Fuck It. AtLAland Secret Santa Gifts

[beckyh2112]

They are in the comments. There are a lot of them. Because I wrote a fuckton for this.

suzukiblu was my giftee. dark_puck and spyridona are my buddies. neldluva, crystaldrake, and banditjoeykuba are also my people. chameleon_pete and takatohedgehog got random things written for them for various reasons.

Comments

For neldluva: Catching Fire

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

'There is a firebird haunting the land,' the peasants said to her father. How could they pay their due to their lord when the phoenix burned their crops and scorched the very stones of the earth?

Her father fretted, because he was the worrying sort. Mai, however, merely checked her weapons. The peasants were correct - no one could expect them to give to their lord with a monster terrorizing them, and she knew her father well enough to know he could not face a phoenix. But it was a noble's duty to protect their people. If her father could not, then Mai would.

She left in the dead of night, quiet as smoke.

It took her two days to reach the mountains where the phoenix supposedly nested. The land all around was scorched bare, and the smell of smoke was heavy in the air.

She did not make a fire that night. This was not a place to attract attention in.

As she lay down to sleep on the burned earth, a dazzle of red brilliance caught her attention. It came blazing down out of the mountains, and she shielded her eyes as it drew closer. Through a crack in her fingers, she could just make out burning feathers. It passed overhead with the roar of flames and the scream of a hunting hawk.

Firebird.

The heat of its passing hit like an oven, and Mai licked her suddenly dry lips. Could she really-?

She had to. It was her duty.

(It was the most exciting thing she had ever done, and her heart still pounded from the thrill of seeing the phoenix in flight.)

The roar of its return woke her near-dawn, and she watched it fly into the mountains, marking the peaks it disappeared between. Then she gathered her supplies and set off after it. The mountains were barren crags of rock, sharp and hard. The ground cut her shoes, the slabs of rock tore at her clothes. But near sunset, she heard a trickle of water, and she veered from her course to follow it.

She found a small valley. Lush, verdant, green. Growing with ancient, ancient trees. Streams poured down from the sides of the mountains cupping it to gather in a pool. Tired, sore, and dirty as she was, she made her way there to at least wash her face.

She dipped her hands into the water and flinched at its coldness. But she gathered up a handful and splashed it on her face, scrubbing away the dirt and tiredness.

When she lowered her hands, there was a man behind her reflected in the pool. She took him in - soot-black hair, ash-pale skin, fire-red clothes embroidered with gold. Long hair and long beard like one of the great desert kings. Older, as old as her father, but handsome nonetheless. Very handsome.

Heat hit her like an oven, and she plunged her hands into the pool.

His mouth quirked in a smile, and a flaming wing brushed her shoulder. The sleeve of her outfit burned away, baring her left arm and all of its myriad concealed sheathes of weaponry.

His smile widened, and Mai feared to turn to see what the phoenix might actually look like.

"Fierce little pretty little noble daughter. Did you come to fight me?"

Her lips were dry again. She licked them before she spoke, and the heat somehow became even more intense. "Yes."

He threw back his head and laughed, and she heard a city burning in the sound of it. "To what purpose, fierce little pretty? I am the firebird. Reduce me to ash, and I will ignite myself anew."

"I did not say I would kill you," Mai said levelly, and the phoenix suddenly focused on her, bright and hot and intense. "But I cannot allow you to rampage among my father's people."

In the water, his hand touched her hair, but she felt the hardness of a beak arrange the fine black locks. "Pretty little fierceness." A hawk's beak, sharp curved and more massive than any bird in her father's aviary, lightly stroked her scalp. "I think I'll keep you. That seems a fine bargain, does it not?"

"No." She whirled, kukri sliding into her hand, and stabbed upward.

The phoenix laughed in delight.

End

Re: For neldluva: Catching Fire

[blue-lacquer.livejournal.com]

Very nice! It's good to see Mai in action, and that is one creepy phoenix. :)

Re: For neldluva: Catching Fire

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Mai in action remains awesome. Someday, I will get a picture of her with a kukri, since I keep giving her and Mao one. <3

Ozai is a very creepy phoenix.