♦ ♦ 18th Contract

[mortemscintilla]

[ The device snaps on to the foreshortened view of a spartan livingroom. In the corner, a wire-mesh cage with a brightly-patterned iguana is visible. The occupant stirs sluggishly across the interior, tail flicking. Closer to the screen, on the coffee-table, rests a crystal center-piece. ]

[ Someone's frigid little heart is on display for the whole City. ]

[ In the periphery, footsteps rustle. A voice, too flat and monotonous to be 'Li's, mutters, ]

So now the City's getting metaphorical on me.

Pretentious. As always.

[ Belatedly, the speaker notices the blinking device. With an irritable tch, a hand reaches to click off the feed. It won't be near midnight until the device switches itself back on. At a different spot, but with the ice-heart still in view. By that time, it'll have metamorphosed into a new shape. The blue glow it radiates is actually a spark of concentrated heat. Melting the ice from inside-out. ]

[ Hopefully it won't set the coffee-table on fire. ]

Options for Run Ins:

♠ At Home (Li/Hei): With impatient jerky movements -- almost pulling off the cabinet doors as he yanks them -- he'll be assembling lunch in the kitchen, though (for once) he isn't hungry. But he's no mood to look at that over-dramatic frozen heart. Teammates or friends are welcome to drop by and bug him!


☀ Shopping (Li): He leaves the stupid heart -- and inevitable questions via the Network device -- at home. At a supermarket, pushing a grocery cart, he feels better. After that tiresome 'revolt', he's glad to wander around and take care of mindless, not unpleasant tasks. You'll find him contemplating shelves of little fruity yogurt pots. Almond midnight mocha, juicy peach tart or blue lychee dream? Hmmmm.


∅ Recon (Reaper): Under the black sky of late night, he'll be near the City limits and the Underground, surveying the revolt's residual destruction. By now, in the groove of his routine, he's almost forgotten about the curse. The stars above are clear, and there's a pale slice of moon. He drifts from checkpoint to checkpoint, feeding an unexpected new habit of wandering around, not exactly patrolling, but getting lost. Staying lost.


[ OOC: Too cold to pierce, too hot to handle? Thawing and mellowing? Eating itself alive? Interpretations are up to you xD (Massively backtag friendly!!!!)  ]

Comments

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei half-expects Mao's hand (paw?) behind Yin's surveillance. He knows the other Contractor has misgivings about Korra. (Although it's hardly his business. Although Hei understands perfectly the divide between sex and attachment. Although his reasons for seeking Korra out are neither wholesome nor healthy in ways he'd admit to himself, let alone anyone else. ]

[ But Yin's reply catches him by surprise. His eyes narrow a fraction further -- so few things surprise him that Hei has to take a moment to absorb it, to identify that knee-jerk sensation of something humming under his skin. It feels almost like... ]

[ Unease? No. Something else. ]

Why would you do something like that? [ Not How could a Doll be capable of that? Not It's not your place to violate my privacy. For now, he just wants to understand. ]

[moonlitrequiem]

[For Yin, she will never fully understand what Hei's privacy has anything to do with Korra. It wasn't about Hei, though he influenced it more recently. And then, many people might find Yin weird, but few persisted beyond that. What Yin couldn't put into words was how Korra did. Korra didn't just not think of Yin as some useless Doll, but she continued to communicate with her when she saw her, for no reason other than they had met once.]

[It wasn't something Yin had encountered often, even outside of Contractors. It goes far beyond even finding Hei with Korra, even if Hei's connection to her made her stand out even more.]

[There was little she could explain to Hei, but she tried.] She's different.

[In her own, Doll-like way, Yin likes is drawn to Korra.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ There's a moment's hesitation -- so brief it can't even be classified as hesitation -- before Hei understands what he's feeling. The indescribable not-unease, the telltale encroachment of ... guilt. Guilt? But why? It shouldn't even be there. He tries to brush it off. But he can't ignore that shrilling in the back of his mind, that he ought to have shared basic details about Korra with Yin. ]

[ Which makes no sense. The two of them exist in completely different compartments in his head. ]

[ She's different, Yin says. Grudgingly, Hei has to concede to that. It's a feature in Korra that constantly evokes memories of Pai. She wears her uniqueness with the same ease as her hair. They're alike in that nothing seems to stain them -- untouchable even when mired in filth. It's not something he can explain. He won't try to. ]

She might be. She's a spiritual symbol, in her own world. [ But also just Korra. Frowning, he readjusts his grip on the dripping ice cream. There's a beat, before he speaks again. His tone is quiet, but it's an order, ] You're not to spy on her. Or on me when I'm with her. Not unless I request it. Is that understood?

[moonlitrequiem]

[If only it were that simple. However, while Yin had developed her own agenda, originally she had been given an order, and now Hei's order clashes with the first.]

[She is incapable to weigh the importance of either and decide whose orders should be followed. She wasn't made to make such decisions, and neither route would endanger Hei, far as she can tell. Any path that would negatively impact Hei, in an obvious way, would have made it easier, but Yin wasn't able to see either direction causing much of anything.]

[As a result, she can only stare. She can't even debate the two sides within herself, there's just a lock down, her expression blank, and mouth silent.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ When the expected reply doesn't come, Hei's gaze flickers toward Yin. Silent is an anagram for listen, and that's what he does now. Listen when she is silent. She seems to be at a crossroads, like a child unable to decide whether to go left or right. Like she can't comprehend the simple concept that not all surveillance is welcome; or that Hei could do with one less all-seeing eye. It's no fault of hers; just her programming. ]

[ He wants to break this down simply. To explain to her, that private and secret can be both mutually exclusive and inclusive. It's not that he doesn't trust her. He does. It's not even particularly easily won trust, which is one reason why there's so much of it. Another is simply that she's only ever given him reason to trust her more and more. But that's not what this situation is rooted in. It's about establishing boundaries. ]

Was it Mao who ordered you to keep watch?

[ His tone is bland, but he's watching her closely now. ]

[moonlitrequiem]

[While Mao has been something Yin has never had - a companion, Doll's don't need comforting rumbling sounds and someone to pet or care for - Yin does not understand enough to see why lying to Hei might be a good reason. She doesn't lie; Dolls aren't programmed to.]

[It might have come down to debating which meant more if she could even think beyond Hei's question.]

Yes.

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei's mouth purses into a flat line -- that damn cat -- but otherwise he betrays no sign of annoyance. He merely finishes his ice-cream in businesslike bites before it drips down his hand and onto his jeans. Popping the last chunk of waffle-cone into his mouth, he chews contemplatively and swallows, before saying, ]

I'll talk to him. [ He glances back at Yin, a pale starvling in the sunshine. The pendant flashes at her throat like a signal -- Fragile, Handle With Care. Quieter, he says, ] In the meantime, no more surveillance.

[moonlitrequiem]

[A sense of emptiness she's unfamiliar with sinks into the pit of her being as she nods her head. She realizes only then, on his second time of ordering, that she's not - ready, willing, happy with this - entirely sure of dropping surveillance.]

[There's a pull inside her, something Yin can't fathom, but she nods without resistance. Something else new; she expects Hei will leave now, and the conversation is over.]

[When did she start recognizing those signs?]

[mortemscintilla]

[ She ponders over the significance of signs and discrepancies, and Hei thinks, She was curious. Mao ordered her to send out her specter. But she persisted the other times because she was curious. He isn't sure what to make of that. It's mindbending. He's never considered Yin as just a superficial shell -- a Doll is no different from a pair of binoculars or a hidden wire, in their world -- but not to him. Yet sometimes she exhibits signs that fill even him with disquiet. Flares of willfulness. ]

[ (Sometimes he suspects she's no ordinary Doll at all. Not in any sense of the word). ]

[ By habit, he keeps the thoughts off his face. Rising from the bench, he tucks his grocery bag under one arm and slips the other hand into his pocket. But not before reaching -- almost imperceptibly -- to ghost his fingertips across her shoulder. Glancing down at her head, where the silver hair grows in a whorl, he says, ] Next time Mao orders you to watch anyone I interact with [ although he shouldn't, if Hei has anything to say about it ] I expect you to tell me.

[moonlitrequiem]

[(Hei is, in fact, right.)]

[She does nothing other than breathe for the remaining of the exchange. It's only at the end she looks up at him, expression mirroring his. Her tone is the same as ever, soft and barely above a whisper.]

But if the request is in your best interest and you will argue? [She knows him. Far beyond what any Doll should comprehend, she's aware he doesn't always do what's best for himself.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei's expression hardens, but there's no emotion there. No irritation or shock. He just stares at Yin, dark-eyed and perfectly still, as if mapping new changes on the planes of her face. Or as if he's never seen her before. His frown doesn't even qualify as a frown -- it's too vague, too distant. ]

[ First she sent her specter out. Out of curiosity. Now she's arguing with him. Out of -- what, exactly? ]

That's for me to decide. [ It's not cold, but it's chiding. Whether back home, or in the City, one thing remains unchanged -- he dislikes being questioned. ] I may not have all the answers. But I know Korra isn't a threat to you or Mao. There's no reason to observe her. [ What sort of threat she might be to Hei ... Well. He's not yet sure. ]

[moonlitrequiem]

[If that's Hei's view on the matter, then Yin will agree to it.]

[She nods her head, flowing with his requests once more, downstream and with ease. But she already knew Korra wasn't a threat to them. What she can't figure out is what Mao knows that she doesn't. But that's not supposed to be important, is it?]

[mortemscintilla]

[ She slips so easily into obedient passivity, that Hei almost might've imagined that unexpected fit of pique. ]

[ Almost. ]

[ Except he didn't, and its existence feeds a hum of something in the line of his shoulders. A premonition, almost. He's supposed to be a creature of cold logic; supposed to disdain bad vibes and sixth senses. Perhaps the fact that he doesn't is a sign of his irrational human half, reasserting itself? ]

[ He doesn't know. ]

[ He regards Yin a moment more, impassive, but filled with silent disquiet. Then turns on his heel to start the route back home. ]

[moonlitrequiem]

[Yin remains a while longer after Hei departs, just staring at the grass, dappled shadows and light showing the outline of leaves playing against it with soft breezes overhead.]

[She removes the pendant and watches the colors brighten and shine in the sun, the curve of the wings, then, necklace in hand, she finally rises. She thinks it might be safer there, where Yin can feel it. Hei said keep it safe, so she will.]

[With that as her last thought on it, Yin heads towards the shops.]