Hannibal pointedly gives no reaction at all to the responses to his asking Patricia if she's alright. He's not about to have three strangers deposit his adopted daughter back on his doorstep and not assume foul play may still be involved, and he absolutely trusts Patricia - if not to tell him the truth on purpose, then to at least fumble when asked point-blank. She has, after all, far less reason to lie than the motley crew tracking mud and errant cattail seeds onto his porch.
But Hannibal doesn't see or smell a lie from Patricia when she says 'no', and if he's going to keep building her trust as he's been, he'll believe her. He takes her wrists, gently, to inspect her palms - they haven't been cleaned, there's still some dirt shoved in the crevices of skin. They didn't have first aid with them? Or they didn't care? Or they couldn't get close enough? Hannibal has no confusion about Patricia's aversion to strangers. Getting a ride on 'the horse thing' immediately prior couldn't have helped, no matter how friendly or unfriendly her rescuers.
'She saw it too'. The older woman smells like kelpie almost as much as Patricia - Hannibal believes her. It's the first time he looks away from her face, to size up the woman who reeks of water demon and was apparently the only one present when the kelpie was. That would logically mean she gathered the other two afterwards. They're an odd group. Out of necessity, then? What sort of secrets are they hiding?
"I believe you." Hannibal says to Patricia, in a very reasonable tone considering they're discussing a kelpie kidnapping an eight year-old child out of a second story window. When he stands up again, he lets his hand linger on Patricia's shoulder, until it can't reach anymore. His fingertips brush the tangled, damp fluff of her hair, instead, and he takes an unmistakable step forward - defensive and offensive all at once, although his face has melted into a cordial mask.
Patricia ends up behind his left leg as he reaches out a hand. This is, after all, the second time the man has tried to be the only one actually offering up the promise of an explanation. "I apologize. I wasn't expecting anyone to bring her home for me."
And then. Then he turns to the taller woman, while still holding the man's hand. And, certainly not because he slept for only two hours last night and definitely not because he's been up frantically searching through old books for clues as to where his adopted child might have been kidnapped to, and obviously not because she was the one who snorted at him trying to assure that said adopted child hadn't been manhandled by the strangers who dropped her off, he asks: "Should I thank you for getting her away from the kelpie? You certainly smell as though you fought it yourself."
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2016-06-04 12:57 am (UTC)But Hannibal doesn't see or smell a lie from Patricia when she says 'no', and if he's going to keep building her trust as he's been, he'll believe her. He takes her wrists, gently, to inspect her palms - they haven't been cleaned, there's still some dirt shoved in the crevices of skin. They didn't have first aid with them? Or they didn't care? Or they couldn't get close enough? Hannibal has no confusion about Patricia's aversion to strangers. Getting a ride on 'the horse thing' immediately prior couldn't have helped, no matter how friendly or unfriendly her rescuers.
'She saw it too'. The older woman smells like kelpie almost as much as Patricia - Hannibal believes her. It's the first time he looks away from her face, to size up the woman who reeks of water demon and was apparently the only one present when the kelpie was. That would logically mean she gathered the other two afterwards. They're an odd group. Out of necessity, then? What sort of secrets are they hiding?
"I believe you." Hannibal says to Patricia, in a very reasonable tone considering they're discussing a kelpie kidnapping an eight year-old child out of a second story window. When he stands up again, he lets his hand linger on Patricia's shoulder, until it can't reach anymore. His fingertips brush the tangled, damp fluff of her hair, instead, and he takes an unmistakable step forward - defensive and offensive all at once, although his face has melted into a cordial mask.
Patricia ends up behind his left leg as he reaches out a hand. This is, after all, the second time the man has tried to be the only one actually offering up the promise of an explanation. "I apologize. I wasn't expecting anyone to bring her home for me."
And then. Then he turns to the taller woman, while still holding the man's hand. And, certainly not because he slept for only two hours last night and definitely not because he's been up frantically searching through old books for clues as to where his adopted child might have been kidnapped to, and obviously not because she was the one who snorted at him trying to assure that said adopted child hadn't been manhandled by the strangers who dropped her off, he asks: "Should I thank you for getting her away from the kelpie? You certainly smell as though you fought it yourself."