[Fic] HardBoiled - ATLA
This journal has been empty long enough. I thought I might as well post something. Haven't drawn seriously in a while so instead I'll just put up my current project.
Fic: Hard-Boiled
Rated: T
Summary: When the mysterious Lee comes into her office with a case she can't refuse, world-weary private investigator Mai is sent into the seedy heart of Ba Sing Se, a world of deception and crime, in order to find the elusive Avatar. 1920s AU
Even with the blinds closed, I could tell it was raining; the droplets were pounding on the walls like a guilty man's heartbeat. In a city like this, where murder occurs every night and illegal firewater can be found in the hands of a child sitting by the side of the street, the rain's beat matched perfectly. When the sun comes out, it only seems to have a sadistic smile as it lights up dark, dank places of filth, places that most people push out of their minds and cover up in order to stay sane. It's only the rain that washes away blood into gutters, only the rain that shields you from the violence that blurs outside of your vision.
But with the rain came the cold. Feeling a shiver descend down my spine, I picked up my cup of tea and took a long drink from it. Before spitting it straight back out. Ty Lee's tea could clean a drain clog, but it couldn't warm my insides.
Now what was a girl with a decent (as in legal, definitely not in terms of dough) job as a gumshoe doing cooped up in her workplace on a Friday night? The men in this city were either too boring or too deep in digging their own graves. And with parents that only consider you a china doll to be put on display when the dough-lined politicians come around in their shiny primped ostrich-horse carriages, who wouldn't want to leave home and stay curled up in a cozy office? Albeit a dingy one with a bare bulb dangling from the ceiling like a dead fish. The dim light provided a tranquil hideaway where I could do what I wanted in peace. Not that there was much to do. A dart board hanging next the to the door was so riddled with holes that it was hard for whatever I had on me-safety pins, needles, knives, the occasional fork-to stick to the center when I threw it there. And I threw hard. But this was still my own secluded nest in the middle of a mad city, and I wouldn't give it up for all the fire flakes in Yi Ming's Corner Store.
Of course, that didn't change the fact that boredom attached to this place like an elbow-leech. With nothing to do, I picked up the little plaque in the front of my desk and a rag from deep within one of the drawers. It was the only thing worth cleaning in this dusty joint, and if a person doesn't have a name, what does she have?
Mai, Private Detective
After rubbing the indentations, I set it back down neatly, approving the sparkle that survived in this spirit-forsaken town of Ba Sing Se.
But my inner peace was quickly hacked away by my secretary, who barged into my office unannounced with her clacking high heels, as she always did.
"Mai, you have a client!" Ty Lee shouted brightly, despite being in close proximity. I didn't need a secretary; there wasn't enough work here to fill a body bag. But there was no way I could turn her sprightly self down. Agni knows she needed the money, or she would have become like every other young girl who just moved into this town with no one to watch out for her: a prostitute or the victim of a serial killer. Especially since she was a girl that always left a couple of buttons undone. Although her cheery attitude and constant talk about auras and horoscopes could become head-splitting, it was a nice change from the usual grey scenery.
"Ty Lee, how many times have I told you knock before entering?" I drawled. Of course, I said this everytime she came in and every time she answered-
"Sorry Mai, I just can't help myself! But I'll definitely knock next time, I swear. I was just so excited because it looks you got an actual client!"
I was tempted to snort. Most people who had problems tended to handle it themselves. Or turn up in a ditch the next week. So anyone who came to a building like this in a seedy neighborhood was either looking to chat up Ty Lee or was trouble. It being a Friday night, I guessed the former. But I just sighed. "Send the person in." Rather than die of boredom I thought I might as well die from the stupidity of a boy who was head-over-heels.
"You got it!" She headed back out, practically cartwheeling, her braid bouncing on her crisp pink suit jacket, a stark contrast to white linoleum walls surrounding her.
I straightened out my desk, which was empty except for a couple of crumpled, half-finished crosswords and a doodle of Tom-Tom. The door swung open and I got up to address this supposed client.
I quickly covered my flash of surprise.
Instead of the naïve face of someone who was trying to pick up my secretary, I was met by a tall young man with dark hair and heavy-set golden eyes. The kind of man that women would run to in flocks. His mouth was curled into a tight frown, matching his somber choice of clothing: a black suit with a dark red button-up, the collar slightly opened. But was most striking about him was his scar, a crinkly mass of deep hues wrapped over his left eye like a parasite sucking the life out of his pale skin. This didn't detract from his arrogant atmosphere, however, his keeping a pointy chin slightly tilted up. He looked like money, and smelled like it too.
"Mai, private detective," I introduced, holding out a hand. He walked over and grasped mine firmly, shaking it.
"I know," he replied curtly before seating himself opposite of me in a hard metal chair. He briefly flicked his eyes up the naked light bulb above him.
"Would 'I know' happen to have a name?"
The stranger stiffened, but his face remained unchanged. "Just call me Lee."
We both remained silent for a while, both of us trying to figure each other out. A man with an alias was always a sign of illegal meanderings, and a man with an expression as serious as his was always a sign of danger. Not the kind of danger you get when you sip a bit too much cactus juice, but the danger you get when you walk into a dark alley with a bag of coins that jingle a bit too loudly. But my curiosity was piqued. "What's your case, Lee?"
"There's something I need you to find."
"Something, or someone?"
He paused for a moment. Taking a deep breath, he replied, "I need you to find the Avatar."
It took a couple of seconds for his request to finally sink in. "You want me to find the only eyewitness who was about to testify against Ozai, who skipped town when they blew up his apartment and tried to have him killed, who managed to elude the most notorious gang in history, who whenever they wanted someone dead, always gave him a bullet in the head as a souvenir to the underworld?"
"Yes, that Avatar."
I paused before asking my next question, wondering if the answer could get me killed. Although Phoenix had been keeping quiet for the past couple of weeks after the attempt to have them brought to trial, they had a very long history of getting their enemies "accidentally" run over. "And why do you need me to find him?"
We sat in silence again after I stated my query, neither of us backing down in our tug-of-war game of information. Although he had a good poker face, I met more than enough haughty bastards in my life to take care of a haughty client. My eyes bored into his gold-hued ones-
"I'm so sorry!" Our silent battle was interrupted by Ty Lee, who popped her head in like a badger frog. "I can't believe I forgot to offer you something to drink when you came in, Mr…"
"Lee," we said in unison, neither of us taking our eyes off of each other at the sound of my secretary's voice bubbling in the room.
"I'm fine," he answered with a slight wave of his hand, before finally averting his gaze, instead taking a moment to eye the drab surroundings.
After I gave her a pointed look, Ty Lee smiled apologetically and silently shut the door.
His head snapped back at me. "Look. I came to you because I heard good things about your professionalism, skill, and tight mouth from people-"
"Which people?"
"-some people, anyways what I'm trying to say is that there are certain things about me that are better kept secret, for the sake of your safety as well as mine." He finished with a slight pant, his eyebrows knitted ever further downward.
The stereotypical bad boy, huh. Droves, not flocks.
"Well for the sake of my safety, I'd rather know what sort of trouble I may be getting into."
A pause. "Fine." He shook his head at my determination. "Let's just say he can help me with something personal. Restore my honor."
I mulled this over, hands clasped together tightly on the desk. His scar was a real nasty piece of work; it looked like it was done in by a very serious Phoenix gang member. And he ground out honor like meat into a grinder. What sort of stupid stunt could he have pulled to get into this sort of trouble?
"Last I heard, the Avatar was long gone from here."
Lee fished into his pocket and pulled out a crinkled photograph; it had obviously been held and looked over many times. "The Avatar's back." He slid it across the desk towards me, and I leaned over for a closer look.
The photo was slightly blurry at the edges; someone was in a hurry when he or she took the photo. Although it was black and white, it was clearly a picture of the entrance to the temple on Fong Street; its intricately carved arches were famous in the city, and it was also a popular site for eggings. From behind the doorway in the picture, a white pointy ear and part of a small furry head could be seen poking out. Rather than voicing my own conclusions, I waited for Lee to speak again.
"That," he said, jabbing a finger at the mysterious figure, "is the Avatar's pet flying-lemur. When the Avatar went missing, this went missing with him." He leaned back into his chair and folded his arms tightly.
"How do you know this isn't some other flying-lemur?"
He scoffed. "All the other lemurs were either sold to traveling circuses or shot for sport a long time ago."
The date listed on the bottom-right corner showed that the photograph was taken less than a week ago. What Lee said made sense, but there were still questions to be answered.
"The lemur could have returned here without the Avatar."
"The Avatar is always with his flying-lemur."
I was tempted to ask more, his odd confidence in those facts nagging at me. But a good detective knew when asking too much meant getting your body dumped into the river.
"How do I know Phoenix isn't hunting him down right now and that I won't get killed in the crossfire?"
"Trust me. Nobody knows about this except you and me."
Here was a man with a face that was battered long and hard by turmoil, with the hands of a man who got to his age by climbing over obstacles covered in barbed wire, with a gaze that eyed every corner, every shadow, every garbage can with suspicion. Now he was taking a leap of faith and putting his trust in me, just because of "some people". Trust is a dangerous game when you're surrounded by saber-tooth moose-lions and hyenas, just waiting to pounce, but at that moment I couldn't help but reciprocate and believe him.
"And payment?"
Lee reached into a pocket that was deeper within his coat, and from there extracted a deceptively small bag, placing it next to the photograph. I pulled at the strings, revealing a pile of shiny gold coins that glittered like a mass of dragon teeth in a mouth that could swallow you whole. Picking up a coin with one hand, I slipped a small knife out of my sleeve into the other and stabbed the piece of gold. It was hard enough to stop a bullet, and the coin rejoined its brothers and sisters in the sack.
"I'll give you the other half when you find the Avatar. I believe this will be sufficient," he said, but he looked a bit surprised at my reaction, or rather lack thereof. Bags like these were interchanged daily between my parents and other politicians, whether it be in an office over drinks or in a kitchen over, well whatever could be on or done on kitchen tables. And these coins smelled just as dirty as the coins fingered by fat corrupted city officials who lingered around my old home. Nonetheless, cases didn't just walk into my office all the time like Ty Lee's dates, and Lee's payment was more than enough to cover rent until I was old and sagging.
"Alright, I'll take on your case. But don't expect any positive results; the Avatar has eluded both the authorities and Ozai's goons for quite a while." Lee nodded in understanding, but I could see a spark of misplaced hope in his eyes. "Where can I find you?"
"Just ask for me here." Lee took a card out of his breast pocket and handed it to me, from which I read:
The Jasmine Dragon
48 Komodo Street
No pets.
Engraved underneath the address was an off-color lotus design, wrapped around by a thin dragon.
I recognized the bar from when I went to eat at Penang's with Ty Lee occasionally but never actually went inside the shoddy looking building that was tucked away into an obscure corner. The only reason I ever noticed it was that a hulking boozehound was thrown out of its doors once, shouting about how he couldn't have been beaten at arm wrestling by a girl. It was an odd match for Lee.
We both got up and shook hands again, sealing our business transaction. I watched as he walked out of the room; from behind his posture looked less arrogant and more like young duck-turtle baring its beak to bluff its way out. He grabbed his trench coat and hat from the stand next to Ty Lee's desk, nodded at her, and headed out. When I heard the door shut, the jovial girl came in again. "Not the most talkative guy is he." She looked at me brightly. "He's like a male version you!"
"Except my hair doesn't look like a gopher-mouse made a home in it." And he had the rare fire of hope burning inside of his soul, something that burnt out in me a long time ago. "Anyways, it looks like I a got case. One that pays well for once." When Ty Lee peeked inside the sack, she let out a low whistle.
"That's enough to buy a circus. You sure about taking this case, Mai? His aura wasn't exactly the cleanest around."
"Then what do you think he should do, bathe in a bucket of detergent?"
She laughed but returned to her serious tone and pointed a finger at me. "Seriously Mai, I want you to be extra careful with this case. You're the one that gave me a new life, a life apart from that circus manager." She shuddered, her face betraying a moment of revulsion. "There's been a lot of crazy rumors flying around lately. And I don't know what I'd do without you around here making the 10th floor even more gloomy than it already is." Ty Lee smiled and I couldn't help but return tinier, ephemeral version of it. "What do you have to do for all those coins anyway?"
Before responding I flicked out a key and unlocked the bottommost drawer, sliding the bag unceremoniously into the cobwebbed abyss. It landed with a heavy thump and I swiftly locked it away.
"I'm going to find the Avatar."
Fic: Hard-Boiled
Rated: T
Summary: When the mysterious Lee comes into her office with a case she can't refuse, world-weary private investigator Mai is sent into the seedy heart of Ba Sing Se, a world of deception and crime, in order to find the elusive Avatar. 1920s AU
Even with the blinds closed, I could tell it was raining; the droplets were pounding on the walls like a guilty man's heartbeat. In a city like this, where murder occurs every night and illegal firewater can be found in the hands of a child sitting by the side of the street, the rain's beat matched perfectly. When the sun comes out, it only seems to have a sadistic smile as it lights up dark, dank places of filth, places that most people push out of their minds and cover up in order to stay sane. It's only the rain that washes away blood into gutters, only the rain that shields you from the violence that blurs outside of your vision.
But with the rain came the cold. Feeling a shiver descend down my spine, I picked up my cup of tea and took a long drink from it. Before spitting it straight back out. Ty Lee's tea could clean a drain clog, but it couldn't warm my insides.
Now what was a girl with a decent (as in legal, definitely not in terms of dough) job as a gumshoe doing cooped up in her workplace on a Friday night? The men in this city were either too boring or too deep in digging their own graves. And with parents that only consider you a china doll to be put on display when the dough-lined politicians come around in their shiny primped ostrich-horse carriages, who wouldn't want to leave home and stay curled up in a cozy office? Albeit a dingy one with a bare bulb dangling from the ceiling like a dead fish. The dim light provided a tranquil hideaway where I could do what I wanted in peace. Not that there was much to do. A dart board hanging next the to the door was so riddled with holes that it was hard for whatever I had on me-safety pins, needles, knives, the occasional fork-to stick to the center when I threw it there. And I threw hard. But this was still my own secluded nest in the middle of a mad city, and I wouldn't give it up for all the fire flakes in Yi Ming's Corner Store.
Of course, that didn't change the fact that boredom attached to this place like an elbow-leech. With nothing to do, I picked up the little plaque in the front of my desk and a rag from deep within one of the drawers. It was the only thing worth cleaning in this dusty joint, and if a person doesn't have a name, what does she have?
Mai, Private Detective
After rubbing the indentations, I set it back down neatly, approving the sparkle that survived in this spirit-forsaken town of Ba Sing Se.
But my inner peace was quickly hacked away by my secretary, who barged into my office unannounced with her clacking high heels, as she always did.
"Mai, you have a client!" Ty Lee shouted brightly, despite being in close proximity. I didn't need a secretary; there wasn't enough work here to fill a body bag. But there was no way I could turn her sprightly self down. Agni knows she needed the money, or she would have become like every other young girl who just moved into this town with no one to watch out for her: a prostitute or the victim of a serial killer. Especially since she was a girl that always left a couple of buttons undone. Although her cheery attitude and constant talk about auras and horoscopes could become head-splitting, it was a nice change from the usual grey scenery.
"Ty Lee, how many times have I told you knock before entering?" I drawled. Of course, I said this everytime she came in and every time she answered-
"Sorry Mai, I just can't help myself! But I'll definitely knock next time, I swear. I was just so excited because it looks you got an actual client!"
I was tempted to snort. Most people who had problems tended to handle it themselves. Or turn up in a ditch the next week. So anyone who came to a building like this in a seedy neighborhood was either looking to chat up Ty Lee or was trouble. It being a Friday night, I guessed the former. But I just sighed. "Send the person in." Rather than die of boredom I thought I might as well die from the stupidity of a boy who was head-over-heels.
"You got it!" She headed back out, practically cartwheeling, her braid bouncing on her crisp pink suit jacket, a stark contrast to white linoleum walls surrounding her.
I straightened out my desk, which was empty except for a couple of crumpled, half-finished crosswords and a doodle of Tom-Tom. The door swung open and I got up to address this supposed client.
I quickly covered my flash of surprise.
Instead of the naïve face of someone who was trying to pick up my secretary, I was met by a tall young man with dark hair and heavy-set golden eyes. The kind of man that women would run to in flocks. His mouth was curled into a tight frown, matching his somber choice of clothing: a black suit with a dark red button-up, the collar slightly opened. But was most striking about him was his scar, a crinkly mass of deep hues wrapped over his left eye like a parasite sucking the life out of his pale skin. This didn't detract from his arrogant atmosphere, however, his keeping a pointy chin slightly tilted up. He looked like money, and smelled like it too.
"Mai, private detective," I introduced, holding out a hand. He walked over and grasped mine firmly, shaking it.
"I know," he replied curtly before seating himself opposite of me in a hard metal chair. He briefly flicked his eyes up the naked light bulb above him.
"Would 'I know' happen to have a name?"
The stranger stiffened, but his face remained unchanged. "Just call me Lee."
We both remained silent for a while, both of us trying to figure each other out. A man with an alias was always a sign of illegal meanderings, and a man with an expression as serious as his was always a sign of danger. Not the kind of danger you get when you sip a bit too much cactus juice, but the danger you get when you walk into a dark alley with a bag of coins that jingle a bit too loudly. But my curiosity was piqued. "What's your case, Lee?"
"There's something I need you to find."
"Something, or someone?"
He paused for a moment. Taking a deep breath, he replied, "I need you to find the Avatar."
It took a couple of seconds for his request to finally sink in. "You want me to find the only eyewitness who was about to testify against Ozai, who skipped town when they blew up his apartment and tried to have him killed, who managed to elude the most notorious gang in history, who whenever they wanted someone dead, always gave him a bullet in the head as a souvenir to the underworld?"
"Yes, that Avatar."
I paused before asking my next question, wondering if the answer could get me killed. Although Phoenix had been keeping quiet for the past couple of weeks after the attempt to have them brought to trial, they had a very long history of getting their enemies "accidentally" run over. "And why do you need me to find him?"
We sat in silence again after I stated my query, neither of us backing down in our tug-of-war game of information. Although he had a good poker face, I met more than enough haughty bastards in my life to take care of a haughty client. My eyes bored into his gold-hued ones-
"I'm so sorry!" Our silent battle was interrupted by Ty Lee, who popped her head in like a badger frog. "I can't believe I forgot to offer you something to drink when you came in, Mr…"
"Lee," we said in unison, neither of us taking our eyes off of each other at the sound of my secretary's voice bubbling in the room.
"I'm fine," he answered with a slight wave of his hand, before finally averting his gaze, instead taking a moment to eye the drab surroundings.
After I gave her a pointed look, Ty Lee smiled apologetically and silently shut the door.
His head snapped back at me. "Look. I came to you because I heard good things about your professionalism, skill, and tight mouth from people-"
"Which people?"
"-some people, anyways what I'm trying to say is that there are certain things about me that are better kept secret, for the sake of your safety as well as mine." He finished with a slight pant, his eyebrows knitted ever further downward.
The stereotypical bad boy, huh. Droves, not flocks.
"Well for the sake of my safety, I'd rather know what sort of trouble I may be getting into."
A pause. "Fine." He shook his head at my determination. "Let's just say he can help me with something personal. Restore my honor."
I mulled this over, hands clasped together tightly on the desk. His scar was a real nasty piece of work; it looked like it was done in by a very serious Phoenix gang member. And he ground out honor like meat into a grinder. What sort of stupid stunt could he have pulled to get into this sort of trouble?
"Last I heard, the Avatar was long gone from here."
Lee fished into his pocket and pulled out a crinkled photograph; it had obviously been held and looked over many times. "The Avatar's back." He slid it across the desk towards me, and I leaned over for a closer look.
The photo was slightly blurry at the edges; someone was in a hurry when he or she took the photo. Although it was black and white, it was clearly a picture of the entrance to the temple on Fong Street; its intricately carved arches were famous in the city, and it was also a popular site for eggings. From behind the doorway in the picture, a white pointy ear and part of a small furry head could be seen poking out. Rather than voicing my own conclusions, I waited for Lee to speak again.
"That," he said, jabbing a finger at the mysterious figure, "is the Avatar's pet flying-lemur. When the Avatar went missing, this went missing with him." He leaned back into his chair and folded his arms tightly.
"How do you know this isn't some other flying-lemur?"
He scoffed. "All the other lemurs were either sold to traveling circuses or shot for sport a long time ago."
The date listed on the bottom-right corner showed that the photograph was taken less than a week ago. What Lee said made sense, but there were still questions to be answered.
"The lemur could have returned here without the Avatar."
"The Avatar is always with his flying-lemur."
I was tempted to ask more, his odd confidence in those facts nagging at me. But a good detective knew when asking too much meant getting your body dumped into the river.
"How do I know Phoenix isn't hunting him down right now and that I won't get killed in the crossfire?"
"Trust me. Nobody knows about this except you and me."
Here was a man with a face that was battered long and hard by turmoil, with the hands of a man who got to his age by climbing over obstacles covered in barbed wire, with a gaze that eyed every corner, every shadow, every garbage can with suspicion. Now he was taking a leap of faith and putting his trust in me, just because of "some people". Trust is a dangerous game when you're surrounded by saber-tooth moose-lions and hyenas, just waiting to pounce, but at that moment I couldn't help but reciprocate and believe him.
"And payment?"
Lee reached into a pocket that was deeper within his coat, and from there extracted a deceptively small bag, placing it next to the photograph. I pulled at the strings, revealing a pile of shiny gold coins that glittered like a mass of dragon teeth in a mouth that could swallow you whole. Picking up a coin with one hand, I slipped a small knife out of my sleeve into the other and stabbed the piece of gold. It was hard enough to stop a bullet, and the coin rejoined its brothers and sisters in the sack.
"I'll give you the other half when you find the Avatar. I believe this will be sufficient," he said, but he looked a bit surprised at my reaction, or rather lack thereof. Bags like these were interchanged daily between my parents and other politicians, whether it be in an office over drinks or in a kitchen over, well whatever could be on or done on kitchen tables. And these coins smelled just as dirty as the coins fingered by fat corrupted city officials who lingered around my old home. Nonetheless, cases didn't just walk into my office all the time like Ty Lee's dates, and Lee's payment was more than enough to cover rent until I was old and sagging.
"Alright, I'll take on your case. But don't expect any positive results; the Avatar has eluded both the authorities and Ozai's goons for quite a while." Lee nodded in understanding, but I could see a spark of misplaced hope in his eyes. "Where can I find you?"
"Just ask for me here." Lee took a card out of his breast pocket and handed it to me, from which I read:
The Jasmine Dragon
48 Komodo Street
No pets.
Engraved underneath the address was an off-color lotus design, wrapped around by a thin dragon.
I recognized the bar from when I went to eat at Penang's with Ty Lee occasionally but never actually went inside the shoddy looking building that was tucked away into an obscure corner. The only reason I ever noticed it was that a hulking boozehound was thrown out of its doors once, shouting about how he couldn't have been beaten at arm wrestling by a girl. It was an odd match for Lee.
We both got up and shook hands again, sealing our business transaction. I watched as he walked out of the room; from behind his posture looked less arrogant and more like young duck-turtle baring its beak to bluff its way out. He grabbed his trench coat and hat from the stand next to Ty Lee's desk, nodded at her, and headed out. When I heard the door shut, the jovial girl came in again. "Not the most talkative guy is he." She looked at me brightly. "He's like a male version you!"
"Except my hair doesn't look like a gopher-mouse made a home in it." And he had the rare fire of hope burning inside of his soul, something that burnt out in me a long time ago. "Anyways, it looks like I a got case. One that pays well for once." When Ty Lee peeked inside the sack, she let out a low whistle.
"That's enough to buy a circus. You sure about taking this case, Mai? His aura wasn't exactly the cleanest around."
"Then what do you think he should do, bathe in a bucket of detergent?"
She laughed but returned to her serious tone and pointed a finger at me. "Seriously Mai, I want you to be extra careful with this case. You're the one that gave me a new life, a life apart from that circus manager." She shuddered, her face betraying a moment of revulsion. "There's been a lot of crazy rumors flying around lately. And I don't know what I'd do without you around here making the 10th floor even more gloomy than it already is." Ty Lee smiled and I couldn't help but return tinier, ephemeral version of it. "What do you have to do for all those coins anyway?"
Before responding I flicked out a key and unlocked the bottommost drawer, sliding the bag unceremoniously into the cobwebbed abyss. It landed with a heavy thump and I swiftly locked it away.
"I'm going to find the Avatar."