It’s been a rather busy day for Hamari; dancing, jumping, twirling, running more jumping and then repeat the process for hours upon hours after more hours. This ‘dancing in the streets’ life was rewarding, but she swore she should be getting more for this. She needed a break, she felt sore enough as is just walking down these busy streets everyday. Her shoulders slung miserably as she winded around a corner, where her gloomy amber colored eyes flicked at the scent of something, “Is that… is that boiled centapus legs?” she piped up clapping her hands together with glee - there could have been hearts in those eyes - and then bit her lip, her gloomy stature perking up instantly, her nose sniffing diligently for source of the smell.

Her head shifted to a few food stalls not far from her, a crowd of people gathering around a bizarre of culturally different food.

Hamari crossed twenty feet dashing across the street to meet the line to the cashier within seconds. She saw what she wanted, it was right there hanging next to some ornamental Saber-tooth Moose-lion horns, boiled centapus legs with a special red-sauce. Hamari was practically drooling at it as the line closed inward. Not long, she was standing before the cook ready to make her order. She lifted a finger, directed toward her dish of choice, and had several Yuans in the other hand. “Have a great day!” she closed, and he smiled with a nice, “Enjoy your meal!” soon after. She didn’t want to wait to eat it so she chose a comfy shadowy brickwall and sat inside it, using chopsticks to slurp up rubber-textured grub.

She was wearing a casual outfit today, a black jacket, an ivory tank top and some metal-colored yoga pants, with wrapped shoes to top it off.

“Yo, yo! Jii’n! Dude, look!” she overheard from a group of teens, well actually several people actually, who seemed interested in something. Her eyes shifted to their gaze where she saw someone eating what looked like curry from her distance. She didn’t look familiar - though Hamari loved her style – and she seemed rather peaceful at the moment. “It’s her, Airi, from the Raven Eagles!” she heard them pipe up again and her curiosity drew her in. “Probending girls are so hot… speakin’ of hot, her firebending is pretty awesome.” she overheard and she looked over at the woman again, a probender, and a fire-bender, and she was hot? This was her first time meeting a probender in person, though that’s sort of saying much considering she barely knows anything about it.

There was no denying the hot-part but she wasn’t going to admit that anytime soon.

Hamari was starting to wonder why all these people were just gawking from a distance, why didn’t they just say hello to her or something? She was a probender, not a monster; that wasn’t reason to be scared of her was it? Hamari hunched her shoulders and then tossed the empty plate into trash can not far from her. Then she started off, passing the group and gaining their attention in the process, her foot steps brought her a few feet from Airi where she waved with a wide smile on her face. “Hi! My names, Hamari!” she started, and then looked back. “I overheard them say your name is Airi? Yes, and you’re a probender?” She was trying as hard as she could to keep back the pleathora of questions she wanted to throw out…

… but she kept it too one. “What’s probending like exactly?” she asked wholeheartedly.

Hamari’s father had a massive distaste for probending, saying was just a money-hoarding sport, he band it from the radios and TV. Thanks to this, Hamari has never really gotten into Probending, she’s heard some things through radios and the telecom, but that’s it.

Airi found herself lost in her curry- her favorite type of dish of all time- and separating from the world just by a bit. She remembered times when she still attended school, running home for lunch which wasn't too far away - and it wasn't like she had anyone to hang with, anyways - to eat leftovers. Leftovers, somehow, ended up being better than the stuff right out of the oven. She could mix-match whatever she wanted to fit her tastes which was often a bowl of soup that she would reheat with her firebending and a bit of tough bread that she would let soak in the spicy entree. It was a fond memory, not like she had a lot of memories she wasn't fond of, but this one was especially nostalgic.

Hearing her name picked her up and carried her from her mind back to reality. It wasn't very often people recognized her as a probender seeing as the teams were always covered in gear during a match. And it was rather odd that she was getting noticed after probending had been shut down and with Amon on the rise. Like her, once open benders now were more sparse in publicly using their bending. Still, she felt happy that someone knew her; not just knew her, but saw her as something other than a memory problematic girl.

In the midst of eating her food, a girl came up talking very quickly and very exuberantly. She almost reminded her of herself before the nightmare of Amon invaded her mind. She smiled, nonetheless. "Yeah, I'm Airi,"

Hamari sort of shifted to a guilty gaze as Airi spoke about her previous inquiries with Probending. Hamari, being so detached from it, hadn’t really drawn the line that Probending probably wasn’t coming back for a while, if ever. Thanks to Amon’s attack, there was no way they were going to reopen it until all of this strife had passed. For a moment, she realized Republic City was at war, and those gloomy feelings were starting to overtake her again. No! She had to stay happy, how would her mother feel if she saw her like this? She had to stay strong… she had to be stronger, for her family. She admitted that if there was one thing she admitted her father was good for, it was his courage.

The way Airi was explaining it, Hamari could tell she was really enjoying her time as a probender, she felt a little tinge in her heart as Airi explained everything. If Hamari was any more sensitive, she might have started crying for the girl. “Sorry,” she started truthfully, “I should have been a little more aware of that, it sounds like you really liked Probending.” Hamari went to finish and then made a little smile. “My family isn’t really into Probending, my dad hates it so he never lets us watch it or anything.” She explained as she stepped beside Airi and leaned against the wall with her hands in her pockets. “Sometimes, I wonder if he’s just jealous.” She muttered soon after…

It made sense…

Hamari started nodding as she realized something, “He thinks Probending is untraditional and only there for money, but it sounds like that’s only one side of it if you ask me. I think everything you just said sounds pretty fun actually, that and a great boost for self-esteem.” Fighting against a group of people in a ring with barely any holds and millions of people watching? of course it was a plus! It had to be. “I bet it’s because he knows the Probending Firebenders are probably better than him.” She started connecting dots out loud, and by the end of it she started giggling… and then stopped and stared as she realized she just publicly insulted her own father, in front of a Probender no less.

Expression for a second was sort of uncaring though and she kept the idea that her father was being invidious as reason for his disliking of Probending. Now that she thought about it, he hated the idea of Agni Kai’s as well, probably because, again, he knew all those Firebenders could kick his butt. But wait, who was she to be talking? She was no bit better than he was when it came to fighting with Firebending; in fact she had no combative prowess to speak of. Well, maybe that wasn’t the complete truth. She’s scuffled with some kids when she was little, but it wasn’t with bending, simple fist-only. She never won, ever; but people knew one thing, Hamari didn’t go down without putting her all in it.

She cleared her throat and put on a "Sorry. I went on this rhythm of my own there.” She said with a nervous laugh… now she was the one feeling awkward.

"Oh! No, you shouldn't feel bad,"

Hamari started giggling as Airi called her father a smart man, but she kept listening through and nodded, “Well, sadly my father’s firebending skills about as looserish as they can get. He still has trouble producing flames and its been years.” She made a rather pitiful expression towards that remark; she almost felt bad talking about him like that. But in all honesty if anyone saw it for themselves they’d know what she means. He spent an entire day trying to hit a target that was only five-feet in front of him. “That makes sense; I guess I can’t really say myself because I can’t really fight well, Probending or just in the streets.” Of course, Hamari didn’t think herself any better at fighting than he was; at least he had the mind show hostility towards someone, something Hamari had trouble doing herself.

She listened to her speak about her family, and her interest peaked, a Firebender with a Earthbending father and Firebending mother, some might call that normal, but Hamari was very intrigued, she honestly believed that it was a romance worthy of a book. “That sounds amazing,” she mused and seriously meant it. Of course Airi, living around them all the time might not have the same opinion. “Me, oh! Yeah, I’m a Firebender. My mother is a southern water tribe dancer and my father is a fatherbender- I mean, Firebender.” She started chuckling at her misusage of words at that point and almost started bursting into laughter.

Hamari gathered herself and started speaking again, “I got my papa’s firebending and my mama’s looks and dancing. My little sister Mei’in took papa’s looks and my mama’s smarts. Well, at least that’s what they say.” Mei’in had a way of surprising Hamari with howspontaneous she could be. Seriously that child was a professional at driving her up the wall, and she swore she was learning it on purpose! “But yeah, like I said I’m not much of a firebender but… she did delicate little back-spring and struck a bebop pose. "I can dance!" she chimed happily... and then frowned“But that’s all I can really do…” her shoulders slouched as she remembered she was still kind of aching, her body started to stiffen up and she practically dragged herself back to the wall.

Airi nodded, realizing that even if someone did have the gift of bending it didn't necessarily mean that they had the knack to use it properly. Her mother, a semi-skilled firebender, worked in a kitchen for the majority of her life so using firebending was a daily thing in terms of firing up the furnace or oven. Her mother, also, refused to have some of their wiring fixed that gave energy to the only phone they had and a few other appliances, so every so often some of the stuff wouldn't get the juice it needed to work and she would end up just throwing in a spark so she wouldn't have to wait. Airi never managed to properly learn lightning bending, either from lack of concentration or otherwise. She hadn't tried it as of recently, but she was never able to get a single spark out. And her mother probably realized the same thing and gave up on teaching it in case her daughter managed to do it but with poor technique. That would have had some nasty consequences.

"Oh, I see,"

Wait, for a moment Hamari thought she had just heard Airi say she’ll help her in her pursuit for training... Wait, she didn't hear wrong! Being shown firebending by a Probender – despite not knowing her rankings – sounded like an amazing experience and maybe the practice she’s been waiting for. “Y-you will?” Hamari spoke out energetically, and then listened as Airi offered to go some place else. “Sure!” She accepted gratefully, suddenly that achy feeling was gone, and she had more energy than ever. Really this might have been a large stepping stone in her life, for Hamari, learning how to fight meant she could finally protect her family, or maybe even join the police force.

The next place they came to was a cleared sector; construction work from a previous building surrounded them and Hamari’s memory pieced together something about it. It was an old apartment complex; it was nothing but beams and support columns now, though the remaining walls gave the perfect privacy they needed for training. She remembered walking by it before a while back, so this wasn’t too unfamiliar to her. Can I? She heard Airi ask, and then grimaced at the thought and watched her gesture. "See what you can already do?" Well, this was embarrassing…

Honestly, Hamari’s amount of respect for Airi’s Probending was making it difficult for her think of what to do in front of her. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was worried of being laughed at. “Well, I’ll try…” she managed to get out and then tried to think of some form of firebending form, nothing came to mind so she went with next best thing.

Hamari took a deep breath, and swiftly recalled her mother’s moon-step, a tribal dance revolving around a foot pattern closely resembling the infinity symbol. She kicked off her shoes and instantly went work, the little bits of foot work coupled with twirling and thrusting arms made the dance almost martial in appearance, she quickly added firebending however, and suddenly it was graceful and bright. The flames extended outward for a few feet, nothing too impressive, but it was controlled, some of them even took shapes.

She ended it with a pose shaped quite like snake striking from the grass, creating two arcs of flames that took the shape of crescents. Standing upright, she bit her lip nervously. “That’s my fake-firebending…” as her father would put it to her. She was half expecting giggles or laughter at this point…