Abigail Hobbs (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
versusnurture) wrote2013-10-18 01:05 am
versusnurture) wrote2013-10-18 01:05 am
sixth ♢ public
[She doesn't hear from Arkin all day on Thursday; she doesn't see him, either. By evening, she's concerned. Maybe he's sick, like the new girl in the infirmary. She brings him soup.]
[When she finds him in his room, she drops nothing. Just places it on the nearest flat surface with a sigh and pinches the bridge of her nose.]
[The announcement comes after a slight delay, during which she's thinking hard.]
Arkin O'Brien has fallen into a coma in his room. I need help getting him to the infirmary.
[Anyone who tells her to let them take care of it and go away may get knifed.]
[When she finds him in his room, she drops nothing. Just places it on the nearest flat surface with a sigh and pinches the bridge of her nose.]
[The announcement comes after a slight delay, during which she's thinking hard.]
Arkin O'Brien has fallen into a coma in his room. I need help getting him to the infirmary.
[Anyone who tells her to let them take care of it and go away may get knifed.]
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I think he realized if I knew too much I might make the connection. Given what happened between me and Joe. One of the memories he saw was after I recaptured him the second time. That's when Joe told me he was going to be my friend and that he killed a girl for me. A girl I saved from him ten years earlier. According to him we were going to write a story together.
[he glances at the table for a second.] I broke three of his fingers before the guards could drag me off.
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Not nearly as far to push with you, is there? Will wouldn't do that. Or at least he wouldn't have when we first met. You have awful taste in friends.
Okay. What do you want to know about Will? Everything? It's a long story.
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Whatever you think is important. I've got nowhere to be.
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[Mostly, though, she just loves him.]
Hannibal and Will worked to catch my father. Garret Hobbs. [She waves a hand - obviously Garret Hobbs.] That's how we all met. Will shooting my father over and over while I bled out on the floor and Hannibal just . . . watched. After that, Hannibal was Will's psychiatrist. I'm not sure exactly what he did to Will in session, but I can guess. I watched from the outside and experienced some of myself.
Will feels too much. He feels everything. It's easy to manipulate someone who feels that much. I did it. [No point lying about that.] But I think Hannibal wanted him to be more. Like he wants for me. [She smiles crookedly.] On Thursday, he told me I could be awesome and terrible. He was never that explicit with Will, I'm sure. Will is more delicate than I am. I doubt Hannibal would have used the mushrooms on him.
But there was enough bloodthirstiness in him that Hannibal could see him rising above - common humanity, I guess you could say. And he was a more interesting puzzle than me. My psychoses are comparatively pedestrian.
As far as I know, Hannibal framed Will for a number of murders, including mine. My death, in other words, Mr. Hardy, was orchestrated to push Will Graham into a corner. He's in prison now. And I don't know how Hannibal died or almost died to get here, but if there's one thing out of his control right now it's his plan for Will. Time might have stopped but he's stuck here away from him. And he does care for Will in his way. Like he does for me, in his way.
What did he feed you? I'm not trying to mess with you. It just might be significant.
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[He frowns at the question.] Little of everything. Feeding me just heart would be too much of a tip off. Too obvious.
[He taps a page in the file. Specifically, the report of Joe's capture the first time and Ryan's injury.]
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[She nods slightly, looking closer at the details of Ryan's injuries.] I don't think he's as invested in overt poeticism as your Joe. Or he might have. Was there lamb? Veal? Venison?
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[He reaches for the file, closing it again.] And liver.
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[Purification, maybe. She's not sure. Veal and lamb are controversial dishes, the flesh of children. And venision . . . it might be egotistical to assume a connection to her.]
[She purses her lips.]
I'm not a behavioral analyst. I wanted to be a psychiatrist. Do you want me to tell you what I think, or not?
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Can't hurt.
[He has his own suspicions but he'll listen to what she has to say.]
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It's inarguable that he wants you to be Will, at this point. And confirmation bias is an issue - as well as all the other biases I have. But if that had really been animal meat, you'd have snuffed out a young creature's life to enjoy your meal.
He wants you to ascend.
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[He rubs his face for a second.] So, it's Joe all over again. Great.
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If you already knew that, why are you even talking to me?
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The problem is, he's not the only one in my head. Somebody else got in there ten years ago. He is still in there. That's the one thing Hannibal doesn't know about me. Getting in my head will kill him.
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[The doubt is strong in this one.]
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I know what I am underneath. [A killer that kills everything around him. Especially anyone he cares about.]
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[She trails off, her hands folded primly in her lap and her eyes unfocused. Then she shakes her head, dislodging herself from that path.]
Don't you want control?
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The last time I was in complete control was ten years ago when I shot Joe Carroll.
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What did he tell you about me? When he was pretending to be my dad.
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[He considers something else. This one is harder but he should say it.] Months ago when some of us got turned into kids... I was 16. [There's weight to his words there.] I saw my dad die.
He... said he had experience with troubled teenagers.
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And you want to help kids too? Or what?
[She doesn't bother saying she's sorry for his loss. It would sound hollow.]
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I'm telling you... he knows what happened to the guy who killed my dad. [There's a weight to that statement. Ryan knows exactly what happened but you don't just undo covering up a murder for decades.] My warden knows and he knows.
[spam] ten jillion years later SORRY ILU
And what will he do with it?
[spam] np
That's something I hope you can answer for me.
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He'll make it seem like it was your only option. Like it was strength. Like you did what you had to do to survive. And then he'll keep you alone with just him and your secret until it's something special you share just between the two of you. Until it makes you partners.
You should tell everyone. [A beat; she bites her lip, and amends:] I should have told anyone, anyway.
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[Despite that he nods] But I see what you're saying. It's an effective method of control. A fabricated relationship.
Look, I can't promise he won't get to me but I can tell you I'm willing to do what it takes to keep him from doing it, from damaging the other people here.
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