Engel

The Circus At The End Of The World (Engel X The Kraken)

Claire got a chance to sleep off the worst of the hangover and her exhaustion. Hours passed sleeping with Kate as her pillow and bed. She felt a tickling sensation traveling slowly up her stomach at some point, and coming to a halt at her bosom. It made her smile and try to move away from it in her sleep, but whatever it was had gotten underneath her shirt.

“Stop it.” Claire mumbled, half-asleep.

However, instead of stopping it began to fiddle with her bra and squeeze her inappropriately. Claire opened her eyes, quite shocked and appalled. Who the hell would do something like that to her when she was asleep!? She found an arm slipped under her shirt, and discovered that the arm belonged to Kate, who had her eyes closed, but still kept fondling Claire.

“Kate! What do you think you’re doing?” Claire asked, not amused in the slightest. She shoved the woman so she would cease pretending to be asleep. She had to pull her hand away from her using force, as if it had a life of its own.

“Do you think this is funny?” She snarled when Kate had opened her eyes. “How many times have you… been touching me while I was asleep?” She sounded a lot more disgusted by the action than she actually was. If anything, Claire was surprised and unsure of how to react to the situation.

“I don’t even know what to say to you! I guess it’s a good thing I sleep with a tiger instead of alone.” Claire grasped her throat when the words came out loud, hostile and revolted. That hadn’t been her intention.

She stood up, stepped away and turned her back on Kate. The sight that met her instead of her perverted friend was something entirely unexpected and horrifying, but at least she could come to the conclusion that this was all a dream and Kate hadn’t been touching her weirdly in real life. At least the real Kate wasn’t a closeted pervert, even if the Kate in this dream was.

Ahead of her laid a barren, dark and volcanic land of ash. There were rivers of burning fire with black smoke filling the air above them. The tents and wagon of the circus that should have been there were gone. No, not gone completely. She did notice burned down remains of what could have once been a number of wagons. Pieces of fabric that had once belonged to tents could be seen floating on the hot winds that swept the area.

Purgatory, was the first word that came to mind to describe the area in this nightmare. Why couldn’t she have gotten another pleasant dream about adventures with her kittens? Claire sighed and pinched herself to try to wake back up. It didn’t work though. It contributed to the creepy feeling that had inserted itself in her mind about how this was all too real. It made her wonder who the Kate in this dream was, but she didn’t dare turning around to check if her friend had changed shape as well.

Sacred World (Engel x The Kraken)

“Don’t you take bribes or anything?” Avani asked, but turned down the street that Kasai had indicated, parked the motorcycle and turned it off. She was going to help Kasai get out of the sidecar, but the woman managed it alone so she was left standing awkwardly at the sidecar.

Avani wondered if she should follow Kasai or not. She hadn’t invited her in. In the end, she decided to make sure that Kasai would be able to get into her own apartment, and then she could leave her for the time being. It wouldn’t do if she dropped her off at her apartment and later found out she had left her to climb the stairs to the top on crutches. Fortunately, there was an elevator so she didn’t need to worry.

“Pfft, what are you complaining about? If I had broken my leg I wouldn’t have any elevator to carry me up to my apartment.” Avani said. “Not that I’d need one anyway. I can manage some stairs.”

They arrived at the top with a ding, and Kasai unlocked the door to her apartment. It was a very nice looking apartment, though Avani wondered why everything was together and it made her question if the bathroom wasn’t secluded either.

“Anytime, you need it.” Avani responded with a smile, but then she frowned when Kasai invited her in for a different kind of ride. She sighed, rubbing her face with her hand. “I’m sorry, Kasai. That was thoughtless of me to say, with the naked thing. I don’t want to pressure you into anything, and your leg is still bad from when I broke it.”

Admittedly, she had broken it to get her free as fast as possible under the circumstances, but now she had to watch Kasai struggle with it and it wasn’t something she enjoyed at all. She thought about getting back into the elevator and leaving, but then they hadn’t talked about that bet or dinner.

She stepped over to Kasai and hugged her. “I’ll be happy waiting until you’re ready. I’d love to do it whenever you feel like, but I’d hate to pressure you into it and make you regret anything that happens between us.”

Avani let go off her and stepped into the apartment anyway. “However, I will invite myself in for something to drink if you’ve got anything other than water. We haven’t talked about that dinner or the bet yet, which I think we need to settle before anything.”

She walked over to the windows and looked outside. It was quite the view and she could far from up here. Avani almost thought she could make out the building where she lived herself, but far off in the distance. She had quite the view at her apartment too, but mostly of the sea.

“So what kind of bet were you thinking about? We could do a physical thing, since I figure I’ll beat you either way.” She turned around, leaned her back against the window and grinned at Kasai. “At least you can blame it on your leg when I kick your ass then, which I would even if you were in top shape. Or did you have something else in mind? Something luck based to give you an actual chance to win, perhaps? A drinking game?”

Sacred World (Engel x The Kraken)

As Kasai ordered the police to leave them alone and actually got them to do so, Avani felt a strong attraction towards her. It was a sudden burst, a spike in what she was already feeling towards her, and she had to control herself from letting it show or groping her some more. “What can I say; you’ve got a bosom that’s caught my attention.” She did like Kasai’s chest, but the attraction spike was like an unexpected rush she hadn’t felt before. All women had a bosom though, but few had the authority to boss others around. Avani promised herself to go for strong women in the future, if it didn’t work out with Kasai.

Avani grinned proudly as Kasai laughed at the thought of her cleaning it up just for her, then she watched the woman jump over to her bike on the crutches. She walked up behind her, and placed herself close behind her so she could whisper another indecent comment she had thought of in Kasai’s ear. “Maybe I just want a chance to see you naked. Maybe I want to make sure I get to do that more than once too, by being the best girlfriend you ever had.”

She smiled for about half a second until she realized what she had said with a slip of her tongue. “Date. I mean, date. Dinner.” Avani coughed, as if choking on the initial word she had not intended to speak. “Date, definitely nothing else.” She tried to laugh it off. “I’m far too much of a bachelorette to ever…” She decided to stop talking before she said something worse.

“You know, nevermind, and no I don’t have a spare helmet.” Avani picked the one helmet out of the sidecar, and showed it to Kasai. “Not that I ever use one myself.” She smiled, and put it on the bike for a moment so she could help Kasai get into the sidecar.

Avani cringed. Kasai was a cop, and she probably shouldn’t have made that confession to her. What was with her today? It was one stupid sentence after the other out of her mouth at this point. She took the crutches from Kasai, and leaned them against the sidecar, making sure they wouldn’t fall over right away.

“Come on, it’s made for someone my size or taller. You’ll fit.” Avani said encouragingly, then moved over to Kasai and picked her up in her arms.

The woman couldn’t move one of her legs at all, so Avani had to slide her into the sidecar carefully instead of expecting her to climb inside it herself. Her right arm was still bandaged tightly under her jacket, and she felt a sharp pain as she got Kasai into the sidecar. She took the crutches and placed them in the sidecar with Kasai. There was plenty of room for both her and her crutches. Finally, she handed her the helmet.

“I’ll drive slowly.” Avani said as she got onto the motorcycle and started it. “I wouldn’t want to make you an accomplice to a crime, Lady Sergeant.”

She drove away from the hospital, actually sticking to her word and driving as fast as the speed limit told her too, or slower at times. Avani flipped someone who honked at them off, and gave them room to pass her on the road.

“Where do you live anyway?” She asked teasingly. “I’ve been driving to the rich and upstanding citizens districts.”

Sacred World (Engel x The Kraken)

Avani perked up when she saw Kasai exit the building, but she rolled her eyes when she realized that someone must have told her that Avani was outside as she kept staring at the ground. Coward, Avani thought to herself and was about to get up to leave, but decided to wait until the pigs had left.

Something seemed to change though. Kasai turned around in search of someone and smiled when she spotted Avani, then she was heading her way and standing in front of her all of a sudden. Avani could feel a fluttering sensation in her stomach.

“Shouldn’t you know not to judge based on appearances?” Avani asked teasingly, and raised her bottle for another drink. “It’s just water. I wouldn’t want to scare everyone off. Just the judgemental majority.”

“Oh thanks, Kasai.” Avani said and rolled her eyes, but stopped herself from pointing out how it was Kasai’s fault she had lost the eye in the first place. She rose from the bench and stood in front of Kasai. “I really like your wet shirt look as well.” Kasai mentioned the dinner once more, as Avani poured the rest of the water on her chest, so that the black shirt clinged to her figure. “It’s very hot.”

She was distracted from making any more comments when she noticed Kasai’s tongue running over the scar the woman had. It brought back all those other thoughts she had had when they had been alone together. It reminded her why she had bothered coming here in the first place, and it certainly wasn’t to pick a fight with Kasai.

“Ah yes, the dinner.” She smiled earnestly. “I didn’t think you’d acknowledge my existence with so many of your colleagues around, but to tell the truth I’ve had a yearning for something quite specific the last days.” Avani stepped as close to Kasai as possible, and leaned into her to whisper in her ear. “Lady Sergeant Kasai.”

She put a hand on her hip, and kissed her on the cheek gently, making her way down until she reached her neck. Avani made a visible gesture of sucking on her neck to leave a hickey, while moving a hand slowly up beneath her shirt to rub her back, all the while staring at the other cops that were eyeing them and beginning to leave the area. She wanted them all to see what she enjoyed doing with their sergeant, who had also enjoyed it back in the spirit world at least.

Avani backed away from Kasai eventually, but not before flipping off her colleagues behind her back. She rubbed her neck and blushed, feeling as if she may have taken it too far if Kasai wasn’t comfortable with public displays of affection. She wasn’t even sure what they were to each other now. They had been supposed to be working together in the spirit world, but in Republic City they had no reason to interact other than the mutual attraction that she hoped and thought was still there.

“I’m still up for dinner, of course.” Avani coughed. “We haven’t decided on that bet yet though. However, let’s leave that for later shall we? I brought something with me in case you wanted a ride home.” Avani pointed to the sidecar that she had attached to her motorcycle now, but which had previously been parked in a garage and left unused for a couple of months. “I cleaned it up for you, and um, it’s quite roomy.”

She stuttered and blushed. Why did she feel like a little school girl just for offering Kasai a lift?

“If, um, you want to ride with me.”

The Circus At The End Of The World (Engel X The Kraken)

Claire had felt Kate’s hands on her back and in her hair when she threw up. It would normally have made her feel a bit better, but she doubted anything could improve the situation. She had drunk too much and now witnessed the horrible murder scene of a neighbour.

“I can walk myself.” Claire muttered when Elijah touched and pushed her.
She began to walk faster, but felt someone grasping her hand tightly. Claire thought it was Elijah again and was about to chew him out, then she noticed it was Kate holding her. She raised an eyebrow, surprised that Kate would hold her hand, but she realized she didn’t mind it as much as she would have if it had been anyone else. She let Kate squeeze her hand in hers, but didn’t return the gesture.

“Water would be nice.” Claire answered Elijah, feeling her stomach begin to turn again at the thought of drinking any more liquor. “Thank you.”
Kate threw her arms around Claire when Elijah had left them alone, and she couldn’t help but think that she was being very handsy all of a sudden. She supposed it was natural as her friend was genuinely scared for Claire’s well-being.

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about me.” Claire said, trying to laugh it off and act like she wasn’t affected by what had happened. She failed at it though, fear showing itself in her voice. “Let’s sit down, I feel so tired.”

She waited for Kate to sit down on the grass nearby, then placed herself in her lap. This way she would hopefully calm Kate down and assure her that she was not going anywhere. At least that was what she told herself when she decided where to sit.

“I’m not going anywhere, sis.” Claire said, and leaned her head against Kate’s shoulder, breathing against her neck. She finally felt like she could get some rest, despite having seen that shocking scene her body was not able to catch up fully to the events. “I promise.”

“I doubt Solomon would be much help though.” She laughed weakly. “You were right with what you said earlier, He is too much of an oversized housecat. It would be better if I taught one of the others the command. Maybe Sheila, she can be quite hostile to humans when she feels like being left alone.” Claire smiled. “Or maybe I should get a gun or something else to protect myself with. Still, I am not the only one at risk. Maybe they will strike again, somewhere else entirely…”

Claire continued talking, but it turned into soft murmurs as she felt her mind and body relaxing for a nap. She moved a bit, to get a more comfortable sleeping position, accidentally pressing her body and chest against Kate.

“Fluffy pillow.” Claire murmured, some of the few words that were understandable among everything that she mumbled.

She just wanted a short nap so her body would get better from the hangover and the tiredness, then they could do what seemed best to deal with all these problems happening around them. She wished things had remained in the same state they used to be in forever, but now the peace had been disturbed at its roots.

Sacred World (Engel x The Kraken)

Avani had collapsed, right as the portal came into view, but she had made sure to aim the moving rock into it and speed it up as much as possible. Once through the portal they had been discovered by a group sent by headquarters to investigate why the radios had stopped working and if the teams were in danger.

She had awakened in a hospital bed the next day. Her arm was bandaged, and they had given her medicine for it, not that they seemed to know what they were actually dealing with. It was unlike most wounds because it had been inflicted upon her by some kind of spirit corruption. Her eye had been treated and had a white patch put over it. She had been given a lot of nutrition once she woke up.

They hadn’t required Avani to stay in the hospital for long. She could stay a couple of days if she wanted too, but she’d rather get home to her own bed. The doctor told her to come back if the arm changed for the worse. The news that she was in the hospital had barely gotten out to her family before she had been released, so she had had no visitors.

There were a few from Kasai’s police department that had decided to harass her though, implying that she may have planned this end result all along. She clenched her teeth and held back tears at the thought that she had intended to kill her own friends. They had let her go when ordered by their superior, but not without argument and asking they get to “interrogate” Avani.

She hadn’t returned to the hospital to visit Kasai, nor had she sent anything to wish her she would get well soon. Avani doubted Kasai would acknowledge anything that had happened now that they were back in Republic City, each with their own people. She had decided to never contact her again.

Avani had taken to drinking away the loss of her friends. She had spent the week at bars, and then mostly at home when people began to ask questions about her arm and eye. She had the patch they had placed over her eye replaced with a black leather version. The arm didn’t get worse. She gradually became able to move it more and more with each day.

However, trying to forget Kasai and not to think about her had had the opposite effect. She thought more about her now that she figured they would never talk again than she had before. Avani had no high opinion of the truth of what Kasai had told her when they were alone, how she didn’t mind being seen with her and how they could have dinner together. There was a gnawing thought that kept telling her that maybe the woman was better than she gave her credit for. Maybe she deserved to give her a chance, to either live up to her words or turn her down.

The gnawing thought had led her to the park in front of the hospital, on the day that Kasai was supposed to be released if she had the right information. Avani sat on a bench, wearing black pants, and a black leather coat that was open to reveal a black crop top and her midriff. She was drinking from a sake bottle, which raised eyebrows and made people frown at her. There was no alcohol remaining in it though. She had drunk that days ago and replaced it with water. She was sober for once this week after getting out of the portal.

Her motorcycle was parked next to the hospital, where it should be visible by anyone coming outside. If Kasai was as good a detective as she claimed she should recognize it as Avani’s. It was what she had driven to the spirit forest on the first day they had met.

She hadn’t decided what to do yet, sit there and watch Kasai look at her and pretend like she didn’t exist, or go up and greet her so she could do the same. Once a couple of members of the police arrived she decided to sit and stare at her. She knew it may be a bit creepy, but she wanted to be proven right without talking to the woman in front of everyone she knew. Another part desperately needed Avani to be proven wrong, so she would get to hold Kasai just once more.

Sacred World (Engel x The Kraken)

Kasai’s simple statement that their friends were gone was devastating. Avani steeled herself though. There would be time to grieve them later, but only if they survived the mess they were currently in. Kasai did her best to fight off the spirits, while Avani attempted to bend the mud nearby.

It was a fairly inefficient way of fighting, as throwing rocks and boulders actually hurt the ones hit, but mud just seemed to make the spirits angrier. She aimed for what she thought were their heads, trying to blind them. However, it gave her an idea for how they may be able to escape to the shore much faster than swimming.

Avani covered herself in the mud, using it as armour instead of projectile weapon. She punched and kicked at the spirits that came for her. Avani heard Kasai scream, but was occupied with fighting off the spirits that were currently attacking her. She dodged instinctively when Kasai shot lightning at the spirits. She hadn’t expected that, and it was a bit too close for comfort.

When Kasai told her to leave her, Avani turned to look at the firebender who was beaten, bleeding and stuck with her leg in the roots. She didn’t want to be the reason someone else perished, but it wouldn’t really be her fault either if Kasai died here like this. She figured what she said was true too, better one returned than no one at all.

Avani turned her back towards Kasai, and took a couple of steps towards the water while the spirits clawed at her mud armour. She had a strong feeling of regret and loss, a sort of premonition of events she would miss out on if she took another step. A choice between two different futures, one where she may be the sole survivor, and one that may include Kasai, but there were no guarantees and either path could lead to her dying today.

“I apologize, Kasai.” Avani said. “I’d like to say this will hurt me more than it will hurt you, but it really won’t.”

She dried the mud on her right leg as much as possible, standing still and seemingly hesitating, but then she turned back around to face Kasai. Avani had a faked version of her sly smile plastered on her face. She took the steps over to Kasai, aimed carefully with her leg raised and then slammed it down with all the force she possessed, both the physical prowess and the earth bending. There was a crushing sound as she broke Kasai’s leg and the roots, sending splinters flying.

Avani bent down and picked up Kasai, throwing her over her shoulder. She would have carried her in her arms if one of them weren’t in such bad shape. The winged spirits kept coming, but she began to enclose Kasai within the mud armour as well.

She patted Kasai’s behind with her hand. “This is mine, not yours, so back off.” Avani said to the spirits.

She went back to the water and was about to jump in when the sun blinded her. One of the spirits noticed the light reflecting in Avani’s eyes and dove for it with precision. Its claws penetrated her left eye, and she felt a sudden temporary blindness combined with a sharp pain when the claw was retracted. When she saw the eye in the claws of the winged spirit she realized what had happened, the blindness wouldn’t be so temporary.

“Take a deep breath, Kasai.” Avani said before plunging into the water.

She made them heavier, and sank towards the bottom. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for them to end up on the bottom of the lake where mud and earth was plentiful. Avani used her favourite trick to quickly get them out of the lake and away from the tree. She made earth cling onto her feet, then surfed toward the shore.

Avani was finding it harder and harder to continue without any air, but they surfed up onto the shore and into the fresh air. She took a couple of deep breaths, then looked in the direction of the tree. The winged spirits were clearly confused about where their prey had disappeared too, but she doubted they would be for long, so she dropped the mud armour and created a rock as large as the one she had used to steal the cache with yesterday.

She laid Kasai down on it, feeling her own adrenaline beginning to fade. The wound in her eye socket began to hurt more with each passing second as the adrenaline faded. She made the rock beneath them move in the direction of the portal, and removed her crop top to tear it in half. One half she put against the wound Kasai had across her cheek and lips, the other she pushed carefully into her own eye.

“I got you.” Avani said, and the tears began to flow at the thought of those she had lost. “I got you.” She repeated, leaned on Kasai and kissed her lips gently, tasting blood, which was at least a sign they were both alive.

They moved faster across open areas with Avani’s rock, but there weren’t many of those in the forest. The longer she had to move the rock at the same speed, the more exhausted she got, but she tried to get as far as she could move them both, even if it meant collapsing.

Sacred World (Engel x The Kraken)

“I’d love for you to show me how strong you are, but some other time.” Avani said.

She watched as Kasai pulled string out of the bag, and wondered why someone had packed string, but no rope. They had to settle for the vine that Kasai got down from the tree. It was tied to a branch higher up and then around the woman’s waist.

“Yup, no worries.” Avani said with one end of the vine in her hands, and then she enjoyed the view as Kasai began to climb up the tree trunk. “Aw, you almost sound worried for me.”

Avani turned her eyes away from Kasai’s behind when she mentioned catgators though. There should be corrupted spirits around if nothing else, so where were they? It was surprisingly silent and calm, which made the situation kind of eerie.

She smiled as Kasai gave her a thumb up after reaching the top, but held onto the vine with a firm grip. Neither of them had any idea what was up there, and it was possible she may be pushed off. Avani didn’t want to be the reason someone else died.

There were gurgling noises coming from within the sac. Mio heard a voice from outside though, and saw a silhouette. It certainly wasn’t Avani based on the shape, and the words of the voice confirmed it. She felt as if she should care more than she did, but the toxins of the sac had made her docile and numb.

“No…” She answered Kasai’s question if they were okay. “I’m not okay.”

Mio was fairly certain she was dying, and Kieron, well, he was already dead as far as she could tell. She attempted to move towards Kasai, but was stuck in place. She used her arms to dig through the sac and look Kasai in the eyes. She doubted she could be saved from the state she was in.

The sac had already consumed parts of her face, and the rest of her body. The skin was gone in places. She wanted to believe she would have been happy that Avani didn’t get to see her like this

“Is Avani alive?” She asked when she came face to face with Kasai. “If she is, you two need to get out of here before a similar fate befalls you.”

Mio felt the sac reacting to her movements, slowly closing the gap she made, but trying to reach out for Kasai to pull her inside with them as well. “It’s eating me alive.” Mio stuttered, tears beginning to stream down her face. “I was so scared when it trapped us, and then I got to watch as it dissolved Kieron.” Mio shook her head, there was nothing more to fear. She had kind of accepted her end, because of the poison injected into her. “I’m sorry.”

With what little power she had left she used her airbending to blow Kasai out of the tree. Hopefully she would hit the water, but either way it was better to die from a fall and a broken back than the way the two of them had gone.

Avani felt the vine straining as Kasai fell out of the canopy. She smirked, thinking she shouldn’t have jinxed her by imaging she may be pushed out of the tree by something at the top. Fortunately the vine didn’t snap and she was able to lower Kasai to the roots of the tree safely.

“They weren’t up there?” Avani said, wishing that it was the truth instead of whatever Kasai must have seen.

They didn’t get much chance to talk about it, as the winged spirits returned from hiding in the clouds and dived towards them.

“So much water and no waterbender.” Avani stated, fretful for how well she would be able to fight without any major source of earth nearby.

The Circus At The End Of The World (Engel X The Kraken)

It was not long after that Claire had sat down and started eating that people began to run off, and murmur about some woman. Kate urged her to hurry up, and she sighed, not particularly interested in whatever new illusion was happening. Elijah ran off as well to check it out.

Claire focused her attention on her meal, eating slowly as her headache was still a pain. She ate in silence, pretending like the rest of the world and the people didn’t exist. It calmed her down quite a bit, but then Elijah came back to tell them more about the event, how there was blood and how they were unable to enter her wagon.

“Maybe it’s just her time of the month.” Claire muttered, and finished her glass of water. “There’s nothing wrong with my appetite, Kate. It would be better if you all stopped freaking out over whatever though.”

Claire stood up after Kate, grabbed her umbrella and opened it up to protect her from the light of the sun. She followed her impatient friend to the camp and back to her own wagon. The wagon everyone was interested in was one of Claire’s neighbours, she hadn’t noticed how close it was to hers before, but there was just one other wagon in between the two.

“Oooh, spooky, they almost chose me for this prank.” Claire said snarkily, her headache making her quite irritated and not in the mood for another of Elena’s illusions. There wasn’t even an audience or a show located among their wagons.

The backstage crew had appeared with tools to get the door open. They had some of the stronger members of the circus gathered as well to assist them. As they began to pull at the door, the woman screamed and cried out. They kept pulling though, inserting a crowbar between the door and the wall of the wagon.

There was a resounding crack as the door broke open, mixed with the last faint scream of the woman and the sound of blood hitting the steps up to the wagon. The sight that met them all was gruesome. The woman wore a bloody nightgown, but her body had ropes fastened to it with hooks that extended inside the wagon and likely caused her great pain whenever she had tried to move.

The worst part was how she had been spiked to the door of her wagon, so that when they had managed to open it parts of her back had stuck to the door, been ripped away and finally killed her. She had a hole in her back where the parts of her that was now on the door had once been. The woman’s spine and ribs were visible in the hole. Blood was trickling down the remains of her back and her legs.

Claire threw up almost immediately, not even caring that there were people standing close to her. She wasn’t the only one either. There were those who even fainted. As she stood looking down at her vomit on the ground, she prayed that this was indeed another illusion. Unfortunately, it didn’t go away, turn into another scene or disappear when the doctor stepped forward to make a closer inspection. He didn’t need to declare her dead, as it was obvious she was, but he did it anyway so everyone could hear.

Claire made herself throw up a second time, appreciating the chance to clear her system of any remaining alcohol. It was the most emotionless
thought she’d had in a long time.

The police arrived at the scene shortly afterwards. They’d likely been called when the blood on the window was detected. They sealed off the scene, told everyone to back up and stay away while they worked.

Claire was visibly shaken now. It wasn’t something to mock or make light of anymore. Indeed, it had happened too close to her own wagon for her to feel anything less than frightened and worried about what may have happened if she had spent the night in her own bed.

Sacred World (Engel x The Kraken)

“Don’t worry, Lady Sergeant. I’ll protect your fleshy bits.” Avani said. “They’re my favourite parts of you, after all.”

She was disappointed when Kasai said she had not brought her cuffs with her, but she should be focusing on saving their friends, not what she had been focusing on for most of the time they had spent alone together. It was probably for the best.

Avani followed Kasai, grinning when she noticed how the woman rubbed her hand over the hickey she had left on her neck. She didn’t say anything though, but it occurred to her that it might be difficult for her to hide it from their friends as she had ruined her coat already. Mio would definitely be pissed if she noticed it.
They arrived at a body of water. In the middle of it, a distance from the shore, a massive tree could be seen. She couldn’t see any island below the tree, rather its roots were forming a base in the water, probably extending far into the water. It was a surreal environment. Avani whistled at the sight, impressed and in awe.

“I ain’t afraid of anything.” She said to Kasai, but she was worried she wouldn’t be able to use her earthbending up in the tree if they had to climb to the top.

Avani waited for the woman to turn her back on her again. The mischievous smile appeared on her face, and she used her earthbending to jump up on Kasai’s back, grabbing a hold of her and shouting. “Yip, yip, Kasai!”

The smaller woman couldn’t prevent the combination of Avani’s weight and her speed from pushing them both into the water. There was a splash as they hit the water. Thankfully, it was not too cold or too hot. It was surprisingly deep right at the edge of the shore too. Avani surfaced with a bubbling laugh.

“I’m glad I didn’t bet anything on the theory that cops could fly.” She splashed her hand into the water, making a wave move in the direction of Kasai, who didn’t seem all that happy about having been jumped.

Avani’s mood dampened slightly as well, when she realized what she had given up just for a prank. If she hadn’t jumped Kasai and pushed them both into the water fully clothed, they may have gotten undressed on the shore to avoid getting their clothes wet.

“That was thoughtless and childish of me.” Avani sighed, acting genuinely sorry about what she had done. “I should have waited until you had undressed.” She laughed and splashed more water at Kasai, before setting off to swim the distance to the tree.

Swimming with only one good arm was not as problematic as she had expected it to be, even if it did slow her down compared to Kasai and got more water in her face than what was usual for her when swimming.It proved problematic to get onto the roots of the tree once she reached it though.They were smooth and wet, making the surface quite slippery. She managed eventually when she found a good spot to climb up on.

She turned to look up the trunk of the tree. “I’m not certain I can climb this with one functioning arm. I could brag and say I’ll beat you to the top, Kasai, but now I’m honestly concerned what may happen if one of us falls. Well, me in particular. Do we have any rope?” Avani asked.
“Maybe I could stay down here and make sure you don’t hit the roots if you fall. You weigh nothing compared to what I usually lift.” She bragged smiling. “I doubt you could stop me from falling on the other hand.”