- 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]

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]

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?

[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.

[heartlessglitch]

If I were sane enough, Doctor, I do not suppose I would require you, would I?

[slightlyoffchilt]

Whatever disdain you have for my treatment, I assure yours, his would only be amplified.

[heartlessglitch]

I have disdain for you as a human being, Doctor.
At present, however, I have no qualms with your treatment.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Your disdain seeds because of my authority, is that not true?

[heartlessglitch]

I have a perfect, detailed memory of every time you disrespected or mocked me.
That, I imagine, contributes to the disdain as well.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Does it make you want retribution? Against me?