Guest room in the Estate, Sidra, Glacia - Tuesday Fandom time

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal was enjoying his time at Karla's estate, and had been dividing it between speaking and working with Ermengarde (trading recipes and techniques and so forth); reading up on anything and everything to do with the local politics, beliefs, and Protocol (which was both fascinating and potentially useful); and wandering through the town, observing.

He fully intended on taking care of that place's "customers", and that would take some preparation.

Right now, he was comfortably ensconced in a comfortable chair, reading up on Glacia's recent history and wondering if it would be possible or prudent to eavesdrop on Karla's mediation.


[OOC: NFB for distance, but open for calls, e-mail, or anyone who's in Glacia!]

Comments

[furnaceface]

Why yes! There was a phone call, incoming! Apparently somewhere throughout the course of the afternoon, Jonothon had decided that it would be a good idea to stop thumping his face against his desk, and to call somebody who was actually sane. Sane was good. Jono was a big fan of sane.

And so, there would be Hannibal's phone. Ringing.

[sharp_as_knives]

...had Jono wanted somebody sane? Many would argue he'd called the wrong number.

Hannibal glanced at his phone, then picked it up, still a bit bemused at getting service where there were no towers or satellites. "Hello, this is a change. How is the island today?"

[furnaceface]

"Boring," came Jono's voice, plainly audible, through the phone. "I suppose I could come back to Glacia, but my portal's not for another couple of hours, and I've actually managed to get some work done around the shop."

He was silent for a moment as he looked around.

"Sort of. Hopefully your day's a bit less maddening than mine's been."

[sharp_as_knives]

"The only maddening thing has been my own curiosity," Hannibal answered. "Is the boredom maddening, or is it something else?"

[furnaceface]

"The boredom was only maddening until I started making telephone calls back to my own world," Jono admitted. "And then I found out that an old... I'm not sure if I should call him a teammate or a mentor, honestly... but he's planning on starting up the old school again."

That probably needed more context than that, Jono.

"Speaking of schooling, if you're so interested in figuring out how the Blood work, might I suggest talking to Lord Mallory? He's a bit stuffy, granted, but he did get his position in Karla's Court by being an old family friend. He was her Protocol instructor. Could probably teach you a thing or two."

Who needed context when you could have a segue instead?

[sharp_as_knives]

"Oh? I'll have to ask him; thank you." That was good advice, Jono, but it wasn't going to save you. "Starting up the old school?"

[furnaceface]

Bugger.

"The old Xavier School," Jono replied, with a sound that translated roughly to a sigh when interpreted by Barry's tech. "It was a school that was meant to be a safe haven for mutant children, where they could learn how to survive in a world that... doesn't exactly want them alive. Everything went to hell a few years back, and it was completely leveled by Sentinels."

Had Hannibal been told about Sentinels? Jono knew that Warren had been pretty much obliterated by them not long ago, but he didn't remember mentioning them to the man himself.

"Since then, there hasn't really been anywhere that mutant children can go to learn where they won't also be expected to play child soldier whenever Scott gets it in his head to use them as convenient firepower."

This... required a lot more backstory than Jono was actually giving, didn't it?

"... Anyway, Logan wants to re-build and do something about that."

[sharp_as_knives]

Sentinels had never been mentioned to Hannibal by name, no, but in context they didn't exactly need to be. And having heard at least a little about Jono's schooling, Hannibal could guess what he meant about that, too, though he filed the name "Scott" away for asking about later.

"It sounds like a laudable goal. Do you think he can do it?"

[furnaceface]

"I think... if anyone can, it's probably Logan," Jono admitted. "People can say a lot of things about him, but the one thing he is committed to is the well-being of the children he takes under his wing. Hell, he was the only member of the X-Men who even cared to come looking for me when I was brainwashed."

...

"The first time."

It was important to make that distinction.

"And if he's got enough support, and it sounds as though he does, it might be the best thing going for the young mutants that are left in the world."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal now had entirely too dignified and upstanding an impression of Wolverine.

"A laudable goal and a good chance of success, then. What makes it so maddening?"

[furnaceface]

Well, in fairness, Logan was pretty much the only X-Man that Jono had a positive opinion about, most days of the week.

"He went and offered me a job."

... That sound was quite possibly Jono's forehead hitting the countertop again, for the record.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Ah." Hannibal paused for the audible head-desking. "Hasn't Karla forbidden you from ever going to your home world again, after last time?"

Not that he thought that would stop Jono if he wanted, but it was Karla.

[furnaceface]

"Yes," Jono mumbled. "Because I'm not capable of going back there without coming back with fewer parts attached."

A beat.

"Which is hyperbole, really, considering I spent plenty of time in my own reality back right before Glacia's war, and only came back with large messy holes in me th'once."

[sharp_as_knives]

"I think as your friends, we would prefer no further messy holes," Hannibal told him, shaking his head. "Are you considering taking the job?"

[furnaceface]

"It's difficult to say no to," Jono admitted. "The school these days has far more students who can't pass as baseline human than teachers. Logan asked me specifically because... well, neither can I."

He could only fake knowing sign language so much before someone figured him out. Plus the whole 'burning flesh' smell, and the scars, and his unfortunate tendency to smoke from time to time...

"It's one thing to be hated and feared by humankind. It's another thing entirely to be looked at as a freak even among the other freaks."