[ Hannibal watches that anger grow on Percy's face, and though his reaction isn't impassive, it's hardly anything it should be. He's been amiable, pleasant, and forthcoming enough in this conversation. Even knowing what Hannibal is, his manners still tend to soften him in how people view him. You can know what he is. But it is another thing entirely to know Hannibal, because that means you have to experience moments like this. It's only in this that people understand why Hannibal was exactly the kind of creature that no psychiatrist could classify.
After all, it wasn't killing that made the Devil dangerous.
Though his expression stays the same—polite and inquisitive—the corners of Hannibal's eyes shift up slightly in a tiny smile. He doesn't delight in Percy's anger, but he's glad to see it. It tells him without waiting for the answer to his own question that he was right. Percy has hardly shattered, at least so far as Hannibal would describe it. ]
It was not only you.
[ That's his first comment given quite simply, because Percy was hardly the only person he was playing this kind of game with. Someone had once called friendship with Hannibal blackmail elevated to the level of love. If he had heard it, he would agree completely. Percy was not alone in receiving Hannibal's attention here, though he had arguably suffered the most because of it.
Though even as Percy shakes from his anger, Hannibal leans forward. He's clearly not afraid, though Hannibal never is. His voice is calm, cool, but firm. It's not quite the tone of a psychiatrist, but there's an emotion in Hannibal's voice that's light, but difficult to place. It almost seems like pride. ]
Good. So long as you continue to struggle, you'll still persevere. This loss will not define or defeat you, will it?
[ It's a rhetorical question, because he continues after only a short pause. ]
—Though, if it provides anything further, I will say I had nothing to do with the fact she died. My place starts and ends at selection. I do not meddle any more than that.
no subject
After all, it wasn't killing that made the Devil dangerous.
Though his expression stays the same—polite and inquisitive—the corners of Hannibal's eyes shift up slightly in a tiny smile. He doesn't delight in Percy's anger, but he's glad to see it. It tells him without waiting for the answer to his own question that he was right. Percy has hardly shattered, at least so far as Hannibal would describe it. ]
It was not only you.
[ That's his first comment given quite simply, because Percy was hardly the only person he was playing this kind of game with. Someone had once called friendship with Hannibal blackmail elevated to the level of love. If he had heard it, he would agree completely. Percy was not alone in receiving Hannibal's attention here, though he had arguably suffered the most because of it.
Though even as Percy shakes from his anger, Hannibal leans forward. He's clearly not afraid, though Hannibal never is. His voice is calm, cool, but firm. It's not quite the tone of a psychiatrist, but there's an emotion in Hannibal's voice that's light, but difficult to place. It almost seems like pride. ]
Good. So long as you continue to struggle, you'll still persevere. This loss will not define or defeat you, will it?
[ It's a rhetorical question, because he continues after only a short pause. ]
—Though, if it provides anything further, I will say I had nothing to do with the fact she died. My place starts and ends at selection. I do not meddle any more than that.