four { video } hypnotizability

[lurings]

[ abigail is at the bait shop, sitting behind the counter. beside her is a rack of fish themed valentine's and little pink stuffed fish. ]

I was unaware there were so many fish puns that related to Valentine's Day. So... Hook, Line and Tinker is having a sale. By sale... I mean sale. Everything must go. Please take these off my hands. This was a horrible mistake and I regret my life choices.

[ /stares at camera like jim halpert. boy, does she ever. she will probably give them away free if you buy a pack of gum. how are she and will in business still? well, she's actually a really good saleswoman when it comes down to it.

just not right now. when cutesy fish are making cutesy faces at her. ]

Unrelated to flirty flounders, someone asked me about... well, basically about this place and I realized I've been kind of willingly ignorant to anything that's going on around me. I've read the FAQ, but is there anything else I should know?

[ you'd think after three months in a basement she would want to know more, but nope. at least she does now. only took six months. shut up, she's dead. she had to deal with that for a while. ]

Also, small show of hands -- I hope it's small -- who else is dead in their worlds?

[ so casual. she gives the camera a brief, wry smile and cuts out. ]

Comments

[lurings]

[ she makes a face, frustrated. ]

I was curious.

[sizetwelve]

Curiosity doesn't excuse you from responsibility or repercussion, my dear, so long as you can accept that. I wish I could have found out differently, is all. In person. Not as if I were watching the telly. But I understand, I do.

[ More than Abigail can ever know. Ever, never. And it's her life, her death, so she owes nobody anything. Mary knows that, too. ]

More than that I wish it hadn't happened at all and that you were alive, but wishing gets us nowhere.

[lurings]

It's not like it comes up in casual conversation.

[ a+, mary managed to find the way to make abigail actually feel bad for her outburst. the frustration remains, but it's shot through with skeins of shame, not a wholly new expression on her face. ]

"Oh by the way you have to ask Freddie about my funeral since she was the only person that went." Not something that just comes up.

[sizetwelve]

[ No, she must get an A++! This counts as a fail, to the trash compactor with Mary. ]

You're right, it isn't casual. It's... [ not something Mary can sit here and tell her she did wrong. There's no right way. It's not even her business. But? ] It's your life, Abigail. Your life, and what became of it, is worth addressing. Acknowledging. And your death is worth mourning. If some consider it so, even if you don't, isn't that enough to respect?

It should never be dismissed, nor should it be chatted about like a statistic or sorry luck. It's a life, not a topic.

[ To the trash with Mary. ]

[lurings]

[ abigail doesn't know how to talk about it without being dismissive though. it's easy to be dismissive.

so she just pouts at the screen. ]

I'm sorry.

[sizetwelve]

Oh, you shouldn't be sorry, it's—

[ those men who should be sorry! But they aren't here. Will is here. That's good enough, she hopes, to keep Abigail stable. Will's barely stable himself, so, hm. Birds of a feather might be more helpful in this case. ]

There's no handbook for this, is there? It isn't as if I can say how it is one ought to conduct returning from the dead.

[ Don't laugh at your own terrible joke, Mary, just continue on. ]

You've been through a lot, and you can do what you like. You're smart enough to handle yourself. But it won't keep me, or others, from worrying. You have a second life to live here, and that's worth something, too.

[lurings]

[ it's more like... her eleventh chance, really. she's not going to mention that part. make mary worry more? no thank you. ]

That doesn't make sense. I can do what I want, but I'm not supposed to be dismissive?

[ yeah because that's a dick move, abigail. ]

[sizetwelve]

[ No, Abigail questioning is a good thing. Mary encourages it, even if her smile is more pinched. That is part of the lesson, though, and it does go both ways (to an extent).

It would be wonderful if anything at all in life made sense. ]

My point is that you can carry on how you like, and you can be dismissive. You can't, however, do these things and predict how others will react how you wish. You can only plan your own treatment of it, but that also has consequences. I say this because I'm selfish. I don't want anyone getting too cross with you, or misconstruing your attempts for conversation.

[ Creepers be creepin, jerks be jerks, people be usin' and abusin'. Well yeah you know, bait. Abigail, Abigail...lie more. Lie better. ]

It never hurts to take a special care with what you offer to the world, love. In regards to anything. Just a tip.

[lurings]

[ now, if hannibal and will had given abigail this talk in regards to freddie's book, you can bet your butt she would have been loads more receptive. instead they just made her defensive and frustrated. mary, however, just gets a slow nod.

it does probably help that she's heard some variation of this time and time again. she simply happens to feel like accepting it when mary says it.

it's because mary reminds abigail of her mom. ]

Duly noted.