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darker than black - mao

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[Remind him to thank you, Hei, for keeping his server running while he's been gone. When Mao returns to the City, he switches over quite seamlessly from the Syndicate's server to this, restoring all of his memories of this place.]

[ audio ]
Great. Here again.

[Unfortunately, it still takes him a moment to realize he accidentally made a public network post. In public, even. Face, meet paw.

But the damage is done, and at least Hei & Yin -- assuming they're still here, which if his server is running, should be true -- now know he's back. Looking every inch a perfect cat, he trots from the fountain in the direction of Yin's apartment.]

[Come one, come all, make Mao's journey to Yin's apartment one worthy of Homer and the Greek poets! Feel free to run into him anywhere and attempt anything.]

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[It didn't take long after the brief post for Yin to send her observer spirit out. When it finally found Mao, it settled at the fountain and watched him slink away.]

[She lived so close it would be easy to meet him half-way. Perhaps there was no need, or logic, to alerting him since it wouldn't take long, but that would imply Yin put some thought into her actions. As a Doll, there shouldn't have been very much thought about this at all. As Yin, there wasn't because she was too busy leaving to meet him. Also unnecessary.]

[If Mao had been on his game, he would have noticed Yin's observer spirits. But he's distracted by the message he receives from Hei, so he's just trotting along towards the park.]

[She's not thrown by this in the slightest. Her specter follows Mao, and Yin alters her course until she sees him.]

[Yin doesn't speak, though, just approaches slowly so as not to startle the cat. Well, Contractor in a cat's body, but still very much like the cat she has back at her apartment.]

[Mao finds himself relaxing when he notices Yin. It isn't as though he needs her around, but it is more convenient to have known allies with you in strange places. And Yin is a particularly useful asset.

He strolls over to her and leaps neatly onto her shoulder.]

Yin.

[She reaches around to pet him, focusing gently around the ears.]

You are welcome to share my flat again.

[He butts his head against her hand. It's not thank you, but it is appreciative.]

How long have I been gone?

[She doesn't need one. She leans over to pet him first, concentrating behind the ears, then reaches to pick him up.]

For six months.

[Damn it, now he's purring. Get a hold of yourself!]

Any updates I should know about?

[When Yin feels the vibrations of his purr, she lowers her head to nuzzle him, lightly. It's only once, but it's still a nuzzle.]

[As for updates, she shakes her head. Hei had left, but as he returned in the same amount of time, it wasn't anything to report. He was acting a little different, but Yin kept such observations to herself.]

Is Hei still seeing that girl? [Still adjusting to the influx of new memories, he's forgotten that Yin doesn't know.]

[Yin isn't quite as attentive to Mao and his ears after that.]

Seeing? What girl?

You don't know? [His ears twitch.] Last I recall, he was involved with that Korra girl. I thought you were watching them.

[Things Korra said before, her guy having left about the same time Hei did, highlight themselves in Yin's memory as she stands there, stiff and still.]

He said not to watch her anymore.

Hm. So the man knows shame.

[Yin has no response for this. Instead, she sends her observation spirit out to find them. She wants to understand and see this for herself.]

[Mao watches her, and wonders if he had made a misstep. She seems...almost upset. Which should not be possible for a Doll but impossible things seem to happen around Hei.]

[In the least, Yin keeps hold of Mao, but she's silent as she slowly walks them both back to her apartment. Of course Hei would need to seek out satisfaction, companionship on a different level. And of course Yin couldn't give that to him. Of course someone else could. That's just a reality.]

[Dolls aren't supposed to hope for anything beyond it.]

[In a little bit, Mao will go off to locate Hei himself. But for now he has no particular reason to, and it seems best to keep an eye on Yin.]

[When they reach her apartment, Yin holds Mao close just for a moment longer, then lets him go. If he needs to leave, she certainly won't stop him.]

[While he's there, and after he's left, she will simply sit in front of her piano, not moving, not playing. Yin just stares pointlessly and listlessly.]

[ Now there's a familiar voice. ]

[ What Hei feels in response is something closer to a jigsaw piece clicking into place than anything as messy as chemical happiness. Under a secure line, he sends Mao a quickfire coded text (Kibble at the park) along with the passcode to temporarily disarm his security system and reply. Mao will find him on a bench by the lake, starlight bending off the water. He's eating a submarine sandwich the way you do a cob of corn: he looks like an iguana with an oozing dragonfly clamped in its jaws. ]

[ Ask nicely and maybe he'll give you the leftovers. ]

[Mao jumps up lightly onto the bench behind Hei.]

Pigging out as always. Sometimes I wonder if you have a renumeration after all.

[ There's a quirk of an eyebrow, but no surprise when Mao appears. He stays silent, but that doesn't mean he's ignoring the cat. (It's one of those things Mao would be used to.) Under the gibbous moon, the water is silver-plated, and the air smells like a hundred different layers of lentic vegetation, some of it fresh, most of it rotting. It's enough to throw off anyone's appetite. Except Hei's, of course. Without glancing around, he shrugs and says, ]

It kills time, at least.

[ Bite. Munch. Gulp. (Good to see you, by the way.) ]

So does a good nap. [Mao yawns and washes his face.]

I noticed you kept my server running. [An idle comment, but he is curious why.]

[ Hei offers Mao a glance. His expression is unreadable as always, but there's something almost contemplative in the way he swallows, before mrmuring, ]

Yin's been taken away, then brought back here. So have I.

[ He hitches a shoulder, the unspoken equivalent of No harm in taking precautions. (If there's sentiment buried anywhere in there, he doesn't let on. Mao is free to draw his own conclusions.) ]

A calculated expense. Though money isn't much of a problem here.
[Amazing, really, how easy it is to get rich in this place.]

Nothing is. Except escaping.

[ Not that he's in a particular rush. His prior experiments to understand the City's Barrier were just that. Experiments. Beyond that, there's no urgency fueling his interest. Some might call the City an unbeautiful place containing a few quite beautiful people. Others might say it's an oddly beautiful place containing a few right bastards. ]

[ Whatever it is, it beats the chaos and carnage of home. ]

Hmm. [Mao finishes washing his face and starts licking his shoulder. Cats have a lot of grooming to do.]

Is there any update I need on the situation?

[ Mao pls. ]

[ Scarfing down the last bits of sandwich, Hei dusts the crumbs off his jeans. Leaning back, he glances at Mao from the corner of his eye, wrists resting on his thighs. ]

I used the meteor shard from home, to test the Barrier's limits. [ You'll find more details on an encrypted log on his personal network. As it is, his cadence makes it clear the results were dubious at best. A beat, in which he drums his fingers slowly against the rounds of his knees. Not a jittery tic, so much as a thoughtful pause. In a different tone, ] You're aware that my sister is here.

[ It's inflected more as a statement than a question. ]

Yin informed me. [The sister Hei never talked about. The only enigma (other than the cat) more mysterious than the Contractor with no price. He glances at Hei from the corner of his eye, wondering if he'll elaborate.]

[ Enigmas all around. ]

[ Hei doesn't offer any further details. He and Pai have a wordless understanding made up of blood and sinew and back-to-back action that carries on even off the battlefield. Mentions of her elude speech; his happiest times with her are almost always tactile. Not the kind of thing he can mention to anyone, even a teammate. ]

[ Still, it's more concern for his sister, than his innate reserve, that makes him ask, ]

Have you ever heard of a Contractor being ... depressed?

[How Mao manages to arch an eyebrow, the world will never know.]

A depressed Contractor? Can't say that I have. Depression's an irrational illness. But who knows. We're not immune to the common cold. If it really is an imbalance in some kind of hormonal soup, there's no reason we'd be any more immune to it than the rest of god's creatures. [He doesn't sound like he believes it. If there's one thing he's learned as a Contractor, particularly working with Hei, is mind over matter. Depression doesn't strike him as the kind of illness a Contractor would indulge in. (He was a hacker in another life, after all, not a psychologist.)]

[ The slightest tip of his chin is all that indicates he's heard Mao. His gaze stays straight ahead, fixed on nothing in particular. Mao's skepticism isn't without reason. Cool-headedness. Clarity. Unemotionality. These are the watchwords tied to Contractors. The rules that they are governed by. ]

[ Of course, Hei is not a real Contractor. He's been breaking those rules for a long time now. (But then, so have the others. Amber. Carmine. Nick. Mai. Yin. Each one irrational, obsessive, anomalous, unbelievable, in their own way. Why should Pai be any exception to that? Or to the griefs and failings that come with being so isolated? She may believe she's unique in that respect. That Hei's lame aphorisms invalidate her pain, like he's some angst-cop there to pull over the speeding vehicle of her isolation and slap her a ticket for self-absorption.) ]

[ But the truth is, he has been where she is. Because it's such an awkwardly, poignantly human feeling. (It was muted, by degrees, only when the rhythm of his life came to match Mao and Yin and Huang's -- maybe not as anchors but as roadmarks. Impossible to call it camaraderie, but it was as close to that as the Syndicate allowed.) ]

[ He doesn't say any of this. Instead, ]

Here's hoping hormonal imbalance is all it is. [ A beat. Then, dryly, ] Maybe a pet Contractor-cat will perk her up.

[Mao snorts.]

And leave Yin all alone? [His tail twitches with dry amusement.]

[ Alone? Whoever said she was alone? ]

She has a cat of her own, last I checked.

[ Don't fret, Mao. You haven't been replaced. Just. Y'know. Substituted. ]

Harrumph. [Mao's tail twitches, a kind of feline eyeroll.]

[Justin is not surprised when a black cat crosses his path. That seems exactly like the kind of thing that the City would do--send omens of bad luck his way. Very funny.

But he knows cats, and he knows that this cat with purple eyes has been here before. More importantly, he swears that this particular cat can talk. Not that that's truly out of the ordinary here, but he does feel obligated to say hello since they are acquaintances.

Whether or not the cat chooses to acknowledge this is up to him. If Justin remembers correctly, the cat can be an asshole.]

Hello again, cat.

[Mao jumps a little, surprised to have a stranger addressing him. He looks up at Justin...

And meows. Hello human.]

Play dumb if you want.

[Jerk. Someday, someone is going catch Justin talking to this cat and he is going to be somewhat embarrassed.]

[Mao waits until Justin looks away for a moment before saying:]

That's a little childish, isn't it?

[Sue him, he hasn't found Hei yet and he needs someone to troll.]

[He turns to stare at the cat.

Because he knows it's the cat.]

You're the one playing games.

[Games? What games? He's just a cat, licking his tail. Gotta keep clean, you know.]

[Justin only glares at the cat before feeling stupid.

He shoves his hands in his pockets and walks away with one last withering glare.]

[Trot trot trotting along behind him. He hasn't found Hei or Yin yet; he's bored, and Justin has always been fairly entertaining.]

[Justin pretends to ignore the cat for a while. Eventually, though, he feels a need to make his position absolutely clear.]

I'm not going to feed you.

Rude.

So is talking behind my back.

[Pointedly not looking at said cat.]

I'm just making conversation.

Why? You're a cat. You're not obligated to talk to anyone. I would take advantage of that.

Not a big fan of talking, I take it?

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