Asami couldn't believe it; of all the things that could have fallen out of her bag it had to be the present she bought for Bolin. Mako recieved most of her attention and gift giving, but the last thing she wanted to happen was to take Mako away from his brother. She had taken in them both into her home because she couldn't take one and leave the other. No, that would just be immoral as well as idiotic. Still, she wanted to make Bolin feel as welcome in her home as possible. It was probably an odd this to do, she realized, and he probably already felt welcome in her home. He sure enough enjoyed the fact she had maids and butlers that worked in the mansion.

She couldn't imagine it, growing up the way they did. They were so close, truly a family and the way they acted reminded her of her relationship with her father. They were close before... the break in happened, but afterwards they were all they had left of their family and it wasn't something either of them were going to give up. Asami never sulked in her room or hid herself when she cried because she knew that her dad was there for her. She wondered if that was the case between Mako and Bolin.

In any event, what she had bought for Bolin was something she thought her might like: she had ordered a photograph of his favorite restaurant, Narook's. It wasn't much nor was it something fancy, but it was something sentimental. While she had her time with his brother, she wanted to make sure there were no bad feelings between them.

The sound of a trumpet reached her ears as she weaved around the people on the streets, retracing her steps she had taken on her way back to her moped which now sat motionless (as she had the keys on her) more than a few blocks away from where she was. The heiress never expected to hear any music in this part of town. Though it wasn't the shadiest place someone could be, it certainly wasn't like the island or the grounds her father owned.

The music became louder and louder until she found the source, a woman. A woman who was oblivious to her surroundings. Asami contemplated what to do for a couple of minutes, whether she should notify the woman that she was bumping into people (it was doubtful that the woman didn't know, but maybe she could offer something to get her out of the middle of the streets. A drink or a tip for such wonderful music.) A few moments passed, the dark haired young woman standing in the crowd like a rock in a stream- the people parting around her.

"That's lovely music you're making,"

[/color] she announced only loud enough to the point she might hear her when she thought she heard a break in the music, a rest perhaps or a breath. "Might I tip you?"[/color] she asked as she dug through her pockets and around her keys until she grabbed a handful of coins that gathered at the bottom of the pockets.

With any luck, the woman might lower the trumpet long enough to notice the people around her, though Asami had not been bluffing when she wanted to offer a bit of money for the music she made. [/blockquote][/blockquote]

"That's lovely music you're making. Might I tip you?"

Tsubaki didn't think to remove the red strip of cloth from her eyes before slapping the nearest person in the direction of Asami's voice on the shoulder who ended up being a perplexed looking young man who wasted no time getting away from the seemingly blind, obviously crazy woman.
"That's so sweet! You're..." the grunt of surprise of the person she was talking to didn't match the voice she heard before which made Tsubaki decide to finally take off the red blindfold she wore when she played.

With a snap of her fingers and quick point Tsubaki zeroed in on Asami.
"Wow! Your hair is so pretty! It looks soooooo manageable." Her hand brushed over her own stiff and wirey, black hair that seemed to sprout from her head for the sole purpose of removing rust from battleships.
"I takes a lot of brushing to tame this beast. I know I shouldn't complain since I have all my limbs and don't have, like, a kunai in my lung or something, but man what I wouldn't give to have hair as prettyful as that."

The Equalist trumpet player clenched her fists and let out a groan of frustration.
"Sorry, sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. Tsubaki. Ito. Tsubaki Ito. Huh. Kinds sound like one name when I say it fast like that. Weird. Anyway, call me Tsubaki."
Tsubaki paused and tried to remember what people looked like when they wanted to get a word in edgewise. She didn't know if Asami had any intentions other than listen to her talk but decided to give her mouth a rest anyway.

Asami's mouth hung half open, ready to respond back to the woman's answer only to hear a rather random compliment. She couldn't help but to laugh it off, not knowing how else to respond. Though she was used to compliments - from Mako or her father's business partners wanting to get the daughter's "approval" to win the favoritism that Hiroshi Sato offered to no one - it was much different to hear one about her hair. Hair styles, yes, but the hair itself? Now that was something new.

"Oh, you're too kind,"

[/color] she replied with a warm smile. "Sometimes it takes a bit of brushing to knot it out, but I guess it is rather easy to keep up with."[/color] Her hair was naturally wavy, which made it rather nice to look at without much effort. And to be honest, she didn't even have to deal with knots all that often; though she wouldn't flaunt it in front of the trumpet player, her hair was the way it was because of the care she put into it. The right shampoos and conditioners as well made it relativity ideal to work with.

"I think your hair suits you just fine. Although..."[/color] the heiress pulled out her hand, revealing the coins she was going to give the woman, though that wasn't the thing she wanted to find. Still, she held out the money for her to take. It wouldn't benefit her sitting in her pocket until she went home and placed it somewhere she's sure she'd forget about soon after. She dug through her pockets a bit more thoroughly, pulling out what she found to check if it was the item she was looking for - the gloves she wore for when she rode her moped made it hard to distinguish the textures of the items.

"Ah-ha,"[/color] she breathed as she pulled out a hair tie which she offered. "I think it'd look swell tied back, and maybe a bit more manageable?"[/color] she suggested. "To me, it just looks like your hair simply has more to offer than you might realize."[/color] The woman's hair had such energy. Perhaps a tie would hold it together.

"Oh, it's fine. It's a pleasure to meet you, Tsubaki. I'm Asami Sato,"[/color] she said in a matter-of-fact sort of tone. She never hid who she was from anyone, especially someone who seemed as nice as Tsubaki. "But please, just call me Asami."[/color] There were far too many times when someone wanted to treat her more delicately because of her social standing, calling her Miss or acting like they were walking on eggshells. However, lying or not informing them who she was - while the other person is willing to about themselves - was not a way to make a friend or two.

"Anyways, I'm intrigued about one thing: why did you decide to play while blindfolded? You might hurt somebody, or yourself,"[/color] she said, hoping what she said wouldn't be taken the wrong way. [/blockquote][/blockquote]

First coins and then a hair accessory. Tsubaki's bad day had just improved.
She quickly pocketed the coins in order to take the hair tie with her left hand while holding her trumpet in her right. It took a great deal of fumbling while holding her trumpet between her neck and shoulder as she tied her hair back but any time her hair behaved was a victory.
Tying her hair back felt like setting a mouse trap. Like an errant breeze might catapult the tie across the street, blinding several people in the process.

When Asami said to call her by her name Tsubaki snorted while she laughed. She wondered what Asami was usually called.

"Anyways, I'm intrigued about one thing: why did you decide to play while blindfolded? You might hurt somebody, or yourself"
Tsubaki let out a rare sigh of frustration as she rolled her yellow eyes.
"Weeeeeeeeeellllllll," she said that multiplied the number of syllables in the word a number of times. "Usually I perch myself up on a roof so I can't see anybody but these days people on roofs scare people not on roofs so I have to practice on the street. Gotta wear a blindfold then because I am soooooooo shy. I can't look at people judging my music. It's scary. It's like..." she curled her fingers as if she was primed to grab the right words directly out of the air while grimacing.
"Like Koh the Face Stealer or a blind date. Ah! A blind date with Koh the Face Stealer! It's. That. Scary."

It wasn't until after she spoke that she noticed she was grabbing Asami's shoulders in order to not undersell the horror of seeing her audience and let go.
"Besides...I'm friends with a good healer and there is a chance that none of this," she flailed her arms indicating all around her "is real anyway...but let's not talk religion right now, let's talk chocolate."
She swiftly pointed to Asami. "As you might know," Tsubaki pointed back to herself with her thumb "I just came into some money and I'd like to use it to buy us something chocolatey."

"So tell me what it's like being Asami Sato. I bet it's neat. You probably know the best places to get chocolate."

ooc; I hope you don't mind the little bit of god modding I did near the bottom. I just wanted to keep things moving.

Tsubaki answered her question after tying back her hair. It crossed Asami's mind to offer to hold the musical instrument, it looked hard to hold it there and do something else, but it wasn't long before the hair was tied back and the trumpet was held properly once again. She couldn't help but to agree that doing things where you're the center of attention are embarrassing and nerve wrecking and had always assumed it was something everyone was nervous about. Growing up as an only child, the young woman adjusted fairly quickly to the notion of being noticed.

Asami was surprised, to say the least, when the woman reached forward and grabbed a tight hold on her shoulders. Her arms had risen, palms towards the conversant like a sign she understood. "Tsubaki?"

[/color] she calmly asked, saying the name slowly, pronouncing each syllable carefully, and finally the grip slackened. After the shock of the grab wore off, the humor reached the young woman.

"Spirits,"[/color] she replied, "I never knew it could be that scary for some people!"[/color] Musicians had to play in front of their audiences (unless, of course, they found a producer and made records) to make their money. Stage fright seemed like a horrible handicap to have in such a profession.

The mention of religion and bending left as quickly as it came and the heiress let it slide. Talking about bending in such a time was such a taboo, religion along side with it. She never really knew where she stood on the matter of a higher being and her historical studies about Aang were always spiritual, containing many adventures about his encounters with otherworldly things, such as the moon and ocean spirits.

She chuckled softly as Tsubaki exuberantly said she had money and asked (or more like directed, but she didn't mind) where a nice place to buy chocolate was. "Sure, I know a place or two,"[/color] she answered with a grin on her cherry red lips.

But the picture for Bolin, she remembered, I was looking for it. I could always pick a path to a place that the picture might have landed at, Asami thought to herself though she started to find herself at a disposition. A picture was something so small and the area she'd have to cover would be so long. Perhaps it would be best just to buy another.

"Follow me, I know this nice little place a little ways from here,"[/color] she said, nodding her head behind her, the dark hair bouncing with the movement. "And I parked my moped a little ways from here. I'll drive us."[/color] Her moped wasn't really designed for two people, but it didn't mean it wasn't capable of handling the task. In comparison of the distance between where she parked it and where the shop was, it didn't seem like the best idea to keep it where it was.

Asami gestured the woman to follow. Arriving at the mode of transportation, she grabbed her helmet, quickly putting it on and tucking her hair into it so it wouldn't obstruct her vision. "I'm not going to go super fast, but I do suggest you hold on,"[/color] she said, patting her waist while she took her seat.

When Tsubaki took a seat, off they went. At the pace she was going, she could go faster than the people walking on the sides but ever so long enough that if she had to make an emergency stop (like the one she had to do for Mako, ouch!) she could make one safely with a passenger.

"Here we go,"[/color] she said as she pulled the moped to a stop. Keys out and helmet off, hair falling back into place, she unseated herself. "I don't come here that often, but their sweets are great,"[/color] she said, looking at the quaint building with a warm look. Small businesses just always looked so peaceful; not that she didn't mind her father's business but the difference was something she noticed and enjoyed.
[/blockquote][/blockquote]

Riding on the back of Asami's moped was even more thrilling than the times Tsubaki could use one of the motorcycles provided by The Equalists. Not plowing into a bus was a matter of skill then, clutching onto Asami right then was a matter of faith. The situation was completely out of control and to her joy it took her mind of other situations she could not control, namely the greater casualties her friends had taken now that they were a full-on armed rebellion.
Clutching the seat of the moped with her thighs, Tsubaki let go of Asami and extended her arms to feel the wind on her hands, intermittently returning them for balance and to keep them attached to her shoulders when satomobiles zoomed by.

Once they stopped there was only one word Tsubaki could speak at the time.
"Woooooo!"

The building was one that looked vaguely familiar. Tsubaki imagined that she had run past it or across it's roof on a few occassions but never entered.
It was quieter inside than she had thought, but then again she assumed that any decent place that sold sweets should be filled with exclamations of "pie is wonderful" and "cake rules".

Considering it was a time of upheaval Tsubaki chose a corner booth near an exit after she hung up her tattered red coat on the rack near the door exposing to the staff and single other patron her two weapon belts weighing her down with implements of death. It was the Dragon Flats District so armed women weren't that uncommon...they just usually weren't that heavily armed.

Gently, she layed her two belts across the table and energetically waved to the waitress for menus. To her great dismay there were no pictures to acompany the descriptions. She wondered how many great foods she had missed out on in her time due to a lack of pictures.
"Do you think you can order me something chocolatey and delicious. I can't read much."

Even with her belts within reach Tsubaki felt naked not wearing them. She kept her left hand on them just in case.
So as to not look like a total weapon-obsessed madwoman the Equalist smiled...but not in a crazy way, she hoped.
"What's the Asami Sato story? What brings you to Dragon Flats? I think you didn't come here for the music and the sweets."

Asami was glad that Tsubaki enjoyed the ride over; she always managed to forget that not everyone rode in satomobiles or on mopeds. Though it was something regular for her didn't mean it was the same for other people, especially whoever she met in the Dragon Flats District. She tried to keep those kinds of things in mind but it was so easy to be swept up in the privilege she was born with.

She swiftly followed behind her excited companion, not minding where they sat. However, the sight of weapons was something rather surprising, more so than watching a trumpet player walk through a crowd blindfolded while playing. Her mouth gaped open slightly, trying to form a question in her head to ask why she would carry around so many weapons but held her tongue. Tsubaki didn't seem like a hostile person, so it wasn't Asami's safety that was at risk, so maybe for self defense? No, that was far too many weapons for that. Still, she had the sense she might not want to know the answer to whatever she might ask and closed her mouth.

"Sure thing,"

[/color] she replied with a light nod, her wavy hair bouncing slightly with it. Once again, reality slapping her in the face when she remembered not everyone could afford education to simply read or write. Thankfully, her father paid his employees a fair amount and she found comfort in his generosity that someone's life could be better, or at least help pay for their children to be successful.

It only took a quick scan of the menu before she found something that the woman might like. With a wave of her hand, the waitress traversed towards their seats with a pad of paper in hand. "Chocolate covered fruit for my associate,"[/color] the heiress ordered, "and chocolate truffles for myself: two please."[/color] The staff member left with a curt nod.

She turned back to Tsubaki to see her smiling - had she liked what she ordered for her? - for a moment before she began to talk.

"Please, you can drop my last name,"[/color] she suggested, "You don't need to act so formal."[/color] Asami's realization showed in her face when asked the nature of her trip to the district. "Oh, well, I had commissioned a photograph for a friend and I lost it. I was trying to trace my steps to find it."[/color] She paused, taking the moment to breath in deep and let it out. "But if I wanted to do a throughout search, it'd take all day. I think I'll just go back and commission another one."[/color]

The waitress came back with two dessert plates, placing each one accordingly on the table. "Thank you,"[/color] Asami said with a smile, then taking a look at her treat and then to Tsubaki's. "Feel free to try mine, if you want,"[/color] she suggested as she plucked one of the truffles off the plate and taking a small bite off of it. [/blockquote][/blockquote]

"Ah. That means I don't have to point behind you and then grab your truffles while you're distracted. Still..." She pointed toward the door with her chocolate-smeared index finger and said with a a partially chewed chocolate covered strawberry in her mouth "Is that the Avatar?" before snatching one of Asami's truffles and shoving it into her mouth with a smile.

Tsubaki faked a sniff and a sad expression. As a little girl she'd been taught by a friend how a few tears from a child could make some people do anything, though it wasn't a skill she cared to master.
"I'm sorry. There is nothing worse than a chocolate thief." She dropped her fake sadness and smiled again. "Now I have to help you to make it up to you. We'll tear open this city and find what we need like one of those old guys that see the future in animal guts....uh...hippotoemancers or something."
A few snorts peppered Tsubaki's laughter. "Someone read me a book about how some people see the future in stuff and the word stuck in my head. Never got to use it before. Man, what a good day."

She examined a chocolate covered orange for a moment before devouring it and discovering that almost anything could be improved by chocolate.
"Don't worry I have a lot of friends in this part of the city and I have weapons. Like my mom used to say 'You can get more with a kunai and a kind word than you can with just a kind word.'"
To demonstrate her good intentions Tsubaki slid her plate of chocolate covered fruit over to Asami. After all, bad people didn't share chocolate.

The right hand of the frizzy-haired young woman was smeared with chocolate which created a problem. Her yellow eyes darted from her dirty right hand to the left one resting on her weapons belts. She couldn't risk smearing anything on her belts to put them on to wash her hands.
From he weapons to her hand to Asami, Tsubaki's yellow eyes kept darting to each until she did the unthinkable.
"Asami...will you watch my things while I go to the bathroom?"

It took a few ragged breaths through gritted teeth but after staring at her weapons Tsubaki changed her mind. With some creative squirming she managed to slide her belts onto her left arm without incident.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry. No offense but we just met and..."
She couldn't think of anything to say after that and instead went to wash her hands.

Upon return she felt she owed Asami an explanation. She set down her weapons on the table. "I don't let many people touch my weapons. They're important. They tell my story."

Desperate to shift focus for a moment turn the table...the metaphorical one, the literal one still had chocolate on it.
"What about you? Any special weapons in your life? Or just any old object, really?

Asami sat still in her seat as Tsubaki claimed the Avatar was behind her, then "stealing" her chocolate. She simply smiled, not having minded that she took her chocolate. "I actually know Avatar Korra; she was my boyfriend's teammate when they were probending,"

[/color] she explained, reminiscing her first date with Mako. It was really great when they met- though she wished she hadn't have to hit him with her moped to talk. After that date, she managed to get her father to sponsor the Fire Ferrets in the competition, one result of that being acquainted with Korra.

She began to wonder what this woman's mother was like, saying such things, or, more likely, how she grew up if that was the case. What line of business her family was in, a kind word could really go a long ways whereas a nice word and a weapon could create bad tensions and resentment. Among businesses, they wanted to stay in each others favor when it came to the competition of the market.

"Oh, um, sure,"[/color] she said when Tsubaki asked her to watch her stuff. It was a bit of an odd request as there was barely anyone else here, much less anyone that would want to steal weapons, but she didn't mind waiting for her company and watching her stuff. Then she decided not to leave, only then again to decide that she would, running off and coming back quickly.

"I didn't take any offense, Tsubaki,"[/color] she replied with a kind smile to show the honesty in her words. At this point of time, the heiress could only guess as to what kind of life she had to where weapons were crucial and performers, unless very well known, weren't always located in the middle class. It was most likely one of the few things she had that had value (sentimental or otherwise).

She pondered the question of what things were important to her. She could only come up with people like Mako and his brother, her father, even a little for Korra who didn't seem half bad. (What turned her off from friends was being treated differently than others such as acting like she was untouchable or assuming things; Korra had done the latter but apologized. That was all she could hope for.) And while her skill in motor vehicles gave her a liking towards satomobiles and mopeds, they were easily replaceable and they had the money to afford quite a few (seeing as her father was the inventor).

"I suppose something important to me would be the photograph of my family,"[/color] she said, though not bothering to mention why it was important. To her, a person that could have anything she wanted, the photograph was literally irreplaceable. Without her mother, they could no longer take a full family portrait. "But no- no weapons."[/blockquote][/blockquote]

ooc; sorry for the lateness

"Photographs..." Tsubaki said with a slightly amused tone.
"Never could afford a camera. Got plenty of heirlooms, though."

Tsubaki nudged aside her plate and spread out the two black leather belts and the weapons they held.
"My mom loves weapons. So did my grandfather. When I was a little girl..." she held her thumb and index finger apart a few inches, "about this big I got my first present ever. These belts. No weapons, just some buttons and loops to keep things. Then she took me to this wall of weapons I wasn't allowed to touch and every weapon had a story that was like this huge moment in her life. From this little kodachi she got from Yudai to a sharp rock with some rope tied around it I gave her once, she told me the story of her life. After she finished she told me to fill up those belts and have an interesting life."

The nostalgic weapons-enthusiast pointed to what looked like a short, one-handed version of a katana. The green handle wrapping had faded and the pins holding the blade to the handle were tarnished representations of a lemur and a badger mole.
"This is my second present ever. It was my first weapon. Grandpa gave it to me so it meant a lot. He taught me to use it by playing games with me. He died not long after so this kodachi is like my grandfather and finding out about death all in one."

She pointed to a set of three kunai. "My dad welded these. I didn't know but he wasn't working at the time so I don't know what he gave up to get the metal to make them. That's when I first saw my dad as a stand-up guy and not some quiet guy my mom was married to."

From her first kiss shuriken to the odd hinged sickle on a chain that was her most recent acquisition the highlights of Tsubaki Ito's life held a deadly physical form. Many only got short mentions because the last thing she wanted was to bore Asami with a biographical weapons lecture.
"I usually name them after who the memory is stuck to. Yudai," she said indicating the antique kodachi, "Bao Yu," she said jingling the chain connected to the sickle, "The Bride of Nine Spiders...she's the prettiest, I think,".

After a moment of trepidation Tsubaki layed the shiny stiletto the hilt of which was inlaid with small metallic spiders onto the clean side of her cloth napkin and slid it to Asami.
"She was the one who taught me to play the trumpet."
The maudlin display of weapons usually wasn't for people she just met but Tsubaki likewise did not believe in being too cagey.
"Each one of these have saved my life at one time or another. I'll take that over a photo any day."

She nodded lightly at the comment of photographs and heirlooms. There wasn't really much she owned that was sentimental due to the fact things were easily replaceable with their income and the fact they built most of it. It was easy to forget just how privileged she was because of her father, though it didn't mean she abused the power that came with it or reveled in it, either.

Weapons had never bothered Asami but rather the reasons for using them, instead. Listening to Tsubaki talk about the weapons and the sentimental histories behind each one was enlightening. The idea of collecting something like knives and weapons wasn't just for the memorabilia but it was also very practical in her case. Trained in self defense, the dark haired young woman knew how to handle herself without any tools to aid her in protecting herself. No matter the situation, she would be able to protect herself... in theory. She hadn't been in too many extreme situations to know whether or not it was true.

It made her feel a bit awkward sitting in the seat there, knowing that Tsubaki had been in life or death situations while she hadn't many things to tell of her own experiences. Even with the break in, she had remained rather safe. It was honorable that she would tell her this much, though. She took the weapon her companion had put on the table, looking it over with great detail. It was fascinating and frightening that mankind had developed such weapons, weapons that could kill or save lives, depending on their user. She soon handed the weapon back.

"My mom died in a break in,"

[/color] she began, offering the only story she had that could be something worthwhile in the conversation. Tsubaki had been so open while she sat there with only one story tucked away in the back of her head. Her mother's death didn't bother her that much, not as much as it had at first, but growing up without a mother was different. A father - even a wealthy one - could only do so much. "I don't actually have a lot left from her aside from a photo and a handful of memories."[/color] Her voice, she realized too late, was stoic as was her facial expression. Maybe she should just change the conversation.

"What's your mother like?"[/color] she asked, noticing a lot had been mentioned with this mother of hers. [/blockquote][/blockquote]

Dead pets and dead parents always wounded Tsubaki deeply. She had lost neither so the pain seemed like something beyond comprehension. The thought of losing either of her parents hurt and made her briefly wonder what would happen if the authorities questioned her parents about her ties to The Equalist. It would only be briefly, though. It wasn't a stretch to assume that her mother would assault the first cop who asked and her father would silently sit through his interrogation until he starved or was beaten to death.

She wondered what would happen if her mother died. What kind of weapon would be added to her wall to symbolize the death of Sageo Ito?
Tsubaki blinked her yellow eyes for a moment to keep from misting but failed. Instead she wiped her eyes and nose with the sleeve of her torn red coat with a loud sniff.
Upon being asked about her mother Tsubaki found her smile again.

"Mom? Well, she's..." There were so many ways to describe her mother that Tsubaki didn't know where to start. "Uh...stubborn. She's got great aim. Can hit anything with anything. Got this pretty, straight, black hair," she said trying to indicate such hair with her fingers. "Which I didn't get. She cries when she hears certain songs and she's the third or fourth best cook I know."

Tsubaki started grinning and rested her chin on her right fist.
"The best thing about her is her chocolate milk. She makes me chocolate milk."
Momentarily, she closed her eyes and her grin widened to near face-breaking proportions.
"One day I come home crying. A boy I liked told me he didn't like me back. I was soooo crushed. Like, crushed, mixed into dog poop, frozen and then crushed again with a hammer. Anyway, oh, some back story. We couldn't really afford food that month because we had to pay our rent. Okay, so I'm sad, right? My mom knows this boy, his mom and mine were friends and she grabs this dagger from her wall of memories. First thing my mind thinks is that she's going to kill this boy. Honestly, I wasn't sure how to feel about that."

Tsubaki took her chin off her fist and began gesturing wildly. "Anyway, I'm expecting" she began stabbing at the air. "Stabby, stab, stab and all that. Instead she comes home with some milk and a bar of chocolate. That was the first time I had chocolate milk. I was little and heart-broken but I wasn't stupid. I asked her why she'd sell one of her memories to make me chocolate milk."

She chuckled a little. "The dagger was my mom's reminder of the first boy that broke her heart. I think she was trying to tell me that it didn't matter. So, she listened to me cry and drank chocolate milk with me. Even now any time I need cheering up I get chocolate."

"This friend you commissioned that photograph for? Is he your booooooyfriiiiieeend? She asked in a teasing way reminiscent of someone half her age.

ooc; oh goodness this is pathetically late I'm so sorry OTL

Asami felt glad to be able to turn the conversation into something Tsubaki found joy in telling, assuming that from her smile at the least. The dark haired girl sat there, intently listening to her talk on about her mother and found herself wondering about what might have been different with her mother around. Over the years, she had accepted the fact that while hers might not be around anymore that other people didn't have to hide their mother's to avoid hurting her feelings. No, over time the pain had faded though the memory would never leave her of the woman she loved so dearly.

The heiress let out a long, quiet giggle when the yellow eyed woman made stabbing motions. "To be fair, I would've thought that too,"

[/color]she offered with a sympathetic shrug. What else was one supposed to think when a woman hears about her daughter's broken heart and walks off with a knife? They say a mother could be compared to a platypus-bear and she didn't doubt that one bit. "That sounds very memorable,"[/color] Asami said pleasantly, trying to imagine the Tsubaki in front of her - seeing her with many weapons at her disposal and obviously very strong now - crying over a boy at a young age.

She couldn't help but to laugh at the mention of a knife being memorable for a broken heart. "Sorry, sorry,"[/color] she apologized, waving her hands in front of her. "For a moment, I was imagining the, uh," she made the same guesture Tsubaki had earlier for the "stabby, stab, stab" , "to connect a memory like that to a knife." [/color]

Asami shook her head, her curls bouncing with the movement. "No, it's for my boyfriend's brother. Perhaps you've heard of them? They are - were the Fire Ferrets in the probending championship." Maybe it was a bit foolish to be proud of how far they had come but she couldn't help it. It was different that watching her father's business continue on compared to watching progress.[/blockquote][/blockquote]

"No, it's for my boyfriend's brother. Perhaps you've heard of them? They are - were the Fire Ferrets in the probending championship"

Tsubaki froze as if Asami had just asked something unfathomably complicated. Despite their philosophies on bending there were a number of Pro Bending fans among her equalist colleagues. Some people took it way too seriously and tool offense when she told them she could take or leave it.

"Uh....Fire Ferrets...they're not the all female team or the cute team...AH!"
Tsubaki quickly snapped the fingers of her right hand and pointed to Asami once she placed a face to the team in question.
"Pabu's team!" Through Pabu, Tsubaki remembered another member of the team; The Avatar. Suddenly, a pleasant outing turned into work. It wasn't fair. She had to ask about the Avatar since any information might be useful to gain an edge.

Questions of the Avatar's weaknesses bubbled to the surface of Tsubaki's mind and for once didn't exit her mouth. More questions formed, but they were of little consequence. She tried to keep her mind geared towards intelligence gathering but there were too many things she wondered about.
"Where did you get Pabu's little outfit? Which one is your boyfriend...the fire guy or the earth guy? What's the Avatar like and if the team is sponsored by your father does that mean the team has to do your bidding?"
The thought of the Avatar washing satomobiles caused a series of short snort/laughs to escape from the Equalist.

Tsuabki tried to look casual by resting her chin on her right hand, then her left and then folded her arms but decided that looked too stern and finally settled on gently resting both hands on her weapons. In retrospect, she supposed it looked intimidating but after so many changes in posture Tsubaki felt she had to stick with it. After all, she had already shown how attached she was to the two belts and the weapons they held.

Asami nodded lightly with an amused smile on her lips as the woman tried to remember which team was the Fire Ferrets and laughed when the one that Tsubaki thought of was their mascot. "Yeah, Bolin's - the earthbender - pet is Pabu. He's a doll - they both are. Quite the characters,"

[/b][/color] she said with a happy sigh to end with. "Where did I get Pabu's outfit?"[/color] Asami echoed soundly, biting down on her thumb. "All of the team's uniforms were custom made. However, measuring the poor creature was a bit of a challenge,"[/color] she responded memorably.

"My boyfriend is the firebender, Mako,"[/color] said the young woman, unable to hide the blush that rose to her cheeks. Her boyfriend Mako. Somehow it made her feel giddy and butterflies danced in her stomach at their time together. The mention of Korra didn't faze the heiress, her emerald eyes remained distant for only a second longer before she returned to Earth. "Korra's a really nice girl. Sometimes she looks like a normal person, like she isn't the Avatar, even if she can pick up me and the boys all at the same time,"[/color] she mused aloud.

"I can't say that's ever crossed my mind,"[/color] Asami said, if not a little surprised at the notion. She hadn't the need to blackmail anyone into doing things for her. The estate, after all, did have quite an amount of employees and there were just times she liked to do things for herself. "So you're a little into probending, then?"[/color] she asked, though only realizing that Mako's team might be well known even by those that didn't pay attention to the sport seeing as the Avatar had made such a sudden appearance in Republic City and then just showing up, instantly landing herself into a probending match.[/blockquote][/blockquote]

In the past people have treated Tsubaki's lack of enthusiasm for Pro Bending as something to be pitied or immediately remedied. She herself had the same reaction to people who claimed they didn't like chocolate or music.
"I like the, uh, you know..." she gestured to the area around her by waving her arms. "um, atmosphere than the actual sport. I mean, it's a large crowd of people and they're all having fun, what's not to like? I'd rather watch a rumble, though. One with weapons because...well, I like weapons."

For a moment Tsubaki closed her eyes and smiled and then sighed.
"The first time I saw a pro fight was about a year ago. My...is a guy a boyfriend if you only went on one date with him? Anyway, a guy I worked with would fight in his spare time and kept on about how I should watch him fight. Just imagine how hard your eyes would roll if your boyfriend kept saying 'Hey, baby, why don't you come see me Pro Bend because I know you'll swoon so hard you may never recover.' He didn't say that but it seemed like he wanted to show off. After, like, a quintillion times I finally said yes and, you know what, I liked it. It was fun."

Tsubaki clapped her hands, perhaps way too loudly when she thought of something. "Let's go see a match. I can get us in for free 'cause that one date means a lifetime of free entry. I just say 'Fat Cobra sent us' and bam! Free seats."
She found herself grasping Asami's hands for reasons unknown. Some people found it off-putting when Tsubaki's already high enthusiasm levels spiked and had, in the past, run off.
"It's nothing like a gentle and respectable bending match. There's yelling and fighting...I mean in the crowd, and lots of fried food and drinking. Then you get to see people in fun costumes beat each other up. Even when your guy loses it's still fun because there's so much energy in the air.

The more she thought about it the more a fight sounded like a good distraction from her worries.

Asami smiled as she listened to Tsubaki talk. She seemed to have just this energy that burst out from her that it was interesting enough to simply sit there entertained. With a bit of a silly thought, the young woman started to compare her personality to her seemingly untameable hair: wild, energetic and hard to hold back. "When you think of it, bending is just a natural weapon,"

[/color] she mused aimlessly. "Just like how you and I have fists, benders have both bending and their bodies."[/color] She wasn't quite sure where she had been going with that thought but it seemed important enough at the time.

"I try not to miss a match, if I can help it,"[/color] Asami said with something of a light giggle, covering her mouth modestly. "Not just the participants, but the crowd is great too."[/color]

"Whoa!"[/color] her voice let out when Tsubaki reached out for her hand, momentarily surprising the dark haired beauty. Quickly she calmed down but a blush on her face showed how embarrassed she was to have been so easily surprised. "Actually,"[/color] Asami said, thinking on the subject, "that does sound like a lot of fun. And you said you can get in just like that?"[/color] she asked with her eyebrows raised a bit, not quite so skeptical as it was bemused. "I haven't been to those kinds of matches before, but I'd love to see it."[/color][/blockquote][/blockquote]

ooc; if you want, you can just do a time skip to place the thread in that setting. I don't mind if you have to god mod a little

"To the pits!"

Even over the wind Tsubaki was sure that Asami could hear her from the back of the moped, she had that kind of voice.
"This'll be fun! Don't worry, it's all on the up and up. No deathmatches here. At worst someone will lose a few teeth or get a concussion."
After the correct number of rights, lefts and straight aheads Tsubaki clammed up for almost five entire seconds once the moped stopped and she stepped onto the sidewalk in front of a run down building with a buzzing sign for a long out of business tea house.

The bouncer was, as usual, a very large and stoic man who Tsubaki could not help messing with slightly.
"If you want to check for weapons it'll take all night," she said as she opened up her coat and revealed her weapon belts. She heard a familiar moan common among people who had to search Tsubaki for hidden weapons. After a quick pat-down she was rid of every weapon, even the spring-loaded stiletto launcher attached to her right leg most mistook as a garter belt. It wasn't even creepy this time.

Tsubaki took half of a playing card ripped in twain to return to the bouncer in exchange for her weapons back on her way out. For the time being that half a Joker would be the most valuable thing on her person.
"Hey, let's get some snacks and..." Her mind trailed off for a moment and her voice took on a distant and distracted tone. "Shochu. Um, hold on..."

To the observer Tsubaki had just picked a fight with a mass of muscle the width of two Tsubaki's with a little space left over. After a few moments the red and black-clad woman looked more like a bully pulling at the long braid of a man with two broken arms over to her friend.
"Asami, this is Fat Cobra. He's the fighter I was telling you about."
"Anyway...as you can see he's in no shape to fight. Soooooo...I kinda sorta volunteered us to fill his slot. Now before you say no..." She pulled down Fat Cobra's head by his braid and squeezed his ample cheeks. "Just look at this sad face. It's like a sad puppy crossed with a lonely baby penguin. Also, we'll be treated to snacks and booze if we fight. Think about it...what better seats are there than actually in the fight?"

Fat Cobra was released from Tsubaki's grip as she put her hands together over her head and spread them out.
"Just think about it. You'll be temporarily famous...uh, famouser. Famouser? More famous? For a night you won't be Asami Sato: Pretty Rich Girl With Nice Hair you'll be Cool Nickname: Pit Fighter and Consumer of Free Snacks and Drinks."

As she spoke about the benefits of paid fighting Tsubaki inched toward the fighter registration area.
When trying to convince people to do things Tsubaki found it easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
"We're Fat Cobra's...uh, understudies. Sign us up."
"Names?"

Tsubaki pointed to herself confidently with her thumb and then felt her mind go blank when coming up with a cool ring name. The idea of using the name of her old trumpet teacher was appealing but if she lost she didn't want to tarnish the woman's name.
"I'm.... She looked down for some sort of visual cue and saw the worn out red coat she had taken from a Red Monsoon.
"The...uh, Red Mist of Death Descending the Mountain Causing Bloody Death...oh, who also wears a mask."
The man registering the name rolled his eyes and sighed. Long-winded names were nothing new but limitations had to be made for the sake of the announcer.
"Uh-huh. Mask of the Red Death. Got it."

Tsubaki gestured for Asami to speak up.
"Pick something dramatic and intimidating. Tiger Lifts the Mountain or something like that. Oh, and reeeeeaaallly sorry about this."