Hannibal's office, Saturday

[sharp_as_knives]

At least staying at the hotel and meeting in his office meant that it was a short (and pleasant, if cold) walk to work, rather than a drive in Baltimore traffic. Which was especially welcome as his morning routine took a little longer as a woman.

Hannibal chased off the squirrels with a rum bribe and a forbidding look, turned the heat up to a comfortable range, and set out water, then sat at his desk to read a bit while he waited for Derek.



[OOC: NFB because therapy!]

Comments

[justlurkinghere]

"Same cheekbones." Yes, thank you, Derek. You could also have tried to make more noise showing up.

[sharp_as_knives]

That was all right; Hannibal's nose still worked just fine in this body. And you had the same sulk, Derek.

"At least they seem to simplify identification," Hannibal noted. He waved Derek in and got up to take a more comfortable seat in front of the desk. "Thank you for agreeing to the relocation; I have taken care of the squirrels."

[justlurkinghere]

Derek nodded, closing the door behind himself before taking the chair. "Rum?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"Quite a bit of it," Hannibal agreed. "But I'd prefer not to have to answer questions at my office in town. Have you been through this before?"

[justlurkinghere]

"I look like my sisters and mom."

Which wasn't fun.

[sharp_as_knives]

No, but at least it might get them somewhere.

"And that disturbs you. Why?"

[justlurkinghere]

"Because they're all dead." Like his issues should be soooo obvious.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal spread his hands. "Is that knowledge less present when you are male?"

Your issues had issues, Derek.

[justlurkinghere]

"I'm not looking at them in the mirror, no." Derek, no need to be snarky.

[sharp_as_knives]

"And now you have a visible reminder of your closeness," Hannibal pointed out. "Of the fact that their family carries on in you. Some people would see that as a gift. You don't?"

[justlurkinghere]

"Still having them would be the gift."

[sharp_as_knives]

"And since you don't have them, you prefer to avoid thinking of them?"

[justlurkinghere]

"I don't need a reminder," Derek replied. "I never stopped thinking about them."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Then why does looking like them hurt you?" Hannibal asked mildly.

[justlurkinghere]

Derek sighed, looking over at the window and tapping dainty--thank you, Mike--fingers on the arms of the chair. "The island is doing something lately. Not the female thing. That... happens regularly."

[sharp_as_knives]

"So I'm told," Hannibal answered wryly. "It does a lot of things, it seems. What else has it been up to lately?"

[justlurkinghere]

"I heard a conversation I had with my mother yesterday." It wasn't nice to hear her voice in that instance.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal frowned, parsing that. While he wasn't ruling out Derek's mother back from the dead, he doubt he'd have phrased it that way, so - "Like an auditory hallucination, or a very vivid memory?"

Just because the island was insane didn't mean the people on it couldn't be, too.

[justlurkinghere]

"Like the other person in the room heard it too," Derek replied. "It was a conversation we had when I was fifteen."

[sharp_as_knives]

Likely still the island, then. Hannibal nodded.

"Shortly before she died?"

[justlurkinghere]

Derek looked down. "Yes."

[sharp_as_knives]

"What were you talking about?"

[justlurkinghere]

"The aftermath of someone I was close to's death." And his magical bullshit eye color change that made no sense in canon.

As you do.

[sharp_as_knives]

"The friend you mentioned in our last session?" Hannibal asked.

Because even he couldn't help with bullshit canon; you were on your own for that one, Derek.

[justlurkinghere]

"Yes. Her."

Why can't he be from a canon with cannibalistic serial killers?