sharp_as_knives | Arms Hotel, Sunday morning

Hannibal woke up feeling no different than the night before, until all the memories started flooding in. Growing up a woman; growing up with no uncle, stuck in a Soviet boarding school; growing up with his entire family, in France; being himself, with Sparkle his willing protégé.

He scrubbed his face with one hand and shoved it all to the back of his mind long enough to make coffee. Then sat drinking it, remembering, cataloguing every detail so as not to forget.

If there were a few parts that got especially fond treatment, that was nobody's business but his own.

Around noon, he made a phone call and sent a text message. Then he just sat and went back to thinking.

[OOC: Open to anyone who wants to drop by.]

[ETA: Therapy session NFB, please!]

Current Mood: groggy
Current Location: Arms Hotel

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

sharp_as_knives

"Does it help, knowing that you have things now that you wouldn't have if they'd lived?" Or did it just make you more guilty like a guilty thing, Derek?

From:

justlurkinghere

"No." Because he was so very messed up to even want the things he had. So, so messed up.

From:

sharp_as_knives

Hannibal folded his hands and sat back to look at Derek. "Would it be better if you had nothing good, no advantages, although they still were gone?"

He was not judging you, Derek. But it wasn't easy.

From:

justlurkinghere

Rude!

"One of the things I have here," Derek said carefully. "Is the beginning of a relationship. He's a student."

And there's where it's creepy.

From:

sharp_as_knives

That...certainly could be creepy. It depended on several factors. "Tell me about him."

From:

justlurkinghere

"What about him?" Yeah, be protective, Derek.

From:

sharp_as_knives

"Wherever you would like to start. His name, perhaps, or how you came to be in the beginnings of a relationship?"

You brought it up, Derek.

From:

justlurkinghere

"Stiles," he replied after a moment. "He's... we're both from Beacon Hills. He's from a different one than me."

From:

sharp_as_knives

"Ah." Hannibal nodded. "He has taken my classes." He'd seemed fairly level-headed at the time. And he was at least old enough to have an idea what he wanted.

"He's from your hometown, but a different version of it?" he asked, to clarify. "Did you know your version of him before you arrived here?"

From:

justlurkinghere

"He knew me, I didn't know him." A beat. "We didn't get along. For a while."

From:

sharp_as_knives

"What changed?"

From:

justlurkinghere

"I don't know. We became friends somehow."

From:

sharp_as_knives

"Because of your shared background, or in spite of it?"

From:

justlurkinghere

"Probably the reason we were friends," Derek admitted, taking a seat in one of the chairs.

From:

sharp_as_knives

"Have you been friends long?" Sitting was progress; thank you, Derek.

From:

justlurkinghere

"Since... the Christmas before last, I suppose?" With a million bumps along the way.

From:

sharp_as_knives

"And when did you become close? What made you decide to begin a relationship?" This was mostly where creepy-or-not came in, Derek.

From:

justlurkinghere

Derek sighed, sitting back. "There was a weekend, one of those idiotic ones that happen here. Everyone was twenty years older and we were--we were married."

From:

sharp_as_knives

There, and that was not creepy at all. Well, not upon your part, Derek; the island was another story. "Had you even contemplated a relationship before that, or did it come as a shock?"

From:

justlurkinghere

"No, never." Derek made a face. "He's--"

He seemed to struggle for a word that didn't make him creepy there. And failed.

"--a teenager. I'm not Kate."

But his expression made it clear that was the main worry here.

From:

sharp_as_knives

"No, you are not." For one thing, you had very different body parts. Most of the time. "I very much doubt the woman you described to me would be here worrying about that. What was it like, then, being married to him?"