[ In fairness, it's not as if Alec's home isn't nice. There's a reason he's still in this city after all these years. He likes it here, and to someone like him, his own space is important. It's where he thrives. ]
Mid-October. In about... oh, four or five hours, I black out and wake up in a prison cell wearing pink stripes.
[The lack of a physical connection feels like a dearth, which is hilarious considering that Henry is literally inside of Alec’s head. But he lets his hand drop to the side, too, a small smile teasing at his lips, and once more casts about the apartment.
So. Where to start?
...Speaking of coffee, actually. Probably the most obvious place, and where he suspects Alec spends plenty of time, would be the kitchen. He can see it from here, but time to get a closer look, crossing in that direction.]
[ It's an open kitchen, island and all. It is also not bright pink. It does look a bit newer than everything else; either Alec has had it redone recently or the updated kitchen was a selling point. Hard to tell. ]
It's better just by virtue of having all my shit in it.
[An open kitchen. Also a novel idea for a man raised in the 50s… Were it not for the fact that Unicorn’s kitchen was set-up similarly. Minus the bright pink.]
I don’t know. It’s not nearly as colorful.
[That’s not a serious remark. Henry has no real opinion on their dorm’s bright pink kitchen or the unicorn wallpaper, but it’s definitely not an Alec thing.
Anyway, are you going to let him be nosy? HE LOVES BEING NOSY. What if he opens the fridge to peek in—]
But I at least assume there’s more than just eggs in here.
[ Please he wouldn't know what to do with a bright pink kitchen.
And Henry is free to open the fridge. It's well-stocked with a good variety of pre-cooked dishes and various ingredients, but Alec is just one man so it lacks the sheer quantity of food that the Unicorn fridge normally holds. ]
[ Flat, dry. And undone by the way he watches Henry, takes in the sight of him in his space — in his home — rifling through the fridge. It throws into perspective just what they're trying to achieve by leaving the prison together. The corner of his mouth quirks upward without him seeming to realize it. ]
You probably shouldn't critique the guy who'll be making your meals.
[It's keenly domestic, isn't it? Henry does not apply that word to the situation, though the sentiment still nestles in his chest, thinking about his future day-to-day life in this apartment. What would it be like, to really live with someone? To share a space, to settle into a routine?
(Routine is yet one more word he has always avoided, but it does not sound so terrible, now. Not with him.)
He straightens, closing the fridge door.]
I’d apologize for the extra effort, but you know you’ll enjoy it.
[ Alec makes a face, wrinkling his nose at Henry as if to say, yes, he will like it. But that doesn't mean he has to like that he likes it. (He will.)
In any case, there's more of the apartment to see. A door just off the living room, and yet another around the corner from the kitchen, before the short hall that presumably leads out of the apartment altogether. ]
But is just as soon eager to continue being nosy. He doesn't even ask which door leads to where, Henry just decides to head toward the one around the corner from the kitchen.
[Why is this shut-- (It's because it's his apartment, he can shut what doors he likes, Henry.) But Mr. Vecna is ever obsessed with secrets, and though a shut door is not a secret, it obscures something, and is therefore compelling.
[ The door opens easily, and beyond what looks to be a smaller, spare bedroom that is instead serving as half-home office and half-storage. There's a simple desk and PC against one wall, and the rest of the room is littered with junk. Piles of old boxes and the odd bit of furniture stacked up and shoved aside. It's nothing special.
Alec eases his way past Henry and into the room proper. He lifts a hand to cast — possibly unnecessary since they're inside his head, but this is the way it works in the real world, so this is the way it works here. When the spellwork vanishes, the room itself changes.
The illusion, the damn good and damn expensive illusion, melts away to reveal a room full of softly glowing banks of monitors and humming PCs that probably blow whatever technology Henry has seen around Reverie clean out the water. The tell-tale glow of Alec's magic runs along the walls, feeding itself into the machines. ]
[When Alec passes by him and lifts the illusion, any disappointment born from such a mundane sight immediately dissipates. Instead, Henry is presented with the glow of the man's magic, entwined with the suffusing light of so, so many monitors. Technology that is well beyond anything Henry's seen—even in a US government lab, at his point in time—that it is astoundingly baffling.
But in a satisfying way. So there were secrets hidden away in this room.
Drawn in, Henry steps closer to the entirety of the set-up. He can’t hope to make heads or tails of it. This is the man who accidentally switched teams from Tsuchigumo to Unicorn by tapping the wrong thing on his smartphone, after all.
His verbiage is painfully grandpa-esque:]
These are all of your computers? Connected to the internet?
Oh, absolutely. From hospital records, to banking, to dating. Everything's online now. Even if they think they've tucked it away in some little online corner no one knows about, I know how to find it.
[Now he just looks surprised. It's still nigh unbelievable.]
You'd think they'd know better. Still, unearthing everyone's dirty little secrets? [By trawling through what he's heard referred to as a "web", at that. How funny.] You'll make me obsolete.
[But more seriously:] Now I'm really interested in seeing you work, someday.
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striketwice) wrote2022-10-02 07:47 pm
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Mid-October. In about... oh, four or five hours, I black out and wake up in a prison cell wearing pink stripes.
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His brows raise.]
Really?
[For some reason, that lends this scene a bit of poignancy that wasn't present before.]
Your poor coffee's gone stale by now.
[helpful]
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At least I took it off the heat beforehand.
[ At long last, though not without some hint of reluctance, ALec lets go of Henry's hand. ]
Feel free to take a look around.
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So. Where to start?
...Speaking of coffee, actually. Probably the most obvious place, and where he suspects Alec spends plenty of time, would be the kitchen. He can see it from here, but time to get a closer look, crossing in that direction.]
So how does your kitchen compare to Unicorn’s?
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It's better just by virtue of having all my shit in it.
[ His SPICES and COOKBOOKS. He misses them. ]
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I don’t know. It’s not nearly as colorful.
[That’s not a serious remark. Henry has no real opinion on their dorm’s bright pink kitchen or the unicorn wallpaper, but it’s definitely not an Alec thing.
Anyway, are you going to let him be nosy? HE LOVES BEING NOSY. What if he opens the fridge to peek in—]
But I at least assume there’s more than just eggs in here.
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[ Please he wouldn't know what to do with a bright pink kitchen.
And Henry is free to open the fridge. It's well-stocked with a good variety of pre-cooked dishes and various ingredients, but Alec is just one man so it lacks the sheer quantity of food that the Unicorn fridge normally holds. ]
Do you think I live off eggs alone or what?
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Oh, no. Eggs and waffles, of course.
[Giving him shit.]
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[ Flat, dry. And undone by the way he watches Henry, takes in the sight of him in his space — in his home — rifling through the fridge. It throws into perspective just what they're trying to achieve by leaving the prison together. The corner of his mouth quirks upward without him seeming to realize it. ]
You probably shouldn't critique the guy who'll be making your meals.
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(Routine is yet one more word he has always avoided, but it does not sound so terrible, now. Not with him.)
He straightens, closing the fridge door.]
I’d apologize for the extra effort, but you know you’ll enjoy it.
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In any case, there's more of the apartment to see. A door just off the living room, and yet another around the corner from the kitchen, before the short hall that presumably leads out of the apartment altogether. ]
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But is just as soon eager to continue being nosy. He doesn't even ask which door leads to where, Henry just decides to head toward the one around the corner from the kitchen.
WHAT'S OVER HERE]
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You going in there?
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[Why is this shut-- (It's because it's his apartment, he can shut what doors he likes, Henry.) But Mr. Vecna is ever obsessed with secrets, and though a shut door is not a secret, it obscures something, and is therefore compelling.
He tries the doorknob.]
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[ The door opens easily, and beyond what looks to be a smaller, spare bedroom that is instead serving as half-home office and half-storage. There's a simple desk and PC against one wall, and the rest of the room is littered with junk. Piles of old boxes and the odd bit of furniture stacked up and shoved aside. It's nothing special.
Alec eases his way past Henry and into the room proper. He lifts a hand to cast — possibly unnecessary since they're inside his head, but this is the way it works in the real world, so this is the way it works here. When the spellwork vanishes, the room itself changes.
The illusion, the damn good and damn expensive illusion, melts away to reveal a room full of softly glowing banks of monitors and humming PCs that probably blow whatever technology Henry has seen around Reverie clean out the water. The tell-tale glow of Alec's magic runs along the walls, feeding itself into the machines. ]
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But in a satisfying way. So there were secrets hidden away in this room.
Drawn in, Henry steps closer to the entirety of the set-up. He can’t hope to make heads or tails of it. This is the man who accidentally switched teams from Tsuchigumo to Unicorn by tapping the wrong thing on his smartphone, after all.
His verbiage is painfully grandpa-esque:]
These are all of your computers? Connected to the internet?
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Yes, Henry. These are my computers, connected to the internet. This is where I work.
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Can you really get most of your work done from one spot?
[Though, given the array of computers here... Probably.]
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More or less. Sometimes I have to go shake people down the old fashioned way, but you'd be surprised how much information people put on the internet.
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...Information actually worthy of blackmail?
[Henry sounds dubious. Can you blame him? The idea sounds ridiculous for someone from the pre-internet era. Who would be stupid enough to do that?]
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You'd think they'd know better. Still, unearthing everyone's dirty little secrets? [By trawling through what he's heard referred to as a "web", at that. How funny.] You'll make me obsolete.
[But more seriously:] Now I'm really interested in seeing you work, someday.
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[ Having a boyfriend who can get into people's heads is like an info broker's dream. ]
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Going to send me hopping into a few of the more stubborn individuals’ minds?
[Oh, he would love that.]
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[ It will always be Henry's choice, of course. That's the one thing Alec will never falter on. Henry always has a choice. ]
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