Dishonourable Discharge: Grace Augustine

72

Ivory stood by the front door tightening the straps of her rucksack. "Grace are you ready?" She called.

"Give me a minute I can't find my fucking-"

There was a loud crash as Grace broke off.

"Never mind, I've got it. We really need to get some shelves or something I can't find anything." Grace clattered into the hallway. "What've you got that for?"

"What?" Ivory asked blankly.

"You don't need your exopack here." Grace nodded at the exopack dangling from Ivory's hand. 

"I forgot." Ivory muttered, hanging it back up on the coat hook.

Grace squeezed Ivory's shoulder then opened the front door. "Come on, let's get going."

Ivory waited as Grace unlocked the door then followed her down the steps and out of the apartment block.

"Where are we headed?"

"Seventy seventh street, the market there has the most choice for furniture. We need to think about getting food at some point as well." Grace grabbed Ivory's hand as they crossed the road, rolling her eyes at the stream of profanities that poured out of a taxi driver's mouth as the car in front of him slammed its breaks on without warning.

"Is it always this loud here?" Ivory grumbled as another car rumbled past with it's windows rolled down, pop music blaring from within.

"This is quiet for the city." Grace said, glancing through the window of a packed coffee shop. "Do you want a-?"

"I don't want one badly enough to queue for that long." Ivory muttered, zipping her hoodie up in an attempt to shield herself from the chill. Although New York was fairly warm that day it felt freezing in comparison to the near constant muggy heat of Pandora.

Grace nodded. "There should be vendors at the market that sell some if you want one later."

"What do you want from there anyway?"

"Shelves, a sofa, a closet, a bed frame and some chairs."

"Christ Grace, you don't want much do you?"

"Just because you don't want anything doesn't mean that I'm going to live the rest of my life using a suitcase as a wardrobe." Grace flicked her hair out of her eyes. "It's just down here." The redhead led Ivory through a narrow side street that was overshadowed by enormous blocks of flats.

Ivory stood blinking in the sudden bright sunlight as the street opened out onto what looked like a disused running track that was lined with white market stalls.

Grace eyed the collection of stalls with a critical expression, her brown eyes darting rapidly over the packed tabletops and pieces of furniture that were stacked around them. "Let's go to the stall by the far wall." She said decisively.

Ivory shrugged her shoulders and followed her girlfriend, pausing for a second to run a hand over a display of warped masks that would not have looked out of place in a horror film.

"They make a statement and protect you from the pollution." The stall-holder said, picking up a white mask with a brightly painted mouth.

"Doll come on!" Grace called.

"Sorry." Ivory said quickly, jogging over to Grace.

"What do you think about this closet?" Grace asked.

The dark haired woman frowned and ran her hand over the pale brown wood. "Seems sturdy enough."

Grace rolled her eyes. "I know that. I meant do you like how it looks?"

"I don't care about how any of the furniture looks." Ivory shrugged. "I only care if it's going to last, if we can afford it and if it'll fit."

Grace checked the price tag again and frowned. She and Ivory both had savings and she had spoken to some people at Yale before they had gone into cryo and secured an agreement with them that meant she was going to give some lectures and write another book on her experiences in Pandora. "You gonna take it down to sixty dollars?"

The man running the stall pursed his lips, considering. "Seventy five."

"Seventy." Grace said stubbornly.

"Fine, seventy." The man agreed, holding a hand out for the money.

Ivory swung her rucksack off of her shoulders and unzipped it, pulling her wallet out.

"I can-" Grace began.

"If you want this one I'll get you it." Ivory peeled the notes out of her wallet and passed them over to the man.

"For an extra five dollars I'll have it delivered to your home so you don't need to carry it back."

"Fine." Ivory gave the man a five dollar note.

"Ivy are you sure you can-?"

"Vets benefits, remember? I didn't do this to myself for free." Ivory gestured to the scar on her face and gave a humourless laugh.

"What's the address?" The stall-holder asked impatiently.

A/N: Happy New Year! It's weird to think that I've been writing this since 2021 and it's now 2023. Avatar really does have me in a chokehold.  I finally saw Way Of Water and it was brilliant (in my admittedly biased opinion). I would protect Kiri and Tuktirey with my life.