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{Obsidian} AU information
"When I’m awake I know I can live with myself. I know I will just get used to what I did."
ABOUT
Arrested for: Accessory to murder
Sentenced to: 15 years
Abigail's father was a serial killer, who murdered and ate girls who looked just like Abigail due to his obsession with her, with Abigail herself acting as the lure for the victims. As her father had been killed by the authorities when they tried to apprehend him, she was tried instead as an accessory, due not only to the outcry of the victims' families but the general outrage and revulsion when the public learned of the cannibalism aspect of the case. There was a strong case that Abigail was acting for her own self-preservation, and even now it's believed by most psychological professionals that this was the case, but the jury were desperate to see someone punished for this and Abigail was found guilty. She's a new arrival at Obsidian and the very definition of fresh meat.
Unlike in canon, Abigail is far more explicitly involved in her father's crimes in this AU. As well as selecting the victims, who looked very similar to her, and luring them to her father, she was also actively involved in the disposal of the corpse, including butchering the bodies of these girls in the same way she would the deer that they also hunted, and using every part of them including in meals and in the materials used for the cabin.
It sometimes became difficult for her to forget where she ended and the other girl started, as their deaths made them surrogate Abigails in her father's obsession with killing and honouring every part of her, and there were times when she would feel like she was standing over her own body, even partaking in eating her own corpse. It's only in her dreams that the lines become less blurred, and she's haunted by these other girls and the lives they would have had if not for her whenever she closes her eyes.
Abigail feels a huge amount of guilt in her crimes. She hasn't yet learned to dissociate herself as a victim on the one hand and being forced into being a perpetrator to save herself on the other, and she doesn't feel much empowerment in the role she was forced to play, especially with how things turned out, with Abigail herself having to pay for her father's crimes. On the other hand, she did genuinely enjoy the thrill of the hunt and is exhilarated by the idea of having that much power of the life of another after being powerless herself for so long, which will be interesting for her to explore.
Abigail is something of a duality, being both a victim and an aid to murder; both an object of manipulation and a manipulator herself. Her father was Garret Jacob Hobbs, the Minnesota Shrike, and while Abigail was his intended victim, she was not in fact a victim of her father in the literal sense. Despite this, she can easily be seen as the biggest victim of all, in having her father's actions, as well as his subsequent killing of her mother, his attempt to kill her, and his own death by Will's hands having damaged her and changed her life irreparably. Abigail's victimhood becomes murky, though, with the revelation that she in fact aided Hobbs in his crimes, acting as a lure to befriend the girls that her father killed, girls that looked uncannily similar to herself.
Abigail is very aware that defining herself simply as a victim is a vast oversimplification. She is never sure where the point where she's a victim ends and the point where she's an accomplice starts, and how much accountability she bears for aiding in her father's killings. She is constantly plagued by feelings of uncertainty and guilt, leading her to have nightmares where her father's victims tell her that if it wasn't for her, they wouldn't have been killed. She is also very aware that others perceive her as somewhere between victim and accomplice, from the ever sympathetic Alana on the one end, although even she acknowledges Abigail's more manipulative qualities, and Jack Crawford, suspicious of Abigail's involvement in the Shrike killings even before she awakens from her coma, at the other.
Abigail's status as a victim becomes even more complicated when she herself kills Nick Boyle, the brother of a victim of the Minnesota Shrike (actually killed by the copycat and not by Hobbs, just to make things even more murky). While the act would have been viewed by most as self-defence, Hannibal is quick to manipulate Abigail in her vulnerable state, convincing her that she butchered Boyle, and that she will be viewed as an accessory to the crimes of her father. As well as putting herself squarely in Hannibal's manipulative machinations, killing Boyle makes Abigail even more uncertain as to what category she falls into, especially as she realises that she didn't feel ugly when she killed Boyle, she felt good. Abigail worries that this makes her a sociopath, a monster, but Hannibal tells her that instead she is a survivor. Thinking of it in these terms allows Abigail to step back somewhat from society's frame of morality and the dualistic terms she has been thinking of herself in, and allows her to justify Boyle's death. She later asserts that she only blames Boyle for his death; although when Freddie Lounds states her belief that Boyle was an innocent man, Abigail is shaken, the words stinging and her guilt returning to her.
Abigail likes to gauge what other people think of her, and she tries not to give much about herself away, turning the tables and deflecting the conversation back on whoever she's talking to and asking them questions in return rather than giving answers. She likes to feel like she's in control when speaking with others so that she isn't forced into a corner and giving away anything that could potentially incriminate her. It also gives her a sense of empowerment rather than coming across as weak for being both a victim herself and simply an 18 year old girl who's just lost her parents. In fact, in regards to her parents' deaths Abigail tries to focus on the practical aspects such as the sale of her house, and shows little emotion when talking about them; although when she does mention her mother's birthday and the hiking trip they'd planned to Will, she says that she doesn't want him to take her instead as it would make her sad, suggesting that Abigail doesn't want to face that emotional outpour herself as well as not wanting him to see her in that emotional state, holding Will at arm's length and viewing him as the man who killed her father, never really opening up to him emotionally in the same way that she does to Hannibal. The two of them do eventually bond over, of all things, the fact that they both had to come to terms with the fact that killing didn't make either of them feel as bad as they thought it ought to.
Abigail's need for control of her situation and the perception of others can also be seen in the fact that she was collaborating with Freddy Lounds to write a book telling her perspective of the Minnesota Shrike killings, so as to control what people think and what is seen as the publicly recognised truth about her involvement in this. When Freddy wants to title the book 'The Last Victim', Abigail states that she wasn't the Shrike's last victim; both because her friend Marissa was, but also because she feels empowered and not like a victim any more, even if she doesn't object too much to the title to enable her to be viewed sympathetically and not be thought of as an accomplice. Moreover, her need to have control over what is happening to her is shown by the fact that she goes so far as to dig up Boyle's body so that it can be found by the FBI. She has been living in the fear of it being discovered, and as she says herself, while she can't control what happens after the body is discovered, she can control when it happens. However this backfires when Jack insists that Abigail come into the FBI headquarters to identify the body, and all her guilt floods back to her; it's at this point that she admits to Hannibal that she was the lure for her father's victims, again putting him in a position of power over her with that knowledge, again showing the fear and vulnerability that she hides behind her poker face.
While Abigail is not shy, she is not a particularly extroverted individual either. She is extremely observant of everything that goes on around her. She is very mature, and before everything happened she was shown to be very sensitive, even towards the deer that she hunted. She enjoys reading, as well as outdoor activities such as hunting and hiking. She's desperately looking for the fresh start that she was hoping college would be, although whether she can keep her secrets hidden remains to be seen.
CHARACTER NAME
CANON
AGE
CANON LINK
PLAYED BY
CANON
AGE
CANON LINK
PLAYED BY
APPEARANCE
| VISUAL: | Link |
| HEIGHT: | 5'5" |
| BUILD: | Kind of an awkward skinny stick, no curves on her |
| HAIR: | Long, straight, dark brown |
| EYES: | Blue |
| FEATURES: | Deep scar on her neck, which she always keeps covered with a scarf when she can |
| STYLE: | Natural, earthy colours, most comfy in big sweaters and jeans, not really one for dressing up |
| VOICE: | Link |
AU HISTORY
Arrested for: Accessory to murder
Sentenced to: 15 years
Abigail's father was a serial killer, who murdered and ate girls who looked just like Abigail due to his obsession with her, with Abigail herself acting as the lure for the victims. As her father had been killed by the authorities when they tried to apprehend him, she was tried instead as an accessory, due not only to the outcry of the victims' families but the general outrage and revulsion when the public learned of the cannibalism aspect of the case. There was a strong case that Abigail was acting for her own self-preservation, and even now it's believed by most psychological professionals that this was the case, but the jury were desperate to see someone punished for this and Abigail was found guilty. She's a new arrival at Obsidian and the very definition of fresh meat.
Unlike in canon, Abigail is far more explicitly involved in her father's crimes in this AU. As well as selecting the victims, who looked very similar to her, and luring them to her father, she was also actively involved in the disposal of the corpse, including butchering the bodies of these girls in the same way she would the deer that they also hunted, and using every part of them including in meals and in the materials used for the cabin.
It sometimes became difficult for her to forget where she ended and the other girl started, as their deaths made them surrogate Abigails in her father's obsession with killing and honouring every part of her, and there were times when she would feel like she was standing over her own body, even partaking in eating her own corpse. It's only in her dreams that the lines become less blurred, and she's haunted by these other girls and the lives they would have had if not for her whenever she closes her eyes.
Abigail feels a huge amount of guilt in her crimes. She hasn't yet learned to dissociate herself as a victim on the one hand and being forced into being a perpetrator to save herself on the other, and she doesn't feel much empowerment in the role she was forced to play, especially with how things turned out, with Abigail herself having to pay for her father's crimes. On the other hand, she did genuinely enjoy the thrill of the hunt and is exhilarated by the idea of having that much power of the life of another after being powerless herself for so long, which will be interesting for her to explore.
PERSONALITY
(note: this is the canon personality write-up I have for Abigail, but she's essentially the same in this AU despite some of the background events being different)Abigail is something of a duality, being both a victim and an aid to murder; both an object of manipulation and a manipulator herself. Her father was Garret Jacob Hobbs, the Minnesota Shrike, and while Abigail was his intended victim, she was not in fact a victim of her father in the literal sense. Despite this, she can easily be seen as the biggest victim of all, in having her father's actions, as well as his subsequent killing of her mother, his attempt to kill her, and his own death by Will's hands having damaged her and changed her life irreparably. Abigail's victimhood becomes murky, though, with the revelation that she in fact aided Hobbs in his crimes, acting as a lure to befriend the girls that her father killed, girls that looked uncannily similar to herself.
Abigail is very aware that defining herself simply as a victim is a vast oversimplification. She is never sure where the point where she's a victim ends and the point where she's an accomplice starts, and how much accountability she bears for aiding in her father's killings. She is constantly plagued by feelings of uncertainty and guilt, leading her to have nightmares where her father's victims tell her that if it wasn't for her, they wouldn't have been killed. She is also very aware that others perceive her as somewhere between victim and accomplice, from the ever sympathetic Alana on the one end, although even she acknowledges Abigail's more manipulative qualities, and Jack Crawford, suspicious of Abigail's involvement in the Shrike killings even before she awakens from her coma, at the other.
Abigail's status as a victim becomes even more complicated when she herself kills Nick Boyle, the brother of a victim of the Minnesota Shrike (actually killed by the copycat and not by Hobbs, just to make things even more murky). While the act would have been viewed by most as self-defence, Hannibal is quick to manipulate Abigail in her vulnerable state, convincing her that she butchered Boyle, and that she will be viewed as an accessory to the crimes of her father. As well as putting herself squarely in Hannibal's manipulative machinations, killing Boyle makes Abigail even more uncertain as to what category she falls into, especially as she realises that she didn't feel ugly when she killed Boyle, she felt good. Abigail worries that this makes her a sociopath, a monster, but Hannibal tells her that instead she is a survivor. Thinking of it in these terms allows Abigail to step back somewhat from society's frame of morality and the dualistic terms she has been thinking of herself in, and allows her to justify Boyle's death. She later asserts that she only blames Boyle for his death; although when Freddie Lounds states her belief that Boyle was an innocent man, Abigail is shaken, the words stinging and her guilt returning to her.
Abigail likes to gauge what other people think of her, and she tries not to give much about herself away, turning the tables and deflecting the conversation back on whoever she's talking to and asking them questions in return rather than giving answers. She likes to feel like she's in control when speaking with others so that she isn't forced into a corner and giving away anything that could potentially incriminate her. It also gives her a sense of empowerment rather than coming across as weak for being both a victim herself and simply an 18 year old girl who's just lost her parents. In fact, in regards to her parents' deaths Abigail tries to focus on the practical aspects such as the sale of her house, and shows little emotion when talking about them; although when she does mention her mother's birthday and the hiking trip they'd planned to Will, she says that she doesn't want him to take her instead as it would make her sad, suggesting that Abigail doesn't want to face that emotional outpour herself as well as not wanting him to see her in that emotional state, holding Will at arm's length and viewing him as the man who killed her father, never really opening up to him emotionally in the same way that she does to Hannibal. The two of them do eventually bond over, of all things, the fact that they both had to come to terms with the fact that killing didn't make either of them feel as bad as they thought it ought to.
Abigail's need for control of her situation and the perception of others can also be seen in the fact that she was collaborating with Freddy Lounds to write a book telling her perspective of the Minnesota Shrike killings, so as to control what people think and what is seen as the publicly recognised truth about her involvement in this. When Freddy wants to title the book 'The Last Victim', Abigail states that she wasn't the Shrike's last victim; both because her friend Marissa was, but also because she feels empowered and not like a victim any more, even if she doesn't object too much to the title to enable her to be viewed sympathetically and not be thought of as an accomplice. Moreover, her need to have control over what is happening to her is shown by the fact that she goes so far as to dig up Boyle's body so that it can be found by the FBI. She has been living in the fear of it being discovered, and as she says herself, while she can't control what happens after the body is discovered, she can control when it happens. However this backfires when Jack insists that Abigail come into the FBI headquarters to identify the body, and all her guilt floods back to her; it's at this point that she admits to Hannibal that she was the lure for her father's victims, again putting him in a position of power over her with that knowledge, again showing the fear and vulnerability that she hides behind her poker face.
While Abigail is not shy, she is not a particularly extroverted individual either. She is extremely observant of everything that goes on around her. She is very mature, and before everything happened she was shown to be very sensitive, even towards the deer that she hunted. She enjoys reading, as well as outdoor activities such as hunting and hiking. She's desperately looking for the fresh start that she was hoping college would be, although whether she can keep her secrets hidden remains to be seen.
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