Hannibal's house and totally not Jono's, Thursday evening

[sharp_as_knives]

Since they'd returned to their actual home (Hannibal somewhat amused at Jono's embarrassment over calling it that), Hannibal had done quite a bit of cooking, and resting, and working out, and catching up on things, and being sat upon and/or glared at by cats. Jono had been doing much the same, but with less cooking and far more brooding.

Today, he seemed to have spent most of the day in the basement level, working off his mood by alternately focusing furiously on billiards and beating the hell out of the heavy bag. Hannibal was frankly surprised that neither the bag nor a billiard ball had been put through the wall yet.

And while the focus and working off energy were good in theory, neither of them seemed to be helping him much. So, Hannibal would simply have to intervene.

When he came downstairs, he brought a good-sized mug of coffee and a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries. He did, after all, know his audience.

Comments

[sharp_as_knives]

Chocolate-dipped strawberries, even. Hannibal ate one slowly and attentively before answering. "I wasn't certain if you'd stop of your own accord."

He put a hand on Jono's shoulder as he leaned in to take stock of the burns. "Should I ask which is hurting the most, or simply assume that they all are?"

[furnaceface]

//Yes...?// Sorry, Hannibal. Distracting him before asking him questions was exactly the wrong order to do this in if you were hoping for an immediately coherent answer. //Er. That is. There's one... left shoulderblade... cleanest shot they took, I think. Feels th'worst, anyway...//

It looked the worst, too, truthfully. And his day of punching things probably hadn't helped that much.

[sharp_as_knives]

Probably not, but as it wouldn't actually do him further damage, if the punching helped, it was all to the good. Hannibal looked that burn over carefully, layering the salve on it. "I'll put a bandage on this before you sleep, to keep the medication on it."

He ran his fingers over the other burns with just enough pressure to both examine their healing and remind Jono of their presence.

Both instincts and priorities could be adjusted, and he took a moment to contemplate either path before offering. "If your instinct is causing you do things you regret, the way to override it is to rewrite it. To make what you want to do, habit."

[furnaceface]

//... Make playing hero a habit?// Jono closed his eyes, taking in the sensation of Hannibal's fingers moving over his wounds.

Just enough pain to remind him that he was still alive.

//That is what I want to do, after all.//

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal grimaced. "If that's what you want to do. We have worlds to choose from; I'm certain you can find enough work to keep you busy."

[furnaceface]

//I can practically hear the pained expression on your face right now,// Jono observed, leaning his head back a little, eyes still closed. //But there's the trouble, at any rate. Throwing on a bloody costume and running around playing vigilante hero isn't exactly my style. Even when it was something I did regularly, it wasn't my style. Searching out supervillains and looking for trouble... Maybe that's not quite what I want to be, either.//

Even if he really did enjoy punching things. That part still worked for him just fine.

[sharp_as_knives]

"That is something of a relief, anyway," Hannibal said. "I have nothing against you helping others, but I do have a decided preference for you remaining alive and - as much as possible, and increasingly possible - in one piece."

He wiped his hands clean and reached for his coffee again. "Might I suggest an alternative?"

[furnaceface]

//An alternative to looking for trouble?//

Jono wasn't touching the 'in one piece' part with a ten-foot pole just yet. He was already fairly certain he'd burned away a lot of the progress he'd made repairing himself during his flaming rampage around the ship, and he was trying not to think too hard about that so long as he didn't need to.

Give it a few more days. Maybe in a few more days, he'd even feel up for trying again.

[sharp_as_knives]

In a few more days, if he didn't Hannibal might bully him into it anyway.

"An alternative to looking for that sort of trouble," he corrected. "There are many things you can do to help people that don't involve outright fighting. Search and rescue, disaster assistance, cleanup and recovery after." He eyed Jono over his coffee cup. "There would be a lesser degree of danger, and you would be more directly helping."

Instead of blowing up cities trying to stop the bad guy, X-Men.

[furnaceface]

//... I suppose I don't have to actually be officially employed by any of those groups in order to be helpful that way,// he allowed. //Back home, it's difficult enough to find a search and rescue crew that'll have me. We've had people tell us to leave them to die because we're visibly mutant, before.//

Which... well. If those were their priorities while they were drowning at sea...

[sharp_as_knives]

If they were that rude, they deserved it, yes.

"So, we look in other worlds. Ones that don't despise mutants, or ones that don't have them." Hannibal smirked a little. "You would cause quite a stir in worlds like mine before they decided it was all hallucinations or tricks."

[furnaceface]

//Or before somebody attempted to have me trussed up and dissected to see what makes me tick?//

Mutants hadn't always been commonplace in Jono's reality, and there was no shortage of stories of the horrors visited upon them once they began to manifest. Hell, it wasn't exactly like that had ever really stopped, up to and even beyond M-Day...

//Inquiring minds and all that.// He shrugged a little. //Though there's likely to be some reality where that isn't as likely to happen, I suppose.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"There are likely to be a number of them," Hannibal answered. "and a bit of subtlety wouldn't hurt. And I'll book your portals," he added.

[furnaceface]

//I appreciate that. If I'm ever going to actually get where I'm going, I'll need it,// Jono replied, wryly. //Especially if I want to get there in time to be of any use to anyone.//

... He was considering this. He was actually seriously considering this.

[sharp_as_knives]

"And get back reliably," Hannibal said.

He ate another strawberry while he thought. "Barry gave your tablet radio from throughout different worlds. If we could do something similar with newscasts...?"

[furnaceface]

Oh, strawberry. You were so excellent, and so bad for focus.

//Mmm... and I can be that person who sits around essentially tuned into the police radio looking for an emergency to leap onto, just like in the movies? But with less 'foiling bank robberies' and more... whatever else I'm suited for.//

Admittedly, it was difficult to punch a natural disaster, or read its mind.

[sharp_as_knives]

"I was thinking of a computer program to do the listening," Hannibal said. "Or you could hire some students to listen; I imagine they'd be pleased for the chance of a job."

It was easy to find people buried after an earthquake or avalanche, though.

[furnaceface]

That was true enough. And uses like that would probably occur to Jono more easily once he was a little less keyed up than he currently was.

//... I could even hire some students to program a computer to do the listening,// Jono allowed. //Lord knows, that isn't something I can do myself.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"Nor I," Hannibal agreed. He put a hand on Jono's shoulder and stroked his flames idly. "You do realize that some of them are likely to want to help?"

[furnaceface]

//I know...// Hannibal's hand in his flames was soothing, and Jono found himself leaning forward slightly before he even really realized it. //If I were to get them involved, I'd have to be that much more careful about what messes I go dashing into. Lord knows I'm not going to take them somewhere when there's a chance that we'll be attacked by Doctor Doom just because we decided to rescue children from a burning school bus on Latverian soil or something.//

... It could happen.

Maybe.

[sharp_as_knives]

"We'll stay well away from any place with people named 'Doom'," Hannibal answered. "It would probably be good for them, though. Many of them have a lot of energy and very little focus."

[furnaceface]

//Oh, I know it. I don't think the makeup of the student body has changed all that much since I went to Fandom High myself, after all.//

Jono was going to just sort of lean forward more, so that he could bonk his forehead against Hannibal's arm. Hi, arm.

//There used to be a Reserves group among the students, back then. For those of us who wanted to do more. Not sure what became of it. The students who were running it must have just moved on, I suppose.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"I spoke about that with Karla, I think." Hannibal shifted to better support Jono. "That sounded more like something to protect the island from things like last week, though."

[furnaceface]

//That was what it was intended for,// Jono agreed, //but even just attending meetings once a week gave a lot of us some focus. I found it especially useful so soon after I manifested, knowing that I could be of some use even the way I was.//

He shrugged a little.

//There were people there who were just as unsure about themselves as I was. That meant a lot, back then.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"And now you've a chance to pass on anything you learned to a new set of students," Hannibal said. "To give them focus as well. Looking for places you can help should decrease the danger and allow you to be more flexible in your approach. Not to mention, it won't mean waiting for things to attack."