meet the menacing cat lol

“Overthrow the...” Mennis looked up, frowning. “You really expected to do something like that?” 

“Of course,” Kelsier said. “Why else would I gather an army like this?” 

“To resist,” Mennis said. “To fight. That’s why those lads came to the caves. It wasn’t a matter of winning or losing, it was a matter of doing something—anything—to struggle against the Lord Ruler.” 

“What other end was there?” Mennis asked. He stood, shaking his head. “Some may have begun to dream otherwise, lad, but the Lord Ruler can’t be defeated.  Know when to quit. You’ve done well, better than any would have expected. Those skaa of yours killed an entire garrison’s worth of soldiers before they were caught and destroyed. This is the greatest victory the skaa have known in decades, perhaps centuries. Now it’s time to walk away.” 

Kelsier stood, dumbfounded. The greatest victory the skaa have known in decades... That was what he fought against. Not just the Lord Ruler, not just the nobility. 

He fought against a thousand years of conditioning, a thousand years of life in a society that would label the deaths of five thousand men as a “great victory.” 

Life was so hopeless for the skaa that they’d been reduced to finding comfort in expected defeats. 

Dennis watches Mercy in her searching frenzy, having just exited the kitchen with a fresh mug of coffee in hand. “Where’s what?” He asks, with a look of confusion. She was so frantic that he almost found it concerning. He glances around himself, eyes searching the apartment for something he doesn’t even know what she’s looking for, perhaps thinking that whatever it was, she was just looking over it. 

A kiss is the last thing he thinks she’s looking for considering her convincing display of distress but he’s certainly not complaining despite his initial surprise. His free arm he uses to hook around her waist to pull her closer, reciprocating the kiss. “Goddamn you.” He mutters playfully when it ends, wearing a smile. “I thought you lost your keys or something.”