Fandom Island Counseling Services and Psychiatry, Monday

[sharp_as_knives]

Vacation had been lovely, but Hannibal was pleased to be back at home, too. His patients seemed glad to see him, too. Some of them far too enthusiastically. He'd blame it on the island, but some people seemed to just be like that. And there hadn't even been any invasions while he'd been gone!

Nevertheless, he was in his office, seeing people, working on another set of wedding invitations, and open to working in friends or colleagues who might want to see him.


[Open post; the doctor is in! No OCD.]

Comments

[uncertain_dume]

It was funny how, over a week of vacation and one somewhat disagreeable conversation later, Kanan was still frothing more than a little over the whole... Vader... thing. Really. Funny. That was the word. He'd been told that the island was safe. Multiple times. Had been told flat-out not to worry about the one student that he'd had an off feeling about. And what came of it? Darth Vader. Walking into the diner on his shift. Here to intimidate that particular student. Who worked for the Emperor.

That Emperor. The one who had made the order to have half the people he'd ever known and trusted go and kill the other half. Violently and brutally. The reason he'd been on the run for eight years. The reason Caleb Dume had shed his identity and gone nameless for a year before becoming Kanan Jarrus.

And he didn't talk about it. That was the thing. Talking about it invited trouble, and he'd found it, thinking foolishly that he could discuss Vader with Skywalker, from one survivor to the other. It had cemented why he didn't talk, mostly, and had left him even more upset about the whole situation than he had been before. His knee-jerk first thought had been to try to talk to Master Kenobi about it, but he'd thought better of the idea a moment later. After all, Kenobi was Anakin's master before well he'd ever really taken Kanan as a sort of part-time wary apprentice, and if ever there had been a conflict of interest in Jedi history...

Besides, as much as he needed to vent about it, the last thing he wanted was Jedi philosophy telling him to feel it but not let it rule him, some lecture about the path to the dark side.

So this morning, trying to work a kink from his neck after having spent the night in the cockpit of the Expedient with his dog wishing he had somewhere to go, he'd gone to the next best thing. There was one other person on the island who knew who he was, after all, and listening... well... it was his job.

Convinced that this was a terrible idea, he knocked on Hannibal's door all the same.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal set down his pen and came to open the door. "Kanan. Please, come in." He waved him into the office. He wasn't terribly surprised to see Kanan, though he was mildly interested to see the man was sober.

"You seem terribly tense for someone who's only just returned from vacation."

[uncertain_dume]

He was sober because he was short on drinking money, was the sad thing, here. Kanan frowned a little at the observation, and then nodded and stepped inside.

"Had a bad run-in the other week," he admitted. "The sort that would normally see me skipping town. Since I don't exactly have anywhere to skip to, tense is what it's going to be."

[sharp_as_knives]

"I really should take you to New York," Hannibal said. "Or perhaps Tokyo - do you speak Japanese?" he asked in that language, wondering if there were an equivalent to it in Kanan's world.

[uncertain_dume]

"New York and Tokyo are still on Earth, right?" Kanan had to be sure, here. There was a pretty vast difference in scale between Earth, and an entire galaxy, after all. He frowned thoughtfully at the next part. "I... have no idea what you just said."

There were languages that sounded similar, but Japanese was about as similar to, say, Mon Calamari as French was to Ryl.

[sharp_as_knives]

"They are," Hannibal agreed. "I wanted to see if you spoke Japanese, the primary language in Tokyo, but thought it might be called something else in your galaxy. New York, then. A large city, where perhaps you'll feel more at ease. You could go there when you're feeling trapped or overwhelmed here. And you'll need winter clothes soon anyway."

He sat in one chair and waved Kanan to another.

[uncertain_dume]

"It is starting to get colder," Kanan allowed with a sigh. "And for all I know, it is a language in my galaxy. Big galaxy, thousands of sentient races, an impossible number of cultures to count... I can understand a few of them, but there's a lot of margin there for me to miss one or two."

Either way, he didn't speak it.

[sharp_as_knives]

"None of which helps if you don't speak it," Hannibal pointed out. "Being in a large city where you don't speak the language is unlikely to make you feel any more at ease. Please, sit. And tell me what it is that has you so discomfited."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan frowned, but shrugged as he made himself comfortable.

"Wouldn't be the first place I've been where Basic is rare," he noted. "But point taken. I'm not here asking for travel suggestions, anyway. It's more... somebody who came to the island for one of the students the other weekend."

He frowned a bit more.

"Mostly."

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka dropped by around her lunch break, since she hadn't talked to Papa Hannibal for a while. She didn't bring food because even she knew that hers was no good compared to his, so it'd be silly.

But she brought Mr. Bubbles and a smile, and that was usually enough.

She knocked on his door, a bit timidly, since it seemed kind of official.

What if he was busy?

[sharp_as_knives]

He was never too busy for Alluka!

"Alluka!" Hannibal smiled and held out his hand. "How are you today?"

[that_oldsaying]

She beamed at him, relieved, and reached for his hand.

"I'm good!" she said happily. "I, I just wanted to see you, if that's alright?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"Of course it is." He took her hand and led her in to sit on the couch. "I'm always pleased to see you. How have you been doing?"

[that_oldsaying]

She smoothed her skirts down as she sat like a little lady.

"I've been well," she said earnestly. "Sparkle got a fish! He's keeping it at the store and I've named it Milady."

Sparkle hadn't approved of this name yet, mind. Though Shannon has.

[sharp_as_knives]

"That's a lovely name. Is she a very ladylike fish?" Hannibal asked.

[that_oldsaying]

"She's pretty frilly," Alluka said thoughtfully. "Her finny bits are all floofy."

... Alluka didn't know much about fish.

[sharp_as_knives]

Fortunately, that wasn't a particularly important life skill.

"I look forward to meeting her," Hannibal said. "Are you helping Sparkle to care for her?"

[captainskullpoopl]

"Nice digs, Doctor Pepper," Deadpool said as he ambled on in. "You see, it works because you're a doctor and that drink never finished med school."

Yeah, this was gonna go swimmingly.

[sharp_as_knives]

...swimmingly, yes.

Hannibal nodded - more in a "humoring the madman" gesture than in agreement. "Few drinks do. Welcome - can I help you?"

[captainskullpoopl]

He was perfectly sane from one very specific perspective of reality.

"What, a guy can't show up to a therapist's office in a homemade red gimp suit for no reason?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"He can," Hannibal said, "but they generally don't. And allow me to congratulate you on your clothesmaking abilities."

Yeah, Hannibal wasn't even going to try to stick to a subject with this one.

[captainskullpoopl]

"Right? Top stitching is a bitch and a half," Deadpool said cheerfully. "So, therapy. I'm in the market. I have so many issues and that's not even counting the trade paperbacks."

[sharp_as_knives]

"I'm told the amount of tension is key." Hannibal quirked a little smile. "In top stitching and a healthy life." He waved Deadpool to a chair or sofa of his choice. "Therapy is what I'm here for. What sort of help are you hoping for?"

[captainskullpoopl]

Deadpool of course chose the sofa and laid our like he wanted to be drawn like a French girl.

"Oh, you know. The usual. A Good Will Hunting moment of emotional rawness that'll win me my first, but not last, Oscar."

[sharp_as_knives]

Whatever that meant.

"So you're hoping less to solve your issues, and more to engage in drama?"

The charge was the same either way.

Possibly with extra for hazard pay.