empathicfault | Will's Insight

In the series Hannibal, Will Graham is shown to have a unique ability- he calls it 'interpreting the evidence', whereas Hannibal calls it 'pure empathy'. It lets Will know what the people around him are feeling, often to Will's detriment. Will frequently appears to be overstimulated by the outside world, slumping in chairs and avoiding eye contact. He finds comfort in dogs and being alone.

However, this ability can often be extremely useful for determining motivations, desires, and fears. When he uses it at crime scenes, the series shows murders taking place as if Will were the culprit. He sees fantastical visions and metaphorical imagery as he places himself in his target's place, seeing the world as they see it.

I'd like to write out some of this imagery in narration as I roleplay, but I also don't want to infomod. So if you are interested in letting Will into knowing your character through this ability, please reply here.

What I'd like to know (feel free to copy+paste, or just write out what you'd like)--

1. What would you like him to be able to suss out about your character? He works in emotions, so fears, desires, motivations, immediate wants, all that sort of thing is good.

2. Is there a character trait or emotion you absolutely do NOT want brought up? Will isn't magic and he's not always right with this ability. It's easy to veer off of any topic you might want to avoid.

3. Is there any visual imagery you associate with your character, and/or is there anything specifically that you'd like Will to visualize? Sometimes he sees things that don't seem to make a whole lot of sense until later- I tend to interpret that as him integrating evidence that he hasn't logically noticed yet.

4. Any plot threads or development you'd like to actually get going through this mechanic? Let me know, I'd love to plan with you! Will could be a good way to weasel info or feelings out of someone who would otherwise keep them hidden, if that's something you'd like. I'm also very happy to just see where things go.

Thanks, and please let me know if there's anything else you'd like me to know or talk over with you.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

1. What would you like him to be able to suss out about your character?

Taylor is doing her best to rebuild herself after accidentally erasing her humanity in a giant end-of-the-world situation, letting an alien passenger take the wheel. She was originally an inmate here, then a warden, then went home and fucked up, and now she's an inmate again. She's not confident of much, but she is very sure she'll graduate again.

She has good support, but she's hiding how raw she feels from them. She's less guarded with strangers. She's very afraid of other people feeling guilty for her current state, both emotional and physical. And she's afraid she'll interpret some minor aggression as a real threat, because she did entirely lose the ability to tell what was and wasn't hostile for a few crucial hours, and that brought her here to hurt people.

She isn't comfortable with how forgiven she's been. She (thinks she) killed Shen Jiye/Ye Zun and did kill Dorian and brutalized Jon and none of them have really spoken to her about it yet.

2. Is there a character trait or emotion you absolutely do NOT want brought up? Nothing I can think of.

3. Is there any visual imagery you associate with your character, and/or is there anything specifically that you'd like Will to visualize? Oh, so much. Swarms of insects/spiders, dragonflies, maggots, being devoured, webs, golden honeycomb, the ocean, unimaginably large interstellar life forms, puppets, hollow puppets, burning inside an abandoned house, drowning in insects, endless echoes, a quiet clean jail cell, the hectic insect life going on beneath growing plants, a drowned city on fire, continents fracturing, a surgical saw cutting into a scalp. The bug-related ones are going to be the closest to the surface, I'd think.

4. Any plot threads or development you'd like to actually get going through this mechanic? Taylor's got a few things that might resonate with Will - She's got a long-running complicated relationship with a horrifically unethical and unnaturally intelligent surgeon who has cut into her head (Riley/Bonesaw is 14, and SUPER not licensed, but that's not stopping her and her reciprocating saw), she's spent a good bit of time in a jail cell, and she was let out on work release to hunt serial killers.

And she has both been eaten by someone, and eaten parts of other people via her swarm.

Oh man, thanks for filling this out! Poor Taylor sounds like she's been through the ringer. I look forward to giving Will some entirely new creepy imagery to play with. :3

And yes, they can commiserate on having their heads cut into- Will's scar will be very visible as he doesn't cover it up. And commiserate on serial killers all day long. ;)

I think Taylor's working at the kennel right now? Will is going to be there a lot. He'll probably approach the idea of working there himself. So maybe they can talk there sometime?

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cw: bugs (no, really)

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