22 Phoenix Place, Monday evening

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal had settled on an impromptu dinner party mostly out of curiosity as to what had happened to everybody else this weekend. He hadn't had much time to prepare, of course, but his "last minute meals" were anyone else's gourmet, so he wasn't too worried.

He set the food out around the room more or less buffet style, opened the bar, and set out good bottles of wine and home-brewed beer. It was a fairly educated guess that some of his guests would need it.

[OOC: If Hannibal knows you, you're invited for dinner. NM, no OCD or I'll never get this up for looking at food. Mod gourmet things and mingle!]

Comments

[trigons_child]

Raven had sensed the familiar emotional after effects of one of Fandom's strange weekends the moment she teleported to the island. She didn't know the details of what had happened yet, but she was still glad she hadn't come to the alumni gathering. She couldn't handle another transformation into some evil version of herself.

She helped herself to a generous glass of wine and took a seat, trying to be patient and wait to see if anyone needed her rather than press too hard to see if her friends were all right.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal squeezed Raven's shoulder in passing and smiled at her. "You've no cause to worry; as traumatic weekends go, I have a feeling this one was rather mild."

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall gave Raven a thoughtful look. "Were you here?" he asked. "Or did you miss the fun?"

[angelo_wings]

"Raven," Rinoa said brightly. "So what mischief did you get yourself into? I was a madam. Ish."

[glacial_queen]

Karla flung herself into the chair next to Raven, giving her a one-armed hug. "Next time, you have to come to Fandom with us," she announced genially. "It's not fair when we're caught in the crazy and you aren't."

From her general air of amusement, one could guess that Karla had escaped fairly unscathed.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

What she'd get from Dinah was mostly amusement, a little bafflement, and curiosity about everyone else. "Hey! Were you here this weekend, and I missed you?" she asked, offering Raven a hug.

[furnaceface]

Jono was doing well enough. After so many years between Fandom and his own reality, he was really an old pro at finding himself waking up as someone else for a while.

Still, some pleasant company wouldn't go amiss. Particularly the sort that wasn't likely to faint upon looking at him. He found himself a place to sit, and contented himself with soaking up the ambient drunkenness of those around him.

Psionic powers could actually be useful now and then. Who knew?

[sharp_as_knives]

"You didn't get much of a benefit from this weekend, did you?" Hannibal noted, smiling wryly. He didn't get the feeling Jono had even been able to enjoy having a mouth much.

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall couldn't remember having seen Jono all weekend! They had important catching up to do! Long, deep, involved conversations, during which they spilled their innermost thoughts about all that had happened!

...Or, you know, not.

"Fun weekend?"

[angelo_wings]

"I ran a nightclub brothel," Rinoa said, lifting a glass to her roommate. "I don't think I saw you all weekend. What did you get yourself into?"

[glacial_queen]

"You're just jeee~alous," Karla sing-songed, as she approached him. "Yo~oou're jealous of meee~eeee."

Three guesses what she meant about, Jono.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

Hatter was feeling fairly more level after assuring himself his restaurant was in good condition and indulging in some very, very good tea. He could even laugh about being a sniveling chicken now.

After getting Hannibal's message, Hatter even decided to come out and see what Hannibal's dinner parties were like. He knew the man made good food so there was a definite plus right there.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Good evening." Hannibal nodded to him. "How did you fare this weekend, then?"

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall loomed near Hatter and cleared his throat awkwardly. "I don't think we've formally met," he said. "I'm Squall. I'm not normally intimidating."

[angelo_wings]

"I don't think we've met," Rinoa said, brightly. "Unless you were in my club and saw me onstage, but that wasn't really me, and it's usually a magic store. Hi, I'm Rinoa."

[glacial_queen]

Oooh! A new face! As the current holder of the title of 'longest Fandom resident' (for all that she was no longer living here), Karla took it upon herself to check in with the new person.

"Kiss kiss," she said, holding out a hand. "I'm Karla. I think I saw you out in the audience at the Magic Box last night?"

[wwiii]

Scotch. Scotch was an amazing thing when you were a Worthington who still smelled a bit like seawater, who had almost managed to get most of the sand out from his wings. They itched. They itched a lot.

But besides all that, Warren seemed to be mostly in good spirits as he set out to mingle among the dinner crowd at Hannibal's.

He was behaving himself and not stretching or ruffling his feathers indoors. Partly because of that fresh-ocean-smell, and partly because he didn't want to scatter sand in the food. He was thoughtful like that.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal had very good scotch, too.

"You seem a bit...well, 'ruffled' would be accurate, if perhaps a terrible pun," Hannibal noted as he poured him another glass.

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"Went for a swim?" Squall asked.

[angelo_wings]

"I've never discovered a dead body before," Rinoa said, excitedly. "This weekend was crazy."

And then, as if it just occurred to her, "Celia's probably okay, right?"

Death never seemed all that permanent, when these shindigs happened. Might still give her a call if she didn't show up for her shift at work tomorrow.

[glacial_queen]

Eau de Seawater aside, Karla was still going to drop a loving kiss on Warren's cheek. "You look very good for someone who was murdered only a few hours ago," she assured him. "Tonight, I'll give you a good backscratch to make up for it."

[fix-it-guy.livejournal.com]

Mike dropped by with a plain, unmarked, brown cardboard box sealed with packing tape. "This is yours, at least nominally. It came by courier this morning. I strongly recommend not opening it, at least not without a good lawyer. But, seeing as how it technically belongs to you, I figured I should give you the option."

[OOC: I hope this is okay. The contents of the package, how illegal they are, and whether Mike ordered it with or without Hannibal's instructions, are entirely up to you.]

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal eyed it and shook his head. "I had thought all the remnants of this weekend were gone. I will...set it aside for now, I suppose."

Don't think he didn't know you were just doing this so you didn't have to deal with it, Mike.


[Ahaha! Totally okay. I shall have to decide what it is later on.]

[angelo_wings]

It was only polite to bring a bottle of wine to a dinner party, even if you knew your host had his own incomparable supply. At least she'd gotten something nice.

"I woke up in the right bed this morning, with the right person even," she said, cheerfully. "I think that puts me one up on several of you."

Okay, Rita had been banging Leon for ulterior motives, but still. It made for much less awkward morning-after pillow talk.

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"You're not one up on me," Squall insisted, as he followed her in. "I still win."

[glacial_queen]

As far as the weekend went, Karla had gotten off pretty lightly. Sure, she'd tried to murder her fiancé, but in her defense, he'd had it coming.

He really only had himself to blame.

That was why, rather than fleeing back to Glacia, she'd left messages with Morton to pass along that she, the Consort, and the General would be staying a few more days. Long enough to enjoy Hannibal's dinner anyway.

"This smells delicious, darling," she announced when they arrived. "I would have brought the rest of my cake, but it seems it didn't survive the potluck."

Warren probably had something to do with that. Which might have influenced his character over the weekend.

[sharp_as_knives]

"It seems a shame; I never even got to try it." Hannibal wasn't even being sarcastic; he would have liked to see how much progress she had made. So long as it hadn't been lethal. "What were you up to this weekend, my dear?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah was later than other people, since she'd been to Caritas first, and spent some time with Nick and Priestly. But she was still glad to see everyone in (mostly) one piece.

"I brought wine?" she offered, holding up a bottle. "I have no idea if it's good or not."

It was Merlot, though. That was good, right?

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal took a look at it; it wasn't quite as good as he'd have chosen, but it was quite passable, and with as much as some people had been drinking... "It's lovely; thank you." He accepted it and smiled at her. "And how were you this weekend?"