|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Oct 10, 2021 0:16:41 GMT -5
Sal would have agreed with him, if he’d known what Zuko was thinking. This felt like a mistake, somehow, like he could tell he was going to regret it at some point in the future. Usually when he felt that way, he avoided whatever it was. But it was too late to change his mind now, and it wasn’t like Zuko could hope to do much when his leg was broken and Sal was armed. And like it or not, if they just sat there in silence until his leg healed up, they were going to be steadily more and more irritable with each other, and that seemed like an even better recipe for disaster. So, it looked like they were playing cards. “I don’t exactly know, but they seem like pretty standard cards,” he replied, settling inside and beginning to shuffle them. Whether it was necessary or not was unknown, but he needed something to do with his hands. “I guess…did you ever play the game where you ask for a card, and if the person has it they have to give it to you? The goal is to make matches, I think.”
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Oct 10, 2021 19:16:10 GMT -5
Zuko didn’t know if this was a mistake or not, but… it was too late to second guess it. If he protested now, Sal would just tie him up again, and the tension they were building in the room would be thick enough to cut with one of the dao blades. He didn’t want that. He wasn’t sure what he wanted from the situation. Maybe he just wanted a simple solution. A way to stop the Skaa from being killed without creating a war. Their two ideas were incompatible, but maybe there was a compromise. Maybe there was something that would work for both of them. Sal wasn’t a bad person. In the end, he wanted the same things Zuko wanted. Perhaps that was why this whole thing was so infuriating. “Uh… I think I’ve played that before,” Zuko replied, tilting his head a little bit as he tried to remember. “Yeah. You want to have a match of two cards, and if you get all four suits for one number, then you get extra points or something.” It had been a while since Zuko had played anything. Iroh had insisted on playing games during the first year of Zuko’s exile, but… Zuko pushed the thought away. Now wasn’t the time to be missing Iroh. “You deal out six cards, I think.”
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Oct 18, 2021 19:24:13 GMT -5
Kelsier paused, the question catching him off guard. He didn’t sleep here, really. Not as much as he should, not as much as he needed to. But it wasn’t the Pits, or the guards, or the aching scars that never had time to heal before they were torn open again that kept him awake. It was unfair, that sleep refused to come now that there was no one to stay up with. She didn’t sleep either. He could tell when she was trying not to get up and pace. They both knew the other was awake, and they both pretended they didn’t. But he couldn’t tell Nico that. The kid had already figured out enough on his own. So he chose to answer the second question instead. “Oh? How would you rather spend your time?” He asked, one eyebrow raising just a little. He didn’t mean it to be a cruel question, but it sounded a lot like pretending insomnia was a choice. Although…he could understand wishing to put off morning as long as possible
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Oct 19, 2021 23:41:03 GMT -5
“Yeah, that’s right,” Sal nodded, beginning to deal out the cards. He went back and forth, handing one to Zuko, then to himself, and so on. He was careful not to reach too close. He couldn’t help remembering the way Zuko’s hand had tightened around his wrist as he’d tied the rope before. He didn’t see how Zuko could make it out of this with his leg as it was, but it was best not to tempt fate if he could avoid it. They were similar. Sal had to admit it, even if it bothered him. They were both determined, both willing to do whatever it took to achieve their goals. At least…that was what they told themselves. But Sal hadn’t killed Zuko, and Zuko hadn’t killed Sal. Zuko had an excuse. He could tell himself it was about the information. But that didn’t explain why he hadn’t tortured Sal. If he believed it was because the results wouldn’t be good, he was lying rob himself. Telling a convincing story took concentration, and pain was distracting. He dealt out the last card and leaned back a little. “Your turn.”
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Oct 20, 2021 0:14:07 GMT -5
Nico’s eyes narrowed at the question. There weren’t may things to do down in Hathsin. There weren’t very many other ways to spend time. He had doodled in the dirt before he’d realized that doing that might draw attention to him, so he had stopped. There wasn’t much he could do without drawing the eyes of the other prisoners or, worse, the guards. He just wanted to make it through another day, and… he couldn’t sleep anyway. He might as well try to look for other things to do. “I’d rather spend my time somewhere other than here,” he said after a moment, unflinchingly. He didn’t want to lose himself. He didn’t want to lose hope of getting out, though he knew that leaving Hathsin was impossible. Nobody had ever done it. If someone was going to, it wouldn’t be a scrawny boy who shouldn’t have been there in the first place. It wouldn’t be a nobleman. “I can’t sleep anyway. I can’t imagine anyone can.” He glanced behind Kelsier, wondering if now would be a good time to just… leave the conversation. Kelsier was confusing to talk to, and he didn’t need any more confusion in his life. He just needed to keep surviving.
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Oct 20, 2021 17:08:54 GMT -5
Zuko knew as well as Sal did that neither of them were doing everything they could to further their cause. If the only thing Zuko cared about was capturing and killing the Survivor, Sal wouldn’t be there at the moment. If Sal would do anything to protect the Survivor, then Zuko would have been left to die after he had broken his leg. They were stuck here, both of them caught in between. Their beliefs were strong, but they were just boys caught in the middle of a war they couldn’t actually do anything about. If they could have actually impacted things… Zuko breathed out, searching Sal’s expression for a long moment. They were just playing cards, and the world was falling apart. It felt like they should be doing more, but… for the moment, they were just kids. Had either of them ever been allowed to be kids? Zuko knew the Skaa had to grow up much too fast, and Zuko had been robbed of his teenage years. “Right, okay,” Zuko replied, looking at the cards he had in front of him. “Do… you have a six?”
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Oct 26, 2021 1:35:42 GMT -5
Sal didn’t think about the unfairness of it very often. Fair meant he deserved something, and he didn’t know what that would be. Was it fair that he was risking his life for someone who didn’t know he existed? Was it fair that Zuko couldn’t go home? He didn’t know. It was easier to just deal with the things as they came, in his experience. Zuko was trying to catch the Survivor, so Sal had to stop him. It was as simple as that. Only…it wasn’t. Because killing him would have accomplished that, and Sal hadn’t done it. He pushed the thoughts away. It didn’t matter. Not now, anyway. “Nope,” he replied, scanning his cards for a moment before he looked up. “Draw one. Do you have…a one?”
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Oct 30, 2021 6:42:35 GMT -5
Kelsier looked down, dipping his head lightly. It was a good answer, and a comforting one, though Kelsier thought Nico may have meant it as a challenge. Kelsier didn’t feel challenged. He felt…something like hope, the hope he refused to let die, only it wasn’t just willpower that made it warm enough to chase off the chill. Because the thought of leaving wouldn’t have even occurred to plenty of the people he’d met here. It wasn’t supposed to. The fact that it had meant that Nico wasn’t just trying to make Kelsier leave him alone. “Well, so long as you’re awake anyway, you know where I live now,” he said, his smile relentlessly cheerful as he looked up again. “And, to tell you the truth, I don’t sleep that much either.” It was an invitation, but one veiled enough that Nico would hopefully feel free to refuse it. He wanted to protect him, but he could hardly do that by forgetting he could make his own choices, could he?
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Nov 2, 2021 1:54:18 GMT -5
Zuko had to believe that the world could be fair. Everything he had seen had proven that it wasn’t, but if there was no fairness in the world, then there wasn’t a single thing he could do to make it better. If there was no such thing as fairness, then there was no way to stop the Skaa from dying other than killing the nobility. Perhaps he was idealistic, in spite of his cynicism. He didn’t believe that most of the solutions people came up with would work. He believed that people would fight each other for power if they had a chance. But he also believed that every person deserved to live a life they could do whatever they wanted with. They could travel around Scadrial or choose an occupation they liked. They would all work and they would all go to balls. Okay, so he was definitely idealistic. Zuko drew a card, pulled back into the simple reality of the card games. At least there weren’t any big questions to ponder there, so long as he ignored the fact that Sal was Skaa. So long as he pretended that Sal didn’t know where the Survivor was. “Damn,” Zuko cursed quietly, handing Sal the card he had just drawn. “Do you have… a hazekiller?”
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Nov 6, 2021 0:53:58 GMT -5
Sal didn’t want anyone to die. Not really…he didn’t think he wanted all the nobility slaughtered, though he knew that was probably the Survivor’s plan. But he didn’t want this to continue, either. Maybe fair didn’t exist. Maybe there was no perfect solution. He didn’t know what he believed, he only knew he wanted people to stop being hurt and killed every day for no reason at all, and there was one man in the world with any chance of making that happen. He couldn’t allow Zuko to steal hope from thousands of hearts just because he was homesick. But apparently, that was much easier said than done. He couldn’t kill Zuko…at least, not like this. So they would just have to wait. “Uh…hang on,” he said, shuffling through his cards to disguise the fact that he couldn’t remember what the hazekiller card looked like. He found it a moment later and handed it over. “Oh, yeah. Here.”
|
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Nov 9, 2021 3:11:36 GMT -5
Zuko took the card, giving a small smirk as he set down the pair of cards he had gathered. He knew it was early in the game, but he couldn’t help being at least a little bit competitive. It wasn’t like it could hurt anything, right? He frowned just a little, trying to remember the rules of the game. It had been a while since he had played, but it wasn’t a terribly complicated game. “If you get a card, then you get to go again, right?” He asked, not wanting to just keep taking turns unless they both agreed on the rules. Azula used to change the rules on him whenever they played games, and it meant that Zuko never won. He might have been Sal’s enemy here, but if they were going to pretend to be friends for even a moment, it was probably best that he not take advantage of that. They were just two boys trying to survive in a world that wasn’t fair. Maybe, for the moment, they could just be two boys that might have been friends in another world. In a world where Sal wasn’t siding with the Survivor.
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Nov 10, 2021 23:07:31 GMT -5
Sal glanced up, watching Zuko set the pair down. That was a match, then. He eyed his own cards, trying to see if he had one yet, but he didn’t think he did. The cards weren’t exactly in the best condition, though. He watched Zuko for a moment, then shook his head ruefully. “Yeah, now you remember that. Not when I got a card just a minute ago,” he told him, but there was no venom in the comment. His voice was light, almost as if he were joking. “You’re right, though. I think you can go until I don’t have the card.” This felt…dangerous. Sal knew better than to let his guard down, but he was used to being able to come close to relaxing at home, if nowhere else. Zuko’s presence meant that, until he healed, Sal needed to be on guard constantly, no matter where he was.
|
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Nov 13, 2021 23:43:28 GMT -5
Sal almost wished Zuko had refused the game, or tried to escape, or…anything but this. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to play, or he didn’t like Zuko. It was the opposite. Zuko seemed like someone he could have met on the streets…friendlier, maybe. But he didn’t even seem that arrogant, really. At least, Sal was struggling to summon up any hatred towards him. “Four? Uh…yeah, here,” he replied, handing the card over. “I think that’s a four. These cards aren’t exactly new.” And he hadn’t played this in what felt like centuries. Or any other games, really. The one game he had played was what had landed Zuko here, but he didn’t mention that.
|
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Nov 14, 2021 3:06:28 GMT -5
There was no way this was going to end well, for the very simple reason that their ideas of a happy ending were directly in conflict with each other. Sal needed Kelsier to be free. Zuko needed to catch him. This game…it was a temporary truce that came from an unfair war, and two boys who had never really wanted to be a part of it in the first place. He couldn’t blame Zuko for the way things were. Zuko was no older than he himself was, and seemed to have about as much say in anything as the average skaa child did. Which was to say, none. “No six,” Sal said, focusing on the cards. There wasn’t anything they could do to make it better. For now, they’d just have to deal as best they could. “And I don’t think so. Are we trying to use up all the cards? I just remember that the person with the most matches at the end wins.” He paused, considering. “Any threes?”
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Nov 14, 2021 4:06:37 GMT -5
“Right,” Zuko replied, frowning a little as he looked at the cards. That made sense. It would be unfair if Sal could just keep drawing cards every time Zuko claimed one from him. It wasn’t one of those games where it mattered how many cards you had in your hands. You just kept playing until all of the cards were out, and whoever had the most matches won. It had been too long since he had played… he couldn’t actually remember the last time. It had probably been with Ursa. The thought made him freeze. When was the last time he had actually allowed himself to have fun? To relax, like he was doing now? He wasn’t fully relaxed, of course, but… he was more relaxed than he had been since his father had banished him. He wasn’t sure if he could call this fun, but it was closer than most other things he had experienced lately. “Uh… yeah. Here,” he said, passing over his three before glancing down at his little pile of matches. “Did you play this a lot when you were younger?” Zuko asked suddenly, unsure why the answer mattered to him. They weren’t friends. They couldn’t afford to be. Somehow, though, Zuko still wanted to find points of commonality. Perhaps that was the weakness his father had tried so hard to drill out of him.
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Nov 14, 2021 4:21:46 GMT -5
Sal wasn’t sure how long they thought this was going to last. Zuko would still chase him, once he was healed. Sal would still run and, if necessary, hold his tongue while Zuko was forced to decide how far to go to loosen it. Neither of them really seemed to have a choice, though they both felt the other could stop it, if they chose to. It wasn’t going to work out, and the safest course of action was to mutually brace for impact as best they could. He accepted the three and set down his match. It wasn’t a lot, but it was easier to think about. “Um…do you have an Inquisitor?” He asked, scanning his cards again. That one in particular made his heart twist, though he said nothing. It had been his favorite when he’d been small and only barely aware of its namesake. He froze at the question, eyes on Zuko, cards pinned between still fingers. “I…” he started, then broke off, in the sudden way that came from worrying a word might slip out anyway, and looked away. It would be so easy to do the smart thing and ignore the question. It would be better for them both if he did. Don’t be stupid don’t be stupid don’t - “Yeah. I used to play with my mom,” he murmured, eyes fixed on the place where his skin met the faded edges of the cards. “I didn’t really know the rules, though. I was too little.”
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Nov 14, 2021 4:32:25 GMT -5
“I don’t, sorry,” Zuko said, looking down at his cards before lightly folding them over his lap. He considered for a moment, debating between responding and continuing the conversation or just pretending he hadn’t said anything. They were playing with fire. They shouldn’t have been getting close. They shouldn’t have been finding things they could relate to. They should have remained enemies. They couldn’t both have a happy ending. They couldn’t both make it out of this unscarred. It was possible they couldn’t both make it out alive. If Zuko captured the Survivor, his father would want to know why it took him so long. He would kill Sal for the inconvenience of making him wait. If Zuko didn’t find the Survivor, then one day Sal would eventually tell him about the boy who was hunting him. Zuko had no doubt he would die at the Survivor’s hand in that case. They were walking a tightrope, only the ground beneath the m was covered in spikes instead of trampolines. “Me, too,” he whispered, not quite able to look at Sal. “I think she let me win a lot, though. I mean… I used to ask if she had cards I didn’t even have, and she would give me whole pairs, sometimes. I think… she was just happy I was spending time with her. I don’t think she cared if she won.” He couldn’t help but smile a little at the thought. He couldn’t help it when he thought of his mother. A noble woman who had been lucky enough to catch the Lord Ruler’s eye. A noble woman who had born him children and had cared for them as deeply as any mother should. A noble woman who had been either killed or forced to leave for reasons Zuko had been too young to understand. All he knew was that he was part of the reason.
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Nov 14, 2021 4:46:56 GMT -5
Neither of them should have been stupid enough to let this happen. To let it even start to happen. It was equally dangerous for them both, Sal knew…if it was worse for one of them, he didn’t know which it would be. He’d be killed, he knew that. There would be no ceremony or hesitation to it, unless someone knew he had information. Then they might bother to speak with him for a few minutes first. Zuko… Well. He had to assume Zuko’s punishment would range anywhere from a stern talking to, to a long, painful death. It hinged almost entirely on who found out. But they wouldn’t. Because there was nothing to find out. They would just…be stupid today. And then neither of them would mention it again. One day against a lifetime of loneliness wasn’t enough, but Sal would take it. He just wasn’t allowed to admit the way he wished it could be longer. “Must be a mom thing,” he whispered back, ignoring the way his heart hammered. “Mind did the same thing. I always thought I was just way better at it than she was, but she definitely did give me her matches whenever she got close to winning.”
|
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Nov 14, 2021 9:31:50 GMT -5
They both should never have ended up here. Sal had no idea what Zuko’s past was like, or even who he was…he knew he couldn’t return home unless he caught the Survivor, but that didn’t tell him much. Only that he was probably from a fairly high up house. Not even that - the head of a house tired of being overlooked and desperate for the Lord Ruler’s approval could have decided this was a nice, risk-free way to try solving both problems at once. Speculating was useless. And Sal probably didn’t want to know, anyway. But he knew his own past. He knew that, as a Skaa boy - worse, as a Skaa thief - he could easily be killed for this. He could be betrayed. He could start to like Zuko, and then how would either of them do what had to be done? They were enemies. They had to stay enemies, if either of them wanted to win this game. What kind of person would Sal be, to choose the happiness of one noble boy over the lives of all the Skaa, both in Luthadel and outside it? Worse than the Lord Ruler. At least he prioritized the happiness of all the nobility. He stared at the cards. The faded, smudged art. Who had made them? Who else but a nobleman would have had the time? The energy? “No, sorry,” he heard himself say, though something important seemed to have left his voice. It took a moment for him to figure out what it was that was bothering him about Zuko’s answer. Couldn’t really win at life… Zuko was a nobleman. As far as Sal knew, he automatically won at life. He was important. He mattered. He didn’t die before he could pronounce four syllable words. He wished he knew how Zuko could have grown up so safe and still sound so sad. He wished he’d never said a word to him. He wished he didn’t have to be so human, so…real. And he wished he knew how many scared, trapped kids existed on the other side of the war. Why did it have to be complicated? “I miss her,” he said, without really meaning to. He shouldn’t have, but…nothing made loneliness worse than secrets. He shook his head, looking up. “Do you have…a one?”
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Nov 14, 2021 15:49:11 GMT -5
Zuko heard the change in Sal’s tone, though he didn’t know the exact reason for it. Maybe he was as worried about the ramifications of this conversation as Zuko was. Maybe he knew how dangerous this was. Or maybe he was upset that the two of them had anything in common. Zuko had to admit he was surprised by that as well. He had been taught that the Skaa were beneath the nobles in every way. They weren’t favored by the Lord Ruler, so they weren’t chosen to be part of the nobility. And those distinctions had been passed down from generation to generation. Still, part of Zuko couldn’t help questioning it. If he could be the son of the Lord Ruler, if he could be as disappointing, as powerless as he was… then wasn’t it possible that there were Skaa who were born who far surpassed their ancestors? Who deserved to live a good life instead of being punished for their ancestors not choosing the right friends? Zuko pushed away the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. The Skaa were really no different than the nobility, though Zuko knew he would be seen as a traitor for thinking that. They were all trapped in this world, and though the Skaa were treated much worse than the nobility were… the way to change that wasn’t through war. Zuko just had to prove himself and then he could solve the problem. He drew a card, suddenly feeling that this conversation was about more than just the game they were playing. The game was just a front. They shouldn’t have been talking at all, but now that they were… it felt impossible to stop. “I miss mine, too,” he whispered, staring at the cards in his hands. “I didn’t Snap until she died trying to take me away.” He breathed out, silently handing over the card he had just drawn from the pile. He had a feeling that Sal had been about to say something other than ‘one,’ but he didn’t push it. He shouldn’t have been volunteering information. He shouldn’t have been responding to the information Sal gave. Somehow, though, this cramped, tiny room felt safer than anywhere Zuko had been since Ursa’s death. Kredik Shaw had become a prison for a while. Or maybe not a prison, just… something bad. Something that hurt as he desperately tried to become what his father wanted him to be. And when he’d been forced out… nowhere had felt safe.
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Nov 14, 2021 16:07:11 GMT -5
Sal wasn’t upset by the realization itself. It wasn’t that he automatically hated Zuko…he hated what he stood for, what he represented. But he couldn’t hate him. He didn’t even know him, and the little he did know was far too familiar for him to think hearing more was a good idea. He hadn’t really questioned whether it was all the nobility, before. It was easy to see the injustice carved into every hollow face and half starved body, it was easy to think, how could it not be every single one of them? If there was any amount of them that cared, why wouldn’t they ever do anything about it? Why is there no house in the city that doesn’t mistreat their servants? But Zuko seemed genuine. He seemed…not so different from Sal, not really. Not in any deep way. This was dangerous. This was dangerous, and every moment made it more so. They were both going down a path they should have known better about, and the further Zuko was willing to go, the more Sal found he wanted to go with him. He breathed out slowly, trying to keep his heart steady. “I’m sorry,” he said finally, and there was nothing insincere about his tone. “I didn’t Snap until mine was killed. She threw herself in front of me.” He silently accepted the card, barely noticing it. It took a moment for him to remember to see the match down. “I’ve never stopped feeling guilty that she died for me,” he whispered, because it was the truth, and it was a secret, and he didn’t know how to stop once he’d started, and what did it matter, when he doubted they’d ever really talk again? “Do you have a four?” He added, his voice much softer than he’d intended it to be.
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Nov 19, 2021 23:52:31 GMT -5
Zuko hadn’t believed for a long time that there were any good people. That there were just people who might be trying their best, but who would turn to violence the moment there was any political instability. Iroh had been his only example of a good person, but Iroh was gone. Zuko tried to push away the thought, tried to pretend it wasn’t as heavy as it was… the thing was, he was starting to believe that Sal might be a good person. His beliefs were in direct contrast to Zuko’s, but he clearly wanted the best for his people. He wanted the violence to stop. Something squirmed in Zuko’s stomach at the fact that they were fighting for the same thing, but they couldn’t both win. Either the Survivor lived, or the Survivor died. There was no world where he could do both. And maybe Sal was right. Maybe the Survivor would be able to bring peace to the Skaa. Maybe his was the path to a fair world. But… Zuko didn’t believe that the nobility were much worse than the Skaa. Maybe they had been indulged in their cruelty, but he was fairly certain the Skaa would do the same if they were in the nobility’s position. He didn’t believe that every noble should die. Somehow, he didn’t think that Sal believed that either. “There’s nothing to be sorry about,” Zuko replied quietly, staring at his cards. “I’m sure… people say they’re sorry a lot. It just sort of becomes noise at some point.” Zuko knew it would be difficult to find a Skaa who hadn’t lost a family member. He shouldn’t have felt any significant connection between himself and Sal. Nonetheless, he couldn’t stop the feeling that they were, on a fundamental level, the same. “My mom… she died for me, too,” he said after a moment, fishing through his cards before handing Sal a four. “She stopped my father from killing me.”
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Nov 21, 2021 9:45:49 GMT -5
The unfairness of the situation tugged at Sal, trying to get his attention. The fact that Zuko was trying to stop the war, too, though he was coming at it from the wrong direction. He was trying to stop people from dying, he just didn’t understand that all taking the Survivor out of the picture would do was ensure the deaths wouldn’t come from the nobility. There had to be a difference between killing a man for looking at you wrong and killing a man for torturing more people than he even tried to remember. There had to be a difference between senseless violence and the Survivor, because if there wasn’t… Then there really was no hope. No matter what happened, it would end in blood. Sal didn’t want anyone to die. It was just, if someone had to, he would rather it be the nobility than the skaa. But Zuko was noble, too. Zuko, the boy with the broken leg and the swords, the boy who was willing to follow his prey up the side of a building when he’d clearly never practiced climbing before, who moments later would sound genuinely terrified for that same prey’s life. He stared at his cards. A couple were upside down, but he didn’t fix them. “Yeah. I guess it does,” he said finally, and he looked away. He hadn’t been apologized to enough to know how that would feel, but he doubted it was any better. He accepted the four. What traitorous part of him was it that wanted to make this last as long as he could? “It wasn’t my father, for me,” he said, choosing his words with care, as though he thought one of them might turn on him. “Just…some guy. She stopped him, but…nothing was ever the same afterwards.”
|
|
|
Post by ®Hawkpath® on Nov 21, 2021 9:46:25 GMT -5
Kelsier knew of balls, and the way noblemen craved them and feared them. They were power, if you could win it. If you knew how to fight with your tongue. Kelsier knew how. It was a game he’d learned early, and the stakes had started as high as they could go, which meant they didn’t bother him later on. When you were raised on a tightrope, you learned not to mind the possibility of falling. It also meant, however, that he understood Nico’s fear. This was a game of a sort, too, though not one he’d have played willingly. Winning Nico’s trust…no, he corrected himself, not trust, not as a prize. The prize was Nico’s survival. If he never trusted Kelsier? That would be just fine. “Oh, I’m sure we’d think of something,” he replied lightly. It was a good sign that the kid hadn’t just left as soon as he was able, though Kelsier knew it was possible he was afraid to give Kelsier any reason to attack. He knew people like him could be volatile. He knew he could be volatile. Just…not with someone like Nico. “We could always make a feast of it,” he added. It was a low move even for him, and he knew it, but if nothing else would convince Nico, perhaps hunger would.
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Nov 25, 2021 3:19:55 GMT -5
There were plenty of nobility who had done countless cruel things. Plenty of nobility who had decided that their power was worth more than the lives of the Skaa they had power over. The thing was, desperation drove the Skaa to be cruel, too. Zuko had witnessed a lot of cruelty in his life, and not all of it had come from the nobility. He couldn’t just think of the Skaa as innocent victims. They were, at least where the nobility were concerned, but they were also perpetrators against each other. The only thing that made the Survivor different was that he was a perpetrator against the nobility. Beyond that, it seemed to Zuko that he was just like every other unkind crew leader who took advantage of the people who were desperate enough to follow him. If that assessment was wrong, where was the Survivor now? Why wouldn’t he have come to check on Sal after Sal took on the responsibility of someone dangerous? Someone who could easily kill him and everyone he stood with? Zuko pushed the thought away. He didn’t want anyone to die. With the way the world was, people were going to die. Zuko just had to find a way to make sure that the number was as limited as possible when he became the Lord Ruler. He had to do everything he could to learn from his father, but not to repeat the same mistakes he had made. The same cruelty he allowed to persist. “Oh,” Zuko said after a moment, setting his cards down gently on his lap. “Did… anyone get the guy, after?” Zuko asked after a long moment, not sure if he wanted to know the answer. If nobody had… Zuko let his gaze drift towards his sword. Maybe… maybe he would take him down. Maybe that would be enough to pay his penance here. Maybe he wouldn’t have to think about this again other than as a memory of a trade he had made with Sal. Or maybe the guy was already dead and Zuko was going to have to find another way to justify this.
|
|
Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
|
Post by strider on Nov 25, 2021 3:26:06 GMT -5
“A feast?” Nico asked, suspicion leaking into his tone. The portions they were given were scarcely enough to keep them alive to work in the mines. Nico hadn’t been there that long, but even he could tell that. Perhaps it was his pampered noble stomach that made him think like that, but he had been on the streets for long enough that he remembered what it was like to go hungry. This was like that, only on the streets he hadn’t been involved in backbreaking labor all day. The kind of labor that could easily lead to you bleeding out if you weren’t careful. Nico couldn’t help but wonder if anyone had thought of that. Wouldn’t they have developed some sort of technique for searching for geodes that wouldn’t carry that risk? He pushed the thought away, not wanting to get distracted from what Kelsier was saying. “Where are you going to get the food for a feast?” he asked, eyes narrowing. The only way to get enough to call it a feast would be to steal rations from someone else. Despite the way they had targeted him… Nico wasn’t sure he was mentally prepared to do that either. He hated the way the world was. The fact that either you ate, or you starved. And if you ate, then someone else starved. How was any of it fair? He squashed the thought down. Fairness. He could have laughed. That was a concept that was only going to get him killed down here quicker.
|
|