Title: “Interlude: Home Video”

Series: The Herder of Penguins

Author: Shaitanah

Rating: G

Summary: A little video department experiment brings unexpected revelations. The team is in for an unpleasant surprise. [The Herder of Penguins. Part 3]

Dedication: Oh bugger, this whole series is for Nox. XDD

A/N: This one’s choppy, pointless and all kinds of plain weird because it’s more or less a filler.

Interlude

HOME VIDEO

[Lights. Camera. Roll]

VO: So, uh… We’re making our way through the Office building, third floor, to the Glyph Codes Department. And… well, this is the lavatory door. Looks like someone’s there. It’s… one of our test subjects, Agent V, Div 301. Hey, man, say hi!

V: Hey! A little privacy here!

VO: Er… okay, we’ll get back to you later. Our point of destination is this particular office by the way, here it is. The room where 301 gets thrashed by their remarkable Sensei-supervisor, Agent K. And we’re lucky: he’s in.

K [looking up from his laptop]: What the–?

VO: Social experiment.

K: Oh no, you don’t. Not here.

VO: Orders, sir.

K: I don’t give a damn about your orders. You’re not coming in with the camera and you’re certainly not shooting anything during the lesson, which by the way starts in ten minutes. Leave.

[K gets up and covers the lens with his palm]

K: Leave. I will not repeat myself.

VO [outside]: Looks like we’re not so lucky here. But it’s not a problem. Because spycam was invented for a reason.

[Camera off]

[Spycam on]

VO: Okay, we’re back. And the trainees are gathering. There are nine people in this division, and today we’re going to follow them all day to see how their routine unfolds. Stay tuned!

Scene: K and Div 301

K settles back in his chair, surveying the audience with slightly squinted eyes.

“So, my foolish, lazy children. Shall we start the execution?”

The trainees react differently. Some of them smile; others flash him grim glances. K’s smile widens. The assignment was relatively easy: to decode an encrypted text and relate it in plain language.

K laughs quietly. “V, your translation is… I’m sorry, but it’s a total screw-up.”

It’s impossible not to smile back, which V does readily. Armed with a red ballpoint pen, K prepares to dissect the text.

“Will someone give me the original text?”

R yawns and hastily covers her mouth with her hand. “I forgot mine.”

K cocks his head, as if about to remind her that governmental standards are not made to be forgotten elsewhere, but he changes his mind.

“What’s it for?” C asks.

“To check the text, of course. Oh come on, I need one copy for a second. Looks like we don’t have enough. Shall I photocopy them?”

The trainees laugh.

“T and I are sharing,” V blurts out.

T glances at him briefly, her face unreadable, picks up the paper and hands it to the Sensei.

“Greed is a sin,” K chuckles. “I share all my texts with you.”

“Your texts! Thanks but no, thanks!” C laughs.

After the check-up is over, K begins his lecture. His voice sounds soft, a little weary. Unbeknownst to the trainees, he frequently glances at the clock in the corner of his laptop screen.

“It’s impossible to memorize!” R grumbles under her breath.

“I wouldn’t know,” K shrugs. “I have good memory.”

A choir of voices attacks him: “Is that why you can’t memorize our letters?”

Touché.

[Cut]

Scene change: Goose

T lowers her head on the sofa armrest. The hallway is empty and unnaturally quiet. K has just ditched the division in favour of some paper-check, which means they will probably have to linger and wait for him. Another class is scheduled for today.

It’s cold in the building. Some troubles with the heating – and the weather outside decided to act up. She rubs her hands and ruffles up, digging herself deeper into the unbounded sweater one of the monitors gave her to keep warm.

She is discussing photography with the girls from her unit. One of the doors clicks open, and a young agent pokes his head through it. The girls smile at him. It is one of the video department boys, fresh from the Academy, nicknamed Goose.

“Busy, girls?”

“One more class for today.”

Goose grins. “With whom?”

“K.”

“He’s here? I thought I saw him leave.”

L frowns. “Well, he should come back soon.”

“You think he might just forget us here?” C queries.

Goose looks uncomfortable. “Elvis left the building.”

The trainees burst out laughing. One of them nudges T softly and suggests she draw a picture of K as Elvis. In turn, she tries to imagine him with Elvis-hair, by a pink Cadillac. Unsettling, really.

She inclines her head just in time to catch sight of K disappearing around the corner. So he is here. She bites down a smile.

“How’s that social experiment going by the way?” Goose asks. T shoots him a questioning glance. “Well, you know, the one with the camera. We sent a guy from our department over to you.”

“The what!?” R starts. She probably begins to imagine how she will look on camera.

“Didn’t your supervisor tell you? They play such jokes on all third-years.”

[Cut]

Scene change: T and K

[T’s camera + Spycam]

“Take a seat.”

T lowers herself on the chair in front of the Sensei’s desk. He is busy checking off some papers. When he finally looks up, his face contorts with a displeased grimace: he is looking straight into the camera lens.

“Cheese!”

“Hello,” he mutters and reaches to grab the camera, but T swings back, the chair short of dancing under her, and grins at him. “I’ve already told them to bugger off,” he says.

T scrutinizes him through the eyepiece. His face looks greyish, weary, like he didn’t have enough sleep at night.

“Answer a question for me,” she prompts, “and I’ll bugger off.”

His brow twitches. Clearly, he wouldn’t have used this word on her account – but damn, he’s tired of the video department pranks!

He puts the pen aside and stares at T through the camera, a fake pleasant smile upon his face. Deal.

“Is there anything in your life except work?” T queries.

Her question seemingly startles him. His smile lingers, but the skin in the corners of his eyes is strained and his jaws are set.

“It doesn’t really seem so,” T goes on. “We’re not supposed to know if our Sensei do anything in their spare time, but I think you don’t do anything. Is it really this interesting for you to mess with codes all the time? You keep lecturing us about work and service. Are you so into it?”

“It’s not one question,” K protests in a low voice, but she doesn’t appear to have heard him.

“But then, new experiences are important. You learn new things, reach out into new worlds. It’s great that you’re so dedicated, but…” She takes a rapid breath, as if cautious not to lose her thought. “I don’t think work should be a goal unto itself. It’s means, more like it.”

“To do what?”

T compresses her lips for a moment.

“I want to travel the world. To save just enough money to be able to do it! Have you ever been to Lake Baikal?” Her eyes gleam adventurously. “I’ll go there someday. I’ll ride dogs and spend my nights in a cozy dark-green tent. Dogs can smile, by the way; did you know that? It’s scientifically proven–.”

She breaks into a broad smile and struggles to breathe past laughter and cannot squeeze out another word. It is contagious; he finds himself smiling back, thinking of smiling dogs and winter and never-ending whiteness.

The knocking on the door crashes upon them abruptly. They fall quiet, looking at each other. T winks at him briefly and lowers the camera.

Scene change: Hallway

[Hallway Spycam]

“What is he wearing?” B giggles, pointing carefully at K who is busy talking with a colleague. The class is about to begin.

V cocks his head slightly. “It’s a scarf.”

“It’s a shawl!”

“A shawl!” mirthful voices echo in unison.

K turns to look at them. It is unclear if he heard them, but his face suddenly changes, becoming stone-cold, expressionless. T follows his gaze, slightly bewildered.

A procession of the members of the Encoders Board drifts slowly along the corridor. There is that woman, the lecturer, Yukita or whatever her name is. And there is the grey-haired, cross-eyed man in a black suit right behind her. T doesn’t know if she should be surprised or bitterly amused.

“It’s J,” someone from the division breathes against the back of her neck. She balls her fists.

V takes a resolute step forth, but his friend N, in a fit of uncharacteristic confidence, holds him back.

“J’s back.” The whispered words rustle through the group of trainees like win through grass.

T stares at K. He looks whiter, angrier than usual.

[Cut]

Scene change: K

“Turn the cameras off.”

[Lights out]