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

[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."