Voicemail (IC Contact Post) OLD - at capcha

[abrightboy]

 This is Bright. Leave a message.

Comments

[abrightboy]

“It… doesn’t bother me that he’s dead. He’s the power broker that got my father his deal. He was a despicable man that used people and disposed of them. He was threatening my family. He framed me for murder. …It bothers me that my little sister stabbed him to death and I cut up his body and disposed of it to protect her,” Malcolm admits uncomfortably.

[empathicfault]

Ah, it's the powerful man he'd heard about when they met. Will licks at his lips and looks up. "I haven't told you about Mason Verger, have I? Heir to the Verger Meatpacking Company. A pure sadist. Tortured his sister. Ruined people's lives for fun. He had enough money and power to keep his whims constantly catered to. Sounds very similar to this man. Hannibal didn't get on with him."

He shrugs, as if that's not a death sentence.

"I came home one day to find Mason there, high as a kite and slicing off parts of his face at Hannibal's request. He was feeding the 'meat' to my dogs. And I let him, by that point. I had seen enough."

He leans forward a little, staring at Malcolm as if trying to understand. "I tell you that story because I want you to know where I'm coming from when I ask- why does it bother you that your sister killed him and you cleaned it up? For someone outside of the law, someone despicable and powerful and threatening people...what else could you have done?"

[abrightboy]

"I could have shot him. I was pointing a gun at him. ...I told him we were going to arrest him. I wanted to arrest him. We found his secret offices, his secret books. Let his secrets out to destroy him. He laughed in my face. He didn't laugh for long."

He shrugs a shoulder, then looks at Will. "I'm not a killer. I barely know who I am sometimes, but that much is... foundational."

[empathicfault]

Will nods, looking away from Malcolm to think for a moment. "I thought it was for me, too," he says, more to himself than anything.

He shakes his head. That's water very much under the bridge now. "So, do you feel bad because you couldn't shoot him? You had to 'make' your sister do it? Or is it something else?"

[abrightboy]

“I don’t know whether not shooting him was a mistake or not, but… right after she did it, she sort of… snapped out of it. And she didn’t know what happened. So… I told her I did it. I told her I did it and then I got rid of the body. And eventually she remembered and she was angry with me. For ‘taking it away from her’. For trying to… steal her thunder, I guess. She didn’t have my hangups, it turns out, about being like my father. And he’d already gotten in her head about it. Maybe I regret listening to him and disposing of the body at all. We should have called the police. We could have cobbled a self defence claim together. But he was there, in my ear, telling me what to do and I did it and I knew better.” He nods grimly. “I should have known better. But the deeper the hole for us, the better for him. He wanted us to keep needing him,” Malcolm says.

He looks at Will.

“Where do you think it went off the rails for you?”

[empathicfault]

Will stops moving again, listening quietly as Malcolm explains. And yes, that he can understand. Will was frequently in the position of not wanting to give the monster more leverage. And Will's never had any siblings, but he can understand not wanting one to be all gung-ho about murder. He nods vaguely in agreement.

He's still sorting through all of it when Malcolm asks Will about going off the rails, and it takes him a moment to even realize what's being asked. When he does, he lets out a snort of a laugh. "There was no single one moment. Hannibal was careful. It was a series of compromises, if anything. I should've gotten off the ride at the start."

His head tilts to the side as he recalls the Hobbs family house. "It started with the first case we were on together. He called to warn the killer, just before we headed over to ask some questions. It was- you know, I got thrown off the force for not using lethal force when necessary? But-" He takes a deep breath in. "When we made it to the house, the killer was holding his daughter hostage, and he slit her throat, and I had my gun in my hand, and- I took the shot. I saved her life, that's how people put it." He sort of grimaces. "It just kept sliding downhill from there."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm gives him a small, sympathetic smile.

"I've never used lethal force," he confesses. "They call me reckless."

[empathicfault]

Will's smile in return is a little lost. "Well, keep it up. It might've been that day that sealed my fate."

He closed his eyes and sighs for a moment, rubbing his hands together as if cold. "The Mason Verger incident was about halfway through. I tried to kill Hannibal a number of times after that, thinking that would purge me of the desire afterwards. But- it just settled it in further. Like a stray I'd been feeding, it stuck around. Obvious, really."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm had always felt like, if he started down that path, it would consume him.

“Well. Until the very end. I still don’t know if my father survived the stabbing.”

[empathicfault]

"And you haven't gone back, because time will resume and you'll know, then. Right?"

He's not trying to be accusatory, it's just how he would've handled it. "You could...make it a part of your Warden Deal. To make sure your father survives." To try and save himself, if nothing else.

[abrightboy]

"I promised my deal to my inmate," Malcolm tells him. "And I'm not sure I would..." He trails off. "It seems like a waste of a miracle to skate away from the consequences of my actions. To... use something that could help people to save a bad man from the consequences of his actions."

[empathicfault]

Will blinks, because he didn't know it was possible to give away one's Deal. But if it's theirs, he supposes the wardens can do whatever they want with it. That's good to know.

Will immediately knows what he'd do with such a miracle, but shoves that away for now.

He nods at Malcolm's response- it's very reasonable. Still-- "What if it's not about him? What if it's more about saving you? And...saving people from you?"

[abrightboy]

"I've always seen my purpose as... saving other people." Malcolm looks down at his book, at his pencil as it taps against the page. "If I stay here I can help people without facing... all of that. And... if at some point I'm ready for it... I can go back to that moment."

[empathicfault]

"That's...that's really good reasoning, actually," Will replies. "I don't know what you're going to encounter here, but it probably won't include him. Sometimes, removing yourself from the situation is the smartest thing to do, and you've got that option. So why not take it?"

Will's kind of impressed, actually. "Has that been working out for you so far?"

[abrightboy]

"...Yeah. As long as I keep working and don't let myself get in my head too much, it's going well. I still have access to my medication and I'm able to keep up my morning routine and I have a meaningful job to do. ...It's not my first choice of career, but... maybe it was time for a change." He looks at Will. "I think it helps to have a job beyond just the... inmate/warden interaction. Have you chosen one here yet?"

[empathicfault]

"Not really. Just been doing custodial so far. I might start looking into something else, but-" He gives Malcolm an exaggerated shrug. "I'm okay just helping out where I can for awhile. Oh, and Shaw's training me for patrols, since she can't sit still, either. Guess that's not just us, although she is a little less murder-centric than we are."

[abrightboy]

“I’m not sure she’d agree. She wanted to test my lethality but I wouldn’t attack first and she got mad at me,” he says, but his expression and tone suggest fondness.

[empathicfault]

"Your lethality?" He raises his eyebrows, although he sounds amused. "Okay, maybe I was wrong. Did she know that's a sore spot for you, or- how did that even come up?"

[abrightboy]

“I… can’t really discuss her reasons; it had to do with counselling she asked for. But she didn’t believe I could defend myself. Which.” He shrugs. “I get it. I’m small; I talk a lot.”

[empathicfault]

"Oh." He nods. They've talked about so much here, but there are some confidentiality concerns to worry about. "I mean, I know you get underestimated, but talking a lot doesn't mean you can't fight." If that were true, he would've beaten Hannibal a few times over.

"Does she believe you can defend yourself now?"

[abrightboy]

“I don’t know,” Malcolm admits. “Sometimes we really get along and sometimes she doesn’t believe anything I say.”

[empathicfault]

"Huh," Will replies, then shakes his head. "That's usually my problem. Which really didn't work great as a profiler, sometimes."

He rubs at his face. He doesn't want to ask more questions about Shaw's therapy- well, he does, but that wouldn't be a good idea right now. "If I had to guess, I'd say your energy levels don't line up sometimes. But if she's still talking to you, she trusts you on what she's asking your help for."

[abrightboy]

“Oh. Yeah. I’m… not helping her anymore. She doesn’t like my methods. She did like my weapons collection, though. We’re supposed to spar at the gym,” Malcolm tells him.

[empathicfault]

Oh. Whoops.

Will looks away, suitably awkward before he looks down at Malcolm's desk. "Well, it's not a total loss, then. Maybe she's just not ready for something more formal. People get weird about therapists, I don't know if you've noticed." The smirk is probably less effective, as it is focused down on the desk between them.

[abrightboy]

"People also get weird about me, so... six of one, half a dozen of the other," Malcolm says, watching him. "I left the door open, in case she changes her mind." About that or... anything. "Was he the only therapist you'd been to before now?"