Cherry Wine - Hozier
Jealousy, a mental cancer.
When Hannibal pulled up his driveway he killed the engine. The closer he came to his home he noticed just how dark it was. But a soft light had shown through his great room where he presumed India to be.
He unlocked the door quietly and slid his shoes off carefully, trying not to make noise.
Slowly he crept up behind her, she was sitting in his velvet chair in front of the fireplace. The room was vast but still, some antique furniture filled it's space. Not by any means homelike. Her eyes were closed and she was nearly hidden entirely beneath the blankets.
His head tilted, like an animal intrigued by something - a human being.
Small locks of hair covered her face, he knelt down next to her chair and brushed the strands back "I'll confess it is pleasant to look at you asleep. You're quite beautiful, India." he says in a low voice.
India's eyes fluttered open and she stirred to place the doctor "What?" she inquired as her body began to slide up against the chair's back. "I'm sorry, I passed out... I tried not to..." the girl scrunched her nose as she trailed off.
Hannibal waved it away "I'm glad you have found a home here." he said standing up "Come to the kitchen with me." the psychiatrist offered an open palm to her.
She took it and with her free hand she discarded of her blanket and let it fall off her body's borders.
She followed, fingers pulling down on her dress' sleeves.
A slow moving pace became of her, as if trying to recall how to walk again. Hannibal looked back at her, looking to hopefully meet eyes and make it easier for him to estimate her comfort zone for the moment.
He found himself amused when he found her gaze dancing around, gold speckles floated inside a brilliant green, venturing somehow. After all this she still had held an air of curiosity despite fraught he noted.
"The dessert was already prepared so I thought it would be a waste to throw it out." he paused and threw an inviting closed-lip smile her way.
Though unresponsive to his words, she was able to muster the outline of a smile. "I, uh, can't see in the dark. Could you lend me a hand until my eyes adjust?" a nervous laugh escaped her.
Her request caused him to slow his walk to a pause,"Of course." Hannibal replied simply, wrapping his arm around her back and taking one hand into his.
At first she was startled, if she asked, he'd be there just like that. It was something India wasn't used to. But she could get used to it.
He took note of how soft her hand was, but it was tender from when she struck Will in self defense. "I will tend to your hand as well. I have bandages for it, and we can put it on ice." Hannibal explained.
India nodded in agreement "Thank you." he didn't accept that however, there was vacancy to her words.
When they entered the kitchen, three prepared dishes of Crème brûlée. A slightly upset expression overcame her when she saw the spare dish, when his attention was drawn to this, Hannibal picked up the dessert and placed it into the sink.
The girl found a little more peace with that. She looked at him like a sheep to it's shepherd. When she sat down the lights slowly began to illuminate the room, her head raised to the ceiling, observing.
"For you." he brought a spoon into her line of vision. She looked at it, then at him, and took it "Thank you."
Hannibal began to pull some items from his cupboard, he pulled some beige bandages and an ice pack from his freezer. "May I borrow this?" he asked for her wounded hand "Of course, you can." India chuckles at his witticism.
He stares at her for a moment, watching her pierce the sugar with her eating utensil.
"You sprain your wrist and bruised your knuckles. You can deliever quite the punch, however." Hannibal commented as he compressed her wrist and knuckles between a tourniquet.
"Since I was attacked I started kickboxing. I don't know if it really helped all that much, but it helps you think faster." humbly elucidated the florist "I really never have been in many confrontations before, so I didn't really know what to do all that well."
If he were in her position there would be pride in his words. But she had none, she had no confidence in her words whenever it came to her to speak of herself "You're being much to modest." he said "Your form could use some work. If you'd like me to, I could show you how to perfect it."
'To my defense, I was pinned to the ground, being strangled.' snippish thoughts replied in her head, despite how she felt about the offer.
Enthused her lips split into an open lipped grin "I'd like that a lot, if you would." she laughed "But I should tell you now, I'm the equivalent to Maxwell Smart in clumsiness if you want to entangle yourself in that?"
Hannibal smiled at the reference and replied "Then, I will be Agent 99."
Setting down her spoon, India reached for a napkin from the center of the counter to wipe her face. Then a minute passed by, careful hands wrapped up her limb "How does it feel?" he asked her.
"I'm- what? Sorry?" it was clear she had almost dozed off. "I'm sorry, my hand?"
Hannibal eyed her.
"It's much better actually. Feels a little ripe, but there's not much to be done about that, is there?" He blinked and released his light grip on her wrist. She pulled it back and let it rest on her lap.
Uneasy from his focused gaze she looked him in the eye and felt her face grow pink. To save herself from embarrassment she tittered "Is this going to be a staring contest?" a crooked smile and a mid-western accent cooed at the Lithuanian and he gave a quiet smile, "Is that it?" India said now finding herself laughing a more so genuine one now.
Hannibal's unblinking eyes subtly challenging before India decided to just close her mouth and stare.
The coldness of the room raised goosebumps across her arms, the seat in which she sat offered to back so her posture was curved forward almost invading Hannibal's space.
Drying corneas and pin sized pupils did not stop him from winning against the "Staring Contest" amatuer.
A defeated blink followed by a bashful huff "You know, my teacher told me where I didn't excell in math, I did in staring off into space." she confessed mirthfully.
Hannibal laughed finally at this "Where did you go when you stared off into space?"
"My own world. Where I could be someone I couldn't. Like maybe someone good at math." India shrugged half-jokingly "I was never a numbers person."
"You can get ideas from daydreaming. Ideas you orchestrate from boredom. Most people cannot fathom the thought of that- or know how to do so." Hannibal informs empathetically "You don't have to think like the majority does. You can have imagination that they will never understand, but it comes at the cost of taking your time whenever it pleases."
"It sabotaged me in college, I'll admit. But I received help when it got that bad." she mused. Hannibal paused, he wondered what would happen if she were to become entirely consumed by her imagination. What would she drag out of her mind?
"So you daydream less then?"
"I don't." she blinked " I mean- I do. Daydream a lot. But lately no not as much, it's whenever I'm under fire."
'When she disassociated not too long ago. She must have entered a world where she could escape such an unbearable level of stress. ' Hannibal nodded competently.
"It's an excellent defense mechanism... As long as you come back from these places."
India agreed to the doctor's words "And I do. I have up to this point."
"Do you daydream, Hannibal?" the girl asked.
"I do. In fact it's something I consider to be a guilty pleasure of mine." Hannibal admits. "From the ashes of my past I formed an alternate reality that I could escape to when I am lost."
He understood. And if was nice for once to be empathized with so easily. India had fallen in love with his mind easily. She halted her train of thought, loved, what a foreign word to roll off the brink of her limbic system and into her mind.
"Your mind is a map to your peace of mind." she states the intentional play on words casually "And it is also your destination. Although it is in a way the creator of your problems?"
"That would be correct." he said.
"Are we alike, then, Hannibal?" she sprung upon him inquisitively.
"Actually, in some aspects yes. We are very alike. Why?"
"I don't know, I was just thinking about it." India made a face of nonchalance "I hope that it didn't come off odd..?"
Hannibal just barely shrugged as he leaned back in his seat "Not at all."
Her eyes drifted around the room, looking for the clock.
10:45, she had to go.
"Walk me to my car?" India asked.