"Castaway" Ficlet 2: Water Fight
(for the-sass-brit
More sugary tooth-decay-inducing family fluff. 1,240k words.)
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"Puuuuu…" The two-year old blew the soapy bubbles away from her, her curling shoulder-length hair sticking wetly to her dark skin and dripping with warm water that also dewed on her long lashes like tiny jewels.
"Nilak, hair time." Korra announced, holding up a bottle of white jasmine baby shampoo. She herself was sitting waist-deep in the tub, her cinnamon body covered in dripping soap suds and her hair loose around her in chestnut waves that reached just below her breasts.
The toddler splashed water all over the place in objection, she didn't dislike having her hair washed but that meant that bath time was almost over and while putting Nilak in a bath wasn't always easy, getting her out of the water was always a huge chore that often involved shouting, tantrums and pleas for a little bit more time.
In reaction to all the splashing Korra gave her a stern glare, the girl wilted a little under those angry eyes and finally tilted her head back to allow her mother to rub the nice smelling goo into her scalp, washing out her hair with careful hands. Once the task was done, the Avatar moved her hands with quick practiced movements and a blob of water rose from the tub and dunked of the child's head, washing away the lather without getting into the little one's face.
Nilak endured all this quietly, more so than usual, and stared at her mother as the woman repeated the same process on herself. Big lilac eyes watched in awe as the second blob of water hovered precariously and then melted and glided down the Avatar's head, washing her chestnut tresses.
"Mama, splash!" Nilak requested, motioning with her little hands towards the third blob Korra manipulated.
"No, no splash. Too much mess." The woman shook her head, she didn't feel like having to clean the whole floor again even if it was easy with bending and, most of all, she didn't want Nilak to get used to flooding the bathroom just to play.
"Splash!" The toddler insisted, slamming her hands on the surface of the water. The blob escaped the Avatar's perfect control and splashed magnificently back in the water at the same time as droplets of liquid jumped from all over the bubbly surface and hovered for a couple of seconds before crashing down hard. Nilak giggled and shook bubbles from her face.
"Oh… That happened." Korra stated, trying to stay calm but unable to hide her mingled shock and pride. They always knew Nilak was a bender from the day she was born and she had occasionally shown signs of accidental bending, yet she had never controlled so much water so willingly and that was a surprise.
"Mama! Again!" The little girl demanded. "Again! Again!"
"What again? I didn't do that, you did." Korra retorted with a tap to the child's nose. "Can you do it one more time? Can you show mama some more?"
Nilak blinked, struggling to grasp what was going on, so the Avatar showed her by raising another bobble of water in front of the child and motioning for her to pull at it without her hands. The toddler seemed to understand the concept by instinct but still took a while to feel and grasp at the magnetic energy between her own body and the liquid, Korra felt the occasional twitch of weak resistance to her bending but when the full pull came she didn't have time to deflect it because Nilak accidentally hurtled the dripping ball of water onto her face.
With hair dripping on her disgruntled face, the Avatar frowned but the girl was laughing so hard that she couldn't be angry so instead she tossed a gentle wisp of water onto the kid's face as payback. Nilak sputtered against the bitter taste of remnant soap and used her hands to splash her mother who stopped the tiny wall of liquid mid motion and pushed it back onto the toddler who tipped back into the water with the force only to surface again suddenly, sputtering again but laughing and flinging water towards the Avatar. She used her little arms to splash as much bubbly liquid as possible but unknowingly managed to control part of the attack with bending, thus making the fluid swirl in impossible ways around Korra who began to fight back with tiny waterbent spurts, neglecting to really defend herself from the harmless assault until a full-blow water war was raging in the tub.
"Hm …" Someone cleared their throat from the doorway and both girls froze in surprise and glanced at the visitor with droplets and little streamers of water still floating around them.
"Oh, hm… Hi, honey." Korra waved a little sheepishly.
"Making a mess, I see." Noatak pointed out, crossing his arms with a nod at the flooded floor before he stared at the bent liquid around her. "And it seems you still haven't learned any self-control. Isn't that unfair, Avatar Korra?"
"Don't be a party-pooper." The Avatar stuck her tongue out in jest and the water around her splattered back into the tub.
"Pahty-poopah!" Nilak repeated babyishly and smacked her little arms in the water excitedly. "Daddy, splash!" As if to highlight her words, a disproportionate splash of water burst from her little hands, spattering not only the walls and her mother but also her watching father.
Noatak glanced down at the spreading wet stains on his dark clothing and arched a brow in surprise, then turned to Korra with an expectant expression, she just shrugged and grinned. He then approached the tub, bending away the puddle on the floor, and crouched down to Nilak's level.
"Well now, it seems my baby learned something new." He smiled, it was a proud but cautious smile that got the baby riled up from the positive attention. "Want to show daddy what you can do?"
"Splash!" Nilak said again, clapping her hands happily and tugging repetitive little streamers of liquid from the bubbly surface of the water, they were wobbly and only rose a few inches before arching and quickly falling back into the tub but the baby seemed fascinated by the motion and giggled. She then stared at her father, waiting eagerly for his approval.
"Good girl, Nilak, very good girl. But no more mess, ok?" He pet her wet hair and pointed sternly at the drenched floor, the girl nuzzled into his touch and nodded happily. "Bed time now." The scarred man grabbed a towel before hoisting the child out of the tub and into his arm with a smile.
Korra pouted a little, she always had to drag the kid out of the bath kicking and screaming but all he had to do was pick her up and she snuggled to him as if his arms were the best spot in the world... Well, she couldn't really argue with that.
In the end, she sulked by letting him take and dress the child for bed while she bent the water off the floor and soaked in a refilled tub of warm bubbly liquid until she dozed off.
"You plan on staying in there all night?" Noatak's voice right next to her woke the Avatar up but she just grinned drowsily at him.
"You could always join me." Korra purred in a delightful manner.
"I could, couldn't I?" He smirked and leaned down to kiss her plump lips.