|: 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?

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.

[kissthatgoodbye]

Care to elaborate there, sport?

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.]

[americasdirtiest]

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

[kissthatgoodbye]

Oh, I promise there's only one of me.

[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?

[americasdirtiest]

Cute. Guess that makes three out of four smartasses.

[He's never spoken to the other Dean Winchester himself, but he's heard him before on the network. The new kid sounds closer to him than to their Dean, and way closer than to Ben.]

Okay, so who're you?

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.

[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?

[patheticvillain]

I'm pretty sure I do. "Oh god, it's another guy with that face. Clear the halls or he'll smile at you."

[He cocks his head, grin spreading, letting Alec approach without comment.]

Are you here to work out or crack wise? Wait, don't answer that. Let me guess.

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?

[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.

spam

[witness_this]

Maybe.

[She says, glancing at one of the easels, a half-drawn picture still hanging. Not hers; she doesn't know when it was abandoned. The exact phrasing of the question doesn't slip by her, though. He doesn't know either.]

You're new too?

[She'll be glad if he is, honestly.]

[kissthatgoodbye]

Well if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

[He smiles, amused with himself, amiable enough.]

Alec. Who're you?

[kissthatgoodbye]

First of all, I'm not just another guy. Second of all, I'm pretty sure there are much, much worse fates than me smiling at you.

[He winks, as he glances over the rack of weights Cassel is organizing, looks at where he was working and what he has left to do, and reaches to scoop up the next one. He's annoyed by how hard it is for him to pick it up but that doesn't so much as register on the surface, where he's raising both eyebrows as he sets the weight down where it goes.]

Go on then. Let's hear it.

spam

[kissthatgoodbye]

[She looks at the drawing; he takes advantage of his new vantage point to glance over her mechanical arm specifically. It looks like something a steelhead would go for, at once impressively intricate and yet somehow primitive; functional, not just aesthetics. His eyes are back on her face by the time she looks back, his smile falling crooked.]

That obvious, huh? I'm Alec. [Similarly, he doesn't miss the "too," or the way she doesn't seem to quite know what to do with herself in this room. Herself in general maybe, but not here. He leans in just a little, just enough to make it conspiratory when he adds:] Less than a day, and I'm already wondering what I got myself into, eh?

[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.

spam

[witness_this]

It gets worse over night.

[In her experience. Furiosa is trying to sleep, and waking up again and again with the need to do. Only, of course, there's nothing but to wander around and eventually find yourself poking through arts and craft supplies, wondering if you're finally dead and this is just one big end of life hallucination.]

Furiosa. Third day.

[Counting is a helpless old habit. It's strange her, but if it's less than seven thousand days, it's something she can do.]

[tucky]

Well, I'm coming out, as you can see.

But I can go back in if you want some company.

[americasdirtiest]

Mickey.

If you haven't figured it out yet, you're gonna run into a dude who looks a whole lot like you, sooner or later.

[patheticvillain]

[Well, when he's got a point he's got a point. Cassel makes an exaggeratedly pinched expression and shakes his head, but he's still grinning and there's something sly about the cast of his eyes, something wicked.]

I think you're here to make yourself seen.

[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.

[kissthatgoodbye]

Yeah?

[Still amused; he's not remotely surprised, but despite the way he's taken the rest more or less in stride, he raises an eyebrow nonetheless as though he might be.]

One of the three or the unfortunate one?