imbrii (imbrii) wrote in imbrication, @ 2007-09-05 17:40:00 |
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Entry tags: | avatar, drabble, iroh, longshot, smellerbee |
Avatar - Loud Silence
Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Characters: Longshot, Smellerbee, Iroh, Jet
Type: what-ifs, gen
Warnings: mentions of war, violence, death, other unpleasant stuff
Spoilers: Season 2 finale
Word Count: 600
Etc: 2 drabbles centered on Longshot about what might've happened to make him so silent, and what happened after Lake Laogai. Not sure about the ending.
Longshot didn’t like words much. They were heavy, dangerous, hurtful. He knew from experience.
He was born in a medium-sized Earth Kingdom village called Dohi. It had a big market and real soldiers to defend the walls, once. Then one day, when he was ten years old and playing outside the safety of the walls, they came. Fire Nation soldiers wanted to know where the soldiers slept, where their families were, where the guards were posted. Longshot, then called Jing, knew he wasn’t supposed to tell strangers such things. He refused to answer.
They made him talk with fire. Words tumbled out of his mouth, a never-ending stream of betrayal as he told them everything he knew. His back still carries the shameful marks of their fire whip.
His hometown fell the next day and burned to the ground. The soldiers let him live in thanks for his contribution to the war effort.
For the next four years, he never spoke. In time, he found Smellerbee, who understood his silence, and she led him to Jet, who learned to do the same. The Freedom Fighters never asked why he didn’t speak, they didn’t need to—they were his new family. Smellerbee was his voice to those who couldn’t listen, and in return, he listened and gave his back, each word weighed before he spoke, for they could never be taken back.