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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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!

Of course not. [ There's almost a shadow of a grim smile on his lips, but it's gone too fast to catch. It's almost like explaining something to Pai. A sensation that is equal parts ironic and painful. ] But that's not what this is about. If someone hits you, you feel like hitting them back. Right? It's the same thing when you use bending on people who don't have any. They can't fight you head-on. But they'll look for other ways to hurt you. Like when you're tired or lost. So you have to be careful.

[ He sets his empty bowl aside, then drains his drink in three gulps. Adds, after a thoughtful pause, ] Bending's okay. But it's not okay to hurt everyone with it. [ Unless of course you receive a payment for your efforts. But. Details. He segues into the next subject. ] Now finish your meal. Then we'll get you cleaned up and out of here.

Edited (xDD) 2013-03-11 02:44 (UTC)

[Korra frowns -- more confused than petulant. She doesn't want to hurt everyone. Just the stinky guy making Li uncomfortable.]

But he was bugging you.

[ Oh. Well. That's... ]

[ He nearly smiles again, and scrubs at his mouth to stifle it. He half-wants to explain that he can take care of himself. Half-wants to know how she's seeing this situation -- seeing him -- through her child-eyes. Because. Kiddo, you make no damn sense. You cat-bag-brained Avatar. ]

He's just an idiot. Nothing to worry about.

[ Now finish your damn meal. He's not running a daycare center here. ]

[There isn't much left on her plate, so she finishes it quickly. Her mood is a little subdued. She'd been hoping for praise, not a lecture. She still doesn't understand what she did wrong.

But don't worry, the mood will pass soon enough.]

[ Korra isn't the only one subdued. Hei watches her eat, quiet and a tad withdrawn. A jeer bounces through his mind, My hypocritical ass. Who is he to lecture on Okay and Not Okay given what he does? He kills men, women and children for paychecks. There's no glossing that over, and he's never cared to. Killing is killing. Introducing sub-levels to it is like being a whore who demands credit for virtue because she doesn't kiss the clients she fucks. ]

[ He's a chameleon by training. He's putting up a front of decency for Korra's benefit. But there's no such thing as innocence by osmosis. Often, the opposite is true. It's one reason -- one of the many -- he'd broken it off with Korra in the first place. The longer she stayed with him, the more that mess would make her resemble him than the other way around -- pare her into something harder, bitterer, crueler. And that would be regrettable. ]

[ You remember Pai when you're around her. But make-believe time is over. Take her home. Now. ]

All done? [ Without waiting for a response, he rises and takes her hand. ] Let's get you washed up. [ This isn't the type of place that has 'Men's and 'Ladies' restrooms. Hell, a sink and a soap dispenser are enough. ]

[She lets him take her hand and lead her to the bathroom. Her own mood would have passed except she can sense his low spirits. She's too young to realize that people have lives outside of her, that their feelings can be influenced by things that aren't her; she can only assume that it's her fault.]

I'm sorry.

[She still doesn't understand what she did wrong, but she hopes that will make him feel better. He's the only familiar thing in this strange place. She doesn't really feel safe when he's sad and withdrawn.]

[ Hei wends his way in the dark red atmosphere of pressed bodies toward the bathroom. It's a screened spot partially roofed in tin, with a primitive sink and an earth closet. A bare bulb dangles overhead, a moth swooping around it, battering its furry body against the hot glass. He lifts Korra to the edge of the sink, scrubbing down her tiny hands and face with a methodical patience. ]

[ In the flecked mirror, he sees her reflection. Her eyes look like they're about to melt down her cheeks. ]

You did nothing bad. [ He makes the assertion in a quiet tone, squeezing her hand lightly before moving to rinse the other. ] Just keep the bending on the DL. [ He tries for a half-smile, aware she's taking cues from his body-language, and determined to reshape it to something reasuring. ] Know what DL means?

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