infomodder | IC contact [Mask or Menace]

I announced it after I was caught. I'd already admit to my crime, telling the Network about my fate was hardly going to change anything for me.

My sole goal is finding a way back to my own world. That's it. I couldn't care less about the state of this world and it's future. I'm not the first to say I'm not happy with being here, and I won't be the last, but I don't see a point in complaining if there's something I can do about it. My life here is only temporary. I'm not going to spend it worried about whether or not I'll be hired anywhere else here if it means releasing information that will lead to an answer that we need.

[He doesn't know what HIPPA is, but he can pick up what it is from context.]

So. You wanna find a way back to your own world, that's it. Not a way back for everyone, just you and...whoever else you know.

[Teammates would be from his own home, too, maybe? His voice is gradually growing into more a mutter as he continues. Unimpressed.]

Wouldn't need to release information to anyone if you don't look for a way for all of us. Temporary life for you, might be forever for everyone else. That what I'm hearing?

I believe you're putting words in my mouth. The way the Porter works is that we have control over it's locations, or we don't. Finding an answer for myself is finding an answer for everyone. I'm not that selfish.

[Will's going to remain mum's the word on the first part. It might be hot in the shop and his day before might have been crappy, but there's no need to really get into an argument. He's probably already being grouchy enough.]

Are you open to the real answer being the one you don't want it to be? [Acceptance is the first step, wasn't that what Will had said? Going into something without accepting the answer could be the last one wanted...] All the evidence in your face that it can't be done, would you accept that?

[Being stubborn might as well be genetic, for how hardwired it is into Houka's personal code.]

It's been done before. It can be done now. I refuse to give up on an idea that hasn't infinitely been proven otherwise. While the fate of my world is apparently saved... There are people I need to see. I can't accept that I won't see them again.

[Will's getting that much. Kid's stubborn, kid's a kid (in his head; he keeps getting called old for a reason), kid's got good experience with computers, not sure if the kid's got good experience with Certain Kinds of work and how he'll have to behave in order to not only keep on the crew but move up.

Not everyone has pesky empathy skills and all that.]

And if it's infinitely proven otherwise? You do all this work, get the answer, it's not what you wanted—what then? [How many times had they found answers they didn't want, didn't want to see, refused to accept could ever be possible? How many times would it happen again, how would it happen when Will went home to a hospital and spat fire and venom and spit about how he didn't do it with tons of evidence thrust in his face saying he did?] There's a few outcomes. One is what you want. One is not what you want. You go into it convinced what you don't want is impossible, you'll. Damage yourself.

[If he was cracking around this for something minor, Will wouldn't be saying as much, making it seem intense. This was a big thing, though. Going home. Getting everyone home. I can't accept that I won't see them again—that was plenty intense on its own.]

[...He didn't really think about it too much, honestly. He knows there's the possibility for failure in his plans, but out of desire to ignore the negative, he's stopped considering failure as a possibility. For Lady Satsuki.

He's not liking this conversation much anymore.]

A risk I'll take.

[In case the hacking attempt wasn't obvious, he's a biiiiit reckless.]

[ What she reads is there are so many more laws dictating everything here, and that worlds larger than humanity's walls still track down the minutia of resources for the sake of knowing where they go. There are many more people required to enforce all these laws.

There are ways to be tripped up even studying the broad movements of this culture. Annie doesn't care about the specifics of fishing. She cares about the implications. She cares about these words, Atlantic (the ocean they're on, she knows this now), the Gulf (related to a part of the seas). The way there's hundreds of permutations on the hows and whys and that's for fishing, something that's not just survival and hope for staving off starvation here.

If you're doing it for recreation... What a luxury indeed. ]

Have you been fishing most your life? You seem to know so much about it.

[ Is it a hobby. Is it something so ... modern. ]

[Oh, there are so many laws. One day, if she expressed interest, he'd tell her of the ones that had fallen out of fashion. He'd tell her about the ones that were so stupid people refused to believe they'd ever existed. Ones about donkeys in bathtubs or how no one could wrestle a wild alligator (did that mean they could wrestle a friend's pet alligator, and when was it okay to own them in the first place?). He wasn't a lawyer and never wanted to be. His line of work made him know plenty about the law, even if he didn't talk about it much. No reason to when everyone else he worked with knew just about as much as he did, if not more.]

My father worked on boats all my life. Still does. Where I grew up, you learned to swim around the same time you learned to walk. Fishing was a natural evolution. Rules are different in different states, different waters, different kinds of fish, and it's a lot to know, but I've got to know it for here. I didn't know all of it back home, but it's Florida. I own a boat shop. Bit of a requirement. You fish or hunt or anything back where you're from?

[Finding the truth and the truth not being what he wants isn't failure. It's a possibility. It's one that sucks but one that has to be taken into consideration. That's all Will was trying to say.

He knows what it's like to hunt down the truth and find what he didn't want. Find it and lose it at the same time.

Damaged. Burned. Scarred. All of it. Like hell he'll fess up, though.]

If you're offered to learn something different, take it up. Ask about other departments when you've been there a while, but don't be overly eager to hear more about than what's readily offered. Learn and focus only on what they want you there for. Don't ever let on that you've got more interest than that. You want to build trust? Show them the only thing you're concerned with is what they want you to be concerned with. [It all comes out quickly, and even if it might be obvious, Will's had experience with "too much interest" in things that aren't very related to a job going sour. Precincts in large towns, not every cop who gets in is there for the right reasons. The kid's a kid, too, he keeps thinking. His job experience might be minimal at best.] Model employee learns what's required in the job they're designated. [Designs! Again!] Become that model employee. Make connections in other areas of the government. Learn more. Find other ways into other departments that they didn't tell you so much about when you first asked. Could lead to just what you want.

That's probably where they hide more important information. Department you'd least expect it. You'd be surprised where the FBI shifted certain things just so anyone who went snooping would never find it.

[What are morals.]

[He's young, like Will assessed. He hasn't experienced the same kind of betrayals and hardships Will has. Houka doesn't understand really, how crushing it can be for the truth to not be what he thinks it is, and for there to be no answer afterwards. He's had his truth questioned before, but he was given a path to follow after that. If there was the real possibility that he would be stuck in this world for the rest of his life... Without Satsuki, without Nonon, without Shiro...

This is all good advice and information though. He'll be sure to keep a note of all this.]

I suppose I'm lucky I have an... ex-federal agent? -to impart this advice.

[With the way Will's advising, it sounds like he knows exactly what he's talking about. ]

Special Investigator.

[He doesn't expect many people to know what that truly means. It's not a compliment. It's not a rank above or below. It's essentially a bullshit term slapped together to give Will some semblance of "belonging" in the field, as far as he's concerned. It's a joke and an insult and he'd honestly rather not have one at all. When interacting with most people, it's no big deal. When walking the halls of the Academy before he'd shot a serial killer to death in his own home?

Will knew his stuff. But he was still not enough. Special, but not as special as he needed to be.]

Not an agent. I had difficulty with some parts of the testing. Not sure if Doctor Chilton knows about anyone else but. I'd be the edge case he was talking about. The ex- part is still correct. I'm taking this as an early, bizarre retirement.

[There's something about the way he talks about Chilton that lets on Will might have some issues with him, and not just because of that comment.

Will wouldn't wish his understanding of the world due to the crap he's dealt with on anyone. He can't convince people if they're stubborn, willing to take risks and fly in the face of the possible. He's not the kind of guy most people would trust on many life lessons. He's not that...composed. Together.

Stable.]

Edited 2014-06-03 09:17 (UTC)

[ ... She'd listen. It's almost sad that she'd listen. She might be amused, before the list got too long and she started wondering when it'd be over. Sit back and think of...

...

... Geography. ]

I don't, personally, but I know how to fish, and technically how to hunt. I wouldn't think I'm any good at it.

[ She might be. She can hunt people; it stands to reason. This conversation isn't doing wonders for where her thoughts go. ]

Learning to swim wasn't a priority. We're mostly landbound, outside of the main rivers through human territory, and the lakes scattered around. If you're living on well water, the most you see is down a stone shaft or falling from the skies during autumn and winter.

[He's bad with people, but he's not that bad.

Have a little faith.]

That sounds like nothing I know. Human territory is generally where we want to plant a house and a road and a Starbucks. Too hot or too cold, we leave it alone. Everywhere else, it seems to be the thought that it's really our oyster.

[Wait.]

Oyster meaning it's an opportunity we can take if we want, and nothing can stop us. You stay in Heropa, you have an ocean on one side and the Gulf on the other. Probably wise to learn to swim.

Edited 2014-06-05 04:56 (UTC)

[ Faith is in short supply. Come back later; she might scrape something up off the bottom of the barrel by then. ]

I've moved, actually. Too hot. But I've been learning to swim with a [ she pauses in typing. how to label Reiner? what's the most acceptable way? ] former comrade from home.

It's been an experience. There are community centers that offer lessons, but with the commute back and forth from Heropa, things haven't lined up well for official training.

[Hopefully it's better than that tilapia bullshit.]

Official training in swimming? [Do people still do that? Where he's from, they may as well just toss toddlers in the water. Go, be free. Like Spartan boys, really, though people will not let them die. That's not on the menu. So maybe not exactly like Spartan boys.] You don't need training unless you want to be a lifeguard. You can learn to swim without lessons. I mean, it's great to have them! But unless you want to learn fifteen different strokes and how to save people from drowning, that's a little overboard.

[Nautical terms everywhere.]

Where'd you move to?

[ Can't be worse. It's only one barrel. ]

Anything more than the doggy-paddle might be appreciated. It works... it's loud.

Ah, I moved to Nonah. The residences are outside of the city, backing to a forest. It's quiet.

[ Comparatively. It gives her someplace to pull out her gear, short test runs while she waits on hearing back on getting the right kind of compression canisters installed. Or gets the whole guardian thing finalized... and gets to work with the company in Nonah she's been conversing with.

That Nonah's a little amusing with how she was involved in the not so heroic side of the monorail crash... well, she doesn't talk about that. Or the fireworks. ]

[How big is the barrel? A barrel could hold sixty fish and still be brimming with tilapia bullshit. Need to get a bigger barrel.]

Doggy-paddling's great when you need it, but it'll wear you fast. Learning a basic stroke is pretty much all you need. Well, if you're going swimming in an ocean there's more information you'll need, but for lakes and pools you'd be fine with just a regular stroke.

[No one gives a shit, Will. No one.]

The place with the ceremony a while back? The one where you saw the killer whale? Did you visit the other cities and pick Nonah or did you just pick that one because people you knew were there, too?

[Jesus, Will really wants to move to De Chima. Apparently no one's been, or hasn't mentioned it. He can't just get up and move without knowing anything—

—actually, wow, he can. He's an adult. He could do that, no problem.

He also has no idea about the monorail crash or fireworks or a lack of heroics. Shockingly, he does not give a single shit about it. Some law enforcement worker, this guy.]

[ What about those barrels filled with monkeys? The cheap, plastic kind, where the tails and arms all hook together. Top quality faith out of something like that, make no mistake. ]

What makes up the difference between the two?

I don't know anyone in Nonah. I don't really like the city, either.

[ Annie. Annie, why the hell did you move there? ]

But out of the cities with military outposts nearby, it was the only one close to the woods. I looked.

[ The tiniest, smallest sliver of familiarity. These woods are too small, the trees too stunted, humanity's presence smeared all over everything in a very strange, semi-cultivated manner. At least close to where people lived. Further out, it's a little different.

Will, you are exactly what everyone could hope for in a law enforcement officer. Sort of. Depending on who "everyone" might be. Then again, Annie's not much better. There's too much in the world if one wants to blanketly care about things not directly related to them. Screw that. ]

Concerning our situation? We shall simply wait to see, I suppose. There's ever a flux in motion.

[Any impulse to reconsider his decision, to invoke an alliance with Will Graham while simultaneously denying the man crucial information, is disregarded upon conception. Chilton is steadfast in his commitment -- to himself. His priority is guarding his own interest.

But as fleeting as his loyalty may be, that doesn't completely obviate a sense of camaraderie. Deserved or not, Chilton feels somewhat connected to Will; trauma truly did bring people closer together.

He worked with gray, that Doctor Chilton. There was no inherent argument about what he was doing to Will (however passive it may be), and what he expected from Will.]

Duly noted, about your shop. I'll bear it in mind. Until then.

[But when the monkeys run out, so does the faith, and Buzz Lightyear stays trapped with the toy-destroying neighbor next door. That barrel is too small.]

Doggy-paddling can take a lot of energy out of you. Does still serve a purpose. I know the military teaches it in case they ever need to be silent because your arms or legs don't go in and out of the water. But you can't get as far doggy-paddling as you can with other strokes. It's fun, but you won't be able to get back to shore easily with it. That makes sense. You live with housemates though, right? You're not in Nonah on your own? Former comrade's there?

[Woods are great.

When they don't have...certain...creatures in them.

He's the guy that make the criminals happy or something, Edgeworth said it himself.]

You know Chilton, then.

[Not that it wasn't somewhat obvious before, but confirmation was nice. And yes, he picks up the bitterness in that tone. Unfortunately for Will, Inumuta's already spoken to Chilton a few times, and all of those times have been somewhat flattering. Might have a bit of a tendency towards the other, than against.]

Based off what you're saying- or rather, your attitude on it, if you're taking this as retirement, then I'm assuming that if given the chance to go back to your world, you wouldn't take the opportunity. Right?

[…And maybe he's a bit into the same invasive questions as Chilton, might be why they get along like they do.]

[ Ah, but that's the perfect size for her. Trapped with the toy-destroying neighbor next door and everything, without a Woody on reserve. ]

I'm not sure if I'd call it fun, but it's still hard to accept all this water as something that isn't just for drinking and chartered boat travel by the merchants and government. You wouldn't find the same freedom of use back home. Contamination is too likely, and too costly.

I live with someone I knew from home. We both trained in the same unit, up until graduation.

[ Like Titans? Or things with antlers?

Edgeworth. The man who's more notable to Annie for offering to send her handkerchiefs than his lawyering career - but that's another position of authority and corruption, the trial system within the military. Court Martialing. It was going to kill Eren, and it will be her end, eventually. Presuming humanity survives, and human memory serves longer than human forgiveness can extend. ]

Wrong.

[People are often Wrong about Will Graham. He doesn't give them more information than he needs to when he needs to. This question is a little invasive, but it's not phrased in a way that immediately has him ready to snarl, bark, bite, froth, spit.

His voice is firm. He's not angry, he just needs to make sure his point is clear.]

I have business to attend to back in my world. I have things that need to be taken care of. Things that I need to see done, not hear from anyone else, which is not meant as an insult to Doctor Chilton. Something I have to do on my own.

[Even if that means he'll have to...well, deal with Chilton.]

I can understand the views of those who would not want to return to theirs. That's all.

[If Chilton thinks that Will hasn't picked up there are some very vital things he isn't being told, he's wrong. Ripper this, Ripper that. Ripper Ripper Ripper. Both he and Gideon's jump to Hannibal so soon after. No, no, Will knew there were things he probably should know being kept from him. He's keeping questions regarding other people to himself (for now), because he's not sure what he'll find.

He hasn't exactly always made healthy choices for himself. He's doing that now in the way that he's choosing not to ask. To press. To beg.

There is a worry that one day it might all come out in a way that's far more hurtful than it needs to be. If he's had enough time to get his head back together physically...he can handle it.

Maybe.]

Until then, Doctor Chilton.

[Chilton might hear himself in those two words. Will Graham's voice, but not his cadence, his timber, not the way Will would say those words. No, it's all Chilton. It's a little mocking, but it's all he's got to say.

Actually, he has plenty to say. He just doesn't think it's wise to say what's on his mind.

That's always gotten him in trouble.]

IC contact [Mask or Menace]

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lateee, sorry!

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