I've been walking forty miles of bad road. If the Bible is right, the world will explode.

[akablackkitty]

Walk by the CCTV room of the Kashtta Tower, and the following conversation can be heard:

"You know, I've got about a billion security protocols to run through and, uh, there's-"

"Mr. Flinkman, I think you can be spared from your duties for five seconds to humor me a little."

"....You're angry. Okay, that's... Yeah, it's not every day I can actually

Comments

[findaconstant]

Dan ignores a lot of things around the Kashtta, but the conversation coming from the CCTV room isn't one he can ignore in good conscience. Marshall is obviously in need of assistance of some kind, and Dan thinks maybe he can finally do something useful and help.

He leans past the doorway, blinks, and clears his throat. "Um. Hey."

[akablackkitty]

Sark moves out of the way, lest Marshall run over his toes when he moves the chair and just stares at Dan with the wary look of someone who has had a bad day and is just daring someone to make it worse.

"Hey, uh... Daniel, wasn't it? Um. I don't think we've met... I'm Marshall Flinkman and this is, uh..."

"Julian Sark," Sark supplies and then adds, "I was under the impression you were dead."

[findaconstant]

"Yeah, I heard you talking outside, and...." He motions toward the door, then falls silent at Sark's comment.

Then he just stares.

"...well, it's nice to meet you, too."

[sarkraticmethod]

Sark chooses not to comment on that. He just goes back to staring. Darkly.

Marshall, in the meantime, is just going to be oblivious to the fact that that even happened and do what he does best. Which is babble.

"Mr. Sark, here, um... He just needed me to look something up. Seems someone put flowers on Apri- Ow. Ow. Ow."

That sensation you're feeling now, Marshall? That is the sensation of Sark's eerily manicured nails digging into your shoulder... In a very calm, very restrained way.

[findaconstant]

Well, this isn't awkward at all.

Dan rocks back on his heels for a second, running a hand through his hair. The mention of April's grave - or the !mention, but his mind is very much able to complete that sentence anyway - makes his stomach twist, a little.

"Oh. Um. Can you get anything?" he asks, motioning to the monitors. "Or... I mean, you know, I could help."

[akablackkitty]

Marshall looks up at Sark with a half-pleading look and Sark releases his shoulder, crossing his arms over his chest and trying to look intimidating. He is sitting in The Valley of the Nerds. If he can't be an intimidating force of nature around them, then who can he be an intimidating force of nature around?

Marshall scratches his head. "Well, a city this big, there's... A huge assortment of florists. Astronomical, actually, and some of the flowers aren't even in season, so whoever did it.. It's someone with connections and they did not make themselves easy to find, I tell you. Um... I don't... Can you help?" He waves at the computers. "I mean, there's nothing on there. Not that I can see, but if Mr. Sark doesn't-"

"How precisely do you intend to help, Mr. Faraday?" Sark cuts Marshall off, frowning. This ought to be good.

[findaconstant]

You just try to intimidate Daniel Faraday right now. Go ahead.

"Remote viewing," he says to Sark, tapping the side of his own temple. "Have you heard of it? That's why I'm here. If you want, and I'm betting you do, I can just go ahead and look to... when was it, do you know?"

Someone's ego is dangerously inflated. Blame Kat. (And Winny.)

[sarkraticmethod]

Two things happen simultaneously. Sark grits his teeth and makes to cross the room towards Dan, possibly to put him through the nearest wall, because nobody who can't beat his ass talks to him like that, and Marshall leaps from his chair to get in front of Sark and hold him back.

...And then promptly realizes what he's doing and wonders if he's going to die now because of it. All he really gets is a faceful of Sark's you do not want to be doing what you're doing face, which is enough cause to back off.

"This morning, I imagine," Sark says coolly. He jerks his head up and walks back to inspect Marshall's laptop. "Do it."

Marshall looks from Sark to Daniel and quietly mouths please. He hates being in the middle.

[findaconstant]

Okay, that will snap him out of his 'look at me I am awesome' mode... temporarily. He flinches, involuntarily taking a step away from Sark. He likes his face in one piece, thank you.

"Alright, alright. Where's the cemetery? Can you give me a street?" Streets always make it easier, and Dan's been practicing enough that he has a map of downtown Chicago near-committed to memory.

[sarkraticmethod]

Sark recites the street name from memory as well as the exact position of the headstone in question without turning around. Never let it be said that he does anything half-assed and, anyway, he's weirdly used to memorizing geographical coordinates, even if it tends to make you seem creepy to the average person. Really, what kind of crazy person knows the exact coordinates of their dead sister's grave?

Marshall, meanwhile, has flopped back down onto his chair and is chewing a fingernail.

[findaconstant]

Since Dan has an exact location, it doesn't take him long to find it - only a few seconds pass between when he closes his eyes and when he sees April's grave.

It takes more than a little willpower to stay focused. Part of him just wants to stay there and stare at the headstone, but he pushes past that and eases back to that morning - early that morning - and his brows furrow at who he sees walking into the cemetery with the sun just barely up.

"It's a kid. I think - he looks Middle-Eastern." He tilts his head, moving closer to the scene. "He has... a note? No. It's just - "

He frowns and opens his eyes, fixing his gaze on Sark. "Someone sent him. He had a piece of paper with him with April's name on it."

[sarkraticmethod]

Sark inhales sharply through gritted teeth and shoves past Marshall so hard that the other man's chair spins a bit, collecting the flowers on his way out. Right then. Clearly, this was a waste of time, but if he has to fucking go through a list of every person in Chicago who might be playing him, he will find them.

Marshall watches Sark leave and swallows. "That, um... That may not look like it, but it was probably a 'th-thank you." He scratches his head. "In a, uh... Weird, roundabout way."

[findaconstant]

Dan blinks in Sark's wake, a little dumbfounded by the outburst. He helped, he gave Sark some possibly useful information (well, maybe), so... whatever. He turns to Marshall and shrugs.

"If you say so. Was - um. Was he April's brother?"

He's very good at putting two and two together, don't you think?

[akablackkitty]

Marshall rubs at his head and grimaces. "Yeah... No. Well, kinda. They're not, like... Related or anything, but he was really close to her and she, um, took his last name and, honestly, they even kinda looked enough alike that no one could ever really tell." He waves a hand vaguely. "I mean, I sometimes forgot they weren't actually related and I knew him before.. The, um... Thing. Rift."

He scratches his head more, frowning. "He's... Not a people person. More like a, uh, kills-people person."

[findaconstant]

"Oh," he says softly, followed a moment later by another, more knowing "oh." The kind of oh that says yeah, I figured as much. "So, um. I'm guessing he wasn't expecting anyone to leave flowers at her grave? It was just a kid..."

[akablackkitty]

"I don't think anyone's supposed to know it's there. I mean... I only just found out about it. And, uh... Well, Mr. Sark doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to, um... Criminals trying to mess with his head." Marshall shrugs pathetically. "I guess sometimes a window is not just a window... Well, not a window. That's a metaphor. I mean, sometimes a kid isn't just a... You know what I mean."

He stares blankly at the computer screen and worries his lip with his teeth. It could be that Sark's just being paranoid. Marshall would like that. He'd like that very much.