- 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

text;

[slightlyoffchilt]

I am your psychiatrist, Abduxel! We know things about each other that no one else can claim to know. If you cannot trust me, then who can you trust?

text;

[abduxel]

Evidently, not a single human being on Earth, and I'll struggle to believe otherwise until it's demonstrated to me, Doctor.

text;

[slightlyoffchilt]

If you're convinced that Crane will now maneuver against you, then you need to outmaneuver him first.

text;

[abduxel]

I don't know when she told him. When did he attack her? He's likely been plotting since.

[Sighs to himself IRL as he packs an overnight bag to go sleep somewhere else. Again. Why does this happen to him so much?]

text;

[slightlyoffchilt]

A week prior. This has not been an easy recovery.

[For Chilton, mostly.]

He hasn't hurt you as of this moment, has he? And you already know his itinerary. I'd expect a fear gassing, were I you.

So strike first.

text;

[abduxel]

I'm open to suggestions.

text;

[slightlyoffchilt]

What are the terms of his contract with our favorite archangel?

Trick him into breaking that contract. Let Crane be the meal of a larger predator.

Re: text;

[abduxel]

I'll let you know how it goes, if I haven't been smote from existence. It's a shame, we never did get to experiment on your desk. What a tragic loss for you.

text;

[slightlyoffchilt]

You're being melodramatic. Play the optimist, Abduxel: when you accomplish this, then you will truly deserve that experimentation, won't you?

You'll be empowered. You'll have reclaimed the dignity that Crane attempted to evaporate.

[abduxel]

[He's so fucked, and not in the good way. The terms of Crane's contract are not really ones he can break, without Crane himself purposefully defying Lucifer. That isn't going to happen. But he decides to stop sharing, and just figure out a way to deal with it himself.]

A tragic loss for you, I said. Don't flatter yourself too much.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Offer rescinded.

You're angry. You're scared. I understand that. Hide away and return to me tomorrow, and we can discuss this when you've had time to emotionally process your circumstance. Talk details and possibilities.

How does that sound?

[abduxel]

I enjoy playing with you, Dr. Chilton, but I'm not some salivating dog that can be lured around with promise of gratification. Nor am I a pawn you can move against your enemies and leave to the wolves. Show me I can trust you with regards to Crane and you'll have my support, but otherwise, I'm forced against you.

[slightlyoffchilt]

I'm going to converse with the archangel shortly.

[The chips are down.]

I'm pleading your case at the expense of Walter White. He knows you've been working for Walter now, and he has yet to smite you. I'm going to ensure he won't, and in the process White will be taken care of.

If you can't trust me to solve your problems, then why am I doing this?

[abduxel]

[Abduxel considers telling him how misguided he is, that Lucifer won't bat an eyelash about who Abduxel is or isn't working for in a material-goods kind of way. Only where his loyalties truly lie. But saying that comes dangerously close to implying Chilton should never trust him, either, so he'll just let that fall how it might.]


You're doing this because of Walter White, who you blackmailed into firing me.

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Chilton arched his eyebrow at that informational tidbit -- goodness, Walter moved quickly, didn't he? Rage and paranoia had swift feet.]

My aim wasn't to have you fired. Walter must have misinterpreted my intention, and then he took to you like a man with a blindfold and a revolver. But Walter is an emotional creature, prone to anger and paranoia and dread. He didn't think of the consequences now in domino effect.

Which hopefully sounds familiar to you.

[abduxel]

I made lots of money working with him, Dr. Chilton. You can see why I might be upset. Between this and your girlfriend painting a bullseye on the back of my head and aiming Crane at me, it's been a difficult few days, you understand.

In any case, move against Walt. He'll live to regret crossing me. But I don't believe for a moment that you're doing that for my sake.

[There's some sick satisfaction he gains from knowing Chilton is crawling to Lucifer; if they'd been in more positive standing, he'd have been more tempted to warn him away from it. But now, being a demon, he feels he's doing his job well for once, facilitating (however minorly) the damning of a soul.]

[slightlyoffchilt]

Crane isn't as powerful as you're painting him to be.

[And he wonders, briefly, what he should do about Abduxel. While he likes the demon, and while he finds his company engaging, Chilton hardly trusts him; this emotional aggression had only underscored that impression. Abduxel, he noted, was quick to burn bridges -- while Chilton wasn't about to judge whether or not the former Matthew Lin was correct in his outrage at Raina's sparring with Crane, he was in his right to judge how Abduxel managed that emotion. It was too much like Walter White, it was as if White had chosen Abduxel intuitively seeing the other as a mirror.

Chilton had gone out his way to guide Walter, too. And in that paralleled vein, Abduxel disregarded his coaching, his support, he misunderstood Chilton's intent -- just like Walt had.

This was a dangerous pattern.]

I will see you tomorrow, for our scheduled session.

[Crane had fear, sure. But Chilton had manipulation. Chilton had ambition. Chilton had learned from Hannibal Lecter, and he was determined never again to fall prey to a devil's appetite.

If there was a way to slither out of severe consequences and get what he wanted, Chilton would find it. And perhaps, he thought, it wouldn't do to involve Abduxel. Perhaps the target Raina had painted on the demon's back wasn't for Crane after all.

Perhaps.]

[abduxel]

It's truly not Crane that I'm worried about.

I'll see you tomorrow, then, thank you.