My Holy Trinity Of "how Much Angst Can I Fit Into This Poor Fictional Character"

Please, Don't be Cruel | Hannigram Fic

Hannibal stopped scrubbing the dishes, his hands hidden beneath the soapy water, and Will was oblivious to the knife hidden beneath the surface.

He misinterpreted Hannibal’s silence for guilt and he sighed, leaning against the man’s arm to convey that he wasn’t mad at him. Will said, “I just don’t want Jack to get any wrong ideas, okay? I would hate for you to go to jail because of a stupid pun.”

“Just to clarify, you’re talking about me being…”

“The Chesapeake Ripper.”

“Ah…”

-

Will thinks that he and Hannibal are in a relationship. Hannibal thinks that he and Will are just close friends. Will also thinks that Hannibal knows that he knows that he's the Chesapeake Ripper.

Read it on ao3:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/63826561

I will write smut and think it's the pinnacle of all my works, forget about it, remember I wrote it, then cringe and put it in a hidden folder on ao3 where it will never again see the light of day

Why do you think Will and Hannibal both went through scarcity but relate so differently to money? (love your blog)

Will grew up poor, but there is no indication that he suffered from literal hunger. More likely, he lived in a state of constant limitation, having enough for basic sustenance and shelter but little beyond that. His poverty was not one of extreme deprivation but of restriction, of never being able to afford more than the essentials. Later in life, however, Will gained financial security through his professional roles...his work as an FBI consultant, his teaching position, and even as an author of a book used in official training. By the time we see him in the show, he is far from poor; in fact, he has amassed significant wealth. Yet his attitude toward money is cautious, even frugal. This is a common trait in those who grow up without financial security. Money is not seen as something to be indulged in but as something to be preserved. The fear of losing it lingers, and so he is unlikely to splurge, preferring comfort over excess, stability over extravagance.

Hannibal’s trajectory, by contrast, is one of dramatic extremes. He was born into wealth, lost it in an incredibly brief yet profoundly traumatic period of scarcity, and then regained it, never to lose it again. The nature of his deprivation was far more intense than Will’s, his suffering was not just financial but existential, marked by starvation, war, and the destruction of his entire world. This kind of scarcity often breeds an obsession with indulgence rather than security. Those who experience such extreme deprivation, especially those who later come into great wealth, frequently develop compulsions toward excess, seeking to consume, possess, and experience everything available to them as a way to compensate for past lack. Hannibal, with his tastes, opulent lifestyle, and relentless pursuit of pleasure, embodies this tendency. He doesn't just enjoy luxury, he devours it, making an art form out of indulgence itself.

This contrast in their financial psychology also mirrors their deeper fears. Hannibal’s greatest fear is the loss of control, but paradoxically, he has a repressed desire to relinquish it. His indulgences, his love of fine dining, extravagant possessions, and excessive refinement, serve as an outlet for this tension, a "safe" way for him to surrender control without ever truly doing so. He allows himself to indulge because he remains the master of his own excess.

Will, on the other hand, fears losing his mind. His life is not built around control in the same way Hannibal’s is, but rather around creating an environment that minimizes risk. He does not need extravagance, he needs stability, predictability, a life free from unnecessary variables. His frugality is not just financial but existential; he seeks security, not pleasure, and constructs his world accordingly. His job then is his way of indulging in risk.

In the end, their differing relationships with wealth reflect the deeper structures of their personalities. Hannibal, ever-consuming, transforming indulgence into control, and Will, always conserving, ensuring he never steps too far into uncertainty.

Eileen (2023) | ☆☆☆☆

(spoilers ahead!)

Today, I watched Eileen and it surpassed any expectations I had going in. Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie's acting in this movie was incredible and the cinematography was to die for. Perfectly dark and intimate. The buildup of the story left something to be desired, but the twist at the end was done so well that I physically slapped my hand against my mouth in disbelief.

The way Anne Hathaway delivered the line, "The first thing you need to know, this isn't my house. This is the Polk house. I have Mrs. Polk tied up downstairs." Chills.

My favorite scene though, was a bit earlier in the kitchen when Rebecca says, "Tell me, honey...what would make a person want to kill their father?" Eileen replies, "Everybody wants to kill their father." Rebecca's eye twitches and she says, "No they don't. Where did you hear that?"

I thought this exchange was PERFECT. Eileen is completely oblivious to her own psychopathy and capacity for violence, up until the point where she shoots Mrs. Polk and excitedly devises a plan to hide the body. We're led to believe (at least I was led to believe) that Rebecca was the one hiding a secret murder-y alter ego, but then Eileen actually acting on her intrusive thoughts in the end (shooting Mrs. Polk) was a great twist after all the fake-outs.

Also, I love the way we become desensitized to Eileen's intrusive thoughts throughout the movie. Because Eileen thinks that her violent fantasies are normal, we end up just brushing over her thoughts of killing herself/her father until her dark side appears with a literal bang.

Eileen thinks that everyone thinks the way she does and it comes as a surprise when she realizes that she isn't like every one else. Eileen kills Mrs. Polk and she does it with a sort of detached calmness that is so striking against Rebecca who was shaking, screaming, and crying. There's something terribly wrong with Eileen, whereas Rebecca had made a terrible mistake and was trying to fix it.

(Rebecca: "Why did you shoot her?"

Eileen: "I was upset.")

The scene also highlights the fact that Rebecca would never be able to love/accept Eileen because they are not alike. Although it pains me to say it (because I really wanted them to run away together), Rebecca was simply a stepping stone for Eileen in her journey of self discovery.

This made me recall the conversation Eileen had with her father. He said, "Some people...they're the real people. Like in a movie, they're the ones you're watching. They're the ones making moves. And other people...they're there filling the space. That's you, Eileen."

At the end of the movie, Eileen becomes one of the "real people" and smiles.

I feel like I could talk about this movie WAY more and do a better in depth analysis, but I just wanted to briefly talk about some of my favorite parts <3

Will is so much better than me, my soul would have left my body if I found Georgia under my bed

Stay with me: Will and Hannibal have been fighting for months about their criteria for hunting in a post-fall world, never able to agree on what murders are justified, who deserves or doesn’t deserve to be punished… and then the cybertruck is introduced

I think hannibal’s dick gave will graham brain damage bc it took him entirely too long to figure out who framed him for murder, mf is like… who could have done this to me.. who has intimate knowledge about my psyche, my schedule, and unpublished crime scene evidence which I share with my therapist in excruciating detail…  what’s not clicking william?

thinking about stobotnik

ouhh I need what they have BAD