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31_days2006-11-06 07:23 am
sophiap.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2006-11-06 07:23 am
[Nov. 6] [Avatar] One among many
Title: One among many
Day/Theme: November 6 - come with me, under my coat
Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Character/Pairing: semi-OFC, Long Feng
Rating: PG
Lien was just one among many who came to Ba Sing Se in search of a new life, but she liked to think that she was special, unique. For one thing, she wasn't just another refugee, not unless it was from the sheer drudgery of working on a small farm that was miles from even the most backwater of towns.
Everyone back home who listened to her endless tales and endless dreaming warned her that so many people were fleeing to Ba Sing Se that good work was getting harder and harder to find. They told her they'd heard that more and more people were being turned away before they could even get onto the train into the city, but Lien simply ignored them.
She was special. She would succeed. She would become someone.
After all, she was different. Everyone had always told her that she was pretty, and that she had a nice smile. Frequent checks in the mirror had confirmed that this was, in fact, so.
Lien knew that no matter where you went in the wide, wide world, even Ba Sing Se, pretty girls could always find a good job in a flower shop, perhaps, or a tea shop, or anywhere else where the patrons would appreciate a trim figure and a nice smile. Eventually, the right person would notice her, and her fortune would be made.
And so she left home, with a bag lightly packed with essentials and a head packed full of dreams.
Once she walked onto the platform where she would board the train in the city proper, however, she saw that she truly was just one among many. In a place the size of Ba Sing Se, there was a surplus of nice figures and friendly smiles.
Her bag slipped from her hand and landed heavily on the platform. Lien bit her lips together, unsmiling, and concentrated on not crying. She thought about turning around and going back home right then and there, but just the thought of having to crawl back and admit she was wrong made her dizzy with shame.
A month, Lien told herself. She would give it a month. Her resolve was firm, but she still hesitated before reaching down to retrieve her bag. It turned out that there was no need to reach--she had barely started to move when someone slipped the bag's handle into her hand.
"Are you here to look for work?" The stranger's voice was deep and rich, and it sounded like what Lien imagined velvet must feel like.
Lien nodded. She was still too shaken to want to speak.
"Please, let me see that pretty smile again. A young lady such as yourself should smile when she finds herself on the verge of entering such a great city as this," the man said, and his voice was courtly and kindly and not at all flirtatious.
Lien found she couldn't help smiling just a little.
"Are you here with your family? If you're lost, I'd be happy to help you find them..."
For a moment, she thought she caught a glimpse of something predatory behind the courtliness and kindness. Instinct told her she should tell this man about her three very large, very overprotective (and very non-existent) brothers who were right around the corner and who would be back any minute now, really they would, but she hesitated long enough that any answer she gave would be an obvious lie.
She shook her head, and the man bowed his own slightly, obviously pleased. "If you're in need of a job, I believe I may be able to help out an attractive young woman such as yourself."
Oh, Lien was suspicious, all right. It didn't matter that she'd grown up in the back of beyond--everyone knew that strange men didn't just walk up to pretty young women and start offering jobs unless there was something unsavory going on.
But then the man introduced himself as Long Feng, Grand Secretariat of Ba Sing Se, and there was nothing unsavory about that, was there? It seemed almost too good to be true, but his signet ring seemed genuine enough, as did the respect shown by several richly dressed men who paused to bow to him as they hurried past.
"Come with me. You will never have cause for want or worry again," he assured her, draping an arm across her shoulders. She did not notice how his cloak neatly hid her from view as he ushered her towards a private car (so private that it traveled on its own private track) or how several men in uniform fell into formation both ahead and behind them, quickly and effectively cutting off any avenue of escape. Long Feng kindly offered to carry her bag for her, but when she wasn't looking, he passed it to one of the uniformed men, who in turn passed it along to someone else who eventually disposed of it in an incinerator.
This was it, she told herself as she disappeared into the tunnels beneath the city. She'd had her lucky break. She was special.
She would become someone.
And indeed she did.
"My name is Joo Dee..."
After all, there was always a good job waiting for a pretty girl with a nice smile.
She was special.
"...welcome to Ba Sing Se."
She was just one among many.
Day/Theme: November 6 - come with me, under my coat
Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Character/Pairing: semi-OFC, Long Feng
Rating: PG
Lien was just one among many who came to Ba Sing Se in search of a new life, but she liked to think that she was special, unique. For one thing, she wasn't just another refugee, not unless it was from the sheer drudgery of working on a small farm that was miles from even the most backwater of towns.
Everyone back home who listened to her endless tales and endless dreaming warned her that so many people were fleeing to Ba Sing Se that good work was getting harder and harder to find. They told her they'd heard that more and more people were being turned away before they could even get onto the train into the city, but Lien simply ignored them.
She was special. She would succeed. She would become someone.
After all, she was different. Everyone had always told her that she was pretty, and that she had a nice smile. Frequent checks in the mirror had confirmed that this was, in fact, so.
Lien knew that no matter where you went in the wide, wide world, even Ba Sing Se, pretty girls could always find a good job in a flower shop, perhaps, or a tea shop, or anywhere else where the patrons would appreciate a trim figure and a nice smile. Eventually, the right person would notice her, and her fortune would be made.
And so she left home, with a bag lightly packed with essentials and a head packed full of dreams.
Once she walked onto the platform where she would board the train in the city proper, however, she saw that she truly was just one among many. In a place the size of Ba Sing Se, there was a surplus of nice figures and friendly smiles.
Her bag slipped from her hand and landed heavily on the platform. Lien bit her lips together, unsmiling, and concentrated on not crying. She thought about turning around and going back home right then and there, but just the thought of having to crawl back and admit she was wrong made her dizzy with shame.
A month, Lien told herself. She would give it a month. Her resolve was firm, but she still hesitated before reaching down to retrieve her bag. It turned out that there was no need to reach--she had barely started to move when someone slipped the bag's handle into her hand.
"Are you here to look for work?" The stranger's voice was deep and rich, and it sounded like what Lien imagined velvet must feel like.
Lien nodded. She was still too shaken to want to speak.
"Please, let me see that pretty smile again. A young lady such as yourself should smile when she finds herself on the verge of entering such a great city as this," the man said, and his voice was courtly and kindly and not at all flirtatious.
Lien found she couldn't help smiling just a little.
"Are you here with your family? If you're lost, I'd be happy to help you find them..."
For a moment, she thought she caught a glimpse of something predatory behind the courtliness and kindness. Instinct told her she should tell this man about her three very large, very overprotective (and very non-existent) brothers who were right around the corner and who would be back any minute now, really they would, but she hesitated long enough that any answer she gave would be an obvious lie.
She shook her head, and the man bowed his own slightly, obviously pleased. "If you're in need of a job, I believe I may be able to help out an attractive young woman such as yourself."
Oh, Lien was suspicious, all right. It didn't matter that she'd grown up in the back of beyond--everyone knew that strange men didn't just walk up to pretty young women and start offering jobs unless there was something unsavory going on.
But then the man introduced himself as Long Feng, Grand Secretariat of Ba Sing Se, and there was nothing unsavory about that, was there? It seemed almost too good to be true, but his signet ring seemed genuine enough, as did the respect shown by several richly dressed men who paused to bow to him as they hurried past.
"Come with me. You will never have cause for want or worry again," he assured her, draping an arm across her shoulders. She did not notice how his cloak neatly hid her from view as he ushered her towards a private car (so private that it traveled on its own private track) or how several men in uniform fell into formation both ahead and behind them, quickly and effectively cutting off any avenue of escape. Long Feng kindly offered to carry her bag for her, but when she wasn't looking, he passed it to one of the uniformed men, who in turn passed it along to someone else who eventually disposed of it in an incinerator.
This was it, she told herself as she disappeared into the tunnels beneath the city. She'd had her lucky break. She was special.
She would become someone.
And indeed she did.
"My name is Joo Dee..."
After all, there was always a good job waiting for a pretty girl with a nice smile.
She was special.
"...welcome to Ba Sing Se."
She was just one among many.