Ardelia Mapp was a pet person, she definitely liked animals, and even though she would rather have a cat, she wasn't bothered when her roommate, Clarice Starling, showed up with a mewling black ball of fur. Actually Mapp thought it would be great to have something that would keep Clarice busy and out of the so called "Hannibal House", as she sometimes used to sleep over the creepy basement surrounded by Lecter and his crime stories. It sounded like a very good idea.
Hell, had she been wrong.
xxx
"I'm home!" Clarice's voice called out, she waited as Ardelia showed up and exposed the black ball of fur to her friend.
"Who is this?" Ardelia asked with a smile of surprise.
Starling faced the cat, who stared back at her. "Hm. I don't have a name for him yet." She looked back to Ardelia. "We'll figure it out."
"So he is staying?" questioned Mapp crossing her arms, smiling to her friend.
"Do you mind?" Clarice asked with pleading eyes.
"Hey, I'm more of a dog person, but whatever, let fur ball stay." she raised her hands in defeat.
"Thank you." smiled Starling. "I already bought all he will need."
"So you were keeping him anyway."
Clarice didn't answer, just kept walking to the kitchen.
"He stays in your room." Ardelia argued.
"Sure thing."
Mapp then saw the cat walk his way out of the kitchen, exploring his surroundings. The pet was pretty, he was all black and had this eyes that looked somewhere between the brown and red. A shiver ran through Ardelia, but she ignored it, was definitely not about to admit his eyes freaked her out.
Jesus is powerful, she thought, feeling silly as soon as she finished. It was only a cat- Right?
xxx
The idea for the cat's name was Ardelia's, but for all the wrong reasons.
It had been around a week since they got the pet and Mapp was already entirely sure the thing hated her. He hissed whenever he saw her near Clarice, he thought her leg looked like some predator and he had a thing for the feeling of laying on her stuff when she needed it, so she had to fight him to get it.
It was a morning when Ardelia entered the kitchen ready to make herself some coffee, she sat her favorite cup on the table and focused on getting the ingredients when she heard something and found the cat walking into the kitchen.
He came in, drank some of his water and walked all the way to the table where her mug was, it decided that the cup was good company to lay around with.
The image of the cat laying right beside her mug on the table was making her nervous, but Ardelia didn't had a single reason to be, so calling herself paranoid she turned to get the rest of the ingredients, that was when she heard something move on the table.
Mapp felt herself freeze when she saw the animal pawning her mug towards the edge of the table, when it was almost falling he stopped and looked at her, she let out a sigh of relief that lasted only a second. The next she closed her eyes to the sound of her mug breaking into pieces.
"YOU FURRED ASSHOLE!"
Clarice jumped at the scream and soon was making her way downstairs and towards the kitchen. She found her cat watching Ardelia pick up the pieces of her broken mug, while she cursed some thousands of times.
"What happened?" Starling asked.
"I have a name for this… Thing!" she said furious. "You have two choices: call him Lucifer, maybe Satan, or call him Lecter. Lecter suits him better."
Clarice watched her friend for a moment, feeling uneasy at the mention of the cannibal's name.
"He broke my mug, he likes to throw my photos, yesterday there was a fur ball on my shoes, he sheds in my clothes, attacks my legs, uses my plants as bathroom and things my eating spoon is a toy. Also, he did hiss at any living being who gets near you. That's it! I decided his name: Hannibal Lecter. Also he has the creepy red eyes."
Clarice stared at her cat, who was watching her, it mewled to her before walking to her and rubbing on her legs.
"See? He clearly likes it." Mapp pointed out. "Hannibal is the perfect name for him."
Starling picked up the cat and it started playing with her necklace. "Hannibal" she tried, unused to using the man's first name, the cat looked right into her eyes, a move that scared the shit out of both women.
"You can call him Satan too" reminded Ardelia.
xxx
Once he locked the pick, the good doctor made his way inside Clarice's house, he knew she was asleep and that Ardelia had taken days away with her family, so he decided it was a good idea to stop by. What he didn't expect was to be watched by a furred black ball sitting on the table, observing him with red eyes.
"Well, hello" said Hannibal.
The cat mewled to him and didn't move as the man approached. He purred when caressed.
"I didn't see you here last time. Who are you?" Lecter looked around and found the animal's name plate. "Oh, that's interesting… I wonder how you ended up with this name."
The animal moved away, walking towards Clarice's hanging coat, he jumped at it until it fell to the ground and laid on it.
"Questioned and answered." commented Hannibal nodding. "Anyway, I'm gonna see how is our friend. I'll see you later, Hannibal."
The cat mewled again before he started playing with Starling's coat.