I do know someone who writes instead of talks; she uses a phone instead of a notebook, however, and is always wearing a helmet because she-... Ah! You wouldn't happen to actually be... Celty?"
Reply
Part of her almost had her getting up and hugging the man, but again she kept herself from any movements that would be too rash. She turned the notebook back, not checking for horror movie monsters this time and turned the page to have a much cleaner space to write more calmly. This time when she turned the book back to Izaya, it asked a very cleanly question. Or as clean as her Japanese could possibly get -
Where is this place? Is Shin anyone else here?
- it asked, some illegible scribbles marking words through for her thinking better of it.
Reply
"Asking me questions?" Izaya asked, with a smile. "Normally I'd expect payment for this, you know, but since you're such an excellent courier, I'll make an exception just this once. I hope I can continue to count on you, after all."
He waved a hand lazily in the air. "I'm not sure where we are; America, maybe, but we're definitely not in Tokyo any more. All I'm sure of is that this place called Landel's Institute, and it's a mental hospital... or so it seems right now, like this. The doors unlock and night and monsters come out; I've wandered out at night myself, but woke up in my room again come morning. From what I've heard, it sounds like it's the same for everyone," he said, giving a clean account of what information he was sure of, untainted by rumor. There would be a time for rumors, but right now he wanted to keep Celty on his side, if he could. Especially since...
He looked away as look of disgust flitted across his face, leaving a frown. "As for anyone else here that you or I would know... I don't want to talk about that. I've wondered if Shinra was around here somewhere, but I haven't seen him..."
The frown vanished and Izaya turned back towards Celty. "More importantly, you got your head back... and it's even attached. I wonder if this mean you'll be getting closer or further from being human-like from here on out."
Reply
After giving the notebook a huffed slam towards the ground, hoping that the gesture made Izaya realize that this wasn't a joking matter (and that she'd been a plenty good enough courier to have earned some answers without paying him!), she brought it back and turned to write again in case he told her something she needed to write down.
America? A mental hospital? Like... for crazy people? Again Celty contemplated why Izaya would be in a hospital, but stopped upon realizing that nothing made sense because of her being there with a head. She needed to figure that one out before she could even start on sorting anything else. Because the rest was just sounding too strange to make sense.
She started writing again as Izaya continued to speak, trying to ignore his talk of her head. He was as surprised as anyone who'd known her face as a kitty-eared helmet would have been, but he didn't have to go rambling about it. When he got to the end though, she paused and looked up at him. Human-... like? What on earth?
Eventually she shook her head and went back to writing. Understanding him had never been something she'd ever wanted to attempt. Like with Shinra, there were just people who were too far out there that knowing too much about them would only be bad for her. So she let it go and got down her next question, praying he'd keep from any "payment" talks as she turned it around -
A drea nightma dream?
- she tried. She never had asked anyone in a dream if it was one, since there'd never been others in her dreams, but she'd try anything by this point. Things were too surreal not to!
Reply
A question for another time; Celty had turned the notebook back towards him. A dream...?
"Hmm, no; I doubt that," Izaya answered. For one, if this had been a dream, the only way Shizuo would have appeared in it would be as a dead man. "Ah, I doubt it's the afterlife, either; though if it is I can't say if it's supposed to be heaven or hell." It didn't seem peaceful enough for heaven and there wasn't enough strife for hell, but either would be fine if it was one or the other. Still, he was certain enough that he-and Celty and Shizuo-were alive. This was reality.
Reply
ALIENS????
her next turned page read, if Izaya could manage to read it past the slight shaking caused by her hands.
If they were in America, then there had to be some kind of abduction involved! And aliens were notorious for that! It wasn't like those kidnappers in Ikebukuro who just shoved victims in their vans; this was going clear across continents! That just didn't happen!
Reply
Izaya stared at the paper in surprise for a long moment. Celty had found herself in some sketchy hospital, and she was asking about aliens? He couldn't blame her for not being well-informed about various shady groups who might have had an interest in her head and her body, but aliens? Really?
He slowly looked from the paper to her face, giving a short laugh in spite of himself. "Aliens? No, no; I don't think that's it either! Whoever it is that's responsible and running this hospital is human," he said.
He paused, looking thoughtful. Maybe he'd see if aliens were her only concern on the side of the unlikely; Celty herself was something of a supernatural being that you wouldn't usually meet, but did that mean she wouldn't be concerned about the possibility of others? After a moment he added, "Probably. I haven't met him or seen his face; there's the man on the intercom, but a voice alone isn't enough to determine that by. I still don't think he might be an alien, but there's always the possibility that he's not human. I won't rule that out completely."
Reply
Leave a comment