Traditions
"If you'll follow me, I would be honored to escort you around. Varrick instructed how crucial it was for you to see...everything."
Asami nodded, her eyes wide with hesitant curiosity. Before they ventured into the unknown, she swiped the glass of alcohol Varrick had placed in front her and drank the entire thing in one fell swoop.
After about forty five minutes of Mae's grand tour, Asami and Iroh were both a few drinks down and feeling a strong buzz. Asami held onto his arm tightly as they fumbled through half-naked bodies to the individual rooms in the back of the corridor. They pushed through a passageway and Asami plopped down on a large, velvet heart-shaped bed. The entire room was in shades of red and pink conveying an obnoxious rendition of Valentines day decoration. The bright colors were nauseating to her drunken fatigue but she ignored them.
Asami put her head in her hands and took some deep breaths. "I don't believe this..." She breathed.
Iroh plopped down beside her and laid on his back, the alcohol hitting him a bit harder than his counterpart. "The Fire Nation has red rooms, whole palaces dedicated to these type of services...I'm not surprised."
"No I dont care about the sex," Asami replied. It was jarring at first but surprisingly you assimilate to it very quickly. She laid down beside him and they both looked up at the ceiling in hazy thoughts.
"Just...all of this...An entire underground network, like the skeleton of this city hidden in plan sight."
No wonder she felt so inadequate when it came to running her company or holding her share in technology. It was damn near impossible to keep her business afloat amongst the vultures of larger corporations. What good were all those efforts when everyone else was dealing under the table? She never stood a chance!
"It's all one big monopoly.."
"I think we should sign it." Iroh spoke confidently.
Asami rolled over to face him, casually placing a hand on his chest. "You do?"
"Why not Asami? You'd just be doing yourself a disservice if you ignore his offer to help Sato Industries..."
Asami ran her hand down his stomach absentmindedly. The buttons of his shirt dragged under her fingernails as she traveled toward his naval. "If I had known I was walking head first into a trap I might not have.."
She listened to the provocative music playing from the speakers in the room and rolled her eyes...Some trap..
Iroh rested his hand on Asami's upper thigh and squeezed it lightly, "Just play your cards right, he wasn't lying when he said you were an intelligent woman"
She sighed, her mind feeling more exhausted than her body. There wasn't one person she saw in here tonight that wasn't a CEO, diplomat, any other title that didn't hold some sort of power. He was right unfortunately...
"Let's do it."
She got up from the bed and wobbled her way toward the door. Her heels were digging into her feet and she was now painfully sore. Peeking her head out she searched around for their escort. After eyeing several scantily clad women she spotted her young doppelgänger. Mae crossed from one room into another with quick and easy strides. Asami watched as she expertly trotted in her heels that were probably six inches in higher than her own. Her legs looked incredibly long and sculpted. A beautiful girl, but not really as muscular as Asami's "type".
The heiress ran after her and dipped behind the heavy curtains.
"Mae," Asami called, "You may take us back to Varrick, I ready to talk with him now..."
Mae turned and gave her a quick nod, "Of course. One moment.." She turned back around to finish what she was doing and noticed Asami was still standing behind her. She shot a skeptical glance over her shoulder. "D-do you need something else?"
Asami cocked her hip to one side and studied Mae for a second. She couldn't help but over think their initial introduction. She seemed too caught off guard to be acting this naive.
"Do you know who I am?" she asked softly.
Mae straightened up and cupped her hands. "Of course I do, You're Asami Sato, who doesn't know who you are-"
She took a step forward, "You know what I mean.."
"I don't think I do." Mae retorted.
Asami hummed, "Tahno owns this place, and his closest friend is Korra of the southern water tribe...my ex-girlfriend."
Of course he would have shown her this hole in the wall. Especially since Korra is involved with diplomacy centered around her tribe and several representatives frequent this place.
Mae nodded, "Oh? I wasn't aware-"
"Korra's been here hasn't she?" Asami interrupted.
Mae blushed, denying the flashbacks coming to the fore-front of her mind. "That is confidential information, I'm not allowed to speak on whose been down here."
"Right, I guess I just can't help but notice our resemblance..." Asami added.
She looked around like she was tracing her thoughts with her eyes. If Korra was here...Mae would for sure be her type and she would definitely pursue her. If there was a woman like Korra, Asami could admit the temptation would be there and hard to ignore.
Or maybe Asami's own subconscious was just wishing Korra still wanted her in some capacity. That she would seek out a substitute to fill that void. That's not wrong of her...
Mae tilted her head, the heiress looked just as hopeless as Korra was. Like they were both searching for each other by denying it at the same time.
"There's no shame down here..." She whispered.
Asami looked at her in shock, like she was reading her mind. Mae walked toward the exit and pulled back the curtain, "Now that you're a member here Miss Sato. I wouldn't be shy to seek out some of our...amenities for your own benefit." Korra was and she wasn't even official yet, so why not she?
Asami arched her brow and walked out of the room. Maybe she just might..
Once they found their host, he picked up exactly where they left off. Asami wrote her name in thin, fine black ink and Iroh did the same shortly after. She couldn't help but feel like she was signing her life away as Varrick pleasantly watched. Once they were done he swiped the pages off the table and handed them to his attendant.
"Welp that's all I need from you now.." Varrick rejoiced.
"That's it?" Asami asked, she leaned forward confused. "We're not going to discuss percentages, copyrights, distributors, my father's arrest-"
"Oh no!" Varrick waved his hand, "I usually don't talk business when I've been drinking and quite frankly I am a few shots away from buying another deserted island I don't need!"
"...Another..." Iroh muttered.
"Well I'd like a copy of everything I've read over for my own records..."
"Loosen up Miss Sato! Celebrate Winter Solstice and we'll take care of everything sooner than you think!"
Varrick ordered her copies and offered to have one of his agents converse the details with her just to further ease her mind.
He stood up from the table and extended his palm, "You're in good hands Miss...I promise you that."
Asami swallowed, studying his eyes intensely. She took his hand and solidified their deal.
Mako bobbed his head to the upbeat rhythm of the music playing from his ear buds. He quietly mouthed the lyrics as he spun on his heel across the tile floor. His hair was damp from a shower and stomach growling for a freshly cooked breakfast.
He had a smoking hot pan of food in his left hand and a wooden spoon in his right. The smell of a well-cooked meats, eggs, and vegetables filled the air as he scooped a few heaping piles onto his plate.
He sung along to the bridge of the song, enjoying the upbeat tempo to the start of his day.
As he turned back around he jumped back at the sight of Bolin standing behind him. "Jeez!" He plucked one of the earphones out of his ear, "I didn't even hear you! I thought you were still asleep!"
Bolin patted his firm stomach happily, "I'm awake now!" He took the pan out of Mako's hand and started preparing a plate for him to eat as well. Mako only shrugged and made room for him in his small, studio-sized kitchen.
Bolin eye-ed his older brother as he prepared some toast to go along with his breakfast. "You're in a good mood,"
Mako shrugged, "I am?" He opened his fridge and fished around for the gallon of cold-brew he made the previous day.
Bolin's face twisted deviously, Mako seemed a little lighter on his feet than usual. Definitely sporting that 'after-sex' glow as well...if he didn't know any better he'd say Mako's talk with Korra went very very well.
"The investigation must be going soothly then..." Bolin added with a child-like sarcasm.
Mako took the container out carefully and poured him self a glass of black coffee. "As well as not having any fucking leads in 38 hours..." He put the coffee away and dropped a few sugar cubs in his glass for taste.
"Still?" Bolin looked at his older brother sympathetically, "Sorry bro. I'm sure something will come up."
"Yeah," Mako sighed, "Korra's getting clearance for the Police department to analyze security footage. Takes some time and a lot of paper work."
Bolin smiled deviously, "Speaking of Korra!"
"Don't start Bolin." Mako interrupted. He walked into his small dining room and sat down with his meal.
"Come on bro! Where's my update! One minute you're all lovely dovey and now what?"
Mako sighed, "She said she loved me, but we're not ready for that step yet. There's nothing else to say. Were friends...She's helping with the case. That's it." He shrugged.
Bolin sat across from him at his small wooden table. "And well what about...y'know..."
"She's actually not doing that anymore..." He chewed his eggs casually. "So...that's something." Mako left out the threesome from the other night for obvious reasons.
Bolin swayed his head from side to side, "that's...good?"
"Yeah," Mako shrugged, "It's good, why wouldn't it be?"
Bolin began eating his food as he pondered Mako's rather casual response. Was he missing something? After a few spoon fulls he spoke again, "Sooo just friends huh..."
Mako rolled his eyes, "What are you getting at Bolin?"
"Okay! So Opal is in Zaofu for Winter break and she's miserable and she's been dropping hints that she might be flying out here." He laughed, "She's not very good at keeping surprises so I wanted to surprise her with my own surprise!"
"And what does that have to do with me?"
"Well...I might need to borrow your place for the night?" Bolin offered a cheeky smile, "If you know what I mean."
Mako shoveled more food into his mouth, "You're kicking me out of my own apartment to fuck your girlfriend..nice."
"Just for a night, or day...or two...can you blame me! I miss her so much!" Bolin swayed in his chair like the hopeless romantic he was. "Mako...it's been a long time-"
"I don't need to know that!"
"I figured since when you're not here you're either at work or with Korra. And since Korra will be with you while you're out patrolling and what-not. It only makes sense..."
"I can't ask to crash at her place." Mako shook his head and got up once he took his last bite of food.
"Why not?" Bolin asked, "You think she'd mind?"
Mako was more concerned about what happens when him and Korra are alone together. They're either fighting or fucking...or both. Korra also doesn't need the temptation interfering with her newly formed mindset of laying low from the sexual escapades.
"Don't worry about it...uh I'll find somewhere, just let me know when."
"You sure?" Bolin asked.
"Yeah bro, I'll do you a solid."
Bolin popped up from his chair and wrapped Mako in a tight bear hug. His strength picked his brother up a few inches from the ground. "thank you thank you thank you!"
"Yeah yeah yeah" Mako laughed as he dropped him.
Bolin was gleaming, "You know I was also thinking of a possible double date! Since you and Korra are cool now, she can be like a friendly plus one-"
"No." Mako retorted, leaving before his brother could get another word in.
-O-
Korra jogged down the side walk, feeling the crisp morning air cushion her body. Naga happily pranced beside her as they finished another mile of their morning run. Her breath made clouds of vapor as she breathed through her nose and out from her mouth.
Taking some time to herself while also getting her adrenaline pumping was doing great for her mental and physical health. She found it way more productive than sulking over a cup of coffee every morning.
Her phone began to ring through her earbuds and she verbally answered the call. "Hello?"
"Morning princess.."
"Speak of the devil..." Korra teased.
"And she shall appear..." Kuvira joked, "Up early for another workout?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" Korra stopped at a cross walk but kept her pace by hopping in place.
"Didn't mean anything by that, just asking..wanted to grab a bite before you left for work."
"Sorry, after this I'm heading to the museum with Mako..." As the car passed, Korra waved good-morning before stepping off the sidewalk to continue her run.
"Oh blowing off some steam before hand?" Kuvira purred.
Korra blushed, "I don't know what you're talking about?"
"I mean you gotta use up all your energy some how...Don't think I haven't noticed..."
"I'm not working out for any other reason..."
"Sure, sure..." Kuvira smirked. "How are you holding up?"
"It's been two days Kuvira...I'm fine..." Korra scoffed.
"I believe you...it's just that you'll be with Mako a lot these next few days and-"
"And I'll be perfectly professional the entire time." Korra turned down her block and began jogging toward her townhome. "What's on the agenda for you today?"
Kuvira was silent for a moment, "I'll be...out with Prince Wu.."
Like clock work Prince Wu was summoned out of thin air and snatched the phone from Kuvira, "Hello? Korra?"
The princess laughed at the sound of Kuvira cursing in the background, "Hi Prince Wu."
"I'm taking Kuvira on a little spa day today!"
"Oh really?" Korra seemed genuinely shocked.
"It's the least I can do...She's helped me out so much so far..."
Korra arched her brow skeptically, "You had no one else to go with you huh?"
"Unfortunately!" Wu exclaimed, "But this will be good for her nonetheless, soften the worry lines on her forehead and get her mind off her divorce-"
Kuvira shoved Wu away after giving him some choice words, "I'll call you later Korra.."
She laughed, "Alright, talk to you then."
They went inside and Korra gave Naga a few extra treats for sticking with her extended workout for the day. So what if Kuvira was right? Korra was adjusting to her new way of life for the time being. She needed to fill that space with something else, something just as vigorous and fulfilling. Sex didn't have to be the center of everything.
She quickly showered, dressed, and headed out for the day.
Detective Mako approached two armed officers and flashed his shiny new badge. They allowed him inside and remained on watch by the double doors. He entered the dark cramped box that was the CCTV room with two cups of coffee in his hands.
The monitors displayed before him reached from the desk where Korra sat up toward the ceiling showing every angle of the museum from various surveillance cameras. The princess looked like a mindless drone, thumbing threw frame by frame of footage with little to no enthusiasm. Mako sat beside her and handed her one of the cups of coffee.
Korra sat back with a small look of surprise, "Thanks." She took the cup and after a few moments to blow on the steam she carefully sipped the brew. Her brows shot up as a sweet and salty taste melted on her tongue. The bitter, black cup of coffee she was expecting turned out to be a bittersweet hazelnut blend with salted vanilla foam on top...her favorite order to drink.
She glanced at Mako from the corner of her eye as she took another sip.
"Nothing yet I'm assuming?" Mako asked as he checked each individual screen to see no unusual activity.
"No," This was so tedious and they had only just started a few hours ago.
"I know it's a lot, thank you for doing this with me." Mako shifted his gaze to her briefly.
"Yeah, no problem." Korra blinked, a soft smile on her face.
Another hour passed with a few breaks in between and they hadn't spotted any leads. "Can't we just fast forward to the break in?" Korra asked.
Mako shook his head 'no', "Usually when people rob a place, they scope it out first. Which is why Beifong asked what you were doing the whole weekend. They have to know entry points, surveillance, etc."
"Oh right," She sighed.
"We don't think they work here so they're not familiar with the layout of the place." He eyed the time stamp to see they were about 12 hours before the robbery. "I'd be surprised if we don't catch a glimpse of them soon."
Korra nodded. Mako was so good at this. She couldn't help but feel so safe with him, like there was nothing to worry about in his care. He was so sure of himself, so confident that he wouldn't let her down. After catching herself lingering on his face too long she turned back to the screens.
After a few minutes in silence she hugged her arms and glanced around a tad awkwardly. The last time they were closed off in a small space they occupied their time a lot better than this. She found herself drifting toward boredom more than once.
"You don't have to be so quiet.." Mako chuckled.
"Sorry," Korra batted her lashes and glanced at the door where the officers stood, "Everything is just so serious and official. I don't want to fuck anything up."
"You're doing fine.."
Korra seemed to calm down when he said that, "You know, this is the first year I'm not going home for Winter Solstice..."
Mako frowned, "I feel bad now, you're doing this instead of enjoying a vacation." He sat back in his chair, bouncing his gaze from the monitor to Korra every few seconds. Her blue eyes were glowing in the dark room, reflecting the light from the surveillance footage.
"Nah, I already planned on staying. Everyone's in the city this year and I wanted to be with friends."
Mako smiled and Korra found herself leaning closer to him. "I'm an adult now and my parents can't really tell me what to do anymore."
"Are you gonna decorate your house? Buy presents? Sing carols?"
"I've never celebrated Christmas before," he could tell she was giddy to admit that, "I'd love to do all that cheesy shit!"
They both laughed and quickly quieted themselves once they realized they were a bit too loud. Mako opened his mouth to say something but then paused. Korra noticed his hesitation and wasn't going to leave it un-addressed.
"What?"
Mako looked away, "Just thinking of some Christmas traditions..."
"Like what? Don't tell me you still believe in Santa? There's no shame in that..."
Mako smiled crookedly, "You know about mistletoes?"
Korra hummed, "Yeah aren't they poisonous plants people put outside their doors on wreaths?"
"Well, that might be a myth...I don't think they're that deadly" Mako looked at Korra for a moment, like a picture was forming in his head. "When two people are under a mistletoe together...it's customary that they kiss."
Korra blinked, her heart beating a little faster as she kept a cool composure. "Really..." she smirked, her eyes drifting to his lips before shifting away. "I didn't know that.."
Mako shrugged bashfully. "Just something to think about."
Korra bit her lip as she seemed to almost share in his silent thoughts. They watched the footage together, allowing silence to fill the room again. The tension slowly began to build in this shared space. The heat of Mako's body only inches away from her suddenly became unbearably obvious. Korra glanced at the door again and noticed the shadows of feet under the frame. Having an audience never really stopped her before did it? How easy it would be to slip a hand into his lap-
Korra ripped her mind out of the gutter and tore her focus back to the investigation. As boring as this was she couldn't get caught up. She arched her back and stretched her arms high above her head eliciting a big yawn.
Mako shot a quick look at her breasts as she stretched, the fibers of her top blanketing the cups of her bra like a glove.
"The footage is really low quality..." He muttered, ripping his gaze back to the ongoing task. The sun had set on the day, and the security footage was grainy with strings of static.
"Yeah, the museum doesn't get much funding so we haven't made some necessary updates." Korra apologized. Those camera's were probably seven to eight years outdated.
"We'll make it work."
Korra huffed, not wanting their conversation to die out again. "So do you have any plans?"
"Even if I did they're canceled now.." Mako replied.
"Oh right, that was a dumb question." Vacation was obviously the last thing on his mind with this case currently ongoing.
"No it wasn't...We still get a break too. It's not good to be so burnt out."
"Oh, So let's celebrate then!" Korra turned to him, "What's something you do for Christmas, we'll do it together."
Mako paused and for a moment, folded under her gaze. His eyes trailed across her face and lingered on her lips as he fought the urge to embrace her. Korra probably didn't even realize how innately simple it was for her to pull on his heart strings so subtly. She always did though, she always cared about little things like that. Making him feel seen, and included.
He spent the past few years during Christmas break working or just enjoying a festive alcoholic beverage on his couch while watching sappy holiday movies he'd never admit to actually liking. Bolin was usually out of town with Opal and well...he didn't really have anyone else. Asami would send a nice gift and a card and he'd send one back but for the most part, he was pretty content being alone.
Now here she was, asking him what he liked to do and he so desperately just wanted to say...be with her. That was enough.
"umm.." Mako stammered. "Uh-"
"Here!" Korra exclaimed as she leaned toward one of the screens. "Right there!" She pointed at one camera in particular to see what looked like people walking around the perimeter of the building.
"Rewind it back." He ordered as he jotted down the time and which camera they spotted the potential robbers. Korra did as he instructed and once they caught the right frame she paused. Mako fiddled with the brightness of the footage and they were able to spot some blob-looking figures by the breaker box on the outside of the museum. "Hmm, maybe a man and a woman?"
"How do you know?" Korra asked.
"I measured the height of the breaker box and its position from the ground when we first scanned the museum. It's about four feet and stops just above her shoulders, so she can't be taller than 5'2-5'5 maybe." He pointed to the other blob, "He, is about a head taller than her, so like 6'2.."
"Wow," Korra sighed, "I don't think I would have ever put that together."
Mako smiled smugly, "That's why I'm the one with the badge..." He tugged on the collar of his shirt confidently.
Korra playfully rolled her eyes, "Yeah yeah, hot-shot."
Korra stood up and leaned over the desk to get a good look at the still image. Mako's hazel eyes trailed along Korra's spine and down her back side as he jotted down what they had discovered.
"If it was a little more clear-"
"Hold on." Mako promoted. He clipped the image and sent it over to the computer off to his left. He pulled up the image in a pretty advanced editing software and began enhancing the video clip. After about thirty minutes he was able to increase the quality only slightly.
Korra leaned over his shoulder and gasped as the pixels filled in the gaps of the grainy image.
"You recognize them?" Mako asked.
"Holy shit." Korra groaned. Her knees felt wobbly and she fell back into her chair and covered her face.
Mako turned, "Korra, who are they?"
The princess shook her head, this was all her fault...
"Korra if you know who they are-"
"a-at the gala..My uncle assigned two White Lotus guards to escort me the whole weekend..."
Mako looked back at the screen and realized the two figures did resemble the pair she was talking about. "But they were with you the whole time weren't they?"
Korra shook her head, "No.. I-I made a deal with them. They would escort me around during the meetings and all that, but then when I wanted to be alone" She paused and looked up at him so that he could clearly understand what she meant by being 'alone', aka fooling around with him. "They would leave me and do what they wanted..."
Mako inhaled a deep breath. "hmm"
"I shouldn't have been so careless!"
"Korra hold on." Mako gripped the back of her chair, "The gala was before the robbery...when the world's conference ended, they should have went home with your uncle right?"
"yes," Korra peaked between her fingers as rage pooled in her chest, "With my uncle..." It was almost as if a lightbulb went off above her head.
"That fucking asshole!" She exclaimed. She leaped up from her chair and started pacing in the small room. "I didn't even want those guards until he popped up out of nowhere and insist they follow me around! They were there every day! At every meeting! The gala! The crown viewing! He fucking planted them here! UGGGHHHH!"
"Korra calm down!" Mako cupped her shoulders and pushed her back down in her chair.
"There wasn't any sign of suspicion?" He knelt down in front of her calmly. "If he was planning this weeks ago-"
"No," Korra sighed, "They were perfect protocol. My uncle hates the Fire Nation but I didn't think he'd go to this much of an extreme! He's always been a grade A dick!"
"We can't go blaming the chief of the Northern Water tribe without actual, viable proof." He looked at the screen, "This is a good start, but not the end. We don't know if he's behind their actions, at least not yet."
Korra bowed her head as her bottom lip stuck out in a pout.
Mako hesitantly rested his palm on her knee. "Korra it's going to be fine."
"I wanted you to be wrong..." She whispered. She secretly hoped this wasn't going to lead back to her tribe and yet here they were, face to face.
Mako tried to look at her but she kept her head low like she was ashamed. He knew what she was referring too, their little disagreement back when she was being interrogated. He didn't mean for his words to act as a blanket statement.
"You have every right to judge the Water tribe just as harshly as they judge your people..."
"But I don't" Mako squeezed her knee and she somberly looked up at him. "You are defined by your character and your actions, not by where you come from" In his line of work, he knew first hand anyone was capable of acting in the pursuit of their own gains no matter their race.
"..I'll call my dad first, get his opinion on what I should do about getting a hold of my uncle. Then I'll let you know."
"Good," Mako spoke. "I appreciate that, in the mean time we'll be looking for them."
For a moment he wanted to forget the case and just console her. They've been stuck in this room for six hours and he didn't want to depart on a sour note. He stood up and offered her his hand to help her on her feet.
"So, when I was a kid...before our parents passed, my family and I would ride through down town and go on a little tour of all of the lights and decorations. The lantern festival was usually at that time, but we could never afford those large, fancy ones. So my father would buy those cheap little ones from street vendors and we'd each light one and release them into the sky...making one wish for the winter season. It's not an extravagant tradition but it's the oldest one I can remember."
Korra's heart swelled as she imagined the two of them surrounded by twinkling lights and delicious smelling street food.
She held his hand a bit tighter, completely taken aback by his willingness to share something so intimate with her.
"That sounds perfect Mako..."