Rini had never been out that late, well this wasn't really that late but late enough. Also, she had never been out that late alone.
She wasn't meant to be alone, her uncle was meant to be with her but so far he'd been a no show, and hopefully he'd show up soon because she wasn't totally sure what she'd do if he didn't.

It'd been his idea, new resturant, made Earth Kingdom cuisine, why not? Save them from his cooking for one night, (Although he wasn't that bad of a cook, better than she was) He'd joked about seeing if they made better Mango Duck than grandmother could make, and Rini had pointed out that grandmother was the only person who seemed to make that. Somehow it turned out the resturant was sort of in the middle of where he was working and where she was living, so they'd agreed to meet.

She'd taken the journey alone, it hadn't been that hard she just had to grab a tram and she'd done that plenty of times before since she'd come to the City, and it would probably be a case of that to get back home. And she had money with her so even if he didn't show she could still get some food. But so far she'd just ordered a spiced tea which she was doing her best to drink very slowly so as to drag out time. Hopefully no one asked questions about why she was there on her own.

She took a look out the window, she could sort of see two people talking, no idea who they were, but still no sign of her uncle.


She sighed and played with an errand strand of dark brown hair that had fallen out of place whilst she tried her hardest to not look like she was worried about having to go back home alone, it wasn't like she was a little kid or anything.

In Ao’s perception, the city’s booming nightlife always gave him the inference that making friends was an easy task. Unfortunately for Ao, social anxiety was always a characteristic that brought about difficulty when meeting new people. Around every corner and street, it appeared as if everyone seemed to know each other and that the populace were all socially outgoing individuals. To his surprise though, Ninuma Riku appeared to contrast his cognizance on the matter. Ao laughed within his mind and thought, “Look at that – someone more socially awkward than myself.”

Nodding after the individual’s response, Ao extended his right arm and hand for a handshake before stating, “My name’s Ao. Thanks for your input.” Turning his upper body and head around to face the restaurant, Ao peered inside the window to catch a glimpse of the restaurant-goers and their meals. One individual stood out amongst the rest as she seemed to be alone, unlike the other groups of people within the diner. As Ao clutched his stomach with his left arm, he said “Haven’t eaten anything all day, I skipped my break at the power plant to meet the quota to leave a little earlier today.” Chuckling for a brief moment, Ao added, "I'm starving - would you like to join me trying something new? I’m sure it won’t kill.” Snapping his body around to face the man once again, Ao awaited for the individual's response.

“Alright- let’s get about it then.” said Ao as he shifted his body’s direction to face the restaurant. As the Ao began to walk towards the building, he asked, “What attracted your attention a few seconds ago? The food? Or er – that single girl there.” Looking towards Riku, Ao smiled as he told the man, “In my opinion, she’s looks a little young – but uh, if you like to roll that way. Whatever floats your boat.” A small laugh emitted from Ao’s mouth, although probably not audible to Riku. However, if Riku was paying enough attention, he probably could have seen the condensation in the air caused by the exhale from Ao’s contained chuckle.


Nearing the entrance to the restaurant, Ao grabbed ahold of the door hinge and gestured the Riku inside first. “If you want, you can try to get us a seat near her. I won’t interfere if you want to strike up a conversation with her.” said Ao with a large smile on his face.

Reina was sitting at a table in the diner filling out applications for the police department when she saw two men coming in. She briefly glanced up from her work and then went back to it. She felt as if all she had been doing lately was working on trying to find a job and trying to keep her bending a secret from potential Equalists. After the gang of assailants had followed her the other night she didn't know who she could trust. As she began thinking about what had happened she started twirling some of the water out of her glass with some swift movements of her wrist. As soon as she realized what she was doing she stopped immediately and looked around to see if anybody had noticed. Her heart raced as she watched for potential equalists and she could feel her palms becoming sweaty. The stress was getting to her.

Since coming to Republic City she had put her bending on display too many times. She needed to learn to control her impulses. As she began filling out her work history on the applications she felt a pang of loneliness. She realized that it had been almost a week since she went somewhere to meet people rather than look for work. To make matters worse she couldn't even be herself if she did meet someone new. What if they were an Equalist? Reina sighed and pushed the application away and began rubbing her forehead. She wanted nothing more than to kick back and use her bending back home with her friends in the Southern Water Tribe.

Rini looked up when she heard what sounded like someone coming in, but no it wasn't her uncle. Where was he?
She drunk more of her tea, she couldn't keep drawing that cup out, it was starting to get sort of cold and so she could probably order another or actually get some food because it didn't seem like he was showing up soon. And it was getting harder to ignore her stomach especially with the smell of an egg tart wafting around.

She grabbed the menu that had been left on the table and started to look through it, not for the first time since waiting for her uncle to show up. And yet again she read through it as slowly as possible as if doing that would somehow summon her uncle to her. But she looked up from time to time to see if he had appeared. She was waiting for the large man to appear and give her a clap across the shoulder that always pushed her forward a but and for him to do his big smile and go on about whatever had waylayed him.

The thought he got into trouble had come to mind especially with all the disrest that was cropping up, but she put that out of her mind a few times. He'd be fine, it was probably tram delays or work had kept him busy or he'd bumped into a friend.

It wouldn't be the first time.

Reina paused for a moment and looked up only to catch one of the men that came in looking at her. Neither of them were very tall but the shorter of the two was the one that had noticed her. His black hair and eyes weren't like anything Reina had seen on a bender before but she got the feeling that he was one. He reminded her of the stories her parents used to tell about the Swamp People and how they lived as one with their surroundings. She quickly cut her eyes back to her papers and then she shook her head. Her stress was too distracting to fill out applications right now. 

As Reina carefully stacked her papers and put them in her satchel she began to feel her stomach rumble. I should have eaten hours ago, she thought to herself. Reina gingerly picked up the menu and began to look through the food. She had never had Earth Kingdom cuisine before and had no idea where to start or what she would even like. Maybe something with duck would be good? As her eyes scanned down the menu she quickly glanced back up at the two men that had come in and wondered why they had paid her any attention.

As Ao entered the restaurant, the charming scent of food struck him. Although not visually displaying his admiration, Ao was dazed. The mesmerizing aroma from the exquisite cuisine captivated him. “A day where I don’t eat my crappy food – finally.” he thought while reminiscing about the memories of his poorly made meals. “The place looks full,” said Ao, adding, “Do you see any open seats?” At first sight, it appeared as if there were not any tables for two available. Continuing to search, Ao was able to find two different tables – one off to the side amongst the other restaurant-goers or another table nearby Rini’s table and Reina’s table.

Ao turned his head over to face Riku, “So, I found a table. But uh, it’s nearby some boats, per se.” said Ao, retaining the same smile he held outside the diner. Without waiting for Riku's response, Ao made his way towards the empty table and pulled out both of the chairs. Sitting down onto one of them, he grabbed one of the menus left lying on the table and looked up towards Riku with a now crooked smile. In an audible manner in which Rini and Reina would be able to hear, Ao sarcastically asked, with an emphasis on Riku's name, "Oh, I wonder what's good Riku?"

As soon as Rini heard the door open she looked up, only to immediatley sigh because yet again it was a false alarm and not her uncle. She now very much had the feeling he wasn't going to show up. She ignored the twist in her gut that appeared at the prospect of him not turning up, she'd wasn't a baby she'd be fine. She had noticed another girl who had been sitting here on her own who looked a bit older than she did so maybe she could talk to her?

She fidgeted, she shouldn't be to nervous.

Also, when had this resturant got so full? She could've sworn there wasn't a lot of people here when she'd come in, just how long had she been waiting? And... she closed her eyes and took a breath, she'd be fine no sense getting worked up. Even though she personally knew that telling herself that seldom worked.

She noticed the two men to walked in but didn't look too long, but it was enough to pick up that both men were older than her, and one of them seemed to be a firebender. and the other one actually seemed shorter than her, which was kind of unusual she thought. And she tried not to pay too much attention that they made a beeline for the empty sear that seemed to be somewhat near her. Or how the firebender spoke in such a way like he wanted her to hear him call out the name of his friend. Weird.

She went back to the menu, she needed to choose something.

“Tarts – eh?” said Ao while pondering about the thought of the desert. “Uhm, I’m not in the mood for sweets but the roast duck sounds nice,” added Ao as he looked through the menu for the list of available beverages. “I think I’ll have this … cactus juice. I’ve never had something like that before.”

Placing his menu flat down on the table, Ao complacently sat silent during Riku’s komodo chicken rant and waited until he was done until stating, “I think I’m fine with the roast duck.” In a hushed manner, Ao whispered, “Shh- I think you’re you might be disturbing some people.” Containing a chuckle, Ao leaned back onto his seat. Scanning left and right for a waiter or waitress, Ao raised his hand when he was able to spot one strolling by.

As one of the restaurant employees neared the table, Ao turned his head and faced the waiter. “I’ll have the roast duck, please. Along with this er – cactus juice,” said Ao to the waiter. Now looking towards Riku, Ao nodded his head up slightly towards Riku, indirectly signalling him to call out his order. "And no - I think it's quite moderate in here. Maybe you're feeling hot because you're used to the cold air while you're out fishing on your 'boat'." Said Ao, once again speaking with extra enunciation on a specific word.

Reina watched the two men as they sat down and began to order. Wow, he's loud. She thought to herself as the shorter of the two started shouting about Earth Kingdom dishes. She was glad that he was shouting about it though, now she knew what to order. She put the menu down and flagged down a waitress. "The roast duck and some elderberry tea please," She said as she handed the waitress her menu. Reina sat back in the seat and continued to watch the two benders. She knew for certain that one was a firebender but she could swear that there was something unusual about his friend.

Reina could also swear that he had almost said swampbender instead of waterbender. But what did she know? Reina had never left the Southern Water Tribe before, they were just stories that her people told to pass the time. As Reina waited on her food she decided that she need to find out more about the two men. She stood up from the table and picked up her glass of water. As she began to walk towards their table she threw herself forward as if she had tripped and with her right arm sweeping through the air she used her waterbending to splash the waterbender's foot. As she made her self stand straight again she feigned an embarrassed blush. "Oh my... I'm so sorry, here take this towel!" Reina declared as she passed the waterbender a towel from an empty table. 

Rini was getting rather weirded out. More by the firebender, he kept saying kind of weird stuff or saying stuff in a weird way, his friend or who she guessed was his friend, not so much. He just seemed to ramble a lot.
Either way, she wished her uncle was here, what was keeping him?
When the waitress asked her if she was ready to order it nearly caught her off guard, "Oh sorry, can I have another spiced tea and the duck noodles, please" She handed the waitress her menu.
She looked around after the menu was taken and noticed that the other girl she had seen stood up and eas walking toward the table with her glass of water/
Oh she's a waterbender she realised in the split second that she threw the water out of her glass at one of the men who had come in before she tried very hard to stifle a giggle.

As Ao looked up from the table, he could see a young woman approaching his table. Curious, Ao raised his left eyebrow as he examined the individual walking over. While Ao opened his mouth to speak, he retained his silence as he witnessed the female spill her glass of water. Observantly monitoring the situation, Ao noticed the illogical path of movement that the water had travelled. “A waterbender, presumably,” thought Ao to himself.


Resting his right elbow onto the table with his fist clenched loosely and covering his mouth, Ao scanned the left and right sides of his point of view. “Didn’t seem like too many people noticed,” thought Ao, although one teenaged-looking female seemed to be enjoying herself at Riku’s expense. A smirk emerged on Ao’s face, although it was hidden by his clenched fist. Remaining silent, Ao looked upon Riku and Reina as if he watching a screenplay. "Real smooth, hotshot." thought Ao as he was musing on Riku's 'do you come here often' statement.

Reina stifled her grin into a sly smile. Come here often? She mused to herself. "Well if you're really asking, the answer is this is my first time here. If that's your idea of a smooth line, I'm going to tell you to try harder," She said with a wink. "My name is Reina, by the way," She said as she stuck her hand out. She noticed that he was indeed a waterbender but his eyes... Reina had never seen a waterbender with black eyes. Out of the corner of her eye Reina noticed that his firebender friend was watching her as well. She turned her attention to him and gave a polite smile before looking back at the waterbender. 

As she stood next to their table she noticed that another girl happened to be watching the men as well. She also seemed to be getting quite the laugh out of the water stunt. Reina would have felt clever about the whole thing if she didn't feel that both the girl and the firebender noticed what she had done. It appeared, however, that the target of her scheme did not. So in that case she would count it as a mission accomplished, although she was anything but stealthy. Reina slowly turned her attention back to the waterbender and noticed his knee. "It looks like you banged your knee up, I can heal it for you if you want," She offered.