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]

"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.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal paused to raise an eyebrow at Sparkle before he turned the crepes. "Perhaps you need to visit a better quality of bar."

[myownface]

Sparkle scrunched his nose a little bit at that suggestion. Sure, he was over the drinking age in Maryland even by his own home's standards, now. That didn't mean he much cared for the kind of bar that cared about little things like carding.

"So... the boring kind."

Not getting shot at was apparently boring, now. Sparkle needed to stop hanging out with... everyone he'd ever gone to a bar with. Ever.

[sharp_as_knives]

"I imagine there is a wide range of possibilities between boring and being shot at," Hannibal answered. "Also, it would help if you learned to better determine the sorts of people who are likely to shoot at you, so that you can avoid them."

[myownface]

Okay, Sparkle couldn't argue with that logic. Really. At all.

"... Then I guess the trick is finding the type of person who isn't going to shoot a person, but who doesn't mind dating a fugitive arsonist."

Oops.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal added the fruit to the crepes, folded them over, set a lid on the pan, and turned off the heat to let them set.

Then he faced Sparkle, giving him all his attention. "Is that what you are?"

[myownface]

Hooboy. Sparkle knew by now what getting all of Hannibal's attention meant. He swallowed, and pulled in a deep breath, and then shrugged and scratched awkwardly at his shoulder.

"If you ask anybody back home, anyway."

[sharp_as_knives]

"I'm not asking anybody back home. Neither is anybody you meet anywhere else. A new beginning, remember." Hannibal would be very disappointed if you weren't taking advantage of that, Sparkle.

[myownface]

Sparkle was silent for a few moments, wanting to look... basically anywhere but at Hannibal, though he managed to resist the urge to turn his head to stare at a wall.

"I'm not quick to trust new beginnings, I guess. They're never as foolproof as everyone thinks they are."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Certainly not if you don't try," Hannibal answered firmly. He plated the crepes and slid the plate towards Sparkle, following it with a napkin and fork. "Your past played a part in creating you, but it is not who you are. Create yourself."

[myownface]

Sparkle bit his lip and sighed as he looked down at the crepes, murmuring a "Thank you," before trying to piece together more words.

Hooboy.

"Create myself," he echoed. "What if I still haven't completely figured out what it is I want myself to be?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"You don't have to have all the answers at once," Hannibal answered more mildly. "You just have to be willing to find them."

He poured the coffee and set out the cream and sugar, doctoring his own cup before he sat down.

[myownface]

There were a few moments of quiet while Sparkle sat there, mulling that over.

"I kind of figured that being back here would be a start. Taking over at the clothing shop, crashing in the apartment with Atton, all of that. And there are things that seem kind of like a start, I guess? But whenever I start to get comfortable, the island throws something out there that makes me start to wonder again."