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[abrightboy]

This is Bright. Leave a message.

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[hippie_ninja]

"Malcolm, I don't want ammunition. I'm here because I'm sorry I hurt you--I never meant to."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm looks at him sharply. That wasn't what he was expecting.

"Nobody listened to me," he starts, quietly. "She called a bunch of people I know and told them I was dangerously unstable and she needed someone to intervene and that... wasn't even true. The night before... Will called me and told me Avalon threatened him again. I don't know if you know what Avalon did to him before. They tortured him. So that night I was over at his place - Shaw was there - for... maybe twenty minutes. She wasn't leaving for the night, so I couldn't stay. I admit I was wound up when I arrived, but I sat with Will for a bit and I was calm when I left. Which, by the way, I left when she said it was time for bed. She said it was time to go and I went. She said she was going to be with him 24/7 and she wouldn't say for how long, but she did say she would bring Will over for a movie the next night. So I texted Will briefly in the very early morning when we both usually get up and just made sure he was okay and then I stayed away. I didn't contact either of them all day. But part way through the day... people started contacting me about it. She was telling people that I was trying to be Will's Warden and I've literally never done that. And nobody asked me before they chided me for it. Nobody. Including you. So, yeah. And because she was clearly going so hard on this, I started to get concerned she would stop me from seeing Will. That she might even cancel the arranged visit that evening. And nobody could give me any information about that. They just kept telling me not to do something I didn't even do."

[hippie_ninja]

"She never said you were unstable or that you were dangerous, Malcolm. She told me she couldn't get through to you, and when you're wound up you are very hard to talk to. Is it possible that she, with her lack of emotions, just couldn't communicate clearly with you when you were experiencing so many emotions at once? Because she felt like she wasn't being heard. That's why she reached out. It wasn't to slander you or attack you, it was because she felt she wasn't being understood."

[abrightboy]

"She didn't even try to talk to me, Jesus. She told me some information the night before. I heard it. Hence leaving them alone all day. The next day she talked to other people instead of me. And I've contacted her about it since. Because I don't think anyone here would like someone to go around talking about how difficult and impossible they are on their worst day on the Barge without even talking to them any more than I did," Malcolm points out.

[hippie_ninja]

"How are things with you and her now?"

[abrightboy]

"We were supposed to have a meeting this morning, but she didn't answer my message." He shrugs. "I'm sure we'll connect at some point. She's letting Will stay with me at night, so ironing things out is more about preempting future misunderstandings. Kiryu has agreed to mediate a more... permanent delineation of expectations."

[hippie_ninja]

"He's a good choice for that." He's glad Shaw has Kiryu as a resource.

[abrightboy]

"I didn't know she'd spoken to him before I did until later. But when it came up, he told me," Malcolm says. He considers Jesus a moment. "She said you reached out to her, though. So who told you I was a problem?"

[hippie_ninja]

"No one." He gives him a wry smile. "It's not always about you," he teases. "I reached out to her after Will told me what happened because I assumed she'd be stressed and I wanted to see if I could help somehow."

[abrightboy]

"So Shaw did. It wasn't that nobody told you, it was that you contacted her and then she told you," Malcolm points out. "Because that's the help she was looking for."

[hippie_ninja]

"I guess? But she didn't go looking for me for it, and I didn't contact her because I thought you were trouble."

[abrightboy]

"Semantics. Because she didn't think to look for you. She looked for other people and told them and you showed up and she told you too. It's worse that she didn't call you and still told you my business anyway. How was it anyone's business? I wasn't doing anything," Malcolm points out.

[hippie_ninja]

"You don't think you were doing anything. There's a difference. She was reacting to something, Malcolm, it didn't come out of nothing. You may not realize you were putting pressure on her, but clearly she was feeling it."

[abrightboy]

"Because she has notions about me, many of which are untrue assumptions, but that doesn't warrant jumping all over me just for existing. Or does it?" Malcolm asks.

[hippie_ninja]

"No and that's not what she was doing. Every person in that situation was trying to do right by Will the best they knew how, Malcolm."

[abrightboy]

"So was I, so how am I the bad guy here and everyone else's intentions were noble?" Malcolm asks. "I was in my own cabin, not disturbing her or him. What kind of 'pressure' was I putting on her, exactly, that warranted mobilizing a whole bunch of Wardens against me? If it wasn't in her head, what was it? Point to it."

[hippie_ninja]

"Yes, I meant you, too, Malcolm. Why don't we bring Shaw in and ask her what she experienced?"

[abrightboy]

"I'm already supposed to do that with Will and Kiryu. How many of that meeting do you think I need to have?" Malcolm asks. He holds up a finger. "I'll tell you what: I'll let you know after the Kiryu meeting if we need another one. Or you can ask her. But let's just put this out there: you didn't know and you still don't know what I actually did but you still thought you would call me the day after someone who tortured my boyfriend to death had their hands on him again and use her vague accusations about me to push your break up agenda. Unless you would like to dispute that observation?"

[hippie_ninja]

Wait. What? "My break up agenda?"

[abrightboy]

"You're the only one who suggested we separate. You have already come down on the side of we shouldn't be together to start with. That wasn't in your calculations when you pulled out that suggestion?" Malcolm asks.

[hippie_ninja]

"No. Now you think I'm calculating?" All Malcolm has done this whole talk is paint himself as a victim, he probably shouldn't be surprised that Jesus's concerns are being vilified now, too.

"This was a mistake, Malcolm. I'm sorry I hurt you, but if all you can see are malicious intentions being flung at you when all the rest of us were doing was trying to help Will...I don't know what else there is to say."

[abrightboy]

“I appreciate you trying to help Will, I’m just trying to understand how you thought what you did would accomplish that,” Malcolm tells him. “And every time I question that, you try to leave instead of explaining. Am I asking wrong?” He’s really asking.

[hippie_ninja]

"It feels like you're ascribing motives to me that aren't there, and nothing I say can change your mind. It feels like you've already made up your mind that I'm persecuting you and Will, that none of my concerns are valid so you've dismissed them or--worse--decided that it's part of some weird agenda. I have no agenda, Malcolm."

[abrightboy]

“And that’s what my whole day was like that day. If two or three more people you kind of know and/or respect showed up to tell you the same thing and also pay no heed to what you tell them was actually true, about how far would you throw your phone if one of them gave you the runaround to one simple question?” Malcolm asks. “Hypothetically.”

[hippie_ninja]

"Do I get someone to yell at you when you do start to listen to me, too?"