Pewter Nuggets [Mistborn] [Castration]

Hey everyone! This is based on The Final Empire, but hopefully it's not too dense if you haven't read it.

---

Alessa sat alone at the table in the far corner of the smoky tavern, trying to look as brooding as possible. She was tired, the long day of working in one of House Tekiels's factories taking its toll and wanted to be left alone. Her beautiful face made that hard most nights, even covered in ash as it was, but usually an added glare got her the space she wanted. The petite young skaa already had a fearsome reputation. Adding a scowl helped. To that end, she took a swig of the stuff in the copper cup, the cheap ale making the grimace she painted on her face genuine.

She could feel the eyes of a buff laborer off to her side. Holding some of the liquid in her mouth to better maintain her disgusted look, she glanced at the man. Getting a better look at her face, and noticing the charm on her necklace, he immediately yelped and turned around. Her reputation was working better than ever.

Finally swallowing the rest of the drink, Alessa thought back to the accidental origin of that reputation. Wincing, she could recall the events of that day as if it was yesterday, even though many seasons had passed.

--

Alessa's boyfriend was being as obnoxious as ever. She obviously pretended to be angry but she found his antics endearing. When she was bed ridden with a broken leg from the accident at the tableware factory, Hulan brought her food, supplemented with some from his own rations. That was only a few weeks ago, everyone in her tenement said she made a miraculous recovery. She was glad to be back at work, even if the factory was full of pewter dust. Glancing over at Hulan where he sat to her right on the wall, she gave him a smile, before following his gaze down.

She sighed. *Not again.* Pulling out his orbs like that was gross! People walking by could see! Though, the way they appeared plump and ripe did speak to a deep, primal part of her, warming her core. He was getting bolder in his affections, and truly she returned them, but she needed to know this was *right* before getting physical now that they both had reached full adulthood. Alessa was going to respond the way she always did in this scenario, by giving them the mightiest flick her petite body could manage. Hulan should be expecting it, but he never covered himself. She assumed he liked whatever touching occurred, even if it did leave him clutching himself and gasping.

Smiling slightly, as Alessa enjoyed whatever touching occurred, too, she reached over and launched her finger into the orbs, like she had done dozens of times previously. Something felt off when her finger connected with the ball. It felt much softer than usual, her finger sinking in much deeper than previously, the nugget creating a horseshoe shape around her small finger. With significant force, it collided with its twin orb, launching it to safety but heavily bruised. The finger then carried it into his muscular thigh. Trapped between his developed upper leg and her hard fingernail, the ball finally burst, eerily similar to a grape used in the wines of the nobility.

Giggling, she withdrew her hand. "How did you get some grapes to look *so* like your nuggets, Hulan?" No answer. "Hulan...?" Looking up at his face, something was definitely wrong. He was looking down between his legs, mouth hanging open as if screaming, but no sound was being produced. Confused, Alessa hopped off the wall and grabbed the bag with the mushed grape, wondering why he was hurting so badly. Lifting it slightly, Hulan suddenly grabbed her wrist and tried to pull her hand off the bag. Alessa could feel the chunks remaining squish between her fingers.

Even more confused, she stared at Hulan's arms. They appeared fully flexed, but he wasn't budging her or hurting her at all. The other grape was turning red and swelling like... Like a testicle that just took a very hard hit. *Lord Ruler!* Alessa, now filling with dread, released her handhold and Hulan immediately moved his hands to his reduced manhood. Toppling off the wall, he landed hard on the ground and curled in on himself, crying like a babe and nearly at the same pitch.

Alessa could only stare on, not knowing what to do to help.

--

*Hell of a way to find out you're a pewter misting*, Alessa thought, draining the cup. Raising the hand holding the cup, she waited until the barmaid looked in her direction then turned it over. As the last drops dribbled out onto the table, the waitress nodded at her and went to grab a filled cup.

The memory a sore spot for her, Alessa no longer needed to *try* to look in a bad mood. She had loved Hulan, and had hurt him *so* badly. He spent months telling everyone around how she casually popped his ball and then ground the contents to dust. Finally, after much begging and pleading, he finally forgave her. How was she supposed to know she was burning pewter for the first time?

And truly, she knew it could've been much worse. She didn't poke him in the eye or rip off his hand or even break a bone. Just popped a small little ball. If he didn't go around telling everyone and instead took her back right away, no one but her and him would even know. And, as she told Hulan frequently but he didn't seem to believe her, she was happy that he couldn't get her pregnant. Skaa were prodigiously fertile. Alessa was very happy to have kept her independence when most women her age already had a little herd of children following them around.

Luckily, the barmaid was coming back with more drink. A few more, and she could forget this line of thought. Right before the woman was close enough to smile at, she was grabbed roughly by a grungy man sitting at an almost full table. Pulling her onto his lap, she dropped the cup filled with the horrible, yet amazing, liquid on the floor.

Sighing, she took a moment to think about the next step on the path to her current reputation before going to extricate the worried looking woman. A functioning barmaid was required to keep the drinks coming, and Alessa definitely needed more drinks continuing this line of thought.

--

Luckily for her, a small gang in the underground had heard the story and recruited her. One of their Thugs was guiding her in her newfound ability so she could be hired muscle, eventually. There were many things that Skaa mistings shouldn't do, lest they find a Steel Inquisitor in their home, and Alessa felt lucky to have a mentor to explain all the things she should know about this new world.

A month after the incident with Hulan, but months before they settled their differences, two of his friends came to get their revenge on the woman who would do that to a man. In general it was obviously frowned upon, but to a friend? Well, their honor, such as it was, demanded retribution.

As she was walking through the familiar narrow alleyway on her way home from the factory, two men suddenly materialized out of the walls in front of her. Alessa knew she appeared tiny and fragile, but she put on an air of confidence to hopefully scare the men off. "Look, you don't want to rob me, okay? It's not like I have anything to take, anyway."

"We're not here to rob you, rusting woman!" said one, while the other, taller man snarled, "we're here to make sure you won't castrate anyone else!"

*They know Hulan!* "Do you know where Hulan is? How is he doing? Please!"

The tall one laughed. "Now that he's away from you? Much better!" They moved to her, but she stayed still. Not fighting, not a threat. The shorter man positioned himself behind her wrapped her arms around her chest to hold her tightly in place. There wasn't much there to squish, but it was still painful.

As the taller, uglier man walked up, she informed him, "I'm a Thug. You should release me so I don't hurt you."

"Like I would believe that!" he retorted, while the man holding her laughed.

He pulled out a knife. *Oh, rusts.* While she had vastly increased strength, speed and durability, she could still be easily hurt by stabbing. Pewter couldn't heal maiming or death. The man pulled back his knife hand, preparing to thrust the slightly rusted blade into her stomach.

Suddenly quite afraid, she began burning her pewter. Alessa always made sure to keep enough in her system should she need it, with more vials in her pocket. Knowing she didn't have time to break the hold and fend off her attacker, she instead launched her foot between his legs. The increased control of her body let her perfectly guide the top of her foot to her intended targets, too quickly for the man to respond.

With the heightened bodily awareness, she could feel the loose testicles collide with the top of her boot, then flattening over it from the raw force of the kick. They rode her boot up until they ran into his pelvis, then squished even flatter, spreading out more. The man started to rise off the ground, his jab going wide as his mouth opened in surprise. Finally, the left couldn't take it anymore and burst, putting all his remaining weight on the remaining right nugget. Surprisingly, it flattened even more, determined to hold on. She stopped her kick and moved her foot back to the cobblestones so she could quickly deal with the threat behind her.

Instead of releasing her, the man just held on tighter. Alessa took a quick moment to access the situation. Figuring out her plan of attack, she moved her hands only the few inches needed behind her and grabbed the man's trousers. Ripping them open, his orbs bounced free hitting her hands. Swiftly, before he could react, Alessa wrapped her small fingers around the two large testicles and squeezed softly. Well, softly to her. She was getting better at controlling her strength, but still had to be careful not to castrate the man. Yet, anyway.

Feeling the fragile manhood trying to squish out between her fingers, she addressed the man now using her for support. "Remember, I tried to tell you not to attack me. Go back and tell everyone to leave me alone, will you?"

"Why should I?" he wheezed out, barely a whisper.

"Because you want to keep *these*!" She accentuated the word by increasing the pressure on his orbs. *Squick.* Her left hand suddenly had no resistance, catching her completely off guard. *Rusts and Ruin! Again?* "Well, this," she said sheepishly, deciding not to add emphasis this time.

The man's weight increased on her, and Alessa leaned forward to hold him up with her back, right hand still clasped around his nugget. "Are you not going to tell them to not attack me?" Turning her head to look at the man's drooling face, he was frantically shaking his head.

*Really? His answer is no?* Since her other hand was free, she extended her index finger and poked the orb in her right palm. And kept poking, feeling it mold around her finger tip until it, too, burst under the onslaught of her a tiny finger.

Dropping him to the ground, she looked for the other man. He was crawling away, attempting to escape but groaning too loudly to be able to. Should she finish the job? He *did* try to kill her, after all. Alessa walked up to him and booted him on his rear, forcing him to land belly down on the street. She could see the outline of his remaining orb in his trousers resting on a hard cobblestone. Practically begging to be put out of its misery.

Alessa obliged, stomping down. She barely even felt any resistance, it was as if she just stomped onto the cold, hard cobblestone directly.

Threat over, she stopped burning pewter and quickly left the area. She didn't want to be hunted by one of those inhuman *things*.

The next day, she felt she needed to tell her new crew, just in case. Laughing uproariously at the story, her mentor hugged her fiercely. The squat woman was built like a tree stump with a face to match. Well, if stumps had particularly large breasts, anyway. Threatening to drown Alessa in them if she didn't come shopping with her right this instant, the Thug dragged her to a metallurgist's shop to have a copper pendant made.

It was the shape and size of a sack and two nuggets, to be dangling around her neck. "You need to take this, and make a tally mark for each orb you take. After a few years, you'll be able to show this, scratched all to hell, and get anything you want. Stop fights before they even start!" Alessa had no choice but to take it.

--

Smiling at the memory of her mentor turned friend, Alessa downed a vial of pewter. Her stores were running low, and she needed her strength.

Walking up to the table, she tapped on the shoulder of the man sitting next to the one currently accosting the barmaid. He turned around with a scowl, getting ready to say something crass, when he spotted Alessa's pendant. His face turned pale, and at her gesture, got up and moved away. She took his seat. On her left was the barmaid's situation, and on her right was a gruff looking large man. Grabbing and ripping off her pendant, Alessa slammed it down on the table. A whisper from across the table reached her ears, "That's the Eunuchmaker!"

Smirking as three of the men got up and moved away in a hurry, she turned to the man to her right side as he began to speak. "What're you doing here, whore? Looking to make a few clips?" His speech was slurred.

Alessa nodded to the item sitting on the table, its mere presence enough to instill terror in men who had something very dear to them to lose. The copper nuggets were crossed with *hundreds* of marks. One for each organ she had destroyed, on the side on which it hung, if she could remember. Not all who got in her way left completely ruined, and she always thought it strange that there were noticeably more marks on the left orb than the right. Almost as if the left ones were weaker and easier to ruin.

"Do you know what this is, man? What this means?" The man on her right squinted at it. Alessa wanted him to leave so an enemy wasn't directly at her back, but he responded in the negative.

"No, whore, should I? You like balls?"

Rolling her eyes, Alessa started her pewter. Reaching down between his legs, the man smirked. She felt that the bench had a wedge shaped crack in the wood here. *I wonder...* She grabbed the front fabric of his trousers and twisted, tearing the fabric. "What--" started the man, as he felt his orbs hit the solid wood bench. Quick as a striking snake, she grabbed the right nugget, as it was right over the crack, and jammed it down into the crevice of wood.

She wasn't sure if it could take the pressure, even with her subtly changing the position of her fingers as she pushed. Alessa had grown very adept over the years at knowing when a testicle was about to burst. Using that knowledge to her advantage now, the orb was successfully wedged between the two hard wooden surfaces. The bench was two inches thick, but the testicle was squished so thinly and perfectly that she was sure some was sticking out the bottom.

Confident the man was trapped, lest he wanted to rip off his own nugget, she gave the healthy one a couple of light pats. "Stay here, I'll be back for these in a moment." A single pat from a pewterarm, of course, was the same as a normal woman's stomp. Thoroughly defeated, the man slammed his head onto the table in an attempt to curl up.

Turning around, she found the barmaid had gone quiet as the hand of the man was up her skirt, searching for the treasure hidden there. Cursing herself for wasting time playing around when the woman was in distress, she reached her right hand around the man and underneath the woman's backside. She quickly assessed the situation by lightly brushing her hand around between his legs. The man had absolutely *huge* testicles, possibliy explaining his disgusting behavior. Any other time, Alessa would take her time with them, to make him truly understand the gravitas of the decisions that led her to notice him. To truly grasp the nature of the loss of such impressive jewels before taking them from him.

Sadly, Alessa couldn't let the man continue, so she brought her fist down onto the bench. Strangely, there was a scream behind her, but the satisfying feeling of the defiler's testicles turning to a much deserved fine mush from the blow distracted Alessa and made her laugh out loud. She needed to feed her reputation.

The barmaid was able to slide off his lap before the man toppled off the bench in a heap. Looking at the woman looking at her, Alessa said, completely sober, "Can you bring me a mug of your strongest stuff?"

Realizing the danger posed to their precious jewels, the remaining men at the table decided to vacate to a table as far away from this one as was possible in the tavern.

She turned again to the trapped man on her other side. He was now silently drooling on the table but wasn't out, as his eyes looked at her. Alessa bent over to take a look between his legs at what happened to him, why did he scream? *Ah.* The orb was oozing out of the crack that still contained it as a chunky pulp. The force of the blow on the bench a few moments earlier created a shockwave which traveled through the wood, liquefying the testicle trapped within it.

*Still not out, though, even though he's drunk? That's pretty good,* Alessa mused as she received her cup. Stopping her pewter since it cleared the effects of Alcohol, she took a large swig. The stuff was even more fowl than before! She savored the warmth and muddiness of mind it provided, though. While she was drinking and contemplating her pendant still resting on the table, Alessa idly flicked the remaining nugget of the man next to her. Without her increased strength, there was a certain catharsis in being able to batter the thing repeatedly without needing to hold back. Each hit caused the man to jerk.

Slowly, over the course of a few more drinks, she felt the orb start to swell. Alessa had to keep changing fingers as they got tired or sore, but it was worth it.

Suddenly, she realized a group of men were approaching her from the back. Pewter again. Her mind cleared, increasing her levels of agitation. The final flick in her new state split the nugget in half.

She spied a knife out of the corner of her eye. In her enhanced state, the quickly thrown copper cup hit the knife wielding man right on target, the handle landing perfectly across both orbs. Alessa would have to remember to check the damage and finish the job if needed. She launched herself at the men, immediately reducing two of her attackers to a state of insensibility via two accurately applied grabs.

The bar fight that ensued was over quickly. Halfway through the men realized they lost and started fleeing. Alessa did what she could, but some few pairs managed to escape unscathed.

--

The next morning, Alessa awoke on a bench in the tavern with a pounding headache. Groaning, she rolled over and looked around at the ruined tavern, not able to remember anything after rescuing the barmaid. The bar was now empty, and she couldn't clear her head with pewter as it was now all used up. Feel around blindly in her pockets revealed the other vials were either smashed or empty. She put her head in her hands and took a moment to prepare herself to walk.

Raising her head groggily at someone walking toward her, she was happy to see the barmaid from last night with a cup of water. Taking it greedily, she downed the entire thing while the barmaid spoke. "Thank you! I was so scared last night, and you saved me. I really appreciate it! The tab from last night is on me."

Alessa shook her head, "No, I'll pay my tab and for the damage caused by my fight." The barmaid held up a vial of pewter. Looking at it like it was the entire fortune of the whole of the Final Empire, Alessa gratefully downed it and cleared her head.

Sighing contentedly now that her head wasn't pounding, she asked the woman, "How many?"

"How many? Oh, I don't know, probably around twelve drinks all told."

"Not drinks, I meant testicles. I need to notch my pendant.... My pendant!" Alessa sprung up. Her professional reputation was tied to that thing at this point! Her earnings would plummet without it!

"Oh! Right!" the woman said, before rushing over to the bar where a man stood, cleaning. Moving a bit too quickly, he reached underneath the bar and pulled out her pendant and handed it to the barmaid. She ran back over and handed it to Alessa. "He would've brought it over himself, but he's terrified to get too near you."

Alessa gave him a disarming smile and yelled across the room, "Don't worry, your nuggets are safe as long as the drinks keep coming!" The man smiled nervously then turned to retreat into the back of the building. *Not disarming enough,* she thought ruefully. Turning to the woman, Alessa asked her again, "Do you know how many? I can't recall."

"That makes sense, once it was over you demanded more drinks. The bartender definitely was not going to deny you. But yes, the count. The herbalists that came to help said fifteen in total ruined orbs."

"Oh wow, I was quite busy it seems." *Without knowing which, I'll just divide the marks up as evenly as possible.*

"Yes, but fourteen if you only count the ones you... caused."

Alessa looked amused. "Did you join in on the action?"

"Lord Ruler, no! You ripped the pants of all the men during the fight. One of the men was dragging himself away since his legs didn't work after losing one of his orbs. Another one blindly ran to escape. Unfortunately for them both, the running man stepped on the one's remaining manhood and slipped." The barmaid recounted the story, looking a bit green. "You then made it to him. It was over quickly, but still merciless."

"Are you sure the one was definitely not me?" Alessa asked, patting her arm.

"I was hiding under the table only a few feet away and saw it get crushed into the floor..."

*Ah, well then. Seven marks for each one. Easy math.* Out loud Alessa thanked her for the metal vial and count, and made her way home.

--

Sitting at her table, Alessa burned pewter to give her the strength to add the fourteen notches. She took a moment and rubbed the copper left orb. The notches were small, insignificant. Just mere cuts, really. But this one. It was large, covering the entire back of the copper ball so it could rest right against her heart. *Significant.* The first notch, it was the only one that mattered. The only one she would take back, if possible.

"Adding more?" Hulan asked from the doorway. Caught by surprise, she stopped fingering the notch and grabbed the pendant. Quickly putting it away, she looked at him sheepishly.

"Sorry, I know you don't want to see."

"It's okay." Hulan paused, then seemed to decide something. "You know, I can walk down the street carrying coins and no one would dare accost me?" Walking over, he kneeled in front of her and held her face with his hand. Alessa listened while she nuzzled, "I have you to thank for my safety." He eyed her. "Also, I was thinking about it. It seems you have admirers, as a gang of female thieves are using your tactics near the Tekiel factory district. A full one-fourth of the men in my factory are missing one. A few are missing both. You didn't do it, but thank you for that, too. People have stopped poking fun at me now that so many are in the same predicament."

Alessa beamed at him. "Glad I could inspire some girls out there." Of course, there were no thieves. *She* was the one making his life better! Not knowing who from the factory was tormenting Hulan, she disguised herself and "robbed" them. Surely most of the men were innocent of being involved with his abuse, but even their sacrifice made him feel less alone! And anything of actual worth that was taken was given to the local urchins, so they were indirectly helping the most poor among them as well. *A worthy cause.*

She perked up on the mention of the few men being completely ruined, too. If he mentioned it, it must be important to him, makes him feel manly when he's near them. *Perfect,* Alessa thought, deciding to increase the frequency of her robberies and steal both jewels from far more of her victims. Her reputation could only grow.