patheticvillain | nine ➢ filter + private

Entry tags:

nine ➢ filter + private

video | 1 friendly conversation filter, sans chris + cass

[Cassel chooses the video option deliberately, as well as the angle: dead on his face with a view of his shoulders and the top half of his torso. His face and posture bleed honesty tinged with regret - a little confusion, too. The confusion's the only part of this that's true, and his anger, frustration, resentment are well-hidden. That's why he's excluded Cass, because she could call him on this in an instant. Chris is out because he doesn't lie to Chris. Everyone else is fair game.]

[He takes a half-breath before he starts, looking at the camera, off to the side - guilt, shame.]

I shouldn't have done that. [Lie.] If I worried you, I'm sorry. [Half-truth, and a self-deprecating smile.] I'm not great at, uh, planning, I guess.

I know there's no way I can make up for worrying everyone, but if it's any consolation I feel like a total ass. Lesson learned, scout's honor, not happening again. [Smile evolved into smirk! Still self-deprecating, though.] I'm also considering putting up a suggestion box. "Shit Cassel should never do" for Barge input.

[And then he gets quiet, tilts his head a little sadly at the camera. Sincere regret, only not.] Seriously. Don't worry about me. And don't take it out on him.

private/video | zane

[Mask down: Cassel is pissed. Royally. About as angry as most people have probably ever seen him. Definitely angry enough to blatantly ignore the previous lie he told, that he didn't trust Zane - he does, and they're clearly the only two people here who have any clue what happened.]

[Again: video, same frame, but Cassel's not looking at the camera; too busy fuming.]

People get in your personal business here. [It looks like that's all he's going to say on that subject, but then a half-shrug:] Are you out of Zero yet?

[The rest is sent as text, more information than he has ever in his life given one person at once, but he's been watching. Zane understands him, he thinks, at least in part, certainly better than most other people do, and he's been inconvenienced by idiots like Rorschach with no intention of even attempting understanding. It's owed. That, and he needs it known, comprehensively, by somebody who understands what it's like to be manipulated.]

I think you like to know things, so here's some info. You chew screws, I wear gloves, because back home everybody wears gloves. It's how we stay safe. Work comes from hands and work can kill you or ruin your life. It can make you forget. That's why if you ever touch me [by which he means bare skin, the punching was fine really] with bare hands again I'll bite your fingers off. Nothing personal, that's just how it is.

Watch out for Barron Sharpe and Touko Fukawa.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[WOW.]

You have lead poisoning. [He covers his eyes for a second. O-kay.] How do you usually get it out?

It's not curable.

Fuck that. People have magic here.

I've made sure to leave enough pewter in my stomach to fight every night since -

Since I was seventeen.

[He's not even going to examine the science or magic or whatever of that, he knows it won't make sense to him. What he zeroes in on is: since I was seventeen.]

Do you not have enough now, or is it just not working?

I haven't had any pewter to burn since I got here. Burning it - it enhances the body. It fights off poisoning, and makes you stronger, and faster.

If it's burned off, it doesn't poison you. It's leaving it in my stomach that I knew would hurt me eventually.

It must be that my body isn't fighting back the way it should, without pewter.

Oh, that's why you didn't break my neck, because you didn't have any pewter.

[He's pretty cheerful, considering, but serious about the next part.]

I can probably get some.

I wouldn't have killed you.

[ He's almost afraid to touch that next bit god he wants pewter so much right now. ]

...there are different alloys that are called pewter. The right one for this is ninety-one percent tin, nine percent lead. Like I said.

[ Please. ]

I know. [He really does.] It was a joke.

[It's not a plea, not even a question really, but it's so out of character that Cassel knows what it means. It's how you beg when you're in pain and afraid and unwilling to outright hope for anything better.]

How much?

Even a couple of beads...

[He looks off-camera, eyes traveling across the belongings in his (and Sam's, once) room. If he has to, he'll transform something. Doesn't want to, because Chris said you don't have to be useful, I don't want you in pain, but this is life and death and he'd do it for Chris, too, in a second. Less.]

[There are a lot of things in here that he wants to destroy, anyway, including the cat figurine under his pillow, some days. But maybe not yet.]

I'll get it. But they won't let me in Zero.

When I get out, then.

[ He can stand being ill. ]

Okay, I'll have your stupid pewter tomorrow then. Maybe I'll just break into your room again and leave it there waiting.

Edited 2013-04-30 19:42 (UTC)

[ Struggles with this question. He wants to know, but he never asked it from his informants unless he was planning something else. Figuring out a way to get them killed, maybe. ]

How will you get it?

[ Because he wants to know about steel, too. ]

I'll ask Kon first. If he won't -

[This is it, this is the test, this is what Cassel has told two people about so far and one of them doesn't count because Kon started out with the damn file. This is what people use to control him. But Zane had done as he asked. They aren't friends, not the way Cassel defines and idealizes friends, but there is common ground. Common fear.]

[Silently he raises one gloved hand.]

Your powers. They work through your hands.

[ This is the conclusion he's reached. ]

You can make metals?

Yeah. I can change things into metals. Or - anything.

It hurts. [He keeps prodding at this subject like it's a sore tooth, and he wants to see if Zane reacts; he doubts it.] But I just have to touch something.

[He could have hurt Zane, not killed him with the power reductions, but hurt him a lot. The thought never crossed his mind.]

How does it hurt?

[ Being a Mistborn doesn't hurt. It can, if you burn metals too often. Become an Allomantic savant. He's heard of Tinburners who stopped being able to stand touch on their skin, even cloth. ]

My body changes. A lot. How much depends on how big the work. And then changes back.

[ Thoughtfully: ] Every push comes with a pull, in the opposite direction. [ If you change something, it has to change you. ]

Yes. [So absurdly grateful he doesn't have to explain that.]

Allomancy works on the same principle. A push for a pull.

Will you be able to withstand what it will hurt? [ Is it worth it, is what he's asking. ]

What's the pull?

This, I - yes. I mean, I've done bigger.

It depends on the power. The metal. I'm best with steel, and then the pull is literal. If you push on a piece of metal, the push comes from you. If it's heavier than you then you're the one who moves.

But you're good at it. [Neither a question nor a compliment: an educated guess.] What does steel do?

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