Hannibal's house, Wednesday

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal heard the first thud against the wall as he was finishing his coffee.

He went to look out the window, and saw a number of...flying eels with scuba gear on? He watched them for a few minutes, until one of them decided the flamingos on his lawn looked tasty. It got away, leaving a scattering of feathers on the ground and shrieking almost as loudly (though not nearly as shrilly) as the eel.

Hannibal sighed and went to get his rifle.

"This was not the argument about fish I was hoping to have today."


[OOC: Open post!]

Comments

[furnaceface]

//You know, it didn't occur to me that they might be helpful for taking care of your flamingo infestation,// Jono mused as he finally managed to make a breakaway from the Jedi corner of town so that he could keep his date plans with Hannibal. If he smelled a little fishy by the time he made it to Hannibal's place, well, hopefully the good doctor would understand? //Should I stop killing them around here?//

Don't think he didn't notice that shotgun, there.

[sharp_as_knives]

It was a rifle, not a shotgun, thank you. Finesse, not brute force.

"Leaving me with dead flamingos to clean up? No thank you." Hannibal nodded in greeting to Jono and sighted on another eel. He winged it before getting a more solid hit. "Apparently I could use the practice, anyway." He sighed. "Are these things everywhere?"

[furnaceface]

Fair enough. Shotguns were better put to use while riding unicorns anyway.

//Here, down my street, and over by the school, at least,// Jono shared. //I haven't been much farther than that.//

He spun on his heel and incinerated an eel that had been coming up behind him.

//You'd rather clean up flying eels than flamingos, then?//

See Jono. See Jono totally aware that you were fond of the birds. See him be a nib about it.

[sharp_as_knives]

They were!

"I have some very good recipes for eel," Hannibal answered smoothly. "Are these freshwater or saltwater, do you think?" He took a bit longer to aim and managed a head shot on the next one.

[furnaceface]

//Er, I hadn't really thought about the difference,// Jono admitted, throwing a punch at another eel before making a dash for Hannibal's front step. He'd rather not be on the lawn while Hannibal was firing a rifle, all things considered. //They're a fair bit larger than any freshwater eel I've seen, though that doesn't necessarily mean much. Most of them seem to be coming up from the beaches, though.//

While flying.

Because of course they were.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hey, Hannibal's aim wasn't that bad!

"Most likely saltwater, then." He stepped aside to let Jono up onto the porch. "They taste very different," he explained.

[furnaceface]

//Not certain I've ever had the saltwater sort, and it's been a while since I've had eel at all,// Jono noted, stepping up beside Hannibal and turning his attention back out toward the incoming eels. //Now I'm curious what you'll do with them.//

A beat.

//If any of those anti-gravity units they're wearing make it through this unscathed, I wouldn't mind taking those, though. Or at least a few of them. I'd like to have a look at how they're put together.//

Somebody missed flying. A lot.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Can you hold one still?" Hannibal asked. "I could shoot it away from the unit, so it's still intact."

Or he could get out the garden shears to take its head off, but...yeah, he liked this suit.

[furnaceface]

//I can, er, try,// Jono replied, blinking. //They are about as slippery as...//

He wasn't even going to finish that, because honestly.

//The scuba gear ought to help with that, though.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"I don't want to know why somebody would outfit eels like this." Hannibal sighed and shot in front of another eel before it could lunge at a flamingo, then winced at the shriek it gave.

[furnaceface]

//Particularly such noisy ones,// Jono sighed, shaking his head as he braced himself for an incoming eel, giving it a good thunk on the head with a bare fist before grabbing it by the... anti-gravity unit. It was far enough back from the head that he didn't think Hannibal would blow his hand off, at least. //Somebody has too much spare time on their hands.//

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal had rather meant that Jono could grab it with his powers. From a distance. For safety and shooting?

Giving Jono a look, he stepped up and bashed the thing with the butt of his rifle.

[furnaceface]

And Jono... mostly just shrugged his shoulders as the eel screeched and writhed. So he threw it to the ground and stomped on its head.

//If you meant with my powers, you should've specified,// he replied, putting his nose into the air for... about two seconds. //I'm not entirely certain I can hold something that way, you know.//

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal grinned. "Call it practice for both of us, then."

[furnaceface]

Well, now you were getting a brief side-eye before Jono sent a concussive blast of psiflame at the next incoming eel. It spiraled away, not so much as singed, before shrieking its frustration and rounding on them again.

//So, you want me to... reach out. With my powers. And hold the eel still so you can shoot it.//

Just making certain that he had this clear.

//Over there.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"Precisely," Hannibal answered. "As precisely as possible."

Consider it a challenge, Jono!

[furnaceface]

There might have been a bit of a grumble there about 'bloody sadist doctors' there. Just a bit of one. A tiny grumble, at most.

//Not made for this,// he added, a little more coherently, but that wasn't stopping him from sending out a tendril of flame to wrap around the nearest eel.

The noise it made as it writhed in place was ungodly. The smell of the smoke was...

Okay, it was sort of a fishy barbecue smell with bonus lycra. Jono was wrinkling his nose at it all the same. Yes, he was aware he wasn't supposed to be burning the thing.

[sharp_as_knives]

You thought the smell was bad, Jono? Try it with Hannibal's sense of smell!

If nothing else, it was incentive to shoot the thing quickly.

He didn't manage a dead-on shot, but he got the scuba gear, so the thing was just as dead. And as a bonus, couldn't scream.

[furnaceface]

Yeah, Jono was just as happy being able to fry the thing without having to worry about having to inhale. Jono glanced sideways again, but let the eel drop, flame dissipating around it and returning to its usual state, twisting around his face and tousling his hair.

//... Well, that could've gone worse.//

They both had some room for improvement!

[sharp_as_knives]

"Don't worry; there are plenty more." Hannibal nodded at one trying to sneak up on a flamingo.

[furnaceface]

//Of course there are.//

Another whip of flame, coiling this time around yet another shrieking eel. This time, he pulled it a little closer so that Hannibal could get a clearer shot.

Still with the smell, but he was holding on to less of the animal this time, so it wasn't quite so bad as the first.

[sharp_as_knives]

And Hannibal managed a head shot this time, so the shrieking stopped faster, too. Though it did mean eel brains all over his lawn.

He grimaced. "I hope it rains soon." ... "Water."

[furnaceface]

//As opposed to more sharks or glitter, of course.//

You were getting an amused side-eye, Hannibal, as Jono... more or less reeled the eel's remains in using fire. Which was an interesting trick he was going to have to make use of later.

//Just what we need. Glittery eels. Let's just hope it stays cool out until this gets cleaned up.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"Please," Hannibal agreed. And nodded approval at the clean-up. "Thank you." See, Jono? You could do fine manipulation!

[furnaceface]

//Well, I wasn't going to leave it there on the lawn...//

He wanted that anti-gravity unit, dammit.

//I didn't ruin too much of it, did I? Is it usable?//

[sharp_as_knives]

"If not, we'll just have to procure a few more." Hannibal sighed at another shriek. "I don't think that will be a problem."

[furnaceface]

//Wherever shall we find more eels, hm?//

Jono was kind of hell-bent on getting this, now. This next shriek had him waiting for a moment more for the creature to get closer, and then reaching out with a whiplike tendril of flame, similar to his purely concussive blasts, and letting it coil around the creature from head to tailtip.

His brow furrowed a little as he put more conscious effort into keeping that flame from burning than he did into holding the eel still. It had a bit more give to thrash around with, but at least there was no smoke.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Very good!" Hannibal put a bullet through its head despite the wriggling. He was a perfect aim with knives, it just took him a while to apply that to the gun. "You'll have your machines, I'll have enough meat for a party tomorrow, I think."

[furnaceface]

//At this rate, I think you'll be able to feed most of the island,// Jono agreed, pulling this one in as well. //Feels bloody strange when it dies that way, though.//

The creature was still twitching and spasming, without benefit of a head, as he dropped it at their feet and aimed to grab another one.

//Not entirely unlike anything else I'm touching with my flame when its brain stops, I suppose. I keep expecting more of a struggle.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"You can feel it die?" Hannibal asked.

He sidestepped the twitching eel. "They have very durable nervous systems. It will probably keep moving for some hours yet."

[furnaceface]

//I'm a telepath making physical contact with it using a pure psionic extension of the core of my very being,// Jono pointed out, grabbing another one. //Of course I can feel it die.//

It didn't really bother him so much. It wasn't as though the eel was terribly upset about it. It was difficult to empathize with a homicidal fish, at any rate.

//I've felt a lot of things die. These are just a little duller than most.//

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal made a thoughtful noise. "What I meant was, are there changes in its mind that you can feel, or does it simply fade from existence?"

He shot the next eel.

"Though I suppose these don't have much of a mind to start with."

He would ask if it bothered Jono, but it didn't seem to, so there was hardly need.

[furnaceface]

//There are... vague glimmers of something, though mostly they run on instinct,// Jono replied, pulling this one in as well. //It's less conscious thought, and more a basic animal awareness. They know something is holding them in place, they want to put an end to that, they're hungry, they're annoyed, there's pain, and then they stop. That's it. They just stop.//

That's what death was to his senses, more or less. A mind one moment, and then none at all.

//I could let you feel what I'm feeling, if you like. I'm not certain you'd enjoy it. It takes a bit of work to distance your own self from another mind once you're touching it that way. Especially one that really has no sense of 'self' to begin with. Not the way we know it. It isn't that it imposes itself on you, so much as that it focuses so completely on whatever stimulus it's responding to. It only can process so much at once.//

[sharp_as_knives]

If there was one constant in Hannibal's life, it was curiosity. If there was a second, it was probably death. "I believe I'd like to know," he answered. "Although -" He put the safety back on the rifle and propped it against the wall. Because maybe holding it ready to fire while not in his right mind wasn't the smartest thing in the world.

[furnaceface]

//Probably a good idea,// Jono noted, nodding his approval at the unhanded weapon. //You might actually want to take a seat for this. If you've never felt it before, it can be a bit jarring.//

A bit. You know. In that way that only experiencing a death second-hand possibly can.

//Especially since without you shooting, it's going to have to be fire.//

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal nodded and found a spot on the porch clear from eel guts to sit on, leaning up against the wall.

[furnaceface]

Jono watched him for a moment, keeping an eye on the eels as best he could, and then nodded, satisfied, when it looked as though he'd settled in. Connecting with another consciousness was a strange enough experience for the uninitiated, never mind connecting with it in order to feel it die.

Still, Jono strung up a loose link between himself and Hannibal, something very similar to what he usually put in place in order to be able to taste, only in reverse, to let him feel an echo of whatever it was that Jono was picking up from the next eel.

//Ready whenever you are, mate.//

There was an eel drifting dangerously close to a flamingo - that was going to be their test subject, then.

//Just say the word, and that one right there'll get it.//

[sharp_as_knives]

They'd done this before, so Hannibal could feel what Jono felt. It had been a while, though, and it took a moment to become accustomed just to that much. Then he nodded. "I'm as ready as I'll be."

[furnaceface]

//I suppose you are,// Jono agreed, giving a thoughtful nod before turning his focus back toward the eel.

He spared Hannibal his own sensations, at least- the focus and the twisting feeling as he reached out with his powers, the slight throb in his head as he diverted his attention in a few directions at once. The burst of energy, of himself that went flying out toward the creature.

Instead, he let Hannibal experience only what he was picking up from the eel as his flames made contact with it; the hunger, as he'd described it. The awareness that there was prey, which was suddenly, jarringly replaced with the awareness that it was being restrained, attacked, predator predator predator pain, and the urge to violently fight against it, thrashing and howling and snapping impotent jaws at the burning, until-

Jono let his flames dissipate, and the ashes of the eel along with them, before he turned again to check up on Hannibal.

[sharp_as_knives]

That was...different. Hannibal had a strong enough sense of self on his own to hold tight to it and not be swamped by the eel, but it was still rather intense. He took a moment longer to experience the peculiar beauty of the sensation, careful to keep his face blank, before taking a deep breath and opening his eyes.

"You feel that every time?"

[furnaceface]

//If I'm using my fire,// Jono agreed. //I could probably stand to reinforce my inner barriers so that I don't. In some cases it would be... useful.//

Like any situation where he didn't want to be left reeling due to the experience. He hesitated a moment, carefully breaking the psionic link between them, and then offered Hannibal a hand to his feet.

//But for things like this, it isn't much of a problem, really.//

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal took the hand up with a nod of thanks. "I can see where it would be dangerous not to," he agreed.

"Thank you." He took a deep breath. "We should probably get back to defending these useless birds."

[furnaceface]

//Lord knows they're not going to do it for themselves,// Jono agreed, looking back out toward the yard. //I can cover it, if you need another minute to get your bearings again. I understand.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"I'll be fine." Hannibal picked up the rifle and took another deep breath. "This will help me focus, I think."

[furnaceface]

//Suit yourself, mate,// Jono replied with a shrug of his shoulders. //As we were, then? I hold 'em, and you shoot?//

[sharp_as_knives]

"As we were," Hannibal agreed. "See how still you can hold them without burning them."

[furnaceface]

//We should have this down to a science in no time,// Jono decided, reaching out with his flames for another eel. //Alright then. Let's make this quick.//