poly_chromatic | 三十一

Entry tags:

legend of korra: korra

三十一

[She doesn't work today, but with Asami gone, the Beach House just feels too empty. Hard to believe it was once stuffed to the gills with people.

Korra's trying not to think about it. So instead of hanging out at the beach, swimming and dwelling, she's out window-shopping in the City.]

[ video - guess who still isn't any good at filtering? this girl ]
[Yeah, okay, she's still a little miffed with Hei, but the moment she sees this thing, she busts out laughing and has to share.]

I think I've found your new favorite pair of underwear.

[She holds up a set of edible bra & panties. She tries to waggle her eyebrows, but it's ruined by a fit of giggles, and then she cuts the connection before she can laugh too hard.]

[ video - a few minutes later - actually intended to be public ]
Hey Chekov -- or anybody else, I guess -- have your eyes changed color? Is this a curse thing? [She doesn't sound worried, just mildly confused. It seems pretty tame for a curse.]

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[ Darling. ]

[ Dearest. ]

[ Dead. ]

[ In other circumstances he'd overlook the filter-fail. But with Pai wearing someone else's face, his patience is already frayed. Part of him can still feel the anger erupting in little bubbles through the sticky, gooey film of his self-restraint. Switching to a private line, he says, with an absolute absence of expression, ]

It looks ridiculous.

[ Well, no. It doesn't. But he isn't viewing the world through an amorous lens today. ]

[Well okay, that's not the reaction she was expecting.]

Yeah. I know. [She didn't say she thought they were hot -- she thinks they look stupid and uncomfortable. She was just teasing.

She really should know better.]

Are you okay? [Not like there's any point in her asking. Odds are good he's just going to bite her head off. But she'd rather get her head bitten off than dance around the subject.]

[ She always seems to catch him at a bad time. But then, timing's usually the catalyst behind most disasters, isn't it? ]

[ She asks Are you okay? And predictably, Hei feels a sharp spasm of annoyance. With effort, he forces it down. He's never liked having strangers all up in his business. But he likes even less, how she gets in the face of his anger, offering a sympathetic ear so calmly. So ready to placate him. (Like she's humoring a child who's starting a tantrum for no reason.) ]

[ But aren't you acting like a child? His jaw tightens, but otherwise he keeps the vitriol in check. ]

I'm fine. [ When in doubt, revert to the default phrase. A beat in which his gaze skates across her face. The eyes are dark and fawn-like. Pretty and full of intelligence. A buzz of recognition at the back of his mind makes Hei itch. Aloud, he says, ] Those eyes don't suit you.

[Liar. She scowls at him, but his comment about her eyes distracts her from arguing with him about it.]

Yeah, they're kind of weird. I think it's some kind of curse.

[ The distraction, in fact, was the point. ]

[ He keeps his gaze on the eyes, and there's something in his stare suggestive of picking a toy apart and finding it wanting. Objectively they're beautiful eyes; they belong to a beautiful woman. But they stir up reminders of rabid starvelings in Hei. (That's the look particular to Carla; hungry and vicious and glittering all the time, like she's picking the world apart and wolfing down the dirty fragments, licking her fingers and kissing her teeth in self-destructive glee.) ]

[ (It's a look he's never found charming.) ]

It's a curse, [ he clarifies flatly. Then, ] I know whose eyes they are.

Wait they belong to somebody?!?!

[Having her eyes change color is one thing. Having them be somebody else's....is just gross. Her hands go up to her cheeks, almost like she's going to claw them out. But that's dumb.]

Miss Carla Morir.

[ At another time, Korra's reaction would be amusing. But there's nothing in Hei's expression; not even a twitch of a half-smile. It's strange, how with time he's disassociated Korra's blue eyes from Pai's, and come to see them as special features in themselves, the defining trademarks of Korra. That's the picture she paints, in his head -- except it's not a picture so much as a sensory aura. A kaleidoscopic blur of eyerolls and pouts and giggles, a haze of black and brown and blue, a scent that calls seasides and forests and tumbleweeds to mind. ]

[ They're just eyeballs. Why do they matter? He has no idea how to answer. ]

[ To Korra, he says, ] She probably has your eyes.

[The idea of someone else having her eyeballs is nearly as disgusting.]

It's a curse. It'll be over tomorrow.

[Right. Right? RIght.]

[ Hei thinks, if she knew just who Carla was, she'd spontaneously combust. But he doesn't bother adding to her distress. Pitching his voice to soothe, he says, ]

It should.

I doubt she'd stick pokers in your eyes.

[ Although privately he's not so sure. Of all the people, it's whimsically ironic that Korra's eyes would end up with a half-rotting self-harmer. ]

[Good god, Korra, there are things that Chekov doesn't want to think about, please. The combination of Korra, Hei--because of course that underwear comment was meant for Hei--and candy panties is one of those things.]

Would you like help with your filter? [He's embarrassed for you, bro.]

And yes, there's a curse today. You look strange without blue eyes.

My filter? [blink. blink.] No, that wasn't supposed to be filtered.

[Yeah, she totally thinks you're talking about the cursed eyes question.]

[...

........]

You want to tell the entire City that you have found its favorite pair of underwear?

[...........................................]

FIX IT. FIX IT RIGHT NOW.

There, done.

So that was an accident?

[She nods, burying her face in her hands.]

Kill me.

Korra, no one noticed.

Maybe.

I think they would have said something.

[She was almost hopeful. Almost. But when he says "maybe", she groans and bangs her head on the nearest available surface.]

[ERK. SHE DOESN'T WANT TO THINK ABOUT THAT. UGH.]

[ The look on her face is so ridiculously terrified that Hei feels compelled to add, ]

Relax. [ In a rare moment of generosity (Is that truly what this is about? No, it's about his own interests as always), he says, ] I'll keep an eye on her. [ Oh, look. Bad pun. ]

I can keep my own eyes on her. Kind of. [considering Carla has her eyes.]

Where is she?

[ Hei is tempted to let her go meet Carla on her own. This isn't his concern. But he's also aware the meeting could end in either a small or large-scale disaster. His voice isn't kind, but it's offhand when he says, ]

Depends on her mood. [ The Iris, her flat, somewhere near the Beach -- Carla seems to have a fatal attachment to transience. ] I'll help you look.

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