slightlyoffchilt | - IC CONTACT POST FOR MASKORMENACE -

She might be fond of me, but she isn't above homicide. It's one of her many appealing qualities, truth be told.

However. I doubt I'd be her first victim.

Well she wouldn't kill me. I'm too handsome to die.

But are you too handsome to end up as an experiment?

Is that something she's likely to do?

Depends on how unique she considers you to be, I suppose. ["Unique" or "useful" -- same difference, surely.]

I'm sure it will be fine. When are you coming over? I'll need to find the appropriate refreshments.

Maybe like 7? Don't worry, if Raina's there I'll win her over with my smile.

Isn't that always your argumentative strategy? See you then, Jeff.

[WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONTINUE TO THREAD THIS OUT HERE OR HANDWAVE?]

If you look good you gotta take advantage of it, you should know that. See you later, stud.

[Was that sort of almost a compliment? Maybe.

ALSO YES or handwave if you're busy! But totally down to thread if you're down for it.]

[LET'S DO THIS! After momentary confusion over Jeff's parting texts and a few casual retorts (soon deleted and otherwise unsent!), Chilton would maneuver over to assemble those refreshment: a new stock of Pendleton whisky, French pastries, an assortment of fruit, and a 2011 Malbec.

He ensured his living room was clean and pristine for Jeff, its modernist furniture dark and sharply angled.]

[Jeff's late. Not by more than about ten minutes, but it's enough to suggest his time is way more important than anyone else's. It's the little things that count.

When he does arrive he comes with nothing extra because he's that guy who doesn't even bring a drink. But at least he's dressed well, decked out in a navy blue shirt, slim fit jeans and brown leather brogue boots, stylish and casual all at once. He rings the bell and uses his phone as a distraction while he waits, because look at him, he's waiting because he wants to wait, not because he's being made to.]

I started drinking without you.

[Said Chilton, as he answered the door with a wine glass in hand.]

Figured a busy fellow like you wouldn't mind, old sport.

[Like he's Jay freaking Gatsby, or something. Chilton gestures, inviting Jeff into the tasteful and modern duplex.]

[There's a smile for Chilton as he opens the door, because Jeff can be a somewhat appreciative hosue guest. Especially when there's the promise of alcohol.]

That's alright. I'm already drunk.

[Not entirely untrue. Jeff had consumed more than a few glasses over the course of the day, but he certainly wasn't past it. In fact, he didn't appear to show any signs of alcohol consumption at all, but this is a man who's been deemed a functioning alcoholic by colleagues in the past.

He steps in as Chilton moves away, taking in the decor with a slow nod.]

Not bad. Where's the booze?

Dedication. I like that in a friend.

[Because what was more dedicated than arriving already intoxicated to an intimate movie night that was, of course, but a slim veneer of an excuse to get intoxicated? Chilton closed the door behind him -- and locked it.]

Down the hall, and your first right. That'll be the lounge area, we've converted it to an entertainment center. Everything is ready.

[The couch, the widescreen television, the promised alcohol.]

I don't know where Raina is.

[Lied Chilton.]

[So dedicated.

The single utterance of 'friend' earns an eye roll but Jeff behaves himself for the moment. No arguments, no rudeness (or not much by his usual standard), and no bitching, just a friendly presence happy to be here.

He doesn't appear to be concerned with the door locking, although the directions for alcohol prove distracting enough, the words barely leaving Fred's lips before Jeff's sauntering down the hallway like he owns the place. He wouldn't mind owning the place, in fact. It's not bad looking at all.]

She's a busy woman, I imagine. [Said distractedly, focus on the alcohol on offer and soon selecting to pour a glass from an already open red.]

You know, Chilts, you've actually impressed me. Well done. [A sniff, a swirl, the slightest tip of the glass in the direction of his company.] Cheers.

[Chilton raised his own glass, clinking it to Jeff's before taking a sip -- and hastily refilling. He might have already starting drinking to preempt Jeff's arrival, but that didn't mean he got very far, and clearly the man had a little catching up to do.]

Take a seat.

[He said, gesturing to the new sofa.]

I've been meaning to ask -- how is your practice going? I don't think I've ever discussed your clientele with you before.

[A very appealing sofa, most definitely. It's exactly the kind of furniture Jeff's had to do without for far too many years after lacking in employment and then having the worlds shittiest paid job. At least this place had given him the opportunity for success once more.]

C'mon, you know I can't discuss specifics. [Lounging as much as sofa allows, an arm strewn over the back of it, an ankle lifted to rest across his knee.] It's going good though. Real good.

Oh, I won't badger for specifics.

[Names weren't too specific, right? Some ghastly part of Chilton was dying to know which deviant imPorts had the foresight to sign up for a defense attorney well ahead of their inevitable psychological explosions. It's not like Chilton was going to inquire the quality of the legal issues, of course!]

How's the money? [He caught Jeff's appraisal of the couch. Perhaps it was crass to speak of income -- but Chilton, for all his pretension and elegance, maintained some level of selfish insensitivity.] Up to your usual standard?

[It's hard not to keep an air of smugness about just what Jeff knows, because oh God he sure does know some shit he probably shouldn't. Thankfully that smugness could just as easily be thought to exist thanks to his success or just Jeff's usual self-approval. Always a smug asshole.

He takes a thoughtful sip of his wine, letting it rest against his pallette for a few lingering seconds before swallowing it down. Enough time for him to consider the questions.]

Better than yours, I imagine. It's amazing what people will pay for freedom, security and anonymity. [Jeff offers all three and so much more. He's a representative, a PR man, a protector and a provider. He can get people out of trouble and others into trouble, and move pieces on the board wherever the hell he feels like. It's no wonder he has somewhat of a superiority complex. He craves control and lawyering provides it in abundance.]

I never quite got there back home. Disbarred just as my career was peaking. I was stupid the second time around, trying to open a firm that helped people. There's no money in it. Pro bono work and helping the little man isn't a sustainable business, it's a charity.

I don't know about that. [Said Chilton, in reference to Jeff's comment about making more. Though, to be quite frank, only one patient was skewing those numbers: Walter White.

Ironically.]

What got you disbarred? [It was a surprising confession, though one that Jeff had clearly gotten over to reveal it so casually. But that was all news to Chilton, and he couldn't help but wonder how someone as smooth chatting as Jeff Winger would actually face such dire consequences.

If the angle was to distract Chilton from his own clientele, then Winger was quite successful. The psychiatrist peered curiously, his lips just barely touching the rim of the glass in hand.]

[Walt giveth and he taketh away. And also acts like a huge dick about it in the process. But it's okay because right now he's givething Jeff a whole lot and it makes this lawyer extremely happy.]

I was found out for the fraud I was. [Not a single shred of shame in his words, rather the opposite in fact if that pleased smirk is anything to go by. Yes, he was caught thanks to a backstabbing colleague, but there's nothing wrong with the pride he has for his own achievement at even getting their in the first place. Yes, Chilton, let him distract you from talk of his clientele, while he totally distracts himself with his own success at being a liar.]

I'd never been to law school. I entirely faked my diploma from Columbia, cheated on my LSATS and managed to get into one of the top law firms in Colorado. Even won all my cases. I gained all the success I could dream of by lying, and that still feels pretty great. [It's so nice to be smug about his less than favourable choices and not be reprimanded by someone (ie any of his friends from home).]

I don't really see the issue.

[While Chilton was enamored with academic circles and high accolades from the upper crust of the intelligentsia, he always felt that his due from them had never fully been paid. Chilton would, in his coming years, lie about Hannibal Lecter for the sake of his best seller psychiatric book debut, he would enlist Alana Bloom to lie with him -- and his success would be meteoric. What did it matter? Outcome was what society cared about more, and it was evident in the glorification of those few starry individuals.

In other words, Chilton's morality on this matter had already sided with Jeff.]

You're a defense attorney. It ought to be understood that tip-toeing around the law is how you butter your bread.

More wine?

Yeah. [Seems a shame to drink good wine so quickly, but he knocks back the rest of his glass regardless because turning down the offer for more is something he can never do.]

I never got what the problem was. A lawyer that can cheat and lie his way to the top should be revered not kicked away. Pretty telling of what shit they expect when they accepted me back on community college diploma of Education. They can't accept a guy from grabbing his own success, but they're perfectly happy for him to drag himself through crap for four years just to gather a few credits. It's backwards. [He has many feels about this! And his failure after he returned to law makes him all that more bitter. For a while he thought college had ruined his talent for lawyering, but it turns out that all that was holding him back were morals. It's damn nice to be rid of those again.]

See, you're a smart guy, Chilts. That's why we get along.

[Quick to oblige, Chilton soon helped himself. The dent in their vintage made little difference to him, as the doctor had long ago prescribed a large wine collection. It was unlikely they they'd run dry this evening -- which was probably better for the sake of conversation. While Chilton was always close to an alcoholic beverage in hand, it was rare for him to become too confrontational when imbibed. Given the content of a reoccurring theme about friendship, it was better for both their sakes that Chilton keep as functionally intoxicated as possible.]

Are you relieved, then? That our pasts can't post a paper trail here. You haven't the same inconvenience as you had before, losing four years of your prime career to -- what? A community college?

[Well, less confrontational didn't mean less of an elitist asshole.]

While we're not entitled to the same placement on the track as we've left it, we are allowed a few short cuts. And you -- look at you! Already running a firm, already collecting business.

[It's still hard to judge whether Jeff's powers of adaptation are a help or hindrance. While sometimes he finds himself 'adapting' to the alcohol far quicker than he can drink it, it does at least mean that chucking up mixed drinks and getting hangovers is a thing of the past. It doesn't mean he's safe from crying at the most ridiculous things and making the poor life choices that come from drunkenness. He's stocked up well over the course of the day, and this wine might just help him along enough to make this a proper boys night in of drunken movie nights rather than dull sobriety. Because not drinking is obviously dull.]

Not relieved, no. I never regretted what happened. I guess inconvenience is a good enough word choice but college brought about other things. [Like friends and morals and a woman he's never really made a move on but wishes he had. And a shitty low paid job as a teacher... Elitist asshole is allowed to judge that sort of shit. Jeff doesn't really blame him.]

But yeah, this place offers me more. I get the attention I deserve thanks to my show and that's given me the boost I needed to get clients. It's win win.

[Having therapists friends can be a bonus when it means Jeff can talk about himself for hours, but he supposes he should play the good house guest and at least acknowledge Chilton.] You haven't exactly been doing bad from the reset yourself.

There will always be people in need of psychiatric care. [Chilton commented, right before taking a lengthy sip. In truth, while he enjoyed the celebrity of an imPort psychiatrist and while his published papers to the American Psychiatric Association were groundbreaking (mostly by default), Chilton nevertheless yearned for some of the absolute control he had maintained over the darker halls of the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. There was a trade off inherent, and Chilton could find himself nostalgic for his dominion.

But he was planning to satisfy that yearn.]

How are the ratings to your show? Better than Lucifer's?

[Nothing wrong with a little healthy competition.]

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