House Warming

As Tzesira finished shoving her bed back against the wall of her new room, she heard a muted "Son of a bitch..." and the rattling of a doorknob from the front door of the apartment. Stepping out into the hall, she was just in time to see the front door fling itself open unceremoniously and Kallista stumble into the room carrying two large boxes and a weapon rack which completely filled her arms and blocked a good portion of her view. She had managed to get enough of a grip with her tail to open the door, but having done so she lost the extra balance her tail provided and came stumbling into the room, nearly tripping on an end table that had been set by the door.

Finally she managed to set the boxes down on the floor and stood bent over with her hands on her knees, panting.

"Holy fuck..." she muttered, "How do I have so much stuff... I'm never even home!"

"You're too sentimental, Kay. Told ya you should have let me help you throw crap out."

Tzesira hadn't had much to start with, and her current set-up was extremely spartan: other than her bed, a rug that was more a concession to their downstairs landlord's concern about the floors and sound, everything she owned fit inside a single chest. She'd kept a chair abandoned by previous tenants when Kallista insisted it was perfectly good, and there was no where else to fit it, but she figured she could put it to some use.

"Just because you like sitting on the floor and living like a hermit, doesn't mean I have to."

Kallista stuck her tongue out at the Shadar Kai.

"Besides," she said with a shrug, "Most of it is clothes. I like looking nice. And Brenn loves when I dress up for him."

"Pfft. Brenn likes to see your clothes in a pile on the floor, he just likes variety in his rug accessories."

Tzesira grinned, showing her teeth. "Speaking off - am I ever even gonna see you, bitch? He's been in town for fucking ever."

Kallista stood back up, stretching her back as the vertebrae popped.

"We're gonna be living together, T. I have a feeling that you'll be seeing more of me than you can stand."

She smiled back at the woman, showing off her own pointed teeth.

"It has been nice having him in town so much, though. Gods, I missed him. He's such a great guy. I'm lucky to have him."

Her eyes sparkled slightly as she said it.

"Yeah, he's okay, I guess. If you're happy." She shrugged. Brenn was okay, but she hadn't been overly impressed the only time she'd fucked him, but she knew how different her tastes and Kallista's were as well. "Good for more than just the sex and dresses then?"

Kallista laughed.

"He's good for a lot of things, and he keeps learning new tricks it seems... and not just in bed."

She picked up the weapon rack that she had dropped, looking around for a good spot to hang it up.

"Don't worry, his bed is much more comfortable than mine, so you won't have to listen to us banging all the time. Although... Ciora and Tavya's beds suck."

She paused for a moment in thought.

"I wonder if Brenn's bed would fit all four of us."

Now it was Tzesira's turn to laugh. "You gonna tell Aleyn about that one too? He'd fuckin' die!"

"Hee! No, Aleyn made me promise to not tell him anything more about Tavya's sex life. I think potential foursomes fall under that heading. Besides, I don't think she'd go for that anyway. Apparently I'm the only girl she's ever dated. Ciora might, though. She's kind of a freak. It's always the quiet ones."

"Pfft, whatever, if you and Brenn can't manage two girls between you you have no business in a fuckin' foursome anyway." She smirked. "Really if you were doin' it right you'd have it here so the bed' be cheaper to replace after you fuckin' break it."

Kallista gave Tzesira an amused look.

"I'm sure you've broken more beds than me, sister. You and your rough-and-tumble, it's-not-fun-unless-it-hurts philosophy."

She grabbed a hammer and nails from a nearby table.

"Speaking of which, have you heard from Hanrak lately?"

"Yeah, when I came back I stopped up there. Poor fucker's bored out of his mind, his house won't let him go out to play - said were expecting something to happen." She paused suddenly, scowling. "Well fuck, I bet that's all tied into this bullshit too. Maybe I should go see him again."

Kallista sighed as she lined up a nail on the wall.

"It seems like everything always comes back around to that at some point. We can't seem to get away from it. You're not gonna leave now, though, right? I mean we just moved in and it's been so nice having everyone back together and in town. I never feel right when you're gone."

She smacked the nail twice, driving it into the wall before turning to look at her friend, her eyes slightly less happy.

"I... I don't know what I would've done if we'd lost you back in the Elemental Chaos..."

Tzesira sighed, she known they weren't done with it. "Kay, you're stronger than you think. You'd be okay. I'm even gonna say *will* be okay, because, look - shadar-kai are mostly meant to die in battle."

"I hate when you talk like that," Kallista said, "Who cares what Shadar Kai are supposed to do. If you listen to people around here talk, Tieflings are supposed to make deals with demons. That doesn't mean I have to. Are you gonna tell Thruik he needs to start smashing more stuff because he's an orc?"

She put down the hammer and crossed her arms.

"We make our own decisions, T. And even if you don't give a shit if you live or die, maybe I do."

Tzesira glared sullenly at her friend for a moment while she thought that through. She smirked a little before she replied, but there was still a bit of an edge to it. "See, bitch, that's what I mean, you don't let people tell you what to fucking do, and I like that.

But here's the thing, Kay - I believe in fate - that it is real. I would rather die in a good fight than not. If I *could* choose, that what it would be. But ...you don't really get to choose. If I'd died, and you'd beaten that bitch, I could have been happy with that even though it wasn't my best fight. But fuck - you saw me after the arena fight. I felt like I did shit and I died anyway. And I know there's a difference, that it wasn't for real the same way. But the point is - you don't get to fucking pick. And I can accept that. Its important to me, that I can accept that - that I do my very fucking best, all the time, and I know that its not always going to be enough and I fucking do it anyway, even if it kills me."

She crossed her arms. "It isn't that I don't *care*, Kay. I don't go into a fight, or anything *wanting* to die, that's fucking crazy. And I'm not really mad that you made that call. It's like... Hanrak and his dragon. We'll get her another time. But it isn't always about choices, either Kay."

"You can have fate and choices too," Kallista said with a shrug, "Besides, you weren't the one who had to choose. What would you have done? If it had been reversed, could you have made that decision for me?"

"....I don't know, Kay," she admitted, arms still crossed. "If it were anyone else, it would be easy. But you're special."

Kallista smirked. She had a feeling that the shadar kai might be overestimating her ability to simply let the rest of the team die, but she decided it was probably best not to say so.

"It's not an easy position to be in. I wouldn't wish it on anyone, and I don't regret my decision at all."

She moved toward her friend and put an arm around her waist with a smile.

"Winning isn't worth your life. Not to me."

Tzesira put her hands on Kallista's shoulders, her expression serious. "Alright Kay, but - Tasane was a bitch and everything, and she was fucking hard... But maybe she wasn't that *important*. If the stakes are ever higher though, and you have to think of more than me - just know I'm ready. It will be alright. Okay?"

"Okay..." Kallista nodded, "But it won't come to that. I won't let it."

She pulled Tzesira to her and wrapped both arms around her in a hug.

Tzesira let Kallista hug her for a while, even hugging back. But eventually she got restless. "Are you gonna finish hanging your shit up or what?"

Kallista laughed and pushed her away, sticking her tongue out once more.

"I swear to the gods you're allergic to affection," she said as she picked the hammer back up.

She grinned back. "Fuck you too, Kay!"