Phoenix Place, Friday night

[sharp_as_knives]

After this evening, hearing some of the things that had happened at the carnival and finding only a few tantalizing clues to solve the mystery of it, Hannibal came home, made himself a bit of tea and a nice meal, and settled in to relax for as long as he could.

Of course, for him, relaxing included rethinking every possible angle of everything going on, but he was alone and in a comfortable chair; that was the important part.

[OOC: Expecting one, but open to anyone who feels they might want to drop by! Also if anyone wants/needs a place to stay, though if you don't know Hannibal, be prepared for him to grump at you. :)]

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[sharp_as_knives]

"Oh?" Hannibal asked. "What sort of compassion? What held you back?"

[trigons_child]

"Love," Raven said with an exaggerated shudder. "Love is nothing but the weakness of fools."

She leaned back in her chair. With her conscious mind entranced, her subconscious was making the most of the opportunity, and she winked at Hannibal. "Lust is so much better, do you not agree?"

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal just chuckled. "Less complicated, certainly. What was it like, this love? Think back on it - why did it stop you?"

[trigons_child]

"Because love and a unfortunate need to suffer for the sake of others gives my human side strength."

Raven flexed her fingers, studying that claws that had emerged from their tips. "But not strong enough to control me forever."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Why not pair your strengths?" Hannibal suggested. "If love and rage both give you strength, wouldn't they be stronger working together?"

[trigons_child]

"Why would I wish to do that when I want my human side gone?" Raven said. "I want this accursed soul destroyed. It should have been burned out of me long ago. My brothers did not suffer this indignity."

[sharp_as_knives]

"And where are your brothers now?" Hannibal asked.

[trigons_child]

Raven shrugged. "Elsewhere," she said, "though they call to me. They wish me to join them. And I will, in time. And worlds will fall at our feet, including this one."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Glacia?" Hannibal asked. "Will it fall, too?"

[trigons_child]

"Yes, and it will be easy," Raven said, lips curling into a wicked smile as she thought about it. "Kaeleer is positively bursting with sin. Every horrible thing you can imagine happens almost every day. It will be so easy to push it right over the edge."

[sharp_as_knives]

"How do you think Karla will feel about that?" Hannibal asked. He was beginning to wonder if he'd have to get a bit more aggressive, but she hadn't actually tried to do anything yet, so he was holding out hope for talking.

[trigons_child]

"It does not matter what she feels," Raven said. "All that matters is what I wish."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Doesn't it?" Hannibal asked. He folded his hands over his knee. "Talk to me as though I were her. Explain it to me. 'Karla, I'm doing this because...?'"

[trigons_child]

Raven leaned forward. "I do not need to give an explanation. I do what I want. Whatever I want."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Humor me," he replied, smiling. "I would like very much to hear your reasoning." And to hear her explain it to her best friend, even by proxy.

[trigons_child]

"Well, then, Karla," Raven said, standing up. She crossed the space between them and leaned in over Hannibal, not quite touching but close enough to violate personal space. "Because I desire you. You are mine. And as that means I must be the center of your world, I will take away anything else that will distract you. Your Territory, your people...everything. Your whole world will be me, as it should be."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Even if I hate you for it?" Hannibal asked. He leaned back to be able to look her in the eyes, but otherwise showed no reaction to her closeness."

[trigons_child]

Raven lifted a hand, lightly brushing her claws against his cheek. "You will not hate me," she said. "You will love me. You will worship me. I will make certain of it."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal raised his eyebrows and smiled. "Is love coerced worth it?" he asked curiously. "If you can't know if I would love you without that coercion?"

[trigons_child]

Raven snarled and jerked her hand away, annoyed to be caught contradicting herself. She claimed love to be a weakness, yet part of her craved it, the pathetic human part. "It does not matter," she snapped.

[sharp_as_knives]

"No?" Hannibal asked, still smiling mildly. "I would think it would be a point of pride to earn emotions naturally rather than have to force them."

[trigons_child]

"Do you think you are clever, to appeal to Pride?" Raven laughed. "Only a human would care about 'natural' emotions. I manipulate and control emotions. They are merely a tool to me."

She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, then let it out with a smile. "I sense potential in you," she said. "I think we could do interesting things together."

Trying to distract him from rattling her further? Quite possibly.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal shrugged. "Then why care if Karla loves you? If she hated you, wouldn't that be as potent?"

[trigons_child]

"She will feel whatever I decide she will feel," Raven growled. "And I grow weary of these questions. I should end your life now, for questioning me."

Yet even as she made the threat, she could feel the human half of her stirring, prepared to resist any such attack.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Would that make you happy?" Hannibal asked. "Are you capable of happiness?"

Because if he kept asking questions, she'd either answer them, start to try to kill him and have her human side break through again, or try to kill him. It was a no-lose situation, really.