(no subject)
Have an update for my previously-untitled-fic, with it's new title: "Domino Effect".
Lame, I know. But better than 'Untitled', right?
“Who are you and what did you do with my sister?” Sokka demanded when Katara finally stumbled out of her room, two hours later than usual.
“Am I not allowed to get a little extra sleep?” she snapped, glaring at him through tired, half-lidded eyes.
“Not if it means I have no breakfast!”
“Sugar Queen had a late night,” Toph snickered from where she sat by the door. Great - she had probably felt her when she snuck out of bed.
Redirecting her glare at the blind girl, she said, “I just couldn’t sleep.”
“Did you have a bad dream?” Aang asked worriedly, perched on the railing of a rather pointless set of stairs. What kind of house needed levels two feet apart?
“Yeah, I had this weird dream about when Zuko tied me to a tree and was trying to bribe me,” Katara said, hugging herself and joining the others on the lower level.
It was true - she had dreamt about the necklace incident, but that was hardly the reason she was tired. No, her exhaustion was more due to the fact that she had been awake thinking about Jet and what Toph had said and, unable to sleep, went wandering through the city until she found a candlelit fountain in the Lower Ring, where she met the Blue Spirit A.K.A Li (or would it be the other way around?), who was also insistent about forgiving Jet.
But she couldn’t tell them this, on account of the whole Jet-is-a-psychopath thing. And the fact that they probably wouldn’t approve of her befriending a mysterious masked-man.
“Well, since I didn’t get any breakfast,” Sokka said, ignoring his sister’s statement, “I say we go out to eat!”
“Do we have money for that kind of thing?”
“We don’t need money! We get the Avatar discount!”
Aang grinned. “Well, people do like giving me stuff...”
“I heard there’s a really good teashop in the Lower Ring,” Sokka continued, already headed for the door “Best tea in Ba Sing Se!”
Katara froze, then hurried to block her brother’s path. “No!”
Everyone stared at her, eyebrows raised. Toph just smirked knowingly.
“Uh, are you sure you’re okay?” Aang asked.
“I’m fine, it’s just” - she searched her mind for an excuse - “I’ve been there before. Really mean waiters. And bad tea!”
“But I heard-“
“Ba Sing Se has low tea standards!” She snapped.
Now everyone definitely thought she was crazy. Toph looked like she might bust a rib with her stifled laughter.
Taking a deep breath and forcing a smile, the waterbender said, “Let’s go somewhere in the Middle Ring instead.”
Then she marched out of the house, determined to lead her friends to a place that did not have Jet in it.
XxXx
“So, no luck?”
Li shook his head, earning a muttered curse from his friend. It seemed Katara was being impossible stubborn when it came to trusting him.
‘Not that I blame her,’ he thought, remembering the way he had used her. He could never forget the hurt in her eyes and her voice when she discovered his plan.
Still, a part of him was glad she was being so closed off and cautious - it meant she wouldn’t let someone else treat her the way he had. If there was one thing that would piss him off, it would be Katara getting used by more jerks like him.
Well, the old him. He would never do anything like that now.
“Are you gonna order anything?” Li asked impatiently, clearly not in the mood to wait for him to finish his inner musings.
“Yeah - I’d like a waiter who actually got some sleep last night. You’re extra cranky today.”
“Sorry, if doing your bidding makes me a little sleep deprived,” he grumbled, stomping away to take someone else’s order.
“I’m not the one who decided to wander the streets in the dead of night.”
“Well, I can’t let her see my face I think people would be a lot more likely to notice a masked man in broad daylight,” he said, returning to his side and speaking in a low hiss. He glanced around, wary of someone overhearing. “Now are you gonna order or not?”
“Fine. Give me whatever your uncle recommends.”
The waiter stalked off to where his uncle was working, leaving Jet to watch the small group of regulars at their tables. There was a mix of customers from every Ring, rich and poor, young and old, making him wonder just how good the tips must be.
‘I really need a job,’ he thought, knowing how little money he had. Living in a city was a lot different from the forest - he couldn’t just steal or forage for whatever he needed. Money was important, and to get it, he needed to work.
“Hey,” he called to Li as he passed his table with a tray of steaming cups, “who would I talk to about getting a job?”
“What?” he cried, jolting in surprise and fumbling his tray, spilling several of the drinks.
“Who do I have to talk to about getting a job?”
“That would be me,” the shop’s manager said, walking over and giving Li a scolding look. “If you break any more cups it’s coming out of this week’s pay.”
He grunted, turning and stomping over to the waiting customers.
The manager ignored him, smiling instead at Jet. “Now, let’s discuss wages, shall we?”
XxXx
Katara flopped onto her bed, more exhausted than she had ever been in her entire life. It wasn’t just lack of sleep, either.
During their late breakfast (which, apparently, was delicious. She was too distracted to really notice), she had struggled to fend off the many prying questions about her late night and strange behaviour - most coming from Toph, who seemed to have made it her personal goal to make the waterbender completely miserable. The waterbender had made excuses left and right, a feat far more tiring than she would have ever expected.
But she survived, and Sokka and Aang were still in the dark about Jet’s presence.
However, despite how incredibly drained she felt, sleep still eluded her.
Glancing out the window at the full, shining moon, she wondered if Li was waiting for her. He hadn’t said anything to confirm or deny her request to see him again, so she could only guess what his choice was.
Same as she could only guess what he looked like.
The mystery of his identity was intriguing - a challenge, in a way. If she was clever, she could identify him as more than just a name and a mask. She would be rewarded with the discovery of his true identity, the knowledge of what his face looked like.
Though, he had made it quite clear that such information wasn’t something he wanted to give out.
Biting her lip, she debated with herself - go or stay? In the end, curiosity won over and she slipped out of bed, out of the house, and through the dark streets of Ba Sing Se.
XxXx
Zuko shuffled into the apartment he shared with his uncle, head pounding with exhaustion and frustration. The nightmare was coming true. Jet was going to work with him.
Though, really, what difference did it make? The Freedom Fighter spent most of his time at the shop, anyway - now he would just get paid for it.
Still, a part of his mind insisted it was the worst fate possible.
Flopping onto his bed, he buried his face in his pillow, determined to rest his aching mind. Soon, he drifted to sleep, without a single thought of Li or the Blue Spirit or Katara.
Lame, I know. But better than 'Untitled', right?
“Who are you and what did you do with my sister?” Sokka demanded when Katara finally stumbled out of her room, two hours later than usual.
“Am I not allowed to get a little extra sleep?” she snapped, glaring at him through tired, half-lidded eyes.
“Not if it means I have no breakfast!”
“Sugar Queen had a late night,” Toph snickered from where she sat by the door. Great - she had probably felt her when she snuck out of bed.
Redirecting her glare at the blind girl, she said, “I just couldn’t sleep.”
“Did you have a bad dream?” Aang asked worriedly, perched on the railing of a rather pointless set of stairs. What kind of house needed levels two feet apart?
“Yeah, I had this weird dream about when Zuko tied me to a tree and was trying to bribe me,” Katara said, hugging herself and joining the others on the lower level.
It was true - she had dreamt about the necklace incident, but that was hardly the reason she was tired. No, her exhaustion was more due to the fact that she had been awake thinking about Jet and what Toph had said and, unable to sleep, went wandering through the city until she found a candlelit fountain in the Lower Ring, where she met the Blue Spirit A.K.A Li (or would it be the other way around?), who was also insistent about forgiving Jet.
But she couldn’t tell them this, on account of the whole Jet-is-a-psychopath thing. And the fact that they probably wouldn’t approve of her befriending a mysterious masked-man.
“Well, since I didn’t get any breakfast,” Sokka said, ignoring his sister’s statement, “I say we go out to eat!”
“Do we have money for that kind of thing?”
“We don’t need money! We get the Avatar discount!”
Aang grinned. “Well, people do like giving me stuff...”
“I heard there’s a really good teashop in the Lower Ring,” Sokka continued, already headed for the door “Best tea in Ba Sing Se!”
Katara froze, then hurried to block her brother’s path. “No!”
Everyone stared at her, eyebrows raised. Toph just smirked knowingly.
“Uh, are you sure you’re okay?” Aang asked.
“I’m fine, it’s just” - she searched her mind for an excuse - “I’ve been there before. Really mean waiters. And bad tea!”
“But I heard-“
“Ba Sing Se has low tea standards!” She snapped.
Now everyone definitely thought she was crazy. Toph looked like she might bust a rib with her stifled laughter.
Taking a deep breath and forcing a smile, the waterbender said, “Let’s go somewhere in the Middle Ring instead.”
Then she marched out of the house, determined to lead her friends to a place that did not have Jet in it.
XxXx
“So, no luck?”
Li shook his head, earning a muttered curse from his friend. It seemed Katara was being impossible stubborn when it came to trusting him.
‘Not that I blame her,’ he thought, remembering the way he had used her. He could never forget the hurt in her eyes and her voice when she discovered his plan.
Still, a part of him was glad she was being so closed off and cautious - it meant she wouldn’t let someone else treat her the way he had. If there was one thing that would piss him off, it would be Katara getting used by more jerks like him.
Well, the old him. He would never do anything like that now.
“Are you gonna order anything?” Li asked impatiently, clearly not in the mood to wait for him to finish his inner musings.
“Yeah - I’d like a waiter who actually got some sleep last night. You’re extra cranky today.”
“Sorry, if doing your bidding makes me a little sleep deprived,” he grumbled, stomping away to take someone else’s order.
“I’m not the one who decided to wander the streets in the dead of night.”
“Well, I can’t let her see my face I think people would be a lot more likely to notice a masked man in broad daylight,” he said, returning to his side and speaking in a low hiss. He glanced around, wary of someone overhearing. “Now are you gonna order or not?”
“Fine. Give me whatever your uncle recommends.”
The waiter stalked off to where his uncle was working, leaving Jet to watch the small group of regulars at their tables. There was a mix of customers from every Ring, rich and poor, young and old, making him wonder just how good the tips must be.
‘I really need a job,’ he thought, knowing how little money he had. Living in a city was a lot different from the forest - he couldn’t just steal or forage for whatever he needed. Money was important, and to get it, he needed to work.
“Hey,” he called to Li as he passed his table with a tray of steaming cups, “who would I talk to about getting a job?”
“What?” he cried, jolting in surprise and fumbling his tray, spilling several of the drinks.
“Who do I have to talk to about getting a job?”
“That would be me,” the shop’s manager said, walking over and giving Li a scolding look. “If you break any more cups it’s coming out of this week’s pay.”
He grunted, turning and stomping over to the waiting customers.
The manager ignored him, smiling instead at Jet. “Now, let’s discuss wages, shall we?”
XxXx
Katara flopped onto her bed, more exhausted than she had ever been in her entire life. It wasn’t just lack of sleep, either.
During their late breakfast (which, apparently, was delicious. She was too distracted to really notice), she had struggled to fend off the many prying questions about her late night and strange behaviour - most coming from Toph, who seemed to have made it her personal goal to make the waterbender completely miserable. The waterbender had made excuses left and right, a feat far more tiring than she would have ever expected.
But she survived, and Sokka and Aang were still in the dark about Jet’s presence.
However, despite how incredibly drained she felt, sleep still eluded her.
Glancing out the window at the full, shining moon, she wondered if Li was waiting for her. He hadn’t said anything to confirm or deny her request to see him again, so she could only guess what his choice was.
Same as she could only guess what he looked like.
The mystery of his identity was intriguing - a challenge, in a way. If she was clever, she could identify him as more than just a name and a mask. She would be rewarded with the discovery of his true identity, the knowledge of what his face looked like.
Though, he had made it quite clear that such information wasn’t something he wanted to give out.
Biting her lip, she debated with herself - go or stay? In the end, curiosity won over and she slipped out of bed, out of the house, and through the dark streets of Ba Sing Se.
XxXx
Zuko shuffled into the apartment he shared with his uncle, head pounding with exhaustion and frustration. The nightmare was coming true. Jet was going to work with him.
Though, really, what difference did it make? The Freedom Fighter spent most of his time at the shop, anyway - now he would just get paid for it.
Still, a part of his mind insisted it was the worst fate possible.
Flopping onto his bed, he buried his face in his pillow, determined to rest his aching mind. Soon, he drifted to sleep, without a single thought of Li or the Blue Spirit or Katara.