- 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]

Defy him. You have to defy him in ways he wouldn't expect. He thinks he can anticipate you, and you must prove him wrong.

[Chilton lowers his voice, keeping it closer to a theatrical murmur -- something that Jesse could hear with ease, but noticeably softer with inflection.]

He's a scientific man -- a chemist, at that. When he realizes that this set of compounds won't react in the same manner, he'll try something different. Above all, he does not want to lose you.

I have no doubt that he would try anything to prevent that from happening.

[hostage]

So won't it make things worse? Fighting him.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Setting boundaries. Better to frame it like that, rather than outright defiance. He's more likely to respect you enough to at least consider your boundaries.

[Chilton dipped his chin, almost sympathetic to Jesse's plight.]

Because if you don't, then this status quo won't be changing. You have to be the catalyst.

[hostage]

Has that worked for you?

[Because, for all Chilton's talk, Jesse doubts they have a "professional" doctor-patient relationship. He knows there's mutual loathing there, or something close to it. Yet Walt's been as unwilling to kill Chilton as he's been to kill Jesse, and there's the timing of Walt's assault on him - right after he was meant to go sever things. Before Chilton can even answer the first question, Jesse's asking the second:]

Was it your idea or his? What he did to me.

[Was it meant to deflect Walt's attention?]

[slightlyoffchilt]

My idea? [The question hit him point blank, rendering his surprise uncharacteristically authentic.]

I was under the impression it was your idea. Your provocation, rather. Granted, I had only heard the testimony of one source, but goodness was he convinced.

[Walt seemed perturbed over Jesse's perceived independence, but Walt was also prone to paranoia and hysteria.]

All the more reason to seize your chance.

[hostage]

Hold up -

[Seriously? Is that seriously what Walt said?]

My provocation? What the hell did he tell you?

[slightlyoffchilt]

You know that is quite confidential information, Jesse. [Chided Chilton, the smirk on his lips thankfully faint.]

I wouldn't want to be accused of unethical practice, now.

[hostage]

As if you're not gonna tell him everything I'm saying to you.

[slightlyoffchilt]

I'm not going to tell him anything you've said to me, not in midst of these current events.

[Chilton perhaps tipped his hand, indicating that he knew Walt would take it out on him.]

[hostage]

These current events.

[That's one way to describe his ongoing torture. Jesse kneads his forehead and goes back to pacing.]

I didn't start it. I let it happen. That doesn't mean I started it. You know what he's like when he's mad. It's easier to just give him what he wants.

[slightlyoffchilt]

It's easier to let him think he got what he wanted, Jesse.

[Chilton's eyes flickered up, measuring his patient's expression.]

That allows you to buy yourself a little time. You and -- you and I both know that if Walter White thinks he is right, he'll pursue the matter until your recite those words right back to him.

But recitation isn't the same as surrender.

[hostage]

Ain't no difference. It's just surrendering but telling yourself you're the real winner. It doesn't matter.

[If it made any difference, his gambit would have made him feel better, not worse.]

[slightlyoffchilt]

There is a difference, Jesse. Buying time is a strategy that could work in your favor. However, if you take issue with my method of purchase, then you're free to invent your own.

But nihilistic thought patterns will do you in quicker than any action against Walt will.

[hostage]

[Jesse twitches irritably, giving a slight shake of his head. More to clear it than out of any actual disagreement. He sees what Chilton's saying, but he doesn't know if it's what he wants to hear, or what good any of it will do. Buying time, sure, but for what? What strategy?]

Anytime I say no to him, he takes it like I just straight-up told him I'm gonna kill him. There's no setting boundaries. Anything that doesn't sound like what he wants to hear is a threat to him. All the time in the world ain't gonna change that.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Then find a surrogate.

[If Chilton was aware of any irony in his statement, he didn't exhibit it. In truth, he considered himself an observer, and occasionally a manipulator -- someone who readjusted variables for the optimal outcome. People like Jesse Pinkman and Will Graham were a different kind of animal, and just as foreign to his DNA as Walter White and Hannibal Lecter was. Chilton was neither prey nor predator; he was a scavenger.

So a surrogate seemed plausible and low risk.]

He was rather fond of Matthew Lin, for -- well, at least a few weeks. I'm not suggesting you're replaceable, Jesse. Walt will never consider anyone to be as you are to him. But given Walt's... Tendencies, I mean, they are destructive habits aren't they? You can find someone to siphon off the worst of it.

That's how you buy time. You find a patsy.

[hostage]

[Jesse turns on Chilton at that suggestion, looking more offended than the guy's probably ever seen him.]

Jesus Christ - No.

[The thought of that makes his stomach turn, even if there's no love lost between him and Abduxel. To knowingly offer up someone else in his stead, let that person suffer for him? That's Chilton's game, for sure, but it's not Jesse's.]

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Quite the visceral reaction. Chilton raised an eyebrow, but relented; clearly Jesse Pinkman favored personal integrity. He wondered, briefly, if that's what Walt felt so magnetized to -- magnets in the more literal sense.]

It was only a suggestion.

[A beat followed.]

If you're going to martyr yourself, then at least think of some way to protect those of whom Walt might consider expendable in his efforts to maintain you.

[hostage]

[Ugh, that word.]

He's not gonna have to hurt anybody to maintain me. I know better.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Then you've known the answer the whole time, haven't you? Succumb to him fully. [Chilton sneered, his tongue licking at his teeth in show of brief scorn.] Give him what he wants, allow yourself to deteriorate.

[hostage]

[Jesse gives a full body shudder at that suggestion, and he steps forward like he's going to sweep his arms out and shove everything off Chilton's desk. Instead he catches himself, folding his arms over his chest to hug himself tightly and keep from lashing out. That's not... going to solve this. Taking his rage out on Chilton isn't going to fix the problem.]

You - You'd like that, wouldn't you. That works out pretty good for you.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Your personal distress was not taken into practical consideration with regards to my... Agenda. [Why deny it? Chilton could tell that Jesse Pinkman wasn't fond of liars, and he wasn't interested in embroiling himself in a battle of wills and untruths.] Walt made it quite clear, right out the gate, that you were untouchable.

[hostage]

What the hell is your agenda? What're you doing with him?

[slightlyoffchilt]

I'm treating him, Jesse. He is my patient. [As much a non-answer as was possible, and they both knew it.] You know I cannot speak of the psychological details of one patient to another.

[hostage]

If you're treating him, how come he's getting worse?

[slightlyoffchilt]

When you pull a band-aid off to pour on the isopropyl alcohol, you're going to see some welted sores. All part of the healing process.