Day 57: Game Room (Third Shift)

[zack_fair]

Having already met two new people today, Zack found that his mood was slowly starting to improve, if only out of necessity. While he didn't like dumping his problems on his friends, he was even less willing to do so with a stranger. More than that, Rose had been very personable and he'd felt good about himself for being to help her with a few

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[ofthemotions]

Given the option of free time in a place he didn't know was just a mistake waiting to happen. And he was supposed to choose pretty quickly, from the way the man escorting him around was acting. Mikado glanced nervously at the man who at the moment was towering over him in some sort of glower. Of the same stock as Simon.... Though Simon never eluded such clear hostility. "Uh

[predictator]

To think that Izaya had considered watching the movie... Or, more accurately: to think that he'd considered watching the people watching the movie, without knowing who else had shown his face. He'd spoken about the possibility of visitors earlier-and the first batch had apparently arrived this very shift-but as far as Izaya was concerned, seeing the young man who'd just left the Sun Room was much, much better than any visitor. If he was here, it meant he was here... to stay, just like Celty and Shizuo and Masaomi before him (even if Izaya hadn't seen the latter two in some number of days).

Izaya had even thought about him just yesterday. He'd left a note under the name of Dollars and wondered, and now here he was: Tanaka Taro. Ryuugamine MikadoIzaya had already been seated in the back of the makeshift theater when he'd seen the boy's face, and he was on his feet a moment later, following after him into another room. The game room, it turned out to be, and Izaya smiled to himself at the irony of one of the playing-pieces coming

[ofthemotions]

In retrospect, perhaps, Mikado should have specified when he had repeatedly wished for someone familiar to be here

[predictator]

Mikado was surprised to see him, Izaya was pleased to note, if his wide eyes and the way he'd stammered his name was any indication. Izaya had been maintaining a low profile-he'd left a note here and there on the board and made a few moves to his own benefit and to prime potential pieces, but he had yet to do anything to really spice things up around here. If that meant his name didn't reach the ears of newcomers like Mikado, all the better.

He idly picked up a different piece in the silence that followed-the black king-and watched Mikado closely as the boy open his mouth silently... and then, finally, responded. Perhaps the surprise had been a little too much, if he was taking this long to process things. Then again, it was something Izaya could understand, at least-until he'd seen Shizuo (or perhaps more accurately, until Shizuo had seen him), he hadn't expected to run into certain people, even if the idea of finding a familiar face hadn't been completely unthought-of. But did that mean that of the people Mikado might have

[ofthemotions]

Izaya said nothing while Mikado floundered, and Mikado finally just took to watching him set up the board. The shock was wearing off, and honestly, maybe he should have expected the one expected least. As... much sense as that made. It would go hand in hand with this place so far, at least. The man smiled over at him, and Mikado was reminded of the first time they had come into contact suddenly. The helpful grin and wild laughter, one after the other

[predictator]

Such an honest answer, or perhaps a modest one? Still, it was enough to know that he wasn't going to need to explain the rules. Izaya resumed setting up the board, humming softly as he moved each piece to its correct position: black on his side, white on Mikado's.

He wanted to know when Mikado had arrived most of all right now, but how to phrase it? Revealing he was at a disadvantage in the breadth of information at his disposal here was something he didn't want to do unless it served to his advantage-and in speaking with Mikado right here, right now, it did not. There had been no reply to his Dollars message yesterday, which he expected meant that the boy had either arrived today or hadn't gone near that particular board yesterday. When had his last note using the name of Dollars been before that? Five days ago? But he'd also used his own name on the bulletin in the meantime, and Mikado had looked genuinely surprised to see him. That was enough to make Izaya believe that he really was new, not simply overlooked

[ofthemotions]

There was something that both comforted him and slightly set him on edge at Izaya's appearance, but Mikado tried to focus more on what was going on. If it was like what Peter had said, then Izaya was possibly stuck here as much as Mikado was at the moment, and he should gain information instead. 'Free of charge,' was never really that trusted, for anything really, but he would take him up on that. Despite what the man added at the end--close enough to what he had said two days ago to make Mikado blink at him, watching

[predictator]

Mikado had given him confirmation, just as he'd hoped. If the boy had spoken to a couple of people already, that meant he'd already been here long enough to do so-but not yet long enough to have confirmed any of it for himself if he was still doubting their words

[ofthemotions]

Izaya moved a piece, and Mikado watched it, then moved a pawn of his own forward. The man seemed to agree with what Peter had told him, at the least, and comparing it to an urban legend... to Celty... made it a bit more believable. Mikado frowned in thought. It was more than a little to take in, in all honesty. All of the details known already and... "...Experiments?" The boy's eyes had widened again at the word. And military as well

[predictator]

Ah, what to do? He'd wondered about it himself-though in his case he'd wondered about Nebula, not the now-defunct Yagiri Pharmacy-but Mikado asking him like this was practically begging for a vague, misleading answer...

But, no. He would continue to deal with Mikado with a certain measure of honesty for now, since he'd even said he would provide some information. However, the limits of what he himself knew gave some flexibility for the boundaries of truth, of facts, of reality.

"It does seem similar, doesn't it?" he said, moving a knight of his own this time. "However, I doubt they're behind this, since Yagiri was gobbled up by another company-ah, but the possibility that that company is involved isn't zero... Still, I've found no evidence to suggest a connection, aside from our presence

[ofthemotions]

Like he had thought. The Yagiri company had fallen--though what Izaya said had weight. If a program with a virus was placed into a new machine, the virus still existed. And possibly gained potency from the new environment and surroundings. But the man said there was no evidence, though even that wasn't completely zero in possibility. Izaya was one man, and if he was as trapped as Mikado, they were closer to an even standing

[predictator]

Good; he was going to get a chance to spread rumors a little further since the boy had agreed to hear. Of course, since he was telling Mikado all of this personally he couldn't embellish too much-but he'd read about the 'sleep studies' on the bulletin a few times, and there apparently wasn't very much information floating around about them outside of what those taken knew of their own experiments.

"Unfortunately, there's little that can be verified-it seems that those who have been experimented on are reluctant to speak of the procedures, but there are also those who don't actually remember what happened to them after being taken." From the one case he'd heard mention of for the latter, it seemed to be a rare case-but there was the possibility he was the only one who'd ever stepped forward to say so. "But word is that the 'patients' are taken from their rooms in the evening and any number of things might happen after that-there are apparently lingering effects from the 'studies', but the accounts all differ, so it would seem the

[ofthemotions]

Mikado watched intently as Izaya spoke, nerves touching his face before dispersing altogether as he stared. Most of what was said was completely believable. Being taken from rooms, having specialized tests.... But the man's emphasis on a word made Mikado wonder completely. It was as if Izaya had guessed Mikado's thoughts to touch on them. His brows drew together slightly. "What kind of peculiarities

[predictator]

Mikado's question was, unfortunately, one that Izaya did not yet have an exact answer to. While he had gathered, from various posts he'd read, that the experiments may have been tailored to the subject in question, there were precious few details divulged in that forum. If he wanted something with a little more detail, he would likely need to speak directly with one of the subjects-something that he had not yet had the good fortune of. He did, however, have his guesses. "Peculiarities such as whatever might make them stand out amongst others, I would think... Some suitable aspect of mind or of body, or else an abnormality like Shizu-chan's monstrous strength

[ofthemotions]

That explained one thing at least. Experimenting on people above the norm made sense (...that he was thinking it made sense was starting to concern him; none of it made actual sense), but it really didn't explain why the rest of everyone was here. But it would be unfair to press further for answers that Izaya didn't know either

[predictator]

Who it was that had restored Celty's head was quite the question-one that Izaya himself could as of now only wish he knew the answer to. The facts, as he knew them, were that he'd found himself amongst the 'patient' populace a little earlier than Celty, with no memory of his own abduction. Up until he'd seen the courier with a head (and without so much as a scar to show where it had been attached), that head had been hidden away in his possession. It was certainly possible the head had been stolen from him at the same time as his abduction (which could narrow things down-the list of people who knew he had it was rather short, all things considered), but if it had been surgically attached to Celty's body, shouldn't there have been time needed for healing