milliways_bar | (no subject)

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(After this.)

For once, Red is not wearing her cloak; she left it in her room upstairs. (She asked Lady Bar about the current moon phase. She'll be fine.)

She's keeping an eye out for Charles, and looks rather shaken, but she wouldn't necessarily turn down other company.

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Charles is by the fire with a book, he wants to be available for those who need him but its tiring. That's why he has tea and a favorite book to keep from being overwhelmed by the worry in Milliways.

"Charles, thank the gods."

Unfortunately, if the look on Red's face is anything to go by, she's not going to make his day any less tiring.

"What's wrong, Red?" He sets his book down and offers her his hands and gestures to a seat.

"When I came in just now, there was a man by the door." The image of Hannibal's face is still clear in her mind. "And - well, as someone with experience in this sort of thing, his diet leaves a lot to be desired."

He smells like people. And like he'd just had rather a lot of soot dumped on him, but he didn't eat that. The things people cook leave their traces.

This? This is highly unsettling.

"Damn, this might be helpful but I don't like this,"

Lecter doesn't need to know of what Red can discover about him.

"I didn't talk to him, and I'm not sure if he saw me." But she still thought leaving her most distinctive piece of clothing upstairs, once she was sure it was safe to do so, was a good idea.

"How might it be helpful?"

"I'd rather not discuss it in here, let's go for a walk,"

He stands up, putting his book with Bar and heading outside. Its a nice evening, warm but not overly so and there's still light in the sky.

"All right."

There's no telling who might overhear in the bar, and according to Lady Bar it's just past new moon. A walk's not a bad idea all around.

"Thank you," Outside he starts towards the path around the lake, he doesn't want to go too far.

"Dr. Lecter has been coming up in a great deal of conversations of late to do with how he acts here and in his world."

"Oh, so you've met him?"

Hopefully he hasn't been cooking anyone here? Really, that's what bothers Red the most about it. There's a difference between cooked meat and raw meat, and a difference between burnt human flesh and that of other animals. She's eaten people herself; if it were raw, she'd more likely let it go as an accident.

But he's clearly been cooking, which requires forethought.

(The nice thing about Charles is she doesn't have to say any of that aloud. She's not sure she can bring herself to.)

"Once, we had a mutual dislike. He expected me to be suitably impressed by him and I apparently wasn't impressive enough for him. He had been told of my ability. Now though there are concerns that he's been manipulating people as he is a psychiatrist and has had patients here. I don't know how active he's been in the kitchens here,"

This does provide another aspect to approach him on but with how conscientious Guppy and tied to the rules that Teja is, he doesn't know what's possible.

"What's a psychiatrist?" She stumbles over the unfamiliar word a little.

Red shrugs. "Depending on how invested he is in keeping up appearances, he may not have been... doing that here, even if he has been cooking. If there's any sort of official oversight on the kitchens, though, it's probably worth asking."

Because if he has cooked a patron, that would surely fall under the no-violence rule.

"A doctor of the mind. From what I observed of him and what Guppy and others know, I think he cares a great deal about appearance. I suspect he wouldn't consider he had enough control to cook all he normally does in his world but I think most of his dangers have been how he's meant to help people."

"Even if I didn't know you, I wouldn't ask him for help. But then, I have an advantage most people don't in that regard." She'd be worried someone who smells of having eaten cooked people would be trying to steer her into either doing something terrible for them or being their next meal.

But not everyone can smell that.

"If he's using that position to hurt people... there's got to be a way to account for that in the bar's rules."

"That's being looked into but it also has to be proven first. I can tell Guppy what I saw in his mind when I first met him, but that's only a beginning. Until someone he was meant to help speaks up of being harmed from him, I think all we can do is try to stop him from working here. And to try and do it in such a way to not flatter his ego and make it all about how he is perceived as dangerous,"

He fears that's what's going to happen and it worries him.

Red nods. "And that's not going to be easy. If he's hurt people, they may be ashamed to come forward with it."

"No, not since he's made himself seem as respectable as possible here."

"Clearly his charms haven't worked on everyone." The fact that they're having this discussion is evidence enough of that.

"No, but I think they've worked on a lot of people."

"That's too bad." It's only going to make stopping him harder.

"How have you been, otherwise?"

"Good, we're starting to find other mutants and its wonderful to get to know Erik better."

"oh, good." Both things, really. Charles needs a little happiness in his life.

"Yes. How about you? Has Peter been settling in well here?"

"He is. I think he asked about working in the forge, but I'm not sure how far he's pursued it yet."

"I hope he can find a place where he's comfortable here. I liked him."

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