AVATAR: An Icy Burn-Out (BennyQ/Sketchyequine)

[BennyQ]

Rikkar’s eyebrows quirked in amusement at the beginning of Zinni’s plan. His wife?! Well he assumed so, by the law of the land, given what they had done and what it meant for one another. “I haven’t slept in a bed since I left the south pole. Definitely going to sleep as long as I can.” He remarked with a grin, though he also recalled another remark Zinni made. Ask me about that ride again later, waterboy. Now that just made him aroused and excited, excited to get this over with and get inside the town, though he also forgot Zinni’s own wishes in regards to her…body. And status. In any case, she was clearly having some predicament over it all and it would be wise for him not to push her to any outcome, even if it was his greatest delight on one end. That wasn’t how lovers worked. They looked out for the best for one another.

Ze and Milo seemed well enough on their own and didn’t require their help. The two beasts seemed friendly with one another. Turning back to Zinni, he heard the clink of coin in the large sack but he couldn’t really appreciate the significance of it. They didn’t have cash or coin among the Southern Water Tribe. They bartered and traded if they needed anything, with few other luxuries existing that could have required coin. Rikkar hadn’t planned ahead for coin on this voyage. He was supposed to have been a soldier, provided for, where in return he fought. But he understood how money worked and was surprised that Zinni had so much of it. He watched, with his lips slowly parting in astonishment, as she shoved one smaller bag down her wholesome cleavage, encasing the velvet bag within her creamy mounds. He gulped hard and managed to look up when she looked at him. Yes, he saw. He didn’t apologize though.

“My turn?” He asked coyly as she stepped to him. Very close. Her slender body molded to his and he had to withhold a gasp, though he did stand even taller. He was bigger and bulkier than her yet in that moment entirely at her mercy as she grabbed the hem of his trousers. He quirked an eyebrow and tilted his head in curiosity. Right here? he seemed to say but he was way off on his guess. She only tied the money to his waist band. “Oh.” He simply said, somewhat disappointed. The weight of coins felt awkward but he pulled his cloak around to cover it. “Now we look like a couple of Earth Kingdom hillbillies.” He snickered, wondering how a fancy lady like Zinni might take that remark, walking to the gates. “Thanks Princess.” He simply answered to her instructions. He knew what to do.

It seems everything I’ve done since I left home has been stupid. But what about Zinni? He shook the thoughts out of his head, for they came upon the gates quickly. A lazy trio of guards stood there but they scrambled up at their approach and called a halt on them. Rikkar paused, hands spread. “We’re unharmed.” He said but they only laughed at him.

“Smart way to travel, eh?” One of them mocked. Rikkar didn’t answer.

“There’s a toll to enter. Nine yuan.” Another said.

“For what?” Rikkar snapped.

“Why, for the privilege of entering the town of course.” They answered him, snickering behind their smiles.

“That’s highway robbery then.” The waterbender answered. What sort of hospitality was this? Weren’t they all supposed to be allies against…the invaders? “We’re being chased by bandits and my poor wife is scared.” He said, not even glancing at Zinni, He bet she looked anything but scared.

“Well turn around and go the fuck somewhere else then.” One snapped. “And maybe you’ll see what real highway robbery is. But here, you pay the toll. Or you fuck off.” The others laughed again. Rikkar sighed and looked up at the wooden gatehouse. These men were armed with spears. Not benders. The pair of them could probably easily fight them but that wasn’t what they were here to do. He looked at Zinni, then took the coin purse she gave him and counted out nine coins. “Here.” He said, handing it to the lead fellow.

“Enjoy your stay.” They said, moving aside to let them pass.

“What sort of place has gate tolls?” Rikkar said, shaking his head. Likely they were scammed but they didn’t have a choice in the matter. And Rikkar wasn’t going to fight the entire town. And he hoped Zinni wouldn’t either. That would be stupid. At least this way, as seeming weaklings, they would not draw attention. Just two more refugees on the road. The town instead was sleepy and quiet as dusk fell. The roads were dusty and narrow, with large homes of wood and stone (obvious where the Earth Benders lived here) cramped up on both sides. What the hell looked like an inn in these places? “This town is bigger than my village multiplied by five.” Rikkar muttered under his breath, pausing as some oxen trod in front of them.

“I’ll pay you back for the gate toll.” He said after a moment. “Look, this place looks suitable. The Thirsty Rock. How nice. Didn’t know rocks could drink water.” Insides came the sound of music, the laughter of harlots, and the cheering and loud voices of men. Sounded like a great old place to Rikkar! He immediately trudged in and was met with a murky atmosphere. Crowded tables, hackling women, and unfriendly eyes. But no one paid them any mind. “I’ll get the room, you get the table and food.” Rikkar nodded, his hand on the small of Zinni’s back. He didn’t like how some eyes regarded her. Or him for that matter. Even with their disguises, their faces showed they weren’t from around here. And they both weren’t from the same place either. He approached one of the laughing bar wenches, who was missing a tooth. Getting a room was indeed easy, he just hoped it was clean. With that done and the coin purse a bit lighter, he went to find Zinni, key to the room in hand.

Hopefully she wasn’t getting in any trouble either.

 

[Sketchyequine]

Zinni tried not to act like the authoritative firebender that she was. But it was incredibly difficult. I could buy your city and burn it to the ground if I wanted to. She thought to herself. The idea made her lips quirk up into a smile of sorts. Was it sadistic? Yeah. But so was the thrill of knowing just how powerful and deadly she could be if they provoked her while they were none the wiser: assuming she was just a little housewife only kept around to pop out a few babies for her husband. They couldn’t be any further from the truth. She was a soldier and a powerful political influence. Yet they had the audacity to stop her at the gate.

She heard what Rikkar said about her being scared and she glanced at him, raising a brow. Her? Scared? Hah.

She remained quiet through the transaction. In most of these cities a woman was expected to be respectful of authority… including their husbands. But Zinni was not an obedient woman, contrary to her betrothed’s wishes Rikkar would certainly have no luck taming her: even with his good looks and boyish charm.

Zinni scoffed at the mention of the size of the town. It was alright, yes, but hardly impressive. “You really must have been sheltered back home, huh waterboy?” She whispered softly to him. They would be unwise to catch any attention with their mentions of their origins and past lives. It was not accepted in culture yet for people of different origins and elements to bond and marry. Let alone have children. It would get them shunned, and that was the last thing they needed considering they weren’t even supposed to be here. Zinni was supposed to be on her boat and Rikkar was supposed to be in a a conversion camp. That was the end of it.

“Don’t worry about the toll. If I didn’t want you to spend any of my money I wouldn’t have given it to you. I know your people don’t trade coin. You’d have a hard time getting your hands on it.” It was simple. Nine yuan was hardly something that so was worried about. She probably had three times that shoved between her tits in that very moment. She gave the inn that Rikkar chose a scowl, but she followed him anyway. It was loud and full of drunken idiots and ladies of the night. Hardly a place that Zinni would usually be seen in. Nor a place that she could usually tolerate, but of course it drew in Rikkar like a moth to a flame.

Zinni merely grumbled in response to Rikkar and she wandered through the crowd of harlots and drunkards until she found an empty two seater next to the firepit. She tapped impatiently on the wooden table and her eyes followed Rikkar. She would shot a fire blast in a slip second if any of these dirty jugheads tried to give him a hard time. He had already been bullied by the guards at the gate. She wasn’t going to stand for much bullshit anymore. When the waitress finally walked to her she hardly regarded her, her eyes locked on Rikkar protectively.

“Yeah yeah. Two specials please. And two pints of ale. That will do us just fine.” She waved off the woman with her bosom practically falling from her top, and kept her eyes on the young and naive waterbender. She had been to plenty of places like this, and she knew they always came with trouble. Rikkar? He was new to this world. He had no idea what kind of trouble they could get into if they weren’t careful. They needed to eat their meal quietly then head of to their room and lock the door as soon as possible. Somewhere in between… Zinni was going to have to barter for some salve, and perhaps another good or two as well… depending on what could be found at this late hour.

Soon, however, her sights on Rikkar were interrupted as a man stepped in front of her and promptly took a seat in the chair across from her. He was massively built and covered in soot and dirt. And earthbender, most likely.

“Hey there foxy miss. You here alone? I couldn’t help but notice you were ridiculously hot, and if you’re for hire I’d love to fuck you tonight. I don’t think I’ve ever seen your kind of pretty wander into this bar… and I’ve always wondered what a pretty girl’s ass would feel like. Is your hole nice and tight, sweetie?” He grinned at her, his teeth stained yellow and a few were even broken. At this point, Zinni could practically feel he steam coming out of her ears.

“Back up, fucktard.” She warned.

 

[BennyQ]

Zinni was getting in trouble.

Well at first glance, Rikkar thought she had made a friend. But who was he kidding? This wasn’t the communal South Pole where even strangers were greeted with royal hospitality. This was frontier country. Every man and woman for themselves, even if there wasn’t a war ongoing. A room secured, a key tucked within the folds of his blue tunic under his cloak, he made his way over to the table just as the fucktard in question was on the verge of making another degrading reply. But Rikkar stepped up first, taking stock of the man, and knew there might be a fight here. And they being outsiders, they could easily find themselves driven out, parted from whatever they had paid already. This had to be handled with tact.

Well, he did have no idea of how to manage such ordeals. But he was a warrior and would not back away. And he wasn’t piss drunk like the other man.

“Good evening, friend. Care to share a drink with me and my fri- wife?” Rikkar greeted, stepping beside Zinni. The man looked at him, looked him over, and snorted.

“Fuck off. I shit out turds bigger than you, rodent.” He said dismissively. He grinned back at Zinni. “Your hole is definitely nice and tight if you married to this prick. You need a real man.”

“She’s certainly most able to try if she ever does meet one.” Rikkar joked, implying none of them in that tavern were.

Their ale arrived and the man immediately grabbed one, though Rikkar did a second later. “I don’t think that belongs to you.” Rikkar said, still trying to be diplomatic. It was quickly failing. A few others around were starting to take notice. He was appearing to be easy meat. Beat him up, take his wife, enjoy her, dump them both out of town by sun rise. Easy. The bigger man glared at him.

“Take your hand off my drink before I break it off. And I’ll fuck your wife with it after.” He sneered.

Rikkar removed his hand, raising them defensively. But as the man smirked and raised the cup up to drink, Rikkar flicked his fingers and the entire contents of the cup lurched up and splashed the man in his face. He shot to his feet, thinking Rikkar had quickly slapped the underside of the pint. Regardless, Rikkar smiled a mischievous smile. The other man roared in fury, silencing half the tavern, and lurched up to punch at Rikkar. But Rikkar was like water, moving to areas of least resistance, flowing around the fist and to the side. The man punched right into the wall and bloodied his knuckles. Rikkar meanwhile came up next to Zinni. He managed to put his hand on her shoulder, stilling her from taking any action. “No.” He said flatly to her and turned to his attacker.

The attacker turned back with his bloody fist but Rikkar seized the empty pint and slammed it across the other’s face. Then he delivered a spinning kick to the man’s neck and dropped him against the wall, wheezing for breath. Everyone was still and silent, eyeing Rikkar down with renewed looks. He stepped back and again raised his hands defensively. “We will…uh…eat in our rooms, I think. I wasn’t thirsty anyways.” He remarked, grabbing Zinni by her arm and nodding to one of the waitresses to bring their tray. As he pulled Zinni through the gawking crowd, he hoped the man would stay down. “Sheltered enough for you?” He asked her as they went up the stairs and got out of the common room, the waitress huffing behind with the tray. They got into the room, a modest bedroom with a mattress against one corner, a table in the other, and a small doorway leading to an adjoining bathing chamber.

“Will that be all?” The waitress huffed. Rikkar looked at Zinni and held out his hand for a coin, which he gave to the waitress.

“For the…other fellow. Should we tell the guards?” Rikkar inquired.

“That man is a guard.” The waitress responded drily.

“Should we…be concerned?” Rikkar asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

“If he remembers tomorrow.” The waitress shrugged and went out, acting as if the disturbance was a common event around here.

In any case, Rikkar locked the door behind her and pulled up another chair to wedge under the door handle. If there was trouble coming, they would have some warning. An Earth Bender no doubt could come in through the narrow window if they wanted to. They should have brought Milo then. He was a good scout and watchdog. With the door closed, Rikkar blew out some air and rubbed his face. “I think that went pretty well. We’ll be gone by tomorrow morning so there’s no time for it to spread and bite us in the ass. Not unless he comes after us. If that waitress gives out our room number, you can definitely burn her ass for it.” Rikkar said, though he meant it jokingly. He hoped she took it as such. She looked ready to blow and kill someone. He smiled at her.

“Don’t look that way. We got food. We got drinks. Just relax and enjoy yourself. No one got burned. I did as small as bending as I could manage. If we did it your way, we’d be running for our lives out of town if they knew where you were from. Keep that fiery temper in check. All of it.” Rikkar joked, reaching to dig into the specials, dipping his bread into the stew and munching on it as he paced around the room. He checked the mattress, sturdy enough, and looked out the window, where he got a view of the alleyway. They could break out and escape away from the main streets, if there was trouble.

The waitress was kind enough to bring them a replacement drink, which Rikkar took. “I never drank this stuff before. Is it good?” He asked, before trying it and nodding appreciatively. “Better than the ice wine we got in the south. It’s warm.” He noted, chugging much of it down on an empty stomach, only lightly picking at the food. "Am I going to have to fight every man you talk to? Or well fortunately enough you can do it all yourself. Saves me that hassle. Makes you almost worth the trouble. Almost..." he repeated with a coy smile, eyes glancing over her own ample chest. She was going to draw attention to herself, that couldn't be helped. And probably did not need help. Perhaps he only really intervened to save the poor idiot from being immolated. But where did it leave them, her and the waterboy, now finally having a quiet moment to themselves?

He was actually quite content as they were now.