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storypaint) wrote2013-09-01 12:35 am
storypaint) wrote2013-09-01 12:35 am
Entry tags:
[Legend of Korra] your heart goes walking around (Lin gen)
Title: your heart goes walking around
Fandom: Legend of Korra
Length: 771 words
Prompt: Written for reverseremix 2013 fortalibusorabat as a remix of her fic, When They Asked
Pairing: Lin gen
Other: n/a
Excerpt: The ground had cupped Lin easily; she never got hurt when she fell on good earth. But she stayed down there for a few moments anyway, in bewilderment. She'd never felt like she was missing anything because she didn't have a dad.
When Lin was five, Aunt Katara spent some time arguing with her mom about her education. Lin felt like she was getting a pretty good education at the moment, and offered to demonstrate. Her mother had already taught her almost all of the beginning Earthbending forms, and had said that they could go on to advanced in a couple of months, when she'd totally mastered them.
Mom laughed and ruffled her hair, and Katara said a whole bunch of stuff about the wide world and writing and being one of Uncle Aang's friends and setting an example. Lin wasn't sure what being Aang's friend had to do with being an example either, but in the end Mom shrugged and gave into Katara.
So Lin began going to school. This wasn't nearly as bad as her mom had made it sound during the arguing, but then again, sometimes Mom argued with Aunt Katara because she thought it was fun. Lin could totally tell. She made some friends, she learned to write her name, and she learned that she was different.
She already knew that she was different in some ways. Everyone at school got really excited when she said that she knew Uncle Aang, and her mom was the police chief, so that scared some people, even though Lin told them that her mom never arrested kids. In fact, sometimes she helped them when she saw them on the streets, paying for them to stay somewhere a couple of nights or buying them a meal.
But she never realized that it was important to have a father until she got in an argument with Chen Li and Chen Li said, "Your mom is so mean that you don't even have a dad!" before she pushed Lin to the ground and ran away.
The ground had cupped Lin easily; she never got hurt when she fell on good earth. But she stayed down there for a few moments anyway, in bewilderment. She'd never felt like she was missing anything because she didn't have a dad. She wasn't really sure what dads were supposed to do. Uncle Aang was a dad, but he did all the same things that Aunt Katara did, as far as she could tell. He played air scooter with them and made dinner sometimes and took care of Tenzin when he had been sick earlier that year and couldn't come out to play for a whole week. It was the same stuff that her mom did with her.
But most people she knew did have two parents. All of her cousins and most of her classmates, except Niko whose mom had died a couple of weeks after the school year had started, and they'd all signed a card that he never came to pick up.
She resolved to ask her mom about it. Her mom never lied to her, never ever. She always said that there was no point in lying to a kid, it just bit you in the butt down the road. Plus, Lin was totally going to learn to detect lying with her bending when she grew up.
That night when it was time for bed, Toph tucked her in and told her a story about a bad man who was caught stealing from a bank today. It was a very exciting story with a lot of gestures and Lin almost forgot to ask, but right before Toph got up to leave, she did.
"Where's my daddy?" she asked. If everyone else had one, then it made sense that hers should be around somewhere. Maybe he'd died like Niko's mom did. Or maybe he lived far away.
Her mom made a face and said, "You don't have one, Sourface!" The 'Sourface' was cue for Lin to blow a raspberry, and she did. They both laughed, and then Lin said, "Why not?"
"Because you've got me! Now go to sleep. It's that or practice your forms. You're getting a little sloppy now that you spend all that time in school instead," Toph said. Lin was a little offended at that and vowed to practice more tomorrow. She was tired right now, though. So she closed her eyes obediently.
Her mom punched her gently in the shoulder, her goodnight punch, and then blew out the candle and left, her bare and calloused feet just a whisper on the dirt floor.
It wasn't a real answer, but that was okay, because Mom hadn't lied to her. She didn't have a dad, because she had her mom instead. And really, her mom was worth two people, Uncle Sokka said that all the time. Lin slept.
Fandom: Legend of Korra
Length: 771 words
Prompt: Written for reverseremix 2013 for
talibusorabat as a remix of her fic, When They AskedPairing: Lin gen
Other: n/a
Excerpt: The ground had cupped Lin easily; she never got hurt when she fell on good earth. But she stayed down there for a few moments anyway, in bewilderment. She'd never felt like she was missing anything because she didn't have a dad.
When Lin was five, Aunt Katara spent some time arguing with her mom about her education. Lin felt like she was getting a pretty good education at the moment, and offered to demonstrate. Her mother had already taught her almost all of the beginning Earthbending forms, and had said that they could go on to advanced in a couple of months, when she'd totally mastered them.
Mom laughed and ruffled her hair, and Katara said a whole bunch of stuff about the wide world and writing and being one of Uncle Aang's friends and setting an example. Lin wasn't sure what being Aang's friend had to do with being an example either, but in the end Mom shrugged and gave into Katara.
So Lin began going to school. This wasn't nearly as bad as her mom had made it sound during the arguing, but then again, sometimes Mom argued with Aunt Katara because she thought it was fun. Lin could totally tell. She made some friends, she learned to write her name, and she learned that she was different.
She already knew that she was different in some ways. Everyone at school got really excited when she said that she knew Uncle Aang, and her mom was the police chief, so that scared some people, even though Lin told them that her mom never arrested kids. In fact, sometimes she helped them when she saw them on the streets, paying for them to stay somewhere a couple of nights or buying them a meal.
But she never realized that it was important to have a father until she got in an argument with Chen Li and Chen Li said, "Your mom is so mean that you don't even have a dad!" before she pushed Lin to the ground and ran away.
The ground had cupped Lin easily; she never got hurt when she fell on good earth. But she stayed down there for a few moments anyway, in bewilderment. She'd never felt like she was missing anything because she didn't have a dad. She wasn't really sure what dads were supposed to do. Uncle Aang was a dad, but he did all the same things that Aunt Katara did, as far as she could tell. He played air scooter with them and made dinner sometimes and took care of Tenzin when he had been sick earlier that year and couldn't come out to play for a whole week. It was the same stuff that her mom did with her.
But most people she knew did have two parents. All of her cousins and most of her classmates, except Niko whose mom had died a couple of weeks after the school year had started, and they'd all signed a card that he never came to pick up.
She resolved to ask her mom about it. Her mom never lied to her, never ever. She always said that there was no point in lying to a kid, it just bit you in the butt down the road. Plus, Lin was totally going to learn to detect lying with her bending when she grew up.
That night when it was time for bed, Toph tucked her in and told her a story about a bad man who was caught stealing from a bank today. It was a very exciting story with a lot of gestures and Lin almost forgot to ask, but right before Toph got up to leave, she did.
"Where's my daddy?" she asked. If everyone else had one, then it made sense that hers should be around somewhere. Maybe he'd died like Niko's mom did. Or maybe he lived far away.
Her mom made a face and said, "You don't have one, Sourface!" The 'Sourface' was cue for Lin to blow a raspberry, and she did. They both laughed, and then Lin said, "Why not?"
"Because you've got me! Now go to sleep. It's that or practice your forms. You're getting a little sloppy now that you spend all that time in school instead," Toph said. Lin was a little offended at that and vowed to practice more tomorrow. She was tired right now, though. So she closed her eyes obediently.
Her mom punched her gently in the shoulder, her goodnight punch, and then blew out the candle and left, her bare and calloused feet just a whisper on the dirt floor.
It wasn't a real answer, but that was okay, because Mom hadn't lied to her. She didn't have a dad, because she had her mom instead. And really, her mom was worth two people, Uncle Sokka said that all the time. Lin slept.