@lazarus | video

[benhargreeves]

[ The video opens on Ben's face. He is looking particularly grim, filming in one of the rooms in the residential section. No greetings or build-up, he just cuts right to the chase, holding up a tiny device between forefinger and thumb. Visible is a tiny lens, and what looks like a small antennae to transmit. ]

PSA. There are surveillance cameras hidden in the lighting fixtures of the bedrooms. I found a creepy tunnel leading to a creepy lair where some fucking creep has been spying on us. Still trying to figure out who is behind it and what they want, but the feeds only show occupied rooms and no empty ones so it's not a coincidence, unfortunately.

[ Ben turns the frame to face the spot where the small camera had obviously been ripped out of an overhead light. From offscreen he says, voice clipped and angry: ]

Anyway. Wanted you guys to know. Hit me up if you need help ripping the suckers out. I'll post again when I know more.

Comments

( video | un: tricks )

[dothelokimotion]

Is this news?

[ was this . . . not obvious from the start . . . ]

video | @lazarus

[benhargreeves]

[ Today is NOT THE DAY, Loki. ]

Do you have any actual information on the people who installed the cameras or are you just being a dick?

/2

[dothelokimotion]

My apologies. I'll be more sheep-like for your information.

[dothelokimotion]

[ in a higher pitched voice. ]

"Oh no, a strange location may be not what they seem and spying at us? Shocking!"

text; UN: Spides [Private]

[itsnotaonesie]

Thanks for doing this, Ben. I've got that footage pulled up if you want to stop in and take a look.

@lazarus | text --> private permanently

[benhargreeves]

Oh yeah, I'm really looking forward to it.

[ Just a little attempt at humor, since they both know how much he is not. He... needs to splash some water on his face, first. Get himself together. As he does he texts: ]

Did you look at yours yet?

[itsnotaonesie]

I haven't yet, no. Honestly I'm not expecting for there to be a lot of footage from my room since I don't really spend a lot of time there. I could always be wrong, though.

text; @aa

[livingdeadgirl]

oh my god
i found it
ew ew ew ew ewwww
who the heck would do that???
are you sure its not somebody who lives here?

text | @lazarus

[benhargreeves]

[ God, Ami's just a kid and it's all so fucked up and bad. Ben is glad this conversation is over text, because he's not coping well to be honest. ]

Can you dispose of it or do you need me to get rid of it?

I don't know who did it yet, or whether it is someone who lives here or someone separate.
I promise I will let you know more when I have some answers.
For now what matters is we're aware of the problem and we're all working to fix it.

text [un: longinmouth]

[abheirrant]

[He might only have the vaguest concept of what a camera is, but he can figure out it's no good from the rest of this message. Now he's glad he hasn't bothered to find lodgings.]

Why would anyone want to watch us?

@lazarus | text

[benhargreeves]

[ Text makes it hard to tell if this person is genuinely confused or is trying to make a joke about how boring everyone in this place is. Ben is going to err on the side of the former, just in case. ]

There are plenty of possible reasons but none of them are good.
Speculating is probably isn't going to help at all.
I'm working with someone to find out so we aren't just guessing.

[audio | @SCARAMOUCHE]

[numerouno]

[As a bot on a never-ending mission who doesn't crave shut-eye or a sense of privacy, Scaramouche is among the few here without a room. This announcement doesn't bother him at all.]

Where's the entrance?

@lazarus | video

[benhargreeves]

No offense, but I don't know you, and I'm not about to give out that information to anyone, much less a complete stranger, while we're still trying to figure things out.

[ But, to show he's not just saying he'll handle it and the person on the other end can't ask questions: ]

Why do you want to know?

[VIDEO] | @kieran

[sleepyhollowed]

I haven't found anythin' around the ranch or the barn yet, but I'll keep lookin'.

Kinda unnerving ta know that there's some feller watchin' us like that. Didja see those weird... uh... [What did Peter call them...???] m-monitors?

@lazarus | video --> private

[benhargreeves]

Actually, there is a camera in the barn. I think I've got a good idea where it might be, from the video. I can come by later and get it down for you, if you want.

[ Ben is looking... rough. With pretty much everybody else he's keeping it to text so they can't see how shit he looks, but obviously that's not an option for Kieran. And Ben thinks maybe he doesn't mind so much, if it's Kieran seeing him so shaken.

Bleakly, he answers: ]

Yeah. I saw them.

[ 'Kinda unnerving' is putting it way too mildly. ]

audio; @Qubit

[superposition]

Good call. I'm working to secure the other feeds as we speak. Hang onto whatever cameras you find, Peter and I might be able to extract some information from them.

[ Has he actually talked to Peter about this? Who knows. Would he namedrop the kid either way? Probably! ]

@lazarus | audio --> private

[benhargreeves]

Hey do you wanna maybe NOT announce specific plans for how we're gonna solve this clusterfuck on the public network? We don't know who might be involved and listening. Thanks.

[ Ugh. Okay. That was snippy and probably an overreaction. Ben pinches the bridge of his nose and tries to be a little more constructive. ]

Sorry. Kinda tense right now. But we really maybe should try to keep stuff on the dl, including which of us are working on catching this creep.

I take it you know Peter? He's already got a hard-drive of saved footage he's going over. I'll make sure to save any cameras I can in case they've got clues.

[ Shame, he was really looking forward to smashing the little motherfucker. ]

video; @r.shepard

[queenofthegirlscouts]

[ She knew she should have checked. She fucking knew it. And that is written over her face, along with her being genuinely p i s s e d o f f. ]

I can also assist in removing the cameras. I'm a military tech specialist, and I've done this kind of shit in the past.

Ben, if you need assistance in investigating, let me know? I'll be at your service. Meantime, I'll go over the infirmary area again and some of the public rooms.

@lazarus | video --> private

[benhargreeves]

Thank you. I can actually send a list of public locations with cameras in them if you don't mind clearing them out. There's a lot to do and I could use the help. And can you save as much of the tech as possible? In case it helps us figure anything out about whoever did this.

[ Of course he's not ruling out the possibility Shepard might be involved because the list of people he considers absolutely in the clear on this one is very short and exclusive. But that doesn't mean he's going to turn down her offer. ]

When you say this kind of shit, do you mean uninstalling hardware or are you talking specifically someone's secretly spied on you before?

[ He wants to know, for Reasons. ]

for cole

[benhargreeves]

Calling it a long day doesn't even begin to cover it. Everything had seemed so fine, this morning. Sure, this place is unpredictable and not perfect, but Ben was starting to feel settled in his life. He is alive again and there are people around him he likes. Friends he is making. Not just that... but he's been trying to make progress on himself, in a way he hasn't in a long time.

Then out of the blue, BAM! That tunnel, and the room full of monitors, and he had never anticipated that cameras would be such an issue. It had come out of nowhere, all this panic and dread. Ben hadn't really realized it until today, how profoundly it had impacted him, the surveillance back at the Academy. How much he had constantly been aware of it, been aware of how at any second and every second, his father might be watching him - that he could go back later and look at any moment. How much of who he is today has been shaped by that? It's so difficult for him now, bringing things out to the surface. Words and emotions and all of it. Is that because those cameras had always been there, ready to record any sign of weakness?

But he hasn't had time, to sit with that, which is both blessing and curse. There have been strategies to come up with and bicker over, footage to review and be creeped out by, squabbling between allies, and other crises piled on top of this one. By the time night rolls around, Ben feels totally drained. But the thought of returning to his room, where the light fixture is broken for him to stare up at and think about the camera that had been there.... he knows isn't going to be able to sleep.

So he is just... wandering the corridors, bone-tired from a day of suppressed panic, and his feet lead him in the direction of Cole's storage room-not-a-closet. He doesn't really make the choice to head there, he just... realizes he is, at some point. That he wants to see Cole, very much.

[killedwithlove]

"You're looking for me."

Even if Cole hadn't already been stalking making sure Ben was all right, he would've felt the pangs of hurt and the moment that Ben decided to look for him.

So he's sitting there, on a table nearby, a tiny glowing mouse cupped in his hands. He's stroking the top of the little furry head, but his eyes are almost luminous as he looks up at Ben.

"We're all shaped by our childhoods, our experiences. We are who we are because of a culmination of all those things. Or... mortals are. And to a degree, I am too." He sets the mouse down, letting it run off back towards its normal level and home.

video; un: cabernet

[redwinekindofgirl]

Oh, wow.

[She sounds... grossed out, and yet..!]

Somehow that's really not fuckin' surprising at all. Like, even a bit. I guess I got some fucking cameras to find, don't I?

@lazarus | video --> private

[benhargreeves]

[ Ben was surprised. Maybe he shouldn't have been. Maybe he was naive, thinking this place would be any different, any better.

He wonders if Klaus had told her about their father's cameras. He wonders if she has ever been spied on, too, before this. Is it worse or better, if this is the first time? ]

I can come help if you want. Or I can just tell you where it probably is. Their hiding spots are predictable.

[ Then, thinking about Klaus with a horrible twist in his guts, he switches to private (and who knows if that even does anything) and adds: ]

And maybe. I don't know if he's also- it might not be an issue for him but. Um. You might wanna just. Check... if Klaus is doing okay. Since all this. 'Cause he might be but he also might not be.

video;

[writtendestiny]

Oh. Hm.

[Not that she isn't entirely creeped out by the idea of being watched... but Poison's expression doesn't really betray much of how she feels about it at all when she answers Ben's message.]

I'm sure Peter's found them all already, but I wouldn't mind if someone else came to check.

@lazarus | video

[benhargreeves]

[ Ben is certain now that the camera in Poison's room was the first one taken down after his own, that Peter had rushed here and yanked it out and searched the place floor to ceiling for anything else. But he isn't sure how to say that without maybe making it weird and also, if she will feel more secure with someone else looking, then that's that. ]

Of course. Just let me know when.

[ Then, tentatively, even though it might not be his place: ]

Are you... doing alright?