[TEXT] [LOCKED TO NEW HIRES ONLY]

[bringinghopewithme]

[After doing everything he can to verify he's locked this correctly, i.e. asking Stacia to check if he did it right, Bunny presses forth with testing Lonestar's claims.]

Well I haven't been interrogated or tortured any more than usual. Do we trust this thing or not?

[EDITED The next day comes an additional video message -]

I realized two things. Some of you rightly guessed I lied about stealing keys from Jorgmund. Some of you pointed out Jorgmund might somehow be smart enough not to take obvious bait. Well -

[He holds up one paw, and twirls a keyring around one digit.]

It's not a lie anymore.

It got me into a closet and now we have - [He re-angles the camera to show: a metal hammer, multi-bit screwdrivers with a wide range of interchangeable bits, an adjustable wrench, a tiny screwdriver set for delicate work, and a small soldering iron.]

Anyone thinks they can do something useful with any of this, come see me. I'm keeping them hidden and I'm not telling any of you where until I know for sure who talks too much and who doesn't.

Comments

[stickypete]

Am I going to kill any of the other mortals, like me? Which they all are? Because I'm human?

No, I'm not.

[He crosses his arms.]

I'm not 20,000 spiders in a human suit, I'm not a Man-Spider - although I was the one time but that was science gone wrong, and I got better - I'm not a spider-thing pretending to be human.

I am human.

Your nose isn't wrong. Your conclusion is what could use some work.

[bringinghopewithme]

If you think that's the wildest conclusion I could've reached, you don't know what I've seen.

[If he were being fair he'd admit that he doesn't even know most of what he's seen right now, but he's not being all that fair. He crosses his arms right back.]

If you're so mostly human, why're you so cagey about what you are? Other humans got a thing against spider-folks where you're from?

[stickypete]

I have a lot of enemies, like, a lot. Because I get in their way when they try to do bad things. And since they're bad people, I have to wear a mask when I do it.

[The joking, the wry amusement, the fascination with "this might as well happen" fades. What's left behind is a little more tired.]

The way I always kept my loved ones safe was hiding who I was behind the mask from everyone but them.

[He scratches the back of his neck.]

I know I can't do that here, I know I'll have to use my powers in front of people, I know if my enemies show up they'll probably put two and two together the second I stick to a wall.

But secrecy is a tough habit to break, okay? I hate letting people in when they pry. Goes against two decades of instinct. It's not logical, it's practically reflex at this point.

[He finally decides to sit down, against a wall, drawing his feet up on it, because it's the only thing to sit down on.]

You know Ben isn't even my real name? It's my middle name, and Reilly isn't my last name. I figured...if any of my enemies showed up here, put it all together, and somehow went back home, they'd just have the image of a generic-looking middle-aged guy and the wrong name. So it'd be harder for them to track down my...

["Ex-wife" is still so hard to force past his lips.]

Someone I really care about.

[There's nothing evil to it, nothing sinister. Deep down past the glibness, he's hiding things because of fear...]

[And love.]