♦ ♦ 25TH CONTRACT

[mortemscintilla]

... This is pathetic.

How the hell am I supposed to go out like this? I can't even cross the street without getting strange looks.

It's like I'm a frea - gjrjzarg

[ The device jolts into video-mode as it clatters to the floor -- facedown. There are sounds of scuffle offscreen. Glasses smashing. A man's startled yell -- aborted by a thud. Then: a female voice -- one of those smoky contralto registers. Any other time, it'd sound attractive. ]

[ Right now? It's just frigorific. ]

Back off. I'm armed. You're not. Consider this in detail.

[ Guess who got genderswapped while visiting the Underground? Ask Hei about his day. He dares you. ]


[ Options for Run-Ins: ]

[ Home: He'll be in the bathroom -- trying to settle to the new body. His hair falls in choppy hanks around his scowling face. There's a dark pile of snipped-off locks in the wastebin, and a box of bandaids overturned in the sink. He rubs at the steamy mirror with his palms, smearing the glass, breathing slowly around words even he doesn't immediately register as cursing. ]

[ Out and About: No plum-red lips. No hair-flips. No swivel-hips. He emerges from a clothing store in nondescript clothes -- baggy blue jeans, a plaid flannel shirt and a hooded-down parka in dull brown. Smaller boots rub at his heels and toes through ugly socks. Inspecting himself in a store window, he wrinkles up his nose and scowls. Ugh. ]

[ Move along, gentlemen. Nothing sweet or kittenish about this little number. There's an unwomanly directness in those eyes. Stay the hell away. ]

 

[ ooc: Replies will come fromtwo_zero_one. Please keep in mind that unless you've interacted with Hei -- not Li -- the grumpy lady will be hard to recognize.  Replies will be sloooow, so backtags are a joy<3 ]

Comments

action / morning

[anatural]

[Korra slept through Hei's initial departure, but she wakes up when he gets back. It's the sound of unfamiliar footsteps that catches her attention. She sits up in bed and quickly pulls the sheets to her chest.

She doesn't call out Hei's name; those aren't his footsteps. Moving silently, she slides into her jeans and pulls on her shirt (not bothering with undergarments -- she just needs to be dressed enough to confront the stranger). Once she's dressed, she walks carefully out into the hall, ready to take on any intruder.]

action / morning

[two_zero_one]

[ Not wanting to stir up a fuss, Hei had left Korra asleep and headed out alone. For a change of clothes. For a personal sweep of the City and its latest curse. For a moment to gather his wits. And, ultimately, to pick up breakfast. While he'd like nothing more than to call in sick at work and disappear into blissful obscurity down Underground today ... ]

[ Well. He did make a promise. ]

[ It's part of the reason why he returns to the flat. Not waking Korra up personally, but noisy enough to do it second-hand, as he pads around the kitchenette barefoot in his loose-fitting new shirt and jeans. There's a hard-edged -- almost whippish -- quality to the way he holds himself. It's not only unflattering on the woman's body, it's eerie. But he finds himself hard-pressed to give a fuck. It's just a temporary curse. (At least he hopes so.) When Korra wanders out, Hei is busy flipping pancakes. His back is to her, but even with the tea kettle bubbling, hey. It's only them in the flat. ]

Good morning. [ It's a lighter version of Hei's usual rasp. A Come back to bed, baby kind of voice. Such a waste, since his next words are, ] Laugh, and I will hurt you.

action / morning

[anatural]

Mor...ning... [It takes her a moment -- she's never encountered a curse that would change your gender before. She perches hesitantly on one of the stools.]

Why would I laugh? [Her past lives have been male, female, and every variation in between. Even if she doesn't know them, it's given her a more fluid sense of gender than people might expect.

Besides. He's pretty hot as a girl.]

action / morning

[two_zero_one]

[ Hei has switched skins and names enough times in his profession -- but this is a little too extreme. There's a neatly bandaged cut on his cheek from that scuffle he'd inevitably gotten into when he'd gone out, but he pays that no attention: his current focus appears to be on the food. There's a well-practiced but slightly jerky turn to his wrist as he scoops each pancake off the pan into a plate. He's practically bristling with a pent-up ... irritation? Impatience? Something. ]

[ Firmly, he tells himself sulking will do no good. The curse is done. Now it's just -- dealing with it. ]

Because I'm the same height as you now. [ For once. On another note, ] I sound like a bronchitic hooker.

action / morning

[anatural]

[She coughs, trying to cover a laugh at his phrasing. He's so grumpy about such a silly thing. It'd be funny if he didn't have a history of being awful when grumpy.]

Would it help if I said you're really hot?

action / morning

[two_zero_one]

[ The eternal Grumpy Cat. That's him. At her remark, he responds, not with words, but with an irritable upward puff from his pouting lower-lip, blowing the loose strands off his brow. He doesn't want to waste time pondering whether this body is Hot or not. Hell, he'd prefer not to picture any part of it below the chin. ]

[ There's a scrape of a chair being pulled and the clink-clink of plates and two mugs setting the table. None of which he bothers with, when he's alone. But it seems vaguely boorish to send her home without breakfast. ]

It'd help if you wiped that smirk off your face.

[ tsun tsun tsun ]

action / morning

[anatural]

[There doesn't seem to be an edge of violence in his bad mood...yet. She takes a chance and mimes wiping her face, settling her mouth into a flat line. There's no hiding the twinkle in her eyes, though, even if it's mixed with wary caution.]

There.

action / morning

[two_zero_one]

[ To be frank, Hei's played-out enough from last night. The chances of his temper escalating are slim. (Or maybe it's the lesser levels of testosterone in this body? He doubts there's truth to the theory. You don't have to be an alpha-male to suffer feral bursts of aggression. But somehow it's more credible than the idea of sex putting him in a good mood. It so rarely happens.) ]

[ He doesn't react to Korra's mock-pantomime except with an unamused quirk of one eyebrow. But there's a twinge at the wariness in her eyes. She so frequently walks on eggshells around him. The classic scenario of abuse? Deliberately, he turns away, ]

Sit down. [ He wrenches the fridge open, slops some milk into a small pitcher, and then, with marginally calmer motions, puts it in the microwave. ] Tell me how you take your tea.

action / morning

[anatural]

Plain. [She doesn't understand other people's penchant for adding things to their tea. One of the many, many mysteries about this place.]

Where'd you go last night? [It occurs to her too late that he might take that as an interrogation, when all she's trying to do is make conversation.]

action / morning

[two_zero_one]

[ The microwave dings. Taking the pitcher out, Hei sets it on the table next to the sugar bowl. Without pausing he peels a banana and slices it, dropping the pieces onto the pancakes and sprinkling them with cinnamon. Since Korra's expressed an aversion for sweets, he doesn't bother breaking out the syrup. ]

[ The kettle boils then, adding its shrill whistle to the melange of early-morning noises. Tea is poured, preferences included, before Hei takes a seat at the table. He doesn't answer her question, except with, ] I had things to take care of. [ Which is basically a curt blow-off. But she shouldn't take it personally. It's an effort to navigate around this surreal new arrangement of theirs. He's trying his best to be patient. ]

[indecent_butterfly]

[Everyone has an aura to them, it's learning to recognize them that is the trick. This one is too familiar by far however given that ne was around it for too long recently.

At least this time they aren't trapped together.]

Such luck you seem to be enjoying this oh so merry month.

[two_zero_one]

[ Hearing the voice, Hei stops, as always. His posture is taut, but it's not physical anxiety, it's reflex. Whether in a girl's body or a boy's, he's a soldier first and foremost. The look he levels at Hatter is flat and mildly disgusted, ]

Still a step up from being handcuffed to something like you.

[indecent_butterfly]

[Ne's used to it, the dropped act when they're alone--almost like secret lovers. It's amusing in so many ways to watch.]

Don't be so distressed...you'll get wrinkles.

[two_zero_one]

[ Hei won't deny there's a certain intimacy in contempt. But the moods and manners of both are easy for him to feign. In this case, he doesn't have to. Crossing his arms under his chest, he tips his chin. The tension in this body seems to be settled in the hips rather than the shoulders. It's weird. His center of gravity feels off. ]

Distress isn't the right word.

But I've learnt wrinkles are a common theme to go with your presence.

[indecent_butterfly]

[Silly boy, that move just accents a rather impressive area--one that really doesn't need attention brought to it given his company.]

And here One was going to compliment the form...the attitude needs work as always.

[two_zero_one]

[ The body may be a woman's. But Hei's mind is still male -- and unapologetic about exercising all those tacit physical freedoms. He doesn't know enough to subdue his posture, to call less attention to curves that he could do without people ogling, anyway. ]

And here I thought looks trump attitude where most women are concerned.

[ Sexist, but callously factual. A bitchy beauty is always given wider berth than a bitchy hag. ]

action-ish? Being stalked /sobs

[moonlitrequiem]

[Yin, of course, has no questions. She is, however, stalking Hei via her specter, perhaps a little more than usual.]

\^^/

[two_zero_one]

[ She'll get quite the interesting show. Hei -- or at least a female approximation of Hei -- leaning over the sink in his flat, as if mesmerized by the steady pouring of the cold water over his fingers, enveloping them like a living glove. His clothes are cut wide and baggy, the shirt loose to accommodate the unsupported bosom. Catching sight of the specter, a dark-blue eye narrows from between a fringe of messy hair. ]

[ He breathes deeply, sucking the air through his nostrils, his spine ruler-hard as he turns the tap off and straightens. ]

[ She'll find him, sometime late at night, at the park. Slumped on a bench, in his shapeless clothes, chomping sullenly on a sandwich. ]

[moonlitrequiem]

[Unobtrusive and silent, Yin takes a seat on the other side of the bench. If Hei's out there, then she could at least join him instead of just watching him from afar via her observation spirit. Different body or not, he's pure Hei.]

[two_zero_one]

[ Silent. Unobtrusive. That's what he likes about Yin. She doesn't jangle the air with tension the way most people do; she slots herself into the space next to him without disturbing it. He's always appreciated that. ]

[ Popping the last bit of sandwich into his mouth, he glances over at her. No expression beyond an ironic quirk of an eyebrow. ]

I've been told off three times today for 'intruding' into the men's restrooms. [ Not a complaint. More a summation of his day. i. e. It's kind of sucked. ]

[moonlitrequiem]

[Complaint or not, it's atypical of Hei to give out any facts of that nature. Yin simply turns to him and gives him a look that should be confused. A slight opening of her mouth. Hei is a man, who looks like a woman. Clearly they are making this judgement off of looks.]

And as curses are running more than one day, there is no certainty this will fade tomorrow?

[two_zero_one]

[ Hei takes her subtly-telegraphed surprise for what it is. There's a twitch at the corners of his mouth. It's not his imagination, he knows; she's noticeably less Doll-like everytime he sees her. Or perhaps the better word is that her behavior adheres less rigidly to the Doll stereotype. He's not sure if it's from being in the City. Or if it's an unspooling that's exclusive to Yin. ]

[ At her question, there's a brief shake of the head. ]

None. It might escalate into something worse. [ But he has no way of knowing what. That's the kicker. A beat, then, ] Keep a lookout with your specter. Once it's midnight -- if there's any abnormal behavior among the cursed -- inform me. [ He'll lock himself away in his safe-house down Underground, if it's something too hideous. ]

[moonlitrequiem]

[Mostly, it's Hei. The City has helped, the fact people here treat her like a person helps.]

[She briefly nods, wondering if the curses thus far have been that way - mostly harmless, then leading into something worse.]

[two_zero_one]

[ They have, and that sliding scale from benign to malevolent is a familiar pattern where Hei is concerned -- both operationally and in terms of past experience. He brushes the crumbs of bread from his mouth before wiping his palms on the thighs of his slacks. It's a remarkably unfeminine set of gestures. ]

[ Studying Yin from the corner of his eye, he asks, more quietly, ]

How are you settling in?

[moonlitrequiem]

[Her head picks up, and she turns to him. They don't typically face each other in these conversations, but she is very much looking at Hei now.]

[For a long time, there's no answer.]

My job was still available to me. It is almost like I didn't leave. [Accept for Hei, the way he acted when she returned, and Mao sleeping in her closet. Maybe that's why they stand out the most, the two that should have been affected the least were affected the most.]