♦♦ 32ND CONTRACT - ANONYMOUS TEXT/ACTION

[mortemscintilla]

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 ]

Comments

[water_wine_wizard]

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

[mortemscintilla]

[ 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. ]

[water_wine_wizard]

It depends on what you consider to be a mistake.

[mortemscintilla]

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

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

[water_wine_wizard]

Well, sometimes you do things on purpose but later turn out to not be such a good idea. And somethings happen by accident or you didn't mean to but then they turn out to be good.

[mortemscintilla]

That's true.

But ... [ He bites his upper lip, thoughtful. ] You have no way of knowing how things will turn out. No matter what your intentions are, or how well you plan things out. I guess that's ... [ A moment's hesitation. ] That's what life's all about, not to sound cheesy.

[water_wine_wizard]

Unless you can see the future or travel through time.

[mortemscintilla]

[ That would be where his darling ex, Amber, comes in. ]

If you ask me, I'd feel better not knowing what my future holds. There's a horrible responsibility ... a burden ... that comes with being privy to all that information. And there's no guarantee that even if you can travel through time, you can change things to suit yourself. What if it backfires and makes everything worse?

[water_wine_wizard]

That's what Alec says.

Jono just gets pissy when he can't see his own future. But he's a twit too.

[mortemscintilla]

Well, no offense, but Alec sounds like the more rational one here.

[water_wine_wizard]

Jono is a Oracle. He's used to being able to see the future.

[mortemscintilla]

Really?

Can he see every aspect, or does he just get signs and flashes?

[water_wine_wizard]

I think just... signs and flashes. Though occasionally he gets visions, which afterwards he doesn't remember.

[mortemscintilla]

That must be frustrating. [ doot doot ] I can see why he'd act like a twit.

[water_wine_wizard]

Oh, no, he's been a twit long before he could see the future. I've known him since we were five. Becoming the Oracle has just made him worse.

[mortemscintilla]

[ Li offers a pensive smile, fingers tracing little curlicues in the sand. ]

You seem to have left a lot of interesting people behind, back home. Do you miss them?

[water_wine_wizard]

Are they interesting? They're just... family.

[After all she's lived with them her entire life. That's normal, right?]

And sure I miss them sometimes, but I like it here most of the time.

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei wouldn't know. He's left that word -- normal -- too far behind in the dust, trampled and half-deformed, to remember what it looks like anymore. ]

Really? Even with the curses, and people disappearing without warning?

[ His confusion is feigned. He doesn't mind the City either, most of the time. It's much safer than his homeworld. (And here, at least he can be with Pai.) ]

[water_wine_wizard]

Yes, even then. No place is perfect.

[It's a world where she can do whatever she wants with no responsibility and ties back home.]