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

[furnaceface]

Jono gave her one more little squeeze, and then nodded and leaned back slightly to look at her with eyes that still betrayed just how much he ached inside.

He was doing an excellent job tamping down the worst of it, otherwise.

//Gravediggers are about the size of it,// he admitted, softly. //Lost myself again for a few days, there.//

Not in the typical island way, no. That much was probably clear.

[glacial_queen]

"Do you want to talk about what happened?" she asked. "Or go somewhere and scream for a little while?"

She figured he'd understand that she didn't mean a literal scream.

[furnaceface]

His screams tended to trigger nosebleeds. And migraines that lasted for weeks.

//Not sure,// he admitted. //There was a... bloody hell, this sounds stupid. A carnival. Didn't feel right, right from the start. Went in anyway.//

Like an idiot.

[glacial_queen]

But if it made him feel better, Karla would suffer through that and shield him to protect the rest of the island.

"Well, since I doubt you had a hankering for kettle corn, I'm going to assume you were checking it out?" Karla prompted. "Before the dumber students on the island did the same?"

Hey, she'd been one of those dumb students. She knew.

[furnaceface]

//It didn't feel right,// Jono agreed, nodding a little. //Raven and I met up on our way in. I strung up a psionic link between us so that we'd both know immediately if something went wrong...//

So, see, at least there had been some matter of forethought involved?

[glacial_queen]

The smallest matter of forethought.

"Because you guys thought it would be a better idea to split up?"

Not judging! ...Okay, a little judging. But c'mon, Jono. You knew better.

[furnaceface]

//There was something wrong about the place,// Jonothon stressed, furrowing his brow slightly. //I know better, and so does Raven, you know that. I helped you win a bloody war. But it got into our heads.//

Even before it had dug in and tore his mind apart, it had managed to get into his head. That said something.

[glacial_queen]

Karla started to run her hands through her hair, almost as if she could wipe the feeling of violation from his mind.

"Like a lure?" Karla asked. "Nothing concrete, but just enough to pull you in?"

She lowered her voice. "Is it all gone? Do you want me to check for sure?"

[furnaceface]

//Like a lure,// Jonothon agreed, eyes turning downward. //Drew Raven to a fortune teller. Me to a maze of mirrors.//

Didn't both of those sound potentially dangerous on their own, knowing Jono and Raven's individual fears and hangups?

//I... think it's gone,// he added. //But... wouldn't mind a quick going-over.//

It really said something, when he was willing to let her come in and look. He hadn't let her do that in years. There would be scars, there, on top of old gaping wounds. Things that she hadn't seen yet, after Legion's artificial universe had changed him back to this. Things that were battered and shredded a little more than before, still bleeding around the cracks from what had broken him in that maze. But aside from damage left behind, there wasn't any influence left sitting around in his head, trying to direct his actions and thoughts from the outside.

[glacial_queen]

She hissed--first because she knew only too well the things that both her friends would have seen in a maze of mirrors and from a fortune teller, and then again when she sank her mind into his.

Mother Night. It had been so long since she'd been inside Jono's head, she'd forgotten how much it hurt. It was like having her skin abraded from being dragged along a stretch of asphalt, and then those abrasions rubbed by salt. It wasn't Jon's fault, of course, but there was just so much wrong there.

She did the mental equivalent of sitting on her hands while she searched for signs of residual intrusion. Her fingers itched to get in there and fix the damage that was apparent everywhere. But she didn't. She wouldn't. Fixing Jono's mind wasn't worth the breach of trust that would accompany it. So, like a good visitor, she looked with her eyes only and touched nothing.

"You're clean," she said a moment later. "No traces left."

From that violation, anyway.

[furnaceface]

//Good,// Jono murmured, closing his eyes and slowly sliding his walls back into place. //Thank you.//

For a lot of things. For looking. For not touching. He had no patience for words on the walls tonight.

It was a wonder he still managed to function. For all intents and purposes, he was worse off than he had been the last time she'd taken the grand tour.

[glacial_queen]

"I'm thinking that it's about time I crack open the first of the gravediggers," Karla said, in no small part because she could also use a drink. "Wanna string a link up between us?"

It would need to be a bit more robust than the one she'd had to share emotions from before and she'd rather Jono be in charge of it.

[furnaceface]

//Yes,// Jono replied, bowing his head, //very much.//

With her, and with Hannibal. With Cecil, with Kenzi. With anyone and everyone in the room that was holding some sort of alcohol in their hand who he knew well enough to feel comfortable linking with. Jono was ready to get extremely drunk tonight.

[glacial_queen]

"Just so we're clear, you're sharing my hangover tomorrow," Karla warned, tipping back the glass as soon as she felt Jono's familiar presence in her mind. "And you get to explain to Hannibal if the unthinkable occurs and I get sick. Or end up drunk and hitting on everybody."

Or both!

[furnaceface]

//I'll clean up after you or pull out my phone and record your antics accordingly,// Jono promised, putting a hand over where his heart ought to have been. //And that's only if I'm not stumbling around drunkenly, myself.//

[glacial_queen]

"You do love me," Karla said, snuggling close. "And Emma, because I know she's the first person you'll share the footage with."