infomodder | IC contact [Mask or Menace]

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IC contact [Mask or Menace]

"Gone fishing."

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

your one stop shop for not leaving him alone ]

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[Enter: Clark. Completely unaware of Will's little (!) freak out and the fact that he's causing someone an emotional crisis just by needing to talk to them. Looking back not mentioning the subject of the questions might have not been a smart move, but he's always found out curiosity is one of people's biggest motivators.

If people know what he wants to ask, they wait. If they wonder, they call.]

Hey! Thanks for calling back so fast. Freddie said I should mention she was sending me to you so you wouldn't be confused, but I know your opinion on her kind of reporting so I wasn't sure if I was making things worse.

If you don't mind telling me, how long have you been here?

[Will's line of work back home had him learning to function by being in a constant state of emotional crisis; Clark should never feel bad if he finds out about this because, well, it's pretty much the life of Will Graham. WEEH. It's not really out of the norm for him, for better or worse (usually worse, it veers towards worse ALL THE TIME).

Just don't ever mention the idea that curiosity is one of people's biggest motivators and it can't be too bad.]

Freddie and I have since come to an understanding about her kind of reporting. You won't be making anything worse. [The understanding being Will went home and got some extra perspective and he will personally see to it that a bunch of whiny little shits don't take Freddie out of the picture. Suck it up, brats. The "confession" comes out in a throaty voice, Will's been eating gravel angrily. Grah grah Freddie Lounds, gotta keep up appearances he still has a raging distaste for her, grumpy coursing through these veins.] I got here middle of April this year. [Facts!!!! Facts are fun and easy, and since they're not the sort of facts he's used to dealing with for his class, he can deliver them with a less somber, near grumbling voice. Even if he wants to because Freddie said I should mention she was sending me just has him waiting for something, anything about the murderous sprees that have cropped up during their time here. What, is she not confident enough to send him to Tattlecrime? (as if)] The fourteenth, to be exact.

[Freddie and Will both agree that Yuri Petrov is a pain in the ass. From what he's seen of Clark and Freddie speaking to each other, perhaps they can also both agree that Clark Kent is an all right guy. The anti-Hannibal that can unite them.

It's nice. New. Appreciated. Will might have been an absolute shit to Freddie's space military friend, but he's going to try and be the opposite with Clark. Which means being helpful instead of bracing himself and refusing to do anything, a jackass with his hooves stuck in half-hardened concrete. Fuck you I'm staying here just because FUCK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU chill out Graham do her a couple solids he owes her big time]

How do you think I can help you?

[Not sarcasm, honest inquiry, needing more details to work with so he can "pull up" what Clark's really in need of. He's "stalked" the Network like nobody's business since he's been here, even if he wasn't involved in a lot of events that happened...he's still followed a lot. And Freddie knows it. Aw hell.]

[Clark hums, and there’s the sound of him writing something down. He doubts he’ll ever need to know the day one Will Graham got ported into the city, he’d honestly have to consider for a few seconds before he remembered the day the papers said it was when he landed here and he has eidetic memory. But you never know when that kind of information might be useful and if he’s giving it willingly he might as well make the most of it.

(He also writes ‘understanding?’ down in big fat letters, underlined and with a nice interrogation mark. He’s supposed to be studying the government first and the porter later, but it’s not his fault all of Freddie’s friends seem to be interesting. There’s… something going on here and while he isn’t going to seek it out he could already feel Lois’s glare on the back of his neck if he ever thought of disregarding it.)]

Mostly I’m just fact-checking, really. First… you must be aware of how the government handled Captain Holiday’s supposed crisis. If you had been here for that long before he was sent to intensive care you might be able to tell me if you ever noticed something weird about his behavior, psychologically speaking?

[He wonders for a second if he should mention Freddie specifically pointed at Will as someone who could give him advice on that. He decides to wait and see how Mr Graham reacts to the questions first.]

[Fact-checking, okay, sure. He can deal with that, no problem. This doesn't sound too bad, not at all. If Clark had been asking for names of people who had been paying attention whether or not they were involved, then it made perfect sense that Freddie would steer him in Will's direction. For a brief, glorious second, Will thinks that this might go just fine after all.

How the government handled his crisis. Yes, he saw.

Oh.

Goddamnit.

He usually gets paid to profile, but he's not going back to that line of work here. No. He's not, he's not, he won't. He won't ask Clark for money to get what he might be looking for, and he will absolutely not ask if Freddie recommended him because he, too, was locked away, claiming problems with memory gaps. It's just a question, he doesn't need to take it all so personally and project and assume Freddie set this up to fuck with him.]

Ah. [Yes, he's aware.] I've never talked to Captain Holiday myself. [A quiet, almost small voice. The strain can be blamed on him trying to pull up details from months ago as opposed to having a dramatic inward crisis; he'd probably be the first to shuffle it off that way if asked. To people not from Baltimore, at least.] But back in...May? End of May, he spoke to us, the imPorts. [That is the sound of Will's handing running over his face.] He seemed. Tired. It's a heavy position to have, and the imPort population has plenty within it to make it worse.

[Be it through having murderous sprees or just being embarrassingly self-righteous pains in the ass, yeah, whoever took on this little group had their work cut out for them.]

Been a while between then and his crisis...difficult to put together a profile that would be accurate without more information. People are different in different situations, it's possible that he was one way to our faces and another elsewhere.

[It does however sound like, even though that's true, Will still finds it...fishy. On a personal level that doesn't involve his love affair with fishy.]

[Clark patiently waits, assuming Will’s making an effort to recall the details. Someone who can throw around things like the exact date he woke up here from memory has to be good at that kind of thing, and he meant it when he said there’s no rush. There’s people who have been here for years, after all… he has all the time in the world to gather this kind of information and he’s okay with it.

(No he isn’t).

When Will replies he lets out a hum at the wording. ‘Profile’. That’s a particular way to put it. Freddie never said he was a doctor anything of the sort, so he can’t be a psychiatrist or a psychologist. She did say he’d be helpful in that regard though… working with the police, maybe?]

I know for a fact that he had some similar troubles in September. Do you remember him making any kind of announcement to the network back then? I know he didn’t talk to the network at whole, of course. I have checked. But maybe talking to someone else? Or in public?

I just want to know what symptoms were telling enough for the government to decide they had to act when no one else had really noticed anything wrong with the man.

[Similar troubles to...being tired? Will is doing exactly what Clark thought at the mention of the month, dredging up what he remembered following along the Network, conversations he had, trying his best to shove aside the shadow that essentially crowded the entirety of September (bank robbery, Jayden talking about school, what do you hate?, Miss Martian, screeching dinosaurs, Abigail and nightmares, a ghost) and every move he made whether or not he actively thought of it. That's a better thing to occupy his mind that the other shadow creeping in, the one that's filling him with a need to blurt out a question that he really shouldn't.

So what are his options, then? He could, metaphorically, throw a few people under the bus to get the hell away from this situation as best as possible. He could ask bluntly what it was Freddie had recommended Clark talk to him about. One is easier than the other.

Sell out! Sell out! Sell out!]

I don't remember any announcements in September. [Who goes under the bus this time around if he can manage it? Well...] You know, Kate Bishop is very proactive when it comes to this sort of thing. There was an issue with the Hornets in October, and she put an effort into getting everyone who was involved sharing what information they had gotten, what they observed. Mentioned looking into Captain Holiday's situation, too. She would probably have much more to say about him than I would, even if I put the next full week into doing some investigation about him myself.

[Unless you've got something else you want to ask about, other than Captain Holiday as a person? Speak now or forever hold your peace, Clark.

Sorry, Kate. He'll make it up to her somehow.

Like maybe giving her a head's up if this goes into a place where Clark says yeah, he'll give Kate a ring.]

Oh, I was here back then. I actually helped get as much as I could, I'm really good at listening in without being noticed and some of the Hornets said a bit too much. And she was really eager to help the moment I started asking questions, I think she shared everything she had. I've been told she's young, but the way she gathers information so easily it's really impressing.

[Sorry, Will. Distracting him isn't going to be distracted so easily... but it was a really good attempt at throwing someone under the bus. Really]

But the Captain isn't the only thing I need information about, so we can move on. What can you tell me about the porter?

[That's better! The Porter might be talked about as being unstable or uncontrollable, but it's not a legitimate human being (or looks like one, more likely) that's been shuffled off to psychiatric care with mentions of memory problems. He can talk about that one without too much personal, internal screaming on his end.

He also finds Kate Bishop's ability to gather information and spread it impressive; unfortunately, this time around, she's already been a source in some form or fashion so it's not advantageous on his end. Oh well. At least Clark isn't leading some personal investigation of Baltimore Will has to do everything in his power to stamp down no matter how right it might be.]

There was a hacking of a news broadcast end of September that included a message about how the government knows nothing about it, can't control it. Government had been trying to understand it, supposed goal being so they could send back imPorts who wanted nothing to do with this world, why hadn't we been told? No one understands why people sometimes suddenly go home, but it's believed to be the work of Lachesis, and talk of how the Porter has its own automated defenses in place to prevent anyone from prying too much out of it, even the ones brought here who have extreme powers already.

[The wording is exact in some places, a summary in others. More like he's talking about a test coming up and going over the information that's sure to be asked for, what needs to be covered, as opposed to speaking any opinion he might have on the material. He has very little opinion on it, none of this has come about thanks to his own efforts. It's just what he's gleaned, and he's so, so, so content to keep it that way. He does not want to get back into the investigation business. While others might be scrambling to piss on the government or get back where they belong, Will's pretty fine with things as they are. It might be a selfish, lazy thing...but no one's outed his abilities and he intends to hide away in a bait shop as long as possible.]

I can't tell you more than anyone else, honestly.

[Somewhat true, somewhat false. He's suddenly gone home and returned. Two people he knows have done the same. There was a young Hannibal Lecter that could have in no way been their own. He's been told he was here before, in the old City, but has no recollection of it. He can speak on those oddities but...it's not quite what Clark's asking at the moment, he thinks.]

[Clark nods to himself, and the sound of writing can still be heard over the phone. Will isn’t technically saying anything new, but the exact wording each person uses is important if he’s going to actually find anything useful about the Porter. Many people have tried, maybe people are still trying. People who are smart, people who have powers who’d make it easier, people who’ve been here for years and have been able to gather information all that time… so he doesn’t expect to unravel some unexpected truths with these interviews.

When he says he’s just fact checking, he really means it.]

You wouldn’t know who hacked the network, would you? [So far Will seems to have a bit of information about everything Clark asks, but Clark gets the feeling it’s kind of an habit of his. Some people are just good at remembering the details.]

[Oh, he takes into account the exact wording because later on down the road, he knows it'll come in handy. It came in very handy just a week prior to Clark's getting in touch with him, even. Words have meaning and agenda, should be chosen carefully. Those who don't choose their words carefully are still saying something with the ones they do use, whether or not they want that to be true.

Sometimes it sucks to learn such seemingly simple lessons from the person who ends up being an enemy to all.

He can hear that writing, taking notes. That doesn't make him speak slower. He was a teacher, he never slowed down for his students. If Clark is a reporter, Will's sure he's managed some sort of shorthand if he needs it, knows how to take notes rapidly. Should Clark ask him to slow down, he will. But for the moment, he keeps going without any lulls that could be translated as "are you done writing that down?"]

It wasn't the network, but you'll find people's reactions to it on the network. She interrupted a news segment—it was on TV. Not sure if anyone's written up exactly what she released during it. [If he sounds less than thrilled with that particular approach, Clark's not imagining it. Will wasn't a fan of it, not at all. So it goes. If nobody wrote up what was said, well...Skye would probably have it and the ones among them with the remarkable visual memory who were around for it might be able to write it up without problem, too. If asked. (Please don't ask.)] Her name's Skye. S-K-Y-E. [Not like there are a cornucopia of people named Sky, but it's good to know proper spelling, isn't it?] She's been around since...end of May. Very technologically inclined, her powers here enhanced it. She could probably hack anything if it stood still long enough.

[Skye is someone Will knows on a more personal level, not just a name he's followed, and he doesn't try to hide it. He might not have been a fan of that specific incident in any way, but there is respect in his voice when he talks about her, especially her powers.

They're fucking terrifying, he's decided long ago. She's not someone to be trifled with for no good reason.]

[People who are aware of his dual identity tend to assume he’s using his super speed to write everything down. Funny thing is paper and pencil aren’t meant to be used at such speeds and he’s caused more than one fire (or two) by trying. So he had to invent his own particular way of taking notes, just like everyone who has to write fast. He isn’t exactly hiding the fact that he’s writing things down so he’d tell Will if he asked, but he’s found people word things differently when they are aware they are being ‘recorded’, so to speak.

And Will seems to be careful enough with his words as it is.]

Hm. So it was televised and recorded on the network… [That makes things a bit harder, but not impossible.] Do you know if anyone was fast enough to record it? Or write it down? Or remember what she said?

I’m going to talk to Ms Skye myself anyway, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

[No, that sounds like a terribly bad idea. Newspaper canceled for the next month, someone started a fire, building's not gone but all our paper is burned! Who would do this atrocious thing! Cat Grant starts a blog about how Supergirl sucks and everyone reads it instead of the paper, the hatred spreads like wildfire, well done Clark.]

Skye probably has a copy of the message somewhere. [but it doesn't hurt to ask Will's ass—like, really, Will's ass hurts. There is a little buttmad going on right now. Weeh weeh he doesn't want to be viewed as a great source of information out there that people talk to weeh weeh this doesn't involve Baltimore like last time so it could be worse weeh weeh this is what April was talking about with and if people think you can do something for them they bother you do you know how many people bother me atm? the 5ish that i want to bother me weeh weeh he's going to go home from work and ask her to teach him her ways while curling up in a bottle of whiskey and pile of raccoons.] I have a good memory, though. [This is an understatement and delivered blandly—don't find this fact interesting, Clark, it's just a thing it's not a big deal it's not important!] If no one else has made a copy and Skye doesn't have it, I could write it up myself and send it along.

[or he could do it right the fuck now THAT WOULD BE SO EASY WOULDN'T IT

if he's asked

gotta ask!]

[Well that escalated quickly. But consider this: He puts the fire out with his ice breath, which is a way easier thing to clean up than a fire. Kryptonians: they have an app for that.]

Oh, I figured you had a good memory the moment you told me the exact day you got here without needing to check after being here for months. But I guess suddenly being kidnapped to another world and given superpowers is a date to remember. [He just calls it 'Tuesday'.]

I'll contact Ms Skye, then. See what I get out of it. Thank you Mr Graham, you have been very helpful. [The horror. But hey, so far he isn't asking him to write it down right away.] I've gotten way more out of this conversation than what I expected, so I feel like I owe you an explanation. [Actually? He doesn't. He might be a nice guy but he is, at the end of the day, a reporter that has to play his cards right if he wants to get the information he needs. And he needs even more now, when what's at a stake isn't his article or his job but figuring out the government here, or even the possibility of ever going home. But he's pretty sure hiding it from Will will only make things worse in the end... and he wants the man to trust him, not to freak out every time he says hi.]

Freddie suggested I contact you because she thought you'd have some insight on Holiday's situation, psychologically speaking. I just felt it was rude of me to ask right away, or to make my own assumptions.

[Can they come to Baltimore sometime?? Those are great apps.

If Clark's been listening on Will's heartbeat or naturally picks it up, nothing much of interest has been noticeable before. It's a steady calm, albeit perhaps a little faster than the usual person in a regular conversation. A boat on choppy waters, rocking but stable, nothing overpowering or threatening, the slight agitation fully accepted. Whether that agitation is Clark or just Will in general with people, with himself, it's not easy to tell. He could simply be one of those people with a faster heartbeat.

But something rocks that boat, and it starts the moment Clark says I feel like I owe you an explanation. Nothing else seems to register quite so much. The truth, even if it's not the full truth, isn't always the best thing to hear. His heartbeat rockets—anxiety, anger, fear. All three? Why not all three? Surprisingly, Clark's explanation doesn't do anything to make it worse. In fact, by the time he gets to the word rude, Will's already started to settle, to control it. The word rude gets an erratic jolt in the attempted calming process, but it eases back down soon enough.

His voice portrays more anger than his heartbeat, however usual it might sound for that anger to be there. Calm, steady again. It might not match up.]

Not rude to ask. [It's only rude if the phrasing is poorly done, purposefully so. What's the harm in asking when it's done tactfully? He sounds like he'd have preferred Clark to start with it, but there's no changing the past and no point in scolding. Reporters.] I used to be a mainstay in Tattlecrime, back where Freddie and I come from. I worked with the FBI in several capacities, but never reached Special Agent status. Wouldn't submit to a psychiatric evaluation. Still helped with putting away several serial killers. Freddie took that and ran it into the ground, said I was capable of putting the others away because I was also insane. [So blandly stated for what some people took it to mean, for what Freddie took it to mean. Common knowledge, at least back where Will comes from. If Clark gives him something of an explanation, he can get something of one in return. This for that, fair is fair. Will's the uninteresting one who tags along on all the cases, gets the puzzled looks when one party is Special Agent Jack Crawford and then there's just this Will Graham following him around. So boring, this information! It's like the broken chalk pieces before the fun hopscotch layout, which he goes right into, no problem. Swim from one stream to the next, adapt, evolve, become the bigger fish. The bigger, agitated fish that still has the same heartbeat despite how his words might be a little...heated. Just enough that it's noticeable, a specific brand of hostility that flares up around the explicit mentions of what happened to Holiday, as they know it. Not towards Clark, of course, but the subject.] Did he seem off in the way that his being institutionalized isn't surprising? No. Does that mean the reasons for it given are lies? No. Do I think that a maximum security psychiatric facility is their way of saying he's being doped up and run through the wringer and we can't do a thing about it? No. Do I think any investigation into this that does not involve getting a view of Captain Holiday outside of his interaction with imPorts is going to help get a better view of him? No.

[So..."these things happen, that doesn't mean he doesn't have the issues spoken of, people are taking shit to the extreme without much awareness of it, and nothing is going to come of this if we just profile the guy as he showed himself to us because people are different depending on where they are. Also I'm pretty boring."]

[If Will suggested, right at that moment that he's anything remotely close to boring Clark would have to muffle down a laugh. The anger on his voice... well, it doesn't surprise him inasmuch as he considers it's normal to assume he was being played with when Clark suggests he had had more information about Will than what he'd let on when he'd started the conversation. He just didn't expect calm, enigmatic and dry Will to suddenly let himself show that to him.]

Which is why I've already talked to his husband about it, among others. [There's the slightest undertone of.. not anger, not really. But he doesn't take kindly to people implying he doesn't know hot to do his job. Freddie might have helped him a lot since he got here, and she actually seems nice when they aren't talking journalism. But he gets the feeling she's a big part of the reason why everyone tenses up the moment he mentions he's a journalist, or that he's seeking for information.]

He's the one that made me think that Holiday's relationships with the imPorts was the one piece of the puzzle that didn't fit. That he acted different when he was talking to us, or about us. [He'd started smoking like a chimney, Holt had said. Stress can do that to a person but that still struck Clark as... odd.]

Do I think he might have actually needed the help he's getting? Yes. Do I think the goverment might be keeping us away from Holiday for his sake? Yes. Do I think there's still something else in this situation we don't know about, something we need to figure out if we want to know what their angle is?

Also yes.

[He's terribly boring, he is uninteresting, he is a dull guy who likes dogs and fishes as a hobby, look at this freaking unexciting guy and see nothing else okay okay.

Anger is something he's more than willing to show when that can be traced back to the idea of Freddie Lounds. It proved beneficial back home, has helped them both out here. It's true that Yuri Petrov seems to have dropped the issue, and it's true that enough time has passed that any sample taken wouldn't prove a damn thing, but keeping up the can't stand that Freddie Lounds game comes pretty naturally at this point. It's also sort of enjoyable. Better times, happier days, when the entire world around them wasn't as visibly shit as it later turned out to be.

Oh, if only Clark knew in how poor a position Will was in to imply he didn't know how to do his job.]

We were his job, a good portion of us a pain in the ass. Makes sense he'd act differently with us. [Swimming right along, don't mind him and his back to steady heartbeat and the wryness in his voice, especially about being a pain in the ass.] Just as it makes sense he'd act differently with his husband. Want to figure out what the angle is, good luck finding sources that aren't inherently biased in one way or another.

[Yes he did hear Clark say that he talked to others, but he's not asking about it, he is ignoring it as best he can la la la. He's not doing his old job here, not if he can help it. Sure, if something (or someone) comes up to motivate him...it could happen. Cases that don't involve mutilated corpses or people being thrown into asylum because of memory issues, ones that are put in front of him by certain people or in certain ways. If he showed a willingness to help out with everyone, he'd turn into something he doesn't want to be. Again.

Just let him play with worms, Clark, even if the fishing language gets his attention and is an on point way to go about getting more of his attention and very appreciated. Please. God. He's boring, come on.

He loves worms.]

[He breathes in through his nose, lets it out through his mouth. Even if he isn't angry yet he can feel himself getting on edge, and that won't help him any in this situation.]

I have gotten pretty far without people telling me how to do my job, so I think I'll manage. But thanks for the advice. [Superman might let insults slide, might put show his other cheek, be the better man, whatever you wish to call it. It's almost part of his job description to deal with things like that without causing much fuss.

Clark Kent doesn't, and so he draws the line at some things.]

Mr Graham, I'm not just talking about job vs home, about acting different with different kind of people. We all do that, some people can even be two different people depending on the moment of the day. [Ha

ha]

But this wasn't that. This was something else, something more, something off with the man that has ended with him needing psychiatric help. This was the man having huge lapses of memories, this was the man liking some things one moment and hating them the next second, this was the man taking up smoking overnight. And this is me trying to fill the connections to be a step closer to getting home.

[It's good to draw lines at things, particularly when people are being pains in the ass. Although Clark isn't, perhaps knowingly, trying to be as big a pain in the ass and he currently is, Will's about to draw a line of his own. With Clark, with Freddie Lounds if this ever gets back to her on Clark's end...he might be barking at a brick wall, if he went to her about it. Does he know? Does he not? Clark never stuck him as more malicious than the average, and what would the point be for being in on it? Space in Tattlecrime?

This is probably just a coincidence Clark didn't expect and wasn't warned for. Hopefully.

But, this time around, no matter how calm and steady, clear and focused his voice comes out, Will's heartbeat is rapid. It only gets worse the longer Clark talks about Holiday's conditions, particularly memories (a rate of knots in a bait shop? Of course). Fear will always find a way. And where there's a way and a Will Graham, fear is bound to get pretty cozy.]

You misinterpreted. [Will certainly doesn't seem too bothered by the idea of being misinterpreted, his tone isn't accusing. Him being misinterpreted happens often. He works to make it happen, to his general advantage. This isn't that, and he'll clear it up here and now.] That wasn't advice. That was well-wishes. [From someone who's not considered very well. No good Will here.] Let me try it again: good luck finding sources that aren't inherently biased in one way or another without me.

[Saying "no thanks good luck bye" is just so difficult.]

[He opens his mouth, then closes it. Twice. He takes a moment to reply, not because he doesn't know what to say but because he's actually confused for a second. Finally:]

Well, that was my bad then. I took it as a personal offense. If you didn't think you'd be able to help you could just have said so.

[Which sounds better than saying 'if you just don't feel like it'.]

[It's not that Will doesn't think he's able to help. Will is very capable of helping, if and when he puts his mind to it. And honestly, if he were called out on the fact of the matter that he's stepping out just because he doesn't feel like it, Clark would get a little boost in his book. Because it's true. Here, now, he's quite firmly in the boat opposite helping out. A lot. Passing on basic information is good and well, but when it gets into territory that's both personal and, as he sees it, potentially disastrous?

Nah. No reason to help out, no point in it. The horse he has in this race is one that doesn't take off, hangs back comfortably in the gates with the jockey petting it for its good work at standing around so uselessly while everyone else lose their shit running around the track. He'll stick to hanging out in a tacky bait shop and feigning ignorance and being an uninteresting stick in the mud if that means he gets to stay in a world where Abigail Hobbs is alive, he's alive, and Hannibal Lecter is nowhere to be found. He's more motivated to stay away from all that than he is to jump right in anything to do with the government.

Bye old world Baltimore, bye old world Wolf Trap, bye Felicia.]

I don't think I'll be able to help out in a way that anyone else can't. [Hi I'm Will Graham and I'm a lying liar who lies, how are you?] None of the powers I've been granted here would be helpful, either. [Well, okay. That's...mostly true. He scoffs, tries to inject some humor into this. End on as high a note as possible. Clark tolerate Freddie. Seems...kind to her, even. It wouldn't be good to risk doing anything to upset that when Freddie needs all the support she can get other than Baltimore, other than Will barking to others in private. No, be nice. Be nice, Graham.] Unless he's being held in a facility underwater, but that seems...unlikely.

[Totally unable to help at all, look at him accepting that. Look at him trying to make everyone else accept that. If he can just be boring and useless, maybe people will leave him alone??

Maybe???? People.]

Mr Graham... [For a second, he wants to ask if he can call him Will. With a few exceptions (Luthor, Bruce Wayne for a long while...) he likes calling people by their name. His father never liked to be called Mr Kent, and neither does he. But Will's heart sounds like it's in the weirdest roller coaster ride ever and Clark doesn't really get why someone asking for help would put him on edge but he doesn't want to make the man any more nervous.]

I have no doubt that if there was any way you thought you could help, either us or Holiday, you would. [The closest he'll get to telling him he's being a little shit about it, tbh. He knows something is up, he just doesn't know what and he isn't going to accuse someone without proof or force them to help. He'll get there without Will's help, that's fine. He just wonders if Freddie was expecting this conversation to go differently, maybe Clark ruined things by not being honest from the beginning.]

And honestly I didn't use powers to get my journalism done back at home, so I expect I'll have no use for the ones I've gotten here.

[Not a lie, not really. He never in his life used anything that he didn't get using good old journalism in his articles, and he isn't going to start now. Even when he'd eavesdropped Dr Holt's location he used Annie's help as an excuse to visit him. Once, when he was young, he'd gotten information about a certain corrupt information making illegal weapons- and thinking Clark Kent couldn't do a damn thing about it, he busted in as Superman. It gave them the perfect excuse to stall, hide the weapons, and they walked away from it with their hands clean. If Clark had written that article there would have been an investigation and eventually they would have gotten them.

From then on, Superman sticks to his job and Clark to his own.]

I'm sorry if I inconvenienced you. I was sticking to Freddie's list, really.

Edited (missing words what) 2015-01-04 18:48 (UTC)

[Will's no different, in that regard. He's not overly fond of Mister Graham. His students used it, of course they did. They were students, it was different. But when that ended up being used to insult, to drive in a point, to remind—no, he was comfortable with Will, just Will. No need for honorifics.

Ha. Ha. Ha. Is that Clark calling him a little shit as nicely as possible or a sincere idea, that everyone stuck in the situation wants to be out of it, to work towards meeting the same end goal of going "home" or attempting it? It's...endearing, even as it's laughable.]

No need to apologize. It's—slow day at work. [No inconvenience other than mental screaming a healthy adult can deal with on his own, no harm no foul.] Who else is on Freddie's list?

[Blurted, almost, that one. He doesn't expect a full rundown if the list is long, but if she put on the names of anyone else from Baltimore, well. Always good to know where he stands in the company of his own "pack," isn't it?]

[He takes a second to reply.

If he knew for sure Will was refusing to help, and not just honestly convinced there wasn't anything he could do, he'd tell him it was a private thing. Hiding information can go both ways and while it'd probably be innocuous Clark doesn't like being played with.

But thing is, he only has a slight suspicion about it. Because Freddie mentioned him, and because of the job he said he had back home... nothing solid. And he and Freddie have a story together, in some way, so maybe hiding this from him isn't an innocuous as it seems to him.

He bites down a sigh.] I'll send you the file by text.

[And so, he does.]

[He reads it, takes a second, wonders where in the hell he comes to play. He's been around a while, it's true, but not as long as the others. Kate Bishop and Loki are some sort of Wonder Twins duo when it comes to stockpiling information, even if it veers into conjecture. So where does—

—oh.

Son of a bitch. A thought not directed at Freddie, more at himself. Way to assume the worst (don't they all at this point?), just throw him overboard with the rest of the chum, he deserves it. God.]

She's still mad at Gideon. [Spoken quietly because he's more thinking aloud than anything else. It's not disbelief that prompts it. He's amused.] Doctor Frederick Chilton was in an administrative position at the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane back where we all come from. Very accomplished. [Among other things that just aren't ever up for discussion nope no thank you goodbye nothing weird here in this universe where in the year of our Lord 2014 and beyond there are still hospitals for the criminally insane featuring dank basement cells and the cannibal mask and just it's based on books that started in the early 1980s give them a break.] He does that line of work here, too. [I don't I have chosen not to why does this keep cropping up please leave me alone.] He'd be better at putting together Captain Holiday's behaviors and how they might have changed than I would.

[Shoves off any and all glory to Chilton while simultaneously avoiding the hell out of him if he possibly can, maybe Clark won't mention Will's endorsement if he ends up talking to him??

Maybe people in this world who aren't from Baltimore don't have loose tongues about anything and everything????? MAYBE THERE IS A GOD SOMEWHERE?]

[Funny thing is: if Will hadn't mentioned Chilton at all Clark would have simply gone up the list, minding his own business and asking his questions that will probably lead to nowhere in the end but someone has to ask. But because Will mentions him, he's probably going to say Mr Graham had some nice words to share about him eventually. Credit where it's due, and why wouldn't anyone like to hear someone they know had complimented them?

(Sorry, Will).]

She seemed more scared than mad, to me. [Was he not supposed to hear that? Superhearing, etc. And to be honest the way she mentioned Gideon made Clark raise an eyebrow. He's still going to talk to him, though. Both because it seems like he could have useful information, and because he's a little bit curious of the man who had some Bad History with Heropa's favorite journalist.

(Sorry, Freddy).]

But it's hard to tell by text. I'll talk to Dr Chilton, though. Is he from the same world as you two?

IC contact [Mask or Menace]

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