((No worries. I think I like this name better, anyway.))

The girl's brief surprised reaction brought a more genuine smile to Byakko's face. After her formal and polite display of gratitude, he shook his head once and held his palms up, letting the rocks fall onto the countertop. "Please, don't treat me like a 'sir'. I'm no one special. Besides, it reminds me of my dad."

As she pocketed the pay and turned to prepare his meal, the earthbender happily picked up one of his stones again and began crumbling bits and pieces off of it, trying to carve it into a crude humanoid figure as he waited.

"What is your name, good sir?"

He set the unfinished statue back down and looked at her, taking a moment before answering. "Byakko. And yours is..." He glanced up at the menu. "Hotaru? Pleased to meet you."

Breaking eye contact, which he obviously wasn't very good at holding, he went back to work sculpting his miniature person.

"Please, don't treat me like a 'sir'. I'm no one special. Besides, it reminds me of my dad."

Hotaru bit her lip, she was going to have to restrain from her habit of calling him sir. Knowing his name would hopefully aid her.

"Byakko. And yours is...Hotaru? Pleased to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine sir--I mean, Byakko," Hotaru nodded her head. Byakko quickly broke eye contact.

'Such a shy boy...' Hotaru thought.

She dashed some of her spices into the bowl of nuts and rice, starting to toss the mixture.

Hotaru glanced over at her shy customer and noticed his sculpting.

"You wouldn't happen to be an earthbender, would you?" Hotaru asked curiously. If he was just as she suspected, it would explain half of his appearance.

'I wonder what his other parentage is.'

She looked the boy over once more and noted his pale skin, a tribute of the Fire Nation heritage.

Hotaru turned back to her work and poured her mixture into the pot. She moved to kettle right next to it on the stove. Hotaru snapped her fingers underneath the stove and summoned two small flames, one on her index finger for the kettle and another on her pinky for the pot.

[OOC--sorry for not posting as well. I've been swamped in a bunch of stuff, and not ben feeling exactly at the top of my game. xP]

"Ling covered you... Take a pull of that if you want. It's where I hide my liquor."
"well!" she exclaimed, raising her eyebrows for a moment, "I suppose I owe her my thanks--and you as well." she reached for the bottle, popping the top off and taking a shot. if it was poison... well, then she'd get horribly sick and die. She didn't think much of it.

she was about to give a playful quip back to his remark about women, but then he insisted that she hold her answer. Shame, she was about to go along with it. it wasn't' sexist if she could laugh at it, everyone else's feelings on the matter be damned.
The liquid in front of her eyes felt soothing, and it was at times like this that Raeya almost wished she had the patience--and moreso, the spirituality--to learn healing. Her waterbending was simple in its nature, and basically just used to push water around on the seas, or throw it off her ships. she would bend the water to push her vessels this way and that, which she could accomplish given their usual small size. Healing though... it would have certainly been useful this time... okay, maybe not this time given that someone else covered her fees, but other times. it wasn't the first time nor would it be the last, that Raeya would take a beating.

"Looks like I wasn't the only one to get smacked by The Golden Fan tonight. What happened?"
"I'm Iluak, by the way. If you frequent the city's bar scene perhaps you've seen me get thrown out of a dive or two,"

Raeya glanced at him after his hands were away from her eyes. she wanted to say he looked familiar, but Raeya was not really one to remember people she crashed into at any of the local dives.
"Raeya's what I go by," the waterbender answered, lightly chuckling, "As for what happened... 'twas just the usual games. You win some, you lose some... it was my old friend Lucky this time, in fact. I can't say he lived up to his name very well this evening."

The healer seemed to be taking his time, but this did not bother Raeya. She was always up for some friendly chit-chat, and at a time of night like this, she didn't really have anywhere better to be or anyone better to see.

~Raeya~

OOC: Ugh, sorry so short!



Raeya passed her with a certain amount of swagger, her hips swaying — Ling thought — quite enticingly. Trying very hard not to stare, the freckled woman stepped to the side to allow the voluptuous woman through. Iluak shut the door tight behind them, and Ling was left staring it for a few moments, her mind blank.

You look much better.

Mei's relieved voice jolted her out of her vapid thoughts. She turned, a big grin on her face. "I feel great!" she said, flumping down next to her sister. Impulsively, she put an arm around her big sister and planted a kiss on her cheek. "I love you, Mei," she said earnestly. She leaned in, dropping her voice conspiratorially. "And I didn't screw it up with Iluak, okay?" Ling stretched her arms, then relaxed. "And," she added at last, "I have good news."

The younger woman patted her coat. "We have enough," she said excitedly, eyeing Mei. "I'll be going to City Hall tomorrow while you're at the restaurant to get our business permit, our licenses, and set up our rental." She nodded at her dancer-friend. "And what about you, Katsumi?" she queried. "What d'you think of my offer to join us?" Ling glanced at Mei, slightly apologetic for not asking Mei first.

This was a huge endeavour for the Yao sisters. Republic City wasn't always kind to starting entrepreneurs, and it was a big gamble that they'd be successful. Ling supposed that she'd have to continue some dock work or odd jobs for a while, at least while they waited for their first client. But she wanted, with her heart of hearts, to go straight. She smiled wryly at the phrase, the pun amusing her. Ma-ma wasn't getting any younger, and Ling had a sneaking suspicion that her mother was hiding something from her daughters. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind. They'd cross that bridge when they got there.

Hotaru smiled at the small golem Byakko had created. To others it might have seemed inadequate, but Hotaru could never achieve something like this, so she appreciated it for all its worth. She recognized the stance that the figure was taking, her father had shown her it many times. She imagined her father trying to firebend as someone so small and had to keep herself from laughing.

"I wish I could use it to make some money, like you. I mean, there's always construction work, but that doesn't interest me. The only fun thing I could do with it for pay is pro-bending, I think."

Hotaru flipped her head towards Byakko at the mention of her dream career, "Y-You're an aspiring probender?" If Hotaru's suspicions were correct, destiny was indeed being very kind to her today. Suddenly, she heard a small sizzling sound coming from the stove. The kettle was beginning to boil over and bubbles were curdling out from underneath the lid.

"Ah!" Hotaru immediately stopped her flames and jumped back. She sighed, a crisis averted. It was then she remembered she had an audience to her spectacular near-failure. Hotaru blushed a bit in embarrassment, she nearly spilled her tea in front of a paying customer!

Hotaru quickly went back to her work in order to try and make Byakko, and herself, forget the incident. She scooped the contents of the pot into a small square container, the steam wafting the familiar spicey scent of Fire Nation delicacies. She placed the sizzle crisps in front of Byakko along with two small cups and a teapot.

As she began to pour the hot water from the kettle into the pot, Hotaru decided to investigate just how interested this young man was. After all, that last statement could have just been a casual comment.

"Destiny is a tricky thing to perceive, what makes you think yours lies in pro-bending?"

Hotaru glanced at Byakko's creation, she could have sworn she had seen it move. Neverthless it was an impressive piece of work. Most earthbenders lacked a sense of style and detail in their work and instead focusing on sheer force. There was something to be admired about an earthbender that took the time to create something so delicate. She wondered how this translated to his stance in battle, or even in a pro-bending match. Most pro-bending earthbenders were not as nimble, fighting alongside Byakko would be an interesting prospect at least.

'Don't get ahead of yourself, Hotaru,'[/i] Hotaru aimed to slow her racing thoughts.

The way he looked at her when he said, "I don't know about destiny, but fighting's in my blood. Thing is, I don't like seeing others harmed. So it seems like a perfect fit. It's like sparring in sport form, which is why I've always been a fan," relieved Hotaru of any doubt that he was anything but serious about pro-bending.

Hotaru smiled warmly at him, feeling the familiarity of a kindred spirit of passion for pro-bending. She poured the tea delicately into the two cups before them. She lifted hers to her lips and blew the steam away. Hotaru savored the scent of the tea, it always served to relax her.

"And now the Avatar's in the Fire Ferrets. I'd give anything for a chance to test myself against her. Facing the Avatar must be the most exhilarating battle one can ever have. Heh, that must sound weird. It's a family thing."

Hotaru shook her head, "Not at all. I, too, would like to face the Avatar in the ring," she sipped her tea thoughtfully, "Well, anyone in the ring will do at this point. I love firebending, and being able to share that love in front of a crowd...." Hotaru closed her eyes as she trailed off. The exhilarating rush of firebending took her to a place where she felt powerful. She imagined standing there, punching flames at her opponent, crowd roaring behind her. Hotaru could almost feel the excitement of the imagined moment. She blinked her eyes open, realizing that she must look quite silly to Byakko.

"It's a dream of mine, really," Hotaru quickly closed the dangling sentence she had left in her reverie. She took a quick sip of her tea again. 'Why must I always end up looking silly? No wonder customers are hard to find,' Hotaru inwardly cursed herself, she just couldn't seem to keep herself composed today.

Mei’s response was a great relief. Even if she didn’t know the woman that well, she didn’t want her friend’s sister to hate her for failing to protect a family member. Of course that brought up a more important issue: she really wasn’t all that good at defending anyone, even herself. Sure, she had her Waterbending, which could do some damage, but there wasn’t always water readily available, and she didn’t usually take her water skin to work. She needed to learn how to be of use when bending wasn’t an option. Maybe she could ask Ling to teach her. As Mei said, her sister was definitely capable of taking care of whatever fool decided to pick a fight with her.

It looked like she was making quite a few major decisions today. All that could wait, though. First Ling had to be restored to her normal self. Smiling back at Mei, Katsmi expressed her sincere thanks for the other woman’s words before moving to take a seat in one of the indicated chairs. Crossing her legs, she settled in to wait for her friend’s return.

She didn’t have to wait long. Just a couple minutes after she sat down Iluak opened the door and called for his next patient. Ling exited the building with her usual swagger, which Katsumi was glad to see, and Raeya took her place. She didn’t fail to notice the way her friend’s gaze lingered on the door when it shut, but didn’t say anything. If Ling had a crush on the other woman, that was her business. More important was the fact that Ling looked like herself again; Iluak had done his job well.

“You look great, Ling,” the dancer commented, standing to move closer to the sisters and get a better look at her friend. The healer had really done an amazing job, considering how bad Ling had looked not too long ago. The gambler might be sore for a little while—her wounds had looked pretty bad—but at least she wouldn’t have to nurse herself back to health the slow way. Surely even she could admit that that was a good thing.

Suddenly Ling was talking about the offer she’d made and asking for Katsumi’s decision. The one good thing about her friend’s unfortunate run-in was that it had given her enough time to think. She smiled. “I’d be happy to join you two…if that’s okay with you, Mei.” She could tell by the way Ling’s gaze switched to her sister that the older Yao woman had not been informed of Ling’s plan to add a third member to their roster. Hopefully she wouldn’t be too upset.

Hotaru's Hotstand

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This time, when Byakko smiled, Hotaru saw something different on his face than before. He had flashed one to her once or twice during the course of their conversation, but this one felt more genuine. She could feel a strong bond between the two of them, their shared passions for pro-bending forming something stronger than just two passing strangers drinking tea together. For years she had never felt such a connection except with perhaps her master Koza. To find it in someone else was a wonderful feeling, one that excited her at the possibilities.

"Form a team with me. Help me find a waterbender. And then we'll make your dream a reality."

If the tea were at her lips Hotaru surely would have choked on it. Instead she felt her mouth hang partially open in utter shock. There had only been a matter of minutes that had passed since she had met this young man. Up until that moment she had been running low on hope and borrowing extensively from a far-off dream. She had been wishing and hoping for a change in her destiny.

It turned out it was all just a cup of tea away.

She opened her mouth to speak but found herself choked by a stray happy tear falling down her face. She cupped her face to hermouth and took deep breaths, calming herself. This young boy was beyond extraordinary to her. He seemed so sure of himself, she admired that about him. He wasn't afraid to risk it all.

Hotaru composed herself and nodded, "It would be my honor, Byakko."

Once Bao Yu's questions started Tsubaki's doubts weren't far behind. It didn't help her nerves at all that this seemed to be an operation designed to test several people at once. The haste of the whole thing made her nervous.
Why the rush? Just what exactly is going to happen?
"It looks like they're testing all of us at once, Bao Yu. That's not normal. I bet while I'm watching you and pretty boy Fat Cobra and someone else will be watching me. They seem to be in a big damn hurry to swell the ranks. But..." Tsubaki smiled and punched Bao Yu in the arm. "This is good news for both of us...and maybe Shuo if he can pass."

Tsubaki rubbed her eyes and looked genuinely stressed as she tried to think and peered through the file Fat Cobra had given her.
"We'll take him when he leaves the..." she coughed and smiled 'gentleman's club'. Chances are he'll be a bit drunk and his guard will be down." She read through the file some more and noticed the short distance to the bender's home. Home invasions were far more messy and complicated.
"Fat Cobra, you jerk," she muttered as she went through the map which was far too vague for her liking. It held absolutely no details on the inside of the gentleman's club let them know if there was another route of escape for their target.
"Is Cobra laughing? I bet he's laughing. We'll have to send someone in first to get a layout of the place."

When she thought of arriving to the laundrymat basement in her underwear Tsubaki sighed.
"I'll stop by there later. I'll be dressed for it. Your job is to make sure you don't tell a soul about it." She read through Fat Cobra's information and good and on the second read seemed even more vague. They seemed to be making things as difficult as they could for her and her team of trainees.

"If things go right one of us can lure him to the back, knock him out and throw him in the truck to avoid a fight."
It sounded way too simple to possibly go that well. If it really was a test of leadership Tsubaki expected a lot of obstacles to be thrown her way.

"I'm a little distracted...want to get a drink? I kind of need to get out of here right now." Tsubaki wasn't one to hide her emotion. The worry was stamped all over her face

Iluak couldn't help but chuckle at little at the man's misfortune. Gamblers in general were people he didn't waste sympathy on.
"I assume 'Lucky' was just an ironic nickname then. Like when people refer to me as healer." He chuckled again. Mei and Ling at least surrounded themselves with interesting people if not the safest.

"Since Mei is my assistant I have a vested interest in if she get skewered by some violent reprobate." He did his best to sound like a moderately indifferent boss but felt like he failed.

The healing was done, but Iluak was far too curious. He trusted Ling to a degree but the other people around Mei were another thing entirely.
"What's your story, Raeya? Have you known the Yao sisters long?"
As silly and over-protective as it was Iluak wanted to make sure that the company Mei kept could keep her out of trouble and safer than he could. It was vaguely sickening. That along with the urge to shave he had succumbed to earlier made him wonder if Mei-zhen Yao would have any other bizarre effects on his normally belligerent and self-destructive personality.

While Raeya spoke Iluak busied himself with bending the water from his portable bath to give the illusion that he was just making small talk and not butting into his assistant's affairs.
After his patient had told him of meeting Ling and Mei-zhen it occurred to Iluak that he had just solicited conversation from another human being rather than tune it out as white noise while he did something important. He wasn't sure he liked or trusted this new Iluak Chu that was forming.

Hotaru's Hotstand

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Hotaru lifted her tea cup in toast in time with her new teammate. "It'll take some getting used to, force of habit I'm afraid," she replied softly, sipping her tea. Just as always, the taste of it calmed her nerves. Just in time, too, for Byakko had just asked her to talk about herself, now was no time to be jittery and nervous. She set the cup on the table and thought for a moment, she had never really been asked such a question. Not even Koza had prodded that much out of her, it had sort of eased its way out through years of knowing each other.

"Well, I've lived in the city my entire life," she started, "So I'm not actually an immigrant from the Fire Nation, but both my parents have strong ties to the home country." Hotaru smiled for a moment, thinking about her father and his proud face whenever he talked about his birth land. "I learned part of my bending from my father and the other from my master, Koza. He used to be a pro-bender himself. Watching him was part of the reason I wanted to become one," she went on. Hotaru remembered seeing Koza in his final match, a big grin on his face as he waved to the crowd, undoubtedly trying to find his bride-to-be in the masses.

The Office of Choi Tae-yeon, Private Eye

[/center]

Things had been going mostly smoothly ever since Tae-yeon had teamed up with that hapless halfwit Hangetsu. While he had yet to feed her any juicy details from the fuzz, she had hope that she could coax a confession from him sooner or later. So far all they'd gotten was a case of following a man who was assumed by his spouse to be cheating. She'd been right, of course, and Tae-yeon had been paid in full upon producing evidence. She hated cases like that. They were so... ordinary.

She had spent the morning going through files when a visitor knocked upon the office door. Opening the door, Tae-yeon invited him in. He was a tall, slim man, with wire-rimmed eyeglasses and a nervous air. Dressed in a simple grey suit, he seemed hesitant to ask the detective for help. Noting the ink on his cuff and the distinct scent of old books, Tae-yeon smiled. "Hello Professor," she said. "Do sit down."
With a start, the man sat down in the chair before the PI's desk immediately. "Pardon me miss," he began, "I was looking for a detective —"
"You've found her," said Tae-yeon, walking back around the desk. She sat down, maintaining a sweet, poised air. "How can I help you?" She gave him her best winning smile.

"Ah." The man pushed his eyeglasses up with his index finger. "My name is Lee Chang Min. To tell you the truth, I'm here about a missing person."
Tae-yeon waited.
"I've informed police but so far their efforts have come up with nothing. It's my colleague, Dr. Kang. We went on an expedition to the old Air Temples a while back."

"Very good," said Professor Lee. He seemed pleased by her acknowledgement of his work and relaxed his posture somewhat. "As I said, Dr. Kang and I, togethethe r with two others — the Hiroshi brothers, Aiba and Bando, both Air Acolytes, went out on expedition a month or so ago. We've been searching for any artifacts we can find, but this particular trip was rather successful. At the site, we came up a cipher carved in a stone tablet and three black keys."
"A most excellent find," said Tae-yeon.
"Indeed," the Professor continued. "We wouldn't have found the site at all save for the help of the couple we travelled with, by the name of Sendai. They're familiar with the region, you see." He related how helpful the Sendais had been, and how the party had travelled together to parts previously untouched by archaeology. The discovery of the cipher had been exhilarating, and together with the keys, the Professors had been certain of their ability to uncover an amazing discovery, to be shared with many generations of Air Acolytes.

Tae-yeon leaned on her desk, taken in by the story. Professor Lee recounted how the tablet cipher, Dr. Kang, and the Sendai couple had all disappeared around the same time, before a translation of the cipher could be completed. Only the bottom half of one of the black keys remained behind, which the professor laid between them on the desk.
"I've had a time of it, Ms. Choi, looking after this key," he said. "It was nearly stolen from me on two occasions. I haven't let it out of my sight since...."

Intrigued by the key, the idea of a well of knowledge now missing in the hands of dastardly thieves, and by the notoriety solving such a case could bring her, Tae-yeon agreed to take the case. She questioned the Professor a little while longer and took down details on paper. By the time he left, she was near giddy with the prospect of solving such a mystery.

That Hangetsu. Where was the wayward policeman, wet behind the ears and so eager to learn? He wouldn't learn if he couldn't be around. Just as her thoughts turned to the man, he entered the office, much later than usual. There was something about him this time... he seemed more distracted than usual. Tae-yeon took in his appearance: bright eyes, a flush to the cheek, a nicer suit than normal.

My. Wasn't that a surprise. "So," she said, kicking up on the back feet of her chair, and propping up a foot, all pretense of ladylike propriety gone, "Fleshbender. Spill. You've clearly got a racing heart full of forsaken emotion. Do tell. Been on a hot date lately?"

The details of the case she'd just received could wait a moment. She wanted to mull them over in her head before sharing with the cop.

Hotaru's Hotstand

[/center]

"I was born here, too. Father's a Fire Nation native, mom's from the Earth Kingdom. They run a martial arts school around the outskirts of the city, taught me how to fight. And then I just kinda... got bored and left."

Hotaru couldn't help but giggle at the explanation for his sudden departure, "Not very good at sitting still I see," she smiled, remembering his other jittery behavior earlier. She looked at his food and saw that it had cooled very much by now. The conversation must have been just as stimulating to him as it was to her for him to stick around for so long. She took one last, longing sip of her tea and sighed. The tea had indeed hit the spot and eased her tension from the heat.

"Live on my own now, in this very part of town. Er, at least as long as I can keep affording rent..."

Hotaru slowly looked down shamefully at her empty cup of tea. Byakko had spent his money so kindly for her, a complete stranger at the time. He truly was a very kind person. She made a mental note to repay him someday.

"We'll just have to find a rich waterbender, right? How hard can that be?"

Hotaru giggled at his comment. "If it's possible for us to find each other, then anything is," Hotaru added with a smile. An idea suddenly popped into Hotaru's head, perhaps she would be able to pay Byakko back sooner than she thought. "You know, I live near here too, if you ever need a place to stay or if you get kicked out, I wouldn't mind letting you stay in my apartment for a while."

Hotaru could almost hear her father yelling at her, "You invited a boy to stay in your apartment?! You're not even married, young lady!" he would steam. Hotaru mentally blocked her imaginary father out. She had nothing but the kindest intentions, her father wouldn't understand.