poly_chromatic | ♦♦ 32ND CONTRACT

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darker than black - hei

♦♦ 32ND CONTRACT - ANONYMOUS TEXT/ACTION

Oh perfect. 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. Pai could be gone. I could be back home. This 'perpetual darkness' theme could last more than 24 hours. Then there'd be no end to the belly-aching. 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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Chosen one? [Okay that's the funniest thing she's ever heard. Alec a Chosen One!?] Like out of some sort of story?

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.

That's usually how all stories go, don't they?

[ 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.

Yes, but this is real life, not a story.

[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.

[ Meanwhile, in the City, Hei's ears burn, and he lifts a hand to politely scratch one rim, wondering if he's developing an infection. ]

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.

[He seeeeees you Hei. O_O]

He probably is. [She grouses momentarily.]

What about you?

[ OMG NO HE DIDN'T MEAN TO ATTACK YOUR SISTER STAY AWAAAAY. ]

[ I mean -- ]

[ He raises his eyebrows, as if confused by the context of the question, ]

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. ]

[Fuck no. But he'll be good and not turn you into a hamster or something small and pitiful. Maybe a penguin though. Those are funny.]

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.]

[ How about a lizard? It'd suit his temperament? :c ]

[ 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. ]

[Penguins are funnier.]

What's she like?

[Laruna completely doesn't pay attention to how he sits. That happens to other people.]

[ But not menacing! He needs to be menacing, gdi!!! ]

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.. ]

[Sorry! Rule of funny trumps rule of cool in this case.]

[~~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!]

Wha-a-a-at?!

[ 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. ]

[Is that a Li reaction or a Hei reaction? Or a little bit of both?]

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.]

[ It's a Li reaction. Hei would just glower and say, Shut the hell up 8| ]

[ The blush on Li's face is red-hot enough to send thermometer mercury popping. Gaze dipped, he stutters, ]

O-of course it is! I'm not sure what they do in your world, but where I'm from, you don't encourage children to -- to -- well. You know.

[ Sex, Li. S e x. Say the forbidden word. ]

[She grins at him and leans over so that they're fairly close. Not touching, but fairly close.]

I first had sex when I was fourteen. I can't say it was great but me and the other girl really didn't have any idea what we were doing. So... yes.

[she pulls away.]

It's not a bad thing.

[ Here's a secret. Hei lost his virginity at fourteen too, under the Syndicate's aegis. Part of an assignment, and also another layer of his training. An exercise to establish the usefulness of sex as a commodity, a tool, with no intrinsic value attached. The Syndicate believed in stripping illusions from its soldiers at the earliest convenience. ]

[ He doesn't say that though. 'Li's face just blanches, then reddens, then blanches again. Glancing down at his hands, interlaced tightly in his lap, his stammers, ]

E-Even so. That was your choice to make. But sometimes there are repercussions to things people do -- especially if they're not ready for them, or don't understand what they mean. [ More steadily, ] It might not be a bad thing. But sometimes it can be. The world's not always a nice place. I guess while I'm here, it's my job to make sure my sister's life has one less ... complication.

[She tilts her head thoughtfully.]

She's not very emotionally mature?

[ More like lacking what most people consider conventional human emotions. She's not unfeeling and robotic, Hei knows that much. But she is, in many ways, so rational she's almost ... sociopathic. ]

[ But he won't say that. Instead, ]

Most kids aren't, at that age.

I like to think I was.

[She wasn't. But she can be delusional, right?]

[ Hei would refute that remark with a scowl, but since this is Li, he just chuckles, ]

Well. I'm sure there are exceptions to every rule. But generally you make awful mistakes when you're that young. It's part of the whole ... 'growing pains' rule.

Oh yes. Or when you're older. [There's a brief flash of sadness on her face.]

[ He notices the expression on her face, and his own settles into a moue of sympathy. ]

Point. Some mistakes are so terrible, nothing can make up for them. [ A beat, before he ventures, ] But you seem like such a nice person. You can't have made too many mistakes, right?

[ Says the murderer. ]

It depends on what you consider to be a mistake.

[ He tilts his head, regarding her with a well-meaning sort of curiosity. ]

How so? If you don't mind my asking, that is.

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*Laughs hard enough to wake the cat.*

8)

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Laughs hard enough to wake the cat.