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[nobasisinfact]

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[11calls]

Well, I was going to say the beach, but you're you know. You.

[Alex was still slightly off kilter, but she was making an effort to put herself right now that they were. So, bad jokes and grins it was for the moment.]

Also, I was thinking that if we were alone then no one else would ever know it was your birthday. I mean, I haven't missed it yet, my Richard. I'm not going to start now. Even if I expect Ruby ended up with the Edible Arrangements rather than you.

[Or at least maybe it'd been something other than a protein bar for food before she'd showed up to drag him for real food and to be a person again.]

[nobasisinfact]

[His brows rose at that, curiously.]

I was looking forward to your traditional gift.

[He's joking, or being sarcastic or something like that. After all, going to a hot spring or beach was very not him. He'd rather be actually alone with her if that was what she wanted to do with him.]

[11calls]

I really don't know if Edible Arrangements are a thing here. Besides. I got you something way better anyway.

[Does she look smug? Well, maybe a little bit. Either way, she's standing up to wrap her arms around his neck.]

It's going to surprise you, I think.

[And it's locked up at her office.]

[nobasisinfact]

[Wrapping his arms around her waist he raises an eyebrow. The fact that his birthday wasn't until December didn't seem to bother her, and he was only slightly curious about what she was planning on getting him. That would change as he forgot about it entirely though.]

Is it a promise to consult me before telling anyone in Riverview about our or my past?

[Just because they weren't fighting didn't mean everything had been pushed under the bridge or that he wasn't still mad. He was still mad about Turkey after all, but that didn't stop them from being what they were.]

[11calls]

[Alex knew of course, because of everything, but it also didn't mean that she hadn't found something entirely perfect to give to him anyway. And probably would because Alex was excitable and well... everything Alex.

But she nodded slowly.]

Yes. But there are a few conversations from this that I want to finish about demons from other worlds, and one I should finish because I sort of...

[Alex sighs a bit.]

Told a kid to fuck off. Well, a teeanger. He's... had some terrible experiences back home and I didn't respond well at all.

[nobasisinfact]

[He can't help frowning. That sounded entirely too much like something he would do, not her.]

Tell me about it.

[After all, that's something that she should have done in the first place.]

[11calls]

[For a minute, Alex just sighed again before she pulls out her device, but she doesn't actually open the message. Instead, she's just holding onto it.]

In my defense, I didn't know he did until after I'd already told him to fuck off. But he asked me if I'd brought it back with me, and then he said it could go inside of me and like hide I guess? [Alex looks a bit sick at that, because well, you know the whole possession not sleeping thing.]

He seemed to miss the fact that someone else was recording me sleeping, and was angry that I didn't do it. I didn't mention the whole sleepnotes or anything like that. He told me I was fucked unless I figured it out, which is when I got the pictures from Skye and I kind of lost it.

[Alex frowned and she knows how pissed he's going to be about her admitting it.]

I told him that I knew it was a demon because I'd been investigating them for three years, but I didn't tell him anything about the investigation itself. But I did tell him that the man who was recording me slept sent it as a threat to show how close they can get to me.

[A beat, and she just says:]

I know you don't believe, Richard. Not really, but even if it's an extremely elaborate hoax, that's why Warren would have sent it to me and to Nic.

[A beat.]

I told him I was trying to stop it, and that it was bigger than just this video, but I didn't say how, and then he told me that his friend sacrificed himself to save the kid from a demon, and to kill it. He told me I had to kill it, and that's where I left it.

But I told you, no mentions of you or Simon or specifics. I'm not going to do that to you.

[Or tell him she told Jeff that she thought he hated her, that's not this.]

[nobasisinfact]

[Letting go, he pulled the phone from her hand.]

I'll keep that in mind.

[With that he started to scroll through the conversations. ALL of the conversations. So Skye, a girl he'd never met, Victor, and Jeff know. Jeff, of course, knew the most, practically all of it from the look of things. He and Alex would have to discuss that, later.

The fact that she had been previously medicated for her insomnia wasn't surprising really. It had been bad enough that he'd been forced to notice it back home after all.

Then came the boy that she had been talking about. The biggest surprise was how quickly Alex had taken to snapping at him. The conversation wasn't that long at all before she started, although, given what he knew it made some sense. And he was sure that their argument hadn't been helping.

Before answering though he hit edit and changed the parameters to private.]
It's not a demon, and we're not going to be sacrificing anyone.

[It was simple but factual. Even if it was a demon the only person who was allowed to die in this idiotic delusion was Thomas Warren.]

[11calls]

[Alex would argue that Skye really didn't know all that much, and she'd already told him about Jeff immediately when they'd gotten her home. And Victor didn't even know specifics other than the demons and the not sleeping thing. Which was because well, Alex hadn't been sleeping for longer than she should have, and there was actually something wrong with how little she slept for.

But she doesn't explain it. Instead she just waits, unable to not fidget a bit when it's clear that he's actually... reading all of her messages. Richard reads fast, so there's nothing else he could be doing. Her mouth opens to protest about Jeff if nothing else, but he knows her, and he knew she was freaking out. It was pretty obvious she was freaking out.

However, she does protest when he says it's not a demon.]

Richard. You see for yourself it's not CGI or a prop. Skye is like... better than MK with the computer stuff. She's not wrong and there's no way that thing is human in a mask.

[nobasisinfact]

[Richard chose to skip over the traditional argument over if something was or was not a demon. Instead, he ignored the argument starter altogether and focused on the significant bit. The part where the tape even existed in the first place. The conversation he was almost certain they'd already had when she got the thing. But some things bared repeating again.]

Warren's trying to scare you. If he wanted to do otherwise, he would have.

[Which was still odd. If Warren wanted her out of the picture then why hadn't he done anything? It only bled into his theory that Warren needed Alex to leave Richard of her own accord. Something to break him even further than Coralee's disappearance so he would be pliable to Warren's demands.

No, he didn't think Warren would do anything to attack her now. The rest of what had been done to her, what she never seemed to think about but Richard kept in the back of his mind, that was the real mystery here.]

[11calls]

But is he trying to scare me into going? Or is he trying to scare me into staying?

[Alex thought about it a lot, actually, especially in context with what Simon had said to her when he'd arrived. She understood his not wanting to be in the center of the supernatural demonic stuff before, but she understood it a lot more now.]

Listen, I know you don't believe, Richard, but Warren definitely does. But I have been thinking. I mean you know me, I think about this stuff a lot. But what if whatever Warren thinks is happening means that you have to chose to go to Geneva of your own accord. It's the thing that makes the most sense for why he didn't just kidnap you instead of other people, especially since he's been following your and broke into your office and your house.

[A beat.]

And following that logic, maybe I need to chose to go too. Obviously I'm going wherever you go, but if Warren was trying to scare me into not going... It's probably a good thing that I am. Something Simon said when he first showed up has been sticking with me: that I'd follow you and follow the story. Warren's been trying to get me away from you since forever. So I guess it does make sense that he'd try to use the thing I'm most scared of to try and stop me.

[nobasisinfact]

I don't -

[This was something he'd been actively trying not to think about, but now with the arrival of Alex's tape it seemed like it would never go away again. The fact that so many people had been running his life behind the scenes wasn't something he felt anyone would want to have brought up repeatedly, especially by the person they were with.

Richard looked away, frowning as he tried to force the conversation through. Maybe if he got this over with they could put it behind them. At least for the remainder of their time here.]

I don't think Warren wants to interfere with me directly. Whatever he's planning, he needs me to give whatever it is he thinks I have willingly. You take away the likelihood of that happening.

[Or more erases it. Not that Richard's particularly fond of the idea of giving up his blood or DNA or whatever for Warren's Apocalyptic demonic delusions.]

[11calls]

Of course I do.

[Alex just grinned up at him, and she kissed him softly for just a minute, before she added, in the way that only Alex could:]

I'm too damn stubborn to let you do anything like that to yourself. It's where my being insufferable works in your favor.

[A beat.]

Speaking of things that are annoying. Did you get a cat?

[nobasisinfact]

[Cat, he remembers seeing one around the house every now and again. He'd thought Alex was the one that brought it in. After all, she'd gotten a dog.]

I thought it was yours.

[11calls]

[That makes Alex frown and she just shook her head.]

I'm not really a cat person.

[The insinuation here is: but you are.]

[nobasisinfact]

[He caught that insinuation.]

Simon?

[Doubtful, but it would either be Simon or Stan.]

[11calls]

Possibly. I mean we can ask him.

[A beat.]

Should we pick up cat food now? And like litter and all the stuff that goes with cats?

[nobasisinfact]

I suppose so.

[He frowns, another animal in the house. How annoying.]

[11calls]

[Alex just laughs and shakes her head before she buries it into his chest.]

We just keep collecting things, don't we?

[nobasisinfact]

I blame you.

[He wraps his arms around her, holding her close.]

[11calls]

Hey, you can blame me for a lot of things, but a cat definitely isn't one of them.

[She just looked up at him with a smile.]

Besides, you like Apo. So I'm getting bonus points for that even if you keep bribing him for his love.

[nobasisinfact]

I haven't bribed him once.

[11calls]

[Alex just gives him her best 'I am so on to you' look.]

Oh, your clumsiness only comes out in the kitchen when he's around, huh?

[nobasisinfact]

He's very good at jumping onto the counters.

[11calls]

He's getting too fat to jump on counters. He's going on a diet otherwise he's going to start rolling places.

[Why ya lying, Richard?]