Office Hours, Thursday

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal didn't much expect his students to need him yet, unless Anna wanted to start learning to use video or Isabelle decided to drop the class, but he believed in keeping good habits. So he was in his office, working on future lesson plans, pruning his herbs, and listening to opera.



[OOC: Open door and post!]

Comments

[furnaceface]

If Jonothon was slightly more on the ball, a little less out of it, he probably would have remembered that office number five wasn't his anymore. In fact, he probably would have stopped, upon turning down this hallway, at office four, which was where the administration had stuck him after his summer away and where he was planning to put together an actual syllabus, instead of just randomly pointing at Portalocity discounts and seeing where the portals would take them.

The opera playing from the other side of the open door probably should have been a dead giveaway. Still, he was all of a half-step into the room before he blinked up and realized his error.

"Er... right. Other door. Other do- are those curtains?"

The room hadn't had curtains when he was using it as an office space.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Yes?" Hannibal looked from the curtains to his visitor. "Why, is there something wrong with them?"

[furnaceface]

"No, no, nothing at all," Jonothon replied, lingering in the doorway almost awkwardly while he took in the changes that this new teacher had made to the place. "They're actually quite... nice."

Jono was also really not the sort who stood around complimenting curtains all day. It showed.

"I made do with the blinds that came with the office, when I had this one," he added, somewhat lamely. "Now I feel as though I should consider redecorating my new one. I'm just one door over."

It would get the same 'band posters and maybe a guitar' treatment that this very room had gotten last year when he'd moved into it, most likely.

[sharp_as_knives]

"If you're interested, I'd be happy to give you the number of an interior decorator," Hannibal offered. Although somehow, given this man's fashion sense, he doubted he'd be taken up on it.

Nor was he sure how any of the decorators he worked with would respond to a slate-colored client.

"Doctor Hannibal Lecter." He held out a hand. "You're my neighbor now, then?"

[furnaceface]

"Apparently so, Doctor," Jonothon replied, stepping forward to shake the man's hand. "Jonothon Starsmore. Apparently I'm teaching a class about live entertainment this semester, though I'm normally at least somewhat more inclined to teach them how to keep from getting themselves killed around here."

Because with those students, in this school, that was always a possibility.

"I'll pass on the decorator, though. I tend to spend more time in my office at the Boards than I do around here, at any rate. More roomy."

[sharp_as_knives]

"I imagine the students here could use a bit of self defense," Hannibal acknowledged, "but I'm pleased to see the arts being taught as well. What sorts of entertainment?"

[furnaceface]

"Anything live, apparently," Jono gave his shoulders a shrug. "I sort of stumbled across the paperwork saying I was supposed to be teaching just this weekend, so I haven't really had much of an opportunity to put together a proper syllabus. Music of some sort, definitely. A few sporting events. Probably some theatre, or a ballet. One student mentioned book readings or spoken word poetry..."

It was going to be an interesting semester.

"You've an interest in the arts then, Doctor Lecter?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"I do." He nodded at one of the pieces on the wall, a detailed pencil sketch of a street in Paris. "Most of my drawings are architectural and medical, but I collect paintings as well, and I very much enjoy the opera. And, naturally, cooking - which is what I'm teaching at the moment." He smiled. “'Life without industry is guilt; industry without art is brutality'," he quoted.

[furnaceface]

"Truer words, mate," Jonothon agreed, nodding faintly even as he glanced at the sketch. "I'm afraid I never did have much of an eye for paintings and the like. I disappointed th'hell out of an old classmate once for having a low opinion of Rockwell. My own interests lean toward music, mostly. And th'written word."

Jonothon was a sucker for Vonnegut. So sue him.

[sharp_as_knives]

"There are many types of arts, and no reason anyone should have to like all of them." Just so long as they liked some of them and weren't entirely uncultured. "My own tastes lean more toward the classical than modern American." He shrugged.

"What sorts of music do you prefer?"

[furnaceface]

Jono's eyebrows raised faintly, and he couldn't help but smirk.

His record collection, mostly on vinyl and stored in cardboard boxes that had been lovingly labelled back in his high school days, took up an entire room in his apartment.

"I've got a little bit of damn near everything in my collection," he offered. "The perils of having once run the record shop here on the island. There's some classical in there, of course, and even some classic country... on into ska, reggae, classic rock... Mostly, punk, grunge, and alternative, though."

He gave his shoulders a shrug.

"I was a teenager in the nineties." In his own reality, with its timescale messed up enough as it was before he'd found himself on the island. "It stuck, a bit."

[sharp_as_knives]

"A good case in point," Hannibal noted. "As none of those arts are particularly to my taste. As I'm sure you could guess," he added a bit dryly. If anyone thought he was a fan of grunge, he would worry for them.

[furnaceface]

"I had my suspicions," Jonothon confirmed, smirking faintly as he glanced around the office.

... Some of the pieces of art up on the walls were a touch unsettling. Huh.

"I can't imagine we'd have much overlap, if I were to pull out my music collection to compare with yours. But then, I could always stand to broaden my horizons some. What's this you've got playing, might I ask?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"Lucia di Lammermoor," Hannibal answered. "It's an opera by Donizetti, based off of a book by Sir Walter Scott. Arranged marriage, houses feuding, and a woman goes mad."

He handed the CD case to Jono and flipped through the tracks. "I find young people today often know Lucia's madness aria from a recent movie." He nodded as it started playing.

[furnaceface]

Jono raised an eyebrow as he looked over the case, and then nodded a little as the music started to grow more familiar.

"That space opera," he noted. "The one with the..." He waved a hand, trying to remember the film in question. "... Multipass."

Yes. That would narrow that down significantly.

"I'd always wondered if it was something composed just for the film," he admitted. "Good lord, the notes this woman is hitting..."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal chuckled. "It's often transposed from F to E-flat, as some sopranos have difficulty with it as written. But I prefer this version; it's a little old, but it keeps the higher key, and it's the only one I know of to use the glass harmonica accompaniment."

[furnaceface]

"I'd noticed the harmonica," Jono replied, tilting his head a little to listen more closely even as he passed the CD case back to Hannibal. "One hell of a sound it adds. Not something you hear often in general, really."

And now he wanted to find one. Go figure.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Not many people play it anymore, unfortunately." Hannibal put the case away. "It does lend a certain ethereal vibe to the piece."

[furnaceface]

"Well, it isn't the sort of synthesized sound far too many modern musicians are going for, these days. How many other instruments are falling to the wayside because of that? It used to be nigh impossible to turn on a radio in America without hearing a steel guitar. I think most people would look at me as though I'm half-mad if I ever started prattling on about the Dobro."

Jonothon's great lament. You just didn't hear much in the way of guitar on the radio any more, these days. Guitar!

[sharp_as_knives]

"So you do have an appreciation for the classics, if not the classical."

[furnaceface]

"Growing up on Pearl Jam and The Clash doesn't mean I don't enjoy flipping the radio to the classical station now and again and just appreciating what I'm listening to," Jono pointed out, shrugging. "I relate better to one than the other, but sometimes a person needs to step a little out of their depth to properly appreciate something. I've tried to learn to play at least a few classical pieces on guitar, myself."

He... enjoyed Moonlight Sonata more than he cared to admit.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Growth is a good thing. I'm afraid I find little to relate to in current popular music, unfortunately." He smiled. "I save my adventurousness for other arts."

[furnaceface]

"And dare I ask just how adventurous you get?"

Really, Jon, you didn't want to know.

[sharp_as_knives]

You could always ask.

"I enjoy all types of paintings, sculptures, others of the arts. And I'll try nearly any food." He wet his lips and chuckled. "I even ate my students' food a couple of weeks ago."

[furnaceface]

"And dare I ask just how adventurous you get?"

Really, Jon, you didn't want to know.

[furnaceface]

"Brave man," Jono decided, smiling faintly. "I'll do damn near anything for my students, but I'm pretty certain I'd draw my line at eating what they cook."

In fairness, Jono and taste were still in a fairly touch-and-go sort of relationship.

"Of course, I suppose I make up for it whenever I hold auditions at the Boards."

[sharp_as_knives]

"I have a very strong stomach," Hannibal answered with a smile. "The Boards, that's the theater in the city here?"

[furnaceface]

"It is," Jono replied, raising an eyebrow slightly. "It was closed for the summer while I was out of town, but now it seems I'll be back for a while. I'll be getting on to picking the autumn production right away, with any luck."

Jono never lucked out. He wasn't holding his breath.

[sharp_as_knives]

"What sorts of productions do you show?" Hannibal asked, interested. "Plays?"

[furnaceface]

"Generally, yes," Jono agreed. "We've done the occasional talent showcase, too. I'm looking to do some sort of musical this time around, though. We did Wilde this spring, and that was..."

It had been... painful.

"... It was a show..."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal winced. "My sympathies. I hope this next works out better. Are there many good voices on the island? Or do you also recruit from elsewhere?"

[furnaceface]

"I haven't needed to look elsewhere in order to cast yet, fortunately," Jonothon said. "I suppose if I happened to be desperate, I could start calling up alumni from the school who have taken off. I can't imagine I'd get many takers who aren't already familiar with the island. And some of the students here have quite the talent. I'm not certain about this new crop yet, of course, but there have been some ladies over the past couple of years that I'd cast in any production I'd think of putting on, here."

[sharp_as_knives]

"That's good to hear." Not that he thought you could expect too much from high-school students, but at least they had some talent. "I look forward to seeing what you come up with."

[furnaceface]

"At this point, I think I'll be satisfied if it doesn't end in dual gremlin bites and mysterious waffles raining from the naffin' ceiling," Jono decided. "This island has a sense of humour some days that are really quite th'pain in the behind."

That was putting it lightly.

"One of my leads thought she was a chicken for the first act. I think after that, I'm mostly just inclined to be happy if anyone dares set foot on that stage again."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Ah. I had forgotten you might face more than the usual difficulties."

...

"Waffles?"

[furnaceface]

"And syrup," Jono confirmed. He was wearing his 'slightly disgruntled' face, now, just remembering. "I was cleaning th'mess up for days. No idea where they were falling from, aside from 'up.'"

[sharp_as_knives]

"Less deadly than sharks?" Hannibal suggested.

[furnaceface]

Jono... had managed to completely miss the sharks. But he was a long-time resident of the island, so aside from a bit of a perplexed glance, he wasn't going to ask too many questions.

"Far less," he agreed. "But I'd argue that the damage to the carpeting was a fair bit more extensive than any sharks would've managed."

[sharp_as_knives]

"The sharks were at least confined to outside," Hannibal acknowledged. "The storm that brought them caused more damage, I think."

[furnaceface]

"Ah, so that's what happened."

There had been something of a fishy smell, now that he thought about it, the last time he'd come to the island.

"But that's generally the way of it around here. Even the most horrifying attackers rarely cause lasting damage before they're driven off."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Something to be grateful for, I suppose. And the sharks did leave us with a lovely dinner the following day, with plenty to donate to shelters as well."

[furnaceface]

"... I wish I could say that was even the first invasion that people wound up eating." But, alas. No. It wasn't to be so, so long as invasions happened around here. "At least the remains of it went toward a worthy cause, I suppose. I can't imagine many shelters often get shark donated to them."

[sharp_as_knives]

"No, I believe Mr Lyman's contacts had some questions about it. But they were grateful all the same." He raised an eyebrow. "Are there often edible invasions?"

[furnaceface]

"One of the very first that I was around for, back when I was still a student at the school myself, was a bunch of killer vegetables," Jono replied, as though it was really no big deal, no. "Mostly tomatoes, I think. There've also been walking mushrooms, and onions that would insult you until you cried if you didn't... dispose of them."

Jono had kind of blown his up. Using his face.

[sharp_as_knives]

"That sounds..." insane? dangerous? bizarre? "...very much like something this island would do, yes." Hannibal shook his head. It did keep things interesting, at any rate.

[furnaceface]

"That's one way to put it," Jono chuckled. "After a while, the novelty wears off some, for what it's worth."

Said the big blue-grey man whose face used to be on fire.

[sharp_as_knives]

"I find myself rather enjoying the novelty." Hannibal shrugged. "It challenges, forces me to adapt. After all, the day you stop learning and changing, you're dead. Or at least you might as well be."

Said the cannibal.

[furnaceface]

"That's why I always try to keep myself engaged with something," Jono admitted. "Especially around here. I don't handle stagnating well."

At all. The moment Jon started sitting around doing nothing, that would be the moment silent brooding mode would take over. And that was never a good idea.

... Except maybe for that one time he'd literally depressed himself to the point of immunity to D'Spayre's psionic-emotional attacks on the Massachusetts Academy. But that was something of a fluke.