Hannibal's house, Thursday

[sharp_as_knives]

His normal heat source had gone outside somewhere; Hannibal was mildly curious, but as cold as it was, he was happy to stay in. He had set up a nice, warm heat lamp before he left; it wasn't that big (having been bought, after all, for a much smaller Jono-snake, not that Hannibal remembered that at the moment), but if he curled himself up into a big pile, he could fit himself under it.

He'd been there for a while when something approached, and he picked up his head to look at it. The old, grey cat eyed him warily, and he returned the look. It stalked over to sniff him, and he flicked his tongue out to do the same. Eh, whatever. As long as it wasn't going to attack...?

It stepped on his coils.



[OOC: For the heat source mentioned! The cats are fine, but an NPC critter does get eaten.]

Comments

[furnaceface]

Jono wasn't making faces, so much, as he let himself back into Hannbal's place with a box under one arm. Really. It's just that he'd been sort of hoping that Hannibal would have turned back by now, before he had to do things like take into consideration just what a king cobra ate. And once he'd found out...

Well, he sort of felt bad for the little ball python that he'd picked up from a pet store in Baltimore, was all. He didn't think Hannibal would have many problems with eating it. It was, after all, about as fresh and healthy as a ball python could possibly be.

//Wha...?//

He hadn't been expecting to come back to see Hannibal curled up with a pair of cats under the heat lamp, really. He thought he'd shut that door, so that they couldn't get into the room alone with him. But apparently no harm had been done here, judging by the rumbling purr that Joni was letting off, so Hannibal was at home enough to know that the pets weren't for eating.

//Comfortable, you three?//

[sharp_as_knives]

Eat cats? Honestly! Cats weren't for eating! And these were all warm and furry, so it was win/win, really. Hannibal picked his head up off of Joni and blinked sleepily at Jono. Beethoven yawned, stretched, curled back up in the midst of Hannibal's coils, and went back to sleep.

[furnaceface]

//I, er, got something for you,// Jono noted, holding the box up for Hannibal to see. //But I see you're otherwise occupied, there. And I'm a little jealous, actually. Maybe I need to get myself a heat lamp, too.//

He didn't really fit under that one. Not at present. And he'd be a quick snack for Hannibal if he turned into a snake as well, so he'd thank the island to not get any ideas.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal blinked at the box he was holding up, then flicked his tongue out. Oo, food! That perked him up. Hm...could he eat while covered in cats? Oh, the hard decisions!

Reluctantly, he started extricating himself. He really was getting hungry.

[furnaceface]

Jono was going to be helpful, here, setting the box down for a moment to collect a cat up in either arm. He didn't think for a moment that they'd stay put once he set them down again, not when there was a heat lamp and a warm coily thing to cuddle up to, but it seemed like it might be... sort of helpful?

//I have no idea,// he admitted, //if I ought to be setting you up at the kitchen table or something, for this. I can't imagine you'd forgive me later if I let you eat off the floor.//

He set the cats down. Joni immediately turned her tail around and started plodding back toward the warm place. Beethoven sauntered along behind.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal gave them as wistful a look as a snake could. Well, the sooner he ate, the sooner he could curl back up, too. He slithered over to nose at the box, testing the air. Python? Python sounded good!

[furnaceface]

Python... sounded like python, mostly, to Jono, who shrugged as he opened up the box to reveal the somewhat lethargic creature inside. It had been a cool walk here from the causeway, after all, so the poor thing didn't really stand a chance against the snake he was about to feed it to.

//Lord, am I thankful you don't need to be fed every bloody day,// he muttered. //Those things aren't cheap.//

They were kind of cute, though. In a... snakey sort of way.

[sharp_as_knives]

To be fair, if it had been lively and warm, it still wouldn't have stood a chance. And lots of food animals were cute. They were still food.

Hannibal raised himself up over the box, took a moment to assess the other snake, then struck. It tried to curl around him, but between the earlier cold and his venom, it never stood much of a chance. He bit it a few more times, using the purchase to drag its head toward him, then started swallowing it head-first.

It was a king cobra thing.

[furnaceface]

Jono watched in quiet, kind of awed fascination for a few moments, and then decided to maybe lean back and pay attention to something else while Hannibal ate. There was something strange about watching a snake eat a snake, though Jono imagined it was more about the fact that he'd been a snake on occasion himself, and smaller than the python, still.

//Can't say I envy you that meal,// he noted, //but I suppose it beats mice.//

[sharp_as_knives]

Mice? Ick! Snakes were for eating.

And soon enough, this one was just for digesting, and Hannibal was looking smug and sated as he made his way back to the heat lamp with cats. He took a brief detour to twine around Jono's foot, though. That was a good meal! Thank you, other heat source!

[furnaceface]

Jono was briefly tempted to reach down to pet the snake. Briefly. And then reminded himself that king cobras were not cats no matter how much twining around his feet they did, and though it wasn't terribly likely a good dose of snake venom could kill him, he really wasn't in the market to find out how uncomfortable it could get, either.

//Making the mental note to invest in a second, larger heat lamp,// he decided. //I'm feeling rather left out, now.//

[sharp_as_knives]

The human-sized ones were called saunas, Jono. And Hannibal...well, all right, honestly probably wouldn't take much convincing to add one.

But for now he was just going to curl up back under this lamp, circling around the cats and squishing up to get comfortable under the warmness.