Penny Dreadful Sentence Starters / @personsuited​ / Still accepting.

      It is at this precise moment that Starling recognizes the hook that Hannibal Lecter has pierced into and beneath her skin. The hook is secured by taught fishing wire, and Starling hopes to unhinge it with as much agility as she can muster, as Hannibal’s words now have a distinct impression upon her. They now mean something more than answers to textbook fill-in-the-blanks. Their impression slips beneath the surface-level. 

        This is to say that his criticism affects her.

       This is to say Goddammit, Starling—- 

                       Clarice is on a roll.
                      Clarice is in control. 

       She musters an unaffected gaze and grants Hannibal a tilt of the head—- only slightly to the right. Hannibal Lecter, always adding his two cents, even when it’s unnecessary for the other party. And Clarice Starling, too-aware of her shot-to-shit bloodline, too aware of her success as a reflection of everything she’s never had, too aware of her rube-like attire, too aware of the fact that she’ll always fall into her South Virginian cadence when it benefits her. 

        “ With all due respect, Doctor Lecter, naïveté is not what got me to where I am.”