maskormenace | 01

[The voice that comes across the network has a note of disconnection to it, maybe from shock of someone finding themselves bustled through Surprise! Superhero introduction. An accent twists his words, something guttural from the Baltic states. The occasional lilt of French pronunciation can make it a little harder to identify.]

My name is Doctor Hannibal Lecter.

[The video finally pops in, a young man shown in the view. His open study of the device (and the occasional too close view - maroon red irises are not attractive in most people) shows his unfamiliarity with technology. Take a good look at what frustration looks like on Hannibal Lecter. It isn't something he lets happen often. There's an abbreviated startle when he realizes that he has gotten it to work. Immediately the placid look comes back, a pure professional instead of an eighteen year old that couldn't make this alien communicator work like it was supposed to.]

[A young man who is a fully qualified doctor and is now a sous chef according to what he's been told. A chef isn't terrible, and while he liked the medical profession as much as he could be said to like anything, it's the being reduced to an assistant that bothers him the most.]

Needless to say, I am one of the new arrivals, and I am having difficulty finding Residence #12. I would appreciate any assistance. This layout is a bit confusing.

[Meaning 1951 person is a little concerned about Cars That Float And Defy Science along with figuring out the rest of it. Or that is the impression he wants to project. Hannibal is a fast learner, can accept what he cannot disprove. In a situation where he doesn't know what is surrounding him, he would prefer to seem like someone who needs the help of others. There will always be those quick to assist, to be the Good Guy. Something he finds bitterly amusing given that he's in a city of 'heroes'.]

I see what they said about this not being 1951 any longer is very true.

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[A slow blink and a counting of ten beats of his heart let Hannibal get control of the emotion that wanted to prompt a foolishly quick reply. The advantage of voice over video is that Chilton is robbed of the momentary eye-widening and twitch of his lips in the beginning of a frown before control is regained. Instead, the voice he speaks in is cooler by a degree, the accent ever so slightly more pronounced.]

It is to be expected when entering a new field of occupation. It took me three full years to complete college and medical school. It would hardly do to start a novice out as a lead.

[The name is noted. He might want to put a face with it soon.]

Surely you agree, Mr - ah - Chilton, isn't it? How helpful that it lists the name.

[Yet another cruel twist of his own doing -- if only Chilton had kept the video option rolling! His own proclivity towards control and secrecy had robbed him of that slight twitch on Hannibal's face, something he would unlikely ever see now. But he hears that coolly composed voice, and he doesn't enjoy the full bounty of what his implied insult could have wrought.]

Doctor Chilton.

[The words come more prickly than usual; while this young man was alike to his own Hannibal in competence, they were not necessarily the same. Nevertheless, the instinct to revel in that uniqueness that (any) Hannibal posed pushed Chilton to assert his own ambitions. Quite obviously it was the fault of the communicator for neglecting his title along with his name -- but Chilton still felt snubbed. He so deeply wanted to be included in those more pristine circles.]

It won't -- it wouldn't mention that, of course, but I'm a psychiatrist.

A shame it does not.

[There's a hint of pleasure to that even modulated voice, the accent fading back to tolerable levels. It's childish in a way, tit for tat, but Hannibal couldn't stop it.]

A doctor though. [That in itself is good news. He has flying cards around so surely medicine must have grown by leaps and bou- oh.] A psychiatrist. I had hoped you might be a fellow surgeon or some sort of medical doctor. Given the advancements I see around myself, I had been eager to hear of any changes there may have been.

Would you happen to know of any?

[It's an innocently enough asked and meant question.]

[That burned -- sizzling along his skin, searing at his pride, those delicate words so acutely spoken by a man less than half his age burned into his flesh. Chilton moderated his voice aptly enough, but the significant pause that he hazard before speaking condemned him all the same. That trifecta of Hannibal's disappointment, disregard, and then dismissal cauterized Chilton's retort.

Medical doctor. Indeed.]

I know of one.

[Lightly phrased, he began to tread carefully with his own words.]

Just one. Abel Gideon. His expertise lies in transplant surgery.

[If Chilton's ego had to broil, then so would the comfort of his old friend Abel Gideon, he decided.]

I believe he might already be in discussion with you.

[His tonal inflection bore something nonchalant, as if he wasn't observing every detail available.]

[While Hannibal is more perceptive than most his age, he lacks the psychological ability to pull a person apart with their own tells that he'll gain later in life. The pause is dismissed as Chilton merely thinking of someone that might fit his needs. For that consideration and mistaken politeness, Hannibal is pleased.]

I will have to put my questions to him then. Thank you, Doctor Chilton.

[This time the pause comes from Hannibal's end as a different line of thought comes to him.]

Doctor Chilton, a question if I may? In my time, there was a psychologist by the name of Walter Freeman. His transorbital lobotomies for mental issues at the time were considered one of the easiest used treatments. In France, there was some doubt that this could or would be truly a cure. He was still in practice in the United States of America when I arrived in Baltimore last month. What was the final answer on it?

[A beat -- Chilton hesitated in that cold moment because, his Hannibal or not, a Lecter has made reference to lobotomy.

There is no chill untouched, in that moment.]

Ah.

[He cleared his throat, managing a small smile by way of recovery.]

Such methodology has been, in fact, demonstrated as detrimental more than -- more than not. Chemical alteration is an ideal solution, no doubt you'll be introduced to the neurobiological implications.

01 - Video

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voice; sorry for the wait! the notif hadn't come in, so i'm backtracking everything!