[catch-all] Now that I'm making this align

[benhargreeves]

Who: Ben + anyone
What: A catch-all
When: End of January through February
Where: Anywhere!

[ Poke me at platoapproved#9602 on discord or platoapproved on plurk to plot something, or feel free to leave a starter!]

Comments

for cole

[benhargreeves]

It's not that Ben doesn't notice the little thing following him around. It would be hard to miss it, even for someone less observant than himself. But it didn't seem to be in any distress, and he had seen others being followed by the little things, around the Anchor. So he quietly accepts that this is just, apparently, a natural behavior for these little... blobs.

He goes about his day, the same as he would otherwise. Since the power outage, Ben has trying to educate himself as much as he can about electrical systems or... well, really any skills that might come in helpful for technical issues around. It's not easy, but there are a few books in the library that are helpful, and so his reading lately has been half educational, half for pleasure. He's trying to make his way through a thick, water-damaged textbook about electricity and currents (though Ben isn't sure how helpful it really will be, it seems like it was written in the 1950s at latest...) when he first catches a movement from that little fleshy blob much higher than he expected.

It is no longer rolling along the floor around the library, but seems to have perched itself on the back of a chair. It looks... darker in color than Ben remembers, and seems to have little legs, now, that it is using to grip the chair and balance. When he looks at it, he hears, thinks he hears a distant, muffled:

"...boring..."

A furrow forms between Ben's brows. But there are no other sounds, and no one else is in the library, so he shakes his head and goes back to reading. He's struggled his way through another five or so pages when he hears a faint, petulant murmur of:

"...got it wet because the writing's dry as shit..."

This time Ben's head whips up, looking around for the source of the sound. A hidden mic? Something about his device? It seemed to be coming from the same direction of that small creature (does it look a bit... shinier, or is that just him?), but he isn't sure.

Carefully, he plucks the device from his pocket and sends a little text to Cole, asking him to come to the library. Ben still doesn't feel right, in moments when he doesn't need Cole, just summoning him by thinking hard about him. It seems so... demanding. He doesn't want to do that. He wants to make sure Cole knows this isn't any kind of an emergency, just a tiny, tiny mystery...

for cho

[benhargreeves]

[ Continued from here]

It doesn't take long for Ben to make his way up to Cho's lab. He is curious what she could need him for that is not anything to worry about, but also time-sensitive. Her messages were a bit cagey about what it actually is, but he trusts Cho, so he is only the mildest amount worried. She knows him well enough now not to spring anything on him that will be distressing. They'd both learned that lesson the hard way.

He is wearing one of the outfits that she and Allison had helped him to put together - nothing all that ostentatious, really, but it is at least a soft, dove-grey sweater and some dark blue jeans. Which isn't all black! It's a start!

And, following him, the same way it has been for some time now, is Ben's... talking raven friend, that had once been an odd blob shape. She is a lot less chatty than many of the others he's heard about - in fact, she rarely speaks at all - but she keeps pace, flying from branch to branch. When Ben reaches Cho's lab, she comes down to perch on his shoulder, preening her feathers serenely as he waits for his friend to let him in.