Hannibal's House: After-BDE Trauma Party

[sharp_as_knives]

Yet another island oddity had come and gone, and yet again it seemed to have taken a mental and physical toll on several people Hannibal rather liked. So tonight he was cooking comfort foods and low-snobbery (but still gourmet) snacks, tea, and hot chocolate, and his bar was very well stocked.

He'd talked to the other researchers and sent messages to his friends welcoming them to join him if they wanted (except for Jono's, which had been more of a politely worded demand for his presence), but the lights in the house were on and the door was open, if anyone else felt they needed company.

Or just to sit in the corner and cry. Hannibal wouldn't judge. He might take notes, though.

There was food:
Mini grilled-cheese sandwiches (artisan cheese, home-baked bread, probably some with moddable! things like capers or veggies or ham)
Tiny meat pies
Roasted potatoes with salt and rosemary
French fries which tried for greasy and didn't quite have the heart to make it, sorry Jono!
Tiny pies of moddable fruit
Ice cream of several flavors (lavender and honey! vanilla bean! dark chocolate! moddable!)
Chocolate truffles of various moddable! flavors
Other assorted moddable, go to town! things

And drink - if it's a high-end liquor, it's here. Also home-brewed people beer and good wine, both dry and sweet.

[OOC: Open post is open! NM; just put it all here, no OCD.]

Comments

[sharp_as_knives]

Apparently not calling Karla hadn't helped terribly much.

Hannibal went to meet her with a glass of very good wine as a peace offering. "Some rather nasty people. It's been taken care of," he assured her, offering her the glass.

In a lower voice just for her, he added, "There has been a bit of mental trauma for both Jono and Raven. I wouldn't press them too hard." He trusted to her being a Healer and a Black Widow and knowing what the two of them were like; that was the best respite he could get you, Jono!

[glacial_queen]

Unfortunately for Hannibal (or perhaps fortunately, considering his stunning comment to Jono earlier), Karla was spoiling for a fight. Fear for her friends combined with a desire to harm any who would harm her own combined with general bitchiness at the entire situations had her temper already ticking merrily away.

"Good spread," she noted coolly, looking around at it. "A pity you couldn't call anyone while you were putting it together. Or were you laboring under the delusion that I wouldn't be interested in what occurred, hmm?"

Her vocabulary expanded as her words got more clipped when she was angry.

[sharp_as_knives]

"I could have," Hannibal acknowledged with a nod. "But as I'm certain you know, Jono hates to cause anybody worry. I promised him some time ago I would help him avoid people fussing." He shrugged. "I had thought Raven would call and spare me the necessity of breaking that promise." He held out the wine to her again.

Just because her anger was a stunning force of nature didn't mean he wanted it directed at him for too long; he wasn't stupid.

[glacial_queen]

Then he shouldn't have set himself up to be the best target in the room for it.

"If only there was some sort of profession that could point out how much more likely it was for someone to start fussing and panicking when she only has a wash of terror and despair to let her know that something is up, rather than a phone call to let her know that everything is under control." Karla glared at Hannibal, hostility radiating from every line. "Compounded then by having to deal with Portalocity's idiocy while she comes up with every possible scenario that could result in the feelings she's getting."

[sharp_as_knives]

He was a knowing target, but he was hoping to keep the damage to a minimum.

Hannibal blinked at her, then winced. "My apologies. I hadn't realized you had that sort of link. Had I known you would have felt what was happening, I would have called. Sooner rather than later." He was still new to this psychic-and-magic thing, Karla!

"I will keep that in mind for the future, I promise." He gave her a nod that was almost a bow. "All I can do at the present is offer you wine, chocolate, food, and friends. And a room far from the others if you'd like to yell at me or scream for other reasons."

[glacial_queen]

Dammit, Hannibal! Stop sounding so reasonable! Karla wanted to yell and throw a fit, not be rationally talked down from her anger.

"Why don't you fill me in on what actually happened," she said frostily. "Since you're so afraid that I will cause my people undue stress."

She turned to glide from the room, only to realize she didn't have any idea where that other room was that Hannibal had mentioned. Which meant that her regal exit was made slightly less regal by having to turn around and gesture that he lead.

Dammit.

[sharp_as_knives]

Sorry, Karla; you were getting reasonabled at whether you wanted it or not!

But at least Hannibal would take the exit in the spirit it was intended. "This way." He headed for the back of the house and the library; it was far from the living room and the books made it relatively soundproof. He offered her a chair and set the wine down on a table if she wanted it.

"Where shall I start? How much do you know already?"

[glacial_queen]

Karla accepted the wine and took a long drink before bothering to answer him. Yeah, she was using Court tricks to make him wait. Look, it was the more mature way to channel her anger rather than making snide remarks and glaring.

Besides, Hannibal was more likely to notice the subtle approach.

"A very little," she said in clipped tones. "Why don't you tell me everything and we'll work from there."

[sharp_as_knives]

There was a reason Hannibal was being as courtly as he knew how, too. He was perfectly happy to treat her as a queen if that was what she needed at the moment. She had felt powerless to help her friends; she needed to take that power back.

He gathered his thoughts for a moment, turning a paperweight on his desk. He stayed standing. "There was a carnival in town; it apparently arrived overnight on Thursday. One of my students said something about it coming out of an odd mist. It apparently gave some people bad feelings; one of the girls here said she felt evil magic." He spread his hands. "I'm afraid I wouldn't know about the magic, and I never went near the place."

[glacial_queen]

Power or not, Karla really wanted to throw a temper tantrum and then go find any remnants of the carnival and burn it to the ground for daring to lay a finger on her people.

With neither of those options on the table, she was just going to settle for being imperious and snarky.

"An evil carnival?" Karla sniffed. "That sounds..." Ridiculous. Nonsensical. Stupid. "Utterly par for the course for this island. So, what happened? Murderous clowns? Poisoned candy apples? Tunnel of Torture?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"We should be so lucky," Hannibal answered. Because he was also a snarky bastard. But also serious. "No, it somehow lured people in, often even against their better judgement. Then it changed them. Some seem to have been killed to effect this change; others succumbed to various of the carnival's attractions. It changed them, made them part of itself. Made them lure in others."

[glacial_queen]

"Hell's fire and Mother Night," Karla swore. "Like a creeping sickness, then. Infect one, take them over, use them to get the rest." She ran a hand through her hair then began pacing back and forth than a caged Arcerian. "How did you lot fix it?"

She whirled on him as another thought occurred to her.

"And why the Hell didn't you call me?! You don't think I would have been a good person to call in for a consult, considering all the magic?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"The time from when I knew for certain something was wrong until we found the cure was one day." Hannibal grimaced, hesitated, then sighed. "I'm not used to having others I can call upon for help. The thinking of a lifetime can be difficult to overcome, even for me."

Congratulations, Karla; he'd admitted he wasn't infallible. You should feel honored.

"As for that cure," he shook his head, amused despite it all, "they needed to be hugged."

[glacial_queen]

"One day is still plenty of time to have contacted me," Karla sniffed, folding her arms over her chest. "Especially if you knew that Jono and Raven had been affected."

Still, it was hard to stay grumpy at someone as proud as Hannibal when he was admitting a shortcoming. So she unthawed enough to grant him, "Though, I suppose I can see where I might not be the first person you think of to call upon, if you're not used to calling on anyone. But I assume this is the last time we'll need to have this kind of talk?"

There was still enough latent anger at the whole situation to add a little bite to her question.

[sharp_as_knives]

"It will be," Hannibal assured her with a nod. "I can't promise how quickly I may be able to given different situations, but I will do my best to contact you if there is magic at work that affects your people."