unrestraint | even the hummingbirds will feel the earthquake

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abby

even the hummingbirds will feel the earthquake

"She's going to be here at any point now, Naga, calm down," Korra laughs, ruffling Naga behind both ears as they rest out on the edge of the city, close to the wider terrain that's available in the suburbs. Ever since Korra mentioned meeting up with Abby, Naga has been practically thrumming with energy, and that's on top of the excitement that Naga already gets whenever she has the opportunity to spend a full day with Korra.

Sooner or later, Korra thinks, she really needs to move somewhere with doors wide enough to allow Naga inside. Being away from Naga in a small apartment is just too lonely for the polar bear dog.

"I'm going to teach her how to defend herself, okay, so you're going to help us out," she instructs, trying for a vaguely stern looking expression. "You're twice as big as most guys, but I want to teach her how to protect herself against people bigger and stronger than she is. So when I'm demonstrating to her, it'll be on you."

Naga tilts her head, tail wagging once.

"Stop judging me," Korra says with a sigh. "I would have asked Naruto to help, okay, but he needs to focus on his job and not just break shadow clones off whenever he wants to do multiple things at once. His attention span is terrible—"

Naga interrupts with a bark, then starts bounding towards someone in the distance. Glancing up, Korra grins and waves eagerly.

"Abby, hey!"

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"Yikes, hi, Naga," Abby says, laughing, walking closer until Korra, too, is in sight. She's not really sure what to expect from this self defense lesson, but it can hardly hurt, and if she's going to trust anyone to know what they're talking about, it's Korra. She's a little breathless by the time she arrives, probably a sign that she could use the lesson for general fitness, too. "Hey, Korra."

As soon as Naga's within reach of Abby, the polar bear dog starts to lick all over her face, then butts her head up against Abby's shoulder. In spite of Naga's size, she's careful enough not to use too much force on a girl of Abby's size, her movements more playful than threatening.

Grinning cheekily, Korra decides simply to jog over to the both of them.

"Someone is clearly glad to see you," Korra teases, stretching her arms out as she comes to a stop. "How's your day been? Before the whole 'covered in polar bear dog slobber' bit."

Few things make Abby as happy as Naga. Korra, too, but there's something about the lack of judgement that non-humans can offer. She grins, wiping her face with a laugh. "Believe it or not, this is always one of the best parts of my day. Slobber and all. It's been okay. You know, work. Cats. Coffee. And now learning to kick ass."

"That's right," Korra agrees heartily, heartened already by how much enthusiasm Abby seems to show for the lessons. While Korra's been coaching a few people as of late — Ellie, Billy, and Kate, to name some — she's still not really sure whether or not she's any good at the teaching thing. All that she knows is that she wants to try to keep her friends all safe in the city, and until she figures out a way to clone herself, enabling them to protect themselves seems like the best bet.

Naga, blissfully unaware of those considerations, growls playfully and nips lightly at Abby's coat.

"Hey, hey, don't ruin her clothes," Korra warns, smacking Naga lightly on the rump, which settles the polar bear dog slightly. "That's right, you work for that cat cafe place, don't you? I still haven't been. Are the cats there nice? I think I've always been more of a canine person."

Maybe having her clothes damaged should bother Abby more than it does, but there's something so damn elating about having both Naga and Korra like her that she can't say it upsets her at all. She just grins, petting the polar bear dog as she speaks, feeling something like contentment as she only does when she's around animals or the sea. "They're nice. Crazy, but. Most cats are crazy. You should come by some time. Even if you don't like the cats, there's tea and coffee and all that good stuff."

"I don't think I'd dislike the cats. I'm a pretty big fan of animals in general. They never seem to be dishonest, you know? It's always people who seem to do the lying," Korra says. It's probably simplifying the situation a little — there have certainly been times in the past when Naga tried to hide some kind of wrongdoing from Korra — but she still thinks that animals' emotions are a lot easier to read than people's.

"So," she says, hands on her hips as Naga finally gives Abby a slight amount of breathing room. "I'm really glad that you're down with trying some self-defense training. Even though I'm probably far from the best martial arts master around, all of the stuff that's happened in the city lately makes me really want to make sure my friends can protect themselves. And kick as much ass physically as I already know they do here."

Korra thumps a hand against her chest with a grin.

It's still nice and strange to be referred to as Korra's friend, even if Abby would never hesitate to say so herself. The truth is, her friendships back home were limited, if at all existent, and the closest she had to female friends her age were the girls she found herself paired up in science lab, or whatever. Few were outwardly mean, but still. It was mostly Bryce and his asshole, stoner friends that she spent the majority of her time with.

She's glad she has a friend like Korra in Darrow. It almost brings about some comfort when she's wondering what kind of antics she and Amy would get up to here.

She grins at the gesture, nodding. "Absolutely. So, uh, where do we start?"

"Okay. So. The most important thing to know that even before anything that I teach you, you need to make sure that you can be loud. If the attacker just wants something like your wallet or purse, fine, let the person take it and be done. But if there's anything more, if they touch you at all, if they try to get you to go somewhere, be loud. Most people will be scared off when that happens," Korra tells Abby, her expression sobering. Sometimes it's hard to remember that there are people who don't have her level of strength, but if she's planning to teach Abby, then Korra needs to remember and acknowledge this from the start. "I know a lot of attackers will tell you to be quiet, but if you quiet down for them, that just means they know they can get you to do whatever they want. Darrow has a lot of people around basically every block, so you should be able to be loud and have that actually help."

She moves until she stands in front of Abby, shoulders squared. Glancing over Abby's stance for a moment, Korra quickly breaks out into a grin and reaches out to straighten Abby's shoulders.

"I never noticed before. We're actually about the same height," she points out with a grin. "So, on any person who attacks you, there are seven places that you should look out for right away. They are the eyes, nose, ears, neck, groin, knee, and legs." Korra gestures to each one of the parts on her own body. "I'll write them down for you later. It's important that you remember them all."

Abby thinks she can remember that, thinking of one too many instances where boys had earned a kick to the groin, but knows that Korra is more of an expert than her and if she wants to write it down, she'll let her write it down. This is a hell of a favour, after all.

She both watches and listens intently to Korra, trying to not get too caught up in the fact it feels kind of fucking awesome to have someone care about her safety enough to want to do something about it. "I think I've got the loudness down," Abby says. Though she's guilty of mumbling at times, she knows how to yell if the situation calls for it. "Eyes, nose, ears, neck, groin, knees... legs? Does the order matter?"

"Nah. It's not really listed in any order other than top to bottom," Korra says, gesturing to each one of the spots on her own body. "You'd probably have more luck with groin for guys than girls, but other than that, they're all pretty useful. If you're trying to decide which to use, it's really about what's actually within your reach. If your arms are tied up, maybe it's easier to kick your foot back against their knees, that sort of thing."

"Okay. First up, the eyes." Korra reaches out for Abby's hand, raising it up to her own eyes. "Probably one of the most effective things you can first do if you're not being blocked is poke at or scratch your attacker's eyes. Both your fingers and knuckles should be able to do that. It's pretty painful for the attacker, and it'll also make it harder for them to see you, giving you several seconds to run away, which can be critical."

"But won't... I mean, can't that send them blind?" Abby asks, fingers curling inwards, cringing at the thought of someone pulling the same move on her. It's not like she's in the business of attacking, though, and she's certain that compassion for those that do isn't the point. Still, there were times when Bryce had pulled stunts that might have required such self-defense. Maybe that's why it's harder to imagine inflicting that much pain. Maybe it solidifies the fact that her ex-boyfriend was a little more than just an ass.

"Depending on how hard you jab, sure. But... I don't think you should underestimate the human body. It can be pretty resilient against things like that," Korra muses, thinking about the many times she's knocked someone in the eyes, and how easy it often is for them to bounce back to full health. She knows that she's no shrinking violet when it comes to her strength, either.

"Also, it's more important that you stay safe. That you stay healthy. You're the innocent party in this situation, right? Your safety matters more than the assaulter's. Completely."

"Right," Abby says, shaking her head like it's the most obvious thing, like she should have realised that she mattered most all along. Again, it speaks for the kind of people that she's drawn to, or was drawn to, that it's them she wants to protect and not herself. It's funny how she can think she's doing so much better, but then remnants of the old her, of the sadder her, come flooding back, and she wonders if she's changed at all. "You're right. Obviously. That makes sense. So, um, eyes. If I can reach them. Got it."

There's something about Abby's countenance that changes a bit. Korra's never really been the best at reading people, but there's definitely something here to dig into with that stammer and the quick shake of Abby's head. It worries Korra, honestly — anyone who doesn't feel empowered to protect themselves always becomes a red flag of sorts to Korra, who has always been capable of putting herself first and seeing that as a greater good.

"Are you okay?" Korra asks, tilting her head and relaxing her body, doing her best not to look imposing. "I should have asked earlier. Have you had any kind of experience where you needed to protect yourself like this?"

"No! No, nothing like that," Abby says with another rapid shake of her head, flushing red. The last thing she wants is to seem as if she's been through more than she has. Most of the shitty situations she's found herself in have been her fault, anyway. The consequences of being drawn to all the wrong kinds of people (because it isn't as if she deserves any better, right?) "Just, my ex-boyfriend could get a little handsy. But never, you know, never anything like that."

Korra frowns immediately. Only a second later does her expression soften slightly upon realizing that Abby might take the expression as being aimed towards her — far fro the truth. More that Korra can't even begin to imagine letting something like that slide from a man. Aggression from a physically larger person towards someone more vulnerable is something Korra just can't tolerate.

"That's terrible. I'm really glad that he's your ex, but you realize that's no small thing, right? When you date someone, you're like... trusting them to be good to you. Or you should be. For him to take advantage of you like that, it'd make me punch him in the face," Korra says, brows knit. "It's just not okay."

It is a small thing, Abby thinks, and goes to argue such, but it would push them into an endless circle of what is and isn't okay, and deep down she knows Korra's right. She's just not sure that she deserves any better. Or did, back then. Biting her lip, she nods. "Yeah, you're right. I don't know why I thought it was okay."

But she does, of course. Asshole that Bryce might have been, he paid her attention, and that's what few people did. Pathetic, she knows, that she'd take being treated like dirt over being treated like she didn't exist. She can only hope she's a little different now. She likes to think she is.

Seeing Abby's expression relaxes Korra's shoulders slightly, and even though she's never been good at it, she tries to understand more where Abby's coming from. Tries to understand what Abby might have been thinking during that whole relationship. Korra hasn't had much experience with romance, herself, but before meeting Naruto, she remembers her interactions with Mako all being fairly disastrous. Neither of them treated the other extraordinarily well.

It's remarkable that their friendship persisted in spite of that.

"Because you loved him. Something about him," Korra concludes with a small nod. "And that makes you want to accept everything else, because next to that love, you think other things shouldn't matter. But there are people who are better and worse for us, I guess. That's what I've learned since coming to this city, anyway. I was pretty set on one person back home, wouldn't let myself think of anyone else, but then you meet someone new and wonder why you were so stuck on that one person in the first place."

"I didn't love him, believe me," Abby says, shaking her head and huffing out a breath of a laugh. For all the fucked up nature of their relationship, all take and no give on his part, she gives herself enough credit to know that it wasn't love. But maybe she's right about the something part, maybe what she loved was to be wanted.

But that doesn't matter, now, and she hates that Bryce even worked his way into her mind. This is supposed to be about starting over. "He was a total asshole. I just didn't have a lot of friends back home. So."

She hesitates and then shakes her head again, looking over at Korra. "I'm sorry. That's so not what I wanted out of today. I just kinda suck at moving forward, I guess."

"Are you kidding me? You're totally moving forward," Korra says, easing into a smile and shaking her head as she reaches out for Abby's hand, giving it a squeeze. "You're able to look back on the situation and see things that you didn't then. You know that you'd make different decisions now if the same situation came up again. And if you say you didn't have a lot of friends back home, that means you have more here, right?"

On some level, Korra wonders if she's thinking too simplistically. But... she believes wholeheartedly in everything she says. Abby doesn't strike her as someone who wouldn't be able to stand up for herself. Maybe she wouldn't do it with a punch and a kick like Korra herself would, but Abby has a resilience that Korra can easily see.

She just needs to believe in it.

"Remembering what happened in the past isn't a bad thing, either. It helps us keep those lessons in mind for the future."

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even the hummingbirds will feel the earthquake

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