Arms Hotel, Saturday evening

[sharp_as_knives]

After spending a bit more handwavy fruitless time in the library, Hannibal had headed back to the hotel to relax, check the news, catch up on his e-mail, and do a bit of actual work. Having done that, he switched to more casual dress and put his feet up on the couch, reading on his tablet.

He hadn't seen Jono all day, and if there was any chance there were more dinosaurs out there...well, he had enough meat for some time already.



[OOC: Expecting one or two, but open to drop-bys and calls!]

Comments

[myownface]

Incidentally, it was the meat that Sparkle was stopping by for. He'd gotten Hannibal's e-mail after a hunt to find Amelia that had lasted for a few days, and while he hadn't had a chance to stop by for it yesterday (because day, obviously), he could certainly do so now.

Knock knock, right there on the gourmet suite door.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal set his tablet down and went to open the door. "Sparkle. I was wondering..." he trailed off as he got the scent of him, and looked him over more closely. "Well. You're not the Sparkle I'm used to."

Still, he stepped back to wave him in. He'd just have to watch himself.

[myownface]

"Yeah, I've been getting that a bit since last night." Sparkle took a moment to size Hannibal up, to take note of the way his demeanour changed as he took in the sight and smell of him. He smirked faintly. At least he'd been invited inside. Thanks for that, Hannibal.

He nodded a little as he stepped into the room.

"Which is funny, because I'm the Sparkle I remember."

[sharp_as_knives]

It was impolite to leave a guest in the hallway, no matter how intriguingly they smelled of blood and death.

Hannibal shrugged. "And I'm the same as always so far as I'm concerned. But apparently I haven't always been. This island seems determined to play with us. What have you been up to recently?"

[myownface]

"Saving tiny runaways from man-eating reptiles in the street, mostly. Jurassic Park was right. They really do hunt in packs." Sparkle smirked a bit, licked his lips, and then just broke into a fangy grin. "I got your email about class. Sorry I missed it. I can get to the school easy enough, but crossing town is a totally different story."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal raised an eyebrow at the fangs. Well, that explained the smell, and was definitely interesting.

"Not at all; as I said, it was optional. And there is still plenty of meat left, if you'd like some. Forgive my asking, but as you're new to me, do you eat?" He certainly hadn't been interested in it when he'd been a vampire, but that had been less than a day.

[myownface]

"I can eat. I don't really need to, though." Sparkle shrugged his shoulders. "Blood. Or... whatever that crap is they sell at the bars here. I have some of that. It's nasty stuff."

But it let him stick around here without getting staked, so he tolerated it.

"You do it sometimes just because you miss it, you know?"

He wasn't as big a fan of Pop Tarts as he used to be, though.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal grimaced. "Unfortunately, while it had occurred to me that dinosaur blood might be a worthwhile ingredient, I had nothing to carry it in, and I'm afraid I didn't bring any from the mainland." He stopped short of offering other assistance, unsure if this Sparkle remembered what his Sparkle knew about his ingredients.

"But you're still welcome to the company." He waved Sparkle toward a seat. "Or the meat, if you'd like to taste it."

[myownface]

Oh, come on, Hannibal. This Sparkle could practically smell it on you. It took a superhuman nose to pick it out after so many days away from it, but he was pretty sure that wasn't Hannibal's blood he was smelling. And that it hadn't been, all semester.

Not like he was going to tell anyone. Their little secret, right?

"I'll take both, sure," he decided, making his way to sit down, more like a prowl than a walk. "Shame you didn't get any of the blood, though. I haven't had a proper meal since Amelia took off."

He gave Hannibal a brief flash of fang that was meant to be a wry smile. More or less.

"Hard to stock up on fake blood when the island is on fire."

He kind of had an allergy to being on fire, and all.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal frowned at that, wondering if Sparkle had been drinking from Amelia, but he seemed to still care for her, so it was doubtful it was harming her if he had been.

"And you haven't run across any of the vikings wandering around, or tried the dinosaurs for yourself?" Not a very good show for a predator, Sparkle.

[myownface]

Sparkle rolled his eyes a little, not at the question, but at the situations as a whole, mostly.

"Well, I'm not going to wrestle a T-Rex. Much as my ego and I are best of friends, even I don't want to see what happens when the king of tyrant lizards turns those teeth on me. And filtering a Viking out among all of that other crap right now is... challenging. You want a fun time? Try being skewered by a giant scorpion. Anyway, last night was dedicated to finding Amelia. She ran off on Wednesday, I had other priorities. Tonight's just started and I was going to feed her first."

He gave Hannibal a bit of a sharp smile.

"Though people are way less likely to care about a few missing Vikings."

He couldn't get away with eating his classmates, but...

[sharp_as_knives]

Whatever else he was, this Sparkle certainly seemed to be at least as much of a predator. Hannibal smiled back. "On my way to class Tuesday, I paid for passage past them with glögg. They seemed rather taken with me after that. If you'd like me to accompany you to bring Amelia her dinner...?"

Just because he didn't tend to lure his victims, didn't mean he didn't know how it was done.

[myownface]

"Well, she'll be up in the dorms," Sparkle noted, frowning thoughtfully. "Pretty sure you're not supposed to be up in there."

Yeah, a guy who was seriously contemplating hunting down and decimating a few Vikings was being a stickler for the 'no teachers in the dorms' rule.

"Not like it takes long to rip somebody's throat out with my teeth, of course. And I probably should eat before I head back. I promised I'd take her out hunting after her dinner."

He had a strict 'no eating people in front of Amelia' rule. He didn't want to upset his cute little pet human.

[sharp_as_knives]

"As a teacher," Hannibal pointed out, "it would be remiss of me not to escort one of my students home as far as the entrance to the dorms. Your little Amelia hunts?" he asked curiously.

[myownface]

"Monsters," Sparkle agreed, smiling faintly. Sure, Hannibal was welcome to see him back to the dorms if it made him happy. It wasn't like he was going to argue. "She has for a while. Got all excited when she saw the creatures that were crawling around outside, you know? This is the sort of thing she grew up learning how to do. She handles a gun better than most people I know manage to tie their shoelaces."

[sharp_as_knives]

"To be fair, there are people who are abysmal at that," Hannibal pointed out. "It's good to know she can keep herself safe, though." Even if the thought of her hunting monsters and being guarded by Sparkle - this one or his own - was rather amusing.

"If you would rather hunt, I can simply give you the food to take to her," Hannibal offered. "But if you're feeling more hungry than predatory, my offer stands."

[myownface]

And when put like that... Well, how could Sparkle possibly say no?

"You said you have a half-decent relationship with the Vikings that are out there?"

Because that certainly had him intrigued. And he was hungry.

"It would be more fun than making a pit-stop at the bar for that artificial blood crap."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal grimaced. "I should hate to think of you resorting to that. Yes, and I should still have some wine around here to jog their memory if needed."

[myownface]

"You put up with a few indignities in order to not wind up dusted," Sparkle replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "I have to at least look like I'm trying. People get suspicious, otherwise."

Especially since he'd already kind of eaten Sholeh, and all. Oops.

"Anyway," he added, slipping into an easy grin, "if I'm running around with you out there, maybe you can take care of my leftovers, hm?"

Saved him from having to hide the bodies.

[sharp_as_knives]

"I don't exactly have the equipment here for much," Hannibal pointed out. "But there are enough other predators out there that it should be enough to carve away any obvious marks." And bodily fluids, presuming vampires even left them.

He gave Sparkle a look of mild reproof. "Don't get accustomed to it. I don't make it a habit of cleaning up after others." Which might have been more foreboding if he weren't clearly teasing. Well, what could you say? He was really rather fond of Sparkle.

[myownface]

"Right, I wouldn't want to presume," Sparkle laughed, shaking his head a little. "Extenuating circumstances, and all. You're just being a responsible teacher helping a student not starve during a crisis around the island."

See? See how helpless Sparkle was? He clearly needed this assist.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Precisely. Not to mention keeping you out of the bars." He was a very responsible teacher. "Let me get that wine and some food for Amelia, and we can be on our way."