il_mostro | IC - INBOX/VOICEMAIL/TEXT/THREATENING LETTER

....Well yes I had a particularly traumatic childhood. It is one of the reasons I am a doctor.

[Hannibal just manages not to look amused at this.] You make a valid point, though. Shared trauma does not give one the right to superiority. [Being able to kill a man at a full run does.]

I will be happy to help you however I can, my dear. Also, grace under pressure might be the way I explain you to my dear other friends from now on. It is so .. you.

Mmm. I'm not going to ask what it involved because that would be rude.

[and she nods] I wish more people got that. [that would be quite an accomplishment]

Thank you so much. For both the help and the description. I really appreciate both.

Your manners, as always, are impeccable.

As do I, my dear. As do I. [One he is quite good at.]

Well, I appreciate you, so we are even.

Thank you, I do try.

Maybe in time, they will. In the meantime, all we can do is try to have patience with them. [then it's too bad the Creator is in hiding]

Sounds like it.

Patience just happens to be one of my best virtues. [Hannibal smiled benignly, before he nodded once more.]

At any rate ... what else can I do for you, my dear?

No, not really. I just wanted to check in to see what could be done about what's going on here. Which you've been very helpful with, so thank you.

Oh well, then let us change our visit to a social one. [Hannibal smiled at her, before he walked over to his cupboard.]

Can I tempt you with dessert?

You can definitely tempt me with dessert. What did you have in mind?

Well let me see ... I have a lovely flan, some Russian tea cakes, as well as some raspberry tarts I was experimenting with. What can I tempt you with today?

[she grins] Oh, no! I love flan and I love raspberry tarts! How can I choose between them? [a pause] Decide for me, it's an impossible choice.

Oh well - clearly - I should put out both.

[Which he does, pulling both beautifully wrapped trays from the fridge, and putting both of them in front of Tinya. He cuts a piece of flan and puts a tart on the plate, then pushes them into Tinya's waiting hands.]

Oh, you don't have to do that! Do you? [not that she'll complain if he does.

if she didn't know better, with his manners she'd assume he was a Bgztlian gentleman. as it is, he's a nice reminder of home. not like her grandmother. or her grandfather.

and she takes the plate with a gracious smile] You're so good to me, you know that?

I do not have to - I want to.

[He smiled as he put the plates back. He had given himself a raspberry tart, and then went to fill their cups once more.]

I know.

Then it would be the height of ingratitude to refuse.

[she accepts her plate and the refill graciously, neatly taking a forkful of flan and eating with an obviously pleased expression]

I appreciate it. It doesn't happen as much as it used to, but sometimes I still get treated like a kid. It's frustrating because where I come from, the age of majority is fourteen.

We can never have that.

[He sipped his coffee once more, a thoughtful tip of his head.]

Is it not truly amazing that people cannot see growth in another persons eyes? Especially when you can see the aging in another person's eyes.

It is strange. I'd like to think I act more maturely than your average sixteen-year-old, but I guess people see the number first and then see me.

It is an unfortunate side-affect of the normal mind, my dear. Very few people have been through what we have been through at a young age.

[a small, ladylike snort] "The normal mind." The normal mind could use a bit of an overhaul, as far as I'm concerned. This place--it takes everything most people took for granted, and turns it on its head. Why shouldn't "the normal mind" be among them? [a small laugh] Not that I'm bitter or anything, not that. Never that.

Oh, not that in the slightest.

[He is pensive for a moment.] Although I will be truthful, there is no such thing as a normal mind. At least not from a psychological standpoint.

[sounding curious] Really? So we're all varying degrees of messed up?

Essentially, yes. Anyone who is completely 'normal' is anything but. [Hannibal's lips curved up.] Anyone who tells you differently - is more than likely a serial killer.

That would explain all of the interviews with neighbors of serial killers. "He seemed so normal!" In the meantime, he has a backyard full of dead sex workers.

I am going to be honest -- even as a psychiatrist I do not understand people who target sex workers. Are they not simply doing their best in a world that has not been stacked for them?

Yeah, it's just--gross. Even where I'm from where sex work is completely legal, most people don't grow up saying "I want to be a holo-girl!" Or sell themselves in the darker corners of Metropolis. Honestly, I'd understand it better if they were chopping up their co-workers at your average office job. At least that's both shitty and stressful and you have a valid target.

Well that is an interesting ... perspective. [Amusement touched his lips, and his eyes.]

IC - INBOX/VOICEMAIL/TEXT/THREATENING LETTER

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