三十五

[anatural]

[ action ]
[Chekov had called to tell her that it was Visitors Weekend, and Korra almost decided to stay holed up at the Beach House. She's been here for over a year now. She's seen them come & go so many times, has spent so much time without them... would they even recognize her? (Her clothes from home have gotten tattered beyond repair -- she's dressed in jeans and the polar bear dog hoodie Hei had given her.) More importantly, would she recognize them -- or are they now as good as complete strangers? A part of her doesn't want to find out.

But. If they are here... she can't leave them alone. They'll need her help.

Half dreading, half-hopeful, 100% queasy, Korra and Naga hit the City streets, looking for familar faces.]

Comments

[blackshadow]

Ah, it's you...

[ Different clothing or not, Tyr still recognized her when he came through the streets. Maybe just because of Naga, but she was also one of the last people he spoke to before he left almost a year ago.

While Korra had begun to blend into the City, Tyr looked the same as always. His baby face, grey-green cloak, and custom staff hadn't changed even a little. Although he didn't know the reason for her unease, he approached her slowly. ]

[anatural]

Tyr! [Korra smiles and slides off of Naga.] I didn't think I'd see you! How are you?

[He, at least, is one friend she feels unequivocal pleasure about seeing again.]

[blackshadow]

[ He gives her a bright smile back before offering out his hand to her. ] I'm fine. I didn't expect I'd end up back here either, but...

[ He shakes his head. Nothing he can do about it now, especially since he hasn't forgotten what crowds like this mean. More likely than not, this was just a little visit. ]

How have you been?

[bookbending]

[Naga's still easy to find. Jinora's too pleased to see Korra to worry about things like how much time has passed here or how much farther she herself has progressed in their storyline since she was last in the City.]

Korra!

Dated - Sunday Evening

[mortemscintilla]

[ The Visitor Weekends never fail to fill Hei with anticipation -- and a fever-pitch of alertness that borders on paranoia. There's no way to tell who the City might yank in from his homeworld. So he amps up the surveillance measures, staying both on red alert and inside himself, suspended in a subzero zone only he can recognize. It's not the familiar faces he's itching to see. (Although if they do show up, he won't complain. Pai, in particular, might cheer up with a visit from Amber. Maybe even Carmine.) ]

[ However, his focus is on other elements. Potentially hostile ones. ]

[ Nightfall descends as he completes a round of the Underground. There’s something so alive about the place during these weekends, something so imbued with possibilities. With its zigzagging schools of pedestrians, the hustle and noise, these two days are the more upbeat of the City's melodies. But it also seems burdened by the quotidian clamor, and almost relieved, by Sunday evening, to be able to ease into the twilight and set aside the weight of the day. Night strips away the superfluity and the distractions. ]

[ Merging with the crowd, unobtrusive -- almost invisible -- Hei stops at a streetside cafe to buy a chai latte. He's already given Pai permission to go exploring the City tonight. A sop, of sorts, to take her mind off her isolation. It's a short-term solution, he knows. The enemy, in this case, isn't something he can ambush and annihilate. Not without careful planning. Part of him wonders if Pai would be happier getting a part-time job. Something in the Underground, instead of Topside, since she's more at home in the former. He'll have to ask her about it. ]

[ In the meantime, he's ready to head to his safehouse. Get started on a new project. ]

[anatural]

[...way to ask the tough questions, Tyr. Korra's really not sure what to say. Nightmarishly awful? Constant heartbreak? One disaster after another?]

Better now that I've run into you. Thanks for leaving me your zoo, by the way. [She grins, because she really does love the herd of animals.]

[anatural]

JINORA! [The young girl is probably the one person from Korra's world that she has unequivocal pleasure in seeing. She slides off of Naga and sweeps Jinora up into a big hug.] It's so good to see you!

[bookbending]

You too!

[Even though she just saw her. Different worlds, she gets it. She hugs Korra tightly.]

[anatural]

[Jinora vanished after lunch. Korra knew it would happen, but somehow that doesn't make it easier. She spent some time with Chekov afterwards to stave off loneliness, but then things came up and after dinner she found herself alone again. She could head home.

Or she could head Underground.

Guess which option she chooses.

Part sadness, largely hormones. They've been hooking up this month more than they ever have, but that's just shown Korra how far from satisfied she is. Her nerves sing as she slips into his apartment. ]

[blackshadow]

[ Given the nature of the City, he should know it can't be great for her, but in the time that's passed, the inevitably awful nature of the City has almost become a faded memory.

Maybe that's underscored by the fact he actually ends up laughing a little when she says that, none the wiser to her other feelings. ]

You can thank everyone that left them to me first. Do you have them all still? [ LIKE RENÉE REINBACH VI? ]

[mortemscintilla]

[ By design not so much as chance, Hei's chosen the marketplace safehouse. Closer to Topside if anything happens to Pai; a sleeker, tidier network monitoring system hooked to the wall. That, and most of Hei's weapon schematics -- chiefly for an aerosolized cyanide spray -- are scattered here. Ostensibly, the narrow sitting room has wallpaper in the far corner. But now, it's all entirely obscured. From floor to ceiling there are sketches, printout plans, blueprints and brainstorms. Casting the eye over too many in quick succession leads to a sort of blurring, the triggers and barrels and blades and bullets all running together into a sprawling chimera of potential destruction. But for Hei they're all distinct articles. The moment he's completed one design to satisfaction, he'll burn the plan and move onto another. ]

[ Settled on the floor, crosslegged, he's disassembling a nondescript weapon with a kink in its mechanism. Judging by the towel looped around his neck, and way his hair is still damp at the nape, he's showered not too long ago, and judging from the fact that everything is scattered around him, he's been here for a while. ]

[ When the safehouse's system chimes, Hei glances over his shoulder, alert. He relaxes marginally when he sees who it is. ]

...Hey.

[ Not warm so much as matter-of-fact. He honestly wasn't expecting her here tonight. ]

[anatural]

Hi. [Korra's surprised herself to find him already here. She thought she'd get here and either send him a message or he'd just know in his creepy stalker way that she was here and he'd come. Honestly? It throws her a little off her game.

The plans on the wall don't help much.]

What's all this?

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei sets the last components aside on the stained newspaper, then wipes his greasy fingers on a rag curled next to him. Only then does he turn to face her fully. He doesn't answer her question, except with -- ] I'll take them down once I'm done. [ Probably within the next week. In the meantime, the papers will be an eyesore, bright peacock colors of blue and green in the stark utilitarianism of the room. ]

[ There's a beat, in which he looks her over -- her manner is surprised, but not as subdued as he'd expected, given the nature of the weekend -- before he asks,

Enjoyed the reunions?

[ Dry, but not cruel. He hasn't been monitoring her these two days. He has no idea who she did and didn't run into. ]

[anatural]

It was nice. [She settles down on the floor across from him, crossing her legs and resting her elbows on her knees.] I got to see Jinora.

[...that is a lot of really weird looking equipment.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei feels her focus on the schematics, but doesn't bother to explain them to her. If she wants a concealed weapon in the future, he'll give her one. Instead he mirrors her posture, the chameleon in him taking over. Seated face to face, with the skylight throwing slices of red light on them, they seem like teenagers swapping eerie stories at a sleepover rather than trysting lovers. But of course lovers and trysts are the last words Hei would use to describe them. Especially with sketches for a half-dozen death traps decorating the walls, and the smell of gunmetal sharp at the blunt of his fingers. ]

[ Quiet, but factual, ]

Seeing Jinora is better than running into Amon.

[ Too bad the little girl didn't get to stay, though. She had most useful info on Korra's homeworld -- and was the most willing to share. ]

[alittlebent]

How do you -- [Right. He's been in her nightmares. Korra shivers a little and cuts her eyes away.] Yeah.

[Way to kill the mood she had just barely lifted, Hei. She rolls her shoulders, trying to work out the tension.]

Did you see anyone from home?

[mortemscintilla]

[ ...Oops. ]

[ Hei sees the unease swimming to the surface of her face. He'd apologize, if he were anyone else. But if there's no goal to achieve, no purpose to the lie, then he doesn't see a need to pull punches. Still, it's out of something akin to fondness, rather than the way he normally needles at people, bites and shoves until he finds a weakspot or twelve, that he doesn't press the subject further. Instead he shrugs, the manner dismissive, like someone's just asked him for the time and he's said Hell if I know. It's a deflection, but a convincing one. His mind wanders whenever his body takes root, and he doesn't want to get into who he did and didn't see this weekend. That'll just make him think of Amber, then of Pai, and how miserable she is here, and how he doesn't know how to help her, and -- ]

[ Enough. To Korra: ]

No one important. [ A beat, before his gaze flicks to the kitchen space. ] I'll get you something to drink.

[ Apparently, this is how BK201 apologizes for dredging up ugly topics. Plying people with food and alcohol. ]

[anatural]

Thanks. [She pushes herself to her feet and follows him to the kitchen. Trailing behind just a little shyly, she reaches out to take his hand. Never certain how much closeness is welcome and when it'll make him shy away.]

[anatural]

[Sorry, Jinora, Korra's not putting you down any time soon.]

Do you remember this place?

[mortemscintilla]

[ She trails after him quietly enough that Hei's surprised when her fingers curl around his. He quickly wipes the look off his face and glances at Korra. Staring at those two blue eyes, he thinks: It's like living with a goddamn cat. (A reminder, of precisely why he'd never gotten one. Who needed something tangling around their legs at every step?) Even so, he doesn't nudge her off. She seems scooped out and vulnerable after the weekend. Particularly hungry for contact. It's left Hei in the exact opposite frame of mind. Even so, he squeezes her hand, then lets it go in what he hopes she'll get is an indulgent way. ]

[ Opening the cabinets, he sets down two straight, scratched glasses filled with something clear, odorless. The ice cubes clink as he drops them in, along with three fingers of orange juice in Korra's drink. ]

[ Lightly, he clinks the rims together in a mock-toast. ] Drink up. [ Sip. Don't chug like him. ]

[anatural]

[Okay, she's a little disappointed when he lets go, but he's not pushing her off so that's good? She leans against the counter instead and watches him pour the drinks.]

Is that vodka?

[mortemscintilla]

I guess Chekov's rubbed off on you.

[ That's a Yes, in other words. Hei takes a long swallow of his drink, glad for the warmth it sparks in his belly after a few gulps. For a moment, the glass with its floating cubes makes him think of the old subliminal message research that documented images of skulls and naked women in the ice cubes of alcohol print advertising. ]

[ Shaking it off, he focuses on Korra, a smile nicking the corners of his mouth. ]

This isn't the good stuff, though. Just enough to get the job done.

[anatural]

[She picks up the glass, but doesn't drink just yet. The look she gives him is a little wry.]

What job are you trying to get done?

[spiderkid]

[Miles didn't expect to be back here. He'd gotten pulled from the hospital at probably the worst possible time, but knowing the City, there's no easy way back.

He spots Naga first, but he doesn't want to see Korra as Spider-Man, he wants to see her as Miles, so he takes the time to run to a shop and buy some jeans and a sweatshirt first, changing in an alley before running out to yell,] Korra! Over here!

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei's look is arch and amused, his fingers drumming against the glass in a series of idle plinks. With the other hand, he nudges the drink in Korra's grasp, their fingers brushing. It makes him realize with a dull start that sleeping with her hasn't made those not-accidental touches less potent. If anything, they're even more charged. It's easy to re-imagine her fingers in a variety of snapshots: starfished, curled, clawing, tangled in his hair or wrapped around his skin. ]

[ Shaking it off, he murmurs, ]

I'd say getting you drunk. Except I don't need to get you liquored up to get a good time out of you.

[ A compliment, in its own backhanded way. ]