Escape Room State of Mind

Kaoru Naito

After stalking off from the group rousing, Kaoru started searching the area. Not for a way out, per say, he didn't think there would just be one, but he wanted to get a lay of the land while he had a chance, especially if there was anything to find before someone else. He knew staying alone would be impossible as soon as everyone spread out, with there being, what, thirteen of them? So he's valuing the prime time of leaving early to get a jump on some of the rooms.

A loud crack would bring anyone's attention to the hall. Following the sound would bring someone to a broken chair in the hall and make the following banging sound on the other end of the room much more apparent.

His searching had taken him to the "entrance hall" looking room, where he's currently stood up in front of where a door should be, glaring and kicking the blank length of wall with an impressive amount of balance, utterly focused on his kicking, like a long-legged woodpecker.

Robert McCay

"E-everyone okay in there?!"

Robert's pacing around the MILGRAM happened to take him by the entrance hall when he heard the crack of the breaking chair. He ran inside, only to find the scene… not as he was expecting. An enormous, lanky man stood at the top of the stairs, kicking the wall aggressively. Maybe he should keep his distance?

He made his way over to the stairrail-- no closer-- and hollered up towards the new prisoner.

"'Scuse me, sir, but we tried messin' with all those rocks already... No secret door. Less' it's one you can reach and I can't?"

That could actually be the case, Robert thought as he fully took in the scale of this guy. Did he play basketball or what?!

Kaoru Naito

Kaoru isn't in a hurry to turn and look at the man, even as he bursts in offering help. He kicks the wall a final time before letting his leg fall to the ground, turning around with the momentum of it to stare at Robert, unimpressed.

"Hey heyy, you tryin' to say just cause you looked at this shit I can't? What kinda logic's that, I'm just supposed t' take your word for shit?"

He glowers, looking Robert up and down judgmentally. This guy looks… something's bothering him, but he doesn't voice that feeling, opting to just keep staring at him like that.

Robert McCay

Another one with an attitude, huh? This one sure looked like trouble too, with that surly face and all the gnarly tattoos.

"Hey now, I'm just tryna save you some time…"

He trailed off. Wait a second… that accent…

"…Don't tell me there's another Texan runnin' around here? How many is that, like, four?!"

Kaoru Naito

He starts to walk back towards the broken chair casually.

"Eh? Yes-sireeee, partner," he says in an exaggerated way before going back to normal, "Where the fuck else should I be from? Like, obviously."

Robert McCay

"Well there's at least a few folks from Japan, one from Australia, one from uhhh sounded like Alabama? There don't seem t'be any rhyme or reason to it. The Texas thing just wigs me out-- I don't even live there anymore, I'm in LA…"

Robert watched Kaoru approach the chair apprehensively. Just what was he up to?

"So this definitely ain't just some county jail. You got a name…?"

He almost added "kid" reflexively, but that didn't seem right for a feller half a head taller than him-- even if it suited his attitude.

Kaoru Naito

He listening to the list of locations quietly; he’s been assuming they were still in Texas, given he’d only run into two other southerners, so the added information is definitely worth noting.

“Kaoru.”

Somehow his grain of thought finally settles as he rambles through it:

“You live in L.A.? Here I was thinkin’ I knew you, geheheh. Weren’t you in the Avengers or somethin’? Maybe as one a’ the side dudes?”

Robert McCay

"Kaoru, huh? Name's Robert McCay--"

Kaoru's nasty little giggle set Robert on high alert. Shit. Here he was, thinking he'd maybe just lucked out with this grab-bag of folks, that maybe he could start with a clean slate…

"No, uh-- I was definitely not in The Avengers. Or any movie. I ain't a movie guy..."

He had a sinking feeling he was going to regret having specified a last name.

Kaoru Naito

“Really? Hmm, not sure I buy it, but maybe you just got one of them faces!”

He doesn’t sound convinced, but seems like he isn’t set on pressing the fact for now. Or… if he is still pressing it, he’s doing it in a very obtuse way.

He reaches down to step on part of the chair he broke and grabs a leg of it to start yanking it free from the rest of the broken frame, tugging a few times.

“Ugh, why the fuck’re you movin’ to Cali if you aren’t becomin’ a movie guy? Don’t tell me you’re on some small business shit. Maybe I saw your ass on Shark Tank—oh, or like, The Voice, was it?”

Robert McCay

"I moved there with my folks in second grade, man, it wasn't exactly my idea…"

Robert sighed. Maybe he was getting worked up over nothing?

"Hah! No Shark Tank, no The Voice… I did do an NPR Tiny Desk once? I have a suspicion I'm not yer genre, though."

…Maybe he shouldn't have hit that specific alt pose sprite. Uh oh!

Kaoru Naito

Kaoru watches him like an oddly focused hawk before snapping his fingers, brightening with revelation.

“Nahh, nah—that’s it, I got yer number, ya yeehaw wannabe, yer daddy’s the one I’m thinkin’ of, yeah? Yer too young, but I got it! Mind like a steel trap!”

“He was in like, Final Destination for old men, nah? Yeah— McCay! I’m right, aren’t I? I’m tellin’ ya, I’m good with faces! I’m real good, like a doberman, ra-ra!” He vocalizes like barking. “What’s it, Dead somethin’, Dead by Moonlight? By Daylight? Fuck, it’s an old ass movie, I’m close!”

Robert McCay

"…!"

Like Icarus, Robert had flown too close to the sun-- or well, spent too much time talking to this weirdo and let him clock his ass. So much for the clean slate. And did it have to be this guy, of all people…?

Well, no use denying anything now.

"Fuck it. Dead by Midnight. His name was… John."

"Was, mind you. He's been dead fer a decade now. I don't wanna talk about it, and, uh… I'd rather y'didn't tell anyone, either."

As he spoke those words, he realized they were sure to have the opposite effect, but-- can't take 'em back now. His face looked unusually stony and impassive as he stared back at Kaoru.

Kaoru Naito

"Aw fuck, sorry t' hear it! My dad's dead too."

He says encouragingly, strangely casually. He just kind of leaves that at that.

To Robert's steely gaze, he doesn't seem too bothered; in fact, he seems pretty agreeable. It might be disheartening to see he isn't even a fraction phased, rolling along with the request easily.

"Yeah sure, they say a secret's double sweet between friends n' shit, so stay on my good side and I won't go tellin' anyone yer a Hollywood baby, geheheh! Not my fault if someone else knows 'im, but can't 'xpect everyone to be cultured like moi."

It's said playfully, but he definitely seems the sort to blab if someone got on his bad side. It's, in fact, chillingly easy to imagine him delivering this information to everyone as ineloquently and loudly as possible.

Robert McCay

For someone who was previously smashing chairs into pieces for fun, that was a… surprisingly reasonable proposal.

"…Guess I can't ask fer much more than that, huh? Fine. Thanks, even."

Robert looked the feller over, noting just how far he had to lean back to see the top of his head… Staying on his good side seemed like a good idea, even without the blackmail material.

"Well, I was just checkin' on the noise, so... Guess I'll see you around."

Kaoru Naito

“Yessir, I’ll keep up the good work! Come ‘n get me if ya need somethin’ torn apart, gehahah!”

Good spirited if… clearly full of energy he’s eager to put into something. He finishes tearing the chair leg off and tosses it up in the air to catch it, spinning it around so the jagged part faces out. Then he’s going to club at another piece of furniture in the room with it, wanting to launch something small across the room like a baseball. Keeping up the good work indeed.