2nd Metal / open spam covering the next few days

[godsays]

[ He never had thought of Mistborn powers as being an addiction, but this may force him to admit he was wrong. He craves the metals, craves the sensations that come with them. He feels as though his body has been wrapped in cotton; no longer can he distinguish the grains of wood through his fingertips, or hear the whisper of a heartbeat from a room away. He can't use lines of metal to sense movement and to chart his surroundings. Can't fall and fly. Can't lean on the emotions of those he meets. He's trapped in his skull, a prisoner of locked doors and gravity.

This is what drives him to some desperation.

There are many risks that come with seeking out metals not metallurgist-crafted. Alloys can be impure; they can be of an incorrect mixture. It's hard to flake off bits of metal. Chewing on them will only result in certain trace metals in the system, and those could be burned off easily and quickly without much benefit.

So: find him anywhere in a public area, focused on some sort of metal. Perhaps determinedly working at the tines of a fork or attempting to chew on a pipe. Licking, in an attempt to taste the composition of an alloy. (This is unsurprisingly ineffective.)

And then, at some point, he may succeed in flaking/bending off/acquiring some metal that can be swallowed. Unfortunately, alloys of incorrect percentage give him a blinding headache and leave him nauseated and down for the count. So feel free to also find him curled into a ball really wishing he hadn't just tried to do that. ]

Comments

[fridgetothefire]

[She's interested in him. Originally she paid attention to his public conversation with Charles because she likes keeping tabs on Charles, but now she's interested in Zane for his own sake. Metal powers, a blunt superiority complex, the professed insanity, the ignorance and the simple curiosity. It's an odd mix. She didn't expect to find him gnawing on a brass doorknob, but she can roll with it.]

...whatever you're trying to accomplish there, there's probably a more efficient way to do it. Not to mention more hygienic.

spam; later, with curled-in-a-ball Zane

[silvestris]

And just when I was missing the gutters of Gotham.

[She nudges him with one boot.]

What did you get your hands on?

[dalekemperor]

Just the thing to come along and see: a grown man gnawing on a random pipe.

Davros (who is, himself, about 80% metal) stops and stares.

"I am told that there are treatments for pica on most worlds," he observes drily.

[itstopped]

[There's metal on Felix, too, although not anything Zane could use; he's not sure what's in the new leg, but it's much lighter and less unwieldy than the old one. It's also compact enough that it allows him to hide it under his trousers, and by now he can very nearly walk normally on it, although he still noticeably favors the leg. It's still harder for him to do something like crouch down on an ankle that doesn't bend, and so when he sees the young man curled up on his way out of the dining hall, he tries to address the situation from a standing position first.]

Uh, are you... okay...? [A strong start, Felix.] Do you need someone from the infirmary, I mean.

[patheticvillain]

[Cassel is used to weird shit. Weird shit is basically his bread and butter. But this . . . is a little much.]

[Well, Zane did say he was crazy. It seems like he was right.]

How, uh. How's that going for you?

[warisart]

[Here is another that's been silently keeping an eye on the new arrival, curious but hanging back. Ben is familiar with his environment at this point, knows where he can watch unseen and where he can't, and he's unwilling to approach the stranger until he's as certain as he can be of his disposition.

The strangeness is not offputting to the transgenic. He has no preconceptions of normal to compare it to, not that he's understood intrinsically like most would. But he has seen the man make several fruitless attempts at ingesting various metal items, and he's beginning to suggest there might be something wrong with him.

It's quietly, from semi-behind, when Ben finally approaches on quiet feet while Zane is studying something in his hands in one of the common areas.]

Do you require medical assistance?

[strangehistorian]

[Is that human eating a fork?]

...Are you alright?

[wecanavenge]

[Erik hasn't been particularly social of late, and with good reason: the Barge often has a way of making things worse before it gets better, and the last few weeks have certainly been an emphasis on worse. He's still angry, because letting go has never been a talent of his.

Still, he can't stay cooped up in his room for days on end, so on one of his strolls - shoulders straight, face schooled in a look that keeps most people away - he pauses when he comes upon a man trying to eat a pipe.

He wishes that was stranger to him than it was.]

What the hell are you doing?

[wedonot]

[Fortunately, Charles already knows that metal apparently has something to do with this man's - he never introduced himself to him - abilities, otherwise he might think that there was a gas leak or something on board, because chewing on a pipe is certainly not healthy behavior.

That, or this new arrival was clearly far more unstable than he'd previously assumed.]

That seems like a very good way to get sick.