Vacation
Cameras flashed the second the pair got off the sky bison. The plan to take a sky bison instead of an airplane in order to avoid attention seemed like a great idea on paper, but in practice, well…
"Avatar Korra! What are you going to do about the hostilities in the Earth State?"
"Avatar Korra! Should you be in town for the Ember Island Grand Prix when people are requesting your presence elsewhere?"
"Avatar Korra! What is your response to people who say you should break up with…"
"NO MORE QUESTIONS!"
The voice came not from Korra, but from Asami Sato who dragged her girlfriend by the hand away from the legions of press towards a waiting cab.
"You sure it's a good idea to leave them like that?"
"It took me two months and all the stars aligning for this to work out!" Asami yelled. "I am NOT spending half of it at press conferences wondering why we're not at work!"
The cab began driving through the picturesque streets of Ember Island, taking the pair to the hotel they had booked. They could only hope that there would be some peace in said hotel.
"So no one's going to call, right?" Korra asked.
"No, I told the board I was going to be gone for the entire week and that anyone who did interrupt my vacation for anything short of a spirit vine bomb going off at headquarters was going to be fired the second I got back."
"Well it's easy enough for you to go on vacation," Korra lamented. "Every time I wake up, Chanming is all 'Korra we need you for this', or 'we need you for that.' I can't remember the last time I had a meal that wasn't interrupted for something."
"Well," Asami reassured Korra as the cab pulled up to the hotel, the pair departing with their luggage "we're gonna have one now. Right after that beach trip. And there's plenty of people in town anyway for the Grand Prix tomorrow, so most of the people here will be focused on the race, not us."
Korra sighed, but nodded. "I hope you're right." Asami flipped her hair back with a chuckle.
"It's me, remember?"
The sun was shining over the beach to a near furious degree. It was fortunate for those on the beach that there were also a cool breeze blowing through, allowing everyone there some relief from the heat, whether they were playing in the water, playing Kuai ball on nets, working out on bars laid out for the public, or just enjoying the breeze as they were tanning. In Korra and Asami's case, they were happy to kick back and enjoy a book, letting the cool breeze hit them. Best of all, among the crowds, people seemed too engrossed in their own activities to bother the pair.
CLICK
"Did you hear something?" Asami asked.
"Nah, you're worrying too much," Korra answered. "You're too focused on what you're reading."
"Maybe I should focus more on you then," Asami joked, putting the book down after placing a bookmark inside.
"Huh, I'll show you a real page turner," Korra giggled.
CLICK CLICK
"OK, I heard something," Asami protested, her flirting tone completely gone. She looked around to see what the source of the noise was, but other than a group of kids playing in the sand, failed to find anything that would make such a sound. Korra surveyed the area, before noticing a faint light from the sand.
"Give me a second.
WOOSH!
A gust of wind from Korra's hand blew aside a pile of sand, revealing a rather ingenious setup. A man, buried under the sand save for several small air holes so he could breathe, had his camera hidden so he could take pictures of the relaxing couple. The sight of the paparazzi annoyed Korra to no end, emphasized by the fireball forming in her hand.
"I'm going to warn you once. LEAVE."
The photographer quickly took the hint, taking his camera and running down the beach. Korra, however, wasn't done.
"Anyone else want to come out? I'm giving you one chance for me NOT to break your cameras and your hands. Come out and I'll let you go."
Two men immediately emerged from the sand and ran off, cameras in tow. Korra could only put her hand on her forehead in annoyance.
The restaurant Asami had picked out for dinner was much like the CEO herself, high class and put a premium on attention to detail. As she sat down at a window seat with Korra, a busboy leaving a basket of garlic rolls for the pair, Asami hoped now she could finally relax.
"I've gotta admit, hiding in the sand to take photos is a new one," she confessed. "There's something to their persistence."
"Yeah," Korra replied as she had a bite of one of the garlic rolls. "Annoyance. You know hard it is to do anything without the press asking me questions? 'Why haven't you fixed the world?' 'Why am I still so fat?' People think I can just snap my fingers and everything will get fixed."
"Hey," Asami answered. "It's better than everyone looking at you like this." Her words were accompanied by a stereotypical sneer that caused Korra to laugh, before offering a sigh.
"Our jobs don't offer much time for a social life, do they?"
"Well that's why we're here now," Korra reassured Asami, only to be interrupted by a knock on the window. Looking out towards the street, Asami shook her head while Korra looked on at the disturbance.
"Don't make eye…dammit, too late."
"It is her!" the man on the street yelled. "It's Avatar Korra!"
"Avatar Korra! Sign my pro-bending helmet!"
Asami buried her hand in a napkin, doing her best not to scream. "Next time, fourth floor."
"Oh come on," Korra reasoned. "It's not so bad. It's not like anyone is…HEY!"
I got her basket of rolls! I got Korra's basket of rolls!
The pair could only stare at each other as Asami laid down a few yuans to cover the bread that was served.
"Back door?"
"Back door."
…And now, a new group of Saints has arisen, with all the power and courage of the Saints of old!
Carrying a pair of hotdogs along with large sodas, Korra and Asami did their best to go inside the theatre without making a huge fuss. The dinner they had acquired from the snack bar was nowhere near as lavish as what they were going to get, but at this point, neither was all that picky.
The previews were all set to finish when a fairly large man sat next to them, sniffling as he did so. He was loudly talking about something concerning the preview, but it was incomprehensible to the pair.
"Um, sir," Asami asked as politely as she could. "Could you please keep the noise down?"
"What, you think you're better than me?" the man answered. "I work 40 stinking hours a week in the factory, and I wanna unwind! I don't need two tourists telling me how to behave!"
Oh good, Korra thought as she heard the man. People don't even NEED to know I'm the Avatar to act obnoxious!
"Look, can you please keep it down?"
"Sure I-ACHOO!"
Both Korra and Asami looked on at their hotdogs, covered in mucus from the man's sneeze. His callous attitude instantly turned apologetic.
"Oh, I am so sorry. Let me give you some money for it. I swear, I didn't mean to, but I've been sick the past couple of days, and no time off, and I've been irritable. I really don't mean to…"
"It's fine," Asami said, heading out the door with Korra. "Don't worry about it."
Their hearts froze as soon as they saw the crowd of press and curious onlookers in the front of the hotel. So they did the only thing that they realistically could. They went into the back.
"Fifth floor, right Asami?"
"Korra, are you sure about this?"
"Sure, I've been practicing with the cables."
The 'cable' was a metalbending grappling hook thrown into the thankfully open window, allowing the pair to bypass the lobby and the people waiting to ambush them. Korra had been thankful that when she got in, she wanted to let fresh air into the apartment. Now Asami held onto Korra as she retracted the line, allowing them both safe passage into the building.
The pair were about to sit down and relax when the light flicked on. Both looked on to see the source of the disturbance, only to find a man sitting down on the sofa chair by the king-sized bed.
"Honored Avatar. I'm glad I finally found you."
"Uh, Korra?" Asami asked confused. "Who is that?"
"Officer Kanan of the Spirit-Human Relationship Bureau, ma'am. I'm here to escort Avatar Korra to the airport as per Minister Chanming's orders."
"What?" Korra asked, failing completely to hide the fury in her voice. "Why?"
"You're needed for a press conference concerning legalization of non-bender weapons. It's not optional."
"Look pal," Asami began, only for the man to raise his hand.
"Please don't interrupt official SHRB business ma'am." This prompted a retort not from Asami, but from Korra!"
"Hey! I cannot remember the last time I've had a vacation, and I have taken months to plan this. You will be just fine for a few days without me, OK? Now go back to Republic City and tell him whatever stupid thing Chanming's cooked up for me to keep me busy can wait."
"Ma'am," the officer began, his voice starting to tremble as Korra approached him, "you have to return. The minister demands it…"
"Let me show you what the minister demands," Korra replied, placing a hand on him."
"What is t…aAAAAAAHH!"
Asami gasped at Korra nonchalantly picked the man up and threw him right out the window, but Korra just smiled.
"I left him a little air cushion on the ground. He's fine, just shaken up." With their intruder out of the way, Korra shook her head as she turned to Asami.
"I'm sorry. I know you had this planned out for a while, but it would be so much easier if I wasn't here."
"What are you talking about?" Asami asked. "I wouldn't even be here if I wasn't going to be with you."
"Asami, but the whole day…"
"One day," she reassured Korra. "We still have six more days, heck, we can stretch it to eight if we really want to."
"Tomorrow will definitely be better," Korra answered, her mood considerably brightened by both her company and the reassurance that she had more time to actually enjoy herself.
"Now come on. Let's relax. I know some things we can do."
Korra nodded, but instead of doing what Asami thought she was going to do, looked at a brochure on the nightstand by the bed. "Hey, they have movers on demand! And room service!"
"That wasn't what I…room service?"
Epilogue
"Look at them go!"
Sitting in one of the box seats at the Ember Island track, the various racecars roared through the narrow streets to the delight of the spectators. Even Korra was impressed by the sheer speed of the vehicles, although Asami offered a smirk.
"I betcha I could make a car that goes faster."
"Well why didn't you enter one?" Korra teased.
"Had to focus on the home sector. Next year when we have more money to throw around. At least we get nice seats."
"Sure, but did we have to sit in front of Emperor Bunnicus?" Korra asked, looking at the somewhat eerie fast food mascot that was placed in a seat behind them. She could only wonder how much Woo Loo's Buns had paid for the publicity stunt.
"Eh, he's OK. He's not stealing our lunch." Both girls laughed as members of the press began taking pictures of people in the box.
"You think we should?" Korra asked. Asami nodded.
"They know we're here. Just smile and nod. They'll be focusing on creepy Bun guy anyway."
CLICK
If it sounds like a reference, it probably is.
As for the story itself, it's an interesting challenge for me to write as a heterosexual male - Write a story about two bisexual women, and make it work and not be smut. That and just get all the Korra out of my system. All of it. Hopefully you enjoyed.