♦ ♦ 13th Contract

[mortemscintilla]

[ The weekend has come and gone. ]

[ Familiar faces have come and gone with it, leaving him feeling like an animal who's been taunted through the bars of a cage. Ugly memories, dormant for so long he expected to be free of them, emerge now as if risen from the dead. Horrors worse than what lurk in a crate of vodka have his head pounding -- tick tick tick like the City Clock. Like a time-bomb. Sometimes he sees Amber, free-floating, whispering riddles in his ears. Sometimes it's Yin, watching him with blank eyes and a sad not-smile. Pai is almost always closeby: never quite visible, calling out to him from behind a spray of blood. ]

[ Barely able to distinguish sleep from wakefulness, he isn't sure which is worse. The City feels twice as surreal after the atmosphere of the weekend, the atmosphere of his mind. ]

[ Fortunately there are ample distractions. ]


[Audio]

So this place has taken its 'prison' aspects a step further.

...Is this a practical joke?

[ Options For Run-Ins: ]

[ Shed: Pent-up energy and a mind for solitude have him trekking through the woods. He's in no mood for the chatter and music of smoky bars. He can't muster that effort to be On tonight -- to handle human faces and prying questions. Worse, the City's full of pests and spies. He'd rather not be out in public, where he could be recognized. The outdoors are a better bet, particularly so late at night. Holed up in an unheated shed, a flask of something foul in his coat pocket, he can lull himself into imperfect numbness. ]

[ If he doesn't freeze to death, locked and stranded, first. ] 

[ Houseguest: The moon is pale in the sky. Masked and armed, Hei slinks through rooftops in the early-night darkness. Passing like a shadow past signboards and sloping tiles -- graceful, nearly weightless. He's alert, keeping track of everything. But his mind is fixed on Pai, on Amber and Yin and all the possibilities wasted. The thought-pattern is irrational. A time-waster. Dropping into an empty flat, he tries to snap out of it. It's chilly in here. He doesn't bother switching on the lights. Changing into civilian clothes in the bathroom, he splashes cold water on his face and resolves to head home. ]

[ Until he realizes he's stuck in. ]

[ What now? ] 

[OOC: open to action and network replies. I'm cool with assuming he was stuck with more than one person during this curse. On that note, those he's trapped with are welcome to threadjack any network responses! Hei's in a tetchy mood after 4th Wall, so GIVE HIM HELL<3 ]

Comments

Re: action; shed

[anatural]

[No way. No no no no way. Korra isn't -- no. She won't accept that.]

There's gotta be something. A trick! They want us to do something embarrassing and then they'll let us out.

action; shed

[mortemscintilla]

[ In a detached part of his mind, he watches the horror on her face. It's almost theatrical. Privately, he's more resigned. There's a golden rule in his profession: Worst case scenario? I die. Anything else, I can handle. ]

Embarrassing? [ A million options zip through his mind. None pleasant, none sanitary. He stares at her until she's ready to drop her gaze. ] What are you talking about?

[ Except he already knows. ]

action; shed

[anatural]

I don't know. [She's trying to come up with something suitably embarrassing, but the one possibility is too horrifying for her conscious mind to contemplate, so she comes up blank.] Something!

action; shed

[mortemscintilla]

[ Scowling, Hei draws the alcohol from his coat. Unscrews it and begins to drink straight from the neck. Strange, how she's more concerned about embarrassment than her safety. Has she not considered their proximity? From any angle he can attack her, pin her, cause serious injury. He can even kill her if his mood so dictates. Except that's of no rational benefit. Not in the City. ]

[ Part of him doesn't even want to. ]

Dancing. Singing. Charades. Sex.

[ Never one for the tame wound. Hei always goes for a headshot. ]

action; shed

[anatural]

ERGH.

[If she were alive, she would be blushing so hard right now. It wouldn't be so bad if she didn't still have the memories of that one curse. Imagining... that ... with him isn't as difficult as she would like it to be.

She positions herself in a corner as far away from him and the memories of their "pre-married life" as she can get.]

action; shed

[mortemscintilla]

[ Her reaction is telling. He pauses, feeling the space in the room shift, his thoughts take a different turn. In the next moment he feels irritated, as if he's been caught glancing into a teenybopper magazine, absorbed by all the pretty faces within. ]

[ Pointedly, he looks away. ]

Then there's not much to do but wait until midnight.

action; shed

[anatural]

[He's right. And she's not happy about him being right. She punches the wall to try and relieve some of her frustration, and then settles herself down to wait.

......


..............

This is worse than meditating. She jumps up and starts dancing and singing]

Two lovers, forbidden from one another
A war divides their people, and a mountain divides them apart.
Built a path to be together.

Blah blah blah whatever

SECRET TUNNNEL!
SECRET TUNNEL!
THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN!
SECRET, SECRET, SECRET, SECRET TUNNEL!!!!

[She kicks the door hopefully. Nope. Nothing.] OH COME ON!

action; shed 1/2

[mortemscintilla]

[ Loading .... loading .... loading ... ]

[ Etc. ]

action; shed

[mortemscintilla]

What are you doing?

[ Sitting still is a matter of course for him. Jitters and antics do not a successful stakeout make. Is she a claustrophobe? ]

action; shed

[anatural]

[Yeah, this isn't a stakeout, Hei. They're trapped in a shed. And Korra is glaring at him.]

I'm trying to get us out of here. What's charades?

action; shed

[mortemscintilla]

[ It's the same concept. Patience and stillness to achieve a desired objective. ]

[ Yeah, this'll probably get ugly. Uglier. ]

It's a children's game. Each player silently acts out a phrase for others to guess.

[ He is not in the mood for charades. ]

action; shed

[anatural]

[Patience and stillness, not her strongest suits.]

Okay.

[She sucks her cheeks in and sways back and forth. She will do anything to get out of here. Even if it means acting like an idiot.]

action; shed 1/2

[mortemscintilla]

[ He's not the patient type either. But he's profited from hard lessons. ]

[ Also? ]

[ The face says it all: What are you doing? ]

action; shed

[mortemscintilla]

...What are you doing?

[ His mouth has caught up. ]

action; shed

[anatural]

[She breaks character to hiss] You're supposed to guess!

[And she's back to miming a fish. Badly.]

action; shed

[mortemscintilla]

[ He gives her the same focus and intensity of a dismantled weapon. A possible answer dawns to him. ]

...A snake?

[ NOPE. ]

action; shed

[anatural]

[She shakes her head and bends her arms. It may look like she's doing a chicken dance, but she's trying to imitate a fish's fins. She exaggerates her fishy lips even more.]

action; shed

[mortemscintilla]

[ He pinches the bridge of his nose. But one side of his mouth is threatening to do something. It might be a grimace. Or worse. ]

...A turkey?

action; shed

[anatural]

[FISH LIPS. HOW DO YOU NOT SEE THE FISH LIPS?! Frustrated, she brings her hands up and gestures dramatically to her face.

FISH LIPS. FISH.]

action; shed

[mortemscintilla]

[ FISH LIPS? HE THOUGHT IT WAS A BEAK! He squints, then finally understands. ]

[ Oh. ]

A fish.

[ He's smiling now. Seemingly no agenda behind it. Just a smile. Does she realize how ridiculous she looks? ]

action; shed

[anatural]

FINALLY.

[The smile takes her by surprise. It's not like his smiles from before, the ones that she'd discovered were lies. There's still obviously a darkness in him. A darkness that can smile.

She sits down hard and tries to make it look totally intentional.]

Your turn.

[Do something stupid, Hei, and distract her from remembering the times when she didn't hate you. Times when she actually really kind of liked you.]

action; shed

[mortemscintilla]

Me? [ Congratulations. You have the rare pleasure of seeing Hei completely speechless. His face freezes around his previously pleasant, amused expression. It's been years since he's played charades. He was never even particularly good at them. ] What am I supposed to ...? [ Come on. Pick an animal. Something she might recognize. Something related to cold-climate. He hesitates, then concedes. Arms held down at sides, taking tiny steps with feet pointed outward. ]

[ Penguin, Korra. Penguin. It should be obvious, in theory. ]

[ Except theory and practice are so different. ]

Re: action; shed

[anatural]

[You're either better at this game is than she is, or worse. She manages to guess right away.

Almost. She kind of keels over laughing first.]

Otter penguin!


[SNORT]

A constipated otter penguin.

action; shed

[mortemscintilla]

[ Otter-penguin? It's official. All animals are hybrids in her world. But the laughter takes him by surprise. It's easy for 'Li' to get that reaction. What is he, but a killer in clown's clothing? Not Hei, though. He doesn't dispense anything but death. ]

[ He cuts off that taproot of thought before it reaches irrational bloom. ]

Constipated? [ Hmph. ] I'd like to see you do better.

[ The challenge might be serious if he weren't half-smiling. ]

action; shed

[anatural]

Just. Watch.

[She lies down on her stomach and flaps her arms like a seal]