Phoenix Place and environs, Saturday afternoon

[sharp_as_knives]

The day Hannibal had been anxious enough (thanks to that odd crystal) to plan even further ahead than usual, he had contacted some people about possible residences on the island. This week, he had heard back from them about a place becoming available.

His first instinct had been to thank them politely and ignore it. But he'd been caught up in an FBI investigation at the time, and their voicemail had gone unanswered. Now, with Bedelia having stepped away and Will playing an unknown game, well. It could never hurt to be prepared, could it. After all, it wasn't as if his finances couldn't bear another house, even if it weren't on this island with its ridiculously cheap real estate.

Besides, even were he not to need it long-term, someplace more secure and private than the hotel might be nice, in event of being stuck here during more...enthusiastic invasions.

So, he had come out to look at the place, which he'd only strolled past before.

He wasn't sure which would have to go first, honestly: the regrettable "landscaping" or the horrid decor.

On second thought, no, he was perfectly sure: it was the sign over the gate proclaiming it to be "DOOMHAUS". No matter what your own name was, there was no excuse for inflicting it upon a perfectly reasonable architectural structure.


[OOC: Cut for some spoilers through Hannibal S2E2, "Sakizuke". Open for anyone who wants to catch Hannibal evaluating the environs of (the former) DOOMHAUS. Periodic SP until tonight.]

Comments

[notamascot]

Kaylin was exploring, and, well, honestly, she was kind of patrolling. The way she hoped she'd be doing one day with the Hawks.

She stopped to stare at the big sign, sounding it out to be sure it said what she thought it did.

"Who'd wanna live in a house that says 'doom' on it?"

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal huffed in laughter. "It was the man's name, which makes it somewhat less of an omen and somewhat more ridiculously pretentious."

And when Hannibal Lecter thought you were pretentious...

"How are you today, Kaylin?"

[notamascot]

"Stupid name then," she said. "He should have changed it."

Like she changed hers. Not that Hannibal knew that.

"I'm good. Just patrol- er, exploring. Learning all the ins and outs of the island."

Never knew when you might need that kind of information.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal smiled at the slip-up and at the sentiment. "It's good to know as much as you can of a place. You never know when it might come in useful. How much have you seen so far?"

[notamascot]

"All the village stuff and most of the shoreline stuff," Kaylin said. "Not a ton of the woods stuff, though, but I'll get there eventually. I mean, I've given it all a quick walk around, but that's not the same as really seeing it, you know?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"I do," Hannibal agreed. "There is a difference between seeing something, and truly experiencing it. Learning it."

You know, like music.

[notamascot]

She eyed him cautiously. She was pretty sure he was trying to make a point and she was pretty sure it would annoy her if she knew what it was, but, well... she couldn't figure it out.

"Yes... I suppose there is."

[sharp_as_knives]

So suspicious!

"What have you learned since coming here?" Hannibal asked. "About this place, and in your classes?"

[notamascot]

"Uh..." She was pretty sure this was a trick question.

"Um, I know where all the shops and stuff are and I can find any place pretty damn fast and in classes, well, I learned that driving fast is a lot of fun and that I can intimidate people on other planets, too, and how to use some weird thing called a microwave to heat up food and how to make a fake ID and sneak in and out of places and..." she considered... "Some other stuff I'm sure, but those are the main things."

Sorry, Hannibal.

"Oh. And that there's bunches of kinds of music."

There.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal looked rather pained, and for once it wasn't even due to the dismissal of music. Mostly.

"A microwave? They're teaching that?" He grimaced and gestured toward the school. "If you have the time, I can offer you some real food in my office."

It wasn't much, but between cold foods and what he'd brought in a thermal bag that morning, he could certainly best a microwave.

[notamascot]

"Uh huh, in my cooking class. And grilled cheese." She made a face. "I'm not very good at it, but it'll keep me fed if I have to cook. Here anyway, back home we don't have stuff like that."

She perked up at the mention of food. "Well... I guess I have a little free time..."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal chuckled at her enthusiasm at the same time as he despaired at the thought of teaching that as "cooking".

"Come along, then." He started for the school. "Any further emergencies back home lately?"

[notamascot]

"No," Kaylin said glumly. "At least none that they've mirrored me about and I can't go home unless someone does. Not that this isn't a decent place and I have a lot of fun with my Try Not to Die class, but I miss Teela and Tain and Clint and Marcus and the Hawklord and just everything."

[sharp_as_knives]

"It can be difficult, being so far away from home," Hannibal offered. "Is this your first time away from them?"

[notamascot]

Kaylin nodded. She was not at all feeling emotional or teary. She was tough. Really. She was.

"Yeah. At least since I got there. About a year and a half ago."

[sharp_as_knives]

"It's especially difficult when you've only just settled into a home." Hannibal smiled at her completely non-transparent lack of emotion. "Can you not mirror them either?"

[notamascot]

"And bother them at work?" Kaylin looked horrified. "Never!"

[sharp_as_knives]

"They don't have mirrors at home?" Hannibal asked curiously. "I had assumed it was rather like our phones - ubiquitous."

[notamascot]

"I am not bothering Marcus at the Pridlea," Kaylin said firmly. "His wives would be very angry at being disturbed if it wasn't an emergency. And, well, I don't know how to mirror Teela and Tain. They always say that if they want me they know how to find me."

She ducked her head. "Besides... do you know how they'd laugh at me if I called because I missed them? It's bad enough they all call me a mascot. Which I am not."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal made note of the fact that Kaylin's culture was polygamous, and that she seemed to have few if any real friends.

"If they care for you, they will be missing you as well," he pointed out. "But I won't press. And you seem to me very un-mascot-like, for whatever that is worth."

[notamascot]

Just the Leontines, actually. The other races were more monogamous or at least as monogamous as humans. And no, Kaylin didn't have time for friends so much. Teela and Tain were about it and, as immortal Barrani, had already lived several human lifespans.

But, unable to read subtext, she wouldn't tell him any of this.

She did look a bit unsettled by his words. She wasn't actually sure they did care about her. For a Barrani, she'd barely existed in their world for the blink of an eye. The Hawklord might care as one did for a child, perhaps Marcus too. She was useful to the midwives and at the Foundling's guild, but did they care for her? She'd even be afraid to ask for fear of the answer.

At least he didn't see her as a mascot, thankfully, so she nodded. "Exactly. Not a mascot."

[sharp_as_knives]

"So, no calling people at home. Have you got other reminders?" Hannibal asked. "Things you brought from home, or that remind you of it?"

[notamascot]

She blinked at him. "Like what?"

Which you know, probably meant no. Kaylin wasn't one for carting random things around. Not that she ever had much to begin with.

[sharp_as_knives]

That was probably a no, yes.

Hannibal shrugged as he opened the door for her. "When they leave home, some people bring a reminder with them. A memento. It can be a favorite article of clothing, or a toy from when they were a child, or a photograph of their friends or family. Do you have photographs, or something like them?"

[notamascot]

Kaylin's face went blank and guarded. "I don't have anything from my childhood."

Not thinking, not thinking, not thinking.

"And I don't know what a photograph is."