[Drama] Green Acres is the Place to Be...

[Narrator]

Never let it be said that Will took things by half-measures.

It had taken Miriam some time to track Will's movements -- the robot had been a little bit unwilling to give up his exact itinerary, citing privacy concerns -- but track it she did, in a clever and harrowing bit of detective work that occurred just off panel, over there to the right.


And so, the city vampire got off the train at Totnes, a good three hours outside of Maldon over in Devon, of all places. Not being a gap-toothed yokel with a straw in her mouth, and not having a hankering for hard cider, Devon had never been a place Miriam had had any desire to travel to. But, nevertheless, that was where she would find Olsen Dairy Farm, where Will had apparently gone to get away from it all.

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam feels like a stereotype, stepping out of the rental car and unfolding a black umbrella and sinking half an inch into not-quite-mud with what she'd hoped would be reasonable footwear. But for this that's almost exclusively horrid rubber boots and she wouldn't be caught dead in some of those. And the smell. Animals and animal-adjacent... substances. This is no refuge, this is some kind of self-imposed punishment.

As she carefully makes her way towards the middle of the cluster of buildings she really hopes Will isn't going o try avoiding her because she really does not want to poke around barns and whatnot.

[Narrator]

The good news for Miriam is that no, Will didn't appear to be hiding; not from telepaths, at the very least. Stretching her senses out, it didn't take her long before she could spot Will's mental signature -- slightly muffled, slightly dimmed, less...robust than normal, perhaps, but as distinctive as ever.

The bad news for Miriam is that yes, it was coming from one of the barns. Poor Miriam.

[Miriam Bell]

She traipses her way towards the barn, not too concerned about technically trespassing. What is she going to do, steal a pig or a chicken?

She does knock on the barn door as she pushes it open at least.

[Narrator]

It perhaps is not the largest surprise in the world that a barn on a dairy farm would contain cows. It was about half-full at the moment; a number of the cows were presumably out...grazing? That sounds like a thing cows might do. Not that Miriam was an expert -- for all she knew, they were out having a tea party somewhere, or riding roller coasters. Whatever.

Will's mental presence was coming from a stall in the back -- still dulled, muffled and simplified. Not quite like when someone was asleep -- dreams created their own swirls and disruptions in someone's psychic fingerprint. Nor was it quite like sedation. This was almost...meditative, perhaps? Hard to quite put the sensation into words.

The sign on the front of the stall proclaimed the cow inside to be named 'Brownie'.

[Miriam Bell]

"Seriously? You have got to be kidding me, Will..."

[Will Stanton]

The cow was slow to respond -- slow enough that Miriam might wonder if she was just talking to a stupid cow for a moment.

Nnnn. Go'wy, Will finally started to respond, slowly waking up from his quasi-trance.

[Miriam Bell]

"I can't exactly apologize to you when you're a bloody cow, can I? Your thoughts are...barely there."

[Will Stanton]

Gmme minit... she thought, as the cow slowly rolled her neck, as if waking up from a long nap -- which, I suppose was more or less accurate.

You came all the way out here?

[Miriam Bell]

"No, I'm a figment of your imagination. Of course I came all the way out here. You couldn't have brought a phone with you?"

[Will Stanton]

Hard for a cow to use a phone. No pockets.

Will was still clearing the fog from her head, but was getting a little easier to read all the time.

[Miriam Bell]

"Yeah... well... I'm sorry. For not respecting your concerns. I was having a good time and... yeah." she sort of tails off into a shrug. Oddly enough, it was easier apologizing to a cow than another person.

[Will Stanton]

I don't really...really know what happened. Things were going OK...I was trying to make sure everything was perfect for you...and then...

I mean. I took you to a place that does...not hold fond memories for me. I shaped myself to your tastes. I was doing everything for you. And then I raise one concern...

[Miriam Bell]

"I know. I was trying to be reassuring but I was drunk and maybe you had a point, I don't even know anymore. It just... it was fine. I wanted it to be fine. And now you're a cow. I'm sorry."

[Will Stanton]

I was...angry. And disappointed. Angry and disappointed. I had to get out. I'm sorry I left you alone, there....

Will's mental activity was increasingly in focus, churning it's way back up to speed and accelerating.

[Miriam Bell]

"So much so that you ran out all the way here to the ass-end of nowhere to hide in a barn."

[Will Stanton]

It's summer break. No harm in taking a summer job, right?

Things are...peaceful out here. Quiet. Less complicated...

[Miriam Bell]

"You keep doing this. Looking for some kind of... big dramatic read on things. I push out your Sam worship and you tear into asshole and simp. I heard you jumped out of a plane in a huff? Now this. What are you running from?"

[Will Stanton]

I jumped out of a plane to try to get some peace and quiet. Sam and Tosh asked me to take my shifting somewhere private, so I did. They were not a big fan of my choice of venues....bobbing along on the ocean, feeling the salt breeze, drifting with the tides. Not a soul in sight. Just me and the world...

The world is a loud place, isn't it? You're a telepath, you must know what I'm talking about. Everything pressing in on you, all the time. The MGH was a...revelation. A frightening one, in some ways. I'm so tired, so much of the time. And suddenly, I had energy to spare. I could take a Sam head-on, punch-for-punch. I could be everywhere. I could do everything. It was astonishing. It was alienating. I could...rise up to the loudness of the world.

If I'm big and dramatic, it's only because my brain is churning at a million miles a second. I can't get it to stop. When I set myself to a goal, or a job, or a role, it quiets down. I can focus on...whatever it is I'm focusing on. Helping you. Leading the teams. Playing with Robin. Being a cow. If I'm left rudderless I...

I can't make it stop, Miriam.

[Miriam Bell]

"Disappearing into a role can't be the solution. Hell it didn't even last a night, even if that... was on me. So you take the summer off to be a cow and... do... cow things. Then what?"

[Will Stanton]

I come back refreshed, one would hope.

Either way, three months crossed off the calendar.

[Miriam Bell]

"If that's what you want why not just turn into a rock for twenty years or ask Sam to stuff your mind into a box again?"

[Will Stanton]

Why not seal yourself in a coffin until the end of days? Life is hard; it doesn't mean you give up. You just look for new ways to cope.

Plus, nobody cares about a rock.

[Miriam Bell]

"Maybe if it's a fancy rock. Look, if you think this is what you need then I'll leave you be. I just think you'll get restless about this too sooner or later and then you're stuck with even fewer outlets."

[Will Stanton]

I've got to try something, Miriam. Something has to work.

And it's not like I've never done something like this before. I've been undercover. This time, the mystery's just...myself.

[Miriam Bell]

"Right, yeah, I understand what you're doing. I don't get why this particular thing but that hardly matters. I just worry you're running down a rabbit-hole looking for something. You want to be too many things so you compromise by being something that's barely anything?"

[Will Stanton]

Nothing I do is barely anything. There's a reason you called me the renaissance substance; I do everything to the utmost.

As the two talked, and Will continued to recover from being in his...meditative state, or whathaveyou, Miriam could feel Will's mental presence getting more frenzied. Like a pot of water beginning to boil. 'Restless' was right.

Look, back home, I can't really escape into anything. Maybe some time apart is exactly what everyone needs.

[Miriam Bell]

"I'm not here to drag you back. I just wanted to make sure you're okay. That we're okay. But I'm worried that you're... treating a symptom. It's hasn't even been five minutes and I can feel your thoughts racing again already..."

[Will Stanton]

I'm working on it.

I don't suppose you can put Lippencott back in power; battling him gave me some sort of purpose, and his insane class schedule calmed down the worms in my brain.

[Miriam Bell]

"I'm sure people would love that."

"If if you asked they'd probably let you sign up for a ridiculous amount of classes again, but that seems... at odds with what you're doing here. I get it's more about the role but how does that work when playing the arm-candy rubs up against the goody-two-shoes who sees the possible danger in what I'm doing. You can't be a cow and a space shuttle. That's no use to anybody."

[Will Stanton]

Well, here at least they need cows. We've seen what happens when I go overboard, don't we? I end up crying in the crystal computer room.

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam looks around for a place to sit down and ends up just kind of awkwardly leaning against the side of the stall.

"Because of what I did?"

[Will Stanton]

No.

Well, yes, but it's just everything. It's what happened at Syn, it's what happened at Muir, it's what happened with ASHLIE; it's everything. And between it all, it feels like something's trying to claw it's way out of my damn skull.

The more Will and Miriam talked, the more frenzied his astral presence became, and it was beginning to have some effects on his physical form, rippling and shimmering.

[Miriam Bell]

"Will... I think something is trying to claw it's way out of your skull." she says, sounding alarmed. "We looked at your mind but we only looked at the stage." she says, raising her hand to her mouth in a sudden gasp as some things click into place.

"You... you took to being one of the pieces in your head so fast. The brewmaster, was it? I didn't pay it much mind because it's, well, you and my power has been strange but what if they're jockeying to take center stage?"

[Will Stanton]

Uh-uh. No way. I stopped making the MGH; that's not possible...

[Miriam Bell]

"Did you? Because your body must be making some of it or you couldn't turn into a cow..."

[Will Stanton]

The cow shook it's head, an oddly human gesture. No, I don't...I don't work like most mutants do. My cells are unique.

She didn't sound confident about that description, however.

[Miriam Bell]

"It makes sense! You know it does, you just don't want that to be what's happening." Hard to lie to a telepath. Hell, it's hard to lie to oneself when around a telepath.

[Will Stanton]

Miriam that...no. I'm not...

I'm in control. Deep breaths, calm breaths, deep breaths, calm breaths. Picture a circle inside a square, the circle expands to reach the corners...

Shifting mental exercises were, presumably, not on Miriam's curriculum, but it was fairly clear that Will was a little freaked out by Miriam's suggestion, and was doing his utmost to try to calm herself down.

[Miriam Bell]

'Calm' is not exactly Miriam's mental forte. Detached maybe but that's different.

"Okay, it's not... I don't think it's an immediate problem. If it even is one at all. And I'm not letting them drag you to Muir again okay? Fuck that."