Avatar // Flicker // Part 1 of 1
Title: Flicker
Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender
Rating: K
Word Count: 213
Summary: Ruminations of the man whose job it is to light the lanterns of the Streets of Ba Sing Se.
Other: 31_days 10/18/06. brainwashed!Jet with hints at Jet/Katara and Jet/Li.
good cop, bad cop
*
He has been on the lamp-lighting rounds for closing in on three weeks now, a job given to him by the good folks of the Dai Li, and for all that he appreciates it (such kindness!) and is not one to complain (such a pleasant city!) the fountain is always tedious. It leaves his ankles wet and his body shaking from raw cold, and the top lantern always takes three or four attempts to catch. Sometimes he drops his spark-stones and must retrieve them from the glimmering water, and something about dipping his hands beneath the surface sends creeping chills down his back, but he doesn't think about that. No, no, he is safe here.
Tonight, though, tonight he skips the fountain - it tends to burn out before dawn anyway, and he has never seen anyone enjoying the lights he works so hard to light.
(When Jet returns in the morning some of the fountain lanterns are still glowing while others have guttered and something about that is puzzling and would be moreso, if he could place what it was. He moves instead from glowing wick to glowing wick, extinguishing the tiny, valiant flames. When he is done, he continues on his way, whistling a tune that resembles birdsong more than music.)
Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender
Rating: K
Word Count: 213
Summary: Ruminations of the man whose job it is to light the lanterns of the Streets of Ba Sing Se.
Other: 31_days 10/18/06. brainwashed!Jet with hints at Jet/Katara and Jet/Li.
good cop, bad cop
*
He has been on the lamp-lighting rounds for closing in on three weeks now, a job given to him by the good folks of the Dai Li, and for all that he appreciates it (such kindness!) and is not one to complain (such a pleasant city!) the fountain is always tedious. It leaves his ankles wet and his body shaking from raw cold, and the top lantern always takes three or four attempts to catch. Sometimes he drops his spark-stones and must retrieve them from the glimmering water, and something about dipping his hands beneath the surface sends creeping chills down his back, but he doesn't think about that. No, no, he is safe here.
Tonight, though, tonight he skips the fountain - it tends to burn out before dawn anyway, and he has never seen anyone enjoying the lights he works so hard to light.
(When Jet returns in the morning some of the fountain lanterns are still glowing while others have guttered and something about that is puzzling and would be moreso, if he could place what it was. He moves instead from glowing wick to glowing wick, extinguishing the tiny, valiant flames. When he is done, he continues on his way, whistling a tune that resembles birdsong more than music.)