|: 001. Video/Spam : Feels Just Like I Don't Try :|

[kissthatgoodbye]

    [ Public ]

    [It's not unusual for transmissions to start en route to whatever they'll eventually show; this one follows the floor for a moment, spins its focus past a wall, shows a glimpse of common room.

     Shows a partial view of a possibly familiar face, frowning in concentration, muttering more or less to himself.]

     Number of things nowhere near as simple as they should be: two so far.  Well done, Admiral.  Catch up to the twenty-first century, huh?

     [A few more small adjustments, and Alec is fully on screen, standing mid-corridor on one of the hallways. He beams, pleased with himself.]

     There.  Now.  Floor numbers go up or down?  Is this thing actually on?  Hello?


     [ Spam : Open ]

     [Once his presence is successfully announced, it frees Alec up to investigate his new environment more thoroughly - and explore it he does, once he confirms what his research alone in his cabin has already told him: this place is nothing like Manticore.  They seem to pride themselves on it, even.  Additionally they're recovering from some kind of unusual crisis, and that leaves him a unique opportunity he doesn't intend to waste, especially not with what else his reading of the network has shown him.

     He covers his barcode with the collar of his jacket, and separates the Barge as he understands it into a grid, sets out to fill in the blank spots.  He can be found poking around in the dining hall, the infirmary, the gym, the greenhouse, the art room, and lingering outside the pub, the maintenance office, the engine room.  He even wanders down near Zero just to make sure he's left no corner uninvestigated. 

    It's simple: act like he belongs here, see who takes the bait; he's friendly to everyone he sees, smiling easily, often waving in greeting if anyone looks at him.  Evaluate, adjust, advance.  As long as he has new surroundings to investigate, as long as he has new rules and social angles to learn, he doesn't have to think about why he's here, what it means, or what he means to do once he's sure of himself.]

     [ Private : Dillon Cole : A few days later, after this ]

    [No fumbling this time.  He wants to be taken seriously and he expects this Dillon person is already familiar with X5s, too - enough to know that a few days is more than enough time for him to become competent with the communicator anyway, if nothing else.

     His speech is a little more formal, too, although he doesn't bother with being as starched and rigid as he's seen his clone on the network; he can, but he only needs the vague connection in this case.]

     Good afternoon, sir.  I was told to contact with you a possible employment inquiry.

Comments

[americasdirtiest]

Fucking seriously?

[kissthatgoodbye]

Care to elaborate there, sport?

[americasdirtiest]

That's, what, like-- four of you now?

sp sp sp spam

[patheticvillain]

[For maybe an eighth of a second, when he sees Alec out of the corner of his eye, he thinks it's Ben. But when he turns, there's a smile there as bright as a fucking light show, and he knows there's just no way. No way. No matter how much time has passed, this can't possibly be Ben.]

[He puts down the weight he was holding and shakes his head.]

Jesus Christ. There's no end to you, is there.

sp sp sp spam

[kissthatgoodbye]

[It's not, by this point, the first time he's gotten that reaction. He understands that he's giving himself away with the... anything remotely human-like, but he's okay with it at this point. He's okay with being separate from Ben. He couldn't have kept that up long anyway.

So he just ignores it, keeps smiling and takes the invitation of being spoken to first to venture closer.]

I was always on the gifted end of the spectrum, it's true. You don't have to announce me though.

spam

[witness_this]

[When he meets her eye and waves in the art room, Furiosa looks back at him like she's reasonably sure there's something wrong with him. In fact, she's exploring as well, otherwise she likely wouldn't be in here at all.

Still, a little wrongfooted, she waits, expecting that he might have something to tell her about this place, or paint or something- and draws in a breath, not sure if she should ask what. That lasts a few very long seconds.]

spam

[kissthatgoodbye]

[Alec is making a point of being confident in his exploring, but it doesn't mean that he's lost all the skills he accumulated at reading other people. He's quick to smile at her, prompt to wave, but he's more subdued about it; she holds herself too quietly for anything close to his full force smile, but he still drifts closer.]

Not really that surprised this ain't exactly the popular hangout. Is there at least some kind of mixer on the first Friday of the month?

[fridgetothefire]

[The Maintenance Office door is open. She's got a notebook open on the desk, but her eyes aren't on it. Even if his footsteps are silent, her eyes flick to the door often enough. She's definitely waiting for something. She doesn't have any obvious tells whether that something is him, but he might guess easily enough.]

Survey going well?

[kissthatgoodbye]

[His footsteps are not silent. No matter how his mind works, he isn't interested in confirming anything that no one can prove. All anyone knows is that he looks like a kid that was anything but human, not anything about him that he doesn't tell them.

So what he tells them by idly wandering through halls is that he's not much to think about, beyond what he is to look at. When he arrives at the Maintenance office and finds the door open, when he leans a bit to peek around the edge like any curious newcomer would and meets her eyes, he smiles easily while glancing over first her, and then the room.

He doesn't recognize her.]

Well, it's a tossup for whether the decorating style is eccentric or hodgepodge, but the construction seems sound enough.

[tucky]

[Tiffany comes out of the pub, sees Alec, and stops dead. That's not Dean. It's not Ben, either. The Admiral just really, really likes this guy's face, doesn't he?]

You wanting to go in?

[kissthatgoodbye]

[The annoying part is how easily people can tell that at a glance; all he's been able to gather so far is which people know one of his doppelgangers and which don't, not which one they knew. Not how to interact with them with a more tailored fit.

He smiles for her anyway, crooked and warm, the one others have called charming.]

I don't know. Never saw the point in going into places like that alone. You?

[thelastbullet]

[Jimmy isn't the first, and he won't be the last, to mistake Alec for Ben. The body language is all wrong, and even the voice isn't the same, but it still throws him sometimes to see doubles.

He assumes it's like Omar and Chalky: just a coincidence, weird though it is. So when he runs into Alec (almost literally-- teach him to look at his cigarette as he lights it) he's surprised for a second, but sees no reason to confuse the guy by asking about Ben.]

Hey.

[kissthatgoodbye]

[Alec knows eventually he's going to have to answer for that; of course, he also knows that he's in one of very few places where he might be able to get away with that answer being a shrug and a resigned smile, if he plays his cards right. The Admiral seems to be the popular scapegoat, and a properly mysterious one. He knows how to play that game.

But for right now he turns to avoid the collision and absolutely buries the spark of annoyance before it makes it to the surface by smirking.]

Isn't there some kind of common sense rule about watching the road?

[video]

[routemistress]

Oh, good grief. I s'pose it were just a matter of time. Welcome aboard, cutie, I'm right glad to see that face again.

[video]

[kissthatgoodbye]

Well, you know what they say, can't keep a good man down. Or a good face I guess.

[video]

[lydiascreams]

[He looks the same, but he seems... different. And considering what she knows about multiple people wearing the same face and about Ben's world, maybe not assuming is a good idea.]

It's definitely on. Floor numbers are higher as you go up.

Did you just get here?

[video]

[kissthatgoodbye]

So it's just terrible architectural design. Got it.

[That seems to solve enough of the mystery that he can focus on her, and he does so, smiling crookedly. She's young, but cute. He's willing to lean on that for now.]

That obvious, huh? Well, everyone looks like an idiot sometimes, right?

I'm Alec.

permavideo

[gulosity]

Which two things are those?

permavideo

[kissthatgoodbye]

[Hel-lo.]

Stairs and cell phones.

You wouldn't think these things should be complicated, and yet.

[video] THE ACTUAL LATEST

[punched_hitler]

[For a second, sure, Steve's a little confused. But he does have some experience with people that share faces, and he can tell immediately by a hundred little things that it's not Ben.]

They go down in descending order, like any other ship I've been on, which is about where the similarities end.

Which you've probably figured out, but just in case.

[video]

[kissthatgoodbye]

[And a perfectly serviceable smile for you too, sir.]

Thanks. I tend to keep my feet on solid ground as much as possible, but this way I'll be ahead of the game next time I fail at that.

I'm Alec.

spam; the music room (kitsune does what she wants)

[whatthefoxsay]

[Ben was the instrument player, not Kira. She's the type who knows just enough to plunk out Chopsticks or Heart & Soul without embarrassing herself, and if she really tried she could plunk out a melody line after a lot of trial and error.

So when she sits in the music room, perched on the piano bench with the ebony and ivory in front of her, all she's doing is pressing the occasional key while she sings an old 90's song with a sort of absent-minded fondness for the sweet innocence of the song.

It's next to her cabin now, the way it used to be next to Ben's, but there's still a public access doorway and right now it's open. Should she really be surprised that the music floats through the hallway, to be heard by any passerby? That an open doorway suggests invitation and someone might come in?

Probably not, but she will be anyway.]

spam; the music room (kitsune does what she wants)

[kissthatgoodbye]

[The sound of a piano does strange things to Alec; he's not sure he likes it. It could be painful, if he let it, but in the dulled way that he's learned in himself to recognize and suppress at all costs. It's dangerous, in a way very little is more dangers to him than that, whatever he taught himself to forget, whatever wasn't safe enough to remember every moment of every day.

But he also knows, unerringly and without thought, the name of each note she presses, where it is on the keyboard, how to replicate it; it's a skillset pressed indelibly into his mind and muscles, and it attracts his attention enough to ease closer.

She's pretty, the girl sitting at the bench when he sticks his head in, cat-curious and almost as silent. The piano is strange enough at a glance to soothe the threatening tickle at the back of his mind, and the girl is easy enough to make him smile again. He doesn't interrupt, but he does slide a little more into the door to facilitate her stopping so he doesn't have to.]

[private]

[orderfromchaos]

Okay, please never call me sir again, that is - weird. Dillon, it's just, just Dillon.

Um.

[Is he supposed to conduct an interview or - something -]

[private]

[kissthatgoodbye]

[Alec smiles politely, tucks it away in the back of his mind; not comfortable with authority. He holds his position some other way.

Not that he didn't already know that, but it's nice to have working proof on top of backread evidence.]

Of course. Dillon. I'm Alec McDowell, designation X5-494. I assume you're familiar with my clone, Ben.

Everyone else seems to be.