Mom App

[badtouchingyourfood]

〈 PLAYER INFO 〉
NAME: Pumpkin
AGE: 21+
JOURNAL: n/a
IM / EMAIL: n/a
PLURK: pir8_queen
RETURNING: Nope, I'm new.

〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Hannibal Lecter
CHARACTER AGE: early 40's.
SERIES: Hannibal
CHRONOLOGY: Primavera
CLASS: Rhymes with Hannibal ♨(⋆‿⋆)♨
HOUSING: If he can be housed alone that would be great!

TRIGGER WARNING: The details of Hannibal's background and personality will touch on his cannibalism, psychopathy, and general disrespect for humanity as a whole. The Network Sample is a murder scene.

BACKGROUND: here for the wiki & here for something a little more concise to his canon point.

PERSONALITY:

"Psychopaths are not crazy; they are fully aware of what they do, and the consequences of those actions."

A former surgeon, artist, chef, and rounded psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter forms his perception of the world based on the beauty he sees in darkness. The hunger is the monster, and Hannibal the refined exterior of a person-suit worn by the beast day to day. He has charm, wit, intelligence, and the fine manners of man raised well. In rejection of religion he perverts piety by indulging in all manner of luxury. The tailored designer suits he wears are just as methodically put together as his spotless life. Nothing is ever quite out of place and perhaps that is what makes Hannibal peculiar as a psychopath. He lacks the unhinged, impulsive anger of other killers making his motives near untraceable. What little we know of his life prior to the start of the series is only mentioned in passing. He has no accurate record of his trauma for anyone to reflect back on except the looming presence of Lecter Castle.

In fact, Hannibal presents himself as an enigmatic quandary, but the truth is the fuel for his desires are quite human.

"The tendency to see others as less human than ourselves is universal."

Unfathomably intelligent, due to his insistence on organization, Hannibal receives a full scholarship to Johns Hopkins University for his drawing. He has the drive and ambition to be a surgeon (or perhaps he simply needed better meat collecting techniques), and his switch to psychiatry shows his curiosity for the mind. Like any human he has interests, namely in food, art and music. His thirst is the same as Renaissance artists; to know and recreate the world as accurately as he can. As Il Mostro in Italy, twenty years prior to his killers on the eastern seaboard, there are a string of murders in Florence. Hannibal recreates a portion of Botticelli's Primavera focusing solely on what scholars say is neoplatonic love; the idea that all human beings are sustained by love. Whether it's shown traditionally or through cruelty, Hannibal finds fulfillment in that avenue of self expression. So much so he returned to the museum each week recreating the paintings in his drawings. For a man who accepted his isolation, he has always craved more.

As with many psychopaths Hannibal has trouble with the law. He grooms his patients into realizing their murderous bliss while reaping the benefits of watching madness flood into the world. His amusement at chaos is whimsical. Joyous. What Hannibal finds beautiful, others find grotesque. What alters his narcissistic and carnivorous view of the world is love. The same love he showed his dear sister Mischa before her life ended. Hannibal finds a real emotional connection in Will Graham. It's inaccurate to say "emotional". Will Graham is quite possibly the only person Hannibal has ever met that shares the same potential for madness as he does. In that, Hannibal forms a deadly obsession. He starts to pick up behaviors, such as Bedelia offering him a glass of wine after his therapy session with her, and emulates them as way to connect with Will.

Furthermore, he finds his paternal instincts while slowly adopting Abigail Hobbs into his life. He wants what everyone wants; the perfect family. Domestic bliss. Will and Abigail are the victims he can groom, victims who have potential, and he feeds off of their suffering. Some would say there is no justification for Hannibal's actions, but he claims he can experience life the way he does because god did the same things to his followers. He tests their faith, watches them lament in agony, and either smites or saves them. God kills people so why can't he?

As he tries to make himself into a father, he experiences jealousy as well. He knows who his partner is--and that's Will. Will isn't allowed to date anyone else. No, Hannibal makes sure of it as he romances and sleeps with Alana Bloom. He tips off Mason Verger to Margo's baby before Will can even think of having a child with anyone else but him. He slits Abigail's throat when Will rejects him. If he cannot have his happy ending, nobody can.

In the same vein he shows Will a forgiveness only the two of them can understand. In serving Will retribution for his betrayal, Hannibal absolved him of his sins. Will hurt Hannibal in ways he still does not fully understand aside from the ache he knows he has in his heart.

Hannibal does not lack emotional depth. He simply has no way of caring for others as we think of love traditionally. Cruelty is just another component of god's wrath Hannibal has no trouble unleashing upon people, especially the rude. Repeatedly torturing someone and testing their drive to survive just makes them stronger.

"At a time when other men fear their isolation, yours has become understandable to you. You are alone because you are unique."

To go along with his incredibly toxic human flaws, Hannibal displays an inflated sense of ego. The methods of his murders, despite how one might interpret them as art, are that of a butcher. These people he eats are simply meat to him once they've done the slightest infraction. All it took for him to judge Maryssa Shore as rude was her telling her mother to "stop being such a bitch". For the patient he snapped the neck of? Franklyn Froideveaux left tissues on his clean, pristine glass table. What disgusts him is the unkempt. Just because he eats his prey does not mean he has to act like a savage.

Hannibal's weakness, if one can consider it such, is his inclination toward forming passionately dangerous relationships with others. Will Graham was not the first to be manipulated, and he surely will not be the last. What makes him a typical psychopath is his inability to stop. The sweet taste of flesh is enough to for him to kill, or steal mangled lips off of an examination tray and eat it whole. Even if he continuously picks patients who have the potential to be dangerous his veneer never shakes. The calmness of his personality remains the same in admiration of death or life--of art or torture. Bedelia calls it his person suit, but really he is hiding in plain sight. His glee and childish playfulness with people's lives is never faked right down to the sickeningly sweet smile he wears any time someone takes a bite of his cuisine.

So much of life is about consuming and being consumed for Hannibal. It's ritualistic how he feeds human remains to others, and sadistically satisfying to him that they cannot tell the difference. They claim to be so morally above everyone else and yet there they are eating his food without the slightest suspicion.

"He was not torn at all by anger anymore, or tortured by dreams."

Hannibal's flaws extend from one unifying factor, one singular event that solidified how his psychopathic tendencies would develop later in life; Mischa was cannibalized by soldiers and Hannibal was forced to eat the broth in order to stay alive when provisions were low during a military occupation in Lithuania. Simonetta, Hannibal's mother, was made into a frozen, desolate version of herself and all he can recall most prominently are her clothes being set on fire. His teacher had his brains blown out on to the cobblestone out of the lodge near Lecter Castle. These memories suppressed themselves in the deep recesses of Hannibal's mind to the point where he can still only recall snippets despite succeeding in his revenge against the beasts who ate her.

He truly loved Mischa, her smile, and how she sang. He loved her so dearly that her death kicked the impulsiveness of his anger into overdrive. Even before that he took pleasure in bringing extreme harm to bullies. Despite his egotism he defers to letting those who treat him well tease or make light jokes at his expense. In his mind they have a right to be protected from the humans who decide to act like animals. Most see it as a dichotomy of good and bad. Right and wrong. Like the old testament god what Hannibal finds reprehensible he punishes to the fullest extent of his abilities. Thankfully, not just anyone provokes such madness in him.

"My heart hops at the sight of you, who taught my heart to sing."

And regardless of the deep love he has for his sister he often lacks an emotional response to extreme acts of cruelty. Even though Hannibal feels pain, he doesn't fully react to it. When he is surrounded by the cruelty of occupying soldiers looting his house and murdering his family, he feels nothing for the acts of violence or war. Death doesn't register for him and neither does the pain. One might think he couldn't possibly connect well with others as he does, but he is an extraordinary exception. Lady Murasaki taught him control. She understood that his nightmares about his sister were not a sad boy trapped in a trauma he can't escape. They're of a boy who made sure to remind himself in his dreams he would butcher those soldiers the same as they butchered his sister. A life for a life. He had no sickness to overcome but his own grief that he still carries with him to this day.

Many people, even Murasaki, made the mistake of teaching Hannibal civilized manners only for him to turn around and use their advice to his own advantage. A detective France conveyed to him if he is to violate the law, he should do so without being caught. However he isn't a mindless, cold-blooded killer. From the moment he decided to kill it was to pass judgment on those god did not. He made himself into something of a reckoning, an unrelenting force that just keeps on coming.

With his revenge served he, what is there left to do? Manners only control the beast within, they don't eliminate its needs. His choices become less focused on an end goal, and more on reliving past. From the extravagance of his home in America, to the friends he attaches himself to through study, he let the passion in his heart stay frozen the same as his mother's. In a sense one could say Hannibal has a penchant toward listlessness in his own depression. However he cannot resist his own curiosity and that is his downfall. No matter what is happening, or how close anyone thinks they're getting to him, he is always one step ahead due to his own insatiable need to know.

"Every person is worth your time, Hannibal. If at first appearance a person seems dull, then look harder, look into them."

Strings of these characteristics matured over the years, but haven't disappeared entirely. So much so Hannibal's curiosity is enough for him to start manipulating the minds of others for his own amusement. Hannibal's primary focus as he leaves the ER after obtaining licensure in the USA, is studying the mind. Instead of wallowing in his own madness he helps others find theirs through his therapy and that is the pattern he cannot escape. Normal people progress, they don't go on to traumatize their "friends", such as Will Graham, by putting him through the exact same treatment Murasaki did to him as she helped him recovering bits of himself and his memories. He is doomed to relive his past, as all psychopaths are, once they've found an outlet for the trauma experienced in their youth. The only difference is Hannibal is unpredictable because he knows he can survive. The thrill of near-dear experiences excites him because each time he comes out with his live he is revitalized. He will always return to violence no matter how long it takes, or how much planning must be involved. As an adult he interests himself more in the sophistication of murder rather than the pure, sublime carnage of it.

Even as far divorced from his childhood as he has become, Hannibal is still inclined to react out of pettiness. As an avid reader of Tattle Crime he finds himself upset his title as the Ripper was taken even if it means the FBI was temporarily thrown off his trail. His egotism won't allow for anyone else to take credit for his work. It is inaccurate to say he becomes careless when goaded, as all he does is a calculated decision even in his own rage, but he does leave more clues than he ought to leading back to him. The game of intellectual chess is more fun than his freedom, no matter how much he values his own agency. So many of his behaviors are learned, even in adulthood, but the ease at which someone can get a rise out of him remains the same.

Hannibal's treatment of others lacks respect in most instances. He won't always take interest in just anyone, but he is a collector of psychopaths in much the same way Chilton is. His thirst to find others like himself results in the creation of the Great Red Dragon, Bedelia shoving her arm down the throat of her own patient, and Will Graham dismembering and reconstructing a man into the beast he wished to become. He is less interested in their deaths as he is interested to see how they will kill. Depending on the person Hannibal may wear a persona of kindness, or that of a kindred spirit. Aside from those who find their way into his office, Hannibal interacts fairly regularly with his own community mostly full of upper class acquaintances. He attends the opera and hosts dinner parties for his friends and colleagues. Hannibal can even be found browsing the local art museum entertaining himself with a conversation or two with other patrons. He is, by no means, incapable of decent interactions with others. The entire reason the milder part of his personality exists is thanks to the teachings Lady Murasaki. Otherwise he may just be as bad as the soldiers who cannibalized Mischa.

"See?"

POWER: In canon, Hannibal has no real supernatural powers. All the powers he acquires will come from the City.

Wendigo Sickness: Completely out of Hannibal's control, his personality takes a life of its own. He often influences others to do what they would not. He now has no control over who or how much he influences. In fact, he may never become aware of this power at all but simply being in his presence alters their moral compass ever so slightly so long as they are within range. Let's go with 3-5 feet. Of course, there are people who will be immune to the slight influence.

Dreamwalking: An extension of Wendigo Sickness; the ability to infest others dreams in the form of a stag or Wendigo, at first. Once he has control of the power he can appear as himself, but namely he will take the shape of a Wendigo.

Ultimate Gardner: Hannibal has the uncanny ability to grow plants! Seemingly harmless and particularly useless, but for a professional chef having herbs, fruits, vegetables, and the like readily available is very useful to him. He has to have something to make side dishes with.


〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:
[ A picture is posted. What it lacks in concrete explanation the photograph makes up for in content. A woman has been posed in the stance of a superhero in flight. Her costume is newspaper article after newspaper article of obtiuaries. There is not rhyme or reason. No theme just simply the sheer body count stretching across her arms and legs the same as spandex.

The woman's eyes have been gouged out underneath her cowl leave the sockets of the mask hollow. The view of the camera shakes as it's moved, revealing the intricate structure impaled through the woman's spine to keep her upright and in position.

Hannibal is the one holding the camera, far removed as the photographer of this scene. It isn't his work on display, but someone else's. He finds the forward nature of the message crude. Poorly executed. Clearly this new patient has something against caped crusaders whether they are government hired or not.

He could have cultivated better talent, but the pool of patients could get referrals of were slim to start. And, well, he was getting very impatient. It's still too soon to orchestrate a murder of his own but someone else's?

Footsteps are heard offscreen and then they halt. The camera steadies back in a position that allows for all angles of the woman's disfiguration to be seen. ]

It's a start.

[ The feed immediately goes black.

Hannibal cannot resist his impulse, his penchant to give a patient the very last push they need. A few seconds later: ]

De Chima. Outskirts.

[ Finding this location won't be difficult and he has plenty of time to disappear before anyone moves in. What will this new born killer do now? ]

LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE: Hannibal on the TDM

FINAL NOTES: Canonically, we're never really given much of a "network" voice for Hannibal, in fact there isn't really a time I can think of where he is using a mobile for more than tormenting others so. . .the network sample reflects that |D enjoy~