Caging the Beast - Hannibal Kerrigan
(EU slot)
Hannibal Kerrigan's finely manicured talons clicked against the linoleum floors as she made her way to the lecture hall, trying to ignore the whispers that followed her as surely as her own footsteps. Those cursed voices... though the ponies uttering them had changed over the years, the words hadn't. Beast, monster, defiler... or some derivative thereof. She had gotten good at discerning the difference between the curious voices and the hostile ones over the years, at least.
"If you are curious if I can breathe fire, the answer is yes," Kerrigan called out, not bothering to slow her stride or turn her head. She arrived at her lecture hall and slipped through the doors. As usual, all eyes were on her, as she walked to her seat.
"If I didn't know better, Miss Kerrigan, I would say you enjoy making an entrance," her professor said, as Kerrigan took her seat.
"Seeing as how you walk in precisely as the bell rings every single day."Kerrigan took a deep breath, in through the mouth, out through the nose. The manner she had practiced for years to keep the Fire Inside at bay. Some days were easier than others... this day, this class, this wretched teacher, made it far more difficult.
"Begging your pardon professor, but it is hardly my fault that nobody- nopony else- considers punctuality to be important. Perhaps if others did so, I would not stand out so much," Kerrigan said, her voice flat and even.
Everyone will see you as a monster. And they will try to get you to act the part. Don't give them what they want, she reminded herself. But growing up among the dragons had also instilled in her a need to prove herself... and the professor had knowingly challenged her.
"Oh, professor?" she said, raising her hand for permission to speak, even as the Fire Inside seethed and screamed for vengeance. She quashed that desire- the mental image of gouts of flame, the scent of roasting flesh, the visage of fear etched into the faces of those same ponies who whispered terrible things about her... she forced them all down, beneath an icy facade.
"What is it, miss Kerrigan?" he asked.
"Among my people, sir, naming order is reversed- my family name comes first, and my given name second. So although my name is Hannibal Kerrigan, I am not 'miss Kerrigan', but rather 'miss Hannibal'," she said, in clipped tones.
And you'll know my name well one day, Kerrigan thought to herself as she scribbled notes on the lecture. The Fire Inside dwindled as the class wore on, but she knew it was temporary. The bell would ring, the voices would surround her again, and the Fire Inside would scream for vengeance. It was only through force of will that she could keep herself in check.
Don't give them a reason. Don't give them a reason. Don't give them a reason...The bell rang. Kerrigan packed up her notes and bustled out of the lecture hall, a swarm of whispers shrouded all around her, as they always were. She kept her head held high and walked calmly, evenly, down the hall towards the quad. One down, two to go- today. But each day finished was one less between her and that damned sheepskin. All she had to do was keep the Fire Inside in check until then...
"Look boys, it's Cold-Blooded Kerrigan, the lizard lady!" a too-familiar voice chided, to raucous, derisive laughter. Rock Hammer, one of the Tri Omegas, and a trio of lesser mooks rounded the corner in front of her, a stupid, shit-eating grin plastered on all their faces.
"Calls herself a dragon. Can you believe it? Looks more like a skink to me!" Hammer said, eliciting thick, stupid guffaws from the others.
"I am impressed you even know what a skink is," Kerrigan said, before taking a long, slow breath.
"Pretty big talk, for a little lizard. I thought dragons could breathe fire, not lame insults," he sneered.
Kerrigan raised an eyebrow at him.
"Oh, its an insult to say you impressed me? How grave would it be then to say you disappointed me. Though with as long a line of disappointed females as you have, perhaps you wouldn't even notice one more," she retorted- knowing immediately that she had crossed a line. The Triple Stomps were usually all talk and bluster. A bit of back-and-forth, and they'd get bored with her and go find someone else to pick on. But she'd egged them on, instead of simply ignoring them like she usually did. This wouldn't end well.
"Oh please, like anypony would ever stoop so low as to touch you," he hissed, turning around and walking away.
Kerrigan blinked, surprised at how well that had gone- and then, as if the Universe heard her, a wet glob of spit landed on her cheek. The surprise of it gave her pause- and in that pause, the Fire Inside made its move to escape. Kerrigan took a deep breath, and let out a gout of flame into the sky, her leathery wings ripping free from beneath the confinement of her pack, blouse, and coat. Her tail, normally kept coiled around her waist like a belt, lashed out, knocking one of the Stomps off his feet and sending him tumbling end over end into the plush grass of the quad.
"Is this a sufficient monster to sate you, Hammer?! Or shall we see what happens when I spit on you?!" Kerrigan said with a roar, as small twin jets of flame shot out her flared nostrils. Hammer just stared, his eyes wide in shock. Kerrigan whipped her tail around his ankle and yanked him off his feet, before dangling him upside down in front of her.
"The only one who will ever touch me is whomever I deem worthy of the honor," she said, hissing fiercely, her forked tongue flicking the air an inch in front of his face, before unwinding her tail and letting him drop to the ground.
Kerrigan watched them scarper off, practically falling over themselves in their haste. There was a crowd gathered around the periphery of the quad- but for the first time in almost three years at Luna University, there were no hushed whispers and insults behind baited breath. She could hear them murmuring, but it was
awe in their voices, not disgust. Kerrigan brushed a few tattered bits of fabric off of her coat, coiled her tail around her waist, and folded her wings over herself like a cloak.
"Don't you all have studying to do?" she said sharply- and the crowd, as if made of thistle down in a stiff breeze, scattered. Kerrigan smiled- perhaps this day would not be so bad, after all.