poly_chromatic | ♦ ♦ 13th Contract

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darker than black - hei

♦ ♦ 13th Contract

[ 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 ]

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I might take it anyway.

[Just to fuck with him. She doesn't have anything against drinking as a rule, but he's getting under her skin. Him and his stupid expressive non-expressions. How did that even work?!?!?!??!?]

[ Decades of practice. The Syndicate's operatives are perfectly suited for any role: politics, conning, prostitution or murder. It also helps they don't have a conscience to interfere with work. Perfect sociopaths. ]

It's just a flask. It can't hurt anyone.

[ No touching. Anyone between Hei and his drink will see some real violence. ]

[She grumbles and turns away. It's hard to believe they'd been having fun together before.

If he keeps that smug non-expression on his face, she's going to punch it.]

[ The look is still there. Immobile. Infuriating. In the back of his mind, he's testing her almost like a new weapon. Feeling for limitations and cracks, at how fast it is for her to strike. ]

[ New weapons -- wild elements -- are always interesting. ]

[Damn it she's trying so hard to be good! BUT HE WON'T STOP LOOKING.]

If you're not gonna say anything, then stop looking at me like that!

Like how?

[ He stares at her, completely innocent. Perfect pokerface. ]

[ARGH. This is normally the point where she would earthbend Ikki and Jinora into oblivion, but she doesn't have her earthbending and he's not Ikki or Jinora.

So instead she punches his arm.]

I hate you.

[Her punch is hard and her tone is frustrated, but it's obvious that she doesn't mean it. Which is strange, but true, and she's not going to overthink it. Overthinking has never been one of her flaws.]

[ Alcohol hasn't yet dulled his reflexes. He catches the blow, bullet-fast, in his open palm. It's amazing how much information one can get from a punch if they knew how to read it. Not that Korra's a closed-book in that respect. ]

Don't be so quick to lose your temper. [ The smugness is gone. He meets her eyes seriously. ] You'll meet bigger pests than me as you get older. Can't beat them all with a punch to the face.

[ Honesty doesn't always extend your life. In Hei's trade, it stamps yours with an expiration date. ]

[He reminds her of Nika, her earthbending master, in that moment, though she couldn't say why. She has the feeling she's being taugjt, not offered condescending advice. It's disconcerting to see him as someone to learn from and not just someone to fight.

She covers her discomfort with snark.]

Shlike yiure so much older amd wiser.

[ He doesn't let her fist go. But it's not a threatening gesture. He's not teaching or offering advice. Simply stating a fact. ]

Older than you are. [ Wiser is debatable. But he's a cold survivalist, his skills war-tested and street-proven. He can soak up punishment and keep on swinging. Or he can pull back to regroup. But he's never been foolish enough to rely on strength alone. Victory is a matter of calculated tactics. And, often, dirty tricks. ]

[Sometimes victory is just a matter of refusing to be defeated. Other times, victory comes after accepting defeat. Over her hundreds of lifetimes, the Avatar has learned that victory is no more easy to define than love or happiness. This is something that Korra will learn eventually.

But not yet.

She snorts and tugs her fist away.]

Care to let go of my fist, Old Man?

[ Sometimes it's not about victory or defeat at all, but the battle itself. After successes, losses, betrayals, Hei knows those In-Betweens are what've shaped who he is. Failure can warp the mind unless you profit from it. Victory can show itself to be hollow. ]

[ But there's a veracity in battle that can't be replicated anywhere else. ]

[ Calm, unhurried, he lets her fist drop. Says, after a pause, ] You should take your coat back. [ Dryly. ] My bones aren't that brittle yet.

Why? You're the only one here with body heat to lose.

I'll survive. [ He frowns. ] You can't feel cold at all? Or heat?

So will I. I guess. [She's already dead at least.

She shifts uncomfortably and looks away.]

I feel them. I can tell that your hand is hot and the room is cold. But I don't have any heat inside. There's nothing for the coat to trap.

[ No heat-generation. Odd concept. Humans aren't designed to be that way. She may as well be a lizard -- ectothermic. It's probably affected her appetite too. He won't tell her I'm sorry. If it's happened, it's happened. But, with an air of fairness, he hands her the flask. ]

[ He has body-heat to lose. She doesn't. May as well enjoy a facsimile. ]

[Korra hesitates, then takes the flask.]

What am I supposed to do with this?

[ That should be obvious. ]

Drink it.

Edited 2012-11-13 02:48 (UTC)

[Yeah, okay, she kinda figured. She'd been hoping for a different answer.

She looks at the flask again, then shrugs slightly. Better her than him. She's got nothing to lose.

She takes a chug of the drink, and then starts coughing. Spirits that burned!]

[ He shakes his head. Someone needs dire instruction. ]

Not like that. Open your throat and let it in.

[ Nevermind how dirty that sounds. ]

[It takes awhile before she can speak]

It BURNS!

It's supposed to. [ Her disgusted expression isn't notably attractive. Still he's amused. On the inside. ] Sip slower. Hold it in your mouth for a few seconds. Then swallow.

[She doesn't understand how anybody could like this. She prefers sake.

But she does what he says, sipping slower, holding it in her mouth and savoring a bit before swallowing. She still coughs a little, but it goes down much easier this time. And she can kinda understand now why people liked it.

Her head feels a little funny. Is she getting tipsy? She's dead; how can she get tipsy? (She resolutely doesn't think about the fact that she can still get turned on. If she ignore it hard enough, it will stop being true. She hopes.)

She takes another sip.]

I still like sake better.

[ Hei thinks of Huang, who lamented that no matter how much he drank, he could never get sloshed. He isn't particularly partial to alcohol either (not yet...). It dulls the senses, impairs judgement he prefers to keep cold and impartial. But some days, he needs something a little stronger than tea. There's too much input in his head to process, so why not drown it all and be done with it? ]

[ That's not happening here, though. Korra's presence sharpens him up when what he wants to be is dull. ]

I prefer using sake for dobin mushi.

[She takes another sip. It doesn't warm her any, but she's beginning to enjoy the buzz.]

What's that?

action; shed

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Re: action; shed forgive spelling on phome

action; shed It's totally fine<33

action; shed <333

action; shed >3<

Re: action; shed >3<

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