- 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]

You're not the jealous type, are you, Dorian? You certainly wouldn't believe yourself to be -- surely it's clear that people ought to come to you. [Chilton leaned back, looking at Dorian. Watching him. Thoughtfully.]

And yet, you're so skittish over Matthew. Is it because he's immortal, like you? [Immortal, says Chilton. Not demonic. Because Chilton doesn't know about that.]

[brushoff]

[ There's another moment of 'how the hell does he know that' while Dorian pauses, frowns, stalls for time a bit. ] I'm not jealous. And I don't have delusions that I'm his one and only, if that's what you mean.

[ Because he didn't. Hell, Dorian was about 90% certain that their 'who am I gonna sleep with' circles were practically concentric. ]

I'm skittish over Matthew because I'm not paying you to be a nosy little housewife. I just don't see what this has to do with anything.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Really, Dorian. If you're going to lie, don't do it so clumsily.

[Nosy little housewife? Domestic associations aside (that was another concern, entirely), Chilton truly doubted that Dorian disdained Chilton's methodology of gossip. The immortal simply disdained the topic.

And Chilton was eliminating reasons as to why.]

Possessive in the controlling sense, not necessarily sexual. Let me reframe: you value your liberty. Do you value the same liberty in others?

[brushoff]

To an extent. [ holy shit, it's an actually honest answer, not Dorian just trying to dodge the question. ] One of the reasons why I've found making lasting relationships in this place difficult.

[slightlyoffchilt]

No doubt. With your degree of quality control -- [What he meant to say was specifications, quality notwithstanding, but there were simply some things you did not assert before a narcissist!] -- it's little wonder that the stakes are erected so highly.

[Intended use of verb. After all, Matthew was still on the tips of their tongues, wasn't he?]

Do you have a strategy in place? To prevent any of your chosen ones from straying.

[brushoff]

[ Nooooot really. Huh. Maybe he should look into that. ] If I chose them, then they're likely not to stray in the first place.

[slightlyoffchilt]

If only everyone could share in that blinding confidence you so routinely demonstrate, Dorian. Then I would truly never have need of vacation time.

[brushoff]

[ ain't nothing like him cept him, chilton. And Dorian just flashes the man a toothy grin. ]

Well, we wouldn't want to put you out of business, would we?

[slightlyoffchilt]

Surely not. Because, were I out of business, I'd have all that time to get more into your business.

[And only Dorian's, was the implication. Chilton would continue to circle the Matthew issue, even if he was playing by the no-naming-him rules.]

[brushoff]

You're analyzing Dorian Gray, Frederick. You should know that you'll never have me all to yourself. [ and yes he knows that statement could be taken a certain way and he DEFINITELY said that much on purpose. ]

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Chilton raised his eyebrows at that statement, bait taken, and turned his head slightly just to get a sideways glance angled at his patient.]

I appreciate how much you value your freedom and flexibility.

[brushoff]

Flexibility in more than one aspect, of course. [ that shit-eating grin is still on his face. ] But I doubt you'll ever see the second part.

[slightlyoffchilt]

I definitely do not want to see the second part, Dorian.

[Not that Chilton had an aversion to intimacy with patients... But he, too, had specifications.]

[brushoff]

[ still grinning because yay, he made Chilton a little bit uncomfortable. ] Good. You're not my type to begin with.

[slightlyoffchilt]

And you are certainly not my type. [The mental image wrought was enough to cause nausea, much less discomfort.] Which no doubt fosters a better working relationship, given that you are my patient.

[brushoff]

Oh come on, [ said with a little laugh. ] You're a man who enjoys his status, I'm certain you've slept with at least one patient.

[slightlyoffchilt]

[DEAD SILENCE.]

We supposed to dedicate this hour to your emotional and psychological states, Dorian. Stop deflecting.

[brushoff]

Soooo that's a yes. [ because Dorian sees it as a yes ]

[slightlyoffchilt]

I'm going to cut your hour short.

[As if that was a threat, or something.]

[brushoff]

It can't be Raina. She's smart enough not to sign up to be analyzed to begin with. [ at least, he hoped she was. ] Who else...surely it's not someone from your own world. None of them seem like your type.

[ he is just going to continue poking and bothering and prodding at Chilton. ]

[slightlyoffchilt]

Did you just implicitly insult yourself, while complimenting Raina?

[It was an amusing tangent, and Chilton found it suitable enough distraction -- but then Dorian said that.]

If we discount Abel Gideon for obvious reasons, the only other from my world who was my patient is Will Graham -- and he is as much a married man, I'll have you know. [Beat.] Married to a woman.

[He hoped that clarified.]

It isn't anyone from my Baltimore, no. I'm not going to discuss this with you!

[brushoff]

[ Right, he is married. Dorian remembers getting that postcard in the mail.

and like hell he's going to stop talking about this when it's making Chilton so uncomfortable. ]

I'll just put out an all-call to the network. Something like 'if you don't mind asking, how many of you have sought psychiatric help either here or at home?' Couch it in sympathetic terms, see the responses roll in, I'll have my answer relatively quick.

[slightlyoffchilt]

[This proposal, no matter the jest it was spoken in, clearly gnaws at Chilton.]

You'll do no such thing. And I'm just about to send you home with psychiatric homework assignments, if you aren't going to focus on your favorite topic again.

[brushoff]

[ Dorian is counting this as a victory. And, something that if he ever got too annoyed with Chilton, he gladly would pull out from his back pocket.

Still, homework assignments? Gross. ] By my favorite topic, you mean myself, right?

[slightlyoffchilt]

Naturally I mean yourself. How else would anyone hold your attention, if that were not the foremost topical content?

[Maybe he's teasing, a little.]

I want you to keep a journal. Of, specifically, what you think about the people you encounter in your daily life. For a week.

[Chilton is issuing Dorian to make a BURN BOOK basically.]