The Many Faces of Mozzie

In Nocturne in Black and Gold, Neal returns to New York City as he continues to grapple with hearing multiple contradictory voices inside his head. Peter is anxious for him to see a psychologist for help, but Neal already has a specialist waiting for him at the mansion. Take a bow, Mozzie! Neal may not give you much respect as a love advisor, but as an expert on multiple personalities rattling within one cranium, he knows you're unsurpassed.

Warning for minor spoilers for the Caffrey Conversation series

From the pilot episode of White Collar, Mozzie has showcased his virtuosic ability to assume different personalities. Drawing on his photographic memory and seemingly limitless capacity to absorb knowledge, he has an uncanny gift to see the world through someone else's eyes. It didn't take Peter long to recognize Mozzie's talent. When the cybercriminal Azathoth first appeared on the scene in The Woman in Blue, Peter enlisted Mozzie's help in the case. When Diana began writing her stories, there was never a question that she would need Mozzie's assistance.

Mozzie has many heroes and he has an affinity for morphing into their personalities. Although he could easily quote them verbatim, he prefers to give his unique spin to sayings by deliberately muddling the words. In Raphael's Dragon Mozzie channeled his inner Sherlock Holmes. He calls upon Sun Tzu for planning a con. For Arkham Files, he draws upon Albert Einstein. He's especially fond of Einstein's "thought experiments." Allen Ginsberg, a favorite going back to the pilot episode of the TV series, reappears in this story. Two Ginsberg quotes seem particularly relevant to Neal's current situation.

"A naked lunch is natural to us. We eat reality sandwiches.
But allegories are so much lettuce. Don't hide the madness."

"I don't think there is any truth. There are only points of view."

Allen Ginsberg was a member of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the subsequent counterculture movement in the 1960s. Mozzie drew upon Ginsberg's biography to fashion the character of Dante Atwood for Arkham Files. He likes to think he was standing alongside Ginsberg as they protested Vietnam and the War on Drugs. Together they championed feminism, civil rights, gay liberation, and environmentalism. Ginsberg continues to inspire Mozzie in Nocturne in Black and Gold.

But at the moment Mozzie has a different challenge. Neal admits to him that his mind has become a battleground for turf warfare between Klaus and multiple versions of himself. Mozzie will act as a guardian angel for Neal, using healing techniques only he would conceive.

Nocturne in Black and Gold on Archive of Our Own
Nocturne in Black and Gold on FanFiction