Deer Country Network

CW: Emotional abuse, implied physical abuse by a parent



( i'm just a kiiiid and life is a nightmare )

[CW: wide-scale destruction, arguably domestic terrorism, but no people are shown being hurt]

[At first one might be forgiven for thinking someone has started broadcasting a vintage sci-fi film. It's not in black and white but it feels like it should be. People run, panicked, through the streets of a small town. Smoke billows from multiple flaming buildings. Rubble litters the ground, signs have been pulled up and bent like pipe cleaners, and above it all wheels a great winged shape that occasionally belches more flames from a maw brimming with fangs.

It's a pterodactyl. Its eyes are glowing red and big as car tires, its back is lined with spikes, and if you look close enough you can see the seams on its neck where the metal plating fits together to allow it a truly terrifying range of motion. It's a mechanical marvel and it's the best indicator that this isn't a vintage movie, because it is at once both too sleek and moving in a way that is too lifelike to be an old animatronic or stop motion monster. It is very, very real. It swoops in low and snatches up a car in its clawed feet, spiraling upward again before launching it through the window of a laundromat.

Fiddleford watches all this from the roof of an adjacent building, one that is notably not on fire. He seems remarkably unbothered by all the destruction going on and is making no move to run in the opposite direction. He also looks like complete shit, but what else is new? His hair is messy, he looks like he hasn't shaved in days, there are dark circles under his eyes. That's standard Fiddleford. What's a little nonstandard is the almost-manic expression on his face and the box he's holding in his hands. It looks like what you'd use to control a model airplane, only chunkier and obviously home-made. It's covered in switches and dials and blinking lights and buttons. He flips one of them and the Homicidal Pterodactyltron lets out an ear-splitting scream that sounds like metal tearing. He wheels it around again, turns on the flames, and draws a scorched line up the street behind a few stragglers who are still scrambling to get out of this part of town.

The memory flickers. The fire was red a second ago and now it's blue and then the whole thing sort of stutters like a skipping VHS tape and then it's over and there's Fiddleford, looking just about as shit now as he did then, only a lot less feral and a lot more sheepish.]

... I swear on my life there's a proper explanation for this. It just, ah, it looks real bad without context.

[Which... you know, that's true. But it's also very 'cool motive, still wanton destruction' and he knows that, deep down, which is the problem.]

( A fond reunion not even remembered. )

[She has set herself up in a square, in the busiest part of Trench she can find. She's got the camera set up to view the fountain she's standing on. No water runs through it, though that won't be the case for long. It's just something old, something decayed - ignored. She is wearing a formal dress, and anybody who knows her will know that means she's on a mission.]

['Formal' Korra doesn't appear often - and it's only on occasions that she feels absolutely warrants it. The fact that she puts up a banner behind her says all the more - in this case a blue background with a curious symbol on it. Her friends will recognize that one, too.]

[She has her staff with her, too. It had started as driftwood she'd found when she first arrived in Trench, and further honed, shaping it with each of the elements in turn before coating it with metal-bending. She can make the metal change, of course, reshaping what's there as she needs. The only thing that doesn't change is a symbol around the middle, made in copper - highly purified metals cannot be manipulated by benders - with a symbol of the Southern Water Tribe.]

[In short, she has a plan, a mission, and is ready to make a statement. And she stands there, until a crowd gathers. When she speaks, it's without adornment, but with all the depths of her sincerity, the core of strength that she's held onto so long.]

I want to tell you all about a dream. A dream of a better place. My world, it was one of nations - nations that fought, and warred, and conflicted for time untold. But then, at the end of a great war, my predecessor, the great Avatar Aang, helped create a new dream to replace what had been. He created the Republic.

[She hoists the banner.]

This is its symbol! It stands for a world in which nobody holds power over anyone else! Where things for the city are done by the people you want to be there! A serious government, of serious people - there to try and do good for all!

It's not perfect, but that's the thing - it always tries. It's about trying to be better, about having laws and changing them if they are no longer fair, or to grant equality to those who haven't been given it before.

Here we are all ruled! Ruled by the Pthumerians! Ruled by blood magic! We are made to suffer, for their unguessable gain! To be hurt, transformed, killed! To see our loved ones killed, taken from us! I ask you: is this fair? Is it not sadistic?

Should it not be opposed?

I call for the formation of a Republic of Trench! A fair society, to protect all of us, equally. Those of us with power should - must! - use their power to defend those who cannot do so themselves! To stand against any who would impose their will, their changes, on you! Even the pretend gods. I've seen the fall of gods before. I have pulled one down with my own hands! I got there with help, with the aid of those who were part of that Republic.

[There is a pause, and she raises her staff, the end of it reforming into a spear, half again doubling its length.]

I dedicate my strength to your defence! To the defeat of the Pthumerians and whatever allies they may have! Together, we can make a better tomorrow! We can make a Republic for us, for those who come after! It may take years, it may take generations - but if we all work together, no power in the universe can stand against us forever!

[A voice calls out from the audience, mocking, asking at what ambitious price her efforts will come.]

I swear here and now, not to do any more than help. I do not want, nor will I seek, a position of power over anyone. I will lead only so much as I am asked - and when the Republic comes, if I live to see it, I will not hold a position of authority within it.

[That quiets the heckler, and causes a bit more of a stir. Avatars like Korra radiate sincerity - because they don't know any other way to be. They don't know who else they could possibly be.]

A world of laws, a world of hope - a world in which we can live without pain. That is what I wish to help you build. I'll answer any questions you might have. And as a first step, before I leave? This fountain will flow again, you have my word on that.

My name is Korra! I am the Avatar, my calling - my very life - is to push back against chaos and pain and destruction. Call on me, anytime, for your defence! I will answer.

Long live the Republic!

[A number join in the call, repeating many times as there is applause in her audience. Others, of course, turn away - especially among the pleasure-seekers. Which she expected - people barely alive, in her view, living in a terrible twilight without purpose. She seats herself on the edge of the fountain as people come forward to ask her questions. Some basic, some detailed. Questions about laws, how to bring disparate peoples together. She answers what she knows, admits what she does not. Finally, when they are all done, she turns to the fountain, picking up a bucket of water which she sloshes into it. She takes a deep breath, centering herself, and the moves, body shifting from side to side, hands moving in a gentle circle. The water swirls, spiralling up to speed, and then she brings her arms down, the water gushing down into the drains, spearing deep into long-clogged pipes and dislodging the detritus that has long stopped it. There is a slight rumble, a bit of a rattle, and then water begins to flow. A bit dirty at first, as sediment and time is displaced - but the water flows again.]

[She leaves the banner, picking up the viewing stone, taking a deep breath. That's that, really.]