Title: Swashbuckling Rogues
Rating: K+
Words: 2032
Summary: We're bigger than this dump! This place is falling apart and we're going to be nothing if we just stay here. Think of what we could get up to if we had more money than we knew what to do with. We could buy whatever we want. Isn't that better than this. June-centric. Pro-bending Circuit submission
a/n: Round 5 submission for the Pro-bending Circuit tournament. This was unfortunately written rather last minute so I'm not totally proud of it, but I plan to hopefully edit it up a bit after it's judge just for my own personal sanity. Anyhow! I hope you all enjoy it.
Task: We were all asked to write stories based off of fairy tales. So I was inspired by the Disney version of Rapunzel (Tangled) — in particular, the backstory of Flynn Ryder.
Prompts: (object) old ratty hat, (character) June, (quote) A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work" - Colin Powell
Bonus: Include the element fire in the story
OOO
Swashbuckling Rogues
OOO
Fire Nation orphanages were truly rubbish.
Hundreds of years of taxes allocated solely towards wiping the other nations off the face of the planet left little else for the citizens who didn't already have all the riches available to them. Things like orphanages weren't worth the country's time and money. Because hey. People's parents died in military crossfires and factory explosions all the time. It'd just be like feeding food into a perpetually hungry mouth. But that's because the Fire Lord didn't actually care about his people — at least not the poor ones. He only cared about being able to flaunt his crown on every continent without fear of another ruler tearing him down along the way and pile riches into his pocket along the way. Everyone else could go suffer.
But the director didn't appreciate that kind of talk from June. She always smacked June on the mouth and rushed her off into her room whenever talks about the stupid Fire Lord or those damned rich nobles started to slip out her mouth. June was sure it was nothing personal. As the director of this dump, she probably hated hearing that kind of talk because she secretly knew how right it was. June knew the woman was running out of money to run this place, and knew the statesmen wouldn't give her more.
There wasn't enough to eat, there were too many children to cram inside the small building, and it was far too easy for children to go hungry or get sick. Meanwhile, nobles near the capital were sitting on their gold pieces and eating fruit tarts covered in rose petals while sitting in chaises swathed in silk. They didn't deserve that money. June didn't deserve this.
"It makes sense, don't you think?" June explained while flinging open all of the windows in the bedroom. She woke to the sounds of some of smaller children moaning because of the heat, and she hoped that this would help keep the room cool. "They're keeping all the money for themselves. They say they're fighting for the good of our country, but they're just fighting for the good of themselves. Meanwhile, we're freezing."
A young boy her age named Kenzou was helping push more windows open. "You don't know that, June," he explained. "The orphanage just isn't doing well. We'll get more money soon."
June rolled her eyes and stood in front of the humid breeze. "You keep saying that, but we keep getting less money." She pulled Kenzou in closer to the window and made him stand in front of it so that he could cool down. She reached out and yanked the ratty old hat he was wearing off the top of his head. "And take that stupid thing off. You're gonna make yourself hotter."
"Stop, give it back!" Kenzou cried out, reaching for the hat again. "It's the only one I've got."
"Then stop wearing it, before I throw it out the window," June glared. "You're making me sweat to death just looking at you."
Kenzou frowned and grabbed the hat back, deciding to tuck it under his arms. "You're so mean. You know how much trouble I went through to steal this thing?"
"Yeah. You're doing it right. Stealing hats instead of coins. My hero," June drawled.
Kenzou smiled slightly. "You're so bitter. It could be worse you know."
June turned towards Kenzou and shoved her elbow into his ribs. "That's not how I see it. I don't swipe my brow and thank the Fire Lord that I could possibly have a little less than the nothing I do now. There's a better option. There has to be."
"Oh yeah? What is it?" Kenzou asked sarcastically. "Because from here, it looks a lot like we're a bunch of poor kids that no one wants to look at or be associated with. Just be thankful you're not dead."
"I refuse to be thankful for being in a shitty situation," June declared. "Not while those rich leeches are keeping all the money to themselves."
Kenzou sighed tiredly. "Don't start this again, June. You're making it sound like a bunch of kids that are keeping all the good bread. We can't just take money away from nobles or even the Fire Lord. That's not how life works."
June stared pointedly at Kenzou before she crawled over to her bed at the other end of the room, reached out underneath it and pulled out an oil lamp. She smiled at Kenzou and he immediately wiped a hand down his face. "June, not again. Come on!"
June pushed the lantern into his hand. "Here. Light this."
Kenzou rolled his eyes, and pointed his finger at the oil well, lighting up the lantern quickly with some Firebending. "June, I don't want to hear this anymore."
But she merely shoved his side and pointed him to the hallway. "Come on. I can't see in the dark, let's go."
June didn't wait for Kenzou to catch up with her and immediately started making her way silently down the halls and away from bedroom. Kenzou tried to hurry down the halls without waking up the director and managed to follow June into the den where the windows were also open to allow in more thick, humid air in a poor attempt to keep the house cool. But June immediately dove down to the floor where the bookshelves of storybooks for the children were.
Kenzou groaned. "June, come on! I don't want to get caught."
She looked through the shelved before she pulled out a small, leather bound book with a noise of triumph. "No, I'm proving a point."
"You've proved this point already a dozen times," Kenzou explained.
June pulled open the book and started flipping through the pages. "Come here," she ignored. "I'm serious, come here."
Kenzou relented and put the lantern down next to them, letting the flame flickering inside the lantern to light up the old, worn book that June was flipping through. The small book of fairytales and fables was a favorite of the orphanage, and it was usually June, as the oldest, that would read to the children every night before bed — stories filled with swashbuckling rogues, rich men, stolen treasures, horrifying villains, and death defying adventures. For a small, poor orphanage filled with children that had nothing but the clothes on their backs, it was a wonderfully optimistic pastime. But to June, it was more than that.
She turned the book towards Kenzou and pointed to one of the pages. "Look. Do you remember this story?"
Kenzou nodded. "Yeah, it's that one about the richest man alive. All his adventures and travels and all that stuff. So what?"
June shook her head. "You don't get it." She flipped a page to a picture of the protagonist of the story, a woman wrapped around his arm as he stared off the hull of a ship, bedecked in rich clothes and lavish rungs. "You see him? This guy has more riches than he knows what to do with. He has enough money to do anything that he wants to do. He can go anywhere that he wants to go." She pushed the book closer to him. "See I don't press my hands to my heart and thank goodness that it's not worse. I look at this and think this is a way better option."
Kenzou put the lantern up on one of the tables and looked at June critically. "Do you hear yourself?" he prompted her. "This isn't a storybook, June. This is real life. We're not rich. We're not travellers. We're kids who are never gonna get adopted and are probably going to have to look for jobs soon because we have nothing else."
"That's not true!" June said vehemently. "You're not thinking big enough. We're bigger than this dump!" She kicked away one of the old wooden chairs that they were sitting next to. "This place is falling apart and we're going to be nothing if we just stay here. Think of what we could get up to if we had more money than we knew what to do with. We could buy whatever we want. Isn't that better than this?"
Kenzou took the book, shut it closed, and put it to the side. "Look. We're sixteen. We're not supposed to be reading storybooks and dreaming about fairytales. We have to look for work because once we're seventeen we can't stay here anymore. And guess what? A dream doesn't become reality through magic. It takes sweat, determination, and hard work."
June frowned. "Like I don't know that. Besides, I already found a job."
Kenzou stared at her strangely. "What do you mean?"
June looked towards the ground, her face set in obstinacy. "I...I found a job. Possibly…"
"What do you mean possibly?" Kenzou insisted. "Why didn't you tell me this? Why didn't you tell the director this?"
"Because the director can't know," June hissed angrily. "And by possibly I mean...I have to...try out for it, sort of."
Kenzou still wasn't understanding. "What kind of job is it that you have to try out for?"
June swallowed. "I was near the pub at the other edge of town, and...I ran into a couple of bounty hunters."
Kenzou's eyes widened. "Bounty hunters? You want to go run away with bounty hunters? That's not a job, June!"
"No, but it's money!" she insisted harshly. "Come on, Kenzou, I'm not going to make any money working in a merchant's shop or digging coal in the mines. These people, they get paid to find people. And they get paid buckets of gold for it. This is exactly what I'm talking about! More money than anyone could know what to do with. Just like in the book!"
"That man from the book didn't kill people for a living just to get their hands on dirty money," Kenzou corrected her. "This is crazy, June. This isn't a future for you."
"That's exactly what this is!" June told him. "Look, we don't have the luxury of picking whatever we want and being happy because of it. If I can't be those big rich nobles and royals, then I'm gonna let them pay me with their gold instead."
Kenzou's glare didn't falter. "By. Killing. By killing the people they don't like."
June shook her head and shoved the book back into the bookshelf. "You're not looking at this the right way. If anything, you should come with me. They might take you, too. We could do it together."
Kenzou shook his head. "No. I'm going to go become a merchant just like everyone else in this town does and you should probably do the same. This is stupid, June."
But June merely snatched back the lantern, blew out the flame, and started to make her way back to the bedroom. "Fine. Forget I ever told you."
"You just have to think about this, June," Kenzou pleaded. "There are options for us. It's not as hopeless as you make it seem. We're fortunate and you just don't see it."
June couldn't help but scoff. Fortunate. She looked around at the small, rickety orphan home with the rooms that were too hot, with the pantries that were too empty, and with the bedrooms that were stuffed full of too many children. "We're not fortunate," June told him sadly. "We're nothing. We have nothing. And I just want to make sure that I have something. There's a better option. Like you said. We just have to work hard for it."
Kenzou shoved past her roughly and headed back to the bedroom, not bothering to keep his steps silent as if he didn't care if the director heard them walking around after hours. "Fine. Go by yourself and become a criminal. See if I care."
June closed the bedroom door behind her and put the lamp back underneath her bed. "You'll see, Kenzou. It'll work out. I'll have more money than I'll know what to do with. I'll be talented, loved, and be able to buy a room full of people anything they want. How amazing would that be?"