Hannibal's house, Saturday morning

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal hadn't slept last night. Not through any sudden bout of insomnia, but because of staying up to listen to a five-year-old's chatter. Memory played tricks on you; Hannibal knew that better than most. But his memories of Mischa couldn't have painted her as any more sunny or wonderful than she was.

She'd spent the evening exploring his house and pulling him along with her. He'd told her the history of himself and their family, albeit somewhat edited.

Now they were sitting in the library, Hannibal on the sofa and Mischa in his lap as he read to her from a book of French poetry. She only understood one word in five, but she'd always enjoyed just listening to his voice. In her lap was a purring Joni, who had unsurprisingly taken to her. On the other end of the sofa was Beethoven, equally unsurprisingly eyeing her suspiciously.

He could manage for a weekend. Hannibal had Mischa back, however temporarily, and he wasn't giving her up until he had to.



[OOC: Expecting one or two, but open!]

Comments

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal smiled and rubbed his face tiredly. "She would be in her forties now. It's difficult, thinking of that. But at the same time," he shook his head and his smile grew warmer, "how could I possibly be upset about having more time with her?" She was still his sunny little Mischa.

"And yours?" he asked. "This can't be easy."

[furnaceface]

//She's a beautiful little girl,// Jono replied, offering him a sympathetic sort of near-smile and reaching for his hand. //The world is a bloody cruel place, to have taken her from you so young.//

He paused a moment, and then he shrugged a little.

//Mine has been... good. Though it's a bit jarring from time to time, noticing the ways I've changed and all the ways she's stayed exactly the same. She's Endless. The time we've been apart might as well have been a single heartbeat, to her. And here I am, bloody asshole, with life going on regardless. It was easier when it was Granddad.//

Jack Starsmore had been a mentor figure. A very different situation than what he and Didi had lost.

[sharp_as_knives]

"People are bloody cruel," Hannibal said. He sighed and squeezed Jono's hand. "I'd like to hear about your Granddad some time." He smiled and stroked Jono's face with his free hand. "I would be worried if you hadn't changed. We only stop when we die, meaning no disrespect to our guests. Do you think she would prefer it if you hadn't gone on with your life?" You could even ask her now, Jono.

[furnaceface]

Jono shook his head a little.

//No, I don't think she would have preferred that at all,// he decided, leaning his face into Hannibal's hand. //It'd be a damn waste of this life of mine, to spend the rest of it pining away and never letting myself move forward. She would've thumped me right upside the bloody head if she caught me doing that. Still, it can't be easy to accept, either. That life goes on, with or without the people who've died.//

... And who have gone on to be Death again, themselves. As one does.

[sharp_as_knives]

"No, it can't," Hannibal agreed. "Knowing and wanting it intellectually is very different from experiencing it emotionally."

[furnaceface]

//Exactly,// Jono agreed. And then hesitated a little, before adding, //Which I've seen on her face a couple of times. She's noticed that I've changed. A lot. And I really have, I can't even begin to pretend otherwise. But it wasn't a hurt sort of look until she realized that 'going on with life' means moving on romantically, as well.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"Should I not have asked you to bring her to meet me?" Hannibal asked. "Please don't feel you have to stay if it's overly awkward."

He could always solve the problem by killing her, but that probably wouldn't go over well, and she was a polite girl.

[furnaceface]

Yeaaaaaaaaaah, Jono would have to take serious exception to killing Didi. He liked you, Hannibal, but there would be no coming back from that one.

//No, it's fine. I wanted you both to meet anyway, I think. You both mean a great deal to me, helped me build something better of myself. It just seemed... right?//

Jono probably could have thought it through a little better, admittedly.

[sharp_as_knives]

"She had a very great impact on your life; I wanted to meet her for that if for nothing else," Hannibal said. "And I'll admit, I was intrigued by what the personification of Death might be like. I think she suits a younger version of you."

[furnaceface]

//True enough, that,// Jono said, a little wistfully. //She taught me to be reckless again, in a time when I was terrified I'd break anything I touched. Was always more afraid for me than of me. And I was the bloody berk who would quietly sulk while she ate, or panic when she kissed me.//

God, he'd been such a stupid kid.

//She was never really Death, to me. Death was somebody bigger and a bit overwhelming. Separate, but the same. I met Death, once or twice. So familiar it hurt. But not quite Didi. Or maybe more Didi than I ever really knew. It's complicated.//

There was another long pause, there, a sort of silence that was awkward and full of purpose, before he added, //What do you think of her?//

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal glanced over to where Didi and Mischa had gone. "I think she's a charming young girl who thinks highly of you and that I'm not seeing her at her best." He hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. "I think she doesn't care for me, but she's determined to be polite about it. I can respect the former as much as the latter."

[furnaceface]

//Well, she has been alive again not even all of a day now,// Jono offered, shrugging his shoulders a little. //Normally, she's a charming girl who's been around at least as long as thought, or joy. Or cruelty. Or love. Who thinks highly of me, just maybe not in entirely the same way she does right now.//

He glanced that way as well.

//Does her being here bother you?// And then, after another moment's pause, he added, //Does what she means to me bother you?//

[sharp_as_knives]

"Hence my not seeing her at her best," Hannibal said, smiling a little. He was lucky in that respect; while Mischa had had a few quiet moments, children were resilient.

"If her being here bothered me, I would not have invited her," he assured Jono. "What she means to you..." He thought about it for a moment. "I won't say I'm entirely unaffected by it, but I remind myself that your history with her was prior to our ever meeting. And is very likely a large part of who you are today. I have much to thank her for, looking at it that way."

[furnaceface]

Jono nodded a little, and then answered, honestly, //She's been a touchstone for me, even after leaving. A reminder that I can always aspire to be better than I am, perhaps. And that, yes, I am capable of being happy. Maybe that I even deserve to be.//

He looked back toward Hannibal, reached for his hand, and shrugged his shoulders. Again. Lots of shrugging.

//That's her voice on my voicemail. I could re-record it now, with Barry's technology. And it seems so simple, just a short message left to tell people who call that I can't answer th'phone. Hell, it was such a small sort of kindness. I couldn't speak, so she spoke for me. You should've heard the message that had been on there before she stepped in and reminded me that it's okay to let other people lift you up when you realize you can't do everything alone.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"Oh?" Hannibal chuckled as he took Jono's hand. "I think I would like to hear that." If only for the embarrassment it would put on Jono's face. "And I do know. I remember how important her letter is to you."

Maybe she should write him another, engraved on metal or something more permanent.

[furnaceface]

Karla had put preservation spells on it, this time! So... it might still walk away again, but at least it wasn't going to fall apart any time soon.

//It wasn't anything impressive,// Jono replied. //I couldn't speak on the phone, remember. So...//

He made a fist, and then just thumped, once, against the wall.

//It was a few seconds of silence. And then that. And then a beep. Setting up my voicemail had been a lesson in frustration, that day.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"I'm pleased she changed it for you, then. And pleased you've gotten better at asking for help, too. Somewhat," Hannibal couldn't resist qualifying.

[furnaceface]

//Somewhat,// Jono agreed, slightly amused. //I'm working on it. Ish.//

Hey, he was perfectly capable of admitting that the whole Gaunt situation probably would have turned out far differently if he'd sucked it up and asked for help somehow, rather than selling his essence to a wicked elder god.

In retrospect.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Would you like some help with that?" Hannibal asked, equally amused.

And to be fair to Jono, when your biggest problems so closely involved most of your best friends, it did make it more difficult.

[furnaceface]

True enough. Clearly the solution to that would be to never have friends!

Wait.

//Ha. Though I suppose the answer is yes, all the same. I know I can probably use all the help I can get.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"Fortunately I'm very good at helping." Look how he'd helped Will! Hannibal kissed him on the cheek.

[furnaceface]

... If Jono ever wound up behind bars thanks to you, Hannibal, there would be words.

For now, though, there was at least an affectionate nuzzle before Jono sat back again, smirking somewhere around the corners of his eyes.

//That's you,// Jono agreed. //Connoisseur of art, music, and good food, and a professional helper.//

[sharp_as_knives]

Why on earth would Hannibal want to put Jono in jail? He wasn't quite that lost a cause. Will had needed it.

"For quite some time and in several worlds," Hannibal said, smiling.

[furnaceface]

//And I will forever remember the image of you riding strong and proud on the back of a unicorn because of it,// Jono mused.

Because, honestly. It was a sort of striking image.

//Portalocity must quake in fear when you dial them.//

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal laughed. "She was wonderfully helpful, and probably did more of the fighting than I did." He'd mostly patched a few up, with Eleanor's help.

As to Portalocity... "I've never actually threatened them with anything other than poor reputation, but my portals do generally seem to get me where I'm going with minimal fuss." Maybe they had a very good sense of self-preservation?