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

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.

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

[ That sound? That's the sound of locks not being opened and Lamb has no intention of indicating that talking through the door is an acceptable compromise.

She remains silent, waiting for a status change on the closed door situation. ]

[40410.livejournal.com]

[ The hills are alive with the sound of the door remaining locked. ]

There -

[ Forced down again, and there. He sounds hardly frightened nor angry, the inflection nicely flattened out of his voice. ]

...is someone in the forest. I don't know who.

[ And what are you going to do about it, Alex? Up for another trip into the woods, without Markus's help, in the hope you do some good and aren't just taken yourself? ]

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

[ ... ]

[ ... ]

[ ... ]

[Sigh. FINE. ]

Alive?

[40410.livejournal.com]

[ HAH! ]

I don't know.

[ He doesn't know anything. He fucked up and drove fucking idiot Markus away before he could ask enough questions. ]

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

[ Then this might take a while after all. ]

Alex, can you open the door?

[40410.livejournal.com]

[ No.

He wants to hide, the same way he does whenever the Operator does pretty much anything. He wants to find the dark secluded corner of a tiny space, curl up in it and cease existing at all. If he goes into the forest, he wants to do it away from people. People who he'll have to deal with emotionally, and who might get in danger, and who might catch him when he's being self-destructive and keep him in the difficult, painful, interminable place of actively staying alive.

In fact, you might even say that keeping the door closed would be easier!

Which is exactly why he mustn't. Not after the conversation he's just had.

After a pause many seconds too long, he slowly begins drawing the locks back. ]

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

[ Of course you can!

The narration believes in you and will wait patiently until you have accomplished this feat.

Lamb will do the same, wishing she would have more than the sound of those locks to go by. ]

[40410.livejournal.com]

[ And the feat is accomplished! He pulls the door open, and... doesn't speak or look at her. Just looks haunted. Hunted. Both.

He should declare an intention to go and find whoever it is, now that he knows somebody's out there. They might need help.

Or they might be dead. Or they might be masked. Or those things might happen to him. He's never unaware of what the Operator does to his even less lucky victims, but the things Markus said have twisted it into his mind like a knife. How many times can he go into the forest without consequence? ]

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

[ The narration applauds. Lamb steps inside.

She doesn't wait for his attention to turn to her, hoping that their conversation will have that effect eventually. ]

Who did you speak to?

[40410.livejournal.com]

[ He moves towards the doorway and darts a glance up and down the corridor. Closes the door with a snap. Re-engages the locks. ]

...Markus.

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

And he said...?

[40410.livejournal.com]

[ A bunch of things that, astonishingly, Alex doesn't feel like bringing up. ]

That someone's in the forest.

But he didn't have anything to do with it.

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

[ Let's quote Alex's narration on that, shall we? ]

What are you going to do about it, Alex?

[ And let's add a little something to spice things up. ]

What do you want to do about it?

[40410.livejournal.com]

I want to help, [ he mutters.

It's an outright lie. He wants the person to be out of the forest. He feels obliged to help. But what he wants is to stay as far away from the forest and the Operator as he possibly can. ]

[echo-of-utopia.livejournal.com]

[ She considers this for a moment. ]

What else do you know? What has Markus told you?

[40410.livejournal.com]

[ He's turned around so that he stands with his back to the door, staring into space. ]

He - didn't know anything else. [ Except for the part where he probably did but then Alex yelled at him.

Alex is still trying to psych himself up to go find this person, but - if he's to go, waiting and thinking about it is the worst thing he can do. He just keeps picturing getting three steps into the forest and seeing the branches around him move like arms. ]