♦♦ 30TH CONTRACT - ANONYMOUS TEXT/ ACTION

[mortemscintilla]

Dear City,

Has anyone ever wondered about the ridiculous choices available in condoms? Or what they mean?

If you buy ribbed condoms, exactly who is that for? And what does it say to your partner? Those bumps are so small, you can hardly feel them with your fingertips. I doubt someone's orifices will notice the difference. What, then, is the subtext? That your junk lacks the requisites they find satisfying? 'So, I got ribbed condoms because my dick lacks flair. Or maybe flare.' 

That doesn't bode well.

And what's with the coloured ones? Those in green -- do they make you fantasize about comic book heroes? Or does the idea of a green schlong make you think of gangrene and that they'll probably have to amputate? The yellow ones. Hepatic dysfunction comes to mind. I have no idea what to say about the blue numbers, except I doubt anyone's enjoying it. Tissue hypoxia does it for no-one. The reds just make me think of elongated clown noses. Those are creepy enough on a clown. You don't need them between anyone's legs. And black. I wish I knew what to say about black. Once you roll them on, they don't exactly look black. More like a dull grey, which reminds me of zombies. If you ride too hard, will it fall off?

Then there's the brandnames. Durex has an intimidating 'dure' message that says: you'd better go for hours and like it. Trojans disturb me for several reasons. No one enjoys the 'Trojan Horse' implications. Hung like a horse might be a compliment, but fatal surprises aren't. Lifestyle makes you think of underhanded marketing strategies. All I feel for them is postmodern despair. Bravo seems like you're congratulating someone before the show's even started. In most of Asia, the popular brand is OK, which is equally anti-climactic. I guess it's just OK for them.

Lastly, there's the issue of the amount of condoms. I've wondered about it for a long time. Is a 12-pack too desperate? Does it signify overachievement? Then again, the 5-pack seems a little condescending. Like you've got valid reasons to lower expectations. And just 1 condom? Don't get me started.

Sure, choice and variety are liberating. But is it worth the angst?

Options For Run-Ins:

※ Underground

※ Library

※ Anywhere Else 

[ ooc: No, Hei hasn't lost his mind. However the senseless post has a coded message for Pai. ((Earday Arflowerstay, odecay Green Yellow Blue. Outway of ellcay. Imway OK. at st 151. In other words:  Dear Starflower, code Green Yellow Blue (re: All Clear). Out of cell. I'm OK.  At street 151.)) Blue highlights not ic, but can be if you'd like to go that route for funsies! Replies will be anonymous and untraceable! also, backtagging will be mighty, since I am a slow hiatusaurus<3 ]

Comments

action / text

[sleepingstar]

You're an idiot.

[Pai has been sitting in the waiting room of the prison since before the crack of dawn, waiting for him to be released. This complicated coded message? So unnecessary.]

action / text

[mortemscintilla]

[ It depends on your priorities. Hei's seen Anonymous' notes on the City. He's experienced their benign treatment of prisoners. But that doesn't mean he trusts them. He'd left the street number in the message obvious for a reason. He doubts they'd bother to put anyone in position quickly enough to spy on him there. Even if they wanted to, they wouldn't know quite when Hei was planning to meet Pai. And even if they guessed right, street 151 was near a shopping mall, with all its crowds and obscurity -- easy for two Contractors to fade into. Still, Hei hasn't survived this long by taking anything for granted, and the first thing he wants to do is make sure he's clean. That's the purpose of the message: a diversion within a diversion. ]

[ They've already clapped a tracking bracelet on his wrist. But that doesn't mean they've eschewed additional security measures. It might seem paranoid and obsessive. But he prefers to be sure. ]

[ Stepping into the office, the fluorescent lights, reflecting off the tiled floor, make him narrow his eyes. The cops at his shoulders, two stern, bearded man, direct Hei to the desk for token paperwork. When they're done, Hei stalks right by them without a glance, following his nose to the warm curl of coffee in the waiting room. There, Pai's presence -- her snappy greeting -- has the same effect on him as the coffee scent. In a blink, the weariness fades. He offers her a half-smile, ]

Sometimes. But I'm told it's not contagious.

action;

[sleepingstar]

[She slips her network device away and goes over to take his hand.]

I'm more worried it's genetic. [She makes a little face at him before leaning her head against his shoulder. Somewhere in the room, a man makes a noise about what a cute couple they are. Disgusting, but he's hardly the first person to think that of the two of them. Pai certainly doesn't help matters with the way she's dressed (specially chosen because it was an outfit he bought for her), and how she clings to him.]

[not here]

[indecent_butterfly]

[That post doesn't even require thought to someone who knows the actual face of the idiot he plays. Nor does it require a reply.

Idiot.]

[ not here]

[mortemscintilla]

[ Now, now. No need to be pissy about the clown-nose comment. ]

[ We know how sensitive you are. ]

action: library

[anatural]

[Maybe you should just give u--

NO.

Ever since Hei suggested it, Korra has been spending a few hours in the library every day, trying to get the stupid building to give up its stupid secrets. Easier said than done. The first day, it kept giving her books in that chickenscratch she's come to recognize as "English", which she can't read. The next day it was books in a language she didn't recognize at all. For the past few days, it's been in a language that looks like hers, but the grammar is all wrong.

Snarling, she pulls her hair.]

GIVE ME SOMETHING I CAN READ!!!!!!!!!

action: library

[mortemscintilla]

[ After mentally exhausting the list of Korra's hangouts, Hei's mildly surprised to learn she's at the Library. ]

[ But it only takes him a beat to reorient his thoughts. Given everything that's happened, everything that drives Korra, it makes perfect sense, too. Books on the Avatar. That word. Avatar. He can just see it, with perfect clarity, a whole corridor of a life stretching out behind Korra and beyond her -- the confines of its walls, floors, ceilings -- everything stamped in silvery symbols that spell A v a t a r, overlapping and entwining in a mindless maze. Yet, exasperating as her convictions are, he can't help admiring her a little for the firmness of them. It's why he's bothering to help her at all. He remembers what it's like to be a teenager, jittery in your every belief, your ideas about yourself constantly obscured by illusions. Granted, it wasn't books that helped set Hei straight on the trajectory of his life. But he needs them for references on Korra's world, not strict guidelines. ]

[ He waits until Korra's stopped shrieking -- amusement carefully concealed at the angry glances of other patrons. Eventually, he approaches her table -- knapsack slung over a shoulder, two paper cups of tea balanced in his hands. Setting one cup -- plain, steaming, dark as a witch's brew -- down before Korra, he leans into her ear to murmur, ]

Keep that up, and they'll kick you out instead.

[anatural]

[Korra jumps, the back of her head bumping against his shoulder. She leans to the side so she can actually look at him.]

You're out. [When did he get out? Wasn't that -- today's the 13th, isn't it? Crap. She'd even thought about swinging by the jail to greet him, but then she went to the library and these stupid books and argh! She shakes her head to dislodge the dizzying thoughts.] I mean, congratulations.

[Half a moment's hesitation and she presses a quick kiss to his check. (Not a dirty secret.)]

[Text]

[spaghettiokay]

[...]

What the fuck, dude?

[Text // Anonymous ]

[mortemscintilla]

[ If this were a voice, it would be mild as milk. ]

Something tough to swallow?

[spaghettiokay]

[...]

You must have a lot of time on your hands.

text;

[studmuffin]

[ It's like Hei is Stiles' soulmate. ]

i love you.

text;

[mortemscintilla]

[ Only more murderous? 8') ]

Good to know I'm not alone in pondering this vast, semiotic landscape.

text;

[studmuffin]

[ If he could, he would. ]

i once wrote an essay on male circumcision and then told everyone in the city about the history of stds. i think ur my soulmate !!!!

video;

[mapmaker]

C - they err, come in colours?

[ Disturbing the poor fellow. ]

video;

[mortemscintilla]

[ Sorry, Lupin. But the best way to deflect observation off of hidden messages is to toss in something raunchy. ]

[ Or at the very least, ridiculous. ]

Different flavors, too.

video;

[mapmaker]

I --. [ Oh Merlin, what is the world coming to? ] Why would they need to be flavoured?

[ Poor, sweet Remus. ]

Text

[trenchknives]

Do they really make colored ones. The future is fucking hilarious.

text

[mortemscintilla]

If primary colors aren't your bag, there are also tuxedo numbers.

text; i meant text... dammit...

[ladycroft]

This can be a very personal topic. Is there any particular reason you feel compelled to share your insights?

text <3

[mortemscintilla]

I suppose the City's multicolored money got me thinking of other useless types of rainbows.

[ That, and sex is an effective smokescreen when you need to deliver a private message. ]

Action;

[moonlitrequiem]

[Yin was incapable of who made entries to whom and about what, but as soon as her specter caught sight of Hei she stopped in her tracks and turned in the direction he was. But no, laying low. He had never told her it was okay to lift that order.]

[Currently she was near the fountain, and stood there for a while, instead of returning home, which she had been in the middle of.]

Action;

[mortemscintilla]

[ After half a month in a cell, the sun seems to be seeping into Hei, its heat boosting his body's metabolism to an itchy simmer. He's ducked under the canopy of a poky, gloomy antique shop, seemingly eyeing its wares -- ornate knives, elaborate fans, ivory chessboards. thickly-fringed rugs. He seems absorbed in picking something out. But the truth is, since being released from prison, he's refreshing his mental map of familiar territories. In his absence, Hei's discovered, things have moved around -- both Underground and Topside. Certain personal landmarks have shifted. He's found the sites of known contacts abandoned. Some locations have disintegrated altogether. Those he does locate are populated by fresh faces. ]

[ The antique store -- once a reliable venue to exchange info -- is one of the latter. Hei is preparing to make discreet inquiries about the previous owner. But, squinting past the orange sunlight beaming in from the street, he catches sight of a familiar figure. Yin. Who else would it be? No one has hair quite as phosphorescently silver as Yin's, or skin quite as luminously pale. Still, he has to admit she looks good. ]

[ How she looks has nothing to do with this, Hei thinks irritably. In the next blink, he slipped out of the shop. Crossed the street, and appeared unobtrusively at Yin's elbow. ]

Heading home?

[ Because who would know her schedules better than her obsessive stalker Hei? ]

IF ONLY HE KNEW WHO THIS WAS

[orangetoughguy]

What's wrong with you?

IT'S BETTER IF HE DOESN'T 8')

[mortemscintilla]

Fulfilling the City's monthly quota for absurd prurience.

The Network's already got the violence and whining covered.