♦ ♦ 26th Contract

[mortemscintilla]

[ Anonymous Text/Unhackable ]

Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager managing an imaginary menagerie.

[ It reads like total gibberish. But it's a code -- recognizable to any soldier from his team in Heaven's War. If old faces (Amber, Pai, Carime) are here, at least they'll get the message. I'm here where you are. ]

Here we go again. It's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood. And the tourists are scattered out like maggots with half the brains. Even under 'new management', the City never changes.

As for me, I have time to kill. A ton of it. The City's a waiting room, and life here's a waiting game, but I'm getting good at it. Who would have imagined? Probably not those I knew before. But if they're not about to confirm or deny, I guess you'll have to take my word for it.

[ Come on, guys. Take the bait. Let him know you're here. ]

[ Options For Run-Ins: ]

[ ∰ Xanadu (Li): It's late evening, and the first stars twinkle in the sky. He's found a good spot on a grassy hill. A telescope rests on its stand beside him, a few small books and tools scattered nearby, along with the remains of a picnic on a checkered cloth under 'Li's reclining form: scraps of bread and cheese, a few tumbled apples, a thermos mostly empty of tea. Just an ordinary young man, out for a night of stargazing. ]

[ Come join him, why don't you? The skies couldn't be clearer. ]

[ ∰ Underground (Reaper): His clash with the six tusked demons has ended. The final monster has dropped -- decapitated, oozing blood. Masked and armed, Hei lies sprawled on the grime-slippery ground, not too far off, a blade still in his hand. The hilt feels hot, and molded to his gloved fingers. But it's quiet now, and that has to be good. He has a few scrapes and bruises that ache from the brawl, but it's nothing serious. The rest of his muscles are singing, the high-pitched song of the battle well-ended. ]

[ If you recognize the masked man, step forward -- carefully. If you don't? Keep your distance. ]

[OOC: Have at him, one and all. Just please be aware tags will be slow, so backtagging is mightily encouraged<33 ]

Comments

anonymous | text

[sleepingstar]

A buddha at a pagoda holds a charm to drive away the mouse.

Private//Unhackable

[mortemscintilla]

[ Whoever it is on the other end -- he or she may as well be advertising their messier code. In this case, he knows that old Vietnamese tongue-twister -- knows the person who used it -- with the same intimate accuracy with which he can gauge the structural flaws on his blades. A sharp little drill takes him between the eyes and bores bloodless holes in his skull. He can hear his pulse beating deafeningly in his ears. ]

[ His hands don't shake. But there's a pause before he offers a reply. Easy. It might not be who you want it to be. ]

Lots of mice here.

How many have you chased off so far, little Buddha?

Private//Unhackable

[sleepingstar]

Two. [2] None [0] of the attempts by my cat [1] worked.

Private//Unhackable

[mortemscintilla]

[ 2. 0. 1. ]

[ A scythe-like blade of ice pushes into his gut. Fear? Excitement? He hasn't felt either -- not in such an all-encompassing sense -- for so long. He has no idea what to make of it. His fingers hesitate for only a tic, then move across the keypad in a blur. There's a cost-benefit equation in every decision. But his need to see this mystery caller -- Is it Pai? -- is strong enough to outweigh all the risks involved. ]

Then you need a new cat. Maybe a black Siberian.

[ A pause, before -- ]

The pet-shop near Turnabout Café will have one.

[ The message is implicit. I'll be there. Not, of course, in the exact spot. But in the vicinity, near enough to observe the ins-and-outs of the store. To discern any unfamiliar -- and familiar -- faces. ]

Private//Unhackable 1/2

[sleepingstar]

That sounds like a great idea. Thank you!

action;

[sleepingstar]

[Pai has the same doubts about Hei -- or whoever is masquerading as Hei on the network -- as he does about her. Invitation or not, she doesn't trust this place.

She finds the pet shop and attempts to scope it out, looking for her brother or the person behind the mysterious text messages. She's good at it, but with over five extra years of practice plus a familiarity with the City? Hei is certainly better.]

Xanadu

[candothat]

[It's a near-perfect night for lounging in the park and admiring the stars, which makes Hei's presence in Chekov's intended lounging spot wholly unsurprising. Pavel attempts to hide his nervousness as he approaches. The Russian has been doing his best to avoid Hei since the furniture-on-the-ceiling incident. In spite of the vodka peace offering, he has opted for wariness in the wake of that disaster.]

Hei, hello.

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei's reason for stargazing tonight isn't just an excuse to scout the parameters of Xanadu, or to keep an eye on the visitors. Like his nocturnal excursions to the Underground, the activity soothes an anxious-prickly part of him. Especially tonight. While realistically there's a slim chance he'll run into enemies or allies, he's unused to living with the suspense of a small quotidian hope. ]

[ And that puts him on edge. ]

[ Hearing the rustle of familiar footsteps, he flicks a glance over his shoulder. Hearing his codename -- Hei -- spoken so casually, he fights a spasm of annoyance, and disguises it neatly as a half-smile. ] Hello. [ The tone is ambiguous, neither welcoming nor cold. Chekov may not bring up the furniture-on-ceiling incident, but it hovers around the younger man like a cloud of skittishness. ]

[ With effort, Hei tries to be polite. ] Want to sit down?

[candothat]

[Skittishness is, in Pavel's opinion, warranted. Driving an assassin into a near-homicidal rage with a stupid, childish prank was not one of his cleverer moves. Having more shipmates in the City makes him nervous, too. Maybe it would be wisest to keep edging away from Hei...

But Chekov has only had a handful of friends, and even fewer friends with interests similar to his. Severing ties? Easier thought than done.

Hei is hard to read, making it next to impossible for Chekov to determine where they stand. No one is bleeding, though, and that shadow of a smile on Hei's face doesn't look like it hides any real malice; that's all promising.]

If I wouldn't be interrupting...?

[mortemscintilla]

[ Friends. It's a word Hei still has trouble comprehending. His life is generally a study of mathematics -- add subtract divide multiply with a question mark tagged to the end result. Is the person/action/object worth it? That's a simple and safe framework. That's something a Contractor can understand, not leverage to be used against him. Pragmatically, Pavel is an asset. But like Korra, he's also a wild card. Not because Hei believes he's capable of compromising his own safety. Rather, it's the fact that Korra and Pavel have both somehow bypassed Hei's Contractor's persona -- and accessed the person beneath it. It's a closeness Hei's uncomfortable with. ]

[ After all, in his world, Friend can easily make the transition to Liability. Or Enemy. ]

[ To Pavel's question: ] There's nothing to interrupt. Sit down. [ A lie, but a small one, as far as Hei's history goes. He hasn't forgotten the furniture incident, any more than Chekov has. But despite the awkwardness, it's easy for Hei to be in the same vicinity as someone he's brutalized -- or vice versa. He can compartmentalize like a pro. In the Syndicate, everyone has a history -- often full of lies and double-crossing. Breaking bread with the opposition is nothing new. ]

[ (Pavel is an asset, yes. And it's good business sense to be friendly with an asset. But maybe Hei is doing this simply because he wants to.) ]

[candothat]

[Try as he might, Pavel will never be capable of seeing the world or relationships with the people who inhabit it as Hei does (nor does he particularly want to). He can't even bring himself to mistrust the other man as much as he thinks he ought to--not, at least, where he alone is concerned. Hei may be cold, dangerous, and even cruel, but he isn't always that way. There are enough redeeming moments, enough stargazing and enough gestures of friendship, to feed a that the Contractor can be a decent person if he's exposed to enough kindness and forgiveness.

It's a naive way of thinking, and Chekov is sufficiently self-aware to acknowledge that, but it's all he can do.]

Thank you. [Pavel sits, tries a smile, and finds that, illogical as it is, he has missed Hei. Maybe thinking that indicates some kind of deep-seated problem or masochism. It's more likely that habitual loneliness and a relatively gentle homeworld have made it hard for the eighteen year-old to dismiss a former friend as a very real danger.] Have you been visited by anyone interesting today?

[There's no real expectation of an honest answer. With Hei, honesty and openness are rare gifts instead of givens.]

Xanadu

[oceantrauma]

[He's at a slight distance, and although "Li" seems mentally occupied, Ken is almost certain Li's aware of his presence. In his arms is a round, green creature with a large leaf over its head.]

Li-san, it's nice to get a chance to see you again.

[mortemscintilla]

[ It's been a tiresome few weeks. He's in no mood for small talk. But Hei knows it won't do his already-tenuous cover any favors by being ill-tempered. Pausing mid-bite on a sandwich, one fingertip stirring through the telescope's manual, he glances up and beams. ]

Ah! Ken-chan! I thought that was you. [ His gaze drops -- a tad uncertainly -- on the creature in Ken's arms. ] Um... is that a pet of yours?

[oceantrauma]

[The creature protests that with sputtering.] Pet?!

No! Leafmon's my partner. Not a pet. Remember the partner I told you about? This is his younger form.

1/2

[mortemscintilla]

[ The creature sputters -- and 'Li's eyes widen. ]

It t-t-talked!

[mortemscintilla]

[ At Ken's explanation, he settles somewhat. The information revealed is quietly filed away, even as his gaze bounces between Ken and his leafy friend. Less confused, more curious now. ]

Younger form, huh? Well... It is kind of cute. [ With a quick apologetic glance at the digimon, ] Th-that's to say you, mister not-pet, are, um. Easy on the eyes.

[oceantrauma]

[Leafmon gives Ken a look of awe.] You talked about me? [Then he blushes and looks back at 'Li'.] Thank you, Li-san. It's nice to meet you.

Of course I talked about you. I missed you. [Ken hugs his partner, then looks back towards Li.] Is it all right if we sit with you?

Underground

[flammiferous]

[He can't deny his fascination with the Underground. It reminds him of the shadiest nooks and crannies of Republic City, places that used to be his turf until by some miracle he managed better lifestyles for he and his brother. While The City's Underground takes the grittiest aspects of what he remembers to another level, the familiarity remains, and it's something he has never wanted to revisit.

Ever determined to explicitly scope out The City, however, he presses forward amidst the underbelly. Now and then his palm ignites a flame to use as a small torch, extra light to navigate. He approaches peculiarities with caution, prudent enough not to press his luck while he's out alone, but also fairly confident he's ready for the unexpected.

The same approach occurs when he sees what he thinks is an accidental casualty, a man sprawled on the ground, not far from a beast Mako can't begin to recognize. He looks around for a moment before resolving to approach.]

Hey, you okay?

Underground \^^/<3

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei loves the ugliness of the Underground. The tenements crammed together like rotted teeth, overflowing filth and victims along stoops and fire-escapes.The blood stink wafting from the flagstones near the Raven. The aura of malaise radiating from the dingy husk of the Casino. The tang of trash, piss, and overheated flesh on a humid night at the Black Market. The dazzling lights of the Circus Carnivore, a hundred shades of skin and color -- all lit up in a panorama. ]

[ 'Li' blends perfectly into the Topside -- a poster-boy for well-adjusted suburbia. But his every impulse, every ingrained instinct, is constricted there. In the Underground, Hei can strip that timid mask away. Violence has been braided into the fabric of his world for so long. Back home, under the Syndicate's aegis, he'd been to ugly places, done ugly things. Uglier than anything the City usually offers up. The killer in his nature -- the Reaper -- had run him, and had to, for Hei to get through it alive. But here, in the City's stagnant environment, the Reaper doesn't want to stop. Hei isn't sure, sometimes, how to propitiate that side of himself. Or even if he can. The Reaper is always looking for a reason, a rationale, to come surging back out and take the wheel. ]

[ The Underground, at least, offers him an arena for 'playtime.' There are plenty of monsters here who understand the kinds of things Hei needs. ]

[ Lying on his back, Hei catches the tread of footsteps. He doesn't move. But under his mask, his eyes flick to the newcomer. Oh. It's Korra's friend. Mako. He'd barely spoken to the younger man -- or, at least, 'Li' had -- during Mako's last stay in the City. Beyond a token interest in Mako's potential usefulness, Hei had no reason to engage him. He has even lesser reason now. Especially in light of his sticky fling with Korra. ]

[ He doesn't answer Mako's question. The concern does him credit, but it's wasted here. Instead, he moves -- from boneless stillness to blurred motion. A wire whizzes from his sleeve, snagging the abutment of a crumbling building overhead. In a blink, Hei goes airborne, swooping to land on a rusted fire-escape. He has no interest in getting into a lengthy explanation here -- or a potential fight. ]

[ Mako would be wiser leaving him alone. ]

[flammiferous]

[Mako doesn't startle easily. The sudden tension in his chest and shoulders, visible in the way he stiffens straight is an automatic sign as to how he might regard this guy, this creature hereon. He's never seen anything like it.

He doesn't know what he's looking at. Variety exists among the population in The City, he's aware of that much, but he still has a lot to learn as to what the people are capable of. Some are capable of things he's never fathomed. The first day he arrived, a teenaged girl bent metal, albeit slightly, with the touch of a few words.

His eyebrows furrow. This isn't something that can go ignored. He can't shrug it off, he can't run away. He can't pretend something threatening didn't just happen.]

Hey, what are you?

[mortemscintilla]

[ What are you? ]

[ If Hei were anyone else, he'd smile grimly. That's his existential ethos, isn't it? The question du jour tacked onto the the messier code: BK201. Except he deals in the sphere of pragmatism, not philosophical frivolity. The question gets no reply. (If it did, though, it'd be: As human as you -- with a few extra features.) ]

[ Instead he moves soundlessly -- between one heartbeat and the next -- up the zigzag structure of the fire-escape. The metal barely vibrates under his footfalls. He hopes Mako won't follow him. The interruption is irritating, but, if they'd met under the Syndicate's orders, Hei wouldn't have hesitated to silence the young man on sight. Neither he nor his employers believe in eye-witnesses or loose ends. ]

[ His exit isn't a blow-off. It's a cross between a warning and a handwave. Leave it alone. ]

[ (Of course, he'd tried that same tactic on Korra. Her response had been to chase him across a building rooftop like he'd robbed a bank, punched a baby and called her fat to boot.) ]

the next morning

[sleepingstar]

[Pai slips softly into the living room. It hadn't been easy, easing her way out of her brother's arms so she wouldn't wake him, but she needs some time alone to think. She had told Hei not to worry, that everything would work out.

She just hasn't figured out how yet.

She's not the type to obsess over a problem. The surest way to lose an idea is to chase it too hard. You have to come at it sideways, as though you aren't actually approaching it at all. The mind is at its most creative when relaxed.

She kneels down in front of the little reptile's container, resting her arms on the table and her chin on her arms, and stares at the placid creature. Its stillness is meditative.]

the next morning

[mortemscintilla]

[ When Hei wakes up, he's sure it was all a dream, similar to so many previous dreams he's had over the years, some of them so technicolor-bright that he'd awaken to real pain at finding himself alone. But since Heaven's War, he's learnt to live with loneliness as with a stormcloud, always hovering overhead to the punctuation-marks of downpour and lightning. Except, if asked, he'd never call it loneliness. Absence maybe. Disconnection. He's always missed Pai, but that missing is so enormous it's become a standard-atmosphere. Just How Things Are. ]

[ But the sheets next to him are disturbed. There's a soft dent in the pillow. It wasn't a dream. ]

[ He transition from bleary-eyed to alert in a nanosecond A part of his brain, which has relearnt boundaries and standards of social acceptability since Heaven's War, snaps: Did you really just crawl into bed with her? He recalls it now, how he'd offered her the bed and taken the couch, the bad dreams that had woken him up, his instinctual desire to check on Pai, just like in the war. She'd been curled beneath the sheet, and he'd lain on top of it, as close as on those nights in-field, bloodsplattered and exhausted, waiting with patient resignation for the next crisis speeding up to meet them, waiting perhaps for their deaths. Not talking and not making eye-contact, but still somehow as content together as ... as they were ever likely to be. Ever meant to be. ]

[ Misery, compromise, loss, entente. Those were some of the words he'd use, to tell the story of he and Pai. Not that he ever has. Furtive, half-afraid she's vanished, he pads out of the room. Seeing her at Lizard's cage -- solid and tangible -- relief expands his lungs. ]

Still here. Good.

[sleepingstar]

[That didn't take long at all. Pai would be frustrated, except this is Hei as she's always known him -- clingy, needy, and paranoid. Half her life has been spent figuring out ways around the cage his love builds for her (around the cage, not breaking it. She would no more destroy that cage than a normal person burn down their childhood home).

She just smiles.]

Why a lizard?

[Reptiles are expensive and delicate creatures, difficult to care for and not at all affectionate. (How like a Contractor.) She's a little surprised that he would choose such a pet.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ Clingy. Needy. Paranoid. A side of Hei no one gets to see -- except Pai. (It's there other times too, of course. If you know what you're looking for.) ]

[ She smiles. And, after a tick, he settles beside her, crosslegged. His hair stands up in bed-tufts, shirt and jeans wrinkled. But his gaze is alert. At her question, there's a flicker of a smile. He vividly remembers Korra asking a similar question. He'd tiptoed around the honest answer then. But for Pai, he can strip away the layers of reserve. Most of them, anyway. ]

My day isn't complete without something cold-blooded and opportunistic mooching off me.

[ It's a deflection, yet-not. She can't know the changes that have occurred in five years. How Hei's hatred for Contractors has cooled and warped into a bittersweet familiarity. He's still a long way off from making peace with the rational and irrational aspects of himself. Everyday, those two sides wrestle for control at the helm. Sometimes the vicious Iceman wins. Sometimes the patient human does. But when the latter takes over, it whispers: You don't need to kill the iceman. Or even fight him. You just need to make more of yourself, so that he'll be less of you.]

[ There are days when it's not so hard to listen. ]