Day 49: Late Afternoon - Crossroader's Bar and Casino

[unheroed]

From what Harvey could tell, he'd gotten through that little encounter with Lana without raising any suspicions. Or if he'd caused her to raise a mental eyebrow, it probably hadn't been in any serious way. She truthfully wasn't so bad to spend time with, but the fact that she was a female attorney who knew her way around and didn't scare easy meant

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[its_the_mileage]

Jesus, the rain was really coming down now. Another few hours of this and he was going to be searching for a very different kind of Ark

[unheroed]

It hadn't taken long for another patient to find their way here, although the young man had silently moved to the back of the bar, and Harvey saw no reason to follow after him for a chat. He was more interested in seeing what kind of sad excuses for slot machines they had in a small town like this, but he was distracted by a familiar voice before he could head in that direction

[its_the_mileage]

Indy chuckled. "Too bad they don't trust us with umbrellas." Which was admittedly a smart move on the staff's part; you could get a lot of mileage out of a good umbrella. Not least by using it to scare birds into airplanes.

It hadn't occurred to him to take a look at the pet store, especially since the rest of the town looked like it had recovered from worse damage, but it hadn't been a bad idea. "Good thinking," he told Dent. "They could've just cleaned up and restocked, but I don't know if I'm convinced that's what happened. The damage last week looked a lot worse than a few smashed windows and unhinged doors." The fire damage on Main Street in particular was still nagging at him; that should have been obvious even with a week's clean-up. It suggested that the town might be subject to the same phenomenon that took place every night at the Institute. He didn't know what to think of that

[unheroed]

Seeing how they were already at the end of the day, Harvey had more or less given up on cursing the nurses for not even giving them umbrellas. He realized that there was no real way to crazy-proof something like that, and the worst thing was that he was pretty sure some patients would have indulged in immaturity and started hitting each other with the damn things, if they'd been given them

[its_the_mileage]

"It always is," Indy replied, although he wasn't sure whether Dent had been talking to himself or not. In truth, he was musing aloud for his own benefit too. "To discourage us from trying to get help from the town? Or is it just another way of getting under our skin

[unheroed]

"Well, either way, the people here don't seem happy to see us," Harvey pointed out, keeping his tone low so that the barkeep didn't overhear. The guy already looked like he might stab someone who got too smart-mouthed, and Harvey knew better than to rely on any luck here, self-made or not. "But it's probably both." Then again, these townspeople were clearly under Landel's control. Maybe that was more clear when they were stumbling corpses, but it was probably the same during the day, if to a lesser extent. It would explain why they had no helpful information, at least

[its_the_mileage]

"Taken? For the experiments?" Indy asked sharply. Well, that was sure a valid reason to miss class. "I haven't seen him--" which was as far as he got before a bar chair sailed past and into the wall with a bang. Right behind it was a guy trying to stab one of the other patients with a pen. "Damn it," Indy muttered. A bar fight was just what they needed.

He wondered if he should get up to intervene, but ultimately decided to keep his distance--their problems were their problems, and he certainly wasn't eager to make a weekly habit of getting into fistfights in town. In the end his inaction didn't matter much; it wasn't long until the pen went flying, all four of the idiots involved toppled to the floor, and one of them dragged the other screaming out the front door. Not much of a bar fight, but a hell of a lot more of one than Indy was in the mood for.

"Damn hotheads," he griped to Dent, who looked similarly irritated with the whole thing. "Let's hope the bartender doesn't decide we're more trouble than we're worth too."

[unheroed]

Then whole thing ended pretty fast, at the very least. Harvey watched with a hooded half-gaze as the one man dragged the psychotic one out into the rain, leaving the bar in an awkward silence which Jones thankfully broke. Harvey scoffed and gave a shake of his head. While he knew that he'd allowed himself (not that there'd been much of a choice) to get to that sort of breaking point in the past, it was more of a stomach-turner when he had to see it in someone else.

He did have to wonder if the one who'd been attacked had deserved it, though. Those two who'd just left were lucky that they'd gotten away before the nurses could even ready their syringes.

"Pretty sure he's glad we didn't get involved," he said with a roll of his shoulders as he settled back more comfortably into his seat. "Anyway, about Lunge. I'll let you know if he's not around tonight." That was the most that he was willing to do, and it was really all he could do. His roommate was more likely to respond to a bulletin post from Jones than from him, or so he guessed

[iwhipthefool]

"Hands off." Franziska emerged, or rather burst into the bar with two nurses on her trail and a spectacularly sour expression on her face. She had no idea why there were so many of the infernal white-coated peons floating around this area, but she'd been caught and thrown in here to 'get her out of the rain' or some other sort of rubbish. She was absolutely certain it had more to do with the fact that she'd all but avoided their harping all day and continued her own investigations, which they were very displeased with.

"Wilhelmina, it's for your ow--"

"Hands off or I will sue you and your employers for manhandling," she snapped, slapping the nurse's hands at the same time. The nurse gave her a hurt and reproachful glare along with an ineffective warning, then turned to go back out and follow whatever ruckus had brought her in here

[its_the_mileage]

"Thanks," Indy replied, and meant it. As unsure as he'd been of Dent in the past (and, all right, still), he couldn't deny that the guy had given him a sizable amount of information since they'd met. The acquaintance was definitely paying off on his end, and maybe on Dent's as well.

Before he had time to say anything else, another angry voice rang through the bar--oh, God, Indy thought--and a second later a familiar girl was marching toward them in a scowl and an oversized trenchcoat. The overall effect fell somewhat sort of imposing

[unheroed]

When Jones thanked him, Harvey just nodded. It was no skin off his back -- that was what he kept telling himself. He'd end up in that room with his weird roommate regardless of what he did (as depressing as that thought was), so it wasn't like he had to go out of his way or anything. Harvey was half-tempted to ask Jones what he even saw in Lunge, but that was when they were interrupted for the second time

[iwhipthefool]

Floor show? Sedated? Franziska raised an eyebrow and then recalled the scene outside - the nurses running about in the rain, the sight of someone disappearing around the corner of the building at a run - and observed the one inside - the chair thrown against the wall, two people climbing back to their feet. With that much evidence, it was easy to deduce what had happened: a bar fight among the patients. Franziska's scowl deepened. "As if we don't have enough to worry about without the patients being complete fools in town

[its_the_mileage]

Indy watched Dent grab for a nonexistent glass and empathized. What a sorry state of affairs, when another invasion of violently-inclined living corpses started to seem like a desirable outcome just because it might afford you a chance at a goddamned stiff drink

[unheroed]

Well, it looked like they could all agree that the grand majority of their fellow patients had probably gone through lobotomies prior to their arrival here. Harvey just gave a small shake of his head. At least things seemed to have calmed down by now. He really didn't need to get caught in the crossfire of some unnecessary brawl.

As for Franziska's question, it wasn't too difficult to surmise what she was getting at. In the end, information was what talked here, and he couldn't blame her for getting down to the point.

It sounded like he'd actually pulled off more than Jones, even though it still wasn't much. Once the other man had said his piece, Harvey spoke up. "Swung by your favorite pet store, then the grocery store, and even checked out the bookstore for good measure. There was nothing noteworthy." His tone was between annoyed and defeated. Combining the foul weather with a lack of leads and a lack of alcohol, and Harvey couldn't help feeling particularly grumpy.

At least he was in decent company.

[iwhipthefool]

[Sorry for the wait. D| Sick and work.Not much indeed. Franziska never changed so much as a twitch of her expression as she heard of Indy's day. She appreciated his thoroughness and also his deference to her question even if his answer provided nothing satisfactory. Once he finished, however, she crossed her ankles under her chair, opting not to cross her legs for fear the ugly jeans would show. "I see." She paused and then added, "How unfortunate

[its_the_mileage]

Unfortunate was right, but at least she was tactful about it