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[abrightboy]

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[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.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm looks over at the cases and shrugs awkwardly.

“Neal put a good lock on my door,” he says, pointing to it. Neal, his inmate, the professional burglar? Yes, that one. “I don’t know how good of a lock you can get on glass cases… I guess I could ask Neal.”

[empathicfault]

Will laughs a bit, but seems extremely unsurprised. "Well, he'd know. But you could also ask the Admiral for something that requires a Warden item to open. Just make it that little bit harder for a riot to happen."

He's fairly unconcerned about it, though, and shrugs. "Although I suppose, if a riot were going to happen, that probably would've been during the flood I came in on. I know there were some attacks, but the majority of inmates seemed-" He shakes his head. "-remarkably well-behaved."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm smiles.

“I told Shaw we should give them the benefit of the doubt,” he says. “And also my weapons cases didn’t exist when this was an inmate cabin. Just the bit down there with my bed,” he explains, gesturing towards it.

[empathicfault]

"Ah, right. Of course, I forgot." He'd been just gaining his footing here, after all.

And now he's back to the case. "The justice killer- why had he been following you? He just want to chat?" Hey, sometimes killers look for someone they think could understand them. Will was obviously more familiar with those.

[abrightboy]

"I... kind of set a trap for him. It worked super well. He was watching the first crime scene. Saw me there with the team; saw our dynamic. Once I figured out we were dealing with a justice killer and I knew what the injustice was that he was attempting to right, I... had the team announce the arrest of someone I knew wasn't the killer. I knew that would draw him out. I didn't realize it would draw him into my livingroom, but it all worked out," Malcolm explains.

[empathicfault]

Will tilts his head to the side, a hint of a smile on his face as he realizes. "The killer wanted to set you straight. He certainly wouldn't have wanted an innocent man convicted of his crimes. That'd just be hypocritical," Will says, matter-of-factly.

There's a voice inside of Will that seems to be growing louder. It sounds like Hannibal, because of course it does. But it speaks of potential, of finding the right incentive, of nurturing particular inclinations. Malcolm could be fully realized, but- he'd be different, than any of them. Unique. It could be a quiet but glorious awakening.

Will listens, but not too closely. Malcolm is more important, for the moment.

[abrightboy]

"Exactly. And then when he found out about my father, he decided I had murder in my blood and sentenced me to death. Hence attacking me with my axe," Malcolm tells him, tying it all up with a bow.

[empathicfault]

"Ugh. That's not very fair, now is it?" Will replies, rolling his eyes. "The logic always does fall apart at the end, I've found. If there was any logic there at the beginning." Which, admittedly, sometimes there wasn't. That was often why they needed Will's help back home.

"Well, I'm glad that you didn't get axe murdered in your own home," he says, sounding pleased. That was an interesting story. He punctuates it with a final slurp of his tea. "Do you ever check up on any of the other people you catch? Keep up with where they end up?"