Will's Insight | Opt-In Post

[empathicfault]

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)--
<b>1. What would you like him to be able to suss out about your character? </b> He works in emotions, so fears, desires, motivations, immediate wants, all that sort of thing is good. <b>2. Is there a character trait or emotion you absolutely do NOT want brought up?</b> 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. <b>3. Is there any visual imagery you associate with your character, and/or is there anything specifically that you'd like Will to visualize?</b> 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. <b>4. Any plot threads or development you'd like to actually get going through this mechanic?</b> 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.

Comments

[deuceoftears]

1. What would you like him to be able to suss out about your character? Jedao is very, very skilled at hiding what's going on with him, as he spent almost his entire pre-barge life living as a comfortable prisoner of the Space KGB and after two years his psychiatry/interrogation team were like "we're not getting anywhere, you should just kill him." So that's fun! But on the barge he does not always actually use those skills. I'll try to be clear in narration what a hyperperceptive person like Will could pick up and when he's just getting a blank mask. Will can probably pick up for sure that 1) Jedao has had some experience hiding his reactions, 2) that Jedao doesn't feel like he 'belongs' with normal people, and 3) that he has extremely high situational awareness - he doesn't get surprised by anything behind him, even if he seems absorbed in whatever he's doing. Anything deeper (like. being a LITERAL alien) won't be apparent unless specified.

2. Is there a character trait or emotion you absolutely do NOT want brought up? See above!

3. Is there any visual imagery you associate with your character, and/or is there anything specifically that you'd like Will to visualize? Eyes, darkness, lovecraftian-ish squidink vibes, moths, fire, masks, broken glass fragments, ghosts, starry voids. Jedao has weird shit going on!

4. Any plot threads or development you'd like to actually get going through this mechanic? Jedao has a thing called "Crowned with Eyes" which is basically Space Omens for hyperempathy/hyperintuition/seeing All the Patterns (in larger groups as well as individuals). Jedao has a lot less practice at it, and often the totally different cultural contexts on the barge throw him for a loop a little, but it could be funny one day to have them both fully "seeing infinite mirrors of seeing each other SAME HAT" interaction.