Fandom Island Counseling Services and Psychiatry, Wednesday

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal had actually gotten one or two patients over the last week - it seemed that for some NPC people, even those accustomed to Fandom, living without an actual sky was a bit unnerving.

Well, at least the problems here were much more interesting than standard high-society neuroses.

After this morning's patient had left, he stayed in the office, working on paperwork. Trying to figure out if there were a world in which he was required to hold a license and/or file taxes was proving to be more of a challenge than he would have thought.



[OOC: Open post! The doctor is in!]

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[myownface]

Sparkle had been invited over for lunch, so... so here Sparkle came, looking a little worse for the wear. He still hadn't put his makeup on, but he was more fastidiously clean than usual, otherwise. There was still a slight haze of lemon-scented household cleaners clinging to his clothes.

But he looked tired, like maybe he hadn't slept in entirely too long. Which wasn't the case, really. He'd basically slept like the dead once his head his his pillow in his own bed the last couple of nights. It was a different sort of tired that was hanging around him today.

He was chewing on his lip as he raised a hand to knock. Then decided knocking was too much effort. So he rang the bell, instead.

With his forehead.

Some things never changed.

[sharp_as_knives]

The bell rang in both buildings, so Hannibal came to answer it, and this gave him the advantage of seeing Sparkle for a minute from the side. He took in the sight and narrowed his eyes a bit before making some noise.

"Over here."

[myownface]

"Huh-- oh." Sparkle licked his lips and tried not to look as awkward as he felt as he straightened up again and made his way back down the front step. "Sorry, habit. You, uh, you've got the office going, huh? I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

He could go.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Not at all. Please." Hannibal waved him in. "I was only waiting for you to arrive to stop for lunch. Besides, this will give you a chance to see the new rooms."

[myownface]

"Ooh, yeah, I still haven't," Sparkle replied, making his way inside and pausing in the doorway to take a look around. He was curious, but a little jumpy, making that first look around into a thorough one. Unfamiliar spaces weren't sitting terribly well with him today. "Looks like a nice setup, though."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Thank you," Hannibal said, "I quite like it."

He gathered his jacket and closed out of what he'd been working on, then waved Sparkle back toward the door. "Shall we head to the kitchen?"

[myownface]

Sparkle nodded his 'yes' so fast it was a wonder he didn't give himself whiplash.

"Please? I mean, yes. I mean... the kitchen sounds great. Uh. I can help with... whatever, or something, maybe?"

He needed to keep busy or he was going to go nuts. He already had big ambitious supper plans for tonight. He'd made a shopping list as long as his arm for Atton to fill, involving basically any meat that didn't immediately make him turn green when he saw it on a recipe website.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Of course, if you like." Hannibal led the way there and exchanged his jacket for an apron, getting one for Sparkle as well. "I've made most of the sandwiches already; they only need to be reheated and constructed. However, there will be more gravy than we need. If you would like to cut potatoes?"

[myownface]

Sparkle chewed on his lip, again, letting that kind of percolate for a few seconds before, "Oh. For fries?"

For that particular fry dish he liked so much? The Canadian one? That thing?

He wasn't slow on the uptake, honest. He was just distracted, a little.

[sharp_as_knives]

"I believe I've curds as well," Hannibal prompted as he got out the parts for the sandwiches.

He was happy to poke and prompt for now; either Sparkle would focus, or he'd lose a finger cutting the potatoes.

[myownface]

"Oh... poutine," Sparkle said, nodding a little bit. Kind of on autopilot, he went rummaging for the potatoes. "Haven't had that in a while. Missed Canada Day, I guess, too."

Somehow, they just kept getting more and more shitty every year.

"I miss anything else?"

He didn't even really know what day it was, anymore. So there had to be something.

[sharp_as_knives]

"There was a day when everybody was forced to tell the truth," Hannibal answered. "And a day when it stormed glitter, and the flamingos ended up worse than ever. I imagine you would have liked that."

[myownface]

"Oh, man, I missed the glitter?" Sparkle didn't quite have it in him to work up a good pout, but he was at least frowning a little as he surfaced with a few potatoes in hand. "Last time it did that, I filled bags and bags with the stuff. Used it all up on my last dance as a student."

[imafuturist]

Clearly he'd been looking at the wrong high-society socialites. But that was what happened when you avoided the wonder that was New York.

Tony had not noticed the new business until he'd gone on a food run at JARVIS' incessant nagging about how long it had been since he'd surfaced from his workshop for air. And food. And a shower. Sleep. Look, the list could really go on. But when he had noticed it, he popped his head in to check it out. God only knew how much people on this island needed therapy.

Not him, of course.

"Hello?"

[sharp_as_knives]

Well, Baltimore socialites were rather dull in that respect. Profitable, but dull. Then again, Hannibal's entire world was rather dull compared to Tony's.

Hannibal looked up at Tony's voice, then got up to shake hands. "Hello. Mr. Stark, isn't it?" It was easy to remember one of the few other men on the island he'd ever seen wearing a suit.

[imafuturist]

For now. The X-Mansion blew up waaaay more than the Avengers one did. Just sayin'.

"Tony, please," he said with an amiable smile as he shook Hannibal's hand. "I thought you were a teacher."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal hadn't quite moved into Westchester yet, though. For pretty much exactly that reason.

"Tony." Hannibal nodded and smiled. "Then you must call me Hannibal. I am a teacher. But I find that old habits - or occupations - die hard, apparently. Besides," he gestured to take in the island, "can you think of a place with more need?"

Not Tony, of course, but everyone else.

[imafuturist]

"Here?" Tony said, trying and failing to look serious. "Nah. It's such a quiet, small town."

If you were okay with alien invasions and dimensional nexuses.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal chuckled. "I'll grant you small. And there was a time when everybody went deaf, if that qualifies as 'quiet'."

He waved toward his cabinet. "Can I get you a glass of something? I have several wines and beers, brandy and scotch, and tea."

[imafuturist]

Tony hesitated, still pretty mindful of the few things he remembered from that weird weekend. "Tea. That's like coffee from across the pond, right?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"It's caffeinated and hot," Hannibal said. "I have coffee as well, but I'd have to go back to the house for that; I haven't got a second machine yet."

He set about heating water. "If you enjoy a stronger taste, I have a smoked tea that's quite good."

[imafuturist]

"Anything with caffeine works for me," Tony said cheerfully. "You learn to not be picky in post-grad."

[sharp_as_knives]

That earned him a grin. "And in residency. Though I still preferred my own to the cafeteria's." As the water heated, he got out the pot and the lapsang souchong.

"What is your post-graduate work in? I don't think I've ever asked."

[imafuturist]

And Tony would have eaten coffee grounds if left without a coffee maker. It was just sad.

"Uh, a few things," Tony said, looking around the room as he waited. "Mechanical engineering, computer programming, little bit of chemistry, little bit of mathematics..."

He shrugged.

"Glorified tech support."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Is that really what it feels like to you?" Hannibal asked curiously. "It sounds like quite a useful array of things to me."