The priority was getting back on his feet as soon as possible. Izaya's forte was after all human interaction, when it was not 'exploiting', so being barred from talking face to face – it made him exceedingly nervous and no one ever shared anything with a jumpy fellow – hindered his work exceedingly. Worse than that, it was a part of his identity that he could no longer claim.
Izaya watched the city slide by in a series of blurs of light against the incoming night. There was a third place where Izaya had a sense of calm. Shooting galleries. It was perhaps strange but as long as there was a target and something to shoot it with, Izaya felt more than fine. Of course, these were non-living targets. Izaya had a principle not to actually kill anyone, he might very well influence one to opt for death but he did not believe in imposing on someone's free will to the point of murder. However, Izaya was realizing that such ideas need be rewritten.
Creatures that adapted to new circumstances survived, those who did not were bound to perish. And Orihara Izaya was not about to join the extinct races of the Earth, all 99% of all that had ever existed.

Shizuo was waiting for Izaya. And feeling a bit dazed. Izaya had given the key to his apartment where he now sat on the plush black sofa. When Izaya was around it was easy to simply forget about the surroundings or at least not take them too much into consideration, Izaya was that kind of person. But being alone in the fast apartment made Izaya somewhat timid. He was allowed to be here and told that he could look around as he pleased but he could not help feeling that he was imposing. Shizuo half expected someone to materialize before his eyes and tell him to leave before laser beams slashed him into slices. There was something futuristic about the place that made such things almost likely.
Shizuo was even afraid of turning on the television lest he ended up damaging it. He was very much looking forward to seeing the rest of the crazy movie about the dreams. It was strange in a way he was not used to and it took him a while to realize why he liked it so much. The novelty of it all was what drew him in. The feeling of seeing something utterly unlike anything he had ever experienced before. As if life too was shifting gears and moving forward into a world of color.
If Shizuo were to describe the days after the incident he would say that it was monochrome time that moved around in a narrow circle around him. So he came to associate hope with colors and Dreams was bursting with these. Breaking the cycle of choking on inertia. Shizuo did not for a moment forget that it was been Izaya reaching out to him.
Shizuo studied a shelf of books. There were many, an entire wall stacked from top to bottom and Izaya had told him that the bulk of his library was rar'ed (whatever that was) in the computer. The titles were neatly arranged by theme and title. There were books on sociology, anthropology, architecture, information science, informatics, behaviorism, astronomy, philosophy, linguistic, programming, mathematics, postmodernism and other topics about which Shizuo only had the foggiest idea of. On the other side of the wall was an equally well stoked fiction section but the authors and titles were for the most part a mystery to Shizuo who had never heard about Oscar Wilde.
Shizuo was very impressed. He was used to seeing Izaya as the ultimate smartass whose clever ways served only to screw others over and have a blast at it. But he could now see that Izaya's quest for pleasure was almost obsessive and not necessarily a tool. Shizuo's guess was that Izaya loved to learn new things simply because it made him happy. Shizuo considered that maybe he was being too simplistic in thinking this way but even if there was more to it, with Izaya there usually was, it did not change that Izaya had a passion for learning.
Shizuo checked the time. Izaya was a bit late. He had half a mind to give Izaya a call but he did not have the number. It occurred to Shizuo that it was rather odd, in some ways Izaya and him were very close but in others it seemed that they were miles apart. He decided that he would ask the number as soon as Izaya arrived.