40410: (Default)
Alex Kralie ([personal profile] 40410) wrote2010-07-18 02:02 pm

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.))

[video]

[identity profile] 40410.livejournal.com 2010-07-18 09:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[That sure is a longass silence. Alex smiles expectantly, shifts from foot to foot a little, glances at the sheets of paper in his arms and crumples the top sheet into a ball.]

Oh? [He glances at a bright blue CD player on the floor.] Kesha. You don't like it?

[audio]

[identity profile] 41810.livejournal.com 2010-07-18 09:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Not really. I ... don't really listen to pop. [God, why won't he stop smiling.]

...What are you working on?

[video]

[identity profile] 40410.livejournal.com 2010-07-18 09:36 pm (UTC)(link)
What, these? [He glances down at the sheets.] No, these aren't mine, I'm just-- [Alex holds them up, briefly, so that J can see; the sheet that's now on top has THIS IS NOT HOME scrawled in thick letters across it.] --getting rid of them. My other's kind of...

[...he would finish that "a freak", but he's not sure how it would be received, and this Alex actually knows how to censor himself.]

[audio]

[identity profile] 41810.livejournal.com 2010-07-18 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
...a freak. [Yeah, J knows. And he almost sounds a little amused. ...Almost.]

Yeah. I know.

...Do you... share memories, or anything? [He's wondering whether or not m!Alex knows what happened between them... not that he'll say that out loud.]

[video]

[identity profile] 40410.livejournal.com 2010-07-18 09:48 pm (UTC)(link)
[Alex laughs gleefully.] Exactly!

...No? I know mirror J back at home. [He assumes J is wondering how Alex recognises him. Mildly:] No, I want nothing to do with his sorry excuse for a memory.

[audio]

[identity profile] 41810.livejournal.com 2010-07-18 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
...Oh. [So, he doesn't know.


Now J's really unsure what to do.]

...Are you... [have a long pause.] friends?

[video]

[identity profile] 40410.livejournal.com 2010-07-18 10:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[Oh, he knows, because he's listened to their conversations. But he completely failed to rez that that was the question.

...even so, this is obviously not a casual query. Alex's smile dims into one of sympathy.]


Yeah. We are.

[Really good friends, but saying that would just be rubbing J's nose in it. It's not a case of wanting to spare J's feelings; more a case of not wanting him to resent m!Alex.]

[audio]

[identity profile] 41810.livejournal.com 2010-07-18 10:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[He hates that sympathy outright. He wishes he could choose to turn off m!Alex's video.]

... Oh.

[There's nothing much more for him to say, at this point.]

..Well, I'm glad.

[Have another long pause.]

... I ... hope you get back to him, soon.

[No, he doesn't care that normal Alex might never come back. No he doesn't care normal Alex has been kidnapped. ... Really. ...No, seriously. He doesn't.]

...I'll ... [Normally he'd say "talk to you later" but there's very little chance he actually will. So he stops, pauses (as he is wont to do) and decides on:] Bye.

[video]

[identity profile] 40410.livejournal.com 2010-07-18 10:49 pm (UTC)(link)
[Alex, who is better at these things than his counterpart, picks up that the sympathetic smile was a bad idea and turns it off very quickly.

...ahsdjahl why are all these conversations going south so quickly? Regular Alex really knows how to pick 'em. :| This Alex, still confident that he excels in social situations far more than his other, decides to attempt damage control.]


Hey, I'm sorry. That was insensitive. Hey, I was serious when I said it's good to meet you, I never had a chance to talk to someone from this side before today. D'you want to meet up, hang out in the kitchen or something?

[It's all completely sincere. He must be a mirror of Alex's recent state, because the outgoingness at least is reminiscent of the regular Alex before the Operator appeared in his life.]

[audio]

[identity profile] 41810.livejournal.com 2010-07-18 10:55 pm (UTC)(link)
. . .

[Well, he wasn't expecting that. He also hadn't realized how much he missed Alex, but as far as he's concerned that ship has sailed.]

... I'm ...not really very good company anymore. [He feels bad, now, just a little; he doesn't want m!Alex to be disappointed. After all, he's friends with his own mirror, right?]

[video]

[identity profile] 40410.livejournal.com 2010-07-18 11:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Have you given yourself a chance to be? C'mon, I'll bribe you with, uh... [What's Mirror J's favourite food? Although thinking about it, that probably wouldn't interest this J.] With whatever the opposite of prime rib is.

[Hints of cookery aside, this is still not a bad impression of pre-Marble Hornets Alex, at least outwardly. Fuck that Operator.]

[video]

[identity profile] seesyou.livejournal.com 2010-07-18 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[For a few moments, it's going to be very hard for either of them to hear what the other is saying over the audio distortion.]

[audio]

[identity profile] 41810.livejournal.com 2010-07-18 11:41 pm (UTC)(link)
[When the audio returns, J sounds slightly scared.]

...I... [He almost desperately wants to take m!Alex's offer, but now that he knows the Operator's listening?] I'm not sure if I should.

[video]

[identity profile] 40410.livejournal.com 2010-07-19 01:49 am (UTC)(link)
[Alex just taps the screen briefly, nonplussed. He's heard distortion once or twice from his double's screen, but regarded regular!Alex's fear as an overreaction.

...that goes for J's fear, too. Le sigh.]


Dude, don't let a little static scare you out of having fun.

[audio]

[identity profile] 41810.livejournal.com 2010-07-19 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
...

[Huh. Guess m!Alex doesn't mind the Operator. Or something.]

... Okay. I'll.. meet you somewhere, or something. [Smooth. He smacks himself in the head.]

[video]

[identity profile] 40410.livejournal.com 2010-07-19 02:06 am (UTC)(link)
[Not as of this thread, no. /CACKLE. Anyway, have some more of the smile that's never far from Alex's face.]

Yeah, somewhere... does the kitchen sound good to you? Or we could meet someplace else?

[audio/action]

[identity profile] 41810.livejournal.com 2010-07-19 05:24 am (UTC)(link)
[God, he just never, ever stops smiling.]

The kitchen's okay. In like, ten.

[When he switches off the feed he grabs his bag and camera, and takes the long journey up to the kitchen, but stops before he gets there. J carefully turns off his camera and slips it into his bag, unwilling to seem as paranoid as m!Alex's other. He finds a chair at the nearby dining room and sits, waiting, looking around and feeling generally uncomfortable.]

[action]

[identity profile] 40410.livejournal.com 2010-07-20 01:25 am (UTC)(link)
[ Alex gets a little delayed (http://40410.livejournal.com/3888.html?thread=167984#t167984).

Mirror Alex is, as a rule, calm, collected and not given to outbursts of fear or anger. That's the only reason he isn't freaking out right now. It's no small thing to find yourself bruised on the floor with no memory of how you got there; for Alex, who's used to the high-def clarity of an eidetiker's memory, it's even worse.

Maybe J can give him advice.

When he reaches the kitchen, he scans it with interest, though he soon finds it to be the same as the one back home except flip-reversed. He raises his left hand (regular Alex is right-handed) in greeting to J. He's not trying to hide the worry in his face. Bottling isn't really his style. ]


Hey, sorry I'm late. I uh... well, for one thing, the directions here are all the wrong way around. Or, I guess, the right way round for you guys. But still.

[action]

[identity profile] 41810.livejournal.com 2010-07-20 06:51 am (UTC)(link)
[He'd already had a conversation with someone and wondered why the fuck he'd shown up, so he was in stage three of leaving - the actual leaving part. m!Alex catches him just as he stands, and he looks at him as if he's unsure he believes he's actually standing there.]

...I didn't actually think you'd show up. [He blushes slightly, feeling stupid.] Did something happen? You okay?

[action]

[identity profile] 40410.livejournal.com 2010-07-20 12:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Oh man, he'd hoped to make a good first impression. ]

No, yeah, I mean, er... I think I might've... [ He bites his thumbnail, shakes his head a little. ] No, I'm pretty sure I did meet, uh... the Operator's regular.

[action]

[identity profile] 41810.livejournal.com 2010-07-20 03:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[What little emotion had been in J's face just shuts down. His eyes go blank and his shoulders slump slightly but set, as if he's prepared for something to go hideously wrong. He lets a long breath out though his nose.]

... What happened.

[action]

[identity profile] 40410.livejournal.com 2010-07-20 08:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[ ...whoa. Yeah, he's seen that look on his other's face, but it's a bit more unnerving when it's worn by someone in the same room who you're talking to. ]

I don't know, [ he admits, his left hand laid distressedly on the back of his neck. ] I mean, I saw him on the communicator. But then I just don't know. I turned off the feed and then I was halfway across the room.

...I think I f-forgot.

[ And he falters on that last word, because forgetting is something that happens to other people. ]

[action]

[identity profile] 41810.livejournal.com 2010-07-20 08:42 pm (UTC)(link)
[J just nods.]

Sounds about right. Are you bruised? He probably hurt you. You probably could find some tape of it if the communicator was on, unless he erased it. There's... not really much you can do about it. I'm sure he ...

[He looks away, shifts slightly, watches people coming in and out of the room and the like. It's like admitting the Operator is now after m!Alex because he's fucked with the way things are is asking him to come kill them both.]

...I'm sure he's mad you're here.

[action]

[identity profile] 40410.livejournal.com 2010-07-20 08:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Why is he mad at me?

[ It's plaintive. Even though the presence of other people is soothing, Alex needs something extra to distract him from what's happened. He won't be here forever. Hopefully this will never happen again. ]

Let's... let's make something. Hey, name a cake, or a - a pastry or something. Just off the top of your head. I know a lot of them.

[ Because cooking will give him something better to think about, it'll reaffirm his faith in his memory. ]

[action]

[identity profile] 41810.livejournal.com 2010-07-20 08:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Probably because you aren't Alex. You've replaced Alex. He ... kind of doesn't like it when Alex disappears. [He grimaces, then looks up, frowning.] ...A cake...? ....Carrot cake. With cream cheese frosting. [His favourite. The narration would like to point out that this isn't the same as his mirror's - but curiously, his mirror likes carrot cheesecake. Some things are consistent.]

[action]

[identity profile] 40410.livejournal.com - 2010-07-20 21:17 (UTC) - Expand

[action]

[identity profile] 41810.livejournal.com - 2010-07-21 03:30 (UTC) - Expand