abrightboy | Voicemail (IC Contact Post) NEW

I have time. Want to come to my office?

[He is very pleased that Abel wants to 'make it official', though he's trying not to sound like it. Will just joined Counselling and he's very, very pleased, but he also has visions of sitting at his desk with nobody in his office, watching people line up outside Will's and Neal's doors.]

I can.

[Abel making it official is a good sign that he's drowning more than he was before Malcolm, don't be too happy about it, or be since he's allowing himself to get help? One of the two.]

I'll be by in a bit, though I had a question before I did. Is...It okay if I bring a firearm into your office? I don't plan on using it while I'm in there obviously, but I want to be mindful now that it isn't just a stun gun.

Sure. I assume most people here are armed most of the time.

I just figured I would ask, it is a counseling office. [Out in the real world, that would be bad form, he's sure.]

I'll see you in a few minutes. [when he arrives, he knocks on the door he's sure is Malcolm's before he enters.]

Come in!

[Malcolm is sitting behind a desk. There's a teapot, steaming, on the desk with two teacups. Malcolm is writing in a notebook, but has looked up when the door opens.]

Hey. Nice to see you. Tea?

[Abel sits himself down across from him after closing the door behind him and glances at the pot, pretty sure he'd forget that his tea existed like he normally did but shrugs.]

Sure, you'll have to remind me it exists or I'll waste it.

It's just hot water. How are you doing?

Not as well as I'd like to be given what happened, honestly. I would have said it wasn't quite so bad personally, and then it abruptly was a lot more than I was prepared for.

I won't ask specifics, but I hope you're doing okay after...I always wonder how often therapists have sessions for themselves.

I have people I confide in. It would be hypocritical of me not to when I ask other people to do it for their health.

I didn't think you were, but at some point I'd think it would get exhausting.

[That and there were only a few people on board actually offering something close to professional services.

He is quiet a moment, before he figures he should just start rather than procrastinate.]

Have you ever killed anyone, Malcolm?

I thought, being at war, I would be prepared for it if I ever had to with my own hand but I know now that was rather naive of me.

I’ve never killed anyone. [Unless his dad didn’t survive their last encounter.] I disposed of the body to cover up a murder once. Mostly I hunt killers. But I’ve studied murder for most of my life. Did you kill someone during the Flood?

[Abel might touch on the part about covering up a murder later, but he doesn't want to get to side track. This has been leaking into things enough that he wants to try and 'fix' it before it becomes too much of a problem.]

Some...thing. It wasn't Cook, but it looked like him, certainly.

[Abel is quiet a moment, thinking about the gun that was still on his hip. It had helped a few other people the week before, and when he'd shot the thing that looked like Hilbert, it wouldn't die despite how many times he shot it, but Cook? One shot and he'd been down. As if what ever was messing with him could understand that realism would disturb him more than the impossible.]

I shot him in the head, it was quick, but I keep thinking about it.

Edited 2024-09-01 00:29 (UTC)

Did... it turn out to be an illusion and it was actually someone here on the Barge? Or was it an illusion and not actually anyone?

It wasn't an illusion... later, I'd ran into a thing that looked exactly like Hilbert. He'd been shot multiple times in the head and was still moving, trying to get at Jacob. It was- [Incredibly disturbing, but not real enough that he hadn't felt much at all, shooting at it's chest and legs to disable it enough that it couldn't follow them any more.] Some kind of monster that was shaped like him, knew things that would disturb Jacob if it said them.

What ever this vision of Cook was, it was similar, except it reacted the way a person might. It didn't disappear, it didn't get back up, it just...fell forward onto the desk, unmoving.

Do you think he was actually alive?

I don't think it matters what I think about whether it was alive, or real, because I know it wasn't. Nothing there was real, or at least real in the sense that it was actually Cook. The monster might have been alive, but any of the knowledge it had, the way it fucked with me, reality doesn't work like that, at least not where I'm from, and I can separate those two at least.

Was he a danger to you?

[Abel finds a very nice spot on the desk to stare at as he shakes his head.]

All he did was talk. When I was down there, I could hear the bridge call me to his office, and I couldn't stop myself after I acknowledged it, but before I could go in, I heard him in my ear, felt it like he was right behind me, and when I turned around Norton came around the corner.

I- I think because he could also hear what Cook was saying when he got close enough, I started to think about what I might do to get him to stop.

What was he saying to you?

[Abel is quiet a moment before deciding he wants some clarification.]

Do you want specifics, or just...more general?

As specific as you’re comfortable being.

Alright. [Settling back in his chair, he takes moment to recollect what specifically was said, though it isn't hard to recall at all.]

At first, he was just taunting me. Made a comment on whether or not I'd slept with Norton before I even realized he was coming down the corridor.

And then it got more specific when it was clear we could both hear him. Saying I was worthless because of my relationship with Cain, that I was a slut.

He said that to you in real life, right?

This was a little different, but yes. Some of it was verbatim what he'd said before, like...the last thing he'd said.

[He hesitates, because he hadn't wanted to admit it, but he can now, at least.]

I didn't want him to finish his sentence. So I opened the door, saw him sitting at his desk, and I shot him.

I heard things from my life too. Times when people tried to shame me.

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