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[abrightboy]

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Tea and Yoga - Five Days After the Breach

[empathicfault]

Will arrives at Malcolm's door fairly early- although he did check ahead and make sure Malcolm was ready for company. Will's starting to feel like himself again- well, a less ill version of himself. He still wakes up expecting to be in his house in Seattle with Harkin, but that's probably going to be ongoing for a while. At least it's always nice to remember he's no longer in a zombie apocalypse.

He still has a headache, but that's more due to the purple bruise he's sporting on his left eye and the swelling of his nose. But it's easy enough to ignore. He knocks lightly on the door and waits. He's dogless, for once, since he's gotten Winston, but he still looks like he's in a pretty good mood.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm, dressed in a simple t-shirt and sweatpants, lets Will into the cabin, teapot on the counter ready for the hot water the kettle is in the process of boiling and two yoga mats on the floor.

There’s a lot to take in in the large open concept space. Four pill bottles and a business card holder of affirmation cards on the kitchen island, headboard restraints on the neatly made bed, display cases of antique weapons and his parakeet, Sunshine, flitting around in her cage chirping at the sudden unusual presence.

“Don’t mind her; she’ll get used to you,” Malcolm tells him, gesturing towards the bird.

The kettle whistles and he moves around the island to take it off the heat and pour it over the herbal concoction in the pot. This morning it’s green tea with jasmine. Some caffeine and a calming aroma.

[empathicfault]

Will is similarly dressed, ready for at least trying some flexible movement. He walks in and very clearly takes in the space. The open air, the pill bottles, and especially the parakeet. He doesn't approach the cage, but does look curiously at her, saying, "Hello."

He practically floats over to the island and places his hands on the cold marble. "Nice place," he says. "Is this where you live back home?"

[abrightboy]

“This is the place,” Malcolm tells him. He gets two teacups down. “The real one is in a building my mother owns in SoHo.”

[empathicfault]

"Your mother owns-" He cuts himself off and looks down, letting out a little laugh. "I knew you were upper class, but that's- more than I thought, for some reason? Sometimes, it still throws me."

It's not like Hannibal wasn't ridiculously upper-class as well, but his very essence seemed to ooze Old World Nobility. Malcolm wasn't like that.

He tries to wave away the topic. "Anyway, can I ask your bird's name? I don't...actually know much about birds."

[abrightboy]

“She owns real estate all over Manhattan. Unlike her sister, she invested her share of the Milton fortune wisely. We are, as I’m often informed, ‘rolling in it’.”

But he has never been one for airs. That’s his mother’s sword and shield.

He smiles as he looks up from the cups to the bird.

“Her name’s Sunshine. I got her when I was living in DC. My therapist suggested, essentially, an emotional support animal. I’m sure she meant, like, a dog or a cat or something… cuddly. But I went into the pet store and I just loved the sound she makes.”

He gestures to the cage. “I can let her out if that doesn’t bother you. I let her fly all the time when I’m here by myself.”

[empathicfault]

'Rolling in it', indeed. Will takes a seat at one of the stools at the island, settling in front of the teacups with just an appreciative eyebrow-raise at Malcolm's explanation of the 'Milton fortune'. But he actually smiles a bit at hearing Malcolm talk about Sunshine.

"Please do- if you don't think she'll be too upset about me being here. I'm glad you found a pet that can make you happy- I think that's the important thing, if we're talking 'emotional support.'"

He takes a deep breath in, and notices that the tea sure smells good. Just a light hint in the air of something calming. "Although, you know. If you do decide you want a dog to cuddle, you can always come see mine." He smiles like he's got the best secret in the world and leans his elbows on the counter before he speaks. "My temp warden got in contact with me, after we talked last. Eddie? He asked the Admiral for one of my dogs, and- it was granted. So I have Winston back now."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm walks around the counter, to the birdcage, but he looks over with a bright smile and raised eyebrows at the news.

"That's so great! No wonder you look so well." More so than he's seen him since he arrived.

He opens the cage and Sunshine flies out, then swoops across the apartment.

[empathicfault]

Will watches the bird fly with sharp interest. He's never known anyone who's had a pet bird before and is interested in just how that tends to work in this environment. The smile on his face is because they're talking about Winston, of course.

"Yeah, that's probably a big part of it. I've been trying to tap into the, uh, less terrible parts of the Breach, too. That's been working out better than I expected. So I have more support than I originally thought- more than just you, I mean."

He finally stops looking up and turns back towards Malcolm. "It was nice, though. Having a name I could give Ulla. And I don't think I would've been in a state to talk to Eddie without your help. So thanks for being there." He's heard Malcolm grouse about really wanting to help with things enough times that he wants to make sure that the help gets acknowledged.

[abrightboy]

His whole face lights up, because Will isn’t wrong. He knows there are people he does help, but it’s the people who’ve rejected his help that say the most about it.

“I’m just glad I could help,” he says.

The bird flies across the room again and lands on the coffee table, hopping around near the chess board.

He pours a cup of tea and pushes it towards Will.

[empathicfault]

Will's smile returns when Malcolm beams. He tries to focus on appreciating the happiness and not the fact that such a thing is a very easy thread to pull, if he ever needs to.

Will takes the tea with a quiet 'thank you' and sips lightly at it. He's more used to sludge-like coffee when he's up and social this early in the morning (in both lives), so the light taste is almost more shocking to him. Still, it fits with this environment.

There's a small amount of quiet contemplation, but Will does have more questions, the more he looks around the room. "When did you start collecting weapons? I wouldn't have figured you for the type." It's a bit of an admission, on his part.

[abrightboy]

Part of him likes the idea that something about him could surprise someone like Will, with his innate perceptiveness.

What? You guys know I collect murder weapons and related ephemera. …That’s not weird.
Dude, it’s sooooooo weirrrrd.

Most people just thought it was weird.

“Um, when I was in college and started studying murder in more depth, I got interested in weapons during a class on how you could match specific wounds to specific instruments and it grew into an appreciation for the instruments themselves and then the history of them and then… it grew into that,” he explains, gesturing towards the cases. “My therapist calls it hyperfixation.”

[empathicfault]

Will would've expected someone in Malcolm's dubious public position, someone who had to endure scrutiny from his young age, to be more concerned about how people might look at such a collection. But hearing how he got into the collecting itself, that makes total sense of it.

"I would've been surprised if you didn't have a hyperfixation or two," he replies with a small smirk. "Do you have any favorites?"

[abrightboy]

"So many. But if I had to pick a few... the seventeenth century katana was hard won. Very expensive. I had to outbid other collectors, but it's perfectly balanced; wielding it is unbelievable. Worth every penny. I love my scimitar. Oh! And the morning star..." He points in its direction. "That's from the thirteenth century. Has some real heft to it. You can try it, if you want. I actually knocked a straw dummy in half with it once, in one swing," Malcolm tells him.

He could go on about every piece, but he reins it in.

"I tried to get my fencing team at Harvard to go for scimitars but it was just me interested in that."

He sips his tea.

[empathicfault]

The enthusiasm makes Will smile, and he chuckles hearing about the Harvard fencing team. "Now, I bet that would've made national news. I'd have watched it."

Will sips at his tea, too, as he thinks over the offer. "You'd trust me with some of these? I mean- not just as an inmate, but I can't even imagine how expensive these are. Or brittle, if they're hundreds of years old." Honestly, the way Malcolm talks about these weapons, it sounds like Hannibal might appreciate them more.

[abrightboy]

"Oh, I don't buy the frail ones. I've used all of these. You know what they had that modern weapons don't? Craftsmanship. So yeah, if you want to try any out, we could go do that. No problem."

Malcolm would be supervising. He could probably fight off any attempt to kill him....

[empathicfault]

"I would probably have an easier time with that than the yoga, so-" He looks to the side with a bit of a mischievous smile. "-honestly, we should do the yoga first. Maybe the weapons afterward. As a reward?"

He has no idea if he'll be too sore or not, but it doesn't matter. It sounds fun, regardless. "I can't say I've seen too many murders using antique weapons like that. Think the closest we got was someone trying to recreate the Wound Man diagram from medieval times." Definitely made it more interesting, that's for sure.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm leans forward.

“I had a case last year where the first victim was killed with an authentic historical guillotine,” he says excitedly. “And then the killer walled her boyfriend into the basement.”

[empathicfault]

Will's eyebrows raise. "Who even has a historical guillotine? Was this in a museum?" Those things are heavy, aren't they?

[abrightboy]

“A 70’s rock star owned one. The killer broke into his mansion while he was overseas and used it in situ. Plus all the construction materials he needed for the immurement were already in the basement because the rock star was having a new sex dungeon built,” Malcolm tells him. “He just walled him right in to the new sex dungeon, shackled to the wall.”

[empathicfault]

Will's eyebrows raise and he laughs. "Oh, wow. That's- was the rock star involved, or was he just the unfortunate owner of the killer's very particular choice of murder weapon?"

[abrightboy]

“He was a bystander. The killer was a justice killer who was an actual executioner for the state of Texas. He killed them because they conspired to murder someone and then let an innocent man be put to death for it,” Malcolm tells him with clear delight.

[empathicfault]

Will tilts his head to the side as he listens, looking both excited and kind of jealous. "Oh, well. I don't suppose I can feel too badly about the victims, in that case. Did you catch the...justice killer? Is that a common term where you're from?"

He thinks he likes it.

[abrightboy]

"Yeah, for a killer motivated by a need to see justice done," Malcolm explains. "I did catch him. Apparently, he'd been following me around. He saw me go into Claremont to visit my father. I came home one evening and he was waiting for me in my apartment. But my partner at the NYPD was on the phone with me when I walked in and I... didn't hang up. So when I talked to him about his crimes and he acknowledged them... he kind of confessed to a police officer. Then he attacked me with one of my Norse axes, so I had to fight him off with my scimitar until she got there and arrested him."

[empathicfault]

Will listens quietly, but quietly cringes with an 'eesh' noise as Malcolm talks about having an officer on the phone. That's awkward.

He's got a couple of questions, and goes with the physically closer one after looking back at the weapons displays. "That reminds me, do you have a lock on those things? Here on the Barge, at least." There are probably some inmates that would want to get their hands on a Norse axe or a well-balanced katana.