infomodder | IC contact [Mask or Menace]

[But what happens when a worm gets around to that heart, Jonathan? Sees all those secrets and starts wriggling, demanding room for itself by kicking them out? As that mask and face become one, as they crack and blend and meld and eventually the madness within is laid out for all to see like a buffet filled with flies, and maggots, and disease?

Scarecrows are only left out standing in their fields for so long, after all. Clothes warp, stuffing falls, crows tear, and as everything rips and rends and unravels, what's left for the world to see other than the crippled decay of madness?]

You don't have much experience with dogs, do you? [That is Will's refuge, nonjudgmental instead of condescending—he could strike for Crane's propensity to discuss fear, but he's sure it's been done before. Probably by people who didn't know any better to not aim for that particular blow, and thus, perhaps, proved themselves almost worthless in Crane's mind. He's been advised to put distance between himself and Crane, those words are constantly running through his mind, but he can't go about it in the same way others might. No, no, he has to remain his typical atypical self.] Dogs bark out of fear, sure. They also bark thanks to boredom, loneliness, in greeting. Because they're happy. You'll find compulsive barkers, probably dealing with anxiety over being isolated for too long. And then you've got those dogs that only bark because they're territorial, protective, sense threats. The ones in the neighborhood you want to take note of, because if they're barking? Something serious is going on.

[Like Frederick rolling around screaming on the floor.]

You can guess I'm barking up the wrong tree all you want, Doctor Crane, but if your guess about why the dog's barking in the first place is off the mark? Your conclusion's the same.

[Look at this polite, respectful, long-winded, dog-loving, near-smiling method for Will to basically say: Close but no cigar, dickhead.]

[Dogs are something Crane looks down on. They're said to be man's best friend - and friendship is a system of social bonding in order to defend against a very real fear. Pack mentality. That wasn't to say he was fond, necessarily, of the animal some had come to associate him with. Crows. He can't think of them in the same light others might. They had been with him all his life in a most intimate way, which he could now, literally, visit on other people.

The thought made him lose himself for a moment. Will had basically said he was full of nonsense, a gigantic stink that his bloodhound nature had a nose for. What Will wasn't sniffing was that, were he a hound who followed his own nose - oh, he'd seen that about him - then Crane was that crow sitting above him in the tree branches. He wanted him to "drop his shit"? Fine. He would do it from a great height and land some on Frederick too.

Yes, he saw that attempt to swing the conversation back around. Good try - and he doesn't often compliment people.]

Well, that dog [Frederick Chilton.] should have never stuck his nose under the fence. Who knows what monster lurks on the other side? Ah, but that doesn't account for if that same beast knows what he's seeking in the first place, does it?

[Buyer beware. Chilton had gone searching for a monster. Could Crane be blamed for Chilton's decisions? The good doctor had found exactly what he had been looking for.]

[It creeps, slow and only in his head, the shadow of Hannibal Lecter stretching out over him. The roundabout discussion, monsters lurking...he wonders who Chilton found. Or, perhaps, who found Chilton to keep him out of contact. To keep him away from a session with Will Graham.

Because Crane is a who, not a what. They all are, no matter how much they try to be otherwise. In the end, they're all just people. Regardless of how badly that might piss them off to be considered the same, similar, to common folks.]

Monster? [He scratches at his neck like this entire conversation is very normal, nothing out of place going on right now. Just two coworkers chatting!] That's another loaded word—what monster are we talking about?

[Uhm yes he totally could. Monsters who are people are still accountable for their actions, same as people who aren't monsters. Get with the program.]

[The program is a collection of imperfect standards decided by a terrified society. Crane didn't think standards applied to him; that's why he actively creates his own. When people defend themselves with bravado, he opens their eyes and makes them accept their fear. It's also for the heart thumping, back bracing, skin sweating thrill. He enjoys watching people be affected by his work.

He knows he's not insane. He doesn't fear whatever prison keeps him. He doesn't fear facing down the barrel of a gun. The anticipation of solitary confinement doesn't give him a cold sweat, and he's not afraid to just be himself.]

That depends on Chilton's vision of a monster, doesn't it? What he sees in that term, and what I see, are two different creatures. But like they say, the worst kind of monster is man.

[Just two work colleagues talking shop, right?]

[His lips thin out—not a frown, but very close to one. Granted, people who knew Will on a daily basis could see it as his default "at rest" position. He rarely looks particularly enthused to begin with.]

Doctor Chilton [there's that respect again, if only away from Frederick, away from him and not around the rest of Baltimore] and I have different opinions on quite a lot; that might be one of them.

[Talking shop indeed; Will says it the same way he might when talking about someone who has a different opinion on, say, a painting. A movie. Nothing of importance, nothing that can lead lives to either greatness or complete and utter ruin.]

Do you and he...talk about monsters often?

[Because Will's been instructed to put distance, no, no, to keep at being his usual self. So asking outright "did he call you a monster?" is, in fact, what he wants to do. But he can't, not yet. He can't so obviously give away that he has some inkling about what might have happened, but it's there just the same.]

[Crane's reaction is equally normal; he is just an awkward but polite doctor Will sees on a daily basis. Sometimes a little brusque when his time gets wasted, but such behaviour isn't strange for him. He looks and sounds pleasant enough. He's unremarkable, too - he doesn't dress to attract and impress, and his suit doesn't show any hint of colour or personality. In fact, with his glasses and his threadbare sweater, he seems as bookish as he is elegant with his posture.

He tilts his head slightly at Will's show of respect. He knows the man is wanting to say something, but he needs more time in his company to pinpoint what he's after. Just a few more minutes - though the topic they're discussing right now is a good clue.

Will and Frederick have a relationship, though he isn't privy to the inner workings of it. He can't quite put his finger on what feels wrong about the path this conversation is heading down, and he isn't afraid to throw out a match to burn all the weeds that have taken root.]

Only as much as the two of you, Will.

[That gets a reaction, however minute it might be. He tilts his head back, eyebrows coming together, a mix of confusion and what could be seen as him taking offense. How presumptuous! But Will is fully aware things go on behind the scenes he is not privy to; it's always been that way. Conversations have happened that he won't ever have the full transcript for, like with Clark and Chilton. Perhaps Chilton and Crane had discussed Will, too, and Crane's assessment now comes from that, not the desire to bait. To goad. To press and push and see what works, what shatters, what heals...temporarily.]

Is that what he's told you? [A direct request to counter his defenses being up, his current guarded nature. Always good to keep 'em on their toes.] Or you just assume a criminal profiler and an administrator at a home for the criminally insane have nothing more to discuss, when they do get around to talking to each other at all?

[They do have a relationship, and the inner workings of can't ever be shared fully. At least, one aspect can't. Will knows full well that Chilton has dropped a few select mentions of him around the Network, and he can't be bothered by it too much. He also knows that the unfortunate demise of Abel Gideon (again) is one that could tarnish them both, and can't be shared. One of the most telling parts of them is a secret neither can afford to part with, isn't that how it always goes? Here, Will isn't ready to part with much on the depth of their relationship. Sure, they talk. Sure, they meet face-to-face. Don't many others from the same world? If Crane is looking for Will to give him cues, give him a look inside to reveal that he and Frederick Chilton are more than just people who have come from the same world and shared some similar events, if he's looking for a hint that there is some stronger bond...Will isn't on board with it. He'll shut it down, if only to figure out what this whole gossip is about.

Which might be telling in and of itself, but Will's not the most open person in the first place, and he is going to bank on that until the cows come home. He's guarded about his relationship with Chilton, so fucking what? He's guarded about what he does outside of work aside from fishing, how surprising he'd be unwilling to divulge details of something personal. Not Will Graham.]

[Crane wants to see everything Will suspects, but he also needs to see him squirm, just like everybody else. Any attempts made would heal, but they'd be stored in subconscious memory, and that he knows can be the cause of so much psychological pain.

Frederick suffered from a severe case; and because Crane was curious, and just wanted to add a little chaos to his order and generate new ideas and theories, he was compelled to cast his stone in the lake. Though it would be more of a depth charge. Let's stun those fish and bring them all to the surface, Will. Yours and Chilton's.]

Well, I can assume the two if you discuss many things. Abel Gideon, perhaps.

[Shitbird knows Frederick's dirty secret.]

[Wait, what? Of all names to bring up...

Can they just talk about Hannibal? He's easier. He's not here, and his exit didn't involve anything criminal. Unintentional or otherwise.]

We used to. Doctor Gideon was how we initially met. [Crane might be throwing names in the dark to see what sticks, Will thinks. He can deal with that.] But as he's not around and there are more pressing issues going on, we don't have a need to discuss him.

[His mirror. Or, perhaps, he's Abel's mirror. Not a comfortable topic. It feels like, no matter what "world" they're in, the last time Will gets a glimpse of poor Abel Gideon is going to be when he's really, really, really dead. Oh well.]

[Crane steeples his fingers. He taps them together a few times, thinking up new ideas in his head. Will's deflecting the conversation away from Abel - thus he's turning it from Frederick Chilton, too.]

Really? But the fact is he was around, at one time.

[He keeps a very calm face, watching carefully for any reaction Will cares to make. He's clinical and curious; from the professionalism of his expression to the softly-spoken voice that comes from his lips.]

Frederick seems to have taken his disappearance to heart. He seemed quite nauseous, last time we spoke. [What a friendly, gentle shitbird he is!] Shame is a soul-eating emotion, you know.

[Will doesn't like this much at all, and part of him thinks that it's so easy for Crane to wrap the straitjacket around him as tightly as he has because of Chilton. Because of Chilton opening his big mouth. He understands the desire to want to discuss aspects of one's life, to relate, to find others who can understand, he certainly does. But this is turning on Will, now, and although he knows better than to pass on the full blame to Frederick Chilton and his Goddamn gossipy mouth, there is a part of him that stings, burns, itches with the want to call him up and give him a nice tongue-lashing. A gentle tongue bath, dog to dog.

He backed him into a corner with Walter White. Fine. He at least got a Thai dinner out of that. Being backed into a corner with Crane, his coworker? That was bordering on unacceptable. That was rude, and while Will wasn't one to turn his back on another for such things, he didn't like it.]

Don't you have work to do? Because I do, and I'm already running a little behind.

[So what's to be done in this situation? Shut it down, and Crane has given him the best way to do that by ringing him up at work. What a kind shitbird he is, that earns a question void of condescension or judgment and Will going so far as to put them on some sort of equal footing. Because that's what those superior types love, being on equal ground with fashion disasters and uncultured messes like Will Graham.]

Edited 2015-05-14 21:13 (UTC)

[It's a reaction Crane's planned for.

If Will's trying to talk him into a corner, then he'll just demolish the walls. He genuinely enjoys this small game they have created, when he realizes Will isn't about to roll over and take it. There is a part of him that's overjoyed to see the other man isn't a coward. That is fascinating, and it's perhaps exactly what Will's after. It's a fantastic way to paint a target on his back; appealing to his curiosity.

The problem is Crane is a wantonly selfish man. There is no love more sincere for him than the love of knowledge. But he isn't contented with just having what someone said he ought to have. He doesn't want to eat one or two pieces of it. He wants to devour it all.

Maybe he should call Frederick later. Or maybe not. Will Graham might do that, now.]

Of course. Goodbye, Will. We'll talk later.

[You know exactly what he'll be after, dog.]

IC contact [Mask or Menace]

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