godsays | 5th Metal / open video

Entry tags:

5th Metal / open video

[ The video turns on Zane, who is somewhat disheveled, but, to the discerning eye, different than usual. Something too intent and high-strung has been muted, and there is a dangerous hint in his eyes. ]

Cassel is... hurt.

Someone needs to collect him.

Level 4, Cabin 12.

[ And video off. ]

[ ACTION SPAM (edited to add) ]

[ And now Zane is in zero.

He sits alone, arms crossed over his chest, his face hard and blank.

Come and visit! ]

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[Her eyebrows arch.] No need to get tetchy.

[But she doesn't sound angry, or even annoyed. She gets why he's pissed off.]

I brought you something. [She holds up the mug in her lap.] I don't know if they have tea where you're from, but it's supposed to be soothing.

[ Wary eyes focus on the tea, then move back up to her face. He doesn't get to his feet. ]

Why?

[ Why did she bring it.

And, well, what he's thinking is why would he accept it. He doesn't have tin here. He can't enhance his senses enough to sniff out poisons or drugs. He doesn't know her. ]

Thought you could use some. [But he doesn't trust it. She gets that - he doesn't know her, not really.

So she takes a sip herself.]

Does that help?

[ A sip isn't a full cup, and she could have developed resistances, or natural immunities.

And if the voice could speak here, it would tell him that she's trying something, and to kill her for it.

He rubs his palm against his temple.

He doesn't know why he gets up and reaches out for it. Perhaps just to defy the voice that isn't there. ]

[Her smile is grateful as she hands it over.]

It's Assam tea. It's...my daughter's favourite.

[ He sits back down, curling both hands around the warmth. It would burn him, if he had tin. His skin still feels numb, sometimes, without the sensory enhancement.

His movement is naturally graceful. A common thing, with Mistborn. ]

You have a daughter?

[Barbara feels her lips curve; that soft, stunned smile she gets whenever she talks about it.] Yeah. You might have met her, actually, she's a Warden here. Cassandra.

[ A shake of his head. The name doesn't sound familiar.

He doesn't know how to interpret that expression. He's not sure he's ever seen it before, on anyone. ]

[She can see the confusion, and she figures she should try to explain.]

It's still pretty new to me. I only just adopted her.

Fostered...?

[ He's not entirely sure what adopted means in this context. ]

I already did that, for a while, sort of. [Well, Cass lived at her house and they didn't tell anyone about it.] We just...made it official.

Or, well, as much as we could here. I got the papers and we signed them.

I don't think that happens in my world.

[ Not officially, anyway. ]

[Barbara nods, frowning slightly.]

What happens if a child loses their parents? [She tries to ask casually, but it's clear there's an investment there.]

Probably a fight over inheritance.

[ It occurs to him, belatedly, that skaa might also count, in this question. ] Or, if they're skaa... [ He doesn't have an answer.

He shrugs. A shrug that means very many things, like nothing happens or they fend for themselves or who cares, they're just skaa. ]

[Her brow furrows, lips pursing.]

Skaa are - what? Lower class?

Yes... no. They're slaves.

Most nobles think of them more like animals than humans.

And you?

[ Cautiously: ] The Lord Ruler made them to be ruled.

[ He doesn't underestimate his opponents. That's how he's learned to treat the skaa differently. ]

[Again, her eyebrows arch, but it's en entirely different sort of expression.]

Sounds like justification to me.

He made them different. To be stronger and have more children, and the nobles to be smarter and have fewer children. Skaa can't breed to Allomancy unless they have nobility in the last two generations. That wasn't how it was before the Lord Ruler.

[ ...according to legend, anyhow. ]

Assuming that's true, does that mean they deserve the life they have?

[ And, of all the possible questions, he sure wasn't expecting that. ]

I'm not sure I've ever met someone who's gotten what they deserve.

Then your world needs changing.

Someone changed it.

It made it worse.

That's the risk you take. [She leans forward, hands clasping together.] But is it better, to watch and do nothing?

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