009 // [VIDEO] // Tall, dark and faceless?
[Lamb is sitting at her desk, as per usual. For anybody curious, yes, her left arm is still in a sling. Give it another week or so. Anyway, she's been making notes, doing research and is now curious about a thing or two
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No. NO. Do not ask for him. Just don't!
[He looks like he's seen a ghost, and he sounds like a parent who's just caught their kid with a spoon and a big bowl of antifreeze.]
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[She frowns, her tone suggesting half apology, half what the fuck.]
Alex, are you-
[...no, never mind, he is obviously not all right, although she has no idea why, all she did was search for-
...
...
Oh.]
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[His mind is full of oshitoshitoshit - what if it's after her now, what if he's brought this whole thing down on her head--
He leans towards the screen, his fingers twisting together.]
Do you - do you remember if he saw you?
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[She hopes this will calm him down a little, although she somewhat doubts it. Okay, time to explain.]
I caught a video of Markus a few days ago. He seemed-
[No, never mind, she's not even going to try and describe that.]
He said somebody was coming, that somebody owned him. I was trying to talk to him, but I could hardly get a word out of him. I caught the name Operator, so I...
[She trails off. She doesn't love to ask, exactly, but she has to make sure.]
This is the man who's been following you, isn't it?
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So you what?
Yes. Yes, it's him. So you what?
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...so I attempted to find him and contact him.
[In retrospect she really should have made the connection, at the very least when Alex told her the guy was here.]
Alex, please, forgive me. I wanted to help Markus, I never would have done this [*cough* in public *cough*] if I had known who he was.
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[He's just making noise while his brain runs through frantic damage control. He rubs his face with one hand, putting as much energy into keeping his brain from freezing up as he is into pushing it towards solutions.]
Uh... uh...
[It's bad enough if the Operator goes after anyone here, but if he goes after the one person in the mansion who Alex really trusts... He should have done a better job of telling her just what she had to avoid.]
Was this the first time you tried to find him? Do you know if he's seen you?
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I was researching before, but I did not contact anybody about him until now.
I'm afraid I can't say, although I was merely looking for a list of the people living here at the library, so I hardly think I drew attention to myself.
[...before now, at least.]
Maybe if you can tell me what he looks like...?
[She is reluctant to ask, because she knows how reluctant Alex is with information related to the Operator, but if there is somebody she's supposed to be watching out for then that would really help a great deal.]
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Shit. Shit, no, he can't start thinking like that. He has a defence, now, if the bastard tries to get closer to him than the screen of his communicator. Would it be dangerous to ask for more firepower?
Sofia needs to know what they're running from. He has to say something. He has to show bravery - goddamnit, Alex, at least pretend to have some balls. Alex finally speaks in that low monotone; he forces his hands back down to the desk, but his eyes are fixed on nothing.]
He's tall. He's so tall. [Seven feet or thirty feet? It depends on the occasion. A pause; he swallows.] ...He doesn't have a face.
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Oh. Him.
[...except for the part where it just sort of slips out.]
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She remembers something, at least? But that there's something to remember makes that a cold comfort.
Alex doesn't move for several seconds.
Sometimes, though, it's better to know the worst than to fear it. Seeing the damage lets you work to repair it. He puts down his hands abruptly, and speaks, still in a monotone, but in one that no longer drags. It's urgent.]
How much do you remember?
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[She's looking at him sternly, putting the utmost confidence in her elaborate guess based on the fact that she can't think of any time unaccounted for.]
About a week ago I caught a transmission from one of the hallway monitors. It was distorted and I thought there was something wrong with it. Most of it was text, a short message saying 'here', but before that I believe I saw your man... in a black suit and entirely without facial features. I-
[-greeted him in a friendly and polite manner. No, let's edit that for the sake of our viewers.]
-watched the video to see if there was anything else, but it just cut off. That is all.
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[He's repeating it for his own benefit. Alex doesn't think that she's lying, but he's not gonna take it for granted that she isn't mistaken.]
You're gonna need to start filming yourself.
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After a moment, a very, very long moment of silence she grasps at a straw, one she can already see breaking before her weight is even on it.]
When?
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Now. All the time. Until we know that he's not following you.
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