An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
For #FannibalSelfRecs I'm reccing my story “Ananta,” which is a canon-divergent S1 AU of the "nice Hannibal" flavor. It asks how the early part of S1 might have gone differently for Will if Hannibal were A.) not a serial killer, B.) more emotionally self-aware, and C.) a responsible mental health professional.
My original author's notes are here, and I don't have much to add, except that one of my aims in writing was to refute the idea (which I'd seen expressed in meta) that canon Hannibal's abuse of Will was in any sense justified by the outcome of Will becoming """stronger"""...as if humane treatment and appropriate care wouldn't have done more to make Will stronger and more secure, not to mention happier. I’m not sure how successful I was in that, but I still think this is the best of my Hannigram fic, so if any readers were put off by the “asexual Will” tag--or uhh the lack of A/B/O and vampires--I’d encourage giving it a shot. (It has snakes?)
I've received too many extremely moving comments to choose a favorite, but I'm especially grateful to Ragdoll (Keshka) for saying the story helped heal some of the wounds the series had left them with; that made me feel I’d done well to write it.
As far as research goes, I ate calissons...and looked at a lot of pictures of Vishnu reclining on a giant multi-headed snake.
Thanks to @hannibalficwriters for organizing this!
From top left: golden chanterelles, eastern kingsnake, calissons.
Notes like unto AN INFINITE SNEK below the cut
This story was rock hard to write despite it being max wish fulfillment and basically my crooning serenade of nooo Will Graham no cryyyy (also endless shrieking of “I WILL FIX IT FOR U BBY. SENSEI, THIS TIME U WILL PROTECT IT!!!”). I guess it is a struggle to toe that line of, uh, maintaining some authenticity of character while also blasting everything with magical unicorn lasers of idealism.
When I asked "Why is Hannibal nice in this AU?" my brain said "Because instead of being Satan he's a benevolent serpent deity, the kind who just wants to find his Vishnu and be his refuge and help him protect humanity."* And that somehow seemed reasonable. :D; I mean, one can arbitrarily make Hannibal decent--if "Nothing happened to me, I happened,"** if he really just IS, then there's no reason he can't just BE SOMETHING ELSE--but since Fullerverse made so much hay out of Hannibal = Satan and Will = Christ, I found it useful to reject that iconography and substitute another.
@genufa was like, #earliest canon divergence, and it took me a minute but yeah, this one diverged somewhere in the Near East a few thousand years ago, when the proto-Israelites started throwing shade on snake worship with that whole Garden of Eden spiel of anti-serpent-cult propaganda, lmao.
Important kingsnake facts:
With the kaleidoscope of colors and skin patterns the common kingsnakes would rate high on any list of "best dressed" among the serpents. With their choice of prey, they might also rank high among the gourmet diners of the serpent clan.
Calissons: I had never heard of these before, but I was like, "Is there some kind of small delicious treat resembling SNAKE SCALES that Hannibananta could erotically feed to Will???" and lo, there was. THANKS, FRANCE. I ordered a box for ""research"" which was a mistake because they are delicious (if you like marzipan at all) and expensive, ugh. Ye olde urban legend is that they kept you from getting the plague--genius viral marketing campaign for premodern Europe--so between those and the mushrooms and the stress reduction I guess that's why Will doesn't get encephalitis in this 'verse, lol.
The seme/uke discourse: it is always such a relief to just take buttsecks off the table. Eventually this Will can probably be brought round to doing various things, including but not limited to using toys on Hanners (with a mindset of doing for, not doing to) but that’s way down the line. In this case, the what matters less to me than the how--the feeling behind the how. You know. /barfs mutual respect and gentleness everywhere
* He doesn't just think he's Hanamoto Shuuji while actually being an abusive turd, he really is Hanamoto Shuuji. If Shuuji were a giant snek. See also: Spirited Away (re: mutual rescue, protection, and caretaking -- and as @foyernormanchapel might say, coming to know The Other through kindness and love). My feeble attempts to produce the Umino Chica and/or Studio Ghibli version of this homoerotic dark shoujo manga, etc.
** As u know I don't buy this, so for safety's sake, Mischa lived. I apologize to anyone who got excited and hoped she would have a presence in the story. There's a notdead!Mischa in Terroir-verse and I lacked the mental energy to construct another one. In my head she's always some variation of boho artist, though.
Will there be more snekverse?? As usual idek. I'd kind of like to see their camping trip, which would be an excuse for even more gratuitous #nature!intimacy!!pr0ns--the best kind--with bonus actual pr0ns as they continue to jointly explore the waters of what Will doesn't mind doing. (He's never known himself as well as he knows himself when...!) Anyway, if the Hannigram Acethetic folks keep rolling out challenges, odds are good.
In conclusion, readers' comments have left me in actual tears of happiness--ILU all and belated replies are forthcoming.
Below: another Vishnu reclining on Ananta. (Forgive me, I am a bad who failed to find a source/artist/title for this but OH MAN.)
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Season/Series 01, Hannibal is Not a Cannibal, Asexual Will, Non-Sexual Intimacy, And some sexual intimacy, Good snek, Nice snek
Summary: How it might have gone in one of the other worlds, one where Hannibal didn't rubber stamp anything.
Chapter 2 is up! In this installment: Will thinks he can’t have nice things.
This is part 2 of 3; the last part will be posted later this week.
Special thanks to @damnslippyplanet for inspiring the hunt.
