http://cat-contractor.livejournal.com/ (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
cat-contractor.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
tampered2007-11-12 06:56 pm
cat-contractor.livejournal.com) wrote in tampered2007-11-12 06:56 pm
Log; Backdated; Complete
When; November 11th curse day, evening, sometime after Hei's run-in with Ophelia.
Rating; PG
Characters; Mao![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cat_contractor and Hei contractorly
Summary; Human!Mao goes to find the troubled youth that is little!Hei, and finds that Contractors really don't make good parents.
Log;
Mao was reluctant to call today a 'curse day' at all.
He'd woken that morning to find himself several sizes too large for his usual cat bed. He was human again, his body just as it was when he'd left it behind for a mission and never returned. For the first time in seven years, he could drink coffee, use a computer keyboard—even open doors for himself. He'd nearly forgotten how it felt to have opposable thumbs.
But today's curse had not been so kind to everyone, as Mao quickly realized after speaking with Hei. The young man had regressed to his childhood before becoming a Contractor, a period that he rarely spoke of to Mao-- or to anyone, for that matter. And then Hei had disappeared, both from the apartment and from the network.
Mao was not worried, that wouldn't be logical. He was, however, slightly concerned. Before he'd left, Hei had been speaking with the Claymore, Ophelia, and from reading their conversation he gathered they had intended to fight. It was getting late in the day, now, and with still no sign of the boy anywhere Mao decided it was time to find him. Even if Hei did not remember him now, he would tomorrow, and it would be better if he did not get himself killed before then.
------
It was clear enough that Pai would not be found in this forsaken place. Not because Ophelia had told him so, but rather because he had finally realized what this place actually was.
Hell.
To be transported abruptly from the middle of nowhere, South America, to a land with half-monsters or whatever Opehlia had called herself. It wasn't such a surprise that he had landed here, now that he mulled over it. He could have easily been killed during an attack, and where else would he end up if an afterlife did exist? Despite his years, he had done enough to merit a trip to hell and back. Killing with a conscious effort, while easily disregarding the constant tugs at his heart that told him to -- stop, don't hurt him -- don't kill, it's not right.. For as much as contractors were called monsters, he deserved the title far more than any of them.
He didn't know what to do. What else would he happen upon while wandering hell? Monsters, souls, and nightmare --- maybe even the faces of all those he had killed. For now, he sat against a tree on the outskirts of the forest, legs pressed against his chest as he hung his head in his lap.
------
Mao wasn't used to walking upright, but he could still make better time now than he could as a cat. It wasn't long before he reached the outskirts of the City, the vast, dark expanse of trees looming up suddenly as a barrier to the sea. Mao stopped once he was close, calculating his options. Even if Hei still was in the woods, that was such a large area that he would be unlikely to ever find him before the curse wore off. Even if he were lucky enough to be near a water source for Yin to use it would still take more time than Mao had to reach Hei.
Fortunately, luck seemed on his side today. His human vision was not as keen as the cat's, but as he approached the forest he noticed a small, dark shape crouched against a treetrunk. Mao kept walking, deliberately stepping on twigs as he neared the boy. Hei had dangerous reflexes when startled even in a normal emotional state, and Mao had no wish to test his human body's ability to dodge knives.
------
The night is quiet enough to hear even the rustling of underbrush, yet the could-be foot steps aren’t enough to alarm him. It could be an animal or even a brush of wind. Still, he withdrew his knives, not intending to charge the possible new arrival, but merely as a safety measure. This behavior was out of character for his usual guarded demeanor, but wasn’t murder what brought him here in the first place? He wasn’t too keen on adding onto his list of misdeeds.
"I can hear you."
------
Mao continued walking until he was a few feet away from Hei, close enough to see the boy's face but far enough so as not to feel like a threat. Not that Mao actually was much of a threat in this state -- he was out of practice fighting as a human, had no weapons to speak of, and there were no animals around for possession that would be any better in a fight than he was already. His only advantage in this situation was that he was both older and taller than Hei, and the boy himself looked in no hurry to pick a fight.
"I know," he replied to Hei's question. "It's getting late, and it will be cold out here at night. Let's head back."
------
He finally lifts his gaze from his lap, turning to train his stare on the other. Even with his typical deadpanned expression, there’s an edge of distress on his features -- a haggard look as if emotions were on the cusp of breaking free of their suppressed state. This man asked him to head back: where? Where was there to head back to?
"No."
------
Mao watched Hei's reaction carefully. He could tell the boy was in a fragile emotional state. Hei wasn't a Contractor yet, only human, and hadn't learned to suppress completely what he felt. Still, knowing this didn't make Mao's job now any easier. He was still a Contractor himself, and it was difficult to empathize when he lacked the same emotions of his own.
"You'd rather freeze, then?" Mao said patiently, folding his arms across the shirt he'd borrowed from Hei's closet that morning. "You—I have an apartment here in the city. We should go. Besides the weather, there are monsters in these woods."
------
"I don't want to."
Monsters, he had said. Maybe the other meant more creatures like that Ophelia, or even monster beyond the scope of human imagination. It was the irony in the statement, however, that humored him. A person warning him about monsters, when he himself could have been classified in such a category. This stranger was either naive or completely stupid, though both traits ran in the same vein.
------
Mao continued impassively watching. This reaction wasn't unexpected. To Hei he was a stranger, and a Contractor on top of that, not exactly things that inspired trust. Still... the encounter was going nowhere as things stood now.
Finally he took a step backwards, leaning against a treetrunk with arms still folded. "Then I'll stay here until you decide you do want to."
------
Idly, he fingered one of the blades in his right hand, flipping it into the air in repeated succession as he continued his tight-lipped refusal against the stranger’s request. This could all be a trick; no one was nice in hell, and he spoke about apartments --
"There aren’t any apartments in hell."
His last comment had been more of a remark to himself, soft and uttered beneath his breath so that it could barely be heard.
------
But Mao did catch the words, and it didn't take him long to understand what Hei meant. "This isn't Hell," he answered. Not any more than the place the boy had come from, anyway. "This is the City, and though some may say it's close, it's not quite that bad yet."
------
"You’re lying."
Desperation marked his voice, disregarding its usual apathetic intonation for something more befitting of a child in his predicament. Fear was evident in his tone along with that tugging desperation; he couldn’t pretend all the time, not when he was thrown out into some mockery of world that could only be known as hell.
"Where else could I be except South America?"
------
"This isn't South America either." Because South America was gone, and had been for years. "What reason would I have to lie?"
No sane person, human or Contractor, would want to lie to a child about something like this.
------
"…It’s the only place I could be other than South America! "
As all children are prone to emotional outbursts, Hei really was not different from the rest of them. He could try his best to stifle his emotions, but a child is still a child, and he was a human one on top of that. So, it wasn’t really much a surprise indifferent demeanor was pushed aside of child’s tirade.
"Why do I think you’re tricking me? Isn’t that easy enough to see?! You’re a Contractor -- all of you are liars with your fake smiles and deceitful words."
------
Mao didn't let the words phase him. He'd heard it many times before, from Huang, from others, from Hei himself even at times. And he kept hearing it because there was truth to it. Contractors were forced to fake what they did not have, using memories to try and recreate a person who no longer existed in the same way. It was impossible to live as a Contractor and not have a web of deceit spun around you.
But that didn't mean that Contractors were liars. "We don't lie for the sake of lying, Hei." Mao said softly. "There's no advantage to it. To us the world is a cost-benefit analysis. In this situation, the benefit for bringing you home is that someone who will be my comrade in the future won't be eaten now by a wild animal."
------
"…How far in the future?"
He turned his gaze once more to focus on the other, however instead of his usual slack-eyed gaze, there was something else in those eyes. Something that had long been buried beneath Hei’s feigned disposition -- fear.
"How much longer," he paused, eye’s widening as desperation strained his voice, "…how much longer will I have to do this?!"
A near sob.
"…How much longer until Pai is safe?"
------
Seeing Hei's display of emotion would have broken Mao's heart, back when he was really human. As it was, though, he could only feel concerned, both that the child Hei would end up snapping and doing something reckless, and about how adult Hei would fare tomorrow if he remembered what had gone on.
"...A while. I'm sorry," he replied, still watching the boy's face through his empty Contractor eyes. "But... she is safe, in the end."
It wasn't completely a lie.
------
"If what you’re saying is true then…"
To hear that Pai would be safe, disregarding whether or not the Contractor spoke the truth, was enough to placate him. Just those words were enough to rationalize his sins for anything he could do to protect Pai was worthwhile.
"…then I’m satisfied."
For a moment there, a soft hint of a smile could be seen on his lips.
------
Hei seemed to calm down on hearing that Pai would be eventually 'saved.' Gratified that his strategy had worked, Mao stopped leaning against the tree, offering a hand toward the boy to help him to his feet.
"So will you come?"
------
There was still an obvious amount of suspicion directed toward the offered hand. He had learned well enough during his early days in South America that few could be trusted, even those that appeared benevolent.
"Fine."
Hei had returned to his usual monosyllabic responses, expression falling once again while pulling himself to his feet. He winced as he straightened his back; the tumble he had taken from the branch had been enough to land him a bruise. It was a small injury in the scheme of things, honestly.
"I may not be a Contractor, but I won’t have any problems killing you if you become a threat."
And with his statement, he pointed a blade toward Mao’s neck, the motion further stressing his words.
------
Mao ignored the knife. He'd had far more dangerous things pointed at him before, and Hei didn't seem ready to attack if he didn't give him a reason. "Fair enough."
Now all that was left was to get Hei back to the apartment and make sure he stayed there until midnight came.
------
Hei remained several paces behind the other, finding it to be the best position of observing the Contractor if he decided to go back on his word. In a normal situation, he would call himself foolish for being so naïve to accept a stranger’s aid, a Contractor no less, but if what he spoke was truth, then following him would really be the only reasonable choice of action.
If not that, Hei wanted to give Mao the benefit of the doubt, for if Pai was safe, then he was content
Maybe he would find a way to fix her.
Rating; PG
Characters; Mao
cat_contractor and Hei contractorlySummary; Human!Mao goes to find the troubled youth that is little!Hei, and finds that Contractors really don't make good parents.
Log;
Mao was reluctant to call today a 'curse day' at all.
He'd woken that morning to find himself several sizes too large for his usual cat bed. He was human again, his body just as it was when he'd left it behind for a mission and never returned. For the first time in seven years, he could drink coffee, use a computer keyboard—even open doors for himself. He'd nearly forgotten how it felt to have opposable thumbs.
But today's curse had not been so kind to everyone, as Mao quickly realized after speaking with Hei. The young man had regressed to his childhood before becoming a Contractor, a period that he rarely spoke of to Mao-- or to anyone, for that matter. And then Hei had disappeared, both from the apartment and from the network.
Mao was not worried, that wouldn't be logical. He was, however, slightly concerned. Before he'd left, Hei had been speaking with the Claymore, Ophelia, and from reading their conversation he gathered they had intended to fight. It was getting late in the day, now, and with still no sign of the boy anywhere Mao decided it was time to find him. Even if Hei did not remember him now, he would tomorrow, and it would be better if he did not get himself killed before then.
------
It was clear enough that Pai would not be found in this forsaken place. Not because Ophelia had told him so, but rather because he had finally realized what this place actually was.
Hell.
To be transported abruptly from the middle of nowhere, South America, to a land with half-monsters or whatever Opehlia had called herself. It wasn't such a surprise that he had landed here, now that he mulled over it. He could have easily been killed during an attack, and where else would he end up if an afterlife did exist? Despite his years, he had done enough to merit a trip to hell and back. Killing with a conscious effort, while easily disregarding the constant tugs at his heart that told him to -- stop, don't hurt him -- don't kill, it's not right.. For as much as contractors were called monsters, he deserved the title far more than any of them.
He didn't know what to do. What else would he happen upon while wandering hell? Monsters, souls, and nightmare --- maybe even the faces of all those he had killed. For now, he sat against a tree on the outskirts of the forest, legs pressed against his chest as he hung his head in his lap.
------
Mao wasn't used to walking upright, but he could still make better time now than he could as a cat. It wasn't long before he reached the outskirts of the City, the vast, dark expanse of trees looming up suddenly as a barrier to the sea. Mao stopped once he was close, calculating his options. Even if Hei still was in the woods, that was such a large area that he would be unlikely to ever find him before the curse wore off. Even if he were lucky enough to be near a water source for Yin to use it would still take more time than Mao had to reach Hei.
Fortunately, luck seemed on his side today. His human vision was not as keen as the cat's, but as he approached the forest he noticed a small, dark shape crouched against a treetrunk. Mao kept walking, deliberately stepping on twigs as he neared the boy. Hei had dangerous reflexes when startled even in a normal emotional state, and Mao had no wish to test his human body's ability to dodge knives.
------
The night is quiet enough to hear even the rustling of underbrush, yet the could-be foot steps aren’t enough to alarm him. It could be an animal or even a brush of wind. Still, he withdrew his knives, not intending to charge the possible new arrival, but merely as a safety measure. This behavior was out of character for his usual guarded demeanor, but wasn’t murder what brought him here in the first place? He wasn’t too keen on adding onto his list of misdeeds.
"I can hear you."
------
Mao continued walking until he was a few feet away from Hei, close enough to see the boy's face but far enough so as not to feel like a threat. Not that Mao actually was much of a threat in this state -- he was out of practice fighting as a human, had no weapons to speak of, and there were no animals around for possession that would be any better in a fight than he was already. His only advantage in this situation was that he was both older and taller than Hei, and the boy himself looked in no hurry to pick a fight.
"I know," he replied to Hei's question. "It's getting late, and it will be cold out here at night. Let's head back."
------
He finally lifts his gaze from his lap, turning to train his stare on the other. Even with his typical deadpanned expression, there’s an edge of distress on his features -- a haggard look as if emotions were on the cusp of breaking free of their suppressed state. This man asked him to head back: where? Where was there to head back to?
"No."
------
Mao watched Hei's reaction carefully. He could tell the boy was in a fragile emotional state. Hei wasn't a Contractor yet, only human, and hadn't learned to suppress completely what he felt. Still, knowing this didn't make Mao's job now any easier. He was still a Contractor himself, and it was difficult to empathize when he lacked the same emotions of his own.
"You'd rather freeze, then?" Mao said patiently, folding his arms across the shirt he'd borrowed from Hei's closet that morning. "You—I have an apartment here in the city. We should go. Besides the weather, there are monsters in these woods."
------
"I don't want to."
Monsters, he had said. Maybe the other meant more creatures like that Ophelia, or even monster beyond the scope of human imagination. It was the irony in the statement, however, that humored him. A person warning him about monsters, when he himself could have been classified in such a category. This stranger was either naive or completely stupid, though both traits ran in the same vein.
------
Mao continued impassively watching. This reaction wasn't unexpected. To Hei he was a stranger, and a Contractor on top of that, not exactly things that inspired trust. Still... the encounter was going nowhere as things stood now.
Finally he took a step backwards, leaning against a treetrunk with arms still folded. "Then I'll stay here until you decide you do want to."
------
Idly, he fingered one of the blades in his right hand, flipping it into the air in repeated succession as he continued his tight-lipped refusal against the stranger’s request. This could all be a trick; no one was nice in hell, and he spoke about apartments --
"There aren’t any apartments in hell."
His last comment had been more of a remark to himself, soft and uttered beneath his breath so that it could barely be heard.
------
But Mao did catch the words, and it didn't take him long to understand what Hei meant. "This isn't Hell," he answered. Not any more than the place the boy had come from, anyway. "This is the City, and though some may say it's close, it's not quite that bad yet."
------
"You’re lying."
Desperation marked his voice, disregarding its usual apathetic intonation for something more befitting of a child in his predicament. Fear was evident in his tone along with that tugging desperation; he couldn’t pretend all the time, not when he was thrown out into some mockery of world that could only be known as hell.
"Where else could I be except South America?"
------
"This isn't South America either." Because South America was gone, and had been for years. "What reason would I have to lie?"
No sane person, human or Contractor, would want to lie to a child about something like this.
------
"…It’s the only place I could be other than South America! "
As all children are prone to emotional outbursts, Hei really was not different from the rest of them. He could try his best to stifle his emotions, but a child is still a child, and he was a human one on top of that. So, it wasn’t really much a surprise indifferent demeanor was pushed aside of child’s tirade.
"Why do I think you’re tricking me? Isn’t that easy enough to see?! You’re a Contractor -- all of you are liars with your fake smiles and deceitful words."
------
Mao didn't let the words phase him. He'd heard it many times before, from Huang, from others, from Hei himself even at times. And he kept hearing it because there was truth to it. Contractors were forced to fake what they did not have, using memories to try and recreate a person who no longer existed in the same way. It was impossible to live as a Contractor and not have a web of deceit spun around you.
But that didn't mean that Contractors were liars. "We don't lie for the sake of lying, Hei." Mao said softly. "There's no advantage to it. To us the world is a cost-benefit analysis. In this situation, the benefit for bringing you home is that someone who will be my comrade in the future won't be eaten now by a wild animal."
------
"…How far in the future?"
He turned his gaze once more to focus on the other, however instead of his usual slack-eyed gaze, there was something else in those eyes. Something that had long been buried beneath Hei’s feigned disposition -- fear.
"How much longer," he paused, eye’s widening as desperation strained his voice, "…how much longer will I have to do this?!"
A near sob.
"…How much longer until Pai is safe?"
------
Seeing Hei's display of emotion would have broken Mao's heart, back when he was really human. As it was, though, he could only feel concerned, both that the child Hei would end up snapping and doing something reckless, and about how adult Hei would fare tomorrow if he remembered what had gone on.
"...A while. I'm sorry," he replied, still watching the boy's face through his empty Contractor eyes. "But... she is safe, in the end."
It wasn't completely a lie.
------
"If what you’re saying is true then…"
To hear that Pai would be safe, disregarding whether or not the Contractor spoke the truth, was enough to placate him. Just those words were enough to rationalize his sins for anything he could do to protect Pai was worthwhile.
"…then I’m satisfied."
For a moment there, a soft hint of a smile could be seen on his lips.
------
Hei seemed to calm down on hearing that Pai would be eventually 'saved.' Gratified that his strategy had worked, Mao stopped leaning against the tree, offering a hand toward the boy to help him to his feet.
"So will you come?"
------
There was still an obvious amount of suspicion directed toward the offered hand. He had learned well enough during his early days in South America that few could be trusted, even those that appeared benevolent.
"Fine."
Hei had returned to his usual monosyllabic responses, expression falling once again while pulling himself to his feet. He winced as he straightened his back; the tumble he had taken from the branch had been enough to land him a bruise. It was a small injury in the scheme of things, honestly.
"I may not be a Contractor, but I won’t have any problems killing you if you become a threat."
And with his statement, he pointed a blade toward Mao’s neck, the motion further stressing his words.
------
Mao ignored the knife. He'd had far more dangerous things pointed at him before, and Hei didn't seem ready to attack if he didn't give him a reason. "Fair enough."
Now all that was left was to get Hei back to the apartment and make sure he stayed there until midnight came.
------
Hei remained several paces behind the other, finding it to be the best position of observing the Contractor if he decided to go back on his word. In a normal situation, he would call himself foolish for being so naïve to accept a stranger’s aid, a Contractor no less, but if what he spoke was truth, then following him would really be the only reasonable choice of action.
If not that, Hei wanted to give Mao the benefit of the doubt, for if Pai was safe, then he was content
Maybe he would find a way to fix her.