#asami's looking outside but it looks like korra is looking at her heh

[tokaywineandcheese]

Ohhh this is so good ;-; Thanks! Hope you have a nice holiday season too!

The lights and snow are pretty but I think Korra and us agree that Asami outshines them all. A very happy Korrasami Secret Santa and korrasamiversary to @tokaywineandcheese! Hope you have a wonderful holidays and a happy new year!

[razieltwelve]

Helping Beak (Final Rose)

Korra was doing her usual check on Naga when she noticed something alarming.

“What’s this, girl?” Korra’s eyes narrowed. “Is this a... tick?” A closer look confirmed that it was indeed a tick. But when could Naga have gotten it? Korra checked Naga regularly, and she made sure to take great care of her.

Wait...

On their most recent mission, the one they’d gotten back from yesterday, Naga had fallen into a river after tackling a Grimm that had been about to sneak up on Asami. With her thick fur, it would have been easy to miss, and ticks had chemicals in their bite that ensured their victims didn’t feel anything.

Worry growing, Korra continued to check Naga. There were more ticks.

“Is something wrong?” Asami asked. She had been doing her homework, but it was hard not to notice Korra fretting.

“Naga has ticks,” Korra replied. “I think she got them when she fell into the river on our mission.”

“Oh.” Asami got up and came over to have a look. “What’s the best way to treat that?”

“You can pull them off if you’re careful, but depending on the species of tick, it can get nasty if you make a mistake.” Korra frowned. “Back home, we’d just get chocobo chicks to do it.”

“Chocobo chicks?”

“Yeah. They eat ticks. If you’ve got an animal with ticks, you just bring it over to some chocobo chicks, and they’ll get all the ticks. It works like a charm.”

“I don’t think there are any chocobo chicks at Beacon, though.” Asami pursed her lips. “I mean they do keep chocobos at the stables, but they’re all adults.”

Korra sighed. “Adult chocobos don’t really go after ticks unless they’re really desperate. They’re bigger, so they prefer other food.”

“Then again...” Asami hummed thoughtfully. “I might be able to get a chocobo chick. I remember looking at the schedule for the lab, and we’re supposed to have a visitor today...”

X     X     X

Korra looked at the little boy. With his pink hair and facial features, it wasn’t hard to see the similarities. Even without Asami telling her, she would have guessed that Taren was related to Professor Farron and Averia. 

“Asami said you needed Fury’s help,” Taren said. On his head, the chocobo chick eyed Korra warily. Like most chocobo chicks, he was cautious around people he hadn’t met before. 

“Yeah.” Korra waved the boy over to Naga. “This is Naga. She’s my friend.”

“A polar bear dog?” Taren grinned. “You almost never see them outside of Water Tribe territory or the far north and south.”

“Heh.” Korra patted Naga as she sat up and sniffed at Taren and Fury. The boy’s smile never wavered, but Fury puffed himself up as best he could. Given his tiny size, it was less than intimidating, and Naga gave a snort of amusement. “Don’t worry. She’s friendly, but she needs Fury’s help.” Korra pointed. “See that? We went on a mission, and some ticks have bitten her.”

“Oh.” Taren leaned in and nodded. “I see. Ticks are pretty nasty. But don’t worry, Fury will help.” He reached up and patted the chocobo. “You’ll help, right?”

Fury cheeped and hopped off Taren’s head. He landed on Naga’s back and waited for the polar bear dog to rumble her assent before he darted over to the nearest tick. Springing forward, he lashed out and pulled the tick off in one smooth motion before devouring it.

“Kweh...”

Taren laughed.

“What did he say?” Korra asked.

“He asked if he should save any for me.” Taren snickered. “You might think ticks are tasty, Fury, but I can’t eat them. You can have all of them.”

“Kweh!” Fury’s eyes gleamed, and his gaze darted over Naga’s body, easily picking out the ticks despite her fur. Soon, he was a blur of motion, pulling the ticks free and eating them.

“Wow.” Korra blinked. She’d seen chocobo chicks do this before, but none of them had shown this sort of speed and ferocity. “He’s good at this, but will he be able to eat them all?”

“Probably.” Taren shrugged. “Aunt Vanille said that since he’s a black-and-red chocobo, Fury will end up huge, so he eats more than most chocobo chicks.”

Ten minutes later, the chocobo chick was done. He gave Naga one last check before nodding in satisfaction and then hopping into Taren’s arms. His belly was looking a little swollen, and he sighed contentedly before burping.

“I think you might have eaten too much.” Taren patted Fury’s back. “Don’t worry. I can carry you until you feel like walking again.”

“Kweh...”

“He said he got them all,” Taren explained. “He even double-checked just to be sure.”

“Thanks, kid.” Korra beamed. “And thanks, Fury. Let me know if you ever need anything.”

“It’s okay.” Taren smiled back. “Fury got a snack, and I got to meet a polar bear dog.”

X     X     X

Author’s Notes

Funnily enough, Fury will end up being one of the few animals in the series who can actually look down at Naga. Naga is larger and heavier overall than Fury, but Fury stands at more than eleven feet in height, making him taller. Still, polar bear dogs are amongst the largest terrestrial carnivores on Remnant, and there are some truly gigantic ones out there like the Mistral jungle tiger and the huge lions that lurk on the plains of Mi’Ihen. 

Of course, the largest terrestrial predator is the gigantic aardvark found in Vacuo’s deserts that is so huge it can be seen from orbit. The largest specimens are the size of large hills or small mountains and subsist primarily on the giant insects that nest in Vacuo’s desolate wilds. In fact, those aardvarks are the chief reason that Vacuo rarely has to deal with Grimm. Given their tremendous size and combat power (you need artillery to even get their attention), the aardvarks consider Grimm a welcome addition to their diet. Indeed, there have even been records of groups of aardvarks working together to hunt down groups of Grimm Goliaths. Yeah, don’t mess with these aardvarks.

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[progwords]

what's your problem with the comics so far? im pretty much loving everything im seeing so i was just wondering what your perspective was on it making you not like what we've got so far

You mean besides the fact that it really looks like Asami forgot her dad died not even three weeks prior and that literally zero aspects of the plot have anything to do with her outside of her relationship with Korra? Heh.

Nah, I was too harsh yesterday. I had a bit of a knee-jerk reaction...but mostly because the glimpses we got from the previews confirmed my very well documented concerns for what this comic would end up being. At least, part of it. The fact that coming out is something that Korra and Asami even need to navigate at all, regardless of social feedback, is just...weird? Like it doesn’t make sense for the reality of ATLA/LOK. Reiterating why that here would be rather redundant, so click the link for more details. Or go look through @lokgifsandmusings‘s recent posts where she gets into greater detail. 

We’ve already gotten half the comic spoiled, and it reads like an Afterschool Special. You know, the 90s Very Special Episodes on Home Improvement where...Tim Allen’s tv son...got addicted to cocaine? That’s obviously a really fucking weird example, but the point is that I’m worried all the “what do people think of queerness in this universe” parts of the story are gonna be hamfisted. And I really just...don’t think that was the best way to go about communicating that being queer or questioning is an okay thing to young kids. Obviously none of it is offensive or problematic or really negative at all, but it just feels...uninspired. And unimaginative.

Mike could have done anything with Korrasami, specifically because of how they developed and what they both, thematically, represent as individuals as well as a couple.  But he chose to do the one thing, the singular thing that is basically a template. So it’s like, what? Why? Why would you do that? You could bake anything in the world and you chose the cookie cutter? WHY.

And we know Kya is gonna have a long conversation about what it means to be queer in that reality, which is...super weird the longer you think about that. Wouldn’t Korra and Asami know what it means to be queer in that world? They live in it. it’s not like they’re tourists. I dunno, it could be about not living with regrets or “letting your bi flag fly” but...why? Why does Kya even need to explain this? They should know! And if it needs explaining to the readers, do it through dialog between Korra and Asami!

So much of this book hinges on that one conversation, and I just---there were other ways to do this! And they wouldn’t have been difficult! I can think of like four better, and far more engaging, imo, narratives you can tell with the same art (that we’ve seen) and minimal re-lettering of speech bubbles. 

Anyway, aside from that, though, it actually looks fine. You know, nothing groundbreaking or amazing, but it looks pretty entertaining. It had me chuckling, so that’s always a good start. I feel like that whole “WE’RE COMING OUT” thing just won’t land for me, for a variety of reasons, but the rest will be enjoyable. Assuming Korra isn’t dialed back to her Book 1 characterization for the entire thing (???), I can push the rather baffling retcons (why would you buy land YOU CAN’T USE) out of my head and enjoy the read.

Probably.