novel!Lecter; homeless

[augerofcuriosity]

You're feeling inspired? I should hope so. Biting off more than you can chew is often your style.

[Seated in his cell, a book laid out on the desk. He doesn't look up.]

Perhaps you'll find someone whose demons play nicely with ours, mmm?

Comments

[reenacts]

[He really, really shouldn't comment. Spending all his time trying to get into the head of the Lector he knows knew is wearing enough; there's no point trying to understand another one. It's probably counterproductive and definitely masochistic but-]

I imagine that might be difficult task for anyone, no matter how inspired.

[augerofcuriosity]

[Better the devil you know than the devil you don't, isn't that the saying? This Hannibal recognizes Will - and yet not his Will. He's younger, too. No facial scarring yet. Does he have the slit up his belly from his own knife? He doesn't, does he? So he hasn't properly met his Lecter yet.]

Difficult, but not impossible. Sometimes the most treacherous path leads us to the best rewards. As someone who has been stubbornly avoiding the fact that he's not well enough for his job...I imagine you understand.

[reenacts]

[Hey, it's hard making rational, sane decisions when your brain is on fire. Or, ever, if you're Will Graham.]

If you consider the Baltimore State Hospital to be one of those rewards.

[Hours spent with Frederick Chilton trying to get inside your head, like a cat chasing a hamster ball, and food that probably isn't people, what's not to love?]

[augerofcuriosity]

Chilton. [Oh, how he...remembers him. It's not pity in his eyes, of course not, but there's a recognition dulled with a calm distaste.]

I suppose you'd need a very imaginative mind to see Baltimore State Hospital as a reward.

Luckily yours is a very imaginative mind.

[reenacts]

[He's not wrong. Time in Baltimore State lacks any sort of redeemable quality, but it comes with a hell of a lot of free time. Time to work through his memories of the months before, through the fever and hallucinations. Time to put himself in Lector's head, and time to plan how to tip the board.]

No amount of imagination could make time spent with Frederick Chilton rewarding.

[Good thing it won't be a lengthy incarceration.]

[anxietydescending]

I'm certain you shall. There are so many among our patchwork number. For those who dare to look. It should give Rémy pause.

But why would you be looking, hmm?

[augerofcuriosity]

I imagine my Mundane is looking because she enjoys watching demons fight, that she can understand why humans do. [Hannibal hums to himself at his desk. Makes a note on the paper beside his book.]

I look to see if they can catch my interest. If they're clever enough or just-- dime a dozen fools who clatter and rattle at the bars of their moral cage but can't quite slip past.

[anxietydescending]

"But I can't! That would be wrong!"

[Her voice is so high and nasal that she has to affect a deeper tone, to mock. And that, and her sneer, is perhaps all Lecter needs to divine her feelings on the matter. This is a monster who isn't at all shy about what she is. Maybe that will make her boring, in his eyes. But why should she care?]

I suppose I can understand her reasons. Though I doubt it's understanding that motivates her, any more than it's understanding that drives putting two fighting fish in the same bowl.

[augerofcuriosity]

[His mouth doesn't smile at her mocking words, but it doesn't need to. His interest is given in barely-raised eyebrows, in the spark of watchfulness that ignites somewhere in his face. She's not quite amusing, but she's by far the most interesting thing here for the moment.]

So you think it's raw animalistic glee in seeing two predators rip each other apart?

...I believe it's closer to enjoying the dance beforehand. A cat and a mouse might be closer than two fighting fish. --Of course, I think there is pleasure in that final confrontation. But it means so much less without the attachment, the thrill of the chase before it.

That might be one of few points where my Mundane and I agree.

[anxietydescending]

Oh, no. Animalistic. I don't think you can get less human. Trap, keep, set on another -- what other animal does that?

The spread of gills, flash of scales, that dance before the flurry of tearing, biting, death... I'd say you just made my point for me. But.

[Ramona would just lean against the bars, as liquid and languid as a showgirl on stage, but that seems a little bit close. She pulls up a chair instead, and perches half-upon it.]

There's a little more balance in that, than the scene you describe. You assume a forgone conclusion, doctor. Are you the cat, or the mouse? And does your answer match hers?

[augerofcuriosity]

I am almost always the cat. [It's a simple truth. Lecter is vain, but he doesn't need to fluff his own feathers when the facts are right there. Imprisoned though he is, he's only been the mouse once. He's caught far more mice than that.] She thinks of me as both, perhaps - she's less interested in the percentages of each and more in-- possibility.

As I insinuated, we don't have many points where we agree. But my Mundane is just that; mundane. Dull. I know enough about her.

Now what about you, young lady? Cat, mouse, or a betta fish?

[anxietydescending]

[Young lady, and there is a weakness revealed, there, in how she smiles at being called such, the hand she presses to her heart at the flattery. Laughable as it is.]

It does depend on the circumstances, doesn't it? We would all love to consider ourselves cats. [A pause. Consideration. Correction.] Well. No. I've known my share of enthusiastic mice. We would like to, though. Wouldn't we?

Often enough, I've been feline. But I have been privileged, doctor. My dear London is a wonderful aquarium, for those with an artistic flair.

[And London she might say, but that accent is an obvious affectation, tinged with West-Central Canadian. London, Ontario?]