[ well this. this sure is a thing. percy was also marveling at the konbini aisle, there's a lot here he's not familiar with. when it encloses the both of them he blinks fastly! ]
Some new obnoxious effect of the week perhaps...
[ he reaches out to poke the bubble softly, finding that there's... well. you can't just pop it, can you. ]
Wonder if it's like anything else in this place, a bit of color might help?
[You stand crouched on a rooftop, rain drizzling down around you. You shiver slightly, pulling up your hood. A blond man who looks to be in his late thirties stands beside you, and you both look over to a towering building standing before you. Kredik Shaw, you call the structure. Beyond the light shiver, neither of you pay the weather much mind - in fact, you think it might be an asset to you. What youâre planning requires stealth, and you think the rain might help mask the sound of your footsteps.
Kredik Shaw is massive, full of dark spires and towers rising into the night. Some of them are wide enough to contain large rooms, while others are just thin rods of steel pointing into the air. Of course, the walls in the highest points of the towers and spires are stained black, an effect of the ash that falls over the city constantly. Looking at this sight, itâs like you can feel something - some kind of depression, like the building itself has the ability to ebb away at your sense of hope. Before you can reflect on this for too long, the man beside you speaks up.
âOur target is a tunnel complex at the base of one of the far right spires. Weâre heading for a room at the very center of that complex.â
âWhatâs inside?â You ask.
âI donât know. Thatâs what weâre going to find out. Once every three days - and today isnât one of them - the Lord Ruler visits this chamber. He stays for three hours, then leaves. I tried to get in once before. Three years ago.â
âThe job,â You whisper. âThe one thatâŚâ
âGot me captured.â He nods a confirmation. âYes. At the time, we thought that the Lord Ruler stored riches in the room. I donât think thatâs true now, but Iâm still curious. The way he visits is so regular, so⌠odd. Somethingâs in that room, Vin. Something important. Maybe it holds the secret to his power and immortality.â
âWhy do we need to worry about that?â You ask. âWe have the Eleventh Metal to defeat him, right?â
The man youâre with, Kelsier, only gives a slight frown. Though you wait for an answer, when he does speak, he doesnât give one. âI failed to get in last time, Vin. We got close, but got there too easily. When we arrived, there were Inquisitors outside the room. Waiting for us.â
âSomeone told them you were coming?â
He nods. âWe planned that job for months. We were overconfident, but we had reason to be. Mare and I were the best. The job should have gone flawlessly.â He turns to you, breaking his gaze away from the towers. âTonight, I didnât plan at all. Weâre just going in - weâll silence anyone who tries to stop us, then break into the room.â
You stay silent for a few moments, feeling the rain against your skin. Then you nod. Kelsier gives you a small smile and asks, âNo objections?â, to which you shake your head. âI made you take me with you. Itâs not my place to object now.â
He chuckles. âGuess Iâve been with Breeze too long. I donât feel right unless someone tells me Iâm crazy.â You shrug, but as you move to start preparing to leave, you feel it once more - that sense of sinking depression coming from Kredik Shaw. You turn towards the man again. âThere is something, Kelsier. The palace feels⌠wrong somehow.â He nods in understanding.
âThatâs the Lord Ruler. He radiates like an incredibly powerful Soother, smothering the emotions of everyone who gets close to him. Turn on your copper; that will make you immune.â You nod, and focus inward, searching for a power source that you know is there. As soon as you locate it, you activate it, and the feeling of depression immediately fades. âGood?â Kelsier asks, and you nod. âAll right then.â He reaches out to you, holding out a handful of coins. âStay close to me, and keep your atium handy - just in case.â
With that, he steps forward, throwing himself off the roof. You follow suit, rainwater hitting the tassels of your cloak. As you fall towards the ground, you reach for another power source thatâs distinctly different than what you used a few moments ago, and a newfound surge of strength comes through you. When you hit the ground, your legs are somehow sturdy enough that you donât feel any pain. The man before you takes off at a sprint, faster than a normal person should be able to run, but you donât have any trouble keeping up. As you run, you continue using three different sources of power - one to ward off the sense of depression you felt earlier, one to quicken your steps as you follow along, and one that seems to enhance your senses, allowing you to see everything around you clearly despite the rainfall.
You both move towards a section of the palace that looks almost like a bunker, and your enhanced eyesight helps you see a pair of guards standing outside the doors. Kelsier doesnât hesitate as he reaches them, cutting one down instantly with his pair of knives. The second guard meets the same fate just a moment later, giving Kelsier space to throw himself against the door, breaking it down easily with enhanced strength. The corridor beyond is made of stone, and both of you start to dash down it. Youâre nervous - your typical kind of job on your thieving crew was much more about stealth and trickery. You would have never done anything this overt in your old life. To be safe, you pull out one of your glass daggers as you run, in case you need it unexpectedly. A man steps out into the hallway and Kelsier is on him in a moment, elbowing him roughly in the stomach and then slamming him into the wall with inhuman speed. As the man collapses, you both enter the room he just left.
The room you step into is full of soldiers, and the scene immediately moves into chaos. Kelsier grabs a metal candelabra from the wall and begins to strike down member after member of their rank. One of the soldiers turns towards you, and you reach for the coin pouch Kelsier gave you earlier. With the coins in your hand, you reach for a different power source inside of you, and the small pieces of metal shoot out towards the guard at a high enough speed to move straight through him. You pull the coins back into your hand as he drops to the ground, then repeat the move in a wider arc. Three more guards fall to the ground.
Kelsier fells the last man in the room, but another squadron is pouring through the door almost immediately. You barely have time to reflect in the ensuing fight, but you canât stop yourself from shaking slightly even as you grip your dagger. You just killed four people. Itâs the first time youâve ever done something like that, and it was - so easy. So fast. They fell as if it were nothing. As you watch, Kelsier extinguishes the lanterns the men are holding, allowing only you and him to see with your enhanced senses. In the dark, heâs on the men in a second, and you see the flash of a dagger, hear the sound of shocked, pained screaming. You feel like you canât breathe.
Youâre disoriented enough that when his hand rests on your shoulder suddenly, you jump despite yourself.
âThese were evil men, Vin. Every skaa knows in his heart that it is the greatest of crimes to take up arms in defense of the Final Empire.â
You nod, but you only feel numb. No, more than that, you feel wrong. Youâre still relying on the first source of power you began to use, but you can swear that despite that, the depression of this place is still affecting you. âCome. Time is short.â Kelsier says, before heading off towards your destination. You made him take you, you remember. Youâre going to have to get used to this kind of thing.
The memory ends, and Vin blinks, drawing her hand back towards her.]
[ the memory ends, leaving them hanging there for a moment in the space of the bubble, and percy blinks, feels the sensation of it fading away from his fingertips. the memory, for as long as it had lasted, had been his, through the eyes of another. as the bubble wavers, but doesn't break, he furrows his brow.
"these were evil men, vin."
he places a hand, colorless for a moment against the bubble, his lips tightening just a bit. he turns a moment to look at her, his expression quiet, but there's. an odd understanding to it.
taking a life holds a weight to it, taking more than one like that in quick succession just to stop. it's like the heft of his first gun. ]
Are you all right? That... it was yours, wasn't it? What I just saw...
[percy's been kind to her, but vin is a wary person by nature, even paranoid. she sees that understanding, but once she realizes he saw the same thing she just relived, she looks like she's thinking very hard about what to say, and gauging his reaction once she does respond.]
[ he nods. and he doesn't seem unhappy with it, more... unhappy with the invasion of what should be her own personal memories. the bubble just sort of wiggles around them, unaffected, and only partially colored, as if beckoning for just a bit more to let them pass. ]
It's a lie to say it ever gets easier.
[ in some ways it does, but never all together. to give pause over every life you take. it doesn't always happen right away. but it happens. it stares you in the face from time to time. ]
Yes... to start young. Even when you expect it, it catches you by surprise.
[ he glances at the bubble and then back at vin briefly. ]
The world likes to force us into corners. Best we can do is beat our way back to see it doesn't swallow us whole. We're better for it.
[ with pink at his fingertips, a soft rosy color, he offers her a weary smile. ]
Let's get out of this wretched thing... and then we'll talk?
[ to let her touch it again would feel wrong. scales unbalanced. he's witnessed something personal. his hand brushes the surface of the bubble andâ ]
Edited 2022-03-08 13:15 (UTC)
2/2 (cw: mentions of torture, violence, sibling loss)
You are running for your life in the freezing cold of what was once the forested grounds of your home. Your fingers are numb, but you cannot let go of her, your sister. cassandra stumbles behind you, younger, just as under-fed and beaten and bruised and bloodied and fed upon as you are, if only by slighter bits to keep her alive. the both of you were needed alive.
all of the briarwoods' men are catching up to you. their horses are pounding the frigid snow, the hellish huffing of their steeds fogging the night behind you like an entourage meant to see you both to your doom. back into the dungeons, or worse for your insolence and the way you keep telling them that you don't know anything, nothing about the passages beneath whitestone, nothing beyond the catacombs of your ancestors.
cassandra is sobbing, and you hold faster to her wrist. you know she's just as desperate for you both to escapeâit was her nimble fingers that picked you both out of that fetid cage with your scraps of molded bread and festering wounds. they rip open again, bleeding fresh. the inner corner of your eye aches, and youo remember her, ripley, in that one moment, looming over you with hook and scalpel andâ
her hand is falling, she's stumbling and screaming your name, but as you turn to go and fetch herâ
arrows cover her back and she looks at you, whimpering your name as the blood gushes from her body, as her fingers tremble on the snow. where she was once crying your name, her eyes are rolling back.
she's still in the snow.
the horses are racing, faster and faster. your shock of white hair does nothingâthe shattered remains of your glasses mean that the entire field of view that you have is twisted in threes. you're starved, you're aching, and now cassandra is laying in the snow, still as stone. you reach for her. just the once.
"cass..."
and then you bolt like a rabbit. tears are stuck to your cheeks, cutting clean paths through blood and dirt and gristle. your body aches, gashes drawn in your chest started to pull apart, the wound in your shoulder and throat bleeding anew. you're sobbing as you clamber through the woods, trip over a log.
(cassandra, cass, cassieâwaking you up from your daze in the cell, ushering you out, crawling through her small passages meant at one point to hide from you during your bouts of hide and seek.)
and now she's dead, feathers in her back like some macabre angel, not breathing, not moving. she's dead and as you crest over what looks like a cliff that leads to the river you know will wash you out to sea... as all of the briarwoods' and all of their men close in upon you...
you leap and let the frigid cold water wash you away. from whitestone. From cassandra. from your family left dead in the grand halls of your home.
the de rolos are dead, their name dies with you. it's no longer safe. you may as well be dead yourself.
[ the bubble merges the amber and crystalline together, satisfied, and for a moment it swells before it pops around them, percy's hand still lifted as if to touch the invisible barrier still. softly: ]
[it's strange to come back from something that intense. the physical pain makes her wince, but it's the emotions this memory carries that really make her pause after it finishes. the grief, the loss - trying your hardest to protect someone you care for, only to have to watch them struck down while you can't help. the sickening realization that the rest of your family has met the same fate.
it's invasive, to be in what she's sure must have been one of the worst moments of his life. so she hesitates, looking for words - but saying nothing has to be worse. after a moment:]
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no subject
Some new obnoxious effect of the week perhaps...
[ he reaches out to poke the bubble softly, finding that there's... well. you can't just pop it, can you. ]
Wonder if it's like anything else in this place, a bit of color might help?
1/2
[she summons a splash of amber, reaching out towards the bubble - and they'll both experience a memory anew.]
cw: gore, death
Kredik Shaw is massive, full of dark spires and towers rising into the night. Some of them are wide enough to contain large rooms, while others are just thin rods of steel pointing into the air. Of course, the walls in the highest points of the towers and spires are stained black, an effect of the ash that falls over the city constantly. Looking at this sight, itâs like you can feel something - some kind of depression, like the building itself has the ability to ebb away at your sense of hope. Before you can reflect on this for too long, the man beside you speaks up.
âOur target is a tunnel complex at the base of one of the far right spires. Weâre heading for a room at the very center of that complex.â
âWhatâs inside?â You ask.
âI donât know. Thatâs what weâre going to find out. Once every three days - and today isnât one of them - the Lord Ruler visits this chamber. He stays for three hours, then leaves. I tried to get in once before. Three years ago.â
âThe job,â You whisper. âThe one thatâŚâ
âGot me captured.â He nods a confirmation. âYes. At the time, we thought that the Lord Ruler stored riches in the room. I donât think thatâs true now, but Iâm still curious. The way he visits is so regular, so⌠odd. Somethingâs in that room, Vin. Something important. Maybe it holds the secret to his power and immortality.â
âWhy do we need to worry about that?â You ask. âWe have the Eleventh Metal to defeat him, right?â
The man youâre with, Kelsier, only gives a slight frown. Though you wait for an answer, when he does speak, he doesnât give one. âI failed to get in last time, Vin. We got close, but got there too easily. When we arrived, there were Inquisitors outside the room. Waiting for us.â
âSomeone told them you were coming?â
He nods. âWe planned that job for months. We were overconfident, but we had reason to be. Mare and I were the best. The job should have gone flawlessly.â He turns to you, breaking his gaze away from the towers. âTonight, I didnât plan at all. Weâre just going in - weâll silence anyone who tries to stop us, then break into the room.â
You stay silent for a few moments, feeling the rain against your skin. Then you nod. Kelsier gives you a small smile and asks, âNo objections?â, to which you shake your head. âI made you take me with you. Itâs not my place to object now.â
He chuckles. âGuess Iâve been with Breeze too long. I donât feel right unless someone tells me Iâm crazy.â You shrug, but as you move to start preparing to leave, you feel it once more - that sense of sinking depression coming from Kredik Shaw. You turn towards the man again. âThere is something, Kelsier. The palace feels⌠wrong somehow.â He nods in understanding.
âThatâs the Lord Ruler. He radiates like an incredibly powerful Soother, smothering the emotions of everyone who gets close to him. Turn on your copper; that will make you immune.â You nod, and focus inward, searching for a power source that you know is there. As soon as you locate it, you activate it, and the feeling of depression immediately fades. âGood?â Kelsier asks, and you nod. âAll right then.â He reaches out to you, holding out a handful of coins. âStay close to me, and keep your atium handy - just in case.â
With that, he steps forward, throwing himself off the roof. You follow suit, rainwater hitting the tassels of your cloak. As you fall towards the ground, you reach for another power source thatâs distinctly different than what you used a few moments ago, and a newfound surge of strength comes through you. When you hit the ground, your legs are somehow sturdy enough that you donât feel any pain. The man before you takes off at a sprint, faster than a normal person should be able to run, but you donât have any trouble keeping up. As you run, you continue using three different sources of power - one to ward off the sense of depression you felt earlier, one to quicken your steps as you follow along, and one that seems to enhance your senses, allowing you to see everything around you clearly despite the rainfall.
You both move towards a section of the palace that looks almost like a bunker, and your enhanced eyesight helps you see a pair of guards standing outside the doors. Kelsier doesnât hesitate as he reaches them, cutting one down instantly with his pair of knives. The second guard meets the same fate just a moment later, giving Kelsier space to throw himself against the door, breaking it down easily with enhanced strength. The corridor beyond is made of stone, and both of you start to dash down it. Youâre nervous - your typical kind of job on your thieving crew was much more about stealth and trickery. You would have never done anything this overt in your old life. To be safe, you pull out one of your glass daggers as you run, in case you need it unexpectedly. A man steps out into the hallway and Kelsier is on him in a moment, elbowing him roughly in the stomach and then slamming him into the wall with inhuman speed. As the man collapses, you both enter the room he just left.
The room you step into is full of soldiers, and the scene immediately moves into chaos. Kelsier grabs a metal candelabra from the wall and begins to strike down member after member of their rank. One of the soldiers turns towards you, and you reach for the coin pouch Kelsier gave you earlier. With the coins in your hand, you reach for a different power source inside of you, and the small pieces of metal shoot out towards the guard at a high enough speed to move straight through him. You pull the coins back into your hand as he drops to the ground, then repeat the move in a wider arc. Three more guards fall to the ground.
Kelsier fells the last man in the room, but another squadron is pouring through the door almost immediately. You barely have time to reflect in the ensuing fight, but you canât stop yourself from shaking slightly even as you grip your dagger. You just killed four people. Itâs the first time youâve ever done something like that, and it was - so easy. So fast. They fell as if it were nothing. As you watch, Kelsier extinguishes the lanterns the men are holding, allowing only you and him to see with your enhanced senses. In the dark, heâs on the men in a second, and you see the flash of a dagger, hear the sound of shocked, pained screaming. You feel like you canât breathe.
Youâre disoriented enough that when his hand rests on your shoulder suddenly, you jump despite yourself.
âThese were evil men, Vin. Every skaa knows in his heart that it is the greatest of crimes to take up arms in defense of the Final Empire.â
You nod, but you only feel numb. No, more than that, you feel wrong. Youâre still relying on the first source of power you began to use, but you can swear that despite that, the depression of this place is still affecting you. âCome. Time is short.â Kelsier says, before heading off towards your destination. You made him take you, you remember. Youâre going to have to get used to this kind of thing.
The memory ends, and Vin blinks, drawing her hand back towards her.]
no subject
"these were evil men, vin."
he places a hand, colorless for a moment against the bubble, his lips tightening just a bit. he turns a moment to look at her, his expression quiet, but there's. an odd understanding to it.
taking a life holds a weight to it, taking more than one like that in quick succession just to stop. it's like the heft of his first gun. ]
Are you all right? That... it was yours, wasn't it? What I just saw...
no subject
...It was.
no subject
It's a lie to say it ever gets easier.
[ in some ways it does, but never all together. to give pause over every life you take. it doesn't always happen right away. but it happens. it stares you in the face from time to time. ]
no subject
...You have experience with it, then.
[it's not exactly surprising - even if she hasn't read many of the profiles, he's from the same place as vax, after all.]
1/2
[ he glances at the bubble and then back at vin briefly. ]
The world likes to force us into corners. Best we can do is beat our way back to see it doesn't swallow us whole. We're better for it.
[ with pink at his fingertips, a soft rosy color, he offers her a weary smile. ]
Let's get out of this wretched thing... and then we'll talk?
[ to let her touch it again would feel wrong. scales unbalanced. he's witnessed something personal. his hand brushes the surface of the bubble andâ ]
2/2 (cw: mentions of torture, violence, sibling loss)
... I see...
no subject
it's invasive, to be in what she's sure must have been one of the worst moments of his life. so she hesitates, looking for words - but saying nothing has to be worse. after a moment:]
...I am sorry.