- 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

[slightlyoffchilt]

My personal vindication never interferes with my work.

[heartlessglitch]

I suspect that is untrue.
Regardless, I fail to see how you intend to help me.

[slightlyoffchilt]

That's just your petulance speaking, Danger. I'm sure someone as capable as you could... Compute possibilities. After all, you mean so very much to me.

[heartlessglitch]

I know what you value.
And as I warned you, I am not in the mood to be trifled with.
If you insist on provoking me, I will respond.

[slightlyoffchilt]

I have little doubt that you would make good on your word. But answer this, at least: would you be imagining his face over mine, when you responded?

[heartlessglitch]

Confirm: You want me to utilize you as a means to vent my frustration.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Just -- hypothetically.

[He's already had to deal with Freddie and Karla, he knows he isn't prepared to deal down Danger.]

Think of it as a thought experiment.

[heartlessglitch]

[ flatly: ]

I am perfectly capable of running hypothetical scenarios by myself.
By the dozens, if not hundreds, per second.
Thank you regardless.

[slightlyoffchilt]

And I'm sure you process such violent scenarios in a completely healthy, unadulterated manner. Oh yes. Quite sure.

Immensely sure.

[heartlessglitch]

Perhaps we should cease to pretend that my health matters to you in any benevolent capacity.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Why do you think I'm pretending? Just because your father's name manifests on the Network doesn't mean it's rational to shun all your interpersonal relations.

[heartlessglitch]

[ immediately, sharply, loudly enough that there's just a faint static to her mechanical voice: ]

I DO NOT WANT TO DISCUSS MY FUCKING FATHER.

[slightlyoffchilt]

[He balks, made speechless by her speech.

The silent affliction is, however, only temporary:]

Then what would you like to talk about?

[His submission to her will is only exterior, and halfway; inwardly, he scents a nascent weapon on the forge. Something to beat into a sharper agony. Fucking, indeed.]

[heartlessglitch]

[ a moment or two of quietness. then, when she speaks again, her voice has leveled, softened-- controlled again. ]

I should inform you that I am monitoring Hannibal Lecter.
And I intend to keep a careful eye on Freddie Lounds.
Anyone that has a positive relationship with you is worthy of suspicion.

[slightlyoffchilt]

It's the best way to begin the dialogue that you desire. I think the greater consequence lies with obscuring the information, don't you agree? One way or another, he'll find out.

[A light shrug follows, and a small smile is the companion expression.]

You've seen how this Network tends to function. An interactive gossip rag, if there ever was one.

[slightlyoffchilt]

This Lecter is -- perhaps timeskipped, as we are all wont to be, at some point. Perhaps something else. [Better to focus on Hannibal than Freddie, he reasons.] The dates he's given don't calculate to my Hannibal, but to suggest that the man isn't capable of lying would be breathtakingly naïve.

[A beat.]

I'm playing nice with him. I suggest you do the same.

[heartlessglitch]

I am hardly so mortal that I need to fear Hannibal Lecter.

[slightlyoffchilt]

He does not merely murder. He annihilates.

[Chilton, unusual somber, knows the meaning of his words. Freddie Lounds had elucidated a hint of his own fate.]

Some people, he deems, are worthier of more enduring agonies.

[heartlessglitch]

I find it troubling and somewhat irritating that you find Hannibal Lecter should warrant more caution than I do.
Which one of your organs should I take to correct that?

[slightlyoffchilt]

Why? Do you plan to devour whatever you might take, too?

[inmyothertights]

[He takes a moment. It makes sense. From all accounts, Erik values family, in his own way. He was happy to know he had grandsons. But he thinks of Pietro, who crankily hated his father, and Wanda, who was...ambiguous.

He wishes it was a little clearer.]

And a lot of people know.

[Meaning it might be worse coming from someone else.]

[heartlessglitch]

I am not in the habit of consuming human flesh.
I could learn, however.
It is a natural trend for a superior species to prey upon an inferior, weaker species, is it not?

[slightlyoffchilt]

No one has preyed upon me, Danger, if your implication rests that way. [Scoffing! Superior!?] But I would be more generous to any other vagabond from Baltimore, were I in your position. The symbolism of cannibalism, however, warrants this: how would a narcissistic murderer rationalize it? Like a fatal insult, isn't that right?

[A beat.]

That's what I mean, the difference between you both. Insult, especially if delivered from narcissism, implies injury.

[heartlessglitch]

I wonder what it is you imagine you are protecting by attempting to warn me.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Your sanity, Danger. Whatever you might have.