tushanshu_logs | Catch-all for October

"It's cool. My dad died when I was five, so I barely remember him." It was one of the few things that actually didn't bother her. She missed the man, of course, but she hadn't known him enough to dwell on the accident. Her mother wasn't the same, but that was way different.

"Well, that and there aren't that many performers to fill the schedule." Vanessa ducked her head though at the praise. It was a full house, and she knew she was good, but still. Sometimes it was just nice to hear it. Her nose wrinkled at the playful admonishment. "I guess I'll have to pay you back somehow, then. Wouldn't want the Avatar to go hungry."

That did help Korra feel less awkward for treading on such a sensitive subject. If Vanessa had come to terms with it, then Korra could leave the subject without worrying about her.

"Maybe that’s because they don’t pack the place like you do." Partially teasing, Korra bit into another stick. "Well, Avatar’s do need to keep their strength up. But for now, you can just make sure that I don’t over eat by taking half of my order."

Which would be ready soon. Actually, Korra had completely forgotten what she had ordered thanks to getting entranced into Vanessa’s song set.

"Anything happen since I last saw you?" Between fishing, volunteering at the clinic, turtle egg, and working part-time at the Brazen Turtle; Korra had practically little to no free time. Only if she cancelled one of them to catch up with people.

Vanessa wrinkled her nose, but it was obvious that she was pleased by Korra's compliments to her. Popularity really was something she'd always strove for back home - and had it, after all. "I think I can definitely help you with that. Singing works up an appetite." She finished off one stick and went for another.

"Um." A lot. The palace raid, the Death and Dreaming planes, those... Strange thoughts about Catty that had been lingering more and more lately. She took a bite of her snack, chewing slowly. "I got a place for my outreach program. The one to help the kedan with their Dust addictions? I'm hoping that Catty and I can get that open here soon."

Dust caught Korra’s attention in the middle of biting into a mozzarella stick. It had been the evidence her team had been on the lookout for when Evandau gave missions to the foreigners that volunteered.

Not fun times.

"Hey, congrats on getting a place." Korra had never met Catty, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t happy for them, especially if it meant helping out. Which she was curious about and led to her next question. "How do you help them get over the Dust thing?"

"Thanks." It was a big thing for both her and Catty. Or well, maybe Vanessa at the moment, although Catty had been out on the street, helping her out. "I guess saying helping them get over it wouldn't be the right way to put it."

She paused, taking a sip of her water. "We just kind of talk to them about it, tell them how bad it is. What could happen to them and the people around the. Mostly, we have to hit people who are more at risk for starting Dust than those already hooked."

Which sucked, in a big way. She wanted to help; she just didn't have the tools for that.

“That’s good though, a lot of people need to know just how dangerous it is.”

And Korra’s not an exception.

“We had to stop some kedan from making it when Evandau was giving us missions to help out. But, what does Dust do exactly?” Curious, Korra shifted in her chair so she was leaning closer to Vanessa. Then her dish arrived, which was a rack of ribs from an animal she had trouble pronouncing the name of.

The huge plate was between them and Korra motioned for Vanessa to have some. Then, casual as anything, began rip off a bone to dig while giving Vanessa her attention.

"They do. And it's more than just the danger to themselves; what we do can affect Asti. The more vulnerable he is, the easier it's going to be for Mally to get its hooks into him." There's a kind of passion in Vanessa's voice when she talked about it, similar to the same way that she approached her singing.

Vanessa waited until the server placed the food down before continuing. She shifted a rib onto her plate, picking at it carefully with her fork, a stark contradiction to how Korra was eating.

"Dust makes people compliant. It relaxes them so much that they'll do literally anything for someone who told them to do it. That makes them dangerous."

A very stark contradiction to Korra’s messy fingers holding up the rib and taking the biggest bites she can. Yet somehow she managed to keep most of the sauce off her cheeks.

Most of it.

“So, if what we do can affects him…and people who use dust are told to-” her chewing slows down as she looks at Vanessa, her mind chewing over this new information. New to Korra anyway.

“Why would any of the kedan want to do that; money…?” To her that seemed like a horrible reason to do it, but she never really had to rely on money before, back home or here.

Vanessa's stomach tightens for a moment. Why do people do evil things? It's something she has to ask herself all the time. "For power, I guess. Mally, he's going to promise the kedan - and probably us, eventually - things we want to hear. Things that we want. It's probably told them that it give them things they want, and that sounds pretty good."

She chews mechanically, but the food kind of tastes like ash. "People hurt other people for a lot of reasons."

The whole notion of using the kedan was horrible and Korra wondered what Malicant would have offered her. What she wanted most was to be the Avatar. Well no, that wasn’t quite right. To be the Avatar that the world wanted and needed, that was more accurate. But that was something no one could give her, just an accomplishment she needed to work on herself.

“What do you want most?” she asked curiously before taking another huge bite of a new rib, putting the bone of the last one aside.

Vanessa looked up in surprise at the question. It wasn't really the kind of thing she was prepared for. "What do I want most?" She had asked herself this before, hadn't she?

There was a lot that she wanted, some good, some bad. There was desire and chaos and the need to sow sorrow. There was acceptance and that small hope of normalcy when this was all over. There was love. There was understanding.

"I guess... What I want most is just to be exactly who I'm capable of being." She smiled softly, running her fingers through sweat damp hair. "I want to be me. I don't think Mally can give me that."

She pointed her rib bone at Vanessa with a grin. "You and I are in the same boat." That same bone is flagging down one of the busboys for some waters. Being a little uncouth wasn’t too out of the ordinary for Korra.

"That and the Brazen Turtle is safe, I mean look at all the people that enjoyed your performance. Not bad." Giving a compliment while her mouth is full of ribs, best anyone could get from the Avatar.

Vanessa couldn't help but laugh a bit. It was refreshing, honestly, to see this kind of behavior from someone, especially a girl. Catty was the same way pretty much all the time.

"Yeah, I just have the performing gene in my DNA, I guess." She snorted, though. "Singing has really helped me come a long way. Can you believe that I used to refuse to be up in front of people? It took me months to even ask my boyfriend if I could sing with his band."

"No, did you really?" That's not something she was expecting since Vanessa seemed pretty comfortable on stage giving a performance that would be unrivaled back on the Avatar’s home world.

But hooold it. "Boyfriend?" She could not stop herself from getting a curious smile on her face that a cat would be envious of.

A slow nod. "Yeah, I've never been comfortably getting up in front of people. I still get really nervous even now." Being neurotic wasn't all that fun, as it turned out.

She paused, trying to not wince. "Oh. Yeah. Michael. He's my boyfriend back home. I mean I'm dating Leo here now. It's just... It's complicated."

If there’s one thing Korra was looking out for, it’s direct or indirect advice on boyfriends and relationships in general. Even though that part of her life hasn’t been as explosive lately, it was still a bit of a mess.

Korra gave a look of complete sympathy and understanding. When Mako wasn’t here she was wrestling with the idea of asking Jack about a relationship, and that Vanessa wasn’t having the disastrous outcome she did was a good thing.

"Well, you never know when you might see him again. You wouldn’t want to be alone if we’re here for a long time." Words she told herself. "And besides, wh- wait. Leo?"

Her eyebrows rose in surprise because the first Leo that came to her mind was of the turtle variety and that- wow. That was a possibility that had never even crossed her mind before.

Korra, getting advice from Vanessa on relationships would probably be like getting advice from a junkie on how to quit drugs: useless.

She frowned, though. Catty had said the same thing basically, and she remembered the sleeping bags in Michael's van when she said she wanted to have sex. His willingness, his closeness with Corrine when she came back. He probably hadn't wanted to be alone either. "Maybe. But I know what happens in my future." Michael happens still.

Vanessa blushed. "Yeah? You know, Leo Valdez. One of the demigods? He's friends with Percy."

That was another person that had seen their future. Whenever the next audience was going to be, Korra's planning to go.

But for now, that actually caused Korra to almost choke on a bite of rib. Of all the Leos on the turtle...

"Yeah, he made my glider when I first got here. His pick up lines needed a little work, but he's a good kid." Almost three years older gave her rights to call him that, or Korra thought. Her smile was one of sly amusement now.

"How did you two meet?"

"I think his pick up lines are cute," Vanessa countered with a small smile. The guys she had been with before were smooth. Too smooth. She was a magnet for them, smoldering looks and sweet words on a golden tongue. Leo's cheesy lines and uncertainty was refreshing in a way that she never thought she'd like. "But yeah, he's a good kid."

She gave that look right back. She was almost three years older than Leo herself.

"His table hit on me in the middle of the sidewalk."

Cute Korra could agree with and did just that by nodding and shrugging her shoulders admittedly. But at the same time there was an immense dork factor she couldn’t ignore.

Adorkable?

"His what?" Maybe she drank her ice water too fast, but Korra could have sworn she just heard Vanessa say table.

Adorkable fit Leo to a T.

"Table. He has two of them, and they're like dogs. Dogs with wooden legs and no faces but the personalities are there," Vanessa explained with a grin. Her boyfriend was totally weird.

All Korra could think of was the way Naga would completely flip out at seeing that.

There’s no point in asking if Vanessa’s just messing with her, that grin Vanessa had came from something other than simple teasing. Korra would know, she had a patented smile when teasing and it looked nothing like it. "How did your boyfriend even get those? What do they eat?"

Beat.

"Please don’t say table scraps."

Vanessa laughed, shaking her head. "He made them. Leo's good with his hands, you know? So he made moving tables, it's actually really cool. He even designed the ship the other demigods are using back home." Yeah, she was bragging, but she didn't care. "And I think they eat oil."

Boyfriends are great bragging material, if they're good boyfriends anyway. ~~Yes, Korra will brag about Mako any time he comes up.~~

Tables eating oil just gets a quick blink and a shake of the head. Those are enough details for one Avatar.

"Has he made anything for you?" Honest question.

The question made Vanessa pause, but then she shook her head. "Nope, I've never really asked him to, and Leo's kind of slow on the uptake when it comes to girls, if you know what I mean."

In a few ways, to be honest. But she was nothing if not incredibly patient. "Maybe for Christmas, or whatever they do around here." She looked Korra over. "We're talking about me a lot. What about you, huh?"

Catch-all for October

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