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In a fit of feeling very Japanese, there is a Noriko at a table in a cherry blossom print kimono-top and skinny jeans, with her hair let down again and swept over her shoulder with kanzashi pins as she works on constructing something.

It's a bamboo shishi odoshi fountain for her room, built into a fair-size terracotta bowl with stones in the bottom. It's coming together pretty easily, save for a few of the joints needing to be shaved down. (In a fit of not feeling that Japanese, she's using a utility knife for this rather than a short sword. She likes keeping all of her fingers, yes.)

Botherable.

[ooc: brought on by the mun having watched Hannibal Rising earlier today. however, there is no murderation or otherwise gory activity contained in this post.]

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"That looks very pleasant," says a quiet voice from behind her.

That she doesn't react well to being surprised should really be common knowledge by this point around here, Noriko thinks. She jerks, head ducking as she turns to see who the voice belongs to.

"Jesus, don't do that," she says, upon recognizing Hannibal. "You know that startles me." Which is Nori-speak for hello, I didn't see you there. She turns back, looking at the half-finished fountain, and smiles.

"Yeah. I have a bonsai tree in my room, I figured it needed some kind of accompaniment."

"What kind of bonsai is it?" Hannibal asks. He's got a stack of books under his arm.

"There are two of them," she says. "Ishitzuki and shakan." One of the classic--to Americans--twisted shapes, and another with the tree twined around and against a rock.

"You can sit down if you'd like," Noriko says, sweeping the pieces of the fountain she's yet to put on clear of a space. "What are you reading?"

Hannibal sits down.

"Oh, I'm not reading them; I'm just putting the copies into my office here."

They are 19th century books about art and architecture, mostly in French, some in German or English.

"You have an office here?" she asks. "Don't like days off, or what?"

"Some people here wanted to see a psychiatrist, so how could I refuse?" Hannibal says. "And for that, I needed a proper safe space."

"Good luck getting anything safe here. The whole place is sort of the definition of unsafe." Wisely she does not comment on how he could have refused any patients.

She just shakes her head, sending the tiny bell at the end of the cascade of her hair stick to chiming when it hits her skull.

"Unsafe?" Hannibal asks, looking at her deeply. "Do conga lines and conquering armies regularly invade your room, then?"

"Ha ha, don't start that," she says. "Given the number and variance of people who come here, you know as well as I do that it's not completely safe. People could present themselves here as something entirely different than who they are in their own world, and unless they bring a friend inclined to talk, we'd never be any the wiser."

"I hope you're not worried that my patients might harm me?" Dr. Lecter says, tilting his head to look at her.

"I'm pretty sure you can handle yourself, but if you're after the illusion of safety to get them talking you might be out of luck," she says, fitting the rocking pin into its supports, testing the ease with which it rotates.

So far, so good.

"It simply has to feel safe from intrusion," Dr. Lecter says. "Real safety can never be guaranteed at all."

"Then you used the wrong word," she says, poking his arm teasingly with the butt end of the utility knife. The fountain's coming along quite well; the water pump and its line are already attached to the sides of the bowl with clear plastic casing, holding them out of the way so there can be, presumably, fish.

"How d'you think it's coming, Hannibal-san?" she asks.

"It looks very nice, Noriko-san," Hannibal says, sounding cheerfully teasing. "Harmonious. Water is good for calming down people, just as fire can be. I should ask you to make another one for my office here. It might make my patients feel even safer."

"Sure. I can add a water wheel if you want one like that," she says, taking the teasing in good grace. He didn't call her Nori-chan, which she hates, so he's already a good step above most of her classmates.

"That one might take a sharper knife, though."

Edited 2014-05-29 22:34 (UTC)

"I can get you a sharper knife, if you'd like," Hannibal says. "Teja the Ostrogoth sells them."

"Nah, I have a sharper one," she chuckles. "I have a kaiken in my room, but I never use it."

"You actually do?" Dr. Lecter says. "A kaiken is a serious implement, bordering on weaponry. I am impressed."

"Yeah, I actually do," she says. "It was a gift for my birth, and my brother gave it to me when I turned thirteen. When I got kicked out."

Not a gift given lightly, or one Noriko thinks Keitaro quite understood the eventual use of. "You can see it if you'd like, when I finish this." Luckily she's only got a few more things to put on, and then water to test it.

"I'd be interested," Hannibal says. "And I'm definitely commissioning one of those for my office now."

"You'll just have to tell me what you want it to look like," Nori says, testing the clacker reservoir to see that it makes the appropriate noise and tips into the fountain pool without spilling.

"Unfortunately the kaiken is the only one I've got," she says. "I don't have the katana or wakizashi."

"What would you need them for -- you don't have to practice any 'bullshidô' to impress white boys," Dr. Lecter smirks. "I'd like to give you free rein in what you make; just make something you think would suit me."

She chuckles, and rolls her eyes at that, but it's a compliment, albeit a very strange one.

"Will do," she chuckles. "You want it to fit on a desk, or floor, or what?"

Dr. Lecter ponders. "Low side table," he says, "about two by two feet?"