[color=bfbfbf][sub][table= //////= POST DESIGN v1=\\\\\\][row][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][img]https://i.imgur.com/JbHDcS6.png[/img][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/row][row][cell][sup][img]https://i.imgur.com/i97SqJz.png[/img][/sup]

[color=2e2c2c]___________________________________[sub].......[/sub][/color]
[/cell][cell][color=white][center][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][img]https://i.imgur.com/DHKvx27.png[/img][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][center][color=2e2c2c]Chu & An's Apartment   ·   Afternoon   ·   In collaboration with [&.Exit][/color]Chu & An's Apartment   ·   Afternoon   ·   In collaboration with [@Exit][/center][/sub][/center][/color][quote][color=2e2c2c]_[/color]
[color=9f9f9f]Kanna was pacing. Counting items in her head and on her fingers and tallying what they had and what they had to leave behind. [color=white]”Water. Couple clothes. Yuan. Do you have a gun?”[/color]

Chu Hua was rooting frantically through her drawers and cabinets, stuffing whatever she could find into a quickly expanding black backpack. [color=firebrick] “No, I don’t have a [i]fucking gun[/i], Kanna. I never thought I’d need one."[/color] As she spoke, she stuffed a picture frame into her bag and then, deciding against it, took the photo out of the frame and tucked it into a pocket. 

Chu Hua and An’s apartment was an intensely modern, open affair. It was monochrome, with the occasional pop of color in the way of flowers or a picture frame. Chu Hua remembered several intense arguments with her fiancee about [i]decor[/i], of all things- An was a snob, while Chu Hua was more the type of person who just put stuff in a room and called it a day. Aside from the living room, there was only one other room- the bedroom, which was directly off the living space. The kitchen was open-concept and bled into the living room, only separated by a step. They were currently making a massive mess of the place, which Chu Hua didn’t care about because she knew she’d likely never see it again.

[color=white]“I have one,”[/color] An spoke up, pouring water from a filtration jug into bottles. 

[color=white]”What?”[/color] Kanna asked.

[color=firebrick]“Since when?!”[/color]

An shrugged. [color=white]“A bit ago. I’ll go find it. Kanna, kindly stop being useless and fill up these bottles.”[/color] She walked off to the bedroom, leaving the waters behind. 

[color=white]”Useless?! In case we forgot, this is [i]my[/i] plan we’re following![/color] Kanna yelled after her, angrily complying to the order anyways and grabbing up one of the water bottles.

[color=firebrick] “Well, there you go, Kanna. You’ve turned my fiancée into a vigilante. Congrats.[/color]

[color=white]”I’d be more worried about the fact that she’s looking for a gun… [i]she[/i] owns in her [i]fiancee’s[/i] house!”[/color] The second half was yelled so An could hear her.

Chu Hua continued methodically putting things into her bag, until… [color=firebrick]“Fuck, I’m out of room. How am I out of room?!”[/color] She threw things on the floor- clothes, books, silverware.

[color=white]’Chu…”[/color] Kanna stopped pouring. [color=white]”...What the fuck are those doing in your bag? Why are you packing books? And silverware?!”[/color]

[color=firebrick]“I don’t know! I’ve never been a fugitive before, Kanna!”[/color] She threw her hands up. [color=firebrick]“What if I need cutlery?!”[/color]

[color=white]”You’re not going to need cutlery because you’re never going to make it out of the city before they kill you carrying all that extra shit! Light! How in the world did you ever become second best stickball player in the world?”[/color]

[color=firebrick]“First of all, first best. Second of all, if you haven’t noticed, I’m built as hell. And I need at least one fork.”[/color] Chu Hua stuffed one fork back into her bag, opting to leave.

[color=white] “Found it!”[/color] A voice crowed from the bedroom. An emerged with a sleek weapon in her hand, held comfortably. It was a [i]Synergy pistol[/i]. Chu Hua’s eyes widened as An held it out to her.

[color=firebrick]“Since when do we own a Synergy weapon, babe?”[/color] Her voice was deceptively calm. Holy shit, her fiancée was a secret badass. Chu Hua was starstruck.

Kanna on the other hand was not calm at all. [color=white]”[i]How[/i] the fuck did you get [i]that[/i]?!”[/color]

An shrugged, nonchalant. [color=white]“It was a gift from my boss. Gonna keep ogling it or are you gonna take it?”[/color]

Chu Hua shifted on her feet. [color=firebrick] “You keep it for now, until you can show me how to use it. I think I’d just blow my foot off.”[/color] 

An tucked it into her waistband, going about packing herself. She was far more practical than Chu Hua… despite stuffing some very distinctly fancy clothing into her bag. Chu Hua remembered, belatedly, that her fiancée probably didn’t own anything practical for the desert. That’d be something to settle later.

Kanna capped the last bottle of water and walked over to place a couple in one of the side pockets of Chu’s backpack. [color=white]”I’m sorry. What do you do again?”[/color] She asked An, removing the fork from Chu’s pack. 

[color=white]“I work for SynEn, and I also happen to be extremely charismatic,”[/color] said An, taking two bottles and shoving them in her own bag. [color=white]“My boss and favorite coworker also happens to be Vyska Moon. Great drinking partner. Terrible giver of birthday gifts.”[/color]

[color=firebrick]“Oh, shit, I forgot that one thing I really needed,”[/color] exclaimed Chu Hua, who dropped her bag on the kitchen counter and dashed into the bedroom. [color=firebrick]”Gotta find it, gotta find it…”[/color] She dropped onto the floor, tapping the floorboards.

Their bedroom was, like their living room, modern and austere. It had many more photos and a large closet, however.  A large floor-to-ceiling window faced the cityscape, covering one wall. 

A long time ago, Chu Hua had hid her tapes in this room. She only opened it when she was sure An wasn’t present, which hadn’t been for a while. So she only had a very vague idea of where they were. Finally, she came upon a loose floorboard. [color=firebrick] “Aha!”[/color] She popped the false floor off, reaching into the hole she had made in the ground. She pulled out four ancient-looking video tapes, each deceptively labelled with a fairly explicit porno name. They were, of course, not porn- something much, much worse. She held them reverently for a moment before heading back out into the living room.

[color=firebrick]“Don’t want anyone to find these here,”[/color] she explained, wrapping the tapes in her clothing and placing them at the bottom of her bag.

Kanna wasn’t quite quick enough to catch the labels on the tapes, but she did notice the tapes themselves. Again, hardly something she thought worth enough to bring along. [color=white]”Tapes? Seriously? I haven’t even seen one of those in years. Why would anyone be looking for them? And don’t- Ugh!”[/color] She watched in mild frustration as Chu stuffed them in her bag.

Chu Hua shrugged, a blush coming across her cheeks. To think now, that she had risked her life over something so fucking stupid? She was such an idiot. But she couldn’t just leave them behind. [color=firebrick] “Um. Let’s just say… I had to go to the Underground and spend 100k yuan for these. [i]Each[/i]. And I hide them in my floorboards. So… well. You can make the connection.”[/color]

An looked at her strange from across the room. [color=white]“Sorry, what? What the fuck have you been keeping in our house?”[/color]

[color=white]”Yeah. Besides the super gun that’s probably just as expensive.”[/color] Kanna asked, giving An a glance. [color=white]”Although more uself than a… [i]100k yuan[/i] cassette tape. King Wu better be naked on it.”[/color]

[color=firebrick] “Oh, [i]fuck[/i] you for putting that image in my head. No, no. It’s more important than that. This is old shit. Pre-cleanse shit. I’ll show you, sometime. You’d like it, it’s… film of an old sport. Nothing like stickball, but it’s entertaining. Also super illegal, so that’s fun too. Not like I’m not already a criminal.”[/color]

[color=white]”Well, we all are now.”[/color] Kanna threw the last two bottles of water into the bag she’d been given and tied it off. Although smaller than the others, she didn’t have much to carry, mostly because nothing in the apartment was hers. There wasn’t enough time to travel all the way to her house in the Upper Ring. Not with things as they were now. Sure the streets were chaotic but they wouldn’t always be and there was no way to know when people would start paying attention. Both Kanna and Chu had their faces plastered on televisions screens and monitors across the Ba Sing Se and even before this they were already well known. It wouldn’t be difficult for someone to spot them and recognize arguably the world’s most popular Firebender and one of the city’s greatest Stickball players helping her escape. Not to mention who knew who was keeping tabs on An, connected as she was.

In her musings, Kanna’s eyes fell on a picture attached to the fridge and a thought suddenly occurred to her. [color=white]”Chu…”[/color] She started, turning to the other woman. [color=white]”...Are you going to leave something for your parents?”[/color]

Before she could answer, however, An’s phone started ringing.

There was pain in her voice as Chu Hua began talking. [color=firebrick] “I… yeah, I mean, I don’t have much time but I’ll write-”[/color] 

She was interrupted by a loud shushing sound and a ringtone. [color=white]“Both of you, shut the fuck up right now,”[/color] An practically yelled from the kitchen island. Her face looked drawn and pale as she showed them both her phone screen. [i]Vyska Moon[/i]. [color=white] “I have to take this. Keep packing, just [i]be quiet[/i].”[/color]

Chu Hua stared, slightly concerned, as An pressed the accept button and raised the phone to her ear. [color=white]“Vyska,”[/color] she said, sounding a bit concerned, [color=white] “is everything alright? This is an inconvenient time for me to talk about work stuff, so unless it’s an emergency....”[/color]

[i]...[/i]

[color=white]“I made it back to my apartment, thank God. Where are [i]you[/i]? Are you alright?”[/color] An’s voice took an a more concerned tone as she turned in her chair, away from Kanna and Chu Hua.

[i]...[/i]

[color=white]“She’s… fine.”[/color] She hesitated for a moment, glancing at Chu Hua with a bit of a confused look on her face. [color=white]“The game got cut off thanks to the chaos. Listen, I can’t come in. I have some more important things occupying my attention right now.”[/color]

There was a short pause while An bit her lip. [i]...[/i]

[color=white] “I’m fine. I just can’t come in right now, alright? I’m sorry.”[/color] Her tone was terse, snippy.

[i]...[/i] There was a dial tone as the person on the other end hung up.

An slammed her phone down onto the counter as the call ended. [color=white]“God, she’s such an ass,”[/color] she said, pulling her laptop out onto the counter. [color=white] “She wanted me to come in, I said no, and now she’s sending someone to the apartment. Keep packing, babe, write your letter… it’ll be weird if I don’t at least do this.”[/color]

Chu Hua glanced at Kanna and shrugged, now scrawling on a piece of paper. That conversation had been weird. [color=firebrick]“We’ll need to get out of here before they show up, then.”[/color]

[color=white] “Yeah, yeah. We’ll think of something.”[/color] An looked vaguely concerned as she tapped on her keyboard.

Kanna threw her backpack over her shoulder and moved toward the window to peer at the street below. There had already been a few bender sightings nearby earlier in the day when the explosion happened. Although most if not all of them had been taken care of, there were still a number of RSF officers nearby, talking to citizens and closing off crime scenes. All of them were presently preoccupied and were paying little attention to the apartment. [color=white]”You [i]want[/i] to leave before whoever she sends gets here? Would that be more suspicious?”[/color] 

An put her head into her hands, massaging her temples. Chu Hua put a hand onto her shoulder, trying to comfort her, but she shook it off. [color=firebrick]“Sorry. Still hot?”[/color] She was feeling much better, but her skin still burned to the touch.

[color=white]“Yeah,”[/color] An muttered. [color=white]“I guess I’ll have to stay here and wait for them, then.”[/color]

[color=firebrick]“What?! No!”[/color] Chu Hua’s voice rose a few decibels as she rounded the kitchen counter. [color=firebrick] “Absolutely not. What if it’s… a trap?!”[/color]

An snorted. [color=white] “What the hell’s she gonna do, have me arrested? No, you’re the conspicuous one. Kannas right, she’ll call the cops as soon as she sees I’ve left. Out of concern, but still. You’re the most recognizable criminals in the city. You two need to leave. I’ll stay here and join you later. Finish up and I’ll take you down to the tunnels and let you in, alright? I’ll give you directions to where you can leave the city.”[/color]

[color=white]”You don’t have any more weird tapes to grab, do you Chu?”[/color] Kanna asked, stepping away from the window.

Chu Hua glanced An’s way, pursing her lips. [color=firebrick]“No,”[/color] she said, gazing at her apartment with a wistful look on her face. She ran her hands over the couch, the walls, the photos on the wall. It was almost certain she’d never see this place again, and less certain that she would never again step foot in the city of her birth. Thinking about her future was awful, setting off a roiling feeling in her. Tears came unbidden to her eyes. Her life, that she had worked so hard to cultivate, had been destroyed in a single moment. Chu Hua didn’t say anything, instead taking her backpack in hand and putting it over her shoulders. 

[color=firebrick] “I’m ready to go,”[/color] Chu Hua said, walking towards the door. An stood from her seat and walked to the door, putting a hand on the knob. 

[color=white]“If you guys are ready, then…“[/color]

Kanna grabbed her bandanna and tied her hair up with it. As she walked up to the door, she also grabbed her paddle. [color=white]”Ready.”[/color]

The three of them walked out of the apartment and into the street, heading to the tunnels that ran beneath the Middle Ring. Chu Hua turned one last, uncertain look at her apartment building before she left. She really would miss this place. Who knew what would happen to her next?
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