fuse_box | Setting: after the City

anatural posting in

THE GIST
When the door out of

poly_chromatic is finished, Korra invites Hei to join her in her world. He brings a few other people along with him.

CHARACTERS
Korra |

anatural
Jinora |

bookbending
Hei |

mortemscintilla
Yin |

moonlitrequiem
Mao |

maoser

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

mortemscintilla

[ Hei has spent his life weaving webs, not building nests. It's not so different here. ]

[ It's been three weeks since they've arrived in Korra's world. Much of it has been spent settling in. Or trying to. He's used to that hollow dissociative feeling that comes with deracination. Hell, one of the most disquieting aspects of his profession, psychologically, was how it was like a journey with no end. He couldn't make solid plans. He couldn't determine the conclusion. He'd always felt like he was starting over and over again. Always on the move, always running. Now, lobbed into the glittering belly of Republic City, he suddenly feels those years piling up behind him, robbing him of any sense of departure or arrival. ]

[ The culture shock is surreal. Not because Korra's world is so alien -- but because it isn't. His first glimpse, caught in rush hour traffic on the Silk Road bridge, of the skyline, anchored by rising lines of buildings, startles him. It's as if a tornado has crashed through New York, London, Tokyo and Shanghai circa 1920 -- sweeping up buildings, cars, monuments, rickshaws, pharmacies, banks, florists, bakers -- swirling them into an amalgam of East-West, then dumping them at the bay. He isn't quite sure of the city's reality, or the way it gives off an eerie Emerald City vibe -- swallowtail roofs, geometric latticework windows, red lacquer pillars, golden temples mixed with the bright streaks of Western-style skyscrapers, tight-packed Harlem facades of brownstones, honks and screeches of retro-neo model Ts, and that monolithic statue of Aang -- (he has a statue!) -- looming across the water like Lady Liberty, its green glow almost trancelike. The whole place is like a consensual hallucination. Hei has to struggle -- the first few days -- to keep his eyes straight ahead. ]

[ Within two weeks, he's reconnoitered the city's surface environs. Still, the place is every bit as stunning the second-third-fifth-tenth time around. He is hypnotized by the glow it radiates -- life and emotion made palpable. In contrast, Air Temple Island, with its rustic serenity, seems like a haven. A breather, not the end of the march, but welcome all the same. He's staying here with Yin, Mao and Korra. Well, staying with Korra separately, he should say. The island has gender segregated domiciles. On top of that, busy schedules and a lack of privacy create various other minor inconveniences. Though he supposes that when half the romance is an ex-contract killer and the other half a celebrity God In Human Form, crammed schedules are the least of their troubles. ]

[ This early morning finds him settled crosslegged under a weeping willow. Dusky pink bars of sunlight pour through the green curtain of leaves. In his lap, there is a spread of books. He's been using every spare moment to learn the language -- or re-learn, as the case may be. Turns out the lingua franca in Korra's world is a sister of gǔwén -- Classical Chinese -- with subtle tonal differences. Other dialects are also prevalent, including Wu, Min, Xiang, Beijing-style Mandarin and some unholy dialectal spawn between Shanghainese and Japanese. It's frustrating at times, unnerving at others. But with Jinora's guidance, he's making progress. The rest, he's picking up from the air acolytes, the White Lotus guards, the citizens of Republic City, and Korra herself whenever they can snatch a few moments alone. ]

[ After all, there are few more natural routes in the acquisition of a language than sharing a pillow. ]

From:

alittlebent

[Those spare moments have been few and far between. Korra's had almost as much culture shock to deal with as Hei has. This isn't the world she'd left behind. According to everything she's heard about the City, time was supposed to freeze or something in your world while you were gone. Nobody was supposed to notice your absence.

Her absence had been noticed. According to Tenzin, she's been missing for almost three months -- ever since she unlocked the southern spirit portal. Jinora's been missing almost as long, since she went into the spirit world to find Korra. Mako's now a cop, and dating Asami -- evidently they had been in some kind of relationship, but after she disappeared, he & Asami got back together and Korra can't help thinking Wow. Fickle much? Her uncle has Northern Water Tribe soldiers stationed at the South Pole, and Future Industries is now in the war business, and Bolin is an actor?

It's been a lot to deal with. Korra has spent a year and a half getting used to not having these people around, to building a life without them, and now they all want a piece of her. Her parents, her friends, Tenzin, Master Katara, the entire world. Even former Fire Lord Zuko had come to the island to express his relief that the Avatar was back safe & sound. And then, of course, there was the question of why her bending was gone again. Constant meditations, like she hasn't tried that before.

So the question of Hei and Yin has been pretty much the last thing on her mind, even when she's managed to steal a moment alone with Hei. Why have a potentially painful emotional conversation, when she's already stressed out and he doesn't even speak the language and they could be relaxing? (Okay, so the sex isn't exactly relaxing when you're afraid that at any moment, Tenzin or Ikki or Meelo will bust into the room.)

She's not actually trying to find Hei this morning; she just wants a space to meditate away from Tenzin. (Had he always been this overbearing?) The willow looks like a good spot.]

Oh. Hei.

From:

mortemscintilla

[ Hei has been a spy for a long time. It's reflex for him to read between the lines. Something big is brewing on the horizon. It's hangs in the air like a sour stench; it's there in the furtive glances between Tenzin and Korra's friends; it's there in the sort of rigid routine Korra is expected to keep here, a tautness that would make clocks look relaxed. Somehow it doesn't surprise Hei. It's seems written in the stars that he'll trade one war-torn world for another. He's been doing his own frequent, unobtrusive scans through the city for tidbits of news, for scuttlebutt on the latest movers and shakers. He lies low, and it's easy -- big cities swallow you whole, swallow your thoughts until all that's left is narrow-scoped awareness of the Now. There's so many things he needs to get a handle on anyway. The economy, the politics, the sociopsychological norms, the technology; everything you need to be familiar with when blending in is (was) your bread and butter. ]

[ Still, in his scant moments with Korra... Hei worries. ]

[ It's odd. In most ways, he's forgotten what worry is. He's had almost nothing else in his quarter-century alive, enough that it's become white-noise. A background buzz, easily ignored. He's learnt to carve out exits where there are none, to shoulder his way into dangerous terrains, to slither into different roles. Whatever allowed him to survive. Until now. Being in a world so different ... it re-introduces him to apprehension. He worries about Yin's safety. He worries about that damn cat. Most of all, he worries about Korra. Too quickly, he's come to understand her role in this world. To the ordinary crowd. it's as if she's the sort of creature who isn't human at all. They don't seem to see her as made out of the same ever-failing parts that other people are cobbled together from. He'd had inklings in the City of what The Avatar meant. But it is nothing to the reality that she is viewed as a tiny god, cast down to earth as if for penance among the fallen. ]

[ Hei knows better. ]

[ She's still so young. So damn vulnerable -- emotionally more than physically. Just because everything is relatively quiet right now doesn't mean there's no apocalypse around the corner. A million things could happen to take her away. From the world. From ... him. It's not the same fear he had for Pai. That was always immediate, pragmatic -- (can I feed her enough? do we have enough supplies? is she somewhere I can watch over her?) This is something else, warped and dark and formless. On some level, he knows he still sees her as an asset. Perhaps now, more than ever, since she's his most solid link in this new world. For that reason alone, he needs to keep Korra alive. Not just alive, but thriving. ]

[ Hearing footsteps, he blinks, abandoning his reverie. Korra is there, the sunlight making a lush corona of black-gold around her head. Hei hesitates, then says, in his halting vocabulary, ]

You're ... out early.

From:

alittlebent

[She smiles a little as she settles across from him. Not cuddling up; she feels self-conscious these days about being affectionate with him where other people can see. Mako's made no secret of his resentment, even if he is dating Asami, and Tenzin seems to channel his confusion and uncertainty and those months of fear into a distrust of him. (It...probably doesn't help that he caught them half-naked that one time, and Korra had once again cursed Hei's tendency to strip her before undressing himself.)]

No, this is pretty standard Air Temple hours. Usually I'm meditating with Tenzin in his favorite spot. I thought I'd try something new today.

[She looks down at the books surrounding him.]

Let me guess -- you got these from Jinora.

From:

mortemscintilla

[ He accepts her distance without rancour. As it is, they don't have a hope in hell of any real privacy here. Hei is far from modest -- the cramped atmosphere back in Heaven's War inured him to tame things like creaking cots and muffled grunts, condoms littered haphazardly on the floor and bodies silhouetted by lamplit tents, and wilder things like the circle jerks and bukkake brawls and pulling trains and body shots. Post-combat jack were a commonality; put a bunch of boys and girls together, and stress needed to be relieved. ]

[ Even so, he's one to value privacy, because in his former line of work any semblance of it you can snatch is precious. ]

[ Here, as a general rule, Hei follows the sentiment strictly. He stays mild in the face of Mako's brittle resentment -- because you'd have to be crazy not to miss Korra, even if you let her go. He's polite but not abrasively solicitous whenever Tenzin fixes his sharp gaze on him, or when he, or sometimes Pema, lean across the tea things on the low table to subject him to a rigorous interrogation, often alarming in its nosy specificity. Hei can't afford to be irritated. These people -- all of them -- are Korra's inner circle, and are as anxious for her as Hei might be for Pai. So he ignores scowls and sniggers of the White Lotus guards, is mindful of Korra's schedules and takes a greater note of prying eyes, not because there's something to hide but because some things? You have to learn how to keep. ]

[ Behind Korra, to the north side of the island, Aang's statue rises biblical and emerald against the sun; on the south side, skyscrapers rise in silvery pillars against the blue canvas of sky, framing the golden jewel box of the pro-bending arena. But Hei ignores the pretty view, in favor of the girl in front of him. ]

That girl is a walking encyclopedia.

[ His diction is formal -- like all polyglots, he segues into subtly different personalities according to the language -- but his wry admiration is sincere. ]

From:

alittlebent

[If Korra knew how invasive their questions were, she would have some very harsh words for them. A part of her was raring for a fight, but since that argument with Tenzin after he caught them together, the others have been careful not to give her any excuse.]

A walk encyclopedia who loves her romances. [The words may be a bit of a jumble to him, since she speaks at a native's speed.] Have you read the one about the volcano yet?

From:

mortemscintilla

[ Hei prefers to keep those matters to himself. Tempting as it is to drive a wedge between Korra and her family -- what better way to gather her close, to isolate her? -- that isn't Hei's game. Nor is he stupid. These people have powers -- of emotion and old loyalty and sheer familiarity -- that he can't touch. Part of him almost expects her to tire of him, sooner or later, once it sinks in that without the shared language, they don't have much in common besides an animalistic hankering for what's in the others' pants. He also recognizes that for all Tenzin's dislike of him, the man is making a shrewd effort not to antagonize him. He understands that if he were to abuse Hei to Korra, in her current frame of mind, he'd only drive her further into Hei's arms. ]

[ It's the sort of domestic squabbling and family politics Hei has no tolerance for. But for Korra's sake, he tries. Whatever direction their affair swoops -- or spirals -- toward, he's grateful she's allowed him here. Grateful that, in this colorful and chaotic place, he has a chance to step away from the shadow of his past. (He doesn't kid himself into believing that cloud will ever dissipate. But here, it might be able to lift reasonably high.) ]

[ It takes a moment to decipher Korra's words. (Here she seems to speak at double-speed, the phrases running together.) But once he's parsed her meaning, he says, ]

I have. [ A faint cringe. ] I think I prefer the Secret Tunnel song.

From:

alittlebent

Just don't start singing it.

[The gongs sound, a call to meditation for the acolytes, and a reminder that Korra should be meditating herself. But she doesn't move. She's been meditating endlessly for weeks now, and her head hurts like she's been banging it against a brick wall. She's not ready to call it a quits, but she wants a break from it. And she misses Hei. Going from seeing each other every day, touching each other every day, to barely stealing a few moments together a week is kind of an adjustment. She's paid her meditation dues. She's allowed to have this.]

Did you figure out what to do with that computer thing your cat needs?

From:

mortemscintilla

Will they throw me off the island if I do?

[ He ignores the resonating gongs, the notes going bronze as they hum in the air. Glances toward the coast, where a flock of migrating -- gargoyles? no -- cat-owls keep such perfect pace with the slow waves as to appear frozen in place, pinned like moths to the backdrop of sky. He knows all about Korra's rigorous meditation routines. Has overheard Tenzin's lectures, all endless didactic emphasis -- You must block all outside distractions. Feel nothing in order to experience everything. Set aside all material thoughts. Focus on the blah blah blah. ]

[ He understands a stunning skein of spirituality runs through the fabric of Korra's homeworld. But it sounds abysmally nu-age guru to a skeptic like Hei. Maybe, eventually, he'll change his tune. But for now he still maintains the boundaries and prejudices of his technological world. (Even so, he can't help but sense a certain desperation in the way Tenzin harangues Korra. It seems rooted in something much deeper than the pall of uncertainty that hovers in the atmosphere, palpable in the whispers of, The Avatar still can't bend the four elements. Somehow, Tenzin's exasperated concern is almost ... personal.) ]

[ Shaking it off, he focuses on Korra's question, ]

Mm. [ A nod, before he drops his gaze, stirring a page on his book with convincing idleness. ] It just needed electricity. And this place [ an error of verbiage: he calls it land instead of city ] has that.

[ It is, in fact, more industrialized than he'd anticipated. He can only assume Korra's hinkiness with machinery was related to the isolated compound she grew up in, and the hermetic nature of the Southern Water Tribe in general. ]

From:

alittlebent

Good. Good. [She stalls a little. Consciously or not, mentioning Yin's cat makes a perfect transition to the subject of Yin, but she's still nervous. Yin said it wasn't an issue anymore, but he'd invited her to come with them and hadn't told Korra. And she hasn't exactly been available... Argh. Korra can't even put her finger on what she's scared of, except Mako & Asami got back together while she was gone and he'd made no promises and she's really fucking sick of love triangles.]

How's Yin settling in?

From:

mortemscintilla

[ If Hei senses the conversation is building up to something, he doesn't let on. Even so, the linear quality of the questions makes him pause. Korra isn't one to ask How's the cat? and How's Yin? Not because she's too self-absorbed to care, but because if she's concerned, she'll check on both parties herself. He wonders what she's thinking about right now. Wonders what that unsteady, cliff-edge air of anxiety at her fringes is rooted in. (It's true he's made her no promises. But love doesn't mean promises and sweet nothings of yours-always-forever to him. It means loyalty, and a level of trust, because those things are infinitely more useful in a sharp-toothed world that tears apart anything soft.) ]

[ He hesitates, then sets the book aside. Leans forward, hands interlaced in his lap, to regard Korra's face. His own remains mild. ]

She's quiet. [ Quieter than usual, if truth be told, but he hasn't exactly had opportunities to have a Serious Talk with her. ] But she seems to be adjusting. The languages aren't a problem for her.

[ Largely because of her programming, but he has no intention of saying that. ]

From:

alittlebent

[If only love were that simple to explain for her. She loves him, but she doesn't trust him. Not like that. Too many people have left her and changed their minds about her. It leaves her feeling shaky and fragile. (Not that she admits it, especially to herself.)]

I'm glad. [She takes a breath.] Why didn't you tell me you invited her?

From:

mortemscintilla

[ If Hei could read her mind, he'd understand. He knows love can change you the way the sea changes the shorelines. In his instance it had made him into a monster, for Pai, only to have him shuck fragments of that steel-barbed shell, moment by moment, for Korra. For her it is different. She's learned disappointment from being in love. Learned insecurity and resentment. And yet somehow in the midst of those harsh lessons, she's allowed herself to stay with him. It makes him want to do everything he can to make her glad. But he's so terrible at it. His expertise lies in the opposite direction -- in misery, deception and death. ]

[ Why didn't you tell me you invited her? There's a beat, but to Hei's credit, he doesn't frown or look uneasy. Why hadn't he told Korra about Yin? That was simple. Because he was afraid what the collision of his two worlds, his two selves -- work and play -- would mean. He'd been a abashed by his feelings for Yin -- and by the realization that she might've wanted something more than friendship from him. So he'd tried to play the whole thing down. After all, things were crazy enough without having to navigate through a warped triangle. His intentions for Yin were clear-cut -- protect her, keep her alive. But that wasn't the case with his intentions for Korra. Still isn't. He has no point of reference for what they are doing. Their relationship -- this fragile and slow-moving anomaly -- isn't something that can survive in the pressures of reality for long. And he still can't bring himself to tell Korra how much he cares about her when there is so little to show for it. So he'd stayed silent, right until the last moment, when it was too late for her to turn Yin away. ]

[ However, he recognizes he can't do that now. ]

I wasn't -- [ He licks his lips, gaze flickering away for a moment. Finally, (simply), ] I wasn't sure you'd agree to it.

Setting: after the City

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