infomodder | IC contact [Mask or Menace]

[Nah. If Will can spend months hanging out with Hannibal Lecter knowing more of what he was and what he'd done, after he'd ruined and ended the lives of everyone he came into contact with, he doesn't get to use the "I don't want to talk to someone because of mild aggravation" excuse ever again, okay. He picks up quickly enough, even.]

Hello.

[Totally pissed off at Miles Edgeworth, yes. So pissed off he's calmly eating something or other and answers the phone while he's in the process of chewing and swallowing, which is obvious in the slightly thick way he says that one word. It's all gravy, man, what's up?]

[Eurgh, is he eating on the phone? Gross. Then again, considering what happened to own eating habits since living in Heropa, he doesn't have much room to talk. Stones, glass houses, etc. He clears his throat and moves on]

Do you have a moment? I wanted to ask you something about...

[How does he word this, exactly?]

...procedure.

[Uh. Is this real life? Did he just hear what he thinks he did? Will's quiet for a second, having totally forgotten that he has to chew once more and swallow and all that good stuff. Fortunately, Miles can't see how much that particular wording has caught him by surprise. Just hear it, that is somewhat better.]

I've got a moment. [No food in his mouth this time, but the daze in his tone is difficult to miss.] Several moments, actually. Slow day.

[Ask away, bucko, I got all the time in the world for you.]

Not investigative procedure, mind, just...

[Waves his free hand around (not that Will can see it), as if he can magic the words out of thin air]

...what's common. For people in the field, I mean.

[Spit it out, Miles]

[What's common, ah, yes. Something Will knows about from his studies and watching other people, not from his own experience. As if he'll say that much out loud right off the bat, though.]

I'm listening.

[spit that shit OUT like you just ate people, Miles!]

[What a suspiciously specific metaphor]

How... common is it for people in the field to seek out psychiatric care?

[You know. Hypothetically.]

[Baltimore-specific.]

Not quite as common as it should be. [Instead of sounding bitter about this topic, his attempted neutrality is laced with gloom. Miles might be able to imagine the frown accompanying it—Will and frowning aren't strangers at all.] They're usually highly encouraged to get psychiatric care. I was, when I wouldn't go on my own and needed to.

[He is not going to use a word like "forced" when he's drawing on his situation with Hannibal Lecter. Jack Crawford and Alana Bloom did not, in any way, know who and what they were dealing with when it all started, and Will's not keen on throwing blame off Hannibal. He is singularly at fault, just like Will told him, standing in that dunking booth of a cage. Jack and Alana aren't here, no, but the protective bloodhound that last saw them both...

...old habits die hard, worlds away.]

Wait, you saw a shri-

[Oof, bad choice of words. He clears his throat, composing himself]

...a psychiatrist?

[It's okay, this is a safe space. In the way that Will doesn't give a shit if improper terminology is used. It's okay to be accidentally rude with him.]

Saw two, actually. [He's amused, not offended. If Miles ever gets a fuller (badum tish) story about it all, the darker tone to his amusement will make much better sense.] For about six months altogether, back in Baltimore.

And did you have a choice, or...?

[A choice in shrinks, or a choice in general?]

[Ugh. He remembers how this conversation went last time. He wasn't really enthused about it then, he's not looking forward to it now.]

I did with one. [Sort of.] The other was an administrator at the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Didn't have as much choice there.

[He could check out no time he liked and he could never leave without being shackled to hell and back.]

Edited (missing words, more coffee) 2015-03-08 21:46 (UTC)

Wait, what?!

[The criminally insane?! That...that doesn't make sense. He and Will don't always (or ever) get along, but he's...he's not a criminal. And he's not crazy, either.]

[andherewego.gif]

I was framed [There is absolutely no uncertainty in Will's tone on that one. This isn't a case of someone being found with their hand in the bloody cookie jar and trying to make light of it, this is irrefutable fact.] for multiple murders and incarcerated. When more evidence came to light and proved that the real killer was not behind bars, I was released.

[It's super simple, okay.]

[Edgeworth's head is swimming, still dazed by the information, unable to take it all in. This is... none of this can be right. He breathes in, trying to center himself]

Define-

[The word comes out weak and shaky, the kind of pathetic tone that Edgeworth hates. So he stops himself, and when he starts over, his voice is stronger, louder, more firm and in control.]

Define more evidence.

[He has an awful, sickening feeling about what that could mean... both for Will's home, and possibly his own.]

[He can't do what he did on Miles' post to the Network, but damned if he doesn't think about it.]

They found a body [Simplify it as much as possible, easier that way.] that had been strung up with fish hooks. Flies tied by hand, like the ones I've always made. Human remains had been woven into the hooks. DNA matched them to same the people I was incarcerated for, as well as others who had been murdered while I was in a cell. [The plot thickens. Like blood pudding! And despite Will's intimate involvement with it all, he has a handy knack for giving out these details like he's reading from a text book. His voice is even, steady, letting out known fact once again. None of this is private information back in Baltimore, after all.] All charges were dropped within a day of the results.

[Then he went back to work.

And back to therapy. But. Shh.]

[Thank you Will for not being a complete smartass. Also, your life? Pretty messed up. However, it's not long before his attention drifts from Will's situation to his own. What if he finds another dead body when he gets home? What if his mistakes lead to another corpse?

...he puts the self absorption on hold to focus on Will again. It seems safer that way.]

That's... [Good? No, good doesn't sound like the right word to use here. Time to switch gears] ...what happened afterward?

[A lot of confusing shit. Where does one begin with a case of bird in woman in horse uterus!?]

I went back to work. [That is not a lie, but it's clearly a Story. A Big, Long Story that he either doesn't know how to approach or doesn't feel comfortable approaching for whatever reason. So back to what started this! Make it sound like shifting the topic back on tracks, even.] Are you thinking about finding a psychiatrist?

[Only Miles can't know just how still on the topic of "what happened afterward" such a question is. Thank God for small favors.]

Hrk-!

[Okay, so that's what he actually called about, but he had hoped to lead into it on his own terms. Make it sound hypothetical. That's how Edgeworth had planned this conversation. Unfortunately, his plan didn't include finding out someone had been framed for murder. Nothing derails a conversation like criminal conspiracy!]

...not exactly. More like it's been suggested to me.

[And telling by that stiff, gruff, and absolutely sour tone, Will can probably tell that the suggestion isn't really a suggestion]

Edited 2015-03-09 04:41 (UTC)

[There's plenty of conspiracies to go around, just look at the Hornets and all the hullabaloo with memories.

But. Ah. That word. Well then.]

My advice would be to get started on that immediately. [Rip it off like a band-aid, don't drag it out. That's just painful.] There are two imPort psychiatrists, to my knowledge. [Wait.] Would you be more comfortable with one from our little community or one outside of it?

[Sighs, and throws his hand up.]

Neither. But if I have to choose...

[A pause]

...then someone from the inside. That way, I won't feel completely insane the next time I have to explain supervillains or mind control plots or... or whatever else this wretched place has to throw at us.

[Yes, he knows this Earth is different. Yes, he knows all those cheap comic book tropes are very much a part of this Earth's reality. But there's a difference between knowing about a situation and being personally involved with a situation]

[Throwing up hands like a good cannibal.]

Doctor Crane would probably be the better of the two. [He doesn't have any room to judge Miles' reaction to supervillains and mind control plots, no matter how different this Earth is. It's all still so not what Will knows in his own world, he can understand it. Knowing doesn't mean believing, and it doesn't mean understanding.] He just opened an evening and weekend clinic. First name Jonathan. I'd suggest him before Doctor Chilton.

[One day, Will can look back at what he just said and promptly enjoy yet another meal of eating his own dumbass words.]

...and what's the matter with Doctor Chilton?

[Sounds more curious than suspicious. He's not familiar with either doctors, and he can't help but wonder why one's recommended over the other.]

He was the administrator at the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane I mentioned earlier. [Because saying "nothing" is a huge fucking lie and Will Graham is not going to get into what's wrong with Frederick Chilton without Good Reason ("Good").] Doctor Crane has mentioned his specialties being outside the realm of the criminally insane. I imagine he'd be a better fit.

[Killing three birds with stone here, if it works out. Feel Good Inc. all over the place.]

[There's a long pause, followed by a stiff, muted-]Ah.

[Straightens up, and coughs into his hand]

I, erm, I see. [Awkward. On multiple levels. For the both of them, even!] Doctor Crane it is, then.

[And he's gone from awkwardness to dissatisfied grumbling again. Hello, status quo.]

[Awkward is good. Will's used to awkward. Great waters to navigate, awkward ones.]

Let me know how it goes, if that's not too much to ask. [He doesn't mean his therapy, though, and is quick to clarify. Too invasive, and he and Miles aren't that close.] I haven't talked to him extensively.

[Let him know if Crane's cool beans, that's what he's getting at. If he's not cool beans, he can be paired with some fava beans.

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

]

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