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.))
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]
Oh? [He glances at a bright blue CD player on the floor.] Kesha. You don't like it?
[audio]
...What are you working on?
[video]
[...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]
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]
...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]
Now J's really unsure what to do.]
...Are you... [have a long pause.] friends?
[video]
...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]
... 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]
...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]
[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]
[Hints of cookery aside, this is still not a bad impression of pre-Marble Hornets Alex, at least outwardly. Fuck that Operator.]
[video]
[audio]
...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]
...that goes for J's fear, too. Le sigh.]
Dude, don't let a little static scare you out of having fun.
[audio]
[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]
Yeah, somewhere... does the kitchen sound good to you? Or we could meet someplace else?
[audio/action]
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]
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]
...I didn't actually think you'd show up. [He blushes slightly, feeling stupid.] Did something happen? You okay?
[action]
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]
... What happened.
[action]
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]
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]
[ 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]
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