[ Hannibal stares back at her, not quite impassive, but certainly not shying away from the intensity and the uncertainty in her gaze. All that comes is a very light tilt of his head, which she can probably recognize now as Hannibal distinct little gesture of interest and of prompting someone to continue talking. In comparison to her distress, he's calm, as always.

Though in truth, he's not indifferent to her conflict here. Quite the opposite. It captures his interest in the way that patients occasionally do, because her conflict is an interesting, tragic one. When faced with terrible circumstances where no solution is truly good and correct... What do people do? What do they do when they're pushed to change?

It's a question that always fascinates him. ]

It could be called selfish. But the problem with 'selfishness' is that it tends to be objective, Xion. It is not a judgement that can be made the same way by ever person. One person may call it selfish. I would not.

[ He pauses, giving time for those words to sink in, since he thinks that his own opinion there might be something she needs time to process. But after he's given her time, he continues with only a simple question. ]

Why are their lives more valuable than your own?