Participants:
| Scene Title | They're Both Nuts |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Or so Mortimer says of Jack and Lola, though Veronica thinks perhaps the same of Mortimer and Jack. |
| Date | February 14, 2010 |
It's been a long night for Mortimer Alex Jack, and when he wakes up at around six in the morning, he walks out in his jeans with no shoes on, that door flying open. This early, there's only around five men, the younger slackers of the group who stayed up all night playing WoW… still playing actually, and eating junk food.
"Ugh…" he groans, holding his head as he stumbles out, then falls down to his knees. "I hope we don't have to do that again, any time soon…" This one sounds like Mortimer. "Fucking Nightmare Man."
Veronica's up, preparing to head back to the mainland so that she can get out of biker gear and into a dress to go to Len's wedding. "Nightmare Man?" she echoes, as pulls her long brown hair into a pony tail. "You okay, there … Jack?" she hazards a guess as to which of the two men in the one body is in charge at the moment. "I met Mary Lou yesterday by the way. Southern as they come, but not your Belle?"
"I'm Mortimer." he says before standing again, reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder to keep his balance. "The Nightmare Man is an Evolved who makes people commit suicide. He's the one who made those kids commit suicide a while ago. We were in Ichihara's dream, she's another Evolved dreamwalker. Nightmare Man was trying to take her over, so me and Jack sync'd up our consciousness so we'd be stronger. It was so surreal, but it strained us so much to do. We became some guy named Alex."
A third personality? Veronica arches a brow. "Alex. Well, that's interesting. Ichihara was taken over by the Nightmare Man?" She'll have to let her superiors know of this development, if Jack is actually not just mixing up his dreams with gossip and the fact he shops in Ichihara's bookstore. She's not sure she'd trust his dreams as sources of fact. "So Mary Lou's not your — er, Jack's — Southern Belle? She left me a message to tell him to quit talking about her, but you're the wrong guy to give it to, I suppose. That he should leave the dead and buried dead and buried." She finishes her ponytail and picks up her motorcycle helmet.
"I don't think you're gonna see Alex any time soon. It was like, me and Jack were literally the same person, well, more than we already are. We spoke in plural and could feel and think what the other one could feel…" Mortimer walks over to take a seat on one of the couches, almost everything completely moved out now, including the safes. "I'm not gonna comment on Mary Lou. And that's fine. But yeah, Nightmare Man was in her dream, but I think we saved her, I think… I'm not sure. Things are strange now, but we're almost at the end."
"You didn't deny it," Veronica says with some bemusement. "If she wasn't, you would simply say she wasn't. So she's alive? What's with the big deal about saying she's dead? Or does Jack not recognize her as the same person for some reason?" The rest of the Nightmare stuff is pushed aside — she can maybe put a call into Corbin to see how much of this is true, if the other agent is aware of any of it. The discrepancy in the story about Lola, not that she knows that is the girl's name, is intriguing. If Jack is working with the woman but refuses to accept the fact she's alive, that says a lot for his sanity. Or lack of it.
"Look, I can't talk about this. I don't know you well enough to trust you with something like this. I don't particularly care about Mary Lou, but I care about protecting her life." Mortimer sounds serious now, peering over at her. "You don't mention this, to anyone. If you do, I'll shoot you, forget Jack."
"Got it," Veronica says, looking irritated. "I'm not going to go shout that she's alive. I get it. The dude who tried to kill her can't know she's alive. I won't screw that up, I promise. Is that all it is? Jack should be more careful talking about her then, because he's not really all that good about acting like she's actually dead. I figured she wasn't, and I barely know you guys." She gives a shrug. "I got a appointment in town I gotta get to. You want anything else from me before I go?"
"Jack's just been screwing with you. He probably already knows you're not working with Linderman and is just messing with your head for no real reason. Say what you want about him, but he has more practical skills with this kind of life than I do. Chances are, if he let on that she's alive to you, then he has something over your head and you don't even know it." Mortimer shrugs, and it's hard to say how truthful he's being, or if he's just trying to freak her out, but he lays down on the couch and yawns. "Unless you intend to let me have a quickie, just bring back a burger or something."
Veronica's eyes narrow. "I don't think he knows he let on that she's alive. It's more the way both of you talk about her and then the fact that lo and behold, there's a Southern girl who gets her bra in a twist when I mentioned him talking about her. She said he'd be a free agent soon enough if I was interested in Jack." She pulls her helmet on, and gives a wave. "See you later."
"They're both fucking nuts, don't ask me." Mortimer says as he turns over with his back to her, closing his eyes. "And we move to Midtown tonight, so get back early if you don't wanna be left in the dust. Later, Sam."