Open Network and Locked Log

[evowhisperer]

*Guess who's facing the 'camera' in an empty hallway with a familiar tablet in hand? This guy. Hopefully Cesar won't miss that thing for communicating, because Doppelganger!Cesar won't be giving it back any time soon...*

*Doppel!Cesar gives the castle window (his network connection) a small smile, before putting the tablet's screen right up to fill the feed's vision. The screen has... a power point presentation?*

 

Hello! I'm afraid I physically can't talk, but there's a few things that need to be said.

 

*He holds it up long enough to be absolutely sure the viewers have finished reading, before hitting the next slide.*

 

1. Strange things are happening in Neuschwanstein. Please don't be alarmed: they appear to be harmless, if somewhat disruptive. No one is in danger.

 

*No, not even the people Thorin is threatening. Shut up. Next slide.*

 

2. I'd like to help explain these strange incidents. If anyone has any information about them, please send me a message.

 

*Next slide.*

 

3. On a more personal note, I owe you all an apology. I've been secretive to the point of absurdity before now, and it's time for this to change. From now on I will answer any and all questions you ask as honestly as possible.

 

*Next slide. The real Cesar won't see this post until later, and it's about this time that he'll start to panic.*

 

As a show of faith, here's a few things about myself.

I live in Locke.

I'm showing you slides instead of speaking because my vocal chords were unexpectedly removed a couple of months ago.

My hobbies include research, accordion music, and hiking.

Echoes suggest that my Other was a scientist.

My name is Cesar Sanches-Ortiz.

 

 

*Next slide.*

 

Your turn. Questions?

 

*He ends with a wider, breezier smile to the camera, before the feed cuts out. People re-windowing to the page a couple of hours later may notice that the post's content has been erased, only to go back up a minute later. The struggle continues for nearly half an hour, before the post stays as is, with the occasional subversive editing of that last slide.*

 

----

 

Who: Tony, Cesar, and Doppel!L
What: Tony and Cesar come to collect 'L' before he does anything rash.
When: Early on during all the confusion.
Where: Germany, starting in a cafe near the castle
Warnings: Doppel!L and his suggestiveness!
Log Closed.

It took Cesar almost fifteen minutes to tear himself away from the teleporter, and in the end it's a reminder from Tony that does the trick. 'This is just great, and all, but weren't you worried about L?' Yes, he was. There aren't so many cafes in the area that they have to search far, but they still have a cellphone out for directions, and the snow is thick enough that they almost get lost regardless. It's winter in Germany.

By the time they finally get to the right cafe, Cesar is half expecting L to be gone. The bell on the door tinkles when they open it, and they're immediately met by warm air and a comfortable bustle of the late afternoon crowd. He stops a little off to the door's side, scanning the room.

Comments

[oncedevil]

And he'd beaten him there, too! Tony had been quite proud of himself, beating a car. Admittedly he lived a little closer and didn't have to rely on traffic lights, but small details.

It's winter, it's cold, and Tony is energetic and easily distracted, especially lately. He's still coping with some of his more recent echoes and boy were they doing a number on him. As such he has a tendency to start to wander, so many things to explore and experience. But no, they're on a mission, so he forces himself to focus. Especially after his mild reprimand at Cesar for doing the very same.

Tony follows close after, tucking himself in just behind Cesar, scanning the area with his good eye. Sure felt nice to be out of the cold.

[dead_black_eyes]

It's difficult to miss L's doppelganger, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the original, down to the scars and the tattoo. Everything else is jarringly off, though; his Hawaiian-print shirt has a clashing pattern that does nothing for his skin tone, and he's eating bacon like his life depends on it, desperately tearing at it and sucking his fingers clean as he breathlessly devours as much as he can out of his fanny pack's seemingly bottomless supply.

His eyes light up when he sees Cesar and Tony, and he waves, eagerly pulling up two more chairs, finishing his current slice of bacon with gusto. "You made it! You did come really fast," he says with a coy smile.

[evowhisperer]

... Wow. It's more or less exactly as he expected, except somehow more jarring in person. Since when does the sight of someone passionately eating bacon like that lean heavily towards uncanny valley? It's in all of the little things, from the crackle of L's voice as he curls his sentences, to the way the coy smile transforms his face.

Cesar stops beside the table, deliberately ignoring the chair. He has a reporter's notepad stuffed into a jacket pocket, for Tony's sake, but now his hands form signs and gestures that will probably be lost to him.

{Do you have a tab? We should go back to Locke.}

[oncedevil]

Looks like L, walks like L, smells like L... minus the bacon, but doesn't quite quack like L. Is this a duck? Tony's frozen for several long moments, shock and confusion colliding wildly in his mind as he tries to piece together what it is he's witnessing. He saunters after L, regarding with no small degree of wariness and suspicion. Approaching almost like a wary cat.

The sign language throws him off utterly, but that's fine as he's too busy staring at what's happening here. "Since when do you eat bacon?" Or... dress like that? Or smile like that?

L are you drunk?

[dead_black_eyes]

L glances Tony up and down slyly, a slight smirk tugging at his lip. It looks almost triumphant, and the reason is because he's seen a Tony once already today and came out ahead as a result of it. He answers Tony first, moaning slightly, eyes rolling back in his head as he sucks a piece of bacon rather than bites it.

"Since... hm, yesterday? Maybe yesterday," he replies, unconcerned and vague and blissful. "So delicious I can't... I can't get enough of it..."

When he turns his gaze to Cesar, he sighs like someone who's finally satisfied after holding out for relief. "No tab. What's the rush? We can stay for awhile. Chase some Wolpertingers... hide from the Big Bad Wolf..." he bites his lip, turning a piece of bacon in his fingers thoughtfully.

"We could even do it together. None of us are wearing red riding hoods, and we're definitely not little."

[evowhisperer]

...Well. He should have completely expected this, shouldn't he? This is going to be difficult. His cheeks are already flushed from the cold, and he wishes that it wasn't even more vivid to hear L moan in person. Maybe he shouldn't have invited Tony after all.

Cesar shakes his head, signing that L should stand up. The gesture is followed by him raising his hands as though miming lifting the table, and it's hard to get more clear than that.

[oncedevil]

Why does he have the distinct impression that he's being dressed down by L's eyes? Ugh, no, what the hell? The look L gets at his act with the moaning and the bacon is one of disgust, a lip curled showing off a far too sharp canine, nose wrinkled and he squints his eye.

Casually he steps slightly behind Cesar, as though using him as a shield will help to protect him from those strange looks. "Does he have a fever? You think someone drugged him? Sure isn't acting like himself..."

Maybe the bacon is drugged, maybe they should take it away? It's clearly making him insane. More insane than normal. "Who's the Big Bad Wolf?"

[dead_black_eyes]

Whatever Cesar expected when he answered L's lascivious call, he certainly appears to have been way off the mark. L smirks at the crimson tinge in his cheeks, no sign of a blush coloring his own despite the very blatant, charged nature of what's occurring. If he seems to have no shame, that perhaps isn't far from the truth... and unlike the real L, he seems 100%, totally aware of everything he's doing and saying and how it could be construed by any but the most pristine of minds.

L leans on his elbows, cradling his face in his hands and watching Cesar fondly. "I'm OK," he assures him, as if that was ever in question. "I feel very alive, and I can do the same for you. You know I can, or don't you remember?" He twirls his tongue gently around the tip of a piece of bacon. "If you have forgotten, I'd be so happy to remind you."

He snorts lightly when Tony steps behind Cesar.

"'Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Not me..." he laughs, smiling widely enough to show his teeth. "I don't bite. Not unless you really want me to."

[evowhisperer]

Cesar gives Tony a slight nod as he talks, knowing that one of them should actually step close and check L for said fever. Cesar is closest. Does that mean he's the sacrificial goat being sent out? Well, he is the older of the two. Maybe he should've brought someone else he could hide behind? (Truth be told, that's what he'd hoped Tony would be for, before he'd realized L wasn't discriminating...)

L calls Cesar's attention back to himself, starting with a reassurance that Cesar discards without a second thought. Then he...

... Oh dear. That blush is radiating enough heat that it's a wonder if Tony can't feel it from his current distance, and Cesar's face goes through at least two or three different shades of reactions. Shock. Panic. He does remember, and he can't seem to tear his eyes away from that bacon.

Ground, please swallow him up and send someone else to fix this whole problem. Cesar finally jerks his chin up and down in a nod, and he draws a circle on the side of his head in a universal sign for 'He's crazy.' Is there no way they can stop drawing this trainwreck of a meeting out? The more it goes on, the more awkward it's going to get.

Cesar steps forward until he's right up beside the table, and makes the sign for 'Stand up'. He's trying to draw L's attention, trying to emphasize what he's already asked before.

[Private Text] The real deal!

[dead_black_eyes]

[L has, just now, finally managed to access the Network. He doesn't know what's going on; there's a lot of information, and he's been in trouble with limited mobility.]

NEEDD HHLP CANT CALL TON Y HELP

[Private Text] The heart of the operation?

[evowhisperer]

L?

*Confusion doesn't last long. It doesn't matter that this is unexpected, the next questions are immediate and clear.*

Where are you? What's wrong, and do you need me an ambulance?

[Private Text]

[dead_black_eyes]

N

[It's really, really hard to type like this. His phone is dead, he's weak and cramped and hit his head pretty hard and tapping out Morse Code is taking a little while.]

N O. JACK IN BO X COME HLP NOT TONY

[Private Text]

[evowhisperer]

Jack in Box?

*None of that made any sense, and the use of the code itself is not lost on him. He needs those questions answered, and he breaks it down into steps.*

Where are you?

[Private Text]

[dead_black_eyes]

JA CK IN T H E BOX

[Slowly and laboriously spelled out. It takes a long time to come through.]

T AKE OUT FOO D HEAR MENU

A J.I.T.B.

[Private Text]

[evowhisperer]

*Oh. The pieces start making sense, and Cesar deletes the messages as he replies, though he needn't have bothered: the other Cesar is too busy just now to be reading anything, let alone answer this cry for help. It suits his purposes.*

*He closes the book he was writing in, tucking it under one elbow as he leaves.*

Don't worry. I'm on my way.

Are you hurt?

[Private Text]

[dead_black_eyes]

HEAD

[So, yes. A little bit, enough to disorient him for almost two days.]

TONY CANT KN OW DONT TELL

[Private Text]

[evowhisperer]

Stay there.

I'm not, Tony's not here. Why shouldn't I tell him?

*It's the third time L's said it, and he thinks he already has an answer. The idea that Tony is somehow dangerous right now fills him with a sudden rush of protectiveness, and he starts a plan at the back of his mind to make Tony regret anything he's ever done in his life.*

[Video]

[lovesickkiller]

[Cautious video is cautious.]

Are you the one who told me you had laryngitis...?

[It looks an awful lot like the same number.]

[Video]

[evowhisperer]

I am. *He's holding up the tablet from the starting video, typing new messages as they become important.*

I'm sorry for the deception. It's easier to claim that I have laryngitis than to explain the real cause of my silence every time.

[Video]

[lovesickkiller]

I guess that makes sense...

[Feeling a little bit betrayed that one of the nicest seeming respondents was lying to her, especially now that he's announcing all this to everyone. But maybe she was expecting too much from strangers.]

It's nice to see your face. Should I call you Cesar?

[Video]

[evowhisperer]

Thank you. And yes, please.

*It's a short answer, with an open, friendly smile at the end: he's inviting her wordlessly to continue asking things.*

[Video]

[lovesickkiller]

Okay, Cesar... how did you lose your vocal chords?

[That was maybe a little tactless, but he seems to be in a sharing mood.]

[Video]

[evowhisperer]

*Unpleasant memories. The smile fades, but not in a way that indicates she's losing him.*

*This message is a little longer than the previous ones.* You've probably heard many stories of what Albero's thugs were doing to the Numbered by now. Do you remember the one I told you about last time?

I was kidnapped not long after. When I came to, my voice was like this. It took a few weeks to recover.

*It's a painful story, but there's something cathartic in telling it to someone who wasn't there. It's too bad he can't literally do the speaking for his double, back in Locke; as it is, perhaps planting seeds where this might be brought up later will help.*

[Video]

[lovesickkiller]

[Misa is quiet for a while, taking in everything he wrote.]

I'm sorry. I shouldn't have just asked something like that.

[But she isn't about to stop asking questions either.]

That must have been painful. Do you know why they did it? Were they brought to justice?

[Video]

[evowhisperer]

*He waves her apology away, watching her as she writes.*

I suspect I do, but no, they never were. I was in no position at the time to pursue them any further, and when I recovered I just wanted to let the old wounds heal.