|: 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

[thelastbullet]

[He snaps his lighter shut with a sharp click, inhales deeply before answering.]

There's also such a thing as 'right of way'.

[kissthatgoodbye]

Yeah, I hear it goes to whoever can enforce it.

[But he's not actually interested in a fight, so he raises both hands slightly, palm out, to telegraph more clearly that he's joking.]

Let's start over. Hi. I'm Alec.

[thelastbullet]

James. [Because it's still 'Jimmy to his friends', and he's not sure about that just yet. He taps his cigarette, takes in Alec's clear body language.]

You're new.

[kissthatgoodbye]

You noticed!

[This is congratulatory and sarcastic in turns, but he moves on amiably enough, turning in place to face the same direction as Jimmy and motioning ahead of him in invitation.

Yes, he did just invite himself along to wherever the man is going.]

But it took you a second. I'm playing a game: who do you think I was?

[thelastbullet]

[He gives a little annoyed twitch at that, but he's not going to outright tell Alec to leave him alone. Yet.

So he smokes and walks, doesn't look at the guy when he answers.]

Ben. You been getting a lot of that, huh?

[kissthatgoodbye]

[That, and telling Alec to leave is pretty much guaranteed to get him to stay right up your nose, but there's no way anyone around here knows that. Yet.

He shrugs.]

No one's come right out and said it, but yeah. Pretty much.

But no one's tried to punch me in the face yet, either, so I guess there are worse cases of mistaken identity.

[Ben must've gotten his crazy under control quite a while ago if no one left wants to punch him as much as Alec does.]

[thelastbullet]

He seemed like a straight-up fella. You coulda gotten Dean. [Who, as far as he's been able to tell, is not exactly straight-up. Or down. Or anything.]

[kissthatgoodbye]

[There is a part of him that this description of Ben will never stop bothering; Ben, the Ben he knows of, was never a straight up fella. He wasn't much of anything, really, to Alec's knowledge except some kid who looked like him and escaped and left him - and every clone of that entire unit - holding the shitbag of extra PsyOps sessions for months afterwards.

He's more committed to not reacting negatively to it because he knows that kneejerk reaction is mostly conditioning, rather than it being the right thing to do or being willing to give him a chance. He shrugs.]

Would it get me punched in the face? Because otherwise, I'm not sure how much difference it makes when neither of them are me.

[thelastbullet]

These days? It might do, yeah. [He limps along, taps ash off his cigarette without looking where it goes. Enough smokers on the Barge that he won't offend too many people.]

You got a couple fellas look like you, you might wanna figure that out first before asking how much of a difference it makes.

[kissthatgoodbye]

[Alec, whose first thought is you don't have to tell me what to do about fellas who look like me behind his unfaltering smirk, shrugs.]

Don't see how there's much I can do about it either way. They're here, I'm here, none of us are each other and there's not a lot any of us can do about that.

[thelastbullet]

Introducing yourself as not being those guys before doin' anything else might help.

[kissthatgoodbye]

You figured it out pretty quick. I'm not about to go around saying who I'm not when I'm clearly who I am.

[thelastbullet]

You asked me if it'd get you punched in the face, I replied. [He gestures with his cigarette, jabbing at it in Alec's general direction, before sticking it back in his mouth. Deal with it, apparently.]

[kissthatgoodbye]

[Alec opens his mouth to reply, pauses, seems to think the better of it.]

Enough about me.

[Or, rather, the people who aren't him. He waves dismissively, never quite stops smiling.]

I'm ah. Not really sure what the polite opener is around here. Yet.

[thelastbullet]

There's not that many people here to use one on. Some people'll take offense to anything, anyway.

[kissthatgoodbye]

That's anywhere, though. A higher concentration here, maybe, but not unique.

What would make you punch someone in the face?

[thelastbullet]

[He glances up at Alec, seemingly amused at the question.]

A lot more here than it took back home. Right place, right time.

[kissthatgoodbye]

So you would consider yourself a volatile type.

[He doesn't say this as though it were a bad thing, more like he's filing it away for later, still mildly curious both before and after. This is the truth.]

You should be careful. I hear blood pressure is a silent killer.

[thelastbullet]

I had a lot of really loud killers to worry about before I got shot.