OOM: Curious about Sin

[cook_the_rude]

[[From here]]

The doctor's office is much as it was the last time, with the one difference that one or two of the city views may have been exchanged for languid, sensual 18th century 'harem' scenes.

Dr. Lecter opens the door and leads the way inside.

"Please, do take a seat," he says, gesturing at the couch.

He closes the door, eyes on Sinric.

Comments

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric purrs softly at being touches and returns the little kiss gladly. He makes himself more comfortable on the couch, with easily room enough for the two of them. After all, he doesn't take up that much room.

"To the warmth of friendship." He toasts and accepts the wine with a nod of thanks. He stops to breath it in, eyes closed in appreciation. "Hmm, where is this wine from? I don't recognise it." He ask curiously, sipping it delicately.

[cook_the_rude]

"The Moselle river in what was, in your time, the Frankish realm," Hannibal says, settling on the couch in a quite relaxed manner as well, opening his body language to touch and comfort. "The Romans had grown wine there for centuries already when the West of their empire collapsed. Very steep slopes on which the vines cling precariously to the shale and soak up sun."

[thewidewideworld]

"Ah, the Franks." Sinric mutters ruefully, resting a naked ankle against Hannibal's calf, rubbing gently. "I was dancing for the Frankish ambassador when the door opened to me again. Bore of a man but he brought with him the best of wines and even better musicians."

[cook_the_rude]

"Then among the white he brought must have been the ancestors of this very wine," Hannibal says, moving his leg into the touch. "Boring people can make quite good wines, just as the most stupid farmers are reputed to grow the largest potatoes."

He smiles.

"The latter may be a somewhat lewd allusion as well, of course."

[thewidewideworld]

"As I'm not sure what a potato is, I shall have to take your word for it." Sin giggles. "Next time I go, I will makes sure to bring some wine back with me when I come and you can taste for yourself."

"But I'm not sure if all the Franks are such dull people or if the ambassador is a special case. His musicians are lively and wonderful people. As quick to share as they are to learn." He lights up at the mention of music.

[cook_the_rude]

"Do you know their language, or do they speak Greek?" the doctor asks, nodding. "And yes, I love to taste wine from so long ago, to learn about the different stages of oenological evolution."

[thewidewideworld]

"I'm learning it bit by bit but we speak the common tongue of church Latin. Most of the songs of the Frankish court are monastic so most Frankish singers and musicians speak it well."

"Perhaps another night, the bar will indulge us with wines of many places and times."

[cook_the_rude]

Hannibal runs a finger over Sinric's arm, his body language open and inviting.

"We could pick a few places, set some years for all of them, and then taste them in historical order," he says. "It would be an interesting experience. Perhaps we could invite Ganymede as well; he is quite the expert and even grows his own wine, in my time."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric makes the most of the invitation and slides a little closer, his slender body pressed gently against the doctor's side. Not quite a cuddle but certainly open to one.

"I should like that very much." Lighting up at mention of Ganymede. " You say he grows his own grapes? How wonderful."

[cook_the_rude]

The doctor pulls him close, making them both comfortable. "And he makes excellent wine, at that," he says. "His vineyard is in California -- that is a wine growing region in the new world, a part of the world not discovered in your time."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric's rather little body tucks nicely against Hannibal's side, warm and trusting. "It seems impossible to me that there is so much unknown and undiscovered in my time. We are taught that the Romans ruled the world, whole and complete and yet there is so much unseen even by the Caesars."

[cook_the_rude]

"But the Romans did know about China, trading silk through the silk road and Zeugma," Hannibal says.

[thewidewideworld]

"As do we. My Emperor has good and strong relations with the people of the Sino empire for the trade of silk and spices." He is silent for a moment. "I intend to go there and see it for myself when the day comes for my Emperor to earn his eternal rest in the kingdom of heaven. The Sino ambassador's son is a very dear friend to me and has offered me shelter and safe conduct, in so much as such sureties can bind on a journey of that kind."

[cook_the_rude]

"You are going to see Tang dynasty China!" the doctor says, running his finger down Sinric's arm.

[thewidewideworld]

"Is that what history remembers that empire as? It sounds very grand. I do look forward to it, even if the begining of my journey with be marked by the end of all I have known. Yan speaks with much passion of his home, I'm sure it will be beautiful."

[cook_the_rude]

"It is," the doctor says. "I only know the artefacts and buildings they left behind. It's a splendid period considered classical by later times. But yes, leaving everything you ever had behind you and go into the unknown with nothing but the clothes on one's back is scary."

[thewidewideworld]

"Then perhaps if the will of the door permits it, I can come for you then and we may see it together?" He offers, knowing the doctor would be as excited by the idea as Ragnar and Athelstan.

"I had hoped to begin to board jewels and things here, to allow myself so cache of comforts and supplies but the door has not been helpful."

[cook_the_rude]

"You can still do it now," the doctor says, sipping his wine.

[thewidewideworld]

"I suppose I can but for now I'm happy being reunited with old friends and enjoying their company." He's half afraid the door will vanish again if he leaves. "And there's still much I wish to learn from the library."

[cook_the_rude]

"The library here is amazing!" Hannibal says, enthusiasm flaring up as it rarely has done before. "It's magical, though -- it connects to all other libraries in the multiverse. I've entered it before from libraries that I'd gone to through the labyrinth, twice, in fact. From the library of a large magical owl, and from the basement of a Paris bookshop."

[thewidewideworld]

"Truly? I did not know that. How wonderful! I did not know there was a labyrinth here? Please will you tell me of your adventures?"

[cook_the_rude]

"The labyrinth is bizarre," Dr. Lecter says. "It's accessed from a door in the side of the mountain, and in there, you can cross from one world to another by a series of interconnected doors. All these worlds exist somewhere, even the one with the giant metal bees, and the one where gravity worked sideways for us, so Noriko Ashhida and I had to climb desperately through an otherwise perfectly ordinary if rather grand living room. And when I visited the labyrinth with Bossuet Lesgle, we ended up in modern Paris, in the exact same spot where the café stood from which they ran their failed revolution. So, there is a certain sentience at work in the labyrinth, just as it is in whom the door brings, and when."

[thewidewideworld]

"So it brought you to those places because of the people you were with? Was it for you, it brought you to the libraries?"

[cook_the_rude]

"No, that was for my companions," Hannibal says. "But from those very libraries, it brought us back to the library here. I never tried to set out from this library and go elsewhere, though."

[thewidewideworld]

"The magic of this place never ceases to amaze me." Sinric smiles, sipping his wine decorously. "Perhaps as I explore the library, I will find a way that connects to the great library of Alexandria and there I shall truly be lost."