@ W. Graham Day 367 - Video

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

OOC Warning: This post is going to involve Will suffering from extreme delusions and other mental instability. He's in his river happy place, but also has some of his worst hallucinations floating around the edges.



When the video comes on there is a sickening moment when the camera feed tumbles, as if dropped, and lands in what appears to be snow at the edges. The good news is, it lands face up. The bad news is the owner of the tablet does not appear to exhibit any recognition that he just dropped, let alone turned on, the damn thing.

Instead, he is standing there, stock still and staring off into the distance. There is a stillness to his body, and his head that suggests he's not really aware of his current reality.

For Will the landscape is vastly different.

The cold on his legs is not snow, but rather rushing water and his eyes peer out across the sunlit river. Oddly enough, on video he can be seen raising his right hand, as if twitching back a rod, as his left hand plays out line that existing in only Will's reality.

The problem is, Will's actually reality is that he's standing out in the open, not moving as he should be towards shelter. There does not appear to be any immediate threat from an anomaly, but its hard to tell how far away he is from the nearest safe structure.

Comments

@rephaitemercy - video

[tablewithoutpity]

[Oh no.]

Will. Will, can you hear me?

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ Will does not respond immediately.

Hannibal has come upon him in this state in the past. It usually takes a bit of calling to get him back to reality. ]

[tablewithoutpity]

[He is quite familiar with these circumstances, of course, and remains entirely calm, his voice steady and soothing, despite the danger his friend is in.]

Are the fish biting today, Will?

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ This time, Hannibal's voice reaches him from where the Wendigo stands on the bank of the river.

Will doesn't need to turn his head to see the familiar figure, though his lips twitch in a creepy serene smile. ]

The point of fishing isn't always to catch anything.

[tablewithoutpity]

Sometimes it is just for finding peace in the quiet of the stream.

[He imagines himself standing in the stream behind his friend.]

Which lure are you using?

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

A fly I finished tying yesterday. It was a difficult one, I had to stop and start over a couple of times, but eventually I got what I wanted.

[ He's actually talking about the day he spent in the firestation, after a night of coughing on his own blood, in the dark, alone and terrified. The firestation had been its own nightmare, his eyesight still gone but at least the coughing of blood had abated.

And the presence of his stalker had returned. ]

It's drawing out all the fish. [ If by fish we mean monsters. Hobbs is back, as well as Dolarhyde and a few other choice killers Will had caught. ]

[tablewithoutpity]

[Drawing out all the fish. Hannibal knows that Will isn't talking about the aquatic creatures. Not really. He reached further, to begin to slowly draw Will toward reality.]

Am I 9ne of your fish?

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ Will's lips twitched upwards, again into that creepy, serene smile. ]

You're the shark.

[tablewithoutpity]

[Hannibal lifts an eyebrow in amusement at that.]

Indeed? Then perhaps there are two sharks in the water. Because I recall another shark we were hunting. Do you remember?

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ The ex-profiler's expression sobered, became something tired and he gave his head a small shake. ]

I think I'd rather just fish. [ He admitted, perhaps finally showing a weakness in his armor against Norfinbury. Admitting to the toll it was all taking on him. ]

[tablewithoutpity]

I know. I wish we could both just relax together into the quiet of the stream. I would have liked to have been with you when you made your lure last night.

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

There wasn't much to see. [ Bad joke is bad.

Will made another casting motion with the rod. ] It's much nicer out today.

[ At least Will's mind had decided that so long as he wasn't being distracted by external visual input, it would rebuild the landscape to what it wanted to believe in. His peacoat meant that his torso and arms were warm, just his legs were growing numb, which was something that happened in the river.

So he didn't let it bother him. The way it should have. ]

[tablewithoutpity]

Making the lure must have been difficult, considering the circumstances.

Today is better. However, it is still rather cold, is it not?

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

The river is running a little cool. [ Will admitted. ] Often does around this time of year. Snow is melting down off the mountains feeding this stream.

[ He didn't sound concerned.

When Will's mind built a hallucination, it did a thorough job of it. His imagination drawing from the evidence around him and fitting it into a clear picture.

Only this time the image had nothing to do with the reality. ]

[tablewithoutpity]

Look again, Will. The snow has not fully melted.

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ For the first time, Will appears to respond to Hannibal's verbal prompting. He looks down, right at the snow, at the tablet. It's obvious that he does not see what he is looking at. ]

It's just water, Hannibal.

[tablewithoutpity]

I'm afraid it is not. Your night must have been quite terrible, if it has you retreating so firmly into this mirage of safety. But it is a mirage. And you are not safe. In fact, you are in great danger.

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ Will chuckled, in that wry and world weary tone he often used. Usually after Jack had particularly beaten him down. ]

Everyone is in danger, Hannibal. And if you're not in danger, then you are the danger.

[ He makes the motion of casting again. ]

I stand in the river, and catch the largest fish. That same fish who ate smaller fish not even moments before.

Predator and prey, the hunter becomes the hunted. Life is dangerous.

[ But even as he spoke, Will saw the river begin to fill with bodies, rather than the peaceful passing of fish. Bodies with the Prophet's Eye carved into them.

It made him frown, the serenity from moments before fading as a sense of disquiet began to take root. ]

[tablewithoutpity]

[Hannibal tilted his head, noticing the shift in his friend's expression.]

What do you see, Will?

@steifebrise | voice

[saleh]

[He doesn't even try to hide the amusement in his voice.]

Looks like someone will be in the next obituary announcement. Again.

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ It is all together possible, especially as he does not appear aware enough to even respond to a new speaker.

At least not on a first pass. Sometimes getting through his delusions is difficult. Even for Will himself. ]

[saleh]

[This new speaker is usually content with just watching people in unpleasant situations, but there's something intriguing about that video feed, as though the man is hallucinating.

Having read about the effects, but not yet experienced death in this place, he speaks out of insensitive curiosity, rather than out of sympathy. So when the man doesn't even acknowledge he's being addressed, he tries again, sarcasm obvious in his tone.]

Nice weather today, isn't it?

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

It's a good day to fish. [ Will acknowledges, going through the motion of casting the fly line again.

He does not appear to take umbridge, or even any manner of acknowledgement to the sarcastic tone. ]

[saleh]

Caught anything yet?

[There's no real harm (to himself) in playing along.]

@bucky; audio

[advanced]

The hell are you doing? Get inside, idiot.

[He might not like Will, or trust him, or want to be anywhere near him. But he doesn't want him to die.]

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ Were he capable of getting himself out of his current hallucination, Will would appreciate the attempt to help.

Even the 'idiot' part of that statement.

However, to Bucky's eyes he would appear to glance towards the tablet with a confused look on his face, but no recognition that someone had spoken.

Within his hallucination he heard a wolf howl, and turned to look up the riverbank from where the sound came. Will squinted against the reflection of the light off the water, bemused to hear a wolf out hunting at this time of day. But the animal sounded too far off, and the howl hadn't seemed distress.

Will's head turned away from the tablet, as within his mental mirage he looked back down river and began to draw in his line for another cast. ]

[advanced]

[He sees that glance, which means (at least in his mind) that Will can hear him and is choosing to ignore him. He grips his tablet a bit tighter, frustration making his knuckles turn white. He's impotent here, he can't force Will to get inside.]

Hey.

[Harsh and hard.]

I'm talking to you, what do you think you're doing? Are you trying to kill yourself?

@librarian; video

[cahooted]

[Okay, that's... that's not good. And worrisome. And Flynn should just ignore it, really, others are already talking to Will, they will get him inside for sure, and Flynn is not a psychologist, and all that other stuff between him and Graham and blah yadda yadda excuses.

...

Dammit.]

Graham?

Hey, uh. Hi. Can you hear me? It's Flynn. Carsen?

@whatisthis, audio

[godsspeed]

[ Castiel simply watches in silence for a long while, tilting his head from side to side as he watches Will's hands make practiced motions. A ritual? Or, no, he's seen that odd posture before, in people sliding in and out of touch with the physical plane. Could he be receiving a vision? Perhaps he's just sick. ]

Hello?

[ He doesn't shout, but he does speak loudly and clearly directly into his own tablet's microphone, which unfortunately mostly has the effect of blowing out his audio slightly. ]

You're going to freeze if you stand there for much longer. You should retrieve your tablet and seek shelter.