Tower of Ghenjei: An ICanon subplot

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

Just now, Ranryu said:

"You know what it does. Look, you can try it and see what happens, or not and miss out. No one is forcing you."

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He doesn't know what it does. He has no memory and no way of knowing which metal he burns when.

"I don't! Why should I trust you?"

[Ranryu she/her]

10 minutes ago, Ookla the Inverted said:

"I don't! Why should I trust you?"

This is worse than I thought.

"You drank those metals, not me. See how you're using them to Push things away from yourself? I'm not an allomancer- I don't know how it works. Maybe you want to try burning metals to see what they do, or maybe you don't. I won't tell you what to do."

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

1 minute ago, Ranryu said:

This is worse than I thought.

"You drank those metals, not me. See how you're using them to Push things away from yourself? I'm not an allomancer- I don't know how it works. Maybe you want to try burning metals to see what they do, or maybe you don't. I won't tell you what to do."

TAAron frowned. Testing his metals, he burned zinc.

Suddenly, Wynn felt a sudden, overwhelming, senseless fear.

 

[Ranryu she/her]

2 minutes ago, Ookla the Inverted said:

TAAron frowned. Testing his metals, he burned zinc.

Suddenly, Wynn felt a sudden, overwhelming, senseless fear.

Wynn screamed and curled up into a ball in the ground, inky shadows pooling around her.

"Please... stop..."

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

6 minutes ago, Ranryu said:

Wynn screamed and curled up into a ball in the ground, inky shadows pooling around her.

"Please... stop..."

He pressed harder. While it was obvious that her fear was baseless, it was still incredibly jarring.

Make her suffer. Make her pay.

[Ranryu she/her]

2 minutes ago, Ookla the Inverted said:

He pressed harder. While it was obvious that her fear was baseless, it was still incredibly jarring.

Make her suffer. Make her pay.

She whimpered. The shadows on the floor rose up, becoming three-dimensional. There were three of them, growling and pawing at the ground.

Hellhounds.

"TAAron... stop." Wynn was barely able to speak.

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

1 minute ago, Ranryu said:

She whimpered. The shadows on the floor rose up, becoming three-dimensional. There were three of them, growling and pawing at the ground.

Hellhounds.

"TAAron... stop." Wynn was barely able to speak.

"No!" TAAron's own emotions were in turmoil. "If it hurts you... It's good. Why shouldn't you pay?"

This is right. He knew he hated her, he just didn't know why. I must have hated her before, and now she's lying to me. She doesn't seem bad, though.

[Ranryu she/her]

2 minutes ago, Ookla the Inverted said:

"No!" TAAron's own emotions were in turmoil. "If it hurts you... It's good. Why shouldn't you pay?"

This is right. He knew he hated her, he just didn't know why. I must have hated her before, and now she's lying to me. She doesn't seem bad, though.

The hellhounds stood in front of Wynn protectively. She took a few deep breaths and tried to calm herself. It's just allomancy. It's not real. She looked up at TAAron. 

"Does hurting me make you happy?"

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

8 minutes ago, Ranryu said:

The hellhounds stood in front of Wynn protectively. She took a few deep breaths and tried to calm herself. It's just allomancy. It's not real. She looked up at TAAron. 

"Does hurting me make you happy?"

He shook his head. "No. But it's right."

[Ranryu she/her]

1 minute ago, Ookla the Inverted said:

He shook his head. "No. But it's right."

Wynn leaned on one of the hounds to help herself up. Try as she might, she couldn't stop shaking.

"Why is it right? Try to think. You say you can't trust me, but can you trust yourself right now? If I'm a threat to you, there are better ways to stop me from hurting you."

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

3 minutes ago, Ranryu said:

Wynn leaned on one of the hounds to help herself up. Try as she might, she couldn't stop shaking.

"Why is it right? Try to think. You say you can't trust me, but can you trust yourself right now? If I'm a threat to you, there are better ways to stop me from hurting you."

"Like what? Do you want me to kill you?"

[Ranryu she/her]

2 hours ago, Ookla the Inverted said:

"Like what? Do you want me to kill you?"

"Do you want to kill me? Could you justify killing me?"

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

Just now, Ranryu said:

"Do you want to kill me? Could you justify killing me?"

"No. I don't want to. I couldn't kill you."

[Ranryu she/her]

Just now, Ookla the Inverted said:

"No. I don't want to. I couldn't kill you."

"Then why are you hurting me?"

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

2 minutes ago, Ranryu said:

"Then why are you hurting me?"

"Because you hurt me. And I hate you for it."

[Ranryu she/her]

Just now, Ookla the Inverted said:

"Because you hurt me. And I hate you for it."

Blocking him won't help him. 

"I never hurt you. What about the other metals?"

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

1 minute ago, Ranryu said:

Blocking him won't help him. 

"I never hurt you. What about the other metals?"

"You did. You must have, or I wouldn't hate you so much!"

[Ranryu she/her]

3 minutes ago, Ookla the Inverted said:

"You did. You must have, or I wouldn't hate you so much!"

"I never hurt you. Why would I hurt you? I risked my life- my soul for you. Please, try one of the other metals."

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

6 minutes ago, Ranryu said:

"I never hurt you. Why would I hurt you? I risked my life- my soul for you. Please, try one of the other metals."

"Why should I believe you? I'll... I'll do another metal, but I won't let you off."

And by complete chance, TAAron chose duralumin. An unmitigated supernova of allomancy-induced fear crashed into Wynn as every bit of Zinc TAAron had burned all at once.

[Ranryu she/her]

8 minutes ago, Ookla the Inverted said:

"Why should I believe you? I'll... I'll do another metal, but I won't let you off."

And by complete chance, TAAron chose duralumin. An unmitigated supernova of allomancy-induced fear crashed into Wynn as every bit of Zinc TAAron had burned all at once.

Wynn paled as the hellhounds around her grew in size. Her duel disk beeped with a notification that her heart rate had exceeded healthy parameters. 

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In a flight, flight, or freeze scenario, Wynn freezes.

 

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

Just now, Ranryu said:

Wynn paled as the hellhounds around her grew in size. Her duel disk beeped with a notification that her heart rate had exceeded healthy parameters. 

The onslaught seceded as TAAron's zinc burned away. "What was that?"

[Ranryu she/her]

3 minutes ago, Ookla the Inverted said:

The onslaught seceded as TAAron's zinc burned away. "What was that?"

It took Wynn a few minutes to calm down enough to respond.

"One of your metals. I haven't felt fear like that in ages... if I had been mortal, you might've killed me."

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

1 minute ago, Ranryu said:

It took Wynn a few minutes to calm down enough to respond.

"One of your metals. I haven't felt fear like that in ages... if I had been mortal, you might've killed me."

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No, but it might have been traumatizing.

"Ah." TAAron didn't look remorseful, but he did look uncomfortable. "I'm going to try another one."

This time, he burned Cadmium. For TAAron, time seemed to speed up around him, as he formed a large time bubble. To Wynn, who was barely outside of the bubble as it formed, he seemed to slow down so much that he almost looked frozen.

[Ranryu she/her]

7 minutes ago, Ookla the Inverted said:

"Ah." TAAron didn't look remorseful, but he did look uncomfortable. "I'm going to try another one."

This time, he burned Cadmium. For TAAron, time seemed to speed up around him, as he formed a large time bubble. To Wynn, who was barely outside of the bubble as it formed, he seemed to slow down so much that he almost looked frozen.

Wynn sat down and tried to catch her breath. Hopefully this would be a good-sized break.

Why didn't I just shield myself? She chided herself. I know it's probably better in the long run, but... Ugh. I'm going to have to let him go through the whole mistborn arsenal. 

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@Ookla the Inverted, my little sister is super stubborn. Nothing you can say will convince her to change her mind. (It took me three years to get her to read Brandon Sanderson, and now she's his biggest fan) She has to arrive to the conclusion on her own.

 

[The Aspiring Archivist any pronouns]

3 minutes ago, Ranryu said:

Wynn sat down and tried to catch her breath. Hopefully this would be a good-sized break.

Why didn't I just shield myself? She chided herself. I know it's probably better in the long run, but... Ugh. I'm going to have to let him go through the whole mistborn arsenal. 

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Wait, what conclusion is she arriving to?

Lerac walked up to Wynn. "Okay, what was that about?"