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poly_chromatic2013-08-24 12:08 am
mortemscintilla) wrote in poly_chromatic2013-08-24 12:08 am
Entry tags:
♦ ♦ 29TH CONTRACT - Video/Action/Text
[ It happens as it's just getting light, at six in the morning. At the City's mountaintops, the vista is bleak, almost apocalyptic. On a flat stretch of rock, the harsh treeless beauty of the landscape opens out on both sides, making Hei feel small, less than himself, yet at the same time pleasantly calm. His form, outlined in a blue glow, is preternaturally still. His eyes are fixed on the meteor shard he holds up, between a thumb and forefinger. ]
[ It takes a moment before he channels his ability and focuses on periscoping it skywards. But when it happens, the scent of ozone floods the air like a thunderstorm. The abrupt blue light glaring off him is intense; it's hard to see anything beyond it, and when you blink, pink and orange spots blind you. ]
[ In a perfect funneling arch, the light shoots straight for the City's barrier. ]
Options For Run-Ins:
1) Mountain-top (After): [ Have you spotted the source of the disturbance? Then arrest him. We suggest wearing shockproof gear and sunglasses. Rubber boots are also a plus. ]
2) Hiking (Before): [ He's plotted out a careful route. He's marked a spot with a perfect trajectory to target the Barrier. Now all that matters is reaching there. In his thick clothes and heavy gear, he seems like an explorer. But if you see him -- and recognize 'Li' -- you might be surprised at how spry he is with a coil of rope on the towering rocks. ]
[ ooc: Barrier Plot post! Characters who can withstand the horribu blinding light -- and climb the mountain he's sitting on -- are free to run into Hei. Tags can be Before or After the energy-blast itself, but please title them as such! Backtag friendly as always.<3 (...c-curse my slow ;;). ]
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[She's not going anywhere until she gets an answer.]
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I conducted an experiment. [ One that was too risky to involve her. Here, more than ever, he'd prefer to keep her away from dubious barriers and meteor shards. ] The results were ... unpredictable.
[ But his tone makes it clear he's not altogether disappointed. ]
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[ Nothing else to say. He terminates the connection. ]
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[ The safehouse itself is unremarkable; virtually identical to the huts on either side. The door into the front passage faces the street, but is half-hidden inside a dark guard-box of a porch, affording shelter from the scrutiny of the neighbours. There are no lodgers upstairs, as Hei has leased both floors and decided, for discretion's sake, to leave the upper rooms empty. Slipping his keycard into the automated slot, he walks indoors. The room is crowded with old, mismatched furniture and a generator dripping black, pungent oil onto a linoleum floor. Ar flickering fluorescent tube high on the wall bathes everything a sickly green. ]
[ With a tired breath, Hei sheds his jacket on a lumpy couch. He knows the safehouse isn't empty; the security system advertises a second inhabitant. Quietly, he calls, ] Pai?
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What did you find out?
[She settles down on the rickety couch and studies him. At first she had been upset with him, but it didn't take her long to realize his reasons, and to understand that what he has learned may be worth the risk he took. (She might still be angry that he didn't tell her about this, but that's Hei. He always tries to shelter her, for what little it's worth. She can hardly resent him for that. Besides, it's not like he actually hurt himself. All's well that ends well.)]
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[ There's no affectionate clinch. No reaching out to ruffle her hair. But it has less to do with Pai than with Hei's own state-of-mind. He looks pretty terrible: hair messy, face still blotched from the cold mountains, the dirt tracks visible on his face. He carries with him into the room the stale grunginess of the outdoors. Heading to the utility sink, he does his best to rinse the grime off his face and hands. He drinks some of the cold water from his cupped palms, and remains leaning there, shivering against the heavy porcelain, letting it run over his hands. Even with the faucet on and the distance between them, he can hear Pai's breathing. From time to time, there's an occasional tremor, rattling the furniture and vibrating the walls. But they're aftershocks; nothing dire. ]
[ Eventually, in response to Pai's question, ]
The Barrier controls the City's atmosphere as much as the Clock. There's some truth to the theory that it's like a system of nerves. Hurt one point and everything goes haywire.
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Did you see what's on the other side?
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It was ... strange. Like looking into the Gate.
[ The memory of the assignment at PANDORA, the mess with Nick and the Meteor Shard, hits him like a boomerang that comes back around to clock the inexperienced thrower. Just before Nick had vanished into that child's simulacrum of a rocket -- was it real? did Hei hallucinate it? -- the sky had opened up. What Hei had seen in that gap -- it was like the most impossible parts of the cosmos, the molecules vibrating around a comet's tail and the hot-cold burgeoning shadows that tell darkness to form. Nietzsche's goddamned Abyss calling him home. ]
[ An abstract description, and one Pai's Contractor mind won't grasp, any more than Hei's pragmatic one can. He sighs, and rests his forehead against the glass. ]
Everything and nothing. Does that make any sense?
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Anything else?
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[ But he's in no mood for early-morning grooming rituals. Sidling back to the couch, he vaults the back and settles beside Pai in a neat, smooth movement. For a moment he just watches her eat, absorbing her warmth, and her presence with it. All things told, the experiment could've gone worse. Pai could've been angrier. His stomach dipps, but rallies as he understands that she's being pragmatic. In her place, Hei would find it harder to muster that kind of clear-headedness. ]
When the attack occurred, sources indicated that Anonymous went straight to the Clock. [ A beat, as he considers the implications of this. ] It's fair to say the Barrier is the nervous system. But the Clocks the stabilizing element. They're all tied together, and each can't function without the other. In the event of a rebellion, you'd have to hit every part to weaken the City as a whole.
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Almost every other year, there's attempts to escape the City. Or to overthrow the Deities. Very few are successful. [ He leans in, a pointed closing of their space to nudge his shoulder against hers -- and to pluck an apple slice from her plate. Popping it into his mouth, he chews contemplatively, ] Even after studying each attempt, there's no logical pattern to why some succeeded, where others fail. It's extremely arbitrary.
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Chance. [It's a fact of life. In even the most mundane of situations, there are a multitude of variables that affect the outcome. Some you can plan for, some you can't.]
What are you trying to achieve? [She doesn't notice, probably would never admit to, the irritation creeping into her voice. In her heart of hearts, she's still not happy with the risks he took, and him nicking a piece of her food only makes the anger harder to ignore.]
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[ The charge makes his teeth sing and sparks an acrid tang of copper at the back of his throat. He lets a fraction of his own ability surge out to neutralize the zap. But otherwise he takes it in good part. Food was always serious business in Heaven's War. Hei remembers strident arguments with Amber, when he'd leave portions of his rations for Pai to eat. She'd warn him it was a tactical error. Everyone had to carry their own weight. Everyone had to eat enough to stay healthy. If he skimped meals, he'd be useless in battle -- and useless at protecting Pai. (The memories of that period in their life, the blunt frustrating struggle of it, piles up in his mind. He realizes it makes him feel a little better, this forced recollection of something besides Amber's sacrifice. They'd been capable of towering conflicts, fierce fights. Easy to forget now that she's gone.) ]
I wish it was that simple. [ He won't deny that the universe is probabilistic in nature. But accepting the reality of chance as a causal factor, isn't the same as accepting that any and all events are unforeseeable to the human mind. People may not not predict or comprehend the exact circumstances -- because they're finite and fallible. But that doesn't mean you can't always trace the exact influences to predict the exact outcomes. If there's anything Hei's learnt from Amber, it's that the triggering cause isn't the same as the determining result. The freedom of choice -- the direction of each outcome -- is in your hands. ]
[ His emotional antennae, always sensitive around Pai, catch the irritation. Oh. Not quite as serene as she seems on the surface. But somehow, he finds that more reassuring that dismaying. There's a beat before he says, very quiet and factual, ]
Trying to find a way to keep us together. For as long as possible.
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How is this supposed to help?
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[ But no. Clever as Pai is, she's still new to the City. More than that, it's in her nature to stay in the moment. She's a creature of expedience, as all Contractors are. A mindset Hei tries to emulate, but to a lesser degree of success, because the need for control and comprehension is still such a strong facet to his nature. He doesn't like the idea of being in an environment where he doesn't know the rules. Where the rules, such as they are, shift with each sunrise. It's too much like being back in Heaven's War. ]
[ Worse than Heaven's War. At least there, he was in his element, however much he despised it. Here, it's like the rug is always being yanked from under his feet. ]
There's a theory that the City's connected to multiple timelines. Hundreds of dimensions and universes. [ His eyes are very dark in the anemic tube-light. More black than blue, like an oil spill. ] If I can understand how this place works, I could find a way for us to stay together. Otherwise there's no point. You could leave at any time. Or I could. Even City Dead, who're supposedly stuck here forever, vanish without a trace. It's too unpredictable.
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You're in trouble now.
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I am. [ Another set of tremors spreads beneath them, but they barely last five seconds. He times them to the rhythm of his and Pai's breathing, waiting until they fade. Then, ] I'm going to turn myself in. Running is a pointless option.
[ His hand lifts to smooth the hair from her forehead. It's an unspoken I'm sorry and Don't be angry and Don't do anything rash. ]
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I won't let them hurt you. [She will kill however many people she needs to kill in order to protect him.]
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[ Hei squeezes her tighter, eyes slipping shut. ]
I'd be amazed if they could hurt me. [ In several ways, he's beyond that point. Physical agony is a relative impediment. Mental agony, more specific but also more elusive. Half the discomfort is rooted in fear -- and that's something he's learnt to wrench from his psyche years ago. Gentler, he adds, ] Pavel will be keeping an eye on you. Try not to ... scare him.
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I don't need a babysitter!
[She's a soldier, a Contractor, a future destroyer of continents. She doesn't need someone to keep an eye on her!]
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[ Soldier, Contractor, destroyer of continents ... she may be all those things. But fundamentally she's a fourteen-year-old girl. She may have stayed in a world where lives ended with a snap of two fingers, but that isn't the only balance of power that existence allows. Much shakier bargains are sometimes necessary, to safeguard your interests. ]
He won't stay with you all the time. Just stop by with meals. Proper ones -- not the kind that start out microwaved. Take you for outings, so you aren't cooped up indoors.
[ He's letting you hang around with a cute boy, mei-mei. Don't look so dismayed. ]
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I can cook for myself. [Not as well as Hei does, but she can!] And I won't be stuck inside just because you're not around.
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[ He fights to keep his amusement at her refreshingly normal reaction off his face. ]
I never said you couldn't. [ Leaning in, he drops a kiss on the whorl of her hair, so she won't see his lips twitching. ] But I'd feel better if you weren't alone. [ A beat. ] Be glad I didn't tell Korra to babysit you.
[ As if he's that ignorant of the possessive mechanism of female psyches -- or that addicted to brewing disasters. ]
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