oo1; voice + video

[justthedriver]

Biggest country in world I know but Initiative don't seem to bother to bring anyone else but me. Too many goddamned Americans and Japanese. [ Says the heavy Russian accent. ] And aliens. And fucking elves. [ For all the emphasis he puts on that word, he doesn't sound angry. More of a 'fuck, what the hell, man?'

... Sorry, elves. He's targeting one elf in particular and he doesn't much care if there's more of them.

Sharp snort. Sound of a lighter snapping on, and the crackling of cigarettes. Then the camera switches on.

Have a pair of heavily tattooed hands, one of them curled around a white stick. Then he tips the tablet upwards until it shows his face, and Nikolai pulls off the sunglasses. ]

You lot ever get tired of talking on this thing? Bunch of stupid questions lately. [ He takes a drag of the cigarette, and blows it at the screen. ] You've all forgotten how to fuck, or something?


[ ooc; for any character with knowledge of Russian criminals, Nikolai's hands carry tattoos that basically says he's one of the worst ones out there. Yeah.

Also, content warnings for sexual assault for the thread with Steph (controlledvariable). ]

Comments

[heartsink]

That would make it easier to believe, then, I suppose. The dead stayed dead, where I'm from.

[ as well he shouldn't, considering she is a dirty stinking liar. ]

[justthedriver]

Da? And what place are you from?

[heartsink]

Tokyo, Japan, originally. More recently, New York City. Things like time travel and raising the dead were just fictions.

[ literally nothing in this message is true. ]

[justthedriver]

[ It's a good thing she's talking to a Russian mobster who believes nothing until he sees it. ]

Very hard to believe person who only uses text.

[heartsink]

It's hard to believe any person here. Even if you could see my face, that isn't any reason to trust a word I say, not really.

[justthedriver]

[ He laughs at that. ]

Nyet.

[heartsink]

No?

[justthedriver]

You have face, at least you are little bit trustworthy. You don't show face, you are nothing.

Common sense.

1/2

[heartsink]

If you insist.

2/2: video, locked/private

[heartsink]

[ And so when video finally connects, it's yet another teenage girl, congratulations nobody saw that coming at all. Middle teens, around sixteen, skin tone on the light side, Asian, middling length brown hair, visible eye sort of chartreuse-amber.

"visible" because her left eye is hidden by an eye patch, if it is there at all.

Video is indoors, but she's wearing a scarf. On the whole, thin in face, looking more than a little sleep-deprived. ]

I'm still don't think this makes a person more trustworthy. Everyone has a face or two.

[ Her voice sounds a couple years older than her face, and her accent seems more England than U.S.A. ]

[justthedriver]

[ What on Earth is Nikolai's appeal towards teenaged girls? He's getting a congo line of them and he doesn't even understand- but no, he's not surprised. The eyepatch makes him narrow his eyes very, very slightly though. ]

Da. [ He shrugs. ] But plenty can be said of face, or even voice. That obvious enough.

[heartsink]

[ Perhaps the better question is wondering what their appeal is to the Initiative? Perhaps he receives responses from so many simply because that is an accurate slice of the network demographic.

But who knows?

If she notices the narrowed squint, she doesn't acknowledge it directly. ]

What can be said of my face?

[justthedriver]

[ He chuckles. ]

You always tell author of book what you read from book?

[heartsink]

[ She smiles, not quite to the eyes, and her shrug is deliberate. ]

If I meet that person, sure. Everyone has a different perspective.

[justthedriver]

[ He waves a hand, and ash falls on the table in front of him. Nikolai glances at it, and flicks it away carelessly. ]

You will tell even when they try to hide because they know you are watching?

[heartsink]

I'm not sure that I follow the analogy. The "author" is hiding from me, because they know I'm there, and because I've "read their work" ?

[justthedriver]

Fuck analogy. [ Waves a hand. ]

[heartsink]

Fine. [ another shrug of the shoulder. ] There's obviously no way I could make you tell me, if you don't want to, but I am curious.

[justthedriver]

[ He chuckles softly. ]

Only one eye but you hide better than people do with two.

[ Okay that is purposefully ungrammatical and cryptic. ]

[heartsink]

[ Her mouth pulls to one side, smiling. ]

People with two don't have to be as aware.

[justthedriver]

[ His head follows that lopsided smile. ]

So what are you looking for?

[heartsink]

That which will do me harm, so I can avoid it. Simple as that.

[justthedriver]

Then not very wise to talk to me.

[heartsink]

Because of intention, or circumstances?

[justthedriver]

Neither. Because of me.