Hannibal's house, Wednesday afternoon

[sharp_as_knives]

The arrangements had all been made, the menu was set, all the ingredients and wines had been delivered, and all that was left was to make the food.

Which meant starting the day before, because some things just had to be done right.

Were you sorry yet that you'd offered to help so that you could learn party planning, Sparkle?



[OOC: For the one mentioned, but open for calls or drop-bys, why not? Just a bit of T-day prep!]

Comments

[myownface]

"Uh." Sparkle blinked and nodded as he looked around the kitchen. "Yeah, little bit. We'd be sticking to simple and bland, I'm pretty sure. Unless we wanted to give something like gremlin meat a try, but even I don't think Thanksgiving dinner should necessarily end with a rousing musical number complete with, like, feathered costumes and a kickline."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal blinked at that image. "Not generally, no. More to the point, I'm fairly certain I wouldn't want to eat gremlin meat." Even he had standards. While he might try it out of curiosity, it likely wouldn't cook up well enough to actually serve to anyone.

[myownface]

"It'd he hard to trust," Sparkle decided. "And, I mean, the last thing anyone wants is having all those little assholes holding a grudge against you for eating a member of the family or something."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Having heard what happened when your classmate captured one, I think that would be inadvisable," Hannibal agreed.

Congratulations, Barry! You had forewarned Hannibal against trying to eat gremlin!

[myownface]

Sparkle blinked and thought back over the radio broadcasts for a while. And then couldn't help but cackle as he started to clean the carrots.

"Yeah, I can come up with a few better drugs than that to take if I want to run around acting totally messed up all the time. Bonus points for only thinking I'm puking Skittles while I'm on them." A beat. "Not that I do drugs or anything."

Weed didn't count, dammit.

[sharp_as_knives]

Neither did alcohol? You were getting a bit of a knowing look for that, Sparkle. Not a judging one, though.

"I can think of much less disgusting ways to spend a week, myself." Hannibal pulled out a knife and started cutting the fruit.

[myownface]

Hey, if Sparkle didn't admit to it, Hannibal, as a member of the school's faculty, didn't have to feel obligated to do anything about it! He was doing him a favour.

"Ones that don't have people avoiding you for a while afterward? I mean, I like Skittles as much as the next guy, but..."

Maybe not second-hand.

[sharp_as_knives]

That was assuming that Hannibal, as a member of the school's faculty, felt obliged to do anything, full stop.

"Not if the next guy is me," he pointed out. "I've never had them, and I'm perfectly happy to keep it that way."

[myownface]

"More for me, then." See Sparkle not be too terribly heartbroken about this. "They're better in vodka, anyway."

Everything was better in vodka when you were eighteen.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Sometimes I despair of your taste buds." Hannibal shook his head. "I really must sit you down and teach you the finer points of alcohols."

Because that was totally the responsible teacher thing to do, right?

[myownface]

"There are finer points than 'Skittles vodka?'" Sparkle was going to have to sample it to believe it, Hannibal. "I guess people are doing some impressive things with Jolly Rancher candies, too. Just so long as I don't resort to gummy bears like some people, I think I'm doing pretty okay."

Pam, Cheryl, Sparkle was talking about you.

[sharp_as_knives]

Their ears were probably burning. Or knowing them, something much less appropriate.

"There are a good number of impressive vodkas that have nothing to do with candies, believe it or not."

[myownface]

It's okay, Hannibal. Sparkle wasn't going to put all of his energy into making you miserable.

"Yeah? Because I'm not really a martini kind of guy. But, hey, I'll try anything once."

Especially vodka!

[sharp_as_knives]

"Glad to hear it." Hannibal wiped his hands on a towel. "How long until the carrots are ready?"

[myownface]

"Juuust about," Sparkle reported, turning his attention back to the carrots for a few more seconds before giving a satisfied nod and stepping aside. "There. How's that?"

He'd been thorough! Because nobody wanted dirty air, right?

[sharp_as_knives]

Dirty air was definitely bad.

Then again, if anyone tried breathing this air...well, Hannibal was a doctor, at least.

He inspected them and nodded. "So, juice." He patted the juicer. "Would you like to do the honors, or should I? Whoever doesn't, gets to start on the paté."

[myownface]

Sparkle considered the juicer for a moment - it did look kind of like fun, just feeding carrots into the thing - but tilted his head at Hannibal curiously all the same.

"What needs to be done to the paté?"

It was worth asking!

[sharp_as_knives]

"First is cooking the livers. Salt, pepper, and sautée them in olive oil."

[myownface]

Sparkle pondered that for a moment, and then nodded.

"I think I want to try that. Uh, would you mind, um, making sure I'm doing it right? Juicing is easy. I don't want to..."

He waved a hand a little. Sparkle was still Sparkle. Even when he was admitting that he was afraid he'd mess something up, he didn't want to actually say that he was afraid he'd mess something up.

[sharp_as_knives]

And Hannibal was still Hannibal; if Sparkle thought he'd let him do poorly on something he was serving to others, he was sorely mistaken.

"I'll keep an eye on it with you. After all," he pointed out, "I have the easy job."

[myownface]

Sparkle gave a little smile at that, and nodded. Okay, cool, he wasn't going to fuck this up or anything.

"So, I salt and pepper them first, or wait until they're in the pan?"

He didn't think it mattered all that much, but seriously, with a dinner like this one, even Sparkle wasn't taking any chances.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Season first, then heat the oil and put them in." Hannibal gave him the rest of the instructions on the first part. "And I'll be here if you have questions."

[myownface]

Sparkle nodded and then set to work, diligently following Hannibal's instructions. If his tongue was sticking out a little in concentration, he would really thank Hannibal to not point that out.

He had to get this right, dammit. It was a learning experience.

[sharp_as_knives]

It was good to see Sparkle taking it seriously; Hannibal wasn't going to tease about the way he looked doing so.

Instead, he was just going to get started juicing things, so it would have long enough to sit.