IC contact [Mask or Menace]

[infomodder]

"Gone fishing."

[ so don't leave messages to ruin the after fishing glow !!!

your one stop shop for not leaving him alone ]

Comments

[infomodder]

[Will is a pretty great fisherman, truth be told, regardless of what or who he has tugging on the other end of his line (as long as poetry is not involved, at least). Eventually, once he can get the turbulence to settle, he can find a path that, if the other won't swim how he wants it to, he can at least trick it into that. Trick dogs into his car, trick crabs into a trap, make his own cage that, hopefully, narrows down to himself and whatever he's up against. Himself and the FBI in the case of serial killers, sure, but he doesn't have that back up here to rely on. It's all one-on-one, and his people have absolutely no problem pushing each other in front of danger if it means saving their own skin.

Will's not completely different.

He tilts his head, one eyebrow lifting as he digests the word honest. Yuri's been honest (or tried to be, at least) this entire time, and Will is continually shifting in place and trying to get him to wade through a different current. The current now being one of stark realization that he has failed, in some way, to protect someone he cares about and has to say it out loud is one that Will's very, very familiar with.

The "I fucked up and I can't say otherwise" current is one he wades into, dreaming and awake.

It's less of a look at your oops and haha I caught you than it could be, were it anyone else. While he is capable of playing the same games as the rest of the Baltimore crew on his own rabid frothing level, he also has that pesky empathy that proves difficult to turn off once it's kicked in.]

Anyone in that house could confirm it. We spent the night. [The elbow nearest Gunther nudges out, indicating the we involved. But Will is willing to throw a bone, riding on the prayer that Freddie used either just what he said or something essentially the same. A generic, less potent sort would be preferable. It was the third, today is the fifteenth. Twelve days. Would Yuri go straight to Jayden and take a hair? Cut his nails? It's possible that might still be there, if she dumped an entire box into whatever drink. But it's just as likely that nothing of note will turn up. He does sports, doesn't he? Surely he's taken a pill or two for pain related to practice?] I will be honest and say that, having worked with toxicology reports on my own, after a week, it would have likely passed from urine. However. [One set of fingers splay out—hear me out, this is helpful. I'm not bragging, I'm sharing. Let me share.] If you are sincere in your belief that he has, actually, been drugged, you still have options within this current time frame. [Haha. Current.] A strand of hair or some nail clippings would hold the evidence of drugs far longer than urine or an oral sample.

[And then he shrugs, just enough to show that he's not overly bothered by what comes out of his mouth next.]

Of course, any test of Jayden would turn up marijuana. If you want to go through with this and you are worried about that result coming back and making trouble for him, there are options for getting a toxicologist to ignore it and focus on anything else they might find. [And one of them is standing right in front of Yuri, isn't that darling.] So there is that.

[There is that indeed, coupled with the thin grim line that Will's lips tend to stay in, looking from Yuri to his tea down to the counter and "walking" his fingers over to that enormous book of mathematical suffering.

This sort of talk, drugs and results and tests, is commonplace to him. The accusations? He's not a fan in any way shape or form. But when it gets away from him and goes to a more general route, a route that involves him in the sense that involves his knowledge that plenty others have access to?

Well, damn, it does seem like just another day on his end.]

[purgation]

[It was important to remember that for however helpful Will was being now, minutes earlier he had been anything but. The man Yuri was speaking to had confessed to being able to break his own thumb because it had suited him. For all Yuri knew, Will was handing him information now for the same reason. The question was, what could Will possibly hope to gain from it? A shred of trust restored, perhaps? Was he hoping that Yuri wouldn't take him up on the suggestion to collect other samples from Jayden because he'd finally demonstrated some willingness to be helpful? Or was it because of the trouble it might spell for Jayden himself in the end?

And it would spell trouble, Yuri realized. Jayden was a teenager, and a reckless one at that. He might have taken care not to let on around Yuri that he took part in recreational drug use, but that didn't mean the judge was at all surprised to hear it was probably so.

For crying out loud...

It was beginning to feel rather like his back was against the wall now.]

I'll be sure to ask them.

[For a few moments, that was all Yuri said. Even as he took himself back to the counter, leaned his frame against it and stared down at the tea in his hands, he was quiet and contemplative.

He had options? Surely Will didn't mean himself. What kind of fool did he take Yuri for, exactly? The last thing the judge was prepared to do was bring sensitive sample matter to someone he suspected had had a hand in the need for such a thing to be analyzed in the first place. But who else did he know with the ability to provide the insights Will could?

No, more importantly, why was he even listening to suggestions from someone he had already decided couldn't be trusted? Particularly when those suggestions had legal consequences.]

Honestly... [There was that word again.] I'm not certain Jayden would forgive me if I took this that far without his knowing. [And it would inevitably get back to the teen, of that Yuri was certain.] There is also the question of legality. Without his consent, any holding of bodily fluids for the purpose of testing, or any testing itself, could be seen as a form of breaking the law.

[He set his cup down and pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. A headache was coming on...the sort that caring about others always tended to give birth to. What a nuisance.]

[infomodder]

[Will nodded at Yuri's plan to be sure to ask, not surprised by it but wondering how it would go down. Who might be at the house and what they would say. Will had become such a fixture by this point that even if whoever answered the door hadn't seen him that day, they could shrug and say it was probable. Likely, even. He was there enough, stuffing fish in the freezer. Yuri finding Ace would probably be the best, since...well, a talking dog, yes, of course Will Graham would be spending time there. He was a talking dog. A talking dog who could destroy a Goddamn house and flip a car without problem, so if anything got out of hand (or paw), Ace was pretty much the guard dog that all guard dogs should hold in hero status.

So the idea of Yuri going to confirm his whereabouts? Was one that Will seemed perfectly accepting of, didn't have him on edge. Didn't need to. Relaxed, flipping through that book and pulling the pencil out from where it was, even. Perhaps he'd been offended, aggressive, but when he was being accused by someone who made it evident he already had come to a conclusion and Will was guilty, was that so difficult to understand? Now that the storm had passed, he was calm. Certain, almost.

Either innocent or someone who had this shit on lock. At least, for the moment.

He doesn't look up until that cup hits the counter, eyes focused on Yuri's hand as opposed to anything else. He hears him, yes, but he doesn't need to stare at his mouth to make that much obvious, and mouths are close to eyes and eye contact is something he does a good job of avoiding. Yuri's distracted him from his book, that's all he should need to know Will is tuned in. Very tuned in. To his hands.

He follows the movement of the one to Yuri's nose and he puts that together easily enough. Will knows headaches like he knows fishing, by this point. Headaches that stem from all sorts of them and how to fight to them.

There's a pause before moves just enough to pull open a drawer underneath the counter, shuffling the contents around. It sounds like the normal, pencils and pens and paper and...something that rattles? Rattles in a tiny bottle. Something like—

—a bottle of extra strength ibuprofen, put on the counter right by Yuri's cup of tea without Will saying a word. Not a single word or sigh or looking up like he has any shame or finds this funny, just puts it out there and goes back to his bookkeeping.

He's a helper.]

[purgation]

[Could Will possibly be more insufferable if he tried?

The answer was probably yes. Yuri sighed.]

Ah...thank you. [Lowering his hand, the judge slid the bottle back toward Will.] But no thank you.

[Harmless as the ibuprofen might have been, the irony of taking any offered by Will at this particular time might have just killed Yuri on the spot. He wasn't about to make things that convenient for the other man.]

Do you have children, Will?

[infomodder]

[The answer was yes, yes he could. With everyone he knew, for better or worse.

It's nice that Yuri has manners, less nice when they're followed by that question. But Will's giving off a pretty good air of ready to get back to his bookkeeping, and the question comes right as he lifted up several pages, intent on looking through them for the one he needed.

He has a more tangible reason to be distracted this time around and he is taking full advantage of it. When Yuri asks, he scratches his neck with a pencil like a true heathen.]

No. [Said so casually it might as well have been a "nope" as Will separate two pages stuck together, wondering if he'll have to go the distance and his lick his thumb for full gross effect.] Have some numbers to run, though.

[Which is nicer than saying "get the hell out," at least.]

[purgation]

Hm.

[That explained a little.

Of course, Yuri had no children of his own, either. He'd told Jayden there were reasons for that when the teenager had asked, had said that his lifestyle hadn't been suitable for raising a family, but the truth was...he wasn't suitable. But that didn't mean he didn't know what it took to be a responsible parental figure. It didn't mean he didn't know what lines were appropriate to walk or cross.

That was, however, a discussion best left to another time. Will wanted to return to his books (or was using it as an excuse), and Yuri wanted to return to his apartment.]

I'll leave you to it, then.

[Without so much as another word, Yuri turned from the counter and, taking his tea with him, left the shop. All that was left now was to prepare for how he was going to confront Freddie Lounds.]