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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[It's the cadence of Richard's speech patterns and his word choices that speak more to Hannibal that what he is saying. Perhaps it is class or breeding. Perhaps it is simply the ability of one wolf able to tell the bark of another wolf (domesticated or wild) over a mongrel dog. Or perhaps it is easier to recognize even on a subconscious level another who was of the world but not part of it. Who knew with the circles Hannibal's mind turned in. The end result is the same: he reacts more to him than he has most of the others that have communicated with him.]

It is a bit, but America has always been so, has it not? A young nation that is much like schoolchildren running and shouting in the museum while other patrons are trying to enjoy it in quiet.

[The faint smile he has is the first 'real' one he's had since behind here.]

It is what one makes of it as they say.

Edited (had to finish the thought there) 2014-06-04 07:05 (UTC)

[ The smile on his face is pleasant, and his eyebrows lift. It wasn't the same Hannibal, no, but Shade understood how things worked here. They often wouldn't be -- after all one of the Flashes was terribly young for being himself -- and why wouldn't Hannibal Lecter be young when he reappeared as well.

He wondered if the man was just as much a lover of foods as the first? Shade always seemed to find the most interesting of bedfellows. ]

Mmm. Yes, for the most part. There are...pockets -- here and there -- where it's much more bearable. It's simply a matter of looking, or perhaps it's a matter of being fortunate enough to live in a world where they exist.

[ Where it exists, really. He has a certain fondness for the city he resided in, but it was almost european in everything but location. ]

Here we have no such luck, but there are high points, of course. It's hardly boring.

[Hannibal Lecter always had been a man to break the mold or be something beyond what he appeared to be, but there are flashes of the man he will be in his eyes or words. But eighteen was a long way from where he would be in either 1977 or 2013 when his secrets would be uncovered. A sword might be heated, hammered and cooled many times before its blade was complete.]

[Hannibal's unending curiosity is on exhibit as he studies Shade's face as if searching for some familiar sign.]

Nothing comes without putting an effort into finding it.

[There's a twist of slyness in that smile, a flicker of his younger age than the blankness an older self would have shown. A challenge maybe.]

Should I ask what you consider these 'high points' to be or do you intend that I find them out myself?

[ The way his head tilted, as if he were considering the answer said enough. He held his hand to his chin, in careful consideration, before he began to speak. The Shade, after all, had certain opinions as to what was interesting, and what was not.

He was a connoisseur of it, you could say. ]

Superpowers do often encourage things to happen. You'll find that dull moments are difficult to find, and we imports are more like the hurricane itself, causing chaos wherever we go.

[ He didn't seem bothered by that, in the least. If anything, his smile grew a touch wider, and he drummed his fingers against his chair. ]

They also seem to be relatively...unequipped to handle such things. They may brand us, but beyond that, they've been particularly hands off -- unless you leave the country.

[ A slight sigh at that. All the power to travel the world, and he suspects he would be in dire straits, if he left. ]

[While he's not skilled enough in psychology to pick up the signals he would, Hannibal is able to see a man who's company he could appreciate. Perhaps an ally or at least someone familiar with this strange new place.]

[Perhaps.]

Superpowers.

[Of that, Hannibal looks like the true sceptic born of science's teachings. Surely he has his own, but having just arrived, he may not have realized them. Could be hiding them. Could have ones too weak to be concerned with. At least that's what he's attempting to put off to anyone watching.]

What happens if we leave the country? Can they do something to us?

[That is true curiosity. Hannibal isn't one to accept bounds and limits. He hopscotched across lines when the Soviets and remains of the looters held areas. To be restricted, especially to America, isn't something he appreciates.]

Yes, indeed. Superpowers. Are you familiar with them, from your world?

[ He almost sounds chatty, when he talks about them. Like it was an idle curiosity, something he always found fascinating, but there were other, more important things to consider.

He peered over the rims of his sunglasses at the camera, his lips curled in distaste. ]

Yes, I'm sure they can. They provided me with a warning, of course, but... [ He waved a hand, offscreen, like it was nothing. ]

They warned me, after all. I'm hardly the sort that would be an easy catch, after all, and yet they showed no qualms with warning me.

[ The Shade, after all, was the sort that could step and find himself in another part of the world, too used to walking where he wished, eating what he wished, traveling, stealing, doing what he wanted at all times.

He disliked being so constrained. His face and voice say it all. ]

We do not have anything of that sort in my time. Or world, as you say. There are myths of extra-sensory perception, but those are mostly from others seeking to make a name for themselves in a new area of what could loosely be called 'science'.

[There is that snobbery of what Hannibal can believe as 'real science' meets the metaphysical. It isn't until in the 1960s that the parapsychologists will ever gain any real ground.]

[The revealing of eyes is what draws Hannibal's attention to them. He doesn't believe in the windows to the soul thing because he doesn't believe in souls, but they are often telling. Even though he had no intentions of leaving just yet, Hannibal has a deep dislike for the feel of any chain about his neck.]

How strange. It reminds me of an ant farm. Import people but confine them to see what they do.

[He says nothing more of wondering how their monitoring is, if they are capable of seeing them beyond the borders. His own gaze dips down to where his tattoo lies hidden.]

Indeed. Let's see how much chaos we create in such little time -- particularly when they nto only import us, but provide some of us with powers if we didn't already have any -- and allow those of us with them to keep them.

[ He almost sounded -- and looked -- amused. Like all of this wasn't so much beneath him as it was something that wouldn't bother him -- at all. Like it was the small things that simply bounced off a wall. ]

Although I haven't tried to ask permission. There's something that...rankles about asking for permission to travel where I wish to travel. I have the ability, why should I ask?

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