"Korra! Don't bend here- someone might see!"
Ruby sent a sideways glance to the voice, momentarily distracted from taking a young woman's order. It had come from a table sitting up against the front window, the gold lettering written backwards on the glass.
"Oh, don't be such a worry wart- if something happens, we'll say I almost spilled it!" a second voice assured the first one. The waitress couldn't see who was speaking that well, trying to keep her far forward, make it look as if she was doing her job.
"Okay, okay!" she heard the fist voice say, "But if they don't believe, don't say I didn't warn you!"
"Hon?" the woman's voice broke Ruby's concentration and she faltered, idly scratching at her notepad with the pencil in her hand.
"Uh, yes?" she said. The woman lifted the menu, using a nail to point out an item.
"What's in this?" she asked, taping it twice, "I'm a vegetarian, so I can't eat meat." Ruby smiled, nodding as she bent over the woman's shoulder, reading aloud the ingredients listed on the laminated page. After a few minutes of debate (which felt like hours, considering the woman's age), Ruby ripped out the order and handed it to her Grandmother over the counter, eyeing the table by the window suspiciously. Flipping to a fresh page, Ruby stalked over to the table as casually as she could- or at least, what she hoped looked casual enough. Before she made it all the way, however, the bell above the door rang, and two young men waltzed in. They looked to be related, with similar features- dark hair, muscular builds; however one was shot where the other was a built taller. Ruby watched as their eyes darted around the room, the shorter one grabbing his brother's arm and pointing.
"Mako, there they are!" he cried. Ruby followed his finger to see him pointing at the booth by the window, where she had heard the suspicious conversation a few minutes before they had walked in. They made their way over, and Ruby could tell the four of them were pretty friendly, the shorter boy whooping loudly as he slid into a seat. The taller one waved nonchalantly before sitting opposite his brother.
"So what's up?" the taller one asked from across the table.
"Are we talking my training or my feelings?" one of them- and Ruby realized it was a girl's voice- joked. Looking over, she saw two girls sitting with the boys. One was slouched over, resting her arms on the table; her skin a beautiful tanned color. Her brown hair was tied into a ponytail, with two pieces tied off to frame her face. The girl sitting next to her had slanted almond shaped eyes, her black hair in waves over her shoulders. In short, the second girl looked like one of those models Ruby had seen in one of her many Teen Vogue magazines.
Ruby cleared her throat, approaching the table once the taller boy had taken off a red scarf that was wrapped around his gulped as she poised her pencil over her notepad, hands trembling slightly.
"Welcome to Granny's Diner!" she said, putting on a chipper tone, "My name is Ruby, I'll be your server. Today's special is steak tartare with a side of homemade chili-cheese fries. Would you like to start with drinks?" The four of them leafed through their menus, oohing and aahing at the choices listed throughout each section. The black haired girl leaned close to the brown haired one.
"Look at this, Korra!" she marveled, "A pulled pork, mac n' cheese sandwich on toasted flatbread!" The other girl, Korra, raised an eyebrow at her, eyeing the menu as the girl pointed it out.
"Do we have things like that in Republic City restaurants?" she asked. The boy with the red scarf shrugged.
"I honestly have no idea what that is," he said, turning to his brother, "What about you, Bolin?"
The one named Bolin was drooling, replying, "I'm in the same boat, but that sure beats out turtle duck soup!" Ruby felt her lower lip quiver- what the heck was a 'Turtle Duck'?
Finally the girl named Koraa grabbed the menu from her friend's hand, shoving it at Ruby.
"We'll have four of those!" she demanded, a smile on her face.
"Of the pulled pork mac n' cheese sandwiches?" Ruby inquired, and Korra nodded. Ruby could smell bacon coming from the kitchen, a chill going down her spine as a blast of cold air flew from the air conditioners. It and been inexplicably hot the past fews days, and everyone was doing all they could to cool down. The diners didn't seem that way though.
Korra was wearing a blue get up, with a turtlenecked tank and heavy blue sweatpants that ballooned as they were tucked into heavy sheepskin boots. A brown parka was tied around her waist. Bolin and his brother Mako had similar clothes on, with brow and black coats over layers of shirts and sweaters. Mako finished his look off with a red woolen scarf. The last girl had on a red sweater, with a black coat decorated in gold accents. Brown leather gloves were on her hands, and Ruby watched as she took them off rather daintily, revealing perfectly manicured nails and slender fingers.
"Yeah, those!" Korra nodded for emphasis, tent urning to the group, "Do you guys think they have Lychee juice?" Mako shrugged.
"Don't as us, ask her," Mako jutted his chin at Ruby, who scoffed.
"Rude much?" she muttered before turning on her brightest megawatt smile, "What is it?"
"Oh, uh, do you guys sell Lychee juice here?" Korra asked. Ruby raised an eyebrow at her.
"Sorry, I don't think so," she replied with an apologetic shrug. The second girl was peering at the men, flipped to the last page where the drinks were listed. She showed it to Korra, tapping the plastic with her finger.
"Why don't we try this soda?" she said, "It sounds yummy!"
"Okay I guess," Korra said, "we'll have sodas then." Ruby nodded, scatting the pad with her pencil. He handwriting, she noticed, had gotten really messy lately.
"And which soda would you like exactly?" she asked.
"Wait, there are different kinds?" Bolin's face fell, shock exploding in his eyes. Ruby rolled her eyes at him.
"Everyone in the English speaking world knows there's different kinds of soda," she snapped. She whipped her he'd around once she heard the bell above the door signal a new customer, and in walked Emma Swan, the town sheriff. "Hey Emma."
Emma gave her a small wave, "Hey Ruby! What's up?"
"Eh, just taking orders as usual," Ruby said, and the four diners watched as Emma slipped off her red leather jacket to take a stool over at the bar counter. "Can I get you anything?" Emma jumped as an old woman popped her head out from the kitchen's silver double doors.
"Don't be rude, Ruby!" she snapped, "Finish taking that nice group's orders!" Ruby heard Korra stifle a laugh as she rolled her eyes, idly flipping her hair over her shoulder as she turned to face them.
"What kind of soda do you want?" she repeated, the girls eyeing the menu suspiciously.
"I dunno, Korra," said the black haired girl, "Some of this looks pretty weird to me. Mountain Dew? Who would actually drink dew off a mountainside?" Mako sniggered, Bolin laughing out loud.
"Maybe they crave that mineral!" he joked, and everyone groaned in unison.
"Um, I guess I'll have this Diet Coke then," the black haired girl said, Korra giving her a look.
"Diet, Asami? Really?" she said. Asami shrugged, a sheepish grin on her face.
"What? I'm watching my figure!" she protested. Mako picked up his scarf off the table, re-wrapping it around his neck and tucking it under his collar.
"Whatever- I'll just have whatever you're having then," he said, boredom flashing in his copper-colored eyes. Korra blew a raspberry at him, Asami laughing as she stuck out her tongue.
"I don't know what half the stuff is, Mako!" she retorted, then to Ruby, "Have anything that isn't diet?"
"Regular Coke, Mountain Dew, Root Beer, and Pepsi," Ruby counted the names off her fingers- about four in total. She watched as Korra pondered her decision before saying with finality, "I'll have a Regular Coke then- hold the diet, if you could?" Ruby groaned, nodding as she wrote it down.
"What does that even mean, 'hold the diet'?" Bolin teased.
"If it's diet then they had to have added something to it, right?" Korra explained.
Ruby tucked the pencil behind her ear, giving Emma an exasperated look as she joined her, handing Granny the notepad over the counter. The little old woman gave her a narrowed gaze.
"I'm hoping you were polite, Ruby," she chastised, and Ruby sighed, clicking her nails on the shiny silver counter. Emma laughed as Granny left, eyeing the group over Ruby's shoulder. Sh head to admit, they definitely look funny.
"'Hold the diet'?" she asked jokingly, "What does that mean?"
"Obviously that they aren't from here- they didn't even know what soda was, Emma!" Ruby complained. Emma laughed, casting a gland at them again, quickly turning her head when she met with Asami's burning green eyes.
"You don't want to be too loud, I think one of them heard you," Emma warned.
"Whatever," Ruby grumbled, turning around in her seat so she leaned with her bcd against the counter. As she watched the four of them sit there and wait for their food, she couldn't help but envy the girl with the black hair, the one they had called Asami. Everything about her looked perfect- her hair, her skin, her clothes.
Okay, maybe not so much the clothes, but she was drop-dead gorgeous for someone so young.
"So, which one caught your eye?" Emma teased, breaking through her thoughts. Ruby jumped, startled slightly as Emma pulled her out of her trance.
"How does that girl get her hair like that?!" Ruby marveled, and Emma could tell she was nothing sort of jealous. Ruby's own hair was a dull brown, bright red streaks sneaking in and out between strands. Some of them had faded, and she knew Ruby would probably have to go to the salon soon to get them touched up.
"Don't ask me," Emma said as the double kitchen doors swung open and Granny came out holding a platter in one hand and a tall glass of cola in the other, which she slid across the counter to Emma. "Thanks, Granny."
"No problem, Emma," she said, then handing the tray to Ruby, "Take this over to them, they've waited long enough." Begrudgingly, Ruby took the platter from her grandmother, careful not to let any soda slosh over the side of the glasses, lest she get reprimanded for being "rude." Asami was watching her as she made her way over, smiling politely as Ruby balanced the tray against her hip. The smell of pulled pork and melted cheese invaded her nostrils as she coughed.
"Alrighty then," she said, "Four pulled pork mac n' cheese sandwiches with three regular cokes and one diet." Slowly, she handed them out, Bolin nearly drooling with delight as he took a deep whiff of his food. Mako smirked at his brother as he then chowed down, spewing cheese in every direction.
"Is there anything else?" Ruby asked, grabbing the last glass- Asami's diet coke- moving to place it on the table. The glass was slick with condensation, and as soon as Ruby grabbe fit, she knew it was going to slip from her fingers. Hurriedly, she tried grabbing git, but it fell through her fingers, the glass smashing on the floor….
"Whoa!" Asami ducked her head as Korra shot out a hand suddenly, Ruby jumping back as the glass shattered into a million pieces. She expected to feel a tiny splash of the drink, but….
There was nothing there.
"Wait, what?" Ruby asked, "Where…?"
The cafe had gone silent as Emma suddenly appeared at her side, carefully picking up the biggest pieces of glass for her. Ruby stared at Emma, the glass. Then at Korra.
The girl was moving her hands with some sort of martial arts technique, her long fingers curling and swaying gracefully. Her eyes were narrowed with deep concentration, the blue of the color looking extremely bright. But it wasn't her face that caught her attention. Nor was it why she was moving her hands in such a way.
No. The thing that caught her attention was Emma's question, the sheriff expressing quite the baffled look.
"How are you doing that?" Emma asked, lines creasing in her forehead.
Asami's soda- the liquid part of it- that was supposed to be on the floor, was floating in midair, sloshing around as if held by an invisible cup or string. Obviously Korra had something to do with it, what with her intense gaze and actions.
The four friends were acting as if this was completely normal, casually eating their food as Asami fixed her hair, having carefully lifted her head back up. By now, the diner had gone quiet, few people slowly returning to their meals and conversations.
"What, this?" Korra said, still moving her hands in long arcs and forceful swipes, "I've been able to do this all my life!"
"Well, whatever it is, stop!" Ruby suddenly snapped, and Korra responded, abruptly stopping her hand motions.
"I told you so," Asami said childishly, Korra pouting angrily at her.
"It was gonna make a mess!" Korra complained. Asami shrugged, picking up her sandwich and promptly putting it back down. It burned her fingers, and she sucked on them to draw out the heat. Mako chuckled, Bolin still stuffing his gob.
"Well, we still have all this glass to clean," Emma muttered, being careful to avoid the freshly spilled soda. Bolin suddenly shot his head up, eating close to his brother.
"Glass has sand in it, right?" he asked, and Mako considered the question for a minute before nodding curtly.
"Sand is a mineral, yes," he said, "Why?" Bolin shrugged, suddenly punching the air in front of him, wiggling his fingers the same was Korra had.
"Ah!" the sheriff and waitress jumped out of the way as the glass suddenly rose, early cutting Emma across the cheek.
"Wow, show-off," Korra muttered, blowing at her bangs.
"Hey, I'm not the Avatar, remember?" Bolin shot back, "I can only bend earth- you can bend all elements and that is so not fair!"
"What?" Emma asked, attaching the four diners attention.
"Um, I can only bend earth…?" Bolin repeated with uncertainty.
"Alright…." Emma trailed off, "I have no clue what's going on, but I'm gonna get to the bottom of this." Ruby raised an eyebrow at Emma as she turned to her, "Ruby?"
"What?"
"Pack their lunches to go," Emma ordered, pushing herself off the floor. Grabbing Ruby's hand, she pulled the girl to her feet, brushing off any remaining bits of glass and soda from her clothes as best she could.
"Why?" Ruby asked, although she didn't hesitate to ran their food. Bolin teared up as Ruby pried the sandwich from his mouth in mid-chew.
"Hey!" he cried in protest.
"They're gonna eat lunch with me," Emma said, eyeing Korra warily. The girl rested her chin in her hands, looking bored by the whole situation.
"And where might that be?" she asked haughtily.
"The sheriff's station," Emma said. Mako and Bolin widened their eyes, Asami sighing as she rested her head down on the table.
"Are we really being arrested for a third time?!" Bolin hissed under his breath as Emma ushered them out of their seats. Mako wrapped his scarf tightly around his neck, making sure to secure the knot.
"Yeah, well, get used to it, little brother," he said, the bell signaling their exit as Emma walked the four of them outside to her car.