secretasshole | 003 웃 VIDEO

[The video clicks on to show a sweeping shot of the Overlook's basement. Natasha and Mal have been handling the boiler, so David hasn't bothered with it beyond a quick glance to make sure the pressure gauge is still in the safe zone. Besides, he isn't interested in any of that, anyway.

There are boxes and boxes of old papers - newspapers, receipts, books, ledgers, knick knacks and old uniforms, decades of artifacts from the hotel's history scattered haphazardly around the basement. The android is holding the camera almost at shoulder height and has a flashlight in his other hand, sweeping the beam slowly over the boxes, stacks and crates, lingering here, sweeping over there without stopping as he walks through the archaeological site.

The boiler lets out a labored, thundering whoosh, but David doesn't jump or otherwise seem too bothered by it as he keeps going, the camera and flashlight both holding steady.

He finally stops in front of a box, shining the beam of the flashlight on it for a moment before crouching and setting both the camera and the flashlight down. The light is beam up, casting strange shadows on his face as David frowns with curiosity and starts carefully pulling things out of the box, studying each object with a combination of clinical interest and childlike curiosity. A book. A sheet of old stationary. Some receipts.

He raises his eyebrows at the next find, jerking his head back slightly, like a dog who realized the dead thing it had been sniffing was actually just sleeping this whole time, looking genuinely surprised before pulling out a mutilated teddy bear. It looks as if it's been slashed to pieces, stuffing spilling out of the tears in the fabric, and the one eye visible to the camera at this angle is hanging from the socket by a thread. David considers it for a long moment before finally speaking softly, more to himself than anyone else.]

Big things have small beginnings.

[He suddenly glances back down at the camera, as if realizing it's still on. His expression is almost blank as he reaches down to the camera, his hand obscuring the image for a moment before he clicks off the video feed.]

[ooc: If anyone wants to spam him in the basement or otherwise arrange a face to face encounter with David, I am game!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Where is that? Where you at? All them things. [There's something a little urgent, insistent, in his voice.]

[David doesn't turn the video feed back on, and his voice is a little tinnier than it usually is, because he's still got the communicator on the floor.]

The basement.

[Then Omar is coming down to the basement to ransack it. There has to be something sparkly in all those boxes, and if there is, he needs it.]

[David doesn't seem bothered at all by the new arrival, still sorting through the box he found the disemboweled bear in. It's currently sitting on a stack of old newspapers, and still looks pretty creepy. David glances up at Omar with a mild expression on his face.]

Are you looking for something?

[He's honestly more or less forgotten David is there by the time he speaks, and while he doesn't startle -- it takes a lot to spook Omar Little -- the look he gives him pretty clearly indicates that he has no idea where the android came from.]

--Uh. Yeah. One of the other guests say she lost a bunch of jewelry down here. Maybe a wallet. Just trying to do my part to help out, you know. [He doesn't really care how obvious the lie is. He goes back to rummaging.]

[David doesn't really seem to care, either. This port effects have been interesting, and he was more interested in seeing how it varied, and what the hotel actually was, rather than needling someone for taking things that didn't belong to them.

He really didn't have a leg to stand on in that regard anyway.]

Of course.

[He already has stolen earrings in his ears -- silver and diamond from the looks of it -- and a watch around his wrist. He flicks through a box, frowning.] You see anything like that up in here? Anything-- shiny?

I haven't, no. [Most of it hasn't been that interesting, and the interesting parts are definitely not jewelry. He doesn't care much about material wealth so much as finding pieces of the puzzle, and that didn't really count.]

I'll be sure to let you know if I do.

[Natasha isn't one to explore for exploring's sake. She takes stock of what's available and what she needs. So she hasn't bothered much with the boxes, or anything besides the boiler, really. It was pretty clear that there wasn't anything useful laying around - meaning no weapons.

Still, she saw David's post pop up, and it was stupid to reply on the device when she was already coming down the stairs.]

Or creepy beginnings.

[David glances up, completely unruffled by the new arrival and smiles politely, turning to watch her come down the stairs. The dismembered bear has been placed on a stack of papers to his right, and it looks just as creepy in person.]

Perhaps.

[Seriously creepy. At least Natasha isn't one to be weirded out easily, so she wanders closer, circling around to crouch opposite him, picking up the bear and turning it over.]

Find anything else like this?

[David had started sorting through the papers again, but looks up briefly when she crouches across from him, giving her a small smile.]

Just a bunch of old receipts and newspaper clippings, I'm afraid. It seems it has quite the history.

[She returns it, kind of. Natasha isn't big on smiling, especially while holding a mutilated teddy. Which she is proceeding to turn over and pull apart, even tentatively sniffing at the stuffing.]

It's an old building. I wouldn't be surprised.

[And again, David does not seem at all bothered by this. Touch whatever you want, Natasha, he definitely will not try to stop you. He watches her investigate the bear, curious to see if it's going to give up any more secrets about the hotel or how it wound up in the basement looking like that before once again sorting through the contents of the box.]

I suppose all old buildings have their- [He very subtly jerks his head back from his most recent find before leaning back in and pulling it out of the box - a bloody strip of cloth that looks like it's been torn from a bedsheet or something similar.] secrets.

[She draws the line at sniffing all the things but hey you never know what you'll find unless you look, right. The teddy reveals no secrets, except a spider, which she shakes off without much concern. It would be pretty embarrassing, if the Black Widow was afraid of spiders.

Her eyes go to the bloody cloth immediately, though, eyebrows rising slowly.]

Some more interesting than others. Did you find dates on any of this stuff? [She nods toward the receipts.]

[He looks up at her to answer her question, but is still holding the cloth, arm entirely unmoving.]

Yes. Most of the receipts and newspapers are dated. They seem to begin in the early 1900's until the 1970's. If there's anything more recent, I haven't found it yet.

[Definitely a cold case, and she sets the stuffed animal down to hold her hand out for the cloth.] Not the kind of keepsakes you'd expect anyone to hold onto.

Something tells me the Overlook isn't an ordinary sort of hotel. [And because of that, David thinks it's kinda awesome. B(]

[David, you have issues.]

Would we really be here if it was?

[That is why he's here. :c]

Records show that the Admiral has not always stopped at locations that are inherently dangerous to the crew.

[But serious issues, good god. :c]

I've read about them. Bavaria in the middle of a snow storm still isn't my idea of pleasant.

[Again, that's why he's here. :c]

But perhaps preferable to a world where commercially produced organs are violently repossessed when debts can't be paid.

[So very wryly:] Perhaps.

Don't have any computations on when our next sane port will be, do you?

I'm afraid not. [But man, awesome new project idea? Awesome new project idea.]

003 웃 VIDEO

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