♦ ♦ 12th Contract

[mortemscintilla]

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 ]

Comments

[retry]

Is that so hard to believe? [ Amber reaches to steal one of his strawberry pieces with her fingers instead, taking time to chew. ]

I do like you, you know.

[mortemscintilla]

[ ...GDI AMBER DON'T TOUCH HIS STRAWBERRIES. ] I don't have to tell you so. [ Any sentiment sounds toxic on her lips. She betrayed him. She's the reason his team was killed. The reason Pai vanished. The place he holds inside for her can't be anything but bitter and baleful. ]

...You have a funny way of showing it. [ If looks could incinerate. ]

[retry]

I do, don't I?

[ She lowers her eyes and finally lets her smile drop, turning wan and distant. ]

I hope you'll choose to be happy.

[mortemscintilla]

Is that even my choice? [ Flat and toneless. He can't choose happiness while he's with the Syndicate. While Pai is missing. He wants a normal life. He wants his sister back. But both things are equally removed from possibility. Amber saw to that. She's the only one who knows what happened that terrible day in South America. (Perhaps, even, was the cause of it?) ]

[ And she's upto something now. The question is: what? ]

[retry]

It will be.

[ Amber gives him one last bright smile then stands, as if to leave, but leans across the table to place a kiss on his nose instead. Whether or not he lets her, she takes it as a cue to leave, halting time to a stop so she can make her escape without him seeing. ]

[mortemscintilla]

[ He opens his mouth to snap, What do you mean? He's so sick of her riddles, her endless slippery evasions. But the words stop dead when she leans in to kiss him. He goes rigid. Anger sweeps through him like fire racing up a rope -- one arm lifting, either in defense or offense -- they'll never know. Because between one blink and the next, she's gone. ]

[ He's left alone at the table. Angry, cold, bereft, a hundred spiderwebbing questions in his head. ]

[ What did she mean? ]