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.

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I asked him if he was someone who used people or treated people like people. He - didn't like that.

[He grinds his teeth a little, pressing his palms together.]

I just had to make sure.

[ He actually asked the Survivor that? Zane stares in disbelief for a moment, and then turns his head away, covering a laugh with curled fingers. Of course Cassel would do that.

Another laugh, before he inhales and has himself back under control. Still a smile lurking around his mouth. ]

You shouldn't trust him completely. Mistborn are manipulative, and he was a thief before he was anything else.

[He scowls, embarrassed, half-turning away and laying a hand on Patches, who looks up at him curiously.]

I don't trust him completely. I don't trust anybody completely.

[Which is, at this point, a pathetic lie.]

I know. [ He knows that too.. ]

I think that's a reaction I would have liked to see, from him.

[ He's laughing at the thought, Cassel. Not at you.

A little bit at you. ]

[He still doesn't look at Zane, but the corners of his mouth twitch a little.]

I had to run after him to get him to keep talking to me. [It was actually pretty funny, now that he thinks about it, now that it's done with.]

You respect him?

He challenged a god. And even though he died, he became a god himself.

[ Yes. Zane admires him. ]

Okay.

[Calm, neutral. Cassel can accept this. When he speaks next, after a pause, his tone doesn't change.]

But if he uses you I'll kill him.

No. [ And with this, Zane Riots doubt, leaning on it without subtlety. Like an elbow to the ribs. ] You saw all of this, and you think you can kill a Mistborn? He'll kill you first.

[ He snatches two coins, and presses them together in front of him. In the air. One he Pulls, the other he Pushes, holding them in an equilibrium. ]

You want to see what a Mistborn can do?

[ He burns pewter, and then touches duralumin.

In a flash, his iron, steel and pewter burn through in a riot of color and sensation. He sees, for an instant, his vision crowded out with fine blue lines, leading towards every source of metal on the ship; he feels his body grow impossibly, incredibly strong.

And, for some reason, his Push grows dramatically stronger than the Pull, even though he tried to keep them equal. He has a quarter-second to perceive this, not enough time to understand it, and then the coin flings itself at impossible speed past Cassel's shoulder and scars the stone wall, burying itself deep within.

Zane reaches for another pellet of iron, another of steel, and swallows them. And then he Pulls the two coins back into his hand, from within the wall, grinding the stone that was in the way.

The force of an ordinary Pushing and Pulling match between Mistborn can cause a coin to flatten out. This is more than that. The two coins have been twisted into one, flattened and warped by the forces involved. Twisted into unrecognizability by the impact with the wall.

He is breathing harder, shivering lightly. Duralumin isn't one he has enough practice with. And he won't be able to get it, either, not if his metals are in such short supply here. ]

Don't get yourself killed.

[At least he can feel it, the Riot, that's one small blessing, but it terrifies him instantly anyway. He makes himself small, shoulders hunched and spine curved, doubt twisting with anxiety and peaking, heart hammering - he's close in against Patches now, like that's going to make a difference if Zane wants to kill him, he knows it's true that either of them could kill him any time but he has to do something.]

[He doesn't watch, but he feels the coin fly past his ear and flinches away violently. Patches growls and stands up, and Cassel digs his fingers into the scruff of his neck in a way that's probably painful.]

[When the coin - coins - whatever it is, they are, now, come out of the wall, Cassel looks up and narrows his eyes, not at Zane but at them, it. His face is hard, rough-edged, the hint of a defensive smirk on his lips, but it's clear he's terrified.]

[Jangling with nerves, he wonders, maybe this was a bad idea, without bothering to think about why Zane showed him that, without comprehending why Zane doesn't want him to get killed. Same old family story: people can hurt their people as many times as they want, but if somebody else messes with them, they have to hurt worse.]

[He snarls, his breath quick and panicked, but he does doubt, he knows he'd die, which is why he raises his voice.]

I have to do something!

No, you don't.

[ He holds the formerly-coin out, so if he dropped it then it would fall on Cassel's hand. Easy to catch. ]

Because I would rather you be alive than dead because you tried to protect me.

[ He drops the coin, and Cassel can catch it or not catch it. ]

[He catches it. He's stunned, but his hand goes out automatically, and he catches it.]

[Then he puts his other hand on top of it, pressing it between his palms, getting a feel for the texture through his gloves. He could make it into anything, but he won't.]

[It's pretty smart, really. Cassel keeps talismans - the cat figurine he stole, his very first one, the one he'd thought about remaking into metal but didn't, in the end. He'll keep this, and he'll remember.]

Then how am I supposed to keep you safe?

[ Zane has had a chance, now, to breathe, since using duralumin. A chance to wonder what happened. Steel and iron should have been boosted exactly the same. He's better at steel, he always has been, but he can't just be stronger. It doesn't make any sense. It doesn't work that way. ]

Be clever instead.

[ And then it processes, slowly, what it was that Cassel actually said. He lifts his head, and stares. ]

Keep me safe?

[He wants to snap back no shit, the only reason he lived as long as he did was by being clever, and what the hell did Zane think he was going to do, walk up behind Kelsier and announce that he'd turn his heart to stone? No. Nothing like that.]

[But he realizes Zane's looking at him like he's crazy, and he lifts his eyes, stares hard.]

Yeah. That's the whole point.

[That's why he went after Kelsier, why he made the metals in the first place, why he's here. Why he would hurt anybody who uses Zane, ever again. And why he was satisfied, at least for the moment, when Kelsier said anyone who hurt Zane should be afraid of him.]

[An eye for an eye, it's the right thing, for people like them.]

[ His mouth works, soundlessly. He doesn't know what to say to that. It has left him completely wordless. He feels a surge of guilt for maneuvering Cassel into this situation, and a hint of satisfaction, because isn't this what he wants? But, no, he can certainly keep himself safe. No one has ever had to before.

He sinks back down onto the bed. And, for a second, he swears he can hear the voice. Kill him. He'll make you weak. He'll make you soft, and then he'll kill you. Kill him.

Kill him.

He breathes an unsteady breath. ]

...that was duralumin.

You've seen them all now.

[ Get out. ]

[Rejected.]

[For a minute he thinks of Philip, who was too busy, too strong, turned traitor, now he's dead and gone. Philip never had time for him. He wasn't the good-enough brother. That was Barron.]

[Not good enough for this either. He's been wrong this whole time. None of it meant anything, even though it felt like it did. Felt like Zane wanted to protect him, too.]

[He stands, expression shuttered, walks to the door, Patches following after him. Everything about him is resigned. Of course. What did he expect?]

[But he pauses at the door. The coins-that-were are still in his hand. He closes his fingers in a fist, then relaxes, puts them in his pocket.]

[Hand on the knob, he rests his forehead against the door, just for a second. Lost, confused, overwhelmed. But.]

If you need more I'll. Be around.

[ He chooses who he kills. He is not defined by insanity, but by how he overcomes it.

Zane's face goes carefully blank, and he slides up the sleeve of his right arm. Digs the thumb nail from his left hand into the flesh. It's clumsy. It's raw. But he presses until the bite of pain reminds him that he doesn't have to listen. Presses until blood starts to drip.

For all that's on his face, it could be that he doesn't care at all. That this is nothing but an experiment, a lark.

He doesn't speak. Cassel can turn around, and see, or go. ]

Edited 2013-05-03 19:30 (UTC)

[He doesn't turn. He was waiting for a yes or a no, and this, it sounds like a no to him. He's not needed, and he's not wanted.]

[So he swallows and opens the door, not trusting himself to speak.]

[Once he and Patches are both out he kicks it shut. Fuck this. Fuck all of you.]

[He can hurt people, too.]

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