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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 19, 2021 18:08:39 GMT -5
Kelsier had no knowledge of Hathsin. How could he? It hadn’t happened in this world, and this world was all he had knowledge of. He didn’t like small spaces, but that was just claustrophobia. It didn’t actually mean anything, because there was nothing for it to mean.
He was doing his best to stay as calm as he could. There was no need to panic about this. Panicking in this situation was the exact opposite of helpful, and he needed to get the both of them out of this in one piece, no matter what.
The phone didn’t respond. He pulled it back and looked at it, giving a small sigh as he realized there wasn’t a good signal here. Which made sense…he felt like he’d talked on the phone in an elevator before, but he wasn’t completely sure. And probably never this specific elevator. He tucked the phone away, trying his best to think.
“Well…” he began, then trailed off, catching sight of Nico’s expression. He looked suddenly startled, like he’d just thought of something, or realized something. Kelsier turned towards him, careful to keep his moments slow and gentle.
“What is it?” He asked, searching the kid’s expression. Hopefully, it was just the fear, but…somehow, he didn’t think so. That had been there before. This seemed like something else entirely.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 19, 2021 18:26:08 GMT -5
Nico took a deep breath, trying to balance the realization that this Kelsier had been through Hathsin with the fact that he clearly didn’t know who he was. How… was that possible? His Kelsier was dead. His Kelsier had been dead for a long time. Three years. Longer than that if you counted the year Nico had spent on Scadrial. The year that Sazed had kindly reversed so he could go home.
Did that mean that this Kelsier was his Kelsier? Even if it was, did it matter? How had he gotten here? Nico’s thoughts were whirring a thousand miles a minute, trying to figure out how Kelsier could be here and how to get them both out of the elevator at the same time. This… wasn’t possible. He couldn’t even blame the House anymore. It wasn’t as though the House existed the same way it had when Nico had been blinking in. He shook his head of the thought, trying not to freak out. Now wasn’t the time to be figuring out Kelsier.
“Sorry,” Nico mumbled, trying not to let his gaze linger too long on the scars. How did Kelsier think he had gotten those? Did he remember Hathsin? Did he remember something similar to it? “I just… I thought I saw a way out, but I don’t think it would work. I don’t know…” he hesitated, looking up at the ceiling. “Do… you think we could try to get out from the ceiling? There might be a maintenance hatch?”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 19, 2021 18:37:38 GMT -5
Kelsier got the feeling Nico was thinking about something else, entirely different from the elevator, but he pushed it aside. Even if he was, the elevator was a lot more pressing than whatever it was, and Kelsier didn’t have time to try and figure out what it could be.
He glanced up, considering the ceiling for a long moment. It was a good thought. If they could climb out, they would at least be in less immediate danger if plummeting to their deaths at any moment. Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure where they would go once they were out. Surely it had to let out somewhere, but Kelsier had never taken the time to check. Was there an opening at the top? Were the walls even climbable?
And if they were…it would take a lot of upper body strength. Kelsier was pretty sure he could do it. But there was no way in hell he was just abandoning the kid in here, even to go get help. They needed a plan that would work for the both of them.
“There could be,” he admitted, keeping his fears to himself. He didn’t think Nico needed to hear how fast his thoughts were moving. He knew he was already pale, and he was trying his best not to breathe too noticeably harder than normal, but it wasn’t exactly impossible to tell he was near panic himself.
“If I lift you, do you think you can reach it to check?” He asked, glancing at Nico again. “I can’t tell without being able to touch it.”
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strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 19, 2021 19:03:40 GMT -5
Eventually, Nico knew he was going to have to face this. He was going to have to look Kelsier in the eye and ask him where he got those scars, and he was going to have to figure out what to do with the answer when he got it. Those kinds of scars… maybe he would see if there were histories of people with scars like that here on Earth. Even miners were allowed specialized tools that would protect their hands from getting scratched like that as they mined for valuable resources. People couldn’t be forced to do that sort of labor here, at least not legally. And certainly not enough to create the scars that Kelsier bore from Hathsin. Nico shook off a shudder, eyes narrowing as he looked at Kelsier with a new sort of light. Who was he? Did he know he wasn’t from here? Was he still Mistborn? Was he hiding that fact? If he really were Mistborn, he’d be able to keep the elevator suspended and keep them safe, but… Nico found he doubted Kelsier knew.
“I… don’t know,” Nico managed after a moment, standing up to his full height and looking above him. “I can try.” He didn’t know how comfortable he would be regarding contact with Kelsier. Would his body be okay with it because of his history of trusting Kelsier? Or would it send him into a panic again? He didn’t want to be afraid of Kelsier, but that wasn’t entirely in his control. He had gotten better about touch in recent years, but it was still hard for him to deal with.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 19, 2021 19:18:58 GMT -5
Truthfully, Kelsier didn’t know the history of the scars covering both of his arms, that had been hard to come to terms with, at first. He knew he had to have gotten them from somewhere, and he knew it couldn't have been a very good place to have done that to him, but he had no idea what could have caused it. They were too thin and straight the to have been caused by an explosion. There would have been burn marks from that, anyway. He had wondered if he’d been tortured, but he couldn’t imagine someone just making the same attack hundreds of times, if that was the case. And why would anyone have wanted to torture him, anyway? It wasn’t as though he knew any sensitive information. He was a pretty normal person, aside from the time he couldn’t remember.
It was odd. He couldn’t quite remember when his memory began. It was as though every day had blended into the next, until he couldn’t tell which was the first one he had knowledge of. He did remember his childhood…more or less. Even that was a bit blurry.
He wasn’t thinking about it now, though. He has focusing on getting the two of them out alive. His own mystery wasn’t nearly as pressing.
“Okay. If you’re alright with it?” He replied, getting in position in the middle of the room. “If we can climb out, we can figure out the rest from there. I don’t suppose you have any rock climbing experience?”
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strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 19, 2021 19:34:56 GMT -5
“You have no idea,” Nico replied, something in his tone amused. He had never expected the Camp Half-Blood climbing wall to prove useful, but if there was a way out through the top, it might just save their life here. Hopefully, Kelsier knew how to climb, too. He had done it before, Nico knew, but without metals? Without the practice of racing through the mists every night? Nico shook his head of the thought. If Kelsier thought he would be able to climb out, then Nico was going to believe him for now. It wasn’t his responsibility to make sure Kelsier wasn’t lying. It was, after all, their only way out.
“I don’t see anything else to try,” he added after a moment, looking up and letting the seriousness of the situation wash over him. He had been in life or death situations before, and he doubted this counted, but… it was close. He was good in a crisis, even when he was terrified out of his mind. He just had to get out. He could break down as soon as they were out.
“How do you plan to go about this, anyway?” Nico asked after a moment, trying to gauge if he’d be able to reach it just by being lifted up. “I think… if I’m able to sit on your shoulders I’ll be tall enough.” He, unfortunately, hadn’t grown very much since he was fourteen. He had been waiting on a growth spurt, but it turned out he had stunted his growth with the way he’d been living since he was ten. He was stuck at 5’4, probably permanently.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 19, 2021 19:50:58 GMT -5
Kelsier glanced at Nico, raising an eyebrow at the tone. Some sort of inside joke, he imagined. Or maybe Nico was actually an incredible rock climber and he was just amused that Kelsier had to ask as though he expected the answer to be a firm no.
Either way, he was going to take that as a yes.
“Me neither,” he admitted, glancing around the small room again before he looked firmly up. As long as he wasn’t thinking about how little space he had, he felt a little bit better about this. He took a moment to breathe again, focusing on the way out. At least, that was what he was choosing to think of it as. If it wasn’t, there would be another one. They were going to be fine.
“That should work,” he agreed, forcing his mind back to the present. One step at a time. He thought it was a little bit amusing that he was probably more freaked out by the small space than the actual possibility of dying…claustrophobia priorities, he guessed. He’d be able to appreciate that a lot more after they were both free again.
He knelt, giving Nico a way to climb onto his shoulders. The kid didn’t look too heavy, thankfully. This could actually work.
“It might be locked,” he said after a moment, an edge of hesitation in his tone. “Have you ever picked a lock before, by any chance?”
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strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 19, 2021 19:57:35 GMT -5
Even if they could get through the trapdoor in the ceiling… would they be able to get out? Nico would be able to stand on Kelsier’s shoulders and pull himself through, but would Kelsier be able to reach? In theory, they could lodge Nico’s sword into the wall and use that as a step, but Nico would rather that be a last resort. He liked his sword, he didn’t really want it getting bent under Kelsier’s weight. Maybe it wouldn’t… it was a tough metal, but there was only so much stress it could take before it shattered. Hopefully…
Nico was getting ahead of himself. He took in a breath, eyes narrowing at Kelsier before he swung a leg up, doing his best to balance right beneath Kelsier’s neck. He didn’t want to put his weight on Kelsier’s neck – that seemed like a great way to get injured, and he was a little bit heavier than he had been when Kelsier used to pick him up and carry him. He supposed that was the benefit of actually getting enough to eat for once in his life. He glanced down at Kelsier, holding tight and doing his best to balance before glancing back up at the possible trap door. It was probably locked, but Nico didn’t even see a place for a key to be inserted. Was he just… missing it?
“It’s probably locked from the outside,” he muttered, staring up at it. “It would be best to be able to break through it, but… that seems like a bad idea.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 19, 2021 20:09:08 GMT -5
Kelsier knew getting himself through would be a lot harder than getting Nico through, but that was better than the other way around. If Nico could climb out and he knew how to climb well enough, maybe he could go alone and get help. Kelsier felt a bit ill at the idea of having to just sit there and wait, hoping nothing important broke before someone could rescue him, but he wasn’t sure there was going to be a good alternative answer.
He stood up slowly, trying to make it easy to balance on his shoulders. He wasn’t sure how close the ceiling would be to Nico, once he was up there, but hopefully it would be close enough. If not, Nico might have to stand up.
“Dammit,” he muttered, realizing Nico was probably right. “Okay…could we use your sword to try and pry it open? I don’t know which one would break first, but I don’t have anything else that could work.”
They had probably been thinking of teens daring each other to climb out of the elevator, in fairness, but still. Kelsier thought they could have made the way out a little bit easier to access. Or maybe some sort of system that could kick in if something went wrong, unlocking the door. The last thing Kelsier wanted to do was die because of a technical oversight in elevator designs.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 19, 2021 20:19:19 GMT -5
Nico wouldn’t leave Kelsier in the elevator, no matter how much of a stranger he was. There was no guarantee that he’d even be able to find help, and with his luck… he had learned a long time ago that the best way to get something done was to do it himself instead of waiting around for someone else to do it. If he had to rely on someone else… the chances that they would fail were too high. Nico might also fail, but… he gave a small sigh. If he got out and Kelsier died here, that was the weight of one more life he would have to carry on his shoulders. It was also a mystery that he wasn’t going to be able to solve. How was Kelsier here? Why was he a physics teacher? How was he even alive after everything…? If anyone could do it, it would be Kelsier. That fact didn’t make it any less bizarre.
“Sure,” Nico said after a moment, though he was reluctant to use his sword to try to pry the door open. “Can you uh… pass it up here? Sorry, I lodged it pretty firmly into the ground…” he could have tried to use the glass dagger he had tucked into his shoe, but that seemed a lot more likely to break than a metal sword. Besides, if the sword was bent, it could always be fixed with the right tools. The glass dagger was a lot more fragile, and a lot less easy to fix. They had the same sentimental value for different reasons, but if Nico had to choose one to break… it would be the sword every time.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 19, 2021 20:29:42 GMT -5
Kelsier would try to convince Nico to go without him, if that looked like the best option. He hadn’t yet run into Nico’s stubbornness, in his memory. Of course, it wouldn’t be ideal, and the last thing he wanted was to die leaving anyone else feeling responsible for it, but if Nico lived…well, that was his priority. Everything else could come afterwards.
He cared about him, but like a stranger. Like anyone else. He didn’t know him. But he would have been willing to try and save anyone in this situation.
“Yeah, hang on. You might have to get down for a moment, I don’t want to knock you off by accident,” he replied, moving towards the sword and bending down again. He took hold of it, but he didn’t pull just yet. He didn’t want to yank it out while Nico was in danger of being thrown off by a sudden movement.
He didn’t know about the dagger. He might have been a little bit concerned about another weapon on a seemingly normal college student, if he had. But he had no way of knowing it was there, so he assumed the sword was their only shot at prying it open.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 19, 2021 20:42:08 GMT -5
“Right,” Nico replied, pushing off Kel and tucking himself into a roll as he landed, then pushing himself up in less than a second. It was something he had practiced many times before, and he seemed to give no indication he was aware that Kelsier probably hadn’t meant for him to do anything nearly as athletic to get off. It didn’t matter. He had gotten off, and now Kelsier would be able to get the sword out of the ground. Hopefully, the sword wouldn’t take offense to Kelsier using it. It had a tendency to be finicky about who was allowed to wield it, but Kelsier had handled it before… Nico pushed the thought away. Kelsier would only be holding it for a few seconds if this worked out.
Once the sword was free from the ground, Nico pulled himself back onto Kelsier’s shoulders, reaching an arm up to try to feel for an uneven area of the ceiling. Nothing seemed to be giving, but he did see a crack that could have been the outline of an entrance…
“Can you move a little bit to your right?”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 19, 2021 20:50:49 GMT -5
Kelsier opened his mouth, about to say something else when Nico seemed to almost flip himself off of his shoulders, landing in a roll and ending up on his feet again before Kelsier could even move. He stared at the kid for a long moment, surprise flashing in his hazel eyes as he tried to process that. It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought people could do things like that…he knew they could…it was just that Nico was a random college student. There couldn’t be that many random college students who also apparently knew parkour. Or maybe gymnastics?
They’d have plenty of time to talk after they were free, though. He turned his attention back to the sword and gave it a sharp tug, wrenching it free and letting Nico climb back up.
He waited as Nico felt around, searching for a way out. The faster they worked, the better their chances, but he didn’t say that…Nico knew as well as he did that they had no idea how long the elevator was going to stay as it was. Rushing him wasn’t going to help.
He moved a little to his right, craning his neck to see if he could watch what Nico was doing. “Is that better?”
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 19, 2021 21:27:45 GMT -5
Nico hadn’t exactly meant to be overdramatic, it had just seemed like the simplest way to get off of Kelsier’s shoulders. He could tell he had done the wrong thing based on Kelsier’s expression, though. Well… he could deal with the ramifications of his mistake later. For now, he could focus on getting out of there.
“Yeah,” Nico replied, pushing himself up a little bit so that he could prod at the gap that seemed to be a door. He pulled his sword up, careful to keep the point as far from Kelsier’s face as possible. The sword had always been a useful tool, but he had to admit he had never thought to use it like this. He gave a soft breath as he carved along the line of the potential door, peeling through a layer of something that held it in place. Weatherproofing, maybe? Hopefully it wasn’t important. Would the school really get upset with him for breaking something in the elevator if it meant they survived? Nico cast a doubtful look at Kelsier… he would vouch for him, right?
“I think…” he grunted, then tried to get his sword in to pry the door open. It gave an ominous creaking noise, and Nico stopped almost immediately. “Should… I keep trying?”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 19, 2021 21:37:58 GMT -5
It was more curiosity than anything else that made Kelsier want to know why Nico had a sword and could do seemingly effortless flips in small spaces. He had to admit, he thought it was cool. He also sort of wished he could do it. Not that he needed to show off, of course, but…he found he didn’t like being less cool than someone else. Which was a stupid line of thinking under the circumstances, albeit an easier one to follow than the fact that they could die at any second. Or worse, get trapped indefinitely.
He waited, listening as Nico began to pry at the door, or what he hoped was a door. It probably could have been something else, too, but they couldn’t help that now.
“It’s okay. It’s probably just stuck,” he replied quickly, feeling the tension as Nico stopped prying. It had been a fairly ominous sound, true, but they were still just fine. “Go ahead and try it again. If it’s locked, it might take a little bit to actually get it free.”
He didn’t need to add that they should probably be as gentle as possible with their movements. Kelsier didn’t know for sure that they were hanging on by a thread, but since that was a distinct possibility, he wanted to make this as likely to end in their triumphant survival as he could.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 19, 2021 23:34:35 GMT -5
Nico glanced down at Kelsier for just a moment, shoulders tense as he took in the man’s words. He could keep going, keep trying to pry it free, but… what if that put them in more danger? What if it meant that the cord holding the elevator up snapped? It was entirely possible that they were already on the first floor, but they had been going up for a while before it had stopped. They had no idea what floor they were on, and they had no idea how far they had started to fall. It hadn’t felt very far, but how much could they really tell from inside?
“Okay,” Nico said after a moment, prying at the door again. It was definitely a door – the gap was starting to increase, and Nico could feel the way the metal wanted to give way. If it wasn’t a door, then… well, then they may have just broken the elevator. It was already pretty broken, so maybe they weren’t doing any more damage… he squeezed his eyes shut, then removed his sword and jammed it between the gap as quickly and with as much force as he was capable of. The metal gave a terrible shriek as it gave in, the door falling open and raining dust down on them both. Nico gave a sharp cough, grabbing desperately onto Kelsier as he tried to both keep his balance and breathe. His sword fell to the ground, luckily not hitting either of them as it did so.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 20, 2021 0:25:43 GMT -5
Kelsier knew that trying to break out could end badly for them both. It could make the cord snap, among other things. He didn’t know how elevators worked enough to know how likely this was to be a bad idea, he just knew that sitting and hoping someone would try to use the elevator, then assume something was actually wrong instead of just giving up, was a worse idea. Plus, he hated sitting still and doing nothing. He hated it even more when he was trying not to let himself have a panic attack.
He waited, trying to watch as Nico resumed his attempt. They were close…they were close enough that Kelsier had just decided was probably going to work when it crashed open and dust came raining down on them both, effectively blinding Kelsier and probably nearly drowning Nico, since he was closer to it.
He stumbled back, reaching up to hold onto Nico to make sure he didn’t fall as he tried to get his balance back, coughing to try and expel the dust from his lungs.
“Good…good, that’ll work,” he managed when he could breathe again, still holding Nico firmly in place, in case he hadn’t gotten his bearings yet. “You okay?”
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strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 20, 2021 0:31:26 GMT -5
Nico gave a hard cough, trying to expel the last of the dust from his lungs. Clearly, nobody had been in to service the elevator in a very long time. Or… if they’d tried to service it, they hadn’t used that entrance. That was probably why it had been so hard to open, even if it was locked. Nico pushed some of the dust away from his eyes, coughing once more as he ran a hand through his hair to try to get rid of the rest of it. He felt as though he was a historic gentleman with a powdered wig. In simpler terms, he hated it. He’d need to take a good long shower when he got back to his apartment. How long would it be before Sal noticed that his roommate was missing? How long before he alerted someone, before they realized that Nico wasn’t the only one missing? How long before someone thought to look inside the building instead of assuming they had disappeared somewhere else? No, they couldn’t wait for someone to find them. They had to get out as soon as possible.
“Thanks,” Nico gasped, realizing that Kelsier was still holding onto him tightly. He may have fallen were it not for Kelsier’s iron grip. “Yeah, I’m… it startled me. I’m fine. Let me just…” he hesitated, then pressed down on Kelsier’s head just enough so that he could balance as he shifted to place the bottom of one foot on Kelsier’s shoulder. He pushed himself up a little bit higher, one hand reaching to grab the entrance he had just opened.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 20, 2021 3:40:39 GMT -5
Kelsier felt the amount of dust present might not be entirely unrelated to the fact that they were currently in danger of falling to their deaths in what was supposed to be a perfectly safe and secure elevator. He didn’t think no one had been told to make sure it was running properly, but he was getting the sense that they might not have actually done it. Normally, he despised getting people in trouble. Normally, he wanted to just handle things himself. He wasn’t petty enough to try and get someone fired over mistakes, unless he didn’t like them and felt they deserved it.
In this case, he didn’t know who had been putting off checking to make sure the next people to try and ride the elevator didn’t end up dead, but he was going to try very hard to get them fired. It wasn’t pettiness. It was concern for the safety of the students who lived here and pettiness.
He was also fairly sure he was never going to ride another elevator. The claustrophobia had already made it uncomfortable, and now he was always going to feel like they were about to be trapped for real. The only reason he could think of to ever willingly step into another elevator after they made it out was that if anything did happen, he was probably a fairly useful person to have on hand to rescue whoever else was there, but that…didn’t feel like a very good reason, somehow. He was not paranoid enough as a rule to let himself go that route.
He slowly released his grip on Nico as the kid began to stand up. He couldn’t imagine it wasn’t pitch black up there, but maybe he would be wrong. Maybe they’d be able to see, somehow. Maybe the lights in the elevator itself wouldn’t go off.
“See anything?” He asked after a moment, keeping his voice down to try and avoid startling him. “Anything we can use to get out of here?”
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strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 20, 2021 22:18:12 GMT -5
The thing was, Nico hadn’t ever really been afraid of elevators. He hadn’t spent much time in them (it was usually easier to take the stairs or shadow travel), but they were convenient enough to be worth it, sometimes. After this… Nico wasn’t sure he would ever think they were worth it again. It felt like a risk, dangling here, unable to quite see what was above him. He thought he would kill to have an Apollo kid with him. Or maybe to be an Apollo kid. He had gotten better at coming to terms with the fact that he was the son of Hades, but that didn’t mean he was always content with it. Right now, it would have been very, very nice to be bioluminescent. Although… Nico cast a glance back down at Kelsier. It would have been inconvenient to have to explain to Kelsier why he was glow in the dark. Perhaps it was for the best that he couldn’t provide his own light.
“Do you have your phone on you?” Nico asked after a moment, pulling himself up through the doorway and glancing down at Kelsier. “I mean… that you can give to me. I need a flashlight or something.” He would have to consider carrying a flashlight with him. In general, Nico tried to be prepared for anything. This was the exact sort of mundane emergency that he hadn’t considered in preparing for everything else that was far more extreme. He cursed under his breath, making a mental note to be more prepared in the future.
“I can’t really see anything,” he added, as though that wasn’t made clear by his request. He could… try… Nico squinted, doing his best to see in spite of the minimal light. It was probably stressful for Kelsier to be down below, unable to tell what was going on. Which meant that Nico had to be as clear as he could about the situation up here. All he could see was dust. “You’d think they’d have some sort of emergency lighting in here.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 22, 2021 0:56:46 GMT -5
Kelsier waited for Nico to get a good look, or at least to try to. He wasn’t positive how much they would be able to see, and his phone was…he frowned, shifting to pull it free so he could check how much power it had left.
38% power…that could have been better. He hadn’t gotten a chance to charge it yet, since he’d been heading to his office, anyway.
“Yeah, here you go,” he replied, handing it up to Nico. “You’d think so. I’m beginning to wonder whether anyone thought this far ahead. I’m guessing no, since apparently they didn’t think making sure whatever part of the elevator makes it not break still worked was worth an hour of their time.”
He couldn’t really see up past Nico. He was probably going to have to just let him take a good look around, before anything else. Kelsier didn’t like waiting, but he liked dying even less, so he was willing to give the kid a little space.
“Do you see anything we could use to climb out?” He added after a moment. “And can you pull yourself through the opening?”
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 22, 2021 1:52:33 GMT -5
Nico hoped that they weren’t in the elevator long enough for Kelsier’s phone to die. He didn’t know how long they were going to be there, but having a phone at least felt like they had backup. Even if it wasn’t technically working. It felt like they had something they could try if nothing else worked. Besides, it meant they had light, and… what happened if the light above their head went out? Panic sparked across Nico’s face at the thought and he immediately looked for something wood to knock on. He may not have been very superstitious normally, but this one was important. This involved them getting out of there. In theory, it was life or death.
Making sure to keep the actual screen brightness down, Nico flipped on the phone’s flashlight, peering around. It took him a moment to pull himself all the way through into the space, but he didn’t bother to brush off as he made it. He was just going to get dustier on the way back down. If they had to go back down. Which… Nico sincerely hoped they didn’t’.
“It looks like there used to be a ladder here,” he reported, frowning a little as he reached for the wall. “I think the elevator might have knocked it when we were falling. We didn’t fall far, I don’t think, but… the walls are completely smooth. I don’t know how we can climb them.”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Sept 24, 2021 23:40:16 GMT -5
The fact that they could very easily be plunged into darkness hadn’t escaped Kelsier. It probably wouldn’t happen until the battery ran out, but…phones died sometimes. They could shut down even before it had gone down to zero. His phone may not have been terrible, but it wasn’t exactly amazing, either…it could decide to abandon them, and it wouldn’t be entirely out of character.
Best to work at getting out sooner rather than later. He may have been comfortable at night, but he had the stars and the open air, then. Not…this. Even if not seeing how very close the walls were could have been helpful, he doubted it would be in practice. It was much more likely to make him feel even more suffocated.
“Right. Okay, we can work with that,” he replied, though he wasn’t sure how, exactly, they could work with that. Without something to climb…
If he’d known what he was, it would have been different. Metal walls, a metal elevator, Pushing down and Pulling up at the same time would have been more than enough to carry him and Nico to safety, or whatever happened to be at the top. But he didn’t know. And it wasn’t like he had any metals on him, anyway.
“Can you see where the ladder was? Is that something we could use?” He asked after a moment, still trying to look up as best he could.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 25, 2021 4:33:04 GMT -5
Nico wasn’t completely helpless in the dark, but he knew there were monsters who were much more comfortable in complete darkness than he was. Which meant that they were under threat of attack for as long as they were exposed like this. If they were attacked right now, would Kelsier be able to defend himself? He could clearly see through the Mist, but what did that mean? Was he a demigod? Did he have anything on him that would be useful against monsters? Nico hated that the two of them had been stuck in this situation together. Even more, he hated that the things he knew about Kelsier likely weren’t true anymore. He couldn’t trust his memory of his dad to serve him well at the moment. The other Kelsier would likely already have a plan to get them out. The other Kelsier had Allomancy.
“Okay,” Nico said hesitantly, taking a hesitant step forwards towards where the ladder used to be. He could see the outline of it from where it had briefly rusted to the wall, but… there was nothing there now. Was that because it had been deemed dangerous? Wasn’t it more dangerous to leave people to get stuck in an elevator with no way out?
“I don’t know how we would be able to use it,” he admitted, backing up a little bit. “Is… it too dark down there? Should I come back?”
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Oct 3, 2021 13:58:03 GMT -5
Varian hesitated, unsure how to reply. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to set off the fireworks…they were fireworks. He wanted to dissect one, true, but he wanted to set them off with everyone else too, and they had plenty. He didn’t think snatching one at some point would be too hard.
He didn’t reply, but he didn’t turn back, either. He knew he was annoying, sometimes, with how focused and excited he could get…he knew Zuko probably wanted to be left alone. But, in his experience, sometimes you thought you wanted to be alone when you were actually desperately lonely.
He was probably going to get yelled at. But he just kept pace at Zuko’s side.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Oct 4, 2021 0:42:34 GMT -5
Zuko wasn’t wrong. Varian had never been any good at avoiding confrontation, himself, unless you counted the fact that he had more or less gone into a self-imposed banishment in his basement for a good part of his early teens, though he hadn’t thought of it that way. Never speaking to anyone besides yourself and your “pet” raccoon, who was both not domesticated and unable to reply, did mean he hadn’t gotten into any disagreements.
It also meant his social skills were probably not the best.
He didn’t know how to avoid a fight here. He wasn’t even entirely clear on what had started the last one. But he did remember how many times he’d pushed people away and tried to do everything by himself, and he knew it had never really worked out for him.
“Fireworks aren’t so great anyway,” he said after a moment. “When you know how they work.”
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Oct 4, 2021 0:52:08 GMT -5
Zuko halted, eyes narrowing a little bit as Varian once again refused to go back to the others. Was it possible that him staying here would be enough to cause an argument with all of them? Sal likely would understand, but if Ronan was being combative… then there would be no avoiding an argument unless Zuko transferred into a different building. If Varian wasn’t going to willingly go back to join the others, then who was Zuko to make him? It would be Varian missing out on the whole thing. There was nothing tying him to Zuko instead of the others. Although… if he stayed now, then he might be tied to Zuko. If the others did something and decided to exclude Zuko, then they might exclude Varian as well. It wasn’t fair, but it also wasn’t Zuko’s choice.
“Oh?” Zuko asked, turning to look at Varian for a long moment. “How… do they work?” He wasn’t sure if that was the right response, but if Varian was willing to miss out on the whole thing to make Zuko feel a little less alone, the least Zuko could do was indulge whatever he wanted to talk about.
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Post by ®Hawkpath® on Oct 4, 2021 1:20:30 GMT -5
Varian wasn’t thinking about the others holding it against him. Maybe they would…he didn’t know them. But if they were willing to exclude someone for trying to make someone else feel a little less alone, he wasn’t sure how much he wanted to be included, anyway.
Whatever Zuko had said, even if he didn’t agree with it…he would be the judge of whether he liked him or not. Just like everyone else.
“So it’s just a shell, really,” he began, brightening a little at the chance to explain. “It’s a container filled with stars and black powder, with a charge in the center and a fuse so it doesn’t just explode right away. That would be pretty bad. So, it gets shot into the air, and when the black powder explodes, the stars catch fire and spark and fly in different directions as they burn out, which is why they’re so bright. So technically the boom and the sparks aren’t the same thing, kind of like a thunderstorm. Only they sound at different times for different reasons.”
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