0100101110 → {video/action} violet city [4th Wall Post!]

[triptoprofiling]

[There seated behind the worktable is Norman who is wearing a pair of sunglasses and a leather glove on his right-hand.

I know what you're thinking. Who the hell wears sunglasses inside the house (let alone an unlit workroom with only a few rays of sunlight peeking through the blinds)? You would think he's swatting flies away from the way he is throwing his hands in the air like he just doesn't care.]

It's always the same thing.

[He continues to throw around his right arm.]

Sames files, same data...same everything. It can't even tell me if chicken's chicken anymore.

[Norman's hand dance comes to a stop as he takes off his glasses.]

I need water.

Comments

[nostabbing]

[...Son, you're kidding, right.]

It's a pair of sunglasses. I think I can figure it out.

[NOW GIVE IT.]

[triptoprofiling]

[No joke son. Now if you'll excuse him, he will proceed to grip onto his precious even tighter.]

They're more than sunglasses.

[Not by the hairs of his chinny, chin-chin, Pahkuh.]

[nostabbing]

Just put them on my face.

[Like she couldn't steal them out of his hands if she actually wanted to. Considering she can apparently steal the first round out of the chamber of a loaded pistol while someone is wearing it in his shoulder holster...skillz, basically.]

[triptoprofiling]

I'm not gonna' put anything on your face.

[Try him, Wannabe-Carmen Sandiego.]

[nostabbing]

[Wow, excuse you, Wannabe-Special Agent— actually wait no that's getting kind of creepy, then, isn't it.]

Then give them to me and I'll put them on my face.

[triptoprofiling]

[...Yeaaaahhhhhhh. :la]

It's complicated. I can't just let you use these.

[A beat.]

Believe me, it's for the best.

[nostabbing]

Then you should at least explain why it's such a big deal that I can't put on a pair of glasses.

[Obviously.]

[triptoprofiling]

They give you a nasty headache after you use them. You can't just slip them on like they're a pair of 3D-glasses.

[You can't handle the Power Glove, Parker. They're bad.]

[nostabbing]

...So then why are you using them? What, you do a month's training and you can train yourself out of the susceptibility to a nasty headache?

[triptoprofiling]

I...

[Damn. Got him.]

It's complicated, besides--

[He proceeds to stuff his future glasses in his jacket pocket. Safe and sound.]

No offense here but you just showed up in my house. You're making a tall order already.

[nostabbing]

Oh.

[Right. That's a good point. She just kind of took the break-in part for granted, the way that some people take, y'know, breathing for granted.]

You're Norman, right? I'm Alice.

[triptoprofiling]

Yeah, that's me.

[A beat.]

Make yourself at home.

[Norman is going to excuse himself from this up'n'close encounter by walking away from Parker and towards the kitchen area.]

Can I get you something?

[nostabbing]

[HAHA NICE TRY, she's totally following him. Albeit at a slightly more normal distance, but hey.]

So what does an ARI do?

[That's probably an implicit "I'm fine, thanks" in there somewhere.]

[triptoprofiling]

[Fine more JAHVUH fuh Nahman. Earlier he brewed his favorite flavor: JAHVUH. Norman pulls out one of these badboys from out of the cupboard.]

I'm an agent for the FBI.

[He pours himself a mug full of the luke warm stuff.]

Whenever I needed to piece a crime scene together, it would show me everything from tire prints to small scraps of DNA.

[nostabbing]

My FBI doesn't use stuff like that.

[Really, that's a little unsettling. She's careful, obviously, but he's describing federal agents basically going around wearing computers on their face.

Could Hardison hack one of those ARI glasses things? She's not sure.]

What crime was there to piece together back in your workroom?

[triptoprofiling]

Homicide.

[He says in an 'as a matter of fact' tone. There is the point of kidnapping that he deals with. Particularly in the Origami Killer investigation, kids would go missing different times of the year. More often than not however homicide came riding kidnapping's coattails.]

The interface is set-up so that any agent can have everything at their fingertips.

[The manner he speaks about ARI is vague. All Alice needs to know is that the thing is a portable computer without the extra baggage.

He takes a sip of his coffee.]

It's ah- useless now.

[nostabbing]

But you won't let me wear it. Even though it's useless.

[Okay, now that basically everyone's established that you're lying like a rug there, Norman. Life goes on.]

You solve a lot of homicides?

[triptoprofiling]

[In Norman's mind, it's best if she or anyone else for that matter didn't know about it. The further he can keep ARI away from their reach the better. Even if he does have to lie straight through his teeth. It's for the best.]

As much as I can. I'd be a lousy profiler if I had an inconsistent track record.

[He sets his mug down.]

Alright, my turn is up. What's your story?

[nostabbing]

[And therein lies the problem: it is a story. There are a couple she could tell here: the real one (unlikely), the Alice White one (reasonable), or the Special Agent Hagen one (because he's FBI). But how is she supposed to know which one is the most advantageous? That's something Sophie would know. Sophie wouldn't even have to think about it.]

I'm a bookkeeper. I...keep...books.

[Like in a daycare, she presumes. Probably.]

I don't like it here.

[...she's not sure if that was Alice or Parker, saying that.]

[triptoprofiling]

Bookkeeper, eh? Sounds nice.

[He takes a mental note of that. Even for a self-explanatory name as bookkeeper there is something vaguely off about it. Usually it's 'I'm a bookkeeper at 'X' place' or 'I do this bookeeping gig to keep the bills paid' but he decides not to press on.]

Sorry, I would've cleaned if I knew I was going to have unannounced company.

[nostabbing]

[...oh, wait, hang on, that just sounded like he meant—

Wow, is this guy a kindred spirit or something? That's the kind of slip she would've made. Probably. Most likely.]

I meant here.

[More expansively, Jayden. She motions a little for emphasis.]

In Johto.

[And after another beat.]

One of my friends is here and he thinks I'm just a hallucination.