poly_chromatic | ♦♦ 33RD CONTRACT

Entry tags:

darker than black - hei

♦♦ 33RD CONTRACT - ANONYMOUS TEXT/ACTION

...Back again.

I could do without the psychic jetlag. No worse for the wear, despite it.

[ Anonymous Text ]
Sing A Song of Sixpence The Child's Rhyme A Lie 1 & 20 Blackbirds Baked As They Die

[ Do not be alarmed. It's a code, not threats of animal abuse. Simply Hei's way of testing the Network-waters. ]

[ Private to Yin ]

~~Are you all right ...?~~

Status?

[ Private to Pai ]

I'm at the safehouse.

[ Options For Run-Ins ]

Cafe: He's assumed 'Li's persona -- timid and dopey-faced. A walking chameleon. But right now, blending with the scenery isn't his priority. The opposite. He's utilizing the freedom afforded by the City to stick out. To play chicken with himself -- after months of paranoid caution. You'll see him seated at the corner, with an unobstructed view of the cafe's interior. Elbow-deep in several platters of fried food, gorging like it's his last meal on earth.

It's his sixth. But fugitive life does wonders for an already freakish appetite.

Dojo: Avoiding the facility’s tangle of Life Cycles and Cybex machines, he's focused on a series of punches, blocks, and kicks to the air that, to the uninitiated, might look like a martial dance routine. It's a kata, but nothing formal or stylized. He has no interest in revealing the full scope of his abilities. Even so, his moves are good -- smooth, practiced, and powerful. They would be impressive in any grizzled combat veteran, but this guy seems at least half that age.

His visit to the dojo isn't an indulgence, or a way to burn off energy. It's a way of reassuring himself that his enemies-- his real enemies -- really are all back home. Or it could be a way of saying come out, come out, wherever you are.

The Underground: In his absence, things have moved around. Locations have changed; reigns of power have switched hands. But it's nothing too drastic. Masked, alone, he propels himself into his first patrol of the year. He feels almost like a kid, a high school student, gone away during summers -- not to visit family and friends but off to anonymously toil in some big city. Now he's back from big travels -- big character-altering, mind-boggling travels. And somehow, the cliche is true: everything in the City seems slightly tepid after having experienced all that disasters and miracles back home.

Of course, it's never a good idea to imagine there is anything tepid about the City. Not so long as it brews with such indefinable magic. Things that pour out of it, or gravitate to it, large or small, are never harmless. In that department, even Hell's Gate has nothing to boast of in comparison.

Anywhere Else: Invent your own setting! You know the drill! c:

[ OOC: Officially off hiatus, and Hei is back in the City, after a brief canon update! Post is anonymous and unhackable as always! Tags will be sporadic so your patience is appreciated<3 ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Is that your answer to everything? Leave? [Annoyed, but not pulling away. He's the stupidest, most aggravating person she has ever met, and all she wants to do is curl up against him like everything's normal and okay.

It is okay. (It isn't.) It will be okay. (Maybe.)]

We should clean that up. [She doesn't like the way her fingers are sticky with blood.]

Usually.

[ He manages but doesn't quite succeed in a smile. The way he's phrased it, it isn't even a lie. Korra's fingers are separated from the thin skin of his cheekbone by a sheen of blood. But he can feel them; slick and imparting, it seems, electricity. His mind seems to be flashing on and off like a landing light on a dark airstrip. Signalling to what and for what reason, he doesn't know. But signalling. It'll be all right. It'll be all right. It's the same mantra he's recited to himself, those months he's been on the run. Repetition has turned them stale. Pointless white-noise. ]

[ Squeezing Korra's hand, he gently nudges it off in what he hopes is a reassuring way. ] I'll handle it. [ Don't trouble yourself in another language -- but less dismissive. It's hard to separate himself from the cozy nest of her bed, but he finds himself rising. He pauses at the bathroom doorway. Head tilted, looking at her in that way he realizes Amber sometimes watched him, too, as if he was very far off, and which usually made him feel like he had to reach out and grab her to make a strange feeling of displacement go away. But now isn't the time to do that, so he sketches an awkward little finger wave, and goes inside to wash up and get rid of the condom. ]

[ He'd like nothing more than to re-start where they'd left off, before everything went pear-shaped. But he has no idea if Korra will want him hanging around -- regardless of how welcoming she seems. ]

That's dumb. [She ends up saying it to his back as he heads to the bathroom. Running away never solves anything. Yeah, sure, sometimes you need a little space to think, but at the end of the day, you still had to practice your figures, and memorize your histories and work on your airbending forms.

She stretches as she waits for him to come back. Despite everything, she does want him to stay. It's not like it was even that bad, really. They were already having sex. It wasn't that awful. (The lies and the rationalizations are already beginning.)]

[ He'd agree. It is dumb. But Hei is practiced at postponing disaster. Too often, he's living it. ]

[ In the bathroom, blinking in the bright lights, he flushes the condom. His mind is curiously empty, but he can feel a dull hum of contentment, how that good hard fuck has cooled him off and warmed him up, both. Then he remembers it was at Korra's expense, and he feels sick. At the sink, he scrubs his face, and stews. He should leave. Regardless of what Korra thinks. What point is there, touching her again? What has really changed? His mind feels like it's working in stops and starts, like a faulty engine. He has no idea what he'll do -- who he'll be -- a minute from now. It's only the temporary leg-over that's turned him so suddenly sweet. It doesn't mean anything, but maybe she'll think so. ]

[ He doesn't want to mislead her. No more than he already has. Under the brief veneer of kindness, he's as much of a heartless fuck as he's ever been. ]

[ When he comes out of the bathroom, bandaid fixed to the point of his cheekbone, he's ready to tell Korra he's going. But at the sight of her, her hair hanging loose around her shoulders and breasts, that beautiful skin, the color of coffee with a splotch of cream, the kind that makes his mouth water ... He's seized with a stupid uncertainty. ]

[ He starts to say, ] I should get going. [ What comes out is, ] I could wake up every day to that sight. And I wouldn't complain.

[ It's too matter-of-fact to be flattery. ]

[She blinks at him. Well that was an unexpected compliment.] ...thanks? [She draws her knees to her chest, not closing herself off, just suddenly self-conscious. She thinks so little about what she looks like most of the time that it's disconcerting to remember that she has an appearance and people can have opinions on it.

That reminds her, though.] Did Xing mention she's been staying here?

She did.

[ He settles at the foot of the bed, his back curving as he leans forward, elbows on his knees. Almost cringing for a second, before he tosses his head, flicking the hair out of his eyes, and looks at her straight-on. He wants to ask her why she took Pai in. What she's angling for -- if she's angling for anything at all. But his throat is clogged. Watching Korra, a deja vu descends, reminding him of that card incident. Back then, he really could've gone the rest of his life without confirming Korra's interest in him as if he was a teddy-bear to be patched up. It was one thing knowing, intellectually, that she liked him. Was developing an attachment. But that was something he could shunt off into an alcove of his mind, and not let it change anything. But to see it, printed bold as brass on paper. Challenging his isolation, as if it really mattered to her. That was just too much. ]

[ It would've been bad at any time, but back then, when he'd just sent half his friends to their deaths at home, and had no idea how to navigate his already rocky route to humanity, much less his ideas of himself, it felt unbearable. He'd never expected to have intimacy as a staple in his life, and so he'd compartmentalized Korra, and whatever interest he had in her, and he was comfortable with the fact that she'd never want more than a handful of fucks with him. ]

[ It's moments like these, however, that remind him his ideas about Korra are all wrong. There's so much light and kindness in her. More than he deserves. He keeps going about everything all wrong ... but she is more patient through it all than most other women would be. ]

[ Quietly, ] I don't know what you were thinking. Taking her in. But ... thank you. [ He's unsure, like his Sorrys and Pleases, if he means it. But it's important to let her know. ]

I'm not sure either. [Translation: Your sister is a major brat. But Korra just shrugs.] It just...didn't seem right. Leaving her alone. [They didn't know that Hei would be coming back, after all. Letting Xing live alone for a few days was one thing. Leaving her entirely alone in the City was something else entirely. (And, okay, maybe a part of Korra had hoped that the younger girl would be less obnoxious with her brother gone. For some reason.)] Besides, it's not like I'm lacking in space or anything.

[Korra likes her solitude a lot, but she's not suited for living alone. Even when she needs her space, she likes knowing that other people are nearby. Even if those people are obnoxious tweens who hate her.]

[ There seems to be a subtext to that last remark. But it's shapeless and indistinct, like an after-image in a camera flash. Not ready to dwell on it, or risk another tense, crammed silence, Hei says, ] I'll take her back to my flat tomorrow. [ He won't lie; Pai seems marginally better than when he'd last seen her. The cloud that last hovered over her ... It's still there. But it seems to have lifted by degrees, letting in brief glimpses of light. He's not sure if it's permanent or temporary. Not sure if it's because of a change of scenery, or if she's pulling a brave face. He's not sure of a lot of things anymore. ]

[ Eyes cut away, he draws a little closer to Korra. A pause, and then he hesitantly -- can BK201 do something hesitantly at all? -- reaches out to rest his hand at the round of Korra's knee, lower so that it's approaching shin territory rather than thigh. ]

[ He's already said Thank you. But somehow, in light of everything that's occurred, it's woefully inadequate. ]

Is it still yours? I thought maybe your landlord would've rented it out to someone else. [She doesn't say You don't have to do that because that comes way too close to You could always stay here and yeah she wouldn't mind having him around more but that doesn't mean she's ready to tell him that. Especially with his head in a particularly messed up place.

She hesitates a little herself before putting her hand on top of his and squeezing.]

Who says that 'someone else' can't be persuaded [ spooked ] to vacate?

[ A smile stirs, faint and dry. If he puts his mind to it, he can get the flat again, paperwork be damned. But in the silence, he feels the mental gears clicking, facts fluttering astonishingly into place. Calling his attention to the problem of everything they aren't talking about. Can't talk about -- for no reason but the fact that they're Hei and Korra and things between them don't work that way. But then Korra's hand covers his, and Hei shifts his palm so his fingers are slotted through the spaces between her knuckles, and everything seems so simple. ]

Right now ... is it okay if I crash here? For a few days.

[ It comes out in a blurt. It's not nerves, exactly, or even that he's afraid of ruining whatever the hell is going on here -- it's just the truth, in the scope of things. An I need a little time before I start integrating with the City that pushes past his teeth and out of his mouth. It comes and goes like the tide, whatever part of Hei that worries that it's so fucking obvious that Korra is the only person who hasn't thoroughly screwed him over yet. And there is always that same selfish part of him that wonders if he'd feel this way if Amber -- well. No point wondering, really. ]

[ That's not how the world works; Hei only knows what he knows. What he likes. It's combat, it's efficiency, it's the simmer of adrenaline and a bowlful of rice in the milky sunlight at noon, starlight and telescopes and Pai's sweet prattle, it's the silvery shades of Yin's hair catching streetlights, it's pressing wet kisses up the inside of Korra's thigh. ]

Sure. [It's ridiculous, the little spike of happiness she feels. Everything that happened earlier shoved to the back of her mind as though it doesn't matter. People in the Beach House again. Maybe even sex more than twice a month. (She tries to stay far away from Chekov's sex life, but she knows he gets more than she does and she resents that. Just a bit.)] You can stay as long as you want.

[ She says Sure. And Hei blinks, surprise flashing through him like a current which he quickly shuts off. The happiness is clear on the surface of her face. It makes him wonder, with a chill, What am I doing here? Why am I welcome? Why do you smile at me so? He knows he wants something from Korra. Not just sex, not comfort or intimacy, any of that. Contact, is all. Not loving contact, or even tenderness. Something more forceful that will, for once, not leave him scarred. Except, regarding her expression, his mouth turns into a dark, tight line, taut enough to tug on something in his chest; he feels it open and spill out inside him. ]

[ He wants to tell Korra she deserves better than this; she should've had a proper boyfriend, not this vacant, hard-hearted killer; that she should have a pile of proper presents instead of whorish lingerie; that she should have friends from home here, family, not having to skulk with him in dangerous and grubby places, or inviting him into her house because she's so lonely it's whittled away her sense. He imagines himself embracing her, gathering her in tight and peppering her with kisses -- all the expressions of affection he's learnt so well to feign. ]

[ Say it, you coward. "I'll stay here a week. That's all. Because you deserve better than me." Three simple sentences. She doesn't know you've been slitting throats since you were knee-high, or that half the assassins in the world are hunting for you and your Doll, at home. She has no idea what she's gotten into. ]

[ But all he can manage, hoarsely, is, ]

I'll cook all your favorite meals.

[Her lips quirk into a smile.] Just make sure to leave some for me, Mr. Appetite.

[She takes her hand off his so she can poke his stomach teasingly.]

[ She pokes his stomach, and Hei's mouth tics to the side in a tired, grateful half-smile. He wants to say something -- something light, if not nice. But instead he's leaning in, chin angled so his lips can brush against hers. It should be like a war-zone, this kiss, in its urgency. It isn't. His hand lifts from her knee to span across her back, to press fingertips into the gaps between Korra's ribs, drawing her hesitantly against him and kissing her until he's out of breath. His mouth is soft, slow on hers. Exploratory, somehow. He's sure Korra can feel his heart shuddering against her chest, the tremor in his free hand as he cups her cheek, pushing her hair back from her face, smoothing his thumbs across her temples, kissing her over and over. ]

[ When he breaks away it's on a wavering breath. ] I can pay rent other ways too. [ If she'll accept that, anyway. ]

[This is nice. This is how it should've been all along. Soft, getting-to-know-you kisses, easy touches. She's a little breathless when he breaks away. His offer to pay the rent in other ways makes her smile.]

Do you do laundry?

Hm. And housekeeping. And fixing broken gadgets. [ A beat. ] It's best if I stay away from your zoo, though.

[ Kiss-muddled, he presses his forehead to Korra's. Stares at her, his gaze both wry and soft. Pressed against her, tangled in the salty musky aroma of her body, the disordered sheets, the tang of sex, feels like an ascent from bottomless depths toward a pinprick of light. This is how the reunion should've gone. He feels almost normal, or what memory tells him normal is supposed to feel like. He's seated firmly in Hei. At least for the moment. ]

[ This is a test like any other. Affection, like bright fragile glass shards, spins across to fill the breach between them. ]

I can handle the animals. [It's probably a stupid impulse that has her wrapping her arms around his neck and tugging him down on top of her.]

[ He starts to say Good. But then she's tugging him down on top of her, and he's already reaching to touch as much of her as he can, hands starfishing. He kisses her again, and there's a hitch of breath, muffled into Korra's mouth. His chest is full to burst -- though he's not sure with what. The kiss is warm, as if he's carried it in his mouth all the way from Tokyo to the City. When he closes his eyes he sees blackouts, flares of orange flame, grenade blasts, hordes of Contractors and the shimmering aurora of Yin's specter. Shaking it off, he passes his arms around Korra. Her hair feels like wool and silk, stirring where he burrows his nose into it, to press kisses against her ear, down her neck. With the other hand, he ghosts his fingers over her mons, stirring the curls, then slipping down, tip of his index finger finding the point of her clit, barely touching. ]

[ For now, the press of skin is enough. But he can feel his whole body battening on the powerful throb of hers. It surges through him, warm and alive; his erection thumps between their bellies -- an insistent prodding. ]

[She's liking everything except the insistent prodding. And it's not that she really minds the prodding -- the thing prodding has been a source of many pleasures -- but a part of her is afraid that he'll get too into it and what happened earlier will happen again. She's in a pretty vulnerable position beneath him.]

Flip over.

[Her turn to be bossy. You had best indulge.]

[ Hei hesitates, lifting his head from that warm gap between her neck and shoulder. His eyes are heavy with an inward heat. Then his gaze catches hers, and for a moment all the badness rushes into his mind, all the recent roughness and misunderstanding and selfishness. Wincing, he dips his head, placing a soft kiss on the point of her shoulder. He rolls over, taking her with him, so she is sprawled on his chest. Smoothes her hair back with both hands, combing and gathering them into thick ropes. Against him, she is a solid weight, a pressing heat. He stirs against her, and it's lazy, almost incidental, his cock brushing the curve of her belly. ]

[ He doesn't want to stop touching her. More than anything he needs to fuck her again, to feel the familiar mystery of her, to invade-explore-enlighten her. ]

[ But now isn't the time for haste. In a drowsy murmur: ]

What would you like?

[She relaxes as he pulls her on top of him. She sinks into him, bonelessly lazy and yet far from contented.

What would you like?]

Just lie there and look pretty. Think you can do that?

[Her eyes promise to make it worth the effort.]

[ He lets off a soft snort, brushing the tousled hair out of her eyes. There are a lot of descriptors he's heard applied to himself. Pretty is not one of them. ]

[ To Korra, simply: ]

It's worth a try.

[ He's smiling at her, evident more in his gaze than his expression. One hand tucked behind his head, he reaches with the other between her thighs, the middle finger working in where her splayed sex meets his own taut skin. Perched across him, the dark of her hair is like a quiet burnt halo falling around their faces. Bright eyes and swollen lips, a reddish flush to her skin; she's all sleek and ripe and juicy -- a peach cut open and all the sweetness squeezed out here. ]

Try hard. [She grins and grabs the hand between her legs. Nuh-uh-uh. It may feel good, but she's the one calling the shots right now. She puts it behind his head, mirroring the other one.] Stay like that.

[She sits up and looks down at the picture he presents. Okay, the pose kind of screams "smug and self-satisfied," but see how long he'll be able to keep that look up. He's like her -- he needs to take action, to do, not just lie there and feel good.

She leans back over and starts kissing her way down his chest.]

[ He makes a disapproving moue when she takes his hand away. But he obliges. Truth be told, he feels like a stoned pasha with a concubine, sprawled amongst too many stale pillows. It doesn't suit. She's right about that, at least. Passivity isn't his preferred mode of operation. Already, he can feel his palms itching. To reach for her, to tangle his fingers in her hair, to cup her breasts and pinch her nipples and make them taut. ]

[ At the same time, at the touch of her lips, his stomach feels lacy. Her mouth is soft and cool against the rough whorls of his scars. Strangest thing about a savage beating is how everything's the best the following day. You wake up, sun streaming into your room: The most beautiful sunlight ever. Eat a bowl of rice: Best thing you ever ate. Look out the window, see a butterfly: The prettiest creature. If you're lucky to have a girl and if she's kind enough to kiss those spots that hurt ... the feel of her lips will drive you into a whole other dimension of pleasure. That terminal after-battle sweetness is addictive. ]

[ Hei's eyes slip shut, and he ripples against her like a cat. But he stays still, as instructed. ]

[Korra takes her time working her way down his body, thoroughly exploring each new scar with lips and tongue. There are a lot of them -- way more than he'd had before. She can feel on a more visceral level the kind of dark place he must have been in.

She's not sure how long it takes for her to reach the part of him most loudly crying out for attention. She's felt it pulse beneath her, each throb like a plea. She takes it into her hand and just breathes on it -- a test of his patience and a little revenge.]

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