tampered | baby ballbuster

baby ballbuster

When; March 9-10
Rating; PG
Characters; Korra, Hei, Tohru, Jinora, Lin Bei Fong, Miles, and anyone else who wants in
Summary; Korra's been bb!fied. Again.
Log; She's just getting off of work when the curse hits. One moment she's glaring murder at some lecher dumb enough to leer at her, and the next she's four years old.

The people of the Underground are familiar enough with curses. They just laugh at the little ballbuster. One of them takes advantage of her size and confusion to pick her up.

"LET ME GO!" she screams, and bursts of flame shoot from her flailing hands. The crowd jumps back to avoid the fire, but they stick around, still laughing.

Korra tries earthbending, and manages to hit one man with a rock to the crotch. The crowd doubles over.

"Now she's a real ball buster!" someone shouts.

The little girl struggles and screams and uses all the bending she knows, but she can't break free.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ In the beats between which Korra settles down, Hei scrubs a tired hand through his hair. While he doesn't feel particularly sweet or benign, he knows it's important to project a semblance of it for Korra. He's done it enough times for Pai. And, once upon a time, he'd tasted fear just as sharp as this little girl has. Kids remember a lot of shit. ]

[ I want my mommy. He exhales and bites the inside of his cheek. Someone else might say it's unfair to lie to a child with perfect impunity. But Hei lies to everyone with impunity. If it worked once, it'll work the second time. ] She had to go for the weekend. But she left me -- and a few nice people [ Her roommates. He has to return her to her roommates. ] to look after you.

[ A moment's hesitation, then: ] You remember me, don't you?

[An older child might have questioned the lie. Why would her mother leave her in a place full of dangerous people? Why wouldn't she tell Korra where she was going? Hand Korra to Li directly? How did they even get to this place that is so very different from home?

But Korra's young enough that these questions don't occur to her. She takes his words at face value, and nods in response to his question.]

Ostrich horses.

[She means "unicorn," but she's forgotten their name, as well as his.]

That's right. The unicorns. And we had bacon and eggs for breakfast. [ Opting for pragmatic tunnel-vision, Hei doesn't focus on how her child-self remembers their brief outing, but has none of teenage Korra's memories of the City. This place is a literal suspension of logic. The path to inferences is paved with madness. ]

[ Just go with it. ]

[ Reaching out, he idly straightens the collar of her shirt. It seems brotherly, but it's really an excuse to marshal his thoughts. He's not going to leave her here. That's not even up for debate. He'd sooner douse her in gasoline and toss her into a furnace. (Odd, how just a few months back, the whole reasoning would've exuded weakness. He supposes it's an almost-sign that he's evolved. Can you grow a conscience? Like kudzu?) ]

Let's get you out of here, all right?

[ The faster he gets her to the beach house, the better. ]

Edited 2013-03-10 03:18 (UTC)

[Out of here sounds like the best idea ever. Korra nods and holds her arms out to Li, a silent demand to be picked up. She may not have teenage Korra's memories, but she does have teenage Korra's exhaustion. Between her grown-up self's long day at work and the additional energy spent on terror and tears, Korra is too tired to walk by herself.]

[ When she holds out her arms, little hands starfishing, Hei stares at her blankly. Then -- Oh. Oh. The Pick Me Up pose. Honestly, he doesn't want to touch her. She's all tiny and glowing with life, and she reminds him too much of -- he shies from that train of thought. ]

[ Play the nice guy. Get her home. Then you can go back to pretending this never happened. ]

[ Matter-of-fact. Businesslike. Except he can't fight an idiotic pang. This bitty Korra is trying to put on such a brave face, but her heart must've been juddering around in her chest like a terrified puppy earlier. So many shocks to her little playpen world, at a time she isn't used to it. His mouth takes on a shape that can't really be called a smile. But his gaze is soft. ] Okay. [ One-armed, he scoops her up. Rises and hitches her onto his hip, letting her cling like a monkey. Quietly, he asks, ] Do you remember my name?

[Korra wraps her arms around him, clinging tightly, and rests her head against him with a loud yawn. She shakes her head in answer to his question.]

Nuh-uh.

[Doesn't know, doesn't care. Right now she's just happy to be safe and held, and in rather desperate need of a nap.]

[ Hei doesn't know why he expects her to kick and shriek immediately. Then he realizes it's because he only picks children up when it's to deliver a killing voltage. Other than a detached observation about the relative ease of mass and weight, the lesser bone density of their skulls, he's learnt to feel nothing. ]

[ But this is the complete opposite. Memories of Pai keep layering themselves over Korra's face like an eerie pentimento. Despite himself, he touches her cheek, smoothes her hair. It needs combing. Her little face is still blotched, the corners of the mouth sticky with dried tears. But she seems secure and nearly asleep. It's both unfamiliar and not. ]

It's Li. [ Not that it matters at this point. He shifts her up higher, and moves to go, mapping out a network of shortcuts in his mind. Dryly, he adds, ] Don't drool on my jacket, okay?

[No response from the little girl, who has fallen asleep. It's a light doze -- enough to make her quiet, but she'll awake within moments if he tries to put her down or hand her off to anyone.]

[ So trusting. It's almost uncanny. Careful not to jostle her, Hei sets off on the quickest route to her place. Pai's specter fades like a fata morgana, but he's very aware of the solid small weight of the child in his grasp. He can't remember the last time he's gotten so involved in the welfare of someone who should only be an asset. Don't be stupid. Don't keep blurring the line. Don't get too close. Each time he reminds himself this, the thoughts seem disconnected. ]

[ No one seems to be listening. ]

[ She's free to doze. But as he meanders through routes downtown, she may catch snatches of music, and wafting aromas of foods in the marketplaces. It's a weekend, and the streets are spilling with life. ]

[Korra falls deeper into sleep as they keep walking, and Li is treated to sleepy baby babble as she dreams. At first it's just bits and pieces of nonsense words -- "ostrich horses" and "penguin sledding" -- but at some point her dreams turn dark. What form they take is impossible to say, as the nonsense words turn into pathetic little whimpers.

Someone down the block sets off a firecracker and the sound startles the little girl awake with a scream.]

[ Hei ignores the little word-fragments as he carries Korra through the crowded streets. Part of him wonders what she's dreaming of -- but it's an abstract curiosity. When Pai used to descend into her Remuneration, she was stone-silent, motionless, almost like a corpse. It was how Hei learnt to differentiate between her payment-sleep and the real deal. The latter was always restless; she'd tic and twitch, sighing and murmuring. Nothing he could make any sense of, but he doubted she'd ever gotten much rest out of it. ]

[ It's almost a dark relief, knowing she's at peace now. ]

[ As the firecracker erupts, he feels Korra jerk awake on a scream. Instinctively, he readjusts his grip around her. Gazes down into her face with mild eyes, pitching his voice to soothe, ]

It's all right.

[It takes a moment for Korra's heart to stop racing. She clings to Li and struggles not to start crying again. His soothing voice helps.

So does the smell of fish floating from one of the nearby stalls.]

[ The interest she takes in the cooking scents doesn't go unnoticed. Hei's purpose is to get her home ASAP. But now he finds himself wanting to make a stopover. A little meal can't hurt, right? The aroma of sweet buns, almost pure sugar, wafts at him from somewhere, and his own hunger rises. His smile to korra is a faint one, but it's the kind he'd give to Pai, that he gives to Yin -- reserved for people who don't see him as just BK201, a mask to fear or to pry apart, a weapon personified. ]

Want something to eat?

[Korra nods enthusiastically and bounces in his arms.]

FISH! FISH FISH FISH FISH FISH!

[Where did that energy come from?]

[ Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Don't make him drop you!!! ]

[ Still half-smiling, he scans the streets. ] I think I know a good place. [ He takes a few sharp detours, until they emerge into a district he privately calls Little Macau. Heaps of fruits and vegetables spill out of the shopfronts everywhere. The smells of roasted pork and fried fish drift in the air. Meat hangs from hooks, reeking of fresh blood, alongside oily black ducks that seem dipped in tar. Butchered eels are on serving plates, their severed halves twitching against the bamboo skewers. A severed goat's head twirls from an awning, teeth bared in a creepy grin. ]

[ To Korra, the market might seem surreal and overcrowded. But for Hei, even the incense from the braziers pervades his senses with dim recollections of childhood. ]

[The entire market is pretty overwhelming to Korra, though she doesn't find anything in it particularly scary. If she weren't sleepy and hungry, she would probably be enthralled, but in her current state, it's just a bit too much. She wriggles and buries her head against his shoulder, trying to block out the lights and minimize the sensory overload.]

[ Hei lets her burrow her little face into his shirt. He reminds himself that, South Pole or no, she's just a child. The surroundings are too phantasmagoric in her already sleepy, keyed-up state. On impulse, he stops at a stand to buy two chilli garlic prawn-&-salmon skewers. Mouthing one prawn off the top -- ] Just a taste test. I won't eat the whole thing. [ -- he chews contemplatively and swallows. Decides it's not too spicy for her, and hands her a skewer after breaking the pointed tip off. You'll poke someone's eye out, yahta yahta. ]

[ There are several restaurants speckling the periphery. Maybe they can duck into a relatively quiet one, and get a proper meal. What about getting her home? a wry voice almost like Mao's asks. ]

[ Shut up, Hei tells it. I'm hungry. ]

Edited 2013-03-10 06:40 (UTC)

What's that?

[Korra asks but that doesn't stop her from taking the skewer and devouring it. Beyond a distaste for sweets, she's never been a picky eater, and the skewer is good. The food improves her mood immensely. She drops the empty stick on the ground and grins widely at him, smears of chili sauce on her cheeks.]

Prawns. [ A frown. ] ....There are prawns in your world. Right? [ Indulgently, he watches her eat. But his smile has faded in favor of something more thoughtful, a vague and drifting sort of look. He shakes it -- and the reflux of Pai memories -- aside. When she drops the stick and beams, he doesn't scold her. Only dabs at the corners of her mouth with his thumb, wiping the smudges of sauce there. He's on the verge of suggesting a session of face-washing -- when a shifty-eyed stranger near the stall taps his shoulder. ]

Hey man -- Hook you up with somethin'?

[ Hei frowns. ] Like what?

Anything like anything. [ Oh great. A drug dealer. Leave it to the weekend to lure the roaches out. Hei shakes his head. ] We're fine. [ The man shrugs, no apology, then yanks up his baggy pants and swaggers across the street toward a new pair of marks. The scent of weed and alcohol fades with his every step. Sighing, Hei refocuses on Korra. ] Have you ever eaten crab congee?

[ Because the market doesn't feel so child-friendly right now. ]

[The stench of weed makes little Korra cough, which is pretty much the only reason she doesn't throw a rock at dealer. She can feel the tension in Li (slight as it is) at the man's presence, and she is immediately protective.

When she can breath again, she blows a raspberry at the man's departing back.]

Huh?

[Sorry, she wasn't paying attention.]

[ Hei doesn't bother hiding that amused twitch in his mouth. Compared to his own history, everything about her is so well-adjusted and, dare he say it, normal. Which was something that, as child soldiers, he or Pai hadn't allowed themselves to fantasize about. He'd concentrated on keeping himself and his sister alive in the now, and tried not to anticipate the fucking future. ]

[ Despite himself, he reaches to tweak her nose, ]

Crab congee. Do you know what that is? [ He pauses. Makes his fingers into a pincer-shape. ] You have shellfish in the South Pole, right?

[Korra makes her own hands into pincers and "snaps" them at him with a giggle.]

Hm. I guess you do know. [ (Unless they have hybrid crabs in her world. Like with wings. How weird would that be?) His mouth a frivolous half-curl, he touts her down the street. Bright awnings, festooned with signs and fairy lights of restaurants and clubs, occupy this side of the block. Hei settles on a dimly-lit bar/dinette. The doorman is a tattooed goliath with gages the size of dinnerplates. He shoots a questioning look at the tiny girl in Hei's arms, then at Hei. His raised eyebrows say it all. Who brings a kid to a bar? ]

[ Hei fakes a smile. ] I've got a thing for midgets.

[ The bouncer's face goes a curious shade of green. Hei's smile turns real. Muttering something about sick psychos, the bouncer lets Hei slip inside. In the next moment they are seated at a narrow table, with other diners hemming them in on each side. The low ceiling is hazy with clouds of lamplit tobbaco smoke. The crowd is typical -- the skells, the working girls, the shady nocturnals. But not as bad as outdoors. Try not to firebend anyone, Korra. ]

[Easier said than done. The smokey atmosphere sets her coughing again, strong enough to send out little sparks of flame.]

Ewwwwwww! This place is stinky! [said through coughs]

[ Is she coughing sparks? Yes. She's coughing sparks. Sighing, Hei rubs his eyes with a thumb and forefinger, before tugging her chair closer to his, in case she sets anything on fire. ] You'll get used to it. We'll just have a meal and be on our way. [ Besides. The trills of music and the cacophonous hum of the crowd takes his mind off his own fermenting thoughts, if only for a moment. He puts a false note of appeasement in his voice. ] Later, you can practice your bending by the beach house.

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