mogget_cat | OOM: New Orleans with Hannibal and Jim

An optimist might say the day upon the other side of the door is balmy, but only because it's a little too early in the afternoon for it to be called sultry.

And only a little too early. Already halfway down its trek across the sky, the sun's great heat is partially mitigated by the sea-scented breeze off the Gulf and the shade of decorated balconies. Groups of people walk along Bourbon Street in front of the small alleyway in which the door from Milliways appears. The alley entrance is somewhat sheltered from the street by a fire-escape so none notice three dapper gentlemen arriving from nowhere. Faint conversations and laughter and the mingling strains of lively music reach them, and the varied smells of a port city known for its cuisine.

Yrael's green eyes glance up at the roof-edges for a moment as they enter, a half-smile on his face, before he turns to his guests. "Welcome to New Orleans."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Oh, there is always jambalaya, sir," The chef assures Jim with an easy and friendly smile. He doesn't say that it wouldn't be a Creole restaurant if they didn't have jambalaya. The chef had simply listed the special options first, for the favored guests of the chef's own private dining room, rather than what tourists could find at any restaurant in the city.

But don't get him wrong. Never fear, the fish will also be cooked in fine Creole tradition. There is no versus. Not in the heart of New Orleans. His eyes just... may or may not be silently judging Felix White's friend from behind his friendly and professional smile. "Or crawfish etouffee if you'd like, as they are in season. Our etouffee is one of our most popular dishes. With the mild Spring, has been a very good year for getting fresh crawfish sourced locally."

"We do indeed have mullet, sir," the chef then replies to Hannibal. "Caught today, brought fresh from the market. A wonderful choice."

"I thought I saw some particularly healthy mullets earlier, on the way here," Yrael says mildly, sipping his drink.

The chef protests, shaking his head. "Oh, sir, if they're still out at the market at this time of evening, they're sure not worth having, however they might look."

"You're probably right," Yrael admits, smiling. "You can't go wrong with pompano, so I think I will have that, this evening."

"Excellent choice, sir," smiles Chef Augustin. "I thought perhaps Oysters Bienville, a recipe invented here in this very city, nearly a century ago, and salad of roast heirloom beets and carrots, to start with?"

Jim's eyes narrow ever so slightly as he surveys the man. It's not judgement, so much as...something else.

'Jambalaya,' he says, with deceptive calm.

'You can surprise me as to what you put in it.'

He won't complain about oysters to start, even if he only likes them when he's in the mood.

"Excellent," Hannibal says, smiling at the chef. "Those are wonderful suggestions that I am happy to go with. I am sure your mullet will be much tastier and fresher than those we saw."

"I can assure you it will be," the chef replies, with the easy security of one who knows his craft.

There are details to any meal that must be settled in advance - what dishes to have and how they should be prepared, which wines to have with what dishes, et cetera - but soon they are all hashed out, the chef returns to the kitchen which is his domain, and the diners are provided with Oysters Bienville and an accompanying wine to introduce their meal. Each oyster is served on the half-shell, having been baked while topped with a mixture consisting of a butter roux, sherry, mushrooms, bell peppers, a mild cheese, and shrimp. The oysters are served on small, silvery trays in the shape of a mollusc, with each oyster supported in an indentation along the shell's inner edge as though it were a pearl.

"My friends, I must thank you again for accompanying me this evening," Yrael says, taking up his glass of wine. "It is rare that I get to show off my chosen city and I very much enjoy the opportunity."

'Appreciate the invitation. Thank you.'

Jim lifts his glass too, lazy and languid in his chair. The food looks good, there's a party on the streets, and the company is made up of his kind of people. He has no complaints.

"We have to thank you, indeed," Hannibal says, lifting his glass, and then drinking. "To our charming host and his city!"

Yrael is a decent actor, but even he has difficulty managing to look modest, so he doesn't generally bother. His look, instead, is appreciative.

"It is all the better when shared with compelling company," he replies, lifting his drink. "To an enjoyable night."

Jim tilts his in silent toast, and drinks. It's always better to attempt oysters with alcohol and while talking, otherwise he thinks too much about the way they actually taste.

But yeah, compelling company. He wonders what, if anything, the others might be compelled to by the end of the night - it's not as though he's unaware of some specific tastes between them - but to hell with it, he's here for a good time. He can always amuse himself if they decide to go off for a late supper.

'Stop me if I drink too much,' he says with a grin, and twirls a fork in his hand to get started on dinner.

'I'll never manage to stay as polite as you two otherwise.'

This isn't quite true. Jim has excellent manners, in the sense that he can be utterly polite and charming as he fucks up someone's situation. But it's a veneer he's happy to shed, if necessary - and of course he is also aware that he could be seen as the odd one out in the party. So it's just a friendly heads-up, mainly aimed at Hannibal. Don't get any ideas, friend.

"There are times for when the gloves come off," Hannibal agrees. "And those when, on the other hand, they go on."

He smiles as he sips his drink.

"And there are people who matter more than what manners they show," Yrael remarks, amused. He has met both Will Graham and Sherlock Holmes. Everyone has an exception to their rule.

"So long as one does not jeopardize the place I have made for myself in this world, I care not what mask or face one chooses to wear." It's all masks to him. Politeness isn't an issue. Threatening what he has built for himself would be an issue.

The oysters are, in true New Orleans fashion, delicious.

Jim has no desire to mess up Yrael's place here. He likes Yrael, and that happens rarely enough to be worth hanging on to.

Oysters. Eh. It's actually not the taste he objects to, it's the texture, but he has issues with sensory things at times. He eats them anyway, because, manners.

'Do either of you know Ava, in the bar?'

He knows Hannibal does. He doesn't expect him to deny it, but he only asks direct questions when there's nothing to be gained from seeing what people say to an indirect one.

"I do," Hannibal says, after slowly ingesting the first oyster in silence.

Yrael also tries the oysters while he thinks on the question. He is a fastidious eater no matter what his shape.

"Ava... Ava Wilson?" He replies, hesitantly. "If it is the same Ava, then yes. We fought together the day Milliways was unmade and then restored. She is quite useful in battle."

Not everyone can get demons to twist their own heads off.

'Is she?'

Interesting.

'What's her story?'

"From a modern world with lots of hidden demons, devils, and supernatural shenanigans," Hannibal says.

"With her own connection to those hidden demons, devils, and supernatural shenanigans," Yrael says, sipping his wine. "I had never seen so many demons suddenly inclined to break their own necks and gouge out their own eyes."

That's what he wanted to know.

'So she can control them? And presumably summon them at will?'

Hmm.

"I heard rumours about a very tame pack of hellhounds," Hannibal says.

"There was certainly control, followed by her pleased satisfaction at the demons' inexplicable self-destruction. She did seem like she was enjoying herself."

"As for summoning, I did not notice any explicit summoning of demons on her part. But there was much going on at the time, so I may have missed it."

His attention was mostly taken up by his twice-thwarted brother trying his best, yet again, to ruin what other people enjoy.

Hmmm. Interesting. Jim fiddles with his fork, eyes far away for a moment, then puts it down and sits back. One oyster is enough.

'If she didn't summon them, someone must have.'

He knew he wasn't wrong about that smell of sulphur.

'Thanks.'

Hannibal eats another oyster.

"Different demons," he says. "The ones they fought apparently just happened, as opposed to the ones she can summon. You can have demons on both sides of a fight."

"The demons we were fighting issued forth from the Darkgate that had opened upon the baseball diamond. Those patrons who weren't fighting hid in the Lost and Found box, or made sure to be back in their own worlds. There were earthquakes, great creatures of darkness, and something like a continuous explosion or implosion in the sky as well, which threatened the tenuous space-time of Milliways," Yrael says, continuing to enjoy the oysters and wine.

"My brother was also there, making himself a nuisance." He says this, of course, like it was no big deal. Not at all requiring the quick addition of shielding strong enough to reflect a chaos magic-type nuclear-scale explosion.

Jim's eyebrows raise.

'And I missed it? For fuck's sake, that's hardly fair.'

It sounds brilliant.

'Will it happen again, do you think?'

"Everybody who was there has the best stories to tell," Hannibal says. "I liked to listen to my friend Urquhart talk about that tense time, even though he was dead for the last day or so. Ava's hellhounds ate him."

"Even that death didn't stick to him," Yrael says, grinning toothily. "Urquhart died in his world and came to Milliways, I killed him myself in Milliways and he came right back. Ava's hellhounds ate him... but his death finally took when those zombies broke into the bar."

Yrael drinks; he had enjoyed Urquhart's company when he was in Milliways.

"I do not know if so many apocalypses will descend upon the bar again, but then, we did not know it would happen the first time. Or if that even was the first time."