SunChild: Tales of Ba Sing Se, Part 4
Feb. 13th, 2011 01:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
weirdletThe AU: Sun Child, in which Princess Zura was pregnant when she was banished from the Fire Nation. Now she roams the world with a child in tow, seeking the Avatar as the key to redemption- for her, and her daughter...
The Prompt/Summary: (Forgive the short chapters!) Jet and friends earn a modest living among those not so blessed.
The Fic-
“I’m supposed to believe that you’re finally independently wealthy enough not to try and mooch off me for free tea?” Li says at the back door of Pao’s shop. She’s got a broom in one hand and a bucket to the side, and she stares at the empty cart they’ve left at the end of the alley. “What on earth have you been doing, these last few nights?”
There’s guilt on one face, dirt on another’s hands, stains on shoulders that have been scrubbed but linger still.
“We’re- gathering supplies, for the apprentice doctors in the school. I figure it’s good enough work- I mean- how many times have we needed a doctor and not had anyone?” Smellerbee explains, embarrassed under her red-striped cheeks.
She’s seen carts like that, ritual carvings like that, just as battered and bleached in the alleys of towns across the Earth Kingdom. She’s seen them in the Fire Nation Imperial Capital.
No matter how hard the priests and civic workers try to hide it, death is everywhere.
“We’re doin’ good work in the community, baby,” Jet finishes with a good-natured smirk.
“You’re robbing graves and desecrating bodies!” Li yelps indignantly, looking at Jet with a dawning horror. The Freedom Fighter crosses his arms and looks back at her defiantly.
“Hey, I just deliver the stiffs to people who can make good use of’em, I don’t rob anything!” Not least because the pockets are already picked over by the time the Freedom Fighters get to them- you could fight to the death for the living and keep the deads’ souls in your heart, but the flesh left behind wasn’t using the coin. “And who’re you to turn up your nose at honestly-earned money, anyway?” Spirits, he’s actually, really pissed off about this-
Wait, how had he forgotten about that bucket-?
splash
“Out! Get out of this teashop- and don’t come back until you’ve washed, all of you! And you, don’t come back at all!” she shouts especially at Jet, although that never does any good. Smellerbee ducks the worst of it- Longshot stands for a moment with his hat dripping before ducking a nod and turning, hoping to avoid the bucket that’s going to follow the water. That projectile finds Jet instead, tangling their leader’s feet and sending him sprawling in the dust of the street.
Smellerbee turns back to see Li grabbing the scrub-brush and attacking the stones they’d stood on furiously- and it looks like she’s reaching for the salt, too.
“Maybe we should reconsider this line of work,” she says bitterly as she helps Jet to his feet, before they take off running.
...
The Prompt/Summary: (Forgive the short chapters!) Jet and friends earn a modest living among those not so blessed.
The Fic-
“I’m supposed to believe that you’re finally independently wealthy enough not to try and mooch off me for free tea?” Li says at the back door of Pao’s shop. She’s got a broom in one hand and a bucket to the side, and she stares at the empty cart they’ve left at the end of the alley. “What on earth have you been doing, these last few nights?”
There’s guilt on one face, dirt on another’s hands, stains on shoulders that have been scrubbed but linger still.
“We’re- gathering supplies, for the apprentice doctors in the school. I figure it’s good enough work- I mean- how many times have we needed a doctor and not had anyone?” Smellerbee explains, embarrassed under her red-striped cheeks.
She’s seen carts like that, ritual carvings like that, just as battered and bleached in the alleys of towns across the Earth Kingdom. She’s seen them in the Fire Nation Imperial Capital.
No matter how hard the priests and civic workers try to hide it, death is everywhere.
“We’re doin’ good work in the community, baby,” Jet finishes with a good-natured smirk.
“You’re robbing graves and desecrating bodies!” Li yelps indignantly, looking at Jet with a dawning horror. The Freedom Fighter crosses his arms and looks back at her defiantly.
“Hey, I just deliver the stiffs to people who can make good use of’em, I don’t rob anything!” Not least because the pockets are already picked over by the time the Freedom Fighters get to them- you could fight to the death for the living and keep the deads’ souls in your heart, but the flesh left behind wasn’t using the coin. “And who’re you to turn up your nose at honestly-earned money, anyway?” Spirits, he’s actually, really pissed off about this-
Wait, how had he forgotten about that bucket-?
splash
“Out! Get out of this teashop- and don’t come back until you’ve washed, all of you! And you, don’t come back at all!” she shouts especially at Jet, although that never does any good. Smellerbee ducks the worst of it- Longshot stands for a moment with his hat dripping before ducking a nod and turning, hoping to avoid the bucket that’s going to follow the water. That projectile finds Jet instead, tangling their leader’s feet and sending him sprawling in the dust of the street.
Smellerbee turns back to see Li grabbing the scrub-brush and attacking the stones they’d stood on furiously- and it looks like she’s reaching for the salt, too.
“Maybe we should reconsider this line of work,” she says bitterly as she helps Jet to his feet, before they take off running.
...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Re: Donate your bodies to science, folks!
Date: 2011-02-13 06:41 pm (UTC)"It's already dead."
"Purify it with fire!!"
"No fire-bending."
"Scrub it with salt then!!!"
It's one thing on the field, but I figure there's just a little bit of a cultural squick for dead bodies more than a few hours old.
Re: Donate your bodies to science, folks!
Date: 2011-02-13 06:56 pm (UTC)Suddenly, I have a picture of Aang being all reverent to the dead, and Zuko having a full on fit, sometime after the war.
Re: Donate your bodies to science, folks!
Date: 2011-02-13 07:08 pm (UTC)