voice & action, 35th metal

[godsays]

[ voice ]

There are... a lot of people.

[ Zane sounds tense; this is his request for help. How does one navigate crowds like this, which he's never seen before, except in situations of violence? How does he take this? ]

[ action ]

[ He tends to lurk and watch, too hesitant to participate. At least someone's made him dress the part; he carries himself enough like a nobleman, still, that waistcoat and trousers look natural on him. He is a young, well-off man, in appearance; just, quiet, and more likely to watch than participate. ]

Comments

[godsays]

Emptier. [ Almost a laugh, but there's a nervousness underlying it. Emptier wouldn't be too hard. ]

[architrave]

I can come meet you; take you somewhere with very few people, if you'd like? It would be faster than you could manage on foot.

[godsays]

[ In another life, Zane would have refused this out of hand. He would never have extended any measure of trust for someone else to help him, especially when he didn't know what they wanted to get out of it.

Things have changed. ]

...yes. I would.

[ He names his location. ]

Thank you.

[architrave]

[ Door appears from a wall not too far from Zane's immediate line of sight, where there was clearly no entranceway to begin with and whatever hinges or outlines exist manage to vanish the moment she closes the door behind her.

The crowd doesn't notice her. More to the point, despite not noticing people move out of her way, almost unconsciously. Makes it very easy for her to reach him, offering her arm for him to take. ]

Somewhere more quiet.

[ She gives him a small smile and takes hold of a small bag with tightly wrapped items in the hand closest to him, her free arm reaching out towards a wall, unlocking, pushing, and then...

And then they're in a restricted area, outside, far from the crowds but still part of the fair. Door pulls her arm away while Zane readjusts to the space, bringing out from the bag a hot cup wrapped tightly in fabric that smells a bit of rum and a bit of chocolate.

She hands him one. ]

They're very good.

[godsays]

[ He stops short, after she pulls him through. Glances back, of course, though he knows that the door isn't there anymore. That was very interesting. He's never seen anything like it. ]

That was amazing.

[ Takes the cup, and sniffs it, tin-enhanced, to tell the ingredients. Not that he expects poison - no, he just wants to know what it is. ]

Rum?

[architrave]

Yes. I had my first a few hours ago. It was very windy.

[ Door smiles up at him before settling herself down in the grass with her own cup, wrapping her gloved hands around it. ]

You aren't from a place like this, are you?

[godsays]

[ He settles more slowly next to her, and takes a long drink. The lack of immediate crowds is clearing his head; he, finally, burns part of the reserve of tin that he swallowed earlier. His senses sharpen, the sunlight becoming blinding, the grass vibrant with color, the individual stitches on his clothing palpable. He lets out a sigh, and extinguishes tin again. He couldn't burn it among so many people; the sensory enhancement would have been painful and disorienting. ]

No. A less advanced place. A place that doesn't like advancement.

I'm Zane.

[architrave]

I was speaking more towards the crowd than the technology.

[ She turns her head towards him and smiles. ]

I'm Door. Glad to help.

[godsays]

A place that doesn't like people, either.

Skaa aren't like this. They're hopeless. They don't even look up when someone passes by. And why would they? When a careless glance could have them executed.

[ He says this matter-of-factly, with maybe a little too much careful distance. ]

There's hope here. And color.

[architrave]

All this color is a sign of a healthy people. The harder it is to determine who is whom, the better it may be for everyone.

[ Her smile turns fond, but distant. Zane's description of the Skaa is unsettling at best. ]

Who ...or what ...made them that way?

[godsays]

The Lord Ruler. An - oppressive emperor, and a self-styled god.

[ It's interesting how much of that description could be applied to the Risen Emperor. But interesting, too, how utterly opposite they are. Risen could destroy the Lord Ruler, with half the resources and a quarter the time. ]

He built his society to have nobles and skaa, and nothing in between.

Even the plants don't have color, in my world. They're grey, brown. Ash falls from the sky. The thought of something growing green was new to me on the Barge.

[architrave]

[ She wonders what Zane would make of London Below, it's darkness and it's corners, it's people afraid of the monsters that dwell in the shadows. Frightened often, hungry often, but no less proud of where they are, who they are, and where they are from.

There's a pang of homesickness like being stabbed with a fork unexpectedly. It draws no blood but the emotional recoil remains. ]

The people where I am from don't see the sky very often. [ Door murmurs more than states. ] But one filled with ash? Why?

[godsays]

He made it that way. It wasn't like that before he became... whatever he is.

Do your people ever see the stars?

[architrave]

Not often. We're underground, for the most part. Beneath London, a huge city across the ocean from here.

[godsays]

[ He nods, slowly, though it more means that he's listening than that he understands. ]

People in my world who aren't Mistborn - who don't have the ability to enhance their own senses - never see the stars. Most don't even go out at night. They're afraid of the mists.

[architrave]

Are they actually dangerous?

[ She will assume that Zane is Mistborn and not Skaa, though she's more certain of the former at this point. ]

[godsays]

It's - complicated.

[ He remembers the mists feeling friendly, sometimes, and hostile other times. He can't quite explain it, except by saying it's part of the gods that controlled the world. ]

But I think their legends were about Mistwraiths. Mistwraiths aren't dangerous. They only eat the flesh of already dead things, and they take the bones to make more... limbs. Bodies. They can be frightening, but they're harmless.

wow lost this in my inbox

[architrave]

Anything which deals strictly with the dead ...[ Well. That's likely to frighten more than a few people, isn't it?

Door simply shrugs, and gives a little smile. ]

Do you like the stars?

[godsays]

Yes.

Like green plants. I'll never get tired of them.

[architrave]

There's something really ...good, really fascinating, about the way things will grow given just a little bit of dirt, water and light. Not that there aren't plenty of things that also grow in the dark.

[godsays]

There's almost nothing green in my world.

[architrave]

[ Door turns her head, dropping her chin down and frowning just a little. ]

Are the Skaa...healthy, at all? Or are they only afraid?

[godsays]

They were only afraid. Things have changed. Are changing.

[architrave]

Good. [ She smiles and returns to her hot chocolate and rum. ] No one should be afraid and nothing more.