Chapter Text
She’d been swimming for an hour, give or take, and it was only now that the cold was actually starting to get to her. Most of her friends and acquaintances—even the ones who had grown up in Alaska like she had—thought she was crazy for swimming outside in the winter like this, but Korra had always found it relaxing. It wasn’t an activity she did very often—work and commuting usually took away the free time she needed to go and do it—but it was one she deeply enjoyed. And there was a reason she was out at three-thirty in the morning on a Monday doing this; Korra was in training.
The opportunity hadn’t been one she’d expected nor sought out, but she hadn’t needed much convincing to jump on it willingly. Each year, the Fairbanks Department of Education held a charitable swim-meet at one of the high schools in order to raise funds for local athletics programs. Korra usually set aside a bit of money to send as a donation when the time came, but her involvement with the event hadn’t ever stretched beyond that point. In every past instance of the meet, the swimming itself had been open for school-aged kids to participate in exclusively. This year was different. This year had a concurrent slate of events open to anyone in the general public.
Korra had not swam competitively since she was in her early twenties. Her last meet came a week before her college graduation ceremony, where she’d placed third in the two-hundred meter freestyle and fifth in the one-hundred meter breaststroke. It was one of her lesser overall performances that semester, but at the time she’d not thought much of it because she had presumed it wasn’t going to be her last. She’d planned to stay involved with competition all through the following summer so that she could prepare for the upcoming Olympic try-outs in the fall, but none of those plans had come to fruition once her parents had abruptly decided they were moving to Canada. Korra would be lying if she said she hadn’t been upset at the time, but any lingering resentment over the way her life had unfolded was long gone. She’d had more than half a decade to get over it by now.
Her muscles were tensing up with the growing cold in her limbs, so she knew she’d have to get out soon, but Korra ignored her internal chill for the moment and pushed herself for one more lap. The "lake" she was swimming in wasn’t really a lake, it was just called a lake by everyone that knew about its existence. It was accessible only via an unmarked path through the woods near Korra’s house, and it made for such a good winter swimming spot because it had an uncanny tendency not to freeze over. Korra had no idea why that was, whether it be some geothermal thing or otherwise, but she never complained about it. The “lake” was just the right size for recreational swimming and it was a very manageable distance from her house. She’d been swimming here for most of her life.
By the time her final lap was coming to a close, the cold was really setting in. The lactic acid in her muscles wasn’t burning near as much anymore, which told her it was definitely time to get out. She was cold-tolerant, but she wasn’t stupid. Korra pumped her arms that extra few feet to shore, then pulled herself out onto dry land (relatively dry anyway, the snow all over the ground wasn’t quite as concentrated near the edge of the water). Waiting for her there was Naga, who had excitedly accompanied Korra out to the “lake” even this early in the morning, as well as a towel and the many layers of clothing she’d worn on the walk over.
The wind picked up as she dried herself off, so she worked as fast as she could to remove her sodden swimsuit and get dressed. Her hair would assuredly freeze on the walk back to her house, but it was far from a sensation Korra wasn’t used to. Such was the price of her private (for the most part, it was technically state-owned property) swimming spot. Breathlessly, she rushed through her preparation and then set off with Naga at her heels. This far into December, the sun didn’t come out until almost eleven AM and it only lasted about three and a half hours, so at near-four in the morning the world was solid darkness. She trudged along the winding, uneven path with her phone’s flashlight illuminating the way, but if push came to shove she would likely be able to get home without any actual guiding light. She’d walked this route both ways a thousand times. If there was one thing Korra hadn’t ever disliked about being made to stay in her childhood home past college, it was the “lake”.
Walking from her house to the “lake” and vice versa usually took about twenty minutes, assuming ground conditions were optimal. The recent snowfall had made said conditions less than ideal at the moment, and so it took Korra an additional ten to reach the edge of her open-fielded property. At the center of those acres stood her house, and even from this distance she could see that a light was on in her bedroom through the window, meaning that Asami was awake. Dammit, Korra thought. Her girlfriend wasn’t a morning person, and so she had taken care to try and be as quiet as possible when she left for the “lake” earlier on. Ah well, nothing to be done about it now. “Come on, girl,” she told Naga, and picked up the pace towards home.
***
Asami had tried and failed to go back to sleep for an hour after she heard Korra get up at around two in the morning, but no amount of curling up underneath a mountain of blankets or meditative breathing worked. Eventually she’d surrendered to the fact that she wouldn’t be getting any more winks and got up to make some coffee.
Currently she sat up against the headboard of their master bed with a book in hand, reading by the light of a bedside lamp. This wasn’t the first time this month she’d been in this situation; Korra had been going out on her early-early-early morning swims at least twice a week since she’d signed up for that charity event in late November. She always tried to be quiet, but Asami was a light sleeper and Korra’s idea of “quiet” was probably a bit louder than most people’s. So it was that Asami found herself up at three or four in the morning, book and coffee in hand. If there was one silver lining to this whole situation, it was that her job allowed her to stay at home as much or as little as she pleased, so she could just take a nap later in the afternoon to make up for lost sleep.
The autoworks shop she’d gotten a temporary position at when she’d first started dating Korra a year and a half ago had been looking for a new manager, as it turned out, and so Asami (who was vastly over-qualified to be working in the actual shop itself) had found herself in charge of the whole company after only two-ish months of working there. Their whole system was very modernized for such a small local business, so the majority of Asami’s managerial duties could be done remotely. She took advantage of that setup fairly often, especially in recent months. Ever since the end of July, the weather had gotten progressively worse and more punishing. Asami had been lucky in her first winter in Alaska, as last year the worst of the snowstorms had only produced about two feet of snowfall. This year was much more brutal. Already there had been five separate storms which dumped over a foot of snow on top of their house, the most recent of them coming just two weeks ago. Living in Alaska at all had already taken some getting used to; this winter was forcing Asami to acclimatize all over again.
She heard the front door come open, followed by the skittering paws of Naga and the clomping, booted footsteps of Korra. Asami had very little time to ready herself before Naga bolted into the bedroom and jumped up on the bed, having noticed that Asami was awake and taking that as an invitation to greet her with some big kisses.
“Good morning to you too,” Asami laughed, lightly pushing the excitable dog away. Korra entered the room soon after, having left her boots and coat near the entryway. She smiled sheepishly and came to sit next to Asami on the bed.
“Sorry I woke you up again,” she apologized, rubbing the back of her neck.
“It’s alright,” Asami said, and leaned over to give her a kiss. She crinkled her nose and added, “Go take a hot shower. Your face is all cold.”
Korra patted the top of her own head, which was glazed with ice. “And my hair is frozen.” She got back up and headed for the master bathroom. “Good swim though, the water was real calm. Only got windy once I was about finished.”
Naga decided that she wanted to lay down right on Asami’s lap, which (considering the dog’s size) essentially trapped Asami in place. She idly petted behind Naga’s ears. “So, it’s going well?”
“Yeah. Haven’t done any proper conditioning like this in a while, but I feel good.” Korra paused in the middle of getting undressed and smiled. “I missed this.”
The genuine happiness in Korra’s voice was palpable. She had always been a sun-shiney sort, but recently it was all the more noticeable. Having that thing back that she’d spent so much of her life chasing, even if it wasn’t for anything more than a charity competition, had put her in good spirits.
Korra went back to preparing for her shower, and Asami was left to herself. She wanted to get up and prepare for the day also, but Naga had ensured that that option was basically eliminated. With a sigh, Asami reclaimed her book and took another sip of coffee. Soon enough her legs would probably fall asleep underneath all of this dog, but there wasn’t much she could do about that. Might as well get as comfy as possible. She leaned back into her pillow and resumed reading.
The hours Asami kept weren’t nearly as strict as Korra’s work schedule, but for the most part she tried to work the same amount of time each day to ensure consistency. Running an auto body shop was hardly as difficult or complex as running a national shipping conglomerate had been (even a failing one). At Future Industries, she had been required to attend near-constant meetings with shareholders and investors. She’d needed to keep aware of her company’s whole fleet of shipping vehicles and their individual efficiencies. Almost all of the company’s financial decisions had required her signing off, and she’d been responsible for occasional media obligations as well, thanks to her father’s financial crimes and the company’s very public reaming by the government. It was a taxing, laborious position that she’d disliked the whole time she’d had it. The auto body shop (which was so inventively called Fairbanks Auto Repair), by comparison, was a cake walk. Her duties weren’t anything to write home about. She had to keep stock of their parts inventory, write and post her employees’ schedules, chat with clients on the phone or in-person, et cetera. It would bore most people, she presumed, but for Asami it was exactly what she needed. It was a job she could be content with which kept her close to Korra, and that was all that really mattered.
Living together had been an interesting experience at first, since neither of them had ever actually lived with a significant other before. They spent those first weeks walking on eggshells, and it took a while before they got into any proper routines. It really wasn’t until Asami took over management of the auto shop and wasn’t working nights anymore that they got settled in (which came almost a month after Asami moved into Korra’s house), but in the long run Asami was glad that they had been forced into weathering those awkward weeks. Attempting to time their working and sleeping schedules to still see each other as often as they could was arduous, but Korra had been very determined to see it through and the whole experience had only made Asami’s appreciation for her girlfriend grow. Nowadays, things were simpler and life was good.
By the time Korra emerged from her shower, Asami couldn’t feel her legs anymore. She glanced over at her girlfriend and pleaded, “Korra. Korra, please I’m trapped. You’ve got to help me.” To emphasize her point, Asami mimed pushing on Naga’s back as if the dog weighed a thousand pounds.
Korra snickered at her and didn’t help, instead she walked to the chest of drawers and began getting dressed.
“Babe, come on, I’m a prisoner over here,” Asami whined. She was mostly putting on a show, but a small part of her really was starting to get concerned over how long the circulation in her legs had been cut off.
Korra pulled on a shirt then crossed her arms and gazed at Asami wordlessly, letting her amused expression do all the talking.
“She’s your dog, you have to help.”
“Hmm,” Korra hummed. “See, I’m pretty sure Naga would say that I’m her human. I don’t know how much authority I’ve got here, really.”
Asami rolled her eyes and waved a hand dismissively. “Whatever, I’ll go it alone.” She tucked her arms underneath Naga and lifted as best she could. As much as she was exaggerating about her situation, it actually was a real struggle to move the dog very much, who weighed almost a hundred pounds. Thankfully, once Asami began trying to lift her, Naga took the initiative to get up and leave the bed herself.
“Haha, freedom!” Asami exclaimed, which made Korra chuckle.
Attempting to get out of bed herself was where the real trouble began, because her legs were currently all but useless. Stepping onto the carpeted floor and trying to stand made her feel like a newborn foal with how wobbly her legs were. On the other side of the room, Korra laughed again.
“Look at you, all weak-kneed and I didn’t even have to do anything.”
Asami braced herself on the nearby end table and blew a raspberry at Korra.
It took an embarrassingly large amount of seconds before Asami was finally steady on her feet again. Korra grinned and asked, “You good?”
“Shut up, I'm fine.”
Without invitation Korra crossed the room and put her arms around Asami’s stomach from behind.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m just ensuring your balance. It’s good for… you know, your posture and stuff. And I don’t want you to fall and hurt yourself.” Her arms tightened and she placed her chin on Asami’s shoulder.
“Oh, is that what you’re doing?” Asami leaned back into her girlfriend’s chest.
“I’m just being helpful. You wanted me to come help, right?”
Asami lost her ability to feign annoyance and smiled. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to enjoy the embrace for a bit, then eventually said, “Okay, pretty sure I’m steady now. Go tend the cows, I need to take a shower.”
“Cows don’t need hugs. Asami needs hugs.” Korra said and didn’t move.
With an amused sigh, Asami grabbed Korra’s arms and gently extricated herself from their grip. “Asami also needs general hygiene,” she said, turning to face Korra.
Korra pouted and turned up her nose. “Fine, be that way. Go take a shower. You need one anyway, you stink.”
“Says the one who so willingly came over here to grope me.”
Making a shocked face, Korra said, “Grope you? That was a tender, loving touch. How dare you.” She placed a hand on her chest as if she was deeply offended.
Breaking out into a fit of giggles, Asami placed her hand on Korra’s shoulder and turned her towards the bedroom door. “Seriously Korra, get out of here. You’re gonna get behind if you keep this up.” She gave her a little push. “Go tend to the cows and get ready for work.”
Sighing dramatically, Korra trudged her way to the door. “Spurned again,” she bemoaned.
“Oh my god, you’re ridiculous.” To ensure she put an end to her girlfriend’s foolish antics, Asami shut herself into the bathroom.
Since Asami moved up to her managerial position, pretty much all of their weekdays had followed Korra’s schedule in the mornings. She still had to get up early and tend to Gertrude and Mildred, then leave by seven at the latest if she wanted to get to work on time. Considering the winter they were having, recently she’d needed to leave even earlier than that. The added swim-conditioning only inflated how early her mornings were. Before meeting Korra, Asami had never been one to get up before seven AM, even during her time at the helm of Future Industries. She’d always been a stay-up-late, sleep-in-late sort of girl. Since meeting Korra (and especially since moving in with her), that norm was thrown out the window. By now she was mostly used to it, but that wasn’t to say that she was always so chipper in the mornings as she was today. The routine of it all definitely helped. She’d be much less able to stomach such early mornings if they weren’t a constant occurrence.
As she was sitting in front of the mirror after her shower and going through her skincare routine, Korra came back into the house and returned to the bedroom briefly to give Asami a kiss on the cheek. “Road looked a bit snowier than I thought it would be, so I’m gonna head out now, ‘Sams.”
“Okay. See you this afternoon.”
“Are you gonna work from home today?”
Asami nodded. “My schedule isn’t that full.”
Korra stopped at their bedside to grab her watch, then made for the door. Before she left she stopped and shook her head, admonishing herself for forgetting something. “Shit, I forgot Naga’s dental chew. Could you give it to her?”
“Yeah, no problem.”
“Cool, thanks.” Since she was still here, Korra decided that one more peck was in order and gave Asami’s forehead a kiss. “See you later. Love you.”
“Love you too,” Asami parroted, and watched her girlfriend leave. She sat still and relished the feeling that saying those words left in her. It was homely and good and right.
***
“How’s training going?” asked Kuvira.
Korra had just entered the employee-only area of the gym, where she made for her locker. “Good. Swam some this morning. Still getting my endurance up.”
Her coworker snickered at her. “I can’t believe you’re taking a charity competition so seriously. You realize you won’t win anything for winning, right?”
“So? What’s that matter?”
This only made Kuvira laugh more. She shook her head. “Whatever keeps you motivated.”
“Pretty rich coming from you, missus “I’m gonna beat all your lifting records just because I can,"” Korra retorted, coming to sit on the couch next to Kuvira.
“It’s not my fault you keep posting such beatable records.”
Korra rolled her eyes at her friend. “I can still swim laps around you any day of the week.”
“Why do you think I only bother going up against your lifting numbers?” Kuvira smirked and leaned back into the couch. “All in the spirit of competition.”
“Whatever.”
After a few moments of silence, Korra heard the words she had been hoping wouldn’t come out of her friend’s mouth. “How’s Asami?” Kuvira asked, her tone smug.
“Would you knock it off?”
Giving Korra a pointed look, Kuvira said, “Bolin and I took bets on it, you know.”
“Oh for god’s sake,” Korra muttered, putting her face in her hands.
“Come on, what’s there to be embarrassed about? You’re infatuated with that woman, Korra, and she’s got just as big of goo-goo eyes over you. At this point I don’t know what either of you is waiting for.”
“I’m not gonna propose just because you keep pestering me about it.”
For the past month or so, for whatever reason, basically everyone in Korra’s life not named Asami Sato had been fixated on the idea of a proposal, either by Korra or to Korra. Bolin seemed convinced it was going to be initiated by Asami and he kept asking Korra if she had any big plans upcoming whenever they spoke. Kuvira, by contrast, seemed dead-set on ensuring that Korra was the one who proposed. With her admission that they had actually taken bets over the subject, suddenly their shared determination made a bit more sense. Still, it didn’t explain why almost everyone else was so set on it as well. The only thing Opal seemed to talk about anymore was just how romantic Bolin’s proposal had been (which had happened a few months ago). He’d taken her on a trip to California for a week and they’d visited San Francisco, Anaheim and a few other places before their last stop in Redwood National Forest, where he’d proposed at the foot of one of the trees. The way Opal told it, it came across as though he’d rented out the whole forest and planned every second just for her. She’d told Korra the story at least fifty times since the start of December. It was starting to seem like more of a thinly-veiled hint than a simple memory. Korra’s mother had brought up the idea to her, however briefly, the last time she’d seen her parents. Hell, even Bataar, Kuvira’s husband, had mentioned something about Korra’s future plans when she was over at their house for dinner one evening. With every passing day and every new mention of the idea, Korra was growing more and more certain that everyone in her life had come together and cumulatively decided that they would convince Korra to propose, or otherwise plant the idea into the universe so much that Asami decided to do it in her place.
“Why not?” Kuvira asked, almost incredulous. “I’ve got like actual money riding on this now.”
“That’s your own fault. And don’t you think it’s weird to place bets on that sort of thing?”
Kuvira shrugged, as if she didn’t see the problem.
Korra sighed and tensed her shoulders. “Look, I’m just… not ready, is all. The whole idea of it makes me all clammy and stuff.”
“I don’t want to sound presumptuous, but I can guarantee you she wouldn’t say no.”
Sure, there was that. It made perfect logical sense. Asami loved Korra, she knew she did; it wasn’t a matter of being scared about false emotions or something. Honestly Korra didn’t know what it was that had her stomach in knots, but she’d felt this way about the idea ever since her friends and family had all started hounding her over it. Somehow it was too intimidating, or it felt too rushed. The idea of getting down on one knee and popping open a little box and asking those four words was way too far outside her current comfort zone. No matter how she imagined doing it, whether they were in public or they were alone, she just couldn’t see it properly. It wasn’t right. Korra didn’t dislike the thought of being married to Asami—she really liked the idea of making their bond so official—but for whatever reason the initial step needed to reach that point scared her.
She crossed her arms. “I don’t know, I just can’t… I don’t know.” Korra had no idea how to verbalize what she felt about the subject, since her feelings were so nebulous.
Kuvira dropped her semi-joking attitude and put a hand on Korra’s shoulder. “Hey, it’s alright. If you’re not ready, then you’re not ready. It’s not like she’s going anywhere.” She stood up and straightened her shirt. “But when you do get ready, don’t hesitate.”
Korra groaned and Kuvira chuckled, then left the room.
That first night when she’d met Asami had produced a similar sensation of bubble guts as the idea of proposing to her. It was an untamed, roiling emotion which Korra didn’t know how to respond to, and she was afraid of letting it out for fear of doing something stupid or rash. Everyone else in her life seemed to think she should embrace it, but Korra couldn’t quite force herself to be there with them.
Regardless, she was here now to do her job. Doing just that would help to keep her mind from wandering. She got up and put on a headband and went out into the gym.
***
Typically in her down-time on workdays, Asami would find herself on the phone. She didn’t usually like talking on the phone—texting was so much more efficient—but there was one particular friend she didn’t mind wasting time speaking with: Jinora.
Jinora was the first friend Asami had made in Fairbanks that she didn't meet in relation to Korra or any of Korra’s pre-established friends. She was a recent college grad who worked at the charity soup kitchen her father Tenzin ran, and Asami had met her when she brought her car in for an oil change one evening back when Asami was still working in the shop. Though she was only twenty-two (five years Asami’s junior), Jinora had a worldly, knowledgeable air about her. They had gotten along well immediately and had kept in constant contact ever since.
The soup kitchen was only ever busy around noon and six, when they served meals. Consequently, Jinora was usually bored and unoccupied in the mornings and afternoons, and as such she always wanted to talk. For whatever reason, the girl preferred calls to texting, which was why Asami spent so long on the phone with her.
Today, Jinora had abruptly called her a little after ten in the morning. Asami was in the middle of overlooking some financial documents, but she figured chatting with her friend wouldn’t distract her too much and picked up.
“Hey, ‘Nora,” Asami answered. “What’s up?”
The response she got was a prolonged groan, and a sound like someone smacking their forehead into a table.
“Somebody’s happy.” Asami frowned when no other sounds came out of her phone for a few seconds. “Are you okay?”
“No,” came Jinora’s eventual answer. “Dad just told me that we’re catering at a church today.”
“Isn’t that part of the job?”
“Not this abruptly. The potluck we’re apparently bringing soup for starts in an hour.”
Asami nodded slowly. “Ah. Yeah, I see how that would be a problem.”
Suddenly another, far-away voice came over the phone line and sounded like it was yelling at someone. Then Jinora was responding to it, loudly saying back, “I am working, jeez.
“Sorry about that,” she continued. Some noise that sounded like the clanging of metal pans followed. “My dad’s got everyone in supersonic mode.”
“From what you’ve told me, it sounds like this situation is his fault.”
“It totally is,” Jinora agreed, sounding petty. “I’m pretty sure he’s the reason the saying “bleeding heart” exists.”
From the few times Asami had met and spoken to Tenzin, she could definitely agree with that sentiment. He was the personification of charity, and a big family man to boot. Managing a soup kitchen seemed to suit him well.
“Anyway, my bitching aside, what’s up with you?”
“Same as always. My job isn’t any more exciting than yours, Jinora.”
“I’m not asking about your job and you know it,” Jinora replied.
Asami sighed. “There isn’t anything new to say about the other thing, so I can’t help you.” Every time Jinora called lately she wanted to talk about the plan Asami had been formulating for the past few weeks, and Asami regretted ever telling her about it every time it was brought up.
“You can’t leave a girl waiting like this, Asami, come on. It’s exciting! You can hardly blame me for getting invested.”
Now Asami’s sigh made her shoulders slouch. She already expended enough mental energy trying to formulate the plan; talking about it was only another layer of exhaustion to be packed on after the fact. Still, Asami knew her friend would not stop pestering her until she gave some semblance of an update, even if there wasn’t any actual news to share.
“I looked at some more rings yesterday, since I was out. I tried that jewelry place downtown, the newer one.”
“Ooh, fun. Did you find anything?”
“What do you think?”
“I think you’re too much of a perfectionist. You could do it with an onion ring. I doubt she’d care.”
“You’d sooner see me breaking up with Korra than proposing with an onion ring.” Asami didn’t even want to picture doing something so abhorrent. No, her plan had to be precise and as affectionate as possible. “She deserves the best.”
“Aw, you’re so cute. I wish my boyfriend was as sweet as you are. For our anniversary last month he bought me a gift card to Amazon.” The pout Jinora was assuredly putting on was almost audible through the phone line.
Asami was well aware; Jinora had done her fair share of complaining about the “gift” ever since. No sense in pointing that out to her though, because Jinora would assuredly forget and bring it up so she could bitch some more the next time they talked.
“No, but seriously, you don’t need to get so worked up about it. It’s important, yeah, but it isn’t like she’s gonna tell you no.”
On a practical level, Asami agreed with this sentiment. She was confident that Korra would say yes whenever she eventually decided to pop the question. Some people might say that a year and a half wasn’t long enough to be making commitments as big as marriage, but Asami didn’t need any extra time to reinforce how she felt. Korra was the person she wanted to spend all of her current time with, and all of the time that came after it, too. She was the part that had been lacking in her previous life, and now that Asami had filled that hole she was determined never to let it be empty again.
That all said, she was also determined (to an arguably irrational degree) to make her proposal as special as it possibly could be. To say Korra “deserved the best” was to understate just how high a regard Asami held her girlfriend in, and as such her plans for proposal were only growing more and more complex and intricate by the day. She wanted it to be in private, but not in an enclosed space. She wanted it to be in a place which was special to Korra. She wanted it to be around sunset. She wanted an entire day they could spend together relaxing and enjoying each other’s company leading up to it. She wanted to present a very opulent ring. Micromanaging her life wasn’t a practice Asami was a stranger to, so it tracked that she would get caught up in micromanaging her planned proposal.
Jinora was the only person Asami had told about her plans. She would go and ask for permission from Korra’s parents right before she actually proposed, but largely Asami wanted to keep her planning close to the chest.
“I just want it to be special,” Asami said. She’d said some variation of that line half a million times by now; it was her only (albeit weak) defense against Jinora’s prodding and flippant attitude.
With a snicker, Jinora said, “I’d pay money to see whatever conspiracy-board craziness you’ve been keeping track of all this on.” There was some more clanging in the background, then Jinora was shouting at somebody about ingredients.
“You sound like you’re getting busy. I’ll leave you to it,” Asami said.
“Sure. Talk later, Asami. You better have an actual update soon, I might start blabbing if you leave me hanging for too long.”
That was as empty a threat as Asami had ever heard. “Get to work, dammit.”
If Jinora was going to reply to that, it was cut off by the phone call abruptly ending. Whether that was intentional on Jinora’s part or not Asami didn’t know. She was once more free to continue looking over the documents she had been completely distracted from after all. It was a wonder she ever got any work done, with how determined Jinora seemed to be to keep her from it. Not that having such a devoted friend was anything to complain about, of course.
Asami refocused on the files on her computer screen, but her mind had not yet left the conversation. The numbers and figures all blurred into one big mish-mash of nonsense symbols to her eyes, and Asami had to look away from it and clear her head. Of course, the first thing her eyes landed on did just the opposite.
Her desk was sort of wedged in-between the kitchen and the living room, since there wasn’t much space anywhere else downstairs. Thus, she had a front-row seat to the frankly extravagant Christmas tree which now dominated the living room. Korra was more than a little into Christmas, and that sentiment came raging out the second Thanksgiving was over with. Both years Asami had been with her for the holidays she had acted like this, almost irrationally excited for December and its associated festivities. They’d hosted Thanksgiving this year, with Korra’s parents and some of her other relatives coming to their house, and the instant her family had all left Korra was dragging decorations down from storage upstairs. She kept all of them in the bedroom up there year-round, and she had a well-oiled process where putting them up was concerned. Everything had its exact place, and the decorations all cumulatively did a fine job of coating the entire house, inside and out. The tree was the centerpiece of it all, of course, and Korra’s Christmas tree was just about the biggest one Asami had ever seen go inside a person’s house. It had to be at least ten feet tall; it was a minor miracle the thing even fit under the ceiling in the living room.
Looking at it now brought Asami to the other thing which had been plaguing her thoughts: How would she (or should she) factor Christmas into her whole plan? Did she want to tie the two together? Opal might have reverse-osmosis-ed Asami into actively watching Hallmark movies semi-regularly, but that didn’t mean Asami wanted to reenact one for her proposal. Still, the fact that the holidays were nearing wasn’t something Asami could just ignore. Christmas meant a lot to Korra, that much at least was clear, so factoring the holiday into her planning was probably a good idea. She was also still waiting for Korra’s actual Christmas-specific gift to arrive in the mail, but that was an unrelated issue.
All this thinking was distracting her from the thinking she was supposed to be doing in regards to her job. Asami stretched, then settled into her chair and refocused on work. Her personal problems weren’t going anywhere; she could see to their melodrama later.