40410 | 10 // video/action // now the party don't start till I walk in

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10 // video/action // now the party don't start till I walk in

[The wall comm' is on, and so are the lights. Except that that's not electrical light. Alex's room now sports a broad bay window.

The cameras are all off, and most of them are gone, including the one in front of the door and the camcorder that usually sits on the desk. Only three remain, and one of them is in Alex's hands, tripod and all, as he carries it across the room and slings it into the closet.

A CD player provides poppy background music. Alex whistles along while he works.

Off-camera, there's a towel pinned over the mirror.]

((OOC: for convenience's sake, let's say all threads which aren't J's or the Operator's happen before those two.))

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[...

Eh-heh-heh.

He turns the volume down, and calls sweetly:]

Alex isn't here right now; could you leave a message?

[ Right. Right, that's not quite the answer she was looking for, but unless that terrible music has killed her hearing she's fairly sure that this is Alex's voice at least. All right then, she's got a very unpleasant hunch about what happened, but let's start with the obvious question: ]

Who is this?

[Mirror Lamb is the vicious one, so Alex doesn't have any qualms about wishing away his double's locks and pulling open the door, with a cheerful smile and the penultimate tripod over his shoulder.]

Oh, Alex. Just not the Alex you're after.

[ To be perfectly honest, Lamb wouldn't be beyond considering that this is the real Alex in crazy mode, but given the Queen's announcement she's going with a different theory for now. ]

Then you must be-

[ Somebody who doesn't look appealing to Lamb's security bot at all. Why yes, she brought it along again!

And oh look, as soon as the device spots "Alex" its lights turn red and it emits a series of angry bleeps... and two sets of guns.

Lamb hurriedly produces a sort of remote control from her bag and pushes a few buttons. The guns disappear and the lights fade to orange.

Where were we? ]

-his mirror.

[Alex backs off with an "oshit" expression dawning on his face as the bot aims its guns at him. It's never been in this room, so he's never actually seen it - just heard it mentioned briefly.]

Oh jeez--

[And then it reverts to a watchful mode, and he stands still again, though his next glance at Lamb is more wary than his last. So that's what stayed outside the room last time she visited?]

...Yeah, he's my regular. Nice to finally meet the logical version of you.

[ Did you say logical version of- no, never mind that. Any thought on her own mirror version will have to wait until later. She notices Alex still standing in the doorframe as he is talking, which is obviously very, very rude of him. ]

May I come in?

[ She isn't so much asking for permission as she's curious about his answer and to a certain extent that shows in her tone. ]

Sure, if you leave that thing outside.

[It's said mildly; he likes company, and vaguely hopes that the company will like him. Alex smiles again for its own sake and returns to chucking cameras into the closet.]

[ She's not too happy with that compromise, but she's going to take it. No need to pass up an opportunity to talk with a mirror, just because it might endanger her life.

She closes the door behind her before the bot can follow and looks around. Admittedly if this was the same Alex she would be impressed with his progressed, pleased by the lack of cameras and the window; as it is it's merely making her uneasy. ]

How long are you going to stay?

[The window is even open, letting in a soft breeze that's steadily destroying a month and a half's worth of enclosed musty smell.]

No idea. Until the Queen calls me back. Can I get you a drink?

No, thank you.

[ She's not looking at him, too busy taking in every change in the room that so clearly screams not!Alex. She spots the towel on the wall and, not remembering for sure what was behind it, carefully starts lifting it up. ]

A-hem.

[Without missing a beat, Alex pushes it gently but firmly back down again.]

[ Lamb caught a glimpse of the mirror before she was interrupted. She doesn't know what it means, exactly, but she's fairly sure that it means something. ]

I see.

[ Overdue ~SMILE~. Well, time to sit down. This might be a longer conversation after all, although for now she has absolutely no idea where to start. Give her a moment with this. ]

[You don't see shit, sister. Alex's look at her lasts just a little bit too long before he goes back to slinging cameras into the closet. But a few moments later, his tone's perfectly pleasant as he starts to chatter while he works.]

I wasn't kidding when I said it's nice to meet you, by the way. I've never been over this side of the mirror before. I would've gone out exploring already, but this room~! Well, you've seen what it was like in here. Depression central.

[ She is ignoring the pleasantries, busy organising Alex's personality into a neat list and finding antonyms for every single aspect. ]

If you wanted to see this side before, why didn't you move into a room of your own?

[He gives her a blank look as he shifts the final camera towards the closet.]

I have a room of my --

Wait, you mean over here?

Yes, over here.

[He stares at Lamb, and there's the briefest flicker of fear across his face as he pictures crossing the Queen and just sauntering out here as he pleases. Then he turns back towards the closet, dropping in the final camera and tripod.]

Nah, doesn't work like that.

You are not allowed here?

[ But obviously he is here, so-]

Normally?

You need permission.

[Aaaand let's not talk about that any more. Turn around, chatty smile, new subject!]

Are you as weirded out as I am? I keep expecting you to drop the polysyllables and just set something on fire.

[...this mun forgets whether Lamb has actually used a lot of polysyllables, but she certainly gives the impression of doing so.]

[ In that case, let's have a moment of silence during which Lamb will produce a cigarette from her pocket and light it. That was another allusion to her other self, wasn't it? It's getting quite disturbing, thank you very much. Oh sorry, did you ask a question? ]

The redecoration takes getting used to, but there is a certain comforting familiarity in knowing how quick both of you are to divert from an unpleasant subject.

[ What can I say? She really felt like mentioning that. It must be horrible, talking to a Lamb who actually pays attention. She's not going to push that one right now though, so speaking of which... ]

So you and I have met on the other side as well?

[Oh, but let him clarify!]

Not unpleasant exactly, just... risky? I... probably should have let this one drop, uh, let's pretend I did that.

[Don't mind him. He just sometimes gets these inconvenient urges to make sure something closer to the truth is known.]

...but yeah, we've met a couple times back home. She's, [DEPLOY TACT!] you know, not a big conversationalist, though.

Of course. We wouldn't want to offend Her Majesty after all.

[ She's really just taking swings at the truth and hoping that she'll connect. There is also a notable amount of distaste on "Her Majesty", although the rest is sincere enough, if only because she's thinking of it a little like a hostage situation.

She's put a lot of work into the regular Alex and would like to have him return in working condition, please and thank you. So subject change! ]

Not a big conversationalist. Would that have anything to do with the tendency towards arson you mentioned before?

[At the mocking tone of Her Majesty, Alex gives her a wide-eyed look, a 'what are you doing' sort of look, as though the Queen is likely to walk into the room and catch her being disrespectful.

But then he drops the subject like a hot potato, because why the hell is he talking about treason?]

Yeah, it would. Your other's kind of... all spliced up.

[He may be trying to distract her from adding any more cents on the topic of going through mirrors.]

[ She now wonders if the mirror is covered in order to limit the Queen's vision, but wouldn't that anger her just the same? She'll have to keep it in mind, in any case.

Meanwhile Lamb's look may not be particularly wide-eyed, but she displays a thorough stare and eyebrow raise of WHATTHEHELL, because splicing? You'd have to be craaaaa~zy to do that.

...although it would explain the fact that there was SPLICE UP YOUR LIFE! written in blood on her mirror several days ago. Back then she didn't think the person was speaking from experience.]

She uses ADAM. [ It still sounds just the tiniest bit incredulous. ] Do you know anything else about her?

[ And since not everything about the other side is equally urgent she adds: ]

...if you don't mind my asking.

[ In the background, the compilation CD is still running (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9_n8jakvWU). ]

Nah, that's not a problem. [ Openness: check. Even when it comes to talking about other people: check. Alex wanders over to the couch and chillaxes on the arm, thinking. ] Just that she's sort of a psycho. You don't mind me saying that, right? That's pretty much a compliment for you, 'cause opposites.

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