OOC: I am so sorry about my absence! I was not anticipating it, but I've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off the last couple of days! Sheesh!



Probably not so great, Kira thought to herself as Takeo finished up his tale. She didn't really deserve that compliment. Thinking he was a murderer was not so great of her; then again it could have been a reasonable assumption so perhaps that was not so terrible. But snapping at him had not been a great move on her part. Being hostile and icy should not have earned her any brownie points with him. But still, he somehow managed to forgive her; something not too many people would have done for her. For that she was grateful.

After the self-loathing session in her mind was over, Kira focused her attention on the part of Takeo's tale in which he spoke about his travels in a ship. Kira smiled as he chattered on about it; her own trip across the water had been a nightmare! Her stomach rumbled and protested the lolling waves that this ship rolled over, and she could not count the numerous times that was thrown to the ground from a violent outcropping of waves. It was a terrible experience that she would never want to experience, but hearing Takeo mention it, he made it sound as though it were an adventure - it was just not one that she was ready or wanted to repeat.

As that thought passed, Kira thought about Takeo's last sentence. "You know, I'm not all that great you know. I have a tendency to be a little....stand offish, if you catch my meaning." That was the biggest understatement of the century, and she knew it. She didn't turn back to the waterbender as she spoke and instead continued to move forward, knowing fully well that they were bordering on their last few minutes together. Who knew if they would ever see each other again. It was a sad thought - she finally met someone who seemed to be legitimately interested in her and her life, yet she may not ever see him again.

Then again, what we the chances too that, on a whim, she would stop and ask this random stranger if he needed help and find someone that didn't get annoyed with her? She didn't believe in fate or destiny, or whatever the heck anyone called it, but it surely did seem to be an odd coincidence. Normally she would have never stopped in fear that he would have been a thief or murdered, but something told her that she should have. Against her "better judgement" she approached him and somehow managed to find someone that could tolerate her (well, at least for the moment). It was a sad thought that she needed to push from her mind.

As she managed to push that thought away, they rounded a corner. She jolted slightly to see people - mostly men - milling about on that street at this time of the night. There were no homes or inns on this street and all the shops had been closed hours ago, so who were all of these people. She grew suspicious and moved carefully, trying to keep everyone in her sights. Perhaps she should not be as paranoid as she was being, but she always figured it would be far better to be safe rather than sorry.

Random Alleyway


He couldn't help but chuckle a bit when she took the flashlight and played with it a little bit, accidentally blinding herself with the first blast of light. With a shake of his head, he turned back toward their current course and carefully led the way, hoping that no one would find them and think that they were suspicious. In fact, the last thing he wanted was to be thought an Equalist or Triple Threat Tryad member.

When she responded back to him, he just nodded his head and led the way a little bit more before turning off his flashlight as well, noticing her sitting down near him. They had to be stealthy, sneaky, and above all, he had to keep her safe. Bender or not, she was a little bit of a handful and he didn't want her to get hurt for some foolish reason if he could avoid it.

A voice came through the alleyway, and Benjiro listened, hearing the figure in question, just barely, talking about the "stuff" that he was able to get from a store. Now, it could have been a coincidence, that this person had gotten stuff from a store. Maybe this alleyway led to his house and he was just talking too a friend about his groceries or something.

Leaning forward a bit, Benjiro tried to hear more of the conversation, hearing only more bits and pieces, and the more he heard, the more it sounded like the two had found the criminal who they were searching for. "What do you think... should we try and take them down to get back the stuff?"

[tag: Kira]



Kira needed to stop being so down on herself, and he told her as much. ”No, you are great, honestly! I mean, sure, you got mad at me earlier, but that was partly my fault for asking about something you didn’t want to talk about.” He held up a hand to preemptively stop the protest he knew was coming. ”Don’t say it wasn’t, it was. I’m always asking things I shouldn’t. Besides, you stopped to help me when no one else did, and you’ve put with me. You’re a really nice person, Kira, even if you don’t think so.” Takeo grinned at the Firebender, hoping that she would accept what he was saying. It didn’t take much for Takeo to like people, but the reverse of ten took quite a while. His coworker Jin joked that he only tolerated the Waterbender’s constant prattling because he was paid to do so—at least, Takeo was pretty sure he was joking. The fact that Kira hadn’t abandoned him yet made her one of the nicest people he’d ever met.

They turned onto another street, and he was surprised to see people, a decent number of them. Confuse, Takeo watched the crowd, wondered what they were all doing out when there were no businesses open. He noticed Kira tense up a bit, but stayed relaxed for the moment. There was no way of knowing what all these people were here for, so he wouldn’t worry just yet. The Waterbender kept an eye on the crowd, and noticed them all heading in one direction. All were moving toward the corner, where a man stood on a small wooden platform. The setup was familiar to him, and now he began to feel a little concerned. If this was what he thought it was, then they were not in a good place.

As the crowd gathered at the base of the platform and the man began to speak, his fears were confirmed. ”Equalists,” he muttered darkly. The man at the platform spoke with a raised voice, the sound carrying down the street to them.

”People of Republic City! It’s time for us to throw off the shackles of oppression that the benders force us to wear! They think they own the city, but we outnumber them, and we can take them down!”

The words were met with cheers from the assembled people, but Takeo scowled. In order to get where they needed to go they’d have to pass the mob. Kira would probably be fine, but he looked very obviously like a Waterbender, and the masses weren’t going to like that. Catching up to Kira, he put a hand on her shoulder. ”Walk past them quickly and don’t listen to anything they say or answer any questions. Maybe we can get past them without too much trouble.”

Was he complimenting her? Kira stole a glance back at Takeo as he spoke, wanting to see if the words forming in his mouth were just empty and hollow. When she glanced at his face, that did not seem to be the case. He seemed to be sincere (of course, then again she was not always the best judge of sincerity). As Takeo mentioned that the fault had been his, Kira opened her mouth to protest the self accusation. She snapped her jaw shut when he held up his hand. In that moment, instead of being cross, she found herself more amused than anything else and she had no idea as to why!

She turned back around to face in front of her, thinking about what Takeo had just said and for the first time since coming to Republic City, she knew that her decision had absolutely been the right one. After all, where else but here would a virtual stranger tell her that she was a good person when all she heard from her so-called "friends" back home that she was evil? She didn't know what his deepest thoughts about her were at that moment, but she knew that he would be someone that she may be able, one day, to call a friend.

"Thank you Takeo," she said in response to his upbeat words. "You know, you are a really good guy. Not too many people can make this icy firebender feel as confident and as great as you've made me feel tonight." She turned back at him and flashed him a smile - a real one this time. "Thank you. I'm glad that we've had this opportunity to meet."

She heard Takeo speak behind her, his tone much different than his earlier cheer-Kira-up one. So these were the infamous Equalists? She had heard the rumors milling about; there was an ever-growing number of non-benders becoming fed up with those that could bend. Though the thought was alarming to her, Kira never focused her energy to thinking about the Equalist movement - she did not want to. She had come to Republic City to escape the hatred of her village, not to dwell upon a new version of it.

Yet it was hard to ignore the small group standing in front of her, spilling out hateful words:

”People of Republic City! It’s time for us to throw off the shackles of oppression that the benders force us to wear! They think they own the city, but we outnumber them, and we can take them down!”

It struck a chord of fear in her brain, and for a brief moment she felt as though she were back in the village once more. Shaking her head she had to remind herself that she wasn't. Here, they did not hate her because she was a firebender like at home; here they hated her because she was a bender which also meant that they hated Takeo just as much.

She felt the man's hand on her shoulder but kept her eyes glued to the gathering in front of her. She heard him instruct her to move quickly and ignore them, but she knew that their path would take them well in sight of the small mob in front of them. Kira knew that keeping her mouth shut wouldn't be a problem for her, but she did worry about Takeo. Somehow, though, she didn't think it would be a problem from him either. His voice was darker and not cheery. His seriousness reverberated in her mind causing her to worry slightly more.

"Don't worry about me," she whispered back to him. Her throat became suddenly dry, however, when the thought of Takeo passed her mind. She had easily identified him as a waterbender when she approached him. There was little doubt in her mind that the Equalist gathering in front of her would do the same. This was going to be tricky.

"Maybe if we walk behind the crowd, no one will see us." Kira suggested, but deep down she knew that it wouldn't work - it was a pretty small area. If nothing else, the mouthy guy on the podium would give them away. But there was little they could do. In order to get to Takeo's home, they had to go through this square. Taking a deep breath, she walked forward and almost immediately one of the lolligagers joining in late saw her.

"Where are you going?" he asked as he eyed Kira up. She was fine until the man turned his attention over to Takeo. Kira felt her heart race in her chest. She had little doubt that they were about to be exposed.

[tag: Kira]



He’d never paid that much attention to the Equalists before. Sure, he’d heard their speeches in the park, but those were easily ignored. Really, he thought they’re whole point was rather silly. Yes, there were some benders who used their abilities to treat others unfairly, but they were few and far between. The rest were just normal people living side-by-side with the non-bending people of the world. His coworker couldn’t bend, and there was no issue between them when they worked the same shift. He knew plenty of nonbenders who could do things he could never imagine, without needing the ability to bend. The Equalists were just blowing things out of proportion.

Still, that didn’t mean that they were to be taken lightly. He irritated people often, so he knew how dangerous a group of angry people could be. If the mob found out that the two of them were benders, that could quickly lead to trouble. They’d just have to tread carefully. He wasn’t very good at that normally, but he just wanted to get home without any trouble. Surely the crowd could understand that, especially if he made it clear that he posed no threat.

Kira suggested they pass behind the crowd, and the Waterbender nodded in agreement. He’d do whatever he could to get home without any unfortunate incidents. He walked next to Kira as they entered the square, keeping a cautious eye on the crowd. Unfortunately, they weren’t sneaky enough, and a man near the back of the crowd turned his gaze on them, asking where they were going. His look at Kira was brief, but his eyes lingered on Takeo’s clothing, noting the heritage they very obviously displayed. Taking a step in front of Kira, the Waterbender responded coolly.

”Not that it’s any of your business, but we were just on our way home.” The man sniffed, his eyes sizing the two up. “Nice clothes,” he said, his tone ringing with mockery. “You a Waterbender?” Takeo knew that he should say no, as the truth would obviously get them in trouble, but this whole situation was frustrating him and he didn’t think. ”Yes, I am.”

That got the mob’s attention, and several men near the back of the group turned to look at him. Takeo glared back at them. ”But if you’ve been staring at me, you’ll see that I don’t have a water skin on me,” he continued, indicating the empty place on his belt where his source of bending water would usually be. ”So I may be a bender, but I couldn’t bend right now even if I wanted to. So, right now you and I are practically the same.”

That was the wrong thing to say. The man who’d accosted them narrowed his eyes. “You ‘n me are nothing alike, punk,” he growled. “I don’t use my abilities to oppress others like you do.” Takeo sighed loudly, anger clear in the noise. ”Look. I don’t want any trouble. My friend and I are just going to keep walking, and you guys can get back to your meeting. Okay?” Not bothering to wait for an answer, the Waterbender turned his back on the crowd and began to walk away.

“Hey punk.”

Sighing, Takeo stopped and slowly turned around, just in time to meet the fist that slammed into his face and sent him crashing to the ground.

tag: Tenshio



As the man's gaze lingered on Takeo, Kira became nervous. With each passing second, she waited tensely. There was little doubt now that the two of them were going to pass behind the crowd without incident. It was a frustrating thought considering how close they were to where Takeo lived!

The Equalist man finally spoke, and when he did Kira cringed. Yup, she was right. He recognized Takeo's clothing as those of a Waterbender. This whole situation, she knew, was not going to end well and she began to mentally prepare. The whole thought of maybe having to use her bending to fight made her uncomfortable and nervous, and she hoped deeply that it would not come to that.

Then again, Kira knew they may be able to get out of this situation with relatively little harm, just as long as she and Takeo played it very close to the mark. This was further demonstrated when the man asked if Takeo was a Waterbender. This was their chance at a relatively painless escape. However, her jaw dropped when Takeo answered honestly that he was. She groaned. Why couldn't he have lied about that?

His answer caught the attention of several people at the back of the crowd. There was no doubt to Kira that there would be more attention drawn to them as the questions continued. The man huffed at Takeo's answer and Kira notice several people's faces wrinkling up in disgust. Not good.

Kira only half listened as Takeo continued to explain their presence in the small square. She was too busy stealing cautious glances through the stirring crowd. The man on the podium prattled on about the oppression of benders, not noticing the confrontation going on in the back...yet. Once he did and announced it to the crowd, there would be a small mob. It was far from the ideal situation.

"So I may be a bender, but I couldn’t bend right now even if I wanted to. So, right now you and I are practically the same."

Takeo's statement caught Kira's attention and she turned back to see the man's face reddening. She wondered if he realized what he said or if the waterbender even cared. But the man was far from pleased yet Takeo continued speaking, his voice escalating again. Kira had no idea what to say to make the situation better - there probably was nothing to say - so she listened as the voices escalated.

And then suddenly, Takeo turned on his heels and began walking away. Kira took a step forward as well, but was stopped when the waterbender was pulled around. "Look out!" she shouted at him, but the warning came too late as a fist socked Takeo in the face and knocked him to the ground.

Before anything else could happen, Kira stepped up between the man and Takeo. "Enough. My friend here is right. We're not here to cause anyone trouble. We just want to pass through here. It's late and we want to get home."

"You a bender too sweetheart?" another man from the crowd asked. She bristled at being called sweetheart. Kira looked up and saw that the number of people paying attention had grown. She groaned. Was it too much to ask for an uneventful walk. Well, Takeo did mention trouble...he was finally getting it.

Instead of responding, she turned her back on the man and reached down to Takeo and held her hand out. "Are you okay?" It was a dumb question...he just got socked in the face. Of course he wasn't okay! "Come on, let's get out of here."

She didn't want to fight, but the crowd was making darn sure that that wasn't going to happen. The man who struck Takeo began to prattle on about her being a bender as well. Kira did her best to ignore the harmful and hateful words spewing out of the mouths of these nonbenders, trying to remind herself that she wasn't home. But when the tormenting and name-calling started, how was she supposed to realize that there was a difference.

Normally, Kira considered herself a passive and calm person, but as the people behind her began chattering on at how evil and unnatural bending was, she found her anger reaching it's boiling point. After a few moments of the verbal abuse, Kira narrowed her eyes. "Listen," she started. "My friend and I just want to pass through." She repeated. "But it seems like you guys want to have a reason to hate benders. Well, if you want a reason, here you go!"

A fireball formed in her hand and some of the members of the mob gasped. She looked around at each person facing her and Takeo but knew that she was not going to throw it at any of them. Instead she looked up at the stage and threw it there. Slowly the smell of smoke filled the area as the stage began to light up, on fire.

"You see!" the man shouted to the crowd. "You see how they oppress us! Well I think it's time that we show the benders that we're not going to take it anymore!"

Kira realized that her actions were definitely not the best ones that she should have taken once the many pair of eyes turned and faced her and Takeo.

Random Alleyway

With a sigh, he took a step out from behind the corner as well, hitting the side of his flashlight before clicking it on as secretly as possible. Make it look like he was having issues with it. He could at the very least make it seem like there was a reason that his light wasn't on a few moments beforehand.

Looking up at the person in front of him, he turned the flashlight upward and noticed a few people before lowering it again. When Airi spoke about looking for some stuff, Benjiro nodded his head. "Yeah... sadly, I think we've gotten lost back here as well... sometimes these alleyways just... get too confusing." He said, rubbing the back of his head.

Well, the last thing that they needed were to be chi blocked and then taken somewhere. They looked over at Benjiro and Airi, and he did his best to not freak out. "A thief took some stuff from a store and we were trying to help out the owners, but we lost the trail and now can't figure out where to go." He added, before looking at the green eyes.

"Can you help us?" Benjiro asked, and the Equalists began to talk among themselves. Hopefully, they would believe them.

[tag: Jin Hoshigawa]



Jin hadn't seemed upset that he lost - in fact, he laughed aloud like she was performing a show. Sashu thought about pouting, but she truthfully didn't care. She was glad to see him smile, glad to see him happy. Her mind kept bringing up the first and most recent time they saw each other. It was odd to compare his hunched over, slow walk to their race over the sand and the grin upon his face. Did that mean they were already friends? They were meeting together (alone, if that made sense, which it did to Sashu) and in a secluded place to practice their bending...

So that must mean yes. The waterbender could only hope that - if they found their third teammate - she could have an earthbending friend just as soon.

He began to pace as he spoke to her "I'm, well, I'm calm, collected, and can even be a little bit funny at times - I MUST be a terror," he joked with a laugh. "It's not all bad, though. I finally got a new perspective on this whole shorter thing - I know how you feel whenever you're around me."

This time Sashu laughed aloud. "You got me this time. But I'll get you back soon. You can count on it." She winked and helped him up on the rocks. He almost slipped, but Sashu's hand was firm and her muscles were strong, and he managed to not totally crash into her. (Though it kinda would have been fun if he had.) She then released him and hopped down into the damp sand. It was solid and firm, as satiated with water as physically possible without actually becoming it. Here and there were little indentations in the dark surface, and there were actual puddles of water gathered.

To her left the bay rested, and the little waves broke with gentle shushes. She stepped away from the natural wall and towards the little mouth, where the water lapped. It was warm as it washed over her soles. Jin landed behind her as she moved, and she heard him walk to the center of the circle before she even turned. "I hope you're ready for this, Ash. I'm no pushover." He slid into a stance, as defensive as it got from a firebender's perspective.

She couldn't help but smirk. He may not have noticed how wet the sand was. Sashu could easily use that. "Of course you are," she teased. "Never doubted you. No way." But still she also took a stance, one looser and more fluid than her sparring partner's. That was the way of the waterbender. Jin had seen her dance on the bridge with nothing but air between her fingers.

Now he would watch her dance and fear its price.

"Right now, let's just begin with light, not too aggressive blows. We won't have time for this sort of... assessment, in the ring, but it's good to get the feel of probenders with other elements." Her tone had lost its joking nature: now she was all business. She lifted a stream of water from the shore behind her, and essentially passed the small orb towards Jin. It honestly couldn't have hurt a fly, but it would test his mettle and let her know how much control he had over his firebending: if he overreacted, he'd send fire at her behind his blow; under, then he'd be taking the first of many showers. Sashu hoped he would adapt quickly and use the proper amount of fire to defend. As a waterbender, she happened to fully understand that fire had little defense.

That didn't mean she would go easy on him. She sent up two more orbs following the first, each a little bigger and moving faster than the last, and as she pulled, up a fourth (almost as large as something she'd use in the ring, if and when it came to that), she deftly bent up some water from the sand behind him, and simultaneously whipped the tiny stream towards the back of his knees while her main stream was aimed as usual, at his chest.

See him defend that. 'Short'. Pfft.

[tag: Kira]



His face hurt. No one had ever punched him like that. Many people had threatened to in order to get him to shut up, but this man was the first to actually do it. The Waterbender hadn’t realized how badly punches hurt. His face was throbbing, each wave of pain making him wince. Gingerly, the man reached a hand up to probe his face and figure out how bad his injuries were. Nothing felt broken, though when he brought his hand back into view he saw blood. His nose was bleeding, the liquid dripping off the side of his face onto the ground. The Waterbender sat up, watching morosely as the blood began to darken his shirt, making the fabric appear almost black in the light from a street lamp high above him. This was fixable. It might be strange to try to heal what he couldn’t see, but he could probably manage it. First, though, he had to get away from this mob before they did further damage to him or started on Kira.

Suddenly there was a hand in front of his face. Takeo looked up, his eyes traveling up the hand to the arm it was attached to and finally to the person to whom that arm belonged. Kira. Good. The Waterbender accepted the offered limb with muttered thanks and got to his feet, staggering a little as his head throbbed. He nodded in agreement with the Firebender’s suggestion that they leave, though that was looking less and less like a possibility as more of the gathered Equalists took notice of them. They’d just have to make a break for it, and soon.

There were multiple voices muttering curses and the like, but Takeo focused only on Kira. She was looking less and less secure with insult hurled at them, and he was worried that she might do something unwise—which was rich, coming from him, the master of foolish behavior. But Kira seemed much more level-headed than he was; she’d be fine.

Or not. The Waterbender’s gasp mingled with those of the mob as the woman lobbed a fireball right at the speaker’s platform, setting it ablaze. ”Um, Kira,” he muttered, ”Probably not the best idea.” He wasn’t the only one to think so, and the man who’d punched him began yelling at the crowd, calling on them to attack the two benders. Takeo took a frightened step back, eyes darting to Kira. ”We should probably…run!” The last word was a shout as he took the woman’s hand and began to move as fast as he could, pulling her behind him. Hopefully they could outrun the angry mob behind them.

tag: Tenshio



Of course she would realize after she tossed the fireball what a stupid, idiotic thing that she had done. Normally she was calmer and far more collected than that, but she was scared and fear made people do stupid things. She was no exception. Even Takeo behind her knew that what she had done was one of the most moronic things that she could have done in that situation.

By that time, all of the Equalist rally participant's eyes were glued to the two of them. Insult after insult was flung and she tried to back down. She thought briefly about apologizing, but they would fall on deaf ears. There would be no use in wasting her breath. In fact, she was just about sure that anything she would have done after that point would have made matters worse. Best not tempt fate again.

”Um, Kira, probably not the best idea.”

She swallowed hard. "Yeah, I kind of gathered that," she responded, her voice completely dry and scratchy. As he suggested they run, Kira nodded her head in the affirmative. Even though the crowd was no exceptionally large, the fight would have still be rather unfair - especially for two benders that did not have the ability or skill to fight. There was no water close by for Takeo to bend, and Kira dared not bring her firebending back into play.

When she felt a hand clamp down on her hand, Kira jumped and prepared to pull back. Once she realized it was Takeo she relaxed and allowed herself to be pulled along. The crowd shouted as they took off running and, though being dragged away, Kira managed to steal a glance behind her. A few of them gave chase. She groaned through her heavy gulps of air at how fast they were! Outrunning may not be their best option.

That thought further resonated with her as they continued running; her side cramped up. Kira was a heck of a sprinter, but when it came to running at any long lengths, she was terrible at it. She glanced back to see that they had put some distance between themselves and their pursuers, though she could still hear the shouts of the crowd in the distance. "Takeo!" she said in between her panting. "We've...got...to...stop!" Even the adrenaline was not enough to keep her going.

Hoping that she didn't pull him off balance, she changed directions suddenly. "This way!" She hoped that in between some of the buildings would force their would-be attackers to lose sight of them and give up the pursuit. She hoped anyway...

[tag: Kira]



Who knew angry Equalists could run so fast? Sure, Kira had probably destroyed their little platform by now, but they didn’t have to be so mad about it. They could always build another, right? Joking aside, Takeo wondered if the Equalists realized that in this situation they were the bad guys. He and Kira were just trying to get home, and the Equalists were stopping them from doing that. That sounded like oppression to him, and the crowd didn’t even need the ability to bend to do it. Funny how that worked.

Not funny, however, was the fact that the two benders were still running for their lives. As they ran, Takeo kept his eyes moving, looking for a small alley they could turn into or—if the spirits were good—a passing member of the police who could help them. Sure, the police might get Kira in trouble for destroying the speaker’s platform with her bending, but at least that would get them away from the angry crowd at their heels.

Kira panted that they had to stop, and the Waterbender looked at her like she was crazy. ”Stop?! We can’t stop! Those people are crazy! We’ve gotta keep moving!” Then he noticed the Firebender clutch her side, and he understood. She wouldn’t be able to run for much longer, and then the mob would catch up. They should stop, and soon.

Luckily, Kira was also looking for alternate routes, and pulled him into a turn. The man stumbled, but recovered quickly, taking the lead again as they ran through a thin alley. The two emerged onto another, smaller street and he took another turn down an alley, and then another, trying to weave his way between buildings to throw their pursuers off. Finally, he stopped on a tiny street between tall office buildings. The street was open at either end, providing a quick escape if necessary. Breathing hard, the Waterbender listened to their surroundings, and heard the faint sounds of a mob still on the prowl. For now, at least, it seemed like they were safe.

That was when he started laughing.

”That…was awesome!” the man grinned through the blood on his face. ”I mean it was scary too—still is—but so cool! I’ve never had to run from an angry mob before! Best night ever!” The Waterbender chickled for a little while longer before calming down and focusing back on Kira. ”You okay? Ready to run again if we need to?”

[tag: Tenshio]



He was definitely in far better shape than she was, Kira realized. It was surprising to her that he could almost literally drag her through the streets as he had been. She managed to take the lead for only a brief moment until he took charge again and pulled her through quite a few twists and turns. Her mind did not register where exactly they were running, just that they were running and that her side was cramping something fierce!

Finally, after a moment they stopped. Kira leaned up against one of the walls of the building and hunched over, taking in huge breathes of air into her seemingly starved lungs. Add running to the list of things-Kira-needed-to-do-but-probably-would-never-do-it! After a few seconds of that, she found herself able to look up at Takeo.

As she was looking, his face changed. Was...he...laughing?! Kira cocked her head to the side, not believing that after nearly being killed by the angry mob, he was laughing. Okay, so maybe "killed" was a bit of an over exaggeration, but it felt like it!

"You are insane, Takeo! What part of that screams 'best night ever'?" Her mouth was agape, but quickly turned to a smile. In a matter of moments she found herself laughing alongside of him. It had been quite the adrenaline rush...her side clenched a bit reminding her that she was sorely out of shape for that kind of physical exertion.

”You okay? Ready to run again if we need to?”

Kira shrugged as her own laughter died down. "If they give us a few minutes, I will be." She stated as she straightened her body. Casting a glance at Takeo, she could make out the blood splatter on his face in the dim lighting. "Owch. That looks like it hurt! Are you okay?" She couldn't see if the injury was still bleeding or if his nose was broken, but she wished that she had something to clean him up a bit. "We need to find you a bit of water so you can heal yourself."

But that would have to wait until they were out of harm's way. Hopefully they wouldn't run into the Equalist mob again, though she had little doubt that her attack on their "peaceful" demonstration would offer fodder for anti-bending rallies in the future.

She couldn't contain a small chuckle, though she wasn't sure if she was nervous about the fact that she had, in essence, caused the attack or if she actually found it funny. All she could picture for a second was the horrified look on that loud mouth's face when the spark took and set the old wood ablaze. "That thing really lit up, didn't it?" she asked with another chuckle.

She stopped laughing, however, when she heard the mob's voices coming closer. There was little doubt that they would have a hard time finding them, but perhaps putting some more distance between the angry mob and themselves wouldn't be a bad thing.

She looked at Takeo. "Should we get moving?"

[tag: Kira]



It was good that Kira was laughing with him. He didn’t even mind that she’d called him crazy. He supposed he did look a little crazy, laughing with his own blood on his face after narrowly escaping an angry mob out for bender blood. But that was just the way he was. Sure, he was still scared that the Equalists would find them and do unthinkable things to them, but running frantically through the streets was kind of fun once he was actually doing it. And having a friend by his side made the whole thing ten times better.

The Waterbender nodded at Kira’s hopeful request for a few minutes, then again when she asked if he was okay. ”I’ll be fine,” he replied, putting his hand to his face again and smiling when he found that his nosebleed had stopped. ”Would be nice to find some water, though. Not sure how well I could heal myself, though…I’ve never had to heal my own face.” He shrugged, unconcerned. ”Could be fun.” The man leaned against a wall, sniffing to try to clear his clogged nostrils. Really, his face might still be hurting a little, but he was most upset about his shirt. He might not be able to wear it again now that that blood on it had had time to dry. His injury he could fix, but that might just be a loss. That was a shame.

Then he was laughing again when Kira mentioned the burning platform. ”Yeah, it did! That one guy looked so scared of you! I think the Equalists might have a new number one enemy after tonight. Forget the Avatar, you’re a danger to speaking platforms everywhere!”

He was still laughing when sounds of pursuit returned to his ears. ”Aw man,” he whined quietly. He had thought that their route had been confusing enough to throw the Equalists of the scent for good. Besides, weren’t they supposed to be sleeping or something? Who really wanted to spend their night chasing a couple of benders who they might never see again? These people were crazy. The Waterbender sighed and nodded in agreement when Kira suggested they get going again. He pushed himself off of the wall and smiled at his companion.

”You wanna lead the way this time?”

[tag: Tenshio]



The thought of being Enemy Number One was funny and she laughed again at Takeo's remark. When she stopped she looked at him for a brief second, thinkign about everything that they had just gone through. They hadn't even known each other for a day and there he was making her laugh more in one night than she had in the past week. It was a strange, but wonderful feeling to have someone around to make her feel as though she wasn't weird.

What's more, they had just run for their lives together and there they were in some back alley, laughing about the whole ordeal (though she was certain her laughter comprised mostly of the adrenaline that had since left her body). The two of them together were acting like a pair of lunatics, and the thing was, she didn't mind in the least!

”You wanna lead the way this time?”

Kira nodded as she surveyed her surroundings. "Sure," she said. "If I can figure out where exactly we are..." she added as an afterthought. She knew about where they were, but the alleyways on this part of town could get confusing quickly and on more than one occasion she found herself lost. It took her a while to get out, but somehow she managed.

Of course those times she didn't have the Equalist mob breathing down their necks. She doubted, however, that they would be searching for too much longer. It would be strange for such a tiny group to be so worked up that they would spend their entire night looking for two little benders, even if Kira did destroy their speaking platform. But who knew? An angry group of people could be quite scary and dangerous.

She began walking in the opposite direction of which they entered the alley. They could try to trace their steps back to the square, but she wasn't willing to risk being seen; not all of the Equalist group would have chased them down.

She lead Takeo through different alleyways, hoping to get her bearings and find a familiar street. It hadn't worked and Kira realized that they had gone down a dead end. "Oh man!" she said, her voice a little more whiney than she had realized. "Sorry Takeo, I'm not all that familiar with these alleys. But I'll get us back on the right track somehow!" She hoped that it would be soon as a large yawn escaped past her lips. She wasn't sure just how late it was, but she knew that it was late.

The Streets of Republic City, The Shadowhand's District

When Jun was assured, his shoulders relaxed as he strolled along, the loose, thin red of his clothing wrinkling into forms here and there as he hit breezes spurred by the passing by of vehicles. Being so disconnected from home, the fact that he was following behind a gang leader was still odd to him. The dissonance of him leaving the confines of his parents’ authority only to fall into perhaps, the tighter cage of a gang’s was alarming, yet soothing. He embraced the familiar feeling of security (no matter how false it seemed) and continued onwards with the promise of food. As the Black Fox commented on his combat, he couldn’t help but feel a warmth spread across his cheeks. Praise was sometimes awkward for him; the way it engulfed him in a sickly good tingle was satisfying, but he was always in questioning of his deserving of it. Regardless, he took it as a sign that he was already in good favour of the Black Fox, especially since he had been in the bitter end of a conversation with her before.

“Major props? Ahaha, thanks,” Jun said, “You uh, your aim is pretty good too. With those, knives. Yeah.”

Jun’s ability to give praise almost equalled his capability to receive it. The Black Fox pointed towards a location, something had piqued her interest and that alerted Jun. He followed her finger’s direction to what was not a dumpling store, but a harbor. His stomach was preparing itself for another bout of complaints.

“What’s happenin’?” Jun scratched his head before muttering to himself about having to wait for his meal.

[tag: Kira]



This was a night for new experiences. First he’d managed to convince a stranger to lead him home, mentioning murder in the process, and then he’d found himself running from an angry Equalist mob with that same stranger. It might be late, but Takeo was still full of adrenaline and excited to see what would happen next. He’d prefer that it not involve being caught by the incensed crowd they’d so far managed to elude, but hey, he’d never done that before either.

Kira agreed to take the lead again, muttering about not knowing where they were, but Takeo waved that away with a reassuring smile. ”You got us close before,” he reminded the woman. ”I know you can do it again.” If worst came to worst, they could always retrace their steps, though that would mean risking another run-in with the Equalists. Though, Takeo didn’t there would be any meetings on that particular corner for a little while, at least until they got a new platform to replace the one Kira had destroyed. Either way, it would probably be better to stay away from that square for the rest of the night. So they’d take an alternate route. No problem. He had complete faith in Kira’s ability to navigate the city’s streets. It was either she lead or he did, and that second option would lead to nothing but disaster. The man might be decent at avoiding angry protestors, but actually planning out routes was beyond him. It was Kira or bust.

As they began moving again, Takeo began to notice his thoughts slowing, his limbs stilling. The adrenaline was leaving his system, leaving him exhausted. They’d been wandering half the night by now, and his body wasn’t happy about that. Even his seemingly endless reserves of energy had their limits. The Waterbender would need to sleep soon or risk being a total zombie at work tomorrow. He wasn’t good at focusing on normal days; with his brain fuzzy from lack of rest, there was no telling how badly he’d mess things up. Hopefully Kira’s sense of direction was at its best.

Apparently that wasn’t the case. He responded to the Firebender’s apology with a yawn of his own, mumbling his words through it. “It’s fine. You’ll figure it out if you just think about it. We’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.”