Tenzin mentioned something about an ice sculpture incident?
Who: Lin and Korra What: Tea and Cake and Other things! When: A few days ago Where: Jasmine Dragon Status: Complete Rating: PG-13 for language
Lin was off duty, but still dressed a lot like how she normally did when on duty. A button up shirt (gray) with a black tie, tucked into tight faded jeans. It was too warm for her favorite long jacket. She swung by the Jasmine Dragon, hoping to get a cake and maybe speak to Tenzin or Iroh.
Iroh seemed busy with his nephew, so she looked around to be assisted.
Lin didn't have to wait very long before a younger woman walked up. She looked completely out of place in the tea house, in her jeans and sleeveless shirt, but Iroh didn't really have a dress code in the place. The important part to him had always been the service.
Korra was still suitably mortified over being caught mimicking Iroh, and was trying her utmost best to behave. So she greeted Lin as warmly as possible, "Welcome to the Jasmine Dragon. Would you like a table, or are you headed for the zen garden?"
Lin raised her eyebrow. The girl must be new. Iroh really should institute a dress code. Like his nephews girlfriend, what she always wore would be perfect for a place like this. At least the few times Lin had seen her. She folded her arms, "I'd like a table, kid."
"Right this way, Ma'am," Korra picked up a menu that held the list of the House's tea varietals and prices, and motioned for Lin to follow her. The lady seemed grouchy and uptight, and Korra decided to take a while to seat her, eventually picking a table that was in a nice enough part of the place.
"I'm not getting any younger," Lin complained, when she was finally seated. The girl was clearly incompetent, or just being a punk. She wasn't sure which and she wasn't sure she cared - what was a man like Iroh doing employing a woman like this?
Probably trying to help her. Softie.
Korra liked to think of it as less 'help' and more 'indentured servitude', since she wasn't really making a paycheck. Her service to Iroh was passed on to Tenzin, to take acre of her room and board here in California, mostly, though Tenzin often gave her money if she needed it anyway.
Of course, Tenzin's idea of 'need', and Korra's, were completely different ideas.
She set the menu down in front of Lin, biting back a punk comment about how she certainly didn't look like she was getting any younger. That was the kind of thing that got you fired from most places, and Iroh would be very unhappy with her. She didn't really want that.
"We've got some fresh ginseng tea in, and what Uncle is calling the 'White Jade' blend. All of them are available, of course, and there's new tea cakes that aren't on the menu right now. Cinnamon, to go with the fall season."
Well, some punks deserved a little indentured servitude, as far as Lin was concerned, "I'll try the White Jade blend with the cinnamon cakes."
She didn't even look at the menu, satisfied with the choices that had been given to her, "You're Tenzin's latest project, aren't you."
"White Jade and cinnamon cakes," Korra muttered to herself as she jotted down the order quickly. Then the other thing the woman had said registered, and she arched a brow at her, "Uhm... maybe? What if I am?"
What did that even have to do with anything at all? Korra was clearly 3 parts confused and at least 1 part indignant that she was that instantly recognisable, "Did he says something about me? Do you know him from somewhere?"
If he said something about her, it probably wasn't anything good. Ugh, her life. Why did it have to suck so suddenly and all at once?
"We go way back," Lin replied, with that sort of brooding tone that spoke volumes of just how close they might have been. She resisted a bitterly snarky question about Tenzin's family - she did care about them, but she still had those hurt feelings over Tenzin choosing someone who wasn't her.
It didn't really matter now, did it. Okay she was maybe still a little bitter, "He said he picked up a hot head. My words, not his." She smirked. Something made her want to poke the bear, in this case, Korra. Probably the something that made her wish she was about ten years younger.
The hot head in question tilted her head to the side and then smirked slowly, "You and Tenzin, eh? Man you must have been so pissed."
"Hot head? I will totally own that one. But did he also mention I was awesome?" And why was she flirting with the old lady at the table? Korra wasn't sure. Tenzin's way old ex girlfriend did not need to be flirted with by her. Also, ew. Korra. What are you thinking.
"You have no idea. I must have bit his head off." Lin rested one hand on the table, the other dropping to her lap as she smirked wider. "He didn't use so many words, but he did imply you were a 'handful' and difficult to work with. I suppose if that's what awesome means these days....."
Korra squinted a bit, like she was mentally coming up with all of the things she was going to say to Tenzin when she saw him next, in response to this. Difficult? A Handful? She'd show him what a handful looked like.
"... I'll get your order put in," She finally responded, when she was done mentally flailing. If it was possible for ice to drop off of her words, it would have done so.
Lin was enjoying herself, "Thanks. Get moving."
Maybe, just maybe, her eyes wandered when Korra turned.
"You're welcome. Ma'am." Korra wandered off to the back to get the order in, grumbling to herself the entire time she did it. She already didn't like whoever this is. She was uptight and annoying, why did she have to deal with this shit?
And she totally understood why Tenzin dumped her. He had high blood pressure issues before he took up zen, and that lady? Probably caused them. She waited for the order to finish being prepared, and checked a few other tables. It was a really slow time of day for them, but she waited a bit before collecting the order.
It was actually just enough time to let the tea cool to a drinkable state, but she wondered if Lin would complain about how much older she'd gotten in the however many minutes the tea took to get there.
Because you're the waitress, kid! Lin steepled her fingers together, resting her elbows on the table as she waited, thinking about the uncomfortable reminder of Tenzin and what they'd shared. It wasn't fair to him, though. They'd drifted apart.
It didn't make the sting any less.
Lin was tapping her fingers impatiently by the time Korra got back.
The tray was set down in front of Lin with more care than would have been expected from the punk kid who obviously didn’t really want to be working here. Maybe she had some work ethic after all, or maybe she was just showing off.
Korra poured the first cup for Lin, then set down a plate with cinnamon cakes on it, “Enjoy. Let me know if you need another pot of tea or anything.”
Korra was less a punk than online, at least from what she could tell. Her eyes rose from the tray to the girl and she nodded her head, "I'll probably be here awhile. I don't have any pressing matters."
"Have a seat, if you want." She found herself adding.
Why on earth would she want to have a seat and a chat with the older lady who had nothing better to do than sit here and drink tea? Korra didn't know, that was for sure. But despite how passive-aggressively subversive she might have been to Lin when she'd walked in, Korra didn't often openly show a lot of disrespect to her elders.
Or rather, she felt herself constantly being tugged between wanting to be the kind of woman that people could look up to and respect, and wanting to be that punk kid who undermined authority at every turn, simply because it was cool to buck authority.
It was slow enough in the place to get away with having a seat, though, and she found herself sliding into the booth across from her, "Uhm... okay."
This was how she’d ended up drinking tea with Alfred and Lucius last week, too. And that hadn’t been so bad. She made a mental note to ask those guys how they were doing.
"Tenzin mentioned something about an ice sculpture incident? What, did you carve something lewd?" Korra didn't look like an artist, but looks could be deceiving, and really, she could see Korra carving something lewd.
She sipped at her tea, then took a bite of cake and moaned appreciatively.
God, here we go already with the ice sculpture incident.
And old lady moaning? That should not have gotten any reaction out of Korra whatsoever, but it had, and she really just wanted to crawl underneath her booth and die, now. But instead, she leaned back in the booth a bit, and grinned, "Oh that. Pft. No one recognizes good art these days, is the problem. That statue was a masterpiece."
"Thing was, Tenzin refused to describe it. He got positively embarrassed - which was fun to watch, so I'll give you credit for making him blush." Lin continued to try to get more information on this incident, "You know, I probably would have arrested you for obscenity."
"Or alternately," Korra raised her eyebrows a bit and held up one of her fingers, "You could praise me for doing my civil duty to uphold equal rights for all."
The sculpture had been incredibly obscene, in certain ways. SHE certainly didn't think so, but anyone with the remotest of stuffy, repressed sensibilities would have. That included her parents, most of the chaperones at the school, Tenzin, and even a few of the students.
It was the students that had been the most disappointing, really.
"Equal rights for all, huh? That's a slippery slope, ice puns notwithstanding," Lin retorted. Obscenity was in the eye of the beholder, yes, but there were always things that were so below the pale that any reasonable observer would conclude that. That was also the legal definition. Which was also entirely subjective.
"But lets say you're right and you were so horribly punished for something that wasn't."
"Look. Gay guys deserve to go to a dance on a couples ticket, okay? I pray to GOD you don't think that equal rights for homosexuals is some kind of slippery slope, because if that's true, then I'm not sure I want to even be serving you tea, lady." Lin had hit one of several of Korra's nerves, and if it was possible, flames would be sparking from her eyes.
Sadly, it wasn't. Or perhaps that wasn't a sad thing, but in fact a good thing. Because she might have set Lin and the table on fire if it'd happened.
Lin rolled her eyes, and said bluntly, "Were they having sex in the sculpture? If they weren't then I don't see what was obscene about it."
"What, you mean Tenzin didn't tell you all the details?" Korra smirked, "You must feel so left out of the loop right now."
"Yes." Lin said,her voice gravelly. She would have to berate Tenzin over this. The thought cheered her up, in fact.
She finished her tea more quickly than she intended, and looked down at her cup thoughtfully.
"I don't like to talk about the Ice Sculpture Incident, anyway. It was just stupid all around. They overreacted, and that entire town is backwards and old fashioned. Coming here was probably good for me." Even if she hated it. Korra missed her old friends and being on top of the world. She missed the attention she used to get, too.
Mainly she missed the feeling of knowing your place in the world, even if that place had earned her negative attention, too.
"Maybe it is, kid," Lin said, eyeing her. Maybe she wasn't so bad, but she wasn't about to be the one to tell her that. Korra was still a punk, no matter if her heart was in the right place or not. She still had a lot to learn.
"Just stay on the right side of the law and you won't have problems with me." She got to her feet, pulling out some cash.
"I'll try not to litter on the freeway while you're watching," Korra joked. She got out of the booth and picked the table up while Lin got out her money, "It's 4 for the tea and 3 for the cakes."
There had been a noticeable shock when she handed Korra a ten, "Keep the change."
Lin clearly needed to date again. Korra was barely legal, if she was legal at all, and that was just so fundamentally wrong that she suddenly wanted something much harder than tea. She headed out, tossing Iroh a wave of her hand as she went out the door.
Korra tucked the money into her smock, while trying not to watch Lin leave, and failing miserably. She stretched both arms over her head a bit, and then popped her shoulders, "Dont't mind if I do."
Later on she'd probably realise she was flirting with the woman, and then? She'd probably want to stab her own brain out.