Avatar: The Last Dicebender (A:TLA/A:LOK Quest)

oke, so here is a little something I wrote, I haven't checked it for mistakes so if you notice anything tell me.

I looked up the wiki on information regarding the Shirshus but added some things of my own as well, I had to guess their weight and settled on them weighing more than a tiger but less than a rhinoceros as it is noticed that they are extremely agile for their size and impressive weight,

I also gave them some rudimentary earth bending abilities, as a way to explain how they can survive and hunt very well in the desert, it also gives them and additional way to sense where things are much like the blind giant moles that taught taff. it's also noted in the wiki that they are great diggers so it probably helps with that too.

I also had to figure out a reason for the tribe not to have tame shirshus, as canonically shirshu spit is used in blow darts and I figured that a sad accident that ended up with the village breeder would work with that explanation.

The last change I made would be the coagulant (and somewhat disinfectant) properties the spit has, this isn't confirmed to be cannon but it makes sense to me as you wouldn't want the prey to die from it's wounds if you went through the trouble of paralysing it, it would also help as many creatures lick their wounds for just that reason.

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Shirshu training with Roku, Makiw and Tié.
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Today Makiw was going to help his son train the young orphaned shirshu Tié had rescued, as he walked across the bender hardened sandstone path he found himself pondering on his son's oddness.

It didn't matter that much to him of course, Tié was his son after all and he would love him no matter what. But he had to admit that Tié was always somewhat of an off child, he didn't really fit in with everyone like most kids did.

At first Makiw thought it was simply due to Tié being the son of the chief and a bender, it's hard to fit in when you come from a respected position and making friends can be hard when you are the odd one out.

But in all honesty that wasn't the only thing, for one Tié was a prodigious bender, bending sand better than most if not all children at his age. Yet despite his martial talent he wasn't as violent as you'd expect from someone with the ability to manipulate and control the very surroundings in the desert, the kid seemed to disliking causing excessive pain for no reason.

Hell, when he first learnt how to hunt he had gone through with it but with the sort of grim determination that showed he only did it due to its necessity for life in the desert.

He wasn't a pacifist by any stretch of the word, the playground fights and squabbling with his older sister had shown that clear enough, but he had never cared much for senseless violence or killing, preferring his kills to be as swift and painless for the creature as possible.

Yet Tié certainly took the cake by saving a wild shirshu cub and bringing it home.

Shirhus are one of the more dangerous species out there, with sharp claws and teeth able to tear a man in half with barely any resistance, the ability to catch, always remember and distinguish scents that are kilometers away with a nose so developed it practically allows them to see, small earth bending abilities to strengthen where they walk allowing them to run through the dunes uninhibited by the sand at speeds rivalling sand-sliders as well as increased awareness through seismic sensing and finally their infamous skin contact neurotoxin that they apply through their whip-like tongues .

Shirshus are naturally hated by many sand tribesmen, as being caught and eaten by one is a slow and painful death, as they'll paralyse you and then drag you to their nest to either eat you slowly themselves or feed their cubs.

The elders reactions could have been worse, but then most predators in the desert can result in a painfully slow death and that shouldn't surprise anyone, giant sand worms will devour you whole and you'll live until you are digested (or if you are lucky, saved by whomever kills the worm and slices in open before that happens), vulture wasps while mostly scavengers will mercilessly attack and kill anything in sight if their hive feels threatened and many more other deadly threats roam the desert.

There are other sand tribes that tame them and use their spit in blow darts, sadly our last shirshu breeder died over two decades ago in a tragic accident involving the birthing of a new litter. Some idiot merchant came with pots of perfume and had dropped them accidentally spraying the area with pungent smells, the smells confused and scared the mother into attacking the breeder and when seven hundred kilograms of shirshu crashes into you…well let's just say it isn't pretty.

Makiw sighed as he made his way to the shaded sandstone stable he'd reopened for the shade and shelter it provided the shirshu, inside he was treated to a sight that made his heart skip a beat.

Roku was on top of a paralysed Tié licking Tié's knee, Makiw had to keep himself from summoning a sandstorm that would rip the flesh of off the creature's bones as his protective instincts flared.

Calming himself with his old techniques he made a small nearly unnoticeable layer of sand cover his skin, that way if the young shirshu tried to lick him he could expel the sand and stop the tongue even if it would undoubtedly hurt the creature.

Luckily Roku didn't seem to be acting violently yet and the licking honestly just seemed to be some kind of cleaning action as the cub seemed to be licking a scrape on Tié's leg that was bleeding.

That was either good or bad, on the one hand cub seemed to be caring for his injured son and the paralytic saliva seemed to have some kind of coagulant effect on the wound, on the other hand the small beast now had a taste of Tié and Makiw wasn't looking forward to seeing his son on the dinner plate for any creature, no matter how fluffy the beast was.

Still, he knew that when dealing with the animals you had to be confident and keep your voice clear, if you come across as stressed it will come across to the animal and in turn make it worry as well, add to that the fact that the shirsu's nose was rather sensitive it would notice if anything was off.

"Roku, come here." Makiw clearly stated whilst pointing next to him, his tone firm yet calm without letting any anger or worry seep into his voice.

And the weight that was on his shoulders evaporated as the cub carefully got off of Tié and bounded to where Makiw was pointing, he put a hand into his satchel gave Roku one of the small treats he had collected for training and then lead him to refill his bowl of water.

Leaving the drinking predator to itself for a moment, Makiw went over to check on his son who was somewhat surprisingly already regaining the movement of his muscles and trying to get up.

"Well, if anything good came from this experience it's that you seem to be gaining somewhat of a resistance against the paralysing agent." Makiw grimly remarked as he helped his son up to take a good look at the wound.

"Hh-uh, h-he du-duh didn-n'ttt muhean it, he wu-waz zuh juh-just tryih, tryinngh t-to helup me." Tié got out slowly regaining the use of his vocal chords.

"Yes well, we are going to have to teach him not to do that as having a lick-friendly shirshu isn't the best thing to have" mikav paused, his son wasn't wrong of course but if his shirshu learned that helping people like that was acceptable without a command it would doubtlessly get his son into trouble, he sighed once more as he started thinking about a basic training schedule that would work.

Having decided what to focus on he turned to his son, "oh well, you should be able to move in a bit, we'll start off with some theory whilst you are recuperating and then get to teach Roku how to behave in public, well that and start training him to lick only on command." And started his lesson on how to discipline and treat his shirshu, he stressed the fact that the training should be done respectfully to the animal, as they were deviously intelligent and could get offended if you looked down on them.