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mortemscintilla) wrote2012-06-07 06:28 am
mortemscintilla) wrote2012-06-07 06:28 am
Entry tags:
CHARACTER APPLICATION - POLYCHROMATIC
[nick / name]:Katya
[personal LJ/DW name]:None
[other characters currently played]: Karl Fei-Ong :: Blood+::
worldofourown[e-mail]:katyachan24@gmail.com
[AIM / messenger]:Katyaxox@plurk
[series]:Darker than Black (Season 1)
[character]: Hei/The Black Reaper/BK-201/Li Shenshung (He has many names...)
[character history / background]: Wikipedia and wikia
[character abilities]:
- Bloodwork and ssspy-games.
- Speedy/Agile/Expert at the Stealth Hi/Bye
- Extremely proficient in hand-to-hand combat. Skilled with knives, explosives and wires. A preferred method of killing enemies is to garrote them.
- Discharges electricity via conductive media, (cars, electric outlets, water) as well as by touching his opponents directly. The volts can vary: able to stun, erase memory, or kill by stopping the flow in a body, via the Facepalm Of Doom. When he's using his powers, his outline glows blue and his eyes spark red.
- Quantum manipulation, which allows him to basically deconstruct you into putty. Thankfully use of this ability on a large scale requires focus and a 'meteor shard' on his part.
- Adept with guns, although they're not his Weapon of Choice
- A consummate actor. And a creepily good liar (Can actually fool a lie-detector ^^;).
- Highly strategic/analytical mind.
- Seems to withstand pain better than the average human. Whether it's Rule Of Cool, the result of his training as a child soldier, or a Contractor power, idk.
- Freakishly high metabolism (The dude can eat).
- Handyman type skills ( Waiting, chauffeuring, TV repairs, janitorial stuff etc)
- Cooking. Seriously. He's an excellent chef.
- Multilingual (Chinese, Japanese. Possibly also Spanish and Portuguese from his years in South America.)
-
[character personality]:
Tldr: Adorkable Nice Guy --> Knight Templar Big Brother + Dark & Troubled Past --> Badass + Punchclock Villain --> Heroic Neutral
"A very rational proposal. I expect no less from a Contractor."
"A very rational proposal. I expect no less from a Contractor."
This phrase is often-repeated in the series. It defines Contractors as cool and clear-headed. Able to separate themselves from messy human qualms and make the smart choice. At first, Hei fits the mold to a T. He resembles nothing so much as a Shade - in appearance and temperament. Ruthless. Relentless. Unflinching. He is said to be a legend in his field. Someone who was feared before he even became a Contractor.
However, we learn it isn't quite so straightforward. Hei isn't simply a cold killer. Nor is he a secret bleeding heart. He is, however, an enigma among Contractors. For one, Hei has no remuneration for using his powers. For another, despite the belief of Contractors being unfeeling monsters, Hei still retains his human emotions.
At its core, Hei's personality is composed of three aspects. These often overlap, both blunting and sharpening his edge - yet ultimately allowing him to succeed where stronger, better opponents may not.
Li Shenshung: 'Li' is the civilian persona Hei adopts when undercover. Timid. Sweet. Awkward. He walks slouched with hands in pockets. He dresses like a casual slob. He's that nice neighbor who'll greet you each morning. He's that adorkable guy your mom told you to date, while you were mooning over the highschool badboy. Li doesn't offend. He doesn't stick out. He's an everyman who melts into the background. Harmless, affable - and rather bland. This makes it easy to underestimate him. His shy smile lulls you into a sense of security. His clumsy charm allows you to open up to him.
Before long, he has all your secrets. It's only later that you realize you have none of his.
At first, 'Li' seems to be a flawless disguise. An act Hei puts on to succeed on missions. But gradually, we realize it isn't so. If anything, 'Li' seems to personify a Could Have Been in Hei's life. A subconscious reflection of the polite, sweet-natured boy he once was. It could even be argued that Li is the essence of all Hei's goodness - which his lifestyle otherwise forces him to repress with iron control.
BK-201/The Black Reaper: This is Hei's Contractor persona. A perfect weapon. An emotionless tool. Everything about him, from his posture to that eerie mask, radiates menace. As the Black Reaper, Hei doesn't feel fear. He doesn't make mistakes. He manipulates with chilling ease. He kills with vicious efficiency. The Reaper is always there - lurking under Li's clumsy smiles and awkward charm. Coldly calculating. Waiting to strike. None of his quarries have lived to tell of his appearance. He is described as "cursed, surrounded by shadows and death."
At first glance, The Reaper seems to be Hei's true face. But gradually, we learn even that isn't so.
Hei: An amalgam of both Li and The Black Reaper. Yet something else entirely. 'Hei' is the closest to his real self. The one facet that allows his character to step beyond a simple trope of Sugar & Ice. Like The Reaper, Hei is stoic and dangerous. (Complete with Creepy Monotone and Dull Eyes of Unhappiness.) He is a perfect actor. A consummate liar. He can kill without batting an eyelash.
Yet Hei also has much in common with Li. Kindness, trust and loyalty.
Which makes him an anomaly in his profession.
Mao: "He's a Contractor. It's in his nature to do what's in his best interest."
Huang: "He's got a strange way of going about it."
From the start, it's clear that Hei is a study of contradictions. Cold yet vulnerable. Strategic yet impulsive. He is a killer. A trained assassin. The best-suited for his job.
And the worst.
While Contractors are reputedly 'emotionless', Hei feels on a startlingly keen level. Often, these emotions drive him off-course during missions. He's prone to going rogue. He exhibits fits of rebellion and willfulness. He defies direct orders even when it's not in his best interest. This is, at first glance, an anti-blessing. However, Hei's analytical side also allows him to use his emotions to an advantage. He's big on perception. Big on sensing weakness. He knows how to listen to others, where rational, unimaginative Contractors cannot. Knows how to use a veneer of compassion to tell people what they need to hear.
Whatever lets him get in close - and obtain information.
This same talent allows Hei to needle opponents. He can cut to the quick of one's fears with a few quiet, scathing words. He can see the truth hidden beneath the bravado; the lies nestled amid the fake smiles. An example is how he plays on Huang's disgust of Contractors to get a rise out of him.
Huang: "Hah! Gimme a break with your All For One Team BS. I'm not about to be lumped in with you damn freaks!"
Mao: "Damn what?"
Hei: "Don't worry, Huang. We've never seen you as one of us. But we have seen what a coward you are. And we're glad that whoever made us this way, didn't give us the same pathetic emotions that you have."
While this doesn't make Hei particularly heroic, he isn't villainous either. Throughout the series, little signs betray the depth of his finer feelings. He jeopardizes missions by sympathizing with marks. He evinces disgust at the coldness of fellow Contractors. ("You're all the same. You make me sick.") He's prone to sentimentality ("I like to watch the stars" - although those in his world are fake.) He claims to hate Amber, but keeps the good-luck charm she gave him during Heaven's War. He shows remarkable concern for his comrades, particularly Yin, with whom he gradually forms a special bond.
Mao: "You're not going to have a problem killing Yin, are you?"
Hei: "She's just a Doll, right?"
Mao: "If that's true, why'd you save her back there?"
Indeed, Hei's very reason for working as a mercenary - to find his missing sister, Pai - negates the picture of a heartless, sociopathic Contractor.
When you get down to it, Hei is still rather innocent. He treasures those who are kind to him. He accepts promises at face value. He feels hurt if someone he trusts betrays him. As far as Contractors go, it's more suitable to call his emotions tightly repressed, rather than nonexistent. When it comes to Pai, they surge out with irrational force. He's willing to do anything to find her. If someone impedes his path, he reacts with lethal violence ( "If you get in my way, you're dead!"). Concurrently, if someone resembles her - a vulnerable mark, a young and innocent girl - his brotherly instincts resurface, and he's driven to protect (such as his fondness for Yin, and his sympathy for Mai).
Yet, despite his desperation to find Pai, Hei will sacrifice the chance for another's good. When his tormented comrade, Havoc, risks regaining her memories - offering him answers on Pai's disappearance - he forgoes it for the sake of Havoc's sanity. ("I'll find out about my sister some other way. You won't kill again." ) Earlier on, Havoc remarks on this change in him. She says that he shows more emotion as a Contractor, than he ever did as a human.
Havoc: "You were called the Black Reaper for a reason. In the old days you were more ruthless than anyone. Even though you weren't changed like us by the power. But now that you've become a Contractor, you've somehow stopped acting like one. You're letting a poor lost sister turn you soft."
It's only later that we learn Hei isn't a real Contractor at all. He's still human. He obtained his powers from Pai, after she fused with him during Heaven's War. This strongly implies that Hei has had human emotions all along. He simply adopted the Black Reaper guise to protect Pai, in a way that would suit her dangerous lifestyle. He lies to himself about being an unfeeling killer. Anything that makes it easier to kill so she won't have to. But he can only repress his guilt so far.
Hei: "These people deserve to die."
Pai: "If you believe that. Then why are you crying, Hei?"
Fundamentally, Hei is a loving big brother, a determined young man - but painfully warped by years of bloodshed. He despises the killer he's become. ("You can't sleep because every life you end takes you farther from who you want to be.") He genuinely wants to help people - be they human or Contractor. He'd kill only as a last resort - to end another's suffering. It's stated that all Contractors are "trained to keep to the shadows." But as the series progresses, Hei shows visible disgust over his profession. ("What have we become? Puppets doing the Syndicate's bidding?")
He has free will; he realizes there are more options than blood and violence. Not options that logically benefit him, but which could make him happy. Deep down, he still wants to live a normal life. (When he declines a chance to party with friends due to a mission, it's observed that he "looks lonely" as he walks away.)
Nevertheless, these are sides Hei rarely shows. He is at heart a reserved man of few words and cool focus. His main goal - always - is to find Pai. And he will continue to pursue it - regardless of which mask he wears. As Pai herself states:
"You played the part of the mercenary for my sake. But ... you're just my brother who loves me."
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: Post-episode 26. Right after the storyline of the manga, Shikkoku no Hana.
[journal post]:
[Text/Public]
####
qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm
frivolous fat fannie fried fresh fish furiously
[Video/Public]
Um... e-excuse me.
[ An unsure voice. A moment of fumbling. As if the newcomer has just arrived - and is confused by his Network Device. Few would realize he's been in the City for six hours now. That he's ducked at the earliest chance in an alley. Tried (unsuccessfully) to contact his team via his communication wire. Or that, casual and nondescript, he's scouted the area. Searching for escape routes. ]
[ Only after finding none - weighing the pros and cons - does he use the device. ]
[ No choice. ]
[ Despite trying everything - electrocution, crushing, dismantling - he can't get rid of it. ]
Er - hello?
[ A young man appears. All rumpled hair and nervous smiles. One hand rubbing the back of his neck. ]
I'm not sure what's going on. I-I was heading to work a minute ago. But - I think I'm lost now.
[ Li's mannerisms. Harmless. Easy to trust. Perfect camouflage for a calculating killer. He'll use it as long as necessary. Whatever gets him answers. ].
..What is this place, exactly? Can anyone tell me? I don't ... I don't think I'm in Tokyo anymore.
[ It's not just different surroundings. He can't feel the Gate here. Which is what unsettles most. ]
[third person / log sample]:
Among the rush of people on the noisy evening streets, Hei drifts home after a 'job'. He moves aimlessly yet purposefully. Hunched, hands in pockets. Keeping pace with the crowd's rhythm. If anyone senses his presence, he's already gone. To even a well-trained eye, he seems like a scruffy student. Ordinary. Unremarkable.
A perfect facade.
Everything - his walk, his clothes, even that clumsy way he stumbles over a pavement-crack - is choreographed. Hard imagining this young man, three hours ago, coldly wielding knives and wires against howling marks. Breaking bones. Spilling blood. His body secretly carries a dancer's grace, his mind a blade's precision. Tucked in his back pocket is a black bulletproof coat. Under his rumpled shirt, behind the belt at his spine, are a pair of wicked-sharp daggers.
Returning home, he's still the Black Reaper. But he's slipped off the Reaper's trappings in favor of another mask. Li. Because Li can blend in anywhere. He's a placid stream to the Reaper's lightning-flash. Free-flowing. Able to seep unseen through gaps.
/Are you sure it's not because you like being 'Li'?/
The cool inner voice is almost like Pai's. Hei shakes it off.
That's not true.
Whatever the guise, he's still The Reaper. A being made for death and little else. He and Pai were children when they got sucked into the violence of the Syndicate. In reply to a world of unforgiving death, Hei had made himself something that could best protect her: a heartless killer. Small wonder he'd earned 'Reaper' moniker among comrades. There, in the Amazon's jungles, he'd honed his mind and body to a scythelike edge. They were in a war. A dog-eat-dog world.
And to survive, you had to devour your opponents before they devoured you.
/Then why spend your nights star-gazing instead of sleeping? Isn't it because you see the faces of those you kill? Because it torments you?/
No. Those people deserve to die. Why would I offer them pity? I've always been one of the very worst. You know this.
/You aren't listening to me./
Because what you say isn't true. His gaze softens. ...Anyway. You aren't even really here.
How often, since Pai's disappearance, has he had these little conversations with her? Chats where he supplies both ends of the dialogue? In this dreary city, she's always close. Sometimes an unbearable weight - an embodiment of his loneliness. Watching in his apartment, as he goes about his small chores, as he whets his blades and prepares for missions. Other times, she's the only brightness there is. A little beacon that makes it easier to get out of bed, to endure the grind and gore of nightly wetwork.
She promises - distant, glowing - that soon, he'll see her again.
/I'm always with you./
Hadn't Amber said the same thing?
Amber.
Hei forces down a cold burn of rage. Thinking of her is like being caught in a vacuum - irrational and airless. He recalls all her betrayals. Recalls that toxic-sweet way she'd last smiled at him. As if she had any right to presume he'd care for her, after snatching everything from his life. It's illogical - but he can't forgot how to hate her. Hates her so much that - last time - he hadn't even wanted to kill her.
To kill her, he'd have to touch her.
The rage flashes higher. Hei concentrates on subduing it. He has to purge his mind. Be patient until his next opportunity to see Amber. And exact his revenge - viciously, completely - like a true Contractor.
Which is, itself, ironic.
Contractors don't seek revenge. They don't hold grudges.
Do they?
He imagines - if he asked Mao - he'd tell Hei not to overthink it. Huang would scoff, Who the fuck knows how you Contractors think? Yin wouldn't say anything at all. Not that Hei would ask. They're his teammates. Not his secret-keepers. Their group functions like cogs in a machine. Nothing more. Yes - it's a well-oiled machine. But that's just practical. Knowing the utility of a person, including oneself, is a matter of survival.
/Is it really that simple?/
Hei's lips purse.
...No.
They're more like a shared body than a machine. Hei is the hands, Huang the voice, Yin and Mao the eyes and ears. If one is damaged, the others feel the ache. Which is unusual. Dangerous. If teammates grow too close in this profession, they become a liability. Friends or lovers can turn on you. Enemies might use them to manipulate you. Such softness is for normal people. Those in love with the vice of weakness. Picket fences. Dog collars and wedding rings.
After all, Amber was once a teammate too. And she'd turned on Hei like a viper.
He should've profited from the bitter lesson. Playing 'house' with Huang, Mao and Yin is a dream. A warm, sweet, false dream. Yet he can't write it off. Can't write them off.
They've almost become ...family.
Abruptly, Hei's stomach growls. The noise startles a woman passing by. He offers her Li's sheepish smile.
Guess it's time for supper.
From a vendor, he buys takoyaki packed in a little paper box. Wielding chopsticks, Hei stuffs the sauce-dripping dumplings down his mouth. Starts on the shadowy route home. Old buildings loom everywhere. Pitted roads. Garbage. In the distance, he hears traffic and police sirens. And closer: footsteps.
Hei's eyes narrow. Under his baggy clothes, his muscles tense. But he remains calm. By habit, he appears more relaxed, the closer to danger he is. The footsteps draw closer. Four men, converging on him. Not Syndicate agents. Too sloppy. These are human predators. Lowest of the low.
Alone and timid, Li must seem an easy target to them.
" 'Ay man. How youuuuu doin'?" a wheedling voice calls.
Still chewing, sauce on chin, Hei turns.
"Hm?"
Sniggering, they surround him.
"Just hand your wallet over," the tallest says. "We won't hurt you."
His companions guffaw.
Mouth full, Hei says, "Sorry. Not in the mood."
"Aw, c'moooon. We jus' want your money."
Hei sighs. "Really. Go away."
In reply, the tallest whips open a switchblade. Waves it under Hei's nose. Amateur. He's holding it wrong.
"I mean it." Hei's tone darkens. In his gaze, past the mildness, creeps a warning chill. "Back off."
The tallest frowns. For a moment he seems to catch the eerie shift in Hei's mood. But bravado makes him swing with the knife.
He doesn't see Hei's open palm streak at him. Striking his chest. Cracking ribs. As the man chokes, slumping back, Hei makes short work of the rest. In four minutes, they're all splayed out-cold and bleeding on the pavement. Sighing, Hei searches for his takoyoki box. And realizes a thug knocked it over. The contents run spilling like guts across the pavement.
Hei's eyes roll skyward.
Just my luck.
However, we learn it isn't quite so straightforward. Hei isn't simply a cold killer. Nor is he a secret bleeding heart. He is, however, an enigma among Contractors. For one, Hei has no remuneration for using his powers. For another, despite the belief of Contractors being unfeeling monsters, Hei still retains his human emotions.
At its core, Hei's personality is composed of three aspects. These often overlap, both blunting and sharpening his edge - yet ultimately allowing him to succeed where stronger, better opponents may not.
Li Shenshung: 'Li' is the civilian persona Hei adopts when undercover. Timid. Sweet. Awkward. He walks slouched with hands in pockets. He dresses like a casual slob. He's that nice neighbor who'll greet you each morning. He's that adorkable guy your mom told you to date, while you were mooning over the highschool badboy. Li doesn't offend. He doesn't stick out. He's an everyman who melts into the background. Harmless, affable - and rather bland. This makes it easy to underestimate him. His shy smile lulls you into a sense of security. His clumsy charm allows you to open up to him.
Before long, he has all your secrets. It's only later that you realize you have none of his.
At first, 'Li' seems to be a flawless disguise. An act Hei puts on to succeed on missions. But gradually, we realize it isn't so. If anything, 'Li' seems to personify a Could Have Been in Hei's life. A subconscious reflection of the polite, sweet-natured boy he once was. It could even be argued that Li is the essence of all Hei's goodness - which his lifestyle otherwise forces him to repress with iron control.
BK-201/The Black Reaper: This is Hei's Contractor persona. A perfect weapon. An emotionless tool. Everything about him, from his posture to that eerie mask, radiates menace. As the Black Reaper, Hei doesn't feel fear. He doesn't make mistakes. He manipulates with chilling ease. He kills with vicious efficiency. The Reaper is always there - lurking under Li's clumsy smiles and awkward charm. Coldly calculating. Waiting to strike. None of his quarries have lived to tell of his appearance. He is described as "cursed, surrounded by shadows and death."
At first glance, The Reaper seems to be Hei's true face. But gradually, we learn even that isn't so.
Hei: An amalgam of both Li and The Black Reaper. Yet something else entirely. 'Hei' is the closest to his real self. The one facet that allows his character to step beyond a simple trope of Sugar & Ice. Like The Reaper, Hei is stoic and dangerous. (Complete with Creepy Monotone and Dull Eyes of Unhappiness.) He is a perfect actor. A consummate liar. He can kill without batting an eyelash.
Yet Hei also has much in common with Li. Kindness, trust and loyalty.
Which makes him an anomaly in his profession.
Mao: "He's a Contractor. It's in his nature to do what's in his best interest."
Huang: "He's got a strange way of going about it."
From the start, it's clear that Hei is a study of contradictions. Cold yet vulnerable. Strategic yet impulsive. He is a killer. A trained assassin. The best-suited for his job.
And the worst.
While Contractors are reputedly 'emotionless', Hei feels on a startlingly keen level. Often, these emotions drive him off-course during missions. He's prone to going rogue. He exhibits fits of rebellion and willfulness. He defies direct orders even when it's not in his best interest. This is, at first glance, an anti-blessing. However, Hei's analytical side also allows him to use his emotions to an advantage. He's big on perception. Big on sensing weakness. He knows how to listen to others, where rational, unimaginative Contractors cannot. Knows how to use a veneer of compassion to tell people what they need to hear.
Whatever lets him get in close - and obtain information.
This same talent allows Hei to needle opponents. He can cut to the quick of one's fears with a few quiet, scathing words. He can see the truth hidden beneath the bravado; the lies nestled amid the fake smiles. An example is how he plays on Huang's disgust of Contractors to get a rise out of him.
Huang: "Hah! Gimme a break with your All For One Team BS. I'm not about to be lumped in with you damn freaks!"
Mao: "Damn what?"
Hei: "Don't worry, Huang. We've never seen you as one of us. But we have seen what a coward you are. And we're glad that whoever made us this way, didn't give us the same pathetic emotions that you have."
While this doesn't make Hei particularly heroic, he isn't villainous either. Throughout the series, little signs betray the depth of his finer feelings. He jeopardizes missions by sympathizing with marks. He evinces disgust at the coldness of fellow Contractors. ("You're all the same. You make me sick.") He's prone to sentimentality ("I like to watch the stars" - although those in his world are fake.) He claims to hate Amber, but keeps the good-luck charm she gave him during Heaven's War. He shows remarkable concern for his comrades, particularly Yin, with whom he gradually forms a special bond.
Mao: "You're not going to have a problem killing Yin, are you?"
Hei: "She's just a Doll, right?"
Mao: "If that's true, why'd you save her back there?"
Indeed, Hei's very reason for working as a mercenary - to find his missing sister, Pai - negates the picture of a heartless, sociopathic Contractor.
When you get down to it, Hei is still rather innocent. He treasures those who are kind to him. He accepts promises at face value. He feels hurt if someone he trusts betrays him. As far as Contractors go, it's more suitable to call his emotions tightly repressed, rather than nonexistent. When it comes to Pai, they surge out with irrational force. He's willing to do anything to find her. If someone impedes his path, he reacts with lethal violence ( "If you get in my way, you're dead!"). Concurrently, if someone resembles her - a vulnerable mark, a young and innocent girl - his brotherly instincts resurface, and he's driven to protect (such as his fondness for Yin, and his sympathy for Mai).
Yet, despite his desperation to find Pai, Hei will sacrifice the chance for another's good. When his tormented comrade, Havoc, risks regaining her memories - offering him answers on Pai's disappearance - he forgoes it for the sake of Havoc's sanity. ("I'll find out about my sister some other way. You won't kill again." ) Earlier on, Havoc remarks on this change in him. She says that he shows more emotion as a Contractor, than he ever did as a human.
Havoc: "You were called the Black Reaper for a reason. In the old days you were more ruthless than anyone. Even though you weren't changed like us by the power. But now that you've become a Contractor, you've somehow stopped acting like one. You're letting a poor lost sister turn you soft."
It's only later that we learn Hei isn't a real Contractor at all. He's still human. He obtained his powers from Pai, after she fused with him during Heaven's War. This strongly implies that Hei has had human emotions all along. He simply adopted the Black Reaper guise to protect Pai, in a way that would suit her dangerous lifestyle. He lies to himself about being an unfeeling killer. Anything that makes it easier to kill so she won't have to. But he can only repress his guilt so far.
Hei: "These people deserve to die."
Pai: "If you believe that. Then why are you crying, Hei?"
Fundamentally, Hei is a loving big brother, a determined young man - but painfully warped by years of bloodshed. He despises the killer he's become. ("You can't sleep because every life you end takes you farther from who you want to be.") He genuinely wants to help people - be they human or Contractor. He'd kill only as a last resort - to end another's suffering. It's stated that all Contractors are "trained to keep to the shadows." But as the series progresses, Hei shows visible disgust over his profession. ("What have we become? Puppets doing the Syndicate's bidding?")
He has free will; he realizes there are more options than blood and violence. Not options that logically benefit him, but which could make him happy. Deep down, he still wants to live a normal life. (When he declines a chance to party with friends due to a mission, it's observed that he "looks lonely" as he walks away.)
Nevertheless, these are sides Hei rarely shows. He is at heart a reserved man of few words and cool focus. His main goal - always - is to find Pai. And he will continue to pursue it - regardless of which mask he wears. As Pai herself states:
"You played the part of the mercenary for my sake. But ... you're just my brother who loves me."
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: Post-episode 26. Right after the storyline of the manga, Shikkoku no Hana.
[journal post]:
[Text/Public]
####
qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm
frivolous fat fannie fried fresh fish furiously
[Video/Public]
Um... e-excuse me.
[ An unsure voice. A moment of fumbling. As if the newcomer has just arrived - and is confused by his Network Device. Few would realize he's been in the City for six hours now. That he's ducked at the earliest chance in an alley. Tried (unsuccessfully) to contact his team via his communication wire. Or that, casual and nondescript, he's scouted the area. Searching for escape routes. ]
[ Only after finding none - weighing the pros and cons - does he use the device. ]
[ No choice. ]
[ Despite trying everything - electrocution, crushing, dismantling - he can't get rid of it. ]
Er - hello?
[ A young man appears. All rumpled hair and nervous smiles. One hand rubbing the back of his neck. ]
I'm not sure what's going on. I-I was heading to work a minute ago. But - I think I'm lost now.
[ Li's mannerisms. Harmless. Easy to trust. Perfect camouflage for a calculating killer. He'll use it as long as necessary. Whatever gets him answers. ].
..What is this place, exactly? Can anyone tell me? I don't ... I don't think I'm in Tokyo anymore.
[ It's not just different surroundings. He can't feel the Gate here. Which is what unsettles most. ]
[third person / log sample]:
Among the rush of people on the noisy evening streets, Hei drifts home after a 'job'. He moves aimlessly yet purposefully. Hunched, hands in pockets. Keeping pace with the crowd's rhythm. If anyone senses his presence, he's already gone. To even a well-trained eye, he seems like a scruffy student. Ordinary. Unremarkable.
A perfect facade.
Everything - his walk, his clothes, even that clumsy way he stumbles over a pavement-crack - is choreographed. Hard imagining this young man, three hours ago, coldly wielding knives and wires against howling marks. Breaking bones. Spilling blood. His body secretly carries a dancer's grace, his mind a blade's precision. Tucked in his back pocket is a black bulletproof coat. Under his rumpled shirt, behind the belt at his spine, are a pair of wicked-sharp daggers.
Returning home, he's still the Black Reaper. But he's slipped off the Reaper's trappings in favor of another mask. Li. Because Li can blend in anywhere. He's a placid stream to the Reaper's lightning-flash. Free-flowing. Able to seep unseen through gaps.
/Are you sure it's not because you like being 'Li'?/
The cool inner voice is almost like Pai's. Hei shakes it off.
That's not true.
Whatever the guise, he's still The Reaper. A being made for death and little else. He and Pai were children when they got sucked into the violence of the Syndicate. In reply to a world of unforgiving death, Hei had made himself something that could best protect her: a heartless killer. Small wonder he'd earned 'Reaper' moniker among comrades. There, in the Amazon's jungles, he'd honed his mind and body to a scythelike edge. They were in a war. A dog-eat-dog world.
And to survive, you had to devour your opponents before they devoured you.
/Then why spend your nights star-gazing instead of sleeping? Isn't it because you see the faces of those you kill? Because it torments you?/
No. Those people deserve to die. Why would I offer them pity? I've always been one of the very worst. You know this.
/You aren't listening to me./
Because what you say isn't true. His gaze softens. ...Anyway. You aren't even really here.
How often, since Pai's disappearance, has he had these little conversations with her? Chats where he supplies both ends of the dialogue? In this dreary city, she's always close. Sometimes an unbearable weight - an embodiment of his loneliness. Watching in his apartment, as he goes about his small chores, as he whets his blades and prepares for missions. Other times, she's the only brightness there is. A little beacon that makes it easier to get out of bed, to endure the grind and gore of nightly wetwork.
She promises - distant, glowing - that soon, he'll see her again.
/I'm always with you./
Hadn't Amber said the same thing?
Amber.
Hei forces down a cold burn of rage. Thinking of her is like being caught in a vacuum - irrational and airless. He recalls all her betrayals. Recalls that toxic-sweet way she'd last smiled at him. As if she had any right to presume he'd care for her, after snatching everything from his life. It's illogical - but he can't forgot how to hate her. Hates her so much that - last time - he hadn't even wanted to kill her.
To kill her, he'd have to touch her.
The rage flashes higher. Hei concentrates on subduing it. He has to purge his mind. Be patient until his next opportunity to see Amber. And exact his revenge - viciously, completely - like a true Contractor.
Which is, itself, ironic.
Contractors don't seek revenge. They don't hold grudges.
Do they?
He imagines - if he asked Mao - he'd tell Hei not to overthink it. Huang would scoff, Who the fuck knows how you Contractors think? Yin wouldn't say anything at all. Not that Hei would ask. They're his teammates. Not his secret-keepers. Their group functions like cogs in a machine. Nothing more. Yes - it's a well-oiled machine. But that's just practical. Knowing the utility of a person, including oneself, is a matter of survival.
/Is it really that simple?/
Hei's lips purse.
...No.
They're more like a shared body than a machine. Hei is the hands, Huang the voice, Yin and Mao the eyes and ears. If one is damaged, the others feel the ache. Which is unusual. Dangerous. If teammates grow too close in this profession, they become a liability. Friends or lovers can turn on you. Enemies might use them to manipulate you. Such softness is for normal people. Those in love with the vice of weakness. Picket fences. Dog collars and wedding rings.
After all, Amber was once a teammate too. And she'd turned on Hei like a viper.
He should've profited from the bitter lesson. Playing 'house' with Huang, Mao and Yin is a dream. A warm, sweet, false dream. Yet he can't write it off. Can't write them off.
They've almost become ...family.
Abruptly, Hei's stomach growls. The noise startles a woman passing by. He offers her Li's sheepish smile.
Guess it's time for supper.
From a vendor, he buys takoyaki packed in a little paper box. Wielding chopsticks, Hei stuffs the sauce-dripping dumplings down his mouth. Starts on the shadowy route home. Old buildings loom everywhere. Pitted roads. Garbage. In the distance, he hears traffic and police sirens. And closer: footsteps.
Hei's eyes narrow. Under his baggy clothes, his muscles tense. But he remains calm. By habit, he appears more relaxed, the closer to danger he is. The footsteps draw closer. Four men, converging on him. Not Syndicate agents. Too sloppy. These are human predators. Lowest of the low.
Alone and timid, Li must seem an easy target to them.
" 'Ay man. How youuuuu doin'?" a wheedling voice calls.
Still chewing, sauce on chin, Hei turns.
"Hm?"
Sniggering, they surround him.
"Just hand your wallet over," the tallest says. "We won't hurt you."
His companions guffaw.
Mouth full, Hei says, "Sorry. Not in the mood."
"Aw, c'moooon. We jus' want your money."
Hei sighs. "Really. Go away."
In reply, the tallest whips open a switchblade. Waves it under Hei's nose. Amateur. He's holding it wrong.
"I mean it." Hei's tone darkens. In his gaze, past the mildness, creeps a warning chill. "Back off."
The tallest frowns. For a moment he seems to catch the eerie shift in Hei's mood. But bravado makes him swing with the knife.
He doesn't see Hei's open palm streak at him. Striking his chest. Cracking ribs. As the man chokes, slumping back, Hei makes short work of the rest. In four minutes, they're all splayed out-cold and bleeding on the pavement. Sighing, Hei searches for his takoyoki box. And realizes a thug knocked it over. The contents run spilling like guts across the pavement.
Hei's eyes roll skyward.