infomodder | IC contact [Mask or Menace]

[Well, video for video is fair—above and beyond, this one. Will switches his on, too, slouched into a futon but wearing a name tag, the hair a mess in the way that he totally just took off a hat—another day at work, basically.]

This is fine, just doing some bookkeeping. [Being the boss means he can do that on the futon. Being the boss? It's great.] I—should I ask why it took so long?

[Because asking questions like "are you okay?" is really not his thing.]

[She can lure all she wants, persuasive, a pretty sort of plain in the eyes in the others, absolutely gorgeous in the eyes of three fathers, though two with skewed ideas of love and beauty. He imagines Hobbs kept her close, doesn't know the extent of how close Lecter kept her, but Will isn't afraid of letting go, not like this. Experience can't be fully gotten when someone stays under the same umbrella all throughout life, when one has to trust instead of learn.

He made his own mistakes as a young person, including what could be seen as running away. Who is he to take away that joy from Abigail Hobbs, the joy of being young? Or trying to be. To figure it out in a different world.]

Needs to be cut monthly, at the rate it's growing now.

[Which means three weeks, roughly. He'll give her three weeks out on her own if she's so intent.

She's not in his hair like lice. She's in his hair and he damn well likes it. She can come back and cut it again, take away strength and renew it at the same time. Or she can just come back. That's fine, too.]

[How cold is Alaska? Shit, he doesn't...]

Freezing cold. It's covered in snow and ice. [ALL OF IT. NOTHING IS NOT WHITE.] I've never been myself, but it's—well known for being really cold.

[ stiles is almost jealous: he dreams of working from home. he scratches at his chin, which is basically his I'm trying to work out how much of the truth I'm gonna tell gesture. ]

I got to go home for a while, actually. Live out a few exciting months back in California.

[Bookkeeping helps him look distracted, has him shuffling papers off his lap as he settles into talk, tangible reason to not stare at Stiles directly. He notes every little thing, of course, but the more he can do that without it being obvious, the better.

Good thing he's working in a bait shop; the way his mouth opens and then shuts is reminiscent of a fish dumbly, mindlessly doing the same as it swims. He's not sure how one goes about this talk when there's no groundwork already laid—a survived gutting, a missing leg...]

Isn't it always exciting in California? [Perhaps a little State humor isn't far off the mark.] Earthquakes, wildfires, droughts, gold mining. [The way he says it, one might believe Will is old enough to have taken part in said gold mining.] You didn't just get back, did you?

[Because the serial killer father triangle talk can totally wait a day or two if Stiles is already compromised. If he's not, Will can just...alter it.]

Yesterday afternoon.

[ he shrugs, not quite apologetic. ]

I had a lot of messages.

[ and he'd sent out a bunch of texts letting people know yes, actually, he's still alive. and today had been making sure he still had a place at school and a part-time job. vanishing without notice for a week tends to put people out. ]

And, you know, I needed a day to recover after all that time in the mines.

[That seems to be the right answer, or close to right. Not much is right here. Will might be able to move from one hideous thing to another with little to no warning, but Will's also got plenty of years (he assumes Stiles is what he looks and not lying about that) and plenty of experience. He might need a hour to deal with this weird universe being slammed back in his face, but a kid? Probably more. That Stiles took the time he needed (or felt he needed) is noted away, though whether it's because of forethought or just him "finally" getting to it, well. He's not sure.]

Probably need to get checked for lung cancer. The ventilation down there was horrible. [Padding, and padding along. Enough shifting, time to settle in and take a breath without realizing he's doing just that, giving himself away.] Abigail told me about this really, really nice boy she went on a maybe picnic date with and told about some— [His nose wrinkles.] —stuff. If Abigail wants to share any of that with you, that's fine. But.

[He's so glad he took off his hat now. It was such a Goddamn stupid hat. Trying to be all solemn and bordering on growling dad while wearing something that said REEL WOMEN FISH didn't seem to match up.]

I need you to keep any actual references of that stuff out of the public eye. Not for me, not for her, but for you.

[He's not privy to a conversation the two had, talking about Stiles being safe. Will would like for him to be safe in the way that he's not murderous jackass, of course. But he'd also like him to be safe in the way that he doesn't come under fire from a murderous jackass.]

I'm sure Freddie knows a good hair salon.

[ bc curls. mostly abigail just doesn't want to indicate she'll come back when, right now, she really doesn't want to. ]

[That's good and all, really, but she needs to understand that no matter how off the tracks she tries to go, if she doesn't check in, if she doesn't pop back up...Will's going to initiate contact. And if that goes ignored, bloodhound's gonna do what a bloodhound does best.]

I'm glad for Freddie. Doesn't pertain to me outside of that.

It might if I decide I like the town I grew up in is better than Heropa. At least there are four seasons in Bloomington.

[ or... summer, pre-winter, winter, second winter, elevensies, luncheon, surprise winter and then "summer" again. ]

[But not a city that would get her the best of the best. So...okay to run away to, not to live in. What if it's not even there?]

If I ask what flipped this switch, am I gonna get a raspberry?

[ SHE HAS COORDINATES. SHE WILL FIND A REPLACEMENT BLOOMINGTON. ]

No. I only do that when its stuff about home.

[Will Graham, keenest bloodhound that ever ran with Jack Crawford's pack, is an observant individual. Since coming here, he's had more of a chance to observe the modern teenager. He can attempt to communicate like one better now.

Behold:]

??? ??? ?

Jayden kissed me.

[This reply takes a few minutes. Because his initial reaction isn't quite so. Well.

Balanced.]

Had he just eaten a bunch of onions or garlic bread? That has to be a horrible kiss for your next move to be getting the hell out of any city with imPorts and back to Minnesota.

[Too much tongue...?????? How does one person fuck up a kiss this badly, he does not know.]

No!

Shut up, it wasn't bad. It was nice.

You are not allowed to go Uncle Buck on him.

They probably have imPorts in Minnesota, too.

ImPorts aren't what I'm getting away from, that makes me sound racist. I just want to get away from people.

In general.

[Shut up? WOW. That is like saying, "I want to get away from people, but you should take my other ear first because I'm rude." Abiveal for dinner, that's all she wrote.]

You are allowed to enjoy nice things. You don't have to run away from something that's nice because of some sort of self-imposed guilt about not deserving anything good, acting along the lines that if it stumbles along you have to immediately get rid of it in the most extreme way possible. This is a very extreme reaction. This is a hyperactive reaction, no matter how much time you've put into looking at costs.

[Which doesn't mean he won't give her ticket money, but now that things are getting clearer (or so he thought), this is...not what he expected, like, at all.]

[ sass comes with adopting a teenager. brought this on to yourself, sir. ]

It is not extreme. And it's not self-imposed guilt.

[ it is, a little bit. because of stiles. but explaining that means she would have to, you know, tell will that he is gone and abigail doesn't want to talk about it so she just chucks that context out the window. ]

Nevermind.

[THE ADOPTION WASN'T HIS CHOICE HIS LIFE IS SO HARD]

Running back to the state where your father murdered girls who looked like you and then murdered your mother and then tried to murder you and the Chesapeake Ripper cut off your ear because you're upset about something you just, yourself, described as nice is not an extreme reaction and has nothing to do with guilt.

[Sometimes people are force fed ears. Sometimes they are force fed their own words. One is preferable to the other, isn't it? And at least Will is not the dad who would take to Jayden in the same way Abigail took to the young, deceased Mister Boyle.]

What am I not supposed to be minding here?

That's not

Why.

You're being a jerk.

Then tell me the full thing if it's not just because you and Chia Pet had a kiss.

[So he can, perhaps, be a jerk more accurately. Everyone wants that. It's what they pay him for.

Well, not really. But he gets away with it. Along with murder, in some ways. Throw him a freaking bone, Abigail.]

[ oh, shit. this is an actual serious talk. for some reason, despite the switch to video, he wasn't expecting that, but it stands to reason in retrospect, given the initial messages. ]

Okay.

[ it's just filler more than real agreement, drawn out while he processes. should he tell will that he's not sure stuff is gonna work out with abigail after all? but he still doesn't know what he's doing there, can't really say anything before he's talked to her himself. so for now, whatever rules will wants to set in place are gonna stand. ]

We mostly talked about her dad. And you. And keeping other people's secrets.

[ mostly his friends', but he gets what will is saying. ]

[ Uhhhhhh. ]

W-Well... we're probably going someplace warm? [ Oh god, she's going to freeze. ] And you said the parka is very warm itself, right?

Apparently he never noticed my deformity until he was up close and personal with it.

It didn't go well.

Because Jayden is normal and reacts normally when fucked up shit is right in his face.

[ oh swears. look how phenomenally upset she is, she can't figure out another way to explain that isn't laced with profanity. but she also doesn't blame jayden for reacting. she just hates that she let herself get caught off guard and she really hates that she cared enough that it hurt, tremendously ashamed of her own perceived stupidity. karma sure knew how to hit where it hurt. ]

I was stupid enough to think it stopped mattering. That pretty girls don't actually have to worry about ears.

I don't want to be near people because people look at me like I'm a freak. Or purposely avoid looking at my scars like they can pretend I'm not grotesque.

Like they can pretend I'm whole.

[Oh no, swearing. He's never heard those words.]

Your not having an ear is not fucked up shit, Abigail. How you came to be missing it is the part that is fucked up shit.

[There is a difference between someone who was born without or had to give up an ear, an arm, legs, whatever else due to accident or disease and someone had had it taken from them. He hasn't taken the time to focus on the wound, but he saw the ear loud and clear. He knows it was cut off. He knows that if someone got close enough, they'd be able to tell that it wasn't, well. Congenital or gotten rid of due to real need. Where's Miriam Lass when you need her.

(Will doesn't know but THERE WAS NEVER A BODY and that arm was fresh stop being so bullheaded Jack)]

Just because someone looks at you like a freak doesn't mean you are a freak. What people look at you as doesn't reflect who you are. In fact, it does a damn good job at reflecting them as much as you might think it reflects you. And if your desire here is to get away from people on the whole, just under $500 isn't going to help you do that. You want to get away for a while, fine. Have a vacation, okay. But you're going to have to come back to society at some point, and if you're not using that vacation to help develop coping skills and mechanisms, this is never going to get any better. You can make it a goal to repeat a vicious cycle and grow stagnant during it as much as you want. But I'm going to shoot that down every time.

[Maybe he doesn't say "no" as much as he should, but he'll strive to make sure that he says what needs to be said in the place of it. Lecter might be better at coddling and cooing than Will is, but...Will is also not going to slaughter Abigail and anyone she has attachments to because he's a maliciously curious fucktruck who never learned how to share in the sandbox.

They're different levels of jerk, okay.]

IC contact [Mask or Menace]

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