[ @manojoaquin ]
Avoiding Joaquin wasn’t the hardest of jobs. Madi wouldn’t have normally bumped into him, so it was more of a “noticing Sisco in the distance and making sure to go the other way” than anything else. She felt a bit guilty over it, she did promise to bring him some coconuts, but the way he was subtly trying to convince her she was fire attuned, Madi just didn’t want to listen to him.
And then when the truth finally sank in, Madi kept avoiding him, because she didn’t want to admit that he was right. That he saw the truth right from the beginning. It was childish, yes, but it felt like she could still hold onto hope that none of it was real despite the fact that she couldn’t ignore the way her skin was constantly hot anymore, of the call of the fire when she past a simple campfire.
She couldn’t ignore the truth for too long, though, and today finally she got up and decided to go look for him. She got a couple of coconuts from a tree, cut up one of them and put a couple of mango pieces inside (the closest she could get to a coctail, she just hoped he also liked mangoes), and then headed off to find Sisco.
It took her a good hour before she came upon him, and she stopped for a moment in the distance - this was the last time to turn around and as stupid as it was, Madi considered it for a moment. But she needed to learn how to repress that power, how to shove it so far down that it would never hurt anyone. So she took a deep breathe, let it all out and walked up to him.
“Hello there,” she greeted with a smile, genuine, but also wary - not of him, of their conversation, of what she’d have to admit to him out loud, despite him already knowing everything. “Like I promised - thank you coconuts. With some extra, surprise mangoes, hopefully you like those, too.”