empathicfault | IC Inbox

Will listens quietly, letting Malcolm get everything out that he needs to. His eyes narrow a bit as Malcolm describes the thing that Shaw had said. Being described as having 'sharper lines,' Will smiles slightly, looking content.

"Your Becoming would be unique. Our potentials are not to be the same thing, after all. You have your own hues that would come out in your ultimate radiance. But that's for later. Because you are only just out of the adaptation for survival's sake stage. You have begun to change. And in that change, you are finding strife. That's normal, Malcolm. It's good. You have to come up against boundaries before you can test where the edges of yourself are. Like with the Enclosure."

He leans forward, his own forehead resting against Malcolm's, so he can look him closely in the eyes. So Malcolm can see his intent. "The change will be difficult. It will require sacrifice, but I'm not going to do to you the same thing Hannibal did to me. Every part of this will be your choice. Now, it just so happens this place is extremely accepting and helpful to those seeking to undergo change. We will find you, define you, and then we will find the potential of who you could be. And because I love you, I will help guide you to that precipice, and you can decide if you want to jump."

He only realizes after he says it that he personally did literally have to jump (or fall, he supposes) to truly Become who he is. He wonders if Malcolm's Becoming would be so dramatic, but- well, they are both who they are. "After that, the ideas that anyone can mold your shape or ruin your desires will seem laughable."

Malcolm is just as intent as he listens, rapt.

“Is that why it doesn’t hurt you, how they talk about us?” he asks, his voice barely above a whisper as he elaborates, “Like I’m romping across a vulnerable person for my own shallow gratification and not experiencing the deepest spiritual connection I’ve ever had with anyone? Because you understand what you want and you know they can’t touch it? All their chatter just gets carried off on the wind? Because it… I feel it inside me. Like they’re desecrating something sacred and they think they’re better than me because I believe in it and they’re above it. That’s why I get so worked up. Because they have such strong opinions about it and they can’t even see it. They don’t even want to see it, they just want me to agree. But I can’t agree. It’s holy to me.”

Will smiles a little, and it only grows as Malcolm continues. "It is. And that's the important thing." He brings up Malcolm's hand, and kisses it softly in an act of supplication. "You will come to understand, in your mind and your heart, that there are some things that they can't see. Some things that they won't see. And they won't be able to touch that inner part of you anymore. You will be free."

“That’s what I want!” Malcolm exclaims earnestly. “It’s possible to Become that? Really?”

"It's possible," Will confirms. He almost wants to leave it at that, but- that would be more misleading than he can allow himself to be with Malcolm. "It might not come out in the way you're expecting. You'll have to analyze your self and your feelings in ways you never have before. You'll have to let go of tightly-held beliefs, maybe even things you thought were a core part of you. But-"

He smiles a bit again. His smiles when talking about this are soft, content- completely unlike the twitchy mess he tends to present to the world. "We've already determined that you don't enjoy killing. So you won't be taking entirely the same path I did. That was my...most difficult hurdle, admitting that." Testing it out. Reveling in it.

"And I don't... I don't have to let go of you, right? No matter what?" Malcolm confirms cautiously.

Will actually considers this. "I don't know what form you will take, Malcolm. I doubt it, but there were things I went through that I couldn't have imagined ten years ago. This sort of metamorphosis is not predictable. So it's a possibility, even if I don't know how that would happen."

He lets out a small, annoyed sigh, after acknowledging that. "What I will say is that you'll have a choice. And you can choose what you want the most. I...can't see it coming to that, honestly." Because Will is always going to try to do what's best for Malcolm. He just needs to make sure he keeps that focus.

Malcolm appreciates that Will isn’t bullshitting him about this, and while it isn’t the ringing denial that such a thing could happen he was hoping for, the fact that he concludes that he can’t see it coming to that is something of s reassurance.

“You don’t want it to, though, right?” he confirms, his fingers starting to fidget. “You still want to do our plans?”

"Of course I do. It's everything I'm working towards. I think you'll enjoy the travel more if you don't have the doubts in your mind, if you know who you are and what you want."

He leans forward on impulse, pressing his lips against Malcolm's and kissing him slowly but deeply. "I never want to leave you. I will fight to be with you with every breath. The only thing that would keep us apart would be someone or something convincing me that I'm making things worse for you. And...after everything I've been through, fought through, and discussed with you, well." He smirks. "Anyone trying that tactic would have a hell of a job in front of them."

“That’s one thing where I really don’t care what anyone thinks,” Malcolm tells him. “You’re good for me. We’re good for each other. And if some people think we’re too crazy to decide what we want, then… too bad for them,” Malcolm says firmly, his hand finding purchase in Will’s shirt at his chest before fidgeting its way along his collarbone. “I’ve never felt luckier or happier or safer than I do when it’s just you and me together.”

There are times when Will's face goes almost entirely slack and yet he radiates contentment. And there are times when a smile or laugh is startled out of him, like a sudden flash of a fish's tail breaking the surface of the water. Right now, Malcolm's words pull the second out of him, as he breaks into a bright grin.

And he doesn't have the words for a little while, but when he finally manages to school his smile a little, he replies, "Same here. I'm...really looking forward to exploring all sorts of crazy worlds with you."

That makes Malcolm smile happily back.

“I’m going to apologize to that lady. It wasn’t a very nice welcome. Can we do some more work in the Enclosure tomorrow? On my darkness? I think we need to fully define it before we can really work on my Becoming.”

"I think you're right. And I'd love to," Will replies with a grin. "Although I need to think on what to explore next, now that we've determined that you aren't looking for violence. You have more sophisticated taste...I feel like I've got an idea, nothing detailed has coalesced yet. But we'll figure it out."

Will smiles at Malcolm. "In the meantime, if you have any particular ideas or scenario you'd like to try, let me know. I can set it up for you." And he'll always be happy to play the antagonist for it. The Enclosure's not so good at coming up with 'smart' villains, after all.

Malcolm's smile is almost bashful when Will calls his taste in darkness 'sophisticated'. It didn't occur to him that he could also come up with scenarios. He'll consider it. In the meantime, his fingers fidget at Will's collar.

"So... maybe in the meantime... tonight..." He looks up at Will's face playfully from under his brow. "We could do something more intimate than kissing?"

Will's smile shows a bit more teeth, suddenly. It's still somewhat rare that Malcolm initiates anything sexual, but he's starting to get more comfortable with being forward. "I think we could. Maybe," he replies, just as playful.

He leans forward and takes Malcolm's lower lip in between his teeth, tugging it lightly in a promise of more to come. "You want to stay here, or relocate?" Kind of mean to make your boyfriend do the Walk of Shame when you're essentially living together, after all.

Malcolm grins. "I want to stay right here, with you." He left his spare set of restraints after retrieving them from Zero. "Annnnd I also want kissing, just to be clear. With the other stuff." Will is great at it, what can he say? "And then we can go to my cabin in the morning and make breakfast." But maybe tonight he's hiding. Not that Will's cabin wouldn't be the second place anyone would look after trying his own.

IC Inbox

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject