Hannibal's house, Sunday afternoon

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal had gone looking for things to wear that would be comfortable for flying, but was somewhat stymied by the fact that he'd always been a woman in warm weather. He eventually settled on wool pants and a shirt, and his motorcycle jacket. It fit, anyway, and ought to keep him warm. He'd dug out a scarf, too, in case Jono might think it necessary, but gloves...well, he would simply have to have cold hands.

The cats had been fed and were currently sleeping in one of the bay windows, with Beethoven pretending to ignore Joni had her chin on him. Dinner for this evening was prepared or ready for preparing. "Ready whenever you are," he called out, thinking it as well in case Jono wasn't within hearing range.


[OOC: For the still-a-lady!]

Comments

[furnaceface]

Jono was still in good spirits after his shift at the music shop, and coming back to Hannibal's place and spending a few hours tinkering with his old sonic collar in order to make it fit better now that he was significantly smaller than he used to be only served as a further pick-me-up. Jono was practically humming as he stepped out to meet Hannibal, taking a moment to give him an appraising once-over before smiling. That would do. It wasn't so chilly out that they'd catch their death of a cold or anything, really, though it was bound to cool down somewhat as it grew later into the evening.

"You look prepared," he said, approvingly, and held out a hand, projecting a little blue butterfly into his palm. He'd missed that about his collar, too. "Which is good. We can always swing back to drop things off if it turns out to be too warm, anyway."

The collar still looked large on him. Of course it did. It had been big even when he was both male and huge. But he had gotten rid of some of the excess metal that was padding it out, and the bottom of it seemed to sit comfortably enough between his breasts that he didn't think it would be much of a problem. Besides, he had his old coat on; the long brown one that Momoko's friend had brought in to better fit his smaller frame, and it almost made him feel a bit like Decibel all over again.

He gave his hand a flick, and the butterfly disappeared.

"In the mood for a princess-carry, then?"

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal spread his hands. "Whatever is easiest. I'm perfectly capable of holding on if you would rather have your hands free."

[furnaceface]

"Well, I don't need my hands," Jono mused, leaning in to put his arms around Hannibal. "Not even to carry you, technically. But it's easier on the power packs if I do. Between the two of us, we must weigh about the same as I did back when I used this thing on a regular basis, so we've got a few hours of flying ahead of us before I have to trade out the batteries for new ones, so to speak."

But creating hard-light objects and flying was an excellent way to drain the juice. Even if life-sized dragons or giant walls or a horde of Jono-shaped fairies (don't ask) were impressive to behold, and all useful in their own right.

[sharp_as_knives]

"In that case, I place myself in your hands." Hannibal smiled and kissed Jono.

[furnaceface]

Mmm, Jono was going to miss the kissing. He didn't suppose come Monday he could keep this mouth for a while longer? That would be wonderful, actually. Please, Fandom?

Or not, fine. Either way, when the kiss was through, he was lifting Hannibal into his arms with relative ease. He wasn't that much smaller than his usual, after all, even if Hannibal currently was.

"Well, then. Let's go?"

His feet were already a few inches off the ground. Because they could be.

[sharp_as_knives]

That was because Jono was a beanpole as a man, whereas Hannibal was more solidly built.

Hannibal grinned and wrapped one arm around Jono's shoulders. "After you." He certainly wasn't doing this without him!

[furnaceface]

Well, Jono couldn't much help being a beanpole! It was difficult to put on muscle mass when you couldn't eat, after all.

"My pleasure."

And then with something that was barely a hum, they were into the air, and Jono was laughing. Everything else about this weekend had been perfection, of course, and he wouldn't trade it for anything, but this? Flying?

This was freedom.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal held on and enjoyed the ride - the rush of the wind in his face, the unique sensation of flying without a vehicle, and Jono's unrestrained enjoyment. How does this work? he asked curiously, thinking it rather than yelling.

[furnaceface]

//It's a bit complicated,// Jono replied, going into a twirl. //I won't start explaining the mechanics of it, it'll bore you to bloody tears. But actually controlling it is mostly physical. Hence my inability to use it over the past year and a half. And how difficult it was after my lung injury near the end of the Glacian war.//

Precious collar, he'd missed you so.

[sharp_as_knives]

I suspect I would find the mechanics fascinating, Hannibal protested mildly. It must be a work of art in its own right.

He took a moment to enjoy the flight, then carefully settled a little closer in Jono's arms and kissed his neck. You have more skin now than you did. Or I should say, you had more on Friday than you did a few months ago. We will get you here again.

[furnaceface]

//I can take it apart and put it back together sometime, if you'd like to watch,// Jono replied. //I'm not completely certain most of those parts would make much sense, admittedly. My world has some... rather unique tech that most realities seem to think is impossible.//

Most realities were weird, with their 'physics' and their 'genetics.'

//I could probably take this thing to Barry, to have him rework it so that I can control it telepathically,// he noted. //I just... want to see if I can get to this point again. Going to him for help almost seems like quitting.//

[sharp_as_knives]

Keeping it like this gives you something to aim for, Hannibal agreed. He grinned. You could always teach me to use it, he pointed out.

[furnaceface]

Jono took a moment to try to picture Hannibal flying.

... Jono cared very much for you, Hannibal, but even he could see how absolutely horrifying that would be.

//I could,// he allowed, //but then you'd be the second person in my life to use some form of my powers to fly when I can't even do so, and I'd probably develop some manner of complex about the whole thing. At the very least, I'd be insufferable and sulk about it.//

You're welcome, Fandom.

[sharp_as_knives]

All of that was true, and enough of a reason on its own, but Hannibal could tell there was something else to it. And he had a reasonable idea of what that was.

I can respect that. Both the said and the unsaid. I would still like to see it. Understandable or not, it sounds fascinating.

[furnaceface]

//Not every day you get to see somebody take apart and put back together a piece of technology that's been written off as physically impossible in your own world?//

Jono looked maybe a touch proud. His collar was his baby, damn it. He didn't share well, but he loved to show it off.

[sharp_as_knives]

Precisely. Hannibal laughed. Now, where shall we go? How high and how fast can you go?

[furnaceface]

//I can go as high as we can still breathe,// Jono shared, shooting Hannibal a grin. //And as fast as we can handle before it starts to get uncomfortable. I suppose I could put up a shield so that we could go higher and faster still, but that drains the power faster.//

That said, he was totally showing off by shooting like a rocket above the preserve.

//Speed of sound,// he added, //more accurately. It's a sonic collar, I've never tried to push it to go faster than that for fear of the bloody thing burning out and leaving me a bloody smear on the ground below.//

[sharp_as_knives]

I would prefer we not do that, yes. Still, this was amazing. Hannibal let Jono see his enjoyment and approval of it.

[furnaceface]

//Trust me, crash landings are bad enough when they don't scrape off half your limbs in the process. I'm not in any hurry to experience them any worse than I already have.//

He flew out over the water, up and up and up so that they could look out over it into the forever that it disappeared into. And then, with a grin, and holding on to Hannibal a little more tightly, he let them both go into free-fall.

No, he wasn't planning on letting them splatter on the water's surface when they hit the Atlantic, either, but he got a bit of a lunatic high doing this sort of thing, so sue him.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal laughed and held on. He'd have leaned in for a kiss, but distracting Jono at this point was probably inadvisable.

[furnaceface]

Probably not the best of plans, really. Jono sort of needed to be paying attention to where the water was in relation to them in order to miss it.

But a few seconds before they would have hit, their trajectory started to drift, until they were swooping low enough to touch the water if they cared to, and then gaining altitude again.

"God, I've missed this," he murmured aloud, steering them back toward the island.

[sharp_as_knives]

I can see why. Now that they were flying level, Hannibal did kiss him. Show me this art. Whatever you can do without dropping me.

[furnaceface]

Aerial kissing was Jono's new favourite sport, for the record.

//Hannibal, I can drop you without dropping you.//

The 'making hard light objects' function on his collar was amazing for that. He twisted about in mid-air, so that he was flying with his back to the ground and Hannibal above him, and he grinned again.

//But since you asked so nicely.//

Hannibal should probably brace himself for a lot of spins and dips and loops over the water, now, the wake of the air following them alone cutting through the waves below them. They were going a little faster than what would be a comfortable cruising speed against the wind now, yes, but there was a faint blue glow in the air ahead of them. Because if he was showing off, yes, Jonothon was absolutely going to provide a windshield.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal was perfectly happy with the show, and the windshield was both useful and pretty. He wasn't stupid enough to try anything terribly distracting, but he was going to go for another kiss. Let me know if I should stop.

[furnaceface]

//Never,// Jono replied, quite happy to kiss Hannibal back. They were over open water, here, and unless the giant squid decided to go fora high-five or something, there wasn't exactly anything for them to collide with while his attention was elsewhere. //Never stop kissing me.//