It all felt like every cd, every phone with a new music on was something precious to be kept and something important to keep safe. There was so little now compared to the vast variety they all had access to back in the outside world - and yet all of it just felt so amazing, so important. Maybe it was the over a decade of time she didn’t get a chance to listen to any music, but she didn’t care. It was just nice to have a selection again, and it was nice to be looking through the options with Kaz.
“Still can’t believe that none of these ever run out of battery life or charging,” she said with a small shake of her head as she looked down at her own mp3 player. If they ever actually started working like they were supposed to, running out of battery lives, it would be an extremely sad day for all of them. “What is your absolutely biggest wish that would be just incredible, if you just wish you could listen to here again?”
@kazxraval and tamyra try to burn the jungle, @akbartheolder stumbles onto them, it’s a hot mess after that
Emre was not having a good time. The stress of unraveling, his regrets (over his inability to uphold his lies, not over what he lied about) were catching up with him. And this...magical switch that seemed to happen overnight couldn't have come at the worst time.
Emre felt nauseated, dizzy and unbalanced. And like any sick animal, he crawled into the depths of the jungle near the falls to hide himself from everyone else. Iyaz would be fine; Iyaz wasn't burning anyone anymore. Emre needed to get a hold of himself; but his body felt light, darting, difficult to grasp. He hated it. He hated what was happening but he had to get over this. Work through it, overcome it. Excel at it. Return to his mates. That was the goal.
Unfortunately, because it seemed this day wasn't done with him. Emre smelled smoke.
He unfurled, half-propelling himself into the air as he did. "Fuck. What's -?" But the gust of air he expelled getting up seemed to flare the foliage around him. Emre tumbled (floated?) backwards in horror, the heat unbearable. "Fuck!!" he exclaimed, turning and pelting towards the waterfalls for salvation.
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
It was almost funny, how Kaz and Tamyra talked about burning the jungle to the ground, and then a few weeks later the jungle has handed them the tools to do so on a golden platter.
Or maybe silver, they didn't really have full control over their attunements to the fullest. This was going to be great, though. They were sure.
Some time later that certainty was less so.
"Fuck, can you-- fuck, Kaz, it's getting out of hand, it's getting--" Tamyra was trying to control her side but it seemed to be doing more harm than good and she had to start moving backwards at this point.
And then some rustling of leaves ND the underbrush came from behind her and she snapped around - she wasn't willing to be attacked from the back, but it also meant some of her focus dropped and her barely existing control also thinned even more. And stumbling out was.. "Emre?"
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
He could not hear Tamyra.
Kaz was too busy being a human flame thrower. Once he’d figured out the ability to unleash fire was literally at his fingertips, Kaz had been single-minded on scorching everything around him. There were cons of course, but not many as far as Kaz could tell so far.
Tamyra’s suggestion of going to the jungle only fueled his new-found pyromania. Perhaps personal revenge against Meridium factored in as well. The jungle was as good a place as any to play with fire.
And it was teetering on raging. A pocket of flames Kaz started on the ground merged with several larger ones Tamyra created. They focused on turning a tree into a tall spanning torch, and they might have done too good of a job at it.
It was blinding and brilliant all at once, and the hypnotic call of the fire let go of Kaz to turn and see Tamyra. And Emre.
He took only a few steps towards them and pointed above to a fiery tree top. “Look at that!” Proud, excited, possibly the happiest Kaz had been in a long time.
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Emre stared at the pair of them, his confusion (and perhaps even relief at not being the only one caught out in this fuckery) quickly fading into incredulity as he realized -
"You two did all this? Are you bloody mad?!" he coughed. A harmless expelling of smoke, in theory; but in Emre's uncontrolled, hyped-up state, the cough was a billow of air. Soft and pillowy, hardly harmful. Again, in theory; because that simple gust displaced the oxygen, which the fire eagerly snatched up out of the air; and the fire swelled. The trees caught in flame crackled, bright red sinking deep into their core.
There was a loud POP that startled Emre, as he reached forward towards Tamyra and Kaz, his big dark eyes staring in abject fear at the glowing trees before them. "Come - come come come! We have to run, we've got to -" POP POP POP POP
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
"It's the fucking jungle, it deserves to be burned down to the ground!" Emre sounded so annoyed, his voice sounded full of disbelief. Tamyra didn't want to get burned by the fire but seeing the jungle get what it deserved? Hell yeah, it was worth it. And if they could get all of it burned down? Everyone would thank them. She just needed to make sure they weren't getting burned in the process.
"It's going to be okay anyway, the rest of the beach is right there," she said, pointing to the side and glancing over only to freeze. The beach was there a couple of seconds ago, she could have sworn, she saw it in the corner of her eyes, it was right there!
"Fuck, of course it won't let us do it so easily," Tamyra cursed backing away. The fire suddenly flared up high and towering, the tree in front of them crackling loud, and then next thing she knew, the tree was falling and she was just rushing, jumping out of the way.
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Kaz could no longer hear as well as he’d like. From what was possible to discern from the distance, Emre was not as impressed with Kaz and Tamrya’s skills as they were.
Several loud cracks came-- the splitting of bark and limbs overhead. Kaz jumped back just in time for a tree to crash down, between himself and the others. Inches from taking out Kaz, and as he stepped back further, another limb behind him hit the back of his calf. He toppled over into the overgrowth.
He tried to get up, but the more he struggled the tighter the vines and tendrils became. “Hey!” Kaz shouted out angrily. The traded machete from Suresh hung at his side and for a moment it reassured him. Yet one arm became pinned in the soft greenery, as the other drawn back in a loop of sharp, slicing edge of leaves.
He called again, more panic in his tone as Kaz felt pulled beneath the foliage. Looking up, all he could see was fire, smoke, speckled sunlight that barely broke through gaps in the green.
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Emre looked from Tamyra to Kaz, the bright flames flickering and reflective against both their gorgeous, git faces. Emre was stupefied and alarmed at the same time; and he knew by the time his air-filled cough touched their playful fire antics, that it meant disaster.
Not for him, though. And Tamyra managed to hop nimbly away, but Kaz wasn't so lucky. (This time. Emre had a feeling that Kaz had a knack of being either very very lucky, or very very fucked. Today might be the latter.)
"Tam!" Emre grabbed a hold of her, pulling her close; but again his panic from all the uncontrolled flames made him flare gusts of air again, feeding the fire further. He cursed, fought to keep his emotions tamped down. "Where's Kaz - he's -"
He couldn't control the air enough to push through the smoke, but he did hear Kaz call out - indignant, more than afraid - and Emre pointed. "Tam, get the flames under control now! You can do it. I bloody can't do fuck all with bloody air, right - I'll get Kaz." He pulled out his own cutlass, wary. "You alright mate?" he shouted through the smoke, hoping Kaz could hear him. And hopefully quip something sarcastic back.
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
For a moment Tamyra thought both of them managed to safely get out of the falling tree's way, but then she looked back over her shoulder's while Emre was pulling her even further away, Kaz was down and struggling with the vines. The jungle definitely pulled out all the stops.
"TaM, gEt ThE fLaMeS uNdEr CoNtRoL," she mimicked Emre's words once he was already focusing on Kaz. It was unfair, really, to be mocking him, but she was frustrated - if she had her proper attunement, things would be fixed in no time, and now she had to get control of a flame that was completely and utterly out of control - something the water has never ever felt like.
"Stupid heart tree," she muttered, closing her eyes and trying to focus on the fire. "Stupid flames." She burst into a coughing fit when she tried to breathe in and calm herself enough to get a good sense of the fire, but it didn't work. "Stupid switcheru." She tried pulling the flames down, to make it smaller, but it just didn't work, it barely moved an inch. "Why couldn't we just keep what we had, it makes so much more sense. You just had to mess with us this time and then not even let them enjoy it." In her frustration, she pulled the fire, and to her shock, this time it moved, and suddenly most of the fire was moving towards her, surrounding her. Not how she planned this, but fuck, if she could just keep it at bay for a few moments while Emre got Kaz....
"GET MOVING GUYS, I AM NOT LETTING MYSELF GET ROASTED."
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Kaz could hear voices (tempers?) rising. One in particular called out to ask if he was alright. “You joking?? Am I alright? For fuck’s sake, Emre...”
He stopped squirming for a moment, had to think of the quickest way out of the predicament. Kaz began to inch an elbow into the mass of smaller knotted vines that pinned an arm to his side. He began to claim enough space there to twist his arm out and claw its way through the cover of foliage.
His hand shot up. Free. A ball of fire shot away from his palm, leaving behind a streak of searing pain. Someone should see it-- hopefully it wouldn’t land on them. “I’m over here!” Kaz shouted out and grabbed at the smaller vines cutting tight into his other wrist. He squeezed, and hoped he didn’t start a little inferno while in the tinderbox he’d been dragged into. Smoke rose, the green of vines began to shrivel and blacken before snapping away, one by one. Ooh. Nice trick. Kaz would remember that.
Finally he could reach his machete, and used it to chop away at the root of one particular thick, stubborn vine around his middle. He was getting out, he just didn’t know if he’d get out in time. "Emre!" Where was Tamyra?
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Kaz replied; there was the sarcastic bugger Emre had come to know.
Emre really should be more aggravated when Tamyra mimicked him - spot on accent, even if she made him sound like an utter muppet - only he couldn't help finding her hot. Pun not intended, but honestly. Could he stop thinking with his cock for once? Apparently not, and Emre couldn't help his wolfish grin, despite the smoke and flames.
"You love it," he said snidely, watching as she focused, took control of the flames after a few tries and a lot of Tamyra-style complaining. Emre counted out his paces, then leapt through once she'd pushed the fire back enough.
To reveal Kaz, leisurely chopping his way out of a vine. "You busy, darling? I can come back another time," Emre said, as if he was poking his head into Kaz's office. He used his own cutlass (where did Kaz get his? Emre's was bigger, and that was what really mattered, wasn't it) to swing one last heavy chop at a vine. Emre grabbed Kaz - but leapt back, hissing.
"You're hot," he said, before he realized the pun applied to Kaz as much as it did to Tam. He couldn't do anything subtle with his air, like create pressured distance to 'hold' Kaz without touching him; so Emre just held Kaz' shirt instead. "Tam - we're coming through!"
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Tamyra was not one to pull the danger onto herself often - no offense to anyone, but she preferred living and being okay. And yet somehow, in the last year or so, she's found herself in positions where she was in much more danger than she'd liked. And the fire surrounding was helping Kaz get out, but it coming for her now, and sweat was beading down her forehead as she tried to keep it at bay. She could feel the power under her fingers, she could feel it having a huge force, but the control kept slipping out, smaller and bigger trails of fire searing towards Emre and Kaz and the fucking vines that were grabbing Kaz, and just when she pulled back the ones that slipped out, other trails broke off and headed towards the guy.
It felt like one of those stupid carnival games she played in one of her movies, whack-a-mole or something along those lines, except she was trying to contain fire to give the boys enough time. The problem was, while she was doing that, the fire kept coming for her, though, and she didn't have enough control anymore to keep that side at bay too, so her pants got on fire and she was trying to put it out with kicking dirt onto it with her other leg, so when Emre yelled that they were coming through, she counted until five in her head, and then sent - or tried to send, more like, the fire into the opposite direction of where they were. She barely managed to create a small clearing for the three of them to not be burning right away and her legs almost buckled under her, it took so much energy out of her, and she burst into a coughing fit.
"Took your sweet time..." she grumbled, catching her breath. "I fucking hate this island and this jungle and once again I'd like to reiterate that it deserve to burn down completely." The only problem was, they would be burning in it too, if they kept this up. "Kaz, how much fire juice do you have inside of you? Emre, can you suck the air out of the fire instead of feeding it like you've been doing so far?"
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Kaz intended to save himself before Emre appeared. He’d be damned if anyone would come to his rescue. However, Emre turned up anyway with a wholly relaxed remark. He’d be much more concerned if the other didn’t say anything at all.
Emre saw what needed to be done with the vine before the words left Kaz’s mouth. Although he held his breath as the other swung the cutlass so close to him. Finally freed from the straight jacket of vines, he stood. Emre reached for him and instantly jumped away. ‘You’re hot.’
“I know. So are you,” was his quip back. Of course he knew what Emre meant. Oddly enough, Kaz felt the opposite. He usually didn’t wear a shirt but the one he had on offered no warmth at all. The instinct to grapple with Emre’s hand on the shirt was there, but he avoided touching the other. “I can walk, ok. You don’t have to–”
At that point he could see Tamyra was in trouble. Once they crossed the path Tamrya created, Kaz took over in an attempt to hold back multiple lines of fire. He could clearly see a few trails of smoke and flames that had been headed towards where he’d fallen too. “Yeah, yeah don’t worry, I’ve got it.” He said to Tamyra. Her idea was the best but also difficult. For himself the attunement felt so raw and unanchored compared to air. He wasn’t sure what help to offer Emre. “Focus on one fire at a time. Just the air around that fire is all you need. You should be able to feel it, and draw it to you. Hold it. However you use your water magic, do the same.”
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Emre intended to growl a succinct 'shut it' as Kaz retorted with his sharp tongue; but the words just crumpled into a grumble. Maybe because of the smoke choking him; but more likely because Emre more pleased than he should be feeling. Now was not the time; so naturally, now was the time, it seemed.
They rejoined Tamyra, but her instructions to Emre were met with incredulity. "You joking? I can't fucking do that. Air's - I wouldn't know where to -" But fortunately Kaz was all assurances with his own new attunement. Emre didn't bother feeling jealous of Tam and Kaz and their abilities. Of course they'd take to their new attunements, they were so good at their original ones. All Emre could do was watch.
"I bloody don't, that's what I'm saying," he said, frustrated once more for being put in a position where others thought he was so much more capable than he was, because he was so good at faking it. But down the wire, Emre couldn't deliver, and he hated himself for it.
Instead, he curled into himself, tapping that emotional turmoil: the frustration, the anger at himself, all of it. He could feel that build-up. He took a hold of Kaz and Tamyra, one in each arm and then - FWOOSH - the three of them shot backwards through a gust of air, through the fire and out of its immediate threat.
They landed, ironically, at the top of the waterfall. It felt good, the soothing water. Emre sat up and shook himself. "Right, well. We're out of the fire, but it's still going, innit. Will it...burn itself out, you reckon?"
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Still bent over, feeling extremely grateful for Kaz and his help now that he was out of the vines, Tamyra couldn't help but roll her eyes at Emre's insistence. He put himself down over and over again, and she didn't understand why. This wasn't the time for modesty. And while Kaz was more of a supporting role, Tamyra just gave him a glare. "Don't pull this shit again on me, Emre. You can whine about what you can't do all you want, when we're not in the middle of a jungle on fire. Get the fuck over it and do it."
And he did. It wasn't really clear what did it, Kaz's coaxing, Tamyra's snapping, or his own turmoil and frustration, maybe it was all three, maybe nothing, but it didn't really matter either, because Emre took a hold of them and gotten them out of there without a hitch.
"And this is what the fit was all about, you can't do it...." Tamyra couldn't help but mutter, but when she pulled away from Emre, she did look at him, her voice less angry now, trying to be more encouraging. "You need to stop doubting yourself. If you could just accept you can do shit, you could be a lot better." And then she followed suit and went to the water - despite the fact that she didn't have water as her attunement anymore, she still found comfort in it and turned to it, almost as if it could magically heal her up and energize her still.
"I hope the fuck it does, at least then we will have one less thing to worry about," she said, sloshing water onto her face and then sat down, looking up at Kaz. "You alright? I couldn't see what got you, I just saw that you managed to jump out of the way of the burning tree, thankfully."
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Kaz had explained a way to think of the attunement. It was neatly cut out of the conversation by Emre. Of fucking course. And people wonder why he barely spoke a word to anyone otherwise. Tamyra took another and equally straight-forward route with the newly air attuned.
But Emre gave them a big fuck you as he swept them both up and landed on top of the waterfall. It infuriated Kaz, but not for the obvious reason. His brows knitted together as he directed his irritation at Emre while speaking to Tamyra. “Oh. He’s fucking Superman now. Didn’t bother to tell either of us. Could’ve saved some time down there.” Then to Emre, arms crossed. “You’re just showing off, aren’t you?”
For the moment, Kaz had to set aside his own bare minimum help with the air attunement and making such leaps. He was also drawn to the water, even then. Kaz understood more of why Joaquin had turned his nose up to water. But his own connection had been there before the island. He bent down to splash water around his neck and run wet hands over his face. “I tripped over something. Landed in a pile of vines. Got tangled up.” A few details were left on the floor of jungle, no sense in discussing further. “I’m alright.”
He walked back to the edge of the falls to see fires still burning below, as Emre had pointed out. “Use your air to blow water down on the fires.” The easiest way to help extinguish most of what remained. Kaz looked to Emre. “Or you want to argue about that? Say you can’t do it and then knock us out with your ‘skill’, one big grand finale.”
As he spoke, a teasing smile had appeared. Kaz had also made a sweeping gesture. With it came a flash of flames that landed off to the side. Shit. He turned towards it, to use his ability to control it. Rather than let his annoyance fan the flames again. Only then did he realize how the air attunement had kept him alert, aware, grounded. With fire, Kaz found an outlet for slow simmering rage but had little control.
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
"Sod off! Both of you!" Emre barked at them both, caught between Tamyra's impatient lectures and Kaz's aggravated sarcasm. Superman - not the first time he'd been called that or akin to it on Meridium. Emre Akbar, big fucking hero. Big fucking joke.
Perhaps a bit wistfully, he remained in the water, willing it to respond to him the way it had as a waterbaby. He listened as Kaz explained his own detriment, snorting but saying nothing. But it was a miracle that beyond some bruising, singeing and a bit of smoke in their lungs, they were all alright.
But Tamyra wasn't done badgering him and Kaz was now ordering him about, to just use air as if Emre was an expert like Kaz, a pro like Tamyra. He splashed (just a little tantrum) before standing up in a burst of temper.
"Oh right so you both started all this, and now it's up to me to clean up your mess, what? Acting like I'm the daft one for not being as good as you lot with your bloody - oi!" Flame rippled off of Kaz's sweeping arm; fortunately was contained. Much like his anger, Emre noticed.
But Tamyra was right, and Kaz was right - one more never-ending obstacle for Emre; and water and air were soft, malleable. Emre breathed in deep, then stomped hard in the water - the gust he created shoved the water outwards; and as Kaz predicted, it sprayed onto the fire, soaking most of it into a smoky, simmering hiss.
And sending Emre completely off-balance. With little more than a yelp, he slipped against the unsteady river rocks, and toppled arse over teakettle down the waterfall, into the pool below. Silence, and then a gurgling, hoarse, "FUCK THIS SHIT!" from below.
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Tamyra wasn't an idiot, she knew it was more than just Kaz tripping and falling for a moment, but Kaz didn't want to talk about it so she didn't push. They were good at talking in their own pace, so if Kaz needed some time or didn't share at all, then so be it.
At least Tamyra wasn't the only one who was annoyed with Emre and his stupidity about not being able to use his attunement. It's like somebody hypnotized him and now he was unable to step out of this stupid notion of not being good. While doing shit like getting them up on the top of the Falls. Yeah, not good with his attunement at all.
"Hey, you call it out mess, but it wasn't our air that fed the fire and helped it grow even further," she snapped back at Emre. Yeah, they created it but so what? They had good intentions.
She was suddenly focusing on Kaz's hand and the fire, her hand raising up to help Kaz get control - she felt a bit better, but she still just felt exhausted -, so she didn't really pay attention to Emre on the edge of the rocks and only realized he fell once she heard the splash of water when he arrived into the pool. "You love the water, right? Now you're right in it!"
But looking at Kaz's arm and then back down at Emre in the pool gave her an idea. "What if we pull the fire to us while we're in the water. We can try to do it in sections, pull the fire onto the water, dip underwater, and then let the water consume the fire. Emre could pull air above the pool so the fire wants to come that direction even more." ANd after a moment, she simply said, "Hold your breath," took Kaz's free hand and pulled him along as she jumped into the pool right after Emre.
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Emre thrashed around like a baby who was learning what ‘no’ meant. Tamyra implicated him in their simple practice of fire too. They were on the verge of controlling it. Almost. He recalled, purposefully ignoring the most important facts.
Kaz could feel Tamyra’s strength in helping to sort out his own thoughtless burst of flames. Once extinguished, he drew his arm back to himself and cradled it with his other one. With a flat drawl and a shrug he said to Emre: “I mean. If you don’t like it, you can always fuck off.” The words were barely out of his mouth as he saw a sheet of water launch over the falls-- with Emre not too far behind it either. One second he was there and the next...
His lips parted, stunned for a few seconds as he joined Tamrya nearer to the edge of the falls. Kaz listened as she explained another idea. He nodded and made no protest as her hand found his. “Yeah, okay let’s get down--” There. Get down there, and they were already taking a leap into the pool below.
If Tamrya hadn’t reminded him to take a breath, he would’ve ended up with a lungful of water. Too used to breathing freely beneath the surface, he found it jarring. That need to break the surface so quickly.
But he did. Kaz pushed back wet hair and treaded closer to them both. To Emre: “You okay? Didn’t think you’d take the fucking off thing literally.” He shook his head. “Tamyra has an idea.” A brilliant one, that he’d let her explain. Kaz did feel a rush of excitement then. Despite it all, they were getting one hell of a workout with their respective new attunements.
And then he asked Tamyra, “Wait a second-- can we control the fire when we’re 'in' the water?” Not much attention had been paid over the years to the attunements of others. Kaz had tried himself with a game of fire while in the water and hadn’t had much luck.
“I remember a few years back, some fire starters had a time out in the water. Ah... maybe if we’re both standing on the edge of the rocks, we can still give it a push into the water?”
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Emre remained quiet, as he watched the other two plunge down to join him. A wretched, pathetic thought crossed his mind: they didn't want him to be alone, and that was rather sweet. But of course that wasn't the real reason. Emre had only dampened part of the fire with his water-gust; there was still work to be done.
He wished desperately for the water to soothe him, commune with him; but he just felt wet. Normal. And he nodded obediently when Kaz asked if he was okay, listened to Tamyra's idea. That same incredulity surfaced - why did they keep thinking he could do any of this?! - but Emre swallowed his protest down, and just nodded. Fine. He'd fake it, like he usually did, and see what happened then.
"Bismillah," was the only appeal he made, as the Kaz and Tamyra sorted their logistics out: fire in water, fire on water. Emre only had to stand in the pool, aching for its comfort as he dragged his arms around the pool, hoping (or at least pretending) to emulate what Tamyra and Kaz wanted from his air-magic. Swaying like he was praying in the bloody river Ganges, not noticing the water droplets caught in his accumulating, pressured air, forming a humid cover above the pool. Something ideal to 'blanket' the fire, once Kaz and Tamyra pulled it closer.
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Tamyra, even in a situation like this, tried to land in the water as gracefully as she possibly could, and then she remained under the surface, just eyes closer and letting the water flow... well, around her. She couldn't feel the water anymore, but at least the water dampened some of the fire in herself now and she was always a fan of the water, so she just pretended it helped.
She explained her idea to Emre, too, while he seemed to be disassociating more and more instead of actually paying attention, but hopefully they could snap him out of it once he had to do something. "No, Kaz, no, I totally remember other fire attuned - I think it was Seamus at once point fully controlling some kind of flame from the water. He was probably shocking off, that shithead." Maybe it was less of a memory than an instinct (that was absolutely wrong), but Tamyra made the statement with the certainty that it would absolutely work. It all made sense, in her head, so why the hell wouldn't they be able to pull it off?
"Make sure you don't get burned, either," she told Emre. "Really, it's actually so fucking unfair how air attuned are the ones who get to breathe underwater. Water attuned should be able to do the same, we are waterbabies, we should be able to be in our element as long as we want without having to fear drowning." Talking as if she still had water as her attunement. She let out a groan when she realized she didn't anymore - the stupid island could really change it back at this point.
"Anyway, Kaz, let's start with a small streak, see how it works and then we can trade off and work our way through the fire - this stupid fire that was supposed to solve all our probl--" she coughed, some of the smoke getting deep inside her lungs. They were fucked, if they didn't stop this fire soon. So she got to work - closed her eyes and tried to tap into the little energy she still had left in her tank but everything felt so muffled and muddled. She didn't have a good control over her fire - not as bad as fully new fire attuned, but not as good as she should have been after all the time she spent on the island, either, but this was even worse. And no matter what she did, how much she struggled, she just couldn't grasp on the fire.
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Other than a wisp of Arabic uttered, Emre went silent. Kaz didn’t want to break the concentration that had been called on either, other than to say: “That’s it. You’re doing it, Emre.” Emre seemed oddly fragile. Maybe they had pushed too hard on him. But he was creating a dome of air over the pool. If Emre could only hold it long enough...
This might actually work, Kaz thought.
He relented to Tamyra. “Ok, ok fine. Let’s do it.” Kaz moved into shallower water, but not before he gave his own opinion on air attunement. “But it makes sense that we can breathe underwater, and waterbabies can’t.” ‘We’. Or, er. A waver of forgetfulness on his part. “We-- air attuned can harness air, so of course they can breathe underwater. They can hold on to it, it’s their survival mechanism. It’s inside them already to control. Part of them. Water, well. You’re only manipulating water outside of yourself.” Not the best argument, but hell if he knew the reasoning behind it all.
There wasn’t time for such an analysis either. He followed Tamrya’s lead but soon noticed she kept losing the fire almost as quick as she gained ground with it. While his hands didn’t move, he felt as if he was reaching for the line of heat Tamrya desperately clung to. To pull it towards the water. And like some deranged game of tug of war, the distant hold Kaz grappled with continued to be yanked from his hands. So hard, so present in sensation he looked down at his palms to see if they were burned or bleeding.
“I’m trying to help but...” A heavy exhale. “Are you fucking sure you saw Seamus do this? Because I keep losing the fire. Like I’ve got it one second and it’s gone the next.” He cast a glance over to Emre and then back to Tamyra. Had the fire starters had depleted all of their energy? Emre probably wasn’t far behind them. “No, no we’ve got to get out of the water. It’s.. it’s fucking with us. It’s keeping us from holding the fire.” He began to swim to the rocks ringing the pool to scramble out.
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Emre couldn't help the little smile, as Tamyra launched into all the ways waterbabies were simultaneously the most maligned, but also the best magic to have. He agreed wholeheartedly, wishing he could reach out with the water right now and touch Tamyra, connect on that magical level. Instead Kaz, equipped with all his glorious logic, explained how underwater breathing worked and why it made sense for air-attuned.
"Rubbing it in our faces that you can do in water what neither of us can, Kaz?" Emre spoke up, a vague calmness stretching over him, as the thick air swirled above. "Water and air, or fire and air. We've got to be a better team than this, innit." Emre worked well in tandem with Kaz to navigate through bats and sharp pools. He'd worked many times over with Tamyra, in the jag and the ocean. Tamyra and Kaz seemed in tune with each other. This shouldn't be so hard.
Emre pulled his arms, like he was manipulating ice; but now it was just air. Lighter than ice, lighter than water. But bolstered by Tamyra's conviction and Kaz's determination, Emre had to contribute something. The flames bobbed, then edged forward, towards Kaz and Tamyra where they now stood, outside of the water.
"You got it then, my darlings?"
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
It really wasn't the time to get into any kind of argument about water vs. air. Kaz had a good argument, Tamyra should have let it go. Instead, she said, "Just for your information, 80% of blood is water and I am not even sure how much of the human body is water, but a whole lot," she sounded just like a good expert, "so really, we should be able to exist in water and not drown too. I don't care about breathing, if the magic can figure it out how to keep us alive without it, I am all for it too."
This really wasn't the point, though, it was executing their plan, and after a couple of tries from the water, she was doubting her own words, and still, when Kaz questioned them, she insisted, "Seamus could do it, I saw him, Kaz. But fine, let's try from the side of the pool." They all clambered out and--
alright, so maybe she felt the fire more. Even in her tired state, she could still reach for the fire so much easier, almost as if it was reaching for her, in fact, and Tamyra only half heard Emre's question if they got it, because she closed her eyes, and reached her hand out and could almost feel the fire reaching out like a hand, tangling around her line vines and grabbing onto her, almost as if it wanted to dance, wanted to fuse into her. And suddenly what brought her back to reality was that the heat around herself got way too hot and her arm suddenly started to hurt. Badly.
"Shit, Emre, let the water down now," Tamyra yelled, hoping that Kaz managed to pull some of the fire towards himself, too, because her arms were surrounded by fire and the path up to her was also burning and she needed to not be burning right away.
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Technically, yeah. It seemed senseless water attuned couldn’t breathe under water. He’d never tell them that. Tamyra argued basic physiology. Unfortunately there wasn’t much that was simple and linear about Meridium. “Right, I get what you’re saying. In my mind, air attuned control the air, so it makes sense they can control their own breathing too.” A debate for another time.
“Yeah I am rubbing it in your faces.” He remarked dryly, although Kaz didn’t mean it. Just a little nudge for motivation.
‘We’ve got to be a better team...’ Kaz did not expect a teamwork makes the dreamwork pep talk from Emre. But he seemed to have found a stillness, a calm. It shouldn’t be so difficult for the three of them to figure out what needed to be done.
"Seamus can do a lot of things.” But Seamus wasn’t there, and Tamyra was convinced to step out on land and join Kaz. His knife and soaked shirt were tossed aside. Kaz was running on fumes at that point. Irritation clawed at him. The steady state of sleep deprivation swallowed by the lead weight of not only mental exhaustion but a physical one.
Kaz attuned to the fires once again. The heat flooded through him, dark smoke looped around the shaggy waves of his hair. It did not dawn on him until he stood there, in the blast of the various fires. If air had held all his apathy, maybe the fire was all he’d ever bottled up until it exploded.
So he fought to open the vault of what he despised about the current situation. Kaz became a black hole which no fire could escape, and the thicker trails of skipped to him, whittling themselves down submissively into smaller ones. They gathered at his feet and licked at his skin, begging to be extinguished.
He glanced over. “Fucking-- I've got some of your fire, Tamyra. Send the rest to the pool!” Kaz carved some of the heat from her, as much as he could, before stepping aside to give one last push at the fire and under the canopy created by Emre.
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
It was the water. Emre might not be a waterbaby anymore (maybe forever...a loss he'd grieve later) but muscle memory on the island remained in tact for now. And being submerged in the water, making it cooperate with this newfound wind-magic, Emre felt the peace. Maybe it was also having Tamyra nearby - she was no-nonsense and snappish and wild and sexy, everything Emre found attractive. Maybe it was Kaz, with his strange, surprising encouragements sewn inbetween his droll and dry stiches. The both of them looking powerful and skilled in their own new magic; and looking so, so beautiful in that power.
Emre wondered when he'd stop finding wonder in these strange island magic. Next year? Ten years from now? Maybe when he was a deadened empty shell, like Magnolia. A century.
Regardless, Tamyra and Kaz put their everything into manipulating the fire, coaxing and pulling. For a moment, it was almost frightening the way the flames curled to them, surrounding them, hungry but obedient. Fire was like life - it felt almost sentient the way Kaz and Tamyra captured it, forced it to their will. And got it close enough to the poll.
Now it was Emre's turn.
"Bismillah," he whispered again; not a resigned sigh, but a mortal plead to a higher power. The thick air got sucked and burned by the oppressive heat and smoke, but Emre kept the air wet, made it difficult for the fire to feed off the oxygen. This was happening, it was actually working; but Emre didn't realize that as he was choking out the fire, he was also depriving Tamyra and Kaz of air as well. Choking them, cutting off their oxygen too.
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Tamyra couldn't really describe just how grateful she was for Kaz the moment he took some of the fire off of her hands and relieved her. She put so much of her energy into keeping the fire from the two guys previously, she barely felt like she could do anything (and when it all went wrong, that felt like the island laughing at her, specifically, really), and she felt like she could breathe a little bit of air and with the last of the fuel inside of her, she did what Kaz told her and sent the fire into the pool and then her knees buckled and she promptly dropped down onto the ground.
"Fuck, thank you," she said turning towards Kaz, fully trusting Emre to do his part of the job. Unlike him, she knew he could pull it off. "I could kiss you right now, I am so grateful, but you're far over there and I'd need to move to get to you. Don't take it personally." It was half a joke, but really, since that kiss, it was hard to not look at Kaz and think about doing it again. And that much more. And then she looked over at Emre and fuck, he was hot too, and for a moment she wondered if he would still be that opposed to that threesome.
And then she suddenly realized that she was gasping for air more and more, it was getting harder and harder to breathe, and yeah, maybe not the time to fucking think about something like this.
"Emre! Emre, you gotta kill-- the fire, not-- not fucking-- not us!" she choked, her lungs burning and this felt nothing like when she was too long underwater and trying desperately to reach the surface, no - this felt like something forcefully kept yanking at her lungs and trying to tear it out of her chest and in her desperation she made her body move and fall into the water - not the kind of comfort she was so used to it from it, but still, something familiar and something she knew -, and pushed herself to swim over to him and then jumped on him, pushing him underwater, hoping it would break whatever concentration he had on his magic. If it didn't happen, Kaz and her were in deep shit.
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Kaz had stepped towards new territory. Shoved and toppled over the edge, more like it. Not only with the attunement. It wasn’t just him involved. They were all testing the waters, pushing boundaries. Kaz was being forced to rely on someone else.
He wasn’t exactly certain how he felt about it either. All he knew was: he didn’t want anyone unnecessarily injured. Yet he shook off Tamyra’s thanks without a word. The tightness of his mouth did bend upwards when she mentioned a kiss of gratitude, whether it was a joke or not. “Mm. I am taking it personally, actually,” was the single quip with a lopsided grin that broke his concentration.
And then he took a breath. The simple act he took for granted all those years. Nothing entered his lungs. He tried again and found he was stifled. A noose around his neck of air magic tightened. It happened so damn fast-- the power Emre used stole his own breath. Kaz felt light-headed and a memory crept in of drowning. On land.
He thought to reach for Tamyra but she’d already jumped towards the water. Kaz couldn’t even signal to Emre to stop-- fucking STOP. His lungs felt compressed, locked down in an unrelenting airless vice that didn't budge.
Instinct told him to run. Run out of the tent Emre made over the pool. Run towards the air. Kaz made one last swoop with his arms to shoot the tail ends of fire living on the edge of the water. And he tried to run, even as the black crept in from the corners of his vision. Just like that day he swam to the reef, eleven years ago.
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
It was working, and Emre felt ecstatic. He had this. All that training with Tamyra and Aurélie as a waterbaby, that specific sort of Meridium-esque focus was apparently a transferable skill. As usual, Tamyra was right: he was just being a sulky baby about it, when in fact he was just underestimating himself. He was so fucking powerful, and he could do--
Tamyra called out to him, as choked as the fire that finally died out. He watched her fall into the water, his grip ironclad on the air (which, technically, was like grasping nothing at all, and yet he hoarded it to himself. To the fire, to the water. None for anyone else). He saw Kaz swaying, then spinning in an attempt to flee.
To breathe.
Before Emre could figure out how to release the air, Tamyra did it for him. She slammed him down into the water and Emre's fists unfurled. Air swirled down from above, practically washing over him, Tamyra, and Kaz like water undammed.
Emre stayed submerged in the pool. pushing Tamyra back up so she could gasp for breath and recover. But Emre stayed under the water for a while; breathing, or not, he wasn't sure. Did it matter? Water surrounded him, and he felt a new peace consuming him. After a beat, Emre surfaced then, to check on the other two. "Soz, my luvs, I were just..." Emre started to say, reaching out to Tamyra - but when he looked at Kaz, he gasped, cold terror washing over him. "KAZ!"
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Tamyra didn't need to be told twice, the moment she could feel Emre shoving her up towards the surface, she resurfaced and frantically gasped for air, drinking all of it in, suddenly feeling such need and hunger for it that she usually felt for water. Fuck, she missed water, she wanted to be feeling shitty about not hydrating enough, not because she was close to losing all the air from her lungs.
"The guy complains constantly about not being able to use his attunement, and then he uses it so well, he almost fucking ki--" she started complaining in between heaving for air, but then she looked up and Kaz was fucking floating on the water, face down, unconscious, and Tamyra moved without thinking, reaching for Kaz as fas as she could and turning him around, slapping his face, shaking him, "Come on, come on, dude, do not fucking die on me, this had too many trip ups and now you decide to fucking drown."
And it hit her suddenly, what he told her in the fisher's house, about how he got here. "This is not the way you want you go, Kaz, for fuck's sake. Anything but drowning again, I am assuming, so just," she pounded on his chest once, hard, hoping to push his lungs to work again, "wake the fuck up!"
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
A tidal push of depleted, oxygen-less air caught him-- the blowback knocked Kaz backwards into the water fed by the falls. Nothing arrived with the plunge. No familiar hand running through his hair. No one antagonizing him. No light and no dark. No fond memories, no painful ones.
Nothing held him and no one held him back. Same as it had always been. A big nothing, and yet he heard everything. And felt the slap of Tamyra’s wet hand on his equally wet cheek.
His head raised and the weight of wet hair hit the back of his neck. A finger lifted out of the water-- the purest sign Kaz was annoyed. It pointed at Emre, determined to address a conversation he hadn’t had his say in yet. “Soz? SOZ? Wow. Ok, fuck you.” And then he turned towards Tamyra with the bubbliest laugh he’d ever produced. Although it was laced in soot and white-hot heat. “Waitwaitwait-- the fuck.” He reached for his chest and felt a lingering smack residing there.
Kaz shook his head and almost fell forward in the process, but caught himself. And he laughed. A sputtered choke at first but then fully laughed. An almost ancient and long restrained one. From the belly, through the chest-- he hadn’t been that amused in such a long time.
Tamyra’s words caught up to him. He splashed water in the direction of both of them. ‘Do not fucking die’-- holy shit, what was wrong with them? If nothing had killed him so far... why the hell would anyone think that it ever would? Kaz dipped below the surface and pushed his hair back there before he rose out of the water again, with a pinch to his nose and swipe at his eyes. He stood taller to look over the side of the pool. “We did it.” Droplets of water were slung from his hand and arm in Tamyra’s direction as he pointed to her. “Now do you believe me? Can’t do fire in water. I was right.”
Eyes colored darker from the experience landed on Emre. Black brows pulled up, arms crossed over his chest. “Oh yeah. You’re fucking terrible at this air shit.” Sarcasm.
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Tamyra slapped Kaz, fully feeling her true dramatics; but the truth was Emre was feeling those same dramatics. A blip of terror that he'd had a hand in killing Kaz, of all people. But Emre did and said nothing just yet, he just hovered beside Tamyra as Kaz casually come to, like a uni kid slowly being roused from slumber.
And pointed at him, giving one of Kaz's patented tongue lashings. Honestly, between Tamyra and Kaz, Emre was feeling proper whipped. "You what?" he batted back at Kaz. "You're alright innit...." Emre faded slightly as Kaz started to laugh and the water surrounding him became warmer.
And Kaz laughed harder. Emre's gaze slid to Tamyra, wondering if Kaz was going to kill them both at this moment, unsure if there was mirth or rage in that pretty little laugh. But when he splashed them both, Emre relaxed, almost allowing himself to feel good about all this...whatever this was.
"Bloody hell," Emre sighed, shaking his head. He cupped water, pouring it over his head, self-soothing. He wasn't a waterbaby any more, but it still felt good. "Can't believe the two of you was able to conduct a full-on air versus water versus fire debate while doing all that. You're both nutters, you know that right? Brilliant bloody nutters."
Emre kissed his teeth, as Kaz ragged him one more. "Allow it, man. Allow it, both of you." Although Emre's smile didn't quite reach his eyes, his gaze was soft and doelike between Kaz and Tamyra. "Get a hard time from both sides innit. Two bloody powerhouses, man. If we're stuck like this...fucking hell. Let's hope we don't get stuck like this."
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
It wasn't anything dramatic, the way Kaz came back to consciousness. There wasn't big coughing or big gasps for air like there would be in the movies, he just slowly woke up, and if Tamyra didn't know better, she would have said that Kaz was suddenly very high and very chill.
But the laughter was infectious and Tamyra found herself bursting into fits of giggles as she sank into the water. "You're a fucking piece of work, Kaz." She took a big breathe or air and blew bubbles into the water once she sank deep enough into it. And then she she sloshed a water in Kaz's face when he had to insist that he was right. "Fine, fine, for fuck's sake, you were right, is that what you wanted to hear?"
She couldn't not agree with Kaz's assessment of Emre's attunement, though. "I keep telling him. I keep kicking his ass and he keeps being a little baby about it. I swear it's like he enjoys us giving him shit about it because he likes hearing us telling him just how good he is. That's it, I figured you out, Emre Akbr," Tamyra said, this time sloshing the water towards him.
She went a bit quiet, though, when Emre said he hoped this wasn't going to stay like that, though. "It better fucking not. I do not want to get stuck like this for the rest of eternity, I was happy with my water just fine. Extatic, even. You are definitely right about one thing, though - brilliant," she said, pointing at herself, "and brilliant," she said pointing at Kaz, and then she pointed at Emre, "eeeeeeeh, I guess getting close to brilliant," she teased.
"People would be writing books about us, out in the island. Well, mostly about me, but you two would be lovely sidekicks, I'm sure," she added. "Or maybe hit pieces in magazines." Tamyra was casually saying that, chatting and to most it would have seen like she was just basking in her own confidence, but at the mention of a magazine, she just happened to look at Emre. "One, two, three," she pointed at all three of them - Emre either got the message or not, "stars. This would make some amazing stars out of us all. We definitely have the hotness level. The charisma, the charm. The banter. We'd be great."
She tilted her head, looking over at Kaz, "What do you say? I know this is not crime, but sort of. Almost. Would it be compelling?"
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Emre remained almost unnervingly calm. Even brushing aside the taunts they gave him. ‘Let’s hope we don’t get stuck like this.’ For a moment, Kaz’s broad grin grew weaker. He didn’t want to think about it. How the fire was already burning him down to brittle bones. The attunement was changing him. Old ways exposed, and he would not last long.
He dunked beneath the water again, another quick dip. Thankful the airless confinement of gasping for a breath had only lasted seconds. When he came up again he barely dodged a splash of water from Tamyra. “It’s exactly what I wanted to hear, yeah.” Why did Emre push them away regarding what they had witnessed with their own eyes? “I don’t know why you’re acting like that Emre. Because you sure as hell aren’t modest.”
Tamyra handily took the victory lap for them all. “Uh. Excuse me-- I’m no one’s sidekick.” Kaz showed a little feigned indignance. “I want albums written about me, double albums. Maybe a documentary too.” Tamyra counted them off, and at first he wasn’t following. Stars? “I do have a face for 35mm.” His smile had returned, cocky as ever.
Kaz didn’t quite catch on to what Tamrya suggested. Not until the end. One. Two. Three. Kaz was flirtatious by nature. Emre had done a good job of keeping him on ice, relegated to teasing banter. His arms swept back and forth in front of him. Either Tamyra knew something Kaz didn’t or... He wet his lips and his brows raised. His smile charmed as he looked between the other two. “Oh, I would find it very compelling.” He knew how he would handle this in the real world, but he also didn't want to put Emre in an, er, position the guy didn't want to be in.
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Neither Tamyra nor Kaz wanted to hear Emre's explanation on why he was so hard on himself, when it came to excelling at things people expected from him. So instead, he gave a coy smile and quipped, "Oi - Asian parents, innit. 'Only 100%? Why not 120% bonus marks like Singh's kids?' That shit's bred into us." He refrained from looking at Kaz for confirmation. Instead, he looked at Tamyra. "As if you don't know that sort of pressure, Ms Baby Hollywood with Famous Parents."
Amused, Emre didn't protest about the whole sidekicks thing either. Let Tamyra be the star, he didn't care. But he did love a good brag. Both Tamyra and Kaz bragging was thrilling, a huge turn-on, even - until the air around them grew still. Emre looked from Kaz to Tamyra, and realized what she was actually getting at.
He stared at her, appalled that she'd do this, after they'd promised. They'd promised not to mention anything of the sort to anyone. This was Kaz though - Emre had to admit he'd fished in Kaz's waters himself, on his own. His own fantasies (and Emre had a rich fantasy-world) coalescing over the past few weeks. But it was all just fantasy, as Emre got used to the ideas.
And then Tamyra had to make it real. And Emre hated them both, for looking so fucking tempting, the both of them wet and exhausted and beautiful and there was nothing to stop them except Emre losing any sense of control.
So he reacted poorly. Like a child, really. (But when it came to bisexuality, he really was still just a babyqueer, wasn't he?) Emre turned, splashing out of the pool. He couldn't even think of what to say - not even a piss off because he didn't want to be cruel. He just wanted to get away before the stupid, embarrassing panic set in, in front of their gorgeous selves.
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
Tamyra didn't intend for Kaz to put together what she suggested, but she didn't see any problem in it. As far as he knew, it was a blind offer that Tamyra threw out and they could take it or leave it. Kaz and her even talked about the parties she threw and how some of them would end, the way she'd take different men to bed and have her fun with them. To Kaz, this would look nothing more than that.
And he was interested. A excited chill started spreading around her body, waiting quietly for Emre - he had to see how pretty Kaz was, right? And how fun and charismatic and flirtatious he was and how well the three of them worked together, in a nice tandem. They'd could have so much fun together.
She did not think of it from Emre's side. Would only think if she was in his position, how she'd react later, when she was all alone, when she really had a chance to imagine herself in Emre's shoes. For now, she just watched Emre stare at them and they turn around and got the fuck away from them, no words, nothing. "Wow, that was dramatic. And they call me Drama Queen sometimes..." she grumbled. "Guess he didn't think it was that compelling...."
— ⋆ ✯ ⋆ —
He smiled at the Asian parents remark. A bull's eye, but something still sat off-centered with Emre. Highlighted especially in Emre’s wordless retreat from the water.
Awkward. Perhaps Kaz misunderstood, but then again he wasn’t sure what exactly had happened either. He was a near constant rhythm of blunt no filter. It didn’t occur to him that anything else rippled beneath the surface between Tamyra and Emre either.
He huffed, he smiled again but this time to Tamyra who remained. “I guess he didn’t.” Kaz swam the short distance away to climb out of the pool and grab his things left on the ground. “It’s been real, it’s been fun.” And ended on a sour note, but so did everything on Meridium. Like the island stuck its nose in everything to ensure every interaction drowned in muddy waters. Whatever offense occurred, he imagined Emre would get over it. Kaz was tired and ready to move on as it were. Which he did, throwing out a last comment as he left. “Don’t start any fires without me, yeah?
