IC - INBOX/VOICEMAIL/TEXT/THREATENING LETTER

[il_mostro]

Please leave all IC correspondence for Dr Hannibal Lecter here.

Comments

[il_mostro]

[Hannibal is sipping his tea delicately, listening in turn to Legato. After all, the man heard out Hannibal's concerns. He was here to offer advice and feedback on what Hannibal's options were. It would be rude to interrupt with churlish behavior.]

I think it is meant as both. [Answering only where there seems to be a question of Will's motivations.]

Indeed. If I were back in my own world - and I was this threatened .... well. I would clean house and leave.

[endthem]

[That's all the feedback he needs, honestly. Any argument beyond that would be nitpicking details, as far as he's concerned.]

And I imagine that you'd had a lot more room to move around in at home. I think you'd agree that size of this particular cage necessitates certain changes in behavior.

[Whether that behavior is altering what sort of people to eat, putting a genocide on hold, or deciding what to do when cornered in a pit full of super-powered enemies.]

What would likely be a clean break away from a threat at home would only be rushing out into their sights here.

[il_mostro]

Naturally. One has to be much more cautious in one's true nature here. The threat is higher, the punishments more dangerous than any I faced in my world. [He is quiet for a moment.] I feel confident in my skills, on my own terms, to avoid scandal or exposure.

[A twist of his lips.] Will, as always, has proven to be a wild card that I cannot put my trust in. It could too easily be switched over if he felt threatened -- even if I was not threatening him.

[endthem]

You don't think he may remain satisfied with the point he has made if you give him no other reason--as far as you can predict--to feel threatened?

[And here he pauses for a moment. Flexing his left hand once, he considers his next words before speaking again.]

...Have I mentioned that this is not the first extradimensional prison I have found myself spirited away to?

[il_mostro]

I .... honestly do not know. I believe I feel unease because I do not know why he does not want to destroy me in the first place. According to him, and his lovers, all I ever gave him was torture and punishment. [Hannibal's voice is actually ... bitter. Such a meaningful relationship, broken down to nothing more than, 'All he ever did was hurt me.'

He looked up, one eyebrow raising.] Indeed?

[endthem]

[That bitter tone he hears in the other's voice is a good clue. And being that he's speaking to a psychologist, he won't go into his usual monologues about emotional investments and manipulation, and how it's tied to the inherent flaws in humanity.

For now, at least, he will rein himself in and continue to frame everything in how it pertains to strategy.]

I may be relatively new to this city, but I spent more than two years in the previous one before being brought here. There, I learned firsthand how differently everything plays out when trapped in a small cage with your enemies, many of which are creatures far more powerful than you could have previously imagined.

[He lifts a few fingers to rub at his temple.] I also learned exactly what happens when you run out into the open when there is truly nowhere to go. You give them something to chase, when they are already frustrated and hungry to dig their teeth into something. Trust me when I say that regardless of how threatened you may be feeling by this, you cannot take that route here and come out intact on the other side.

[il_mostro]

[Hannibal looks up from his tea-cup, listening with a quiet intensity that would unnerve some people. He had no doubts that the other man would not even bat an eyelash. They both know his Master, after all. Instead, Hannibal takes another sip of his tea and keeps his tongue silent and his gaze steady on the young man.]

Well. Then I suppose I shall not run out into the middle of the street, screaming my crimes at the top of my lungs. [Completely dead-pan, that, before he takes up the tea pot to refill their cups.] Although I do agree. This cage is much smaller, and many more ripples would be felt. Staying low is the wiser plan.

[He was simply going to have to cultivate a much bigger escape plan than the last two times he had been put in this situation. Burn all his bridges behind him, if the time came where he only had two choices. Stay and die, run and fight. It was simple biological imperative -- but why give into that when he had nothing to fear at the moment? It would be foolish.]

I shall simply balance myself on the narrow blade between pragmatism, and paranoia, then.

[endthem]

[Legato's smiles are always empty, but this one is also on the flat side as he watches the other man busy with the tea. He takes his time, he waits with measured politeness, and he stirs in his glut of sugar before he responds.]

That night I'd first noticed your activities in the city, I'd sensed every move with my eyes closed, from a block and a half away. While I'm not claiming that there are many who can do what I do, I would like to press the point that running through the middle of the city with blood on your hands is not what it will take for them to notice your guilt and set them on your trail.

[He is not trying to completely trigger the man's paranoia either, so he doesn't leave much of a pause before continuing.]

When I say that the game is different in these tight spaces, I mean it, and I mean it for all parties involved. Neither side wants a war when there is no room to move, and when there are larger, more insidious targets over all of our heads. Honesty, diplomacy, and compromise go much farther here than they would in a place where you are the biggest monster around to hunt.

[il_mostro]

[Hannibal arched a cool eyebrow at the word 'activities'. Tsk, it was more than something one would do when one was looking for a day outing. However, they were trying to be subtle after all. Hannibal put the tea down, before folding his hands together.]

So are you saying that I should, perhaps, be more open with my activities? As so to build more ... honesty and diplomacy? [He knew very well where the man was coming from, but he was not certain at why Legato was belaboring the point that Hannibal had already agreed to ... unless.] Legato, are you and your master up to something you need help in disgusing?