Prompt: Hunger

Prompt issued by: TurboNerdQueen

Issue date: 09/30/12

Completion date: 10/01/12

Hunger was something he knew. Hunger was something he lived with. Hunger was what drove him to work hard. Most people didn't understand what it meant to be hungry. What people knew to be hunger was the slight rumble in their bellies, which was then cured by an expected meal. No, that wasn't hunger; real hunger.

Mako met hunger on the streets, and continued to run into it on a daily basis. He thought he knew hunger before, but he had only known a lesser form of it. Real hunger was the continual and escalating growl of the stomach and the empty feeling in his being. He felt like a zombie in everything he did when the hunger went on for too long and got too great. The worst part about it was he couldn't just go home and have his mother serve him food on a plate. No, instead he wasn't guaranteed a meal to solve the ache in his stomach. He never knew when his next meal would come and he didn't know if he would live long enough to see it. But he had to try- because he wasn't going to let his little brother suffer from such a preventable thing as hunger. Mako would work hard, and he would make sure his brother was fed.

The boy had barely begun to firebend when their parents had died. He didn't have the best control over it and he didn't have much power behind each punch. But he started to realize that living on the streets meant survival of the fittest. If he wanted to provide for himself and his brother, he would have to tame the flames he controlled. So, Mako began using his fire to obtain food. He robbed food carts and food stands, only using his bending to knock things over or cause distractions so he could make a getaway.

The first few times he stole, he felt awful. But it couldn't possibly compare to the empty feeling in his belly and the teary eyes of his earthbending brother. He hated to think what his parents would think of him, but he didn't have time to think about them. They were dead and they weren't here. He had to focus on staying alive and taking care of his brother. Stealing was the only thing he could do to keep them fed- to fill the void their parents left.

Sleep fled Mako when he was hungry. He hungered for his parents' soothing caresses and their kind words. But they were never coming back. To make matters worse, he and his brother were hungry. Food was the last bit of comfort they had- at least when they had food. When times of starvation came to the brothers, Mako could curl up next to Bolin and he would bury his nose in the red scarf that hung loosely around his neck. It still smelled of his father.

He hungered for safety. There were dangers around every corner on the streets of Republic City. Just because you were children fending for yourselves didn't grant you mercy. Mako would steal food and then someone else would swoop in and rip it from his hands. He would chase them far and wide, but they almost always got away. Mako was coming to the realization –again- that the world was cruel. His eyes grew dark and sharp, and held the lessons of the relentless city in his irises.

These were lessons no one should learn.

Years of stealing and using fancy trickery with his bending earned him a bit of a reputation around the city. People knew who he was and were always more cautious whenever he was near. This made taking food even more difficult for the now 10-year old Mako. He still managed, but the familiar grumble in his stomach came back stronger.

His reputation spread far and in ears around the city. Ears that Mako wished had never heard. The gangs of Republic City were interested. The Agni Kais were the first to approach Mako. They left no room for escape- Mako and Bolin both left trapped in an alley with nothing but their bending.

Join or perish at the kiss of the flames.

Yet in the eyes of danger, Mako still let his flames blaze and let his sharp eyes strike intimidation into his enemies. No one was going to hurt him or his little brother.

Before the Agni Kais could follow through with their threat, the Triple Threat Triad stepped in and warded the offending gang off.

"Wouldja look at that," the leader said as he strode up to Mako. The small firebender was shaking- fear was the main force, but he kept it covered. To everyone else is looked like tremors of anger coursing through his tiny body. "This boy's got the eyes of a street dog; the same kind of eyes we have."

Mako sneered but kept his mouth shut. He just narrowly escaped being killed by the Agni Kais, he didn't need to blow this second chance by upsetting the Triple Threats too.

The man introduced himself as Lightning Bolt Zolt, and he offered the boys a deal. Run numbers- do small things for the gang. In turn, Zolt would make sure the boys were protected and had a meager amount of money to eat off of.

Mako didn't need the introduction- he and his brother knew very well who Lightning Bolt Zolt was; the biggest crime boss in all of Republic City. His offer was presented in a friendly way, but behind his eyes was a lingering threat of expulsion. At least he was more civil- at least his offer was better.

Mako swallowed. His parents would be ashamed. But they weren't there. The brothers were on their own, and this man was providing them the only sense of security Mako could afford at the time.

His hunger for safety was hardly quenched.

Mako hungered for a better life.

He hungered for a roof over his head. He hungered for the kind of food he could earn through an honest living. But he was entwined with the Triple Threats and he couldn't see an out anywhere in sight.

One day he was forced to rough up a member of the Red Monsoons. He was told to burn and burn and burn until he got the guy to fork over the cash he had stolen.

It was the worst part of the job for Mako.

He threw fire at the poor man, but he made sure to miss on purpose. He didn't have the stomach to hurt people who didn't do him wrong. The man, on the other hand, threw attacks back at Mako at full force. Mako used the cluttered alley way to his advantage. He bounced off of walls, ricocheted off of trashcans, and set garbage on fire to trap the opposing gang member.

Just when he had him cornered, a voice called out to him,

"Hey,"

Mako turned around to see a portly old man. His face had years of life etched into his drooping features and his hair was as white as snow. He reminded Mako of a grizzly old dog that had seen too many fights in its day.

"You're pretty good."

Mako kept his fists lit, but turned his head ever so slightly to keep both men in his sight.

"Why waste such talent on bullying people for the gangs?" the old man's lips twisted into a smile. Mako didn't like that smile. It was a smile he saw on too many abusive faces on the streets. "Why not put it to better use?"

Mako became a probender in training the next morning. The man, Toza, had offered Mako and his brother a roof over their heads, and odd jobs to keep themselves afloat.

Toza quickly became Mako's favorite person- aside from his own brother.

Mako's eyes remained hardened even when he trained. They were focused, but even more frightening, they were unforgiving.

Toza thought this would be to their advantage; an intimidating firebender that meant business. But the old man knew Mako wasn't meant to be this way. The way the boy acted around his younger brother was proof enough to the old man that Mako was better than what the streets had made him out to be.

Mako was too young to wear the eyes he wore.

Mako hungered for a routine.

Living on the streets had made life unpredictable. Now with a meager income, Mako was able to feed and shelter his tiny family of two. Probending had allowed him to bring in extra money and gain notoriety in the ring. The Fire Ferrets had a chance at the championship. Everything was more predictable now- everything was more peaceful in a sense.

Korra came around and punched the idea of routine out the window.

Mako came to realize that routine wasn't what he truly hungered for.

Mako hungered…he hungered for discovering what he truly hungered.

Ever since Korra had come onto the scene and abruptly squeezed her way into his life, he couldn't make heads or tails of anything. She left him confused and even more so when she kissed him.

He thought he was happy with Asami Sato- and he was.

But that happiness wasn't the kind he had been hungry for.

Once he figured it out, he hungered for Korra.

He was desperate for her kisses.

He longed for her touch.

He craved to feel her pressed against him.

It was a hunger which could only be fed by Korra.

Yet it was a hunger which always remained insatiable.

But Mako supposed it was a hunger he could accept.

Because he could never really get enough of Korra.

He hungered for justice.

Years of seeing the violence on the street and the recent injustice against benders and nonbenders was enough to make him address this hunger.

He joined the police force.

His hunger for Korra could never be filled.

So Mako made it a point to propose to her.

He asked her father for her hand.

While Tonraq was generally a peaceful and just man, he was still skeptical. He had said to his wife, "He's from the streets- he's always going to be hungry for more! More women, more money, more drugs," but his wife had stopped him. "But he's known hunger. He knows what he wants."

Tonraq gave Mako his blessing on one condition, "You make her a betrothal necklace- and if she says yes, she's yours."

Tonraq had no doubt his daughter would say yes.

Mako had no inkling of how to make a betrothal necklace. He had no time to go around the water tribes to ask. Instead, he had to go to the local jewelry store in Republic City to ask. The jeweler provided Mako strip of lace and a small, circular blue pendant.

According to the jeweler, Mako would have to carve the design himself.

Something meaningful to both Mako and Korra would be the best bet.

Mako sat down with Toza that night and pondered over what he should carve into the small pendent. Toza said that same thing the jeweler had said about sentimental décor. Yet Mako couldn't think of what brought him and Korra so close.

Probending was the original glue to their relationship. But he wasn't going to engrave probending symbols on the stone.

Amon brought them closer through hardships- but goodness who would want to walk around with a picture of Amon around their neck?

"What about your personalities?" Toza had mused. "You're both so similar, yet so different."

And he was right. Mako was calm and quiet, Korra was loud and obnoxious. Maybe playing off of that could give him an idea.

Toza overlooked Mako's attempts at carving. He chided him many times about nicking his fingers and shaking too much. Finally Mako managed to carve a picture.

It was the traditional water tribe symbol.

Toza looked at Mako, an unimpressed look in his old eyes. "This expresses your personality- dull and predictable. But it'll look pretty pitiful on someone like her."

Mako glowered at the man, "It's not done yet!"

Toza brushed Mako off and went back to reading the newspaper. He had fallen asleep after a few minutes. The older man was awakened a few hours later when Mako told him to look at the necklace again. Toza grumbled and inspected the jewelry as requested.

He was surprised to find that the pendant's carvings were now filled with a melted stone. It was a reddish-brown color which glittered brightly against the blue of the pendent. It looked just like fire burning on top of water.

Toza smirked and looked over at Mako, who was smiling wide with anticipation.

Toza shook his head and started to walk out of the gym, "Yeah- suits her just fine."

Toza realized that the hardness in Mako's eyes had melted away.

Mako hungered to have Korra by his side forever.

That was one hunger which was satiated with no difficulties.

Mako hungered for privacy.

The air temple was a wonderful place to live. But Mako wanted a place for just him and Korra.

At the island, his hunger for Korra couldn't always be fed. There were too many distractions.

So he invested in an apartment and both he and Korra no longer had to starve themselves of each other.

Mako was a man who hungered for something as simple as calm.

He didn't need the probending fame which his brother longed for. He didn't need a huge house or mass amounts of money. He didn't need to go out every night and party with the other young men. He had had enough excitement in his childhood to last him the rest of his life. Of course a life with Korra was bound to be exciting.

No, Mako was content to snoozing on the sofa with Korra and listening to the radio. They would occasionally go out together, or he would occasionally go out with his brother. But typically, Mako enjoyed the family scene, which made him realize he had another hunger in his life.

Mako hungered for a family.

He loved the large family setting, but he had been robbed of such a thing when his parents had been killed. For the longest time he just had his brother- which was all he thought he would ever want in his life as far as a family went. But now he had Korra.

Every day he went to work he saw families passing him by, and it suddenly dawned on him just what was missing in his life.

He just hoped Korra felt the same way.

Mako hungered for sleep.

His newborn daughter was a screamer and kept Mako and Korra up at all hours of the night. Sometimes the baby just needed something, but other times she just screamed because she wanted to be held. She wouldn't be quiet and go to sleep until she got her way.

Just like her mother, Mako would think as he would rock his child back to sleep.

Mako sat down in the rocking chair in his daughter's nursery and let out a quiet sigh. He missed sleep like a long lost friend. He kept writing it letters, hoping that maybe it would respond back.

His ochre eyes looked down at the floor to find his wife lying down on her stomach. She was completely out of it and snoring softly. She had been too tired to get up and go to bed. But Mako knew Korra just didn't want to go to bed by herself.

Mako settled for closing his eyes and rocking the chair to sway his infant to sleep.

He took in the feeling of the room around him, and took a moment to reflect.

Mako knew hunger; real hunger.

But as he rocked his daughter to sleep, and as his wife lay slumbering on the floor of their apartment, Mako decided that some hungers were alright in his book.

Wanted to try a different style of writing. More short handed and blunt, but hopefully still emotional enough to make an impact.

Got bored and asked TurboNerdQueen (Konekonekonaito on DA) to give me a prompt- so she gave me this.

"Prompts usually are short..."
"YOU SHOULD KNOW I NEVER DO THINGS HALF WAY"

Anyways, Avatar universe and its characters belong to Bryke and Nickelodeon.