"... This is really weird. I couldn't bend steel or anything, but I could make rocks move..."
Who: Lin Beifong and Korra What: Korra got burned by Azula during the punch incident, so they went to the ER. Dream discussions, UST, and generally Korra being a punk and Lin being Lin. When: At the Gaaala Where: Gala, then ER Status: Complete! Rating: PG-13 for sexy dresses and burns.
Lin could still feel Korra’s arms around her, and the way the younger woman’s body felt against her. Too close, too warm, the fabric of their dresses (Lin and Korra) so thin it might as well have not been present. She was too old to be gay, god damn it. It would just make it harder for her to get a damned promotion.
There was the jailbait portion of it, too.
Fortunately, the incident with the punch had happened. She thought there’d been fire, but she had been seeing things. She separated Korra and Azula, and guided Korra away, her hand warm on the girl’s bare back. She didn’t take it away when she made her sit down, “Let it go. She seems like the kind of person that likes to bait people.”
Indeed, Azula’s laughter was carrying over a bit.
The hug had been worth looking gay for the twenty bucks. That was an entire four smoothies if Korra played her cards right. Which she intended to, if she survived this evening.
She wasn't sure she would, and that pissed her off more than Azula's harsh words did, really. As 'stuffy and boring' as the Gala was supposed to be, Korra had actually been enjoying herself. Until the punch had somehow managed to splash itself out of the punch bowl in the sort of conspicuous way that looked, for those who had seen it before, like someone had been manipulating it.
Her head was still spinning from the moments that had happened afterward. The japanese girl confronting her, the woman on her arm trying to get her to calm down, someone mentioning Katara's name... burning, burning pain. She let out a hiss that rolled into a growl, and glared daggers in Azula's direction, "I didn't do anything wrong. And that bitch had no right to talk about Katara that way."
Lin had forgotten about the bet. She still had, though she would honor her word and pay up. The hug had been worth the twenty bucks. Was that prostitution? Money for a hug, was like a sexual favor.
Not even Lin was that anal about breaking the law. Although the thought sent her mind to places it shouldn't be going. She brought herself back to the present.
"Who the hell is Katara, anyway? I was barely able to follow that conversation." She rubbed Korra's back in a slow circle, "Calm down, before I really do cuff you."
She was ignoring the waterbending. It was too close to her own dreams.
"She's from my dream the other night. She taught me to waterbend, to heal people with water, and all kinds of amazing things with it," Korra inspected her arm, and winced. Azula might have gone easy on her, but it hurt enough to make tears sting at her eyes.
"I didn't really expect to be able to do things with water after them, but some people around here obviously have powers now, after dreaming about them. So I guess I can. First the shower, now the punch. I wish I could use some water to heal this."
She wasn't going to let Lin forget about that twenty, though. Uh uh. Before they left, the woman had better be paying up. Or she'd be a punk about it on the internet.
"The shower," Lin asked, then bit her lip and concentrated on the burn. She shot a look over at Azula but there was no way the woman could be hiding a weapon in that dress. She narrowed her eyes - how does one deal with a deadly weapon when the person was the weapon.
"I dreamed I could move the earth." Belatedly, she realized how that sounded, but ignored it, "Lets get you to the hospital. We'll call Tenzin after you're treated."
There was some kind of joke Korra could have cracked here about what Lin was doing that the earth shook for her, but for once, she shut her mouth. It might have been because Lin mentioned calling Tenzin. Korra didn't want that, ever.
She shook her head, in fact, and threw her wrap back around her arms, "Oh no. No, that's okay. We don't need to call Tenzin. He's very busy with his very highly strung kids right now. He doesn't need more problems."
This had absolutely nothing to do with her practicing her new martial arts moves while drying the dishes, either. She swore she'd replace those glasses. Lin didn't even need to know about that.
"I'll just go home and put some burn cream on it."
Lin shifted the wrap, looking at the burn and shaking her head, "No, we're going now. Burn cream won't help with that. Just trust me."
She started to guide Korra out. She'd had enough of the evening anyway, herself, and the farther she got them away from those others, the less likely she'd have to arrest someone.
She didn't want to arrest someone on her day off.
And here Korra thought that Lin lived just to arrest someone. She could have arrested Azula. Maybe Korra would try and get charges pressed or something. On second though, she shook her head at that. No, it would be better to just learn to waterbend and then freeze her ass in place. Firebend your way out of that.
"We still don't have to tell Tenzin. He'll freak out, you don't understand. I'm already in enough trouble today, and he'll think it was my fault." Korra paused, then added, "Justifiably. I mean. I got in a lot of fights back home. But I didn't start this one."
Katara was personal to Azula, in a way that Korra wouldn't understand, at least not until she started dreaming about Amon, anyway.
Lin shook her head, "Fine, we'll call Iroh. We have to call someone, you know. And just because someone starts a fight doesn't mean you have to finish it. Choose the right fights for that."
She thought about her mom. Both of them. The one in this world, and the Toph in her dream world. The stories she would tell. The way earth and metal were little more than clay to be molded to her needs.
Toph had been the one who taught her when to choose her fight.
"It's just a little burn, we don't have to make a big deal out of it," Korra mumbled. But the little burn was starting to make her feel a little dizzy, too. Probably from the shock. The place was stuffy and too hot, and she was starting to feel like she couldn't breathe.
She eyed the door, knowing Lin was going to have her way anyway, and sighed, "Fine, fine. Let's just... go."
The advice about choosing her battles would take a little longer to sink in.
Lin's fingers dug into Korra's back as she led her out. She signaled for the valet to get her car, and sat Korra down gently.
"You do look good, you know," she offered, by way of breaking the ice. She sat next to the girl, and folded her arms stubbornly. She felt this odd protective impulse.
"This was the only dress we could agree on, really," Korra said off handedly, with a bit of a shrug. It was the truth. The ones Iroh found her were elegant and ladylike but far too girly or the wrong color blue. It being blue had been very important to her.
Then she'd find the 'right' dress and it would show off too much skin in either the front or the back. This had been the only dress left that was sporty enough to be something she'd wear while still covering most of the necessities, "Uncle Iroh is really picky about dresses. But it was nice, he bought it for me. You look kind of amazing, actually. I didn't know you had a dress, let alone knew how to wear it right."
It was classy, while still drop dead sexy. Sporty was an apt description. Lin gave herself a mental shake of the head and replied, "You can be sexy without wearing something only fit for street walkers. Some of the dresses in there I've seen on ladies I've arrested."
Ouch. Burn.
Then ouch. Burn at Korra's comment, and she replied sardonically, "Thanks. I considered coming in flannel and jeans."
"Hey, all I'm saying is you seem more like the jeans and a leather jacket kind of lady. Or maybe you'd come to one of these functions in a suit, with your gun still on, and some handcuffs in your purse, you know? You're very dedicated to the pursuit of justice and stuff." Korra held up her hands, trying to ward Lin's anger off. If there was any anger there, anyway.
"I do have handcuffs in my purse," Lin replied, opening it to show her. "I always come prepared." Kinky.
Her car was pulled up then. She tipped the woman, and then opened the door for Korra, "Get in."
She looked anywhere but at Korra as the woman slid into the car, and grit her teeth. She hadn't had sex in about five years, so that had to be it.
"Kinky." Korra mumbled, while sliding into the car. She got herself settled and buckled her seatbelt, before MOM here told her to do it. Because that's how she had to start thinking of her. Mom. She was probably not a mom, but she needed to be thought of like one. A much older mom, who was by the way also female.
Korra was blaming the fact that she had to leave what passed for her boyfriend behind her when she left. And he hadn't been that good, so maybe she was just going through one of those curious phases.
She needed to stop that already, "Ready to go to the ER in my fancy dress now. Yaaay."
And Korra was a kid. Lin drove off. She could have put out the siren, but she didn't. That would be abusing things, and Korra didn't appear to be in agony.
Something else was surprising, though, "No date?"
Even if she was in agony, Korra would have had some vivid words to say about putting the siren on just to get her there faster. And she wouldn't have sat there like some baby, moaning and whining about it. She'd been injured enough in sports and outdoor activities to have a pretty high pain tolerance.
As for the date, she just shrugged a shoulder again, "You know me. I'm difficult, hot-headed, and hard to handle. Most guys run away from that like I'm a freak. Or maybe they're just scared I'll kick their asses."
Which she could. She'd made her boyfriend cry like a baby when she beat his ass last arena season, for starters.
Respect ++ from Lin, for that pain tolerance. Her mother would have liked the girl. She had the impression Toph was a lot more like Korra was when she was younger, though age had mellowed the woman out, without changing who she was at her core. Hopefully age and experience would do the same for Korra.
"Most guys are idiots," Lin pointed out, personal experience coloring her words. "But a lot of them can't stand it when a woman is stronger than them."
"And it's like... OKay guy, I get it. You thought you were the king of the world, because you have junk between your legs, and that apparently gives all men some measure of ownage. But it's not my fault that I'm a better gamer than you, and that you can't stand the pain enough to keep snowboarding with a sprained ankle." Korra grumbled, personal experience also coloring her own words.
She'd wanted to play on the men's team in High School, because the girl's team wasn't as competitive. The school board was still reeling from the amount of verbal abuse she'd leveled at them when they'd refused. Her boyfriend had told her to let it go, since 'That's just the way things are'.
Did she mention he was her ex-boyfriend? In any case, she was far away from all of that now, and it was probably better if she tried to put that behind her, "I'm through with all of that crap, really. So no, no date for me. I'm taking an extended break from men."
Lin found herself trying to not laugh out loud at Korra's way with words. It was so vivid and a testament to her youth. Korra was still a punk. Even if she was a punk she was starting to like.
She pulled up to the hospital and parked the car, "From personal experience, that's not a bad idea. Of course then the extended break turns into a permanent one." There was a wryness to her voice.
"Then maybe it'll be a permanent one, and I'll just get into professional sports, kick everyone's ass, and live a life of my own choosing without having to answer to some idiot who think he owns me," Korra replied, her words sounding incredibly convicted. It was probably her youth talking.
She undid her seatbelt as Lin parked and got out of the car, antsy and hoping that this was over with as quickly as possible. As quiet and generally boring as Tenzin's house tended to get after a certain time of night, Korra really just wanted to go home.
"Trust me, your hand gets old," Lin replied deadpanned. Maybe that would make Korra squirm a little. She put her hand on Korra's back to guide her inside, the motion more protective than anything else.
It was a motion that was going to drive Korra nuts. What was with this lady and her insistence on touching her, anyway? The back of her dress was thin enough to feel the heat of Lin's hand through it, too, which wasn't helping.
She'd been straight the first 17 years of her life. This was just complete bullshit. Korra wasn't having it. And she absolutely wasn't going to take the bait on the hand comment. Instead, she pulled her ID and Insurance Card out of her little purse, and got ready to fill out a bunch of boring paperwork. By then, the searing pain in her arm was actually starting to make her light headed. She wished either of them had thought to get ice from the bar before leaving.
The nurse was kind enough to give something for Korra to press against it, and Lin held it against Korra's arm while she worked on the paperwork.
"You mentioned something about water, and healing?"
"Mmm?" Korra grunted, her face scrunched a bit as she concentrated on filling out the forms on their clipboard in her lap. She chewed on the end of the pen a bit, and filled out another space, before responding, "I had a dream, yeah. Actually, I've had a couple now. In the first one, a lady named Katara taught me all of these awesome things that we could do with water. It was like... It must have taken place over a couple of months or so. But at one point she taught me how to heal people with it."
She glanced over at Lin, her eyes lit up all excitedly, "It glows, which is really awesome. And you can get water from all kinds of places, too. Most people don't think about drawing it out of the air or clouds. Katara kicked all kinds of ass."
The name was sounding more familiar the more that Lin thought about it, "My mother knew a Katara, I think. In my dreams. She didn't move water. She moved earth like it was water. She could bend steel like it was rubber. I always knew my mother was strong willed, but that was a little crazy."
The way Korra's eyes lit up was endearing.
Korra blinked her eyes, "Okay because... Seriously?"
The dream she'd had Thursday night had been about some similar things - Earthbending, they'd called it. A master had trained her in things like levitating rocks, shaping the earth, pulling up columns and bricks, and all manner of other things, including sensing the world around her through her bare foot, which she hadn't taken to as well as he'd hoped, "... This is really weird. I couldn't bend steel or anything, but I could make rocks move..."
"The only one who could bend multiple elements was Uncle Aang," Lin replied, brows furrowing. She didn't really... understand that part. It was clear in the dream, of course, but upon waking she felt like some of the pieces had fallen through the cracks. She didn't understand why if one could move water, they couldn't move fire, or vice versa. Or air. They all flowed and even the earth could move like water in the right circumstances.
In the dreams that part of it had made complete sense, including the fact that she could also make a fire if she wanted to, though it was untrained and burned out or didn't go very far. There'd been mention of 'Firebending training' after passing her earth mastery, whatever that had meant. Korra in the dreams had taken it all in stride.
The name Aang, though, resonated with her, "That name sounds really familiar. Like it was pretty important over there, where I was doing all the training. And I think Katara mentioned it a few times while I was training with her, too."
"It was important," Lin said. "I just don't know..." She trailed off, staring at Korra, "We're talking about events in completely different dreams that are still similar."
This was crazy.
Korra would agree. It was pretty crazy.
"I don't think we're alone, though," She said, aloud. She recalled the buzz on the valarnet about all the dreams everyone was having, "I think there are other people who have this same kind of like... weird shared experience. And that girl with the flames, she'd heard of Katara, too."
Lin pursed her lips together, "I'll have to catch up to her. Ask some questions." Especially about the burning. She lifted the padding to look at the burn, and her other hand squeezed the other shoulder lightly.
For comfort. That's all.
"You were the one who said to pick your fights," Korra commented, with a long sigh. The paperwork was filled out, and she pulled away from Lin so that she could hand it back to the nurse.
They took her in the back and took her vitals before sending her back out into the waiting area, where, instead of sitting back down next to Lin, she started pacing a bit. The word "Emergency" was included in the term "Emergency Room", but Korra swore that was only for lulz.
"The bitch was some kind of firebender and she was probably just pissy over the fact that a waterbender was attending the same function. I don't think that should be an issue, but in my dreams I think I remember something about Firebenders not getting along with people." At the time, she'd wanted to punch Azula until the woman's face resembled meat. But that was several minutes ago now, and she'd calmed down considerably.
"Maybe they just don't get along with you." Lin's tone was dry enough you could spark a fire with it. She gave Korra a slight, momentary smile, though. When she thought Korra wasn't looking, she slipped her foot out of her shoe and pressed it against the tile.
For one brilliant moment she saw the contours of the earth, all the hollows and little cracks and the echoes of footsteps.
"I'm not sure I'd want to get along with them anyway. Zuko's nice enough but his sister is a pill, and his girlfriend..." His girlfriend wasn't good enough for Zuko, as far as Korra was concerned. She had more passion in her pinky finger than that woman had in her entire body.
Zuko needed to be with someone who had some life to them. OKay. Maybe she'd stop swearing off men if Zuko looked her way the right way...
She stopped daydreaming about Zuko long enough to watch Lin and raise an eyebrow, "Did you see anything?"
Zuko wasn't going anywhere and he'd seen first hand Mai's passion. Watch out for the quiet ones, right?
"This building has a lot of rooms," Lin said, sounding a little out of it. "There's a large..complex on the top, and several interesting sub levels."
If she could control this, it would be like being a human radar, when it came to finding perps or locating people in collapsed buildings.
The uses of such a skill, even in the other world, had been many, but Korra didn't have the patience to master it there. Not enough to see the way Lin was seeing, even right now. She almost respected her for it.
"Kick ass," she replied. That was her, respecting Lin. It was probably the highest compliment she was going to get, really.
Lin turned her gaze to Korra and gave her another one of those smiles, "Yeah. Kick ass."
Fortunately, a nurse showed up before they could get any more awkward.
The nurse lead Korra into the back, where she was quickly treated by a doctor. The excuse she gave for the burn was made up and legendarily epic, so much so that the doctor was sure she was lying, but didn't really care. After 20 minutes she was heading to discharge with a bag of bandages, her wound wrapped up, and some prescription slips in her hand.
"...I have to pay 50 bucks to get out of here, so we might have to call someone now," Korra said, as she waved Lin over.
"Well I owe you twenty bucks," Lin replied, smirking as she pulled her wallet out of her purse. "Worth it."
“You are so not using that twenty bucks to pay my way out of here. It had four delicious smoothies written all over it!” Korra said, exasperated. But she really couldn’t say no, either. Otherwise they’d have to call Tenzin or Iroh to come pay.
“... so now I owe you thirty, I guess...”
"You could always give me more hugs," Lin joked, paying the cost and then slinging her purse back over her shoulder.
"You have to tell Tenzin the truth. But it can wait until tomorrow."
"I'll tell him, but I don't think he'll believe me." Korra sighed. She'd have to tell him anyway, to fill the prescriptions she'd been given. She glanced at Lin and added, a bit sheepishly, "I'm sorry you got wrapped up in this, and I'm even more sorry for asking you for a ride home."
Lin rolled her eyes, "You don't need to ask." She put her arm around Korra and gave her a hug.
Korra hugged her in return, and for once it didn't feel awkward, "Thanks. Seriously."