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poly_chromatic2013-07-24 09:14 pm
mortemscintilla) wrote in poly_chromatic2013-07-24 09:14 pm
Entry tags:
♦ ♦ 27TH CONTRACT - Text/Action
[ Anonymous Text / Unhackable ]
Fond are life's lustful joys;
Death proves them all but toys;
None from his darts can fly;
I am sick, I must die.
~ Ye Olde Melodramatic Poet
Death proves them all but toys;
None from his darts can fly;
I am sick, I must die.
~ Ye Olde Melodramatic Poet
Best wishes to all those playing hero. Or idiot. A round of applause for the doctors too. All you're lacking are the right uniforms. But here's a little something for levity's sake. I imagine, for the delicate flowers, the City's a grim place right now.
For the rest of you? It seems a week of sickness isn't enough to stop the whining. It's also too damn late to interject, but I don't want your would-be meaningful dreams. And I'm not wasting my time decoding them. That's someone else's fool's errand. Smart people charge a commission.
[ Private//Unhackable - Mao ]
Status report.
[ ... static ... ]
Here kitty kitty.
[ Silence. ]
[ It seems the City's short one talking black cat. ]
[ Private//Unhackable - Yin ]
It goes without saying. But keep indoors and minimize exposure to crowded areas.
[ Private//Unhackable - Chekov ]
Delivery:
[1] One bio-safe Container carrying [1] one Meteor Shard.
CONTACT: hei-twos-and-ones@bogusserver.net
MESSAGE: handle with caution
I'll provide more details at the Karaoke Bar.
[ Private//Unhackable - Pai ]
Pick a decor. We'll get your room done that style, once we move to the new flat next week.
In the meantime check under the bed. Hope you like them.
[ Private//Unhackable - Korra ]
[ Attachment.jpg ]
Yes? Or no?
[ooc: initial text is anonymous and untraceable. Hei is being a jerkass but also gauging City morale. He's also lying about not helping anyone, the hypocrite. He's done a few helpful rituals - if only to stop the creepy dreams. As always, massively backtag friendly since I'll be a slow little snail. ]
[ Private // Unhackable ]
[ Private // Unhackable ]
Rm 12
[ It's the karaoke room with the purple matte walls and the pink zebra-striped upholstery. Hei may be a spy, but he detests cliches. The most important business transactions in his career have taken place in children's playgrounds and ramen stands, not shady bars and parking-lots. ]
[ Action ]
Well. And none of them are supposed to be wandering around alone because a fearsome enemy is in the City, but Pavel has done fine in the City for well over a year without any help from home.]
[ Action ] 1/2
[ It was for early reconnaissance. But he'd immediately noticed that, as a rendezvous point, the place had its merits. The rooms are insulated and soundproof, with a lock on every door. The clientele is mixed. Rowdy teenagers out for a few laughs. Burned-out nine-to-five stiffs desperate to unwind. Furtive young couples here to make out if there's no privacy for them anywhere else. The latter isn't explicitly stated but understood. Which is why, as a policy, the staff don't come into the rooms unless there's an emergency. There are security cameras on the ceilings, true. But that's easily solvable. One well-placed bug, and the equipment malfunctions to play looped feed for two hours straight. ]
[ Anyway it's not like 'Li' is in there doing anything more sinister than making a fool of himself. ]
[ Action ]
[ Between the flux of crewmembers pouring into the City, Hei knows the young man is preoccupied. But he's also one of the few people Hei relies on -- well, for a given level of reliance -- not to botch up such an important package. (With Pai here, Hei isn't foolish enough to keep the Meteor Shard in one of his safehouses. Even now, the juxtaposition of Sister and Shard has the power to send electric-eels of dread up his spine.) ]
[ When Pavel opens the door, he'll find 'Li' settled on the zebra-striped sofa. For all the world, he seems to be watching TV, except he's got one hand on the mic, holding it up to his mouth, and the other tucked behind his head. Now we're gonna be face-to-face/And I'll lay right down in my favorite place/And now I wanna be your dog. He isn't singing so much as talk-singing -- off-key and croaky. He'll never admit it, but he likes this song because it's ridiculous and kinky and doesn't have a melodic line at all. (BK201 is a man of many talents. Singing is not one of them.) ]
[ Spotting Pavel, he promptly sets the mic down. ] Come in. Shut the door. [ Also, we will never mention his song-choice again. E v e r. ]
[ Action ]
Pavel obeys the order to close the door, trying to mask his amusement at Hei's singing skills (or lack thereof). The meaning of the lyrics is utterly lost on him.]
Do you enjoy singing? [Safer than offering an opinion.]
[ Action ]
[ Straightening, Hei gestures for Pavel to sit. On the pink coffee table sits a platter of pomelo-and-shrimp salad, and a pitcher of orange crush with a collection of shot-glasses. Hei's fingers drum against the edge of one glass, a series of restless plinks, but the rest of him is perfectly still. As if, in the face of any internal agitation, his body runs an opposing current in an effort to negate it. For a moment he regards Pavel carefully. It's not patient or disquieting, at least not intentionally -- it's simply that assessing stare Hei uses before he maps out and executes his next series of steps. ]
[ Finally -- ]
What's the deadliest weapon you've ever encountered, in your homeworld? [ It's not a non-sequitur. Not when you consider the contents of the package Hei's sent Pavel. ]
[ Action ]
He sits and waits. And fidgets. It's not that he's nervous--frankly, there's very little that Hei could do to unnerve him at this point--but there's something ominous about Hei's silent appraisal. Whatever is in that container can't be good.
The question doesn't seem all that odd... or encouraging.] Red matter. I have seen it used to destroy a planet.
[ Action ]
[ Hei lets the music play on, bouncy synths blending with ragged guitar riffs. The TV screen overhead shows badly-framed, romanticized loops of City streetlife. But it's just white-noise to muffle the conversation from potential eavesdroppers. His focus on Pavel is absolute. It takes a little while before he speaks. Not because he's shocked at the destructive capacity of red matter. But because its familiarity is jarring. ]
What I've sent you ...isn't too different. It's called a Meteor Shard. It has properties that magnify a Contractor's ability -- beyond his control. [ A beat, then two, before he lifts the shotglass to his lips, takes a long languid swallow. Then -- ] The first time I saw it was in South America. It's the reason my team was wiped out. Their abilities went haywire and they slaughtered each other. [ He says it all with a total absence of expression, like he's reading off a catalog that has nothing to do with how intensely private all this is. ] Not long afterward, half the continent was erased. [ All part of Amber's plan, and courtesy of Pai's ability. ]
[ Action ]
But Hei isn't revealing any information that surprises Pavel. He suspected that the container he was sent held something dangerous (and, after you've seen a planet destroyed, Romulans traveling through time via black hole, and a cursed City located in a universe that doesn't conform to all physical laws, there's little that seems surprising). Pavel takes a moment to fit this information into the blanks in what he knows of Hei's background.]
Half of the continent... [It's almost a question--how does it work?--but Hei will tell him if it's pertinent.] You would like to keep this away from your sister. She's a Contractor?
[ Action ]
[ There's a quiet, arpeggiated riff before the next verse, during which he sets the shotglass down and looks away. Half the continent .. Pavel says, and it's inflected as a clear question. He debates whether to tell Pavel ...Pai was instrumental in South America's destruction. In unraveling the Syndicate's plans to wipe all Contractors out. That she isn't just a Contractor. She's a living, breathing girl, prematurely jaded by war and responsibility, but uniquely invested with the love he feels for her. ]
[ Instead, he says, almost tonelessly, ] She is. But that's just one reason I'm entrusting the shard to you. [ His tone shifts, different than any he's used with Pavel before. Dead-flat, with a stillness in it that belies the restlessness of his hands. ] I'm planning to use the shard's powers. On the City barrier.