poly_chromatic | ♦ ♦ 25TH CONTRACT

Entry tags:

darker than black - hei

♦ ♦ 25TH CONTRACT

... 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 from

two_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 ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[.......is he seriously that uncomfortable with them? Korra's torn between disbelief, annoyance, and sympathy. She wants to hug him, but his body language is so closed off. She tries to think of what to say to make him more comfortable.]

Look, I can wrap this so it flattens your chest. [One of her White Lotus guards had done that to bind his breasts, and he had shown her the trick.] It'll be like they aren't even there.

[ He'd prefer to disassociate himself from the reality of this body entirely. Korra's insistence of referring to the breasts as Yours? Not helping. Exhaling, Hei combs his fingers through his thick hair, which immediately fall back over his eyes. Eventually he decides -- fuck it. Sooner started, sooner over with. ]

Right.

[ Avoiding her gaze, he sets the mug aside and rises from his seat. Hesitates a beat, then reaches down with both hands and yanks the offending shirt over his head. Well then. Unlike the airbrushed covers of magazines, he's not completely smooth and hairless. There's a tentative fleece on his arms and under them. Barely there, but perceptible in the bright morning light. There's no expression on his face, but his tone is flat as Kansas. ]

Get started.

[It's so tempting to touch. They're beautiful, and it's such a shame that he's uncomfortable with him. She'd like to show him how nice it can be, how good it can feel.

But she keeps her touch light, just the barest pressure to hold one end of the sarashi in place as she makes the first tight round across his chest. A second, a third, and the cloth is tight enough to hold the end without her help, so she lets go. After that, she only touches him to make slight adjustments and ensure that he's covered smoothly. His breasts are too big to make completely flat, but she has enough extra cloth to smooth the transition from breast to ribcage. She tucks the edge in firmly and then steps back.]

How does that feel?

[ Now, now. Stop acting like he's a sexually repressed ninny. Hei is tactile by nature. And his mind is still dismally male. One of his first experiments -- after ensuring his abilities were intact -- was checking this new form for a different range of sensations. He'd made no spectacular discoveries. Fingering himself was about as exciting as, well, stanching an itch. And there was, as per usual, no feeling in the breasts at all. But there was plenty of feeling in his spine, which ached in dull stages as the day wore on. It was like being weighted down by two stones. ]

[ When Korra starts winding the sarashi around him, it's confining. His lungs fill underneath her palm, and he raises his arms with the uncertainty of a tightrope walker, eyes tracking her progress. While the end result makes him feel like he's swaddled in several layers of peppermint and serves up his bare shoulders and cleavage as if they're squeezed from a tube, it's not suffocating so much as. Strange. ]

[ Smoothing his hands over the swathes, he mutters, ]

This curse better not last past midnight. [ re: Yes, it's fine. ]

[Korra frowns a little and tugs up the top wraps, just a little. She'd meant to bind his chest, not put him in a functional corset. He shouldn't be showing any cleavage. (Oops.)

She picks up his shirt and hands it to him.]

Well, if it does, at least now they won't jiggle. [Which is a pity, because Korra would like nothing more than to take this new body out for a test drive. But she can behave.]

[ (Oops indeed.) ]

[ Nose wrinkling, Hei yanks the shirt from her hands. His face is cool-eyed and angular in its halo of dark hair. There's a clump in the back that sticks straight up. Damn homemade haircuts. ] I think you're enjoying this too much. [ He has a peculiar close-mouthed way of speaking. The words are resonant, but hit with a terse flatness. It's actual women who open their jaws in that animated manner when they talk -- who use five or six octaves as opposed to two like Hei does. ]

And I think you are a sulky crankypants.

[ Shrugging his shirt back on, Hei drifts back to the table. His lips twitch at the edges, before he raises his mug to hide the beginnings of a smile behind the rim. ]

You're just disappointed I don't look like Asami.

[ You can't hide that greedy twinkle in your eye, Little Miss Avatar. ]

You're not quite tall enough. [No attempt to hide her teasing grin.] And her hair is nicer. What did you do to yours?

[ There's a tiny cut on Hei's hairline -- maybe from when he trimmed his hair, or from the scuffle Underground. He's not sure. He picks the scab absently with one hand, mug balanced in the other. ]

It was getting in my eyes. [ Briefly, his gaze flicks to hers. For the first time he seems to appraise her with a more critical eye. So long-haired and busty... Ruefully, ] It must be hard. Being a girl.

[Ffffft. Though Korra can understand. (Still, hopefully his hair won't still be messed up once the curse is over.)

She shrugs at his comment.]

I guess if you're not used to it. The worst part is the bleeding. [She makes a face. Her least favorite time of the month... and she doesn't even get the terrible cramps her mother did.] I hope the curse has spared you that.

[ (He'll be less likely to sulk if his hair is damaged in his actual form. He's used to it being mutilated in every sense -- from singed to yanked to blood-crusted.) At the mention of The Bleeding, Hei stops mid-sip. His little nose wrinkles, poking out from behind the curtain of rough-edged hair. ]

[ Witheringly, ]

It has. But now that you said it, it'll open the floodgates wide. [ Despite the flippancy in his tone, he represses a grimace. After a slow sip of tea, ] If you were an athlete in my world -- which you look like -- they'd make you take pills to stop it.

You have pills that can stop it? [KORRA IS SO JEALOUS. As much as she likes kids, she has next to no interest in being a mother herself. The monthly bleeding is like paying for an item she doesn't want.]

I've heard of herbs that can control it, but none that would get rid of it entirely.

[ The expression on Hei's face is watchful and wary at the same time. He ducks his head to hide it behind a screen of hair, both hands curled around his mug. This conversation makes him feel self-conscious. He's not sure if it's because he's sleeping with her or because of her obvious lack of knowledge on the issue. ]

I don't think there's any way to stop it completely. Not without a hysterectomy. But there are pills that limit it to about five or four times a year. And shots. [ Depo provera -- what every woman in his unit was administered in Heaven's War. ] Don't ask me. I'm no doctor.

Huh. [She'll have to talk to Dr. Chase about it sometime.] How come you know so much about it?

[Korra isn't bothered by the conversation at all. It's almost nice, actually -- she's never had anyone to really talk about these things with. Other things -- her training, the Equalists, the curses -- always got in the way.]

[ Nice is the last word he'd ascribe to this conversation. The disquiet doesn't stem from a misplaced sense of propriety -- Hei barely has any left. It's more from the reminder that this is a flesh-and-blood girl he's dealing with. One who is, in many ways, practically a child. (On a more subconscious level, the talk stirs up the whole murky puddle of Heaven's War. Of Pai, Amber, Carmine -- and all the accidental intimacies that spawn when you're the only male cohabiting with a team of females.) ]

[ Bristling, he snaps, ]

I'm in no mood for Girl Talk, Korra.

[ Immediately, he fights a twinge. Remember your promise. There's a curl of tension still flexing in his gut. With effort, he ignores it. His tone is quieter, more measured, as he explains, ] It was ... a fact of life where I grew up.

Sorry. [His tone stings, but she's more annoyed than hurt. She'd avoid touchy subjects if she knew what they were.

Sulky crankypants, she reminds herself, and it's enough to make her lips twitch. She gathers up their dirty dishes and goes to deposit them in the sink. It's easier when she has something to do.]

Are you going into work today?

[ He dismisses the Sorry with a hitch of a shoulder. Finishing his tea in two gulps, he sets the cup aside to wipe his mouth with his wrist. His gaze drops, vague and shuttered for a moment before the clatter of dishes breaks the lull. ] Hm? [ Strange, how the faintest reminder of the war sinks him into himself so completely. It's only with a prickle of his spine that he's reminded of where he is, and of the fact that there's someone else in his space with him. ]

I was planning to. [ Growing tits is no reason to skip work. ]

[For all Korra knew, he had off today. Unlike certain people, she doesn't keep track of other people's schedules. She's just making conversation.

A glance out the window tells her she doesn't have long for idle chit-chat.]

I should probably get going. Jinora and the Chief have no doubt noticed her absence, and sticking around here isn't going to help her come up with any better excuses.]

[ He hadn't meant to come off as dismissive or unwelcoming. (You don't need to try. It happens every time you open your mouth.) In truth, he doesn't mind the way she stirs his flat out of its distemper, even if he's not entirely sure how to deal with her presence. It's like being around someone who's part thorn-in-his-side, part ray-of-sunshine. ]

[ Quietly, he clears away the remaining crockery and silver, remnants of pancakes, dregs of tea. At Korra's elbow, not quite meeting her eye, he murmurs, ]

I could call in sick. We could spend the day painting each others nails.

[ He doesn't mean it. Not in the least. But it's remarkable how straight his face is. ]

Edited (I can't spell :D) 2013-05-22 23:24 (UTC)

[She glances at him, trying to figure out how serious he is. (If he calls in sick, she's got plenty of other things she'd rather do with him.)]

Jinora will be worried. [It's not No so much as I'm open to suggestions.]

[ He's amazed how she almost sounds ... Hopeful? Receptive? It's so strange, this thing they've started up. He has to retreat mentally and re-examine every step; what builds a semblance of a foundation beneath their feet, and what cruel mistake could so easily send it crumbling. Neutral-faced, he rinses the dishes and stacks the dishwasher. Wiping his hands on a rag, he comes to a decision. Whatever's bubbling in the air right now is good. Even if it doesn't last beyond the next minute, he's not one to shy away from a risk. ]

[ Lightly, he nudges his shoulder with hers. This close, they're barely within an inch of height, ]

So call her and tell her you're fine.

[Her smile is small, surprised, and pleased.]

I'll have to borrow your device again.

[ He catches that surprise. His lips twitch at the corners in an almost-smile. ]

It's on the counter. [ A beat, before he reaches out and tugs at a strand of hair dangling at her ear. In this state of dishabille, she's the very cliche of Walk Of Shame. Idly, he thinks it's impossible Korra's friends haven't associated the girl's swollen mouth and tired eyes with the obvious by now. ]

[It's not the swollen lips that give her activities away -- it's the bite marks he leaves all over her neck and the bruises on her arms. She makes a face at the hair tug before sliding over to grab the device. It takes her a minute or two to send the message, and then immediately sets it aside.]

So what color would you like your nails?

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