(no subject)

[cook_the_rude]

[[oom: #getaway plans involving milliways #scene immediately afterwards is canon #you know what i mean #smell the ginger]]

Dr. Hannibal Lecter enters the bar calmly, from his waiting room, carrying a stack of books, the topmost of which is bound in blood-red leather.

He sits in a chair near the fireplace and seems to contemplate the fish, the books on a table at hand, while he sips armagnac from the snifter a rat quietly brought him.-

Comments

[herr_bookman]

As he has done so often in the past, Autor lets his guard down around Dr. Lecter; he doesn't even notice him around his poetry book.

Once he does, however, he makes a strict beeline for the stairs, already hunching his shoulders in preparation to hear that voice.

[cook_the_rude]

"Hello, Autor!" that voice says, almost cheerfully, out of the darkness.

[herr_bookman]

Autor tries not to flinch. He really does. But Dr. Lecter's call rips right up his spine and forces his head down. He stops, and turns on his heel to face him. "Hello, Dr. Lecter."

[cook_the_rude]

"How are you doing, Autor?" Dr. Lecter asks.

[herr_bookman]

"I'm not sure how to answer that question," Autor says, adjusting his glasses. "'Fine before you asked', comes to mind."

He looks him over and frowns. "I see you're your usual, cheerful self."

[cook_the_rude]

"Why should I have reason not to be?" Dr. Lecter says, smiling. "And I can assure you, you have no reason to be distressed about me."

[herr_bookman]

"I am rude to you, so history proves otherwise," Autor says, adjusting his glasses. "And you can be as cheerful as you like. How are you, really? I may as well ask."

[fry_sandhu]

Fry didn't notice Lecter initially, because he was looking at the trilobite tank.

So it's a bit of a shock when he turns around and Lecter's there, between him and his exit. He knows Dad told him not to talk to him, but there are so many unanswered questions, so much confliction.

[cook_the_rude]

"Hello, Fry," Dr. Lecter says, calmly, taking a sip from his wine glass.

[fry_sandhu]

"Hello." Fry says, not getting any closer.

"Dad says we can't be friends any more."

[cook_the_rude]

"Did he now?" Dr. Lecter says. "Then you will probably have to do what he says."

[fry_sandhu]

"You can't make someone be or not be a friend." Fry says. "It's inside you, like believing, or feeling, or digesting, it is what it is."

He looks back up at Lecter. "So if you're not my friend it's because you're a bad man and I can't trust you not because Dad said so."

[cook_the_rude]

"Because your dad said I'm a bad man," Dr. Lecter says. "But if I don't agree with your digestion, by all means listen to him. I don't want him to go berserk at me."

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

It's a stroke of Bossuet's usual luck that he's still managed not to have a conversation with anybody about that amiable Dr. Lecter fellow. He spots him and ambles closer, waving when he has a chance to catch Lecter's eye.

"Hello! It's been a little while. Busy in--" Oh, where was it? "--Baltimore?"

[cook_the_rude]

"Monsieur Lesgle," Dr. Lecter says, looking up with a smile, "how excellent to see you. And yes, very busy. Please, take a seat!"

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

"Thanks." For once he isn't already carrying a drink; he flags down a waitrat and asks for one of whatever Dr. Lecter is having. It's bound to be good. "I wouldn't have thought this a restful place. But I suppose it has the charm of escape. From reality, from business."

[cook_the_rude]

"Oh yes," Dr. Lecter says. "I have other methods of taking breaks from reality, but this one is even physically restful."

Pause.

"Are you very bored?"

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

The question takes him by surprise. But-- "Yes. Yes. It probably says nothing good for my character or my wit, but I am very bored."

[cook_the_rude]

"What would you like to do?" Dr. Lecter asks.

[electro_kinetic]

"You've been gone a long time," Noriko murmurs, the faint click of stiletto heels having given her presence away.

"Something about 'come talk to me once you're out of that cell' was unclear, was it?"

[cook_the_rude]

"Much as I find it refreshing to be harangued by you, my dear Noriko," Hannibal says, "I simply was gone a long time. Not here."

[electro_kinetic]

"It's not the length of time you were gone, Hannibal. It's the length of time you were here and didn't talk to me like I asked you to, and like you agreed to. Leaving here is voluntary, I know that as well as you do."

[cook_the_rude]

"Here I am now, Noriko," Hannibal says. "Do talk."

[electro_kinetic]

"Funny. I'm not the one that needs to be doing the explaining," she says dryly. "That'd be you. And you agreed to do it. Going to back out of a deal?"

[cook_the_rude]

"Do ask me what you want to know about, then," Hannibal says. "I can explain a great many things, most of which I'm sure you don't want to know."