infomodder | ic contact 2 mask or menace

[There he goes again, being a bad influence. Shame on you, Will.]

I don't trust myself. Isn't that reason enough?

[There's a stretch of silence, and then, just as flatly:]

You are who you are no matter what you're wearing, like any judge. The uniform does not make the person underneath. It's the other way around. You can do anything out of it you can do in it. [Flat and certain. Perhaps infuriatingly so, considering the way he's so casually talking about Yuri's...Lunacy.] What happened?

Nothing has happened.

[To incite his wanting back that hellish skin, but that's the point, isn't it? He has been attempting to masquerade himself as a man whom he is not, a man who respects the rule of law as it is written and enforced by corrupt and weak-minded officials. Olivier had tried and failed to muzzle him when he'd stood in name only with RISE, but Yuri? He'd effectively done what she couldn't do. His hands were tied. His jaw wired shut. Figuratively, at least. And that's the problem. Like this, he can't be whom he's meant to be, can't do what he is meant to...and the world festers. Every day he turns a blind eye he feels heavier, not lighter. As if he's being dragged into an early grave.

Which is ironic considering how many times he'd come close to and had actually died while wearing that wretched mask. But at least he'd died honest.]

Lunatic is more than a suit, Will. It is a symbol of everything I have ever aspired to be. I...

[He doesn't know who he is without it. He doesn't really want to be someone without it.]

...never mind. Hold onto it a while longer for me, will you?

[Not "destroy it" this time, because he's weak. But it's better than taking it back when there isn't a dire need for it now. Because, hasn't he always said he would need to stop if there came a time when he wanted for that mask, when the killing became easy?]

[Existential crises before breakfast, man, this is the sort of thing Hannibal would Delight in. Will...not so much. He's not like gonna whistle gladly while he makes hash browns, but this isn't...terrible. It's comfortable.]

Sure. [Stuffed in the trunk with his weed stash. He's just holding it for a friend, officer, really!!!] It's not really taking up much space anyway.

[Physically or mentally. Will doesn't think about it much. There was a freezer of organs at the shop, he is familiar with ignoring Horrors hanging out in his vicinity.]

It wouldn't.

[For a thing that means so much to Yuri, it really is rather small, and it is for perhaps both those reasons Yuri can't quite bring himself to be too upset with Will for not having done as he'd asked in the first place. Besides, the thing isn't much of an inconvenience beyond how it associates Will with him, and if there is anything Will has ever been an expert at enduring, it is his associations with serial killers.]

Of course, if it should ever become a problem, don't hesitate to let me know.

Of course. You'll be the first to know.

[Because Will will have either vanished or just...won't be himself any more. He endures the monsters even as they endure him. He endures and he seeks out. Nobody who likes the boy who cried wolf. Better to be the boy who cried wolf, found with the wolf dead at his feet or in the midst of trying to make that happen, fangs in soft flesh and hand around furry throat.

Lunatic's outfit causes him no stress or grief. That won't change without severe pressure from the outside.]

[ pause

paaaaaaaaaaaause

oh no you didn't. ]

You must be kidding.

[Prolonged silence.

He is not kidding. And for once, he isn't sorry to let anyone down.]

You bitch!

[ WHO'S READY FOR WHINING. ]

What's the purpose of that, hmm? Simply because you can? Because you thought it'd be fun? [ and, becasue Dorian doesn't want to let on just how scared and jumpy he is (Will could kill him at any moment, after all), he continues ] Honestly Will, if you're going to fuck with me in retaliation at least do something better than taking my portrait. Been there, done that!

[Did Dorian just call him a bitch? Dorian just called him a bitch. Suddenly remembering the Weird Looks when Dorian was on the kitchen floor, yes he is. But also: Dorian actually called him a bitch. His voice reflects that, stuck in a "well huh what do you know" sort of tone.]

Do something better. Should I set it on fire? Chuck it into the Atlantic? Should I take a knife to it and slowly tear it apart, inch by inch?

[ Nope nope nope nope nope nope. ]

I thought the reason we agreed to the little organ tete-a-tete was that I didn't leave behind a body. I sincerely hope that if you do decide to do one of those things, you learn my schedule first. After all, we don't want me suddenly dropping dead in the middle of work, do we? People would ask questions.

Middle of work's not gonna be the right people asking questions. [A Swear-In would be better. In the midst of a bunch of imPorts! Maybe some would try to heal him. It would be an Ordeal. Oh the trauma.] Why are you worried, Dorian? I've put it somewhere safe. It's protected.

[You're protected is something of an underlying idea there, though protected from Dorian himself and everyone but Will Graham is...perhaps not really the same as true protection. Whoops. This is what being a shit gets.]

I'm not worried per se. It's that, shock and horror, I don't entirely trust you.

[ he's worried. He's worried, he's so worried, worried 100% he has had nothing but bad experiences with people taking his portrait, PLEASE GIVE HIM THE DAMN PAINTING BACK. ]