Hannibal's house...he thinks, Thursday morning

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal woke early in the morning; his nose was the first to tell him there was something wrong.

As he stretched out the kinks of sleeping on the couch and looked around, the rest became apparent - the living room he was in was still his own, but...dingier. There were scratches on one wall and gouges out of another as if something heavy had hit it repeatedly. Several pieces of furniture were missing. He flicked on the lamp, but got nothing - nor, he realized, could he hear the hum of the fan circulating heat. No power, then. Possibly no gas.

He found Jono and padded over to him, avoiding waking the children that might still be asleep. What happened? he asked, putting a hand on his back.



[Open to anyone who stayed or who wants to find their way there!]

Comments

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal waved at what there was. "I think I'm lucky the couch didn't break under me. I grant you full permission to wreck anything you need to, so long as it looks like this."

He headed for the stairs, which at least still seemed sound.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo fell in behind him, her wheels whining softly. "What would have had to happen for the place to end up like this?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"There's no power," Hannibal said. "Which also would mean no water or heat. Most things have probably been scavenged like we're doing, although hopefully they've left some things. And there seems to have been some violence done." He waved at the scratches and dents in the wall. "Other than that, I couldn't say. Hopefully we'll know more when Jono and Dante return."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"There's a lot we don't know, huh?" Ringo sighed, but nodded. Patience wasn't her strong suit, but she didn't really have much choice at the moment.

"We'll need to at least find some food, won't we? Maybe some weapons?" For people who weren't already armed, at least.

[sharp_as_knives]

"At least those, yes." Hannibal ducked into the master suite to look around. It was relatively untouched in here, if still dingy. He ran a hand over Jono's red guitar, which stood in the corner, a few gouges in the paint. Whatever had happened to the versions of them this belonged to, this was apparently still important.

"Assuming I and Jono are the ones that lived here, I would have been the one to hide anything useful..." he trailed off and headed for the closet. Inside were a few dusty old suits - and in one corner, when he moved them, a hatch to the crawlspace above.

"The cord appears to be missing." He smiled at Ringo. "I believe your talents are in order."

[soniaroadsqueen]

She followed his gaze. "Maybe that means that whatever was up there is still up there?" That could be a good thing!

After a moment to consider, she glanced back at Hannibal. "It might be important that we can close it again, right?" So she shouldn't just break it.

[sharp_as_knives]

"That would be best," he agreed. "I don't think we need to be too dramatic, however. If you can jump up and catch the edge, your weight should bring it down. Just don't get hit by the ladder."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo nodded. "Should be able to manage that, then."

She took a deep breath, pressed a hand against the wall to get a feel for how solid it was, and stepped back slightly. Then she leaped up, kicked off the wall, and got enough height to catch her fingers on the edge of the little hatch.

For a second, it stuck, holding her (admittedly slight) weight, but only for a second. Then it came suddenly free, and Ringo twisted slightly to avoid anything, like a ladder, that might come down with it.

[sharp_as_knives]

The hatch opened halfway, and Hannibal caught it from there, lowering the ladder carefully. He took out his phone - useless as a phone, but it did have a light on it - and briefly shone it up into the darkness. He spotted nothing, and carefully made his way up.

He made a pleased sound and gathered up several cans of beans, vegetables, and even one of fish. "Not precisely gourmet, but we won't starve, provided the island goes back to normal soon." He tossed the cans down one by one.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo caught each one, quickly setting them on the floor as she did. She didn't want to have her hands full if they needed to move quickly.

"Should have brought a bag or something," she realized too late for the thought to be useful.

[sharp_as_knives]

"We can wrap it in a jacket." Hannibal shone his light around, taking inventory. "There's more," he said as he came down, "but we may as well leave it there for now."

He came down the ladder and closed the hatch again, moving the clothes back in front of it.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo had grabbed a random jacket off the closet rail and was already working to bundle up the cans they'd retrieved. Hopefully the jacket in question wasn't special to anyone.

"Nothing else useful up there?" she asked, not managing to hide her disappointment. She'd kind of been hoping for more, well, stuff.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Only food." Hannibal finished arranging things so they looked undisturbed. He headed through to the bathroom next.

"Some water here, but I don't think we want to drink it."

He checked under the sink and felt around the pipes, then smiled and came back out with a butcher's knife. "That's something, anyway."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo blinked in sort-of surprise at the knife. "I wonder how that got there."

Her eyes turned upward, checking the ceiling for, well, she wasn't sure what. Another crawl space? Water damage? Anything suspicious, really.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal raised an eyebrow at her. He imagined he'd put it there, before all of...whatever this was had happened. The same as the food. "If things started going to pieces around you, what would you do?"

The ceiling looked normal, if a bit greyer than it usually did.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Um. I don't know," Ringo admitted. "I'd probably, uh, try to do something about it?" She didn't think of herself as a hero, but she'd fight to protect her friends and keep them happy, and Ringo's definition of "friend" was pretty broad.

But that didn't mean she actually had any sort of real plan.

[sharp_as_knives]

"If you wanted to protect yourself, what then?" Hannibal prompted. "You would probably find someplace safe. And then what?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Collect supplies, maybe?" Ringo hazarded. She'd seen some zombie movies, at least, so she had a few vague ideas. "Kind of like we're doing now?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"Collect supplies," Hannibal agreed. "And possibly weapons. And put them away in different places." He pushed himself up off the ground and dusted himself off.

"The only question is whether whoever hid these things is going to come back." Hannibal knew the most likely candidate, and wasn't sure what to hope for - if he didn't, things would be easier, but it didn't speak highly for his own chances.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I don't really know how to, like, fight with knives or anything." Ringo lifted a foot to tap her ATs. "This is pretty much it."

"But maybe I might try to find some stuff for other people?" She wasn't really sure.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Maybe you'd hide those, then." Hannibal checked the clothes as they walked back out through the closet, and wrinkled his nose. What he had on now was still in better shape. Hopefully they'd be gone before it was as threadbare as these were.

He checked the dressers and found clothes in similar condition, another smaller knife, and nothing else of use.

[soniaroadsqueen]

For her part, Ringo had a jacket that had its sleeves tied together to form a sort of make-shift bag filled with cans slung over one shoulder. It was a bit awkward, but she was managing.

"Maybe," she allowed. "I guess I never really thought about it, you know?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"It appears you might want to in future," Hannibal said. This room checked over, he nodded to her. "You can take those downstairs; I'll check the other rooms."

[soniaroadsqueen]

She nodded slowly. "Yeah. Might be a good idea." One quick look to make sure he'd probably be fine, and she nodded again. "Okay. I'll set them in the kitchen for now, I guess." So he knew where to find them. "Yell if you run into anything."

[sharp_as_knives]

"I will," Hannibal promised. He watched her go and headed for the studio.