poly_chromatic | ♦ ♦ 12th Contract

Entry tags:

darker than black - hei

♦ ♦ 12th Contract

~~A breach in the City's barrier?~~

[ He's noticed this population-influx in past Network entries. Tourists. Some leave with the weekend, taking Citizens with them. Others stay behind -- semi-replacements. A law of equivalent exchange -- something gained for something lost? ]

[ He doesn't know. ]

[ He's caught between observing the phenomenon up-close, or retreating Underground. But parsing his separate threads of choice, he decides to stay Topside. To, for once, maximize instead of satisfice. There might be familiar faces. There might be outsiders with answers. He wants to learn more about the City. He wants out. ]

[ And solving any problem is predicated on understanding it completely. ]

It's really crowded today, isn't it? [ Li sits in a bustling little caff, enjoying breakfast. He slices into the strawberries with a fork. The juice runs out, dark-red, like blood. He smiles at his device -- calculated, a perfect mix of innocence and sweetness. ] It almost reminds me of rush-hour in Tokyo. But hopefully there's no need for train-tetris or pushmen. It's sort of a Fact Of Life back home. But not everyone here would enjoy that, would they? [ He skates the strawberry around with his fork. Bites into it neatly. ] I wonder how many of these visitors have been here before...?

[OOC: Gimme all the trolling! Gimme! Just please avoid spilling his real identity over the Network :3 ]

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[ It's been awhile since he's glimpsed a specter -- once ubiquitous scenery -- in his peripheral vision. But this one, so familiar, arrests him like a well-known name swimming up in a page of blurry text. ]

[ Outwardly, he offers no reaction. But his eyes fix on the bluish glow with a pindot intensity. To passersby, he seems lost in thought. But inside, his mind is sifting through venues for meeting-places, brush-passes, possibilities. ]

[ Yin. ]

[After she learned her time was limited, Yin relocated to across the street from the cafe. Better opportunity.]

[Meanwhile, she ordered only a glass of water. She'll continue to spy for him, to map out the City, seemingly contemplating the menu and very focused on her water to anyone who might see her.]

[ Part of him is calculating the seconds until she appears in person. When she does, focused so completely on her glass of water, he avoids crossing gazes with her, checking the cafe to see if anyone else -- enemy, observer -- isn't here also. After a moment of confirmation, he rises from his seat, making his way to her table. ]

Yin.

[ It's terse and swift as always. But it's been months since her name has passed his lips, and it seems to burn his mouth. He half-hasn't expected to see her again. ]

[Her voice is barely a whisper.] Hei. [He's obviously undercover. At the tone she speaks, no one is likely to hear her, other than him.]

How long have you been here? [How long could a City keep him trapped?]

~~Too long~~. A few months. [ He doesn't look directly at her. Pretends, instead, to observe the display of pastries on the counter behind her. ] I assume that you can't sense exits here. You must have tried.

[That's strange. Not a day has passed yet without Hei back in Tokyo. She doesn't mention it, just nods her head to the exits commentary. It also makes no sense, but it is simply a fact.]

It was said visitors only remain for a day or two. [Short amount of time to help, but she will do what she can.]

Not always. Sometimes they stay behind. Others leave in their place. [ It's an arrangement he doesn't fully understand. But so little in the City is based on logic or reason. He hesitates, then regards her from the corner of his eye. Briefly, but it's an indulgence. If she does vanish after the weekend, this is how he'd prefer to remember her. ] Can you feel others from our world here? I've met three. There might be others.

[She's quiet for a moment, fingers dipped in the glass of water. She knows she will vanish, and isn't very content with that knowledge. He likely won't leave with her, either.]

Two, other than the three you already met. [But she doesn't think they're there to stay, either. And one of them.... Hei will be very interested in the presence of. She will just remain, quietly waiting, while he deals with that.]

Who are they?

[ He says it quietly. Glances away to focus on the pasty-display again. But he can see her reflection, dim and second-hand, in the glass. ]

[He can also see her unchanging expression, and she can catch a translucent glimmer of his. As he's already spoken to Amber, Carmine and Misaki Kirihara, Yin focuses on the last two. She only knows ~~either name because is fourth wall and I get away with claiming ignorance and taking advantage~~ the last one's name because of unchecked conversation and happenstance.]

April. [She pauses.] And Pai.

[ He absorbs the first name dimly. But the second spangles shock through him. The cold of it courses down his body, to his two planted feet. Pai? He almost wants to ask, Are you sure? But this isn't the right spot for twenty questions. Without looking at her, he says, ]

I'm exiting the cafe. Wait ten minutes, then do the same. I'll be waiting at the park bench.

[ Turning, he leaves without a parting glance. He needs the walk, the fresh air, to clear his mind. To get his ricocheting thoughts in order -- before he can give Yin his full attention. ]

[She says nothing as Hei leaves, not that she has to. When the ten minutes expire, she exits, quiet as when she picked the table. Her actions, bland as they might seem from a distance, might be her status as a doll; however, no one gave her instructions when she first arrived.]

[It's the same when she takes a seat at the same bench, though there is a small amount of distance between them. He only asked her to meet him there.]

[ Yin's always been special that way. Subtle in nuances of emotion, action -- but different from a normal Doll. ]

[ When she settles beside him, he's at liberty to study her. Just the way her silvery hair catches the light reminds him of a hundred things he's almost forgotten. Meetings in empty playgrounds, with Mao and Huang, trading information, cutting aside glances. ]

[ She's always been an asset. A valued teammate. And -- he can admit now -- a friend. The feeling has present for awhile, and he isn't caught up to it. He'll have to figure out exactly how long, but later. ]

[ Later. ]

You said you sensed Pai. Where?

[Those are two things missing from this place - Huang and Mao. For her, thinking of Hei as more than just a contractor she works with was likely some time ago, though it never gained introspection. It simply was. She's aware Hei is focused on her, but for Yin, as the time apart has been nothing, she falls into what might be referred to as routine.]

[Insert Pai's location here.] She has not been there long.

[ He tucks the information away -- clutches it, rather, like a map marked X. He has to get there to confirm what Yin said. He has to see Pai with his own eyes. ]

I'll find her. [ Thank you is something he rarely says. A superfluity in their profession. But he needs some way to express it. To her, the timespan assuredly hasn't been long. But for him, it's been months since he's seen anything familiar. Rising, he glances down at her. ] Come with me. The crowds can't be trusted. [ Strategically, she'd be more useful, stationed somewhere with water, maintaining a communique with him via the device. But he doesn't want her so removed from his sight. Not now. ]

[Seeing how obsessed he's been about her in the past, Yin had given up the information with the slightest reluctance, but none of it obvious. How could she deny him that knowledge? She simply couldn't. A thank you, or any gratitude, isn't necessary.]

[When he says to follow him, she merely nods and rises to do so. Yin only tried one other time in the past, and was rejected when she did; she doesn't consider it, only reaches for his hand. He said the crowds can't be trusted, what better way to keep track of each other in a crowd, right?]

[ The obsession can't be helped. Pai is -- always has been -- his Be All and End All. With her in his sights, everything else fades to white-noise and backwash. But despite his impatience, a fragment remains alert enough -- human enough? -- to be aware of Yin. His hand closes on hers, perhaps too firm (when has he ever been good at handling anyone tenderly?). But there's a purpose, a message, implicit in the way he squeezes it. ]

[ He's glad she's here. And while she is, he's not letting her go. ]

[She finds no real fault in it ~~would just rather have Hei all to herself while she's there~~, otherwise she wouldn't have told him, in the end. But when he takes her hand in return, when she feels the pressure, she realizes just how long he's likely been in the City. Yin's eyes widen, by the merest fraction, and without comment she follows wherever he leads.]

[ Perhaps he'll tell her how long it's been (Once his search is over, once he finally has Pai.) But for now, he just guides her along. Conscious of nothing but the slow burn of determination -- urgency -- fueling his swift stride. And the delicate joints of Yin's fingers tucked in his. ]

[It is a small hand in his. Thin, deft fingers that used to dance across the keys of a piano. Still, it isn't uncomfortable for her. Yin, however, will not be sharing much with Hei. How she learned of the trades and the deities, and that once he is busy enough to have left her side, she will speak with them. She is not leaving so easily.]

[ If he wasn't so preoccupied, he'd ask who she spoke to while here. He'd order her to check if they were being followed. But Pai -- the chink in his armor -- has a way of cracking all strategies and rationale to dust. ]

[ A few paces from Pai's location, he stops at an ice-cream vendor. Buys a small vanilla cone, carefully curling Yin's hand around it. Almost reminiscent of the candy he'd left at her counter back home -- Thank you, Yin -- before going about his business. ]

[ This time, he leaves her settled under a shady tree. Close enough to return to, before he hurries off to find Pai. ]

[She kept check for being followed, anyway. If asked, she wouldn't have admitted to the conversation. The ice cream is greeted with that barely noticeable look of surprise.]

[As Hei leaves, she's already delicately licking at it. You're welcome. But, of course, she won't be there when he returns, not that either of them are aware of it.]

[ Gone? ]

[ One more regret piled atop the many this weekend. ~~He needs to invest in a Loli-leash.~~ ]

[~~She would simply accept it.~~ At least she attempt to stay with him. But the City is fickle and cruel.]

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♦ ♦ 12th Contract

action! >3<

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All this leading up to an ice cream cone?

Behold!

That is so amazing

>3<

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