- IC CONTACT POST FOR MASKORMENACE -

[slightlyoffchilt]

"Hello.

You've reached the direct line of Doctor Frederick Chilton. As I am not available at the moment, you might assume I'm quite busy with something pressing. State your name and business, and I will return your call."

Comments

[kingpawn]

[ Walt is imagining it and it's not pretty. But if Chilton is in a state where he can write a book, there must not have been any lasting brain damage. ]

And even though you know this now, there's nothing you can do to prevent it.

[ His breath hitched -- half full of emotion and half trying to suppress that emotion. Anger, mostly. But there was concern for Chilton's well being as well. ]

At least. At least the damage is superficial. Physical. Your mind is in tact. At least you still have your mind.

But. I think turnabout is fair play. I'd see if Hannibal can survive a shot to the head, if I was in your shoes.

[slightlyoffchilt]

I would much rather have Hannibal behind a thick, plexiglass wall quite honestly. He would make for a fascinating specimen.

[And Chilton was only encouraged, knowing that he had that same pulse of logic back home.]

But in the meanwhile, no, I do not think that a direct attack is the most effective. Drawing his attention seems frantically hubristic.

[Even for Chilton.]

Take my advice and steer clear. I do not want you inflaming his attention.

[slightlyoffchilt]

[What timing, Reggie Mantle. What timing.]

Stay away from Will Graham, Reggie. It has come to my attention that he presents something of a health hazard. [One named Hannibal.] Absolutely keep your distance.

[slightlyoffchilt]

You know that it isn't. Difficult to technically quantify magic, right? Just imagine the many horrifying ways a reactive impulse mixed with magic could turn out.

I hope that is helpful.

call;

[slightlyoffchilt]

You made the first contact, Jeff. That is somewhat damning in of itself.

[A beat.]

While the similarities between the two are sizable, Will has had a complicated relationship with Hannibal.

[inmyothertights]

I think I created a dimension, once. An entire dimension. And populated it.

[mantlepieces]

So you do know him.

[ For a moment Reggie almost simply leaves it at that. Then he adds: ]

What are you talking about?

[slightlyoffchilt]

I find that disquieting.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Did you see the entrance of Hannibal Lecter? By any chance?

[inmyothertights]

Yeah? Imagine how I feel. All of that magic, stemming from me.

[mantlepieces]

Who? I don't keep track of that stuff -- never anyone I know.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Aside from the obvious narcissism, I doubt I would find anything unnerving, Jeff. I didn't mean to suggest that.

But I nevertheless find you to be curious.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Lecter is from my Baltimore. Doctor Hannibal Lecter. I do not want you near him, understand? He has -- a -- unique relationship with Will Graham. It is a matter of transference.

[mantlepieces]

Look, I didn't ask to be invited to his stray-infested shack for dinner. You think I want anything to do with that?

[slightlyoffchilt]

A moment -- what happened?

[Because Chilton heard Will Graham's house and dinner, and that was a complicated, worrisome concept now.]

[mantlepieces]

He invited me to his place for some dumb, creepy dinner is what happened.

[slightlyoffchilt]

-- And. What. Was served?

[slightlyoffchilt]

I do. I am imagining it quite severely right now.

And I will remind you, I'm here for you. As someone highly invested in your well-being.

[mantlepieces]

I dunno, fried chicken, mac and cheese, lemonade, coleslaw... your run of the mill trailer trash food.

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Of course, of course. This would have had to happen before Hannibal could have conjured anything. Chilton was only getting ahead of himself, succumbing to paranoia, crisp on the edge of --]

That is reminiscent of trailer trash. Was he attempting to torment you?

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Then this was an established condition. That created a particular lens, given that Tobias's transformation had happened before his coming to this cosmic dimension, and thus he kept the consequences of his circumstance haunting him. It almost seemed cruel, given how Tobias quite evidently suffered beneath the weight of his vampiric needs. Chilton listened, refusing to interrupt, and carefully observed how Toby was speaking just as much as he paid mind to what the man was saying.]

You didn't want to die.

[Chilton repeated the phrasing, picking at it.]

Suggests the path of least resistance, doesn't it?

[No comment came concerning the situation Tobias had been thrust into; as absurd and delusional as he would have found the story were he back in Baltimore, Chilton knew better with regards to this tangent of the universe. There were stranger worlds than his, brimming with the stuff of fantasy.

But it was all very real.]

It must be difficult. For you. To accept that heft of darkness.

["I don't want to die" might be synonymous with "I want to live", but tonally they maintained different content.]

You were forced into this dilemma. But knowing that cannot mitigate the guilt, can it?

[mantlepieces]

Yeah, or something. You know anything about that? Sasha was there.

[textualhealing]

It's my interminable charm, right?

call;

[textualhealing]

Technically he made first contact by posting on a public network to anyone. [So there.]

How complicated? This something I need to talk to Will about?

[slightlyoffchilt]

Sasha... Sasha, your paramour? Well that certainly seems staged. Was this something short of a suggested marriage proposal?