After another long hiatus (I feel really bad that I restarted and rewrote a story only to now be terrible about updating it after the shitty circumstances I've been through recently) I thought I'd break the drought by posting a quick little Legend of Korra piece. I absolutely love this show! At first I was a super-solid Mako/Korra shipper but I always thought Tahno was really awesome. Then I hated Tahno during the match because he annoyed me by being such an asshole, but now, most recently, he's so vulnerable and you just KNOW there's going to be some wicked character development happening! I CAN'T WAIT. "See you round, Uhvatar." That line promises more delicious Tahno. The sexual tension-…
Ahem. Moving on.
Hopefully you enjoy this, I want to write and draw these two a lot more. I will sketch out the position that I describe them being in during the spar, and post it to my profile, because it's difficult to describe what I'm imagining and it's an image that's been stuck in my head for a while.
SUMMARY: Korra is trying to convince Tahno to hand-to-hand spar with her to drag him out of his post-Amon funk. She reckons it'll be good for him to use his body and either learn, or touch up on, hand to hand combat.
"Come on."
Her coaxing seemed to have no effect. He stood there, wallowing silently; simultaneously wanting to change the miserable existence he'd been living through for the past two weeks, and not wanting to move at all.
Korra made the choice to act, not waiting around to see if he would eventually decide what he wanted to do either way. She shifted her weight around, eyeing him with plain intention to strike. Raising her arms in a boxing stance, still leaning from foot to foot, she watched him to see what he would do.
Tahno hadn't moved during this, but his eyes tracked her motion. His expression didn't change but it gave her a strange delight to see his eyes zone in and focus on something. It had obviously been a while since anything had properly captured his attention.
His eyes were the same icy colour as before, but since the incident they lacked Tahno's previous strength and personality. Now, though, as Korra watched him watching her, she saw some of that old power in his gaze.
She ignored the slight… effect that she felt to have him watching her so closely.
Now was the moment. She stopped her shifting, stepped forward onto her left foot, and went for the strike; darting in relatively slowly with her right fist. It was a plain, simple punch.
Tahno saw it coming before she made her move, and his body leaned back automatically. Even as she let her fist fly in what felt to her like slow motion, Korra saw it in his face the instant that he made the choice to let his instincts take over rather than take the hit.
She smiled.
He moved.
It was a blur – it all happened in a split second. Tahno ducked and twisted to the right as he moved to the left under her arm. He grabbed it with his right hand, pulling her down towards the ground and then catching her by the neck with his other arm, locking his elbow over it and letting his hand rest easily on his hip.
They were still for a moment.
Korra's laugh surprised him, and he found himself glad that she'd done something to break the silence as it occurred to him that it could be really awkward if neither of them did anything in that position.
Then she moved, and all of a sudden the world tipped and his legs hurt. His back hit the ground THUD and then a heavy weight landed right in his gut WHOMP and he gasped for breath as the Avatar rolled off him with yet another laugh.
He was flat on his back. That little monster had kicked his legs out from under him even while she was held in the position he'd put her. Crazy minx. What kind of flexible do you have to be to pull that off?
Tahno grumbled inside his head as he pushed up, propping himself on his elbows to look at Korra. She sat casually next to him, a stupid grin plastered on her face.
"Huh? Huh?"
She broke the silence cheekily, partly celebrating her victory and partly demanding that he acknowledge that she had been right about the good of sparring.
"It does feel good to use my body," he admitted a little dully, being sure not to sound too enthusiastic.
If he was being wholly honest he would be telling her about how alive he felt after these two weeks of depression and misery, how the adrenaline flying through him from the short seconds of their tussle was clearing the dust from his veins, how great it was that he was aware of his own heartbeat for the first time in too long.
He looked at her sideways. "Let's do it again."