indispensible | one. spam & voice. spread love like violence.

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one. spam & voice. spread love like violence.

[There's no question in Vin's mind about reading through the file several times. There's also no question of letting Stark see it. He knows what's in it. She is not all that surprised herself, not about the generalities. The specifics hurt more than she thought they would.]

[Hell. And - Alice.]

[She knows his habits well enough by now that she can track him down quickly. He's on the deck. She wrinkles her nose again; he's smoking.]

Stark.

[If he'd wanted to be James, he would have said that from the start.]

public } voice

[While her voice isn't hesitant, it's definitely quiet. She still doesn't quite understand the point of the network, but now that she's been paired it'd probably be more noticeable not to say something.]

I'm Vin. I arrived here a few weeks ago, and I've spoken to - some of you. I'm a warden.

[She considers leaving it at that, but decides against it.]

I'd like to know about other people's worlds. I don't know very much about Earth, but that's not where I'm from. So it would be useful.

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[The kick knocks the wind out of him and he quickly notices it's starting to hurt to breathe. Likely his ribs. He's not going to start poking around to figure out if it's just bruising or broken and where right now. Stark catches himself on the railing to keep his balance before the kick completely knocks him back. He doesn't go for her though once she's in a crouch. Instead, he just gives her a hard look, just daring her to either make a move or open her mouth again.]

[Just give him a real excuse because at this point, he needs to kill something or someone.]

[She meets his eyes and holds them for a long moment, then lets her gaze travel over his body, assessing. Something's hurting him, but he'll just keep fighting, won't he - something that engenders fierce pride in her, that he is so strong and so stubborn. So stupid. She could kill him now.]

[Ruin could have destroyed her, too. But she didn't stop fighting.]

[There is, for the briefest of moments, a smile on her face, a small and fleeting thing. Then she lashes out and punches him in the temple, quick enough to be a blur, hard enough to knock him out.]

[When his body crumples to the floor, she stays still a moment, listening to his breathing, then hops off the railing, picks him up, and throws him over her shoulder with no apparent effort. She takes the elevator down to her room, so as to avoid as many people as possible. Anyone who does try to confront her about the unconscious man on her shoulder gets a silent stare.]

[She puts him down on her side of the bed when she gets to her room (Elend's side remains pristine and untouched), and then curls up in the corner with her knees pulled up to her chin, watching and waiting until he wakes.]

[Stark's head is swimming when he comes to, but the headache takes a backseat to the pain in his ribs on his next inhale.]

[Most people would probably start demanding the aspirin, but Stark just wants to know where the hell the alcohol is stashed.]

[He doesn't ask though. Just because he's in pain doesn't mean he's not still pissed off. Because it only takes a second of assessing the aches and pains before Stark remembers what exactly happened. His anger is a little subdued for the moment though. He doesn't know exactly where he is right now and he knows better than to start shit in unfamiliar territory.]

[Stark curses just once as he sits up, willing himself not to grab at the pained side. And of course, there's Vin. Being creepy and watching him.]

[He needs more alcohol for this bullshit.]

[Vin doesn't ask if he needs medical assistance. For one, she's not used to it at the efficacy it's found here; for another, she isn't going to take care of him like that. She's not sorry for what she's done. It was necessary. She doesn't expect he'll hold it against her, either, certainly not as much as using Alice's name.]

[If someone used Elend's name against her, she'd kill them without a second thought. He shows a great deal of restraint, considering.]

[She nods slightly when she sees he's awake, not moving from her compact posture.]

It will come back around eventually. I'm bringing your magic back today. But you can fight me for a hundred years and not break me down.

It will come back, no matter how angry you get or how much you hurt me.

[Magic's a bonus, but it's not enough. And he knows it's not meant to be. She's just giving it back to him because she understands what it's like to be without something like that.]

[Stark pushes off the bed and to his feet. He takes a moment to inspect his arm. Well, that's one shirt ruined. No great loss there.]

[Oh and the bleeding's stopped. That's a good thing.]

You can go to Hell as far as I'm concerned.

[I could go and come back, just like you.]

[She doesn't say this.]

I can't tell if that's a joke or not.

It's whatever you want it to be, Vin.

[She said Alice's name. She made a demand about talking about Alice. That all serves to greatly decrease the chances it's actually a joke exponentially. They were moving towards some kind of weird friendship, but Stark's bound and determined now that it's over.]

I've been.

[She stands now, all of five feet tall in her men's clothes, and she looks up at him without fear or concern. There is a shred of compassion, but it barely shows. She doesn't know yet whether it will be weakness or strength, with him.]

I can wait. There's nothing to go back to. I can wait.

[Normally standing up to him like that would be worthy of some respect. Not because Stark thinks he's so big, bad, and tough that it's some kind of accomplishment on her behalf. But she's sticking to her guns. Most people have no resolve, no spine. They fold the second an easy solution presents itself. But she's not and Stark is applying a helluva lot of pressure to do just that.]

[Right now though, it's just irritating and he just glares down at her.]

You go right ahead. It's your time to waste.

It's not real time. I'm dead. It's all extra.

[She doesn't seem bothered by this in the least. She is, of course - for a hundred reasons - but she doesn't let that show at all.]

If it's not real time, it can't be a waste.

Edited 2013-09-01 02:10 (UTC)

[Stark laughs, but it's a bitter one.]

That's where you're definitely wrong, Vin.

Life's the joke and the afterlife's the punchline. And you? You're the butt of the joke. It doesn't make a damn bit of difference whether you land up in Hell, Heaven, or this piece of shit Barge.

It's all more of the same.

[Stark shakes his head.]

I don't know why I expected you to have half a brain when you already made your deal with that psychotic, do-it-yourself wannabe god. You don't know shit, Vin.

[It's nothing she hasn't heard before. Plenty of people have underestimated her. Disagreed with her irrevocably, even. It doesn't bother her much. The way Stark is looking at her . . . does, a bit.]

[Again, it doesn't show. She puts her shoulders back slightly.]

That's unfortunate. Since you're stuck with me.

[It doesn't show, but she is trying to stand taller. Which means he's either managing to get under her skin or she's trying to stand up to him in general. Either way, Stark isn't feeling all that deflated and if he's going to feel bad about any of this, it's definitely going to be later rather than sooner.]

No, I'm really not.

Just because you're paired up with me doesn't mean I have actually speak to you or have anything to do with you.

No. It doesn't. But I can wear you down.

Do you know what I used to do? What my purpose used to be?

[She's sure he doesn't care. She's going to tell him anyway.]

No.

[The "And I don't give a rat's ass" is implied in his tone.]

I was a thief and an assassin. A knife. I've spent years standing still, waiting. Trailing people, determining if they were threats.

You aren't a threat to me or my people. But I'll spend years following you if I need to. I don't get bored or distracted. And I like you. I want for you to go home. You can't get rid of me, no matter what you do.

I expect you to fight and hate me and distrust me. But it won't change anything in the end.

Ask Mason how that same kind of shit worked out for him, Vin.

No.

[She blinks up at him coolly.]

There are people here you should ask - how breaking me worked out for them.

Try it.

I don't need to.

[He knows they ended up dead. Probably more than that. But he's not afraid of that because he doesn't care about the consequences.]

[She can't push without expecting to get shoved right back.]

I know you don't.

[She's not threatening him, either. She wouldn't want to - doesn't need to - and it isn't her style. No, she doesn't threaten. She destroys. Or she preserves. One or the other.]

[This, this is something new. A repair. She's added another crack today, but it would've been added one way or another. Alice is at the center of everything. Even Vin can see that. Alice loved him, and Alice is gone.]

[His Elend is gone. He's lost the ability to care, and his will to live. But he can get that back. She believes.]

[She also knows how long it'll take.]

So we'll keep fighting until you get tired of it.

[Stark rolls his eyes and starts to walk out, but he stops at the door.]

Mention her to me again, Vin, and I'll kill you.

[He looks over his shoulder at her, the look in his eyes is entirely serious. He's not threatening or posturing. He's stating simple facts of point A to point B. Vin had no right to even say Alice's name let alone try and make him talk. Part of him knows she did it just to provoke him and she didn't expect actual results, but that doesn't make it okay.]

[That never makes it fucking okay.]

[She could have said anything, poked and prodded at whatever issue in his file there was, and he wouldn't hate her. He'd get pissed, but he'd walk away from it not hating her. He could let go how she totally gets it with some pop psyche bullshit. But Vin doesn't fucking know jack shit about Alice and seems to think she has a clue just because she read some words out of a file. She can make all the assumptions in the world about him and what he's gone through. But she has absolutely no goddamn right to even pretend like she knows anything about Alice. She's not her. She never met her. And what couple of throwaway lines are in his file aren't enough to make it otherwise.]

[His anger didn't fade. It just hardened into something much stronger.]

[The trouble is that Vin knows, can see, what Alice was to him and what she's become. He loves her - but she's become more and also less than that. Something to hang his anger on. Something to give him strength.]

[He loves her, Vin can see that, but it's more complicated than that. And that's why she will have to be brought up again.]

[Vin doesn't doubt what Stark is saying in the least. If she mentions Alice again, he'll kill her. But all that means, in this place and at this time, is that she'll be dying again soon.]

[She is resigned to this. It's what she needs to do, she supposes; there are worse things to spend her new life on.]

I understand.

[Stark only lingers for a second or two longer. Just long enough to see that she does, in fact, understand. She understands that Alice is important to him. Maybe not in the ways she might expect or assume, but enough so that he would kill her over it.]

[But she ~~knows the risk, but she has to know him~~ is still standing there. She's unafraid. He can do his absolute worst and she'll stand there and take it.]

[Goddamn her.]

[Stark turns and leaves. He just has to get the hell away from her even though he as no intention of going back to his room right now even a little roughed up.]

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