hackitude | ic contact (mask or menace)

[Will has insulted his students. No one talks back to him, though, considering his...sudden claim to fame.]

I'm going to try and be as brief yet accurate as possible. Several months ago, I went back into the field with the FBI. Someone was kidnapping young women fresh out of high school and, we assumed, killing them. We called him the Minnesota Shrike. I go back into the field and find one he took, killed, but placed back in her bed. That was the only body we found. He had returned her out of an apology, let's call it, because he couldn't honor her. He was a hunter who honored these girls the way he honored deer. He couldn't honor her, the only body we had to give the families, because she had liver cancer. That's when we realized he was eating them. Another body appears in a fashion similar to the one we found, the one he'd returned. Another young girl, brutally killed and put on display via impalement on a stag head, missing her lungs. It was a copycat, not the original killer, but taking one of her vital organs made it more believably him after we'd realized his idea of honoring his victims. I went to his home for a routine sweep based on certain tools used at one of his old construction jobs and found he'd already killed his wife and holding his daughter in the kitchen. He refused to put the knife down, slit her throat, and I shot him to death before someone I worked with could stop her bleeding. Not long after that, one of his daughter's friends ended up impaled on deer antlers in his cabin. No leads on that, but clearly the work of this Copycat. Then the whole Copycat business seemed to go by the wayside, didn't see or hear anything from them for a long time. I had gotten sick without knowing it. I came here and was sick. I had what was called encephalitis. My brain was inflamed. I would function for hours without remembering it or being aware of it, I had fevers, I had problems sleepwalking, I had nightmares, hallucinations, all if it because I was physically sick. No one at the time realized it, the MRI I had back home didn't show it, and for all intents and purposes I seemed to be breaking down in ways that weren't physical. There was a young woman who had killed her friend without being fully aware of it, suffering from an illness that is incurable and she had been going untreated. This was the time I had my MRI. After I got out of it, I found my neurosurgeon killed in a similar, though overly brutal manner to the friend mentioned above. It looked like her work only more violent, as if she were progressing in her methods. It was another copycat. Eventually I found her, we both ended up in the same hospital, I visited her, and then her oxygen chamber had a spark. It burst into flames, and she burned alive. I argued that it was murder, not suicide from someone facing murder charges. The girl on the stag head and the girl on the antlers were connected in the way that they were copies of another killer. The death of my neurosurgeon was a copy of a murderer we still had not found who was later given the means to make it look as though she killed herself. If she were to comb her hair in one of those chambers, the littlest bit of static would set off that spark, and she'd burn to death. All four of these murders are linked by the fact of the matter that they involve copies. That's three girls and a doctor. The fourth girl is a little more complicated, and who I imagine Freddie Lounds tried to pass off as someone she was "friends" with. She was important to me, and Freddie Lounds doesn't cares about that because she's convinced I'm completely insane. The fourth girl was what "pulled" it all together in my mind, which was the exact same time all the accusations were pointed at me. Someone had planted body parts of those three girls and that doctor in my fishing lures. The fourth girl's ear was the only thing we found, and that's because it was in my stomach. I threw it up. Because I'd been sick physically and it had manifested itself in what appeared to be mental illness, the idea was suggested that I had done all of those murders while I was not aware of it. Mainly, that I'd "slipped" into the mind of the Shrike and other killers I'd been tracking and done my own work on the side. Because the Shrike was a cannibal, because that girl's ear was in my throat, I know what charges I'm going to face if I ever go home. I've known, since I came here, that I was going to be institutionalized in a hospital for the criminally insane for that. I also knew I didn't do it. I was framed. There is a man here named Dr. Frederick Chilton who runs the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane where we're from. He would be my doctor there. He's from a different place in time as I am. He doesn't consider me a danger. Freddie Lounds told me that I was out of the hospital last she talked to me. So while all this has happened and I have yet to go to the hospital myself where I'm from, it's very clear on all ends that I was actually framed. I didn't do any of it. If I did, Freddie Lounds wouldn't need to be here to tell the world that. They would already know. That's the basics. It's a lot, but it's the basics. More than Freddie Lounds herself knows, but that's nothing new.

[It's a while before Skye responds, because that's a lot of information to take in, and fairly convoluted at that. But after she goes over it a few times, she thinks she's got the gist of it down-pat. Finally, after a good five minutes, she responds.]

... Wow.

... There's something I don't quite understand, though. If Freddie's from further ahead in time from you-- and I'm just going to keep going like that's a thing, because apparently it is, and I think I should be more surprised but I'm really not-- then why is she still so... so hellbent on taking you down? I mean, she knows you're not only acquitted, but out of the hospital, right? So what's her deal? Is there something I'm missing?

[It is a lot, and it's very convoluted in ways Will himself hasn't fully realized. Hasn't been told, either. It's made more convoluted by his refusal to use names, he knows, but he's not about to go dropping names of victims or those he felt...close to.]

The variations in time is a thing, yes. I experienced it myself when I first arrived. I knew things Dr. Chilton didn't know. He now knows things I don't. He and Dr. Gideon, another person I know back home. They both know more than I do, and they have for a while now. All I really know is that I've been cleared. I haven't made too many inquiries.

[Because Will has done plenty of things in his life that were unhealthy, did them knowing they weren't healthy, and that's how he ended up where he did. How people ended up dead and...while he wants to know who did it, how it happened, he's not sure he's capable of coping with it. Not yet. Especially not with this recent addition of a not-quite-Hannibal-Lecter-Hannibal Lecter.]

The general "deal" Freddie Lounds has always had with me is that I'm not an FBI agent and she thinks that means more than it does. She made an assumption about me a long time ago and nothing I can do or say will shake her of it. I am positive I could save her from a house fire and she would thank me only to write something else on me a few weeks later. I make good journalism for someone in her line of work because she can BS about me and there's really nothing I can do without compromising myself or the FBI in the process. It is a smart selection she has made with me but it's turned into obsession. She wants me to be what she wants me to be and I can't be anything else to her.

Yeah but even acknowledging that "you make good journalism" (and I'm not even going to get into that one), you can acknowledge that someone makes good journalism without actively wanting to ruin their life. ... She sounds kinda like she wants to ruin your life. I mean. Just saying.

(Though if she actively tries to ruin your life here I've got your back. Also just saying.)

[Skye has doubts, sure. But she can't keep wondering whether or not to trust this guy. She can't push everyone away just because she might get betrayed again. She might be more guarded, but it seems stupid to let the opportunity that Will Graham represents for her to slip through her fingers. Plus... she likes him. Two for two is a pretty bad track record, Skye admits, but surely three out of three mentors can't be shitty people with sociopathic tendencies. Right?]

You don't understand Freddie's type of journalism. It's garbage. It's gory tabloid trash. She feeds off of murder, the sicker the better. Her site caters to people obsessed with murder, people obsessed with murderers, and murderers themselves. You don't make good "journalism" in that area without ruining lives. That's what she does. Like I said before, she makes a habit of doing JUST THAT. She doesn't care about anything but the next story. The next bloody, twisted story. So what if people lose their jobs or worse? That just makes for another "great" story. (I wouldn't if I were you. Don't want your name in her inevitable ripoff here, do you?)

[Will finds Freddie's writing tasteless. It's always been tasteless. Writing about his being insane was not something he liked. Writing about him, getting a cop killed, and that mysterious fourth girl nearly being abducted? That made it a thousand times worse.

He's not sure what anyone else thinks about being in any form of press. Some people get their picture in the paper at a library opening and it's a big deal, everyone sends them copies. Some of them get embarrassed. He doesn't want Freddie to start up Tattleasswipe Heropa and Skye to find herself on there at any point just because she talked to Will. He has no idea how she'd react, doesn't want her to have to figure it out when she sees it in a startling light.]

Awww, are you worried about me? That's so sweet.

Think I'd be more worried about Freddie, since you're so good with technology. She might be able to turn stuff into leopard print, but I'm sure you could her new Tattlecrime site layout into something hideous. And have a bad song playing while you look at it and you can't turn it off. And the page only halfway loads and you have to refresh it five or six times to get the full thing.

[...there may be some hinting there.

Subtly.

Very subtly.]

[HA. Now you're catching on.]

There would be Comic Sans everywhere.

Edited 2014-06-07 13:57 (UTC)

[Almost.]

What's wrong with Comic Sans? I use it for my class. No one's ever said anything.

[Because even though he wasn't an agent, he still had a reputation. When he went back into the field, the class was studying under a man who had literally shot a serial killer to death in his own kitchen.

Who tells that guy his font is bad, especially after he insults them? Really?]

omg

[That's all she writes for a few moments, because on the other end of the screen, Skye has to pause to put her face in her hands and laugh. Finally, a few minutes later:]

Your students must be really scared of you, G-dawg.

[He's old. He's almost 40, making him a dinosaur. He remembers when the printing press first came out.

And he did shoot a serial killer to death in his own kitchen, basically told them to shut up, and then insulted them all in one go.

Is that fear or is that respect?]

No reason to be scared of me. All I'd do is pass them off to someone above me. Might be scared of him.

[Read: Will has no reservations telling a student to go talk to the Head Honcho if they have a problem. No one wants to do that. Thus, Will wins without doing anything other than say he's going to do nothing. Designs!]

Ok. [Skye isn't going to argue that one way or another, she doesn't know anything about Will in his classroom.]

Well, regardless. Comic Sans is a *travesty* of human typographical design. I don't think it's been used in any kind of non-ironic setting since the 90s.

Well if it's really a *travesty* of human design, it's perfect for my class, since I teach about the travesties humans with malicious designs can bring about if they're not stopped.

[If they didn't believe the class was somber and morbid before, the Comic Sans must have added to that. Yes. That's why no one spoke up, it fit the curriculum.]

What am I supposed to use? The class has pictures of mutilated corpses, why would I have pretty floral lettering over that?

Dude. Just use Times New Roman. Or Helvetica, if you have a Mac. They're very sensible fonts, I promise. No flowers.

Why does it matter? It's not wingdings. It's readable. It's basic. If they come to my class the last thing they should be worried about is font. This isn't a college course in geography. We all have Macs.

... You're right. Of course, silly me. You just... keep on keeping on, Mr. G. You use that Comic Sans. You use it good.

Also obligatory "ewwwww macs" comment.

I don't have to use it here. Do you want me to make you a Comic Sans-riddled powerpoint presentation on something? Variations on stain coloration and what it means? I don't own a computer. I just use the ones we have at work.

Awwwww. You would do that? For me?

God you are so out of date though. You're like a fossil.

I'm sure I could find enough pictures of various types of liquids and bodily fluids staining clothing to make a presentation. If that's what you'd like, yes.

[no skye no pick something else pick dogs or fish something cute to avert from the comic sansbomination]

I don't have a TV, either. I only have my phone because I need it for work. There's a difference between a hermit, you could say, and a fossil.

I'll let you choose the topic. Surprise me.

I don't know. Is it possible you can be both?

Edited 2014-06-07 16:08 (UTC)

[Dogs. It'll be dogs that are good in the water.]

I'll see what I can come up with. Is it possible I can just be someone who doesn't use regular technology because I don't like it without it making me old? Can't that just be part of me being me? If I felt the same way and was 18, what then?

Looking forward to it.

... I guess. But where's the fun in that? What would I tease you about then?

["I'll cook up something special" is not what a guy accused of cannibalism says to someone who knows as much.]

I'll have to spend extra time on it. Plaid? Stupid fishing hats? I don't get teased back home. I don't talk to many people. It's all really strange for me, having to interact with people in ways that don't relate to other people having died.

Uh. ... That sounds kind of sad, Mr. G.

Does it? The job's not always great, but I'm content to be away from people as much as I can. I get the feeling you haven't spent a full 24 hours away from the Internet in some form or another in a long time. That about right?

yes that

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