empathicfault | IC Inbox

Yep. Nothing saying you'll be perfectly objective, either. Then again, we're talking about me turning into a werewolf, so maybe 'objective' isn't the right word for it.

[ He shrugs. ]

[She quirks a brow at him, half-smiling.]

How about "completely unbelievable"?

We can go with that.

[ He smirks. ]

Of course, that's at least half the things on this ship. Some of it, we've just gotten used to.

Have we?

[She means it as a quip, but, well. Shaw is an adaptable person, but even she has her limits, and the Barge has found several of them.]

I did say 'some of it.' [ He has to admit. ]

I don't think I'd be adapting so well if it weren't for Harkin. But I wanted to know and understand his lives...support him the best I can. His entire existence is in the fantastical, so... [ He shrugs again. ] I'm working on it.

Maybe that's why this wolf thing coming up...it doesn't shake me so much. Between Harkin and Malcolm, it'd been on my mind already.

You know, I'm kind of surprised Sweeney's not one already?

[ Will shakes his head, suddenly frowning a little. ]

He can't. Not with being Fae already. It's...too bad. He'd make a great wolf.

Seriously? That's... weird; why can't he be both?

I don't know. Maybe it's like oil and water- the two types of magic don't mix well.

All I know is that he's sure about it not working, and that he really would've liked it to.

That sucks.

[Which feels like an understatement.]

Yep. Seems like he always gets the short end of the stick.

[ Which is a feeling Will understands- but it's been at least somewhat different since he came here. At least Harkin isn't literally Unlucky while he's here, but it sort of feels like it, sometimes. ]

He's got Garcia, though, yeah? And you, and, uh-- I assume he has other friends.

Oh, yeah. It's not the having that's tough for him, it's the losing. He's always here while people graduate, get their deals, get pulled away...and that's not going into the Breaches...

And a few wardens have really failed him in that time, too. It all builds up.

[Shaw makes a small sound in the back of her throat.]

This is a really easy place to fail other people.

[ Will hums thoughtfully in response. ]

It can be. Maybe it's even an inevitability. The stakes are high here, on both sides of the aisle.

Yeah, no kidding. And speaking of social problems - ready to talk about Bright?

[ Will takes in a breath and visibly prepares himself, watching Shaw's face carefully. ]

Sure. What about him?

We kind of got into it. Again. He's probably going to come to you - if he hasn't already - and try to get you to fix things, or "translate" for him, or-- whatever.

[She pulls in a deep breath of her own, her eyes rolling up to focus on the ceiling.]

My answer right now is no. There's only one track to fixing things with me, and that's recognizing that I'm a person, not a set of interesting psychological data points that he's owed access to. And recognizing that interaction is a two-way street, and that as a person, me saying "I don't like how you talk to me" isn't the same thing as, I dunno, spitefully withholding a toy he wants to play with. If he won't do that, and right now he won't - that's a nonstarter with me.

[ Will's eyebrows raise as she speaks... then raise some more. By the time she finishes, he's staring at a dog (Winston) and appears focused on petting. ]

Okay.

[Shaw is quiet for a moment, studying him; then she guesses--]

You think I shouldn't give up on him.

[It's honestly something she's been wondering herself.]

[ Will lets out a quiet sigh, the breath blowing out of him like a balloon. ]

I think...it might not be worth it to either of you to keep trying, actually.

And I also think you've read him entirely wrong.

[Ah.]

I don't... think he's incapable of seeing people as people. I know he sees you as a person. I'm not calling him a monster, Graham.

[ Will laughs, and it's a bitter thing. Tired. ]

That's not what I'm talking about.

...you know, I listened to your whole conversation. Because you're right, Malcolm's already made it to me. He was ready to give up, too, and so I think that's why he shared. He wanted to know what he was doing wrong.

And I know I'm missing the foundation that this one was built on, but I didn't notice Malcolm not recognizing you as a person. When did that happen?

If a person who you actually want to be friends with tells you that how you treat them doesn't work for them, you make an effort to change that. If you don't care about changing that - and he made it clear that he doesn't - that means they either don't matter to you as much as you claim they do, or you don't fully see them as a person. And I know I matter to him. But the fact that he won't even try to shift his MO, as well as a couple other things he said, make it clear that I only matter to him as an interesting puzzle. He's not apathetic towards me. He just kinda thinks my wants are irrelevant, at least compared to his own.

[ Will's brow knots, because yeah, this is where he was lost before. ]

Why do you think he's not making an effort? Why do you think he's made it clear that he's not making an effort? Because there are parts of his personality he can't change? Because he's telling you as much?

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