Re-Entry 15: Video/Spam

[itstopped]

[Inmate Filter]

[It was a very good weekend with a very bad ending for Felix, which might be why he's back to smoking in front of the camera again. The collar of his shirt is unbuttoned as well, although he otherwise seems as composed as usual.]

Do any of you know why you're here?

[He pauses, then smirks ruefully.] For once, I'm not trying to sow dissent. I don't need you to tell me what kind of monster the Admiral is. I'm just... wondering what you think it is he thinks you need to change, and...

Well, no and. Just that.

[Private to Claire Bennet]

Could I ask you a question?

[Private to Trip, Racetrack, Barbara, Charles, separately]

I have something to tell you. [He glances away from the screen for a second, worry -- or something worse -- flashing in his eyes.] I... think I might really be a traitor this time.

If you're receiving this message-- [A tacit, almost wordless admission that there are others involved here, multiple victims.] --it's because I've been gathering information on you. My resources have been... limited, but I've compiled a detailed file that contains more or less everything you've said on any public or warden-only filter, and in some cases, in private communications as well.

I honestly thought that, given my... my history, I was doing what was best for myself and for the ship, but I realize now that I was wrong. I take full responsibility for my actions.

[Spam for Dean]

[Felix had left the room as soon as Dean had, the night after the flood, and he's been laying even lower than usual ever since. It's not that he wants to stay away, not this time -- he's just assuming that Dean wants nothing to do with him, and as much as he already misses him, he doesn't want to provoke a confrontation when he has nothing more to say in his own defense and no particularly convincing argument to make Dean take him back.

Honestly, things seem to go better for him when he avoids conflicts, anyway.

Unfortunately, though, he actually needs some things from the room, so he tries to pick a time when he suspects Dean won't be around. He still has the key, so he slips inside quietly and starts collecting his things, with every intention of leaving the key behind and no further trace of himself.]

Comments

[Private]

[wedonot]

[Charles doesn't sound angry when he responds so much as just. Tired. It has been a long fucking month and he's not sure how he feels about this, although he does appreciate that Felix is taking responsibility for it.]

Why? [Or really, "why me" is probably the better question, or "who else". All of the wardens, or just a few? It's not accusatory, but there's a heaviness to it that communicates some sort of sad acceptance more than anything else.]

[Private]

[itstopped]

[He doesn't look up.] Because you know me. Because you had my file.

Because... whatever else my feelings towards you have been, I found myself valuing your opinion.

[Private]

[inhistorybooks]

[Trip... is not sure what to make of this. Honestly, he doesn't feel like he's said anything incriminating at all on the network - well, obviously he hasn't, considering this message, but just in general, he can't say there's much to spy on on the warden filter. Some people are assholes, and he's certainly missing feeling like he's got a team at his back like he would if he was at home, but no one's really terrible, and the people that annoy you are easy enough to avoid.

Apparently, that sounds like all Felix really got to learn.

But incriminating information or not, it's still a shitty (if not entirely out of character) thing to do, and he's definitely not going to be backing it. But at the same time, he's coming clean, and apparently willing to take responsibility for it. And considering what he knows about his inmate - which isn't everything, but is a lot - he knows he's being serious about it.

So, he's really got one question thus far.]

How'd you do it?

[Private]

[itstopped]

I had some help. I'm not the only one on board doing things like this. But, uh, most of it...

[He wavers for a second, not out of interest in hiding anything else, but... this is more personal, more private, and that makes him ironically uncomfortable. He clears his throat.]

Dean let me borrow his communicator and I took advantage of it. Of... of him. [He grimaces.] He dumped me, if that's any consolation.

[private]

[fridgetothefire]

I killed someone. Someone innocent, who should have been able to trust me, because I was desperate.

I used to think that was all of it. But I know I wouldn't do that anymore.

So. Now I'm not sure.

[private]

[itstopped]

[Someone who should have been able to trust me. His mouth twists, but he doesn't elaborate on why.] They're not very forthcoming, are they? I'd thought it was the mutiny, until Margaret-- Racetrack showed up.

[ Spam ]

[surfaceshine]

[Ironically, normally that wouldn't be terribly hard to do; Dean spends the majority of his time out where people are, as much as he can get away with, unless he's recovering from something. It's ironic because he hasn't been gone from the room that long when Felix goes in, and then only because his inherent restlessness has threatened to drive him mad. He's been absent from most of his usual haunts, outright ignoring the department he's supposed to be heading - one's in a coma, one's too good for him anyway, and the other is Felix, whom Dean is pretty sure will be very busy in the engine room and laboratory for a while - and basically trying to avoid getting into fights or sulking all over anyone.

For as energetic as the hunter generally is, the room he's lived in for almost two years now doesn't really change all that much; the clutter shifts but it's never really different. Clothes both dirty and clean haphazard here and there, the bed partially made, towel hanging off the corner of the bathroom door. There are a lot of empty beer bottles scattered around, but it's possible it's just an accumulation over the days without Felix's intervention or motivating Dean to be neater. The real tells are in the bathroom: the towel is hanging on the door instead of the shower rod because it appears to be missing completely, the shower curtain on a heap in the corner behind the door. There's a dent in the plaster at chest height, not fist-sized, but new nonetheless. And there's broken bits of brown glass - beer bottle brown - in one of the corners behind the toilet, missed and forgotten.

Dean comes back far too soon, obviously, and definitely before Felix thought he would. At least, that's what he suspects in the moment after he walks into the room and pushes back the abrupt, flashing wariness when he realizes the room is occupied but not by anyone who's not supposed to be in it. The hunter pauses two steps inside, one hand still lingering on the doorknob, shoulders still tense but expression relaxing somewhat. He's clearly not sure how to respond, but then he closes the door, carefully, and finally asks, confusion rasping in his voice, the mildest of his characteristic frowns etched in the line between his eyebrows.]

What're you doing?

[ Spam ]

[itstopped]

[It's impossible not to see the damage, of course, and impossible not to know it corresponds to damage on Dean -- whether on his knuckles or in his chest. Impossible not to feel the sting of guilt knowing, as self-centered as it is, that all of this damage leads straight back to him and his betrayal. By the time Dean comes in, he's set aside his original goal and is quietly tidying up, as if fixing what Dean did to the room will fix a little bit of what Felix did to Dean.

By the time Dean comes in, he's not entirely sure whether the greater sin was betraying him or telling him about it.

He's slightly lost track of the time, but it's still much earlier than he expects Dean back, and it shows in the way he tenses, the startled look on his face when he turns to the door. He's halfway crouched, picking up bottles, a trash bag in one hand, and he straightens up slowly, eyes a little wide.]

I was just... [It's pretty obvious, he suspects, what he was just. He shrugs helplessly and tosses the bottle in his hand into the bag.] I was trying to get out of your hair. I meant to be out before you got back.

Filter

[bodilesswarrior]

[Barbara just stares, for a moment. She realises pretty quickly that she's more annoyed at herself, than anything else. Why didn't she realise?]

Felix, you should really know I do that to everyone as a matter of course. [A slight, rueful smile.] So getting offended right now, that would be pretty hypocritical. [And she really does try not to be.]

Filter

[itstopped]

[He returns the smile wanly, but gratefully.] Still. The truth is, you've never given me any reason not to trust you, and... that's exactly why I didn't.

[youwillgotohell]

Do you still know? [She's not really sure where they stand, after the flood, and she's not entirely sure she wants to know, so this comes late.]

[itstopped]

[He's not sure, either, but his voice takes on a familiar tone with her despite his doubts.] I'm not really sure I ever knew.

private

[landfall]

...really?

private

[itstopped]

I'm afraid so.

Well, you were sort of the control group in the experiment, but yes.

[Inmate Filter]

[mistconduct]

I'm here because I shot an eleven-year-old girl in the chest and let a guy my age get tortured on live tv because I thought it'd impress my dad.

[Inmate Filter]

[itstopped]

[He's just... honestly not sure what to do with that answer. It's horrific, obviously, and he's hardly Chris d'Amico's biggest fan to begin with, but what can he really say? Either he knows it was wrong or he doesn't.]

I... see.

Inmates

[spetsnaz]

I sometimes killed for mob. I try to keep control of situation, follow orders from boss, before trying to do right thing.

Because of this, lose control of situation, do many wrong things.

Inmates

[itstopped]

Is it the loss of control or the serial assassinations that you think he's concerned with?

Inmate Filter

[theantiaya]

I am aware.

I simply do not agree with the sentencing.

Inmate Filter

[itstopped]

[Oh, he's heard hers, and he remembers it all too well. Typically, when he's stressed out or backed into a corner, he tends to retreat, to stay cool -- cold -- until the threat disappears or until he can't stay quiet anymore. Maybe it's that that moment is now, or maybe it's just that he's sick of playing even remotely civil, because he leans forward, exhaling a cloud of smoke and a quiet but vicious:] That's because you're delusional.

Private;

[some_kinda_hero]

Absolutely, what's up?

Private;

[itstopped]

Do you know who I am?

[darknessb4me]

I'm here because I killed everyone that loved me and enjoyed it. Why are you here?

[itstopped]

I honestly don't know. [He suspects, but he's suspected three or four different things now and been proven wrong every time. He knows even less when he hears stories like this one.]

filter

[forgetyourusedtobe]

I turned my humanity off. Everyone back home kept badgering me, trying to get me to turn it back on, but I don't want to.

So I guess this is some kind of last-ditch effort by the universe.

filter

[itstopped]

[His eyes narrow slightly. That phrase -- turned my humanity off -- that has a very specific connotation where he's from, and not the one she means. It takes him half a second to remember what she really is, although he relaxes very slightly when she does; vampires don't bother him quite as much as robots do, despite Dean's hefty concerns.]

Hm -- it's too bad Dracula's not still around. I'm sure he'd have a thing or two to say on the subject.