@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

[benhargreeves]

[ Ben is grateful she leaves it at that; he doesn't really want to lie to her but Peter had said he wanted to be the one to tell Poison about the intruder he'd seen on the video. This way, he doesn't have to dodge around any info on why Peter is doing quite so bad.

He makes his way in, glancing down at Bat and then back at Anderson. Ben doesn't mind cats, really. They tend to leave him alone, and that's how he likes it best. But he can't help a flicker of curiosity, and so he asks: ]

What, um. Is Anderson?

[ Maybe he's a species that is familiar where Poison is from? Gosh this parallel worlds / different realities thing can be a real trip sometimes.

As he asks, he makes his way towards a chair, pulling it to the center of the room so he can stand on it and look in the light fixture. He's sure Peter had already gotten the camera and looked for any others, but the whole reason he's here is to double-check. And now that he knows some stranger was in here, he's extra on the lookout for anything else that might have been tampered with. ]

Ummm... can you tell me if anything's been moved or gone missing in here? Like, at any time. Or if anything else that's strange has happened. If you saw or heard anything suspicious?

[writtendestiny]

He's... some kind of hybrid. The Technicians in charge of one of the places I've been made him.

[She gives him a gentle little scritch and he purrs louder, rubbing his head against her cheek. It's hard to tell by sight alone if he's squishy or soft when you touch him, but the answer is 'both'.]

I haven't noticed anything missing. [Anything she has, she's asked about, and it's usually something that Peter's picked up on his way out.]

I hear Peter moving around in here while I'm in bed sometimes, but neither of us sleep regularly.

[benhargreeves]

Can he... understand us?

[ Look he's really willing to believe anything at this point and he just needs to know if he ought to apologize for asking such a rude question. Maybe he is making himself seem like a complete idiot to Poison but that might just be inevitable. Just because the creature is behaving like a house-cat right now doesn't preclude anything.

As for Anderson, Ben watches the way it moves with a kind of shocked fascination. It's really rather unpleasant to look at, he thinks, but perhaps those are just his biases. Poison seems quite attached, and honestly, he doesn't blame her for any comfort she might be getting from an animal friend on this, the shittiest of days. ]

Oh.

[ Fuck. He hopes what she had heard in the room really was Peter. He's going to have to ask Peter. Or she will once Peter tells her about what they saw on the footage. Fuck. Fuck everything about today.

Ben's answer is automatic, distracted: ]

Me neither. We should start a club.

[ He needs to examine the room and get out before he asks the wrong question of blurts something. Certainly, he doesn't want to end up worrying Poison or getting in the way of the tough conversation Peter will be having with her later. So he searches in silence, face intent. Why hadn't he just done this in the first place? How had he let himself forget how much easier, how much simpler everything is he simply keeps his mouth shut? ]