Korra tapped her fist against her pants leg nervously as she stared out the passenger window. Since Opal was giving her a ride today, she'd given Korra control of the music for the short drive. Korra had settled on Imagine Dragons, letting the lyrics to Polaroid drift around the car while Opal hummed along happily. Korra would usually be singing along with any song, happy to goof off and jam with her friend, but right now she couldn't focus on the music.
"Hey, Korra?" Opal turn down the volume a little. Korra turned to look at her, dragging her eyes away from the blur of the trees they passed. "I know you're nervous, but I promise you're in good hands. Did Mako tell you about her?"
Korra sighed out a "yeah" and turned back to the window. Yes, she'd heard all about her new driving torturer. Okay, that wasn't nice. Teacher. Korra had never done well with being taught. She was the jump-in-and-do-it-till-it-works kind of person and was never ever good at being patient.
"What do I even need to know how to drive for?" Korra huffed out. She knew Opal didn't deserve to be on the receiving end of her bad mood, but she was too anxious about this to filter herself."I mean, Bolin and Mako have a car and drop me off at work all the time, then there's always the bus or a taxi. I don't really need a license anyways." She mumbled the last part, clearly not liking the idea.
Opal rolled her eyes. "You need one because we aren't hauling your lazy ass everywhere. You know Mako is just using his cop car now, and Bolin's schedule got changed so your jobs don't even correspond anymore." When Korra drew in a breath and opened her mouth to say something, Opal added, "And I most certainly am not playing chauffeur for you unless you've been deemed totally unable to drive. We'll know that after you meet with your new teacher." Opal sang out the last word playfully.
Korra had been hearing from Mako for a few days about how she was going to do well with this new instructor, and after hearing that it was a female, Opal pounced on her with half concealed remarks regarding Korra's lack of a girlfriend.
Choosing to ignore Opal's little comment, Korra grumbled, "Yeah, well I guess we'll see if you're damned to a life of driving me everywhere pretty soon." Opal huffed out a sigh and at the indication of her phone's GPS took a right turn and stopped in front of a large gate with a little box-shack looking thing that you see a parking garages where you pay a fine. Korra's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion before she remembered who she was going to be working with today.
She scoffed when a man came out of the door to the booth and smiled as he made his way to their car. "Rich girls…" she mumbled under her breath, but at the warning glare from Opal, she realized she was't as quiet as she meant to be.
Opal rolled down her window and smiled back the man approaching their car.
"Welcome to the Sato estate, may I ask if you are expected today?" His voice was friendly and open, not what Korra had expected but she guessed there would still be loads of people around here that would be plenty snobbish.
Opal gave the man her name and before she could explain why they were here, the man replied, "Of course! The young mistress should be at the track soon, I'll call to the maid to get her and we have someone at the mansion ready to direct you to the driving track. If there is anything they can do to assist you, please do not hesitate to ask. I'll go open the gate so you can get in now." He gave a bright smile and went back to the booth after he and Opal exchanged a "thank you" and "my pleasure."
After he turned his back to them, Opal rolled up the window and turned to Korra with wide eyes and mouthed "Woah." Korra chuckled, but her eyes remained as wide as Opal's.
"They call her Mistress? That seems twisted." Opal laughed at this.
"Korra, Mistress means she's the head of the estate," Opal tried to cover her laughter at her confusion and Korra rolled her eyes and went back to her grumbling.
"I still think it's fucking weird." Korra stated crossing her arms and slouching back into her seat to pout a while longer as the gate opened. Opal gave the man in the booth a wave before she started driving down the elegant brick road leading to a massive mansion. Korra's eyes nearly popped out of her head and her jaw was lying somewhere on the floor at this point. "Does that even qualify as a house? I could fit my whole tribe in there!"
Opal chucked and slowed down considerably to take in the beautiful exterior of the building in front of them. As promised there was a sharply dressed man in a suit and tie waiting for them at the step leading to beautiful glass doors with steel designed tracing across the surface. The whole building looked as if it had been brought from the past and then renovated to reflect modern beauty. A perfect blend of the old and new styles, both seeming to be undertones and not giving it look to pin in one category.
"How did Mako meet someone like this?" Korra was trying to get her eyes to stop glazing over at the different exotic fountains and elegant flowers lining the brick road.
"He had been assigned to her protection unit at a big meeting of hers. You know, she's the CEO of Future Industries so he said sometimes things get a little sketchy. I think they actually got to be friends through that, and he liked her but he never talks about that part much. He told her about you needing to learn how to drive and she volunteered." Korra made a mental note to punch him in the throat for talking about her to a stranger.
"Whatever." Korra drew in a long breath before letting it escape in a sigh, "lets just get this over with." Opal slowed the car to a stop in front of the clean white marble steps and the man in the suit stepped forward and around to her side of the vehicle as she rolled down the window. He walked purposefully as if marching but graceful as if in an old dance with his shoulders squared and hands clasped behind him.
"Good evening, Ms. Beifong. Ms. Sato is expecting you, would you like me to park your car?"
Opal waved him off, "No, but thank you. I'm just dropping Korra off and I'll be back later to pick her up once they're done! Will that work?" Opal was clearly not in her element.
"That is fine, Ms. Beifong. I'm sure Ms. Sato would welcome you an invitation to come back and tour the mansion or join them if you find time. She has been enthusiastic about meeting Mako's friends." Korra's perked up at this to listen, but he didn't say anything else about it. So Opal replied cheerily, "I'll make sure to set something up, thank you." He didn't say anything else but bowed his head with a soft smile and came to the other side of the car to open the door for Korra as she turned to Opal.
"Do I really, really have to?" She gave her the best puppy dog pout she could muster. Opal just laughed.
"Yes, Korra. You really, really have to! Now get out of my car so I can make it to this mover with Bolin! You know I hate missing the previews." She gave her the Beifong glare and Korra surrendered with her hands in the air.
"Fine, fine. I'll go. But if you come back and you see this whole place destroyed because of my driving, it's your fault." She slid out of her seat and stuffed her hands into the pickets of her jacket. "And you!" Korra exclaimed, turning to point a finger at the man holding the door for her, "Call me Korra. None of this formal nonsense. Makes my skin itchy and weird." She grumbled the last bit, her reluctance to be here showing. Opal and the smart dressed man shared a laugh at this, Opal with much less grace about it because of her snorting though it.
"Bye bye Korra, play nice. Really nice." She added a suggestive smirk before laughing at the bewildered and embarrassed expression on Korra's face and driving off. Korra was still trying to will the blush away from her cheeks and cursing her friend under her breath when the man said, "Ms. Sato will join you at the track. Right this way Ms. Korra."
She followed him through the front doors and looked around at the large, open room she was led into. On both sides, there were marble stair wells connecting at the top to the next floor and the entire room was open with a classic crystal chandelier hanging in the centre. The natural light seemed to pour in from the windows and give the room life. Korra followed the man as he gave a few remarks about a few of the features in the room and the styles it was based on but she wasn't really listening to him, instead settling on child-like fascination.
He led her through a series of halls, still talking about boring stuff, until he led her through a door to what she assumed was the track they were talking about. The land they owned must have been huge because it stretched the length of a racing track, the slick black asphalt looked like it had been laid down this morning and had fresh pain around the edges. The middle of it was plain black as well, with an elegant blue sports car parked toward the side. She didn't say anything as the man lead her to the car, electing instead to continue to look around at the trees a way off from the track and the beautiful scenery surrounding it.
"Ms. Sato will be arriving shortly. I must go to attend to some preparations for an upcoming event. Is there anything else I may do for you before I take my leave?" His perfect posture had never faltered and he looked sincerely at her. Man, where can I get me some staff to talk to guests for me?
"Um, no. Thanks."
"Very well, Ms. Korra. If you need anything, tell Ms. Sato or any other staff you see and we shall do our best to accommodate. Good luck." He bowed his head slightly as he had before with Opal and turned on his heel before heading back the way they had come.
Korra turned to the blue car in front of her. She didn't know much about cars, but she knew money, and this was money. It wasn't anything over the top, but it was certainly over her 3.00$ an hour pay as a server. She was still admiring the car when she heard the distinctive click of heals on the asphalt. She looked over her shoulder and would have done a double take if her eyes could have actually left the figure approaching her.
The woman approaching the vehicle was walking like she was on a catwalk, like she owned the place. Korra realized then, she actually did. With the confidence pouring off of her, she had to be the 'Ms. Sato.' Why did I never ask for her name… or her number. She was dressed in a plain, fitted white dress shirt showing just the right about of cleavage to be professional but still sexy; aka, just enough for Korra to feel like she was going to go insane. She wore simple black slacks with red sandal heels. As she got closer, Korra could see the deep red on her heels matched the nails on her fingers and toes. Her jet black hair was done up into a tight and professional bun, but it looked intricate and pretty. She was on the phone as she continued to approach, an irritated look was painted across her beautifully crafted features and she pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand.
"Yes I am aware of the-," theres the irritation again, "No, we already have people-." Korra almost would have laughed at her very obvious frustrations to what she assumed was a business call. She couldn't manage much however already overwhelmed with trying to take her eyes away from the gorgeous body in front of her. The woman stopped a few feet away from her and flashed her an apologetic smile and mouthed, "One second. work." Then she made a grossed out face by sticking her tongue out and crossing her eyes. This brought a chuckled out of Korra and she was able to fight her blush away for the time being.
"Look, I really have to go how Varrick, I have an extremely important meeting in a few minutes. If something comes up, please consult my assistant and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you, have a good day." With this, she ended the call and slid her phone into her back pocket. She took a deep breath and let it out with a sign as a smile spread across her face. And spirits, that smile…
"I am so sorry about that, I just came in from work and my assistant fails remember to find some life threatening excuse to use when I've left the office for the day." Ms. Sato extended her hand to Korra who took it. Korra was typically a chatter box, but she was still trying to find her voice which seemed to have been stolen the moment she saw the fair skinned beauty. "Mako has told me so much about you, do you mind if I call you Korra?" Her smile remained in place after their hands left each others. Oh shit was that a question? How do I speak again?
"T-That's fine! Would you prefer I call you Ms. Sato?" The woman scoffed at this.
"Is the staff still calling me that?" She let out a little sigh, but was still joking because there was amusement in her smile. Her eyes light up at everything… What was I here for again? DAMN,THAT WAS ANOTHER QUESTION.
"Do you not like them calling you that?" Korra saw the amusement and rose to the challenge. "If you makes you feel better, they didn't just call you Ms. Sato." The woman laughed at this then brought her hands up to her face like she was hiding, but Korra could still hear the laugher in her voice.
"Oh no, please tell me they didn't!" Korra's mouth slid into a playful smirk.
"Oh, but they did mistress!" Both laughed hard at this and when they came down from it, the woman wiped her eyes.
"Thank you, Korra. I needed a laugh, Mako was certainly right about you. You can call me Asami."
"Asami it is then." They shared a smile before Korra turned to the car. "So, Asami, I hope you aren't wanting me to drive this." Asami's eyebrows scrunched together and the corners of her mouth turned down.
"I'm sorry, is there something wrong with it? I have many other cars in the garage if this one is too old. Mako said it would be a better idea to take one of the easier to drive and older cars out, but he must have underestimated you. I can send my butler out to get other if you give me one moment." She started to take her phone out and look for a contact.
"Woah! No, hey!" Korra held up her hands and Asami stopped what her was doing and raised one perfect eyebrow at her, that went in a totally different direction than I intended. "It's not that at all Asami. I was just thinking this one looked a little expensive for me to bust up. I mean, Mako really, really didn't underestimate my driving. I happen to be horrible at it." Korra stuffed her hands back in her pockets and her shoulders hunched a little.
Asami's face relaxed into a soft smile and she slid her phone back into her pocket. "Don't worry about it Korra. That's why I'm here, and this is honestly the least expensive car I own." Korra looked back up at her with a question written on her face. Asami laughed, "My dad was the one who bought all the cars, I mostly just stick to the cars I make myself and occasionally take out some of the prettier ones if I get bored or mine end up in the shop. But this," Asami stepped forward to place her left hand on the hood, "should work very well for what we have today. It's one my dad bought a few years ago when he got bored. It's a 2013 Scion FR-S. I don't mind if it gets torn up, though I think you'll surprise yourself with how much you can learn in a day." She gave a confident, and sexy, smile and stepped away from the car, pulling the keys out of her pocket and extending them to Korra. She raised one eyebrow and asked,"You ready?"