infomodder | IC contact [Mask or Menace]

[The attempt at comfort ends up absorbed, same as everything else, sponge that can't keep itself together...at least, when physically sick. He's not sure how to approach that, how to go about it in a way that doesn't come across as degrading to the both of them, so he props his elbows up on his knees, that glass dangling between them as he swirls it a bit.

Curiously:]

So...somebody caught you? Stopped you? Took him out before you could make your move or...how'd this come out where anybody got a hold of it?

[Because really, shield maiden. He's sure if she wanted to drop a fucker without anyone knowing, she would have. That this would have not ever come up had it not been for a witness. Someone who probably didn't get it.]

Impressive, but relatively meaningless to me.

[ "I've been to school" means nothing next to "I've spent decades actually doing this work." Ten to one he can guess where her greater degree of faith registers.

If faith is much of anything she'd confess to having. ]

No, it isn't, but the confusion comes along with not leaving him to die in the swamp. Though it would have been a great time to pull off the mask and figure out which person we're dealing with. if I'd been able to recover the body after the alligator was done defending her territory.

[ She could have gone after him with the shovel, too. Let the alligator and her own skills be what he had to contend with. But she didn't.

It's her own sticking point, and part of what makes her a failure as a monster: there are lines Annie does not cross, even when they'd be to her brutal benefit. Ask Armin.

Or don't. He's less stable than she is these days. ]

So you're just like, a dad without custody.

[ She rolls her eyes at that look. What do you want, Will. Abigail's pretty. And for some strange reason the idea of him being responsible for another person's life was almost hard to believe. Couldn't imagine what in this conversation would have made it sound like he was having trouble even keeping his own on track. ]

Found anymore kids while you've been here?

[He can handle dogs, but putting him in charge of people's lives kind of...there's a reason she went running to Hannibal. No one could blame her, especially not compared to Will.]

It's not like that. [With Annie, with Sasha, with Jayden, with any of the teenagers he's latched onto in his own way. They're not Abigail at all, and the words of one sorely missed doctor who had experience with Will and raccoons comes flooding back. They're not strays.] Not with the other kids here. None of them are her. I'm not—it's a circumstantial thing. [And uncomfortable, too. Gosh, he keeps swallowing, looking unable to sit still.] I'm paternal with her for reasons that won't happen again. I'm nobody else's dad.

[Gunther, dumb as he may be, snorts at that like he understands. Gets his attention.]

Humans, I mean.

[Better? Better.]

Good to know.

[Really, it's good for it be meaningless to her. He hopes it stays that way. It's been a damn long time since he worked in crime labs exclusively. For him to get back to that, to be doing that again...it's better it stays meaningless here.]

Probably would've made it worse if he caught you there and you left him to his own devices and he managed to get away without any help. Sort of a lose/lose shitshow whatever you do. Even when you do the right thing.

[The right thing can be subjective, but in this case, it's...ah, it's easy, isn't he?

He's not asking anyone when he can ask Annie herself. If he wants to. Rather get it from the horse's mouth than calling up people and playing the part of Stupid Fuckhead #045 just asking because, a-ah...!]

[ Circumstances that involved her mom, April can only assume. But whatever. Unlike some people she's ~~bullied~~ known, Will's been pretty prone to just come out with info he actually wants to share. If he's going to swallow and fidget instead of spitting it out, there's probably a reason.

Which means she won't press. Not that she won't enjoy the discomfort and run with it in a new direction. It's the only thing keeping this conversation grounded for her as they weave around the apparent point of it.]

So one of your mickey mouse club might win the child bride prize.

Seem to be caught up in quite a few lose/lose shitshows lately, to use your phrasing.

[ It's the better idea. Doubly so in person. Annie is much less good at diverting when confronted with her own bs face to face. Or asked for her honest opinions. Or statements and recitations of fact. ]

You're always welcome to use my phrasing.

[A joke in and of itself; Will's phrasing is what gets him in trouble more than just about anything else. At least with certain reporters.]

Your stuff's on the way, FYI. You think you'll be okay with that chick who did it?

[Child bride. Prize. The idea of Abigail ever being a bride isn't sad because it invokes the paternal feelings of loss and protectiveness, it's sad because, as far as he knows, The Corpse Bride isn't real. She can't come back in any way. She can't ever be a bride. She won't be all right, she won't wear white and have her hair done to cover a missing ear, or have some veil in place that covers it up. Covers up the scar on her neck.

But he knows she's trying to go into the opposite direction of heavy and terrible and soul-crushing, so he does his best to follow along. Swim right down, shake the blood out of his hair.]

Probably not. I'm not looking to get married. Doubt she is, either. Doubt—the sort of people you've got here from my world, we're...not really the marrying type.

[Which may sound like he has nothing but sex on the mind when it comes to any sort of relationship that's intimate, perhaps, but it's more—well, in general, and here? Of all places? It seems so...destined for disaster. The people from his world are also kind of terrible at all relationships. And one of them, at least, has already killed a spouse. Really, just. It ends badly in Baltimore.]

Are you?

Minako? Yes. I'm giving myself time to deal with her logically.

Sometimes. It kinda depends if the relationship is the marriage type. Some aren't. But if it is..mm, yeah, I guess. Why bother with the middle stuff if the end's better?

[ She married one man on literally the first date. True, there had been some zany City magic involved with that, but in hindsight it was still one of the better weeks she'd had in the city. She'd do it again, if she felt like that again. But she hadn't with Max, she'd felt like living together and doing small crimes and mocking people instead. So they'd done that, and it'd been just as good.]

What. Do you want to know if I want kids, too?

You think a lesson might be more easily made if someone contacted her and told her that some of those clothes were presents and if she doesn't, won't, or can't return them for whatever reason, then perhaps she should go ahead and pay the bills attached?

Careful. You're reminding me of Kanaya right now.

Those shirts might not look like much to her, but they're expensive. That was something like $350 worth, retail price. I don't mind it. Because they were for you. Not anybody else. And if you gave one to somebody, it was yours to give after that. You didn't give. They were taken. So if Little Miss wants to be a thief, she can learn a Goddamn lesson in keeping her hands off people's things the good old-fashioned way. You break it you buy it, you take it you buy it. Lucky not to get legal charges brought up.

Three hundred fifty dollars?!

Will I'm paying you back for that what the hell were you doing?

[Will continues to reel in conversations that will be so terrible to look back on if he ever goes home and has no idea of it. For now, he doesn't have so much of a problem talking about it, and the flat What has his face screwing up, a companion What what? without as much being said.]

Don't you already have some? [Will has seven dogs, people might count them as his kids.] Seem like you're readier to be a vet than anything else. A good vet. I'd take my dogs to you sort of good vet.

[Compliment???]

Back in my world, I own my own home on a nice stretch of property. It includes a barn. I have a car and 7 dogs that never want for food, shelter, and never go without proper medical treatment. I grew up dirt poor, Annie. I've known how to budget since before I understood what that really meant. And I kept that in adulthood, excelled enough to secure myself that much and never worry about debt. I run a business here. There's plenty of profit. I can absorb that amount. That's a drop in the bucket now. I was doing something I worked out monetarily and knew that I could afford. Something that did me exactly no harm. The point isn't the money, Annie. The point is the principle behind taking people's things and saying it's better for them, that someone knows you better than you know yourself. Like trying to pay me right now not understanding I knew what I was doing when I did it and that. That it was worked out beforehand. That I know what I'm doing with this. I did it because I could do so. I don't need or want your money.

Thanks.

[ Compliment. She will take it. ]

I'll keep it in mind if making people miserable gets boring, I guess.

[Compliment taken, some Baltimore problems explained, that went over better than expected—and it shows that Will might have foreseen going a little worse (then again, he hadn't gone in true horrific detail) when he runs a hand through his hair, scratches at the side of his head like he's just been on a mental roller coaster. Has to re-adjust, come back down to more normal things.]

Welcome. [It's quiet, missing the You're that should be there, grasping at small niceties. That's normal. Politeness, that's appreciated and normal and.] It's kinda that time, isn't it? Of the month. When new people sometimes show up. Think I should pack a sleeping bag this weekend, just in case?

[Prayer circle for April's floor.]

[ It's easy to roll with things when you refuse to digest them (or...contemplate them. poor word choice with the ear thing) until later, when playing Survivor Fetch with the house dogs alone. Where no one can hear her maybe text Abigail. ]

Why? You've already got a bed out here.

[ She smiles faintly, but she's back to looking at the cute dog in the shot, too. If anyone asks, he's the reason she hasn't done her normal thing of switching back to text once she got what she wanted. ]

I mean, the raccoons have been practicing laying in a circle shape on the floor. I dunno who'll be in Cole's room next.

Which isn't the point here, either, but I can accept what you're saying, even if it makes me uncomfortable.

[ More gifts from Will. Does he know he's the person here who has given her the most in what one might consider traditional gifts? Annie doesn't know what to make of that bounty. That he has offered her a place of sanctuary, too, all these small and big things.

Bubbly water in a fridge.

Glass bottom boats.

Gunther.

Small manipulations, too, but gifts nonetheless. People manipulate each other in soft ways all their life. It's very hard to resent him, murderous as the colors of his past have been painted, frightening as that association should be, if she found it true...

Well. ]

[EMPATHY MODE: ENGAGED

j/k it's always engaged. And this is impossible to miss.]

What would make you more comfortable? Other than monetary recompense.

[The murderous part isn't true. Other bits of his accusations that haven't been brought to public light, well.

They very much are.]

Any sort of equivalent give and take. More... being able to give back something in return that's useful. Where it feels earned.

[ Earned might be the important part. People may give freely elsewhere, but that's never been the case for her; the "charity" of the king to the refugees being the exception.

Charity necessary for survival. Annie will take what she needs. What she doesn't need, what's extra, needs some merit behind it. ]

[He wouldn't mind if digestion found its way out of her mouth. God knows he thinks it enough himself, and really, he didn't have time to digest much of it. If any of it ever truly did get attacked by stomach acids. So it's not as bad as it could be.

April is one person he honestly wouldn't have any qualms with talking to Abigail about...well, most anything.

What is difficult is talking about getting off the floor any time soon, all things considered.]

Really gonna leave me down there with them? What if they get handsy?

[He needs protection. Clearly. Clearly he can't do it on his own, clearly that dog cozy with him isn't protected, clearly he needs some help with raccoons.]

IC contact [Mask or Menace]

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