poly_chromatic | ♦ ♦ 23rd Contract

Current Mood: annoyed

Entry tags:

darker than black - hei

♦ ♦ 23rd Contract - Voice/Video/Action

[ He's spent the days following Yin's departure from the City on stand-by. Still working. Still heading out on excursions Underground. Still going about his little routines, smiling as 'Li', chatting and cheerful. Bubble-encased. But he has certain other routines, even in the midst of all the usual tasks. Times he thinks about Yin and times he doesn't let himself think about her, because the most important thing of all is to keep his eyes on the straight and narrow, to keep going. That's what he's always done. Except the longer he keeps the pretense up, the more acutely he's aware of something venomous boiling up his skin, in his mind. ]

[ Something that threatens to explode into a firework of cold shrapnel. ]

[ And by the time the curse rolls around, his restraint hangs by the thinnest thread. ]

Well-played, City. [ Li's voice, but with a disquieting bite. It only lasts a moment. The next words are perfectly neutral, ] I guess this is the part where I say: 'Show me yours and I'll show you mine.' Although not exactly in that order.

[ re: If you have his photos, hand them over, and he'll hand over yours. No bullshit, no drama. ]

[ This doesn't have to get ugly. ]

[ OOC: Hei's pictures are floating around the City, and up for grabs. Please approach with caution. Mr. Assassin is cranky as hell with the exit of Yin, his ~~BFF~~ ~~Loli~~ ~~Teammate~~ friend from the City, and this curse is not helping xDD Also I apologize in advance for slow tags; it's craycray season at school. Backtags are encouraged and adored<3 ]

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[She's jealous.

Crap.

She went out to train this morning (on her own, at a reasonable hour because Jinora is still pissed off at her and won't train her) and got hit with a torrent of pictures. Now she's curled up on her bed, browsing through them. Hei and a girl. Hei and a girl. Hei and a girl.

It's stupid. She doesn't have any reason to be jealous. It's not like she likes him that much. Tohru's gone. Jinora hates her. She doesn't have the emotional energy to waste feeling like this.

ARGH. She sets the pictures on her nightstand, buries her head under her pillow, and screams.]

Tit for tat is it? And if we care not for fair trade...what then?

Should I destroy this picture I found of you fighting, or would you like to keep it?

[Guess who hasn't found any pictures, but she's seen this event before. She knows what's going on.]

Embarrassing pictures out there somewhere?

It looks like you in this picture...

[Of you strangling a girl.]

[ Hei gives Pavel a burnt glance that softens by degrees into curiosity. If it were any other time -- if he were in any other mood -- he might've cracked a half-smile at that distinctive directness. In his profession, it's practically an abnormality. Instead he says, ]

I'd have to see the picture first. [ He's been engaged in too many battles to count. (He has a photo of Pavel's too. But he doesn't volunteer the information yet. Not out of malice, but old habit.) ]

[ Hei bites back the urge to snap Obvious much? Instead he takes a breath and rubs his temples. Rage has always been one of his fatal flaws. But rage can wreck his cover in the worst ways. ]

Very embarassing. [ And near-incriminating. ] I'm starting to think the Deities are in league with the paparazzi.

[ Great. The 10 year old found one too. Concerned, but not showing it, Hei lets his impatience dissipate on a slow exhale. Lets 'Li's look of well-meaning concern slip into place, and says, ]

Let me see the picture, Jinora. [ His tone is mild. But it's not a request. ]

[ His flat glare is both uncommunicative yet not. ]

Then I'll play a game of Cause and Effect with you instead. [ Not the fun kind. ]

[ When he sees the video-feed -- recognizes the pictures -- a judder of what he'd like to call dread but which is really rage runs through him. Watching Korra shuffle through them, the heat rises to his face -- they seem stalkerish, perfectly-framed yet intrusive shots of him and Pai in Heaven's War, of Amber bidding him goodbye in Hell's Gate, of Amber and he in some summery scenery he's neither visited, nor recognizes. Even as that photo sends his mind scrambling to assemble possibilities -- maybe Amber's alive? maybe it's a shot of them in the distant future? -- Hei can imagine himself tearing all the photos into little bits and setting them on fire. ]

[ (He doesn't care about why Korra's scowling, or bother to ponder that frustrated scream. Her teenage tantrums aren't his concern.) ]

[ Sometime in the evening, Korra will get a message on her device. A location near the Drowning Pool. No timing, just instructions to come there. As an addendum: ]

If you have photos, bring them too.

[After that therapeutic tantrum, Korra shoved the pictures in her nightstand drawer and resolved not to think about them anymore. The rest of the day is spent training hard and achieving peace of mind through complete exhaustion.

She's getting out of the shower, about an hour before she needs to leave for work, when she gets his message. Great. She's too tired for anything more than a mild pang of hurt/jealousy/curiosity. She doesn't know what he'd want with her near the Drowning Pool, but considering today's curse is just pictures, she doubts it's anything nefarious. (She has a lot to learn.) She grabs the pictures from her nightstand, not noticing that the picture of Pai slid out and remained behind.

Riding on Naga, it doesn't take her long to get to the location.]

[ Unlike Korra, who's had a chance to simmer down, every incident through the day has served to compound Hei's frustration. Bit by bit, he can feel a jammed hinge inside him cracking open. Feel the irrational surge of rage threatening to spill out, gale-force. In the end, to preempt a cover-blowing display of temper (something that's grown more tempting -- cathartic -- in the days following Yin's departure) he's decided to expend energy with a swim. ]

[ The water is ice-cold, but it gives the sorely reined-in muscles and bones of his body permission to let go. Diving past the surface, the world disappears into murk, and the ambient noises are swallowed up by an aquatic murmur. When he finally breaks back out, he stops powering forward and flips onto his back, floating. Watches the sky darken above. Away from the city lights, the first stars are so much clearer. ]

[ (He wants to say to someone, Look. I never get tired of that. Can imagine Pai -- or maybe Amber -- floating beside him, bobbing in the tide, sometimes touching, sometimes floating away, but they'd be watching the same thing, as the water gurgled in their ears. Except Pai or Amber would never get to do those things. Not anymore.) ]

[ Hearing a rustle in the background, he cranes his neck around to see Korra arriving on Naga. Immediately, whatever tension he lost in the swim resurges. His eyes narrow, no smile, no greeting. ]

You have the pictures. [ Not an inquiry. ]

[Korra slides off Naga, but doesn't leave the polar bear dog's side. She can feel the tension in her friend, the creature sensing danger. Korra's a little tense herself at the sight of Hei's mood, but that doesn't stop her from being a little snarky.]

Wow, cranky much. [She pulls them out of her pocket.] They're right here. How did you know I had them, anyway?

[ He doesn't answer her question. He's tight-lipped, pale, his face granite. In one sleek movement he vaults out of the pool. His vision feels clouded, heart hammering even as he can't feel the rest of his body, doesn't know if he's right side up, breathing air or choking on water. Stepping closer, he tugs the pictures out of her hand, rigid-backed and high-shouldered but oddly dignified despite the swim trunks and the water streaming off him. ]

[ He handles the photos with just the fingertips, careful to leave no smudges. Absorbs the familiar faces -- his best beloveds, except he's never been sentimental enough to carry pictures of them -- before it hits: ] There's one picture missing.

What do you mean there's one missing? I grabbed them all! And how do you know that?

[ There's a warning in Hei's eyes that discourages too many questions. ]

There were three pictures. Not two.

[ The dim suspicion intrudes that she might've hid that one from him. But why would she? Surely she values her own neck more highly. ]

I grabbed three -- [Oh. But he is only holding two. She can see hints of green hair from both of them, which means it's missing the one with the little girl.]

The other one must've slipped out somewhere.

[She refrains from further questions, but not for long. She's getting a little suspicious and pissy herself.]

[ Slipped somewhere. The forest and everything in it, as well as his perception of his own body, drifts slightly like a balloon on a short string, all the scenery, Korra herself, floating just a bit further off than they should be. The swim or the cold haven't caused it -- but somehow they've made it worse. Silently, Hei turns and gathers up his clothes, where he'd left them folded on a mossy boulder. Shrugs them on slowly, a little jerky, like a wind-up toy. His voice borders on a snap. ]

Either you dropped it at home, or on the way here.

[ He's determined to retrace her steps and find that errant photo. He needs to gather them all up -- and burn the damn things. ]

O...kay. [Expression #394 I Think You've Gone A Little Crazy. When Naga snarls, Korra puts a comforting hand to her neck and gives the polar bear dog another look -- Please be patient. Not that Korra's feeling very patient herself.]

Oh? How about a game of tag instead?

[She hesitates before bringing the photo into view. There's no doubt that it's Li, unless he has a twin.]

It's you.

[The boy shrugs and presents the lens with a series of pictures.]

Probably this is unremarkable to you.

Once I tag you and you're 'It', you won't like what happens.

[ He can tell by the way Korra looks at him that his behaviour is erratic -- verging on deranged. His head throbs; for a moment he can't see anything beyond a film of red. It takes a few moments to recognize that this is due to the thundering rage building up in him, a physical force that makes him almost-tremble to keep from lashing out. At Korra, for finding the pictures. At the nearest rock, to absorb the brunt of his temper. At the City as a whole, for its endless idiocies. ]

[ Instead he sucks in a breath through gritted teeth. His clothes stick damply to his untoweled skin; there's a numbness in his fingertips except he can't feel the cold. Focusing on Korra, he says, ]

Are you just going to stand there? Or are you going to look?

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♦ ♦ 23rd Contract - Voice/Video/Action

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