Have you heard of the Tahno-having-a-really-crabby-and-embarrassing-grandmother headcanon? Well, can you please write a Tahorra fic in which Korra runs into Tahno's grandmother, and she tells Korra that Tahno talks about her all the time? XD Then Tahno may or may not show up to hear that, and he may or may not try to deny it.
Let's go shopping for groceries, they said, it'll be fun.
She'd never really gone grocery shopping in Republic City, so she took their words with a grain of salt. Okay, half a grain of salt because she had really expected it to be enjoyable. She never saw a reason for Bolin or Mako to lie to her about it.
So there she was, stuck in an aisle. To her right was a wall of 'Flameo Instant Noodles' - literally, a wall of foam cups wrapped in plastic. To her left was a wall of a colorful assortment of cereals and wheats. Were there really that many different kinds of wheat?
"You look tall enough," a voice said. Korra snapped out of her thoughts and looked around and saw nobody. Huh? "Down here!" Her eyes moved downwards, and there stood a little old and wizened woman, about a foot and-a-half shorter than herself. Her hair was all white, curly, and had a healthy luster to it. Weird.
"Uh-yes?," Korra asked, raising a brow. Were all older women in the city so grouchy? So.. cantankerous? She could name one off the top of her head, Chief Lin Bei-Fong... but she understood why now.
Still- her thoughts were interrupted.
"Kid! Stop spacing out and help me grab that!" the woman shouted.
Korra winced and nodded her head, whatever it takes to get the lady happy. She reached her arm up and grabbed one of the packs of noodles. They were all the same, anyway.
"No, no! Not that one, that one," she chided, singing and shaking her head.
Is there really a difference? Korra wanted to ask, but she bit her tongue. Her jaw visibly tensed as she bit back her retorts.
Her right hand moved to the pack three columns over. Before her hand even touched the item, the woman said, "No, no, no, the one on the right."
Korra closed her eyes and went through the breathing exercises Tenzin had taught her to use during meditation. She had never tried them to use them, until then.
With furrowed brows, Korra lifted her left hand and reached for a pack to the far right-
"No, not that one either!" the woman scolded, "You young people are so dense!"
Korra seethed. A loud sigh of frustration escaped her lips and she grabbed a random pack of noodles from the second row, on the right, turned and gave it to the old woman.
"Look, lady, they're all the same. Just take this one, okay?" Korra said, pleading. She honestly just wanted to leave.
"What dear? Oh yes! This is the one I wanted," the woman said, a pleased smile was plastered onto her face. Korra smiled, relieved, but before she could turn to leave, the woman grabbed her by the chin and pulled her down so they were at eye-level. "Hey, what do you think you're-"
"Haven't I seen you before?" the woman asked. Before Korra could open her mouth to respond, the woman shouted, "Oh!"
Korra, to say the least, was started. Was she having a heart attack? Did she break a bone? Crap, she wasn't prepared for anything like this.
"I remember now." Oh, whew. The old lady was okay. Well, she was still talking at least. That was good, right? "What a serendipity! Such a happenstance!"
A blank look was on Korra's face. Was the old lady using a different dialect...?
"My grandson kept a paper from a few weeks ago, you were on the front cover!" the woman exclaimed. Korra quirked both of her brows. Well, that was a bit weird but maybe they collected the paper-
"He never reads the paper, so when he brought it back, we were all so surprised!"
Back to the creepy factor. There was no buts. Who in the world...?
"Ah, I think it's because he's usually the one on the front cover!" the woman added.
Korra definitely did not read the paper enough to know who it was, and even then- she avoided the front cover. It was full of pointless articles.
"But enough about him... Oh, he said he met you the other day."
At that, Korra quirked a brow. She met plenty of people the other day. Could the woman be any less specific?
"He called you an ugly brat and..." the woman wracked her brain, letting go of Korra's face, "Ah! And he said he hated you!" she said with a smile.
Never had Korra been so confused. What kind of woman would say that so openly? She was probably senile and may Korra would just slowly walk away...
"I've heard the way he talks about you though, young lady, which is all the time, by the way! He's never sounded so passionate before! Not even over winning the pro-bending finals!"
Okay, maybe she wasn't senile, but winning the finals? Korra didn't know who won the finals before the Wolfbats. They kept that title for three, now four years. Maybe she'd go ask Toza later.
"Want to know a secret?" she woman asked. Korra nodded her head and leaned down - why not?
"I think he has a fancy for you. You know, how do you young people say it? He likes you, that's it!"
Korra didn't know whether to be flattered or scared. There was somebody, a guy by the sounds of it that was always on the front cover of the papers, and they liked her- sort of. Clearly they watched from afar because she had no idea who this person was. He really fit the definition of a stalker, or serial killer. The front pages were for those eye-catching things right? Murders were eye-catching, alright.
"I'm sorry, but what's your grandon's-"
Before Korra could finish asking for his name, a voice cleared from behind, "Been looking for you everywhere. Let's go now," they said.
Korra closed her eyes and willed herself to remain calm. No such luck. She turned around.
"Look! Sir, I'll have you know-" she cut herself short as she stared up at eyes, the color of mist and fog. "T-Tahno?"
He quirked a brow. "Fancy seeing you here, Avatar." Again with that horrible accent.
But the hair finally made sense! The curls and the odd shine... Korra should have known. The old woman looked between the two and smiled, "Oh, yes, see here! This is him! The boy that talks about you all the time!"
"What? No I don't!" Tahno scoffed, "Look, Avatar, she's senile and crazy, don't listen to what she says," he said as he took the woman's arm.
"Tahno! What do you think you're doing?" the woman exclaimed as she slapped him on the back of his head, successfully messing up his hair. Korra bit back a laugh.
"I was having a nice conversation with the girl you like! I'm helping you, since you're so incapable of picking up a decent girl yourself. Thank me later!" she said as she waived her hand in the air, motioning for Tahno to shoo-off.
Oh spirits, Tahno was pouting. And, he was obeying! Korra wished she had the means to record this because never in her wildest dreams had she imagined him capable of listening to anybody but himself.
Korra wanted to stick around and give him more of a reason to stress, but she really wanted to leave and find the Fabulous Bending Brothers, and give them a taste of her fist. Leaving her stranded in a grocery store was never on her life's to-do list.
"Sorry ma'am! I need to get going," she said, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head.
Tahno opened his mouth and sighed loudly with relief. Korra rolled her eyes.
"Good luck with that crush of yours, Pretty Boy," Korra teased as she turned to walk away.
She got to the end of the aisle before she heard, "Pet names all ready! Tahno, you never told me this!"
Another slap was heard, followed by a low groan.
