A/N: Chapter two! Our heroes have arrived in Republic City; what ever shall they do first?
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If Tarrlok shoved his nose any farther up Councilman Mako's ass, the advisor was going to start looking like the world's most messed up Koh costume. Since the moment they had stepped into the council's chambers and announced the Earth King's decision, Tarrlok had been right there, kissing up. It was a wonder his lips weren't chapped. (Agent Bolin's - "Just Bolin, please" - first comment to Tarrlok had been "Excuse me, but you have something on your nose. No, not there. A little to the right. Down. Almost." That had carried on for almost a minute until Councilman Mako had shot a quick glare at the earthbender and Bolin announced "There you go! Got it." Korra swore she broke a rib holding in her laughter.)
"It is, of course, a great honor to have you in our city, Lord Mako," Tarrlok was saying, complete with elaborate bows. (Shit, he's a lord? Korra had thought when she'd first heard the address. What noble haven't I insulted?) "Should you require anything during your stay here, please, feel free - nay, encouraged - to seek me out."
"You are very generous, Councilman Tarrlok," Lord Mako said, returning the waterbender's bow with one of his own, though not nearly as fancy nor as steep. Korra could tell he was getting fed up (or at the very least, Bolin could tell and had whispered it to her). They had stood to leave five minutes ago, but every time he or Bolin had so much as took a step toward the door, one of the council members decided to say something that most definitely could have waited until later. "We shall keep that in mind. For now, if this esteemed body would excuse us, we have had quite a long trip and would like to retire."
Tenzin, also seeing how annoyed the brothers were getting, seized onto the comment in a second. "Of course, Lord Mako," he said, standing and bowing in a much less grating way than Tarrlok had, (in Korra's opinion at least). "If I may, where shall the two of you be staying? I offer quarters at Air Temple Island, should arrangements not be made already."
"Thank you, but our family has a property here we shall be staying at," Lord Mako said, bowing back at an angle only slightly steeper than he had bowed to Tarrlok. Slight, but noticeable. Korra smirked. (She also wondered what was with all the bowing, but decided high society was just weird like that. She much preferred to punch things.) "We shall meet with you again when next you reconvene."
(Every other time he'd tried to leave, he'd said "If that is all?". That was never all. He'd learned his lesson.)
"Until then," Tenzin said. Lord Mako and Bolin finally made their getaway, Korra trailing after them at a gesture from Tenzin.
"Good, you followed us," Lord Mako said, non-sarcastically, to Korra's surprise. "We need you to pass our phone number on to Master Tenzin." Well, that explained it.
"Fine, whatever."
"Also, when you start looking for a better earthbending instructor, you should probably look into a better language teacher, as well."
Spirits, Korra hated him.
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"You can have first dibs on the bathroom; I'm sure you want to shit out Tarrlok's hair gel."
"Screw off."
"Lord Mako! Such language!"
"Fuck you."
Mako hated being the spokesperson of the family, but he was the best with double-speak. The brothers both had their own special way of handling situations, but only Mako had the killer instinct for politics. As their grandmother had once put it: Bolin could make friends with a rampaging komodo rhino, but Mako could make it crawl.
Bolin was very satisfied with the status quo. He was doubly satisfied that he was in Republic City under an official capacity, so he was introduced as "Agent Bolin" instead of "Lord Bolin". With how different he and Mako looked, barely anyone picked them out as brothers and thus Bolin's asshole remained nose free.
Being able to go by "Agent" instead of "Lord" wasn't the main reason he had joined the Dai Li, but it certainly was a lovely perk.
Mako did go to the bathroom, and Bolin made his way to his bedroom to begin unpacking his weapons trunk. A maid should have already put away all his and Mako's clothes before leaving back to Ba Sing Se.
Their grandmother's old house - as old as Republic City itself - was not nearly grand enough to justify a staff; four bed, three and a half bath, a fair sized kitchen and sitting room, and a backyard almost twice as big as the house itself. The building was made entirely of stone, with high platinum gates except for the steel lock with a mechanism so elaborate only the most accomplished of metalbenders would stand a chance of picking it.
The decor was minimal - the color scheme, non-existent. Stuff like that didn't matter to Grammy. (She made more of a fuss about Bolin and Mako calling her "Grammy" than she did about interior design, not that her protests ever got them to stop, what with their mother encouraging them.)
Bolin found his room and simply looked around for a while. He hadn't seen his old bedroom since he was twelve. His mattress was still directly on the floor, ("Like all the best earthbenders do," his mother had said when ze'd removed the bedframe. "Don't wanna keep too much between you and the rocks.") His desk still had the old doodles he'd etched into the top when he was supposed to be learning his characters. His wall still had the indent from where mom had made a bunk bed for Mako to sleep on for their first five months together until the brothers were convinced ze wasn't going to try to send one of them away in the night. Other than that, it was just a room.
Bolin didn't know what he expected - maybe a rush of longing for simpler times or for the feeling of home to make him start crying (Mako said he teared up at the drop of a hat, and why shouldn't he, really? Why was the hat dropped? Did someone knock into the person holding it? That's gotta hurt. A person should be allowed to tear up from hurt! Or maybe it was, like, their significant other's hat and their S.O. was away on a business trip so the person wore it to be close to them but then they dropped the hat and the wind picked up and now it's gone - gone! - taking the closeness with them. How sad was that? Why shouldn't someone shed a tear or two for that? Ever think of that, Mako? Huh?) - but all he felt was a quiet nostalgia. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe it meant he had taken home with him to Ba Sing Se.
"Hey, Bo!" Mako called from somewhere in the house as Bolin changed out of his Dai Li uniform. He closed his eyes and stomped one bare foot. Downstairs, front hall. "I'm gonna grab some newspapers and take-out! Any requests?"
"Dumplings, please!"
"'K! Back by dinner!"
Bolin felt the door close and opened his eyes. Dinner wasn't for four more hours. Bolin should probably make his way around the city, get a feel for it. Or he could catch a ferry to Air Temple Island and see about that "better earthbending instructor" position. As the Avatar, Korra was bound to find herself in the thick of things. Best to build a rapport as soon as possible.
Plus, she was pretty. And she wasn't a prisoner anymore.
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It took way longer than it should have to find a newsstand - Mako swore there had been a lot more when he'd last been in the city - but he finally located one near a bakery with some delicious looking fruit tarts. Bounty in hand, Mako made his way to the park to read.
As much as he didn't like being back in a place with such horrible memories, Mako did enjoy being able to walk down the street unaccosted. Every time he tried to explore Ba Sing Se, he always got interrupted by someone asking about the King or asking him to help them with their charity or asking him on a date in a way they thought was sneaky. It was fine the first few times (except the date offers; those were never ok), but then it got very very annoying.
Mako found a bench and sat down, ignoring the dirt on the seat. (Another upside to Republic City; he wasn't expected to wear his expensive "Lord" clothes that made him feel guilty for wearing even near dirt. Also, no "professional" hairstyle! Mako had really missed his spikes.)
Mako sighed, taking in the beautiful scenery and the semi-fresh city air. He remembered once sleeping under the bridge with Bolin and a fellow homeless man who had gave them a box of noodles he'd salvaged. Mako wondered where the man was. He hoped he was able to get off the streets. He wished he could spend some time looking for him - the man had mentioned that the park was his usual squatting place - but Mako had official business to get to and so opened his paper.
Alas, even that was not to be, judging from the enraged nonbender screaming into a megaphone. Mako observed him. He was thin and barely coordinated from the way he only just managed to stay on the platform - probably not a chi blocker or any other kind of fighter, not with those flailing limbs - but he had the kind of voice that was loud and grating even without a megaphone.
"Together, we will tear down the bending establishment!"
No wonder he had been put on crier duty.
"Join Amon!"
His sideburns alone called for attention.
"He is the solution!"
Mako left.
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it was hot there was screamingcryingburning who was screaming why wouldn't they stop why couldn't they stop just stop just stopjust stopjuststopjustBEQUIET
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"Are you ok?" Mako opened his eyes. He couldn't remember what he was doing in the street but he could guess why he was laying in it. The moped was a good clue, as was the profusely apologizing woman leaning over him. "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you! Do you need a doctor? Can I call someone for you?"
Mako straightened his clothes and took inventory; nothing broken, nothing bleeding, a few bruises but that couldn't have been avoided. All-in-all, he'd gotten lucky.
"I'm fine," Mako assured the woman, taking her proffered arm and getting to his feet. He dusted himself off - how had dirt gotten onto his face? he'd fallen on his back - as the woman took off her helmet and goggles. "Just a little- Asami?"
"Mako?"
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The band was ok, he guessed, just really boring, but there was nothing to be done about it, not in a ballroom full of rich snobs. Mako had lost Bolin a while ago - his younger brother's chubby cheeks had invited countless woman to coo over him. Mako loved him to death, but he was not going to brave a bunch of high-society grandmothers for him. He dropped him off near mom and fled.
Mako was not enjoying himself. None of his family was - ok, Wu was, but Wu had very low standards for fun, obviously - but Mako felt as if he, particularly, was having a lousy time. It wasn't true, mom hated this crap more than him and ze had hated it for way longer, but he was fifteen, so screw it.
What was so special about that day, anyway? So some republics were being formed, big whoop. There was a huge republic by the ocean. Clearly, these new ones weren't special.
"Dad, we live in Republic City. What makes these new countries so great?"
Mako turned find the voice. The person sounded young - his own age, perhaps. Maybe there was someone under forty at the party who wasn't related to him!
"Sweetheart, I told you, this is the first banquet held by the new Earth King," a man's voice answered. "It doesn't matter what it's for, it would have been incredibly rude not to attend."
Mako finally spotted the people speaking and ho-ly-wow. There was a girl - yup! his age! - with long black hair and a dark red dress speaking to an older man wearing glasses and a suit Mako could've sold for enough to buy food for two months back when he and Bolin had lived on the streets.
"They should've hired a better band, huh?" Mako hadn't realized he had approached the two and he certainly hadn't realized he had decided to speak, but whatever, he would run with it.
The girl giggled while her father smiled indulgently and quietly slipped away.
"Jazz would've been nicer," she said, "and much more appropriate for a celebration."
"I know, right? I suggested that but no one listens to me." Mako sighed dramatically and she giggled again. Was this flirting? It felt like flirting. Mako wasn't sure how he felt about that.
"I'm Asami Sa-"
"Nnnnnnn." Mako dragged out the sound, holding up one hand. "First names only," he insisted. "We can trade family names if we get along, but not before." If she was someone he wanted to know, she would understand.
She smiled.
"Sounds good."
"Great! Then I'm Mako."
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"You changed your hair!"
"But my eyebrows."
"Point, but also, I distinctly remember you saying Republic City was an awful awful place that you would sooner unleash angry badgermoles on than set foot in, so excuse me for not recognizing you right away," Asami said, sipping quietly at her cup of tea. "You are literally the last person I expected to see here."
"What about Firelord Ozai?"
"There's a picture of him in the history museum now why are you here?"
The two had found the bakery-with-the-delicious-fruit-tarts-that-was-actually-a-tea-shop (and yes, the tarts were as delectable as they looked) and Mako had tried to distract Asami's curiosity by teasing her for not knowing who she'd run over.
It didn't work.
"I am here on official business - the classification of which I have not yet been briefed on - and would not be here at all were it not for Bolin's bleeding heart," Mako told her. He tried to sneak one of her tarts off her plate but she smacked his hand away.
"Ooh, Lord Mako speak." She poked him teasingly. "Now I know it's serious." Mako pretended to pout. "Also, Bolin is here?"
"Yup. We're at Grammy's old place in the historic district if you wanna take time out of your busy schedule of flirting your way out of speeding tickets to visit."
"So funny!" Asami said sarcastically. "I'll visit when I can." Asami finished off her tea and popped the last bit of tart into her mouth. "But for now, I have a few errands I have to run."
"Don't you have people for that?"
"How about you, me, and Bolin meet at Kwong's Cuisine for dinner and catch up some?" Asami asked, ignoring Mako's question.
"Do they still serve that mouth-burning curry?"
"The one with the waiver? Oh yeah. I had some last week."
"Then we will be there."
"Great! Can't wait to see you crying from pain." Asami wrapped her arms around Mako, politely ignoring how stiff his shoulders were before he returned her hug. "See you at… seven? Eight?"
"Split the difference. See you then."
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"Korra! Korra Korra Korra!" Ikki shrieked as she and Jinora flew at her on air scooters. "You have a visitor!"
"It's one of those boys you brought back from the Earth Kingdom," Jinora said, chasing her sister around the Avatar. "Not sure which one, though."
"Is it the one that drives you crazy?" Ikki teased. "Good crazy or bad crazy?"
"Crazy like you wanna punch him or crazy like you like him?"
Korra sent a pulse through the ground, sending the two airbenders away as Bolin stepped into the courtyard.
"I'm the one who doesn't drive her crazy," he announced as Jinora and Ikki floated gently back to the ground, giggling their annoying little heads off. "My name's Bolin. Who might you two lovelies be?"
"I'm Jinora and this is Ikki," the older sister introduced as Ikki bounded happily up to the Dai Li agent.
"So that would make you the earthbender, right? Can you bend metal? How old are you? Do you work for the Dai Li? Did you know the Dai Li used to mindbend people? Do you mindbend people? Could you mindbend Meelo to stop stealing my dolls? You have pretty eyes." Bolin blinked.
As always, Korra was astounded by Ikki's ability to talk so much in a single breath. Maybe it was an airbender thing. Maybe Korra would be able to do that when she finally mastered airbending! (Ooh, she hoped so; then they would see who drove who crazy!)
"Yes, yes, sixteen, yes, yes, no, no, thank you. I like your hair."
Ikki bounced happily. Bolin had to teach her how he did that.
"I-"
"So what brings you here, Bolin?" Korra interrupted loudly.
"Well, I was hoping you could give me some more info on this whole Amon situation, and I could teach you a bit about seismic sense," he answered, waving absently at the departing sisters.
"Seismic sense?"
"Seeing with your feet. It's an earthbender trick developed and perfected by the great Toph Beifong."
"Oh yeah!" Korra said. "Master Katara mentioned that, I think. Sure, I'd love to learn!"
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"Keep your stance firm, Princess!"
"You can do better than that!"
"Concentrate! Feel the vibrations!"
Bolin was an adorable polarbearpup - too good for this world, too pure - and Korra was going to kill him.
"Keep those knees high, Precious!"
Kill him slow.
He'd blindfolded her, stolen and buried her shoes, and demanded she use earthbending to locate them as he sent rocks charging toward her. The one time she tried to remove the blindfold, he'd yelled, thrown more rocks, and revealed there was some metal lining the fabric by bending it back over her eyes. For the brief second she was able to see, she noticed Bolin was also wearing a blindfold. So how did he know when she was trying to peek?
She had no fucking clue.
"So this Amon guy, how does he take people's bending?"
"According to our sources, Amon says his new power was given to him by a spirit who thinks I've 'failed' humanity."
"Ok, but like, how does he actually do it? Do you know?"
"Huh?" Korra was one hundred percent sure she'd be able to focus on their conversation better if Bolin wasn't shoving a wall at her every few minutes, but she had no intention of telling him that. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.
"How does he really take people's bending? It can't be a spirit. They don't concern themselves with such petty human squabbles unless it bleeds past the material world," Bolin explained, not even sounding out of breath. Korra sent a rock at him. There was no sound of impact.
Bastard.
"How do you know that?"
"Ba Sing Se University has a very extensive library. The Dai Li have an even more extensive library. If it's ever been known by a human, you can find it in one of our books."
"Do me a favor and don't ever tell Jinora about that."
"Sure thing." He made a half wall and Korra fell right over it. "So what do we know about Amon?"
"He's a jerk?"
"Focus, Korra." I'm trying to you- "The first part of defeating your enemy is knowing your enemy. Now, what do you know about him?"
"Not much, really." Korra dodged a rock wall and felt a brief moment of victory before another pushed her over. "He claims benders get more rights than nonbenders and the best way to fix that is to get rid of bending. He's skilled in hand-to-hand combat. He has a chi blocker force. He always wears a mask because a firebender burned his face off when he killed his parents."
"What makes you think that?"
"What are you talking about?" Korra tried to remove the blindfold again so she could look at Bolin incredulously, but he sent a pebble out to smack her hand and she got back into stance, grumbling. "He told us. Well, our source, at least."
"And a crazy terrorist has no reason to lie?" Bolin pointed out. "He could very well have moved out of his loving, living parents' house and lied to garner sympathy. He's trying to connect with nonbenders who have been threatened by benders, right? The best way to do that is to claim a common thread."
"I guess." Korra was thrown to the ground again. Screw it. She started shooting flames everywhere. She was so done with seismic sense training. She tore off her blindfold and threw it into the dirt, looking around for Bolin as it caught fire and burned. Where-
Bolin flew up from the earth, clutching at her shoes and scaring the life out of her. "If you didn't want to practice anymore, you could have just said so." Korra glared at him as she snatched her boots away. "Shooting all that fire willy-nilly was really reckless of you."
"I get enough lectures about recklessness from Tenzin, I don't need it from you."
"If two different people who've never even spoken to each other are telling you the same thing, perhaps it's time you started listening."
"Shut up."
Korra couldn't believe she ever thought Bolin wasn't annoying.
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"I thought we were getting dumplings and staying in."
"Something came up."
"Something that requires a poodle monkey suit?"
"It's worth it, I promise."
Bolin was making it very difficult to surprise him. Mako half wanted to just tell him they were meeting Asami so he'd shut up.
"But I wanted dumplings!"
"Then order them." Mako shushed Bolin as they entered the restaurant. "Excuse me, sir, we have a reservation under 'why do I have to make the reservation, I know you have a phone'." Years of politics kept his face straight. Bolin was hiding his laughter by pretending to sneeze. The host blinked.
"Right this way, sir," he said professionally. "Your companion has already arrived."
"We're meeting someone?" Bolin whispered as the host brought them to their table.
"You didn't tell him?"
Bolin froze.
"Asami!"
"Bolin!" The host set some menus down and quietly slipped away as the two embraced, shrieking happily and bouncing. Asami grabbed Bolin's face and began smearing sloppy kisses over it as the earthbender giggled.
When she pulled away, Bolin's cheeks were covered in red and her lipstick was still perfect. (Mako added this as reason #14 of why he thought her make up was a tattoo covered in more make up.)
"This is the best surprise ever!" Bolin announced as the three sat down, keeping Asami in the middle. Bolin pecked her on the cheek. "How're you doing, gorgeous? Still dating that cute accountant's daughter?"
"No, we broke up when her family moved to Omashu," Asami told him. Bolin pouted.
"Awww. You two were really good together."
"I know, but it happens." Asami shrugged. "How about you two? Any special someones in your lives?"
"Ha ha," Mako said sarcastically, not taking his eyes off his menu.
"He managed to accidentally date one of his fans for a while," Bolin stage whispered. "Eventually, she tried to kiss him and he had to give the 'our interactions are strictly professional, leave me alone now' speech."
"Again?"
"I know. It's like the third time this year."
"I'm just gonna make a pamphlet and scatter it through Ba Sing Se," Mako announced. "Lord Mako and You: Why It Will Never Ever Happen."
"I'll do the cover art!" Bolin offered.
"I'll proofread it so you don't sound like too much of an ass," Asami said.
"And I'll try to use small words for you."
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"So the guy reaches into his wallet and pulls out a picture of - wait for it - his girlfriend."
"Oh no."
"And I say, 'I thought we were on a date, and now you're telling me you have a girlfriend; did I misunderstand your invitation?'"
"Resonable question."
"And he says, 'No, this is a date.'"
"No."
"'I just figured, since you're bi and everything-'"
"Oh Kyoshi."
"'-after dinner we could all have a threesome.'"
"He said that?! Like, that actually came out of his mouth?"
"'Bi girls are down for anything, right?'"
"Holy- What'd you do to him?"
"According to the legal agreement, I'm not allowed to talk about it, but let's just say the judge ruled it doesn't technically count as a proper castration if I didn't actually cut anything." Asami smirked and took a dainty sip of her wine, dabbing delicately at the sides of her mouth with a napkin once she'd set the glass down.
Bolin made a choking sound, desperately trying to contain his laughter. Mako gave Asami a look of reluctant admiration.
"Vicious," he complimented.
"I know."
"May I bask in your glory?" Bolin asked.
"You may."
Bolin made an elaborate hand gesture in lieu of a proper bow as Asami smiled happily and scraped her plate clean of her last bit of cake.
"Pardon me, sirs, miss," the host (not the host from before, a different host), said, "but we are closing our doors soon. Is there anything else we can get for you before the kitchen shuts down?" Which was polite speak for 'please leave now, we have shit to do before we can go home'. The group looked around and realized they were the only customers left.
"Oh, no, thank you. Just the bill, please," Mako said politely. "We apologize, we hadn't realized it had gotten so late."
"Everything was wonderful," Bolin said, somehow charming the host - who smiled and walked away - despite having a face covered in lipstick. ("Why don't you go to the bathroom and wash that off?" "Why would I erase evidence that a pretty lady loves me?")
"I'm sure you both have a busy morning ahead of you, so how about you two just head home now and I'll pick up the check?" Asami suggested, already digging into her purse.
"Uh, no," Mako disagreed. He propped his hand on the table. Bolin grinned excitedly.
"Really?" Asami gave him a flat look. "We're eighteen. Don't you think we're getting a bit old to-" Mako quirked an eyebrow. "You're going down, pretty boy." Asami propped her arm up and gripped Mako's hand.
"On my mark," Bolin said, placing his hands over their formed fist. "Get set." His eyes darted to each face. "GO!" He threw his arms up and began making cheering audience sounds as the two started to arm wrestle.
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Asami paid the bill.
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"Sir, he's in Republic City."
"Excellent."
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A/N: The plot should be getting a move on next chapter as we merge back into canon events. Since I'm completely re-writing everything, please don't expect there to always be direct word-for-word scenes from the show. I hate doing that. It will be unavoidable in certain instances, but I try to avoid it because, well, y'all already saw the episode. Y'all know what the characters say. Typing it out seems redundant. Feel free to skim when I have to use direct quotes, but I will have to put some in for the sake of the scene. I dislike it more than you do, I promise that.
Reminder that Mako and Asami will be having a frenemy thing going on; meaning, they will be assholes to each other - and, when they feel like it, other people - as demonstrated in this chapter. They don't hate each other, they're just not nice to each other.
Additional reminder that I have no pairings planned at the moment, so while Bolin will have his canon crush on Korra, like canon, it will not go anywhere.
Don't forget to send me your theories!