Hannibal's house, Thursday evening

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal hummed along with the music as he carefully chose the right ingredients and cut of meat for his chosen recipe. Sparkle wanted to hurry back to the young girl he was looking after, so having everything ready would cut down on the preparation time. Not to mention, he just liked to be prepared.

Hm...perhaps the neck from that reprehensible clerk; it would make a good Stoverij. A bit more casual than his usual fare, but it was a simple enough recipe that Sparkle could do most of it, and he would probably appreciate the beer and fried potatoes.

Maybe some carrots and onions on the side, as well; Sparkle could bring some back for the girl along with the potatoes.



[OOC: Expecting one, open for phone calls or whatnot!]

Comments

[sharp_as_knives]

"Well, neither of you will ever have to eat from garbage cans again, if I can help it," Hannibal promised. He squeezed Sparkle's shoulder again as he passed by to get a pot for the potatoes. "I should like to meet her, when you feel she is ready for it."

Because she was likely very wary of strange adults. Even of the non-serial-killing-cannibal variety.

[myownface]

"Could be a while," Sparkle admitted. "She thinks I'm being clingy these past few days, since the social worker visited me at work. She just doesn't trust most adults, I think, though I think she's better at accepting them when I vouch for them..."

He shrugged as he finished cutting the last of the meat, and then turned to face Hannibal again.

"Honestly, I almost think she'd be more wary because you're an adult from the mainland. I trust you, but the mainland is where all the homes for little kids like her are."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal waved that off. "That only shows she has good sense. She'll be ready when she's ready. Or perhaps when she's bored enough," he added with a chuckle. "Do you have books for her? Or you could take her a tablet."

[myownface]

"I don't really own any of my own, but the school has a library, and it has a section for little kid books, I'm pretty sure. I was thinking of taking her there and letting her figure out what she wants too read. I just... haven't really had a chance to, yet."

For reasons that mostly boiled down to how he hadn't bothered because up until that morning, he totally had books.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Ah, good." Hannibal nodded as he started the oil for the potatoes heating and stirred the onions. "I confess I never noticed there was a children's section."

He eyed the preparations so far. "When the onions are nearly done, we can start browning the meat."

[myownface]

"Well, I'm guessing it's a little below your reading level," Sparkle mused, and then glanced toward the onions, setting down the knife again. "It might even be a little below hers. She's a bright kid, you know? Rattles out math equations that trip me up like they were nothing."

In fairness, Sparkle had never been good with numbers. Or even a lot of words. Or education in general, until Fandom.

[sharp_as_knives]

"If she enjoys that sort of thing, I can give you a list of mathematics books she might enjoy." Hannibal opened the refrigerator. "Beer?"

Sparkle just needed the proper reinforcement and motivation. Hannibal put most of the blame on the state of public education.

[myownface]

Well, in defence of public education, Sparkle had spent most of his days skipping school, growing up.

"Yeah," he replied, and then added, belatedly, "please. And a list of math books would be pretty great, too. Maybe, um, start easy and work up? I don't actually know what level she's at, you know?"

It all looked like letters and numbers and weird table-shaped things to Sparkle.

[sharp_as_knives]

Details.

Hannibal got the beer and poured Sparkle a glass. "I can do that." He got himself a glass of wine while he was at it. "Once you know her level, I can suggest more of the same."