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poly_chromatic2013-11-05 10:55 pm
mortemscintilla) wrote in poly_chromatic2013-11-05 10:55 pm
Entry tags:
♦♦ 32ND CONTRACT - ANONYMOUS TEXT/ACTION
A light show. Just what's needed after a month of witches and possessed goats. Sure, everything seems mellow now. No zombies or general epidemics. But distractions are just that. Distractions. No amount of Burning Man rituals and fireworks take away from the fact that everyone is still stuck here. That's not exactly something worth celebrating.
Still, it could be worse.
Of course that's a mixed blessing. Some of you are only tolerable in the pitch dark.
Options For Run-Ins:
Cafe: You'll find him behind the display case, sliding in a fresh tray of pinwheel cookies, a sprinkling of flour on his nose. Canapes, bonfire toffee, sausage roll-ups, sticky chocolate pudding, baked apples with cinnamon ... It's like he's trying to kill the City with saccharin-induced diabetes. Maybe he is.
Hey. At least it's a tasty way to go.
Xanadu: Crunching on a toffee-apple, he drifts through the park. Watching, not the brilliant displays in the dark sky, but his periphery. He's still in the habit of thinking operationally, and is as matter-of-fact about it as he is effective. But that doesn't mean he can't stop, for a moment, to listen to the crack-snap-pop of sparklers, or watch the glittering streaks of color exploding like supernovas above.
Anywhere Else: The dark is his element, and he utilizes the opportunity to explore. He stops by the City's outskirts, looking out at the sweep of the lakes, the glittering buildings, the glittering fireworks blossoming in the sky. Festivities seem to be dwindling, and who could've anticipated that he'd feel so rueful about that. Then again, all tonight is, is a lull, before some new curse threatens to snatch everything away in one big explosion of chaos. Whatever intervals of quiet he indulges in are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
Still he doesn't mind this pause. It makes things better and worse at the same time -- but sometimes it's necessary too.
[ ooc: Don't be fooled. Despite the general grumpiness, Hei is actually rather enjoying the fireworks. Backtagging friendly forevermore; I'll be very slow this week<3 ]
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[ Sheepishly, he ducks his head. ]
And yeah. I guess that's pretty obvious. [ A pause, before he ventures, curious, ] You say it was a 'recent development'? Like, um, some 'onset of puberty' thing? Or did he acquire the power?
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[She stares up at the sky.]
He acquired the power. Somehow. He refuses to tell how. Some sort of powerful beings. [
the mun]no subject
[
All muns are devious, sadistic monsters.]So... what's that have to do with the fire, if you don't mind my asking? [ A peripheral gesture to the crackling bonfire she's started up. ] Is it like some conduit for communicating with your brother?
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And he knows and hates us for it]Li and Lar.
[There's a grin.]
He's always been good with fire. He's a fire wizard. [Among other things.] So it's more of a ... thing for me, I guess. I'm sure he'd hear me just as well if I was talking to him in the middle of the street. But the fire is more of a connection.
And I get the satisfaction of completely destroying it when I'm done.
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With a deep and burning passion.][
Heh. Burning. Get it? (...Okay, I'll be quiet now.)]I could call you Lar, if you want. Although it's not as pretty as Laruna.
[ He absorbs the information with a thoughtful look. ]
A fire wizard, huh? Why do I feel like he might have a temperament to go with that?
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I luv you]Why thank you. That's very sweet of you.
[That may be a bit flirtatious on her end.]
Actually he's not. He tends to be a bit on the quiet side. A bit of a slow burner. And a bit of a twerp.
[She's allowed to say that. She's his sister.]
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Blushu~u///u ][ At her tone, a pinkness creeps from Li's hairline to his collar; thankfully it's dark enough to stay concealed, as long as he doesn't fidget or otherwise give his ineptitude with talking to pretty girls away. (It's fake, of course. But like all masks, it has a purpose. Relaxing the other party's guard.) ]
I guess the phrase 'It's always the quiet ones' is true in more than one way. [ A beat, before he slips his hands into his pockets, head tilted at Laruna, ] What about you? Are you a wizard too?
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Oh yes. Subtly really isn't his strong suit. He could probably take out a good part of the City with no problem but... crafting something delicate from stone or ice is completely beyond him.
[Here she gives him a bit of an annoyed condescending look. It's not really intentional, it's more of an aspect of her upbringing. Wizards are on the top of the food chain and then there's everyone else. And her family is one of the ones on top of the wizard food chain.]
Of course I am. Back home, wizards are a race of people not ... not an occupation.
[The word "occupation" is said with severe disgust and dislike.]
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[ Which is why he cringes so convincingly at the look Laruna shoots him, ducking his head and shuffling his feet in embarrassment. ]
I-I'm sorry. I didn't realize. [ A couple of beats, before he clears his throat, ] So, um, do all the wizards in your world have an element tied to them? Like fire or air or water?
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[She is unrepentant. Mortal.]
Yes. Nowadays each wizard can control one kind of element. The element tend to run in families. Water families, earth families... though there are some families that will have multiple types within. But no one can control all four... [She hesitates briefly.] Except Alec. But he's, as I'm sure you've gathered, special.
[And I swears to God I came up with this way back in the mid-nineties before Avatar the Last Airbender was ever thought of.]
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Special, huh? [ It does remind him of a certain young lady -- (problem child) -- on his Rolodex. But these days, Korra can't do much beyond airbend. ] So is he like a 'chosen one' of some sort? Or just extremely talented?
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No. He's just exceptionally unlucky. A long time ago an element wizard married into the family. Alec is just the first one who's manifested the ability since that time.
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[ He musters a self-conscious little grin, eyes averted and one hand scrubbing the back of his neck. At the next remark, though, there's a musing Hm sound. ]
That makes sense. He's a throwback. [ He shakes his head, ] I guess it really does come down to fortunate genetics in the end.
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[Somewhere, Alec starts cackling like a loon. Everyone around him wonders why, but he refuses to enlighten them.]
Yes. Very much a throwback. Though I don't know how fortunate it is.
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Think of it this way. Even in the City, away from your family, it's nice to know that at least someone is watching over you. [ Beat. ] O-Of course, if he did that all the time it would be. Well. Weird.
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He probably is. [She grouses momentarily.]
What about you?
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[ I mean -- ]
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Me? [ An awkward little smile, and a deliberate misconstrual. (This would be Li's socially-inept cloddishness, coming in a wrecking ball.) ] I think if someone was watching over me, they'd have sunk into a coma from the boredom by now.
[ Never mind that, to a certain degree, that's what Amber had done for him -- across the confines of space and time. ]
*Laughs hard enough to wake the cat.*
No... I mean your family. How many younger siblings do you have? Are you the oldest?
[She gestures for him to take a seat at the fire if he'd like.]
8)
[ Li hesitates a moment, then settles crosslegged in the sand, something neatly fastidious in the way he sits down, pinching the thighs of his trousers and hitching them a fraction to save the crease at the knee. At Laruna's question, he says, a little shyly (or is it just a subdued tone? It's impossible to tell), ]
Just one sister. Younger than me.
[ The only place he can see her -- tangibly, literally -- is in the City. Back home... she may as well be stardust. ]
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What's she like?
[Laruna completely doesn't pay attention to how he sits. That happens to other people.]
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Well... [ The original BK201. The destroyer of continents. A child-soldier. A sharper Contractor than him. More powerful and infinitely more deadly. But also, in her own way, extremely isolated and vulnerable. ]
[ He pauses, before he amends, ]
Quiet. Sort of withdrawn. Trying to find herself. She's only fourteen.
[ A shrug, as if to say You know how they are.. ]
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[
Also not very good at going drinking]That's pretty near adult for a human, isn't it? I mean, she could get married in a few years, right?
[Cultural differences, yay!]
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[ He sputters, wide-eyed. ]
No. Absolutely not! She's barely done being a baby!
[ Of course, she'll always be a baby to Hei. He's still in the habit of glaring daggers at any young men who as much as smile at her on the street. Neither he or Pai are sheltered innocents, true -- the word innocence means nothing if you grow up in a war-zone. But Hei is extremely, often unhealthily, protective of her. ]
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I'm guessing sex is right out?
[Her eyebrows are arched a little as she says this, clearly not to pleased with his reaction. He really is sounding like Alec there. It's the over protectiveness. Alec doesn't really care one way or the other who Laruna has sex with. ... Mostly. He doesn't care that she has sex.]
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