♦ ♦ 17th Contract

[mortemscintilla]

Just had a handjob preempted by a huge bolt of static electricity leaping from her fingertip to my sack. I hate this time of year.

 

fghjkldsg;hgk

[ Someone might've dropped their device. ]

That wasn't what I was supposed to type!!

[ Shyeah. Good luck weaseling out of this one, Li. ]

Comments

filtered;

[moonlitrequiem]

[She just stares at first. But she knows. Dolls shouldn't get people, should they? But there's really only one explanation for this.]

Curse?

filtered/unhackable

[mortemscintilla]

[ No, Dolls shouldn't get people. And Contractors shouldn't be miffed by an idiotic text. But here they are, eternal outliers. Speaking fluently in their special little code. ]

It is. The devices are sending fictitious texts. [ Of course, one or two out there might be true. But that's not their problem, is it? ]

filtered/unhackable

[moonlitrequiem]

Mine too.

[Only, unlike him, she isn't bothered. There's a mild confusion as to how/when it happened, but being falsified explains that part. And no, not their problem.]

[There is, however, the slightest wonder about Hei's. It's small enough she can avoid it, tiny enough it might not really be there but no, it's really there.]

filtered/unhackable

[mortemscintilla]

Expect stupid questions and general nosiness. The City's full of overgrown children.

[ It's more boredom than disgust. Maybe he'd have found a curse like this funnier if he was 17. ]

[ No. No, he wouldn't have. ]

filtered/unhackable

[moonlitrequiem]

[Thankfully, as much she's incapable of finding it funny, the same is true for how bothered she can be.]

[She gives Hei a decisive nod, a silent thank you for the tip.]

filtered/unhackable

[mortemscintilla]

[ Ideally, this should signal an End Of Discussion. Instead, by degrees, he slips out of operative-undercover mode for a few moments to just be Hei. His shift at Cafe Satine is nearly over. He wants not to talk about stupid curses or 'Li'-like activities. ]

[ There are a few personal concerns to address. ]

Has the Mad Hatter approached you again?

filtered/unhackable

[moonlitrequiem]

Only on the network. [No need to worry, Hei.]

filtered/unhackable

[mortemscintilla]

I see. [ He plans to keep it that way. A beat, and then, almost conversationally, ] You've never been to The Lux, have you, Yin? [ He's only been there twice. But each time he saw the grand piano, his mind took one of those irrational quantum leaps. ]

[ (Maybe he's hinting that he wants to get you a piano, Yin). ]

filtered/unhackable

[moonlitrequiem]

No. [She hasn't gone anywhere that she hasn't been told to, or that wasn't necessary. As for the piano, she hasn't played in a very long time, but nothing would stop her if given one.]

filtered/unhackable

[mortemscintilla]

You should visit there. [ Because it would be odd if all she did was work at the Welcome Center. He adds, as a quiet addendum, ] If you want to. [ Which is a ludicrous remark to make to a Doll. ]

[ But he's learning to deal with the ludicrous on an everyday basis. ]

filtered/unhackable

[moonlitrequiem]

[But it was exactly that - the fact Hei gave her choices - which set Hei apart and drew Yin in. And if he says she should visit, in the very least, Yin will want to see why.]

I will. [She doesn't know when, though. Maybe one day when she gets out of work, just to be "spontaneous," like everyone else. It was expected, likely.]

filtered/unhackable

[mortemscintilla]

Good. [ She's always been a Person for him, before her status as a Doll. The same as his other teammates. Back home, he'd come to rely on their presence: Yin, Mao, Huang, the three constants in his routine. ]

[ It's no different here. ]

filtered/unhackable

[moonlitrequiem]

[Except Huang's not with them.]

[She says and does nothing else, waiting for Hei to either continue or end the conversation. They're never long, or too often, but she always sticks with and waits for Hei to finish whenever they do happen.]

filtered/unhackable

[mortemscintilla]

[ He's not sure if Huang's absence is a good or bad thing. Of everyone in their team, a middle-aged ex-cop might find the City the most disconcerting. Or maybe he'd take to it like a fish to water. Hei doesn't know -- and he won't assume or expect. ]

[ That aspect of his nature, at least, is unchanged. ]

[ This conversation with Yin is concluded. He introduces her to the click, albeit quietly. (In the next week, though, she may receive the delivery of a baby grand piano at her flat.) Work those arpeggios, Yin. ]