34 // videos // locked to ALL THE PEOPLE (one at a time)

[40410]

The mirror in Alex's room has been covered for months, but the one in the bathroom gets a pass. His double can stare at the tiled wall till the cows come home if it makes him happy; from the bathroom, he can't see Alex.

But he can write ominous messages on the other side of the glass.

Alex's messages are hastily locked and quietly panicky, making them hackable with some effort. The first goes out to Sofia Lamb.

"Sof', are you there?"

And after he's spoken to her, he sends the same message to Mark. "Mark, you there? Pick up."

Then he calls J.

Comments

[40410.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I...

[ ...am going to hesitate, not sure how to word the feelings of the moment or even whether it's necessary. Probably not. ]

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

[ Well. Let's get started on pulling teeth. ]

What happened?

[40410.livejournal.com]

J's... gone. Home.

[ Somewhere safe. But at the same time, now that J's gone, Alex has started to feel as though he's missed an opportunity. ]

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

[ At that moment Lamb takes a sharp breath and chokes, resulting in a prolonged cough. A fortunate coincidence that allows her to conceal her initial enthusiasm about the surprising news.

Last cough. ]

...I apologise.

[ She clears her throat. ]

Many people have disappeared recently and I... am truly sorry to hear about J.

[40410.livejournal.com]

What makes you think it's a bad thing?

[ The question has a little more edge than it ought; that cough sounded like it was concealing initial enthusiasm about the surprising news. You know, a little. But he tells himself he's being paranoid. ]

1/3

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

[ Okay, this is a good time to look at Alex silently for a moment so that he may reflect on whether he really wants to take that tone with Lamb. ]

2/3

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

[ That was fun, wasn't it? Moving on. ]

I'm glad you are thinking of his well-being, Alex. Regardless you lost a friend here and for that you have my sympathies.

PS.:

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

[40410.livejournal.com]

[ ...Crap, that was pretty snappish.

Clearly the appropriate save here is to narrow his eyes at the bottom-most corner of the screen. ]

Yeah, well. All we did here was fight.

[ Clearly something broke between them while Alex was away. Maybe even before he left. ]

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

[ Let's nudge the subject a little to the side, shall we? ]

...Were you upset earlier because you could not find him?

[40410.livejournal.com]

[ Oh. THAT. ]

My mirror, [ he begins savagely, then decides otherwise and grabs the portable communicator. A few seconds later they're in the bathroom and Lamb has a nice view of the mirrored cabinet.

On the far side, in jaunty handwriting, are the words:



They're still easily readable, despite the new message scrawled backwards over their top:

FUCK YOU ]

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

[ ... ]

I see.

[ She frowns a little. ]

...You said you would explain after. That was not after going into the forest, was it?

[ Time seemed a little short for that, but you never know. ]

[40410.livejournal.com]

No. I think he wanted me to think he meant J.

[ He doesn't sound comfortable with the fact that he hasn't gone out. But so long as he doesn't know that he has to, fear wins out and he stays inside. ]

Should I...

[ He breaks off, afraid of the answer. Either someone's in danger or he's been completely played.

Alex wonders, not for the first time, whether the mirror J and Alex are as good friends as the regulars once were. He hopes they are. He hopes the mirror J disappeared too, and that his mirrorself is absolutely devastated. ]

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

[ Very firm ] No.

At best his message was deception. At worst a scheme to put you in danger.

[ So she guesses. And in Lamb land guesses are certainties, at least when convincing other people of the proper path to take. ]

I'm relieved you stayed, Alex.

[40410.livejournal.com]

[ With a hateful look at the mirror, he moves out of the bathroom. In there he always has the uncomfortable feeling of being eavesdropped on. ]

He was definitely lying?

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

[ ...D'oh. Direct questions are the enemy of Lamb land. ]

I find it difficult to imagine otherwise.

Is anyone you know missing?

oh god I broke the timeline. /sets to fixing

[40410.livejournal.com]

It's not you or Mark or - or Tim.

[ He can say that for certain. But those are the only names he's checked. He found out about J, then insulted his mirror, then called her. ]

That's everyone I know he's. Watched.

[ There's a tension in his jaw, and his eyes are slightly glassy; she's known him long enough that she might recognise the signs of internalised panic. He can only speak for four people's whereabouts. That's not good enough. ]

Hurry or future!Alex will push you down the stairs.

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

[ ...Mark. That's an interesting detail to be investigated. Later. ]

But you are still worried, perhaps because you believe it could be somebody else?

[ It's barely even a question. And those signals? Something should be done about them. ]

Let us talk about it upstairs, if you don't mind. I will be there in a moment.

[ She does leave room for objection, but only just. ]

That only happens in the doomed beta timeline.

[40410.livejournal.com]

[ Yeah, Alex should really have been paying more attention to what came out of his mouth just there. But he's disarmed by Sofia, and distracted by his fear. ]

Let me call around some more first. Just to make sure. [ He tries to downplay it, but only ends up sounding like someone who's trying to sound casual. ]

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

Of course. Make your calls and I will be on my way.

[ It's like taking his suggestion and ignoring it at the same time! :D ]

[40410.livejournal.com]

[ He almost calls her on that, but finding out about possible slendervictims trumps haggling over the terms of a meeting-up non-agreement. ]

Sure.

[ He's more worried about how he's going to check on everyone in time. There might be people who've been targeted without his knowledge, or there might be an entirely new victim. How's he supposed to...

Markus might know. He ends the feed with Sofia, taps in Markus's number, holds that conversation. The timeline is given a kiss and a band-aid and nobody is doomed.

Of course, that's not to say that the conversation goes well. ]

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

[ Handwaving the exciting walk upstairs and jumping right to the knock on his door. Soft, just loud enough to be heard, so as not to disturb any conversation he may still be having. ]

[40410.livejournal.com]

[ Any shouted conversation. Apparently he's lost his temper again. Boy should really learn to keep a closer eye on it.

The words are mostly muffled by the thick door, but they seem to involve swearing. He's just been hung up on. And by hung up on, we mean Markus broke the comm against a wall.

He hears the knock, though. He's always alert for sounds at the door. Distracted from the fact that Sofia said she was coming up, he yells: ]

Who the hell's that?

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

...Alex?

[ A pause, to allow for a moment of 8| on Sofia's part.

That was nice. Now let's hesitantly run with the question, just in case. ]

This is Sofia.

[40410.livejournal.com]

[ A pause. Oh. Right, yeah, she said she would walk up here. Nice one, Alex.

He shouldn't have said what he just said to Markus.

At least he can pretend to not be a huge angry douchebag for her benefit.

He really shouldn't have said what he just said to Markus.

He doesn't open the door, but he does approach it, so that he can speak through it at a volume he's forced closer to normal. ]

Right. Sorry.