(no subject)
I should probably do this in hopes of getting more inspiration.
Ganked from suzukiblu and avocado_love
From the next fic in the Basttal 'verse:
Uncle's catsquirrel was stealing tea leaves.
Zuko pierced Shou Mei with a glare and took the leaves out from where she'd stashed them. The annoying animal glared right back, then meowed at him as if he was a thief.
Which, okay, he was, but he didn't steal tea leaves!
...yes he did. But catsquirrels didn't need tea, damn it!
And it was getting really annoying, retrieving Uncle's tea every time the blasted feline stole it. "This is not catnip," he told her. "It's not even from the same plant!"
She fitted him with a look that gave Zuko the uncomfortable feeling she knew perfectly well that it wasn't, and had not stolen it for the purpose of play. Which was completely ridiculous; catsquirrels couldn't brew tea either.
From the next chapter of Head Games:
If anything, Ichiro's incarceration has gotten worse since his encounter with Creepy Smile Man. On top of barely feeding or watering him and locking him away from the sun, they now come in to disturb his sleep in a further attempt to weaken him. Things are starting to look particularly bad for him.
But he's had bad before, and while this may be worse, Ichiro is confident he can get through this and save his siblings, no matter what Creepy Smile Man has done to them.
He's taken to meditation, something he'd never had much patience for, as a way of trying to retain his strength of body and will, but he isn't looking forward to the testing of it. Nevertheless, he's ready when two Dai Li agents come to fetch him again. He chooses not to struggle and even stands under his own power (though he wobbles a bit). The men don't react to his rising save to take him by the arms and lead him down a hallway… and then another hallway… and then several more hallways until Ichiro is thoroughly lost.
Where the hell are we going? Ichiro wonders.
Halfway there, to Ichiro's irritation, his legs completely give out on him, and he has to be dragged to what looks like an underground version of the earth trains that traverse Ba Sing Se. He is unloaded inside and cuffed with rocks, he presumes as a precaution, then the train begins to move.
Ichiro isn't sure if he blacks out or falls asleep on the way there, but the next thing he knows he's being dragged to his feet and led down another hall, and up some stairs. Finally, he's dragged into a room where a green fire roars. The colour strikes him as being just wrong, somehow, but that doesn't stop him from staring hungrily at the flames.
He's so intent on the flames he almost doesn't notice the tall man standing off to one side.
From my upcoming fic, Terracotta Dawn:
Alak paused on his way to the parts of the Dai Li Museum that were not available to the public. He could hear Professor Thanh yelling from here, which meant that his assistant, a former Joo Dee, had screwed something up.
"…was an accident," he heard the Joo Dee - Ai Fulin, that was her name - say.
"My dear girl, when King Hung destroyed Gaoling, that was an accident," Thanh retorted. "You… are a catastrophe!"
Alak smiled. Ai Fulin would be looking for a way out about now. Obliging her need, he poked his head inside the room. "Professor?"
Thanh glanced at him. "Alak," he said, as Ai Fulin made her escape. "What do you need?"
The Dai Li agent grinned at the professor and held up his bag. A few scrolls poked out of it. "More items to be translated, sir."
The professor gestured, and Alak turned the bag over to him. He stood at rest as Thanh sorted through it and selected one of the scrolls, and felt another smile cross his face when his teacher's eyebrow rose. "From Han-Guk again, I see. Where are you getting these?"
Alak coughed. "I know a guy."
Thanh pierced him with a Look that made the agent feel like he was a trainee again. "Really."
"I don't want to scare him off," Alak explained. "He could be useful."
This earned him an eyeroll. "Not your job to recruit, boy."
"I'm not recruiting." Alak grinned. "But he's got skills Hyo-sir could use."
"Hn." Thanh spread his scroll on a table and looked at the characters. "Scrolls, statuettes, idols, rubbings of wall-carving… you best not be trucking with a temple-robber, boy."
From the latest chapter in Seperation:
It was past midnight, but Zuko was not yet ready to make camp. His fury sustained him, kept him going beyond Kouji's limits. They'd taken a komodo rhino to make the travel easier on the boy, and so Kouji was mounted in front of him - though he'd fallen asleep some hours earlier and was now leaning back against the exiled prince. Fortunately, his sleep was uninterrupted by the nightmares that had plagued him since Zuko had first saved him. He couldn't really blame Kouji - not after what had happened to him.
White-hot fury overcame Zuko again, and he gripped the reins so hard that his fingers hurt. To scar a child in an Agni Kai was one thing. Zuko had accepted the challenge from an adult, and had the training and the ability to face him. For an adult to attack a child who lacked the capacity and facilities to do the same was another thing.
Zuko's father had intended to teach his son a lesson.
Kouji's father had intended to kill his son.
And now Zuko intended to teach Kouji's father a lesson.
After that… Zuko wasn't sure. The ship of a banished prince was no place for a child, but…
Irie swooped down from overhead to land lightly on the komodo-rhino's skull. Lashing her tail from side to side, she said, "We can't keep him, Zuko."
He shot her a molten glare. "I know that," he snapped.
"You want to."
"…shut up."
From an untitled backstory fic starring Dai Li Trainee Chatri:
Chatri was angry.
Sometimes he thought he'd been angry since Omashu had been attacked.
First, of course, was the attack, and his father Aran forbidding him to join in the city's defence. (Not that Chatri had listened, of course.)
Second had been King Bumi's surrender. What had that crazy bastard been thinking?
Then his father had evacuated, dragging Chatri out with him and another group of nobles. He had been their safeguard, the only powerful earthbender among the group.
After that they had reached the Great Divide, and some complete idiot had earthbent large breaks in the path down, forcing Chatri to rebuild them. He had been almost grateful when the Canyon Crawlers came out -- it gave him a way to vent.
So what if he'd caused two rockslides? Nobody had been hurt.
From an untitled Dai Li fic:
"Hyo-sir, I need two month's advance on my salary."
Hyo tried not to roll his eyes. In the months they'd spent under the jurisdiction of the mindbenders, all three of the Dai Li trainees had picked up on Xin Wan's habit of calling him 'Hyo-sir.' Instead, he laid aside the report he was looking at and arched an eyebrow at the newest Dai Li agent.
Lanh shifted uncomfortably. "Uh. Please?"
The Commander of the Dai Li eyed him. "That's an unusual request," he pointed out.
The younger man fidgeted a bit. "I know, sir. Um."
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Hyo asked, "Why?"
The fidgeting only got worse. "Um. I can't tell you. Sir."
Hyo raised both eyebrows at that. "Really."
"It's important, sir, I promise." Now Lanh was shifting from foot to foot.
Hyo considered the boy in front of him. An orphan of the Lower Rings, Lanh had been chosen for the Dai Li after successfully pickpocketing two of their own agents. While technically the boy no longer stole, he had a kleptomanic streak as wide as the city and didn't particularly care for money beyond what he needed to feed himself.
On the other hand, Lanh was surprisingly popular in the city, especially in the Lower Ring. Being liked gave him a certain power the other Dai Li lacked - people were willing to talk to him.
He supposed he ought to be relieved the boy was even asking for the advance.
Untitled Vampatar scribble:
Researching the boy who beat the guttervamp turned up some interesting facts, Liu found. Of course, there was general information in the boy's file: Name of Ichiro, age sixteen, two dependents (twin siblings, Kouji and Yui, age ten), golden eyes indicating mixed blood, hard worker, an outsider but not actually troublesome.
The interesting part came in when he noticed that there was no record of the boy's entry into Ba Sing Se, nor of his siblings. In fact, there was no record of Ichiro at all prior to his first job in the city, doing hard labour for a merchant. Following that was string of temporary jobs, and then an apartment, at which point the younger siblings appeared in the records.
It was rare for people to enter Ba Sing Se illegally and remain undiscovered this long. The boy had taken care to toe the line, it seemed -- likely for just this reason. It did lead one to wonder what drove him.
Curious, Liu looked at the witness statements taken from those who saw the beating as it was administered. Only one person saw the whole thing; according to her report, the guttervamp had gone sniffing around the female sibling as she and her twin had arrived at their brother's work-place.
Liu's eyes narrowed. The vampires in the city knew better than to feed on children. For one to break the rules set down by the Dai Li...
Golden eyes. Mixed blood. Liu's fingers traced over the characters provided for the children's names. They had no real meaning, just being the sounds, but if one used different characters to write them... 一郎, first son. 輝二, second child. 唯, only.
Perhaps... not so mixed?
This warranted actually meeting the boy.
------------
So... yeah.
Ganked from suzukiblu and avocado_love
From the next fic in the Basttal 'verse:
Uncle's catsquirrel was stealing tea leaves.
Zuko pierced Shou Mei with a glare and took the leaves out from where she'd stashed them. The annoying animal glared right back, then meowed at him as if he was a thief.
Which, okay, he was, but he didn't steal tea leaves!
...yes he did. But catsquirrels didn't need tea, damn it!
And it was getting really annoying, retrieving Uncle's tea every time the blasted feline stole it. "This is not catnip," he told her. "It's not even from the same plant!"
She fitted him with a look that gave Zuko the uncomfortable feeling she knew perfectly well that it wasn't, and had not stolen it for the purpose of play. Which was completely ridiculous; catsquirrels couldn't brew tea either.
From the next chapter of Head Games:
If anything, Ichiro's incarceration has gotten worse since his encounter with Creepy Smile Man. On top of barely feeding or watering him and locking him away from the sun, they now come in to disturb his sleep in a further attempt to weaken him. Things are starting to look particularly bad for him.
But he's had bad before, and while this may be worse, Ichiro is confident he can get through this and save his siblings, no matter what Creepy Smile Man has done to them.
He's taken to meditation, something he'd never had much patience for, as a way of trying to retain his strength of body and will, but he isn't looking forward to the testing of it. Nevertheless, he's ready when two Dai Li agents come to fetch him again. He chooses not to struggle and even stands under his own power (though he wobbles a bit). The men don't react to his rising save to take him by the arms and lead him down a hallway… and then another hallway… and then several more hallways until Ichiro is thoroughly lost.
Where the hell are we going? Ichiro wonders.
Halfway there, to Ichiro's irritation, his legs completely give out on him, and he has to be dragged to what looks like an underground version of the earth trains that traverse Ba Sing Se. He is unloaded inside and cuffed with rocks, he presumes as a precaution, then the train begins to move.
Ichiro isn't sure if he blacks out or falls asleep on the way there, but the next thing he knows he's being dragged to his feet and led down another hall, and up some stairs. Finally, he's dragged into a room where a green fire roars. The colour strikes him as being just wrong, somehow, but that doesn't stop him from staring hungrily at the flames.
He's so intent on the flames he almost doesn't notice the tall man standing off to one side.
From my upcoming fic, Terracotta Dawn:
Alak paused on his way to the parts of the Dai Li Museum that were not available to the public. He could hear Professor Thanh yelling from here, which meant that his assistant, a former Joo Dee, had screwed something up.
"…was an accident," he heard the Joo Dee - Ai Fulin, that was her name - say.
"My dear girl, when King Hung destroyed Gaoling, that was an accident," Thanh retorted. "You… are a catastrophe!"
Alak smiled. Ai Fulin would be looking for a way out about now. Obliging her need, he poked his head inside the room. "Professor?"
Thanh glanced at him. "Alak," he said, as Ai Fulin made her escape. "What do you need?"
The Dai Li agent grinned at the professor and held up his bag. A few scrolls poked out of it. "More items to be translated, sir."
The professor gestured, and Alak turned the bag over to him. He stood at rest as Thanh sorted through it and selected one of the scrolls, and felt another smile cross his face when his teacher's eyebrow rose. "From Han-Guk again, I see. Where are you getting these?"
Alak coughed. "I know a guy."
Thanh pierced him with a Look that made the agent feel like he was a trainee again. "Really."
"I don't want to scare him off," Alak explained. "He could be useful."
This earned him an eyeroll. "Not your job to recruit, boy."
"I'm not recruiting." Alak grinned. "But he's got skills Hyo-sir could use."
"Hn." Thanh spread his scroll on a table and looked at the characters. "Scrolls, statuettes, idols, rubbings of wall-carving… you best not be trucking with a temple-robber, boy."
From the latest chapter in Seperation:
It was past midnight, but Zuko was not yet ready to make camp. His fury sustained him, kept him going beyond Kouji's limits. They'd taken a komodo rhino to make the travel easier on the boy, and so Kouji was mounted in front of him - though he'd fallen asleep some hours earlier and was now leaning back against the exiled prince. Fortunately, his sleep was uninterrupted by the nightmares that had plagued him since Zuko had first saved him. He couldn't really blame Kouji - not after what had happened to him.
White-hot fury overcame Zuko again, and he gripped the reins so hard that his fingers hurt. To scar a child in an Agni Kai was one thing. Zuko had accepted the challenge from an adult, and had the training and the ability to face him. For an adult to attack a child who lacked the capacity and facilities to do the same was another thing.
Zuko's father had intended to teach his son a lesson.
Kouji's father had intended to kill his son.
And now Zuko intended to teach Kouji's father a lesson.
After that… Zuko wasn't sure. The ship of a banished prince was no place for a child, but…
Irie swooped down from overhead to land lightly on the komodo-rhino's skull. Lashing her tail from side to side, she said, "We can't keep him, Zuko."
He shot her a molten glare. "I know that," he snapped.
"You want to."
"…shut up."
From an untitled backstory fic starring Dai Li Trainee Chatri:
Chatri was angry.
Sometimes he thought he'd been angry since Omashu had been attacked.
First, of course, was the attack, and his father Aran forbidding him to join in the city's defence. (Not that Chatri had listened, of course.)
Second had been King Bumi's surrender. What had that crazy bastard been thinking?
Then his father had evacuated, dragging Chatri out with him and another group of nobles. He had been their safeguard, the only powerful earthbender among the group.
After that they had reached the Great Divide, and some complete idiot had earthbent large breaks in the path down, forcing Chatri to rebuild them. He had been almost grateful when the Canyon Crawlers came out -- it gave him a way to vent.
So what if he'd caused two rockslides? Nobody had been hurt.
From an untitled Dai Li fic:
"Hyo-sir, I need two month's advance on my salary."
Hyo tried not to roll his eyes. In the months they'd spent under the jurisdiction of the mindbenders, all three of the Dai Li trainees had picked up on Xin Wan's habit of calling him 'Hyo-sir.' Instead, he laid aside the report he was looking at and arched an eyebrow at the newest Dai Li agent.
Lanh shifted uncomfortably. "Uh. Please?"
The Commander of the Dai Li eyed him. "That's an unusual request," he pointed out.
The younger man fidgeted a bit. "I know, sir. Um."
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Hyo asked, "Why?"
The fidgeting only got worse. "Um. I can't tell you. Sir."
Hyo raised both eyebrows at that. "Really."
"It's important, sir, I promise." Now Lanh was shifting from foot to foot.
Hyo considered the boy in front of him. An orphan of the Lower Rings, Lanh had been chosen for the Dai Li after successfully pickpocketing two of their own agents. While technically the boy no longer stole, he had a kleptomanic streak as wide as the city and didn't particularly care for money beyond what he needed to feed himself.
On the other hand, Lanh was surprisingly popular in the city, especially in the Lower Ring. Being liked gave him a certain power the other Dai Li lacked - people were willing to talk to him.
He supposed he ought to be relieved the boy was even asking for the advance.
Untitled Vampatar scribble:
Researching the boy who beat the guttervamp turned up some interesting facts, Liu found. Of course, there was general information in the boy's file: Name of Ichiro, age sixteen, two dependents (twin siblings, Kouji and Yui, age ten), golden eyes indicating mixed blood, hard worker, an outsider but not actually troublesome.
The interesting part came in when he noticed that there was no record of the boy's entry into Ba Sing Se, nor of his siblings. In fact, there was no record of Ichiro at all prior to his first job in the city, doing hard labour for a merchant. Following that was string of temporary jobs, and then an apartment, at which point the younger siblings appeared in the records.
It was rare for people to enter Ba Sing Se illegally and remain undiscovered this long. The boy had taken care to toe the line, it seemed -- likely for just this reason. It did lead one to wonder what drove him.
Curious, Liu looked at the witness statements taken from those who saw the beating as it was administered. Only one person saw the whole thing; according to her report, the guttervamp had gone sniffing around the female sibling as she and her twin had arrived at their brother's work-place.
Liu's eyes narrowed. The vampires in the city knew better than to feed on children. For one to break the rules set down by the Dai Li...
Golden eyes. Mixed blood. Liu's fingers traced over the characters provided for the children's names. They had no real meaning, just being the sounds, but if one used different characters to write them... 一郎, first son. 輝二, second child. 唯, only.
Perhaps... not so mixed?
This warranted actually meeting the boy.
------------
So... yeah.