IS THIS WHAT WE DESERVE;; tagged ALTAIR

It would be a miracle if one day, Altair could stay seated in class. It truly would be something of a sight to see, the Fire girl pouring over a book, taking notes and actually paying attention to the teacher. But that’s never how it worked. It worked with her being ticked off by the professors who thought that she wanted to answer their goddamn teachers and the students who thought they could talk about her without her noticing. After that, she walked out of class, listening to the professor calling out that she had detention—yet again—and not giving a damn either way. Why should she sit and listen to someone she couldn’t give less of a damn about?

Now she was in the halls, skipping the rest of her classes. A girl like her with patience so thin shouldn’t be forced to spend extended periods of time sitting on her ass and listening to teachers rambling on about shit she didn’t care about. So she saved those professors the trouble of dealing with her and skipped out on the classes. And come dinnertime, Altair decided she might as well eat there to save the sisters some money. Since she was spending it all on what she considered necessities. Which meant clothes and drugs for herself. She was supposed to be the oldest, she knew that, but she was still selfish as ever and unfortunately, that included the sisters she loved more than anything else. The only people she loved, and even remotely cared about.

For once, she was actually minding her own business, but that changed when she felt something hit her back. Her immediate instinct was to pivot on her heel and aim a punch to whoever the assailant was. But she saw none until she looked down on the ground. Any sane person would have offered a hand and helped the girl up, but Deirdra wasn’t like that. Especially since she recognized who it was. Managing words through the rage she felt, Altair sneered, ”Lookit, the little Earth cunt is just a glutton for punishment. On your face again, you seem to like being a little whore.” With that spoken, she felt even more ferocity. But she waited to do something, because she knew what she wanted from this girl. ”Get up. Right fucking now.”

Deirdra was bowing down, and she almost rolled her eyes. How weak could one person actually get? She almost wanted to pull her up by the collar and yell at her, tell her that she shouldn’t fucking be taking orders from others. But Altair didn’t care enough about her for that, didn’t care about anything. So she let her be the pathetic little girl she was. ”Playing the whore again, I see,” she mocked. She didn’t know about the Earth student’s life or anything to actually wonder if she had even given herself over to a man. And Altair was acting a hypocrite, but that didn’t even matter either. She was a whore, but she didn’t submit to men. She was always in control—it was their money that she was taking after all, so whether they liked it or not, they were at her mercy. And she didn’t have a pimp or any of that shit from whatever television shows. Altair was her own woman.

She snorted at how easily the other girl complied, rising to her feet. It was very amusing, and almost made to dissipate her anger. Almost. But even if it had, it wouldn’t have stopped what happened next. Without a word, she pulled her arm back and slammed her knuckles against Deirdra’s face. Drawing in close so that their noses were almost touching, Altair spoke low and venomously. ”If you think that I’m just going to walk away this time without causing serious, permanent injury, you’ve got another thing coming.” Taking out her lighter, she kicked the ignition and held it close against the other girl’s arm, not bother to even extend the flame very much so that the lighter was pressing against Deirdra’s skin for more injury. ”It’s element rock, paper, scissors. Fire beats Earthm and I will show you just how badly.”

Last time, she’d walked away because of her stamina falling through and the fact that she was growing bored, anyway. This time she’d make sure to keep herself entertained with this lifeless little rat. She would make sure to draw this out as long as possible, for the sick satisfaction of knowing that she could. Besides, this time Altair believed it to be justified considering Deirdra basically assaulted her. No, she didn’t care about how wrong and unjustified it truthfully was. That’s how she worked, through the permanent mindset of violence and causing as much damage as possible.

Altair didn’t wonder why this girl never fought back. She didn’t care enough about anything to wonder. Chalking it up to being an Earth student, she clicked her tongue as the girl fell back down. She wasn’t truly mad, not as mad as she could be. Which was lucky for Deirdra, seeing as Altair would go into a total rampage. Then the Earth student wouldn’t be so damn lucky. The slow, sadistic method she was using now meant that she wasn’t totally enraged, but still smarting from what Deirdra had intentionally done. Either way, the girl was shit out of luck when it came to the Fire bitch.

Unfortunately, Altair was one to be easily bored. In classes she slept, and sitting in one place for too long made her antsy. She always had to be doing something. And this boredom is one that transfers into violence. She liked it when people fought back, it was a challenge. But she supposed it was just as well that the Earth bitch didn’t fight back—it wouldn’t stop her from setting her alight, if that’s what she thought. It would just make her try harder. Which is why she walked away last time—because she knew she would come back stronger and with better ways to ‘strengthen’ her abilities.

Deirdra spoke as she slumped against the wall with the Fire student’s lighter against her skin. ”Big words coming from a little Earth pussy,” she said, looking at her straight on, blue eyes wide and almost innocent. She was talking when Altair could light her up like a Christmas tree is she felt like it? And she was also obviously in pain as she turned her head against the wall. Who wouldn’t be? Even though Altair wasn’t exceptional or even good at her studies, she still understood how susceptible the Earthies were to fire. ”Get up and face me again, since it’s clear you like following orders so bloody much.” She flicked off the lighter for now, but it was still in her hand, like a dormant giant waiting to be used as a weapon.

Why are you doing this?

Well, well, what a good question. Didn’t Deirdra already know? This is what Altair did, it was what she was good at. Fight was her bread and butter. And playing around with Earth students to practice her element was just a new hobby of hers. ”It’s nothing personal, really,” Altair said dryly. ”I really could care less about you. You’re just another Earth student to me.” Deirdra shouldn’t feel like she’s getting special treatment from Altair. She was just another punching bag for her. ”I do it because I feel like it.” Altair continued to play with her lighter, the flames whipping around like a threat. ”Nothing more, nothing less.” Altair wasn’t deep or philosophical or any of that shit, and this girl probably already realized this.

And did Deirdra really think she could get Altair’s goat with her dry comments? She’d really have to try better to be a smartass, because the Fire girl merely smirked. ”Insane maybe,” she said, looking at her with her stark blue gaze. Perhaps she was a sociopath. Sometimes it seemed that way. ”But I’m far from hating myself.” No, Altair was just quite fine with who she was, bitchiness and all. So nothing this girl said could make her think any less of herself. Instead of another physical attack, Altair let the fire lick out from her lighter and brush against the girls face, smirk still on her face as she did so. It would burn and the girl would end up in the medical wing, but it felt good for Altair. She was really stretching her legs here and seeing what she could do with her powers. A punching bag like Deirdra was good for experimentation, but Altair would also need a real fight eventually so she could really test out her powers.

Altair’s lips twitched up into a smile. ”What, you think you’re special?” She took the Earth girl’s chin in her fingers and said, ”Because you’re not. No matter what you say or do, you’re just another grain of sand. You’re just like everyone else.” But Altair wasn’t about to get all philosophical on her punching bag. But she did want her to know that nothing at all stuck out about her. All she did was try for some sarcastic comments and then take whatever is given her. And even if there was something different, something that set her apart, everyone was just the same, down to their ten fingers and ten toes. Everyone died in the end, so did it matter if there was something special about you? Nihilism was something Altair specialized in.

But Deirdra could really count herself lucky in some ways. She had never seen Altair truly angry before. She still hadn’t seen the worse. When she flew off the handle, then the girl would know. There was no stopping her then until she killed the person who made her like that or died herself. If Deirdra did make Altair truly angry, then she wouldn’t just be sent to the medical wing with a few burns. No, she wouldn’t be getting off that easily. Altair watched as the girl defended herself with admirable reflexes, and she narrowed her eyes. ”Would you like to go to the medical wing now?” she asked, her voice dangerously sweet. ”Or would you rather go there with a few more burns to show them?” Her fire swirled around her like her threat manifesting.