a/n: So, you haven't written unedited fanfic in months...

disclaimer: ha ha ha

title: these traditions of mine

word count: 357

summary: Korra got the penguin in a headlock. It was for love.


"First we capture—" Korra pinwheeled her arms as she slipped over a patch of ice. Her shriek alerted the nearby penguins.

Asami laughed as she caught the back of Korra's heavy winter coat. "And then fall?" she teased.

Korra grumbled, watching the penguins scatter down the hill, their coats blending with the night sky and white snow. She scowled. Crooking a finger, she aimed at a particular penguin, forcing it to stumble backwards with a sudden wind.

The penguin squawked. It flailed in the air and threw itself to the frozen ground, eyes bulging in terror.

"When I said I was going to take you on a date," said Korra. "I know you were thinking of hot tea and cuddling, but this is tradition." With the emphasis on the final word, she took the glove off her other hand and flexed her freed fingers. "Come on, little guy." Korra closed her eyes and inhaled, letting it sit on her diaphragm, and curled her fingers inward in the practiced gesture Katara had taught her so many years ago.

She exhaled, opened her eyes and released her fingers.

A small cyclone of air whipped over the tundra, catching the penguin unaware as it nearby made its mad dash toward freedom in the nearby water. It flew into Korra's outstretched arms, and immediately struggled in her grasp as she stumbled backwards.

Asami studied the penguin with her bright green eyes, a hand flying up to her mouth as she made a slight cooing sound. "Your family has been terrorizing these cuties for generations."

"It's for love! And they're not cute!" Korra got the penguin in a headlock. It struck her in the face with a wing. She was going to have so many words with Katara after this. "See? This penguin is evil!"

"We should name it after Mako."

"What?"

"Similar eyebrows."

Korra looked down. The penguin stared back at her. So, it did.

She shoved it to the ground and straddled its back. "Come on, we have traditions to complete," she told Asami, and then to the penguin below her. "And don't you dare mess this up for us."