the journalist

My name's Sean Acker. Part of a small supernatural investigation team. Here to shed some light on the truth.

[justtherightlense-blog]

Jamie’s brow furrowed instantly at the tone of Sean’s voice, instantly realizing he’d said something wrong (which wasn’t unusual for him). Focusing on the computer, so as not to make the situation worse, he lifted his shoulders in his best shrug and started pulling up information on a haunting he’d been researching earlier. “I don’t–” He forgot how much some of the people in this group took the whole project–it was fun for him, but it was real for them and he’d need to remember that or he’d end up pissing them off more. “Yeah, you’re right.” Flicking his eyes briefly to Sean, he tried to grin but it wasn’t as carefree as it might usually be. “Jay’d probably skin himself alive before faking the footage, right?”

[seanxacker]

Somehow, the words of the other wasn't as reassuring as he'd expect it to be. Mostly because the whole concept of it, of cheating on whatever footage they find and altering it, because such a real possibility. And even if he himself was against it, there was no way for him to find out which data would be fabricated and which wouldn't. He would remind himself to talk to Dorothy about it. At least he knew she wouldn't do such a thing. "That's if Dorothy doesn't skin him alive first," he corrected, his words only suggesting a vague hint of amusement. "I don't mean to be such a stiff, but I have a lot riding on this, alright?" He sighed, almost admitting that he hated to be as helpless as he was feeling.

[dorothysullivan]

Dorothy listened to what he had to say, it was something she was occasionally good at when her mind wasn’t running at full speed and had her over worked from the stress of the project. She knew that she wasn’t the only one on it but as far as anyone else was concerned, it all rested on her shoulders. Her entire thesis rode on this project along with the production company that wanted to turn it into something more     she had to find something. Twirling in her chair until she faced him, Dorothy leaned forward and dropped her elbows against her knees before reaching out towards him. “Look at me,” she searched for his eyes with a persistence that annoyed most people but it got the job done. “We’re going to find something because I know it’s out there. You don’t have to believe     more than half the crew doesn’t, but it won’t stop any of us from finding the truth. There are no spring onion reports in your future if you just trust me on this. I’ve got a new location set up that’s going to be what we’ve been looking for and I’m not going to quit until we find the evidence that’s just waiting to be found.” She cocked her head to the side with a small smile. “Got it?”

[seanxacker]

His head flicked towards Dorothy, eyes fluttering towards her, catching her eyes and fixating his gaze on her. He knew the conviction of her words were true, but the look in her eyes showed him true dedication, telling him that even if they did spend a lot of useless nights looking at nothing relevant, there was someone in the group along with him that had something to prove. He looked at her with an inspired look and nodded sharply. “If you have a new location then we need to check there as soon as we can. Maybe tomorrow?” The news somehow made Sean more excited, glad that at least there’s some kind of development that would be happening. “I mean, this place, we can probably leave alone for a while, right?” He tapped his fingers aimlessly on his thighs before scanning the monitors again, double checking for anything out of the ordinary. “I mean, trail here’s a bit cold.”

[justtherightlense-blog]

Jamie simply grinned, but remained silent about his own encounter with said squirrel, choosing to let the embarrassing moment center around Jay. It gave the athlete undue joy to find new and interesting ways to poke at their ‘special effects creator’, if only because he spent so much of his time buried in his computer and ignoring the world around him. Shrugging a shoulder he tapped idly at his computer, making the footage skip slowly through frames of empty hallways, “It’s not really going to make a difference either way. We either find something, or Jay makes it look like we do.” Jamie flicked his attention to Sean briefly and back to his screen, chin moving to rest in his free hand. “Isn’t that what all the otehr ghost hunter shows do anyways?”

[seanxacker]

The words of the other man made Sean's breath stop for a quick moment. The journalist let out a huff as he looked at Jamie with a raised eyebrow. "Are you serious? I mean, was that the plan all along? For Jay to edit things in case we didn't find anything?" This wouldn't work. If he got caught participating in something like this, then he might as well say goodbye to practicing journalism. He was desperate to find something, but not at the possibility of jeopardizing everything that he had worked for. "That may be what other shows do, but that's not what we're going to do, okay?" His eyes followed the other man's to the screen, shaking his head again. "I'd rather be called a failure than a cheater."

[dorothysullivan]

Dorothy shot him an arched brow at his sign of surrender, knowing that this time he didn’t feel the need to attack what she believed in, not that she blamed him. She’d always faced many disbelievers that laughed in her face when she told them she believed in the supernatural. It was the stuff of stories, made up to frighten children, and people’s imagination but she always believed it was something else as she crossed her legs and turned in her chair towards him. “You don’t think I’m not feeling everyone’s pressure on me? I do. I’m not stupid or miss the way they look to me to deliver what I promised. But how do I stir faith in people? How do I convince them to believe in something that only exists in our minds? Easy. By showing them what’s truly out there, waiting to be discovered and by not giving up, even in the face of the nonbelievers. It’s out there and we will find it.” She shrugged. “Or you get to say I told you so to me when we find nothing. What have you got to lose?”

[seanxacker]

"'I told you so' doesn't get me anything," he replied, looking down at his feet. He had everything to lose, truthfully, and while it was an embarrassing thing to admit, maybe he needed to tell Dorothy just how badly he depended on this whole ghost hunting experience. "Look." Sean took a deep breath, tapping his fingers unceremoniously against the table. "I have a lot riding on this too. This is my one shot to make sure I don't end up doing those special interest pieces about a small town's biggest spring onion," he sighed, shaking his head. "I'm not being skeptical," he shared. Though he really wasn't sure if he believed, he knew that now wasn't the time to be doubtful about anything. "I'm being desperate to find something. Anything. You're not the only one who's going to look like an idiot if we don’t find anything."

[dorothysullivan]

"People have seen things before now. Things that they can’t explain in places they knew better than to be looking at and all we’re doing is just that but with cameras that record our and their every move. There are no rules because there has never been a proven documented case of a supernatural sighting. We’re going to be the first.” Dorothy bit the inside of her cheek, trying to curb the biting remark that might have been brewing in her mind as she slumped back down into the chair she’d been sitting in previously. Not even the fact that it was a wheelie chair brightened her mood after the initial disappointment of thinking they’d found something. “It’s fine. Wishful thinking.”

[seanxacker]

Sean truly shouldn't have tried to challenge Dorothy, seeing as how stubborn she was but he couldn't help it. Still, it was admirable how certain she was in all of this, and maybe, if anything, he needed to trust her intuition more. It was easier said than done. He also made note of the sudden drop in her enthusiasm, letting out an apologetic, lop-sided frown. "How do you have so much faith in all of this?" he asked, raising his hands as a sign of surrender and keeping a mild tone to avoid giving off an impression that he was attacking her. "Because I'm not the only one getting impatient and I think it'd help if you at least helped some of us gain some kind of faith in all of this, you know?"

[justtherightlense-blog]

Jamie watch the loop of Jay jumping and screaming in the air a few more times, before canceling the feed and sliding his laptop back to his side of the table. “Then, I would suggest not hanging around the East side of campus during lunch. That’s where this guy seems to hang out with his buddies, and one crazy squirrel is more than even Jay could handle.” Pulling up the footage he was supposed to be looking through, the strangeness still bugging at the back of his thoughts, Jamie shrugged, “It’s something different. How many documentaries have the students here done about ‘college living’? Given the chance between another expose on the cafeteria’s lax health standards, and the chance to prove paranormal existence?” Jamie paused in running the footage to send Sean a pointed look, “I know what I’d choose.”

[seanxacker]

"I'm not even going to ask how you know that," he teased, shaking his head and taking one last glance at the video of their companion freaking out because of a squirrel, letting a faint grin creep out from the corner of his lips. He then turned his attention to Jamie, listening to him answer the question Sean threw in his direction. "That's a good way of looking at it. I mean, I know what you mean. I'm so sick of lifestyle videos pieces about the university. And this is such a nice breath of fresh air. I just hope Dorothy's not wrong about this, you know?" He said the words without a hint of malice, not because he didn't trust Dorothy, but because he knew he needed her to be right.

[pottspeppers]

For a few moments as he talked, Clara was almost under the impression that he believed in what this whole project was — until he had to say something else to rationalize it. “Do you really want to know how? I’ll sound sort of crazy, not that I care, I just wanted to put that out there because usually people who are crazy don’t know they’re crazy. Make sense?”

[seanxacker]

"It makes sense a little." Sean looked at her and couldn't help but smirk. "So, you're saying that what you're saying is kinda crazy to reassure me that you're not at all crazy?" The whole thing made him slightly confused but he tried not to look it. Not to mention, he wasn't entirely sure if he didn't think Clara wasn't a little bit crazy. "Okay, so what's your technique to keeping things out of your head?"

[evethorn3-blog]

Tommy raises his hand- a finger pointing towards Sean in agreement. At last, someone agreed with the complaints the producer had been spouting off for days. “Been there, took a pic, an’ put it in the suggestion box, mano.”

[seanxacker]

“And what happens once it’s in the suggestion box?” he asked, though his words were rhetorical, knowing that his and the producer’s observation wouldn’t be paid much attention. “Don’t get me wrong, I think what we’re doing is pretty great. I just feel like we need a better push, you know?”

[dorothysullivan]

"Unless you know the rules, you’d be playing with a ticking time bomb and asking for trouble. More than you would with wanting to flirt with spirits by having candles lighting up the whole place.” Her belief had gotten her this far and it was going to get her the career she’d been working towards but she knew when to draw the line, not wanting to mess with an Ouija board unless it was absolutely necessary and everyone participating knew how dangerous it was. Most saw it as nothing more than a game board that is mass produced but a true board held more power in it than most knew how to handle. Her eyes narrowed at the sound, standing slightly as she leaned closer to the few screens that they had to view. “Where is that coming from?” Her heart was in her throat but she wasn’t scared, in fact, she felt exhilarated.

[seanxacker]

"Well, we're in here waiting, and we don't know anything. For all we know, waiting for ghosts to appear have rules we don't know about either." Did rules even really exist? They were hoping to deal with the supernatural. The premise of that broke so many rules on it's own. He would have rambled on if it hadn't been for the sound. He quickly unzipped his bag, thrashing it's contents as he struggled to find it. Pulling out his phone, he shut the alarm off before turning to Dorothy. "Sorry. I thought I had the alarm off,' he sighed, noting the excited look on the girls face.

[justtherightlense-blog]

Jamie’s grin grew even more, if it were possible, and he let his feet fall to the floor with a dull thud as he shifted the laptop so Sean could see. It only took a few moments to pull up the footage he’d managed to capture of their wayward ‘special effects’ guru, and Jamie felt the familiar laughter bubble up his chest. “Man, never thought I’d see someone jump that high because of a pissed off squirrel, but gotta hand to him. He definitely knows how to catch some air.” Chuckling, he set the section of video to play on a loop, before chancing a look at Sean. Out of the entire cast of characters that made up Dorothy’s ghost hunting brigade, Sean was the first that had asked about his involvement. “How did any of us? Class. The professor mentioned it one day, and I decided to join in on all the fun.”

[seanxacker]

While Sean wasn't exactly the type to find things like this amusing, he had to admit seeing their companion freak out on screen was more gratifying than he had expected. Mostly because he didn't see anything but one side to Jay. "Don't get me wrong. If I were in his shoes, I'd probably learn all sorts of things I didn't even know I could do," he laughed, shaking his head. The change in topic made him move his eyes from the screen to the other man. "Ah, right," Of course it made sense that Jamie would sign up for something like this because it was cool. He looked the type, after all. "I guess I'm just shocked so many people are involved with this thing, considering how... fictitious it sounds like, you know?"

[dorothysullivan]

"Light isn’t going to change anything. If anything is out there, it’ll happen in the same set up of it’s surroundings rather than changing things up and disturb them.” Dorothy turned back towards the screens that she’d been watching, the feeds that filled her in on anything that might be happening elsewhere where the two of them weren’t camped out. If he wanted candles, he was welcome to it but it wouldn’t change her stance or the fact that he was complaining, already. “Next thing you’re going to suggest is bringing out a Ouija board and see what happens,” she muttered, not caring if he heard her or not as she leaned back in her chair.

[seanxacker]

"What's wrong with bringing out a Ouija Board? I thought you believed in all this nonsense?" he asked, words not carrying malice but genuine curiosity. If Dorothy was the type that wanted to see these supernatural things around, why would she be opposed to simply tugging at the strings a little bit more? He let out a defeated sigh, knowing that there was no way she would back down from their exchange. Instead, he just followed her eyes to the screens, checking to see if there was anything. Nothing. It wasn't until a loud ring shattered the silence, making Sean's heart jump. "Jesus Christ!" he exclaimed, realizing that his alarm had gone off. "Shit, sorry."

[dorothysullivan]

It’d been too long and too quiet for too long. It was bound to get on someone’s nerves when nothing was happening. They’d been working through the night in the dark, wanting to disturb nothing on the off chance that something would show and Dorothy was planning no spending the rest of the night like that. Except that she wasn’t alone as her gaze landed over at the other person in the space. The rest had spread out into other areas, filming and checking on the equipment for anything that might show. “Candles? You hoping to romance something while we’re out here?”

[seanxacker]

He couldn't help but glare at the girl, unamused by her response. Still, Sean wasn't the type to pick a fight. Instead, he simply shrugged, "Look, I'm just trying to suggest something. It's better than literally just sitting in the dark." He chewed on his lip before drawing out his phone. "I just feel like if there is something here," and that was a big IF on Sean's part, "they're not going to wake if we don't make some noise or something."

[jamesrmatheson]

"… no, fuck you," Jay murmured, leaning close to the screen. He clicked viciously. "Seriously. Seriously? Okay, whatever." 

He blew out a heavy sigh, one that seemed to come from a deep place within him. A bitter place. The action on the screen stalled out, and Jay gave up. “Whatever, I’m done. I need to go visit the real world for a minute. Who’s up for a late night run to like … I dunno, Wendy’s.”

[seanxacker]

"You driving?" he perked up, hearing the invitation for food. "I need something other than Skittles," he explained, pushing himself off the chair and slinging his bag over his shoulder before moving closer to Jay. Noting the clear observation of the other man's distraught nature against his computer, he flashed him a less-than-reassuring shrug. "My laptop crashes on me all the time," he assumed that was the same thing Jay was going through. "Patience usually helps when dealing with it."

[dorothysullivan]

Dorothy had to bite back another sigh at his impatience, as if this was an exact science when they were trying to find proof something that no one else had ever been able to find before. “We’re to wait as long as it takes but if you’re not up to it, you’re welcome to leave it to the rest of us professionals.”

[seanxacker]

Sean hadn't expected to be called out on his casual whining, making him bit his lip, instantly regretting his words. "I didn't say I wasn't up to it. I'm just saying even professionals know when to call it a day," he mumbled, despite knowing that they were far from the professionals Dorothy claimed. He rubbed the back of his neck before speaking again. "Maybe we should do something other than just sit here. Light candles or something?"

[justtherightlense-blog]

"It wasn’t a complete waste of time.” Jamie flipped through his comic and idly watched his screen as the computer transferred the camera’s footage to his hard drive. “Got to see Jay jump and scream because of that squirrel.”

[seanxacker]

The journalist let out an uncontrollable snort of laughter, before leaning forward. "See, now that you need to let me see." Sean sat back, pulling out his own hand held and connecting it to his computer. "How'd you end up signed up for this thing anyway?" he asked Jamie silently, slight curiosity piquing his interested.

[seanxacker]

"Okay, so how long are we supposed to wait for something to happen again? I feel like last night was a big waste of time," he sighed, tapping his foot almost impatiently as he waited for a response.

[pottspeppers]

"I’m actually sleeping for once, may I ask why you’re disturbing me? Is it important?"

[seanxacker]

"I'm just wondering how you're even able to sleep after last night," Sean mumbled. Sure, maybe there wasn't really any first hand encounter from their excursion, but the whole experience still gave him the creeps. "I mean, I'm sure it's just the mind playing tricks, but still."