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[versusnurture]

[Abigail knows, now, that it's only a matter of time. He's been allowed into the kitchen. He won't show his true face, but one way or another, he'll start working on people. Ripping them apart, one way or another. Making them see too much of themselves until they eat themselves up from the inside, or worse. And she doesn't know, even now, if she wants to help him or if she wants to run.]

[She's tired of being prey, tired of being helpless, tired of being alone and crazy, and most of all she doesn't want people to know - so why has she been telling them? Why did she tell Arkin, why did she let Zane find out? Why is Ben, who has power, letting this happen?]

[She is afraid, so she ties a bright blue scarf around her neck and makes deliberate appearances in several common rooms, the cafeteria, the greenhouse, and the library, a copy of Jane Eyre tucked under her arm. She's quiet when it's appropriate, polite or even chatty when someone approaches her. But there's something not quite right about the set of her smile, to those who know her very well or look very closely, and her heart beats like a rabbit's every time she sees someone new.]

for ben } thursday

[After Riddick finds her, Abigail thinks about the situation for a while. No, she doesn't trust Ben. She doesn't really trust anyone. But Riddick had at least one point: he seems to have decent motives. He seems to care. And maybe that means she's going about this all wrong. Maybe he's more Will than Hannibal. Or like Alana, even: smart and capable but with a part of him that can't see through what Abigail holds on the outside.]

[He has trouble, she knows, with touch. But he's sweet anyway. He cares.]

[She waits for him outside the kitchen, when his shift is over, hands twisting in the hem of her shirt, eyes on the floor.]

Comments

[halftheman]

[ Harvey chuckles. ]

No, I'm alright. He's a pain I've learned to live with. Besides, if the smoking hasn't rotted my throat, he won't. He just enjoys his pathos and drama. But that we share, I suppose.

Can't be a lawyer and not enjoy your part in the theater.

[ He knows Two-Face can -- and will -- speak like him when it serves his purpose. He just likes to be mean, loud and angry most of the time. ]

[versusnurture]

Most interesting people enjoy pathos and drama.

[Said very seriously - then her lips twitch into an impish little smile. Or else get taken in by it. Oh, yes, they do.]

[halftheman]

[ It's very rare for Harvey to smile; for the man that was to exist at all, really. To take anything but grim humor and indulge in his deepest madness. But he does it now; it only moves half his face, really, but it's there; crows feet at the corner of his eye, a tug of his lips upward on the right. Brief, but there. ]

A little is good for the soul, yes.

[versusnurture]

[There: for a moment, he looks like a man and not a monster. She likes this moment. Hannibal has always looked like a man, but inside - well. It's a very complicated situation all around.]

[Really, right now, it's just nice to make someone smile without having any particular reason to do so.]

A dash. But never too much.

[halftheman]

Too much is messy. Then it becomes less theater, more flash mob.

[ Not that he hasn't use for that, too. It's just not something he chases. ]

Can I ask what has you afraid?