Hannibal's house that Jono seems to have laid claim to, Wednesday evening

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal spent some time in the cellar choosing just the right wine for the evening, then wandered out into the media room on his way upstairs. Jono was sitting in the middle of the floor, bits and pieces of electronics scattered around him, contrasted with a neat line of tools.

He stood and watched, knowing Jono would catch his presence and curiosity, and willing to wait in case it was delicate.


[OOC: For the one mentioned! Also open for calls or texts or whatnot.]

Comments

[furnaceface]

//It is,// Jono agreed, squinting down at the assorted pieces before setting the chestplate back on the floor. //I need something that'll respond to my telepathy and interpret it the same way it would have if I could still make actual sounds, and Emma's tech, or else whatever it is that Barry put into my phone, seem to be the closest options thus far.//

He shook his head a bit.

//Unfortunately, I'm no great inventor myself. I might have to, heaven forbid, actually talk to people who know what the hell they're doing. In the meantime, I'll settle for making this thing fit again.//

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal chuckled. "Or you could learn how to do it yourself. In all of the worlds there are, there must be at least one correspondence class in engineering for telepaths." He shrugged. "You could even check the library on Sunday." A world full of telepaths would be a likely starting place, surely.

[furnaceface]

Jono tilted his head a little as he considered that.

//I suppose the library would at least have something on telepathic telecommunications tech,// he acknowledged. //If nothing else, it'd be a good starting point. I don't imagine they have much in the way of hard-light sonic technology, per se.//

But again, it didn't hurt to look.

[sharp_as_knives]

"But that you have already," Hannibal pointed out. "It certainly can't hurt to look into." He smirked a little. "I'll look into it as well, if you like. Perhaps I'll find something."

Like Jono's competitive spirit.

[furnaceface]

Good call, really. There was a long pause at that, and Jono turned a side-eye toward Hannibal.

//Perhaps you will,// he replied.

But not if Jono found something first, blast it.

[sharp_as_knives]

One might almost think Hannibal knew Jono!

"I'll do my best," he promised. And would; it wasn't as though he was averse to learning new things. Or noncompetitive himself.

[furnaceface]

//I know you will,// Jono replied, looking faintly amused as he reached for a screwdriver and started re-assembling certain pieces. //When do you ever do anything less?//

If he was doing less than his best, Jono would really have to wonder what pod-person went and replaced his partner.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Never if I can avoid it," Hannibal answered cheerfully. Not that he wouldn't underperform or feign ignorance if he wanted to be underestimated, but that wasn't doing less than his best at one thing, so much as doing better at acting.

"What brought this on?" he asked. "We haven't had an odd bout in some time, unless you're thinking that makes us due for one?"

[furnaceface]

//Little bit of that,// Jono confirmed, reaching for a complicated-looking piece of hardware and setting to work plugging its component bits into other little fiddly things. He wasn't even looking as he did so. //Little bit of the time we've been spending in New York. Just want to make bloody certain that we have every possible tool at our disposal in the event that we need them.//

A pause.

//And I really bloody miss flying.//

[sharp_as_knives]

"My offer stands," Hannibal said. "Although I'm aware it wouldn't quite be the same." And that Jono had very good, respectable reasons to never want Hannibal anywhere near something that would make him more dangerous.

[furnaceface]

Really, Jono appreciated that Hannibal didn't take that fact as a mark against him.

//Not quite the same,// Jono agreed, glancing back down at his collar, mostly for the sake of looking at his collar. His hands were still moving almost of their own accord, piecing the bits back together by rote. //Though I... Hm.//

He looked down at the components in hand. And then set a few aside, separate from the rest. Now he was paying attention to his tinkering in earnest.

//Flying... might not be the worst life skill. Not around here and especially not back in Westchester.//

[sharp_as_knives]

Why on Earth would he do that? It simply meant that Jono was a good judge of Hannibal's potential for danger. It was a mark of respect, really.

That being considered...Hannibal raised an eyebrow and, since Jono wouldn't see that, sent him a faint mental question as equivalent. Had he actually been reconsidering his stance?

[furnaceface]

Only sort of, Hannibal. There was a reason Jono was setting certain components to the side, after all.

He glanced up, just briefly, and then shrugged one shoulder as he looked back down again, tooling around with the wiring on a few of the collar's chunks of hardware.

//Flying,// he specified, stressing that word. //I'm taking out the hard light tech, and the sonic amplifiers. It'll be a glorified jetpack. Without the jets.// He squinted a little, and then poked at the tech a little more before holding a small piece out to Hannibal. //Hold this to your throat and hum. See if it lights.//

He needed to make certain his connections were still working even with the missing bits, and he had a certain sort of technical difficulty to overcome when it came to that.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal took the small piece, examining it curiously first. "Will you be able to restore the other parts quickly, should you need them?" Flying was an interesting experience for him, not a driving need; he'd sooner Jono have full use of the collar's offensive capabilities, should it become necessary.

[furnaceface]

//Should I need them and should I find a way to make it work with my body as it is? Absolutely. I've put this thing together without tools in the dark in under ten minutes before. I could probably build it out of spare parts in storage, if it really came to it. But right this moment, I can't picture anything so dire hitting that I'll be able to fend off with a collar that doesn't recognize my voice, anyway.//

He tilted his head a little.

//I wonder if Barry would be terribly insulted if I were to dissect my phone to see what makes it tick...//

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal chuckled. "I'd recommend committing its current configuration to memory first." He put the piece at his throat and hummed. "In case he is."

[furnaceface]

Jono watched the piece carefully, and then nodded his approval and held out his hand to take it back.

//Which leaves me right back to where I started, wondering if I should just ask him how he went about tapping into my telepathy on such a casual level in the first place. Emma has tech that works with her powers, but those are her powers. Barry managed to put together tech that works with mine after only meeting me maybe a couple of times, and it worked on the first try. Still, it'd be nice to be able to figure it out for myself.//

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal handed it back. "It is definitely a bit more of a coup. Although that would leave us in a different sort of race - whether you'll finish the work before we can make it moot." It was a race you couldn't lose, Jono. How was that for a change of pace?

[furnaceface]

//Not completely moot,// Jono mused. //I imagine I'd be able to fine-tune my control more thoroughly if I use my powers than I ever could with subvocalizations and the like. Even with my body in one piece, it'd be far more convenient to be able to control something like this with a thought. Especially for the more fiddly things, the hard-light constructs and whatnot.//

He slotted the smaller piece in his hand into a larger compartment, and then connected a few of the wires before reaching again for the chest-piece.

//I think it's work I'd like to finish one way or the other, honestly. Not just because fine-tuning it to work with my powers would make it more difficult for the wrong person to just take off with it.//

He glanced up at Hannibal again, thoughtfully.

//Voice recognition for certain people, perhaps...//

[sharp_as_knives]

"Perhaps even attunement to specific minds," Hannibal suggested. "If such a thing is possible for non-telepaths." He grinned. "I believe we have quite a research project on our hands, overall."

[furnaceface]

//It'd be... an interesting piece of work,// Jono agreed as he tinkered away. //You know... I could probably put something together just for you, if it came to that. A shield unit of some sort, or flight, like this one.//

He clicked one more piece into place, and then held up the two halves of his collar, without any of his hardware fitted inside.

//In the meantime, try this on?//

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal eyed it skeptically; there was a glint in his eye, but anyone that didn't know him well would see nothing but seriousness. "I don't suppose we could alter the style a bit?" Did it come in plaid?

[furnaceface]

//Doesn't go with the cut of your trousers, does it?// Jono met that deadpan with one of his own. He had one hell of a poker-face. //Actually, I was thinking of taking it in to get it detailed. A naked woman or maybe just some racing stripes, what d'you think?//

[sharp_as_knives]

"What about something more abstract?" Hannibal suggested. "A duplicate of that painting in the music room, perhaps?"

Very abstract.

[furnaceface]

Oh yeah. Super abstract.

//Because the goal is to look intimidating,// Jono replied reasonably. //And I don't imagine many people are intimidated by that one, exactly.//

It helped that Jono wasn't exactly sharing the story behind it, granted.