Hannibal's house (which might someday be Jono's, too), Saturday afternoon

[sharp_as_knives]

With Jono off at work, Hannibal had made himself lunch and then retired to the music room to compose something on harpsichord. He was playing for stretches, then writing down the parts he liked, happily working through it. Beethoven was curled up on the bench next to him, and Joni was curled up on top of Beethoven.

All in all, a quiet afternoon at home.


[OOC: Open for visits!]

Comments

[myownface]

Yesterday, Sparkle had made a pit-stop to check in on Parker. Today, he didn't see any reason to not continue that streak. He hadn't seen Doctor Lecter since before Christmas, and he'd noticed the announcements around town and... sometimes you just needed to say hi to somebody and do some catching up when you weren't saving the island by making too much pie.

So... after skirting the flamingos, Sparkle was making his way up to the door and ringing the bell.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal capped his pen, scooted out from under the edge of the cat pile, and went to open the door.

"Sparkle." He smiled. "Please, come in."

[myownface]

"Doctor Lecter, hey," Sparkle said, giving him a little smile right back before stepping inside. "I hope this isn't a bad time? I guess I could have, like, called in advance or something, but when the island is this small it can't hurt to just stop by and see, and I haven't been doing that nearly often enough, you know?"

With basically everyone. He'd sort of gone into hermit mode outside of the Demon Marcus ever since getting back from Toronto, and it was probably time for that to change.

[sharp_as_knives]

"It's perfectly all right. I'm always happy to see friends." Hannibal reached for Sparkle's coat. "Would you like some coffee?"

[myownface]

Sparkle smiled a little while he shrugged out of his coat -- and his ever-present backpack -- and handed them over to Hannibal.

"Please," he said, nodding. "It's cold out there, damn."

Being Canadian didn't mean he was immune, after all.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal hung the coat up and led the way back to the kitchen. "How have you been? You're running the clothing store now, I hear."

[myownface]

"Yeah," Sparkle confirmed, following along. "And that's been keeping me busy. I have employees now, that's new. And I've been making sure people can afford winter clothes... that's... nice."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal squeezed Sparkle's shoulder and smiled as he went to make the coffee. "I'm pleased you're enjoying it. You haven't been letting your skills go to waste, I hope?" He smiled to take a little of the sting from it, but honestly, someone needed to upgrade Atton's appreciation for the finer things in life.

[myownface]

"Which ones?" Sparkle chuckled and found himself a seat at the table. It was there, why not? "I mean, I've been doing all the cooking at home. And I was there in the kitchen with you a couple of weeks ago. So those skills are doing just fine. Atton's almost getting used to decent food, I think."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Glad to hear it." Hannibal started the coffee, then went for the refrigerator; he didn't think Sparkle would turn down food.

"And your acting? Singing? Accounting? Pick-pocketing?" He shrugged and smirked. "I'm open to hearing about any skills you like."

[myownface]

"Everything's an act, and I'm always singing," Sparkle replied, smirking. "Accounting... I'm getting better at, since I have to keep all the shop's finances in order. And that last one..."

He laughed and shrugged his shoulders.

"If I don't tell you about the last one, you can claim plausible deniability, or whatever."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Very true," Hannibal said, still smiling. "Crepes?" he asked. "Class this week visited the summer market, so I've quite a bit of fresh produce."

[myownface]

"Crepes sound... pretty great, actually." Sparkle gave a little nod. "How've you been? I saw your announcements around town. Congratulations, huh?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"Thank you." Hannibal got down a bowl for the batter and set the fruit and a knife in front of Sparkle with a grin. "We hadn't anticipated it, but it seems right."

[myownface]

Sparkle didn't even really think twice. He just reached for the knife and started peeling what needed peeling, and cutting what needed cutting.

You'd trained him well, Hannibal.

"And that's what counts," he replied, nodding a little. "I mean, probably. I'm not exactly in the marrying market myself," and had no interest in joining said market, "but I'm going to take your word on that one."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Admittedly I'd seen myself as a permanent bachelor," Hannibal confessed, "but we seem to be a good match. And we have been living together for nearly a year now, and neither of us has seriously contemplating killing the other yet."

Which was actually a very good sign, considering the pair of them.

[myownface]

"Trying to kill one another would probably make for a pretty strained marriage," Sparkle allowed, wearing a sort of wry smile as he sliced a few berries. "But it's actually a pretty low bar, generally."

He grinned over his shoulder at Hannibal, pausing in his slicing for the moment as he did so.

"I'm going to assume you set it higher than that anyway. 'Not murdering each other' is the kind of bar most people can trip over in the dark while drunk, I mean."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal laughed. "Neither of us walks about drunk, either. But it's still a very good start, wouldn't you say?" He started the pan heating. "Beyond that, we make a good pair."

[myownface]

"See, that part seems way more important, anyway," Sparkle decreed. "A good pair and no murder? You two have it all figured out."

Admittedly, Sparkle actually had a pretty low bar, himself. He wasn't actually judging, he was really just having fun with the conversation.

[sharp_as_knives]

Whereas "understands me and doesn't want me dead" was actually a fairly high and important bar for Hannibal, but he was amused by how low a bar that was for most others.

"We also make beautiful music together," Hannibal said. "And not as a euphemism."

[myownface]

"Awwww."

Sparkle actually meant that 'aww,' too. That was kind of adorable.

"See, what I really need to find is somebody who not only doesn't mind me belting show tunes at the top of my lungs, but somebody who'll harmonize. I totally see how that's a point in favour of, here."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Hm. I'm unsure where you would go to meet someone like that. Karaoke, perhaps?" Hannibal suggested.

He scooped up the fruit and started it cooking just a little in one pan as he started the crepes in the other.

[myownface]

"Karaoke, probably," Sparkle agreed. "Though around here it's a crapshoot, anyway. There are plenty of people who are fun to spend a night with, and some who are good at friends who still have, like, lives and whatever. But, like, the odds of a 'settle down with' kind of guy being at karaoke on this island, with like its two decent bars and maybe three single guys left, two of which are totally straight? Pff."

That 'pff' was fairly eloquent all on its own.

[sharp_as_knives]

"There's nothing to say you have to stay on the island," Hannibal pointed out. "Baltimore and DC have quite a few more bars and single men in them."

[myownface]

"Yeah, but then we run into a whole different problem, where whenever I hit on some guy at a bar that isn't on the island, he literally tries to kill me."

IT HAD HAPPENED AT LEAST TWICE NOW.