tampered | baby ballbuster

[ Nighttime, check. Recurring insomnia, check. By now he's given up on fighting it, dressed, and headed out. Middle of the night is his happy-hour, after all. Maybe he'd find something to fight. Or maybe he'd visit that afterhours club one of the exotic dancers Underground had told him about before Hei had disappointed her so by saying Thanks and heading home alone. Without leaving a tip. Or maybe, just take a stroll, enjoy sidewalks that aren't clogged with humanity but dotted with monsters and grifters like him. ]

[ He doesn't have a set agenda. But it doesn't matter. He's well-versed with the Underground's routes and rhythms by now. Tonight the place feels like a notorious stage, a backdrop for drama and possibility. He looks calmly into the faces of people he passes by. Stops in the glare of red light from a sex store, ostensibly to check out the wares, but really to study his surroundings in the glass. The night is cool and crisp, like it's gathering a filigree of frost on his skin. Mist seems to lace the sidewalk, radiate off the brick buildings. ]

[ Unsavory atmosphere, check. ]

[ Hearing the clamor of shouts -- catching a whiff of smoke -- Hei glances around. It seems to be coming from the bar where Korra bounces. He shakes his head. Routine barfight, doublecheck. After a moment's pause, he drifts toward the entrance. Normally he wouldn't bother. But by now he's fallen into the habit of keeping tabs on Korra. (Strange, isn't it, how making room for another person, like Yin, like Pai, is easier than it seems?). No harm in determining what's going on. ]

[What's going on is an angry, miserable, terrified little girl is being passed around the crowd. Nobody plans on really hurting her (they all know that curses end and none of them want to deal with an angry grown up Korra) but none of them can resist a little light-hearted torment.

Except it's not so light-hearted for Korra. She's never been helpless like this before. Her demands don't stop them. Her bending doesn't stop them. She's even tried biting them and all they do is laugh.

She doesn't know where she is. She doesn't know where her parents are. She's completely at the mercy of these big, scary looking strangers.

In the end, all she can do is cry -- great, big, choking sobs.]

[ In a split-second's cognitive dissonance, Hei doesn't recognize Korra. His first assumption is that a brat's wandered into the bar, and the crowd is indulging in a bit of free fun. Puerile, but ultimately not his concern. He's ready to quit the scene -- except there's something familiar in the pitch of the child's sobs. He regards her closer through the haze of cigarette smoke and dim lighting. Recognition prickles down his spine. ]

[ Korra. Of course. Who else would it be? ]

[ She always seems superimposed in the bar's grungy ambience. But now it's so insanely pronounced. Just a child. ]

[ Hei watches for a second more, mutters a quiet curse, then reaches a decision. He reaches out, his palm splayed against the closest wall. On an abrupt powersurge, the bar's lights flicker on a dull zzzt before the room shutters into perfect darkness. Except Hei already has a snapshot of its periphery, of the positions of its patrons. In the ensuing commotion -- "Heyyyy - What the fuck?!" -- "Who turned the lights off?!?" -- it's easy to dodge and weave between the crowd. Korra may feel herself encircled into a stranger's grasp, then lifted and carried out the back. She's light as a featherduster, and Hei shakes his head as he bears her swiftly through the alley and out to the pitted road a few blocks away from the bar. ]

Good thing possession is 9/10s of the law.

[Korra shrieks as the lights suddenly go off and she's grabbed by yet another person who starts running. She's too tired for words, or to do anything more than cry louder. Her parents have to be here somewhere. Her mommy has to come rescue her soon. She has to.

She doesn't look up until the man carrying her speaks. His voice sounds familiar. Her tears dissolve into occasional choked gasps as she stares at him.]

[ Achilles heel, thy name is Pai. The thought surfaces without humor. It's the only reason he keeps helping Korra, isn't it? Or is it -- the idea sinks its claws into his mind and won't be torn loose -- is it that his hideous career has so warped him against humanity -- against the deceptions and pantomimes so typical of adult relationships -- that he gravitates only to sympathizing with children and innocent fools? In a world where actual innocence is rare as a black diamond, maybe he's fetishized and pedestalized it. Everyone wants what they'll never have, after all. ]

[ He doesn't want to think about it. ]

[ Under the circle of a streetlamp, he sets Korra on the bench. At least she's stopped crying, but anguish still oozes from her wide wet eyes. He crouches before her, hands set lightly on her shoulders. ] Hey. [ Firm, but edged with patience. ] You all right?

[She doesn't feel safe exactly, but the situation has become less overwhelming. One person on a quiet street is easier to handle than a noisy crowd of strangers.

She sniffles and coughs and wipes her eyes. She's a big girl now, and big girls don't cry.]

I want my mommy.

[She remembers him now. He was the one Mommy asked to look after her last time, the guy who fed her and took her to the zoo. He'll know where her parents are.]

[ In the beats between which Korra settles down, Hei scrubs a tired hand through his hair. While he doesn't feel particularly sweet or benign, he knows it's important to project a semblance of it for Korra. He's done it enough times for Pai. And, once upon a time, he'd tasted fear just as sharp as this little girl has. Kids remember a lot of shit. ]

[ I want my mommy. He exhales and bites the inside of his cheek. Someone else might say it's unfair to lie to a child with perfect impunity. But Hei lies to everyone with impunity. If it worked once, it'll work the second time. ] She had to go for the weekend. But she left me -- and a few nice people [ Her roommates. He has to return her to her roommates. ] to look after you.

[ A moment's hesitation, then: ] You remember me, don't you?

[An older child might have questioned the lie. Why would her mother leave her in a place full of dangerous people? Why wouldn't she tell Korra where she was going? Hand Korra to Li directly? How did they even get to this place that is so very different from home?

But Korra's young enough that these questions don't occur to her. She takes his words at face value, and nods in response to his question.]

Ostrich horses.

[She means "unicorn," but she's forgotten their name, as well as his.]

That's right. The unicorns. And we had bacon and eggs for breakfast. [ Opting for pragmatic tunnel-vision, Hei doesn't focus on how her child-self remembers their brief outing, but has none of teenage Korra's memories of the City. This place is a literal suspension of logic. The path to inferences is paved with madness. ]

[ Just go with it. ]

[ Reaching out, he idly straightens the collar of her shirt. It seems brotherly, but it's really an excuse to marshal his thoughts. He's not going to leave her here. That's not even up for debate. He'd sooner douse her in gasoline and toss her into a furnace. (Odd, how just a few months back, the whole reasoning would've exuded weakness. He supposes it's an almost-sign that he's evolved. Can you grow a conscience? Like kudzu?) ]

Let's get you out of here, all right?

[ The faster he gets her to the beach house, the better. ]

Edited 2013-03-10 03:18 (UTC)

[Out of here sounds like the best idea ever. Korra nods and holds her arms out to Li, a silent demand to be picked up. She may not have teenage Korra's memories, but she does have teenage Korra's exhaustion. Between her grown-up self's long day at work and the additional energy spent on terror and tears, Korra is too tired to walk by herself.]

[ When she holds out her arms, little hands starfishing, Hei stares at her blankly. Then -- Oh. Oh. The Pick Me Up pose. Honestly, he doesn't want to touch her. She's all tiny and glowing with life, and she reminds him too much of -- he shies from that train of thought. ]

[ Play the nice guy. Get her home. Then you can go back to pretending this never happened. ]

[ Matter-of-fact. Businesslike. Except he can't fight an idiotic pang. This bitty Korra is trying to put on such a brave face, but her heart must've been juddering around in her chest like a terrified puppy earlier. So many shocks to her little playpen world, at a time she isn't used to it. His mouth takes on a shape that can't really be called a smile. But his gaze is soft. ] Okay. [ One-armed, he scoops her up. Rises and hitches her onto his hip, letting her cling like a monkey. Quietly, he asks, ] Do you remember my name?

[Korra wraps her arms around him, clinging tightly, and rests her head against him with a loud yawn. She shakes her head in answer to his question.]

Nuh-uh.

[Doesn't know, doesn't care. Right now she's just happy to be safe and held, and in rather desperate need of a nap.]

[ Hei doesn't know why he expects her to kick and shriek immediately. Then he realizes it's because he only picks children up when it's to deliver a killing voltage. Other than a detached observation about the relative ease of mass and weight, the lesser bone density of their skulls, he's learnt to feel nothing. ]

[ But this is the complete opposite. Memories of Pai keep layering themselves over Korra's face like an eerie pentimento. Despite himself, he touches her cheek, smoothes her hair. It needs combing. Her little face is still blotched, the corners of the mouth sticky with dried tears. But she seems secure and nearly asleep. It's both unfamiliar and not. ]

It's Li. [ Not that it matters at this point. He shifts her up higher, and moves to go, mapping out a network of shortcuts in his mind. Dryly, he adds, ] Don't drool on my jacket, okay?

[No response from the little girl, who has fallen asleep. It's a light doze -- enough to make her quiet, but she'll awake within moments if he tries to put her down or hand her off to anyone.]

[ So trusting. It's almost uncanny. Careful not to jostle her, Hei sets off on the quickest route to her place. Pai's specter fades like a fata morgana, but he's very aware of the solid small weight of the child in his grasp. He can't remember the last time he's gotten so involved in the welfare of someone who should only be an asset. Don't be stupid. Don't keep blurring the line. Don't get too close. Each time he reminds himself this, the thoughts seem disconnected. ]

[ No one seems to be listening. ]

[ She's free to doze. But as he meanders through routes downtown, she may catch snatches of music, and wafting aromas of foods in the marketplaces. It's a weekend, and the streets are spilling with life. ]

[Korra falls deeper into sleep as they keep walking, and Li is treated to sleepy baby babble as she dreams. At first it's just bits and pieces of nonsense words -- "ostrich horses" and "penguin sledding" -- but at some point her dreams turn dark. What form they take is impossible to say, as the nonsense words turn into pathetic little whimpers.

Someone down the block sets off a firecracker and the sound startles the little girl awake with a scream.]

[ Hei ignores the little word-fragments as he carries Korra through the crowded streets. Part of him wonders what she's dreaming of -- but it's an abstract curiosity. When Pai used to descend into her Remuneration, she was stone-silent, motionless, almost like a corpse. It was how Hei learnt to differentiate between her payment-sleep and the real deal. The latter was always restless; she'd tic and twitch, sighing and murmuring. Nothing he could make any sense of, but he doubted she'd ever gotten much rest out of it. ]

[ It's almost a dark relief, knowing she's at peace now. ]

[ As the firecracker erupts, he feels Korra jerk awake on a scream. Instinctively, he readjusts his grip around her. Gazes down into her face with mild eyes, pitching his voice to soothe, ]

It's all right.

[It takes a moment for Korra's heart to stop racing. She clings to Li and struggles not to start crying again. His soothing voice helps.

So does the smell of fish floating from one of the nearby stalls.]

[ The interest she takes in the cooking scents doesn't go unnoticed. Hei's purpose is to get her home ASAP. But now he finds himself wanting to make a stopover. A little meal can't hurt, right? The aroma of sweet buns, almost pure sugar, wafts at him from somewhere, and his own hunger rises. His smile to korra is a faint one, but it's the kind he'd give to Pai, that he gives to Yin -- reserved for people who don't see him as just BK201, a mask to fear or to pry apart, a weapon personified. ]

Want something to eat?

[Korra nods enthusiastically and bounces in his arms.]

FISH! FISH FISH FISH FISH FISH!

[Where did that energy come from?]

[ Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Don't make him drop you!!! ]

[ Still half-smiling, he scans the streets. ] I think I know a good place. [ He takes a few sharp detours, until they emerge into a district he privately calls Little Macau. Heaps of fruits and vegetables spill out of the shopfronts everywhere. The smells of roasted pork and fried fish drift in the air. Meat hangs from hooks, reeking of fresh blood, alongside oily black ducks that seem dipped in tar. Butchered eels are on serving plates, their severed halves twitching against the bamboo skewers. A severed goat's head twirls from an awning, teeth bared in a creepy grin. ]

[ To Korra, the market might seem surreal and overcrowded. But for Hei, even the incense from the braziers pervades his senses with dim recollections of childhood. ]

[The entire market is pretty overwhelming to Korra, though she doesn't find anything in it particularly scary. If she weren't sleepy and hungry, she would probably be enthralled, but in her current state, it's just a bit too much. She wriggles and buries her head against his shoulder, trying to block out the lights and minimize the sensory overload.]

[ Hei lets her burrow her little face into his shirt. He reminds himself that, South Pole or no, she's just a child. The surroundings are too phantasmagoric in her already sleepy, keyed-up state. On impulse, he stops at a stand to buy two chilli garlic prawn-&-salmon skewers. Mouthing one prawn off the top -- ] Just a taste test. I won't eat the whole thing. [ -- he chews contemplatively and swallows. Decides it's not too spicy for her, and hands her a skewer after breaking the pointed tip off. You'll poke someone's eye out, yahta yahta. ]

[ There are several restaurants speckling the periphery. Maybe they can duck into a relatively quiet one, and get a proper meal. What about getting her home? a wry voice almost like Mao's asks. ]

[ Shut up, Hei tells it. I'm hungry. ]

Edited 2013-03-10 06:40 (UTC)

What's that?

[Korra asks but that doesn't stop her from taking the skewer and devouring it. Beyond a distaste for sweets, she's never been a picky eater, and the skewer is good. The food improves her mood immensely. She drops the empty stick on the ground and grins widely at him, smears of chili sauce on her cheeks.]

Saturday - closed to Hei

Saturday - closed to Hei \^^/

Saturday - closed to Hei <3

Saturday - closed to Hei <333

Saturday - closed to Hei <333

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Saturday - closed to Hei <333

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Saturday - closed to Hei <333

Saturday - closed to Hei <333

Saturday - closed to Hei <333

Saturday - closed to Hei <333

Saturday - closed to Hei <333

Saturday - closed to Hei <333

Saturday - closed to Hei <333

Saturday - closed to Hei <333

Saturday - closed to Hei <333

Saturday - closed to Hei <333

Saturday - closed to Hei <333

Saturday - closed to Hei <333

Saturday - closed to Hei <333

Saturday - closed to Hei <333