Hannibal's house, 22 Phoenix Place, Saturday morning

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal had spent the night on the island to take care of a few things. He woke up, listened to the daily radio as he dressed, then headed downstairs for a bit of breakfast and drawing up invitations for the housewarming party he was planning.

Those damn flamingos were still on his lawn, and he glowered at them. And tossed some shrimp out the door when nobody was looking. What? They were annoying, but he wasn't about to let them starve because they were too stupid to go back to the beach. "I have some very good recipes for flamingo, you know," he told them.

The flamingos were unimpressed.


[OOC: Open post! The cannibal is in and amnesia-free!]

Comments

[sharp_as_knives]

No, it wouldn't. And you were thinking ostriches, Jono.

Hannibal nodded and set his silverware down. "Come along, then. We'll see what we can do."

He led them to the living room and a very comfortable couch and pair of chairs. "Sit where you like; you should be comfortable."

[trigons_child]

Raven picked the chair she usually sat in, though she didn't know that of course. Her stomach felt all a-flutter, and she was fairly certain that was her own nervousness, though she was eager as well.

"What must we do?" she asked.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Sit comfortably," Hannibal advised. "Close your eyes. Concentrate on your own body, on feeling yourself. Raven, breathe deeply and slowly. Feel your breath, in and out. Jono, feel the shape of your flames. Try to feel their texture and movement."

[furnaceface]

Jono would rather not feel the texture and movement of anything that he didn't think ought to actually be a part of himself, but he made himself comfortable on the sofa and closed his eyes, trying to focus on just that.

//Think I can do that,// he murmured with a little nod.

[trigons_child]

Raven settled back in the chair and made herself comfortable. Once her nervousness had passed, she found it strangely easy to relax in this way. She closed her eyes, focusing on her breathing, slowly dropping into a trance.

[sharp_as_knives]

It was better than telling you to concentrate on the fact that you couldn't breathe, Jono. It was hardly Hannibal's fault you lacked the most useful focus for hypnotism!

"Very good, Raven," Hannibal said in a low voice. "Focus on your breathing. Feel yourself growing calm."

Remembering how Jono had focused without a head, Hannibal sat next to Jono and set his hand where Jono's chest should have been. "Push against my hand; feel that. The important part is that you focus on yourself, your own experience. Does that make it easier?"

[furnaceface]

//It... might.// Jono's brow furrowed a little more, but he did as he was told. It was almost like a sort of muscle memory, knowing to push just subtly. The same instruction would have been a dangerous proposition back when Jonothon had been actually new to his powers.

Hannibal was far less likely to lose his hand doing this today.

//Focus on myself.//

On the fire. Which was a good place to start, even if Jono wasn't aware that he was the fire.

[trigons_child]

Letting herself fall into a meditative trance seemed as easy as breathing to Raven, like a reflex her body hadn't forgotten even if her mind had.

She could sense Jono and Hannibal nearby, and beyond them a soft haze of emotions of everyone on the island, some of them brighter than others. Hannibal said she could influence emotions as well, and for a moment she was tempted to try, to see how it worked. But that might be dangerous if she didn't know what she was doing.

She could also feel something coming from within herself, a swirling storm of rage and other strong emotions. A very confused and angry storm of emotions.