just accept this is a soap opera

[electric_lady]

WHO: Asami and Hei
WHAT: They’ve been on a journey for two months looking for Yin. Now Asami & Hei are killing time while they wait for Korra to return.

[It's just about dusk when Asami arrives at the rendezvous point — a little house at the edge of a tiny Fire Nation village that she's renting for this segment of their journey. They'd taken to renting houses instead of hotel rooms to give them more flexibility and security, so they could separate but always maintain a solid home base. It was inexplicably important to Hei that their journey remain strictly hush-hush.

It was more understandably important to Korra and Asami that nobody found out about their threesomes. The gossip rags would eat that information up and they would none of them get a moment's peace, not to mention the embarrassment of facing their friends. Asami knows how self-conscious Korra is about her sexual history, considering both her parents and her past life never dated anyone else, and even Tenzin had only dated Chief Bei Fong before marrying Pema. Asami tries to tell her that in her thousands of lifetimes, surely one of her past incarnations has been happily promiscuous, but without the ability to communicate with them, they'll never know.

Asami lets herself into the house; she's the first one to make it back. Hopefully Hei or Korra will come soon with better news, with some sign of Yin. None of the people she met knew anything. She sighs, sets her shoes aside, and makes a beeline for the sake.

(They'd been drinking sake that first night, when they were still renting hotel rooms. Korra normally refrained from alcohol, but that night she took two shots. As they were folding up the map, getting ready to separate for the night, Korra leaned over and kissed her. Asami was too tipsy to resist, even though Hei was right there. They kept kissing each other, and their clothes came off, and somehow Hei was naked too and pounding Korra while Korra brought Asami off with her fingers. At some point Hei slipped inside Asami too, and Asami remembers thinking dimly Oh no because it's one thing to be in love with Korra; wanting to share her boyfriend is something else entirely.

They woke up sober, embarrassed, and had sex a few more times before dragging themselves out of bed. Then she and Korra had more sex in the shower so that, by the time they got to breakfast, Asami could hardly walk and couldn't count the number of times she'd come. At breakfast, they all decided to not try and put a label on what happened — or a stop. "We all like sex," Korra said. "Let's just...let it happen." And it did, just about every night they were together. This past week, when they all separated to cover more ground, is the longest she's gone without sex since they started this journey three months ago. She doesn't understand how she used to go months without it.)]

Comments

[electric_lady]

[Beyond the little teasing of her tongue, Asami doesn't try to do anything as he fucks her mouth — no sucking, no scrapes of teeth. Her mouth is just a warm, wet hole for him to use as he pleases. This is another key difference between Asami and Korra: while they're both used to being objectified, Korra never finds it sexy, while Asami gets a little transgressive thrill out of it. Not with all people, not in all circumstances, and only in small doses, but sometimes it can be really, incredibly hot. Because it's the anti-thesis of what everybody says sex should be; it's wrong, but doesn't hurt anyone (when done right). It absolves her of responsibility, worry, and care. A bed doesn't have to struggle to be a bed; it just exists and you lie on it. In the same way, her mouth doesn't have to work to please him; it just has to be open & wet and he can please himself with it.

The hot pain from the lashing fades to a warmth that melts her muscles; she relaxes even more, until his balls bump against her chin with each thrust. Her pussy throbs and weeps for him. Will he come in her throat, or will he deny himself the way he denies her?]

[mortemscintilla]

[ Just this -- feeding himself into her hot mouth -- is exquisite. She doesn't service him: she lets him take, and that yielding softness licks at Hei's controlling streak like a flame. Even if disembodied by darkness, her mouth could be a glory-hole in its own right. But there is more -- the shape of her finely-sculpted skull cradled in his palm, the curved wing of her jawbone and the lush thickness of her hair, a few dark waves clinging to her skin with damp, the riveting beauty of her face, heat-rouged and mussed yet so serenely lost in itself that Hei is tempted just to gaze. ]

[ He doesn't, though. He just jerks with a selfish lust into her mouth, once, twice. Pulls out and rubs the seeping head across her lips, a glaze of pre-come and saliva, prying her mouth wider open and sawing his cock back and forth across her tongue. Her breath is hot on his shaft, a soft feathering tickle across his balls. It's tempting to sink into the sensations. To satisfy himself and make her wait a while longer. But as much as tonight is about her willingness to be used, it's also about her transition from resistance to melting acquiescence. ]

[ And he's not done with her yet. ]

[ Slowly, on a sharp inhale, he draws back. Slides down the boneless length of her, but not before smoothing an appreciative palm through her hair. An unspoken Good girl. Straight-armed, breathing in shallow scoops of air, he hovers over her body. With the other hand, he cups her between her legs, squeezing the soft mound of her sex. He doesn't touch her clit; doesn't slip his fingers inside her. Instead he traces the outer lips, slicked and pouting, tugging gently on the fine hairs. ]

[ There is something half-soothing, half-dangerous, in the set of his dark eyes, the sharpish lines of his face. ]

Think you're ready to come yet?

[electric_lady]

[One kink she doesn't have? Daddy kink. Still, Asami appreciates the gentleness in the way he strokes her hair, the way it transitions her from wet hole back to whole person. There's a vibration in her throat, like an agonized whine without enough strength to make a sound, when he fondles her sex, never quite touching it the way she wants.

Think you’re ready to come yet? She's been ready to come since he ate her out. The need is a tight hard ball in the pit of her stomach.]

Yes.

[mortemscintilla]

[ Yes, please don't call him Daddy. That would just weird him out. ]

[ Her Yes is so piteously matter-of-fact. Still, he doesn't respond to it right away. Not verbally, or physically. He carries on teasing her between her legs: she is so fucking wet, and his fingers move fluidly, stroking the whole of her cleft. Rimming round and round, tracing her entrance, then dipping inside her, crooking with an upward motion to massage her sweet-spot. ]

[ The generosity only lasts a moment. In the next, he is withdrawing his glistening fingers. Gathering her into his arms, handling her gently yet carelessly, like expensive baggage. In a few moments, he's arranged her in a way he likes, on her knees and elbows, pressing her neck down and forcing her thighs wide apart. Easy access, gorgeous vantagepoint -- the tumbled black spill of her hair, the wings of shoulderblades and pretty beads of vertebra flowing to a pinched waist before swelling to her hips and the pale curve of her ass. ]

[ With his fingertips, he touches the soft, sweet, moist sex glinting in the yellowy lamplight. Spreads his hands over her smooth buttocks, squeezing them -- before bringing his palm down in a stinging slap. Once, twice, then again, first sideways, then flat on, branding delicious pink palm-prints into the flesh. When he finally stops, it's to lean in, lips tracing the curve of her spine. Palm smoothing languidly across her skin, feeling the heat of her reddened buttocks -- just before he tilts her hips, so his cock is poised at her entrance, hanging full and heavy, impossible with its need. ]

[ Asami will hear a faint rustle as he rummages in his jeans' pocket, followed by the crinkle of tearing foil. Ideally, the cool sheath should diminish the ticcing impatience across his shaft. It doesn't. Then moment his cock-head is enclosed by her wet heat, control dissolves. Gripping her hips, he sinks into her from the rear, stabbing upwards, lifting her, and her tight little sex seems almost too small, edging a harsh gasp from him as he forces his way into the slipperyhot depth of her. ]

[electric_lady]

[Asami's not a screamer, but there's no way she can keep quiet as he starts spanking her. Her still-sensitive nipples shoot sparks as they rub against the coarse fabric of the couch; it feels like her entire body is going to catch on fire. There's a moment of delicious relief when he stops —

And then she screams as he pushes inside. It's like the Lunar New Year festival behind her eyes — all fireworks and explosions and she's crying in pain, in relief, in lingering frustration and need.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ Her scream pings off his senses like a rock off glass, leaving behind a white cobweb of shattered restraint. He shudders, teeth gritted, hitching himself in deeper. The heat pours up from where he's sunk into her, a rising corona of slicked fire. He rocks, slowly at first, and then, with hard slapping thrusts, jabs deeper and deeper, as if goaded by the greedy clench of her sex. ]

[ Sliding his hand up her spine, skin dewed with sweat, he wraps his fingers in her hair. Tugs hard -- drawing her into a taut arch until her body seems to grow more tense and at the same time more lovely, spine curved into a deep hollow, her chin and throat a perfect line down to her swaying breasts. Snaking a free hand around her body, Hei spans her stomach, keeping her upright as he pounds her. The other stays hand fisted in her hair, so her head is tossed back, throat an arctic swoop as he gnaws beneath her ear. ]

[ He doesn't touch her clit. Not yet. They are unsynchronized and separately wrapped up in their own pleasures, but he's not interested in matching them, Not yet. For now, he wants to strip away the last scraps of that soft-spoken, civilized facet to her. To see what she's like when she's wild, frenzied, tethered by nothing but her need. ]

[electric_lady]

[Asami doesn't think she can get any more wild or frenzied than this. Everything feels so much more intense than usual, almost too much so. She doesn't think she could handle sex like this all the time without breaking in half.

Of course, the fact that she can think at all means he hasn't pushed her as far as she can go.

The tug on her hair makes her eyes water; having her head angled back that far doesn't really make it harder for her to breath, but somehow it seems that way. Her cries grow softer as her body adjusts to his girth inside her, fading into little gasps for air.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ Her moans melt into openmouthed gasps, and her body seems to echo the softening, a ripple of relaxation going through her so the mysterious geography of her sex changes -- pillowing and fluttering the better to take him in. Hei slows his pace by a fraction, feeding her deep sawing thrusts, the full length his cock sliding in and out of her, her slick muscles seeming to grip and squeeze him, shaft and head. It's a position Korra doesn't much care for, unless it's anal sex -- but which he personally enjoys because it lets him get in so fucking deep. Still, it leaves her clit understimulated -- something he is fully aware of. ]

[ He ignores it -- at least for now. Gnawing at her pulsepoint, dropping kisses to her shoulderblades -- right before he gathers her hair into a folded mass in his palm, wrenching her head back until she's hauled uppright, on her knees, her back pressed to his chest. The weight of her skull is warm and ticklish across the crook of his neck. He lets it loll there, fingers still tangled in the hair. His free hand is on her breasts now, spanking them, feeling the heavy flesh sway under the sting of his palms on her nipples. He thumbs them, tugs them, leaves them hard crinkled aches before his hand dips between her thighs. ]

[ His fingertip grazes her upthrust clitoris, peeking out of the folds. But instead of playing with it, he lets his palm rest there, molded to the pillow of her mons. Slams his hips up tight against her, pushing himself deeper, and goes still. ]

Squeeze me.

[ Despite the grating rasp, the words are even: steel and concrete. If she wants that orgasm, she can earn it by putting those supple inner-muscles to use. ]

[electric_lady]

[She screams again — short, strangled, helpless — her vision exploding. The way he yanks her hair up makes all the blood rush to her head; if he wasn't holding her, she'd probably fall over. Her hands scramble for something to help her balance herself.

Squeeze me. She doesn't understand what he's saying at first. She can't get her hand around him while he's sheathed inside her. She opens her mouth to ask, but her mind goes blank before she can get the question out. When she does squeeze him, it's entirely by instinct.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ She clamps slickly around him, and Hei lets off a deep humming breath of approval. The pressure around his prick is exquisite, but it's nothing to the way Asami's temperature seems to have spiked, hotter, more frenzied, her scream delicious and wildly unmanageable, her bound hands flailing for purchase where none exists, as if her mind has blurred into pure white-noise. ]

[ He keeps still, not bothering to rock now that she's doing the work. Instead he lets his mouth roam. Lips pressing wet, lazy kisses to the wings of her shoulderblades. Teeth catching her earlobe, nipping, then soothing with melting licks. Lips tracing the arc of her neck, mouthing where her pulse thrums like a live wire beneath the pale skin. ]

[ His hands don't remain idle, either. The right untangles itself from her hair to skim across her cheekbone, trace her swanlike throat, before curving over her breast. He presses rough fingers into the giving globe of flesh, rasping his calloused palm across the tender nipple, a cruel repetitive stimulation. The other hand, cupping her mons, begins squeezing the wet, sore flesh, enough to send shock after shock of sensation from her clit throughout her whole groin. Enough to make her throbbingly aware of that part of her -- but nowhere near enough to bring her to the edge. ]

[electric_lady]

Please. [She's never begged like this before, not for anything in her life. It's humiliating (maybe a little hot). She needs this orgasm more than she's needed anything else in her life. She keeps panting the word, sometimes screaming it when he squeezes her clit in a particular way. She clenches her inner muscles — not so much to please him as to get some extra pressure in her sensitive places, hoping against hope it will be enough to tip her over.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ Her pleas, erupting uncontrollably from her quivering red lips, have a gorgeous rhythm, as if they're riding wave after wave of the heat spreading into her bones and sinews and blood. Hei can feel the stymied tension building inside her body: all the little muscles fluttering and gathering momentum, energy vibrating through her skin. Not a brewing sea-storm, like when he's teased Korra past the final fiber of her patience. More like a sleek engine revving higher and higher, demanding to propel into unstoppable motion. ]

[ Hei smiles: a faint, knowing twist of lips. She can't see it, though. Or prepare for the way he withdraws suddenly, his slick cock sliding out, smearing her juices across her inner-thighs. He doesn't give her time to react. Flipping her over onto her back, he hooks her knees across his arms, spreading her wide open -- and slams inside again. A shudder of heat and blood goes through him: there is no better sensation that feeling that slippery breach of muscle yield as he pushes in, the beautiful pliancy as the body beneath him flexing, surging, yielding. ]

[ With one hand, he keeps her arms stretched overhead, palm pinning her bound wrists. The other, he wedges between their bodies, finding the little core under its hood of wet skin, parting her plump lips a little roughly, and as he pinches her clitoris, his hips begin a rapid pummeling rhythm, the couch creaking, then rocking under their jolting weight, his cock filling her, pinioning her, deep root to tip plunges that send his pubic bone grinding roughly across her mons, a maddening increase of pressure on her clit. ]

[electric_lady]

NO! [She'd hit him if she could. If he's going to do something else, keep denying her release — but he doesn't. He flips her over and shoves himself back inside. Asami's throat hurts from screaming. Her entire body is pain and pleasure both. How long can he keep this up?

Finally, she shatters — an explosion that travels from her sex to the rest of her body like a reactor meltdown, destroying all strength, all thought, leaving her a boneless frame of flesh on the couch.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei's blood is a shrill buzz in his ears, and her scream vies with it in volume as his level of arousal shoots from a piqued orange straight into blood-red. His vision thins out into a pinwheel of neon colors as she starts to come, juicy, blood-hot flesh clamping down around his cock, even as he rams deeper and deeper into her, every flame and sweet hunger in his body sliding into his groin and gathering there until he's choking back his own quiet, ragged sounds of need. ]

[ Then he's buried to his balls, the rasp of zipper and denim against Asami's tender, seeping flesh, his orgasm erupting through him in hot wet jerks, all his pent-up desire jetting out, hips rocking violently back and forth as he's drawn into a dark, voiceless wash of relief. ]

[ For a moment he sees nothing. He is riding on slow spasms in darkness. Balanced precariously over her on two rigid arms, he gasps, filmed in sweat, hair falling into his eyes, clinging in slick tendrils to his face. When his heartrate has descended from a gallop to a quiet stutter, he eases himself free of Asami's jellyfish limbs. Undoes the bindings of her wrists, rough fingers chafing the reddened skin, coaxing the blood-flow. Then he's slumping back against the couch, slipping off and knotting the condom with perfunctory fingers before tossing it in the general direction of the dustbin. ]

[ For a few moments, head tipped back, he contemplates the slow whirl of the ceiling fan above. Then, gaze sliding sideways, mild yet watchful, he regards Asami. ]

... You okay?

[ The comedown is different for everyone. He's no good at aftercare -- the soothing touches, the emotive cuddles, the words of praise and reassurance -- but he's come a long way from the bitter twenty-two-year-old who'd take a girl's virginity and his own illusions of indifference in one fell swoop -- then exit in a storm of quiet self-disgust. If Asami needs something, he'll do his best to provide it. ]

[electric_lady]

I think so. [Everything feels a little surreal right now, like her orgasm threw her out of her body and she doesn't quite know how to get back in. She doesn't even try to sit up; she doesn't have the strength for it.]

That was incredible. [That is the understatement of the year. She's had a lot of really great sex... But nothing remotely comparable to that. Intellectually she understands why Korra doesn't like it, but right now she's just sad that Korra will never get to feel like this. This right here is something they'll never be able to share together. It's a profoundly lonely thought. She does want cuddles right now, snuzzles and kisses and nonsense expressions of pleasure and affection. But she wants them from Korra.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei wouldn't be able to comprehend her sadness. Just because Korra has no penchant for kink doesn't mean she's deprived. She's simply wired differently. The subspace, the zone, whatever you call it -- it isn't something she achieves through getting tied up and flogged. It isn't cleansing or therapeutic for her. It certainly wouldn't leave her mellow as melted taffy the way Asami is -- all blissed-out with those dreamy eyes that seem stoned by an explosion of heat and pheromones. Korra's release flows in different ways: through sparring, through rough-and-tumble sex, through bending. She inhabits a different psychological realm. A different flavor of sexuality -- but those differences can be easily bridged. ]

[ Hei had learnt quickly that Korra had little inclination towards kink. To introduce even a whisper of it, he'd learnt to pepper his perversions with affection. Gradually, that affection had deepened into tenderness -- and what was once a perfunctory exhibition of consideration grew into a genuine fondness for sex without the overtones of dominance and submission, power and helplessness. These days, the words Korra and Kink seldom run parallel in his mind. ]

[ (But that doesn't mean that aspect of his nature has been vanquished, either. It is simply on standby.) ]

[ At Asami's words, his mouth hooks in a wry smile. Faint, but there is a dull glint of appreciation in his eyes. ]

You did well.

[ Especially in light of the fact that it's her first time. Especially when he didn't go easy on her. She was vulnerable, honest, trusting. No lessons necessary in control, in pain and pleasure. ]

[electric_lady]

[Asami just wants to share everything she loves with the person she loves.

She smiles, enjoying the compliment as one between equals, rather than teacher to student.]

Thanks. You were great.

[She thinks about sitting up, but decides she can't muster the energy.]

Would it be something you'd want to do again? [She thinks so... considering the three of them have been fucking for months, and he jumped into this without any apparent reservations, she doesn't think he'd be having doubts or regrets. But she never wants to assume. Absolute openness, clear expectations, constant communication. That is what her relationship with Mako taught her.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ It's probably not a good idea for her to move too far too fast. At least not right away. Rising from the couch, Hei does up his jeans, before fetching one of the throw blankets, crocheted with a colorful Suzhou-style pattern, to drape across her. It's not gallantry but practicality: she'll need the warmth when her body-temperature starts to plummet. ]

[ He's considering starting up the tea-kettle, both for her and for when Korra returns -- when Asami's words tug him away from mundane concerns. Blinking, he regards her a moment, gaze measuring, face impassive. He has no doubts and regrets, no. But then, sex is almost performative mechanics for him. It takes a great deal to dig through his sedimentary layers of cold reserve and spark true intimacy. Korra has succeeded at that -- though privately, he wonders if it is worth everything it cost her. ]

[ He doubts Asami is interested in emotional infusion or tampering with his mind. That's fine with him. More than fine. But he's also assumed the threesomes were unique to their circumstances -- high-tension and close-quarters. When the search ends, they'll return to their usual routines, resume their ordinary lifestyles, just a loose-knit trio of allies instead of some complex three-variable equation. ]

[ Quietly, his reply equal parts care and precision, ]

I have nothing against a reprise. But -- [ Here he reaches out. Smoothes back Asami's mussed hair, tidiness disguised as tenderness. ] That's something you should discuss with Korra.

[ Because he has no idea how Korra might respond to him and Asami engaging in a facet of sex that excludes her so completely. ]

[anatural]

[Korra sees all this through the window — the way Hei covers Asami's nakedness, the way he brushes her hair back. She's surprised to find it hurts... not like a knife through the heart, more like a stubbed toe, but still. It hurts.

She doesn't storm in with jealous rage, nor does she step back and wait for them both to get fully dressed so she can pretend she knows nothing. Taking a deep breath, she steps inside.]

Hey. [The room is pungent with sweat and sex — not particularly pleasant smells when you didn't have any part in making them. She smiles reassuringly as Asami sits up — not with guilty haste, just a tinge of embarrassment.] Having fun without me?

[mortemscintilla]

[ The door clicks open, heralding Korra's voice. Glancing around, the fabric of his shirt twisted in his grip, Hei waits to feel something -- a spasm of guilt, nausea, nervousness, even self-consciousness. Nothing occurs. Instead his mind maintains its usual cool arithmetic: the room perfumed with the sharp aroma of their exertions, Asami sitting up, half-covered by the blanket, mussed and rosy-cheeked as a woman from an erotic shunga print, the lacquered cups of sake resting on the table beyond them. ]

[ Then Korra speaks, and he's surprised at the sensation that creeps in -- not anger, exactly. More a quiet resentment, cold and unspoken, almost insignificant to address. He has no qualms about fucking Asami. But he is irritated at how Korra orchestrated it. As if he's a toy she'd let her girlfriend borrow -- not a grown man who has shared a solid decade of her youth, and whom she could've discussed the swap with beforehand. The threesomes are one thing: spontaneous, sparked by heat and hormones. This is too pre-meditated to feel like anything but a test. Or worse -- a backhanded kiss-off. ]

[ He lets the annoyance rattle around in his mind like a broken chunk of metal. Ignores it, as he ignores all the petty grievances he has with her. It's easy, because just looking at her face opens something in him as easily and suddenly as an unstuck door, full of love and yearning. ]

[ Reaching out, he skims his knuckles lightly across the curve of her cheek. ]

Just getting acquainted.

[anatural]

[Hey, it wasn't a swap, nor was it "orchestrated". Asami had brought it up to Korra as something for the three of them, and Korra just said "You guys can have fun without me." She didn't mention the conversation to Hei because, honestly, she forgot. They've kind of been busy hunting for Yin and fucking all together; telling him "Oh, Asami's going to talk to you about trying some BDSM" wasn't high on her list of priorities. Or...at all on her list of priorities.

She takes his hand and squeezes it, reminding herself that this is what she signed up for.] I'm glad. [She does want Hei to be closer to her friends. In an ideal world, this probably wouldn't involve hardcore kinky sex with them, but this is not an ideal world. Doesn't make it bad.

Asami wraps the blanket around herself, and Korra has to admit that the just-fucked-senseless look is a very good one for her friend (but what isn't?) Then Asami tries to stand, wobbles, and falls back on the couch. I don’t think I can walk. The consternation in Asami's voice makes Korra laugh.]

Here, I'll help. [She wraps her arms around the other girl and picks her up, ready to carry her to bed.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ She could have made the effort. He's aware of her distaste for bondage-games. Aware of how much she cares for Asami. Yet he can't shake the feeling that he's arrived at this privileged place as a substitute, a second-rate dick. It's a disconcerting feeling, like being back in Amber's team, treated with a wry aloofness, his maleness alien and out-of-place among this pack of ferocious, deadly women. There is the union between them that he is not invited into. ]

[ Let it go. Shaking it off, he watches Korra guide a wobbling Asami into bed. After they've vanished in a waft of dying tigerlilies and the absence of pretty braided murmurs, Hei drifts to the kitchen. His fingers close on the kettle. In a dim moment of whimsy, he wishes he were demonstrative enough to make a frustrated gesture with it. Even those sharp, jerky motions and clanging noises the signal pent-up irritation. Korra has been known to kick holes in anything handy when she is pissed. But Hei has never had that luxury. He can't remember the last time he'd been able to cut loose without the risk of carnage, trauma, or someone giving him that nervous, cornered-prey look. As if his anger is something abnormal, more significant than anybody else's. ]

Que sera sera.

[ He mutters it in English, watching the tea brew, black as a raven's wing, its burbling rattle a pleasant white-noise to his overstretched thoughts. ]

[anatural]

[Korra comes back a little less than ten minutes later. She and Asami had exchanged only a few words, promising to talk later when Asami isn't exhausted from the fucking. Once Asami is comfortable, Korra says she'll go out and bring back a cup of tea.]

Do you have tea — great. [She reaches up into the cabinet and pulls out three cups.] So how'd it go? [She means the search for Yin, not the sex with Asami.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ He intuits quickly what she's referring to. Easy, when Yin dominates his thoughts so entirely. Asami is pleasant -- but also pleasantly forgettable. Out of sight, out of mind. ]

Someone matches Yin's description. At the village not too far out. I've sent scouts; once they've confirmed it's her, they'll be back with news.

[ His tone is calm, almost didactic. He doesn't meet her eyes; instead they stay fixed on his hands, mindful of their steadiness as he lifts the kettle, pours out tea through the strainer and into the cups in curls of aromatic steam. Inside, the irritation still sparks. He wishes he could ignore it. He doesn't understand how he's found it in him to forgive Amber's enormous transgressions, but detests such trivial ones in her. Maybe because Amber is so far-off; a ghostly thrum of memory, bitter truth mixing with cloying nostalgia. ]

[ Whereas Korra is right here. A golden blaze, like sunshine; which is just fire, far away. If he starts loving all her little negligences, her sweetly oblivious cruelties, the way he loves every other particle of her ... it will be too much. Burn his sanity up. ]

[anatural]

That's great! How long do you think it'll take? [Korra's ready to go right now — despite how tired she is from her own journey. The waiting game is still her least favorite. She wants to go, to do. Find Yin. End the journey. (She may, possibly, be ready to go back to life as normal and Hei as hers alone.)]