#IS BENDER THE WRITERS PUNCHING BAG!? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

howlingday · 3 months ago

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RWBY as Bo Burnham

Summer: I wasn't sure about leaving him alone with my girls, but then I noticed his facial hair. Phew~!

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Oobleck: I believe there is nothing more manly than five men showering together. It's true! Look back through the ages to our ancestry to the days of Cro Magnum, all wandering through the fog and scrubbing each other's backs. No homo~.

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Jaune: Yeah, I wrestled in Beacon and there was this one match that I lost... my virginity~.

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Cardin: Fellas, don't you hate it when you're blowing a dude and he turns out to be gay?! UGH! You mean I've been blowing a gay dude this whole time?! THIRD TIME THIS WEEK!

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Ren: In the name of the father, son, and holy ghost, heads, shoulders, knees, and toes, turn up your nose, strike that pose! Eyyy, macarena~!

Nora: Woo!

Ren: Fuck you!

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Yang: Don't act like you're ahead of me! I will maintain my advantage over you! I still hold the element of surprise! (Tugs cheeks) BLEH~!

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Weiss: I WANT TO BEAT YOU TO DEATH WITH A BLUNT OBJECT! I WANT TO GRAB ONE OF THOSE HIGH-END MODELS BY THE ANKLES AND BASH YOUR RIBCAGE OPEN WITH IT! I WANT TO SHARPEN FIFTY PENCILS, TIE THEM TOGETHER, SHOVE THEM IN YOUR MOUTH, AND PUNCH THE ERASERS! I WANT TO STRAP YOU TO A BED OF NAILS, STRAP THAT TO THE HOOD OF MY CAR SO I CAN WATCH YOU SUFFER AS I DRIVE OVER EVERY POTHOLE FROM HERE TO THE MALL DURING AN EARTHQUAKE! I WANT YOU TO SURVIVE THE TRIP TO THE HOSPITAL JUST TO DIE IN A FENDER BENDER ON THE WAY BACK!

Weiss: Thank you, that's called "Dad".

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Blake: I'm...

Blake: ...horny.

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Pyrrha: What did I do last night~?

Pyrrha: I CRIED MYSELF TO SLEEP~!

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Penny: According to my calculations, and let me crunch the numbers one more time- Yep! You're a pussy!

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Whitley: What?

Winter: I'm sorry!

Whitley: I'm not.

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Qrow: Women are stupid! (Crowd cheers)

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Cinder: And I masturbate because I'm the only one whose standards are low enough to FUCK ME!

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Kali: Tell me what you think of this; professional writer, actor, producer, director, dancer, crab fisherman, slut~!

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Ilia: I put a chameleon on a red dildo~!

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Oscar: Where are all the sour patch parents~?

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Mercury: Haters gonna hate. Lovers gonna love. You need to reject both sides of the spectrum and find a healthy middle.

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Emerald: Everyone hates moist. It's unoriginal. And it's stupid. And stop saying that like it's interesting. My least favorite word, by the way, is INJUSTICE.

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Saphron: SPIDER~! HIDING IN THE CORNER~! SUPER FUCKING NORMAL~! I AIN'T AFRAID OF NO SPIDERS~! WHY'S HE LOOKING AT ME~? WHY- Why is he moving?! Stop moving! OH GOD HE'S COMING RIGHT AT ME-

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Neo: I feel like shit~!

Neos: OH SHIT~!

Neo: Feelin' like a saggy, massive sack of shit~!

Neos: Oh! Shit!

Neo: Big ol' motherfuckin' duffel bag of shit~!

Neos: Oh... Shit...

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Ozpin: Ah, yes, Hamlet! Shakespeare! Yes! The young prince whose father died at the hands of his uncle with whom his mother lied. Sound familiar? IT'S THE FUCKING LION KING!

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seldomscilence16 · 1 year ago

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Whumptober Day 2:

"I'll call out your name, but you won't call back."

Thermometer | Delirium | "They don't care about you."

Fandom: ATLA (AU)

Prompt used: Title, Delirium, "they don't care about you."

Alright this ones short cause I rewrote it like three times… anywho, have some light Zuko angst. I'm gearing up for a little more intensity in day three so 😬. Beating up in first paragraph tw!

…

Another punch, right beneath his ribs, has bloody spittle flying from his mouth, choked air being the only sound accompanying the motion. He refuses to give them that satisfaction, to show that weakness here, they can beat him bloody and blue, but Zuko was once a crown prince, he's been through far worse than this.

Fire licks at his ankles, an angry yell filling the air.

"Why do you protect them? What? It's not like they like you. They don't care about you. Why do you think they haven't come? You offered them an escape and they took it, each and every one of them. You are a Fire Bender Zuko, a Prince- Banished or not- you are alone. Tell me where the Avatar and the traitors went, and your misery can be over." Zhao has a crazed look in his eye, fire sparking across his finger tips.

Zuko doesn't answer, spitting a glob of blood at the Admirals feet instead. It earns him an angry kick that has him finally falling to his knees, but he grins up anyway like he's won. Zhao can't seem to realize that Zuko knows they won't come. He's not worth it, Zuko knows this, all of what Zhao says. But they're all safe, and that was Zuko's priority.

Zhao, seemingly fed up with Zuko's silence, waves a dismissive hand and the guard behind him knocks his weapon over Zuko's head, hard. The world fades around him, and he welcomes the momentary peace of the darkness.

"You know Zuko, the writer of Love Amongst Dragons also wrote my least favorite poem."

His mothers stare is blank, sitting under the shadows of their tree, staring across the pond. Across her cheek is a bruise, uncovered but remnants of makeup still visible. Curled into her side, Azula sleeps, eyebrows furrowed. Zuko makes a noise to indicate his attention, trying not to ruin whatever this moment is.

"Always pointing out what I lack

I can never tell your aim

It's not just your bags you pack

And I'll never be the same

Life on the rack

I'll call out your name

But you won't call back."

She pauses, but the poem seems to ring out in the following silence.

"Do you know why it's my least favorite Zuko?" She answers before he can, "I always wanted true love… this poem, written by the same writer of my favorite play, reminds me to find the good." At this, she cups his cheek gently, careful not to disturb his sister, "You two. I hope you two can find love and happiness someday. Promise me, you'll never let anger rule you."

And Zuko, well how could he say anything else,

"I promise."

Zuko wakes with his mothers voice in his ears, and her hand in his hair, Azula's soft breaths filling the gaps. The performing frog and turtle duck are odd, and very dramatic, is that really the voices they'd have?? Zuko can only watch them idly, too tired to truly decipher if the animals before him exist or not.

"...won't call back!" The turtle duck strikes a dramatic pose, tragically dejected.

Huh… is… that what Zuko was doing? His mother told him to find happiness, so in his banishment, he'd turned a new leaf. His crew were basically pirates now, and they were actually helping the Avatar. He was doing good, but he supposed it was over now. He'd be taken back to his Father and punished for crimes against the throne, probably never see the light of day again.

"You shall not reign any longer!" With a weird sun behind the Frog, he goes down with a downward strike of the Turtle Ducks wing.

The thump of the frog is echoed by a louder thump that moves the surface beneath his cheek. His sight moves up slowly, blurry and doubled- the animals continue out his peripheral- to find a figure doing something at the cell door. They're not in red, rather tones of blue and gray, though he lets his sight fall again when his head throbs. It feels like he has two bad eyes, and the throbbing ache at the back of his skull is doing him no favors. He decides to go back to the animals, its easier.

It's only when feet go through the performance that he's reminded of the whole thing. Something hisses above him, and then theres a delicate touch at his nape,

"Hey buddy, we're gonna get you out of here. Your sister is scaring the guards now, and her friends are clearing a path, and the others are waiting at Oppa to get ya to your ship. Just uh… yeah let's move nice and slow."

"But da 'urtle du' isnt f'nished yet."

"... well, they can finish later."

"M'kay."

#whumptober 2023 #no.2 #“I'll call out your name but you wont call back”#Delirium #they dont care about you #atla #avatar the last airbender #fic #blood tw #beating tw #zuko angst #halucination #turtle duck #zukos mom #i did a poem thing kinda #abuse mentions

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wingsfreedom · 5 years ago

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Ok, just read BS post on how Azula choose Mai and Ty Lee as non-benders specifically because she wanted to feed her superiority complex as firebender and this boo hoo affected Mai's self-esteem but thanks to that, it made Mai realizes that bending is a weakness can be exploited since Azula was too foolishly arrogant to realize that.

I know Azula is a punching bag in this fandom discourse, a prop to make the "good guys" look good. But saying Azula choose non-bending team specifically to feed her ego is factually incorrect.

An Avatar Spring Break with Mike and Bryan

MDD: When we were coming up with Azula, we decided we wanted to have these two friends with her. We didn’t want them to be firebenders . They wouldn’t be as good as her, so why would she keep these other, lesser, firebenders around? So we decided that she would have basically picked out two people who had certain skills that she did not have. Ty Lee with her acrobatics and Mai with her super pin-point accuracy and quick draw skills.

BK: Azula, even as a child in the playground, was able to recognize people who were better than her in certain areas and keep them close until she either became as good as them or had need of them.

_______

Zuko Alone episode:

Young Zuko: “I am not cart-wheeling.”

Young Azula: “You won’t have to. [Rolls her eyes.] Cart-wheeling’s not a game, dum-dum.”

And Return to Omashu:

Azula: “I need a small, elite team. It’s time to visit some old friends.”

In Zuko Alone Azula was practicing cart-wheeling from (NOT playing with) Ty Lee. Remainder that Azula in the Day of Black Sun was not able to use her bending, but instead we saw mix of Ty Lee and Mai's skills. Azula made acrobatics similar to Ty Lee’s (it was unmistakable when she attacked the Avatar Team after regaining her bending), and Mai's knives throwing skills to attack Sokka. Azula was using/developing those skills across the series, along with her faith in Mai and Ty Lee's abilities and loyalty that she choose them as her elite team (and friends) regardless of their bending ability.

Azula pushing Ty Lee when they were children wasn’t to showcase an act of superiority complex, but her own competitive nature.

Aaron Ehasz: I was head writer of ATLA. Azula and Zuko’s relationship was not always well understood, even by the team internally. Azula loved Zuko, more than anyone save her father. She also felt competitive with him for their parents’ attention of course, but since she had alienated herself from her mother, she focused her energy on pleasing dad… which of course meant acting in more and more intense and possibly evil ways. [source]

For further proof, Azula didn’t see the potential of Mai and Ty Lee only, though, but Sokka as well. Azula’s own firendeing masters were non-benders; Lo and Li. And they keep an eye even on a “hair out of place” in her training performance. They were also people Azula listened to their advice:

Lo and Li: "When tracking your brother and uncle, traveling with the royal procession may no longer be an option. May no longer be wise. If you hope to keep the element of surprise."

Azula: "You're right. The Royal Procession is dead weight. If I want to catch my prey, I must be agile, nimble. [...]"

Even when Azula was unstable, she decided to banish one, not the two of them, because she admitted still needing their wisdom. According to ATLA novelization, Sozin's Comet: The Finale Battle book, Azula's PoV chapter.

Azula was coded as intelligent by the writers, and her seeing the non-benders potential despite her prodigious firebending was sign of intelligence and good writing.

Even if you want to use the Death of Author excuse to justify your "interpretation". At least make it better supported by the text.

#azula #princess azula #avatar the last airbender #is it odd that this idiocy is massively reblogged? no it isn't #as long as there was a post using azula to prop other character it would be massively reblogged

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disasterganes · 6 years ago

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do you mind going further on the "bryke is trash" point? i may have liked a:tla and thought a:tlok had issues, but i feel like i'm missing info or haven't thought about certain things critically enough.

i will definitely do my best -- full disclosure it’s been years since i’ve come into Close Contact™ w/ k*rra, so feel free to take with a grain of salt. it’s just my opinion, and it’s a heightened opinion because i was B I G into the fandom & show when it was dropping. i had a friend group formed through atla / k*rra before it launched, it was a real cornerstone of my online life so of course i took its bad writing way more personally than a more casual fan. i also can’t watch a show as a show? i’ve done too much work (undergrad & graduate) in writing & narrative studies, so i can Only See Story -- when it falls apart, i can’t get past it.

behind the scenes, atla likely triumphed because it was a team effort, and a bit of a first effort. not that these people hadn’t written before -- but part of what k*rra suffers from is the “how do we level up” problem that is typically answered (esp by white male writers) with make it darker. atla shone because it didn’t need to darken its tone in order to convey a more serious story -- it had room to breathe and a gentler humor that never really felt malicious in the way lok would feel malicious at times. atla was content to be what it was -- lok was always trying to be grittier than it had to be, given how well atla conveyed its difficult themes with a lighter hand.

anyway! two parts: shitty writing, & racism.

abandoning its premise

my biggest pet peeve is when a show sets up something -- and doesn’t deliver. it’s why i noped out literally s1. (and, of course, kept up quietly from the sidelines bc once i start something i’m physically incapable of letting it go. but emotionally i was gone.) in its first two episodes, lok had incredible worldbuilding. it was beautiful! well drawn! interesting! organic to the world atla built! there were problems introduced that were new and different from atla. atla read a lot like a sprawling, classic hero’s quest. falter, then triumph. lok was more intricate. in its first two episodes, it posed a question: how do you navigate heroism in a world where heroism has been redefined? how do you balance staying true to yourself and allowing yourself to grow, under the scrutiny of the “celebrity” of avatardom? and how do you perform as an avatar, the person meant to keep the balance of the spirit world, when the mortal world is out of balance? this could have been four series’ worth of content. there was enough rich, complex worldbuilding in the first episode to sustain four seasons of a show.

and then they just -- forgot about it. it was set dressing, and every half a season they artificially upped the stakes. nothing was organic to the world or the story. it was all some -- contrived plot. the conflict between benders and nonbenders could have been really interesting and then it was just -- black and white. here and gone. k*rra’s too brash and bratty to understand! and nonbenders don’t matter anyway! let’s forget about this plot and skip to some !! uh !! political upheaval! and then like! assassins and genocide or smth!! haha yeah big fights!

it was so shallow, and that’s not how the show started. in the first seven episodes, i thought i’d called the overarching. i thought the show would spend however much time it had (initially, bryke said they were only doing two seasons to “focus on a tight story” and, like a fool, i believed that this wasn’t just a cash grab :/) setting up this story: k*rra will unlock her full potential when she realizes that it’s not just the spirit world that needs an avatar, but the mortal world as well.

that’s it! that’s all you need! it’s a similar premise to atla but it expands atla. i distinctly remember the quote from one of those s1 episodes, where a nonbender says, “but you’re our avatar too.” that’s it. that’s the show. you have a show!! you have equalists, you have a bender-centric world, you have progress at the expense of those that can’t fit this new world’s design -- and then the equalists are all fake and we’re going to just brute force a solution and move onto the next crisis.

... what ?? what put the nail in the coffin for me was when the gang or crew whatever the fuck they were (spoiler alert: they were nothing, none of them liked or cared about each other) were being aided by a homeless community or w/e and b*lin jokes about a “wise and noble hobo.” this orphan. who grew up homeless. and has built himself up from nothing with his only family left. is not utilized by the writers to comment on the epidemic of poverty, homelessness, and very thinly veiled racism / ableism (another spoiler alert: don’t expect white dudes to write a coherent metaphor for a real world issue). this was the opportunity for actual depth and even darkness -- below the glittering world of republic city is a serious problem that “”””defeating the fire lord”””” won’t solve. this is a mature and complex story, and it was never ever explored. in fact, in s2 that rich dude asks b*lin if he’s “ever seen the arena at night.” and b*lin says no. the, uh, the arena he lived in bc he was homeless and crushed under the wheel of this new society.

what ,, the fuck ,, bryke.

it’s the problem where a writer is constantly trying to outdo themselves -- and they sacrifice the story they could have had. the actually mature one. it’s a problem of thinking fight scenes and a villain Bigger and Badder than the last constitutes grittiness or maturity or w/e. (spoiler alert again: it doesn’t.)

torturing k*rra

atla was a story about raising a*ng up. lok was a story abt breaking k*rra down.

shitty writing is one thing. racist writing is another. from the fucking moment she’s on screen, k*rra is told that she’s too much -- she’s too confident, she’s too loud, she’s too stubborn. and maybe she’s confident, loud, and stubborn, but the narrative does nothing but punish her for this.

a*ng is a flawed character. a*ng runs away from his responsibility and, subsequently, the fire nation takes over the entirety of the known world. do i blame a*ng for this? absolutely not. and neither does the narrative -- not in a way that counts. people in the story do, but does the narrative beat him bloody? no. the narrative gives him friends. the narrative gives him room to make mistakes and then apologize for them. the narrative lets him learn without making his failures into something that he is literally tortured over. he struggles, but in his worst and most dire situations -- his friends are there. when he dies, it’s not shown in all of its gory details, and in a beautiful, quiet scene, k*tara heals him with spirit water. they stay by his side, and a*ng is given love, care, and support.

k*rra is constantly, viscerally tortured on screen. k*rra is blamed, threatened, abandoned, poisoned, and temporarily disabled. k*rra is treated like a punching bag in direct response to her supposed “flaws.” we know this to be true because she “learns” from these moments of being violated, abused, and tortured -- the narrative tells us that she had to go through hell, on her own, in order to “learn humility.”

why did k*rra, a brown girl, need to learn humility? when did she ever come across as someone who couldn’t learn, given the kind of time and space that a*ng had? why were her lessons literally beaten into her, while a*ng’s were simply a process of trial and error, with his friends at his side every single step of the way?

people will always argue that it’s not so bad, that it’s not necessary to be as gentle with k*rra. but tell that to young brown girls watching this incredible, smart, kind, strong brown heroine get physically and mentally assaulted and broken down in order to properly “serve and save the world.” that shit? that shit’s traumatizing. k*rra is treated like garbage by m*ka, by as*mi, and by the entire world -- she is killed and tortured and isolated, and she is still expected to be grateful for what little she’s given by the end of the series.

i hate that k*rrasami is praised so highly. because it uses the lesbian card (which i carry as a member) to reinforce some really disgusting colorism and, quite frankly, shitty ass writing. bryke can’t write without a team. end of story.

that shit!! does NOT fly with me !!!

#!answered #anti lok #lok hate #bryke hate #Anonymous

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ryocos · 6 years ago

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For @threehoursfromtroy. Thank you for being a staunch writer in the Korrasami fandom! You’ve been such a great influence in keeping the Korra community alive and well. Without people like you, this fandom surely wouldn’t be as great as it is today.

And Now My Favorite Color Is Blue

Rating: All

Slight AU. Avatar universe/setting, Korra and Asami have yet to meet. Divergence from canon meeting. Book 1 timeline, no Amon stuff.

Asami regretted her decision to join the gym as soon as she entered the double doors. A cloud of sweat and heat hit her like a satomobile, and she had yet to set foot in the gym. The front area had some seats, their fabrics worn down over the years from all the use and little care. The giant, wall to wall windows drained the color from the couches against the wall. Though, who would really want to sit in the sweltering heat of the sun beaming through the windows, while enjoying the musk of all the lads working out?

She could have decided to workout in her own private gym - a luxury afforded by her father and his company - but she already spent so much time alone. Either doing her work in her personal office, of training in her sparring in her very own sparring room. She ate dinner alone most nights as her father was far too busy with work to join in for more than it took to enjoy a few bites before running off to make another deal. It was all getting dull, and so very lonely. She really needed to get out of the house.

But looking out at the gym before her, she reconsidered her options. The cardio area seemed sparse compared to the weights section, where the men had gathered and were tossing weights around as if it were a competition. Asami felt as if she had just walked into a zoo, where the monkeys were throwing things around and howling out their personal bests.

She took up a spot in the corner, away from the chaos at the center of the weight floor. By now she had gotten used to the strange smells, and even the obnoxious heat paid her little problems. Working around cars at least had its perks, heat and cold were no problem to her. The sounds around her were startling, though, and she couldn’t help but jump at every loud clang of the weights.

Pushing all of that aside, she got to work. She was here to improve on her sparring capabilities, not dawdle at every sight and sound. She set to work on some simple shoulder exercises, and after a few minutes felt herself at ease. Maybe coming here wasn’t so much of a bad idea after all?

“You’re not doing that right, how about I give you a tip.” Asami felt the person before she even saw them as a man came up behind her. She spun around before he could grab ahold of her elbows in an attempt to dole out ‘advice’. He had placed himself so close she could feel his body heat radiating off of him.

“Excuse me?” Asami bit back, taking a few steps backwards to get the man out of her space. It was incredibly rude.

“You’re going to get too big doing stuff like that.” The man replied, trying again to get closer to show Asami how to do the exercise. He reached out to grasp Asami’s arm, intending to show her the ‘right’ way. “Guys don’t like that, you know.” Asami pulled her arm out of his reach easily, anger bubbling in her chest like molten fire.

He was cut off by a wicked punch to the arm. Asami blinked hard as she turned to see just what was going on. Striking handsome, tanned, and muscular, Asami thought at first that another one of these gym bros had interrupted the other, but upon a closer look it was not a gym bro. Well, at least not a conventional one.

“She doesn’t want any advice from you, chicken legs.” The tanned woman rubbed at her knuckles after the swift punishment she had just given. Her striking blue eyes stood out against the dirt and grit of the gym like a diamond in the rough, and despite the aggression, a smile lit her face like none she had ever seen.

“Back off Korra.” The man meekly said, despite his previous bravado. He was nursing his sore arm now.

“C’mon, leave the lady alone. Can’t have you scaring away all the pretty little things around here. All that we’ll have left will be the ugly mugs like you.” This woman, Korra as she had been called, turned to give Asami a small smile.

Pretty?! A faint blush ghosted over Asami’s face.

Before Asami could get a word in to thank the kind stranger, Korra was already pushing the guy along, back towards the chaos at the center of the gym where the other gym bros hooted and hollered at his failed flirting. Meanwhile, Korra seemed to still be chiding some of the men around her about not bothering the ladies around the gym.

Asami turned back towards her weights, feeling far more flustered than before. As she got back to her exercises she couldn’t help but keep glancing in the mirror, towards the direction of a beautiful, tanned woman.

Asami somehow found the time to make it to the gym, day after day and week after week, despite her work load with the family business. She tried to convince herself that she had just found a good groove at the gym. That the lifting was just a great way to relieve stress. That she was starting to enjoy the crowds and the old machinery…

She really tried to think that, but really. There was one reason she was still going, and she was big, buff, and tanned.

Korra, as she had learned, was actually the Avatar. The Avatar that had not been out of the Southern Water Tribe lands for years, and yet was now here working out at a random, run-down gym in Republic City. Perhaps Asami had just neglected the morning paper, but surely this would have been huge news?

In between sets Asami spent a lot of time observing the young Avatar. It was purely for business purposes, of course. A great business women and inventor needed to be curious and watchful. Korra was a bit awkward, yes, but she was amazingly kind and sweet. And that smile! That laugh!

‘My team could use an Avatar.’ Asami would think to herself. ‘To add a benders’ perspective and showcase the new models, and maybe go out to lunch and…’

A flash of blue and Asami suddenly realized she had been staring. Very obviously. At Korra. Who had definitely noticed.

“Oh spirits.” The Inventor muttered under her breath as she spun around on her heel and began doing whatever machine was closest to her.

Another week had passed, somehow without another embarrassing incident on Asami’s part. She would still sneak her coy glances at the tanned woman every now and again, but today was different. Today Korra wasn’t at the gym.

‘I’m sure the Avatar has business she needs to attend to. The gm can’t be everything.’ Still, Asami chewed her lip as she continued her exercises.

Then another day went by, and another, and the young water tribe girl had yet to make another appearance.

The gym just wasn’t the same without Korra around. The bro’s walked around unhindered, flirting freely and taking up much more space than they had before. And maybe it was just her imagination, but the gym seemed so much more dim.

Halfway through her workout, Asami decided it was time to go. Nothing felt right, the weights just felt too heavy and a cloud of worry fogged her mind. No progress was going to be made today.

On the way out she noticed an employee doodling at the front desk. It seemed like a long shot to ask, but it felt worth it to at least give it a shot.

“Hey, about the Avatar. About this tall,” Asami waved her hand a few inches shorter than the top of her head, “tanned, water tribe colors. Does she still attend this gym?”

At first the young man at the desk frowned. It surely was against company policy to talk about gym members, but recognition dawned over his face as he realized just who was speaking to him. “Oh, Mrs. Sato! Yes, uhm..” He pulled at the collar of his shirt as he worked up the nerve to fudge the rules just a little bit.

“You see, the Avatar, uh, Korra, she is delinquent on her membership fees… And, well, our policy and everything.” He looked back down at the paper he had previously been doodling on and quickly pushed it out of view. “We had to inform the Avatar she could no longer work out at this facility.” He finished quickly.

A long, pregnant pause followed.

“You’re telling me that you kicked THE Avatar out of the gym?” Asami carefully said.

“Er, my manager, yes.”

“The Avatar that could be a mascot for this gym? The Avatar that could be helping you gain new members?”

“Mrs. Sato-”

“Korra, who could be the sole reason why I-, er, people would be working out at this gym?”

“Mrs. Sato!”

“I mean, why would anyone want to visit this gym now? It’s just not a sound business decision. If I were your manager, I would be letting Korra work out here for free. In fact, I’ll pay her membership fees right now! This place just isn’t as great without her-”

“Mrs. Sato!” The attendant finally managed to break Asami away from her small rant long enough to point just behind her. “Perhaps you would like to talk to her yourself rather than me.”

Asami froze while a cold sweat beaded at her forehead. Sure enough, turning to look behind her she found the woman herself, a light blush dusting her face as she played with a small bag in her hands.

“Thats… uh, well.” Korra began, one hand coming up to play with the bottom of her bangs. “I actually came back to pay my fees. I just barely got my money from the pro-bending stuff.” She scuffed a foot back and forth, her blush getting deeper as she spoke. “It took a little longer than I thought.”

It took every ounce of her courage to speak, but Asami managed to meekly hold her hand up. “No, no. Let me cover your fees.” The engineer thought she would faint from embarrassment as she gently pushed Korra’s outstretched hand, her tiny money bag clutched in her fist, back towards her chest. “I think you deserve spending your win on something else.”

Without another word to Korra, Asami spun back towards the desk, quickly handing the man her business card. “Please inform your manager that I would like to negotiate paying for the Avatar’s gym fees for as long as she would like to attend this gym.” And with that, she did as any cool, calm, and collected business woman would do.

She ran out of the gym.

The next day was tough, but Asami managed to get herself to the gym. Despite her previous embarrassment and dread of having to face Korra again, she found herself scanning the gym for the aforementioned muscled woman who was nowhere to be found at the gym.

‘Great, you scared her off.’ Asami groaned as she slumped against the wall. A light tap on her shoulder made her jump nearly a foot into the air, but that mild scare was nothing compared to the flip her stomach did when she turned to face bright, blue eyes.

“Hey there Asami.” Korra said, a finger scratching at her own cheek. “I asked that guy what your name was.” She quickly added as Asami gaped, at a complete loss for words.

Korra pulled a hand out from behind her, a bouquet of bright red hibiscus clutched in trembling fingers. “I wanted to thank you for helping me out, and I was thinking that maybe we could go get some noodles together?”

Asami gently took the flowers and held them against her chest. She could feel herself blushing from head to toe at the accidental, huge compliment Korra had given her by choosing these flowers.

“I would love to.” She finally managed. “These are absolutely beautiful, and really, one of my favorite flowers, thank you.”

Korra grinned, her features beaming. “It was a lucky guess really. I figured your favorite color was red and I went from there.”

Asami leaned her nose down into the flowers, letting their smell ease her rapidly beating heart.

“Well, I’d say that now my favorite color is blue.”

#threehoursfromtroy #fanfiction #korrasami #writing #ryocos writes

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