>> "Senjo will show you up. My name is Azana, and
>> if there's anything you need, please don't hesitate to dial zero and ask
>> for me." Then she really smiled, showing very white teeth, and added,
>> "Have a wonderful evening."
>
>a line like that... makes me wonder how many idiots she's had to hurt
>cause they insist on interpreting "anything" in a rather... adult way.

Oh, not many, I should think. The Phoenix House is an ultra-luxe grand hotel, one of the two or three best in the city. They don't attract the kind of clientele that would do that sort of thing very often (nor encourage them to stay on the rare occasions when it happens).

>> "I already know her phone number, it's zero," he replied
>
>*GZNERK*

Heh, I'm glad this got that reaction from someone. I remember being very pleased with it when it came to mind.

>> "I also got you a map and a couple of Badgermole cards," Korra went on,
>> giving Kate a rolled-up document and a small waxed-pasteboard card, the
>> latter decorated with a gaily colored cartoon image of the eponymous
>> animal. "For the subway," she explained to Anne's curious look. She
>> held up the other card, then handed it over.
>
>Ah, so those are like the equivalent of monthly passes; and that
>BadgerMoles have become Daiqu's generic term for underground urban
>rail transport then.

Sorta, but not quite. I had in mind the Oyster card that's used on London public transport, and those refillable ticket card things they used on BART back in the '90s when I lived in Oakland, CA - not a monthly pass, but a sort of debit account arrangement, so you don't have to keep fumbling around for change. It's called a Badgermole card because that's the trademark the Republic City Transportation Authority uses for the card service (again, like the Oyster card). The subway itself is just... well, the RCTA. Or the subway.

Now, the one in Ba Sing Se is rather grandly called the Subterranean Railway Network, with elaborate and imposing signage to match, but then they like to get their pompous on in Ba Sing Se. :)

>Oho! <Belushi>FOOD FIGHT!!!!</belushi> Now why does this make me
>think of Tenzin's youngest?
>
>> Korra sighed, rolling her eyes. "Meelo... "
>
>Probably because of that. Heh. I believe the thought here is "The
>more things change the more they stay the same".

Technically Rohan's the youngest, but as he was barely a character in Book 1 (and then only toward the end), the oversight is understandable.

>Though this... sometimes is and sometimes isnt. But given that its
>his little sister turning the thumbscrews... well, lets just see who
>Em turns out to be, eh?

To give Jiang credit, what he's doing there is a fireable offense, but at the same time, it has to be said he's not giving up much information. He didn't even tell her their names, which he surely knows, enabling her to preserve the Phoenix House's reputation for discretion in her article (as seen later).

>Well! the night clerk is also someone high up in the Firebending dojo
>to boot? Eyrie synchronicity, or someone casting on the cheap?

Well, she's not that high up (officially she has no standing there at all, which is why she isn't dressed like an instructor), but yeah. Azana started out as just the desk clerk - when originally designed she was supposed to be distinctly from the Fire Nation, but not necessarily a bender - but then we needed a firebender for the Fire Ferrets (more on that in the next movement) and Anne needed a congenial firebending instructor, and, well, why reinvent the wheel?

I posted about Nyima being one of those Rina Dragonaar-like characters who are just supposed to show up and do something simple, but end up developing into well-fledged characters with arcs of their own; well, that happened several times in the making of this movement. Nyima, to a lesser extent Lhakpa (more about her in the next piece, too), Azana, and the Satos all sort of barged to the front of the bus on me, as has at least one character who won't appear until next time.

On the one hand, this is irritating because the Symphony cast is already mammoth and there will inevitably be a good many Someone's Favorite Character who gets slighted on screen time as we proceed into S5; on the other, it's good because, well, it's creativity happening, and I've found over the years that I buck that current at my peril...

>> Within
>> thirty seconds, he was convinced of that. The other ninety were just
>> because he was having such a good time.
>
>Ha! They may be 'grown' but their not (always) "Grown-up"

Master Ito is not related to the Fire Nation royal family, but he has a bit of the Uncle Iroh-nature.

>> "... by conspiring to deprive him of old and cherished
>> friendships."
>
>Urk... Please tell me that was more the doings of previous members of
>the Lotus. cause otherwise this could get... interesting

Well, Korra did say the people responsible had been sacked. (We'll see more about this - you guessed it! - next time. There are reasons why this is unambiguously marked as part 1 of a thing. Even though it's part 5 of another thing. Actually, part 5 OF PART 5 of a thing. Sometimes my head hurts.)

>Ha! Confirmation of several points... And the Temple Island makes a
>less controversial sponsor than Korra herself

They aren't actually sponsored by the Air Temple, as such, but by long arrangement, they're allowed to list the island as the team's home (even though their real headquarters, for any operational purpose, is Shinobi Arena). It's no big secret that Korra's the majority owner of the franchise (these things work a little differently in Major League Bending than they did in the old days, when pro bending was more like boxing).

>> Her broad, blocky head reminded Serge of Buddy, the
>> Labrador retriever who lived a few doors down from their old house on
>> Tomodachi; but there was something bear-like about her giant stature and
>> the way she carried herself.
>
>One of Naga's decendents, carrying on the family tradition, I assume.

You assume correctly.

>> The staff of Ming and Daughters, Clothiers appeared to consist
>> of identical quadruplets,
>
>and they even get their own version of the SDM girls to boot. My hat
>is off to you, G.

Like I said once elsewhere, I like to think that those girls and the ghosts of ZZ Top are still roaming the galaxy, bestowing good fortune and the keys to the Eliminator upon the downtrodden; but the Daughters of Ming are similar spirits, it's true. :)

>> "What a winning disposition you have," Utena said sweetly. "I
>> can see why you chose a profession that involves a lot of interacting
>> with the public."
>
>and she managed to not bite off her tounge despite it being so far in
>her cheek. Woman of many talents there Corwin. Dont ever let her
>go...

That's one of those lines Anthy will take great pleasure in hearing about; she's been working for years now to slant Utena away from punching guys like that (at least as an opening move :) and more toward insulting them with a smile.

>> "Hi, Corwin
>> Ravenhair here. I need to send a telegram."
>
>Have to wonder though... was there a reason Corwin HAD to send a
>telegram? or just cause he'd always wanted to but never had an excuse
>till now?

Well, yeah, he could have just called, but it's the principle of the thing. :)

>> Or tomorrow afternoon she
>> might just... stop. We just don't know. Nobody knows. -She- doesn't
>> know. So every day they stole from us... "
>
>Yup. thinking about that can dampen most anyones spirits, really.
>And as a serial re-incarnator, its not like she'll be hanging around
>Vallhalla.

Yeah, that's the thing Utena thinks of asking about and then doesn't bring up, because the moment isn't right. Avatars don't go to the "normal" afterlife; they go to Diqiu's Spirit World, where they're available to be consulted by the next one.

I mean, Corwin can get there, if he really wants, but it's... not the same.

>Speaking of... For some reason I'm seeing it as sort of full color
>panels, much like from Aha's video for "Take on Me".
>Sadly, its not an OFFICAL music cue.

In an earlier conception of that scene, the race was more of a track-day/amateur cup-style event, and Corwin and Utena ended up participating. For that I would utterly have busted out "Take on Me", because I thought of that video the moment the race car turned up in Legend of Korra (and doubly so when I saw a storyboard of one of the racing-scene frames; in storyboard form it looks eerily like the video, I think I posted about that somewhere else on these boards). I didn't end up writing it that way, though, because... well, I dunno, somehow it seemed like it would be a little too much? Also, I'd thought of Minami and Ryo by then.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
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