OOC: I...really am sorry for replying so slowly orz;;;

[tag: Sora Kimura, Karena, Yuri]

This was going to happen. This was a thing that was actually going to happen. Okay maybe this wasn't a real Probending match just yet against real opponents, but he was actually going up against people that were Probenders. People that liked Probending and made actual efforts to get better at it. Would what little skills he had actually be enough to be allowed into this team? He sure hoped so! All he had to do was keep calm, pay attention and remember the rules.

And so it began. First up, two fireballs. Quickly figuring out just where the fireballs were aimed for, he quickly pivoted on one leg to avoid getting his leg singed. While turning he had pulled some water out from the waterskin he was carrying and used that to block the other fireball, though he did find himself recoiling back a bit. He just barely came to a standstill when he found himself spinning again, this time using the water with his leg to block the rock that was tossed his way. He almost lost his balance in the process, but was just able to get something of a decent stance back. He thought he handled that quite nicely. Disc sized rocks and fireballs were easier to work with than boulders and big bursts of fire.

That was all nice and all, but he thought it was his turn to retaliate now. He could have done so earlier while dodging at blocking the girls' attacks, but he thought it'd be better not to play too aggressively. At least not yet. He pulled out a splash of water and tossed it in Yuri's direction, aiming for the stomach area before pivoting on his leg and kicking another splash of water, this one aimed at Ren'ai's head. He was tempted to do even more, but he held himself back. As much as he tried not too he couldn't keep himself from grinning, though he hoped it wasn't all that noticeable and if it was that it wasn't a problem. He was just feeling both nervous and excited and apparently grinning was how he dealt with it.

[Tag: Shuai Ru-shan]

Maybe it was the grass, the wide open spaces, the fact that there was a significant lack of zipping cars and motorscooters, but Xiaolu had always felt more affection towards the Republic City Park than any other part of it. It reminded her a lot of home; home being a wide open spans of absolute nothing as far as the eye could see, dappled with quickly-erected homes that were sturdily built by earthbenders, which would stand up to anything short of the end of the world. Then there was the pond, which reminded her of the river that ran through and around her town (although she couldn’t fish in the pond in the Park like she could in the river at home).

She just didn’t like the city, was all. She had decided that about twenty seconds after she had arrived. But she had made a pact with herself; after entering Republic City, she would spend at least a year there before she lifted roots and went somewhere else.

Xiaolu paused and leaned over, scratching her ankle. The tops of her feet were starting to get a little sunburnt. Noticing the looks people (probably nonbenders) gave her when she walked past them wearing no shoes, her feet filthy but lusciously attached to the earth in the way only earthbenders’ could be. She didn’t mind angry looks, but once someone had followed her around for the entire day, which had left her rattled. Once or twice she had gone so far as to putting shoes on, but it had a despicably artificial feel to it; like she was trying to hide her gift/ability/whatever-people-wanted-to-call-it. She had never needed to wear shoes before. She had never been in a situation where bending was frowned upon.

Xiaolu straightened up and stretched her spine out as far as it would go, eyes shut, face pointed towards the warm morning sun, inhaling the rich scent of water-sodden soil from the pond. Faintly, she could hear the rest of the city; honking horns, yelling people, the distant chatter of the lively marketplace she tried to avoid at all cost (too cramped, too easy for someone to slip their hands into her pockets and make off with whatever they found). Much closer were the voices of dozens of other people; conversations of every color took place all around her, and while she tried not to eavesdrop, she heard little snippets of them while she walked.

There was a certain type of vulnerability in being in the park. As she walked and stood and stretched and enjoyed the sounds and smells, she had a creeping feeling that people just knew about her; knew that she was a bender. She knew, so other people must also know. She felt that at any moment, someone was going to jump on her, demand justification for her right to be there, in the park and in the City itself, and be berated for what she was. It had never happened, and she had felt the feeling often, but she always feared that it would occur, eventually, and she’d be powerless to stop it. She had never felt this type of fear before. Before coming to Republic City, she had never feared for her own life from another person. Animals, maybe, but people had never threatened her like this before.

Sharply, her eyes snapped open and she whirled ninety degrees and took a purposeful step forward, determined not to look harrowed by the world and all it’s threats. She was sure her purposeful step would’ve had much more impact had she not purposefully stepped direction into someone who had been walking being her at that time. The force was considerable, and she crashed to the tall grass with a little indelicate squawk of shock.

“Jeeze!” she cried from her low resting place, propping herslf up on her elbows. “Sorry! Sorry, my fault…”

[tag: Xiaolu]

Stepping into the park and moving quietly beneath the shimmering rays of the morning sun, Shuai lifted her hands to her eyes and rubbed at them until they became watery with tears. What the heck was she doing here? And more importantly, why wasn't she asleep? You would think that someone who worked until five in the morning would sleep–at least–until one in the afternoon–and she did, usually, but for some reason sleep didn't come as easily as it often did to her today. Yawning Shu-shu moved comfortably in the grass, her legs hidden beneath loose, brown pants and her torso sheltered by her staple sleeveless blouse. This one was dark green and one of her favorites. She had changed into these clothes immediately after stripping out of her tighter work uniform when she had arrived home. After a few hours of rolling around in bed she had decided to slip on a pair of sandals, not change, and clear her head with a walk. Somehow, the firebender had ended up in this park.

Sure the park was somewhat of a considerable distance from her apartment, but after a few minutes of walking she had figured the father she went the more tired she would become, and eventually she'd return back home for a good nigh–er, afternoon's sleep. A breeze brushed past her ruffling her layered hair and pushed her bangs back into an odd position. Slicking them back down against her forehead with her hand Shu-shu veered in a different direction and was pleased with her choice since there was less of a breeze and a little more sunshine. She inhaled deeply enjoying the earthy scents that surrounded her and that reminded her of home on her uncle's farm. Looking down at her nails the woman smirked at how clean and manicured there were and remembered a time when they use to be filled with dirt.

How long has it been? she silently wonder as she groggily dragged her feet through the grass. Two years? Three? Suddenly the realization hit her. "Four years," she sighed running a light, caramel colored hand through her hair. Jeez, how the time flew.

Childless, and husband-less, no wonder her mother was so worried. Jung had let her daughter spread her wings, and now look at her, sleep deprived from working two jobs and hungry because she had rent to pay. The city was tough, but Shuai wouldn't have it any other way. This was her dream after all, a dream she had slowly turned into her reality, and the firebender was going to stick with her decision no matter what. I don't even know if that farm girl is still in me, she thought while she rubbed at the small calluses on her hands. Closing her eyes Shu-shu allowed her feet to operate on their own while she tried to remember something from her past, but her remembering was short lived because right after she had shut her eyes her body had collided, and collided hard, into something, or someone.

The firebender fell fast and landed with a loud thud onto her tail bone. Wincing at the pain a low hiss escaped between her teeth as she tried to cope with the stringing sensation that was erupting from her tail bone. "Dammit," she grunted as she rolled herself forward and onto her knees. Why the heck wasn't she watching where she was going? She was in a park for spirits sake! A public park that was crowded, slightly, with all kinds of people, and one in particular had decided to run into her. Why? Why of all mornings did it have to be this morning? "Are you blind?" she snapped, regretting the words the second they jumped out of her mouth. She still wasn't even sure of who she had crashed into. What if it was some guy with a nasty temper? Did she really want to start a fight this early in the morning? "I'm sorry," she mumbled rubbing at her eyes again. Opening them fully her pale, yellow eyes, which were now slightly smoldering, finally rested on the figure that was across from her. Oh no, she moaned. It was a woman. Women were so much worse to deal with then men.

A scary thought came to mind. What if this woman was actually blind? She might have just insulted her. Fix this, Shuai's mind warned. "Hey," she called out placing her hands on either side of her knees. "Are you okay? I'm sorry about that. I wasn't looking."

[Tag: Shuai Ru-shan]

Xiaolu scrambled to her feet, embarrassed she hadn’t been looking where she was going, embarrassed she’d just rammed into someone. They seemed pretty pissed too; as she got up, whomever she had run into inquired fiercely “Are you blind?” as they, too, got to their feet. After a moment or two, bracing themselves on their knees, they apologized.

“No! No, it was my fault, totally my fault!” Xiaolu blathered. She had, long ago, lost the ability to discriminate between apologizing and taking responsibility for what she had done wrong and just apologizing over and over and taking the blame completely. It started with her brother, and his fiery dragon’s temper, who yelled and then did the exact same thing she did; shrink down into a meek shell and apologize on and on until people got sick of hearing him talk. Xiaolu, at his knee, had learned to do the exact same thing. The habit wasn’t helped by the catalyst of Republic City’s general bad temper; running into people these days tended to get her shouted at. People were just so busy, so ‘I-have-to-get-here-now’ that being run into simply wasn’t acceptable behavior. “No, no, no-no-no. It was my fault—my bad. I should’ve been looking! Should’ve watched where I was going. It was my fault. I’m never watching. Sorry. Sorry…”

She sensed she was talking too much and closed her mouth with a snap, brushing hair out of her face to try to get a good look at who she was apologize so profusely too. She knew in an instant she was a firebender; at the risk of sounding rude, they all looked rather similar. The dark hair, yellow/gold eyes, strong complexion and sharp features were reminiscent of Xiaolu’s firebending brother and father; every firebender she had ever come across has a particular ‘look’ to them. Aura her mother would call it as she strung beads together; the characteristic from every individual, distinct in their own way. Firebenders all had strong, sharp auras, and that was probably why Xiaolu was apologizing so much now; she expected this victim of her carelessness to be like other firebenders and shout at her.

“No, but seriously,” she glanced at her feet, which she always looked at after any type of damage, because hurting her feet meant hurting her bending. She also wanted to avoid a sharp, yellow gaze. “That was my fault. Are…are you alright? I really wasn’t looking where I was going, so… did I hurt you?”

She’d scraped her wrist going down on the only rock in the entire park, apparently and tried to surreptitiously wiped the blood on her shirt, which she would need to replace because it kept getting the short end of the stick after these types of encounters.

The firebender looked annoyed, but not angry entirely. Her father would say she was overcomplicating thing (People are jut angry sometimes, Xiaolu—there doesn’t have to be a gray area all the time. Sometimes they’re just angry.), but it was true. She wasn’t angry, precisely; just appeared to be a little irritated. It was understandable. She, after all, had just had a complete stranger run headlong into her.

Xiaolu realized she was just gawking at the firebender like a total idiot. “Um… Again, sorry about that… I’m, uh, Xiaolu...”

She had to resist adding “..you know, if you care about my name, and you don’t want to beat me up because I ran into you and stuff like that…”

“…and I wasn’t watching where I was going,” she patted extra dirt off of her sturdy trousers and grasped the grass with her bare toes. If there was going to be a fight over something (as admittedly trivial, but it had happened before) like this, she wasn’t going to be caught off-guard. Her wrist was still bleeding and she wiped it on her shorts. “Are you, um, um, are you okay?”

[tag: Xiaolu]

Whoa, talk about apologetic, this chick wouldn't stop!

When the stranger rose to her feet Shuai quickly followed not wanting to be at a disadvantage. If things were going to get ugly, even though that seemed highly unlikely with this woman being overly apologetic and all, Shu-shu didn't want to be the vulnerable one on the ground, an easy kneeling target. Though after rising and getting a good look at this female, Shuai quickly erased the woman off of her list of possible threats. Shu-shu probably did so only on account of the chick's height, which granted was a little messed up, but quite frankly the kind of threat a human presented always boiled down to that humans height and size. Shuai had a few inches on this woman, however, they were somewhat similar muscular wise. Shu-shu wanted to assume that this stranger was a bender like her, but nowadays that road was dark and hazardous and difficult to travel by. If she asked and this woman turned out to be a non-bender and an unsympathetic one well, then things would get dirty fast.

That was something Shu-shu missed desperately about her old home. There benders and non-benders got along just fine. No one really cared as long as the fields were sowed and the tools were put away with care. Things were much simpler in the country and it took living here to finally put it into perspective. But in her heart Shuai knew that she could never go back to the farm. This city had grown on her, like a speck of ink that couldn't be washed out of her clothes.

The woman continued to apologize, but Shuai remained silent. The firebender was more interested in the fact that the stranger was standing in the park barefoot. She's got to be an earthbender, the chocolate haired woman thought. And Shuai would know this. Her best friend in the whole world was an earthbender and she too favored walking around barefoot. Of course, Lulu still lived in the country, but Shuai figured that this woman had her reasons. Her pale eyes moved up the stranger's compact figure and finally came to rest her sight on the woman's eyes. They were dark, just like Lulu's. Strike me dead if I'm wrong, but she's an earthbender.

“Um… Again, sorry about that… I’m, uh, Xiaolu...”

Oh, a name! This was good. Now Shuai wouldn't have to call her chick. Turning her focus away from the woman's appearance Shu-shu finally opened her ears to hear the woman's words. After Xiaolu had finished talking, ending her sentence with a question, Shuai realized how unattached she had been. She had let poor Xiaolu go on and on while she tried to figure out something about the woman that was clearly none of her business. "Xiaolu, hi. Yes, I'm sorry. I'm fine. Just had the wind knocked out of me, no harm done. Sorry for getting so tongue tied, I was just uh, trying to get my thoughts together." Bending down she cleaned off some of the dirt and grass that had gotten caught to her pants. Thankfully, her shirt was unharmed. Suddenly a sharp pain exploded from her tail bone and although she didn't want to she grimaced. "Yep, forgot about that. I think I might have just bruised my tail bone. Hah."

Slowly she lifted herself again to her full height and came to rest her gaze on Xiaolu's eyes. "Name's Shuai, but most people just call me Shu-shu." She really didn't have an explanation for the nickname. People really just called her that, and secretly she preferred it. It first started with her mother, and then Lulu picked up on it, and now everyone at work called her by it. Bringing her attention back to Xiaolu, Shuai suddenly became aware of the red smudges on the woman's shirt and shorts. "Were you hurt at all?" she asked. Was that blood? And then the yellow eyed woman caught sight of Xiaolu's wrist. "You're bleeding! Oh crap." What were they going to do? Shuai wasn't exactly a healer. Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap.

In a bizarre way, the panic over Xiaolu’s scraped wrist was pretty comforting. She relaxed her stance and brought her arm up so her hand was by her ear, so she could get a good look at her cut. It wasn’t deep; one of those cuts you get a million times in life, just by falling and scraping the top layer of skin back. Sometimes they bled, sometimes they didn’t. It was a fairly superficial scrape, though; it would stop bleeding soon.

“Oh no, this? Don’t worry about it. I’ve had much worse. Much worse, you know? Don’t worry about it. It’ll stop on its own. It’ll be fine.”

God, but this chick was tall. She wasn’t really very tall at all, but Xiaolu was so diminutive it was hard not to feel short next to absolutely anyone. Xiaolu had never seen a short firebender; they simply didn’t exist as far as she was concerned.

Thoroughly apologized out and assured that her victim was more or less alright, Xiaolu grasped for something intelligent to say without sounding like an idiot or, worse, like she was trying to inelegantly segue into some small talk. She did not small talk; it was a family curse. Conversations did not come natural to her; she was much better at sitting and staring at people until their started a conversation with her, leaving her free. Once one was started, she could talk about anything; she just couldn’t start a conversation.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it, though,” she patted her pockets for a scrap of fabric she could use to stem the bleeding. “I’m more worried about you. Does it hurt terribly? Your, ah, tailbone?”

She winced at the own painful, stupid awkwardness of herself. Of all the things she could choose to talk about—Lovely weather we’re having, do you watch probending, when was the last time you were hit by a scooter—she had to choose the state of a stranger’s tailbone. Had she been a little bit more comfortable, a little more confident, she would’ve turned around right there and walked off, head hunched, shoulders up, and prayed to the spirits that she would never, ever, ever meet this woman again under any circumstances.

Her father wouldn’t be pleased. “The world is full of uncomfortable squirming, Xiaolu. You can walk away from some of them—most, if you’re especially clever—but once in a while you’re going to have to deal with some squirms of your own. Life’s messy and squirmy; you learn to live with it. For goodness sake, no one’s going to bite your head off if you try to start a conversation. The worst that can happen is they glare and walk away, and even then, no harm done. Have a conversation!”

Xiaolu was not as confident as her father. She never had been, although she tried sometimes, often to no avail. Anxiously, grasping straws to try to salvage the situation, she took a lock of her short hair and yanked it absently, not hard enough to hurt but enough to remind her that it was not a dream, this was real life, and she really needed to keep her composer. After all, this Shuai/Shu-shu didn’t seem particularly angry anymore. And Xiaolu really needed to talk to someone, have a real conversation, or she might just burst with anxiety.

[Tag: Sora Kimura, Kamil, Yuri]


Ren’ai watched as Kamil dodged her attacks and Yuri’s. Not bad, she thought to herself. The Waterbender had pivoted out of the way of her attacks and her best friend’s. He had almost lost his balance, but the point was that he had not actually fallen over on his butt while trying to dodge her attacks. He had spun again to dodge Yuri’s attacks. The Firebender had no time to think about any of that right now. The Waterbender was retaliating, and while it was just water, she was in no hurry to be splashed today. Besides, she was wearing a white shirt… that would be the last thing she needed.

Ren’ai watched as Kamil sent some water towards Yuri, and then towards herself. The dark-haired young woman easily turned out of the way, dodging the attack. As she turned out of the way, she brought her leg around so and kicked a short stream of fire towards Kamil’s legs. Part of her almost wanted to shoot the fire towards his head, but such things were not allowed for Firebenders or Earthbenders. Waterbenders, could, however, but if you thought about it, it only made sense. Water towards the end was one thing… rock or fire was something else entirely. She was curious as to what Yuri’s relation would be, but then again, she felt it was fairly obvious.

Ren’ai saw the grin on Kamil’s face, and knew that it was echoed in her own. Sure, she felt that he had been holding back a bit. The dark-haired young woman couldn’t say for sure, but something told her that he had been. It made sense, though. This wasn’t a real Probending match, when she would expect more. There would be another time and place to actually see what he was capable of. This was merely a test to see if he was on the same level as they were, and if they could work together for any length of time. So far, the Firebender thought it was going pretty well. She was satisfied, so far. Yes, there was a bit of work to do with him, but nothing that she couldn’t handle.

[Tag: Sora Kimura, Kamil, Karena]

[ooc, disregard the first attack because it already happened.]

Yuri just stood back and let Ren’ai ask all of the questions. And it did not hurt that she got to look at the guy that would hopefully be the newest member of their team. Sure she had no problem with the way that he responded to the questions that were put to him, and the way that he answered about how he deals with people with forceful personality’s she held her breath without realizing it. Because that was their biggest problem, finding a person that was willing to put up with her best friends personality. And it seemed like so far that Kamil just might be able to make it. Well there was nothing like putting things to the test and see what this blue eyed man had to work with. She tried to ignore the fact that she did find him attractive and tried her best not to blush.

As they got into position she just had to grin a little as she tried to keep both the slightly taller man and her shorter best friend in sight to make sure that there would be no double teaming on her. Because hey, it would just show if he was going to be good at working with combo attacks with them and that could mean the difference between winning and losing. She started off by following up Ren’ai’s attack with one of her own to his leg, just watching him made her grin even more because she was enjoying herself. Her green eyes were all on the waterbender before her, so when she saw some water coming towards her torso she blocked it with a small boulder that she had been using.

Taking a step to her right she briefly thought about sending the rock towards his side in hopes of taking away his source of water but changed her mind. Her black hair had been slowly coming out of her ponytail but she did not care and shook her hair out of her eyes so that she could keep up with everything. For a split second she made up her mind and sent a rock towards his left shoulder in hopes that she would catch him off guard.

[tag: Xiaolu]

Shuai watched wordlessly as Xiaolu lifted her wrist in front of her dark eyes. Shu-shu knew that the woman was trying to get a better look at the cut and asses how problematic it really was, but while she waited for the consensus Shu-shu couldn't help but think the worst. What if it's really deep? What if she faints, or worse, bleeds out? Where can I take her? How far is the nearest hospital? Do I even have any money on me for a cab? Why am I over reacting? By the end of it a mild headache had crept into her skull and added loads of pressure to both her temples. Ugh, dammit. Focusing on Xiaolu the firebender noticed that she was about to speak and immediately Shu-shu silenced her thoughts.

Placing a hand on the center of her chest the twenty-one-year-old exhaled a sigh of relief. Usually Shuai had no idea what people were talking about, mostly because a majority of her interactions with other people were over the phone, but for some reason she couldn't help but nod at what Xiaolu had to say. She understood what the woman meant. When Shuai was young she had gotten into all kinds of fights with the local boys and returned home with the occasional sprained wrist or ankle. She had one received a deep cut to her thigh, but Jung had nursed it back to perfect health. Looks like we might have something in common.

"That's good to hear," she smiled sliding her hand off of her chest and into her hair. "I've had it pretty bad myself, but I'm happy it's nothing serious. Thank the spirits."

It was a little awkward for Shuai having to gaze down at Xiaolu. She knew she was tall, but she had never met someone this short before, or maybe she had and just didn't remember. I'm over exaggerating. She is not that short. Either way the brunette hoped that her height wouldn't intimidate the poor girl. Taking a few steps back in order to level out their line of sight Shuai listened as Xiaolu openly concerned herself with Shu-shu's current condition. Well, isn't she a sweetheart.

"Nah, it's fine. I'll probably just ice it when I get home. And don't worry about it. You're the one who's bleeding. You make my bruise look like a sissy wound." Flashing the woman a brilliant smile Shuai hoped what she had just said would put Xiaolu's mind to rest. Again her attention was attracted to Xiaolu's feet. Shuai wasn't one to get curious, but this was too perplexing and needed an explanation. Well I'm in no rush to sleep now. That collision had pretty much woken her up and the firebender was sure that her tailbone would keep her tossing and turning. Besides, it was a nice day out and it wasn't every day that Shuai ran into interesting people in the park.

"Would you like to sit in the shade or something? I've got some time to kill, and I'm not sleepy anymore." Hopefully Xiaolu would say yes. Then Shuai would find out the secret about the woman's feet.

[Tag: Sora Kimura, Karena, Yuri]

Huh, those two definitely knew their stuff. Well, duh they knew their stuff; they were a Probending team short one member. Not random benders hanging around in the park showing their bending skills off. And they all seemed to be grinning, which was great. It meant he wasn't the only one enjoying this - at least, he was pretty sure that was what it meant - and that he wasn't doing a horrible job at impressing them. Two points for Kamil.

Still, he had mixed feelings about how easily the two of them seemed to shrug his attacks off, though. Given water wasn't that much of an intimidating element. At least, not with a limited amount to work with in liquid form. Turning it into ice, now that was a bit more intimidating. It was also against the rules and he didn't want to hurt the girls. Just show them he did have what it took to be a Dragon Hawk. At least, in the skills department.

A stream of fire aimed at his feet seemed to be next on the list of attacks. He dodged that attack by jumping to the side and, while mid-air, threw a decidedly bigger amount of water down at her. Probably not a particularly great move on his part since it left him a little open to Yuri's attack. He was barely grounded for a second when he saw the rock heading his way, but didn't really have enough time to do much about it other than duck to the side and hope he didn't get hit too badly. As he anticipated, the rock scraped past his shoulder, which hurt, but not enough to deter him. He winced, but shrugged it off and and sent punched mass of water her way with his right arm.

[Tag: Shuai Ru-shan]

“Shade? Sure,” Xiaolu nodded and glanced down at her feet, which Shu-shu seemed to take great interest in. On occasion, she came across someone who hadn’t happened upon a lot of earthbenders. To a lot of people, she looked poverty-stricken and just plain nihilistic. It was frowned upon in general society, especially in Republic City; just considered unclean, which she could understand because wandering around in bare feet in places that were considered high class (the libraries and such) left dusty footprints. But Xiaolu considered it her own form of revolt against the nonbender system. Sure, she might not be able to bend out in public like she used to, not even for defense or offense but just to blow off some steam and flex her power, but she could flat out refuse to wear footwear everywhere but a temple (where she would grudgingly adorn some sandals). There were no laws to dictate wearing shoes anywhere, at least not yet, so she proudly showed her bare feet wherever she went. Yeah, I’m an earthbender—wanna make something of it?

The tops of her feet were sunburnt and peeling.

“So, um, sorry to sort of… point out the obvious a lot, or be stupid but… you’re a firebender, right?” she found herself speaking in a conspiratorial whisper and didn’t know why. She figured it was because broadcasting bending ability wasn’t exactly smiling upon anymore. She couldn’t declare herself an earthbender in a public space without at least three people glaring at her and one telling her to go away, this wasn’t a place for her.

“Because you look like a firebender,” she added as she turned to look for the closest tree. A couple were kissing under the closest, so she turned her attention to the closest uninhabited tree; a great thick one with an umbrella-shaped configuration of broad green leaves. She considered that, in saying that, she might offend Shuai, but she couldn’t place her finger on why.

“Is it possible that you will say something, at one time or another, that you find harmless and someone else might find offensive?” her father asked her once when she was younger (for some reason, she couldn’t stop thinking about her father’s little circumstantial pieces of advice—it was probably because she missed her family so much, and her father really did give good advice if she listened to it). “Yes. It’s very possible. People are silly. They get offended over silly things. Does that mean you need to censor everything you say to make sure you don’t offend anyone, ever? No. That’s also silly. Just say what you think. Let other people get offended.”

“Um,” she added, unable to help herself, feeling herself grow warm at the collar and inching towards the shade of the tree (because the tops of her feet were really starting to ache in the sun), “no offense. You know. If you… took offense. Or something.”

[tag: Xiaolu]

The firebender was relieved when Xiaolu had agreed to her suggestion of taking a seat in the shade. The sun felt oddly hot this morning and Shu-shu wasn't in the mood for sweating. Besides, it was much more comfortable to sit and chat in the cool shade of a tree than to wander aimlessly around the park trying to breathe and talk at the same time. If Shu-shu wanted anything right now it was to feel relaxed. Her lack of sleep and that head on collision were doing strange things to her body, but the sooner she sat down the sooner she knew she would get back to feeling like her old self.

Taking a few steps forward Shuai squinted her eyes and scanned a couple of trees in the distance with her yellow gaze looking for a good place to sit, when Xiaolu asked her something that made her smile almost immediately. She looked like a firebender? Was that a bad thing? No it wasn't, and she knew that Xiaolu wasn't trying to make it sound that way. Shuai was somewhat impressed with this chick's detailed observation of herself. What had given it away? Her eyes maybe? Yellow eyes were quite characteristic of firebenders, although she had meet a couple of exceptions in her lifetime. "Good guess," she chuckled as she set her sights on a large umbrella shaped tree. "My skin and hair usually throw people off. I have my Earth Nation father to thank for that." And although she felt a sting at the thought of her father Shuai still knew that she was proud to carry his genes. "But my eyes are a dead giveaway I guess."

Turning to Xiaolu she smiled. "Yeah, I'm a firebender," the freckle faced woman finally confessed moving forward in the direction of the umbrella tree. "And no offense taken. I mean I've been trying to figure out if you're an earthbender or not." With a grin they arrived at the tree and moving carefully in order to not irritate her tailbone Shu-shu took her seat pressing her spine up against the tree's sturdy trunk. "So are you?" she asked quickly avoiding Xiaolu's dark gaze. "I figured that's why you're here in the park, barefoot."

[Tag: Shuai Ru-shan]

“Yeah, feet are kind of a dead giveaway. The whole ‘Republic City subtly’ is utterly and completely lost on me!”

Something she had said had pricked Xiaolu’s interest. Earth Nation father? Father of the Earth Nation—bender or nonbender?—with an evidently Fire Nation mother unless she had her biology wrong. It had fascinated her since day one when she met someone from a family of diverse culture. All Earth Nation, or Fire Nation, families were still much more common, especially with firebenders; she supposed there was still some residual emotions about the Great War, a little bit of quiet prejudice against them. Her father had had to carefully court for years to earn the affections of her mother, much because the maternal side of the family disapproved of ‘those people’ (and the bigotry extended to Xiaolu’s firebending brother). She had never met a firebender who had not been discriminated against for their bending—mixed families were firebenders were something of a rare breed.

It was exhilarating to meet someone from a background similar as hers.

“My mother used to wander around barefoot, and so did all the other earthbenders in my town,” Xiaolu lowered herself to the ground next to Shuai under the tree, relieved under the cool shade and noticing the angry redness on the top of her feet (stop worrying about them—they’ve had worse), and absently rubbed her thumb back and forth over the drying cut on her wrist. “I went along with it, mostly because it’s most comfortable. And, you know—we have a relationship with the earth, you know? Or that’s what my father used to tell me. That earthbenders aren’t born out of their mothers; they’re born in the earth and put into cradles by the spirits.”

Why was she saying this, and did she for a moment think that Shuai was interested in it? She was probably nursing a bruised tailbone (Was sitting on a bad tailbone a good idea? Would it break if she sat too hard on it? If it was already damaged, was there a possibility she could blow it up or something by sitting too hard? Could you sit on something too hard? Was that entirely possible? You’d have to sit pretty hard to break a bone.) and wondering how she got herself into situations like this with psychos like Xiaolu.

She tried to change the subject quickly, away from the painful memories of her parents. She didn’t know if they were alright. Up until recently, she’d sent them letters and they’d sent her notes. But Republic City wasn’t great about sending things outside the city boundaries. They could be in real trouble and she wouldn’t know why.

“You don’t see a lot of other earthbenders—any benders, really—anymore, at least not anyone outside the police,” Xiaolu said, and she realized she sounded sad. Weepy sad. She cleared her throat coarsely into her fist and muttered, “Other than those metalbenders in the police. And probenders. But you never see benders just on the street anymore. You know? Like we’re a dying breed. Or something. Do you notice that? Or all they all just… intentionally avoiding me? An Anti-Xiaolu Squad?”

[Tag: Sora Kimura, Kamil, Yuri]

Ren’ai watched as Kamil sent a decided bigger stream of water towards her. She barely had enough time to dodge it, and it still managed to get her shoulder all wet. The fabric of her white work shirt stuck to her shoulder, now see through. The Firebender saw the rock that Yuri had tossed the Waterbender’s way, noticing how he only managed to dodge it, and even then it scrapped his shoulder. Even though they had fended off most of his attacks, the Captain was fairly pleased with the new recruit that Tadashi had found. He wasn’t perfect, of course, but he had no experience with Probending. He got the general idea, and that was what mattered to her.

Ren’ai didn’t bother asking Yuri’s opinion, because she was Captain. Yes, the Firebender knew that she valued her best friend’s opinion, but she also knew that they were generally on the same page. The Firebender waved her a hand a bit, showing that she was done. “I think we’re done here,” she said. The dark-haired young woman walked a few steps forward closer to Kamil. “You need a bit of work, but who doesn’t?” She walked a few steps more, so that she was a bit closer to him so that they were within arm’s reach and stuck out her hand. “Welcome to the team. We’ll have to get in a few practice sessions, of course, but hey, that’s to be expected. Everyone needs practice.” She gave a smirk.

Ren’ai hoped that his personality meshed well with theirs. She wasn’t worried about Kamil getting along with Yuri; it was herself she was worried about him getting along with. “Do you work or anything? I need to know if there are any scheduling conflicts we need to work around?” She waited a bit for him to respond, before continuing. “Yuri and I work at Watashi’s Restaurant. She’s a delivery girl, and I’m a waitress, so do have schedules.” She noticed Ichiro had hung around, and gave Tadashi a smile before turning back to Kamil. This had worked out. It was ridiculous that bending at the park had worked, but it worked. She was going to hug Tadashi as soon as Kamil left. She was very, very happy.

[tag: Xiaolu]

Again Xiaolu managed to make Shuai chuckle. If something wasn't lost on this earthbender it was definitely her wit and charm. The only other person in this city who knew how to make Shu-shu laugh was her ex-roommate and good friend, Tuyen. Aside from that nobody seemed to want to be humorous around her, which tanked because Shuai enjoyed laughing and smiling a lot. Occasionally the firebender received prank calls while at work. A majority of them were funny, but she had to make sure not to laugh or else she'd have to answer to her boss, and her boss was not the nicest of guys.

Her company then sat down beside her and moved on to talk about her mother and father. Xiaolu also managed to give Shuai a beautiful explanation for the reason why she chose to go about the city barefoot. 'Eloquently put," Shuai smiled as she crossed her arms beneath her chest. "If that's the way you feel than I say to hell with what everybody else thinks. Tell them what you just said and I'm sure you'll render them speechless." For a second Shuai considered mentioning Lulu to Xiaolu, but then decided to save the stories about her best friend for another time. But if anyone agreed strongly with what Xiaolu had just said it would be Lulu.

As kids Lulu and Shu-shu had also enjoyed walking around their town barefoot. Lulu did it more often than Shuai, but that was probably because she was the earthbender. Maybe it was something about the security of having the element you bent right under your feet that made earthbenders want to go shoeless. It made perfect sense to Shuai, but maybe she was being biased. She was a bender after all and as one the young woman understood how personal and close one became to ones own element. A non-bender would probably have a hard time trying to understand why Xiaolu couldn't just adorn a pair of shoes. Xiaolu had also mentioned that she was from a small town and not the city. If that was the case than the earthbender had definitely accustomed herself to a life without shoes for quite some time now. Guess old habits really do die hard.

Shu-shu quieted her thoughts as Xiaolu dived back into conversation. These words of hers however did not make Shuai want to chuckle. Instead the firebender frowned and casted her gaze out into the distance. It was sad how truthful the earthbender's words were. Things had become difficult and scary for the benders living in Republic City. Of course life was scary for the non-benders as well. They had the Triads to worry about, a bunch of scum-bags was what they were. But at least there wasn't an Amon leading every Triad. But Triads pick on benders too, her mind chimed in. That was true. It was incredible how crappy things had become. The Triads sucked. The Equalists sucked. And Amon sucked most of all. The only person who didn't suck was Korra and Shuai had placed all of her faith in her Avatar. Everyone was supposed to. It had been that way for hundreds of years. Giving up on the Avatar was like giving up on the spirits and there was no way in hell that Shuai was going to do that.

What Republic City needed was balance and it was Avatar Korra's job to retrieve that balance and she would. She just had to. "Everyone is just avoiding each other," Shuai grumbled rubbing her forehead with her right hand. "But I know what you mean. With everything that's been going on I think that Republic City's benders have decided to go into hiding. You know, until things calm down. Personally I think that's stupid. No one is going to make me hide who I am. I know I'm not taking the smartest road, but frankly I don't give a damn." With a smirk Shuai moved her head indicating Xiaolu's feet. "Looks like you don't give a damn either. Which is nice. I respect that." Not wanting to focus on depressing times, Shuai decided to move their conversation to something less dense but still connected to the city.

"Have you lived here for long?"

[Tag: Shuai Ru-shan]

“Well… Hold on, hold on…” she held up her hands, eyes rolling as she tried to recall exactly how long she’d been living in Republic City. The days and weeks (and months?) were beginning to blur together into one big parade of fear, uneasy, anxiety, paranoia, sporadic elation and agonizing doubt. She didn’t have any official way to keep track of the date; it rarely mattered to her date, or day, or whatever, and she had never understood just what the significance was. “Just let me think about that for a minute or two… Uh… Wait. Wait. Wait… I want to say about three months now?”

Three months seemed about right; not perfect, but a good benchmark. It could’ve been wishful thinking; maybe she just wanted it to be three months. She knew time went fast when having fun, but what about when life sucks? Time when slow when life sucked, and the time spent in Republic City had been nothing short of hellish.

“But you know, it’s been… it’s been kind of tough. Because a girl alone in the city, especially Republic City… it’s getting tougher because… Because of…”

Maybe she was being overdramatic. But in the City, the great big City full of people who hated her but didn’t even know her, she felt tiny. It was like before she knew she could bend; her oldest brother and she were the only ones in the town who were from a bending family but were nonbenders. She had never felt good enough; she was insignificant, impotent, unremarkable. She was fading into the background of the great Republic City painting, but now she didn’t dare try to prove herself worthy of notice. The only benders she had come across outside of the police or probending were gangs; she’d been robbed by a firebending gang and asked to join an earthbending one. The firebenders had walked away with a few less teeth and a broken fist, and the earthbenders nearly beat her for refusing.

“You promise this old man one thing, Xiaolu, and you have my blessings to go to the City. And that is that you will never use your bending as a weapon against others unless absolutely necessary. You will not be an earthbender to rob, or to coercer, or to threaten. You will use your bending to help, and to build, and to defend yourself if absolutely necessary. I’ve been to the City. I grew up there. Things are different for benders there than out here. And there will be benders who want to use their bending as advantage over nonbenders. It’s not only unfair; it’s cowardly. You mustn’t ever do these things. I raised you stronger than that. Our principles aren’t shared with everyone, Xiaolu, but you must never, ever use your bending as a weapon against those who can’t defend themselves.”

She wondered if, faced with the promises she was faced with, her father would do the same things, follow his own advice. He had never felt tiny, insignificant, powerless; he had migrated with tolerance from the City to places where he was accepted for who he was; a firebender, and a fine one at that, raising three fine children. Two out of three of them ended up being benders; the odds were good.

She wondered if her oldest brother, a nonbender, a chi blocker who taught himself his own trade and went rogue after his face was almost burned off by a firebender invader, would handle the situation as her father advised. He had the temper of a firebender, that was sure, and his power was unmatched by anything Xiaolu had ever seen with a chi blocker; the control and pure strength of an earthbender with the cleverness and agility of a firebender, packed into a once-perfect body using the virtues between the two, now a ruined shell fueled by rage. He could very well be an equalist among Amon’s forces. She could have very well recently avoided him attacking her recently after dark when she was walking home. Xiaolu couldn’t stand to think that maybe her brother, gentle and kind and understanding and patient as he had been, could turn out that way. But she hadn’t seen him, or her firebending brother, for years. They could be anything, anyone.

She realized she’d been daydreaming only when she heard herself say, her voice embarrassingly choked with emotion, “It’s just those damned equalists.”

‘Said’ was a gentle word. She had more snapped it, almost yelled. She immediately regretted it; feeling her face grow warm, she quickly moved her eyes to study a loose string on her shorts, embarrassed.

So much for not giving a damn.

[tag: Xiaolu]

A giggle escaped past Shuai's pink lips as she watched Xiaolu become animated, holding her hands up and rolling her eyes while she thought of her answer; it was certainly a sight for sore eyes. Laying her hands on her lap Shuai picked at a piece of lint on her pants before turning her face back toward the earthbender as she came closer to an answer. "Wow, three months?" the firebender said with a hint of disbelief in her yellow eyes. "That's such'uh short time." Compared to four years that is. Three months was not enough time. Not enough time to familiarize ones self with the city. It had taken Shuai an entire year to finally feel comfortable within the concrete jungle known as Republic City, and at least she had had a friend to lean on when she needed further assistance. Did Xiaolu have anyone here to help her out? By the looks of it Shuai figured that the dark eyed woman was a loner. A second later Xiaolu validated Shu-shu's depressing thought.

Because of what? Shuai thought her mind lingering on the earthbender's last words. Was it the Triads? The Equalists? Amon? It was true that all of those things made a life in the city tougher to lead. There were other things too, like acquiring food, clothing, and shelter. It wasn't so easy to keep your head above water in Republic City. Maybe in the past things were a little simpler, but nowadays people didn't have a problem chewing other people's limbs off to get what they needed or wanted. Greed unfortunately filled the air and if you weren't hungry enough to stay alive then you either ended up in the streets, in a gang, or lying dead in some spider-rat ridden ditch. Shu-shu wasn't blind to the harsh and cruel realities that plagued the lives of so many of Republic City's citizens. She had gotten lucky. The spirits had dealt her a great card, that card being Tuyen. Without that woman...Shuai shuddered at the thought.

Running a hand up her sleeveless arm Shuai tried to think of something to say. Naturally the phone operator did not want to go digging into Xiaolu's personal life. Was it really Shu-shu's place to ask the young woman why she was alone? No she couldn't do that, that was way too forward. Maybe there was some advice she could give the shoeless earthbender? Or maybe she could ask Xiaolu what it was that was making her life increasingly harder to live in the city? That sounds like an okay idea, her mind commented before the firebender parted her lips to speak. Sadly, Xiaolu beat her too it.

Shuai's skin jumped as Xiaolu's exclamation rang loudly in her ears. Shu-shu was sure that Xiaolu hadn't meant to yell out what she did, but Shuai was glad that the earthbender had. Everyone had the right to expel terrible thoughts from their minds and it seemed as if those devils had gotten to Xiaolu, and in such a brief amount of time. Calling them devils was pretty harsh sure, but there was nothing nice about someone who believed in wanting to rid Shuai of her gift. That wasn't equal, that was just psychotic. Chi blockers were insane, end of story. Without a hint of hesitation Shuai drew her hand sideways and placed it firmly on Xiaolu's shoulder. "I'd like to do a lot more to those jerks than just damn them. If anybody is in need of making an appointment with’uh shrink it's those loonies."

Lowering her voice she quickly added, "They're getting under every benders’ skin. I know this sounds dumb but you can’t let them get to you.” With a smirk Shuai slid her hand off of Xiaolu’s shoulder and patted the earthbender once on her forearm before laying her hand back down in her lap. “Besides you seem like’uh strong bender to me. I’m sure you’d give them hell.” Joking even in the face of adversity, yep that was Shuai's style.

OOC: Sorry for the wait!

[Tag: Sora Kimura, Karena, Yuri]

When Kamil saw Ren'ai wave her hand he relaxed slightly and straightened himself up. Had he done it? Was his bending good enough to join their team? Internally he could feel himself getting nervous again, but when Ren'ai said they were done he just grinned and said, "If you say so, Cap," starting with the nicknames. As she spoke and made her way to him he just stood there and smiled. Judging by the way she was talking things seemed promising for him, but he wasn't going to get his hopes up. Once the Firebender stuck her arm out and welcomed him to the team, Kamil let out a breath he hadn't even been aware he'd been holding and shook 'Cap's' hand. "Of course, Cap. Wasn't exactly planning on just jumping in a match without some actual practice first." He could boast all he wanted about his general knowledge about the stuff - which he didn't anyway - but he was no Probending prodigy.

He thought about her question for a moment. "Well...I work at the clothing store Fresh. It's a family business, though, and I usually find myself doing a bit of everything; errands, deliveries, cashier you name it. So I don't really have a set schedule." He replied. The way he said it made him sound like he was always very busy, but him actually being 'busy' was while working was rare. "Hmm... Nah, I don't think work should be a problem for me. If push comes to shove I can get someone to fill in for me." Saya would probably be ecstatic with that news. And honestly, he wasn't going to let work get in the way of this. It wasn't like he could get fired that easily either. He listened to Ren'ai's response, a curious expression crossing his face. A delivery girl and a waitress, huh? Maybe he should stop by there once. If only to see what the girls were like outside of Probending.

Kamil was starting to feel a little giddy and was doing his best not to let it show. This was all a little surreal for him. Of course he would now have to think about how to make sure his father and grandmother did not find out about his joining a Probending team, but for now he just wanted to revel in the feeling of actually being part of a team to begin with. It was almost too good to be true.