"Oops." Korra grinned shakily, trying to ignore the glares from everybody in the vehicle. She looked out the window, squinting through the darkness until she could make out the ground below. "You know, the tree isn't that tall. If I could just.." Korra started jerking her forearms from side to side, causing small gusts of wind to knock the car closer to the edge of the branches. It edged nearer and nearer, until Asami grabbed her arm.
"Korra! What are you going to do once we get the car off the tree? Let us fall to our inevitable doom? We need to climb out!" she cried urgently. Korra dropped her arms, then smiled at Asami.
"Right. Of course. You know, I was just about to do that. So, let's just get out then." Korra opened her door, and moved to get out before realizing that the car was so close to the edge that there was nothing below her end of the vehicle but air. She quickly slammed the door back shut, the movement only sliding the car further towards the edge. She looked around the car, disappointed to find the one closest to the car door on the other side was Azula. "Azula, would you like to open up the car door so we can get out?" she asked carefully, pretending they hadn't been snapping heatedly at each other earlier that evening. Azula smirked.
"I'm fine right here. You heard my wife, we already have something to do," Azula said in a matter-of-fact voice. Ty Lee squealed in excitement, reaching across Mako to get to business. Mai and her grandchildren opened their mouths to protest in unison. An uproar began to form in the car, and before anything disastrous could happen Asami cried out.
"Enough! Azula and Ty Lee, save it for later and open the door! Korra, some common sense please? Mako, we need suggestions, not you sitting there. And you three? Just calm down. Let's go everybody!" her face was red with annoyance at being stuck in a tree with a bunch of uncooperative people when she would rather be at home with a bowl of ice cream. Azula sighed heavily, but opened her door and climbed out with a surprising amount of gracefulness. Ty Lee followed, then Mako stumbled out. Mai and her grands stepped out as if disgusted by the car. Korra and Asami were the only ones left, and the car suddenly began to tip as the two of them weighed down one side of the car. Korra shrieked, frozen in place. Asami grabbed her hand and they jumped out of the car onto a branch just as it toppled over the edge. There was a loud crash as it smashed against the ground.
"Aaagh!" Mako cried out in pain. Everybody whipped their heads around, seeing easily through the darkness as a bright scarlet began to stain his pant leg. A small (but fast moving) piece of glass from the windshield had lodged itself into his left calf. Asami, again bursting into action, leaned towards him and pulled it out as gently and quickly as she could. This caused him to pierce the air with another scream as he clutched his leg.
"Shut up," Azula snapped, examining her nails. Korra ripped a piece of fabric from the bottom of her shirt off, then handed it to Asam to wrap around Mako's leg.
"Thank you! At least one person here is helpful!" She snatched it from Korra and firmly tied it around the wound. "Now, we need to get down from here." Azula easily scaled the tree to the ground, Ty Lee leaping after her. Korra half climbed/half fell down the tree, landing with only a bruise on her hip. Asami scooped up Mako, and counted to three before they jumped to the ground. Mako grunted in pain, but was otherwise unaffected. They stood in a half circle, staring around at each other.
"Well, what do we do now?" Mako broke the silence, gesturing to the totaled car before them.
"Follow the tracks! What else?" Korra responded. She found herself more excited by the minute to see what the trail led to. Nobody else could think of an objection, so they continued along the path. Mako found a stick to use as a sort of crutch, and rested his weight on it as he began walking again.
"You know, I bet Bolin would have been tough enough to just keep walking," Eska said condescendingly. Mako ignored the comment, and the group pressed on. The night grew darker as they went, despite the thinning of the trees.
Finally the trees had become more and more sparse until the group came across a massive clearing. The lawn was clipped pristinely, and hedges were shaped like perfect cat-gators. There was a symmetrical stone path that led to a colossal mansion. Everything was immaculate, but one detail set it off. There were a few huge tears in the grass, uprooting dirt across the entire lawn. Those were the tracks! The large brass doors leading inside were wide open with big gashes across them, curling the metal into ringlets.
"If we're going to follow the tracks, we have to go inside," Korra pointed out. Everyone nodded simultaneously (aside from Azula, who remained completely indifferent to the entire situation). The followed the path, evading the periodic craters formed by the tracks. They let themselves in through the doors, since they already stood ajar. The marble floor was cracked severely, and mud was spattered across it. A wooden table lie overturned in the middle of the room, strewn with a bright pink tablecloth, balloons, a bouquet of flowers, party invitations, and halfway unwrapped birthday gifts.
"I guess there was a birthday party before whatever creature this is arrived," Mako observed.
"Look what it did! We have to stop it before it wrecks anything else!" Korra's heroic instincts kicked in.
"Imagine how much money this thing would get us!" Ty Lee said, clasping her hands together as she fantasized.
"I'd just like to see it burn," Azula mumbled. Mai, Desna, and Eska remained silent.
"Thanks for you input, guys. Can we keep moving?" Asami ushered the group along towards a large, spiral staircase. The railing was bent and contorted by something going up the stairs that really didn't fit, but the staircase was safe from any holes. Korra raced to the top as fast as she could (which still took awhile), but Mako could hardly limp faster than Azula's casual stroll. Korra caught her breath as she waited for the rest of the group, looking around. She had arrived at a long hallway, strewn with confetti and.. Takeout menus? She picked one up. Somebody had used red ink and written unknown characters all over it, completely covering whatever was originally on the menu. Korra walked cautiously down the hallway a short ways and picked up another one. More characters, completely unidentifiable. She gathered up the rest, ending up with a total of 16.
Eventually the whole group made it up the staircase. They found a disheveled Korra staring confusedly at a bunch of menus. Before anybody could form a question, Korra had shoved a menu into each of their hands to observe.
"I don't understand, what does it say?" Ty Lee was holding the menu upside-down and squinting at it suspiciously.
"I can't find any sort of code. Do any of these have a key?" Mako asked, reaching for another one.
"I don't see one. Whoever wrote this must either have the key, or they memorized the code," Asami said.
"Who cares? If I recall correctly we were following tracks, not decoding vandalized takeout menus. Let's go," Azula carelessly dropped her menu and continued down the hallway. Ty Lee quickly followed after her.
"Grandmother, let's keep walking," Desna said, also discarding her menu. Eska and Mai nodded and followed her down the hallway. Eska muttered something about 'the right has the freshest tracks', but Korra couldn't be bothered to listen. Korra snatched up the menus, carefully tucking them into her boot for later. She gathered the menus from the others and stored them away as well, then took off after Azula and Ty Lee before they were lost, as they would likely cause more destruction than Mai and her grandchildren. Asami helped Mako along the hall, their progress slowed by the slippery floor.
"Come on guys!" Korra waved her hand at them, forcing them along the hallway with a blast of wind.
"Agh!" Mako grabbed his leg in pain as his foot dragged against the floor.
"Oops! Sorry!" Korra smiled nervously in apology.
"Korra. Again with the common sense thing?" Asami snapped impatiently.
"I'm sorry." Korra glanced downward, averting her glance. Asami sighed, never able to stay angry at her.
"It's alright. Just, think a little longer next time?"
"Alright!" Korra perked up, then continued (slightly slower) down the hallway. She came to a fork in the hallway. "Wait.. Which way did they go?" She turned back, only to see both Mako and Asami shrugging.
"Should we split up?" Mako suggested.
"No, we can find them. It'll be fine. Just follow the path that has the tracks!" Asami said, pointing to the left. Korra took her arm and pointed it to the right.
"Asami, they both have tracks. Whatever was here backtracked, so we have no way of telling. Let's just start with the left," Korra pointed out.
"Oh, whoops. Okay, good idea, let's go." They started along the left fork of the hallway only to find both sides lined with doors. One hung open, only attached to the frame by one hinge. Something had forced its way through the doorway.
"Let's try this first," Mako said, and the trio walked into the room. It was enormous, lined with more birthday gifts. "Wow, this family must be loaded." None of them had yet been unwrapped, but many boxes were severely dented by whatever had been through. The room, however, did not hold Azula and Ty Lee. They stepped back into the hallway, and went through the next door. This one was completely disconnected from the frame. Inside was a large table with expensive office chairs. All were empty, except for one. At the very head of the table a man was hunched over another takeout menu, writing more of the mystery symbols with a red marker. He didn't notice them enter, so Asami cleared her throat.
"Ahem. Have you seen our-" she began, but the man was startled by her entrance and toppled out of his chair with a shriek. "Oh, sorry."
"Ah! It's just you.. Uh, who are you? Of course you know who I am. Here, I assume you want a signature" the man said in a high voice. His black hair was slicked back with copious amounts of gel, and he wore a tight suit with a large blue bow tie. He took his marker and grabbed a new menu from under the table, writing more symbols that must translate to his name.
"I'm Korra, and this is Asami and Mako. I'm afraid I don't know who you are?" Korra responded curiously, taking the menu. He chuckled.
"Why, you must be from far out of town if you've never heard of me."
"Actually, I live just in-"
"Well I'm Bernard Wojsynski since I see you can't read," he said with an air of finality as if that explained everything.
"Uh, doesn't ring any bells," Mako said flatly, losing patience with this strange man. Bernard harrumphed at his indifference, but continued.
"Well, I'm a movie writer!" Bernard proclaimed proudly.
"Really? What movies have you written?" Korra asked, excited to meet a real movie writer.
"I mean, technically I haven't had any movies. But just you wait, I'm almost world famous!"
"Oh. What are these menus, then? Do you write movies in code?" Asami asked.
"Ah, well you see. I never really learned to write," he said, blushing.
"Wow, you invented your own language?" Mako asked, now slightly impressed. "What does this say?" he pointed to a sentence on one of the menus.
"Psh, how would I know? I said I don't know how to write!" he said, seemingly disappointed by Mako's ignorance.
"Wait, so you're saying this is all just gibberish? Do you even have a movie in progress?" Korra asked incredulously.
"Not exactly.." Bernard said evasively.
"This is wasting our time! Why are you even here? The place is destroyed!" Mako broke in, gesturing to the ruined house.
"Look around, it's a mansion! The owners ditched as soon as that -ya know what- came through so I swooped in for the prize. Once I release my movie and get rich and famous, this will be renovated and it'll be perfect! Here's my card." And with that, Bernard returned to poring over the menu.
"Whatever. But why menus? Why not paper?" Korra tried to ask, but he either didn't hear her or he was completely ignoring them. She stamped her foot when he didn't respond, then swiveled and left the room. Asami and Mako followed.
"Well that entire interaction was pointless. Let's keep moving." Asami waved them down the hallway. They went through the next door. Azula and Ty Lee were wearing swimsuits, and were doing laps in the most massive bathtub any of them had ever seen.
"Oh thank goodness we found you guys!" Asami said, rushing up to the edge of the tub. Korra couldn't completely agree with that statement, but she forced a small smile. "Where'd you get the swimsuits though?" she added as an afterthought.
"The closet!" Ty Lee replied cheerfully, pointing to the other end of the bathroom. A closet stood open, filled with a life supply of toiletries and hundreds of swimsuits. "So, could you get out? We're kind of.. busy. Swimming," she said with a giggle.
"Oh. Um. Okay. We'll just keep looking then, don't leave this room," Korra said, backing out. The trio stood in the hallway again. The rest of the doors seemed untouched, so they turned around to go down the right fork. It took longer and longer to progress along the halls as Mako's injured leg became tired. Korra sighed impatiently, then perked up as she seemingly had an epiphany. "Wait here!" she said, before turning around and taking off the way they came.
She returned holding a large amount of the balloons they had seen at the pink table on their way in. "Take these! You'll feel lighter!" she said, pressing them into his arms. He raised one of his eyebrows, trying to see if she was serious.
"Korra.. That's not how it works honey," Asami said with a smile at her girl's "naiveness" Korra flushed bright red.
"Oh. Whoops. Let's just keep going then," she said sheepishly, turning and starting down the right fork. Most of the doors were undamaged, but one was completely smashed. Even the frame was splintered. The edges seemed almost.. singed? Korra apprehensively stepped through, to find a locked door. She rattled the knob a few times before giving up. It was made of stone, so she couldn't get her foot through. She tried to suppress her frustration, and looked around the small room for a key.
"We have to find that key!" Korra said with certainty. "Maybe it's somewhere we've already been? Let's retrace our steps." She hurried out the door, but Asami lightly grabbed her arm to stop her as she strained her ears for something.
"Korra, do you hear that? Somebody's in the next room. And I can guarantee it's either some other crazy movie writer or Mai and the twins. I'm pretty sure we can both agree to bet on the latter. Let's go there first." Asami said, waving Mako and Korra along as she stepped out of the room. The next room held an intricately carved table covered in doilies, and an expensive looking china cabinet. Mai, Desna, and Eska sat on petite purple stools, looking up at Mako, Asami, and Korra with expectant expressions.
"Well, did you find the key? We figured Korra saw the locked door and decided to embark on this adventure so we didn't have to." Eska said in a bored tone.
"We were about to, but then we heard you guys in here and came to get you. But come on, let's go!" Korra raced out of the room and slid down the spiral railing to the table down below. Asami and Mako did the same, taking much less time than walking. Mai, Desna, and Eska, -of course- took their time going down the stairs. Down below, Korra quickly scanned the table. She picked up the bouquet, and presented it to Asami. "M'lady." Asami blushed, smiling as she took it.
"Thank you," she said, her cheeks a bright pink.
"Ahem. Uh, we're tracking down a creature. Not flirting?" Mako said, limping between the two women.
"Right. What here might have a key? The invitations are just paper, this bouquet-" she dug through the flowers, much to Korra's disapproval- "doesn't have a key.. What about these gifts?" Asami, Korra, and Mako each grabbed one of the three gifts and shook them out. Only a teddy bear fell out of one, but no key.
"Wait! There were a ton of presents upstairs in that room! Maybe one has the key!" Korra raced up the stairs again, Mako and Asami following as fast as they could and the other three again taking their time.
They entered the room, and three of them began tearing open the presents. Mai, Desna, and Eska carefully unwrapped the paper, being sure not to rip any of it. To their surprise, many of the gifts were empty. Asami stood up abruptly, and walked quickly into the room next door. Korra and Mako heard a "Hey! What are you doing with that?", then Asami returned with Bernard's red marker.
"Mark the presents you've already checked so we can keep track.
"Good idea, hun!" Korra said, smiling in approval. They continued for another ten-ish minutes, until a small piece of paper fluttered out of one of Mako's presents.
"Ah-ha!" he said triumphantly, holding it up. Asami and Korra squinted at it in confusion.
"Mako, that's not a key.."
"No, read it!" he thrust the paper up to their noses. Korra took it from him.
"Key.. in..." she turned the paper upside-down. "Bathtub!" They all stood up in unison, (Mako slowed by his leg) and raced down the hallway, two rooms over. Korra, in front, threw open the door, and whipped her head around. Ty Lee and Azula were both staring at their nails, blushing furiously. Ignoring them, Korra jumped in. She was followed soon after by Asami. Mako slid off his scarf, folded it neatly, and lay it by the edge of the tub while he carefully slid in. Mai and the twins hesitated, but Asami climbed out of the tub to yank them in. Korra was already busy swimming through the tub. She propelled herself with bending, moving so fast that she almost didn't notice the glimmer of gold out of the corner of her eye.
"Blub!" she said excitedly, grabbing it from the bottom of the tub. She had meant to say "I found it!" but was hindered by the fact that she was underwater. She swam to the top, gasping as she surfaced. "This has to be it," she said confidently, hopping out of the tub. Everybody else, including Ty Lee and Azula, followed. Even those two women had their interest piqued. Korra began to wind her way again through the hallway, but was slipping and sliding too much from the water. She cursed, then punched her fist into the air ahead of her. This caused a crater to form in the wall. It expanded rapidly until there was a rough tunnel into the room with the locked door. Korra stood stock still. "UggghhHH!" she cried angrily, muffling her scream of frustration as she buried her head in her hands.
"Korra, what's wrong?" Asami placed her hand on Korra's shoulder.
"I could have just broken down the wall instead of tracking down this stupid key!" Korra shouted mostly to herself. The whole group stood in shock for a moment before all breaking down into laughter (with varying degrees of mockery). Desna and Eska sounded disturbingly calm as they did.
"Oh well. Let's go try it anyways." The group walked through the tunnel, and stood in front of the door. Korra, hand shaking with anticipation, slid the key into the lock.
A/N: Go Cat-gators! It was really fun to write about this scavenger hunt-esque adventure, but it was nerve-wracking as I got closer and closer to the word limit haha. My prompts were:
all characters in your story taking a bath/shower together
all characters in your story running up a spiral staircase
balloons
birthday gift
bouquet of flowers
business card
strangers autograph
takeout menus
Word count: 3,429
I used my element: air