poly_chromatic | ♦ ♦ 18th Contract

[ 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!!!!) ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ (It's a business of killers. They take what they can get). ]

[ There's a hint of a frown -- not so much at Pavel's question as the way it's phrased. But by now he's familiar with the young man's idiosyncratic way of expressing himself. ]

You make it sound like the pretense is a hobby. [ He doesn't sound snappish; his tone is mild. But Pavel will note that he doesn't answer the question. ]

[Chekov shrugs rather ambiguously.]

I know nothing about you. I thought I would ask before inviting you to use the laboratory's telescope.

[ The evasive shrug gets a look that could peel paint, ]

Why would you invite me at all?

[ Please tell him you're being sarcastic. ]

[If anything, be looks a bit baffled.]

Because I thought that you would like that, maybe.

[Not a trace of sarcasm.]

[ He stares at Pavel in the eye, not angrily, but as if he's judging a distance, the logistics to leap into his head. What is this? Denial? The beginnings of a meticulously structured trap? Friendliness is not a trait Hei encounters, much less trusts. ]

[ Even less from someone he's threatened before. ]

You don't have to do that. [ Play nice, that is. ] I'm not Li. There's no reason for you to behave as if I am.

[Stare as he might, Hei won't find any signs that Pavel's hiding anything.

Probably because he's not. Chekov trusted Li and has made a conscious decision to transfer that trust to Hei (with the knowledge that Hei is quite dangerous and, perhaps, not the least bit trustworthy). It might be a foolish decision, but it's not in his nature to keep people at a distance.]

Some of you must be Li, and Li was my friend.

[ Worse than foolish. It seems to speak to Hei of the symptom of an unfortunate pathology, if not a reactionary emotional delusion. He's seen it before; marks who can't differentiate between the business and the man, once the mission ends. It's not hard to understand why; 'Li' and Hei seem to live in a sort of pentimento, truths and lies piled on top of each other, their distinctions running together. ]

[ He's lived them all but in the absence of his whole self they are curiously flat to him, denuded of full meaning. A convincing performance doesn't alter the axis of reality, after all. (Even if he wishes it did.)]

Li didn't exist. [ It's cruel to state it, but Hei needs to establish that much. ] And if he did, he was a means to an end. [ He'd like to say they aren't the same people. But that's an oversimplification. All lies have a fraction of truth. But trusting a liar is no better than trusting an illusion. You're setting yourself up for disappointment either way. ]

[Chekov would beg to differ. As far as he's concerned, Hei is the abnormal one. Extreme mistrust, a willingness to go to extreme measures to conceal a secret that, in the City, seems quite trivial. Hei is obviously a killer, and a well-trained--perhaps experienced--one as well. A decent life doesn't create a person like that.

He accepts Hei's statement with an unusual seriousness.]

Very well. Does Hei enjoy stargazing?

[ Hei isn't going to get into the normal and abnormal debate. ]

[ The war changed his mindset, and he's well aware of it. The Syndicate took it apart and put it back together with brutal regimens and training, but they left out key pieces and added new upgrades. He literally doesn't think the way a normal person does anymore. Civilians may feel they can turn him back into a sweet reformed pussycat. But it's never going to happen. He's too different; too patchwork in some place, too sharp-tuned in others. You can't reverse that programming, because it's not programming. It's not software; it's hardware. ]

[ He stares at Pavel, a trickle of absurdism crawling up his spine, ] 'You' works just as well as 'Hei'. [ A pause. ] And I enjoy stargazing just fine.

[There are people out there who can't change or be changed. Pavel knows that; Nero was like that. When offered mercy, even after killing billions, he chose to stay on the course he had set for himself.

Perhaps, though, Chekov can make some difference to Hei's general opinion of humanity and ensure that he stays on his good side (better side, at least).]

Is Hei real, or is he a fiction like Li? [regardless] Then would you like to come to City Solutions and use the telescope?

[ Hei pinches the bridge of his nose. Briefly, he wonders why he seems to attract either do-gooders or megalomaniacs, rarely the comfortable no-man's land of gray in between. But what is real goodness anyway? He seldom thinks about it. But stagnation makes you quite the bore -- he's seen that with civilians, who are the most crashing ones. Now he can be tiresome on philosophical subjects all by himself. ]

I'd say that depends on what your definition of a real person is. [ His tone isn't abstract; it's dismissive. There's a hint of something critical in his expression at Pavel -- suspicious, perhaps -- before he says, ] All right. [ If the young man is up to something, he's assured that he can handle it. If he's as sincere as he seems... ]

[ Well, that remains to be seen. ]

[Maybe it's the 'Li' persona that does it.

Sensing the lack of philosophical weight behind that musing, Chekov nods, glad to have an answer.] Good, thank you. I'll see you soon, Hei.

[He's exactly as sincere as he seems, but he's neither stupid nor entirely naive. Youth has given him a great deal of faith in people; such faith isn't immune to deterioration.]

[ He'd be inclined to agree. But it's not 'Li'. Maybe it's simply the karma he's accrued. ]

[ If he believed in karma. ]

[ He nods, but that's the extent of his sociability for this moment. (Another marked difference between him and the ever-solicitous 'Li'). While it's true that Pavel's youth may have lent him a wellspring of goodwill, Hei is barely pushing twenty-three. Not exactly a senior citizen. It's not a matter of age-grading so much as separate realities. Hei's experiences will be one thing, Pavel's will always be another. ]

[ (Thankfully they intersect where science and stargazing are concerned.) ]

♦ ♦ 18th Contract

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