IC Contact [Asgard]

[infomodder]

Catch all IC contact post for Will Graham at asgardeventide
[ Text | Voice | Video | Action ]

[Note: Will is unlikely to use video unless there is a good need for it. He'd be more inclined to do text until he's made a substantial recovery and becomes more comfortable with voice.]

Comments

[infomodder]

[Pieces are coming together. Have come together. How can he make them come together for her?]

Remember how you thought that maybe he was looking into my head to see layouts of the school? Told you that wasn't the case, didn't I? It wasn't. [He would have known, knew that much, knew that much as much as he knew anything else. Good to know things.] He's got bad blood with Professor Snape. You were on the sidelines—lots of us were on the sidelines. You're not a target. You were just. There. Collateral damage.

[At the start...]

You've already over-analyzed one thing, but try this: why does someone have to have an angle to do anything they do, good or bad? You think everyone has an angle?

[tonsofpun]

Then why was he asking me how my girlfriend was?

[She says it softly. Barty doesn't care, she'll never believe that. She just can't figure out what he wants -- Voldemort always wanted to hurt her, why shouldn't Barty want to finish his master's work?]

Everybody has something they want, and something they're afraid of. He has a grudge against Teach because of bullshit with his boss- and if I don't know if you know but I shot his boss's face off. He hasn't exactly forgotten that.

[infomodder]

Because you have one. He knows you have one. If we're talking like we are now, and I ask you how your girlfriend is, it would just be conversation. Not with him. Wants to see how you react to those words coming out from someone who's proven himself dangerous as opposed to...anyone else.

[Will can be dangerous, but he doesn't want to be thought of that way. Dangerous on behalf of others, not dangerous in the purely destructive way.]

I know. I saw. I was here. I just didn't say much. Scale of "shut up" to "go fuck yourself right off a cliff"—what'd you tell Barty when he asked about her?

[tonsofpun]

[Ellie has no illusions about anybody being dangerous, and just being capable of violence isn't scary to her. The danger comes from the way of thinking, the intent. Barty isn't David or Voldemort level, or even Jim Moriarty, but she's determined not to underestimate him all the same.]

I told her he was fine, and if he messed with her she'd rip his head off.

[With more cursing.]

[infomodder]

[Yes, he assumes there was more cursing involved. He's heard a little informative fire, and all this combined—well.]

Is that what you'd always say or do you think it's stress adding up and— [eating away at you] —making it difficult to catch a breath?

[Will goes fishing when he needs a breath (or drinks until he can). That is not at all everyone's thing.]

[tonsofpun]

... I would've just hung up. Or gone to show Joel.

But the last time I did that, he ended up missing an arm, and Tess died. Besides, Riley can take care of herself.

[Stress. It's stress, and fear, and him hitting her while she's still vulnerable.]

[infomodder]

[Will's got experience with helping people get their arms hacked off. Only, she had done nothing to "earn" it. She'd just been held captive and he had conspired to bring her killer (or so it was thought) into the light.]

He ended up missing an arm because he acted on what you showed him, right? So now you don't want to set him off. Is everyone you know hotheaded?

[Will used to be hotheaded.

When his brain was physically inflamed.]

[tonsofpun]

Joel and Tess are really... good at what they do. There's a reason I ended up with them. Most people would've fucked right off.

But they're not the biggest, baddest motherfuckers on the playing field right now.

[Truth be told, Ellie alone is probably more dangerous than most people in this fucking city.]

[infomodder]

You're not saying that Barty is the biggest, baddest motherfucker on the playing field right now, are you?

[Will's well aware that he can sit on a bench and talk amicably with someone and them still be dangerous to other people, eventually himself. Snakes react differently to different creatures.]

Because none of us are. If anyone out there stuck in the same place as you and me and everyone else is talking about being so bigger and badder, then they're delusional.

[Sorry Satan.]

[tonsofpun]

Not even close.

[It might sound like she's underestimating him, but she knows he's not one for a stand-up fight. Her fear is what he can do when her back is turned, not what physical damage he could deal her.]

... but you know what I mean. Sometimes just knowing what you're capable of is enough to keep people from fucking with you.

[infomodder]

Or make them more interested.

[If it sounds like he's speaking from experience, it's because he is. A lot of experience, for what Will he was capable of, what he could become capable of, and what it was thought he was capable of. He thinks she knows what he means in her own way, if she ended up locked in a cage.]

What do you do to de-stress here? Have you done it lately?

["I make myself pot"?]

[tonsofpun]

Yeah, it kinda works the opposite way for the psychopaths.

... and Will-

[She half-laughs, trails off.]

Is that your way of telling me to chill out?

[infomodder]

[Doesn't it just.]

Might be. [Yes.] You've got a lot on your plate and Barty's got under your skin. [Haha.] I don't know what you do, but I'd suggest giving it a go. [Because his suggestions never help get people killed, no way!!!!] It's only going to get worse. Have to take care of yourself if you're going to make it through.

[Because Will totally did that himself.

Not.]

[tonsofpun]

[Ellie is quiet for a time. Then, finally, there is the sound of turning pages. And Ellie clears her throat.]

My friend's bakery burned down last night. Now his business is toast.

[infomodder]

[Oh no.]

Do you know if it was arson or an accident? He forget to turn off an oven? That's just how the cookie crumbles sometimes.

[tonsofpun]

[She gets ready to tell him it's a joke, but then starts laughing.]

Aha.

You're a punster.

Okay, okay. I've got one. I know why you're not in the army.

[infomodder]

[Because I couldn't pass the psychiatric evaluation? Or because I can't shoot a gun without taking a certain stance? Nope.]

Why's that?

[tonsofpun]

Because of the phrase "fire at Will."

[infomodder]

[IS THIS REAL LIFE

Because Will Graham is laughing, actually laughing, no bitter edge added in. Caught him by surprise, hadn't even though that far ahead, but he's laughing. Good show.]

Glad to see you're not koi about this. Let minnow if you get another one locked and loaded. Or do you have more Will ones lined up?

[tonsofpun]

[Immediately, Ellie starts laughing with him, a full-throated, genuine laugh that shows her age, dissolves into giggle fits when he keeps going. It's not often she finds someone to go back and forth with.

She tries to forget that the last time she found another punster, it was Moriarty.]

Whale, whale, whale. What have we got here?

We should scale back on the fish puns. I don't have any more for your name, but if I think of them, I will dolphinitely get back to you.

[infomodder]

[No, no, this is good—if he can go back and forth with her, can make her laugh more, lift the spirits, relieve stress, things could be. Better. For a little bit.

He's had his own run-ins with Moriarty; he wouldn't be surprised to find them comparable in more ways than one.]

Is this happening? This scampi happening. You can try to get me in the fish puns—anyfin is possible if you don't trout yourself—but you're getting in the deep end now, Ellie.

[It never ends.

Oh God, it never ends.

He sounds too pleased with it to want it to end, deep or shallow.]

[tonsofpun]

[And Ellie promptly laughs until she can't make anything but small gasping sounds, face in her hands, shoulders shaking.

She's needed this laugh.]

Oh goddamn. Fuck, Will, it hurts-

[infomodder]

[Will's grateful again for the magic here because if he was in the state he'd be in back home, had he lived, laughing wouldn't be painless. Hers sounds a little painful, but in the good, not because her organs are rattling around way.

So he waits for her to get a better grip, quiet, biding his time until it seems she's back together, and then, quietly:]

No, no. Coddamn, if we're sticking with the theme.

[tonsofpun]

[There she goes again, until she's wiping her eyes, wheezing.]

Why didn't you tell me you were a punster too? We could've skipped all that awkward shit. Maybe even the yelling.

[infomodder]

Didn't think to tack that on. Actually a better title than mine.

[Just about anything is a better title than his.]

That what you are? You want an Official Punster badge? I could make you one.