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[thehobbsgirl]

[ Abigail tries to do the smart thing and figure out the situation on her own. She does her best: reads the weird pamphlet three times, glances through the first few videos she finds on the smart-phone-like device, wanders around the grounds trying to look for a way out. Obviously, she does not find one. None of it makes any sense. She sits in the gardens for a few hours waiting to wake up, but if there is one thing her nightmares never are, it's tedious. So with boredom comes fear; if this isn't a dream, it means her life had changed radically yet again without warning. It means that just as she was beginning to have hope for some kind of stability, she was thrown into another mess. ]

[ The video shows her visibly upset, though clearly trying to master it. Her voice is small, and shaky with suppressed emotion, but she gets out what she means to say: ]

I'm not gonna bother asking a bunch of questions when it's obvious there's no one here who can help me.

[ Not to mention the fact that she wouldn't trust any answers she got, anyway. Any stranger might be complicit, as far as she's concerned. Abigail has difficulty trusting on the best of days. ]

I just want to know if... if anyone who sees this recognizes me. Is there anyone from my- [ It sounds so silly saying it, but she does ] -from my world here?

Comments

video;

[avoirfaim]

[ The last time Hannibal saw Abigail was earlier that month, when she appeared for a mere blip of time at the Red Queen's soiree. He had hoped she would stay, so that he could wrap her up under his wing again and start over, but perhaps it was for the best that she hadn't. She was a liability he allowed far too much forgiveness. She left his life again as quickly as she returned to him and that was that. A message from God, he told himself, to let her go.

But then there she was again, on the network, and he is glad. Glad has always been a dull echo of a feeling inside his chest, like most of his emotions. They were rarely vivid, with the exception of the greater flashes of anger and pride, and the rare chill of loneliness that pervaded his bones. No, glad was one of his arsenal of emotions that he recognized but never took to heart. This time it tingles, though, not vivid but less grey than normal. ]

Abigail, where are you? I would rather welcome you in person.

[thehobbsgirl]

[ Abigail answers him without hesitation. ] There's a giant hedge maze, I'm just inside the entrance.

[ It seemed as good a place as any to sit down and hide while she gathered her composure and figured out what to do. She gets to her feet, sure that Hannibal won't waste any time in coming to find her. In the time that she's known him, he's proved himself to be a reliable person. Abigail might not be the best at relying on people, but Hannibal's the closest she has to a parent, these days. He's the only one who knows all her secrets, who actually helps her instead of just lecturing her about what she should do and how she should feel. ]

[avoirfaim]

I'll be right there.

[ He knows where the hedge maze is, he did his own exploring in his first week. He doesn't take his time to get his jacket on or close up his device and leave it sitting, face down, on his desk, but he doesn't rush either. He instead goes at an average pace, musing over the potential and the possibilities. The next move depended on when Abigail arrived from, though he imagines if she was so quick to call him out she hadn't put the pieces together yet.

Good. Not that he minds her knowing, per say, but she wasn't ready for that yet, it wasn't the time. The universe would not have it then, it seemed, with Jack Crawford breathing down their necks. A shame, truly.

He walks somewhat quicker when he sees her, with all the relief on his face of a parent reunited with a lost child, while he mulls over the options in his head. He doesn't reach out for her first though, an understanding of the boundaries of touch for one Abigail Hobbs. ]

You're alright.

[thehobbsgirl]

[ All that Abigail sees, of course, is the front that Hannibal presents. But how much of her view of him is his acting, how much her projection of what she wants him to be? It's impossible to say. The sum total, though, makes Abigail feel as if something's caught in her throat. She hugs Hannibal, tightly, but fleetingly. When she pulls away, the front of composure that she has been presenting all this time feels less fragile. She stands taller, fidgets with the scarf around her neck. A few quick nods serve as an answer to Hannibal's question. Yes, apart from the abduction and fear and utterly absurd situation, she's alright. ]

I was talking to this woman who said you were here- that you'd been here for a while, but then I wasn't sure if she meant you or someone else with the same name. [ Meaning, of course, that younger version of Hannibal she'd spoken to. It's been a very confusing morning for Abigail. Then, with curiosity and apprehension: ] Will's here, too, isn't he?

[avoirfaim]

[ Hannibal takes her hug for everything that it is, an offering to his alter of sorts. He hugs her back tightly, a hand resting on the back of her head as she pulls away quicker than perhaps he expected. He nods once as she nods, a confirmation of her confirmation, wordless as they have ever needed. It is their ability to communicate wordlessly that only affirms his belief that she is meant for him, to be guided by his hand and protected by his tooth and claw.

Was it not said that to prove whether something truly belongs to you, you must first let it go and see if it returns? He had needed to kill her, an yet she had been returned to him, a sure sign indeed.

He listens and smiles at the mention of his younger self, and if Will, but not without visible trepidation. It reaches his eyes because he wants it to, a sign that Will and this other self are both sensitive subjects, worthy of a keen eye and a careful step. His hand remains where it rests, against the back for her head, thumb inches from her ear.]

He is, yes, though I would not say that we've been here long. A month, at most. And I see you have met my young counterpart.

[thehobbsgirl]

[ It's not often that Abigail sees Hannibal looking uneasy, so she takes particular notice when she does. It is part of the brilliance of his mask that he makes her think she's catching him out, seeing past what he wants her to. Abigail pretends she didn't notice, for now, but her own artifice is less successful. ]

Just talked to him on this. [ She makes a tiny gesture with the network device before slipping it into her pocket. ] He said you're kind of the same person, but also kind of not. But... how's that possible? [ Abigail looks up at him, making eye contact, allowing a little of her genuine confusion to slip into her voice ] How's any of this possible?

[ She doesn't really expect Hannibal will have a satisfactory answer, but he usually has something or other to say that will make her feel better ]

[avoirfaim]

[ Her confusion is expected, and every expected act reaffirms that she is indeed his Abigail. Not like that girl who looks and sounds like Georgia Madchen but isn't burned to a crisp like her counterpart, nor like the young man who bares his own younger face but an altered life. His Abigail is here, Mischa in new flesh needing his guidance and compassion.

He nods as she speaks with a reassuring quirk of a smile, thumb grazing the top of her ear as it strokes her hair gently, with wisps of comforting motion. ]

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. What's possible may not always be the obvious answer, and this all may take some getting used to. That man you met was me, in some capacity, at a much younger age. At least he is what I might have been had I been born earlier, in a worse time than I was.

It seems the improbable theory of parallel universes has been proven to be the truth, here. And it is that theory that brought you back to me.

[ If he were a less calculating man, that would have been a slip, something that should not have passed from his lips. He makes do to seem as if it was, with a tightening of his jaw and a release of air through his nose, but Hannibal Lecter does not slip. He only says precisely what he means to to spark the fire. ]

[thehobbsgirl]

[ While Abigail isn't entirely unfamiliar with the concept of parallel universes, she's far from genre-savvy. That there could be two Hannibal's, one being her own age, is confusing enough. But that the two of them could be both the same and different is a complication that she doesn't quite grasp ]

Born earlier? Like, a different year?

[ She picks up on those small signs he allows her - the muscle moving in his cheek, the short breath, and asks quickly ]

Back to you?

[avoirfaim]

In 1933 to be exact. The young man you met came to us from 1951.

[ He hesitates, as if considering the possibilities when, of course, he knows exactly how to proceed. It all goes according to plan, when does it not? There are always plans upon plans, layers upon layers. The world around him is a web he weaves meticulously. ]

What is the last thing you remember from home, Abigail?

[thehobbsgirl]

[ 1951 sounds like ancient history to Abigail; a different world. How much would just that shift in setting have changed Hannibal? It's hard for her to tell - she didn't know a younger version of this Hannibal to whom she could compare. If it's weird for her, she imagines it must be a thousand times stranger for Hannibal himself. Then again, he's always been adept at grappling with the strange and the unexpected ]

The last thing? [ She shifts her mind back for something that will anchor her in a specific moment - things blurred together at Port Haven, into a uniform and dull existence. So Abigail thinks back to the last time she saw Hannibal, answers: ] You took me to see Will in the hospital.

[ Abigail's gaze is shrewd. His hesitation is obvious, and she has the suspicion that he's hiding something from her. Probably he thought she wasn't ready, or it was for her own protection, or some equally patronizing excuse ]

[avoirfaim]

[ It's surreal to say the least, but Hannibal prides himself on many things, his ability to handle the strange and unusual being one of them. A symptom of an ego like his: he's never unsure of his status, never concerned that he can't handle it.

His young self aside, the point in time which Abigail comes to them gives him an opportunity. A chance to fix what Will and Abigail had broken after his meticulously planned process towards building it. ]

You're not a child, Abigail, so I don't feel as if I need to treat you as one. Will and I came here from a later point in time. When we visited Will in the hospital, he wasn't well enough to leave. You know that.

[thehobbsgirl]

[ Abigail lets the implications of that sink in. Even if she had been inclined to disbelieve Hannibal, seeing Will well and healthy will really be proof enough to convince her. And if what he's saying is true... ]

So you came here from some point when... we haven't seen each other for a while?

[ Easy enough to put the two together. The way he introduced the information, making it clear he was sugar-coating nothing, makes her think that whatever the reason for their separation, it wasn't a good one. Should she ask? Abigail thinks that if she did, Hannibal would tell her. But, amidst the chaos and confusion of the day already, she hesitates. She isn't sure she wants to know about her future - not today, anyway. Hesitantly, she begins: ]

What happens- [ She doesn't get any further before the network device makes a small noise, letting her know there is an incoming message. Abigail, glad for the distraction, looks down ]

It's Will.

[ As Hannibal had said, he looks much better. With a quick glance over to Hannibal, she answers... ]

( continued here )