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"Have you ever considered a career in comedy?"
Korra's head jerked back. Those were not the words she was expecting to hear in response to her (admittedly, very poor, but extremely sober) attempt at hitting on the beautiful woman sitting at the bar. "Uh- what?"
"I think you'd do pretty well. You must have a lot of stories to tell." With her foot, she nudges the stool next to her so it’s angled, then, smiling, gestured towards the chair.
Korra frowns as she straightens up from where she was leaning against the bar, then sit down hesitantly. "What gives you that impression?"
It’s open-mic night at Naoki's Nook, which means that in addition to the usual sticky floors and tables, the joint was also filled to the brim with wannabe pop-stars. It was always Korra's favourite night, watching all the tone-deaf girls and their equally tone-deaf backup-singing friends fumble around on stage. She and some of the other regulars would run a tally on who would crash and burn the hardest. Tonight, though, she had been too distracted by the stunningly over-dressed woman sipping on a martini to care about the performances.
The woman smiles, taking a sip of her cocktail. When she pulls it away, there’s a slight furrow in her brows, as if there’s something wrong with it. She shakes her head, clearing the expression. “Well, from the way you framed your first question..." Another sip. Then: "Excuse me, I asked for this dirty."
From behind the bar Bolin grabs her drink: "Sorry about that. Oh- hey, Korra! I didn't know you were here- hold on, I'll grab you your regular."
"Thanks, Bo."
"You come here often, then?"
Korra laughs. "You just made fun of me for my pick-up line, then you go use the most cliché one of all?"
"That wasn't a pick-up line," she replies curtly.
The seriousness of the statement puts Korra into a panic. She may have just made the biggest mistake of her dating life. "Oh... sorry, I just assumed-" then it clicks- "Oh-! Oh, you meant because the bartender knows my name and order- no, we've been friends for like, ever. I met him way before he and his brother even opened the bar" Korra stumbles over her words, growing more embarrassed by the second. Thankfully, Bolin stoops in before she can say anything too stupid.
"Here you go, one dirty gin Martini, shaken, and a Rusty Nail for Korra."
Korra grins, accepting the drink, and Bolin is called to the back before she can use him as a distraction from her idiocy... or to introduce him to the woman, so she can finally learn her name.
"Do you want to sit outside?" The unnamed woman asks. "It's getting a bit too humid in here for my taste."
"Sure-! Yeah, definitely! It gets like this when there are too many people inside. It's already pretty sweaty in here as is, then you add twenty-five to fifty drunk karaokers, and it just skyrockets."
Korra slides off of her chair (Thank god she isn't wearing shorts today) and follows the woman out to the patio. The September darkness intermingles the last of the heat of summer with thr cool breeze of incoming fall, and Korra can already feel herself breathing easier.
As they sit down at one of the few vacant tables, Korra struggles to find something new to say. Instead, as the other woman looks down at her lap, Korra takes a much larger sip than one ever should of scotch and forces herself to swallow it all down, silently praying she wouldn't choke for the second time tonight. "Weren't you- ahem- weren't you saying something? Before all this?" The other woman continues to stare blankly as she sips her new drink. "You know, something about me going into comedy?"
She looks up and smiles at Korra, drink in front of her. "I was just saying that you've got a certain... cadence that would be good for stand-up; in my opinion, at least."
"Really?"
"Yes, really. I laughed, didn't I?"
"Huh. I guess I've just never thought about it."
"Well," she says, putting a hand on Korra's, "Maybe you should think about it."
Korra lets go of her drink to put her other hand to her chin, pretending to look pensive. "Well, would you be there to watch me bomb?"
She lets out a breathy laugh through her nose. "You won't bomb."
"Yes I most certainly would," Korra says pointedly. "I have bombed multiple times tonight alone, and I haven't even tried to be funny."
"No you haven't- name one thing you've bombed tonight."
"Well, for starters, I hit on you, you laughed at my attempt, and I still haven't even learned your name."
The other woman purses her lips. "It's Asami."
"Asami,” she sight. “What a beautiful name.”
Asami beams in response.
"I'm K-"
"Korra? I know, the bartender said it earlier."
"Oh, right." With another sip, Korra's brought back to her previous point. She raises her finger into the air, trying with all her might to ignore the rush of heat that came with Asami's touch. "And another thing-! If I get on a stage, I will crash and burn, and so much worse, probably. I may seem funny to you now, but I haven't done any public speaking since I was fourteen and fell on my ass and ripped my gi during my Judo demonstration at the school talent show."
Asami pulls her hand back to cover her smile, and Korra’s hand feels lonely. "Oh dear," She giggles. “That is unfortunate."
"It was very unfortunate. I was wearing Spongebob boxers underneath." Korra doesn't know why she's saying all of this- the drunkenness of Asami's presence outweighs the tipsiness brought on by her drink by tenfold.
Asami's full-on laughing now, and it's contagious; Korra can feel herself smiling too. "I guess it was a pretty funny situation."
"And perfect for your first act," Asami replies, face lighting up. She stands up, pulling Korra out of her own seat.
"What? No- absolutely not-"
"Come on," Asami says, leading her to the door. She stops abruptly and Korra nearly crashes into her. "Do you trust me?"
Korra hesitates, their faces are mere inches apart and her heart is racing. "I… literally just met you twenty minutes ago..."
"Fine, do you trust him-?" she points to Bolin, who's avoiding eye contact from where he’s dramatically cleaning glasses behind the bar.
"Of course I trust Bo'!"
"Good, because he signed you up while we were outside."
Korra frowns, then laughs. "Now who's the funny one? You really had me there for a sec."
"I'm being serious."
Korra's face falls. "What?"
"I DM'ed their Instagram and asked for 'Bo.' I got him to put your name on the list."
Just then, Mako, Bolin's brother, steps onto the stage. The previous pop-star wannabe is still taking her (multiple, overdramatic) bows to the four applauding audience members, and he has to wrangle the mic from her hands.
"Next up.... Korra? Doing some... standup comedy...?" He sounds just as confused as Korra feels.
She waves frantically at Mako until she catches his confused eye, then makes a slashing motion across her throat. He seems to get the signal, but before he can correct his announcement, Asami and Bolin start a chant. "KOR-RA! KOR-RA!"
...Anyone who's ever been around drunk people knows how much they love to chant. So, they continue to shout until Korra trudges onstage, mic in hand. With a semi-reassuring pat on the back from Mako, she stands in front of the crowd, staring directly into the amused eyes of Asami. She tries desperately to ignore all the other people in the room who are now focused on her, but it's hard when they're so excited after that chant.
"Um... hi, I'm Korra," She starts, and the audience hushes. "I've never actually done anything like this before, but my new, um, friend over there signed me up- hi, Asami." Asami blows a kiss to her and she can feel herself beginning to blush, so she looks at her feet.
"Right, um, so I guess I'll just talk about me?" No response from the crowd. "Alright, well. My name is Korra-"
"You already said that!"
"And your mom clearly never said that she loved you," Korra shoots back on basic instinct.
A few people chuckle in the crowd, and Korra holds down an nervous grin. "Anyways," She starts again, gaining enough confidence to into the crowd before her. "As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted: I've been living in this city my whole life, so I recognize a lot of people in this bar tonight. No matter how many of you I wish I could forget." Another chuckle, smaller, but definitely still there. She hasn't bombed yet. "But when I walked in tonight, I actually saw someone I didn't recognize... a girl in a pencil skirt suit, who looked way too fancy for this shit-hole. So when I flirted with her and her first reaction was to laugh in my face..." she sucks in a breath "I knew my night was fucked. It was over from the start." No laughs with this one, but some people grimace, and a few suck in a breath in sympathy. "I mean, have you ever fumbled so hard that you became a literal laughingstock? It was brutal, it was so bad, she told me that I should 'consider a career in comedy.'" Korra makes an awkward face, and a people start smiling again, and there are a few chuckles. "So yeah, that's how my night's going."
She pawns over the crowd, scanning for someone she can pick on for a little audience interaction, like she's seen in the movies. She picks a man not much younger than her, maybe in his mid-twenties, who is wearing a cowboy hat, and says: "You, farmer boy, what's your name?"
"Uh... Ri..." He replies uncomfortably.
"Ri, how about you, how's your night going?"
"Um... good."
Korra rolls her eyes. "Cool, great talking to you, Ri."
The audience laughs again, for real this time. It's not over-the-top laughing-their-asses-off, but it's enough that it fuels Korra's confidence. She's on cloud nine for the rest of her act, she genuinely believes that she's doing well, until Mako steps onstage with his phone's timer going off, ready to take the microphone away from her. Her time slot is up. Some of the other regulars boo him from the bar, and Korra flashes them a grin, then hands the mic over and steps off-stage.
She fights her way through the crowd, back to Asami and Bolin.
"You were great!" Bolin cheers, handing her another drink.
She downs it and grimaces. "Thanks, Bo," She replies, and he ruffles her hair before turning around to get back behind the bar.
"He's right, you know."
Korra turns to Asami, brows raised in disbelief.
"I cannot believe you did that."
"Didn't you have fun? You looked like you were having fun towards the end- and you did amazing."
Korra's face relaxes into a smile. "Okay, maybe I did have some fun," She replied.
"So, do you trust me now?”
Korra laughs. "Sure, what the hell."