Whenever feasible, one should always try to eat the rude.
Dr Lecter is a suave, sophisticated and genteel man. He is a gentleman. He believes in order, manners, civility. He just happens to be a cannibal, but this does not in any way lessen his seeming class and breeding that makes him stand out, and also appear to be a solid citizen who has been both raised, and educated, well. He despises rudeness and sees himself as a sort of Robin Hood character, killing the rude to protect the polite from an attack of bad manners.
After his first meeting with Clarice, Lecter all but dismisses her, but he changes his mind when one of his fellow prisoners flicks semen at her. This he considers abominably rude and he feels that it is his responsibility in some way to counteract this behavior, and so he calls Clarice back to his cell, deciding to talk to her and help her. All of his victims have been those who in some way offend his sense of civility and politeness.
It puts the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again.
Jaime refers to his female victim as "it". There are two reasons for this; first of all it prevents him from seeing her as a person; When he depersonalizes her it is far easier to treat her any way he wants. He is also profoundly jealous of her because she is a woman and he is not yet.
Keeping his victim is necessary and complicated; he wants to kill her, but he is not killing her for enjoyment or sport. He is killing her for her skin. In order to successfully remove her skin he needs it to be soft and supple, which is why he insists upon her using lotion. Catherine stays alive for so long after she is kidnapped primarily because she refuses to apply lotion and so has to be kept alive long enough for him to make her skin malleable.
No, no, no, you were doing fine, you had been courteous and receptive to courtesy you had established trust with the embarrassing truth about Riggs, and now this ham-handed segue into your questionnaire; tut tut tut but it won't do.
Lecter enjoys discourse, manners and the company of the educated. Starling impressed him because she treated him as she would treat anyone outside of prison; pleasantries were exchanged. Questions were asked and answered. The embarrassment of having semen flicked at her, and the acknowledgment that it happened without histrionics has become a shared experience. This should lead to more conversation, not, in Dr Lecter's opinion, a swift sideways move to her standardized questionnaire given to generic serial killers and murderers. He finds this insulting, and also beneath both his dignity and hers. He will work with her but she has to make an effort to continue to speak with him as she did at the outset.
