Hannibal's house (and totally not Jono's), Sunday

[sharp_as_knives]

Yesterday had been reasonably quiet at home, but on these weekends, there was no telling how things would end up. So, once again, Hannibal had fixed enough food to almost-prepared for an army and enough coffee for three, and was spending as much quiet time as he could at the harpsichord.

The brass plaque at the gate announcing his office and qualifications was nicely polished, the flamingos scattered on the lawn had been sufficiently fed not to unduly bother any visitors, and everything was hopefully going to stay interesting without being too harrowing.

One could always hope.



[OOC: Open post! No OCD; ping or e-mail me if you have questions!]

Comments

Re: NFB, please!

[sharp_as_knives]

"I'm afraid not," Hannibal answered. "But I've painkillers if you would like. Of varying degrees of strength." So, aspirin through to narcotics, really.

Re: NFB, please!

[intraspective]

"Nah," she said, watching him with her too-blue eyes. "I'm good. It's not really a pain issue."

Re: NFB, please!

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal nodded. "Then I'm afraid unless you're staying, there is nothing I can do to help you. Unless you would like to talk about it to somebody with an unbiased ear?" He smiled. "That is, after all, my other profession."

Re: NFB, please!

[intraspective]

Ino looked amused.

"Is it still unbiased even after I came in here and wanted to know if you were going to eat Jono?"

Re: NFB, please!

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal laughed. "That merely shows that you're a friend of Jono's and have a means outside of the norm for finding information. The first makes me more kindly disposed toward you; the second makes me somewhat more cautious. Neither prevents my being unbiased, and both make me very curious."

Re: NFB, please!

[intraspective]

It was probably not best behaviour to tell a joke that someone else wasn't going to get, but Ino was going to do it.

"I got the information because I am a ninja," she said, and laughed. "But alright, I guess I can talk. Been talkin' to an awful lot of people this weekend."

So one more didn't seem like it would hurt anyone.

"Where should I start?"

Re: NFB, please!

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal might not get the joke, but he could get the intent and humor. "With your coffee," he said, grinning. "And then wherever you like. How did you meet Jono?"

Re: NFB, please!

[intraspective]

"Oh, gods, I don't remember," she said, frowning a bit as she reached for her coffee and added cream and sugar to it.

Coffee was still not her favourite thing, but when you were a Turk, you drank coffee. Or booze. And Ino didn't do booze these days at all.

"We were probably stuck in class together at first. Or met at a picnic. Oh! We shared a cabin once and he was cranky about being stuck with a bunch of girls, 'cause he were the only boy in our cabin."

Ino had laughed at him. Of course she had.

Re: NFB, please!

[sharp_as_knives]

"As I understand it, he was quite a bit more self-conscious those days," Hannibal said. "What brought you to Fandom? Or were you one of the unintended students?"

Re: NFB, please!

[intraspective]

"No, I knew sorta what I was getting into when I got here," she said, tilting her head a little. "Got into a bad argument with friends at home, wanted to come here to take some time, get some space, you know? Four years later and home weren't home to me any more, so I went to a different world."

Re: NFB, please!

[sharp_as_knives]

"Fandom is wonderful for that sort of opportunity," Hannibal noted. "What is it you do now? Apart from being a ninja."

Re: NFB, please!

[intraspective]

"I work for the ShinRa Electric Power Company," Ino said, shrugging, though his sally about the ninja thing made her grin at him. "In the Department of Administrative Research. Otherwise known as the Turks. We... gather information, amongst other things."

The Turks did ShinRa's dirty work. Ino was terribly good at it.

Re: NFB, please!

[sharp_as_knives]

"Ah." Hannibal nodded. "I believe I met one of your compatriots; he taught here not long ago. A man named Reno."

Sorry, Ino.

Re: NFB, please!

[intraspective]

Ugh.

"Yeah," she said, without enthusiasm. "Him. I know him."

It was complicated.

Re: NFB, please!

[sharp_as_knives]

"Not a friend, then?" Hannibal asked.

Re: NFB, please!

[intraspective]

"I don't know that we were ever friends," she said thoughtfully. "But I were his Rookie, which counts for more, but then I had, I don't know, the bad taste to fall for someone from his world and he couldn't be assed to tell me that the guy was going to die. Reno's got a point 'bout timelines, but timelines mean nothing to me in this case."

She shrugged, not trying for a smile. "Which would be another good reason he never told, I guess."

Re: NFB, please!

[sharp_as_knives]

"I imagine so," Hannibal agreed. "I can understand both your points. His concern is more abstract and less tangible than yours, but both are very real to you."

Re: NFB, please!

[intraspective]

"Yeah," she said, wrinkling her nose. "And it ain't that I don't care 'bout the timeline too. It's just that I prioritize differently."

Zack first, everything else after.

Including her own health which was one of the reasons she was dying now.

Re: NFB, please!

[sharp_as_knives]

"And your boyfriend?" Hannibal asked. It could mean many things: was he dead yet? what were his priorities? did he know? He would leave it to her to answer the one that she wanted.

Re: NFB, please!

[intraspective]

Her lips twisted.

"He ain't my boyfriend these days," Ino said quietly. "But he's alive."

He dreams of the sky.

It was more than that, but Ino generally did not invade Zack's privacy. He'd had so much taken from him; he could keep what was in his head as his own.

Re: NFB, please!

[sharp_as_knives]

"Congratulations," Hannibal said, smiling gently. "And good luck. There is always hope."

Re: NFB, please!

[intraspective]

"I didn't think I'd get to hope," Ino admitted wryly. "And now there's hope, but I don't dare trust it."

She was dying. Hope was a strange and complicated creature.

Re: NFB, please!

[sharp_as_knives]

"You don't have to," Hannibal said. "Only enjoy it while it lasts."

Re: NFB, please!

[intraspective]

"It'll last maybe another month or two," Ino predicted dryly. "But I guess that's good advice anyway."

Re: NFB, please!

[sharp_as_knives]

"Or it could end in a terrible portal accident the moment you leave here," Hannibal said. "Or someone could find your miracle cure. Nothing is certain. All we can ever do is to enjoy it while it lasts."