[Legend of Korra] Of Baking and Bending; A Mother's Dilemma
Title: Of Baking and Bending: A Mother's Dilemma
Wordcount: 957
Characters: Toph, Lin, Aang
Rating: G
Warnings/Disclaimer: Characters, etc. all belong to Nickelodeon and Bryke and not me.
Summary: Toph contemplates her young daughter's crush on the Avatar.
Notes: The ontd_lok headcanon post got me thinking...:D Thanks, lovely_masoka
Of Baking and Bending: A Mother’s Dilemma
Toph was pretty sure her daughter had a crush on the Avatar. Call it maternal instinct, or maybe it was more her very sensitive sixth sense that more than made up for her lack of sight. Eight-year-old Lin’s heart pounded whenever the Avatar was near and sometimes when she talked about him, or even when she could overhear others talk about him.
An eight-year-old infatuated with a much older married man might seem worrisome to some parents, but Toph wasn’t too concerned. For one thing, it showed the police chief inklings that her daughter had good taste. Toph had never wanted him herself, but she couldn’t deny Twinkletoes had grown into quite the fine man-not that she could see this in the traditional sense, but her daughter wasn’t the only one whose pulse quickened in the Avatar’s presence.
For another thing, the child was eight. Let her have a few harmless crushes before she got old enough to really start caring about boys and wanting to date them.
Amusingly enough, Toph predicted the Avatar might play a part once that joyous time came. Not himself, of course, but through his youngest son, Tenzin. Talk about heart pounding, the poor kid nearly made Toph’s ears ring his blood raced so fast. But Lin hardly noticed him, except as someone to tease or earthbend at. Not surprisingly, Tenzin was an easy target-airbenders’ instincts were always to dodge or defend-sometimes too late-not to fight back). Tenzin was just too taken with Lin, too scared of her, even, in the way only a little kid can be scared of that other kid he likes.
Toph had seen it plenty of times when she was young. She wasn’t allowed to associate with them (filthy peasants, to her parents’ compassionate minds), but she heard them out the windows when she was at her private earthbending lessons, before her parents forced home lessons on her. Sometimes, the one with the crush might be the aggressor, but in Toph’s personal experience, if someone liked you, they were really really scared of you. It took Lin’s dad ages to agree to go out with her. Like it was going to be some kind of trap. She’d get him alone and then bury him in a pit or craft a metal prison just for him. His paranoia was kinda cute-it made the chase more fun.
Luckily, Lin didn’t seem in danger of inflicting bodily harm on her crush. She mostly wanted to spend lots of time on Air Temple Island. She became an avid pai sho player, favoring the Lotus strategy Fire Lord Zuko taught her. She also took an interest in baking. Toph had to eat more black-crusted fruit pies made in some juvenile mockery of Aang’s old mentor Gyatso’s recipe than she thought was good for even a whole squad, let alone one person.
Lin was determined to get it right, and eventually she did. Toph didn’t get a single bite of that one. It could only be shared between Lin and Aang (though Aang was able to bargain for his wife, his kids, and Appa to get a few nibbles).
Lin also seemed more eager to learn about the history and culture of the Air Nomads than that of her own elements’ practitioners. She became quite a fixture after school among the younger Air Acolytes. Toph would have to rectify this soon-she could tell Lin’s earthbending was starting to get a little sloppy through lack of practice. She thought it might be about time to tempt her daughter back to disciplined training by promising they’d start metalbending. Lin got more excited about metalbending than any long-lost airbending forms or old-fashioned recipes.
But when Toph brought it up with her daughter, she wasn’t expecting Lin’s response. “Have you ever taught Aang metalbending? Maybe he’d like to learn, too. You could be his sifu again, Mom! Wouldn’t that be cool?!”
For one of the very few times in her life, Toph Bei Fong didn’t have anything to say. No witty comebacks, no simple replies. Nothing. She could feel the eagerness radiating from the child’s body. Finally, she was able to mutter, “I’ll think about it.”
Lin took her mom’s eventual assent as a given.
**
Turns out, Lin was right. And Toph had a lot more fun with it than she thought she would. More fun than she could remember having in a while, honestly.
Lessons were weekly, and she told her pupils she expected them to practice daily.
“Coming along well, Lin,” she told her daughter one afternoon. They hadn’t progressed into manipulating metal yet-they were still working on simply moving little pellets from one container to another over increasing distances.
Lin glowed at the praise. She was glad her mother seemed proud but even more excited Aang was there to witness how well she was doing.
If only Lin had known, Aang wasn’t paying any attention to her at the moment. He was too busy being harangued by his unrelenting sifu.
“How many times do I gotta tell ya, Twinkletoes? Earthbending is all about the stance.”
He was having visions of his twelve-year-old self humiliated, hardly able to lift a pebble with bending, as this tiny blind girl juggled boulders for laughs. “But this is metalbending, Toph!”
“Still earthbending, ain’t it? You’re the Avatar. You’re the master of all elements. Now, hold your stance like the Avatar and not some lily-livered chicken-goat!”
No, Lin’s crush wasn’t anything to worry about. Toph should have suggested this metalbending thing a long time ago. She just wished she could see Twinkletoes’s face as she gloated. She’d eat burned fruit pies every meal for the rest of her life for that.
Wordcount: 957
Characters: Toph, Lin, Aang
Rating: G
Warnings/Disclaimer: Characters, etc. all belong to Nickelodeon and Bryke and not me.
Summary: Toph contemplates her young daughter's crush on the Avatar.
Notes: The ontd_lok headcanon post got me thinking...:D Thanks, lovely_masoka
Of Baking and Bending: A Mother’s Dilemma
Toph was pretty sure her daughter had a crush on the Avatar. Call it maternal instinct, or maybe it was more her very sensitive sixth sense that more than made up for her lack of sight. Eight-year-old Lin’s heart pounded whenever the Avatar was near and sometimes when she talked about him, or even when she could overhear others talk about him.
An eight-year-old infatuated with a much older married man might seem worrisome to some parents, but Toph wasn’t too concerned. For one thing, it showed the police chief inklings that her daughter had good taste. Toph had never wanted him herself, but she couldn’t deny Twinkletoes had grown into quite the fine man-not that she could see this in the traditional sense, but her daughter wasn’t the only one whose pulse quickened in the Avatar’s presence.
For another thing, the child was eight. Let her have a few harmless crushes before she got old enough to really start caring about boys and wanting to date them.
Amusingly enough, Toph predicted the Avatar might play a part once that joyous time came. Not himself, of course, but through his youngest son, Tenzin. Talk about heart pounding, the poor kid nearly made Toph’s ears ring his blood raced so fast. But Lin hardly noticed him, except as someone to tease or earthbend at. Not surprisingly, Tenzin was an easy target-airbenders’ instincts were always to dodge or defend-sometimes too late-not to fight back). Tenzin was just too taken with Lin, too scared of her, even, in the way only a little kid can be scared of that other kid he likes.
Toph had seen it plenty of times when she was young. She wasn’t allowed to associate with them (filthy peasants, to her parents’ compassionate minds), but she heard them out the windows when she was at her private earthbending lessons, before her parents forced home lessons on her. Sometimes, the one with the crush might be the aggressor, but in Toph’s personal experience, if someone liked you, they were really really scared of you. It took Lin’s dad ages to agree to go out with her. Like it was going to be some kind of trap. She’d get him alone and then bury him in a pit or craft a metal prison just for him. His paranoia was kinda cute-it made the chase more fun.
Luckily, Lin didn’t seem in danger of inflicting bodily harm on her crush. She mostly wanted to spend lots of time on Air Temple Island. She became an avid pai sho player, favoring the Lotus strategy Fire Lord Zuko taught her. She also took an interest in baking. Toph had to eat more black-crusted fruit pies made in some juvenile mockery of Aang’s old mentor Gyatso’s recipe than she thought was good for even a whole squad, let alone one person.
Lin was determined to get it right, and eventually she did. Toph didn’t get a single bite of that one. It could only be shared between Lin and Aang (though Aang was able to bargain for his wife, his kids, and Appa to get a few nibbles).
Lin also seemed more eager to learn about the history and culture of the Air Nomads than that of her own elements’ practitioners. She became quite a fixture after school among the younger Air Acolytes. Toph would have to rectify this soon-she could tell Lin’s earthbending was starting to get a little sloppy through lack of practice. She thought it might be about time to tempt her daughter back to disciplined training by promising they’d start metalbending. Lin got more excited about metalbending than any long-lost airbending forms or old-fashioned recipes.
But when Toph brought it up with her daughter, she wasn’t expecting Lin’s response. “Have you ever taught Aang metalbending? Maybe he’d like to learn, too. You could be his sifu again, Mom! Wouldn’t that be cool?!”
For one of the very few times in her life, Toph Bei Fong didn’t have anything to say. No witty comebacks, no simple replies. Nothing. She could feel the eagerness radiating from the child’s body. Finally, she was able to mutter, “I’ll think about it.”
Lin took her mom’s eventual assent as a given.
**
Turns out, Lin was right. And Toph had a lot more fun with it than she thought she would. More fun than she could remember having in a while, honestly.
Lessons were weekly, and she told her pupils she expected them to practice daily.
“Coming along well, Lin,” she told her daughter one afternoon. They hadn’t progressed into manipulating metal yet-they were still working on simply moving little pellets from one container to another over increasing distances.
Lin glowed at the praise. She was glad her mother seemed proud but even more excited Aang was there to witness how well she was doing.
If only Lin had known, Aang wasn’t paying any attention to her at the moment. He was too busy being harangued by his unrelenting sifu.
“How many times do I gotta tell ya, Twinkletoes? Earthbending is all about the stance.”
He was having visions of his twelve-year-old self humiliated, hardly able to lift a pebble with bending, as this tiny blind girl juggled boulders for laughs. “But this is metalbending, Toph!”
“Still earthbending, ain’t it? You’re the Avatar. You’re the master of all elements. Now, hold your stance like the Avatar and not some lily-livered chicken-goat!”
No, Lin’s crush wasn’t anything to worry about. Toph should have suggested this metalbending thing a long time ago. She just wished she could see Twinkletoes’s face as she gloated. She’d eat burned fruit pies every meal for the rest of her life for that.