(Untitled)

[emptyyourself]

[Who:] Severus Snape, Mozenrath, Martha Jones, Arthas, and open to the warden patrolling level Zero (...and anyone else in Zero, actually).
[What:] Consolidation of three separate logs. Also, affected!Snape is affected by the event and lost his inability to work and play well with others.
[When:] Today over the course of several hours.
[Where:]

Comments

Mozenrath

[emptyyourself]

Immediately after his release from level zero, Snape made his way, journal in hand, to Mozenrath's room. There was no answer at the door, and he gave his inmate the benefit of the doubt. Had it been any other day, he would have broken into the room instead of moving on to the infirmary.

It was a good job he hadn't; apparently the infirmary was where Mozenrath had spent the night. He approached the other man's bed cautiously. While it hadn't technically been him in the altercation, he didn't doubt Mozenrath might still think himself in danger and do his damnedest to murder Snape.

But where to start with this conversation?

"How badly were you injured?" He supposed that was the best place to start; the fight was a blur in his memory.

Re: Mozenrath

[mightymorbid]

Mozenrath woke up feeling quite refreshed and had been patiently waiting to be released, feeling he was over the worst of the exhaustion, and inspection of his hand earlier had shown that the rift in the magic had closed and he was mostly whole again. He wouldn't do anything particularly intricate with his right hand for a while -- no harp for him -- but at least his guess had been correct. Rest and time to re-gather his energies had been all he needed.

Using the gauntlet that way had also shown him, in short time, what he had essentially been doing to his body on a daily basis before he wound up on the barge. As it was, however, he was prepared to face a no-longer-affected Warden, still injured from their previous altercation in invisible ways, and hoping to brush past that and go straight to the clinical questions he'd come up with.

He lifted his chin as he looked up at him, the picture of forced calm. "If I had had a real hand to cut it would have been completely severed," he answered.

[emptyyourself]

He nodded slowly. While he hadn't expected a warm welcome from his inmate, he hadn't expected this, either. There should have been shouting. Mozenrath ought to have been irate. He had been irate when T'Pol had used her mind-meld abilities to punish him during the mirrorverse flood.

"That was the general idea of the spell," he replied. Of course, he didn't mention the other effects it tended to have on people. After a pause, he simply held out his journal.

"You're welcome to see for yourself whether I have ever spoken ill of you in that way, private or otherwise." Flatly, he added, "I was an inmate with good reason."

[mightymorbid]

He held up a hand in a sort of 'don't bother' gesture. "Keep it. I don't care." Yes, he did. "You think after a lifetime of crawling under other people's skin I couldn't tell what you were trying to do?" Of course there was always room for doubt. That was beside the point. He'd rather people think he couldn't be hurt than concede and accept their apologies.

[emptyyourself]

He withdrew the journal. If he had been unaffected by the breach, he would have argued. There were harsh criticisms at the back of his mind that some new filter was keeping in check. Instead, however, he simply shook his head.

"I am sorry for the things he - I - said to you. I have a good deal of respect for you, and I don't wish to leave."

After a beat, he continued in far calmer a tone than he would have under normal circumstances, "However. If you ever use either of them - Lily or Martha - against me again, I will have you reassigned. It wasn't acceptable to behave the way I did, but I like to think I am not that person anymore. I was affected by a flood, Mozenrath. You were not. You had no right to force me to relive the worst moment of my life."

[mightymorbid]

Whatever anger or indignance he had been keeping in check for the last moments came unfettered, then. "You are not going to threaten me for defending myself."

[emptyyourself]

"I'm not threatening you," he replied seriously. In a few days, he would absolutely regret being so open with his inmate; today, however, he found the words easily.

"You used information you learned from me as your warden to do harm to me when I was not myself. Telling him that his sole reason for living was dead was not self-defense. It was cruel."

[mightymorbid]

"How in Iblis name was I supposed to know it hadn't already happened?" he demanded. "I don't have a list of relevant dates and he didn't exactly announce his age to anybody." With particular hardness. "And he deserved it."

[emptyyourself]

He stared down at Mozenrath for a long moment, wondering if he realized it wouldn't have mattered when it had happened. Then again, he hadn't realized that the threat of him leaving would have affected his inmate that badly.

"Very well. If you think so, then he deserved it. Did I?"

[mightymorbid]

Evasively, "He was you, wasn't he?" It was the closest he could get to answering both 'yes' and 'no' at the same time. He didn't like thinking about how much that had actually hurt him, and how vulnerable he made himself by allowing himself to care about his Warden and what he thought of him.

[emptyyourself]

"He was," he agreed. "Once."

He was obviously getting nowhere with this conversation; it would only go round in circles until they were shouting or one of them stormed out.

"Bear in mind what I've said. I won't leave if you give me no reason to do so."

[mightymorbid]

"Don't attack me and I won't defend myself," he said just as firmly. And that really is what he considers the matter to be. If someone managed to hurt him he wouldn't hesitate to dig back hard; he would not be bullied.

[emptyyourself]

"I expect you to defend yourself. You'll note I've said nothing regarding the loss of my wand," he replied. "However, I have never attacked you. The person who did is someone I have not been in a very long time. You must reconcile yourself to that fact if I am expected to work with you, warden or otherwise."

[mightymorbid]

"Then don't do the things he did, and we'll be fine." He crossed his arms petulantly.

[emptyyourself]

He decided not to play any further into this game. He was satisfied that he had at least gotten his point across. If it happened again, he wouldn't hesitate to ask the Admiral to reassign him to another inmate.

"My wand was my warden item," he said, changing the subject. "Until it's repaired, I'll be unable to allow you access to the Enclosure or other restricted areas. Obviously, if something happens to you, I won't know immediately."

[mightymorbid]

Mozenrath raised a sardonic brow. "You might use this time to broaden your horizons and try to learn some magic without it."