"of mice and men"
amon&korra – ashes, ashes, we all fall down—even you. / or, this love for you makes me insane
– —
i love you, girl says, too young to know what love is.
A pause. i know, man answers, too old to be doing this. Or maybe he is the perfect age.
do you love me back? girl wants to ask.
She snuggles closer instead.
.&.
i hate you! she screams, loud and harsh and passionate and desperate and those eyes are too blue, he drowns in them—
.&.
Her smile bleeds red, drips red, tastes red.
His grin is predatory, teeth sharp like knives.
.&.
i've been watching you for a long time, he says, seductive but then again not quite.
She shivers under his touch.
.&.
She is twirling. He laughs at her but she just twirls and twirls and look at me, amon and you're so foolish and her hair trails behind her like a cape, like a lost child, and am i beautiful now?
.&.
His men laugh at him, mock him. in love with the avatar! they scoff. what a seducer you are!
{they would never dare speak ill of him in real life but the lines are blurring what is fantasy what is reality who am i why does she love me does anyone want me who am i behind this mask.}
no, he argues, not in love. merely holding all the cards.
They guffaw, and it drives him half mad.
.&.
you were gone for a long time, she whispers, broken and wanting and waiting and burdened. i didn't know if you would come back to me. She thinks a moment. i'm too young to keep waiting on you.
He takes her face in one of his hands, stares at her with a gaze too deep, too full of emotions and words unsaid and promises unkept. then don't.
.&.
She laughs at him. She laughs as she twirls. Twirls, twirls, twirls. He wonders absentmindedly if she ever gets dizzy, ever falls when he's not watching. He wonders if he would catch her then. He doubts it.
She laughs and twirls and looks him in the eye and he falls, is stunned by her gaze. He falls for the trick, dirty little trick, and he is drowning, drowning in her eyes. And she lets him. love me, she whispers. love me love me love me, you tragic man! she sings for him.
Although he drowns, always drowns, he never—not once—tries to swim.
.&.
The world tries to tear them apart.
but i love him! she screeches. She tears and cries and is so vengeful in her fury. i will be with him! and there is nothing you can do to stop me, old fools!
He just sits back, and thinks she looks rather beautiful broken.
.&.
the avatar is mine, he growls at the boy. mine—and if you ever try to take her from me, i will rip out your heart. i will strangle you with your pretty little scarf until she tells me to stop, and she won't say stop until you're dead.
It's a rather fitting response—the boy is scared shitless.
.&.
you're possessive, she whimpers. you're possessive and hungry and deadly and—
He cuts her off. you love it, he murmurs to her—a truth. you love the way i make you feel. you crave it. His voice curves like a claw.
yes, she whispers, i love you.
.&.
They scoff. how naïve our avatar is. falling in love with the enemy; doesn't even know who he is behind the mask. who is he? don't trust men. don't trust equalist men! they cluck.
he is not just a man! counters she, enraged and defensive.
oh? they say, amused. who is he, then? she cannot even tell us his real name!
They cackle. She glares.
.&.
i will be with him, she sings. there is nothing you can do to stop me! i'll kill you! i'll kill all of you!
Her smile bleeds red.
i'll kill myself. They gasp. She laughs.
.&.
Red for passion. Red for blood. Red for lips. Red for secrets and lies and betrays and damnation and—
Red for passion.