Office hours Thursday

[sharp_as_knives]

When Hannibal parked at the causeway and looked to the island, he could already see something was odd. It seemed to be hailing there, despite the lack of it on the mainland. He sighed and got his umbrella.

Of course, it turned out it wasn't any colder on the island than in Baltimore, and the hail was...marzipan?

Well, he supposed there were worse things it could be; at least it didn't seem to be trying to kill him.

He wasn't going to eat it, just in case.

So now he was in his office, working on plans for lessons and exams, with the door open on the hallway and the windows open on a view of marzipan hail.

This place.

[Open door and post!]

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[trigons_child]

Raven had not expected to be assaulted by small pieces of colorful fruit when she'd arrived on the island. That was so not fair for a vegetarian, Fandom. She was somewhat mollified when she realized it was candy, not actual fruit in rebellion.

She teleported the rest of the way rather than walk through the candy rain, and with the door open Hannibal might have noticed a whoosh of displaced air and a puff of black smoke which quickly dissipated. Raven moved to the doorway. "Good afternoon, Doctor Lecter," she said.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal looked up at it, then nodded to Raven. "Good afternoon; it's lovely to see you." He gestured at the dissipating smoke. "Is that another of your abilities?"

[trigons_child]

Raven glanced over her shoulder. "That appears when I move between dimensions," she said. Why, she wasn't really sure. Because comics.

"I did not want to walk through the storm of candy outside," she said, gesturing at the window.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Yes, I found an umbrella rather necessary." Hannibal shook his head at the weather. "Please," he stood to wave her to a chair, "have a seat."

[trigons_child]

"Fandom's whimsy is inexplicable at times," Raven said, sitting down and settling her skirt around her.

"I hope you have been well. And thank you again for the wonderful meal you prepared for Thanksgiving."

[sharp_as_knives]

"I have been very well; thank you," Hannibal answered. "I hope you have as well. And no thanks are necessary," he added, smiling. "I love to have friends for dinner."

No, that pun really never did get old. Saying so would be rude.

He glanced out the window. "I'm only glad it's nothing more dangerous. The first rain I saw here was sharks."

[trigons_child]

"There were undead flying piranhas once," Raven said, wrinkling her nose. "The island can be dangerous at times, but we have always overcome any threat to our home."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Do you still view Fandom as your home, then?" Hannibal asked. "Even though you have moved someplace else?"

[trigons_child]

Raven shook her head. "Glacia is my home now, and I have sworn to serve Karla. But Fandom will always have a place in my heart. It was my first real home. Azarath was beautiful, but cold and lonely. In Fandom I found a family."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Family can be a very important influence," Hannibal acknowledged. "It must have been difficult making connections, if you were unaccustomed to emotions."

[trigons_child]

"Very much so," Raven admitted. "I did not know how to be a friend, and I was forbidden to feel affection for those around me. But I could feel theirs, and...it was like a drug. I began to crave it."

She still did, but she did her best to keep that inside.

[sharp_as_knives]

"What made the change?" he asked, doing his best to be curious but gentle. "You have obviously decided to feel affection for them now."

[trigons_child]

"I had always been told that to feel emotions would create a gateway for my father, the demon Trigon, to take control of me," Raven said. "Ultimately, this did prove to be true, and it is still a danger if my emotions become to strong. But at the time I allowed myself to be convinced it would be safe to start to exploring my own emotions. I wanted so much to feel love and joy like my classmates. I thought I could do so without falling prey to darker emotions, like anger and hate."

Not so much, that.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Unfortunately, emotions are rarely so distinct from each other," Hannibal acknowledged with a smile. "They are much more likely to be a spiderweb of connections, rather than a continuum. As I'm certain you found."

[trigons_child]

Raven nodded. "Yes," she said. "I have learned a great deal in the past few years, but I have also made many mistakes. For instance, I confused lust and love, and I once accidentally made people love me without realizing it."

And then there's been becoming her father's harbinger and enslaving all of the Earth, but details.

[sharp_as_knives]

"If it provides you any consolation, the difference between lust and love is something many people have difficulty with," Hannibal noted. "Even those who have spent their lives dealing with emotions."

Eh, it wasn't Hannibal's earth. What did he care?

[trigons_child]

"I have learned that as well," Raven said with a rueful laugh.

"There have been some unpleasant incidents in the past" -- to say the least -- "but as I said I have learned a great deal. I am more in control of my emotions now, though they are still dangerous if I am not careful."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Because you project them?" Hannibal asked. "Or because of your father?"


[Bedtime for me. Night!]

[trigons_child]

"Because of my father's blood," Raven clarified. "Trigon himself is no longer a threat. He has other children who have embraced evil, though none are as strong as I am. I want to be good, but there is a dark part of me I struggle sometimes to contain. I could easily become like my brothers."

[sharp_as_knives]

"And what would that do?" Hannibal asked, sympathetic and curious. "If you stopped containing that part of you?"

[trigons_child]

Raven couldn't help but shudder a little as she thought about the things she'd done, the things she was still afraid she'd do. "I would become a creature more evil than you can imagine," she said softly. "I would use my gifts to hurt and kill, and I would revel in the suffering I caused."

[sharp_as_knives]

Did she need help with that? Hannibal would be glad to help; he so hated to see potential wasted.

"And your own emotions are a threat to your control?"

[trigons_child]

That would be bad, Hannibal! Tsk tsk.

"They can be," Raven said. "Anger and fear are the most dangerous, but even love can be, if it turns dark. I know I cannot go back to the way I was and suppress all my emotions, but I must always be on my guard. I am trying to be completely selfless so that I am not tempted to indulge my own desires."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal frowned faintly. "You mustn't be too self-denying. Ignoring or suppressing your own needs can lead to its own problems," he pointed out.

[trigons_child]

"I know," Raven said. "And that is my problem. Trying to find the middle ground. I have seen a future where I was consumed by my emotions and did horrible things to my friends, and I cannot let that happen."

She knew that future wasn't necessarily meant to be, but that didn't stop her from worrying about it.