The door burst open and Korra nearly barrelled through it in excitement, flashing a handful of colorful paper money with an easy pride. "Asami?! Asami, are you here? I WON MONEY! It's the weird paper kind, but it spends easy and we should go shopping! Asami?" All of this was shouted joyfully as she bound around the room, checking doors and looking for her favorite person in the entire universe.
Naga raised her head from where she lay sleeping, giving a bit of a rumbly displeasure of being woken from her nap, but Korra scratched her head with a quick apology before dashing off again, fairly certain she'd seen a flash of color out on the patio. Maybe Asami was relaxing with a book and a drink, but she was about to be jumped on by the endless energy Avatar.
The patio was exactly where Asami was, enjoying the midday sun with a book spread out in front of her. Save the noise from the city below, sounds that she wasn't too unfamiliar with, the afternoon had been fairly quiet. That didn't mean she wasn't about to welcome an interruption, especially if it came in the shape of her favorite person in the entire universe.
At the sound of Korra's voice, Asami tucked her bookmark between the pages, setting it aside just in time for Korra to indeed jump onto her. "Well, hello," she said with a laugh. "What was this about shopping?"
In response, Korra just smiled and leaned down to give Asami a kiss and let it linger just long enough. There weren't enough of those. She knew it had hurt to be here for months without her, but she actually hadn't been aware of much ache there'd been until it was no longer there. She didn't want to think about how people disappear without warning, but that just meant she needed to make every moment count. After a few moments, she smiled through the kiss and sat up, settling herself across Asami's hips, with her legs on either side of the lounger.
"There was this game at the corner store where I bought a powerade, where you scratch off little silver boxes and have a chance to win money. Aaaaand," she whipped the money out again to show it to Asami. "I won five hundred dollars! Just in time for the Ball!"
Korra's excitement was infectious, just as it had always been to Asami. Given everything that they had been through together, it felt especially good to see Korra happy -- whether it be because of a random game of chance landing her money or simply her belated arrival in Vallo. (The second weighed in a bit higher than the first, for obvious reasons.)
"You won five-hundred dollars? Just like that?" Asami's eyebrows were high, though she still looked entirely delighted for her girlfriend. Her arms had moved to circle around Korra as soon as she settled in her lap and she took advantage of that to give her a gentle squeeze. "Korra, that's really exciting! You must be having a lucky day."
"Just like that," answered Korra, feeling a little proud of herself as she leaned into the squeeze. "And I was thinking we could use it to get some fancy clothes for the Ball that's happening tomorrow? And maybe a fancy dinner where we can drink tea with our pinkies in the air." She chuckled at her own mental image as she touched her forehead against Asami's. She wasn't wrong, though. Korra had been feeling luckier all around since Asami arrived. It was good for her.
She sat back up suddenly, though, as if it suddenly occurred to her that her plan might be for nothing. "I mean, unless you don't want to go to the Ball? We don't have to. There's plenty of other amazing things we could do with the money. Like.. bowling. Have you ever been bowling?"
Asami smiled fondly at Korra, lifting one of her hands to brush over her cheek. "I have never been bowling," she admitted, the opportunity having just never come up, "but I would love to get to go to a ball with you. I do like getting fancy, but I also think that I would like dancing with you even more."
Though they had been able to spend time together since they became together, it hadn't been quite as complete as it had been since Asami arrived in Vallo. She would never complain about her work or everything that Korra had to do as the Avatar as both were undoubtedly important in their own way, but it had been nice to just be for a few days. Asami would inevitably grow antsy and need to look for a new sort of work, but in the meantime -- well, it was very nice, indeed.
"So yes," Asami continued, tucking a strand of hair behind Korra's ear. "Let's go shopping and get dressed up and have a fancy dinner together before dancing. We deserve it."
Closing her eyes for a second and smiling as Asami tucked her hair, Korra nodded in agreement. "We do, don't we? No giant spirits wrecking things, no mad tyrants invading the city, no wars between tribes… it's nice to just see what a sort of normal life is like." She quirked an eyebrow and smiled. "At least until the next killer bunny attack or zombie horde."
Really, the more she thought about it, the more this place had a lot of its own problems that were just as hectic as home - if not more so. The biggest difference was that there were plenty of people just like her (or even better, honestly) around to help take care of it. That meant she didn't need to feel like it was on her shoulders. Or her team.
Asami cringed, though the look was diminished by the smile that was still very clearly on her face. It was hard not to smile when she was around Korra; even during their toughest times, she could always find hope and light, so long as she was with her girlfriend.
"Let's skip the zombies," Asami said, as though her saying as much would will it from happening. She did have just enough confidence in her tone to make it seem as though she actually could do such a thing. "Also killer bunnies. And maybe even zombie bunnies. For now, at least. This has been a nice extended vacation."
Korra almost objected to say that she wouldn't be able to skip going off to face danger if something happened, but she rallied at the last second as she realized that's not what Asami meant. But if it came down to sheer force of will, she knew the woman in front of her - that she was sitting on, actually - would definitely be someone who could make it happen.
"We finally got our vacation," she nodded, looking around them at the island environment that they could see from their balcony. "Though," she said, offering a bit of a playful frown. "I just realized I really don't know where to go shopping or where to have a fancy dinner. We're going to figure it out."
"I think that's a challenge that we might just be up for," Asami decided, looking down at the city around them that she could see as though that was enough to find nice boutiques and restaurants. It wouldn't be that easy, of course, but she wasn't too concerned. She gave Korra a bright smile to rival her playful frown. "We can ask around or just do a little exploring, the two of us."
She tipped her head back, considering. "And we really did finally get our vacation, but I guess I should start thinking about working, too. I might need your help brainstorming there."
When she'd first arrived and had nearly been run over by a car, she thought it was a Sato-mobile and that Asami had already been here and established herself, but it ended up being her first lesson in how different universes were all pretty similar when it came down to a lot of the minor details. Still, that didn't mean Asami couldn't be just as successful here or anywhere else she put her mind to. So she tapped her chin and thought for a second. The Underground, while it'd be good for a workout and keep her skills up, it wouldn't challenge her in the way that Korra knew she'd prefer.
But she had never really paid much attention to businesses that did the kind of things Asami was interested in, largely because it just reminded her of Asami. So in hindsight maybe that wasn't the most helpful thing she could've done. "I'm… not sure about jobs for people as smart as you. I guess we could ask around or just do a little exploring, the two of us?" she answered, grinning playfully.
Asami immediately grinned back at Korra, her girlfriend's smiles having always been particularly contagious in the best of ways. "That's exactly what we'll do," she agreed. "And if we don't find something just like home, that's okay, too. Nothing wrong with learning a new skill or trade."
Because Asami was, if nothing else, adaptable and capable. If she needed to learn something new so she could be helpful, that's exactly what she would do. There weren't many challenges that she wasn't willing to meet head on.
"But," she continued, "I suppose we don't really have to worry about that today." Asami leaned in to steal a kiss from Korra. "Shopping with my girlfriend sounds much more fun."