"I can't believe you're making me do this."
"Oh come on, Korra!" Bolin says with a sideways smile and easy shrug. "Relax, it'll be so fun! Just remember to smile, flex your arms a little, like this, and BAM - you're golden." A dramatic sigh as he lowers his arms. "You may not have my star power or natural good looks, but at least you're better with people than Mako. You'll be fine."
"I'm right here, you know."
Korra glances over at Mako and rolls her eyes. He gives her a small smile and a look that says he's looking forward to this hour even less than she is.
The three of them sign in at the front table and fill out nametags before heading to the back of the room, where there's a stand set up with drinks and finger food. Bolin, naturally, wolfs down three kabobs at once before catching himself and looking around nervously, straightening his back and grabbing a plate so he can eat one at a time.
Korra sips at a cup of water and glances around at the others slowly gathering in the room. She isn't exactly sure what to do with herself - should she talk with some of them? She doesn't want to run out of things to say during the actual "dating" part. She edges closer to Mako and Bolin, to spend time with her friends while she can.
"Ah, ah, ah!" a voice says behind her, stopping her in her tracks. "Ladies on one side, gentlemen on the other," explains a small man - the moderator of the event, she assumes. "No intermingling!"
She shares another commiserating look with Mako before re-filling her cup of water and walking toward the other women.
The prospect of small talk with them makes Korra even more nervous. She hasn't ever spent much time around women her age. What do they even talk about? And aren't they sort of competition, at an event like this? She stands to the side, not quite part of the group, and just keeps to herself.
"Hey," a soft voice says. Korra turns to the woman and her eyes widen a bit. She's gorgeous - long, perfect black hair, impeccable makeup, and a sophisticated red and black outfit. A smile curls on the other woman's lips, and her expression is warm and kind. "I'm Asami."
Korra takes Asami's outstretched hand and shakes it. "Korra. Nice to meet you."
"So, Korra, have you ever gone speed dating before?" Her smile turns down into a slight nervous grimace. "I'm not really sure what to expect."
"No, it's not really my thing." Korra points over at the men's side. "One of my friends wanted to go, and he made his brother and I come with him."
Asami hums a laugh. "So you got dragged into this just like I did." She must see the question in Korra's eyes. "My father's...not thrilled that I haven't been seeing anyone seriously. He's desperate for me to start settling down, so," she shrugs, arms crossed in front of her nervously, "here I am."
Korra's not sure what surprises her more - the fact that Asami's father made her go to speed dating, or the fact that a woman like her is still single in the first place. "That's...totally crazy." She glances back over at the men, surveying them quickly. "No offense, but I don't think anyone here really seems like 'settling down' material."
This time Asami laughs for real, tucking her smile behind a hand to try and hide it. It gives Korra a funny feeling low in her chest, and she finds herself smiling as well.
"Alright, everyone!" The man is standing at a podium at the front of the room - Korra assumes he found a stool, because he wasn't that tall earlier. "Welcome, welcome, all of you, and I hope you came with open minds and open hearts!" She can't quite stifle a groan - honestly, how cliched can you get? She makes a note to never let Bolin plan any 'team bonding event' ever again, no matter how annoying he gets when he pouts. "Ladies, if you'll please find a seat so we can get started?"
Korra starts off toward the nearest seat, but a gentle hand at her elbow stops her. "Sit by me?" Asami asks, gesturing at two spots near the middle of the room. Korra nods and smiles, feeling the knot in her belly loosen a bit as she follows the taller girl to her seat.
While the moderator goes through the rules for the night, Korra pins her nametag to her chest and finishes her cup of water. Three minutes per person, then the ring of a bell indicating the men must rotate to the spot on their left. After the event, parties turn in the names of anyone they're interested in to the moderator, and then each person gets the contact information for anyone they "matched" with.
Simple enough. Just...thirty-ish minutes to go. She turns to Bolin, hovering at the side of the room, but he just answers her glare with an excited smile and a wave.
"Well," Asami says, pulling Korra's eyes to her, "good luck!"
Korra returns the smile and gives her a thumbs up before the bell rings and a man sits down in front of her.
1.
"Well, hello, there." He's dressed in an ostentatious green-and-gold outfit and has his hair curled into what she's sure is a fashionable flip. "Nice to meet you - " he glances at her chest, and she feels the sudden urge to move her nametag somewhere else, "- Korra."
She smiles back, glancing at his nametag and then making sure to hold his eyes in an effort to prevent his from wandering again. "Nice to meet you too, Wu."
"So, just a little about myself...I was born into one of the wealthiest families - well, the wealthiest, actually - in the kingdom, and I'm second in line to the throne, if you can believe it."
Korra gives him another deliberate once-over, taking in his finely manicured fingernails and - a sniff - is that rose smell coming from him? "You don't say," she answers dryly.
He laughs. "I know, I know - it can be shocking to find yourself face-to-face with royalty, don't be embarrassed. I get it all the time. The swooning, the screaming, the -" he gestures at her expectantly, but apparently her reaction isn't up to his standards, as his smile falls at the corner and he tucks his arms into himself. He's back at it in an instant, though, bravado recovered. "You know how it is. It's not always easy, being a prince - I remember once maybe four, five years ago, I was taking my badgermoles out for a run..."
Korra's pretty sure he's lost in his story and not really paying attention to her, so she just nods politely and lets him drone until the bell rings. Wu looks surprised when it does, but he gives her a big smile and a flourishing bow when he stands before moving on.
2.
The next man checks her out so blatantly that it sets her off before he even says a word. She scowls when his eyes finally rise to hers. He responds with a lecherous grin.
He's wearing a fine dark coat with silvery gray trim, with the name "Tahno" pinned over the pocket. His most distinguishing feature, though, is his hair - his wavy bangs make even more of a statement than Wu's, and manage to make him look even more pretentious.
Korra decides she hates him.
"Hello, Korra," he drawls, looking down at her 'nametag' once more for good measure.
She crosses her arms across her chest, raising one hand to point at her eyes. "I'm up here, kiddo."
He smirks. "Charming, but let's be realistic. We're all here for the same thing."
"Keep dreaming. Actually," she amends quickly, "I'd prefer if you didn't even do that."
"That the best you can do?" He chuckles, propping his chin on his hand and leaning in closer. "It takes more than half-baked insults to deter me, once my eyes are on the prize. You want to learn how to really...get to a man? I could give you private lessons."
His insinuations crawl under her skin, and her restraint snaps. In the blink of an eye, his hand is in hers, pinned against the table. She's hoping the moderator sees it as a simple handhold if he looks over, but she has his wrist twisted back at an angle so steep that he hisses in pain.
"Listen here, Tahno," she spits his name in a low voice. "Another comment like that, and I break your hand. You so much as look away from my eyes one more time, you know what happens? You guessed it - I break your hand, and then I find you once this is over, and I break your other one too." She pauses, staring him down. "Try me if you think I'm joking."
He doesn't look away, but Korra watches his confident mask falter. She gives an extra twist, ignoring his sharp gasp at the pain, before smiling sweetly and letting him go.
"Now, where were we?"
3.
After a defeated Tahno slinks away at the bell, Korra pastes on a smile, determined to start this encounter on a better note. "Hey," she says, sliding her eyes over his nametag as he sits. "Nice to meet you, Ryu."
"Don't bother."
Her eyes fly open in surprise. "Excuse me?"
"I said, don't bother. I don't want to be here and I'm sick of talking."
"...Alright, then."
They spend the next two and a half minutes glaring at each other in silence.
4.
Korra's trying her best to keep an "open mind and open heart", but listening to Huan's lecture on modern art styles is painful. It makes Prince Wu's badgermoles sound positively riveting. Better than crude innuendos, though, and an improvement on stony silence, so she can't complain too much.
"Realism is just so...pedestrian. Everyone can see what you look like on the outside - art should be about showing what's inside."
She pats her stomach and grins. "I think I'd like my insides to stay inside, know what I mean?" Huan either doesn't get the joke or just disapproves of it - his expression is so stony, Korra can't tell - so her smile fades away. "Well, anyway. Do you have any other interests? Y'know, aside from art?"
His expression darkens and he sighs deeply. "Art is a way of life, not just an interest. No one here understands that."
The bell rings. Korra smiles and waves as Huan leaves, trying to be amicable, but he just moves on without a word. She can't resist pulling a face at his back. It's juvenile, but makes her feel better.
A laugh. She swivels around. Asami's watching her, green eyes glittering with amusement.
Shit.
Korra feels heat rise in her face, but she plasters on a "you caught me" grin to try and shrug off her embarrassment. Asami just keeps smiling.
5.
She turns away when the next man slides into the chair across from her, smoothing his moustache with one finger and crossing his heels on the edge of the table. His grin is a bit too large, his eyes a bit too greedy - if Korra's being honest, it scares her just a bit.
"Zhu Li!" he barks, making her jump. "Tea!"
Korra starts again when a woman appears at his side, producing a teacup and filling it with dark black tea from a kettle. Where the hell did she come from? The man downs it in one gulp, and his eyes return to Korra's.
"Okay, kid, the name's Varrick," he says all in a rush.
"I'm Korra, I -"
"What, you think I'm here to exchange pleasantries?" he roars. "Honestly! What a waste of time."
A beat. "But isn't that sort of the point of speed dating?"
His feet drop to the floor and he leans forward, eyes filling her own. "Of course, and isn't it ridiculous? Why would I want to have the same conversation over and over for an hour?" He leans back and rolls his eyes. "Exhausting."
"So...why are you here, exactly?"
"Zhu Li!" he orders again, waving his hand. "Do the thing!"
Zhu Li returns, teapot suddenly gone, instead carrying a strange machine - a clothespin-sized clip attached to a small monitor with a wire. "Hey!" Korra jumps as the woman attaches the clip to her finger. "What is this about?"
"Behold - I call it the Varrometer! It measures biometric signals of attraction in response to external stimuli with 90% accuracy! No more nights wasted with asinine social conventions - just find a match in seconds and get right to the good stuff." Varrick cups a hand to his mouth and leans in conspiratorially. "I'm taking it for a test run tonight to bump that percentage up over 95 - can't market a product that doesn't work!"
Korra shakes her head. "So your machine can figure out who someone is attracted to? Just like that?"
"Yes, that's what I just said! Now, do me a favor and look around, let me know if you feel any...feelings!"
"I thought that was the machine's job."
"We're not actually using it, just testing it - get with the program!"
Korra clenches her fists, patience at its limit. "You know what? I didn't come here to get my intelligence insulted, or to play with your stupid machine. I just came because my friend asked me to."
"Oh?" Varrick raises an eyebrow conspiratorially. "Who's the friend?"
She knows exactly what he's playing at, but she looks over at Bolin anyway. He's next to them, talking to Asami, who's giggling at something he said. It makes Korra relax and smile a bit, too, even though she's not in on the joke. "Just Bolin - we're just friends, he's like my little brother."
"Hmmm." Varrick's studying the small monitor with a frown, Zhu Li peeking over his shoulder. "Little brother? Well that can't be right. Maybe we need a new baseline."
She's studying the shoulders on Asami's outfit, trying to figure out why that gear-like symbol is so familiar, but Varrick's musings reclaim her attention. "Wait, did it go off? What's going on?"
The bell chimes. Without so much as a word Zhu Li tugs the clip from Korra's finger, and the pair are gone even faster than they appeared.
Korra sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, thanking the spirits that at least there's no more strangers to meet.
6.
Bolin plops unceremoniously into the chair in front of her, bright-eyed and smiling.
"Man, is it good to see you, Bolin, these guys are cr-"
"Korra, I'm in love."
"...of course you are."
"Her name's Opal and she's sitting right over there," he stage-whispers, pointing over his shoulder at a girl with a dark bob - Korra can't see her face. He stares off with a wistful expression. "She's so beautiful, and caring, and smart, and, um...beautiful..." He trails off with a sigh, resting his chin on his hand. "She's everything I've ever wanted."
"Well, did she like you too?"
Bolin shrugs, and rubs at his neck self-consciously. "I dunno, I'm...not really good at this stuff." His expression suddenly lightens, and he leans in closer. "Hey! Korra!"
"What?"
"You're a girl."
"...thank you?"
"What do you do if you like a guy?"
"Wait, what?"
"You know," he gestures, "you feel a connection, a love connection...what do you do?"
She shakes her head. "Bolin, I don't really - what does that even mean?"
He sighs and folds his arms. "You're no help. Maybe I'll ask Mako..."
They both look to the side, where Mako's deep in a conversation with Asami. Korra smirks - she knows the look on his face all too well.
Wait. Her smirk falls into a frown.
She bites the inside of her lip and looks over at Asami. Is it possible she's interested in him, too? Suddenly Bolin's questions don't seem so irrelevant.
Why does it matter so much? It strikes Korra that it shouldn't - she got over Mako a long time ago - but she still feels something clench in her stomach when Asami smiles at him.
"Hey - hey, Asami!"
Three pairs of shocked eyes lock on Bolin, who's leaning dangerously far out of his seat so that Asami can hear his whisper.
"Bolin, seriously?" Korra hisses. Mako just covers his face with one hand.
The other woman takes it in stride, turning a bit and whispering right back. "What is it?"
"You're a girl."
Mako's never looked so humiliated.
"An astute observation."
"What do you do when you like a guy?"
Now he's sinking into his chair, face still covered. Korra amends her previous thought - he's hit a new low.
She decides Asami must be blessed with endless patience and confidence, because she just shrugs, not even a hint of annoyance coloring her features at the question. "Probably a lot of the same things you do when you like someone. I start a conversation with them and try and make them feel good, with compliments or jokes or just by being supportive."
Bolin chews on that for a bit. "Huh. She did say I was really funny, so that's something, right?"
Asami nods. "That's a good start!"
"Nice!" He leans back into his chair, apparently satisfied. "That's a relief. Thanks, Asami, you were way more help than Korra."
"I'm not a good enough girl, apparently."
"You seem just fine to me." Asami's watching her with an unreadable smile that gives her a funny feeling in her chest.
Bolin laughs. "Ha! Korra's not exactly a girly girl, not like you. She's probably tougher than me, if we're being honest."
"Probably? There's nothing probable about it, I'd kick your ass."
Mako's voice is strangled. "Do you guys mind?"
"Oh, right! Right, sorry bro, here I go cramping your mojo when you're trying to work the Mako magic. Sorry."
Korra bites her lip, pointedly looking at the table so she doesn't lose it and burst out laughing.
The bell rings. Bolin hops up and waves goodbye before moving on, oblivious to the residual tension left in his wake.
7.
Mako smiles and nods politely to Asami before taking Bolin's place in front of Korra. They both watch Wu's ostentatious self-introduction to Asami - his showboating is even worse now than when he started, apparently, though his finely-coiffed hair is beginning to sag. Apparently satisfied that she's not looking their way, Mako immediately slouches forward onto the table, propped up with a single hand.
"This totally sucked."
"You're telling me." Korra ticks off her fingers one by one. "I had to listen to a heroic tale about a singing Prince and his badgermoles, I almost broke a guy's hands, I got into a three-minute staring contest, I cramped an artist's individuality, I test-ran a Varrometer - don't trust them, by the way - and then had Bolin question my femininity." She shrugs and leans in with a teasing grin. "But at least he didn't ruin my 'Mako magic', right?"
He gives her a sour glare as she laughs. "Seriously, the one girl that I'm even remotely interested in, and of course you two ruin it."
She cuts her laugh short when she realizes what he said. "You two? What did I do?"
Mako looks over at Asami, who's still listening to Wu's stories. "Bolin started it, but as soon as you guys butted in she couldn't take her eyes off you."
It takes a second for Korra to process that. "Wait, me? What are you talking about?"
He gives her a frustrated scowl. "Don't you dare make me spell it out for you."
Oh.
Oh.
She swallows. "You think she...no way, Mako, you're full of shit."
He rolls his eyes. "Quit with the games. You know I'm right. You like her too, so what's the problem?"
"What? I don't know where you got that idea, I never - man, is it hot in here? Someone must've turned on the heater, I'm burning alive." He just keeps giving her a look, so she gives up that tactic, cursing him for making her actually talk about Feelings. "Mako, that's not how this is supposed to work. She came here expecting to pick up guys, not some girl!"
"Look, Korra," his expression is serious - well, even more than usual. "Relax. Just...talk to her before we leave, and see for yourself. Ask her to dinner, or something. What's the worst thing that could happen?"
Korra watches him for a second before a smile tugs at her lips. "Are you really giving me advice on how to pick up a girl?"
He shrugs, but gives her a small smile as the final bell goes off.
8.
"And that's a wrap!"
The moderator goes over the final instructions yet again, but Korra's not listening. She panics for just a moment, thinking maybe Asami left without saying goodbye, but then she sees her - she's standing against the far wall, away from the crowd, watching Korra thoughtfully. Before she loses her nerve, Korra starts in that direction.
"So," she asks casually, "meet anyone your dad would approve of?"
Asami shakes her head. "Not even close. You?"
Korra snorts ungracefully, and glances back over at the line of people. "Are you kidding? My dad would eat them all alive, and still be hungry for seconds." She plows ahead before she can second guess herself. "I met this girl he'd probably like, though."
"Oh, really?" Asami's smile is so big, so genuine, that Korra's nerves vanish.
"Yeah, she's super pretty, about this tall, laughs at my jokes even when they aren't so funny - have you seen her around? In a mirror, maybe?"
A hint of color rises in her cheeks, and she looks pleased. "Flatterer."
"In all seriousness, though," Korra crosses her fingers behind her back, just in case, "I'd love to get to know you better. Would you maybe like to get dinner with me sometime?"
"I'm free tomorrow at eight." Her green eyes are glittering again. "Meet me at Tianyu's, on 35th?"
"Sure, yeah, I know the place." Korra rubs at her neck and smiles - she can't believe how easy that was. "It's a date."
As she walks away she makes a mental note to buy Bolin Narook's after practice this week - speed dating was his idea, after all, and it was definitely a success.
A/N: Wrote this as essentially a character study, trying to get voices down and such before taking on anything more ambitious in this fandom. Decided to upload it for kicks and to get some feedback - let me know what works and what doesn't, I totally dig your input!
Fun fact: the outside design of Kwong's Cuisine in the show is based on Tianyu department store in Shanghai.