InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Taurus."

Erik (i_haunt) wrote in we_coexist,
@ 2013-08-10 00:22:00

Entry tags:

erik, hannibal lecter, zz:status complete

Repair (Hannibal)
(Backdated to this night)

The hanging clock read 7:39. Erik finally rose from his desk chair and eased his way toward the door. With the help of his assistant, they'd managed to call everyone to cancel the evening's work schedule. Tomorrow, he was sure the City would mend the damage done to his precious Opera House, and practice and work would go on as usual. He would not allow the season to be set back yet again. It had suffered too many delays already.

Fortunately, the Hulk's destruction had not harmed any of the ones who worked here, although some of those with more delicate constitutions who had been within the Opera House walls were shaken. He was uncertain he could say that the sets and props were undamaged, however. He needed to see for himself.

Gritting his teeth, he moved carefully down the evening-lit hall toward the stage. Light headed, he set his gloved hand against the wall and kept it there, letting it help him walk toward his destination. There were none within the Opera House now to see his weakness. But the climb up the steps backstage was far more difficult than it should have been. He was obliged to pause half-way, his grip on the railing so tight as to bruise his palm.

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i_consume
2013-08-14 10:39 pm UTC (link)

"Yes." Hannibal smiled. "You are very aware of that. Else you'd not undergone the surgery that saved your life and allowed you to marry the woman that you love. I'm glad that you recall it. I would hate to have to employ it yet again to remind you. Which, I'd like you to know, I would do again and again. Keep that in mind for the future."

He took no offense to the tone of Erik. He knew that stubbornness could be a gift and an annoyance all at the same time. The man was but a human, Hannibal had seen that for himself, yet he seemed to think that he could just brush off most of the things that humans could not.

And with Hannibal at his side as his doctor, perhaps he could.

"Oh, I am very aware of whom Enigma thinks she loves. We had a lovely chat. Had you informed me that you intended to take her, or that you even wanted her, Erik, I would have done more to have her release assured. It could have been far easier. I had thought that you would be pleased enough with the trial and her time in prison. I apologize for my incorrect assumption."

He approached and looked at the wound before touching it. He could tell by Erik's posture and color that it wasn't comfortable, and he didn't wish to create any undue pain.

"She cannot know the true meaning of love, my friend, because she does not yet love herself. She cannot love herself until she stops trying to please everybody else in the world that she comes into contact with. But tell me, how is that things have gone, if not the way you wished?"

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i_haunt
2013-08-14 11:59 pm UTC (link)

Although Erik didn't agree with Hannibal's reasoning for why Enigma couldn't know the true meaning of love (for one could hardly say that Erik had ever learned to love himself -- and yet, he loved Christine very much), the composer still agreed with Hannibal's assessment. She didn't know the true meaning. And it seemed less and less possible to bring her to the understanding - now more than ever.

When Hannibal posed his question, Erik frowned. "I tried fantasy, first. She saw completely through it. Then I staged my death before her. When I came to, she believed herself to be someone else - an 'Effie Nashton'. She acted as if she were a child, even younger than her years professed, and wholeheartedly denied her own actions as Enigma. She was never my prisoner; she'd agreed to come with me to work through how to deserve the love she's been given. But when I was sure there was nothing more I could do to reach her, I didn't try to stop her husband when he arrived."

He grimaced. "I am not pleased with the damage he left in payment for my kindness."

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i_consume
2013-08-15 12:03 am UTC (link)

He'd pulled on his gloves and begun the work he was needed for as Erik spoke. He was more than capable of having the conversation and fixing the torn flesh at the same time. But then something interesting came out of Erik's mouth. Something that pulled at him.

Hannibal paused in his work to look at his friend.

"Effie Nashton." He knew that name. Well. "Effie Nashton is who she lived as for a long time. A regular girl with a regular life. She tried very hard to be a good girl for a long time. Enigma is the name given her by father. The man who she wishes most to please."

He gave this much consideration as he bent back and returned his hands to the job they did as if he'd been born doing it. Hannibal worked as fast as he could so that the pain wouldn't be drawn out.

"I wonder." But he kept his musings to himself.

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i_haunt
2013-08-15 12:17 am UTC (link)

Grudgingly grateful for the speed at which Hannibal worked, Erik held himself stone-still and stared stoically at the wall ahead of him. He told himself that the pain was annoying rather than painful, a trifle that shouldn't have slowed him down and would be dismissed soon enough. The trick was a common one for him, one he easily fell into. He endured without complaint.

The insight Hannibal provided on Enigma was interesting indeed. Erik found himself wishing to kill the father that had driven the girl into the state she was in -- not to revenge Engima on him, but to break the hold that Hannibal suggested. With her father out of the way, perhaps she would be able to understand. Perhaps she would not be a danger to his wife, if she were to understand.

Killing Enigma would be a simpler solution. Even still, he was loathed to do it. He knew that her husband was a very good man, and he could not bring himself to destroy the one Bruce Banner loved. The simpler solution would have to be set aside.

"What is it that you wonder?" Erik finally asked.

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i_consume
2013-08-15 12:23 am UTC (link)

Hannibal finished before he answered Erik's questioning, placing aside his instruments and reading new bandages. Things that were actually made to be bandages, at that.

"If while in this state, she has no idea of the things that she's done, that perhaps her emotional bondage can be undone. Obliterated. I've seen her file. I've spoken to her on these matters. She's entirely wrapped up in him. She cannot have her own life while he exists for her."

He began the job of putting the bandages on after swabbing the wound with the stinging orange Betadine.

"But I have to wonder at how deep it runs. I trust in you to know that it isn't an act. How massive is the fissure, however, how damaged is she now. Or undamaged, as the case may be. Is it amnesia, or a reversal? These are things I don't expect you to know off hand, mind. Musing aloud, is all."

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i_haunt
2013-08-16 11:00 pm UTC (link)

The wound felt on fire. Erik maintained his stoic expression, the stillness in his form, but his voice slipped slightly from its normal smooth musicality to a more metallic rasp.

"She acted far younger than 19," he answered. "Were I to infer from her behavior, I would choose a reversal over amnesia. She seemed to recognize me, but only vaguely."

He wondered just what other skills Hannibal possessed in his repertoire. "She is a threat to my wife," he said carefully. "Or, she was, before. Now, she is horrified of the idea of crime in general. This was not my goal. But it will suffice for now. If it does not hold, then..."

Erik frowned.

Then he would kill her father. He knew it already. The decision had yet to be voiced, but his mind was set.

It had been long since he'd taken a life.

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i_consume
2013-08-16 11:14 pm UTC (link)

He nodded. The wrapping of Erik's wound was done in silence. Contemplating the things that he was hearing. He couldn't know the facts of it unless he saw for himself the state of her. He wouldn't know what he would be able to do until he met this new mentality in person.

"One way or the other, Erik," Hannibal said in a tone that conveyed deep promise. "Enigma and Effie Nashton will be of no further threat to you or Christine."

It could not stand.

There was no plan as of that moment, he had no idea of what would come next. He didn't know where the girl was, and had no idea if he could find that out. And if he did, he had no idea if he would be able to get to her. But he would do his best.

"If I find anything out, I'll let you know."

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i_haunt
2013-08-17 12:55 am UTC (link)

He shifted his weight back onto his feet again and carefully slid his shirt back over his shoulders. He needed a change of clothing before he left for the manor, or risk terrifying his wife. She would like like to see him injured. There would be little helping that, but he could ease her into the knowledge if he was careful.

Gratitude pressed heavily on the man. It was an unfamiliar weight, but not necessarily unwelcome.

"Pianos," he said, but the tone carried some of his appreciation for Hannibal's intervention - all of it. And then, to forestall any possible objection, he agreed before he was asked: "And then I shall retire for the evening."

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i_consume
2013-08-17 02:29 pm UTC (link)

Hannibal wasn't going to push Erik for any thanks, that wasn't why he was going to do whatever it was that he was going to do. And he knew already that the man wasn't particularly used to having friends or having people do things for him. Hannibal wasn't going to make him more uncomfortable just because of a pair of words he didn't particularly need to hear.

He was aware of the way that Erik felt. Posture, the look in his eyes.

"Yes. Let us have a look at the pianos and see what needs to be done." Now that Erik was tended to, he discovered that he was also fairly concerned about what have may happened to the instruments that he worked with so closely.

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