savetheearth | Caution is not cowardly.

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Caution is not cowardly.

Who: Nathan and Doppel-Cesar
Where: Willow Ridge Boarding Academy
When: March 17
What: Doppel-Cesar decides to assess another one of the prominent people in L's life. It's important to know who might present a threat, right?
Warnings: None to start, will update if this changes.

Nathan tries to go about things as normally as he can. Doppelgangers are running about and causing havoc, two new Echo boundaries spring up in quick succession . . . Part of him wonders at the increased rate of the latter. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Either way, what is triggering it all?

They're important questions, but in the end, regular life still goes on. Strange happenings don't put a stop to the necessity of day-to-day activities. He still needs to eat, to sleep, to keep his apartment stocked, and -- of course -- to work. And that's exactly what he's doing, performing some routine system upkeep, streamlining some code. Seated in front of multiple monitors, he cuts a rather unimpressive figure: stark white hair, a frame so diminutive that to mistake him for a child at first glance would not be shocking.

And while it may look like he isn't paying attention to anything but the screens in front of him, he's listening for any out-of-place noises. It's an instinct of his, this measure of hyper-awareness, honed over so many years of worrying over potential threats to his physical well-being. Some would call it paranoia. Nathan might even agree, but he can't fight this natural inclination. Is it really so bad to be prepared?

In any event, the approach does not go unnoticed. Not between the sounds and the visible reflection on one of the monitors.

"Yes?" Just a single word, delivered in his default flat and quiet tone. He doesn't turn around yet, for all intents and purposes appearing to speak to the reflection. It's not his intention to be rude, but he needs to finish up this last bit of coding before he properly addresses the visitor. This is better than ignoring him entirely for a moment, isn't it? That the visitor might not be able to speak does not occur to him.

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No voice speaks up. No footsteps approach. There's a faint brush of cloth as whoever it is moves around, but even that is very slight, and the silence stretches beyond the range of a comfortable pause.

The Doppelganger lowers his arm from its {Hello?} sign, realizing that this isn't going to be one of those easier cases. Should he bring up his tablet? This kid hasn't turned around. Is he even supposed to be in here? Has Cesar just wandered across some unruly student helping himself to the school's databases....?

For all the things Nathan can be said to be, 'unruly' certainly doesn't belong on that list. If anything, he's too much the opposite. Too quiet, too timid, too passive. It's how he's learned to survive.

He catches the sign in the reflection. Oh. Well, it just takes another second to finish the bit of code. He turns in his chair when he's done, looks up with dark eyes that bear an uncanny resemblance to L's.

"Hello. I'm sorry; I'm not very good with sign language." That particular sign had been essentially universal, but he's far from versed in communicating that way. "Is there something I can help you with?"

He's not good with people, but he's already in this situation. He can't exactly leave for no good reason and he has no reason to believe this will be something he's incapable of handling.

The younger man turns around in his chair, and the first impression he gets is--L. Those eyes... It's not L himself, but it's a startling similarity, and it's gotten his attention. The next impression he gets is slight surprise, because he recognizes him: it's that kid, the one that L was talking on over the network. Not that either Cesar has ever seen him directly, but so long as doppelgangers were around, that sort of thing was no longer an obstacle, wasn't it?

The taller man's eyes have widened, and there's a slight, involuntary relaxing in his shoulders. There's no other signs of recognition, and he nods, bringing his tablet up and lit.

'Sorry to disturb you. Lazarus asked me to drop something by to update some records. Who are you?'

He holds the screen in one hand to show, and roots around his pockets with the other hand. After some searching he produces an innocuous flash drive, which he holds up in the dim lighting. This kid is young, and otherwise mostly unknown. He doesn't know how dangerous this game is. Not very dangerous, hopefully? If it were Tony, that would be one thing, but this kid looks uncertain in ways Tony wasn't.

He isn't sure what the surprise is about, but he reads it clearly enough, the same with the relaxation. Which he also isn't sure of the reason for, though he'll take it as a good thing. The last thing Nathan wants to do is cause anyone distress.

"No, it's fine. I am Nathan; I maintain the systems here. I --"

And he's cut off momentarily, the increasingly familiar hollow feeling going through him, the heartbeat thrumming in his head. It's not as frightening as the first time he'd experienced it, but he's still not entirely comfortable receiving Pulses. The sensation fades, and there's a sudden weight and solidness in his hands. He looks down at them and finds himself holding a toy robot. It's far different than the one he'd gotten the first time, more modern-looking. He can't help but see a little bit of a trend, though.

He blinks at the toy.

Cesar turns the tablet back around in his hands, but doesn't immediately type anything. He recognizes the sentiment behind the blank stare by now, having experienced it several times already. What will happen? Will it be something he can see?

Yes. Cesar's eyebrows lift, but it seems more or less mundane. Something of sentimental value? What could it mean?

Now he types, 'Interesting toy. You're numbered? I am too.' He toys with the idea of acting surprised, but doesn't entertain it very seriously. It's too late to go back and change his expressions believably, now.

The idea of sentimental value had occurred to Nathan before. When he'd gotten the first toy. Getting a second does not necessarily rule out that theory, but it seems a little curious to him. Granted, he's had few Pulses, but this puts toy acquisition at a twenty-five percent rate. It's strange.

He contemplates the toy for a moment, turning it over in his hands. There doesn't appear to be anything special about it, dark colouring, with a purple helmet. Just an ordinary every day robot action figure. He has to wonder about its significance.

Or perhaps he should do that later, because he's supposed to be in the middle of a conversation right now. One that he actually needs to look at the other party for. Now that he thinks of it, to have gotten preoccupied with the toy is rude, isn't it?

So he lifts his gaze to the tablet again. Oh. "Yes."

... Wait. Why has he gotten a Pulse now, anyway? They don't happen without some sort of trigger, whether a parallel event or an encounter with something unnatural. There isn't any context for the toy, which effectively rules out the former as far as he understands things. That only leaves the latter, except this encounter is completely mundane.

... Or is it?

He manages to keep his fingers from tightening on the robot. "I'm sorry, I don't believe I caught your name."

Edited (teeny tiny typos driving me nuts) 2015-03-23 05:23 (UTC)

Cesar Sanchez-Ortiz. Pleased to meet you.

It's a moment where some might have lied, and in a way he has lied: it's the name that goes with his face, but not with his person. This might someday change, but for now, he's wearing it as an imposter, and no one will know unless the original appears out of nowhere to ruin things for him.

He won't. Cesar curves his mouth up in a small, friendly smile.

One thought cycles rapidly though his mind: there is no context, this is a double. This is a double.

Something about Nathan's posture becomes more tense, though his expression does not change, not even to return the smile. Not all of the doubles are wicked or dangerous. He knows that. But he knows nothing about this double. Is he in danger here? They're in a private location; if there's trouble, he has no way out.

"Yes, likewise." His tone doesn't change, either: that same flat, monotonous drawl. He's good at shutting down like that when he feels threatened. It's served him well in the past.

The smile spreads, and he seems inexplicably amused. Rather than explain, he switches the flash drive to a hand he can reach forward, and offers it to Nathan.

It should be digital receipts for school supplies. He said to just add them to the main folder, and that he'd sort through anything important later. Could you check to make sure I picked up the right drive?

He knows he did. This drive has exactly what it should have, and even as he's warmed by the visual similarities between this kid and L, he's sweating: if the computer's antivirus software pops up immediately on connection, he's going to have to feign surprise and embarrassment. Will it be convincing? He can only hope so. He'd hoped that he wouldn't find anyone when he came by, but--well. It's obvious how that one's turned out already. Is any of this going to make it back to L?

If it does, maybe he can blame it on his original. Somehow.

Nathan doesn't like that smile, and if he knew what he was doing to encourage it, he would stop. Nevertheless, his small, thin hand is steady when he takes the flash drive. But he's suspicious of it now. Maybe it's baseless, just an extension of his current nervous state. For all he knows, this really is what Cesar's double says it is, and he's simply being paranoid. He hopes he is.

There is only one way to know, of course. And the double clearly isn't leaving until it happens. He would have preferred to do this privately, but that isn't going to happen.

And just as the double feared, the virus protection does pop up immediately upon connection. It isn't standard virus protection; he'd re-coded it himself after the London light had gone off and he'd gotten a significant boost in his programming capability. Willow Ridge's systems are not easy to get into. Not impossible -- these computers can only handle so much -- but difficult.

Blank expression as always, even as he wonders what exactly the double had been trying to sneak on here. Instinctively, Nathan thinks of it as deliberate. "It appears there is quite a problem."

His face falls, and he tries to force a blush. It's not hard to feel his face heat up from the pressure of the situation.

Wow. My bad. I had a virus on my computer some weeks ago, and I hadn't realized there was a drive in the pile that was infected. Good thing your computer caught it.

I'll come back later with the right drive.

He approaches a little, hand reaching hesitantly forward: he wants the drive back, virus and all. His face is still warm, and there's a strain around his eyes that's a little more than an embarrassing, self-recriminating encounter would give, even with the mortification that a lot of people might have at a time like this. His grip on his tablet fidgets, trying to adjust to something where sweaty palms won't let the whole thing slip.

Edited 2015-03-23 07:27 (UTC)

It's a plausible enough explanation. It truly is. But this entire encounter has him on edge enough that he does not quite trust it. More than the strain around the eyes, it's the way Cesar's double fidgets on the tablet that catches his attention.

"Are you sure? I could probably clean it up for you myself if I have a look at it."

It's a push back, if a mild, innocent-sounding one. Even that much is uncommon for Nathan. He wants to know what is really on this drive. What has the double been trying to pass through, and why?

'Clean it up'? If he means delete the virus, then that wouldn't be a problem. It's not as though the doppelganger doesn't have backups, even if he still senses something amiss. The younger man is too intent, and as familiar as his gaze is, he has to remind himself that this is L's gaze when he's focused on a hunt. For the here and now, this is not a good thing.

He nods, mouth twitching into a smaller, politer smile. He takes his hand away from its reach, using it to type.

Sure. Thanks.

The hand stays at the tablet for a few seconds, and then drops back to his side.

Good. So long as he's careful about it, he can get a copy of the virus before he deletes it. And then he can examine it on his own time. If the double had been trying to get something into the system unnoticed, it can't be a good thing.

"It should only take a moment."

His fingers fly over the keys, working to erase the data . . . but not before discreetly making a copy of the file; the act is subtle enough that it can easily be missed under the display of doing what he'd actually said he would do. He hopes. He hopes very much, because he has no idea what to do if he's caught.

The tension in his shoulders is still there, but it's been there for some time during this meeting. It isn't suspicious for it to remain present, right? He wants so badly to twist his fingers into his hair to soothe his nerves, but no. That would be too obvious a tell. Wouldn't it?

Deleted. And hopefully, that's all the double will notice. He pulls out the drive, hands it back to him. Fingers still steady, and when he speaks, his voice is still flat.

"Here you are. There wasn't any sense in leaving the drive corrupted when I could do something fix it."

Cesar's watching like a hawk. He hears every push of each key and click, and there's a span of seconds where what he's hearing doesn't match up with what Nathan is walking him through on the screen. And yet... it could be perfectly innocent, couldn't it? It isn't, he's almost sure of it, but there's enough of a possibility that he can't completely discount the idea that this kid just can't actually click what he's aiming for, and has been bumping the wrong keys.

Good thing the times he was making those mistakes probably weren't actually affecting the files on the flash drive itself. Right?

Deleted. The kid turns back to him, and Cesar takes the flash drive, tucking it back into a pocket. He brings a hand to his lips and then lowers it flat, and then lifts his tablet.

Thank you. I'll run a few virus sweeps when I get home, too, in case there's anything left there that I don't know about.

Nathan is watching all that more intently than he probably should, looking for signs that he's been caught. But all of this takes place under that blank, placid expression. He'd learned to do that so many years ago. His father hadn't wanted expressions of pain or fear; he'd wanted submission. The blank face had worked well enough for that.

"That would be a good idea, yes." Just hold it together for a few moments more. He can do that. "I don't mean to be rude, but if that's everything, I should get back to work."

Go away. Please, please, please. He needs to be able to let go of all this horrible tension.

He nods with a clear sentiment of 'of course', smiling again, and taking a step back. He's as eager to get out of here as Nathan is for him to leave, and he turns the tablet around in his hands, and then does it again.

There's nothing more that needs to be said. He turns, giving a small 'Goodbye' gesture, and leaves.

Edited 2015-03-25 05:16 (UTC)

He nods in turn, and then waits. Even after Cesar's double leaves. In fact, he stares at the security feeds for several minutes just to make absolutely certain he's gone.

It's only then that he lets out his breath, sags in the chair as he's finally able to let go of the tension. Or most of it. He got through this. He did. He's okay.

Now he reaches up and curls his fingers into his hair; he's got no reason to stop the impulse now and it's something that always helps. His other hand keeps hold of the toy in his lap. He's glad to have gotten the thing when he had; otherwise he might not have been tipped off to anything unusual.

He'll have to take some time to analyze the virus before he speaks to Lazarus. But no matter what is on it, Lazarus needs to know about this encounter. It's too suspicious.

A few more moments here, pulling himself together. And then he untangles his fingers from his hair. Sets the robot toy on the desk. Gets back to work. He'll deal with this on his own time.

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Caution is not cowardly.

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