𝙼𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝙶𝚘 𝙰𝚠𝚊𝚢 - H&S

“Crosswalks,” Nico repeated, pointing at the white lines that crossed the street. “Those things. When the light ahead of you turns white and shows a person walking, you can walk safely. Otherwise you might get hit, and it would technically be your fault for jaywalking.” He didn’t really want to explain what jaywalking was, but he would if Kelsier didn’t get it. “You got lucky last time that nobody was moving when you crossed.”
He gave a small sigh of relief as Kelsier got into position near him, making sure that he was close to Kelsier and not nearly as close to the strangers. It felt safer that way. He felt less exposed, less surrounded… it eased the panic in his throat enough that he was able to look up at his dad and give him a nod that didn’t quite capture all the gratitude he was feeling. The light ahead of them turned white and he began walking, making sure to keep Kelsier between himself and the majority of the crowd.
He, too, would have liked Kelsier in his life sooner. He had been alone for so long… he had been manipulated and tossed around, and having someone like Kelsier on his side would have made all the difference. He had Rae, he had Noctin, but it wasn’t the same as having a dad.
“Still want to go into Old Navy?” he asked quietly, dipping his head towards the store they had been about to enter when Kelsier had gotten distracted by the crying child.

Nico didn’t know when Kelsier had learned to read him that well, but he was immensely grateful for it. It meant he didn’t have to worry about anyone bumping into him or even giving him the wrong kind of look. He wasn’t… well, he wasn’t afraid. He was just… comfortable.
“Your English is getting better,” Nico commented softly in English, trying to keep his voice down in case someone heard him and asked what language Kelsier spoke originally. He wondered what would be a convincing lie. It had to be something nobody they ran into would speak, because that would get very awkward very quickly.
“I’m sure those children will appreciate you saving them from their temper tantrums because their ice cream fell, but I’d rather you not catch the eye of someone who might decide that you’re newsworthy because of how much blood you’ve lost.” This part was said in Scadrial. No need to alarm any onlookers or eavesdroppers.
At least they were in the process of fixing the issue of Kelsier’s blood stained clothing.
“Hold on,” Nico told Kelsier quietly, stepping in front of the doors so they opened. “The doors are automatic. They can tell when someone has moved near to them, and when that happens, they open up. I don’t… really know how it happens, just that it does.”

Nico’s brow raised and he found he was very, very grateful that the two of them spoke a language nobody else spoke. If someone overheard them… well, he was fairly certain Kelsier would have landed himself in jail at least thrice over. He couldn’t wait to get Kelsier out of the bloodstained clothes. First and foremost because it was a bad reminder of what had happened when Kelsier had injured himself (and reinjured himself), but also because the last thing he wanted to do was draw someone’s attention. The best way to show Kelsier the city was if they didn’t stick out too much. You couldn’t get anywhere if you were drawing attention, the best way to navigate was by blending in. Nico was fairly certain Kelsier had never blended in in his life. He’d have to at least try now. Fortunately, New York City was weird enough that you could be extraordinarily extravagant and dramatic and still not draw too much attention. Blood, on the other hand…
“Hm? Oh, it’s anything that comes within a certain distance of the door. It might also be controlled by height so that it doesn’t open for rats or anything, but… I dunno.”
He followed Kelsier into the store, shaking his head a little bit at the expression on Kelsier’s face.
“Come on,” he said, beckoning Kelsier towards the men’s section. “Let’s find you some better clothes for your time here.”

Nico had a feeling that the consequences for breaking the law were much less strict here than they were on Scadrial. He wasn’t going to mention that to Kelsier, though… he had a feeling the Mistborn would just get a few more crazy ideas that Nico would have to figure out how to manage. It wasn’t that he resented that (he was actually incredibly endeared and looked up to it, even though he knew he probably shouldn’t), it was just that it created a lot of mess to clean up. The punishments might not have been as severe here as they were on Scadrial, but it was a lot more difficult to get away with things here. Additionally, he didn’t want to think about the trouble Kelsier’s accent could cause if they couldn’t come up with a good excuse for where he was from. And he had no documentation… it was probably for the best that they not get arrested.
“I guess it makes sense that you don’t have air conditioners in Scadrial,” Nico commented, but he was rather surprised by it. “I’m assuming you have fans… I guess air conditioners do the same job a fan does, except they’re powerful to cool off a whole building rather than just one person.”
He was grateful when Kelsier started gravitating towards the clothes. He had never really considered how different Kelsier’s normal attire was from the things that most people in his world wore every day – that a lot of people in the House wore.
“If we buy one for you then you won’t feel left out,” Nico commented, brow raising. He was curious what Kelsier would choose as his outfit. And whether they would end up leaving here with far more than one outfit… it seemed likely.
“If you want things that are good for fighting you might want to look in the activewear section.”

Nico didn’t foresee too many problems in the near future. There were, of course, the usual threats – monster attacks, people catching on an accent and being rude about it, people getting too close… but Nico wasn’t going to let any of that get in the way of his time with Kelsier. He could deal with rude people. He had dealt with plenty of them before. And he had plenty of practice killing monsters. It seemed that Kelsier did, as well. It was a relief that he could see them, at least. Nico didn’t want to think about how difficult Kelsier’s visit might have been if he hadn’t been able to see through the Mist… how could he fight an enemy he couldn’t see? If anyone could do it, it was Kelsier, but it wasn’t a risk Nico wanted to be taking.
“I guess air conditioning is a novel idea,” he shrugged, glancing up at the ceiling. He couldn’t see any vents immediately visible, which was a bummer. He would have liked to show Kelsier the origin of the cold air, even if he couldn’t answer most of (if any) of Kelsier’s questions about it.
“You know,” he mused, eyes wide, “we never considered whether the air here would even be safe for you. I mean… you breathe in ash for most of your life, there has to be something in your physiology that makes that possible, but it could easily have happened that whatever makes it possible makes it impossible for you to breathe air without ash. Maybe the ash gives you nutrients that we don’t have here, or nutrients that we only have in small levels here.” He was letting himself get on a tangent, but it did make him realize just how woefully unprepared they had both been for the possibility of Kelsier actually managing to blink himself in. They had considered language, but little else. There were far too many ins and outs of living in a world.
“Right,” he murmured, brought right back to the fact that they were supposed to shopping. “So… everything says its price on the tag. I have a credit card, so we can pay basically whatever we need.”

“I’m sure they will, eventually,” Nico replied, glancing over at Kelsier. Though they were divided to the Skaa and the nobility on Scadrial, Nico was fairly certain that humans were humans no matter what world they were on. As soon as there were no (or fewer) barriers to progress, humans would start to invent things. Maybe they wouldn’t go about it the same way. Maybe the names they chose for their inventions would be very different. But eventually, there would be inventions in place to take care of issues that were common to all humans. Eventually, Kelsier’s world would have its own version of air conditioning. Nico didn’t know how long it would take, but he believed it would happen eventually. Maybe just… not within Kelsier’s lifetime, especially since he doubted they had even invented electricity yet. It was unfortunate, knowing how much progress might come were it not for the Lord Ruler. Nico had a feeling that fire burned even hotter in Kelsier’s chest. The knowledge that his world could have the sorts of things that Nico’s world had if only the Skaa were allowed to thrive and grow. If only they were allowed to invent. Surely there were geniuses among the Skaa who had lived and died without ever knowing how much they had to offer to the world because the world in the Lord Ruler’s vision told them they were nothing.
“I’m glad you’re alive, too,” he replied, though he was distracted. He needed to stop thinking about that. Kelsier was here, and he was going to make the most of it. He wasn’t going to spend all of his time being angry about the Lord Ruler. He could be angry for as long as he wanted once Kelsier blinked himself back.
“Right,” he added, shaking his head of the thought. “Yeah… that’s a nine, there… well… wait… yeah, no that’s a nine. Nine dollars and ninety-nine cents.” Which, of course, would be meaningless to Kelsier. He didn’t know what a dollar was worth.
Nico shrugged, following Kelsier to the new shirt that had caught his eye. He wasn’t sure what Kelsier was going to want to wear… he had a feeling it was going to either be something akin to what Nico wore on a daily basis, or something more similar to Myrnin’s eclectic wardrobe. Somehow, he had a sneaking suspicion it would be a weird amalgamation of both.

“Nine is actually pretty cheap,” Nico shrugged, pinching the fabric between his fingers. “I mean… it seems like it’s a pretty decent quality for being pretty inexpensive… you can find really nice shirts like this for like… two hundred, if you go for certain brands. But nine is pretty good. Not the cheapest we could find, but…” he shrugged again. If he had known Scadrial’s economy at all, he might have been able to pinpoint something similar to the shirt in value. He didn’t know what metaphor to make that Kelsier would understand, though, especially since Nico himself wasn’t terribly well versed in clothes shopping. He bought one or two black shirts when he could, then spray painted the patterns he liked onto them. He bought black jeans whenever his pair had too many holes to be wearable (though he did make an attempt to patch the more inconvenient holes). He wasn’t a frequent visitor of clothing shops.
“You’re not paying for your own clothes, not here,” Nico replied, crossing his arms. He wasn’t going to tell Kelsier who was really paying for it, but he didn’t want Kelsier doing anything reckless in order to get enough money to pay Nico back. Kelsier was an accomplished thief. Unfortunately, theft was probably easier on Scadrial than it was somewhere with security cameras on every block and police who could respond within minutes. The last thing Nico wanted was to end this visit paying Kelsier’s bail.
“That’s… a combination,” Nico said after a moment, pushing his more serious thoughts away. “I mean… it’s not… bad, it’s just… like what the child of a hippie and a metalhead would wear.” Not that Kelsier would know what either of those things were…
“You don’t need to worry too much about sticking out in New York,” he added after a moment, approaching to feel the fabric of the tie dye shirt. “Everyone sticks out. I’ll have to show you some more of the city, where people like to be… extravagant. And you could probably make a shirt like this with whatever colors you wanted when we get back to Camp, if I can convince Chiron to pull out the supplies…”

“I guess not?” Nico shrugged, tilting his head a little bit. “What can 200 of your currency get you?” he asked, pinching the hem of a shirt between his fingers before he let it fall. He had never given much thought to what money was worth, or if dollars were worth more or less than the rest of the world’s currency. In truth, it didn’t really matter to him. Hades’ credit cards worked in any country, and though he didn’t want to just… live off his father’s money, having it sure made it simpler to get by in a pinch. He would need to get a job and make some of his own money eventually, but he couldn’t do that until he was old enough. For now, he didn’t spend very much. He had a feeling that was going to change if Kelsier found out who the credit cards belonged to…
“The fun in paying for your clothes is in supporting the people who made them,” Nico said after a moment, brows raising. He had to imagine that most of the clothes available to the Skaa were made by other Skaa who needed people to buy their wares to support them. Of course, Kelsier didn’t wear the sorts of clothes that were available to the Skaa. In truth, Nico didn’t know what kind of clothing that was, he just knew that Kelsier spent much of his time dressed up like a nobleman. When he wasn’t, he was in his mistcloak, which Nico doubted was particularly indicative of Skaa style either.
“I’m not advocating stealing,” Nico said after a moment, moving closer to Kelsier to examine the clothing he had picked out, “but I think if you were to steal from a place like this, it would probably hurt the workers a lot less than it would if you were to steal from a small store or one where the owner makes all the clothing. In big places like this, the head of the company makes a huge profit, but the workers aren’t paid very much at all. I’d just say… don’t steal, because even if it won’t impact how much the workers make, some of the employees might get fired if something gets stolen when they’re working.” At least… that was what Nico had been told when he had been caught trying to steal the jeans he was wearing when he was much, much younger. It made him realize he really hadn’t grown that much physically, even if his outlook on life had shifted drastically.
“Huh? Oh… you’re not really a metalhead, though. It’s not like you burn metals in your head, right? So you’re like… a metalbelly, which sounds a lot less cool.” He flashed a grin, looking just a little bit smug before he turned his attention back to Kelsier’s selections.
“More than one outfit sounds good. Also jeans are useful, in my opinion.” He kicked his leg up, filthy converse unintentionally leaving a mark on the table as he did so. He shifted his leg so Kelsier could see the giant hole ripped into the knee of his tight black jeans. “It’s sort of in fashion to buy ones that are ripped, but mine got ripped just through wear. But they sort of… mold with you a little bit. As long as you’re not trying to do the splits or anything, you can try a pair. I guess I’m living proof you can fight in them.”

It hadn’t really occurred to Nico that Kelsier might not know how much his currency could buy, but it did make perfect sense. If you were a thief, why would you ever have to pay for things? If there were people you were fine stealing from, there was likely no need to know how money worked. Kelsier could probably get a good portion of his metals and clothing from noblemen, and Nico seriously doubted that Kelsier was in charge of buying food. It wasn’t so much that Nico thought he wasn’t capable of it, it was just that… the Survivor of Hathsin had better things to do than worry about whether the vegetables his crew was eating were running low. Distantly, Nico wondered who was in charge of that part of the job. Knowing what little Nico knew about the crew, he figured it was probably Sazed. He seemed the most knowledgeable about… well, everything. Nico would have liked to ask him questions, but the one time he had spoken to Sazed he hadn’t been particularly fluent in Scadrial, yet.
“I’m surprised there are nobles who make their own clothes,” Nico said after a moment, surprised. He didn’t really know how that worked. Logically, he figured that plenty of the nobility had jobs, but he doubted they were the kinds of jobs that actually required anything that could be considered labor at all. Jobs in overseeing, perhaps. Financial accounting. Running places as awful as Hathsin. Selling things the Skaa toiled to make to other towns for five times what was given to whichever of the Skaa made it. Nico knew he likely wasn’t being fair to Kelsier’s planet, but he found he didn’t want to be fair. So much of what he heard about it was awful.
It wasn’t as simple as Nico was making it out to be, and he knew it. The issue was, he didn’t really want to explain capitalism to Kelsier, for fear it might derail his visit entirely. It was a noble pursuit, of course, but even Kelsier couldn’t dismantle capitalism all by himself. It just meant it was a little bit difficult to explain that purchasing from large stores gave money to people who didn’t deserve it, but that stealing from those same stores would land people into a state of financial uncertainty if they lost their jobs over it.
“You can’t call yourself a metalhead,” Nico pointed out after a moment, more than a little bit grateful for the distraction. “It’s not true. Metalhead actually means something here, and… well… I wouldn’t be surprised if you actually were a metalhead, but it doesn’t mean Allomancy. Besides, why would you want to name yourself something inaccurate? Although, admittedly, Metalbelly doesn’t sound too great.”
Nico shook the thought away, instead ushering Kelsier towards the fitting room.
“Try,” he said, crossing his arms as he pushed the door closed. “You have to make sure it all fits.”

“Dyes are pretty widespread here,” Nico shrugged, tugging at something that was offensively bright colored. “I mean… this is meant to be reflective at night, so that you don’t get hit by a car or a bike or something. That’s more of a concern in other cities than it is here, I guess, cause other cities don’t have lights as bright as New York does. They might have streetlamps and stuff, but they don’t have big billboards.” He shrugged, then followed Kelsier a few paces. “That’s not really the main thing I was trying to say, though. I was going to say that fabrics like velvet and silk are a lot more expensive here, too. They cost more to make, so you have to be pretty well off to have garments made from it. And I don’t really see why people would want them, honestly. They’re so much harder to wash.”
“I never really thought about how similar our worlds are, before,” Nico murmured, staring at the fitting room door as he waited for Kelsier to try on the clothes. He hoped it was okay that he was talking to him when he was trying things on. If Kelsier had an issue with it, Nico was confident he would say something. It wasn’t as though Kelsier was shy about things like that. “I mean… most of the Skaa don’t get to see the stars because of the mists, and most of us here don’t get to see the stars because of the light pollution. Some of the more well-off people can afford to go places on the weekends where they have second or third houses, and they can see the stars, but… most people who live here don’t see much beyond the haze of all of the electricity. I know it’s not the same, because I guess electricity benefits everyone, and there are places you can go where everyone sees the stars, but… I guess it’s not really something I considered. That New York is just as starless as Luthadel.” Distantly, Nico wondered if Kelsier would be able to see the stars beyond the light pollution if he used tin. He had a feeling it wouldn’t work that way – Kelsier might just blind himself trying, given how bright some of the streetlights were. “We’ll be able to see the stars when we go back to Camp,” he added after a moment, scuffing his shoe along the floor.
As Kelsier emerged, he looked up, prepared to see whatever it was that Kelsier had tried on. Ah. It seemed like it was going to be a surprise, then.
“I’m glad it does,” Nico said after a moment, giving a small smile. “Do you want to look for anything else or are we ready to check out?”

Nico was aware that his world was very different from Scadrial, but he had never really stopped to really consider how different. There was so much background knowledge an individual would need to have to even begin to understand this world. Nico had done his best to prepare Kelsier, but it was inevitable that he had missed things. There were going to be hundreds of things that Kelsier didn’t know. Things that Nico had just come to think of as normal and hadn’t even thought to mention. He tried not to feel guilty about that, though he knew he had put Kelsier incredibly far out of his depth. Fortunately, at least, he seemed to be doing well enough. He wasn’t floundering like Nico had feared he might.
“People can see the stars a lot better in other places, but it tends to be that where there are more stars, there are fewer people. And there are a lot of people who don’t want to be alone. People who go to big cities to pursue their dreams, because there are so many more jobs and opportunities where there are more people. Not to mention that New York is a pretty big tourist destination. There are people who come from all over the world just to visit New York and walk around Times Square. It’s sort of a big deal,” Nico replied, uncertain how else to describe it. “I mean… it’s pretty impressive, and a lot of people think it represents America pretty well. Big and loud, full of people and dreams and opportunity… they may not be entirely right about what America is, but this is what our country is technically supposed to be. I don’t know. It’s a little romantic, I suppose. Other people come just because they like fashion, and there’s lots of trendy stuff here. It’s also in a ton of movies and books and things, and a lot of people think that you can’t visit the country without visiting New York. I’d say most of the people here right now aren’t people who actually live here. Chances are that they can see the stars much better from where they actually live, but they’re just here visiting. They don’t much mind that there aren’t any stars here, especially since they won’t be here for more than a week or two.”
Nico took another quick look around, then began to move towards the cash registers. “After this… I don’t know. Maybe the Empire State Building? As long as you promise not to cause too much trouble…?”

Nico liked New York. He had to admit that it was large and loud and crowded, and those were three things that he didn’t tend to like, but… he had spent so much time in the city that it just sort of felt like home. As close to home as he was going to get, anyway. There may not have been many stars and there may have been too many people, but it wasn’t as though Nico really needed the quiet of night. Living in the city that never slept worked perfectly well for him, seeing as he never really slept either. He spent more time at Camp than he did in the middle of the city, of course, but… he liked the city. One day, when he was old enough to understand how leases worked, he had a feeling that he would have an apartment there. It would be nice, he thought, to have his own space. Preferably on a high floor so he could look down at the rest of the city and watch everyone going about their business.
“It’s home to a lot of people,” Nico replied as he placed the clothing tags at the register. The shop clerk gave him a strange look before she began scanning them, but she seemed decently content that they hadn’t stolen anything, at least. That was all Nico was hoping for, and they could pay for it just fine… there wasn’t an issue, as far as he could see. “It’s the people who live here who do the yelling. They pretend that they don’t like tourists, and I guess… it makes sense, ‘cause they’re inconvenient sometimes, but I don’t think anyone here ever actually wants the tourists to leave. The worst seasons are late August and right at the beginning of the year – actually, a lot of people who live here actually go out of town around those times so they can avoid tourism season. I like it here, though. Maybe not… here here, but the city. I can’t imagine anything else like it.”
He cast a look at Kelsier as he slid his credit card into the machine, arms crossing as he waited for it to beep.
“If I remember correctly, someone wanted to fistfight Zeus.”

Nico wasn’t sure whether he thought Kelsier would hate New York or thrive in it. There were far more people than Kelsier were probably used to, and he was used to having nights to himself, but… it was the sort of city that was full of the people Kelsier wanted to help. It was a city of progress. It was a city full of people who had the same dreams as Kelsier, albeit on a smaller scale. The problems in Nico’s world couldn’t be solved by killing noblemen. Okay… there were a few billionaires that could probably be offed without issue, and their deaths would make the world indescribably better, but he wasn’t going to mention that to Kelsier. He might take it a little bit too seriously. Besides… killing them wasn’t going to solve the problem. All of them had wills, and all of their money was going somewhere. It definitely wasn’t to the people or causes that actually needed it.
Nico shook the thought away. Kelsier wasn’t here to kill billionaires. He was here so Nico could show him around. So he could see his world for the first time.
“I guess,” Nico shrugged, brow furrowing a little bit. “I mean… I guess it’s only weird because nobody in Luthadel ever goes on vacation, do they? It seems like the only people that ever travel anywhere are merchants, and they travel from city to city to do their jobs, not to relax and get time off. And something tells me they really don’t do it for the cultural experience.” He shifted, walking out of the store and pocketing the receipt.
“You aren’t challenging Zeus to a knife fight. Sorry, but one of us values your life.”

Nico wasn’t sure he wanted to aim Kelsier in the direction of the people who made the world a worse-off place than it could be. He had an idea of what Kelsier would do, and while it was respectable… they weren’t as in need of a revolution as Scadrial was. Besides, Nico believed that for change to be permanent, it had to come from the people it affected most. Kelsier couldn’t change things and then disappear back into his world. If he did, everything would just go back to the way it had been. Change had to come from the inside, from people who were determined and dedicated to keeping things on the right track. Kelsier had his hands full enough doing that for his world. Nico… well, he knew there were billions of people who didn’t even know Earth had been in danger over the past few years. They didn’t know that the world had been saved by a small handful of teenagers.
“I guess it is nice to be able to go places,” Nico replied quietly, looking up at Kelsier. “And… I guess you don’t really have much of an immigration problem in Luthadel. But America is build on the idea of welcoming immigrants and refugees. We haven’t done a very good job of that in the recent past, but it is still important. At least… I think so.” He gave a small shrug, then decided to let the topic drop. Convincing Kelsier not to knife fight the king of the gods was a little bit more important.
“I swear, Dad, if you take Zeus’ powers away I will personally beat the shit out of you. And I’m not giving you any information that might be seen as a tactical advantage.”