poly_chromatic | ♦♦ 21st Contract

Entry tags:

darker than black - hei

♦♦ 21st Contract

[ Just the most withering stare. ]

This isn't funny.

And I don't like cookies that much.

.................Do I?

(♥ Tabloid Trash Article: The Rise & Fall Of a Star ♥)

[ OOC: The link takes you to another journal, as the article is long and full of crack. Lots of crack. None of the fodder is meant to be taken seriously. But if any aspects are offensive, PM me and I'll add a warning or something :| ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It could be worse. [You could have killed Chekov.]

Did you see that guy with the cooking show?

[ Could have. Except Chekov is still alive, need he remind you. ]

Hm. [ Vile. A mockery of everything cooking shows represent. ] I doubt they'd let him into the Cordon Bleu. I saw six health-code violations in one glance alone.

[ Also: What. Is this thing. That they're doing? ]

[ Is it conversation? ]

[No thanks to her.]

Cord On Blew. Is that some kind of super fancy restaurant?

[And yes, Li, this is conversation. Take a moment, I know it's a shock.]

[ Don't play that My Life Is Hard game with him. Stabbing a friend is ugly, but she isn't the victim type. She'll learn to get her shit in sock, deal with the fallout, and move on. ]

[ (Like it's so easy.) ]

Bleu. Go for a bit more nasal. It's a culinary school. [ Then he hesitates, staring at the screen, unsure suddenly what she's doing there. ]

...So.

[ Yeah. Great start to this talk. Bravo, Hei. ]

Edited 2013-03-22 13:59 (UTC)

Blew. [She screws up her nose as she says this, not really having any idea what "go for a bit more nasal" means.

She blinks at him, confused by his apparent confusion.]

So what?

Nevermind. [ At least there are no native French speakers around to witness this bit of butchery. ]

[ He doesn't frown, but he does rub his temples distractedly. Concern is hardly new to him. But he's no good at expressing it. Cold and wary at every point, determined to survive and unable to trust himself or anyone else, he can only watch over people like a sentry perched on a great height. ]

So how are you? [ Paragraphs of subtext. ]

[Terrible.]

Fine.

[It's the one lie she's almost good at. (Not good enough to fool adults or experts like Hei, but enough to fool people her age. People like Chekov.) She's been plagued with constant nightmares, and she always feels hungry but never wants to actually eat. She's been spending a lot of time, alone, trying to put all the different pieces together, unable to make any of them fit.]

Better than you, it looks like. I haven't seen anything about me on the network.

[ A quirk of the eyebrow is his only reaction. What she tells him is a lie, but it's not his job to call her out on it. It's just the patented Korra method of dealing by not dealing. Typical 18 year old nonsense. ]

[ (Except you do it too.) ]

If there was, the shirtless picture alone would get you more attention.

[ Yes. Snark. Let's start there. ]

[She rolls her eyes.] You're disgusting.

[She doesn't want to think about the kind of attention a shirtless picture of her would get. That awful drawing was bad enough.]

[ The very soul of innocence. ]

Think of the high turnover at the bar.

[ y e p. He is needling you, Korra. ]

[TWITCH. TWITCH.]

Go eat some cookies.

[She slams the device shut...but opens it again after the connection's cut. If he comments, she'll respond.]

[ A beat because, yeah, he is in the kitchen. Eating cookies. Don't judge. ]

[ After a moment of crunching, ]

Someone needs to teach you to talk trash a little. [ Because Go eat some cookies isn't a comeback. It's a pleasant suggestion. ]

[It takes Korra awhile to respond. She almost doesn't.]

Jerk.

[ Oh come on Korra. You can do better than that. ]

[ Crunch. Crunch. ]

Are you just going to keep staring creepily?

It's not against the law.

[ Mmmm. Delicious cookies and not-quite-sexual tension. Or is it? Who knows. It's complicated. Crunch. ]

It's weird.

[ The pouts and petulance are amusing. In a way he appreciates them, because unlike a professional, playacting at sweetness, she's being herself. Sometimes she looks almost old, but he can still see that little girl peering out of her eyes. ]

Consider it a moment of mono no aware. [ Except he doubts she'd understand his wry use of the Japanese phrase, much less grasp the concept. ]

A moment of what?

[If he keeps this up, she's just going to bury her head in her pillow and scream. IT'S TOO EARLY IN THE MORNING FOR THIS.]

[ Sorry, Korra. Headaches don't need zipcodes and timings to manifest. ]

Mono no aware. [ The pronunciation is precise and neutral; no hint of accent. ] It's a reminder that all things are transient. And special because of that transience. [ Youth and innocence, especially. ] Which means you should appreciate them before they're gone.

It's not something you really grasp at eighteen.

[ Certainly, he hadn't. He'd been convinced he'd be able to protect Pai, stay by her side, for as long as he willed it. ]

[She makes a face at the "eighteen" remark. Geezer. But she rests her chin on her arms and frowns thoughtfully. That sounds like something Tenzin would say.

Her elbow hits "post" without her realizing or saying anything.]

[ He fixes the device with a quiet half-smile. It's almost like explaining something to Pai. Korra is much brasher, but she sparks that peculiar mix of emotions in him. An affinity based on such a tenuous sense of self, a literal struggle to find yourself amid conflict and volatility. A paternalistic urge to protect her from mistakes she might make. A sad longing that was like an elegy for his sister. ]

[ But beyond that, Hei's accepted it's mostly his personal interest. ]

Am I getting the silent treatment now?

[Huh? Oh.]

No, sorry. I was just thinking.

[ That much is obvious, with her body language skewed and a buzz of something in the line of her shoulders. It's not often he sees her sitting still. ]

About what?

[ It's like a moth settled on a window. Give it a tap; see where it flies. ]

About what you said.

[It's tickling something at the edge of her consciousness, almost as though it's familiar, but she can't quite grasp it.

Her parents...Tenzin and Pema... their relationships were beautiful because they last. If they were transient, it would just be...sad.]

Is that what you think?

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