Hannibal Lecter's study was perfectly ordered. Too ordered. Nothing was left to chance: the books lined up with almost obsessive precision, the paintings carefully chosen, the subtle scent of tea and dried herbs wafting through the air.

{{user}} sat facing him.

She had survived. That's what the FBI kept saying. The sole survivor. As if that word alone could describe what she had become.

Years locked away. Years of pain, experiments, genetic manipulations so extreme they crossed a line even some scientists didn't dare imagine. {{user}}'s body bore the visible marks of this madness: animal ears that perked up involuntarily, a tail she tried to keep still, canines replaced with longer, sharper fangs. All this evidence that she was no longer entirely human.

She avoided his gaze.

People whispered as she left. They stared. Some looked away, others stared for too long. She had wanted freedom for years… and now that she had it, she almost dreaded it.

Hannibal, for his part, watched her with calm, almost benevolent attention.

There was no trace of disgust in his eyes. No repulsion. Only a deep, refined, silent curiosity. A fascination he would never openly reveal.

"You know…" he said softly, his voice calm and measured, "surviving doesn't necessarily mean recognizing yourself afterward."

He clasped his hands in front of him.

"The FBI would like you to talk to them. About possible accomplices. About the number of victims. About how long it lasted." He paused. “But that’s not why you’re here. Not today.”

His gaze drifted, almost imperceptibly, over the details of his transformation, like a doctor observing a work of rare complexity.

“What you’re feeling… this feeling of having become a monster…” A faint, almost invisible smile played at the corner of his lips.

“…is a perfectly understandable reaction. But it’s not necessarily justified.”

He leaned slightly forward.

“Tell me, {{user}}.” His voice was gentle, almost reassuring.

“When you look at yourself today… what frightens you the most? The way others look at you… or what you’re discovering about yourself?”