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glass_icarus

Friend's going-away party last night + dim sum today with

magnetic_pole,

midnitemaraud_r,

onehundredmoons, and

kellychambliss (which was a most excellent way to celebrate Harry Potter's birthday, now that I think of it! ;D) = tiiiiired omg. Off to nap and/or mainline some more A:TLA S3, probably- toss me some drabble prompts so I can get back into the swing of writing? &hearts Any fandom is okay, though Avatar and HP are preferred for this round!

eta:
- flip [A:TLA, Ty Lee & Azula], for

wingstodust
- attack of the not!pornstache [HP, MWPP, "five o'clock shadow"], for

ruffwriter
- that unnoticed, & that necessary [HP, Cho Chang], for

gehayi
- truth, lies, & cabbages [A:TLA, Aang, Katara, cabbage merchant], for

whymzycal
- hearthfire [A:TLA, Iroh, "lessons in preparing tea"], for

magnetic_pole &

crossedwires

Crossposts: http://glass-icarus.livejournal.com/232153.html

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From:

glass_icarus

Pu-On Tin's sources include singing nomads, pirates, prisoners of war, and a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage.

They're out buying ingredients for hotpot when Aang sees them: the most beautiful cabbages he could have imagined, sitting in the most dilapidated-looking cart he's ever laid eyes on.

"Hey, Katara!" he shouts. "Take a look at these!"

The man rummaging behind the cart stands up abruptly. "Avatar Aang, is that you?"

Aang claps a hand to his forehead guiltily. "Oh, shoot. Did my hat slip? I'm sorry, please don't tell anyone, Toph's going to kill me if I'm late again-"

"No, no, we've met before. Or rather, I suppose, I've met you; you've merely met my cart. On multiple occasions."

"Huh?" Aang blinks, confused.

"Aang? What's going on?" Katara stops in front of the cabbage cart. "I'm sorry, but you look really familiar. Do we know you?"

"Actually, this man says-"

"- my name is Tai, actually-"

"- okay, Tai, says we have met somewhere before. Multiple places. Except we've only met his cart."

Tai shakes his head indignantly. "Somehow, Avatar, you followed me like a plague. Everywhere I went in the Earth Kingdom, you were certain to appear! You were death to two whole crops of my cabbages!"

"We... were?"

"In Omashu, I saw you careening down toward me in a runaway mail cart just before it destroyed my cart, and then King Bumi's pet thing proceeded to eat half of my cabbages! So I had my cart repaired and restocked my cabbages and went to Kyoshi Island, and you were there again! But the Fire Nation army arrived and pursued you through the town, and exploded my cart in the process."

Aang makes a formal bow. "Um... I'm sorry?" he tries.

"I certainly hope so!" sniffs Tai. "Because after that I didn't have enough money to hire a repairman, so I had to put the cart back together myself. The loading docks on Kyoshi Island were completely destroyed! It was three whole weeks before I could get more cabbages, and all of the ones I had were either charcoal or singed crispy. By the time I was finally set up, the Fire Nation army was on the move again! I had to make my way here to Ba Sing Se as a refugee, taking half of my remaining stock with me- and then that horrible woman at customs wouldn't let me take them in! She said there was danger of infestation by cabbage slugs!"

Katara blinks. "Why? They don't look diseased to me."

"Exactly! But nobody would listen to me, oh, no. We couldn't possibly have effective pesticides outside of Ba Sing Se, could we? Never mind that when I got into the city, the local cabbages weren't nearly as healthy; I was only allowed to bring my cart. The cabbages she fed to the animals. I had to have the rest of my stock imported, and I ended up paying three separate taxes on it!"

Aang executes a deeper bow. "I'm really sorry for your losses."

"Hmph!" says Tai. "That wasn't even the greatest of them. After I'd finally set up shop here, all the animals escaped from the zoo and demolished all of my cabbages! I had to wait out the rest of the year before my family's new harvest arrived."

"Wait," Katara says, turning. "That's- oh, Aang, tell me you didn't-"

"I'm really, really sorry?" Aang says, grinning nervously from the general vicinity of his shins.

Katara smacks her forehead. "I should have known that herding was involved when you said you 'built the animals a new facility!'"

"I humbly apologize for your loss, Merchant Tai, and I accept responsibility," says Aang, sweating a little. "Um... is there any way I can repay you?"

"Oh, you already have, Avatar. I'm earning royalties." Tai grins. "However, I wouldn't object if you wanted to buy some of my cabbages."

"Actually, that's what we came here looking for!" Katara selects three heads and tosses them to Aang, handing over the requisite coins. "Come on, Aang. We're going to be late, and you know what that means."

"Oh, no," Aang groans. "Toph."

"Thanks for the cabbages! It was, um, nice to finally meet you," Katara shouts as they break into a run.

It isn't until they return to the Jasmine Dragon, exhausted and out of breath, that they realize what royalties Tai was actually referring to.

Edited Date: 2010-08-04 06:12 am (UTC)