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.

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[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.

[She bends the water out of the man at the next table's cup and downs it to soothe her throat. When the water's finished, her coughing fades.]

[ Face meet palm. ] Don't. Do that. [ Thankfully the man is too inebriated -- and too entangled in a bicker-battle with his companions -- to notice the contents of his glass have gone missing. ] If you want a drink, just ask. [ A waiter advances with a laden tray, setting a crab congee and a plate of stir-fried squid down for Korra -- and a massive bowl of crawfish etouffee with a cold bottle of lager for Hei. ]

[ Pls. Let him eat in peace. Okay? ]

[She blinks innocently at him, not understanding what she did wrong. She was thirsty, and he wasn't drinking it.

Food distracts her from any bickering. She quickly begins scarfing down her food, kicking her feet happily in her chair.]

[ That's more like it. Between mouthfuls, Hei watches her eat almost fondly. But sometimes he catches his look slipping into something more melancholic. He can't help it. Happenstance as this is, he hates the City for its mindfuckery. He almost resents Korra for it. Hates that she's child-sized, that she's Pai-like. He wishes she'd disappear. Except he doesn't want her to. ]

[ Glancing around by habit, he notices the curious looks he's getting from other diners. He chews his rice, squishing it warm and creamy between his tongue and the roof of his mouth. Fights down a trickle of -- not discomfort, but incongruity. Usually he blends into these places like another thread in the tapestry. Not tonight. The brat is getting him -- dubious -- attention. ]

[ Then the drug peddler he'd just seen outside strolls up to him. ] Hook you up?

[ Hei scowls. ] You just asked me that.

For real?

[ Hei shakes his head, both disgust and dismissal. Whatever this guy's on, he doesn't need it. And the guy needs to get off it. The peddler drifts off to his table in the back. His crew is talking and laughing -- audible all the way up here. Dregs and junkies gotta eat too. Despite that, Hei finds himself settling a casual but protective hand on the back of Korra's chair. ]

[ Too bad McFuckingDonald's isn't his style. ]

[The Stinky Man is back. Korra scowls, glancing between Mr. Smelly and Li. Mr. Smelly clearly bothers Li a lot. And he smells.

Korra decides to make sure he won't try to bother them again by waterbending some beer on his head. Take that, Mr. Smelly!]

[ KORRA WHAT DID YOU JUST -- !?! ]

[ The bending goes relatively unnoticed, but the beer splatter doesn't. The peddler sputters and coughs, glancing around with bloodshot eyes for the perpetrator, his hair dripping, while his companions burst into guffaws. In a place like this, random bursts of aggression are no rarity. But Hei would prefer for the little girl at his side to stay under the radar. ]

Hey. [ His tone isn't angry, just firm. (Privately he's more amused than he's willing to admit.) ] What did I just say about not bending in here?

No you didn't! [It's unclear whether she forgot or if she didn't understand that his earlier scold had been about bending in general and not just stealing someone else's water.]

[ Ugh. Kids. Suddenly he's fighting a headache so severe, he thinks his cranium might pop. It'd be easy to repeat the behavior patterns of his keepers in South America, and just snap at her to shut up -- or smack her upside the head if she persists. ]

[ Except he's not mad at her. Just instilling a sense of caution. ]

Yes I did. No bending in here. Of any kind. You'll get into trouble.

Edited 2013-03-11 02:05 (UTC)

Why?

[SULKY AVATAR IS VERY SULKY]

[ AND HIS HEADACHE WORSENS ]

Because not everyone here bends. Or has special powers. If you use your bending on them, they'll feel cornered. They'll get angry and try to hurt you. Like the people in the bar. [ Neutral-faced, he meets her eyes. ] So no bending. Got it?

I'm not scared of them!

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Saturday - closed to Hei <333