"Your food is getting cold, Bolin," Korra complained, her face pushed into her fist, elbow on the table as she collected some more noodles between her chopsticks, "Can't we just eat without thinking about the finals for once?"

Bolin was busy scribbling on a napkin next to his bowl, ignoring Pabu making short work of his own dinner. "Hold on, you're going to like this one," he insisted, before lifting his pen and sliding the napkin over to the Avatar, turning it so she could see.

Korra looked it over, vaguely paying attention. It was another diagram of a play they could make during the final match of the probending tournament. Bolin continued to hold to his belief that Shaozu, the Wolf Bats' firebender, was weak to waterbending attacks thanks to a hydrophobia caused by a near-drowning as a child. He also held that he was not into exploiting people's fears, but that probending was an every-team for themselves sport, and that the Wolf Bats were rich from their winnings, and that it was the Fire Ferrets' turn to win a little.

"It's pretty good," she admitted with a sigh, "I liked the last one better."

"That one is better," Bolin agreed, "But we need more than one trick. That Tahno is adaptable – he'll see a pattern forming a mile away, so we need to be able to switch it up. I wish Mako were here, he's great at this stuff." Finally, he started to eat his food, not seeming to notice the Fire Ferret ear-deep in his bowl.

Korra glanced down the aisle in the middle of Narook's noodle house, and at the end of it, she saw the team that they were ultimately going to fight, sitting in their booth seat with half a dozen female fans ooh-ing and aah-ing over them. They weren't preparing. She supposed that would make them easier opponents. For a moment, she made contact with the team's creepy waterbender leader – Tahno – and she got a feeling like a slug was crawling up her leg, and immediately looked away, suddenly not hungry.

"Why are we still eating here?" Korra asked, frowning.

Bolin looked up, looking innocently confused. "Authentic Water Tribe grub?" he answered simply.

Korra drew a breath and shook her head. "There's gotta be other places in the city that do good noodles. We should hang out somewhere else, so we can eat without that spider watching us," she shuddered visibly, then made a face.

Bolin was suddenly very animated. "Hey, the day I let a jerk like that push me out of my favourite restaurant is the day I shoot a boarcupine out of my belly button," he jabbed his fingertip into the table forcefully, scowling and pouting as hard as he could.

Korra laughed and smiled at him, then nodded, "You're right. He can choke on his egg rolls for all I care."

Bolin smiled too. "Hey, can you help me with these?" he pushed his bowl toward her, "I'm feeling kind of full."

Korra raised a hand. "No thanks. Pabu's had his nose in there," she wrinkled her nose.

Bolin shrugged and pushed back his chair, getting up. Korra followed suit and grabbed up the napkin next to her bowl, stuffing it into her trouser pocket before making for the door with her earthbending friend.

"Leaving already, Uh-vatar?" Tahno suddenly called across the restaurant, his voice teasing.

Korra froze, clenching her jaw. Before Bolin could stop her, she turned around and countered, "Yeah, your perfume put me off my dinner."

Tahno smirked at her from his booth. "You must be smelling all my fine ladies," he tilted his head tauntingly, and then, much to her distaste, swung his arm around one of his 'ladies', pulled her in, and took a long, dramatic sniff of the woman's exposed neck. "Oh, yeah," he drawled, his voice so … greasy … that it made Korra uncomfortable, "That's nice. But I guess you wouldn't know anything about smelling good."

Korra balled her fists and stomped toward him, but Bolin grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

"Come on, Korra, you don't want to be late getting back to Air Temple Island, right?" he tried, chuckling nervously.

"Ooh, he's right, Uh-vatar," Tahno's brows went up, "Don't want to miss your bed time."

Korra growled loudly, then clenched her jaw and barked out, "Yeah, anything's better than sitting around looking at your ugly face."

Tahno chuckled, a dry sound that made Korra want to hit him. "Mm, well, at least I don't look like I just crawled out of a mud hut," he flicked his hair dramatically.

Korra smirked at him, "Ha, like you could crawl with that silver spoon up your ass."

Tahno's face drooped a little, and Korra was finally ready to go. She spun around and made for the door, Bolin following hastily behind. They got exactly half a block away before they both exploded in giggles and fell against each other laughing.

A/N: So, drop me a review, tell me what you think :) Plot's not really underway yet, but that'll be in the next chapter. Thanks for reading!