ic contact.

[heartlessglitch]

YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY INITIATED CONTACT WITH DANGER.

I AM CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE TO RESPOND.
YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO LEAVE A CONCISE MESSAGE.
THANK YOU.

Comments

[slightlyoffchilt]

I care deeply to know how such a thing could have happened! And I'm concerned about your mental state thereafter.

[heartlessglitch]

That is not the same as caring about me.

[slightlyoffchilt]

[A beat.]

That's... Fair. [Another beat.] You should know I do care about your current state -- it appears that I cannot do anything to rectify what has already happened to you. You sound like yourself, at least, and that should be relieving. Are there physical scars? To match the emotional ones?

What had happened?

[heartlessglitch]

No. And I doubt you would have been able to interfere even if you wished to.

[ A brief beat then. ]

Tell me genuinely what motivates you to ask me, and I will answer you with the truth. But I am quickly growing irritated with all this talk of caring, Doctor. I am well-aware that the only person you sincerely care for is yourself.

[slightlyoffchilt]

I want to know if it was Hannibal.

[heartlessglitch]

[ Curtly and coldly: ]

It was not.

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Audibly relieved:] Thank goodness. [A beat.] Someone I know? Is that why you're being so... Tacit about it? Someone -- someone who was able to slip past your defenses?

[Caring was the word she brought up, wasn't it? Another, harder beat.]

Someone you cared about.

[heartlessglitch]

[ Lowly then, but with an edge to her syllables: ]

I am approximately ten seconds from hanging up on you, Frederick. This is not a conversation I am prepared to have in this capacity.

[slightlyoffchilt]

It was Gideon. Wasn't it? Abel Gideon did this to you.

[The reticence, the humanity in her anger. The hurt unexpressed. It was all evidence, to Chilton.

Softly:]

He killed you, Danger.

[heartlessglitch]

[ A long. Long. Pause.

Finally, in a very quiet voice: ]

Are you satisfied now?

[slightlyoffchilt]

[I told you so, he wanted to say. I told you he would, I told you to be. Careful.]

How did he do it?

[Restraint only went so far, for Chilton.]

Are you -- do you require company, in person, now?

[heartlessglitch]

[ Sharply: ]

Why? Do you genuinely believe that I have any desire to make a spectacle of myself for you, Doctor? As educational as you might consider the experience, I find myself inexplicably averse to being analyzed.

[slightlyoffchilt]

I know what it's like to be murdered by Abel Gideon -- [well, almost. But that "almost" adds up to twice, now] -- and we are the only two people around to share the experience.

I thought you would appreciate the comfort. The camaraderie.

[heartlessglitch]

But you do not understand what it is like to be murdered by someone you care for, given that you are incapable of caring about anyone other than yourself. My vulnerability at this moment does not mean that I trust your motivations.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Perhaps. But as it stands, I am the best you've got, with regards to your available resources. And I am your doctor.

[heartlessglitch]

I do not wish to talk to my doctor about Abel Gideon.

[slightlyoffchilt]

Your friend, then. I'm coming as your friend.

[heartlessglitch]

Do you even know what it means, to approach someone as their friend?

[slightlyoffchilt]

I know what you'd want me to say. Does that count for anything?

[heartlessglitch]

What is it do you think I would want you to say?

[slightlyoffchilt]

I had missed your presence.

[heartlessglitch]

In that case, I would prefer not to be lied to.

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Snappishly:]

You won't take my pity, you won't accept my comfort nor my concern. What is it that you want me to do, precisely?

[heartlessglitch]

I would prefer to be offered something genuine, and if that is impossible, then I would rather be left alone, if it is all the same to you, Doctor.

[slightlyoffchilt]

[A much frostier beat follows. And then:]

If that's what you want, authenticity. Since you'll be able to detect the consequences of your recent rendezvous, I'll be genuine in my intent: I will be expunging your security devices from my house, from my bedroom, and I'll have a courier deliver them all to you.

[He says, having already begun to disconnect the devices.]