- 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

[abduxel]

[There's a long pause. Fondly,]

Doctor Chilton. Is there something you want to say to me directly? Aren't you getting tired of this dance yet?

1/2

[slightlyoffchilt]

Oh, no. I could've danced all night.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Abduxel.

[abduxel]

[When Chilton says his true name, his expression cracks into a smile that he tries to suppress.]

Who told you, I wonder? So many people around you already knew, but decided to keep quiet. Hm.

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Chilton tilted his head, his eyes steeled in focus.]

Who told me? I feel obligated to keep my own secrets now.

[Raina had, of course. Apparently she was the only one he could trust.]

Do you see Crane as competition?

[abduxel]

That's an interesting question. Competition for what? I suppose my blanket answer is no. I do find him insufferable and he's used his tricks on me before. But what can you do? [A pause; he thinks a moment.] Your girlfriend doesn't seem to much like him either.

[He has no idea that Crane gassed Raina. His context is simply built with the fundamental information that Chilton and Raina were both ringbearers, unknowing and knowing, respectively, and that Raina herself expressed distaste for Crane and amusement that Abduxel felt much the same. Further, Walt had claimed that Chilton and Walt were only in league as a front against the man. But, that assertion was shaky now, as Abduxel wasn't sure which of Chilton and Walt to believe on the topic.]

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Used his tricks. Chilton glances downwards, his lips pursued. Crane hadn't many tricks, this wasn't a difficult deduction, and when Chilton glanced back upwards to the camera, he did so with trepidation.]

Fear toxin? The neurotoxin he concocts. Is that what happened?

[And did Lucifer know? ... Or care?]

[abduxel]

[There isn't recognition; he doesn't know it by that name, or in fact by any name. Dryly,]

That would more-or-less describe the effects, so I'll go with yes. You're familiar with it, then, one way or another.

[Which way, though?

As for tricks... He knows other tricks of Crane's. The birds. That unnatural calming effect. But Chilton hadn't brought them up, so he doesn't either, acting much like the following dance partner who steps in time with Chilton, the lead.]

[slightlyoffchilt]

You might say I get around.

[Evasive. Chilton didn't want to commit to illuminating how he conceived Crane's action. Not unless he was forced to do so.]

Non-consensual, I'm sure. Did he use you as an experiment? The abuse of the epinephrine system within a demon case study? Or was it more... Intimate?

[abduxel]

[With exaggerated, mocking evasiveness:] Oh, hm, you know, I hardly remember. Maybe a crumb of what you know about it might jog my memory.

[slightlyoffchilt]

A crumb.

[As if Abduxel would stop at that.]

We both know you're just as likely to bite out whatever those lips touch, isn't that so? No use in sating a demon. [A beat.] He did it to me, too. Crane attacked me, restrained me.

[abduxel]

Good move, Doctor; now I'd loathe to prove you right by asking another question. [He grins just briefly, but his expression mellows as he goes on.] Anyway, I'm sorry to hear that. I know myself that it's a terrible experience. Oh, but it was only an annoyance to you, wasn't it?

[slightlyoffchilt]

In hindsight, it's but an annoyance. I know the makings of a fracturing mind; his has so little left holding it whole.

[A quick incline of his head.]

Which I don't doubt you've taken notice of, too.

[abduxel]

[Dryly,] With humans like him around, it's a wonder anyone bothered to create Demons.

[slightlyoffchilt]

For the sake of contrast. You haven't the same weaknesses as he does -- or rather, the same singular Achilles Heel.

Have you ever heard of Batman?

[abduxel]

[The contrast comment gives him a laugh, but his expression falls seriously curious when Chilton says Batman. Is it a coincidence that Abduxel turns into a bat? (Spoiler: yes. But he doesn't know that!) Whatever momentary over-inflation of his ego happens now, as he wonders if he's somehow Crane's Achilles Heel, will be quickly corrected...]

No, I've never heard of Batman. His singular Achilles Heel?

[slightlyoffchilt]

His obsession. His narcissistic love. Batman is the only thing that inspires fear into the man that would fancy himself a master of fear -- surely I don't need to illustrate how Crane must find that mentally arousing.

[Chilton smirked, tilting his head by the other side, with an eyebrow persuasively cocked. He would set the lure, the bait, the imagery -- the association. Crane was mistaken in thinking that Chilton favored Freudian theory above all else, and that put Chilton at an advantage unknown to Lucifer's pet therapist.]

Batman completes Crane. The latter craves that wholeness.

[abduxel]

[Abduxel falls for the imagery and it shows in his expression; he shakes his head with a little smile, like Oh, creepy Crane! It does become rapidly clear to him that this is not secretly a discussion of himself. He'd never made Crane so much as flinch, let alone aroused any fear. There must be some... other... bat-shifter?]

Is Batman here? An imPort? I'm dead curious what kind of person or creature moves that man to fear.

[slightlyoffchilt]

He is here. [Chilton's eyes flickered back tot he screen, and his grin sharpened.] I haven't met him, not personally. But perhaps you ought to? Curiosity isn't a sin, after all.

[abduxel]

Meet him, I don't know about that. Are you trying to send me to some sort of doom, Doctor? Anticipating that he arouses similar fear in me?

I like to watch people a while before I get to know them. Peer into their lives, taste their memories, get inside. It provides a certain level of intimacy that you never get from smalltalk and introductions.

[That isn't really true, not the first part, anyway. Impulsive, headstrong, and more outgoing than he ought to be given his often abrasive personality, he gets to know people usually based on coincidence and whim. But he's not under oath, here; he never is. It's just a needle.]

[slightlyoffchilt]

Far be it for me to dissuade you from your methodology. If you're more inclined to seep into his mind, I have no qualms.

[The means didn't measure in as much importance as the ends would.]

Just make sure to ruin him for Crane.

[abduxel]

[There's a faint smile, a delayed reply. Gently,]

I don't work for you, Dr. Chilton.

[He was being jarring on purpose, suddenly rescinding how agreeable he'd been up to this point, lacing his sentences with flattery and bribery until this rather bluntly stated moment. But he couldn't have the man thinking he'd just do his bidding for him; their agendas might align by coincidence, but it seemed awfully suspicious.]

[slightlyoffchilt]

This doesn't have to be work. Abduxel. [Repetition, name recognition. It provided some sway of claim, he thought. Intimacy.] What I'm offering is more play.

[abduxel]

[It works. Particularly with this being, where his name being said is like being grabbed by the soul, it works. His smile becomes more genuine, less shit-disturbing.]

In that case, I look forward to more playing, Frederick.

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Whether Abduxel intended this or not -- though, Chilton banked on intention over accident -- his genuine smile and verbal promise seemed more flushed with threat than ever. Abduxel was dangerous and not meant to be underestimated; all the more reason to heed his interests and (above all) sincerity.]

Is this something you want? Revenge? Truly want it, I mean.