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[recollecters]

Welcome to Retrospec™, the last social media network you will ever need. You are one of the few selected to test this exciting new platform based on our cutting-edge algorithms. Less than two hundred invitations have gone out, and membership is not currently open to the public. However, we hope you will come to see how useful Retrospec™ is, given time. We have for your use a variety of features such as text, voice, video, and image posts. We encourage you to explore our many options. Anyway, now that the copypaste part is out of the way! Jim here, requesting you guys make your secret meetings a little more exciting. It's not like you're not trying with the whole "let's meet off the network!" dealio, but I have some serious concerns. For one thing, no secret handshakes or phrases? Not even dramatic meeting locations? The trying rating is about half a star if that. And I'm almost bored to tears with the whole back and forth about what's going on. Not bored enough to give you a cheat sheet, but still. I can't get myself taken off surveillance duty, so at least try to make it a little more exciting! You guys might like this wikihow. Later! Jim Halloway Research & Development Retrspec Incorporated Please feel free to use this post as a network mingle. Every toplevel can be considered a new post, and threadjacking is permitted. No NPC response will be given. Usernames are the character's full real AU names, not aliases or chosen nicknames or usernames, and seemed to have filled themselves in; nothing characters do can change or obscure their names currently. Characters who have been in game for more than one month will find they can change their profile pictures; newcomers are locked into their first choice. At various points throughout the day users will be sent images of themselves from behind, regardless of where they are. There doesn't seem to be any way to catch whoever might be taking and sending these, however, especially since being alone in a room doesn't seem to be a deterrent.

Comments

[roseblooms]

[...Is she seriously trusting him to look through her phone? Good god. WELL, IF SHE INSISTS...]

Meaning, are there similarities in composition and whatnot? I thought you said you hadn't received any.

[originallutece]

[AS IF HE'LL DO ANYTHING BUT LOOK AT WHAT HE'S TOLD.]

That changed over the past few minutes. There's one that must have been taken earlier today, and one taken as I was texting you.

[roseblooms]

I'm sorry to hear that.

[Though it does give him something to focus on looking into, which he proceeds to do with a few efficient taps of his fingertips.]

You didn't say anything. While we were texting, I mean. Did you only receive them afterward?

[originallutece]

No.

[A beat. As they pull away from the curb, she adds reluctantly:]

I hardly wanted to tell you I was worried where Mr. Halloway might see.

[roseblooms]

...That's understandable.

[He pauses, drawing in a deep slow breath, and then gradually lets it out again in almost a sigh.]

Truth be told, I'm none too comfortable with it, myself. I just didn't see any point in advertising that fact either — particularly in light of all of the other reactions people have been having.

If reactions are what they're looking for, I hardly want to indulge them in it.

[originallutece]

Exactly.

[She frowns at the road.]

Some of the photos taken . . . however they were taken speaks of highly disturbing methods. Bolt lock or not, I don't think this will stop. In truth . . . I'm glad to have company tonight.

[roseblooms]

Surely the police will be able to do something. And...of course, you know I'm always willing to oblige you.

["Are you her lab assistant or her lackey?" Well. ...Well.]

You're not the only professor who's ended up subject to it.

[originallutece]

[She offers him a slight smile for that offer. In truth, she hardly knows what he might do for her; he can't very well stay the night. But perhaps they'll share a spot of tea before she sends her assistant on his way.]

You have far more faith in the police than I do. I can't imagine this report will do very much, not if there's no hint of a culprit and the photos aren't particularly malicious or salacious.

[roseblooms]

Surely there's something, some technicality a creative mind could come up with. Menacing or invasion of privacy or...

[He motions vaguely, an idle wave of his hand.]

This is why I'm not a lawyer. But something, surely.

[originallutece]

And yet they haven't over the past three months. That's what worries me. Surely you and I aren't the first. Which reminds me-- are you going to be filing a report?

[roseblooms]

Of course I am. But I imagine mine will have more weight coming on the heels of yours. Corroborating evidence, and so on.

[He pauses, then checks both of their phones, then stashes them temporarily in the glove compartment before lowering his voice and adding.]

A friend of mine on the police force intends to look into things personally, as well.

[originallutece]

[She tips her head in silent acknowledgement: that will be helpful. She'd say so, too, except she quite agrees with his lowered voice, and the less said aloud, the better.]

. . . are the photos at all similar?

[roseblooms]

Well. They're both candid photographs taken from behind, but in terms of the composition, it looks as though both were simply taken in haste, not with an intent to capture something in particular.

[He pauses, sinking a little lower in his seat as he muses.]

So. The message, if there is one, isn't the content of the photograph; it's the fact that they were taken at all.

[originallutece]

Charming.

[And deeply worrying. Rosalind exhales visibly, her fingers tightening around the wheel.]

Are you all right? At least mine were taken in relative public; I can't imagine having one taken in my apartment.

[roseblooms]

I'm — managing.

[He sighs, raking his hands through his hair.]

It stands to reason that the point of all this is, in some way, to provoke a reaction. Look at the outcry that resulted, and in just a handful of hours. If that's the case, then there's a part of me that's loath to give them the reaction they're so evidently hoping for.

...But it's unsettling. I keep telling myself that I haven't anything anyone could possibly want, but I'm not sure whether the notion of pure randomness in its purpose actually makes me feel better or worse.

[originallutece]

[She hums softly, an acknowledgement of all that. In truth, she agrees: the notion of random chance is a touch more unnerving, because at least if there's a reason, one might have a course of further action. Whether it's appeasement or revenge hardly matters; one would have more options. But if it's just random chance, what's there to do but be unnerved?]

You ought to stay with a friend tonight. It'd help. Better to face this kind of thing with company than alone.

[They pull up near the police station, and Rosalind finally glances over fully at him.]

I know I might.

[roseblooms]

It's...interesting you say that, actually. When I mentioned the friend of mine looking into things...

[He trails off, leaving that open-ended, but with a fairly clear implication inherent in what he's not saying: that he was certainly planning on tagging along.]

[originallutece]

[Her eyebrows tick up. Ah. Well. That's certainly an endeavor, and one she faintly approves of.]

I see.

[It isn't until they've closed the doors and Rosalind's locked the car that she adds:]

How large are your chances of being arrested, do you imagine?

[roseblooms]

Considering that my associate is a police officer himself? I'll tell him to close his eyes if it seems as though anything particularly illicit is going to occur.

[A beat; then, idly, he grins at her.]

Though my telling you this may potentially implicate you as an accomplice, now. I should apologize for that.

[originallutece]

[Police officers are not above the law, don't break in anywhere, she'd been about to say, but that bit of teasing rather dries her up her concern. Rosalind pulls a little face at him.]

Just for that, I shan't bail you out tomorrow morning.

[roseblooms]

Would you ever have bailed me out in the first place?

[So innocent.]

[originallutece]

Someone has to grade my papers.

[Innocent indeed. Rosalind's faint smirk fades as they skip up the stairs, her expression becoming something coldly neutral.]

For the time being, let's keep the more absurd details to ourselves. I'd rather not the police look at me as if I'm mad.

[roseblooms]

Yes, ma'am.

[He tugs on his long hair, gathering it back behind him with a half-twist of his wrist to help keep it back off his face and shoulders, and follows her.]

Honestly, I just hope something comes of this.

[originallutece]

I think your private investigations might yield more results, frankly, but we shall see.

[As with so many things, the reality is neither as helpful nor as awful as either of them are suspecting. The police aren't entirely disbelieving, but nor are they particularly interested in what seems a very mild case of harassment and stalking. They do offer them both reports to fill, and there's a complete lack of sniggering, so Rosalind supposes she ought to count that as a win.]

"An application was installed without our permission on both our phones. Within a few hours, we received photos of ourselves, taken illicitly and without our permission, and with no explanation."

[Rosalind reads her neatly written words out loud, then glances over at her assistant.]

We don't yet qualify for emotional distress, nor fearing for our safety, but if it escalates, at least we'll have the official report to refer back to.

[roseblooms]

A paper trail. At the very least it's better than nothing.

[He finishes up writing a few things on his own paper, then holds it out in front of him and reads it over silently a moment before looking up at her.]

Mine says effectively the same thing, just in different words and with slightly more detail, I think. I remember glancing at the clock just before I received the picture, so I have a good idea of what time it must've been taken.