@skingamesā (erik lehnsherr)
āi am not who you think.ā
there is a knife to the throat that is not hannibalās, a knife that had moved so fast in the manās hand that he could hardly see it and a few years ago he could not speak, not move, but he is stronger now. he cannot afford to be afraid, cannot think of the frigid air and the cleaver and praÅ”au, praÅ”au, praÅ”auā
the papers that had brought him here, wearing this face, are scattered on the floor around him and he sees murder in the manās eyes. he sees murder and in seeing murder he sees kin. lady murasaki has warned him about his giftāyou are special, hannibal, but they will be afraid, you mustnāt show anyoneābut he does not want to be murdered as this nazi, this friend of themāand so he raises his hands and sheds his face, gains an inch in height and loses a hundred pounds in weight and forty years of age, and this hideous face becomes the one that he most often calls his own. if he is going to be murdered for something, this is the skin he will die in. this is what he will die for.
āplease,ā hannibal says, in his own voice, his accented french, his stiff and halting diction as his mind fights him, trying to take refuge in silence. āhe is evil. i am not him.ā