tampered | What I Want to Know Is, When I'm Asleep, Do I Really Remember How to Fly?

What I Want to Know Is, When I'm Asleep, Do I Really Remember How to Fly?

When; February 26^th, 27^th, and 28^th
Rating; G to PG-13 (please make a note if your thread goes higher and needs a warning!)
Characters; All residents of the City who are not native-born to the City
Summary; The Animal Trinity and their entourage have opened ways out of the City. All those who are not native-born citizens will be asked to leave before March 1.

We would like to ask for your cooperation in this part of the endgame plot. Even if you think your character would refuse to leave, we are asking you to find an IC reason for your character to leave. No player characters will be left in the City. So please find a reason for your character to leave the City. If you can't think of a reason for your character to leave, the Animal Trinity or their entourage or the Deities or the Anonymous Movement may offer your character incentives to leave. (We're also not putting too many limits on what or how much characters can take with them. They can't take an entire building, brick by brick, but if you want your character to cart all their furniture and possessions out of the City with them, feel free!)

The choice is up to each person where he or she wishes to go after leaving the City. Remember the Happy Ending Clause that we set up.

One can go home, one can go to another world entirely, one can accompany someone else to his or her world, one can find a world not so unlike the City. Perhaps there are more and other doors elsewhere even after the City. But know that the ways into the City will be shut hereafter. The City will no longer draw in unwilling captives. Those whom it tries to draw in will be turned in their path by the new guardians of the City and sent elsewhere.

But choose a world--perhaps a place to start anew, perhaps a place to live the life that was shown by the City's own curse, perhaps home. The possibilities now are endless.

Please feel free to use this log as a place for final farewells and to play your character's exit from the City.

Log; The Doors out of the City have been opened. The Animal Trinity have been settled as the new guardians of the City. Their message was clear (more or less): they and the Deities and now the Anonymous Movement will guard the City and keep it as a world for all those who have known no other world.

The Clock will always tick, the Carousel will always turn, the City will stand forever.

And now it is time for all those who have known other worlds than this to go on to still more and other worlds. To their own world, to a chosen world, to a world by chance, to another world entirely.

They meet in Misery Square--such a name; it suited it once before, and perhaps it suits it still--to say their last farewells to the City and to each other and to make their choices in what path their futures will take.

As the citizens begin to depart, all the names in the City Cemetery and in the Hall of the Missing burn across the sky in fiery and glittering letters. These are others who have been here and who are gone.

There is a sense of sadness but also of joy among the native-born citizens, the Anonymous Movement, and the Deities. This is their City now, their World, and they will live in the relative peace that it affords. And they wish all those who are leaving it well--and they truly do. There is a sense of a ship leaving port, of a long journey just beginning.

This is only the beginning of the adventure. Anything might happen.

After the last person has departed from the City, the Carousel will play a sweet and haunting song, a remembrance of all who had been here...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ With his few essentials (mostly weapons) slung in a shoulder bag, Hei drifts through the square, a ghost in the scenery, affecting cover for no reason. The traffic thrums and quivers like a leaping pulse. Pedestrians filter out toward the gates, empty-handed or hauling luggage, smiling or sad-eyed, hugging or murmuring to each other, music skirling in an eerie rise and fall in the background. He doesn't stop to analyze -- why waste time? -- but as he pushes through the crowd, senses assaulted by stimuli, he has to acknowledge a dull surprise at the fact that life is carrying on. Before him, his breath fogs in the dark chilly air. ]

[ A week ago, he would have decoded the City with each glance. A haze of maps and grids and data burning behind his eyes -- Shortcut through the street there; nice noodle stand at the left; that two-story house has been empty for five weeks; that woman there, very strange family history. But there's no need for that. Not anymore. The City is just a blurred multicolor wall topped by limitless dark sky. ]

[ Exhaling, Hei lifts his chin and cuts through the crowds, unseen. ]

[ He has a door to get to. ]

[Pai waits for Hei near the gate, dressed in jeans and her killah t-shirt.

She doesn't have doubts or second guesses. She needs to go home and help the other Contractors. She can't continue living without purpose. People have told her she can find a new purpose, but they don't understand. The Contractors are her people, and she is the only one who can protect them. She's the only one with the power to keep the Syndicate from the destroying the gates. The situation isn't ideal. She doesn't like separating from her brother. But situations are never ideal.

Hei will be his friends, and he won't have to kill anymore. She'll save the Contractors. And they will always be a part of each other. It's the best that they can hope for.]

[ He spots her right off, that T-shirt with its flowery print and incongruous lettering the absurdest kind of irony. Exhaling, he keeps his steps measured. Tries to function on that familiar dark calm that overrides everything. They'll both find a semblance of purpose, he tries to remind himself, drowning out how something in his chest gnashes its teeth at the idea. She'll fulfill the purpose she's practically been born for -- a living torch that would embarrass the enlightened. Hei, in exchange, will go somewhere he can seep into the background. Somewhere where he won't have to constantly look over his shoulder everytime he crosses the street, where his spine won't light fuses everytime he hears footsteps behind him. ]

[ It's a trade-off, not a trade-up. But it's the best they can hope for. ]

[ He knows all this. But when he steps beside Pai, he can still feel that crushing, speechless sense of loss lying open in his chest. ]

All set?

[ What else can he say? ]

[She smiles and reaches for his hands.]

Hnn.

[She studies his face, wishing she could soothe his pain. It wasn't regret or any emotion so so useless; only an acknowledgement that sometimes it would be useful to have other abilities. The ability to comfort him. The ability to stay with him. The ability to make things not as they are. (Only Amber has that skill.)]

What about you?

[ Amber would be useful right now. Not just for her ability. But for that peculiar talent she'd had to imbue casual words (Goodbye, our usual spot, red star, special delivery, take care) with a deep significance, so that it was no longer the bland and tedious dictionary definitions of the word which mattered but the colors they turned as they hung in the air. Except Amber isn't here. ]

[ And soon, he won't have Pai with him either. ]

[ Gently, he tangles his cold, slightly damp fingers with hers. Studies the pale contours of her face, and ignores how hard his heart slams its fists against his ribcage like the irrational monster Hei knows it is. When he speaks, his voice is quiet but not unsteady (Not yet). ]

I have the necessities.

[ Weapons. Equipment for his cables. Small vials of poison. Some neatly-folded clothes and a damn toothbrush. What else could he possibly bring along? ]

Good. [And then she lets go of his hands to wrap her arms around him. There are things she could say to him, and that she may say to him, but right now he just needs to be held.]

[ She wraps herself around him, so small and radiantly warm, and a sharp neediness washes over and over him, threatening to swamp him with grief. For the first time in decades, his eyes prickle. He feels the unfamiliar, unexpected emotion plucking at the corners of his mouth, tugging them down. Buries his face in Pai's hair, so she won't see. He tries to tell himself it's an inevitable drift -- he and Pai have done that dizzying fade out of each other's lives before. The first time, war and conspiracy had instigated it; this time it feels more natural. Still, it's weird how two people can grow up on the same battlefield and share the same everyday sights of death, bear almost the same breed of scars, roam the same forests, share the same blood ... then one zigs, the other zags, and soon enough they've careened out of each other's orbit. ]

[ (But not completely. A small part of Pai will always hum in his bones, in the edges of his psyche.) ]

[ Detaching gently, he clears his throat. Tch's, and blinks the moisture from his eyes. Somehow, it's all Hei -- he pats her shoulder a little harder than someone normally would, like it's supposed to be a playful swat. Like they're splitting on a recon run, back in the humid jungle. ]

Watch yourself?

Yes. [Of course she will, right up until the moment she sacrifices herself to protect the gate.]

Be happy. [For whatever definition of happiness he's capable of, to the extent that it's in his power. She wants him to make choices that are about his desires and not just protecting her or finding her. She wants him to have a life.] I'm always with you.

I know.

[ Physical agony has never meant anything to Hei. But here, like this -- he feels so small, the coolness burnt off and leaving him raw and tired, while something inside him says This is how it's supposed to be. He's been parted from her before, and known even then, that he had no right to imagine otherwise. His gaze is dark, pensive, and he shivers. For the first time since he's arrived in the City, he is cold. Averting his gaze a moment, he stares at the pretty gold lights of the carousel, the undifferentiated blur of faces all around, the steady hum of life. He'd taken in very little of the landscape on his way towards Pai, and as he is sure he'll never come back here again, it seems important to get a look now, though he is exhausted and on the verge of being grief-sick. ]

[ He glances at Pai, then. Lets the sight of her burn a hole into his chest. (Isn't that what all good spies do? Burn the evidence?) ]

[ Saying Goodbye seems too melodramatic and too final. So instead, he offers, ]

Ready?

Whenever you are.

[ No need to say anything else. The gate is a few feet off. Hei watches Pai's dark blank eyes, feeling time stretch and something, some final wall of denial, crumble. It hurts; it makes his eyes burn. To distract himself he takes her hand. Guides her to the shimmering glow of the exit. Glancing sideways at her, he has a view of parchment-pale skin, of the individual hairs escaping her ponytail -- up close they are three different shades of dark brown that would've been pretty if his eyes didn't feel so dry, and at the same time so clouded. He traces a blue vein across her cheek, like the shadow of a scar. Doesn't know how he's got the strength to let her go; he was barely ambulatory when she'd last left him. ]

[ But they are the same in that much, able to summon up reserves of self-control when need requires it. ]

[ At the threshold, he lays a hand on her arm, so lightly it's almost a whisper-touch before he withdraws it. ]

[ He steps back, and lets her pass. ]

[Despite the pain of separation, Pai is excited. Better to die and have your death mean something than to live in aimless security. It's not logical. It's not rational.

But maybe Contractors aren't either. Not entirely. She wants to go back to her world not only to save her people, but to understand what makes them different from humans.

Giving Hei's hand one final squeeze, she steps through the door.]

[ He lets her go. It's what he's done before -- knowing the futility of trying to catch her blazing comet. Knowing she'd have run slower, burnt dimmer, if she meant him to overtake. ]

[ She vanishes in a flare of brightness -- spectral and dazzling -- and it's deja vu, but not. Exhaling, Hei leans against a wall. His throat feels clogged; his face is wet. He dabs it roughly with a sleeve before stuffing his hands into his pockets. He recalls how how his life unreeled through his mind while Heaven's Gate had vanished -- and knows it will once again when his end finally comes. However it does. He's killed enough people to know those few seconds between kill-shot and unspooling are sufficient for the unfurling of decades. Pai's face is lodged in his mind like a blade in that moment before the collapse of arteries; her every look and word from the beginning races behind his squeezed eyelids as he stands there. ]

[ The ache of her absence is going to be an amputated limb. An incompleteness that never fades. But he's glad she's gone. Not happy, but glad. It's a big world out there. And he knows that Pai is made to scorch a hole through it in one big bite. ]

[OF COURSE Hei would take off before she could rope him into being helpful. Wrangling together 7 cats, 5 sheep, a dog and Naga is no small feat. She's just glad that they don't have much stuff outside of the animals, otherwise this would be impossible.

He didn't change his mind, did he? Maybe he's not coming. Korra shakes her head. Don’t be a ninny.]

[ I have seen hell, Hei thinks acidly, And it's a girl with a zoo. ]

[ Through the colorful tapestry of the crowd, it's easy to spot Korra. And her Noah's Ark of animals, thick of fur and stupid of eye. For a sentimentalist, it might be charming. They may even re-imagine the pretty picture of the beasts and the fresh-faced girl, clad fetchingly in some diaphanous dress, her hair flowing in the breeze, her small brown hand clutching a crozier -- Little Bo Peep Lost in the City. Unfortunately Hei isn't a sentimentalist. He hasn't brought his telescope along, or Amber's dreamcatcher, or any other tokens and talismans. Maybe a superstitious sense that the past is a kind of lasso that would stop him from crossing a horizon he's already afraid of. ]

[ It's a long, drawn-out moment of silence before he even blinks at her. ]

You can't be serious.

[ Except he knows she is. ]

[Korra starts to smile -- and then scowls as he snarks at her.]

What? We can't just leave them here. [Beat.] Jinora wouldn't.

[ Hei just gives her a look. It's a losing battle to explain to her -- Korra's heart being the gooey consistency of tapioca pudding -- that it's a waste of time and effort, trying to take anything but essentials. If something goes pear-shaped, if you need to run... Well. You'd better run fast. ]

[ Instead, he says, ]

The City's not under siege. You could've found them perfectly nice owners.

Like I said. Jinora didn't want to leave them.

I'm sure Jinora would've understood. [ A beat. ] If you'd tried.

[ Is Korra even capable of firmness with kids? He doesn't know. There's a lot he doesn't know about her still. A whole labyrinth of secrets it would curdle her blood if she knew about him. It's so risky, this whole arrangement. So much at stake. In so many ways, he's at her mercy. She'll be putting their affair, a highly volatile element at the best of times, out of the frying pan and into the fire. How would he do, suddenly confronted by her world, by a whole keep full of her friends and family? What would she do? The real world -- Korra's world -- would only begin to encroach on this private little illusion of theirs. Start to make it impossible. ]

[ So many doubts. So much uncertainty. But Hei isn't one to stop halfway. Reaching out, he helps corral the yipping pack of cats and dogs. A polite, human, absolutely normal gesture he'd have disdained to attempt before. In a neutral tone, ]

I hope that's everything.

[The girl is summoned by her name. Or maybe she's just tired of getting Mumu to stand with the other sheep.]

When're we going?

[Korra ignores Hei's comment in favor of smiling at the younger airbender.]

Right now, I think. We've got everybody.

[Since, uh, nobody has bothered to tell her that Yin is coming along too...]

[ Yeah. About that. Hei hesitates a beat, then fishes into his coat pocket. Hands Jinora a small, brightly-colored pack of strawberry yan yan he'd stowed away as a snack. It's a sugary emollient to keep the girl's mouth occupied, while he leans close to Korra. Better to drop bombshells with aplomb then to to be wish-washy about them -- so that's what he does. ]

Not exactly. [ There's a certain deliberateness in the way he speaks, a calm cut through with caution. ] A friend of mine is coming too. And her cat.

[Korra blinks at him, confused.]

What friend?

[ How does he explain? He hesitates, lip bit, and it's curious how his face is perfectly blank when he isn't playing up to a cover. There is something mushroom-pale about the color of his skin. He looks like he's grown for decades in dark places -- and Korra is blithely thrusting him into the glare of awful sunshine. ]

Someone from my world. [ A pause, as awkward as it is careful. ] You two know each other already.

[Still confused. Who does she know from his world?]

[Yin finally shows, clearly wearing more layers than just two under her jacket, with Mao in her arms, and one bag full of the remainder of her clothing, and all of the little gifts she received. The only one she was unable to bring with her was the piano. She might seem a little more listless than usual for more than one reason.]

[As for the other cat, she gave him to a proper Cityzen. After all, he and Mao didn't seem to exactly get on, and she wanted Mao to not have to deal with that. He could be an only cat again.]

[She doesn't say hi, or wave, just merely walks up to Hei and stands there.]

Yin?

[No way. No way. No. Way.]

What are you doing here?

[She takes a slight step back at Korra's questions. She still hadn't known?]

I wanted to stay with Hei.

[Korra grabs Yin's arm and tugs her closer so she can hiss under her breath.]

He's the guy?

[She snuggles Mao a little closer to herself. Her voice is just quiet, though not hissed.]

That's no longer an issue. [Meaning she has no intentions on him. He's a friend, and someone from her home world, and she wants to remain together. But as far as she's concerned, Hei and Korra are together and that's the end of it.]

[Jinora, as mature as she acts, is indeed mollified by sweets. She watches the exchange between Korra, Li (Hei? Pai calls him that, she's not too clear on the whole deal), and Yin, giving Yin a little wave when she arrives.

She can't hear the whole conversation, but she watching them without interjecting, interested in the drama.]

[Seeing as Jinora waves at her, Yin at least nods in Jinora's direction. She doesn't want to wave with her hands full.]

[No longer an issue... what's that supposed to mean? It is very much an issue! Yin loves Hei, and Hei invited Yin to come with them, and he'd warned her from the start that they weren't exclusive...

Korra's stomach twists into knots. Why does she always end up in love triangles? Seriously. Why can't she ever just love someone who just loves her and isn't loved by anybody else? She shoots Hei a dark glare -- he could have warned her at least so she wouldn't have to fight so hard to keep calm in front of Jinora and Yin. She likes Yin. She doesn't want to hurt the other girl.

The woman managing the gate calls out; it's almost time for them to go through.]

Is that all the stuff you have? [She can freak out later. Right now, she had to focus on getting them all home.]

[ Through the girls' sotto voce conversation, Hei stays silent. He can read lips easily. Doesn't blink, doesn't look away from Korra or Yin like he's ashamed -- but something goes taut in his expression. Is he the guy? He actually feels a little sick -- not with Yin or Korra, but with chagrin. When Korra re-focuses on him, though, he struggles to keep his gaze steady. ]

That's everything.

[ Inside, his stomach clenches with deep unease at how private this situation is. He wishes he could explain to Korra -- her gaze so dizzyingly dark and sharp -- that his decision to bring Yin along has nothing to do with sex, but with her safety. If it's his loyalty she's worried about, she needn't be. He wishes he could reassure Yin -- her calm melted into that sad, strange lassitude -- that he's not going to abandon her, regardless of what he feels for Korra. She was, and still is, the closest thing he has to a best friend. ]

[ But now isn't the time. So he drops his gaze, and gently nudges Jinora forward -- the only human being he can touch with any neutrality. Gives himself over to the flow of people at the gate, to its uncertainties and possibilities. ]

[Adults and their issues. She loves some romantic drama as much as (more than) the next girl, but right now, she's excited to go home and tell her dad why they need to keep all of these animals. And Yin's coming along, too!

Jinora picks up her small bag--she's only taking a couple of books home--and moves at Hei's urging. She looks back at all of her travel companions once she reaches the door.]

Korra? I think Dad will be more upset about your boyfriend than about all of the animals.

[Well that's one way to distract Korra from the sick feeling in her gut -- give her a new one! Her face goes gray when she pictures Tenzin's reaction.]

DON’T SAY ANYTHING TO HIM.

[The last thing she needs is for Tenzin to hear about Hei from his 11 year old daughter.]

Why would I say anything to him? That's your problem.

[But then she smiles, and it's not even a malicious smile.]

It'll be okay. I know Mom and Dad will like Yin.

[Yin has nothing else, but does look down at Mao wondering why he's been so quiet. As for being liked, she doesn't understand that, or much of anything else. She's lost, waiting for them to move forward so she knows what to do next.]

[Mao looks up at Yin, something distinctly amused in his expression. He's not ready to reveal himself as a talking cat just yet to these people; just because Hei's fucking the girl doesn't mean she can be trusted with everything.

Besides, people are more likely to blurt interesting secrets to someone they think can't talk or understand.]

Just making sure. [Ikki would've gone blabbing the second she went through the door, Korra knows, but Jinora's not like that.

Though Korra does kind of wish someone else could deal with Tenzin's outrage. Or at least the "Have you two been having sex?" portion of the conversation.

It feels surreal and more than a little ridiculous to be worrying about such things, but the more Korra thinks about it, the more terrifying it becomes.]

Let's go then.

[It may be scary, but it can't be avoided.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What I Want to Know Is, When I'm Asleep, Do I Really Remember How to Fly?

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my kokoro hurts Dx

god i want so badly for her to change her mind i hate this

it is their fate to suffer apart Dx

FUCK FATE

THEY TRIED THAT AND FAILED

WELL THEY SHOULD'VE TRIED HARDER

THEY ARE DESTINY'S WHIPPING TOYS

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let yin jump in at this point?

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icon is directed 100% at Hei

:|

<(^^<)

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