ic contact (mask or menace)

[hackitude]

"Hey! You've reached Skye. Leave a message. I mean, if you want to. Or uh, don't. Whatever."

Comments

[infomodder]

[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.

[hackitude]

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?]

[infomodder]

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.]

[hackitude]

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

[infomodder]

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.]

[hackitude]

[HA. Now you're catching on.]

There would be Comic Sans everywhere.

[infomodder]

[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?]

[hackitude]

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.

[infomodder]

[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!]

[hackitude]

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.

[infomodder]

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?

[hackitude]

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

[infomodder]

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.

[hackitude]

... 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.

[infomodder]

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.

[hackitude]

Awwwww. You would do that? For me?

God you are so out of date though.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

[infomodder]

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.

[hackitude]

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

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

[infomodder]

[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?

[hackitude]

Looking forward to it.

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

[infomodder]

["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.

[hackitude]

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

[infomodder]

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?

[hackitude]

I like the internet. They get me.

I like people in real life too, I just... never really got a chance to make friends in school. ... I moved around a lot. So... the internet became my friendship group instead. Internet friends don't care if you move.

[infomodder]

[...not what he was expecting.]

Me either. By the time everyone got tired of making Teddy Graham/Graham Cracker jokes, it was off to another school to start the whole thing over again. Didn't have the Internet then. Wouldn't be able to keep up, no point in trying to make friends. I'd be at another school in a year or two. No email, no im, whatever. No cell phones, either. You ever watch an "old" movie where the cell phones are like bricks? Don't look like anything on the market now? We didn't even have that.

There was more plaid back then, too. Seems it's gone out of style.