V S M Back to normality?

[Cho]

OPEALON​

Cho sighed as he put his phone back in his pocket. He had a decision to make; track down Azula and beg her to train him in Firebending or return to Mesa Roja and find a less.. Volatile teacher. Maybe Masa was right. Azula didn’t have the best of track records when it comes to interacting with the Avatar and given his newfound abilities, he might just end up on the business end of her flames. But when would he get an opportunity like this again? Afterall, it’s not like everyone here could bend the elements. He paced back and forth on the beach, this way and that. He started heading for the city two or three times before deciding to hang around and wait on Morene and Iris again. This repeated over and over for a good while before he got sick of pacing and dropped to the ground and sat, cross legged and dragged his index finger through the sand.

“Fuck sake..” he grumbled as he pushed himself up once again, fidgety as ever.

Cho huffed and dragged his feet through the sand as he headed toward the City proper. The ache in his head had finally started to subside, slightly. He sighed and scratched the back of his skull, freeing up a little trickle of just barely wet sand up. The crowd of citizens and heroes alike had started to dwindle somewhat; the locals looking to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives and the heroes doing their best to ease things back into normality. He pushed through both crowds as he went, walking at a relatively brisk pace. His initial goal was to find a doctor and get looked over, but honestly, he was more invested in getting something to eat.

Cho followed his nose. As he entered the City, the smell of different street vendors hit his nose like a freight train. His stomach growled desperately and he wrapped an arm around his midriff. He didn’t care much what he ate, he just needed to get something in his stomach to stop the grumbling and the near faint feeling that emanated from his belly. He rounded a corner and spotted a stall. As he approached, the owner pushed open the wooden window and set up the umbrella above the stools at the bar. The Earthbender clambered onto one and waited a moment for the man to notice him. The owner spun around, wiping his hands on his apron as he went.

“Mornin’! Gods. You look like shit! Nasty business whatever went on, eh?” He garbled to which Cho raised a perplexed brow, he opened his mouth to speak but the owner interjected quickly, “Eh, sorry, sorry. Let’s get some food in ya, then worry about the gossip!” He paused to laugh heartily, “What’ll it be? What’re you hungerin’ for?”

“Honestly.. I don’t even know. I just gotta eat. What's the quickest dish you can put out?” Cho mumbled meekly, the hunger becoming all consuming at this point.

“Quickest? I’ve got some eggs on the grill and some rice just about finished up. Omelette with some o’ the rice?”

“Yeah, sure.” The Earthbender didn’t wait for a response as he leant forward and rested his forehead on the bar top, groaning quietly to himself. Barely a minute passed before he was interrupted by the welcome sound of a plate being placed down next to his head.

“Eat up. You can tell me all about it after, eh?”

He didn’t answer again. He just tore into the rice and eggs with the provided fork. Almost as quickly as the dish had been prepared, it was gone. Cho breathed a heavy, satisfied exhale and patted his stomach a couple of times, stretching backwards on the stool.

“That was incredible. Seriously good.” Cho nodded amiably as he fished around his person for some money. He placed a few coins down on the counter and leaned forwards once again, this time staring intently at the chef.

“Tell you what. I’ll tell you what happened. You’re not gonna believe me, but I’ll tell you. But after, you gotta tell me where I can buy a ship. I need to get back home and it’s not like I can fly..”

The man considered his options for a moment and nodded in return.

“Deal. You want anything else to eat while you’re at it?”

Cho shook his head and began retelling the events of the Nausicaa Incident in as much detail as he could muster. Minutes passed before the chef interjected with a loud;

“Bullshit! You want me to believe that there were turtles the size of man.. a unicorn and some flaming ghost lookin’ fella? And you all fought a crab god?” He snorted, barely containing his laughter.

“I told you you wouldn’t believe me, but here we are. Where can I find a ship?”

“Well, the docks are best for a sailing ship.. the spaceport for spaceships.” The man, who Cho had skipped all forms of social etiquette with, leaned out of the stall and wagged a finger in a few different directions as he instructed the would-be-Avatar on the quickest way to get to both the docks and the spaceport.

“Thanks.. much appreciated. Uh.. stay safe.” He took a few paces backward, balled his right hand into a fist and clasped it with the left as he bent into a quick, stereotypical Earth Kingdom bow. He flashed the chef a grin as he turned on heel to leave.

As he followed the directions to the Spaceport — he wasn’t in the market for a seaworthy ship — he pulled his phone from his pocket, unlocked it and called Masahir.

“Hey..” he spoke as she answered, “Yeah, look, I’m gonna come home for a bit. Maybe you’re right.. Azula might be too much to handle, at least right now? I’m not saying I won't ask her to train me, but for the time being, I’ll focus on stuff around Uruk for a while.”

“You are? That’s great.. When will you be back, lindito?” Masahir breathed a sigh of relief across the phone line..

“I gotta get a ship and a pilot. I dunno what Morene and the others are doing so I’m gonna text her, let her know what my plan is and go from there. I’ll be back before the day’s out, I think. Alright? I’ll speak to you in a bit maybe.”

“See you soon~ Te amo con todo, mi corazón!” Masa's voice was warm as she sang her affectionate goodbye.

"Yeah, love you too... Bye." Cho managed before he hung up and put the phone away.

A few more minutes of walking and the spaceport crawled into view. Truth be told, he was a little unsure how he’d missed it to begin with. The port was hardly inconspicuous with the intermittent influx of ships docking and taking off. He shook his head a little and chortled as he approached and entered the initial reception-like area.

He gave the area a few cursory glances, a little unsure of the actual protocol that goes into acquiring a ship and a pilot. One of the many people manning the desks caught wind of his confusion and called out to him, waving him over in the process.

“You look lost! What can we do for you?” The mousy blond woman asked him, adjusting her glasses a bit as she looked the dishevelled Avatar up and down.

“Yeah, no, I uh.. I am pretty lost with this. I’m going back to Mesa Roja. But I’m looking to hire a ship and it’s crew to take me there. Maybe a long term thing, you know?”

“I see.. Well, you’re most likely best suited heading over to the pilots area. The ones for hire mostly wait around there for someone to approach them. Try any of those ones..” she said as she gestured to a few pilots sitting around a table chatting away.

“That’s great, thank you!” Cho dipped into another quick bow before turning back to the pilots and approaching their table. Their conversation halted as he stood at the edge of the table and gave them a quick nod.

“What’re you after, kid?” One of the pilots asked, a grizzled, older man with wrinkles deeper than some of the dunes back in the desert.

“I need passage back to Mesa Roja, first off. Are any of you headed that way any time soon?” He wrung his hands in front of him. His knuckles cracked and creaked as he waited for their answers.

Most of them remained quiet, looking between each other until one of the younger lot piped up, nodding as he did.

“I can take you to Mesa. It’ll cost you, though.”

“Sure.. sure. I can pay, of course.. Might have some extra work in the future as well, if you fancy it?”

“We’ll see, eh? When do you wanna set off?”

“As soon as. I’ve got all my stuff with me, so, uh. As soon as you’re ready?” Cho inquired, hopefully.

“Give us ten minutes or so and we’ll get going. I’ll come find you.” The pilot, who Cho later found out was called Noah, gave a quick thumbs up before rushing off to his ship. Cho pulled his phone from his pocket and sent a very quick message to Morene.

Hey, Morene. I’m gonna head back to Mesa. I’ve got a ship sorted.

sent 9:59 -​

He placed the phone back in his pocket and paced, slowly, around the reception area and waited for the pilot to return. Eventually, he decided to just sit and wait, phone in hand, scrolling through social media as he did so. It wasn’t too long before Noah called out to him from the threshold to the docking area.

“Hey, lad, we’re good to go, c’mon.”

Cho looked up from his phone, grabbed his bag from the floor by his feet and rushed over. He followed Noah to his ship and settled in for the next few hours of travel, still a little uncertain of space travel.

MESA ROJA​

Oi, Masa! Guess who’s back!!

sent 20:24 -​

Cho hurried off the ship into the somewhat subdued heat of the desert, as night began to take hold, painting Uruk in a vibrant rainbow of oranges, reds and purples.

“Noah! Thanks, man, really. I’ll give you a call if I need a lift anywhere else, yeah? If you fancied it, I could work out getting you somewhere to stay here or whatever. Just let me know, alright?!” He called back into the hold of the ship. Noah’s response fell on deaf ears as the Earthbender’s resounding footsteps clunked down the metallic entry of the ship.

 

[Masahir N'air]

Masahir was alone in her bedroom, her wireless noise-canceling earbuds jammed into her ears as far as they could go and hanging on for dear life as she bopped and grooved around her room. It was a Fridas evening, and she was preparing for her weekend shifts at The Crimson Lily nightclub just as she had the weekend prior, and the one before that. She was holding up different sets of risque lingerie to her front, turning back and forth in the light as she tried to decide which one she wanted to wear, which one she thought would get the most eyes and attention onto her.

She’d managed to finally narrow down her choices to two outfits when suddenly her music cut out, her alert tone chiming starkly in her ear. Masa fished her phone from her back pocket and tapped her password in, swiping up into her messages.​

Oi, Masa! Guess who’s back!!
sent 20:24 -​

Masahir gasped audibly and clutched at her chest- her fingers pecking away a message as fast as their excitement would allow.​

Lindito???!! OMG /please/ come and
see me ASAP, mi novio!!
- sent 20:30

On my way!
sent 20:31 -​

The diva grinned and giggled as she messaged her manager to inform them that she wouldn’t be showing this weekend- she had a brave hero to welcome home and comfort for all of his hard work saving a city from a dark god, after all. She gave a little sigh, carelessly tossing her phone down onto the crimson satin sheets of her bed before she settled on her lingerie: a sheer burgundy lace gown with slits up the sides, along with the matching undergarments, stockings and garters. The voluptuous woman was quick to change, fingers nimble from all sorts of practice in her trades.

She glanced back down at her phone, scooping it up as she flopped next to it.​

Have you eaten since this morning?
- sent 20:35

Not yet. Should I grab something?
sent 20:36 -​

No, don’t worry about it, mi amor~
- sent 20:36

She thumbed over to another app, her tongue poking out of her mouth just a smidge as she ordered them something nice and warm for dinner. Once she was done with that, she made her way downstairs, into the common areas of her home so that she could set the mood.​

~ * * * ~​

8:54PM​

knock-knock

Cho rapped on the front door with a hand, using his free one to shoot his girlfriend a text. He only made it about three letters into the message when the noise of locks clicking and sliding sounded, and the door swung open. The young man couldn’t stop himself from staring when he saw her, his mouth hanging open and his fist still raised in the air as he swallowed an audible gasp.

Masahir looked divine with the way she was standing in the open door frame, leaned against one of its edges with a delicate hand resting on the toned muscle of her exposed thigh. Her lace dress clung and hung to every curve she had, leaving only the best parts to the imagination as those big brown eyes gazed at him.

“I-.. uhm-”

“Mi cariño, are you gonna stand out in the cold all night, or are you going to get in here~?” Masa teased him with a giggle and reached forward to grab his raised wrist. She yanked him into the house, pushing the door shut behind him- though he quickly found his back up against that same door. She’d reached up on tip toes, holding either side of his freckled face in her hands as she pressed her form against his, and planted a passionate kiss on his lips. The young woman smiled into the kiss, a soft hum of pleasure escaping from her throat as she enjoyed the warmth of their embrace.

Finally she relented, breaking away and grinning up at his dreamily dazed expression. It took him a moment, but when he caught his breath he beamed down at her. “So, hero’s welcome, yeah?”

“Mhmm~ Hot, tasty dinner, affection and attention... Tender love and care~ Everything my brave, compassionate and amazing hero deserves after so much risk and hardship~” Again Masahir pulled him along and guided him to the dining room, nudging the door open to reveal a table adorned in romantic candles and set in two places. Several dishes covered the top of the dark wood table: two heaping plates of jasmine rice, a serving dish of savory chicken tikka masala and a matching one of chicken karahi, samosas and garlic naan decorated the remaining plate.

It smelled amazing, so good that both of their mouths were already watering when Cho’s stomach let out a loud grumble to signal that its patience was running thin. Masa shot him an amused look and chuckled.

“Alright alright, I hear you!” She patted Cho’s stomach. “Take your shoes off and make yourself at home baby, mi amá is away on business again this weekend.”

“Again?” The taupe skinned man asked as he tugged his feet free of his shoes, setting them in the hall outside of the door. “Wasn’t she just gone? Busy with something last week too?”

Masa tossed her curls over her shoulder, sighing with a soft huff and taking her seat. “Yeah. Who knows what such a resourceful woman as her gets up to.” The dancer scooped some rice onto her plate, followed by the karahi and a slice of naan. “She’s got investments in Karim, this Dusty Flagon place that apparently’s got some really good ale or mead, something like that or another. Guess she’s planning to help them break into the Uruk market, as long as they go through her.”

She paused for a moment, contemplating before reaching forward and tapping the side of his empty glass with her red nail. “You still don’t drink too much, do you, mi lindito?”

“Uh no, never fancied it really.. I’d have a little. Why, what’ve you got?” He gave Masa a quick, appraising stare, only to have something catch in his throat as his gaze wandered a bit, forcing a cough, “Sorry, yeah.. no not much, no.”

She flashed a smile at him, fully aware of how his eyes drifted across her body. She pushed her arms together, squishing her chest up so that her cleavage overflowed in her bra. “Well, I have some rosé, you’re more than welcome to have some if you’d like to, mi amor~ Though, I went ahead and got you some sparkling grape juice, so you could play pretend and feel included~” She stuck her tongue out at him and tapped the bottle closest to him, spinning it so he could read the label.

“Besides that, the harder stuff is in the kitchen cupboard... But maybe some rosé would help you loosen up and relax~” She teased, her voice slipping into that oh-so-familiar sultry tone as she trailed her fingers down the collar of her lace. “If it’s hard for you to swallow, we can make a game of it: each shot you take, I’ll strip a piece of my ensemble off~”

He didn’t say anything, instead trying to distract himself with the food laid out before him- but his face was at least three shades redder. The dancer chuckled warmly, stealing a few bites of her food and making a loud groan of satisfaction as the flavors settled on her tongue.

They ate in silence for a few moments before Masa spoke. “You should regale me about all the badass Avatar-hero stuff you pulled off on Opealon~ The news crews didn’t dare try to follow anyone down into the tunnels. Oh dios mio mi cariño, I was so worried for you all when the island started sinking...”

“Oh man.. it was real scary,” Cho started, gesturing widely with his fork in tow, “as soon as we landed we were down in these creepy tunnels. Like real dark, you know? I could kinda feel everything that was going on because it was all rock and earth down there.” He paused a moment as if for effect, but a wry grin wriggled its way across his lips. He took the bottle of rosé and poured a little into his glass, just enough to be considered a shot. The Earthbender looked from the glass to his partner and back to the glass before chugging the contents in one go. He winced heavily and strained against the taste for a moment, eliciting a giggle from the dancer across from him. He recovered relatively quickly and gave Masahir a very pointed look, an eyebrow raised provocatively.

Masa rolled her eyes playfully and dramatically as she stood up, shimmying her lace gown up and off her torso. Once she was free she gave a little twirl so Cho could really take in the sight. “And then what happened~?”

“Gods.. uh right, yeah.” He stammered, looking Masa up and down, “There was something in the tunnels, so we delved a bit deeper. It’s a bit of a blur, really. We got into this huge chamber. Like a temple or something and this dude with a- uh- a beard like octopus tentacles was there. Got real pissy because we were trespassing on his friend's grave or something. Said he was an Arbiter.” Cho poured another shot but left it on the table for the time being, idly running his finger around the rim of the glass, “Then a whole bunch of these like flying demon things showed up and tried to rip us all to shreds.”

“An Arbiter?” She asked incredulously.

“Mhmm. Davy Jones, I think he said.” Cho gestured nonchalantly, as if this wasn’t that big a deal. He caved quickly and snorted, he leaned forward, beaming a wide smile, “Crazy, right?!”

“It sounds absolutely wild mi lindito..." She leaned in, deeply invested in his recounting, especially now that he'd mentioned that a god of all things had shown up. "How did you make it out of there?”

“Well, Davy fought with us. Managed to get through a big chunk of the demon things. But uh- Darkseid showed up and-”

“Darkseid!! You are kidding me cariño, you have to be!”

“Ha- I wish. Darkseid did something to Davy and turned him, uh, bad. He was this whole..." He made pincher motions with his hands, "corrupted crab-squid monster. So we had to fight Davy while he tried to sink the bloody temple. That’s when I did my thing. I tried to keep the whole thing in place but it was a bit too much for me.” He paused for a long, lingering moment then, with a grin, took the shot he’d poured not long ago, “All of a sudden, this power welled up and sorta took over. It was weird, but kinda comforting, y’know?”

Her brown eyes watched him closely as he downed his next shot, lithe fingers quick to unfasten the belts connecting her stockings up to her waist piece and dispose of the garter on the floor by her feet. “What did it feel like~?”

“..warm.” He managed, watching the garter hit the floor before looking back up to those big brown eyes, “Kinda like I knew what I was doing already.. like um, there was someone over my shoulder telling me what to do at every moment.. but I didn’t have to think about it. My body just moved. Like muscle memory but for something I’ve no memory of doing.” Cho scooched around in his chair to completely face Masa, barely able to keep eye contact with her.

Masahir rolled her shoulder as she took her seat again, allowing one of her bra straps to slide down her arm. She leaned forward, scooping up a spoonful of food from Cho's plate and bringing it up to his mouth. The fire in her eyes was unmistakable, her voice endlessly and breathlessly warm, "eat, mi amor... enjoy it, savor it, and don't be afraid to dig in~"

Cho paused for the briefest of moments before guiding the spoon back down onto the table. He inhaled deeply as he pushed himself to stand up, bringing Masa up along with him as he did, “I would.. but I’ve lost my appetite all of a sudden.” Before Masa could manage a reply, Cho had already leant down and planted a firm kiss on her lips, holding her there for a long moment. His hands wandered, greedily exploring his lover’s curves.

She moaned as he broke away from their kiss, eager to press her form against his. Her touch took its own liberties in exploring his body, teasing his shirt out of the way so she could feel more of him. She pulled him in for another kiss, like she needed him to breathe, needed his attention to feel whole. Masa smirked, resting her forehead against his chin for a moment. "You had me so worried..." she murmured softly, kissing at the sensitive skin of his neck with her pillowy red lips.

She freed him from his top, his shirt crumpling on the floor behind him with a muted rush of fabric. "I was scared I would lose you, mi amor..." Her manicured nails trailed up from the edges of his waistband, up the midline of his abs to explore the plains of his chest. "Take me- hold me, mi cariño, like you never wanna let go~"

The Earthbender let out a deep, breathy chuckle at Masa’s request. She had such a way with words, it lit a fire in his belly and awoke a desire he’d not experienced before. He took hold of her thighs and hoisted her up, wrapping her legs around his waist and supporting her as she snaked her arms around his neck.

“You know.. you were the last thought I had before I went all Avatar.. there’s not a hope in hell that I’d not come back..” he whispered in her ear before taking a cheeky nibble on her earlobe.

She let out a sharp gasp of pleasure, rolling her torso against him as she tangled her fingers in his hair. His words sent tingling waves of goosebumps across her skin. Her excitement was unbearably palpable, and she found herself wriggling free of her bra. Now she was the one kissing him greedily, her legs squeezing his waist. His words had sent a jolt through her chest, one to match the sincere intensity of his own internal emotions. It was sweet, touching, almost bringing a few tears to her eyes- but she was quick to blink them away. The men in her life had always hated when women cried, she knew to push it down and swallow it- she wanted here and now, not the knot forming in her chest from his gentle, raw-hearted confession. Masa wrenched her mind back into focus, and feeling her eagerness was coming to a head, worked to push his pants down until their positioning stopped her advance.

The dancer gave an indignant huff and gazed up at his pretty green eyes. "I want you Cho, now."

Cho pulled her in for another smooch, his hand holding the back of her head so she had no choice but to engage in the passionate kiss. He held her there for a good while, relishing in the taste of her lips and the little, muted groans of pleasure that caught in her throat. Eventually he relented and released his fingers from her hair, letting her down to stand while he turned back to the dining room table. He paused for but a second before stacking up what food was left and setting it aside on one of the empty chairs. He returned to the table and, with a wry chuckle, swept the remaining plates to the ground. They clattered and rolled in all directions as Cho wasted little more time, picking Masahir up once again and laying her down on the table. He loomed over the dancer for a second before leaning in and ravishing her neck. Deep inhales intoxicated him with the scent of her rosy perfume, urging him on as he moved from her neck down to her chest.

He’d never been so forward with her, so intoxicated with desire that he utterly abandoned his own shy reservedness about the carnal act. It made him painstakingly aware of the fluttering deep in his belly, the thrill of risk. What if that strict khajiiti came home early and caught them in the dining room? A good part of him became fixated on that worry. What would Ra’tima say if she found them twined together like this? He half expected that she’d have more than just a few choice words, and he absolutely could not imagine a universe in where she would miraculously be a-okay with it.

Cho had been seriously dating her beautiful Tal for half a year now, and he still couldn’t get a solid read on the feline. Honestly, he found her rather intimidating for such a short little cat, but it was that aforementioned cat part of her personality that worried him the most on normal days. Half the time he could hardly figure out if she liked and approved of him or not- though Masa had always spent a good deal of time and effort encouraging him that, yes, her adoptive mother was just stern and incredibly difficult to get a read on- not that he was unwelcome.

“Are you just going to stare at me like a dummy all night babe, or are we going to keep going~?” Masa’s words yanked him back into reality from his anxious wonderings.​

CONTENT WARNING: GRAPHIC SEX​

He shook his head, “Ah- haha, yeah.. I’m just grateful to be back...” He studied her face for a moment longer, committing her beautiful visage to memory: the way her thick mane of dark plum-black hair curled in ringlets; the elegant lines of her eyes and how her thick eyelashes fluttered when she blinked, hiding those romantic dark irises; her graceful jawline and tight cheekbones, and finally; those heavenly, plump rosy red lips that always kissed him silly. He kissed her hard again- because his heart ached at the idea of a world where he couldn’t see those lips grinning wide at him like a love-struck fool’s. His gaze drifted down after he pulled back, and a pang of need shot through him as he admired her ample breasts, her dark nipples hardened into little pebbles. The sight had him licking his lips like a parched man thirsting at the promise of water, and Cho couldn’t stop himself from touching on her once he’d noticed. His fingers gave the beaded flesh playful pinches and tugs, encouraged on by her soft mewls. She bucked her hips up against him and shot him the most pleading look- she had missed his touch, missed his smile and all of his starry freckles. All she could think about was just how much she craved being in the present moment with him, no fears, no anxiety, no worries about ‘what ifs’ and ‘could haves’.

She stroked the tops of his shoulders, squeezing as he made his mouth busy on her bosom. His hands snaked down her sides and rested at her wide hips, holding her close against his needy length. He gasped when she rolled her hips to grind against him, urging him to give her more. He obliged with a cheeky grin, pulling his trousers all the way free- only to blink with a little flustered surprise when he looked down and noticed that she’d somehow simply shoved her lacy panties to the side during the fuss.

Recomposing himself was impossible upon seeing how slick her need had made her, it only made his own desire ache saccharine sweet at the bottom of his pelvis. She’d more than easily noticed his lust- felt it as clear as day in multiple ways. She arched her back up- only a tad antsy as she felt him tease at her entrance- and shoved herself down on his manhood with a lascivious moan. She swallowed him up to his hilt with zero discomfort, grinning impishly and wrapping her legs around his waist when he furrowed his brows in stubborn concentration and pleasure.

A shaky groan escaped his lips as he steadied himself for just a moment, savoring the way she carnally clung around him, and lavished her in countless kisses until she was too impatient to abide with only that. She drove herself against him a handful of times and he was quick to pick up the hint, catching her hands in his and twining their fingers together as he pinned her to the table. An assertive thrust of his own silenced her indignance, a second had her eyes rolling back, the third sent quivering shivers down her legs that ended in the tips of her toes.

“Fuck baby-” Her lewd moans slipped free from her lips as he continued pumping her, eager to enjoy every bit of the ecstasy she offered. She bit her bottom lip, her brows pinched close as they tangled themselves together. “On the dinner table? That’s hot as fuck...”

The diva was far too focused on experiencing him, whatever answer he may have managed was lost on her as she squeezed her kegels around him and made him whimper. His little murmurs, sighs and groans sent jolts of electric bliss through her flesh and right down to the bone. Cho was warm and secure, she felt a sense of safety in his arms, a trust that he wasn’t waiting to plunge a dagger right into her heart- that he would be there when the sun rose in the morning.

Masa gasped, arching her back as his thrusts brought her closer to the edge. She used the leverage of her legs around his waist to drive herself against him, ensuring that their pleasure wouldn’t falter, even if his motions did. She knew that his own end was approaching at a fever pitch. She shot her dreamy-eyed boyfriend a most pleading look, squeezing his fingers and hands to get his focus back on her face. “Cum for me papi~”

His expression was desperate as he nodded, only managing a few gasping pants and groans as he slammed himself down into her, each buck of his shaky hips brought the tension between them higher and higher until it snapped with a rush. He pushed into her and felt his member throb along with each wave of her orgasm, spilling his love deep inside of her warmth.​

END CONTENT WARNING​

For a moment the empty house was filled with the symphony of breathless lewdity, each lover announcing their fulfillment with long whining keens and explicatives of satisfaction. The earthbending avatar rested his head on her chest while they recovered, listening to the rushing thumps of her calming heart. The day had taken its toll on Cho, and he found himself far more exhausted than he’d even realized. Her attentions always made it so easy to just...


Drift.....



Comfortably....





“Lindito~? Hey- Hun?”

He blinked several times, pushing himself up on his elbows and wiping at his eyes before looking at Masahir. She was smiling at him, as if amused. He shook his head, had he dozed off? “Huh?”

“Wanna get off me and clean up? Go lay in the bed and sleep?”

“Did I- ah- start dozing?” He asked as he rubbed at the back of his head sheepishly.

“Yeah, you are passing out on me, my darling hero~” She brushed his locs from his face and planted a sweet kiss on his sweaty forehead. “It’s okay, you’ve had such a long few days, you must be so exhausted after everything you’ve been through... I’ll handle cleaning up in here. Just take a nice hot shower and get some sleep.” She gave him another kiss in the same spot, unwrapping her legs from his middle. “I'm gonna be upstairs in a lil’ bit for some snuggles, okay babe~? I’ll rub on you wherever you’re sore. Maybe I’ll even join you in the shower if I’m quick enough, yeah~?”​

 

[Cho]

“Not gonna lie, I’m taking you up on the massage offer. My back is in bits. Sorry for the uh- passing out kinda.” Cho pushed himself up with a muted groan, grinning groggily, “Leave the dishes til’ morning? I’ll help you out with ‘em or whatever, I just wanna get into bed~”

He slipped his baggy trousers back on, with the bare minimum effort involved; he dragged them up to his knees with his foot before reaching down and shimmying them up to just below his hips. He rubbed at his eyes again and scratched his cheek idly as he stood, just barely awake.

Masa shot him a glance, looking him up and down for a second before speaking. “Hey, I know you’re super tired and everything Lindito, but just don’t climb in my bed all uh... Sweaty, okay?”

“Yeah, no, I’ma shower, don’t worry. But I don’t wanna leave you to clean up alone.” He stretched his arms high above his head, stifling a yawn as it crept up on him.

The dancer rolled her eyes, sitting up from the table and standing in one fluid movement and cut her eyes across him with only a twinge of disapproval. She pursed her pretty lips at him and huffed. “Oh come on, I can handle some dishes cariño. You fended off a god, it’s the least I can do.” Masa moved to shoo him from the room, her demeanour playful. “Go start the shower and get the water all warm for me baby~”

Cho leaned into the shooing and dug his heels in, making himself just that little bit more difficult to move, “Okay, okay. Don’t be long, then. I guess I did do some pretty mental stuff.” He flashed her a grin over his shoulder as he stood upright again and lifted his chin. He arched his back, hands on his hips, and stretched his back out, a series of clicks and crunches emanating from his spine as he did so.

Masahir gave him one final push as they reached the foot of the stairs. He took the first couple of stairs in one big step, only stopping to shoot Masa a quick grin and a lingering look. The earthbender practically skipped up the staircase and into the bathroom. He was quick to get the shower running before sitting himself down on the edge of the bathtub, waiting for it to heat up. Another yawn escaped him as steam started to rise from the tub. He discarded his trousers again and stepped into the stream of comfortable hot water.

Cho sighed softly as he let the water run down his face. Perhaps in spite of everything, a wave of gratification washed over him, lulling him into a relaxed stupor as the steam suffused the air. He’d only managed to take a quick shower back on Opealon, enough of a wash to seem fit to board the ship he’d hired for transport. Part of him swore that he could still smell the wretched oozing stink of the tarslicked ocean he’d marinated in.

The earthbender turned, bracing his hands on the far wall of the shower and let the pressurised water prattle across the plains of his back. The heat seeped in, beaten into his flesh by the drumming water, and worked to soothe his aches and sore, tense muscles. Idly he lifted his hand, glancing over the thick dark lines of his mandala tattoo. He studied his skinny fingers, the bumps and creases of his palm- then he stopped and breathed deeply.

He exhaled slowly and rolled his wrist. He mimicked a few movements he’d seen the Waterbenders in the Pro-Bending leagues do. It was slight at first; just the odd droplet of water hanging in the air for a slightly extended moment. And then, with his arms outstretched, the water stopped streaming from the shower head and floated, just drifting slowly in the Avatars vicinity. He snorted a laugh and let the water run once again.

“I’m not gonna get used to that any time soon..” Cho huffed, barely containing a grin. He balled his fist up, drawing the innumerable droplets into one singular ball of slowly rolling water. He spun on his heels and mimicked the ebb and flow of cresting waves as best he could. The ball of water stretched and roiled, drifting lazily around the Avatar in some mockery of an orbit, controlled by Cho’s very will.

He stepped out of the tub, bringing the ball of by now lukewarm water with him. The shower kicked back into action, steaming up the room again. Cho stepped and danced around the bathroom, twirling and swirling the water up and around his head. He sent it out further, to the far reaches of the room and then called it back to him before letting it hover over the bath for a second and then letting it fall into the tub with a splash.

“Having fun, lindito?” Masahir called out, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed against her chest. Cho practically jumped out of his skin. He was too distracted by his newfound ability to Waterbend to notice Masa sneaking through the barely open doorway. He took a minute to gather himself and catch his breath.

“Yeah.. yeah. I mean, look at this, Masa.. this is crazy!” He emphasised his point by dragging a fist sized glob of water from the tub and then hurled it at his unsuspecting partner, a wry grin spreading across his freckled cheeks as he did.

The dancer was caught off-guard, and soon found her eye makeup running in black streaks down her pretty face. She gave a soft gasp of surprise, her expression quickly going into a totally impish grin as she laughed. "Oh cariño, I'm gonna get you back for that~!"

 

[Masahir N'air]

"You were supposed to save us..."

Cho's piney green eyes snapped open as cold water sloshed against his face. He flailed a bit as he sat up, his long fingers skittering across the water smoothened surface of the driftwood salvage he quickly realized he was balanced on. It bobbled and rocked dangerously, threatening to throw him off if he dared to keep panicking. He was surrounded on all sides by cold, eerily calm and quiet water that lapped with unsettling patience at the side of his faux raft. A thick blanket of white fog utterly obscured his vision past ten feet in any direction. Cho strained to see anything in the dim, monochromatic world he found himself thrust into, failing to spot anything until- faintly at first- he was able to make out lumps in the fog, wreckage floating in the water.

Bits of houses and residential doors glided along the marble top of the ocean.

The wanton destruction of a thousand homes and thousands of more lives painted itself across his vision.


Then he noticed other, odder lumps yet still. Clumps of dark wet hair contrasted starkly against ghastly grey-blue skin; the dark, congealed blood settled in the defiant lines of wasted veins. Glassy, white-glazed eyes stared up at him. They all stared up at him, like iced fish at the market. Countless bodies clogged every inch of his view, seamlessly sliding past him with slackened mouths agape. Bodies of strangers and friends alike pushed past; Masahir, Ra'tima, Nass, Sigmund, his mother, his father...


And they all cried out to him in the piercing silence.


"Where were you?"​

"Why didn't you save us, Cho?"​

"How could you leave us to die?"

"The avatar is supposed to be a hero..."

"It's so cold, so... so... cold..."
​

Clammy, degloved hands gripped at the raft, their bloated pallid-white skin peeling away from the pressure.

"Where were you?"​

"Where were you?"

"Where were you?"​

"I'm scared- I'm scared- I'm scared-"​

A familiar voice seemed to rise above the choir, a voice the young avatar had wanted to forget but could never bring himself to.

"It's s-s-s-so c-cold here... And I c-can't get w-warm... Why d-d-did you leave me?"​

Cho's eyes were drawn to the wasted form clinging to his raft, reaching up, up and up towards him:

A thin little boy, no more than just seven years old.

"You abandoned me!"

The sneering child gripped at his legs, his ankles, with a greasy, claw like grasp,
Hard boney finger tips jabbed through the putrefied flesh of decaying digits with an awful and soggy squelch,
Cold as the grave and as ruthless as the reaper itself.

​

The avatar found himself frozen in horror and fear that flashed lightning hot straight down to his gut as he starred helplessly at his younger brother, forever trapped in the veneer of childhood.​

"Where were you??"

He wouldn't let go. He wouldn't let go.​

"Where were you, Cho?! WHERE WERE YOU???"

The boy was backed by a choir of voices now.​

"WHERE WERE YOU??"

The faceless, nameless crowd demanded his answer.​

"WHERE WERE YOU??"

The panic rose to a fever pitch in the young man's chest, threatening to expel the very heart from behind his ribs. His limbs refused to move, to do anything despite the desperation washing through his veins, despite the chill of death climbing his legs to race up each rigid, vulnerable vertebrae.​

"WHERE WERE YOU??"

Finally he managed to wrench his hands from their spot at his sides and clamp them over his ears against the cacophony of the mob.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA STOP! STOP IT- STOOOP! MAKE IT STOP! I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY-"​

He did the only thing he could. He screamed back, clenching his eyes shut to shield himself from all the dead gazes, and the voices fell silent. He screamed his plea until his throat felt ragged and raw and he fell onto his knees, his shoulders drawn up into a protective hunch as tears ran down his round face. He couldn't feel how his battered breaths tore past his lips in panic, he couldn't tell how cold and numb his hands had become.​

"I'm sorry!"

"I'm sorry!"
​

"I'm sorry!"​

"Im sorry!"

"Im sorry."​

"Imsorry.."

" 'm-sorry.."
" 'm sorry...."​

"Iamsorry..."​

He did not know how long he stayed curled into a ball, floating on that raft and whispering whimpered apologies to ghosts and ghouls and phantoms- but eventually he knew that he had to move, to check and to see- maybe out of morbid curiosity or some strange compulsion- that he was alone. Finally, thankfully, hopefully: alone.

When the young earth bender eventually managed to open his eyes, he found that he was awash in stars, curled idly in the vastness of the cosmos. Sparkling spiral arms and mesmerizing nebulae glittered gleefully all around him, suffusing him with an achingly familiar sensation.

For a moment, he was at peace.


And a part of him knew deep down that it would not last.



It never did.



He knew that the Avatar was a spirit incarnated into the world during times of great cataclysm, and that meant only one, singular thing.


He turned his emerald eyes up, gazing in anxious awe at the rapture of the heavens, trying his damnedest to soak it all in.

And yet....
​

It felt wrong.​

Something was inexplicably, awfully, maliciously wrong, and it tingled tightly across his taupe skin like a marching troupe of uninvited needle pricks. The gloom sank into his bones and seeped into the very confines of his soul, tainting him with its foul presence.

You are but a mite to a god. Do you think you hold any power here, child?

Terror filled Cho as a wave of cold raced from the top of his head, to the bottom of his feet.

Do you think you could ever manage against the might of my forces?

You are nothing.

A colossal hand materialized from the void of space to snatch the young man up and bring him before two massive, inhumanly crimson eyes. They gave no quarter, and offered nothing in the ways of empathy.

Nausicaa was hardly a glimpse of my power. You are held helpless against my will.

The hand tightened around his chest, crushing the air from his lungs despite all his vain, fruitless struggling. He was going to die. He couldn’t breathe, and he was going to die. He could feel his bones twisting and shaking under the pressure.


​

“Lindito! Lindito!! Cho-- Ay mierda- HEY! BABE!!”​

Cho’s eyes suddenly snapped open, held wide as he sucked in a sharp breath with the greed of a miser denied. Where was he? He squinted and blinked, groaning because the backs of his eyeballs ached from the dim yellow light. “Huh..?”

Masahir was holding him by the shoulders, her grip tight as she studied him. Her face looked confused, all twisted up in panic and concern. “...Qué carajo...” She pulled her lover into a comforting embrace, her lips drawing close to his ear as she whispered in a low and urgent tone. “You started thrashing in your dreams mi amor... I was so worried- are you okay hun? Are you okay?”

Cho raised a shaky hand, wrapping it around her waist to return the hug. A wave of guilt washed over him and settled like a rock in the pit of his stomach as he held her. “I don’t know... I think... I think I need to go somewhere and clear my head.”

“Right now? In the middle of the night? Like this??”

“I’m the Avatar,” he attempted weakly, “I can handle it..”

“Yeah, and I’m your girlfriend, and I’m not just gonna let you leave and walk around like- like this! All strung out and- augh-” She groaned, visibly wincing as she pulled away. The lively diva was uncharacteristically quiet as she recomposed herself, and looked almost physically ill.

“Do you want to go camping with me?” Cho mumbled a bit sheepishly from his spot buried in the sheets.

“Qué?”

“Uhm... I need uh. I need to do something. Need to reground myself around a lot of rock and earth.”

“Nausicaa’s really been eating away at you, huh...” Masa sighed softly. It made her heart sore seeing him so wound up. She had seen war and carnage and death before, and it never ever got any easier.

“Yeah..”

The diva nodded her head, seeming to steel herself. “I’m not really good at camping. Ra isn’t too huge a fan of it.” That and Masa didn’t like getting dirt under her nails, or not taking a shower at the end of every night, and not having her perfume- not to mention the poor-ass reception she bet the further edges of the disc world had. She reached a hand out to cup his face, running a sweet, affectionate thumb over his cheek. “But I’ll go with you. I don’t want you to be alone... So... What do we need to pack?”​

 

[Cho]

Cho flashed a half-cocked grin, he was happy Masahir had agreed to join him, but he couldn’t help but feel like he was still teetering on the edge. Every time he blinked he was dragged back into the cosmos, Darkseid’s booming voice clattering deafeningly around in his head. Each and every star little more than a pair of pale, white eyes, staring back in the most accusatory, sickening way they could muster. He tried to shut it out, for her sake at the very least, knowing that Masa could feel every scrap of guilt, every twinge of pain that struck at his chest.

“Uh- I’ve got shelter covered.. some food and water, maybe. A blanket? It shouldn’t take too long, really, I just need some time away from, well, most things.” Cho murmured quietly as he paced around the room, gathering up his clothes and whatever odds and ends he thought he’d need for the coming trip. Masahir gave a quick nod and stopped him in his tracks. She drew her arms around his waist and pulled him in for another tight embrace.

“I’ll be alright, honestly,” He spoke as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and neck and rested his cheek against her head, “A little reset and I’ll be back to normal, promise.”

“Lindito-“ Masa felt the butterflies in her stomach, the dread and uncertainty washing over her as it welled up in the Avatar.

“Honestly. Come on, get your shit together. I’ve got.. a hell of a lot of work to do before I’m ready to face anything like Nausicaa again. Moping around because of a bad dream isn’t gonna help matters.. so, please, let’s just get going?”

“But.. you don’t have to-“

“No, I do.” Cho snapped back, “Sorry- I just.. I do. And that’s something I need to come to terms with.. it’s my duty now, Masa. This is what the Avatar does. If I hadn’t held that temple in place for as long as I did.. who knows how many more people would’ve died? I can’t just sit back idly, now.. not anymore. Now that I know..” He sighed heavily as he came to the end of his rant. He turned his cheek and kissed his girlfriend on the forehead, “I don’t mean to snap, Masa, really. I’m scared shitless. I just need you, of all people, on side, y’know?”

“Of course I’m on your side, mi cariño.” Masahir pulled away from his embrace to look up into his eyes, letting her hands rest on Cho’s shoulders, as his fell to her waist, “I’m just worried, okay? This is some scary stuff you’re going up against, I just need you to be sure.”

“I’m sure. I’ve got to do this.” Cho sighed and rested his forehead against hers, “Besides, if I’ve got nights like tonight to look forward to every time I come home, I’d be stupid to take crazy risks.” He chortled dryly, clearly trying to make light of the situation to alleviate at least some of Masahir’s concerns. She returned a half-hearted chuckle before he continued, “Let’s get this camping out of the way and see where we’re at, hm?”

Masa nodded, a little solemnly but she nodded nonetheless as Cho pulled away from their embrace proper. They busied themselves with gathering the last few bits they needed for the trip and packed it all away into a couple of backpacks. Cho made sure to pack them all the unhealthy snacks they’d need, in place of actual food, while Masa made up some real food; sandwiches and the like.

Soon enough, they were ready to go. Bags packed and slung over their shoulders, they stepped out into the cool, dark night. The streets of Uruk were devoid of any life, a relief, as eerie as it was. Cho took Masahir’s hand and entwined his fingers with hers as he began to lead her to the outskirts of the City.

“The uh- oasis is a couple hours walk from here. I could potentially.. half the time? But it could be a rough ride and you’d need to hold on real tight.”

Masahir gave him a look and quirked a brow.

“Sandbending is kinda like a subsection of Earthbending. It’s like if an Airbender taught a random person Earthbending. Everything’s lighter and flows a bit more gracefully, I guess? Anyways.. I can Sand surf on a rock and get us there real quick. What would you prefer?”

“Let’s get there quickly. The sun’s coming up soon..” Masa gestured off to the horizon that had just begun to shift into a vaguely orange hue. Cho nodded and kicked his sandals off and dug his toes into the sand. He exhaled slowly through his nose, clenched his fist and brought it straight up. The sand parted to reveal a large chunk of flat rock, wide and long enough for the pair to stand on comfortably.

“To be fair.. you could sit on the front if you’d prefer. It might jostle about a bit, the dunes’ll be a bit bouncy but it might be fun.” Cho shrugged lightly, a little unsure but he smirked nonetheless. Masa gave him another look. “C’mon. Sit down, I won’t let you fall off, I swear.”

Masahir lowered herself down onto the rock and crossed her legs, sitting as comfortably as she could. Cho stood behind her and kicked off, the rock reacting to his movements. He straightened his arms and swung them too and fro in succession, pushing the rock along the surface of the sand and into the night.

 

[Masahir N'air]

“Okay- okay, I admit, it was pretty fun- but-” The fiery dancer was standing on a patch of verdant green grass, rubbing at her plush backside with a wince etched into her face. She had taken the scarves wrapped around her coily mane and face and pulled them down around her neck. The bright midday sun beamed down on her deep brown hair in streaks broken through the sparse palm canopy above, painting her white lantern sleeve blouse and dark red jumper in patches of starkly striped contrast. “Mis nalgas are muy dolorido, and I thought I had enough cushion for a rough ride!” She whined.

Across from her, foot still perched on the slab of rock he’d surfed them across the desert on, Cho did his best to suppress a boyish snicker in his throat. The space away from everything allowed him the time to think; the fresh dry air made him steady his breaths into long, measured drawls; and the beating of the hot sun on his skin had served to focus his body to the flow of his earthbending. Patient. Calm. Steady. Finally his mind had unfurled from the tension of his tortured dreams, and he found he could actually start to smile and laugh again.

“Heyy! What’s so funny, lindito?” Masa asked with a dramatically flared sneer as she pursed her lips. She wasn’t truly upset, instead she was actually already making herself busy with fetching her sunscreen from their bags.

The young man couldn’t really help where his gaze fell whenever she bent over in front of him. He could have sworn it was because she loved showing off. “Ehem... I think it’s probably safe to say you have plenty of cushion, Masa~”

She gave her ample rear a flirty waggle and smirked. “Probably~?” Truth be told, the diva simply adored teasing and tempting him. She stood, swiping their bags up from the ground and hiking the straps up on her arm and turning to cast a wink at him before pointing over her shoulder. “Come on, you said you knew a great place to set up camp over here. I’m eager to see it, so show me! Oh-!” Masa gasped excitedly, pausing before taking a few steps towards the cool clear waters of the oasis. “Please tell me it’s a shady spot near the water, mi cariño~”

Cho casually sunk the rock back into the ground and strode forward, a renewed pep in his step- at least compared to the anxious pacing he practiced in the early hours of the dawn. “I found this place while looking for a good place to well... I guess just escape. Practice my bending and get away from the city noise for a bit.”

There was an airyness to his voice, a repressed sigh as he shook his head ever so slightly, and dropped his eyes to the ground for a moment. The very corners of Masa’s mouth tugged into a frown as a crinkle of dread touched her stomach. “To get away from Victor- Sutor- I don’t know, whoever they are.” Masa shrugged and rolled her eyes with a small huff, also shaking her head. “I don’t blame you lindito. He’s a creep. He looks at me like a hungry dog, I can just feel it. He’s suffocating, and terrifying.”

“Yeah... You don’t have to tell me twice...” Cho did his best to hide his frown from his girlfriend long enough to change the subject. “Hey, look Masa,” he called out as he pointed to a ledge under a strand of palm trees and underbrush, shaded, cool with green grass, only a couple dozen feet from the water’s edge. It was just to their left and across the water. “Right there, yeah?”

The woman gave an excited affirmative and made to jog over, sitting in the grass and quickly making herself at home. “Oye lindito, you said you could cover making our shelter, sí? Maybe that should be your first bit of training here~” She teased from her seat in the shade, fishing around in their packs to get a well insulated canteen and unscrew the top. She took a long, deep drink, then reached her hand out and swished the container, the cold water inside sloshing audibly. “Want some babe? Come on.”

The Avatar came jogging over at her beckoning, taking his turn to quaff some refreshing water to soothe his parched and dusty throat.

“Want something to eat?” She inquired, not looking up to him as she now retrieved some of the food she had packed them, baked rosemary bread, summer sausage, and hard cheddar. She set to prepping their food on a plate utop the little stone pillar he summoned up from the ground. He sat beside her with legs crossed as she finished slicing their portions and storing the food again, snagging himself a few bits.

They ate quietly together for a few moments. It was peacefully silent in the Oasis, with only the sounds of the sands around them shifting in time with the rustle of leaves, only occasionally interrupted by the shrill call of a cicada-adjacent insect.

“It really is beautiful here, cariño...” Masa was the first to break the pleasant silence, between bites of bread, meat, and cheese.

Cho’s swallow was a sharp gulp, unhelped from the dry air and the slightly-less-dry food. He reached for the canteen again, swigging from it to clear his throat and giving a shy little cough. “Yeah, it is.”

“Yeah...”

The young woman slipped back into the grace of the silence, electing to finish her food deep in her thoughts- they had been racing around in her skull since those young pre-dawn hours of dark. His small, brief and fleeting moment of harshness had stung and stuck with her, and she had not been able to let go of the awful twinge that coiled in the depths of her stomach. What had he meant, ’get your shit together’? Masa was careful to keep her face perfectly composed, even if she wanted to scowl. Did he want to start a fight talking to her like that? For a moment, it hardly mattered that he had nearly instantly reconciled with her.

A quiet but terribly familiar voice whispered in the back of her head. ’I deserved it, I should have known better...’

‘Maybe if I wasn’t so annoying and stupid he wouldn’t have to snap at me. Stupid bitch.’

‘Stupid bitch, stupid bitch~’ the taunting was curling into a cruel coo, and for a moment Masa’s mask slipped; she smiled and let out a small scoff of amusement that earned Cho’s notice before she could clear her throat and blink, brushing some hair back from her face.

He cocked his eyebrow at her. “... What are you so amused by?” His tone was a little incredulous and amused in its confusion.

“Oh, I just never thought I’d be out camping in the desert under the stars. I’ve always been a city girl. The lights at night wash out the sky. I just think it’s funny, because I never thought I’d get such a romantic lil’ get-away date. Imagine a ratty little urchin getting as lucky as I have been.” She lied effortlessly, with the well oiled tongue of a serpentess.

Cho shot her a small, sincere smile, choosing to take her at her word without further question. The pit in her stomach twisted tighter.

’He trusts me and I lie to him so smoothly. Broken. I’m disgusting. I don’t deserve someone so genuine. What’s wrong with me...’ She smiled widely back at him, making sure to scrunch her eyes up just enough to make it seem, for all intents and purposes, authentic. She knew he'd likely be fooled with her charm enough to not want to over examine her too much.

’I just can’t expect him to understand me. It would scare him off if he really knew how I thought. He would think that I’m a monstruo! He thinks I’m beautiful because he can’t see all the little tiny grietitas under the paint. I am broken forever, and if he knows, how could he ever like me again. Irredeemable! Augh...’

“Hey- Masa? You’re, uhm, doing that far away thing.” The avatar’s voice chimed in with growing concern. He knew well enough that she didn't act like this when she felt up-to-par. “You sure you’re good?”

The world that had begun almost certainly spinning around her suddenly came to a halt. She wiped the back of her hand across her sweaty forehead and made a sneer of disgust at the moisture. “Qué? Oh, I don’t know lindito, I just feel all tired and sluggish. I think maybe from all the sun and heat and the fact that I just ate are dragging me into a coma~” She slouched against his side in a playful laze, reaching her arm around his waist to give him a squeeze. “You should make that shelter you promised, then we should take a siesta until the heat fades a bit, sí mi amor~?”

 

[Cho]

“Oh, shelter.. yeah.” Cho picked himself up with a grunt of exertion and whipped his shirt and scarf off, leaving him in just his vest. He shot Masa a playful grin as he flexed and showed off a little. The Avatar chortled lightly, quickly losing his confidence and stuttering awkwardly as he turned back to the designated shelter area.

Cho inhaled deeply, bringing his hands up from his waist to just below his chest, palms up and fingers outstretched towards the opposite hand. He exhaled slowly as he turned his palms back towards the ground and lowered them back to his waist. Masahir watched on as Cho went through a series of other stances before the sand around him began to rumble and ripple outwards. He swirled his hands around each other before jutting one up toward the sky at a diagonal, the sand responded; a nine or so foot tall slab of sandy stone pulled itself together and covered one open side of the ledge. Cho outstretched the other hand in the opposite direction and another similar slab closed off the other side. A wide, sweeping arc constructed the roof, shutting the shelter off from the sweltering sun. He even went so far as to create a nice little umbrella just outside of the shelter, in the grass, made entirely out of sand.

Masa applauded as the Avatar put the final touches onto their shelter; a couple of sand chairs, a rather uncomfortable looking slab that vaguely passed for a bed and a couple of windows out of the sides. If anything, it looked like a child’s drawing of a house crafted out of sand and stone, but it would suffice.

“How’s that?” Cho asked as he extended his hand toward Masahir to help her up. She pulled herself up on his hand and he guided her into the shelter with a gentle hand on the small of her back.

“It’s perfect, mi cariño!” She chuckled as she ducked inside through the lower than average doorway.

“Aaaah-you’re too kind.” He grinned widely, “I’ll practice for next time.. this is hardly uh- your kinda vibe, huh?”

“Camping is hardly my vibe, honestly,” Masa scoffed playfully, “but, with a little more preparation, I’m sure we could make this work.”

“Next time, I’ll bring cushions. And I’ll know Airbending so I can fan you down.. Next time, I’ll be a little more prepared..” He sighed a little dispondantly, a small twinge of guilt for not having prepared better flashed through him but he blinked it away quickly, “Siesta, though?”

“Mhmm!” Masa nodded and outstretched her arms and waggled her fingers as she sat down on the slab-like bed. Cho grinned in response and practically threw himself onto the bed — which had a surprising amount of give, given that it was made of sand rather than stone — and sidled his way into Masa’s arms, claiming the little spoon spot for himself, much to her chagrin.

“Thank you for coming with me.” Cho sighed lightly, “It really does mean a lot, yknow that, right? And I’m sorry for being so snippy.. there’s a lot going through my head at the minute without all this Avatar stuff on top. I’ll make it up to you soon enough. You can take me clubbing or whatever.”

Masa huffed a laugh into the back of his neck as she nuzzled up to him and closed her eyes, “You? In a club?” She snorted wryly, “I don’t mean any offence, lindito, but I’ll believe that when I see it.”

“No, I mean it. Really. It’s a lot to ask you to come out here with me on like ten minutes notice. I owe you. I didn’t wanna be alone and you came. Get some sleep, alright?” He scootched back into her embrace as much as he could and took hold of one of her hands, lacing his fingers between hers as they both began to drift off into a light slumber.

**

No more than an hour had passed as they slept, the sun still sweltering overhead. Cho stirred, dragged back to the waking world by a scratching on one of the walls of the makeshift shack. He rolled onto his front and peaked out of the window of the shelter, one eye open, the other barely able to pry itself open. The scratching continued, shaking flecks and grains of sand onto the Earthbender’s hair and face. He grumbled irritably as he pulled himself free of Masa’s arms and stepped out into the desert proper.

He rounded the side of the shack and paused, eyes a little wider than usual as he came face to face with a little white-ish, rabbit-like creature with a red crystal in the center of its forehead. It didn’t notice the Avatar for a moment as it continued to scrape and scratch at the wall of the shack, tearing sand and stone away with its claws do eventually reveal a red, crystalline material — not unlike the crystal on its head.

“Sorry, little guy,” Cho called out, stooping to his knees with an arm extended towards the creature, “Did I mess up your house trying to make one for myself?”

The Carbuncle — as Cho would later find out the creature was called — spun on its hind legs and sprang back a little, startled by the Avatars apparently sudden appearance.

“Sorry, buddy, really. I should’ve checked before I started changing the structure ‘round here, huh? You uh- hungry? Thirsty?” Cho ducked into the shack and retrieved a canteen of water and some varied snacks; a bit of bread, some sausage and some greenery. A variety, given that he was entirely uncertain as to what this creature would eat. He offered the food items one after the other and quickly realised that the Carbuncle would eat each and every piece before slurping away at the water Cho offered it in the lid of the canteen.

“How are we gonna put your home back together, huh?”

 

[Masahir N'air]

** Bzzzt! ** Bzzzt! ** Bzzzt! **​

The diva sucked in a deep breath and let out a huff, again stirred from her sleep. Masa idly groped around on the mattress pad, fishing about for wherever her phone had escaped to. She cracked an eye open, wincing when her lock screen splashed her face in a wash of blue light. She squinted at the screen with a glare and scowl, seeing who had messaged her.

"Melissa?" She stated aloud dryly. Melissa was the co-worker she had asked to check in on the shop this morning when she was pulled onto an impromptu camping trip, and she had been lucky that the middle-aged woman wanted more hours. The dancer only hoped that this was the end of day report, and nothing awful. She swallowed and opened their messages.​

Everything went well at the shop today,
I locked everything up and was about
to head home when a delivery service
dropped this package off. It's addressed
to you.
✓✓ sent 6:37pm-

- 1 Image attached:
[It is a pretty non-descript brown
cardboard box marked in large,
bold black letters stating:
F R A G I L E
🡅 THIS WAY UP 🡅​

I don't remember ordering anything
does it say who its from??
-sent 6:38pm ✓✓

No, no name. Just addressed here, to
you
✓✓ sent 6:39pm-​

Can you open it for me por favor, señora?
-sent 6:39pm ✓✓

If it's some weird stuff from a stalker
or a bomb, Im gonna haunt you

But ok
✓✓ sent 6:40pm-

Wow someone must really like you
✓✓ sent 6:43pm-

- 1 image attached:
[It is a vertical display case with
a domed glass top, holding a beautiful
golden rose on a stand. The base is a
finely lacquered wood.]​

Masa's heart did several things as her eyes lingered on the attached image, the color and feeling fading from her face as the meaning settled in her head. An awful sinking feeling yanked her stomach down as she struggled to not throw her phone clear across the stone tent and smash it on the wall. Lucien had left her on 'read' for several days now. After sending her snaps of some other woman's chest. She didn't mind a man who partied, but the lingering silence left her emotions to sour.

Her lips pursed into a thin line, her fist clenching closed as she let out a loooong, tense exhale. The phone buzzed against where she'd left in on her chest.

** Bzzzt! ** Bzzzt! ** Bzzzt! **
​

Hellooooo?
✓✓ sent 6:49pm-​

Throw it away.
-sent 6:50pm ✓✓

Huh???
I'm sorry???
You want me to throw a golden rose
into the /dumpster?/
✓✓ sent 6:52pm-​

Melissa...
-sent 6:53pm ✓✓

Can I at least keep it for myself?
It's beautiful!
I can't believe you wanna toss this


Oh... this is from an ex, isn't it
✓✓ sent 6:59pm-​

All the young woman could think about was how awful her chest felt, how achy and raw her throat felt in the tension. Without thought her fingers backed out of her IMs with Melissa and tabbed into her messages from the guard. Her eyes darted across the last string of unanswered messages.

—————— 5 days ago ——————​

I'd love to hear you share it over a
few drinks, mi guapo~
-sent 11:35am ✓✓




Hooola~ Have you recovered from
your wild party last night?
-sent 5:22pm ✓✓


I would love to talk with you more~
-sent 5:57pm ✓✓

—————— 3 days ago ——————​

Hello~!
Wyd handsome?
-sent 7:16pm ✓✓

—————— 2 days ago ——————​

... lmk when ur back from Karim,
yeah?
-sent 2:39am ✓✓

She had thought the 'honorable guard' would treat her better, but at least the rogue didn't leave her messages unanswered- though a bitter part of her figured it was because the space pirate hadn't yet mounted her in lustful need and use. Lucien had taken her on a date, fucked her pretty face in an alleyway, and simply scooted on to whatever next hot new babe he ran into. Tears beaded at the corners of Masa's eyes. She did nothing to prevent them from trailing across her cheeks and into her hair.

Pump and dump. That's all you're actually good for. All you're ever good for.
Let 'em use that body of yours, lay up under them and make them happy. It won't keep them around.
At the end of the day, they don't love you. They can't. How could they.

Look at you, Masa. Look at you. A portrait of beauty with nothing inside.
The chips are flaking off, the whites yellowing. Who would treasure something all used up?
Something ruined. Something broken. Who could cherish you? Broken girl. Stupid girl.

You should have grabbed that kitchen knife and went for it. Mama wouldn't need to worry about you then.
​

How could you hurt her like that? She would be devastated.
​

It would be better for everyone, that way they don't have to pity your poor, empty, vapid ass.
You're a joytoy. A pleasure doll. Your thoughts and feelings don't matter. They don't care.
​

Not even Cho? He has been so good to you despite it all.​

They don't want to hear about your day, they don't care about your dreams and goals.
They want to run that meter up, drop a load off on you like it's laundry day, because you're an object.
You are an object. Good for thrills, and you hardly make it a challenge.
Can't expect them to really value what's in high supply.

You make it too easy. Offer that heart on a platter and cry when the vultures pick at the tender flesh?
Stupid. Idiot. You deserve the hurt you get, Masa. You deserve every second of it.
This is what Ra is always trying to warn you about.
Assholes. Good-for-nothings. She's right and you know it.

In a single impulse, Masa deleted her messages with Lucien and axed his number from her contacts. He had ghosted her and ran off with some other woman after putting on such a good show. Such a believable show. The dancer scowled and finally pushed herself up from the bed, angrily wiping the back of her hand across her face to remove the tears. She flipped back to her messages with Melissa.​

Put it up for sale in the shop.
And I'll /know/ if you swipe it for free.
-sent 7:07pm ✓✓

Now she backed out to open her IMs with Ra'tima, staring at the screen as she contemplated what to send. 'Lo siento' sprang to mind, quickly followed by 'you were right' and 'I'm such a fucking idiot'. Masa shook her head.​

Lo siento mama... Soy una tonta.
-sent 7:07pm✓✓

Tal, what is wrong? Why are you upset?

Did something happen?
✓✓ sent 7:08pm-​

Masahir thought for a moment. She could inform the grizzled khajiit about how heart broken Lucien had left her... But another part of her insisted against such actions. Ra would certainly harm that man, no doubt. Likely maim him.​

Just boys being boys again.
-sent 7:09pm ✓✓

Which 'boy' did what this time?
The earthbender, the guard, the
bartender, or the thief?
✓✓ sent 7:10pm-​

Lucien... That guard.
He left me on read, mama
Then he had the nerve to send
me some crazy gift.
-sent 7:11pm ✓✓

This one knew he was no good, tal.
Too eager to try his hand at bedding
such a precious young woman.
Sell his gift. The money will sting
much less to look at once it is gone.
✓✓ sent 7:13pm-​

He went off to Karim and fucked
around partying!!!! Found some
other girl to bury his dick in, too!!
He sent me nudes of her chichis
and blamed it on her stealing his
phone! >: (
-sent 7:14pm ✓✓

You must be more careful, Masahir.
Guard your heart, before stupid boys
break it to bits, or else they will treat
you like a prize to claim and conquer.
✓✓ sent 7:15pm-​

... I know. I'm an idiot...
-sent 7:15pm ✓✓

No, tal. You are not. You are just full
of too much love, and young.
✓✓ sent 7:16pm-​

Masa's eyes lingered on the screen, on that last message, as the sunlight peeking into the tent suddenly dimmed to leave her in cold dark. She was alone, and empty. Devoid of warmth. Cut off and isolated out here, so far from what she knew. Masahir sniffled and pulled herself up from the bed when the ground suddenly began to rumble.

"Cho?" She thought aloud, concern dominating her expression as she exited the tent. She knew that he was probably busy practicing his bending, clearing his head and realigning all his 'avatar chakras' with the cosmos, or whatever other spiritual stuff the embodiment of balance and peace was supposed to do. She called his name again, louder this time, and felt her heart flutter in the beginnings of panic when she was greeted with only silence. Where could he be? The small campfire outside of their tent was still lit, a few snack wrappers scattered around the stone bench the earthbender had made near it.

A bush to her right, behind the tent, rustled- separate from the wind. A chill ran down the dancer's spine as she whipped around the stare at the foliage.

"¿¿Novio??" She called out, her voice increasingly shrill in its unease. Every instinct was screaming at her to flee, to run out into the unknown dark of the night, that it wasn't safe here.

"Say that's you right now o que ayudeme Dios- AAAAAAA-ghnkfft!" Her words peeled into a shriek as a white creature came hurdling from the brush at her. She stumbled back and bumped into the stone bench, landing on her ass on the other side. It took a handful of seconds spent semi-dramatically expecting to be mauled for her to realize that the fuzzy little missile was in fact, not out to eat her, and actually rather friendly.

The small creature had long ears, like some sorta mix between a jerboa and a fennec fox. A pinkish, ruby-like gem decorated the middle of its forehead, only catching the light in brief glimmers as it paced a bit and pawed at the sandy dirt. It seemed rather anxious with how it's lengthy tail batted back and forth, too. She wouldn't really call herself an animal person, but she could at least intuitively feel the poor little thing's panic. Probably why I felt so spooked earlier, picking up on this pobresito...

Masa let out a relieved chuckle. "¡Oh, mi pobre pequeño! You had me so scared! I thought you were going to eat me! What has gotten you all riled up?" She hadn't especially noticed any large predators roaming about. Coyotes and dingos seemed relatively rare this far out in the sand dunes, but, "Maybe a hawk or eagle scared you?"

Slowly she stood to brush herself off and start pulling the little bits of waxy succulent leaves free from her mane of curls. Her new pet companion was cute, but also did not explain the rumbling earth or where her boyfriend had wandered off to. She retrieved the canteen and quenched her thirst, offering a bit of water in the thermos cup to the animal. It rushed up, lapping at the cool liquid as its ears trembled.

"You are so friendly to humans, as if familiar and unafraid of them..." Masa marveled. "I wonder if mi mama would make a fuss if I brought you home to stay with me as a pet~ I bet Cho would adore you, you are just so cute... But I'm curious if you will let me-" She slowly and calmly reached a hand out, patting the jerboa-fox between its quaking ears. Her face lit up with a bright smile.

"Do you live around here, amigo? Maybe you can show me where Cho went." It was more rhetoric than the woman believing that she had suddenly gained the ability to actually speak to woodland creatures. She figured her best bet was to follow the rumbling in the group, and wandered in search of its origin. Masa doubted that Cho would go very far, after all, he had picked this spot because it was good for practicing his bending. That was reason enough to not need to venture far. She was just beginning to crest a sand dune when she realized that the rumbling fell too neatly into a rhythm; a gallop in three-fourths.

Unless Cho had taken to bending in musical rhythm, that was the pounding of horse hooves striking sand and baked mudstone- she was sure of it. "Mierda..."

She spun quick on her heel and skid back down the dune, rushing back to camp in a bid to smother the fire. She did not want to meet the band of roving gods-know-who in the desert night. She wasn't stupid, she knew bandits roamed the disc on the roads and the wilderness. Slavers roamed the disc. Ra had made no small point in driving that into her head when she'd asked to travel to Karim. Her lithe hands scooped sand over the fire until it hushed down to smoldering embers. It was the best she could manage, and it simply had to do as the hoof beats drew ever closer.

Her dark eyes darted around the oasis, pleading in their search for a good place to hide. A particularly shadowy clump of shrubbery a couple dozen meters from the camp would have to suffice. She only prayed that whoever these people were, they would not search too thoroughly, that they would take the camp as being deserted... But with their food and packs- not to mention, Fuck! My phone! I left it on the sleeping bag! Mierdaaa. If they found that, who knew how attached to their search they would get?

Her fears grew greater as the group of strangers came into view in the pale moonlight, a dozen plus figures on dark horses, wrapped in sand resistant desert linens. Swords and Calvary sabers at their hips caught the moonlight in sharp, cold glints. She pushed her self up against the rough palm trunk as best she could, shrinking back from the light of the lanterns lit in investigation.

Cries sounded as the screeching carbunclo was drug from the stone tent, hissing and clawing and biting. A few of the raiders whooped, while the one holding the animal called out, "Ay! Founds a pet! Might taste good on the fire~!"

"Well if they left a pet means they can't be far, lookit the fire, still en embers."

"Sure it not just a scavvie?" A third voice questioned.

"Seem bit too nice to handling." The first responded. "Go head, we search for 'em, aye?"

The group hardly had time to answer before the carbuncle managed to squirm enough to get their sharp, needle-like teeth into the hand of its captor. The man holding it yelped, smacking the poor creature until it unlatched those gripping jaws and fled off into the shrubbery with a whimper.

"Go on now, get!" The leader called out. "Two bags, space for two, two folks by the looks of it, fresh embers. Spread out and search for them. It'll be an easy payday from Plaineview if they worth something!"

They aren't going to leave... Masa sank against the tree, the dread climbing further up and up her throat as she attempted to keep her breathing steady and quiet. Each rustle had her heart on edge, her skin crawling in terrified anticipation. Cho... Gods, I pray you are safe Lindito, and I pray you do not get caught... A sudden snap of dry grass and twigs spelled the end as set of hands gasped her from behind, clamping over her mouth and wrenching her arm behind her back. She was forced onto the ground, face first. In a spat of defiance, she opened her mouth wide and chomped down on the gloved fingers blocking her lips. The hand reeled back long enough for her to suck a breath in.

"Augh! Stupid bitch bit me!" A gruff, masculine voice growled. Fingers tangled into her hair and yanked her head back sharply. "I found one!"

Masahir winced with a gasp, glaring up at the indifferent face of an approaching desert-roamer with a sneer. It was a woman with an AK held at the ready in her hands, wrapped in beige linens. The bandit pressed the muzzle of the gun against the dancer's temple, keeping her complacent while the man quickly worked to tie a length of rope around her wrists.

"Much less feisty with a gun against your skull? Pretty little lady out in the desert all alone, now that don't track much, do it? So where's your partner, a man right? Some sorta elementalist?"

"¡Malditos bastardos dejenme ir o lo pagaran!" Masa spat at the ground beside the woman's boots. She began fiercely struggling to get her hands free from the ropes restraining her, trying to buck the man off her back. "I'll show you less feisty, puta."

"You'll shut the fuck up if you want to see the morning sun, bitch." The bandit remarked with a smug smirk, bringing the butt of her rifle down on the side of the dancer's head. For a second, stars sprang into the diva's unfocused vision before it all went black.
​

~ * * * ~​

​

CONTENT WARNING: Uncomfortable/threatening sexual language.​

Masahir N'air came to with the burden of a skull splitting headache, as if a nail was being driven through her temple and straight into her damn brain. A groan slipped free from her lips. Next to her, someone or something shuffled about, the scrape of metal against wood flooring. The air smelled warm, like stale cigarette smoke and sweat, hot leather and dust. Her wrists were fastened tight behind her back, hempen rope digging into her skin with an unbearable itch.​

"Ah, so you finally wake from the beauty sleep, huh Princess~?" A strange man's voice sounded as she stirred, causing Masa's eyes to shoot open with another marked groan of discomfort. He was standing in front of her, his brown leather bomber jacket and grey jeans stained with dust, soot and dirt and his greasy hair streaked back into a dull, limp mohawk. His eyes and brows were obscured by green tinted wielder goggles pressed up close to his face- Masa thought that for the better.

She thought he looked like a wretched rodent, with how the bridge of his nose merged to his brow with nearly an unbroken angle to make a long, rattish profile and his small lips pulled down and forward in a semi-permanent pout to leave his weak chin to easily disappear into the line of his neck. Ugly as sin. He brought his hand forward, combing it through her disheveled hair with a uncomfortable amount of familiarity. She felt the bile rise in the back of her throat. "Who the fuck are you, pendejo? Part'a-a band of those bastard bandits, or did you crawl from some inbred cave of ugly fucks after dicking down your mom?"

The man flicked the ash of his smoke, letting it drift haphazardly to the floor. His hand moved from her hair to her jaw, cupping her chin and inspecting her like one would size up cattle. "A temper like that won't do- but I know a few mens who would love a new mail-order bride as beautiful as you, lovely~"

White hot spite rushed through Masa's body in a prickling wave. She reeled her face back, then lunged forward to bite at the hand that held her chin, just barely missing the flesh between thumb and index finger. "¡Pendejo de putamadre, lo pagaran, que ayudeme Dios!"

"Yeah, just like Ghillie said. Too feisty..." The man chuckled, yanking her head back by her hair once more, trying to force her to look up at him. She met the dark green of his goggles with a hateful glare. "But we can have some fun breaking you in, Princess. Teach you some proper manners for once, huh rich girl~? Bet you're pretty fucked up like all the ritzy city-folk, into that dark shit that the rich are."

"The fuck are you talkin' about pendejo?" Masa sneered, her heart climbing into her throat as her eyes darted about the shabby wooden room. Empty besides another chair and a table to her right, decorated by several empty booze bottles. Outside the hostile whistle of the wind howled against the house, carrying only the skittering shuffle of sand shifting. Where the hell am I??

"Ah, eating babies. Drinking blood. Fucking everything. Bet you fuck good, yeah?" He grinned broadly, displaying his set of stained brown teeth with a sort of fucked up semblance of pride. "You look like a good girl, too. One that loves being bad."

"Fuck you, rat bastard." Came her growl. His words made her feel like a knife was twisting her stomach to bits, the excitement coming off him left her wanting to gag in repulsion.

"What~? The thrill not get your engine purring Princess?"

"Never been drier in my god damn life." She hissed, downright serpentine but still bound to the chair as he bent down and brought his mug close to her.

"I can fix that for y-" The unsavory bandit jerked back in a disgusted flinch, his words coming to an abrupt stop as she spat in his face. The audacity of the defiance and spite earned her a split lip and a mouthful of knuckles.

A hollow but amused chuckle escaped the battered diva as she hung her head. "Go ahead putamadre, ruin your livestock and cut my price in half. Only an idiot fucks and beats a virgin bride before her wedding and expects the full price."

The man gave her a long stare that raked up and down her body, a predatory stare that had cold shivers running up her spine and demanding that she bolt right that instant. "Aww, Princess. You expect me to believe you never had a man with a body like that? Don't lie now, doll."

"Maybe I'm not a filthy degenerate rich girl like you think, pendejo." She lifted her head to glare at him once more, her bottom lip already puffy and swollen. The fact that his fingers were still twined into her hair made her want to crawl free of her own skin. "I'd have to be stupid to give all this out for free without an assurance, a guarantee that I'll be taken care of."

The man leaned down, holding her firmly by her mane of curls as his whisper slithered into her ear and dripped dreadful poison across her psyche. "Good things noblemens don't know better either ways then." He snickered darkly. "Crews' gotten so lonely out in the deserts. Needin' good female company at night, virgin's a nice treat. Maybe it'll loosen up that tight arse of yours, hm~ Make sure yous enjoy it Princess." His voice leered into a disdainful sneer before he pushed her face away with a harsh shove and chuckled deep in his throat. The look of sheer, intense shock on her face could be savored for ages as her composure cracked under the terror. "Think about that, and think about behaving. Maybe the primadonna's fate will be ransom and not marriage-slave if she does."

The smug bandit retreated from the shack, leaving her to sit in silence to marinate and think about the idea of complying. Ransoms were quicker and easier when the mark was far too scared shitless to go screaming and hollering and trying dumb shit. Easy scare tactic on women, got 'em to behave and give financial information quicker, even if the threat was always empty. Sometimes it was too good to pass up snatching some sick kicks out of the wealthy they extorted, get a little laugh as an extra expense.



What they had failed to consider, however, was that it was not a "joke" of little expense to Masahir, and that fact would cost them dearly.

 

[Cho]

Cho had followed the Carbuncle for what felt like an hour, maybe more. He watched it dive between shrubs and the odd cactus, standing like a lone sentinel in the depths of the sandy dunes. The Avatar mused as to whether it was hunting or instinctually using cover to keep out of the sight of predatory birds. He settled on the latter; its movements were too furtive, too cautious to simply be hunting its next meal. Not that it mattered either way, Cho had to fix what he’d done. Perhaps he’d destroyed the entrance to its home? He didn’t know. They’d been going in a wide circle, practically keeping the camp within a reasonable distance.

Probably it’s territory or something.. he thought as he glanced around, squinting into the now darkening evening.

“Where’re you taking me, little guy?” Cho called out to the creature, “You’re s’pposed to be showing me where you live.. I can fix it, I swear..” he scoffed, talking to animals like they could understand him, what next? He shrugged lightly and continued to follow. Eventually, they came to a little rocky outcrop, sheltered between two massive dunes. How it hadn’t been swallowed by the sands was a mystery to the Earthbender but he quickly dismissed the thought. A multitude of holes penetrated the rocky exterior, no doubt leading to something like a series of tunnels.

“Hold up, buddy, let’s see what we’ve got, huh?” Cho rasped, his throat near enough matching the dryness of the desert around them. He kicked out of his sandals and dug his feet into the sand. Eyes closed, fists clenched at his waist, the Avatar took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as he sent waves of vibrations through the surrounding area. He was right to assume there were tunnels below them, a labyrinthine system of tunnels weaving deeper and deeper into the ground. The vast majority of it was rock, but there were chambers upon chambers of what felt like crystals, all around.

“Not a chance of me getting in there, pal.. I’m much too big for those holes..” He sighed, “Is it just you down there?” The carbuncle stared back at him, “You’ve got no clue what I’m saying.. I’m going mad, talking to animals.. must be the heat getting to me.. Look, pal, I can try and fix it for you, but I’m not gonna lie, I can’t see shit down there. It’ll be a jumbled mess.. How ‘bout you stick with me and I’ll sort you something much fancier out? Give you a bunch of food and water? It’ll be great. I’m sure Masa would love you.. not sure about Ratima. But you could stay at my place.” He shrugged, extending a hand to the Carbuncle as if to entice it onto his shoulder. But the Carbuncle jolted and froze in place. A shiver ran up Cho’s spine as he clocked on to the reason for its fright. Out on the edges of his Seismic Sense, he could just barely feel the unmistakable rhythmic beats of hooves in the sand. A dozen separate beats, at least. And they were headed towards the camp. And then he felt a pair of lighter feet scrambling frantically around the camp.

“Masa..” he started as the colour drained from his face, “Fuckfuckfuck!” The Carbuncle darted into one of the holes in the rock as Cho bolted towards the camp, dragging a portion of rock from the tunnels below to act like a sled as he kicked off.

Wind and sand whipped at his face as he sledded through the sand atop the rock slab. The fifteen minutes or so that it took to get back close to the camp seemed to drag, lasting for what felt like an age. He stepped off of the rock and kicked back down into the depths. Dropping to his stomach, Cho dragged himself to the top of the rock that held their makeshift shelter. He laid as low as he could, hearing the voices of the people conversing between themselves below, crowded around the campfire he’d so painstakingly put together earlier in the day. There was far less than he’d felt through the vibrations of his sense. He couldn’t see or hear Masa. Dread coursed through him, quickening his heartbeat and leaving the shallow breaths to catch in his throat.

“You think maybe the other one done run off?” The voice was high, rasping from inside the stone tent.

“An’ leaves a pretty lass like that behind?” The smoother, lower voice of a man rifling through their bags grumbled back.

A wave of growing anger washed over him, suffusing with the anxiety to drown out everything aside from the bandits' conversation, their words were all he could focus on through the tide of unease.

“ ‘pends on if yous a romantic, I guess. To me, ain’t no lass worths dying for.”

“Mm. I knows plenty who’d fight for such a shapely lady, even if she was a bit bloodied up~” The lower voice chuckled. “Thinkin’ boss’ll probably get a good price for her, he says she’s far too pretty to not catch Plaineview’s attention-”

Cho’s stomach and heart dropped with a sickening lurch. The young man had heard enough. Rage swelled from the pit of his stomach, all encompassing. Everything around him faded. In an instant his world narrowed into a singular point. How dare they take her. He clenched his fists and shot up from his belly, thrust into the air by a swirling vortex at his feet. His hands whipped around his head and kicked up a cloud of sand. The mock-sandstorm, lit ominously from the interior as Cho slipped into the Avatar state, descended on the camp as he dropped down from the roof of his shelter. He heard them scramble and scatter, the panic in their voices as the rogue storm buffeted them. Cho found that he didn’t much care. The lower voice screamed out in agony, falling silent a moment later, gored by an incomprehensibly sharp spear of sand. Another of his cohort grunted as he hit the ground, tripped by his compatriot's corpse.

“By the sands- ‘e’s dead!” The bandit called out, fear causing his words to tremble, “What the fuck’s goin’ on?!” His questioning was cut short, descending into fevered shrieks, as he was engulfed by a violent inferno. He writhed around on the ground, desperately attempting to put out the flames in the sand. The Avatar, however, stood over him, exhaling a stream of fire over the bandit like some Dragon pulled out of a fairytale. The third bandit was caught blind sided by a blast of sand, launching them high into the air, silent before they even hit the ground. The last wasn’t so lucky. The Avatar opened up a hole in the sand beneath her feet, instantly swallowing her up to the shoulders. He twisted his wrist and extended his fingers like cruel talons as the sand hardened beyond what would be normal, shifting to something more akin to sandstone. The bandit let out a constricted scream as the bones in her arms, legs and her ribs cracked under the pressure. She panted, struggling to get her breath, having narrowly avoided a punctured lung.

The vortex supporting the Avatar's weight dissipated in a gust of displaced sand. He settled on the ground before the captured bandit and stooped over her.

“Where is she?!” A cacophonous choir of innumerable voices in place of his own, though laced with a twinge of concern as Cho’s feelings bubbled over.

 

[Masahir N'air]

“Augh! Stop! Stop- please! Yas gonna kill me!” The bandit rasped, voice shrill in its desperate pleading.

“Then you will tell me where she is.” The cacophony of voices demanded, echoing out from the enraged avatar.

“Fuck-” The panicked bandit glanced around at their fallen friends. "By the sands- we didn't know the broad was with you!” They squirmed in vain against the sandstone coffin encasing them. “How do I know yas won’t jus’ be- leavin’ me in this crack once I tells you?”

The rock rumbled as it squeezed tighter, and the bandit let out an agonizing yelp, clearly understanding the lack of patience for negotiations. “Okay- okay okay okay! I’lls talk- I’lls talk! Please, jus’ let me breathe!” The ground loosened minutely in response, and they sucked air down in greedy gulps. “Our camp- at the edge of the disk... Ride towards the risin’ sun, can’t be missin’ the shitshacks we hole up in.”

The avatar glared out over the vast sea of sand dunes. It stretched endlessly towards the horizon. Cho's bitter frown only deepened at the expanse, how would he find her out there in all of that? His jaw clenched. A single direction was not enough. Who knew how many days out their lair laid in the sands, and these bandits probably knew all the shortcuts to make quick distance. Each rapid beat of his heart whooshed through his ears, but all he could focus on was the hiss of shifting sand.

The bandit started meekly. "Okay I told ya what yas asked-"

"How far out." The next demand interrupted the captive with little compassion, repeating the question when they faltered. The sands would soon shift to fill in the tracks, he would lose their trail without more to go off of.

His captive complied eagerly this time. "Few hours by horse or camel? No more than halfs a day's way. Ah- lookit for a tall rock outcropping, yeah? Yas get her back, haha, no problem at all...? Ya do got some coin, aye?... Fer... the ransom--..."

The ghostly blue orbs of the avatar glared down at the cretin trapped by his feet who now coughed awkwardly and stared up at the divine arbiter of balance, desperate eyes pleading for release. Begging or threatening for money in that position? How dare they. Cho lifted his hand and clenched his fist into a tight ball. Whatever fleeting breaths left in the lungs of his captive were swiftly evicted with barely a wheeze, leaving the sunbaked earth to entomb their remains. There was no place in his world for the despicable.

The glow of his eyes and mandala faded as the camp remained utterly still and silent. He couldn't stay here, wasting his time contemplating the fate of these ghosts. The earthbender's emerald eyes focused on the horizon in the direction of the tracks. He steadied his form and summoned a slab of red stone up from the sands. Their vital belongings were quickly tossed atop the rough hewn slab and with the moon rising behind him, Cho began his pursuit.

~ * * * ~​

Masahir shivered against the cold metal of the chair she was bound to. Fuck that dirty bastard. Fuck every single one of these assholes holding her prisoner. This entire situation was absurd beyond belief. Kidnapped, beaten and bound in a rusty tin-sided shack in the middle of buttfuck-nowhere was not how she imagined this impromptu camping trip going. She growled and spat blood on the dirt floor before looking around the room.

These bandits were disgusting, retched pigs. Escape was the utmost priority, before they could--

Panic rose up from her stomach like weeds of doubt. She needed to escape. To imagine the alternative was an exercise in suicide ideation. Masa shook her head, another furious huff slipping from her lips as she struggled to banish the thought of the threat. How dare they. How DARE they! She was more than some rich twat’s future fuck-slave-wife. Masa shook, trembling as her inner landscape degenerated under the stress. If only Morene or Iris were still around- but then how would she tell them she needed rescue? She barely knew how long she had been knocked out... Then again, if her ex-bodyguards had been with her, she doubted the bandits would have even managed to touch her.

And WHERE was her boyfriend in all of this?? Where was anybody? Again she had been left to fend for herself in a cruel desert, again she was at the mercy of madmen and rapist criminals. No matter how hard she trained, no matter how much she tried, no matter how popular and loved she got, she was always abandoned, thrown to wolfish bastards that only cared for how long they could enjoy her. The diva twisted her wrists, struggling with all her strength to get free from the ropes restraining her. She was tired of being a victim to the whims of sick men. So tired and over it that she felt it rise in her throat like a burning bile.

A sudden pounding came at the door, followed by the gruff voice of a male bandit. “Ey, yous best be getting quiet and behavin’ in there now! Wouldn’t want me comin’ in there to- eh hehheh, discipline yas, huh sweetmeat~?”

Visceral spite dwelt in the pit of Masahir’s stomach. Her lips pulled into a grimace. She hated the amusement radiating off the man. But you can use it.

“I can use it.” She whispered too softly to be heard, repeating the out of place whisper that had intruded into her thoughts.

Outside the guard cackled, oblivious as he again banged on the door with what she assumed was the butt of his rifle. “Ah, good girl, now yas behavin’~ After alls, a properly trained bitch knows to act right when she wants a reward!”

“I’m honestly not sure which I would prefer,” her heart thundered in her chest and her body trembled worse than a leaf in the storm, but the words continued to pour from her mouth with little input, “for you to teach me a lesson and put me in my place, or a reward for good behavior~”

“Awws’that true now pidge~? What, the lad ya traveled with not up to snuff?” He cackled impishly. “Whats’e do, mm? Got no lead left in his pencil? Rooster don’t crow at dawn no more?”

Part of her wanted to scowl, to bite and lash. Another part dominated her composure. Again her tongue moved not of her accord. “Does it really matter~?” Her tone started sweetly, before souring into disdain. “A beautiful young woman complains that she wants attention and the first thing you do is make jokes at her expense... No wonder your heart withers in solitude.”

He grumbled something incomprehensible, and she clearly felt the sting of the barb on his emotions. “You spend all of your time fixating on status, on climbing- but not for ambition. Oh no. You’re a man of the flesh, a hedonist seeking earthly pleasures. ... And you feel denied by your friends. You feel like you bend over backwards for them and yet no one accepts your needs.”

On the other side of the door, Coss was silent for a long time. What was she, some sort of psychic or witch of the sands? He shook his head... Why did he feel so warm? So at ease? He hadn’t touched a single drop of booze since waking up, but now her lovely voice softened, slithering into his ears. “I wouldn’t deny you the desires you seek... But I would ask your name first.”

“Why gives yas that, when I can just take what I want?” He spoke low and gruff, doing his best to come across menacingly despite the swelling compulsion to go to her. Ulip had put him in charge of guarding her, he knew the payday for this pretty dame would be worth more than just a night’s pleasures. He just had to keep his head about him. “Yer all tied up and helpless pidge.”

“We both know you aren’t that level of monster.” The dancer giggled innocently. “Come on, I know you’re curious to see if the whispers about me are true. If I’m as beautiful as your gangmates mention... After all, if you don’t take this chance you’ll lose it to some Plaineview bachelor~”

It wouldn’t hurt to open the door and just take a peak in. She was bound up tight, and besides, he was only gonna be looking. Nothing more than to sate the curiosity burning in his mind. Coss chewed at his lower lip as his mind worked itself in circles trying to battle the temptation. She was right, fuck those plush dickheads holed up in Karim. It wasn’t like they’d ever figure out or care... The last of the bandit’s resistance faded with a sigh of resignation. He pushed the door open with a meaty palm and paused in the doorway.

Before him a beauty he could have never even dreamt of sat picture perfect. Her cherry-black hair was a wild mane, her thick lips in a pout, and he could have sworn that a fiery warmth glowed under her skin, but the most captivating part of her appearance was the orange embers of her eyes- how they smoldered from under her thick lashes and held him in place. Coss’s eyes went wide, an unsteadiness to his hushed breaths as he found himself physically unable to pull his gaze away from her’s. The only thought dominating his mind was an unbearable need to see if she was as soft and warm and lovely as she looked, to touch her and feel her flesh give under the desire burning away at his heart.

Masahir merely smiled at the unsettled man for a long moment before she broke the silence with a saccharine sweet melody. “I asked your name, handsome. I expect to be told, after all... You wouldn’t want to disappoint such a rose as myself, would you?”

The bandit licked at his dry lips, his strained expression matching perfectly to his inner struggle. His fingers fidgeted with the hem of his desert robes. The ruddy light of the singular bulb hanging from the rafters did little to help his leathery complexion, only serving to highlight the silvering stubble on his gaunt cheeks. “Coss.”

“Coss...” She repeated. That was the name of her current captor. “Were you one of the men at my camp, Coss?”

“No. I’m the watch.” A reflexive pang shot through the man as he was compelled into answering.

Masa smirked, his dry gulping a plain give away. “You guard the camp day in and night out, and they never let you ride along for the action, huh? Gotta lotta prove and the hunger for the chance to show it, don’t you? ... Coss my dear, my arms ache-”

“Of course!” The bandit took a few steps forward before falling onto his knees, frantic to remove the bindings from her wrists. Instead he was met with a sandal on his sternum. He sheepishly looked up, his deep set brown eyes meeting her infernal ones in her disdain, and shrank back at the weight of the disappointment.

“Close the door first, idiot.” She commanded lowly. “Do you want your entire camp to see?” She sighed in relief once the line of sight straight to her was cut, her thrall once more fumbling over the rope around her wrists until she was free.

The diva rubbed at her reddened skin before delicately holding her hands out. Coss was quick to hold onto them with his grubby ones as he knelt in front. Disgust rose in her throat but she bit it back. “Coss, tell me who is in charge of this operation.”

“Ulip the breaker. He enjoys flippin’ stock fer ransom or ta the slave brokers if they ain’t worths much...”

“Was he the one in here with me when I woke up?” The one that threatened her, the one that had split her lip. That one. A fire burned in her chest at the thought of that filthy rat, a fire that grew when the enthralled Coss affirmed her assumption. She extracted her hands from his dirty paws, wiping the grime off on his robes before holding the side of his face and stroking a thumb across his taut cheek.

Masahir leaned forward and planted her lips on his neck right under his ear and bit down until she broke skin. Under her teeth the man gasped, tensing to an unnatural stiffness and only slouched when the dancer ended the hold. Thankfully for her, she soon reeled back and spat to clear the taste of sweat, blood and dust from her mouth, then studied the bite. It was already healing over, replaced by a faded hickey-mark as her magic sank into his flesh. She readjusted Coss’s neck scarf to obscure the mark, smiling pleasantly despite the contempt dwelling in her heart and the desire to retch. “My sweet lamb, why don’t you go retrieve our friend~? Tell him I am ready to ‘behave’.”

 

[Masahir N'air]

"For your sakes Cass, this hads best be good..." Ulip grunted as he pushed open the door to the metal sided shack, spitting on the dirt floor as he entered. The sun had barely begun to peek back up above the rim of the disk when Cass had come to him, worked up into some fervent state, and urged him to come see the gal they had snatched, going on and on about how he simply had to see her, that she seemed ready to talk and behave herself, and needed to be talked with. Personally, he was willing to let her sit and stew in the situation for a day or two. It would certainly serve that pretentious little bitch for spitting in his face, maybe break her spirit down enough for her to give in.

"Okays Princess, yous ready to talk like a good girl now or--" He had taken three steps into the shed before actually taking a proper look at the woman, instantly freezing as he noticed the blazing orange eyes glaring out at him from under the shadow of that cherry-red mane... Hadn't her eyes been dark, near black-brown earlier? And- ... he could have sworn some of those curls had twisted up into two pointed horns. Ulip blinked several times and rubbed at his eyes, surely he was just still waking up, his brain was just foggy and groggy.

"Why don't you come here, Ulip, mi amor..." The woman beckoned. Oh. Those eyes and horns were as real as the slithering sultry whisper of her voice, urging him to lean forward, to plant one foot in front of the other. He licked his lips, the idea of hearing her voice praising his compliance made his chest ache, as if earning her approval was the one balm to soothe his withered heart. He needed to comply, every fiber of his being demanded that he did.

"Come to me and answer my desires..."

He fell to his knees before her, staring up into her eyes as if he was seeing the face of god, and nodded obediently. "Anything..." He agreed breathlessly. To simply be graced with her attention was a blessing.

"Give me back my phone."

The phone, originally brought along so that she could wire transfer money in a bid for her freedom, was quickly produced and given over to her. She sat for a few moments, typing something out before tucking the device into her bra. No doubt she had just informed someone of her location, maybe even the authorities. Ulip swallowed dryly, unease settling over his whole body as something yanked his actions along not entirely to his will.

"Who do you work for, hm, dearest Ulip~? Tell me who you planned to sell me off to." The soft sweet tone of her voice fell to the rhythm of a primordially threatening cadence.

His face twitched- lips and eyes- before he was able to wrestle down the sudden thread of lucid fear that flashed through his body in a bolt of lightning. He struggled with his words for a long moment, swallowing several times. With a slow, trembling hand, he fished his large brick of a communications device free from one of his many pockets and unlocked it, navigating through a number of screens before arriving at some dark-web auction site for human trafficking. His black-stained fingers tapped on one of the contacts:​

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"Cecil Carter..." Ulip said with great apprehension, as if terrified that even the mere whisper of his voice would set her off. "One ofs plaineviews' matchmakers..."

She snatched the phone from his hands, quick to open and peruse their direct messaging history. What she saw made her insides twist in disgust.

Their messages were easily full of a dozen plus images of her unconscious body, close ups of her face, her hands, her feet, the condition of her teeth. Revealing pictures of herself in states of unwilling undress, midriff and breasts exposed with her shirt pulled up to her neck followed with captions detailing her hip-waist-bust measurements, her various tattoos in particular got their own dedicated album, too. Cecil was excited to broker her exchange, his nasty, ungodly comments about what he would do to her stuck in her mind like countless thorns all yanking at the fabric of her heart and soul.

The bile rose in her throat. Every single fiber of her being wanted to scream and screech her awful jarring displeasure, her contempt, her hatred of these dirty fucking men treating her like she was a piece of livestock. She was sick of it, beyond fucking sick of it all. Their grubby, grimy, wretched hands had touched her body while she was unconscious, had violated her being in its entirety. She felt that hate pulsing through the branch-work tapestry of her veins like liquid fire, burning up any and everything that might have slowed her choices.

They deserved to be punished. They needed to be punished.

Again she was acted through as some sort of conduit, tossing the phone back into the cretin's face. "Schedule a meeting with him. Now. Tell him to expect you by midday, your normal spot."

"Wh-wha--- er. uh- ..." Ulip fumbled for a moment, his flimsy little sunbaked brain waffling at the unexpected request he was forcefully compelled into compliance with. His beady eyes kept glancing up at her over and over as he arranged the meet-up, as if trying to reconcile his terrifying vision with what reality should have been. His glancing was answered with a swift and demanding 'what' from the woman, to which he responded by leveling a shaky finger at her and uttered, "Uh... ehrm... normally folks wants to be freed, not... not sold..."

"Is the meeting scheduled? The location marked?" She asked bluntly, receiving a sheepish nod in turn. "Good.... Good... Now, Ulip..." Masahir leaned forward, a hand darting out to grip her captor's neck like a vice. His eyes bulged, the leathery skin of his face flushing a deep purplish-red as she squooze tighter. "You have made the grave mistake of assuming that I am any sort of 'normal folk'."

She felt the panic race through his body like thunder as his phone tumbled free of his hand and clattered face down on the dirt. A faint glow appeared under the skin of her throat as she stood over his kneeling form. In a show of strength he did not realize she possessed, she picked him up by his neck and glared directly into his eyes. The last thing Ulip the Trafficker ever saw was the thrumming fiery glow under her skin leading up to the inferno that poured from her beautiful mouth, and consumed his world in liquid flames.

Merciful. Merciful was what she had been, she thought as she stared at the heap of the man's charring remains. He had not screamed. She had not afforded him the time to scream. Her fires had poured across his face to burn his eyes out, and down his throat to eat him from the inside. The smoke welling from his crumpled twitching form smelled awfully sweet and putrid at the same time, the sizzling fat and the sulfur of burning hair mixed with the scent of smoky wood from his hempen robes, on top of the earthy grease coating his skin. Not even in death could he be said to be anything of aesthetic respect, an assault on her senses was all he had ever managed to be in his pathetic little life on this dustbowl of a realm, and she figured his death a fitting way to end such a miserable worm of a man, anyway.

The diva bent down and plucked the brick of a phone from the floor, then gave a toss of her curls, adjusting the waistline of her outfit before delicately stepping over the cindering corpse as if it were merely a puddle. She wanted to say that she felt anything at all over killing the man, but even such brutalities fell short on her ragged heart this morning. She deserved respect. She deserved to be able to feel safe. This world would never steal her peace of mind again, and any who dared even attempt to would feel the weight and heat of her fury for that crime. They didn't deserve her consideration, her empathy, or her pity. But she knew more than well what all these rapist slave-taking bandits did deserve: an early preview into the eternal damnation in hell that dear Plaineview preached, starting with countless roars of infuriated flames that warped and melted the metal sidings of any building it touched, and set ablaze all wood and thread. Bandits ran panicking through the camp like so many living, screaming candles, heads turned to wicks scorched by bright yellow flames. In a detached way, they reminded her of the countless nights she messed around burning Q-tips just for the thrill of playing with the fire, and she loved watching them burn to ashes.

When she finally spoke the flames rose and wavered as if stoked by her breath and voice.​

"Bienvenidos al inferno, aqui se quemaran, pendejos."
​

 

[Cho]

Cho trudged through the sand, huffing quietly as he climbed to the crest of yet another sand dune. The cold desert winds whipped at his face and snapped his banded scarf out behind him as he strained his eyes in the dark. His footfalls were guided only by the scant, pale moonlight that demarcated the trail of hoofprints in the soft sand. The young avatar’s fury had evaporated several miles back, leaving him with only that gut wrenching fear of what he would find once he reached the bandit camp.

He had to find Masa. It was his stupid anxiety that led them all the way out here on a camping trip. This was his fault. His mistake. He just prayed and hoped that he would find her before the worst could happen. Cho shook his head, a grimace etched into his youthful features. He didn’t want to think about the worst outcome, about the idea that she might slip through his fingers and never be seen again, the thought that with her attitude, the bandits might seek to save themselves the trouble of putting up with it. The alternative threatened to steal the air from his lungs and yank his stomach into his mouth.

Months ago, on a particularly drunken night, she had spoke to him of her trauma, and one statement in particular had stuck in his mind like a stubborn, agonising thorn; she had told him that she knew she wouldn’t be able to survive it again, that it would be too much, too devastating to handle, and that she would do something to stop her pain, something that sounded awfully, dreadfully permanent.

He did his best to banish that memory to the back of his skull, to put it in a little box and set it aside when he wasn’t on some gung-ho rescue mission to save his girl... But it refused to be contained. It played itself on looping repeat until the edges were worn out and burned into his brain, and it threatened to pierce his heart beyond repair. How could anyone expect him to save the crossroads when he couldn’t even manage a damn camping trip? How could he save anyone if he couldn’t even protect his girlfriend, who trusted and confided in him? How was he supposed to fight back Darkseid like this? The shame welled up, hot and bitter in his chest and throat, threatening to leak out in tears of stress and frustration.

And so he trudged through the dry desert night with only the wind and his thoughts for company, and they made for rather lousy company on the order of keeping his head straight. He needed to focus, needed to wrench his mind away from the constant thrill of panic that laced his blood and kept his heart thundering.

Quickly enough, his panic again boiled over into barely containable frustration. He dug his nails into his palms as he clenched his fists and threw himself into a fevered sprint, teeth gritted. A growl welled up from the depths of his chest, rumbling up into his throat until he had no choice but to throw his head back and scream into the night. The Avatar leapt forward, his trajectory aided by rocky pillars jutting out of the ground at his heels to propel him further. The desert rippled around his feet as he exploded back to land, sending shockwaves of sand out into his surroundings. Incensed, Cho kicked waves of sand into the air, unable to keep a check on his emotions.

All of this was ridiculous! Why couldn't he have just a few nights of simple peace to recover? Why wasn't he allowed to have breaks and time to just breathe without the universe constantly throwing every tragedy and trauma it could manifest into his face?! A dry, wry and cynically snide part of him couldn't help but wonder if this all was supposed to serve as some cosmically amusing test on him as the Avatar. Maybe he had to just.. resign himself to a life of constantly cleaning up messes and righting wrongs that people should know better than to commit. He sighed, heavily, in the same moment as a bracingly cold gust of wind whipped up at his back, pushing him forward a few steps.

The young Avatar grunted as he regained his balance and glared at his surroundings. There was no wind just a moment ago. The air was as still as it could’ve been and it was certainly out of the norm for a wind that cold to just up and whirl through. A buzzing sound and a sharp jolt in his pocket served to drag him back to the situation at hand. His hand, seemingly with a mind of its out, rifled through his pockets until he produced his phone.

Masa: 1 New Message​

His heart stopped, his blood turned somehow white hot and ice cold in the same instant. A moment of hesitation lingered as his thumb hovered over the notification. What if it wasn’t her? What if they’d manage to get access to her phone and had decided to send demands or worse. His mind raced through every single possible scenario before he buckled up and pressed his thumb to the screen, opening the message.

“I’m alive, mi lindito. These bastardos... I want to go home. Come get me.”​

He just ran. As fast and as hard as his legs could carry him in the direction Masahir had mentioned, and when his legs couldn’t carry him any further, he skirted across the dunes atop slabs of rock. Cho didn’t think to keep track of how long he’d been going, he didn’t really think at all, outside of the all-consuming need to make sure Masa was okay. Something in the distance caught his attention; a plume of thick black smoke rising high into the sky, underlit by what he could only assume was a roiling inferno. A thorn of panic pierced his chest, if anything, it just spurred him on.

Barely an hour more passed before he drew close to the camp. The flames had died down, leaving little more than embers, ash and a wretched scent on the wind. The thick pillar of smoke continued to rise up into the morning sky, obscuring the normally beautiful wash of peachy pink-yellows and pale blues, and sticking to the inside of his nose and throat like a thick oily tar. It was almost unbearable, burnt meat and sulphur, the acrid tart of char and metallic slag, it lingered in the air like an uninvited guest and threatened to make him heave. He had caught whiffs of a similar odour before on burn victims, survivors of firebending cruelty, and it punched him in the gut. This camp was little more than smouldering cinders surrounded by a burnt out ruin of a fence, if Masahir had been inside it when it went up in flames-...

“Masahir!” He called out, hands cupped around his mouth like a makeshift megaphone as he paced into the desolation. The bitter smoke smarted his eyes and stuck in his lungs, and he found himself wishing he knew the first thing about airbending as he yelled out once more.

 

[Masahir N'air]

The young avatar wandered through the camp, working his way around the inner perimeter first. All he found were the burnt out ashes of tin-sided shacks and the charred fractals of dry desert bushes. He nudged one of the unidentifiable lumps of carbon that littered the ground with the toe of his boot of out pure morbid curiosity, startling back a half step when it crumbled and the scabby black carapace snapped open with an unsettling crack to reveal its smoldering insides. A straight bit stuck out oddly at one end, wrapped in the wispy ashen remains of what must of have been cloth of some sort, the other end was forked into a few warped 'branches' that curled in like disjointed claws- and then it dawned on Cho. He was looking at the charcoaled remnants of some unlucky bandit's arm. It was someone's arm.

Dear god. That was someone's arm.

His stomach turned as he stumbled away and clenched his eyes shut tightly, trying to keep his composure even as bile climbed his throat.

That scent sticking to the inside of his nose and lungs was the acrid-savory scent of people burning. Just the thought alone, that soot from burning bodies was caught up inside him, made him brace his hands on his knees and struggle to not heave. His brain raced, a thousand horrific imaginations flashed before his mind's eye. Her screams carried on the winds, the pain of fire consuming her-- No... No. That couldn't be her... He couldn't bear that thought.

"Maaasahiiiir!" He managed to choke out once more, desperation clear in his voice.​

"Lindito?" Her voice called from across the camp.​

She was alive! Cho's heart shot up into his mouth, the soles of his boots scraping against the ground as he scrambled in her direction.

"I'm here mi amor!" She was closer now, so close.​

Relief prickled over his body like a wave of frigid water, his skin tightening as he made out the shape of her sitting silhouette in the dim haze. She was alive, thank the gods above and below, thank whatever spirits where listening! There were no words to express the sudden release of stress and tension crushing down on his chest. Masahir was alive, alive enough to talk and call out to him. He fell to his knees, barely registering how abruptly clear the air had gotten as he slid up to her side, or the ring of tiny fires that demarcated the edge of clarity. His large green eyes studied her intensely, looking over her for any injuries. She... was oddly unscathed, with not even a speck of soot or ash spoiling her appearance. He shook his head, instantly taken aback by the alien orange glow of her eyes. "Are you-"

"I'm okay, lindito... I'm okay." Masahir breathed, frantically grabbing onto his arms and face as she clamored to embrace him closely. She cupped his jaw in her hands and pulled him into a hard and demanding kiss that stole his breath away, her fingers quick to trail down his neck and tangle between his locs. His presence was a balm on her soul, one that she was loath to relinquish as their lips parted, and she whispered his name over and over again like a sacred mantra as she found physical comfort in his arms.

"... What happened?" Cho whispered, as if she were a fragile porcelain doll threatened by even a gentle wind. Part of him was still terrified that she would crumble into ash in his hands if he moved too quickly.

Her orange eyes fell from his face and she hid against the crook of his neck. The dancer's body shuddered as she was racked by silent sobs. She didn't want to talk about it, she didn't want to think about it all- to admit that she had done this, all of this. This chaos and destruction, and that someone or something had acted through her to enact it all. She had been nothing but a helpless backseat driver, and yet at the same time whatever had compelled her knew. Knew of that burning spiteful rage nestled in her bosom, knew that bitter hate burned in her bodice for these bandits. It fully understood that some part of her wanted this. "They were... They were... gonna..." The flames at the edges of the smoke crinkled, winced and leapt in time with her uncontrolled breaths.

"It's okay, it's okay- Masa- shh-shh... You don't have to talk about it, I promise..." He had only seen her so truly broken up once before, and it hit him in the chest like a sack of bricks. He didn't need her to continue, he could draw his own conclusions. Cho murmured little shushes, holding her close and stroking the back of her head as he comforted her. Finally she calmed enough for him to speak again. "Its a miracle that the fires didn't touch you."

"A miracle... Yeah..." She mumbled, pulling away from him to stare. She sniffled once then took a deep breath, pointedly watching as the fires responded in kind by stretching up towards the skies, then exhaled, the fires dropping back down into embers as if exhausted.

"I... uh. Wow. You- uh. You can firebend?" He paused, his brows furrowing slightly. What, next was she going to go all glowy eyed too? Cho shook his head, shying away from that jealous twinge. “How long uh, have you been able to do that?”

“I don’t know...” She answered, a frown dragging the corners of her lips down, “I was just so scared and angry, mi lindito... It just happened and I couldn’t control it...”

Cho nodded somberly. “Fire is alive. It has a mind of its own. It will continue and spread even without the input of its creator...”

She knew what he was trying to do. Trying to comfort her. Trying to make it seem not-so-bad. It tasted like ashes in her mouth. Ulip’s communicator buzzed twice, and that anger in her chest sparked to life once more. Masa stood abruptly, pushing away from him and looking around at the cinders surrounding them before making a b-line out of the camp. Cho huffed, dragging himself up to his feet and hustling after the woman.

“Masa, wait- where are you going?”

“I need to go to Karim.” Her tone was dry and blunt, devoid of the anxiety from just a moment prior. “Did you bring our bags?”

“Y-yes?” Cho tilted his head. He thought she was acting strange, but she had been through a lot, a lot more than him last night. “Uhm, right now? We’ve had a long night, Masa. You don’t uh- you don’t want to go home and rest first?”

“Rest?” She stopped on a sand dune outside of the camp and glared back at her boyfriend as if he’d just said something offensive. “No. I can’t rest, Cho.”

The earthbender stood fast, brows furrowed in his mounting frustration and confusion. He was exhausted, his muscles quivering as he held himself up with sheer willpower. By the gods, he wanted to throw his hands in the air and give up for just a few hours, let the sands take him for a little while if it meant a solid nap. “Neither of us have gotten any good sleep in two or three days now. Why not, Masa?”

The diva silently stared at him for several long moments. “You need rest?” She asked incredulously, as if it were a stupid and menial request that nearly made her laugh. She marched up to him and caught his ear in her hand, pulling him down a good six inches to look her in the eye.

He was expecting her to yell in his face, the annoyed expression she wore had prepared him for little else, so it came as a huge and massively confounding surprise when she instead kissed him again. Cho was about to pull away from her and ask, rightfully so, what the actual fuck? when waves of soothing tingles radiated out from her lips. His aching and weary muscles relaxed, the piercing migraine that had burrowed into his skull suddenly relinquished its grasp and his eyes watered at the relief. There was a bliss that hummed through every nerve in his body that urged him to embrace her lovingly, and when she broke the kiss her absence was as noticeable as the cold draft in a warm room. It took him a moment before he was able to remember what exactly they had been talking about before, and found it rather difficult to feel upset at her, even when something in his head nagged that he had a right to.

“I need to go to Karim, Cho.” She asserted calmly, her voice once more gentle with him. “I need to go.”

“Can you, at the very least, tell me why?” Cho barely managed to mutter. “We’ll do whatever you’ve gotta do, I just don’t want you to end up hurting yourself...”

Masahir sighed heavily. Cecil Carter. Cecil Carter... Cho would probably stop her if he knew what exactly she was planning to do to that man, that cretinous monster of a human being. They both detested taking lives. A yawning well of anxiety dawned on her. She couldn’t tell him the truth. She couldn’t let anything get in her way of getting her hands around that Cecil Carter’s neck. “I... I want to see mi ama. She’s in Karim, remember?”

Cho grimaced in despondency. Her heart rate had ticked up sharply, and he knew better when it came to Ra and Masa’s dynamic. “Wouldn’t it worry her that we showed up to surprise her while she’s busy?”

“I just want to feel safe.” The dancer nearly hissed, instead it ended up closer to a choked sob as she doubled down. In a way, it wasn’t as much a lie as a misdirection predicated on an un-truth. Making sure that Cecil Carter stopped drawing breath would help her to feel safer, certainly. She turned away, unable to stomach what she was doing, and began to walk in Karim’s direction.

Cho knew better. He wasn’t some stupid fool, tricked so easily by her pretty face. His piney green eyes dropped to the sand at his feet, he shook his head and sighed heavily. It broke his heart that she would lie right to his face. She couldn’t even be honest about a simple question, probably because she was thinking about doing something he wouldn’t approve of... But out here in the sand dunes? It wasn’t the time or the place to stop and argue. They needed to get out of the sun before the heat became unbearable.

He braced his feet, striking the air to summon up a slab of sandstone under himself, easily scooping Masa up as he slid past her. If they were going to Karim, they were going to make double-time.




The sun had climbed to its zenith by the time Karim’s tall white walls came into view, and Masa found herself squinting against the brilliance. The ride through the desert had been of little event, but she had felt his apprehension spike and falter several times over the multi-hour trek, followed by soft pangs of hurt. The slab of stone they rode on skid to a stop before sinking back into the ground, leaving Masa to pick herself up from her cross-legged position and shuffle back to her feet.

“Masa...” Cho started, his voice hesitant as he grabbed his bag from the dirt, “you know I care about you, right?”

She cut him a careful look and nodded, pulling her pack up on her back and rifling through her purse as they made their way through the open gates. A shameful heat burned in her chest as she snuck a quick peek at Ulip’s communicator. “Yeah...”

“And I’ve always been there for you, so you know that you can talk to me when things feel rough...”

“Sí, mi cariño...” She sighed with a twinge of exasperation and kept walking, unable to stop and look him in the face. She had been grateful for his lack of prying on the ride over, but she knew it had been too good to last. He wasn’t some idiot, she had known better than to think that her shambling attempt to pull the wool over his eyes wasn’t going to work for long.

She wove her way through the city, taking painstaking care to avoid rubbing shoulders with anyone in the crowd as she glanced at the GPS map on her phone. The time was drawing near, Cecil would be waiting eagerly for her. If she was going to do this she needed to do it now, no cold feet, no hesitation, no thought. The 9mm Glock she kept tucked into the concealed compartment of her purse would have to do. She had checked the pistol countless times while waiting in that burnt down camp... She just needed to close her heart and mind to it all. What mattered the most was that Cecil Carter died today, and in just a few city blocks that would be made reality.

Cho meanwhile was getting tired of talking to a woman who amounted to acting like a brick wall despite all his efforts to connect to her. He reached out and took her wrist, a gentle demand that she stop and talk to him. Unable to dampen the empathetic connection between them, the instant they touched she reeled back as if he had shocked her.

“What??” She wrenched her arm away from him quickly and spun to glare at him like a wounded animal, her heart thundering. “What? Qué es?”

“Won’t you just talk to me, Masa?” He pleaded with no small amount of anguish. She tried to walk off on him again and this time he caught her right above the elbows and dragged her into a secluded alleyway despite her struggling.

“Let go of me, Cho!” She growled lowly through her teeth.

“I brought you all the way here to Karim, just tell me the truth Masahir!”

“Why don’t you just fucking trust me for once?”

For once? He trusted her all of the damn time. “Because you don’t act like this normally! In case you forgot, I can feel it when you lie to me, and I know you lied to me out in the desert-”

“Oh dios mio, can’t you just mind your own goddamn business, babe?” Masahir spat dismissively.

Cho scowled, at the end of his rope over her combative disrespect. “What?! This is my business!! You’re my girlfriend, Masa! Can’t you see that I care about you?”

A handful of impatient buzzes rang from her purse. Carter would be at the meeting spot soon, and she doubted that he was the type to loiter and linger if he was snubbed for a deal. She squirmed but failed to meet his eyes, still intent on struggling against him until he shook her shoulders and demanded that she pay attention to him.

“I know you’re not here to see Ra’tima... So what are you hiding from me, Masa? You’re breaking my heart acting like this.”

More buzzes interrupted from her purse, and her heart rate jumped again. Carter was likely confused as to why he was being ghosted on by such a reliable seller like Ulip, if she had to guess. In response Cho turned the wall behind her into soft earthbender putty and sunk her elbows into the sandstone to keep her from running off.

“¡¿Qué hace, Cho?!” She demanded sharply as she struggled against the stone in vain. Normally she enjoyed being bound up by him, but today was not one of those days, especially when he reached into her bag and began to rifle around. Cold dread settled in the pit of her stomach. He would no doubt find the strange slab of a phone quickly. He knew that the pattern of buzzes was not her normal text tone, it was too harsh, too flat and militant for her tastes. For a moment she cursed her clear sense of impeccable aesthetic, and her stupid inability to lie to him. God... Everything would have been easier if he cared less.

“Who’s phone is this...?”

She hung her head in shame, unable to bring herself to answer him.

“Masa...” He sighed, utterly exhausted emotionally and mentally. Fine. If she wasn’t going to answer he’d just open it himself and see what the hell had her acting so crazy-

“They were going to sell me off to some plaineview broker.” She finally admitted with a sob, the words fell from her lips like bars of lead and her teeth chattered in violent anxiety. “Please... Please don’t look at the pictures, Cho. Please!”

The shrill desperation of her voice caught him like a slug to the gut and he froze. She was begging him, and the pain in her tone made him flinch back. With little more than a simple hand motion he released her arms from the sandstone binding her. She crumpled to the ground and huddled against the wall, pulling her knees up close to her chest.

“They were... They wanted to... Sell me off as some rich fuck’s wife-slave, and I-... I-...” Her words got jumbled up in her throat, threatening to cut off her air. Instead she whimpered at the agony that cut the inside of her chest up like razor blades and broken glass. “They were gonna- pass me around the camp... like a- like a piece of fuckin’ meat!”

She lifted her head to glare at him, little more than a cornered and panicked animal as her body twitched in physical discomfort. Her voice came as a hiss now. “They were gonna sell me to him. Knocked me out and- and took all sorts of livestock pictures of me... I-” Masa paused, words caught again before she snarled, baring her teeth. “I can still feel their hands on me, Cho! It never ever goes the fuck away! Never!”

The comms device fell to the ground with a clatter as Cho dropped to his knees in front of her. It put him at a loss. He didn’t know if she would even tolerate a hug after everything, but her overwhelmingly palpable devastation left him feeling nothing short of horrifically helpless. What could he possibly do to comfort a situation as terrible as this?

“You wanted to know so- so damn bad...” She sobbed, slouching forward to lean against him as if all her energy had been wicked away. He wrapped his arms around her, cradling her against his chest. Masa languished, a wilted rose bogged down by the weeks and months of endless downpour. “I wanted to- to put a bullet between his disgusting fuckin’ eyes, send his- sorry ass straight to hell... Men like him don’t... They don’t deserve to be alive.”

“Look, I’m- I’m sorry, I didn’t- I just wanna help, y’know?” He stammered, struggling to find the right words. “Waltzing in and shooting this fuck in the face might feel like the right choice, but you could end up jailed... or worse, Masa. There’s obviously more to this, more people kidnapped and waiting to be sold off... Who knows what kind of people they’ve got working for them? What kind of people they’d send after you...?”

“I don’t know.” The diva whined softly. She just wanted the man six feet deep in the dirt, it pervaded her mind like a deadly obsession... But her boyfriend was speaking sense, even if she didn’t want to hear it. “I just...” Masa huffed, her exhaustion was plain as day as her throat threatened her with more sobs. She clutched at her forearms tight enough to leave crescent shaped indents in her skin from her nails. “I... I just wanna lay down and close my eyes forever and- and not think about it anymore...”​

 

[Masahir N'air]

"Hey, hey now... Come on." Cho murmured reassuringly as he helped his girlfriend to her feet and held her around her shoulders, her arm instinctually wrapped around his waist to hold him close as they left the alley and started down the street. "We can get a room somewhere and order something nice to eat, yeah?"

Masa was quiet for a moment, trying to figure out if she even had an appetite after the events of the day, let alone the stomach for anything substantial. Honestly, she felt like there was a hole where her stomach should have been, some deep and unsettled pit in the center of her torso that made her feel light and dizzy, and threatened to suck her down into the dark. She hardly realized how tight her eyes were squeezed shut until Cho shook her shoulder a bit.

"You okay, Masa? I uh, didn't mean to make you nauseas-"

"No- no, lindito..." Masahir shook her head and leant against the pillar of his steady emotional state for a moment. It wasn't him. It was everything else running through her head all at once, a thousand thoughts and clashing emotions all battling for dominance at the top of her mind. "Can... Can we get some mega cheesy pizza? And snuggle?"

Cho breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. Thank the spirits that she was starting to come back around a little bit. "How 'mega-cheesy' are we talking?"

"Mmmn. Like. whatever queso they've got, all the types. Melty cheese, ricotta cheese, mozzarella... And green peppers. Lots of them." Masa licked her lips and swallowed, her mouth already watering at the thought. She could already smell the savory aroma of marinara and heaps of cheese, the warmth of the freshly baked crust, stuffed with more cheese and brushed with garlic sauce. She groaned out loud, her stomach finally growling like some ferocious forgotten beast emerging from hibernation. "Ughh, god please- we can order so many pizzas when we get to our room- and some soda too. Do you think there's anywhere around here that does good pizza and pasta, mi cariño?"

The earthbender had taken out his phone, staring at the screen as he tried to puzzle something out. "Well, it is the capital of Mesa Roja... I would hope so! Otherwise what kind of capital would it be? But uh, first help me book a hotel room?"

The diva smacked her lips, reaching over and grabbing his phone with just a bit of sass. "Fine, but make sure you shake all that sand off. I'm booking a jacuzzi suite with a view at some nice place that does room service."
​

~ * * * ~​

Checking in at the hotel had been a trivial affair of little drama for the couple. They confirmed their reservation, Masa handed her credit card over, they were given their keycards and they were directed on their way. The pizzas were ordered while they walked down the hallway to the elevator, and once the metallic doors slid shut Cho found himself dealing with the needs of a woman seeking relief from the world. She backed him up against one of the walls, staring up at him with sultry eyes and pressing herself against him, demanding kisses and the right to trail her hands across his torso from under his shirt. He blushed, utterly hopelessly and flustered, frozen in place at the risky rush such a public display put him in.

"What if someone else got on the elevator and catches us?" He had asked in a hushed, urgent little whisper.

The diva giggled and simply kissed him harder, curious fingers threatening to make him immodest. Whoever walked in on them could either watch the show or wait for the next lift as far as she was concerned. It was just kissing after all, not as if they were stark naked- but it hardly mattered when the doors dinged open on floor ten and in a breeze she pulled them down the hall to their room.

Masa yanked her shirt free from her bodice and discarded her other clothes swiftly, and Cho, having been guided into the bathroom and shoved back into the standing shower, found himself fumbling to keep up with her finesse in his fatigued state, despite his desires. She relieved him of that burden when she climbed into the shower with him, tossing his clothes away so their fingers could dance across bare skin unimpeded and- seeking her solace and spiritual healing in his embrace- turned the hot water on. Her soft caresses tingled his skin in time with the drumming steam and left him petrified in more ways than one as she planted flowery kisses down his neck and massaged his tired muscles with a soapy washcloth.

Further south she trailed with her lips and attention. He could have sworn that her eyes still glinted orange like embers, but the thought was swept away as she finally helped to alleviate him of the past day’s stresses. All he could think about was her, her, her- and how grateful he felt that she was alive and with him. She was stunning and sweet, and loving her made him feel free. She dominated his headspace, coaxing him down the path of bliss until he found his salvation on her tongue and was left a shivering mess.

It wasn’t long after the two lovers had left the shower when a rapping knock sounded at the door: the pizza had arrived and Masa threw on one of the white bathrobes, which hardly managed to contain her wet bosom, before answering the door. The way the poor pizza-boy ogled with wide eyes and mouth hung slightly agape made her smirk and giggle, she knew that the robe barely clung to her curves and her face was still flushed with warmth from the excitement a few moments prior, and she knew that she must have been an utterly intoxicating sight to the delivery man- because when asked he merely handed the boxes of food over to her free of charge, saying something along the lines of how wrong it would be of him to impose on her before leaving.

That night they feasted, filling their empty bellies with greasy and delightfully cheesy comfort food before retreating back under the sheets to relax and talk heart-to-heart.

Melissa had messaged her again, telling her that the golden rose from her scorned lover had sold pretty quickly.

Masa just wanted to forget about the handsome guard who had put on airs to impress her. She had thought that maybe they’d had the beginnings of a spark, maybe they could grow into something interesting and exciting- but no. He was just another client. Another man who simply enjoyed using her beauty and affections to his own end, and only cared to use the pretense of romance as a means- and she was nothing but a beautiful little fool for it.

Yeah. A fool was what she was, and a lovestruck fool was all she ever could be. She was stupid for hoping that it could have been something meaningful, for hoping that it was all for more than just five minutes of heaven- and she entirely avoided mentioning the scandalous fact that it had happened in a dark alleyway under the cover of night.

Yet the shame and disappointment still came through, and at the end of all the talking? She still felt a bitter loathing turned inward on herself for being too hopeful, and expecting too much from the hearts of hungry, lonely men. She was a stupid girl, with stupid wants and dreams.

But then Cho, in his half-awake-but-certainly-trying state, simply pulled her into his arms and held her tight against his chest, a gentle hand petting her damp mane as he reassured and comforted her. He didn’t think she was stupid, in fact he thought her words were far too harsh, and with their chests pressed so close together he could feel that fidgety anxious fluttering beating away behind her breast, her heart little more than a caged bird. She was here with him now and he couldn’t even fathom ghosting her, let alone ripping that delicate heart from her chest.

He promised he would never do such an awful, cruel thing to her.

He ran his hands through her curls and admitted how happy he was to hold her in his arms, and that the idea of a world without her- well, she felt the flicker of dread clear enough as she sat up on his lap. Unimaginable. He just wanted to be there for her, always, for whatever he could. He carried on, rambling about how he was sorry that he’d gotten so stern with her earlier, he just cared a lot and didn’t want to see her getting herself all hurt...

He talked around it a bit, but she understood: he wouldn’t have been able to forgive himself if anything had happened to her, because- because--

“I love you, Cho...” She whispered back to him, a raw and vulnerable reflection of his inner landscape that left him speechless and staggered as sincere tears fell from her eyes and landed on his bare chest. Then she repeated herself, louder and more confidently this time when she felt that joyful flutter of emotion within him, and rolled her hips against his in punctuation. “Don’t you ever leave me, baby...”

It took him a moment to regain his words. “I-... I- I love you too, Masa... I...” He stammered, his round taupe face going all cherry red with an intense blush. She quieted his fumbling with loving kisses and pulled the blankets up around them, eager to celebrate the mutual confession the only way she knew how...
​

~ * * * ~​

Masahir laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling while Cho snored softly next to her. She had tossed and turned, shuffling restlessly all over the bed until finally giving up on sleeping. It had been a long time since she had been able to say those three special little words to a partner. Three whole, lonesome years. That was how long she had shuttered her delicate, fragile little heart. Cho had promised that he would never be so cruel, promised kindness and trust and warmth and safety. It was a lot for her, and the way she had leapt right into it had left a huge part of herself behind, back in that stubborn fear that rooted itself deep into her chest.

What if when she calmed down, spent some time decompressing by herself, she found that in her heart all of this had been just a fleeting moment made in the passion of high-strung emotions? She had felt that earnest, awfully sweet sincerity in his chest, felt it fluster him with its warmth. It had washed over her secondhand and made her feel weak in her stomach and knees. How could she say no to that? She didn’t want to say no to that, to the fuzzy heartfelt way he left her feeling whenever he gazed at her with that charming smile.

But what if she was too broken on the inside to love him back the right way? She had lied and hid the truth from him, she had broken his heart just earlier today. Masa sat up slowly on the bed so as to not wake Cho and wrapped her arms around her knees, pulling her legs in close. She looked down at his resting, calm face, sincere as he finally slept after all the crazy events of the past several days. He looked so sweet when he slept, and she wondered how she could be worthy of such a patient and forgiving man’s love. She was nothing more than a half withered rose, petals and stem all bruised and ugly but the thorns left sharp.

She groped around on the nightstand for her phone, cutting the screen on and swiping into a silenced, forgotten app: Oasis Therapy. Her journal entries hadn’t been touched in months...
​

Entry Six
11:13pm
So, uhm... It's nearly midnight. I can't sleep and my head keeps rushing a thousand miles an hour with thoughts...​

Masahir’s fingers trembled as she closed her diary. She needed a drink. She needed something to take the edge off, to stop the screaming in her head that kept her from sleep and peace. She needed a sweet escape in the form of a total brain shutdown that let her finally enjoy a profound silence. She slipped out of bed and pulled on the bare minimum to be considered decently dressed before turning and carefully tucking the blankets in around Cho.

She couldn’t stay in this room. It was driving her crazy, the darkness and soft ticking of the wall clock only made her skin crawl. She needed to leave before she did something rash, something beyond fucking stupid. She slipped one of the keycards into her bra and shut the door nice and quiet behind her. A drink down at the bar would help. Just a few shots to drown out the noise. Just a few shots and nothing more, she would be back before the hour was out.

She stepped into the elevator and pushed the ‘lobby’ button, the soft weightlessness leaving her light headed by the time it stopped just a moment later. Certainly this ritzy ass place had a bar and a bartender, open until two in the morning like most upscale resort hotels. She peaked around the corner into the grand lobby, her eyes sliding listlessly over the polished white marble floors and beige walls, over the dark wooden tables and deep brown leather seating surrounding a lavish central fireplace. A graveyard shift receptionist sat behind the front desk, pecking away at her nightly work and paying the diva little mind as she went about her tasks.

It wasn’t long before Masahir found the bar, the black marble countertop catching the dim orange mood lighting that backed the rows and rows of liquor bottles and spirits. It hardly registered to her just how oddly empty the space was as she pulled herself up onto one of the barstools and rang the little service bell, idly looking over the special drinks menu. How many shots would it take to knock her on her ass? Five? Seven? Ten?? She sighed and shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. What a fucking mess she was. What a god-damned disaster. A pathetic wreck of a creature...
​

“Hello lovely~”​

Masa damn near jolted out of her skin, her eyes snapping open in shock at the familiar slithering voice before landing on its owner: a tall dark haired man with two pointy horns and fair skin looked down at her with a curious, wry smirk. His dark brown eyes were alight with a subdued amusement, as if seeing her all strung out and holding her face in her hands gave him some small spark of pleasure.

“I- uh--” She stumbled for a moment, blinking several times before she caught herself. “Damien- I, wow. I wasn’t expecting to see you? Here?? How many bars do you moonlight at, exactly??”

“I simply go where my help is needed~” He replied easily as he plucked a glass from under the bar and set it on the counter.

Masa shot him a look, a quizzical expression worn on her face before it softened into her normal charismatic doey-eyed gaze. “Aw, are you in love with me, Damien~?”

“Oh I’m positively smitten with you, darling~” he cooed back.

She could feel how hollow it rang, but she didn’t care. Instead she leaned in against the bar top and huffed dramatically. “Oh Damien, my beautifully handsome and coy devil... I’ve had such an awful day, you just wouldn’t believe it...”

“Why don’t you tell me about it while I make you something to help you relax~?” He suggested, perfectly poised to enable her.

“Just promise you’ll make it strong, papi?” She pleaded with a mewl.

“Of course~” He murred, all of the various golden rings adorning his fine fingers glinted oddly as he picked up a shaker and set to making her favored beverage. “Now be a good pet and tell me what brought you all the way out to Karim.”

The diva nodded a bit sheepishly, taking a moment to gather her thoughts up before speaking. “There... was a man who, well...” She huffed once more, annoyed at her inability to get her words out as her emotions welled up in her chest. “Ugh! If I could just-! If I could get my hands around his throat, Damien, I would make sure to send him straight to hell.”

The devilish barkeep quirked a perfectly arched brow at her, leaning in with a subtle grin as he poured her cocktail and pushed it over to her. “It’s not every day I get to see you burning up... What did this man do to earn your ire, love?”

She pursed her lips, her orange eyes flicking between his distractingly handsome features and her drink a few times. A little voice in the back of her head screamed that her fey impulse would be a mistake, but it was promptly disregarded as she grabbed the glass and threw the cocktail down with the gusto of someone slamming back a shot. A visible shudder ran through her body as the chemical relief settled in her stomach like frigid acid. “I’ll tell you what that pedazo de mierda did! He tried to buy me like some damn livestock!”

“He solicited you outside of your work hours?”

“No... Ugh. I can handle being cat-called by horny creeps. It’s more complicated than that, mi demonio... Like a slave-bride.”

“Ah... That is very grave indeed.” Damien remarked, sliding her a second cocktail just as strong as the first and watching as she downed it just as fast.

“Cecil Carter.” Masahir spat, as if the name itself was a curse. “A plaineview piece of shit. I wish I could’ve put a bullet between his eyes today but...” She closed her eyes and shook her head in disappointment and frustration, her fists clenched until her knuckles turned a stark white. “My chance is gone now, so he gets to walk free to continue to buy and sell poor kidnapped women into a life of slavery and rape.”

When she opened her eyes once more, she found that Damien had leaned in even closer to her from his side of the bar, studying her with a rather keen intent, the unholy red of his eyes much more noticeable and alluring up close. She licked her lips and swallowed hard. Why was he so ridiculously attractive? It wasn’t fair for him to cloud up her brain like this after the day she’d had simply by existing in close proximity to her.

“I bet that fact drives you mad...” The devil stated with what should have been an alarming softness, if her brain had been working properly and wasn’t half-way to being pickled in alcohol.

She nodded, eyelids fluttering with the weight of his intoxication. “Yeah...”

Damien’s smirk peeled into a grin. Had all his teeth always been so sharp and his eyes so sinister? “And what if I told you that you could get another shot at your vigilantism? What price would you be willing to pay for that chance?”

“Almost anything...” She breathed airily, lips trembling. He was close enough to kiss, close enough to taste, close enough for his distinct cologne to pervade her space and dominate her senses.

The charming devil reached across the miniscule gap between them and took her by the chin, holding her jaw in his large lithe hand as he inspected her face. “Almost anything, my pet?”

With a snap of his free hand a parchment scroll blazed into existence amongst a cloud of fire before settling on the bar in front of her. He tapped a single long black nail on the blank signature line expectantly. “Are you willing to put your money where your mouth is, darling~? I’ll get you to that awful little man, Cecil Carter... But you must be the one to look into his eyes and snuff out the light of his life when the time comes.”

Tears beaded up in the diva’s eyes, threatening to spill over onto her cheeks as her heart and mind tore her in two different directions. The anger and desperation smoldering in her chest refused to let her breathe. She shouldn’t want to murder someone so badly, she shouldn’t want to smother the life out of so many people, who was she to pass such judgment onto others? She was aching but did that give her the right to arbitrate life and death?

Her bottom lip quivered as she closed her eyes. Her anxious digits fidgeted with the uncomfortable weight of the fountain pen in her grasp. When had that pen gotten in her hand? She didn’t remember picking it up, but the world spun around her in a haze. She was on the precipice and the only point of clarity came when Damien brushed his thumb over her bottom lip and wiped some of her tears away.

“What’s wrong, love~? I thought you had that fire burning in your heart. This is your chance.”

“I... I’ve already killed s-so many people today...” Masa sniffled, her face twisted up in all her emotional agony. “When they grabbed me-”

“Then what’s one more to the count, darling~? I thought you were willing to send them all straight to eternal damnation. It is what they deserve, isn’t it~?” Damien smiled with amusement as he cut her off, the corners of his mouth twitching as he restrained himself. “Or would you rather allow him to continue to send untold numbers of women to their own personal living hell here in the Crossroads...?”

“No!” Masa declared, her brows furrowed deeply and her eyes defiant before she relented. Cecil Carter could not be allowed to draw another breath, he was a monster, he was disgusting and slimey and fucked up beyond redemption just like all his little lackeys. “No...”
​

Tap.
Tap.
Tap.​

His pointed nails drew her attention back down to the contract. “Then, my dear sweet pet, sign it. We will punish him for his offenses, and you will feel so much better...”

Masahir swallowed one last time, her jaw jittering as she glanced down at the parchment and grimaced. The sound of the pen tip scratching her signature into the page burned itself into her ears as her fate was sealed.​