The Avatar_500 Jump Start Posting And Comments Meme

[attackfish]

Alright, I'm unwilling to let avatar_500 go without a fight, so I am going to incentivize participation.  Write and post a fic for Round 65 - Air, and I'll fill a drabble request of yours.  Comment on all of the fics in the round (everybody said they wanted more comments), and at the end of the round, link me to all of the comments and I'll fill a request for you.  Do both, and I will fulfill three requests for commentfic.

The rules for posting to avatar_500 can be found here.

You don't have to belong to avatar_500 or have ever participated in it before to earn a request for commenting, and if you do want to join to post a fic for the round, all you have to do is click the "join the community" button, and you're in, easy.

About which I will not write (so don't request):

Ty Zula
NC-17
Incest
Ships where one party is much older or younger than the other(s)
Rape
Other people's OCs

Other than that, everything is fair game.

The deadline to post fic is Saturday December 1st at 11:00 PM EST.  The deadline to post comments is  Saturday December 8th at 11:00 PM EST.

Fics in The Round So Far:

Marking Boundaries by attackfish
The Need to be Seen by lalunatique
Playtime at Air Temple Island by wolfs_lament 
What Are the Odds? by c3childs
Wrong by chordatesrock
Four Element - Air- Third Stanza byclockwerkchaos
How Tenzin Met Pema by lavanyasix


Fills:

Forwolfs_lament:
   For a story: Hufflepuff Zuko, Secret Tunnel

For chordatesrock:
   For a story: Holding This Breath: the Aftermath of Kidnapping Aang
   For commenting on everyone's fics: Quiet Shadowed Places: the Cooler
   Bonus: Zuko/Toph, all grown up and surviving state dinners

For lalunatique:
   For commenting on everyone's fics: Ty Lee and Suki - Sake

For somariel:
   For commenting on everyone's fics: The Grand Lotus puts out a call

For: c3childs:
   For a story: Hama - Katara wasn't her first pupil  *Warning for violence and death*
   For commenting on everyone's fics: Amon - the vigilante of Republic City
   Bonus:  Yakone - he owns Republic City

For lavanyasix:
   For a story: Lin Realizes Toph is a dirty cop
   For commenting on everyone's fics: Pre-series - Korra encounters prejudice due to being half Northern and half Southern
   Bonus:  Ozai marries his son off into an insultingly low-ranked colonial noble family. Zuko/Kori

Comments

Re: For Bonus Fills

[c3childs.livejournal.com]

Because of reasons (the witnesses all had 'accidents' or 'left town' or 'something') Yakone isn't convicted, and Republic City is effectively his.

The Grand Lotus puts out a call

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

"I cannot stay long," Iroh told him as he stood in the window of his friend's grand estate. Piandao supposed that if one were going to escape from prison, there were far worse places to retreat to. "I only came to ask you to help me spread the word."

"Of course you did." Piandao shook his head ruefully. "Old friend, it's funny but we never talk anymore except when we have to."

"I'm sorry." The steam above Iroh's cup made small spirals in the mountain air. "If this goes well, there will be all the time in the world to renew old bonds."

"And if it doesn't?"

Iroh smiled sadly.

Piandao away from his friend towards the door. "I have to go into town." He turned around. "We'll meet at Ba Sing Se."

"We will," Iroh said, and Piandao knew he would be gone by the time he returned.

Re: The Grand Lotus puts out a call

[somariel]

Nice. I see we have the same headcanon about Iroh staying with Piandao for a bit after he escapes from prison.

Re: The Grand Lotus puts out a call

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

It's a good headcanon, I like it. Glad you liked.

Ty Lee and Suki - Sake

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

So, I checked through, and you had commented on everything, and I've been sitting on this for days, so here you go. I tried, but it didn't turn out all that slashy.

~*~

Suki's head sank lower on Ty Lee's shoulder and her breath came warm and rasping, and heavy with the scent of alcohol. She stumbled on the empty floor, and Ty Lee caught her and kept her from falling. "Come on," she murmured. "We're almost there."

"Thanks, Ty Lee," Suki said slowly, carefully enunciating each word. "I'm sorry."

No, Ty Lee restrained herself from saying. You are not going to start crying again. But She wouldn't have stopped Suki if she did, not really. "It's okay. Let's just get you in bed, and..."

"You're really nice about this, I mean reeeeeally nice. I don't think the oth-" her feet tangled, and she dropped, and Ty Lee scrambled to catch her before she sagged to the floor.

"Maybe you shouldn't talk right now." Ty Lee propped her back up. "Maybe you should just concentrate on walking." She pushed the sliding door out of the way and half dragged her leader into the room.

Suki just grunted, and when Ty Lee layed her out on her futon, she patted Ty Lee's cheek. "I mean it." Her hand slid down to Ty Lee's throat, and stayed there, as if she were unaware of it, still there at the end of her arm. "You're soooo nice about this. The other girls would laugh."

Ty Lee cupped the hand on her neck in her own and peered down at her leader through the darkness. Her leader. She had never seen Azula so vulnerable. She had never seen Mai or Zuko so vulnerable either. She couldn't remember letting anyone ever se her so vulnerable, reliant on a friend to carry her to bed and tuck her in. "I wouldn't laugh at you," she said seriously.

"See?" Suki said, closing her eyes and smiling. "Nice."

Kneeling beside her in the dark, Ty Lee saw Azula's face for a moment, instead of Suki, saw her her as she had let Ty Lee see her, without weaknesses or imperfections, so, so perfect that she never could quite believe it wasn't real until after Azula was gone again. "I guess."

Ty Lee was nice because she wouldn't laugh. Right then, she wanted to. She wanted to laugh, and laugh, until she started crying, and then she wanted to disappear. This woman was her friend, and she was so sure, so completely confident the worst her friends would ever do to her was laugh.

Somehow, she felt touched.

Somehow, she felt lost.

Maybe she should have stayed in the Fire Nation, with Mai and Zuko, with people who at least, above all else shared with her the bone deep hard taught knowledge that moments of weakness were just tools for others to use against them.

"Stay?" Suki whispered in the dark.

"Of course," Ty Lee answered her. Suki trusted her. This was what trust felt like. And she wished with everything she had that she could trust back. "Of course."

Re: Quiet Shadowed Places - The Cooler

[chordatesrock.livejournal.com]

Hama was the first waterbender to admit to discovering bloodbending, and then only if the swamp waterbenders don't count. Besides, I don't think bones count as earth, because the important aspect of what counts as earth for earthbending doesn't seem to have anything to do with mineral content (or different soils would work differently) but with the fact that it is part of or came from the earth itself. Especially because, if what elements are in something determines its bendability, then earthbending is just too powerful. We've seen them bend coal. Carbonbending would be far too overpowered.

It takes dedication to learn an ideographic written language, but that applies whether or not you can see. It isn't any more complicated or difficult to remember through some other sense.

Yeah, had the show been more sensible, Toph would've totally been all over that. Hama, too, could've held it until a guard came around. "I peed for bending material, used it to slit the guard's throat and lifted his keys up to my cage in a bubble of pee" doesn't sound half as cool, though. (How much do you want to bet Hama actually peed herself free and discovered bloodbending later, but lied to make it sound cooler?)

Re: Quiet Shadowed Places - The Cooler

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that doesn't negate the ability of earthbenders to bend bone, since most elemental systems figured out pretty quickly that bones were related to stones. And you can't tell me that if bloodbending had been invented several times in the past, that it wouldn't have been whispered about, even if nobody had spoken of it out loud, and we have no indication of that at all.

Also, there's the cool factor of an earthbender making skeletons dance that I am not willing to give up.

When I was learning alphabets, I spent a lot of time looking up letters in the chart. It's not that it's harder to remember with some other sense, it's that it's harder to make reference charts. As I said, it could be done, but it would be really really difficult.

You know, that's my new headcannon. Pee for liberation!

Re: Quiet Shadowed Places - The Cooler

[(Anonymous)]

A reference chart doesn't have to be as easy to make as a typical writing system and could be carved from wood or stone.

Skeletons dancing. Okay, you win.

I don't have time to log in, but this is chordatesrock.

Re: Ty Lee and Suki - Sake

[lalunatique.livejournal.com]

Aww that is so cute, and the underlying darker message about vulnerability and trust is poignant. It's like biting through sugary soft cream into the bittersweet dark chocolate at the core. Ty Lee is fascinating to me because of the way she crosses boundaries, those of cultures, nationalities, and enemy lines, but in a way this story shows her to be an eternal wanderer, too wounded to stay at home but too wary to be comfortable anywhere else.

Re: Quiet Shadowed Places - The Cooler

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

This is true. Also, I have a feeling that Katara and Sokka learned without a chart, by repeatedly drawing characters in the snow, which wouldn't be any harder for a blind waterbender to learn, and not unreasonably harder for a blind nonbender to learn.

Also, in case you're interested, there's a really awesome fic about Toph learning to read, with possibly the best summary ever written:

Meanings tied up in dots and lines - http://archiveofourown.org/works/39243

Her parents congratulated Toph on learning to read, but said that as much as they admired her newfound ability to write they'd rather she didn't bend "Toph Bei Fong was here" into all the decorative boulders.

Re: Ty Lee and Suki - Sake

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I think of Ty Lee as a girl who has worn a shell of normalcy so long she doesn't know how to take it off. She's very damaged, more than she shows, but she's also very resilient, and I have a feeling she'll be able to trust again someday. I don't think she'll be a Kyoshi Warrior for long though, maybe a few years. I'm pretty sure that as you said, she's a wanderer and has a hard time settling.

Re: Quiet Shadowed Places - The Cooler

[chordatesrock.livejournal.com]

You wrote that one? I love that fic! I didn't realize it was yours!

Re: Quiet Shadowed Places - The Coolernon

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Nonono, I'm just reccomending it. Because it's awesome.

Lin Realizes Toph is Dirty

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

The iron door crunched off its hinges and swung around until it hit the wall before sagging to the floor. Captain Lin Bei Fong stalked in like she didn't even notice the damage, and Toph had to suppress a grin. The resemblance between them wasn't usually so obvious. "Linnie! How're you doing?"

Instead of answering, Lin slammed one of the canvas evidence bags with a knife inside down on her mother's stone table. "I read the evidence report! We did not find this at Peng Li's apartment. One of my officers found it in a gutter a block away from where we found the body!"

Toph's secretary, who had done the actual ink and paper writing of the report in question edged out of the room, and Toph felt her daughter's hands twitch with the impulse to bend the door closed to stop him. "Maybe you just aren't remembering it right."

"Mom!"

"Wow," Toph whispered. "You haven't called me that in a loooong time, Linnie."

"This is serious, Mother." Lin clenched her teeth. "Did you falsify evidence?"

"He was lying." Toph stood up and swept around to the other side of the table, to stand before her daughter. "I felt it. He butchered his pregnant wife and left her in a ditch."

"So you framed him?" Lin demanded, eyes wide, hands shaking.

"Yeah, I framed a man who is guilty," Toph spat. "You know he's guilty, I know he's guilty, and I'm not going to let him get away with it."

"You broke the law."

"Don't tell me you're going to report this." Toph folded her arms. "Let him walk out of prison, get married again, and do this to some other girl."

"No, I won't." Toph could feel the unhappiness radiating off her daughter, and everything in her wanted to reach out a hand to her, but Lin stepped back, out of her reach. She turned around and walked out of the room, and Toph didn't call her back.

Re: Lin Realizes Toph is Dirty

[lavanyasix.livejournal.com]

I could see how this would feed into Lin becoming the rule-bound, no-privileges sort of person we see in the present day. After all, if Toph's lie detecting doesn't work on the likes of Azula, false positives should also be in the realm of possibility. That'd seem the sort of thing to nag at Lin, even if she thought the suspect in this particular case was guilty.

The bit about Toph having a secretary to write her reports raises a good (and obvious) point. Her position would involve a lot of paperwork, so Toph would need to dictate her reports to someone. That could be an interesting relationship.

I've sometimes fanwanked the idea that metalbending could allow Toph to learn to read and write, if she put iron salts in her ink, but on reflection I wonder if she'd actually be that interested in learning either skill. She wouldn't need them until she becomes a police officer, and that's probably into her twenties. Between her police work and training metalbenders, and possible a marriage as well, that wouldn't leave a terrible amount of time for her to become literate.

Re: Lin Realizes Toph is Dirty

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

She doesn't even necessarily need a false positive on a lie to accidentally frame an innocent person for murder. What if next time, somebody's lying about their alibi, because their real alibi was that they were with a lover? This must terrify Lin, that her mother is so confident in her own infallibility that she would do something like that.

It would have to be an incredibly intimate relationship and I can't imagine Toph would be an easy boss to work for, especially in a relationship that intense.

On Toph writing, I'm sure she could find a way if she wanted to, but speaking as somebody who has disabilities, a lot of it is about picking battles, and I'm totally okay with Toph looking at reading and writing as something she doesn't care about enough to figure out the workarounds.

Re: Holding This Breath - The aftermath of kidnapping Aang 2/2

[grandiose666.livejournal.com]

whoa. it is very horrible. but also poignant and I love the Zuko/Yue (Zue?) relationship.

Re: Holding This Breath - The aftermath of kidnapping Aang 2/2

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

I love them in this verse. I mean, part of the reason I love them is because they're the most tragic tragedy that ever tragiced, and they revel in it, but also because they have real misery and problems, and I'm a sucker for angst.

Hama - Katara wasn't her first pupil pt 1/2

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Warnings (big warnings) for graphic violence, and blood, and death, and bad things.

~*~

"What's the point of practicing like that anyway?" He pressed himself against the bars of his cage, thin legs poking through. "There isn't any water here."

"Hush," she rasped, body too dry to wet her mouth. "I need to concentrate."

"Concentrate on what?" He let his arms fall away from the bars and swing to his sides, and Hama couldn't help staring at them, and how thin and knobbly they were, like twigs. She tried to place him. "You're not bending anything. None of us are ever going to get to bend anything again."

Yuna's boy. He was what, maybe fifteen or sixteen? He can't have been more than ten when she left, and now look, he was old enough to go to war and become a prisoner. She laughed at him, coldly. "Not if you think like that, you won't."

"The guards are going to catch you. They're going to take you out and beat you. You really want that to happen again?" He licked his cracking lips, but it didn't do any good.

Hama's eyes flicked back to him as she began her forms again from the beginning. "You can watch for the guards if you're so worried."

"I don't get it." He said flatly. "There's no water."

No. Not there, where the air was so dry it stole away their tears and their sweat as soon as they formed, where the cups of water they were given weren't enough to keep their mouths from tasting like dust or relieve the pounding in their heads, where the guards measured their piss and beat them if they didn't think it was enough. And it was never enough, because the water was never enough. "Yes there is, don't you feel it?"

He stared at her as she continued her way through her forms as if she had gone crazy, and she smiled fiercely back. She got it, and he didn't.

"There's water inside of me," she said, her voice low, and she wondered what he saw with his sad, terrified eyes. She was a young woman still. Did he see a grownup, someone who had already been fighting when he had been a little boy, or did he see the closest thing to a pretty Water Tribe girl he was ever going to see again? Was that why he was worried for her? "And inside of you, and inside the rats that scurry around this prison." She let her voice drop even lower until he had to lean into the bars to hear her. "And inside the guards carrying the keys. We'll bend their blood."

"That's impossible. Nobody's ever-"

"I already have." She grabbed the bars of her cage. "I made the rats come out of the shadows last month, and under the full moon, we will break free, and they won't be able to stop us, because I'll control their very bodies."

"Show me," he hissed. "If you're so great, show mw while the guards aren't looking."

Hama looked away from him. "I need the full moon and the power it gives us."

He shook his head. "I don't believe you."

"Wait." She smiled. "The full moon's in two days. I'll show you."

~*~

Hama pulled her arm back, and the rats slumped forward, and then, with a flick of her wrist, the rats flew out of her cage, and back into the shadows.

The boy's lips has parted in astonishment, and he closed them, siting there with his legs hanging out of his cage, silently until he managed to speak. "Can I try?"

"Go ahead." Hama smirked. "Nobody's stopping you."

He breathed out. His hands tensed into claws, and she could see him grab hold of the water in the rats' veins. Two of them jerked forward, into a patch of moonlight between the cages when he moved his arm. He let his arm fall, and they ran off, chittering into the darkness. "I think I can do more."

"That's good." Her eyes didn't leave his. "That means I'm not alone."

He pulled his legs back inside the cage. "It felt really..."

"Powerful?"

"Yeah, I guess." He gulped. "Weird.

"Help me." Hama reached her hand through the cage bars. "You want out too, don't you? We'll take our freedom together."

"Yeah." He nodded. "We'll get everybody out together."

Hama - Katara wasn't her first pupil pt 2/2

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

~*~

"Go slower." Hama ordered, deliberately taking even longer to finish her own form.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, go slow, so you can get every little bit right." He rolled his eyes and pitched his voice high and mocking, and Hama wondered who exactly he was supposed to be making fun of. He certainly didn't sound anything like her. "I know how to practice forms."

"You go slow so that you don't catch the guards' attention." She thought the fact that she restrained following it up with "you idiot" was very kind of her.

He flushed, and slowed down, properly chastened.

~*~

But it didn't last, not that Hama thought it would. He was a child.

"Stop moving," she breathed. Wasn't he the one who was supposed to be so worried about the guards, she wondered.

But her warning didn't come soon enough, and the guard shouted out as he rounded the corner. "Hey you! Stop that!"

The boy stumbled in the middle of his leap and crashed to the floor of his cage, legs askew beneath him. Hama slumped back against the bars of her cage and watched, eyes blank as she could make them.

As the other guards sprinted from their posts to the prisoner, lying sprawled in his cage, the first guard unlocked the bolt on the boy's cage and yanked open the door. "You, boy," he shouted, grabbing the boy and threw him out onto the prison floor. "Were you trying to bend?"

"No!" he yelped, cowering against the ground. "I swear, I was-"

"Shut up!" the guard yelled, shaking him until his head rattled up and down on his neck.

It was then that the other guards began to catch up. The prisoners, trapped in their separate cages could only watch, their eyes boring into the guards, as the first kicked the boy in the ribs. The air in his lungs spilled out into the room. Years Later, Hama would swear she had felt it, even though she knew there was no way she could have.

Some of the prisoners clutched the bars and screamed out. Hama heard them as if through layers of snow. The guards kicked the boy, and hauled him up in their arms to punch him, and dropped him back to the ground to kick him again. His moans, louder in Hama's ears than the screams all around her, gurgled out of him with flecks of his blood.

~*~

All through the night, Hama sat awake, pressed against the bars of her cage and listened to the air bubble in and out of his lungs. She snaked her arm out of her cage to grab his own hand, left dangling out of the bars, and felt him grip her back. So she was the one to hear his breathing stop, and feel his hand go slack in hers.

~*~

The next morning, a guard poked the boy's body through the bars. "Hey, guys, he's not moving!"

Hama listened to the recriminations, the you-weren't-supposed-to-kill-hims, and the well-it's-your-fault-for-kicking-his-ribs, and the everybody-just-shut-ups, and found that she didn't care at all about what they were or weren't supposed to do.

~*~

The moon rose in Hama's blood. She opened her eyes, dispelling the fitful sleep she had been chasing, and twisted her hands into claws, and waited for a guard to pass near enough to her. She was escaping, and she was, she decided, doing it alone, so that nobody else could mess it up.

Amon - the vigilante of Republic City

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

The protection money sat hidden behind his counter in a neat little stack, wrapped in brown paper, and it had been sitting there, wrapped up and ready, for six days. Akako was starting to think nobody was coming for it.

"What are you going to spend it on?"

The voice jerked her out of his reverie. "I'm sorry?"

Hyo pointed to her hand behind the counter, absently touching the packet of yuans. "They haven't come to my shop either," her neighbor told her.

"They'll be back." Akako whispered, taking her hand off the money. "Zolt doesn't need his firebending to cause us misery. He'll figure that out again."

Hyo sighed in exasperation at the old glassblower. "But nobody's even seen him since Amon-"

"Don't talk about that man!" Akako's eyes narrowed at her neighbor. Everyone was so thrilled with the absence of the Triple Threats, with the fear Amon had put into the hearts of the city gangs, with the man who had done it. "Are you here to buy, or are you just here to gossip?"

He sighed again. "Come on, Akako, I'm sure Amon's anti-bending is all talk. Look at who he took out." He waved his hands. "The man went after criminals. He's not going to muck around with little old lady glassblowers. Take the money out tonight and enjoy yourself, and stop worrying."

Akako huffed. The air in her shop had grown chilly, and she longed to feel a fire curling in her palm just to assure herself she could.

Yakone - he owns Republic City

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

I took some liberties with the prompt. I hope you don't mind. I'm assuming that Yakone was brought for trial several times and beat the rap.

~*~

Yakone walked out of the council chambers and into the winter sun. The press flocked around him like turtle-ducks on a piece of bread, and as his lawyer took their questions, Yakone smiled a warm, easy smile.

~*~

The knock came at his door in the middle of the night. Yakone opened the door to the Chief of Police with the same smile he had on his face outside the courthouse. "Chief Bei Fong, come in. I'm honored. You know you're always welcome in my home."

"Not if you paid me." Toph kept her feet off Yakone's wooden floors and safely on the stone path outside his door. "Not that you haven't tried."

"I have tried no such thing!" he exclaimed. "You must be mistaken, Chief Bei Fong."

"Uh huh, yeah, of course." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. "I must be mistaken. I just came to tell you that just because the trial's over doesn't mean you can sleep easy at night. We're not done with you yet. My cops'll be all over you, day and night. You put a foot wrong..."

"Be careful, Chief Bei Fong." He narrowed his eyes and kept smiling. "You don't want me to think you're harassing me."

"Oh no, not at all." She spat on the ground. "Tootles, Yakone. We'll see how long you stay out of prison."

~*~

The next morning, Lin woke up with a knife stuck into the wall, inches from her nose, and ran into her mother's room white lipped and terrified.

~*~

Councilman Enlei took his last sip of tea and set the cup down on the table. As the serving woman came to take his cup, he pulled his checkbook out of his wallet.

"Oh no, Councilman." She waved her hands hurriedly. "It's already been taken care of. That guy over there..." She pointed to a young man sitting in a booth across the room. "He told me to tell you he's a really good tipper, and he is you know, he gave a, well, um, anyway, that he's a really good tipper, and that his boss is an even better one." She said the last part much more quietly, and more than a little embarrassed.

"Well is that so?" Enlei said coldly. "Excuse me, Madam, I think I need to speak with this man."

"I'll go bring you another pot of tea to his table, okay?" She gave him a nervous smile. "He payed for that too."

Enlei nodded curtly to her. He marched over to the young man's table and sat down without preamble. "You're a Red Monsoon. You're Yakone's man."

The man- boy- grinned at him toothily. "My boss sent me here to extend you an offer."

"Oh, so you're getting right down to business, huh? No beating around the bush?" Enlei clenched his fists. "Well, your boss can forget it. I'm insulted he thinks he can bribe me."

"Oh, my boss isn't offering you money," the boy said, putting his hand on his heart and pretending to be wounded.

"Oh isn't he."

"No." The boy put his hand on the councilman's arm, and Enlei pulled out of his reach. "He's offering you something much more valuable. He's offering you peace of mind. You have a new grandson, don't you?"

~*~

"We have six people willing to testify, Sokka, six." Toph paced back and forth across the floor of his office. "Six people he bloodbent."

"Look, I told you, it doesn't matter." Sokka put his head on his desk, frustrated. "Most of the council's in his pocket. Nobody'll vote to convict. They're too scared of him."

Toph stopped. "He threatened my daughter with a knife, Sokka."

"What do you want me to do about it?" He demanded indignantly. "You're the Police Chief."

Toph's lips quirked up frighteningly. "The point is, I think it's time for Twinkletoes to earn his keep.

Korra encounters prejudice due to being half Northern and half Southern

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Korra tugged against her mother's hand. "But it's got candy!"

"I don't care, Korra," her mother said tiredly. "We're not going there."

As Korra pulled, the hard, compacted snow melted and refroze under her mother's feet, turning into a glassy sheet of perfect, slick ice. Senna slid on the ice as if wheels had been attached to her feet, as if she wore freshly sharpened ice skates. And no matter how many times her mother shouted "Korra, no!" Korra kept dragging her behind her in her small, relentless wake.

Korra, blithely unaware of her newest show of waterbending, in pursuit of the booth with candy, as she had been unaware of all of them previously, sauntered under the booth canopy, and favored the woman behind the table with a wide, guileless smile. The woman behind the table frowned forebodingly down at her, and Korra's smile faltered.

"My, Senna, your girl strong," one of the women shopping chuckled, the lines on her face softening into a smile. Her gnarled fingers plucked one of the strings of fruit flavored sugar lumps from a hook on one of the poles that held up the booth's canvas roof. They shimmered like ice in the light that filtered down through the canvas. Korra popped one of the candy beads in her mouth, It was lemonberry. Her favorite.

"Those are imported!" the shopkeeper gasped furiously. "You can't just-"

"Oh calm down Nigaq." The old woman clucked her tongue and patted Korra on the back. "You know I'm good for it. Such a strong child."

"Well I heard that happens when they're mixed," the shopkeeper growled. Korra didn't think she liked her very much.

"Don't be nasty," the old woman scolded. "Besides, it's an old wives' tale, and both her parents are Water Tribe anyway."

"Okay," Senna cut in quickly. "You've had your candy, Korra, thank the nice ladies so we can leave."

Korra stuck her lip out stubbornly and pointed at the shopkeeper. "She's not a nice lady."

The shopkeeper's mouth dropped open. "Well I never!"

"Korra!" Senna grabbed her daughter's arm.

The old woman snorted. "She has you pegged, Nigaq."

"Your daughter is a miserable little brat," the shopkeeper sneered, hauling herself up to her feet to loom menacingly over her table. "I hope you're happy with her, Senna. Serves you right for not settling down with a nice Southern boy."

"I hope you have a lovely day, Nigaq," Korra's mother retorted. She turned to the old woman who had given Korra the candy and took her daughter's arm. "That was very sweet of you, Kirima thank you. Come on, Korra, let's go."

Korra watched the women as her mother let her out of the shop, sucking on the lump of candy uncertainly.

Re: Korra encounters prejudice due to being half Northern and half Southern

[lavanyasix.livejournal.com]

I'll admit, despite being the one to request this one, I was hesitant when the email notice popped up in my inbox. I dreaded seeing what kid!Korra would be subjected to. Like what's behind a closed door, what you haven't seen yet is infinitely more horrible than whatever is there when you open the door, so I'm glad Korra didn't suffer overly much here.

I'm a puzzled by what the old wives' tale is supposed to be. Is it that the stereotype of a north/south kid is physically strong or just a strong bender?

Re: Korra encounters prejudice due to being half Northern and half Southern

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Honestly, most of it went right over little Korra's head. *pets her*.

The old wives' tale is that kids whose parents are from two different elements are stronger, and our sour shopkeeper was applying it to Korra, even though bother her parents are Water Tribe. I hear tell some people have the headcanon that no one is actually a nonbender. They just aren't born into the nation of the element they would be bending. So kids with parents of two elements would have double the chance of being born into the right nation for their element. Eh, just go with it. I was tired when I wrote it.