(Untitled)

[fn_rebel]

Characters: fn_rebel, deadlydebutante
When: Post-event.
Where: Queen Anne's Row.
Rating: PG. Might go up for Jet's psycho.
Summary: Jet managed to fight himself into unconsciousness with Mai as his caretaker, much to his distaste.

Comments

[deadlydebutante]

Mai wasn't usually all that readable, but it was clear when Jet opened the door and approached her that she was at least mildly surprised

[fn_rebel]

“No kidding.” There was still a good amount of snark in his tone. His dark eyes lingered on her, scanning for something, anything, that might tell him why she was here. She didn’t belong, he’d warned her. his thoughts raced through his mind, breaking only when she stepped by him. Roughly, he bumped his shoulder to hers, feeling weak. That was the most he could do? It made him feel disgusted with himself, and he stubbornly folded his arms over his chest.

Because he was going to stand his ground

[deadlydebutante]

"Where do you think?" Mai tried not to sound resentful in her response. But she didn't try to hide her annoyance. She ignored the bump of the shoulder. Odds are it hurt him more than it hurt her, regardless of how bony she was. She continued inside and set down the clean bandages on a table before glancing at him over her shoulder.

"She's out healing the poor people who are worse off than you." With an internal sigh, she walked over to Jet but stopped short of trying to catch Jet before falling.

Sure, this could be a step towards a diplomatically savvy gesture, but it wouldn't be well-met if she didn't respect his space. Instead, she went back to the table and pulled out a chair, letting it screech unceremoniously before completely lifting it off the floor. She brought it over to Jet and set it down in front of him.

"You're stuck with me. This can be quick and I can leave, or you can fight it and hurt yourself in the process."

[fn_rebel]

He stared indignantly at her, wondering how much chaos the city was in before he slipped out of consciousness. The bump did hurt him, but so did everything else. His arms, his legs, his abdomen; he didn’t need her help though. Adstring had shown him no mercy in the past, the last thing he needed her seeing were the numerous scars that covered his chest and arms, and the hideous ones across his palms. She was, after all, still the enemy, and that wasn’t about to change anytime soon.

“I’ll fight and hurt myself in the process before you lay a hand on me.” His tone was finally starting to feel more demanding, more confident. If he was lucky, she’d catch the hint. He’d tend his own wounds later, or maybe have someone he trusted to do it. Not her. injured as he may be, Jet would always be defiant

[deadlydebutante]

"Heh." Mai immediately regretted the smug laugh that escaped her lips at the notion that Jet would further incapacitate himself for the sake of spiting her. "It's kind of too late for that, sorry."

She too avoided the hateful expression on Jet's face. She probably deserved some of it, for being born into a place of privilege, if anything. It didn't mean she had to necessarily like it. Jet may not think so, but she wasn't Azula. She didn't relish in people's fear. Which is what this was.

"For all your talk, I've never seen you ever once try to attack me." Mai idly responded, lining up the bandages. "So, I'm usually one to follow orders when given to me, and your girlfriend's brother made quite a point to make sure you were cared for." She lightly sighed, not giving any signs of leaving. "So I would recommend taking it up with him."

[fn_rebel]

He growled, trying to keep to himself. A part of him was relieved his swords weren’t here, the other part, the part even he found hard to control, wished they were so he could make one good swing at her. Just enough to make it hurt, a clean cut. Gripping the sheets, he shook his head to dismiss the darkness that lied in those thoughts. From what he knew, she wasn’t a firebender, but she was still from the Fire Nation. That, he would admit, was something that would continually blind him. He would never be able to stop judging any background from there, and it almost made him feel disappointed in himself. He was letting people he cared about down with that mentality. But it wasn’t his fault.

They took everything away from him.

“Yeah, I gave my word I wouldn’t, so don’t push it, okay?” His words managed to escape through his teeth, though it wasn’t so much in aggression as is pain by now. His wounds were reminding him what he’d endured. “I already told you, Katara’s not my girlfriend. You can go run and tell Sokka that I

[deadlydebutante]

Mai's eyebrows raised, but that was it. She leaned against the table nonchalantly, finally taking the opportunity to cross her arms over her chest.

"There's one benefit of being from the Fire Nation in this case." Mai tried to maintain an air of humility, as though her heritage was something she held an inkling of regret for. After this event, that wasn't entirely false, but--"I can recognize what damage can be left untended, and what needs attention." At that, her amber eyes looked Jet up and down once-over, and she shifted her weight. "And while I don't think all of your bandages need to be changed, I can think of at least two or three that will get really gross if you don't let me freshen them up." Surely he wanted to die in a blaze of glory, not from an infection, right?

Hopefully he didn't want to die at all.

That feeling probably wasn't reciprocated. Hmph.

She paused for a moment. "You seem the opportunistic sort. If you let me do as I'm told, I'll offer a favor in return. With stipulations."

[fn_rebel]

Her words made him tense, and that made the blood rush and the pain surface. He was doing his best to stay quiet, to do anything but snap, but it was getting hard. Jet wasn’t taught self-control, not after what life had forced him to experience. He was a loose-canon, and well aware of it, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be. If Sokka sent Mai, then clearly he trusted her. He trusted her to deal with his friend, and Jet knew the other boy would never put him in harm’s way. But still.

He thought about when he was on edge. Back when he was losing it, when he tried to break down his mentality to Sokka, and Sokka didn’t get it. the war wasn’t a part of Adstring, but the war would always be a part of Jet. The war made Jet who he was today. The war made him hate. He couldn’t shake it off anymore; he couldn’t put his anger aside. He turned sharply, ignoring whatever backlash his wounds gave him, and let the words come out.

“You’ll give me a favor? Do you have any idea what your people did to me? They ripped everything I

[deadlydebutante]

Mai listened to Jet's ranting diatribe about the ills that soldiers, Ozai, people she'd never even exchanged words with did to this broken boy. She didn't respond, but instead walked over to the pillow that Jet threw, and picked it up.

She fluffed it a few times, slapping it firmly, and a familiar scent wafted up from its stuffing. What was it? A charred smell? No...

"I am sorry for everything that you went through." Mai wasn't used to saying those words, but it was clearly what Jet was looking for, wasn't it?

She walked over to his bedside, and extended the hand with the pillow so he could "roughly" snatch it with what little strength he could possibly have. She was used to Zuko's fits of rage. This wasn't much different. She would never understand why expressing one's discontent had to be such a show, but maybe this guy liked negative attention?

"You mean Azula's?" Of course that's what he meant.

[fn_rebel]

“I don’t want your sympathy.” He wanted her to know, not just her, the entire nation. He wanted them to suffer, the way he had to. In the back of his mind, he knew they never would. They wouldn’t lose an entire village, they wouldn’t watch everything they’d ever loved burn right before them. They wouldn’t have to be self-reliant in order to survive, especially not as children, but the thought of pity made Jet cringe. It would be the last thing he ever wanted, from a firebender or anyone

[deadlydebutante]

"Ty Lee's weakness is boys." Mai snorted, half in jest. She retreated from the bedside, and returned back to the bandages, collecting them so she could treat Jet's wounds at his bedside.

She pulled the chair she had originally moved to the bedside, and sat. She set the bandages on her lap, and looked down at them. "It's not that hard to figure out Azula's, when you've been close to her."

Her eyes lifted, sharp and full of a resentment that could be seen as familiar, if Jet ever had the chance to see his own reflection. Maybe she hadn't suffered the way Jet had, but at least he was free. He wouldn't know what it was like to be a hostage in your own home. Living in a guilded cage like a songbird sharing a room with a loose python. He didn't have to care for watching his step, or his mouth, for that matter. He never had to question if the very words he breathed into a lover's ear were to be distorted and used against him when he waked in the morning. He never had to fear that volunteering to play the 'rebels' in childhood games would

[fn_rebel]

He didn’t respond, having already used charm against Ty Lee. Charm which led to luring her which led to his blades at her neck. But he got his point across and, for the sake of everyone else, apologized to her. She was different than both Mai and Azula, even if he didn’t care for any of them. She was easier to swallows his pride for.

He had freedom in all those years when all he needed was guidance, which was something he would never admit aloud. The look in her eyes was easy enough to catch onto, and he did acknowledge it. to him, it meant she was just as unhappy to be here, just as unhappy to help him. It kept them enemies as far as he was concerned, and he wouldn’t dare question it on chance there was another meaning behind it. He didn’t want to hear Fire Nation sob stories; he knew it was nothing he would feel bad for. Because while they had everything, he had nothing

[deadlydebutante]

"And I already betrayed her."

Mai gently took Jet's arm, and looked down at it with a thoughtful frown. The faint dark blotches peeking through the cloth showed that the blood appeared to have stopped, but it took a while. She set the arm down on her knees and reached into a sleeve slowly, so as not to cause any undue alarm in the--was he Earth Kingdom? It was hard to tell--the rebel, Jet, that's all she knew. Maybe he refused to align with any sort of establishment.

That...well, it seemed sad, although Mai could get a faint idea of those perks.

She pulled out one of her knives and set it on the mattress for Jet to inspect. She didn't need to be accused of harming him, but the tools offered to cut the bandages were dull, and would tug at his arm more than was necessary. It would only hurt him more. A clean cut would make things easier.

[fn_rebel]

"Does she know that?" The question seemed general enough. Jet didn't learn that he'd died until he got here, with the time change and all and if anything her response left him somewhat inrtigued. She'd already betrayed.

So what was a second time?

Pursing his lips, the freedom fighter did all he could to hide his pain. The longer he was awake, the more everything seemed to hurt. The simple movements made him cringe, and he mentally noted that the opposite arm may be broken. He didn't want to look at the damage, so he didn't. He did, however, look up when she held up the knife she would be using to cut the bandaging. In return to the gesture, he rolled his eyes, like he wasn't paranoid. Like he didn't give her a reason to make sure he knew what she was about to do.

"What happened? When you betrayed her?" Overall, his mood seemed to have mellowed. He wasn't tense or aggressive. His gaze was still locked with the ceiling and he looked pretty deep in thought, piecing something together.

[deadlydebutante]

Mai shrugged at the rolling of Jet's eyes, and proceeded to cut through the bandages. The blood had started crusting against his skin, but luckily the bandages weren't sticking.

"If she does, she's handling it a lot better than last time. But I doubt it. She's letting Ty Lee stay with her, after all." Mai took some damp cotton and lightly stroked it across Jet's arm to clean off the dried-over blood. Her movements were deft, not spending any more time than necessary over Jet's injuries. She knew he wanted this done quickly, and Mai was quick with her hands.

Mai didn't have to pause in order to remember how Azula responded when Mai turned against her. She wasn't keen on giving this actively loathing individual the scandalous details of her captivity, nor did she want any of this getting back to Azula before its time

[fn_rebel]

“Ty Lee’s living with her?” He didn’t know that bit, but remembered he wasn’t exactly around for Azula’s arrival. It was a thought he would push aside for now, maybe ask more about later. He couldn’t help but feel like he was opening old wounds, old fights, but he couldn’t stand not knowing or understanding. Or being prepared