damned_institute | Day 53: Sun Room, Morning

With breakfast finished and a new acquaintance made, the Scarecrow's mind turned to his other friends. The disappearance of Depth Charge's friend had brought back memories of how he'd felt when Kaiji went missing: helpless, useless, as though he should have and could have done something more to find him. If only he had his brain, then maybe he could have thought of something!

As much as he didn't like to admit it, it was unlikely his former roommate was still within the Institute's walls at this point, though the Scarecrow wouldn't know for sure unless Kaiji returned to visit him as Dorothy had, encouraging his supposed recovery. There was still the concern that Landel, despite his vile methods, was actually right and he was suffering from the delusion of having been a scarecrow in Oz. After all, that movie had been a pretty elaborate trick. Would he have planted it in town on purpose, knowing the Scarecrow would be taken there the night of the enchanted doors? And how could he guarantee that once he did find it, he'd take it and actually watch it? There was so much guesswork involved- it seemed the Wizard Landel either liked coincidences or he had more power on his side than any of the patients could have guessed.

The Scarecrow stopped by the bulletin board before heading for a seat, considering writing a note to his friends to check on them. He'd heard from Depth Charge, Remy, and Kibitoshin within a day's time, so he figured they were probably fine (as fine as Depth Charge could have been after last night, anyway). He'd seen Mele and Scar the day before. He put a finger to his head, thinking- he'd not heard from Abe or Sangamon in a day or so, but being professionals, they were probably very busy. Perhaps a note would be best for them.

[Kibby]

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Izaya gave Snow a smile in return, though his was not nearly as cheerful. He gave a glance upward when the big man asked his question. That balcony up there would have been right about... Yeah, it had to have been the upstairs hall.

"I doubt any of the patients have been up there during the day," he commented. "At least, not without a nurse escort. But I know there are stairs you can take to the second floor at night."

It was more free information, but it was something that anyone could have gotten their hands on through a little exploration if nothing else. At this point, it was something of an investment, anyway... If there was any chance Snow was as strong as Simon in addition to being as big as the Russian was, it could be valuable to keep him around. First he would have to prove that he wasn't that bad of a guy, especially in case Shizuo showed up to ruin things with that protozoan intellect of his.

He glanced back up at it, more than curious now with the prospect of a new, unexplored area. So Izaya knew there were stairs that led up to the second floor, but not if anyone had ever been up there for sure. Maybe it was secured. If they were hiding anything upstairs, they'd probably have guards stationed around the stairs and halls after dark. Not that a little thing like that was going to stop him, but if he saw anyone patrolling the area, he'd know they were hiding something for sure. What kind of something? He couldn't be sure. The fact that they were hiding anything at all was enough to make him want to go.

"Sounds to me like a place worth checking out." He turned his attention back down to Izaya. "Nothin' anyone's doing down here seems to be working, so might as well expand the playing field right?" Made sense to him.

Izaya was entirely certain that people had been up there at night, but he kept quiet on that. Hearing it could potentially dampen Snow's enthusiasm, and that would have been a shame. Snow's fervor had been enjoyable thus far, after all; Izaya wanted to see where it might take him.

"That makes sense," he agreed, craning his head to take another look at the balcony. "Maybe I'll even check it out myself some time... Ah! But if you find anything up there that 'works' before I do, I'd like to hear all about it."

He looked at Snow, and then past him to the nurses, who looked a little less than pleased. Izaya nodded towards them. "Of course, it doesn't look like our 'friends' would quite approve."

"Deal," he said with a confident wink. Snow was fully aware that putting up a fight wasn't really for everyone. Even in the face of all this crap, people were more likely to just sit around and hope things would get better. He couldn't really hold it against anyone.

Still, it was good to talk to someone who wasn't content in just sitting around and doing nothing. If Izaya was looking around on his end, too, Snow was more than willing to share whatever he managed to find out. Not that he was running around this place for the sake of finding information, exactly. Reconnaissance wasn't really, you know, his thing. But whatever works.

Snow followed Izaya's gaze to the nurse-guards, not bothering to try and be subtle about it. He placed his hands on his hips and turned back to him with a small grin on his face. Heh, what? Was Izaya worried about that? "Since when do heroes care about what the enemy approves of?" He nodded his head once as if to verify that, yes, he was talking about the two of them. "Last I checked, we're all prisoners here. Pretty much anything we do's gonna get us the evil eye. So... Might as well give 'em somethin' worth gettin' upset over."

And they were going to be upset. It'd be mayhem the day they all broke out of this place. They'd be so frantic, the guards wouldn't know what to do with themselves. The confusion was what they'd use to escape. See? Why couldn't anyone see how effective a mass campaign against these people would be? Again, people were just scared. He placed a hand on Izaya's shoulder reassuringly.

"Don't you worry 'bout the guards, alright? Pretend they're not even there. Just keep calm and focused and we'll be outta here that much faster. Alright?" Bright smile here. "Keep your eyes peeled if you plan on goin' up there, too. You need anything, lemme know. Okay?" Everyone had to stick together in this. There was power in numbers.

Oh, but that one little suggestion already looked like it could pay off! Even if Snow didn't find out anything of real importance—Izaya wouldn't take anything he heard with full confidence in its accuracy here, no matter the source—the man certainly appeared eager to help. With Izaya trapped as he was (and with Heiwajima Shizuo nearby), he would certainly be keeping Snow's offer in mind, even if what he might need the man for wouldn't necessarily match up with what Snow might have intended.

Izaya didn't react at all to the large hand Snow had placed on his shoulder, but he did respond to the words that had come after. "How reassuring! It's nice to have someone reliable around here... I'll let you know if I could use your help."

He gave one last look at the nurses, and then shifted his weight, tilting to one side, to look up at Snow from the corners of his eyes. "And you may be right about the guards," he continued. "But if you give them too much to get upset over, I would think they'd try to sedate you. We would want that to happen again!"

Someone reliable.

It might have been difficult to tell since Snow had already been smiling, but he was practically glowing with that label. Reliable. Yeah. ...Damn straight! That was him. He was reliable. The one you could depend on, no matter what. And with that established, there was no way he was going to let Izaya or anyone else in this place down. Not with people counting on him now.

And all that being the case, he wasn't going to let something silly like worrying about the guards "sedating" him ruin the moment. So he pulled his hand from Izaya's shoulder and fisted it in front of him. "Just let 'em try it! They wanna press their luck again, they'll have a nasty wake up call comin' their way."

As far as that whole mess last time went, he was sure that was some kind of a fluke. He still had no idea how only three people had managed to contain him. Snow knew he was stronger than that. He could only figure they'd gotten their uniforms rigged with AMP technology; it was the only explanation. Bad enough they took everything even slightly modern from them all, but they kept the best for themselves. Real fair.

But all that really meant was he had to watch it next time. Now that he knew what they had up their sleeves, he wouldn't be caught off guard next time they tried to make a move.

"Be ready next time. It hits the roof again, there won't be any more interruptions."

Day 53: Sun Room, Morning

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