Hannibal's house, Thursday

[sharp_as_knives]

Well, radio this morning had certainly been...interesting. Hannibal was torn between going to a deserted beach somewhere warm until this was over, and talking to as many people as possible. Maybe even Anakin.

He decided to start with breakfast, though. With actual pork sausage, just in case.


[OOC: Open post! Because I couldn't not give folks the chance. *G*]

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[trigons_child]

Raven had absolutely no idea what was going on on the island today, but she just happened to pick that day to go visit Hannibal, though she had been reluctant to leave Karla and had to be chased off by some of the other Healers. She was, after all, more than a little concerned about what Jono had said he sensed in her mind, and she was worried now her demon side was manifesting in some new way. And since Hannibal had been working with her to try to get her two very different natures to co-exist, it was only natural she wanted to discuss it with him.

So there was a Raven gently tapping on Hannibal's door.

[sharp_as_knives]

Well, at least she wasn't crying "Nevermore".

Hannibal opened the door and smiled at her. "Raven. It's lovely to see you. Please, come in."

[trigons_child]

"Thank you," Raven said, stepping inside. "I was ordered to stop hovering over Karla and Kayla and to take some time for myself, so I opted to come to the island for a short time. I trust you have heard the news about the baby?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"I have, yes." Hannibal smiled back and led her to the den. "Can I get you anything to eat or drink?"

[trigons_child]

"Something does smell wonderful," Raven said, catching the scent of breakfast. "I do apologize for interrupting your breakfast, but I cannot help but be pleased that you are in the midst of preparing food, because that means I can enjoy it myself."

She blinked in confusion for a moment. She hadn't quite intended to phrase it quite that way, true as it was.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal smiled. "I'm very often in the middle of preparing food, eating food, or cleaning up after food. And as I'm very proud of my abilities, I never mind sharing the results with a friend."

He changed course to the kitchen to get her a plate. "Please, have a seat. Coffee?"

[trigons_child]

"Tea, if you have it, please," Raven set, settling in a chair.

"You have every reason to be proud," she called after him. Mmm, Pride. "I have never found your skills lacking in any area." And that was now giving her some nice thoughts.

[sharp_as_knives]

"I have very good tea." Hannibal started water boiling as he plated some strata for her.

"I'm pleased to see you still eating meat; I think it shows you're beginning to move beyond the arbitrary restrictions of your upbringing."

Damn it, Fandom!

"That said, if you would ever rather not, please let me know. I will always be willing to make you something meatless instead."

[trigons_child]

Raven frowned a little at the mention of her upbringing. "Azar believed she was doing the right thing with the way she raised me," she said. "But I was ill-prepared to deal with the world outside Azarath. Perhaps they intended to keep me there all my life, isolated and emotionless. I find that thought terrifying, to never know love and pleasure and joy."

[sharp_as_knives]

"I find it horrifying, and I am very glad you've had the opportunity to become your own person and learn emotions." Hannibal slid the plate onto the table before her, and stroked her hair before sitting down. "However traumatic it may have been at times."

[trigons_child]

Raven picked up her fork and took a bite of the strata, closing her eyes with a hum of pleasure as she savored the taste of it.

"It was extremely traumatic," she said a moment later. "At times I feared I would go mad, before Professor Skywalker taught me how to shield myself. I was unaccustomed to so much emotion around me. But I would do it all again. Well, I might make some different choices, but I cannot regret leaving Azarath."

[sharp_as_knives]

"I'm very glad to hear that." Hannibal smiled. "I would not have met you otherwise, and I am very pleased to have done so."

[trigons_child]

"As am I," Raven said. "I would be bereft were I not to have known your friendship and the help you have given me." She smiled. "And, of course, your cooking."

[sharp_as_knives]

"You are very welcome to all three." Hannibal toasted her with his coffee. "How have you been lately?"

[trigons_child]

That brought the frown back, and her forehead creased with worry. "I have been all right, and overjoyed with the birth of Karla's child, but...Jono thinks something is wrong with me, though I cannot quite feel it myself. Do you think I have been not quite myself?"

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal thought for a moment as he ate. "I don't know. You have seemed somewhat more intense lately, but you have also been under a great deal of stress. I had not attributed it to anything outside yourself, but I do trust Jono's judgement in this."

[trigons_child]

"I have tried to examine my behavior," Raven said, nodding. "I have been more impulsive, I think, and perhaps even careless, acting without thought, which does bother me, but nothing I have done is not something I already wished to do."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Have you ever experienced such a lack of forethought before?" Hannibal asked.

[trigons_child]

Raven poked at her strata. "I try to think things out for the most part, but there are times when I have emotional reactions, particularly when it comes to protecting someone I care for. I sometimes do not think of the consequences when I am healing someone."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Have you been having more of these emotional reactions lately?" Hannibal asked. "Perhaps even when someone you care for was not threatened?"

[trigons_child]

"That is difficult to say," Raven said as she thought back on the past several months. "I care for all of Glacia now, especially the children. I think now that I let my anger get the better of me at Hintergrove, and I should have brought those who ran the orphanage before Karla rather than dispensing justice myself, but it is not as if I have flown into any irrational rages."

[sharp_as_knives]

Remembering Jono's comment about Lust, Hannibal asked, "And after that?" He reached for Raven's hand. "I have no complaints, but it did seem rather sudden."

[trigons_child]

Raven ducked her head to try to hide her blush. "I am not usually so bold," she said. "But the desire was there. I thought it was the safframate that made me so forward."

Then again, there'd been no safframate in her system when she'd bound Jono to a chair and...well....

[sharp_as_knives]

"Sometimes bold can be a good thing," Hannibal reassured her with a smile. "But I thought you had purged the safframate from your system." He'd insisted upon it as much as possible.

[trigons_child]

"Oh, I did!" Raven insisted, looking up again. "The drug was no longer affecting me. But the desire had already been there, as I said, and that did not go away. It is not something I regret, nor would I mind it happening again, perhaps even with Jono with us the next time...."

...she hadn't meant to say that last part. It was slowly starting to dawn on her that it was another day of truth in Fandom.