The weather outside is frightful and will is wearing a shirt that's not delightful (OPEN)

[willcabot]

Jaw set, Will trudged out against the weather and turned his collar up. Tightening his coat, his fingertips lingered where his heart had been before his hands slid away into his pockets. He had expected it to hurt more, that somehow it would be more painful than his wife's departure, her betrayal, but it wasn't. Letting that Harpy woman, that sea witch, take his heart had been easier than he expected. And now, he felt at peace or rather, he felt nothing which was almost just as good.

Bracing himself, he barely smiled when a group of kids threw snowballs at him and he ducked his head before tucking the bag of goods closer to his body. He was going to see her, not his wife because he knew better, but someone else. Someone from his past. He kept thinking about her, even without his heart in place but it was different somehow. He didn't feel guilty about it any more. Like being with her, or going to be with her was perfectly natural.

Stopping to help an elderly lady up her stoop, Will pressed his lips together in a small smile before heading down the street. He'd be there soon, at Trina's, and then hopefully she could warm him up. He wanted that after all, not his wife.



OOC: Will sold his heart to the Harpy matriarch, find him out wandering in the snow as he heads out to a certain Trina Moon's place.

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[willcabot]

He pushes his hands into his pocket, pulling it out and stares at the name that flashes on his screen. The Mrs. Her name, the words had caused him pain hours earlier and now? Now, he felt nothing. Not regret, not fondness, not aching loneliness, just nothing. It felt good to not feel.

Pressing his thumbs, he tapped a reply back before sending it back. He changed her name to Corrine, something he never called her, and deleted the picture of her. He'd always loved that picture.

[TXT: Hey Corrine, just finished up some business in Harpy Bay. And you know I don't feel the cold.]

[starsfallen]

She sucks in cold air at the words she sees on her screen. Harpy. Corrine. Whatever his business is, the response is not a friendly one. She's never been Corrine. Not to him.

[TXT: Whatever are you doing in a place like that?]

She imagines its to do with her. The threats of his father's harpy associate. Whatever it is, it's likely nothing less than she deserves.

[TXT: Don't sell you voice to any sea witches, honey]

Corry reaches out to hug a pillow close. He may not feel the cold, but she is certainly feeling his chill.

[willcabot]

His phone buzzed, reaching into his pocket he picked it up and looked at it almost indifferently. It wasn't irritation, or loss, he just felt nothing. She had told him, it would be like that but well, sea witches lie sometimes.

[TXT: Like I said. Business.]

He smiles as he glances at her text, looking at the last comment.

[TXT: It wasn't my-] Present tense. He glanced at the sent message before correcting it after the fact. [TXT: It wouldn't be my voice a sea witch wanted. I'm not that good a singer.]

[starsfallen]

Corry just stares at her phone before formulating a response. Les talking animatedly from - the bathroom for some reason. And Will... his responses unsettle her in a way she can't fully explain. But maybe it's just how things are. What can she expect with what happened between them?

[TXT: And what would a sea witch want with that throbbing manhood of yours?]
[TXT: Just be safe. It's getting dangerous out there. Don't do anything stupid honey.]

[willcabot]

He almost walked into traffic, he just stared at the driver blankly and coolly before walking the rest of the way across the street. Texting Corrine back, he sent the messages one after the other.

[TXT: I have some ideas but she didn't want that.] [TXT: That isn't my most valuable thing.] [TXT: And I never do anything stupid, do I Corrine?]

[starsfallen]

Corry's blood runs cold. How is this even a conversation they're having?

[TXT] I know that honey, it was a joke
[TXT] Only trusting your heart with the likes of me
[TXT] ...What do you mean ~didn't~ want that?! Honey, what kind of business are we talking?

[willcabot]

He had trusted his heart with her, now he trusted it with someone else. Better to give something broken away then to store any value in it.

[TXT] I gave it to her instead, it's not like I needed it. My heart. It's just business Corrine.

[starsfallen]

You've got to be fucking kidding me. Corry slides from the sofa, horror and anger coursing throughout her body, shaking to the tips of her fingers as she paces about the room, dialing his number.

Pick up Will, damnit. She whispers to no one as she waits for the phone to ring.

[willcabot]

Will looked at his phone confused before he answered it.

"Hello?" Will began, his voice on the other end sounding flat and almost lifeless. The spark of grief was gone it was true but he hadn't really examined the true cost of what he'd wanted. "Corrine?"

[starsfallen]

Corrine paces about the room, barely treading in a deep sea of anger and fear that this could possibly be a reality, that Will could do something like this. It's inconceivable and perhaps just a cruel joke for what she'd done to him... And when the ringing phone gives way to a 'Hello' from one who is clearly Will but sounds nothing like her Will, she stops short in her tracks, suddenly at a loss for anything to say.

"Tell me this is a joke. Will, tell me you didn't actually do this." Even in her anger, the words come out desperate and pleading.

[willcabot]

"Do what?" Will asked, the desperation in her voice not even making him pause. Like it would have done normally, like he would have normally done anything to make her not feel any pain. Now, now it didn't seem to matter as much. "Sell my heart? It's not like I was using it and why keep something that was broken? It's not like I sold my soul Corrine."

[starsfallen]

"And there's really a difference?! What about the people who care about you? Your family?! Friends? What about your career - you're just going to be the next heartless politician like every other one out there? You're supposed to be better than that Will!"

She doesn't stop. Because if he sold his heart what difference will her words even make? But she has to say them anyway. She is seeing white and red and Les' living room is collapsing before her and...

"How could you Will?! You bastard! God, I almost destroyed my life trying not to feel. I didn't know what I was doing until it was too late. You? You did this to your self."

"Fine. What do I have to do to get it back? Clearly this is my fault so what do I have to do?"

[willcabot]

"I can't do my job Corrine, if I don't want to get out of bed in the mornings because I can't. I can't do anything, now I can." Will said, adjusting his coat and stopping to offer his arm to an old woman crossing the street. Corrine's voice in his ear is loud, shocked, and angry. For a moment he considers hanging up on her. "Yes, I did. I did it to myself, so I could function. I don't want it back. Don't give it to me, I don't want it."

He took a breath in, breathing out in blank apathy. "She won't give it back. I chose her on purpose. The Harpy of Harpy Bay, father's eternal nemesis Viola, all she's wanted for years was a hook on one of the Cabot's now she's got it. She won't give it up."

[starsfallen]

"Don't fucking give me that Will. People break up. They get over it. Or if they can't they get a fucking therapist or Prozac. They don't give up on the love of every other damn person in their life, present past or future. And don't you dare put that one me. You don't think this has been hard on me too?"

When he explains further, her anger is momentarily replaced by shock, a deep sucked in breath of disbelief. "Jesus Christ, Will. How could you betray them like that? Your family?"

"You know what? I'm done. I'll do what I need to do because believe it or not, I still really damn care about you. But after that? I'm done."

Corry lays down on the sofa, completely defeated. "God, the last thing I ever thought I would call you was Heartless. Guess you're not the Will I thought."

[willcabot]

"People don't usually leave their husbands on Christmas Day. Not after weeks of marriage. Not when everything seemed perfect." Will replied, his voice distant and unattached. She'd come back to him as well, given him hope for a moment and then it all came away again. Unravelling quickly. Leaving him alone again until the ache was all he could feel. "Because she gave me an option. You know me Corrine, I always run away from my problems."

Or was that her.

"No, I'm not. I love you Corry, I loved you and it was killing me. I did what was best for my family and for myself. Better for me to feel nothing then for my mother have to mourn another son."

[starsfallen]

His words are a cold dagger and she can hardly breathe "Everything wasn't perfect Will. I was suffocating. Not with you but being married? It was impulsive and I wan't ready and I thought I could be. And I wanted to be. For you. But I couldn't take it any longer."

She feels hot tears rolling down her cheeks but the more he says, the more she hears, the more anger returns and rears with intensity. "What I did was wrong. Horrible. Really fucking selfish and I'll own up to that. But killing you? If that's the case it's a damn good thing I left you because clearly nothing is healthy there."

"No Will, that's me. You were always better than that. And don't you dare try and tell me you did this for your family. You can't even love them without a heart. Way to go."

"Goodbye Will."

[willcabot]

"If it wasn't me then you should have said that. If it meant we were still together, I didn't need to be married to you. You could have still had Les, I didn't care. I don't," Will replied. He could hear the tears in her voice, could hear she was crying and before he would have tried to comfort her but now? Now, he didn't. "No, I'm not. I've spent three years at home Corrine. And how many of those years, did I go chasing you? I've never been better than that."

She's angry now. Maybe she should be. She felt something, everything, and he felt nothing.

"Of course I can love them. Of course I love them, I love you. It just doesn't." Hurt. Or maybe even mean something. They were just words.

[starsfallen]

"Damn it Will! It had nothing to do with not-you!" She's yelling into the phone again, angry tears streaming and she's never wanted to be so far from him. "I did not leave you for Les. I wouldn't have done that. I left because I needed to be my own person and figure out my damned life and I couldn't do that knowing your arms would forever be there as a safety net. My life has been so fucked up I couldn't swear to forever. And I couldn't deny it from you any more.

So hate me. Blame me. I'm selfish and I tore apart your heart. But you chose to give it away. To deny it to everyone else in your beautiful wonderful life. And don't you dare say you can still love without it. We all know better than that."

Somewhere the anger has mixed with numb and her hands shake against the phone. She repeats the words again, and this time she means them, even if the rest of her begins to shake too.

"Goodbye Will."