slightlyoffchilt | - IC CONTACT POST FOR MASKORMENACE -

Isn't it? Will Graham was your rebound protector, was he not? Your substitute father figure, a savior or sorts.

Everyone leaves. Will isn't any different.

[ she can't help the present tense. she's not even trying to stay hopeful, it's just habit. and he's not gone, yet. not 100%. not until she checks.

tomorrow.

not that she's putting it off. ]

You'll probably leave. So will Freddie. That's what the Porter does.

[ what hannibal does. :( ]

Edited 2014-11-27 05:46 (UTC)

Don't be too sure. I survived the prior world-change, the literal collapse of the universe, before coming to Heropa.

And I guess Abel Gideon did, too.

What I mean to say is, there are anomalies in these patterns. Perhaps you can consider Will Graham to be one.

[Maybe.]

Everyone I [ love ] care about leaves or tries to murder me. My mom, my dad, Marissa.

Maybe the universe is just trying to tell me I don't deserve anything good.

Not that I'm so self-obsessed.

[ more like will only deserves things that are good and abigail is old trash left to rot and covered in maggots. ]

But it's a pretty continuous pattern. The first friend I made here left. Will is just

Next.

And what is that? [He offered a skeptical look, though one tinted with curiosity.] What is it that Freddie wants, now? Given what Freddie has already accomplished.

As much as I enjoy it when young people subscribe to nihilism, I can't say it's doing you any favors. I understand your track record. [A record unfortunate, even by Baltimore standards.] But by the sheer statistical unlikelihood that we are existing upon an entirely different worldly plane -- does that improbability not induce (dare I say) hope into other improbabilities?

Perhaps he is not lost for good. And if dead, well, sometimes the dead come back here.

[ Not "literally," no, but close.

He'd forced Connors's change in that cage. What was her equivalent to turning into a giant lizard monster? She's... not sure -- which is its own problem -- but the thought that he might have something specific in mind is threatening enough. Her arms draw in, folding over her chest, a protective barrier.

It's a few seconds of thoughtful silence before Karla answers. ]

Weren't you supposed to be making something up to me right now?

[ Her expression itself carried no signs of distress, but it would have been hard to miss the part where she paled, a few moments earlier. ]

Right now, Freddie wants to keep doing what she's doing. [ After all, Tattlecrime was going great. She was slowly rebuilding what she had built up back home and she loved it. ]

The website's a hit—and once I write this thing up, it'll blow up in hits.

Depends on what it is that you want.

[He glanced at her, with that folded poise. Defensive posturing -- something he doubted she had done consciously, given her insight to Chilton's analytical tendencies.]

Do you have a counter-offer?

Enough to ever get syndicated, you think?

[She was ambitious. He wasn't surprised, that she opted to focus on her work, her career, in lieu of any emotional introspection; and the movement made perfect sense, for someone of Freddie's sight.

It would be difficult for anyone to pin her down.]

God, wouldn't that be great? [ said with a wistful little smile. Freddie liked money. Freddie liked publicity. Syndication gave her both. ]

You have the slight barrier of being imPorted, of course. Who knows what politics surrender to the blogosphere, in that regard.

[Blogosphere. The spherical of blogs, as he imagines.]

[ Oh. God. Chilton kept giving her prompts for a counter-offer. That wasn't a threat to her; on the contrary, it was practically gentle sparring, for him.

Humiliation prickled, hot, at her cheeks. ]

I can't imagine you wouldn't need a second opinion to back you up at some point. No questions asked. Given your volatile patient base.

Or -- come to that. You could ask me for help with your robot problem. If you'd tell me about it.

[ Not the most graceful diversion from her own overreaction of a moment ago -- nor, for that matter, the most gracious of ways to bring up his network conversation with Danger, if she had to at all. She'll get to experience a second round of embarrassment when she reflects back on this later. ]

[His eyes widened -- your robot problem. She had to have known Danger was his patient, of course, he was rather loose and carefree with referencing his patients. But the angle of the wording, the thrust of the offer; Karla indicated a deeper level. She wasn't offering psychiatric aid, knowing that he'd spurn it, or mock it. She hinted at something rawer.]

What. About. Danger. Do you already know about?

[If you'd tell me about it. He saw that as a way to downplay any aggression in her knowledge; the fact stood that he was not sure about what she might know. And that was a concern. His tone remained leveled, despite the chopping between his words -- this was not cause to attack, but he knew that caution was expected.]

She's incredibly enmeshed, isn't she? Or -- you are. Don't sound so incensed -- [ he very palpably didn't, she knew; her words were meant to agitate ] -- if you're going to be that careless with what you discuss in a public setting, I'd have to put in effort to avoid your network discussions not to notice at some point.

One hardly has to be -- what was it? Constantly and thoroughly aware of you?

[ So, not only did she see the conversation -- she's paid it enough attention (perhaps repeat attention, even) to recall Danger's precise phrasing. ]

Edited 2014-12-01 01:33 (UTC)

Not even Tony Stark cares to stalk such direct quotations, and lord knows he's interested in her.

[That was a supposition. Stark liked technology, Danger was technologically advanced (and sentient), and Chilton shot his first arrow.]

What are you getting at, Karla? Are you suggesting that Danger is transgressing the line of patient?

[ A silent, scorching glare was her only response to the first contention. ]

Am I suggesting that for a patient to monitor you might cross some line? No, Frederick, I'm comfortable saying that one directly. I am suggesting that for you to give your tacit endorsement of whatever it is she's doing to monitor you out of your own --

[ She stopped. He'd been perfectly, publicly clear -- this patient's involvement, negative or not, was preferable to him to her indifference. He was aware; there was no need to throw a rephrasing of his own words in his face. Besides, declaring her analysis for the purpose of showing off held little appeal for Karla. ]

-- Hm. Well. You don't need me to tell you that part.

[At that pinpoint, Chilton shifted in his seat. It was as good as a verbal concession, given that they were both hyperaware of bodily conduct. He clenched his teeth, and rolled his eyes, knowing full well that his flesh had already said too much.]

I have already repeatedly asked her to cease and desist. I... Have found her to be obstinate in her control issues, and borderline anti-social in her disregard for human rights. She is, like I said, technologically advanced and -- and she has already acted to her capacity.

[ Nothing about that spin was convincing, in light of his body language, in light of what he'd said to Danger on the network. She didn't buy it; she didn't buy that he bought it; she didn't even buy that he bought that she might buy it.

Lord, Frederick, at least you could sell it, she kept to herself. She might otherwise have been insulted by his haphazard denial, except it seemed certain that he would have been more convincing had he not been so invested in persuading her. Whatever he'd gotten himself into must, she surmised, be humiliating to him -- deeply so.

Her own percieved threat having passed, she felt no desire to exacerbate that.

She limited herself to the meaningful look she leveled at him. ]

[Given the truth of his words, he found her reaction insubstantial -- that was his constant irony, that no one believed him when he was telling the truth. The boy had called wolf one too many times.]

There's nothing you can do about her. [He said, meaning every word.] She'll simply kill you.

[ She frowned, studying his face, watching as his distress manifested. It wasn't that she disbelieved him -- the threat didn't seem logistically infeasible, given what she knew of Danger's origin -- so much as it was difficult to parse out his own ratio of encouragement to requests to cease and desist. ]

And what about you? Is there nothing I can do about you?

Edited 2014-12-01 03:19 (UTC)

What about me?

[Despite his cruelty and coercive habits, Chilton still masked himself with the implication that he was harmless. Karla, of course, knew better -- and moreover, she was smart enough not to challenge that perception in any arena where he had the upper hand. Very few individuals could claim that level of intellect, and even fewer in Heropa.

But he didn't have the upper hand, not in this hour. He had been caught in violation of her wishes, he had been the initial negotiator, he had espoused any suspicion of Danger with vague admittance. It wasn't a fine angle to be standing for Doctor Chilton.]

I'm dead, I think I'm aware of that fact.

I'll go tomorrow and let you know. About Will and if I need grief counseling. Okay?

[Well, what can he really say to a statement like that?]

Agreed, then. Get back to me, when you're feeling better, Abigail.

Night.

[ because she is a sad panda, she does not yell it from her room. :( ]

- IC CONTACT POST FOR MASKORMENACE -

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