The park, Monday evening

[sharp_as_knives]

By the time he got home Sunday night, Hannibal had had quite some time to think, and he came to a few conclusions:

1. This was the most interesting his life had been in some time.
2. He hated to let good meat go to waste.
3. He rarely had a chance to openly kill and cook things that had displeased him.
4. He knew some very good recipes for shark.

He gathered his tools and utensils and headed back early, then stopped to speak with anyone he'd met previously to ask them to spread the word - there would be a dinner party just before sunset in the park. Cooking to happen just before that, if anyone cared to watch; butchering for some time before that, if anyone wanted to help.


[Open to everyone! Let's eat shark! Feel free to mod the dishes - if it's gourmet and sharky (or fishy and could be adapted to shark), he'd make it!]

Comments

Help cut up sharks!

[sharp_as_knives]

You know it's cathartic. As a good psychiatrist, Hannibal feels people should get to let out their aggression.

Re: Help cut up sharks!

[gunslingerpose]

Nikolai had, sanely, decided to stay inside when the freaking sharks started falling down on the island from the sky yesterday. So far as animal rains went, he'd take the rainbow ducklings over the sharks any day of the week.

"The island's resident gourmet can't resist making good use of free shark?"

He was smirking a little as he stepped over to investigate, because, really, cutting up large man-eating fish was something you didn't get to see in the park around here every day of the week.

Re: Help cut up sharks!

[sharp_as_knives]

"Of course not." Hannibal nodded hello to him. "Besides, I believe in this case turnabout is fair play. One of these ruined a very good suit yesterday."

Re: Help cut up sharks!

[gunslingerpose]

"Which is a crying shame," Nikolai offered, still looking fairly amused. "I'm impressed you were out in that weather, though. You don't really strike me as a shark-punching type."

Not many people really struck him as the shark-punching type, in fairness. It was a pretty specific type.

Re: Help cut up sharks!

[sharp_as_knives]

It was a Batman type, really.

"Ah, no." Hannibal shook his head as he gutted the shark and set the entrails aside. "I came to my office to check on some herbs I'd left. It never occurred to me that sharks would still be living in the streets when I left." Really, did this island have no scientific rules?

Re: Help cut up sharks!

[gunslingerpose]

"Pretty sure you can drown a shark in water if you stop it from swimming. I read about that or saw it in a movie somewhere," Nick mused, "so it really doesn't make much sense that these ones lasted so long out of water completely. But I guess if nothing else, at least it keeps them fresh."

He gave the shark guts a bit of a side-eye, and then nodded back at Hannibal.

"You need a hand, there? I have no experience with sharks in particular, but I've cleaned a fish or two growing up, and it looks like you have a few to go through, there."

Re: Help cut up sharks!

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal smiled. "That will do. Do you need a knife?"

Re: Help cut up sharks!

[gunslingerpose]

"I'd appreciate one. Whatever you've brought along is bound to be better for this than my pocketknife."

He'd rescued it out of his suitcase on Saturday after something like a month without it, now. He wasn't actually in any hurry to cover the thing with shark innards, though.

"I'm assuming you've bled them, if you're already at the cleaning stage?"

Re: Help cut up sharks!

[sharp_as_knives]

"I took care of that on the beach." Hannibal waved at the lovely little park. "I thought it best to keep this neat."

He opened his case and waved at the knives. "Take your pick." They were all very good knives; it was a matter of pride to have the best tools.

Watch the cooking!

[sharp_as_knives]

If you want to talk, he's willing; if you want to run errands, he'll put you to work. If you have good suggestions, he'll take them. If you want things breaded and fried, you'll get glowered at.

Re: Watch the cooking!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"That's a lot of shark," Josh commented. "I mean, I heard a few ricochet off the roof--something I'd never choose to happen again, in case anyone cares--but this is a lot of shark. Are you gonna grill some? I had it that way in Hawaii and it was insanely good."

Re: Watch the cooking!

[sharp_as_knives]

"Probably most of it," Hannibal agreed. "It seems the best way to prepare this much meat." He grimaced at it. "I imagine some of it will still spoil, unless we can find another use for it." There really was far too much shark.

"Although I must say, as I do my best to keep to keep to ecologically sound foods, I've never had shark fin soup before; I'm rather looking forward to it."

Re: Watch the cooking!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Oooh," Josh said, smiling back. "Never tried it either. And I know people involved in shelters in DC--I could make some calls, see if they'd want some fish?"

Re: Watch the cooking!

[sharp_as_knives]

"That would be very good of you. We can finish cleaning it if they'd like it raw, or a simple grill if they would rather." Not that Hannibal's idea of "simple" was most folks', but it would be simpler.

Re: Watch the cooking!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"I'll ask right now," Josh said, flipping his phone up and pressing a button. "Hey, Margaret, it's me. We have several tons of fresh shark meat here--seriously, don't ask--"

He rolled his eyes toward Hannibal. "She's asking."

Re: Watch the cooking!

[sharp_as_knives]

"An unexpected windfall?" Hannibal suggested.

Hey, cannibalism puns weren't the only ones he could make.

Re: Watch the cooking!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh snorted, then repeated that exactly to Margaret, even though she wouldn't get why that was funny.

"I'm not gonna turn down reusing a punchline that good," he said, grinning.

Eat/Mingle/Have fun!

[sharp_as_knives]

Get to know your neighbors! Eat the things that tried to eat you yesterday!

Re: Eat/Mingle/Have fun!

[myownface]

Sparkle had wandered by mostly out of curiosity. Hannibal had said he was thinking of cooking up some shark, and Sparkle had never eaten shark. It seemed a bit like a win/win scenario, here.

Besides, he couldn't help but respect any guy who figured out so quickly that normal was the new abnormal after coming to this place. After his conversation with Ender in Philosophy class today about fight or flight and just what lengths this island went to in order to mess people up, he kind of just wanted to hang around an adult who still had a comparatively normal outlook on life.

"Jeez, you weren't kidding." He actually sounded a little awestruck as he looked at just how much shark there was for the offering. "There's enough shark here to keep people eating for weeks."

Re: Eat/Mingle/Have fun!

[sharp_as_knives]

"Probably more than we can use," Hannibal agreed. "I'm wondering if there are fishermen or perhaps an aquarium or zoo that could use some of this. And hello." He nodded pleasantly. "It's good to see you made it out of things whole."

Re: Eat/Mingle/Have fun!

[myownface]

"Hung around at the shop until the weather passed by and then made my way through town after sunup for class," Sparkle replied with a little shrug as he leaned over a plate, marveling at the wealth of food. "There's a zoo in Baltimore that might be interested, if it comes to that. And an aquarium, too, but I've only ever been to the zoo. They might wonder where the hell this much fresh shark came from, though."

Re: Eat/Mingle/Have fun!

[sharp_as_knives]

"Point taken." Hannibal smirked at him. "How many handbags and shoes do you think this would make?"

Re: Eat/Mingle/Have fun!

[myownface]

"Dunno," Sparkle replied with a laugh and a clap of his hands. "You know how to cure sharkskin leather? Because they would be the most satisfying boots in the whole damn world if we could pull it off."

Spite continued to be the happiest thing in Sparkle's life, these days. Funny, that.

"Hell, I'd take up shoemaking as a hobby if we could figure that out."

Re: Eat/Mingle/Have fun!

[sharp_as_knives]

"I imagine we could find instructions." You could find instructions for everything these days. He reached into his bag for his tablet and handed it to...the boy whose name he realized he never had gotten.

"You look that up, I'll get you some very satisfying food. And forgive my rudeness, I never did get your name?"

Re: Eat/Mingle/Have fun!

[myownface]

Sparkle found himself staring at a tablet that was worth more than he made in a month at the clothing store, kind of baffled that it was suddenly in his hands at all.

"It's, no lie, Sparkle." He managed to tear his eye off the tablet for a moment, giving Hannibal a shrug of his shoulders. "My mother thought it'd be a great idea to name me after one of those little sparklers, you know? Because naming your kid after cheap pyrotechnics can't possibly go wrong."

He glanced back down at the tablet, and then started poking around on it. Because why not look up curing sharkskin, right? Google had everything else, these days.

"You know, I didn't catch yours, either?"