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Post by gandalan on Feb 22, 2006 19:30:16 GMT -5
Nakamura grinned when she said he was her 'cousin'. That wouldn't be too hard to pull off... he'd just have to make certain he'd not slip up. He quickly set it to memory: 'Raine is my cousin'.
He smiled, as she ascended the ladder. He went quickly afterwords. The ladder shook back and forth as he climbed, making it a little bit hard, but not really that bad.
When he got to the top, the stench of alcohol was everywhere. Geez... they're wasted even more then I though they were...
He looked around to see more scraggly men, just like the captain and the others. If Nakamura and Raine were lucky, they weren't pirates. At best, they were smugglers. He wondered how they smuggled anything up here... this far North, there wasn't much to smuggle.
He nudged Raine and whispered, "I think we should get to wherever we're staying, and get off the main deck. A drunkedn brawl might start any minute."
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Post by raine on Feb 22, 2006 22:01:06 GMT -5
Raine covered her mouth slightly, “I agree, Nakamura. I have a feeling that we should get to the closest Earth Kingdom village,” Raine said.
After the ship went to sea it was a little after dark. Soon after the captain walked up to Raine, “Well Missy, looks like you and your little friend-” “Cousin,” Raine corrected. “Right…You and your Cousin owe me three silver pieces,” The captain said holding out his hand. Raine reached in to her money pouch ‘Wait a minute, Raine. You know better than to trust these people. Wait until the next stop…..’ Raine shook the coins around in her hand, “When we get to the next port, you’ll get your pay,” Raine said stubbornly. The Captain withdrew his hand, “Alright then. You and your cousin can sleep in the extra bunks below deck. Just go down and turn into the first door on your right, and keep going ‘til you find two extra bunks.” The captain said going up to the wheel. “Come one, Nakamura, I don’t want to stay up here…” She said leading the two below deck.
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Post by gandalan on Feb 23, 2006 7:13:11 GMT -5
When Raine responded, he tried to tell her that he meant going belowdecks, but she walked towards the captain. He'd have to tell her later.
She started talking to the captain. COUSIN! he automatically thought, not friend. Raine told the man he'd get money at the next stop. Smart... they might not have honored they're agreement.
The captain said they could go belowdecks, and Raine started down. He didn't have to tell her after all.
He went down the ladder to the belowdecks. He turned right, and went through the rooms past it. They were filled with stinky bunks, some with people in them, some with... 'other' in them. He ignored this as best he could, and went to the last room, which was empty, and didn't stink so bad.
There were about 6 bunks here, and he took the bottom of one of them. It wasn't actually that bad in here...
He looked at Raine. "I think we might have bit off more than we can chew..."
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Post by raine on Feb 23, 2006 18:54:08 GMT -5
Raine sat on the bottom bunk across from Nakamura. When Nakamura told Raine, “..I think we might have bit off more than we can chew..." Raine looked over to Nakamura, “Ha!” She chuckled, “A bit? Just a BIT more over our heads??” Raine went up close to Nakamura, “In that room that we passed with the open door…you wouldn’t have happened to look inside like I did, did you?” Raine whispered, “Nakamura….that room was filled with rum!” Raine said still keeping a hushed tome, “We’re on an Ocean Smuggler…” Raine said shifting her eye sight around the room, “…But instead of importing weapons and such… they import rum,” Raine explained smacking her self in the head. “No wonder they’re always drunk….“I should have just asked the other guy for a ride,” Raine said to her self banging her head on the wall.
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Post by gandalan on Feb 23, 2006 19:49:07 GMT -5
Nakamura sighed. "Well, they were bound to be unlawful in some way." He sat back on his bed, closing his eyes, trying to rest a moment. He was slightly homesick, though he hoped that feeling would pass soon.
After he rested for a few moments, he opened his eyes, and shifted a bit. "Raine... where are we headed after we get to the Earth Kingdom?" he looked at her intently. "We could go to the capital, Bai Seng Sei, or we could go to any other city. They're all well defended..." and far away from water...
He didn't need to add the last part. He wanted to stay as close to water as he could. "We could just make a camp by a lake, and stay there..." He verbally thumbed through his thoughts, mumbling to himself, although he kept adressing Raine by mistake. "No... we need to be by water. We can't stay on the coast, too obvious... we could go to the mountains... water up top in the cold. Or a river. Those are everywhere..."
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Post by raine on Feb 23, 2006 20:11:09 GMT -5
Raine thought for a moment, “I honestly don’t know where we’ll go,” Raine confessed, “We could go to Bai Seng Sei, but what would two water benders do in a city made from earth with only a small amount of water?....We could go up into the mountains but food and shelter would be scarce…” Raine tilted her head towards Nakamura sitting cross legged on her bunk, “You’re a bit home sick aren’t you?” Raine said looking over to Nakamura, “You didn’t have to come…Even if my mother threatened you with something, she’s really harmless,” Raine told him.
A grin appeared on Raine’s face, “What about the South Pole?” She looking once again to Nakamura, “There’s A LOT of water, and we could help restore their homes? And we'll be able to see our sister tribe, and we could just stay for a little while. What do you think?”
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Post by gandalan on Feb 23, 2006 20:49:58 GMT -5
Nakamura shrugged. "It beats sitting around in a desert... though we'll have to travel through the desert for some time before we get to the South Pole... oh well..."
He smiled. "At least we know where we're going."
He wondered what it was like out here in the big vast world... there were deserts, where there was NO water, forest, filled with big green things called trees, rivers flowing, lakes pondering, skies looking down on him, and nothing to hold him back.
His homesickness was beginning to fade. He wondered who he'd meet on this trip... there were sure to be lots of wierd people out there! He smiled, and layed down on his bed. "We can go anywhere we want..."
As simple as that sounded, to Nakamura, it was a heavenly statement.
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Post by raine on Feb 25, 2006 1:50:17 GMT -5
When Nakamura shrugged and said, "It beats sitting around in a desert...” Raine nodded her head, “That’s the spirit.” Then came the, “…... though we'll have to travel through the desert for some time before we get to the South Pole... oh well..." Raine shrugged her shoulders, “I can’t be that bad. Before my dad left, he told me about these plants that hold water inside them…So I shouldn’t be too bad, I guess...” Raine just sat on her bed, ‘I wonder where you are right now dad…Do you still remember the North Pole? Do you remember home? Mom?......Me?’ Raine leaned against one of her bed posts towards the back and rested her head against it and let out a sigh. Now it was her who was missing her home……Or was she missing her father? She didn’t know the difference..
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Post by gandalan on Feb 25, 2006 10:04:30 GMT -5
Nakamura was thinking about places to go, Raine interrupted him, and he sheepishly realized that she heard his thinking. She explained about the plant thing in the desert. Oh... well then... that shouldn't be too bad...
Then Raine went silent and got a funny look on her face. Gandalan stared at her for a moment trying to understand what was wrong, because she had been so talkative a moment ago. "Raine..."
When she didn't say anything, he nudged her gently. "HELLO. RAINE. WAKE UP!"
He grinned. "You kinda zoned out for a second there..."
Why did she do that...? She's never done that before... maybe... what could she have been thinking about? She just stopped doing anything for a second there...
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Post by raine on Feb 25, 2006 15:25:38 GMT -5
“Papa? Where are you going?” A little girl asked no older than six. “I’m just going away for a little bit, Sweetie,” The replied resting his hand on her shoulder. “Can I come with you?” She asked him. “I’m sorry little one, but you can’t this time.” “Why are you leaving me and mommy? Are you mad?” The man lifted the little girl up on to his knee as he knelt down, “Of course not. I could never be mad at you or your mother,” He said as the small child snuggled against his chest, “I promise I’ll come back home soon, OK?” The girl nodded, “Ok, Papa,” She said as he set her down. And walked to his wife and kissed her goodbye as he left the two on the icy bay as he boarded the ship. “Promise you’ll come back!?” She yelled after her father. “I promise, Raine!” His voice echoed back as the ship disappeared. Raine clung onto her mother as she started to cry.
Raine snapped back into reality when Nakamura have her a slight nudge. Raine looked up at him, “Oh….Sorry…I-I didn’t really notice…It just kind of happened, you know?” She slightly stuttered wearing a fake smile and wrapping a blanket around her shoulders.
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Post by gandalan on Feb 26, 2006 1:22:35 GMT -5
Nakamura had always been good at knowing what people's emotions were. He saw that Raine was slightly sad, and yet hopeful about something...
She was remembering something.
Raine also probably had that fake smile on her face so he wouldn't ask her about it. He'd be nice for now. He smiled back. "Alright. But I think we may as well get some sleep anyway. Not much else to do, is there?"
He got under his sheets, not bothering to undress, since he'd be sleeping next to her. He could redress into something else tommorrow morning if he really needed to. He looked over at Raine. What DID she remember? She was sad and hopeful... I could TELL she was HOPEFUL about something... hopeful that what caused her sadness would end? But what could be out in the rest of the world to end something that made her sad if she couldn't find it at the North Pole?
Nakamura himself was zoning out, trying to think this one through. He thought a lot, and when he did, he often disregarded the rest of the world.
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Post by raine on Feb 26, 2006 1:40:03 GMT -5
Raine blinked, still holding the fake smile on her face, and replied to Nakamura, “You can go ahead and sleep, Nakamura,” Raine said tightening her grip on her covers, “I think I’ll stay up a little more. Have a good night, though,” She said under her breath.
It was the middle of the night, maybe around two or three. There was a small window that the moon’s light shown through, while every now and then a splash of water would hit the window blurring the light. Raine hadn’t slept at all. Raine just looked at window the blue moon light illuminating her face. Voices echoed through Raine’s mind. “Papa, Papa!” A girl said snuggling up to her father, “Never leave me..” “…I will never, I promise….”
A single tear rolled down from Raine’s eye as she sniffled not bothering to wipe it away.
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Post by gandalan on Feb 26, 2006 1:56:40 GMT -5
Nakamura dreamed about something strange.
His father stood before him. So did a few other people in the North Pole.
He stood alone. They stood together. It was all snowy, they were outside the city.
"You have betrayed us."
"No," replied Nakamura.
"And how not? You have refused to follow our custom. You allow, her, a GIRL, to practice waterbending! How COULD you be a true follower?"
To this, Nakamura had no answer. His father yelled angrily. "Will you not answer?!"
Nakamura turned away. "No father. I won't. My destiny is my own to make."
His father took a step towards him. "No it is NOT!"
Nakamura turned so he could see his father. "YES, it is."
The ice between them crackled with energy, as each person tried to bend it into each other. Nakamura was not better than his father, but his anger made him strong. His father used no emotion in his bending, and so he was able to control it better. Nakamura felt a spear drive through him, and he fell down, in a pool of his own blood. His father spat on him, thinkin him dead.
A radient light suddenly appeared, and healed the wound. Nakamura's father watched, in anger and amazement as Nakamura drifted away...
Nakamura jumped upward, sweating and breathing hard. Another nightmare...
He sighed, and looked over... "Raine...? You okay...?"
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Post by raine on Feb 26, 2006 2:14:45 GMT -5
Raine now let her tears fall freely down her cheeks, making her eyes red as well as her cheeks. “You promised you wouldn’t leave me….” She said to her self, her voice almost to quiet for a whisper as she was losing it and it was shaking, “You promised me…You promised mom…You promised your self….Why did you go?”
Raine sniffled a few times before she quickly wiped her tears away as Nakamura shot up from bed. He looked like he had wandered in to a nightmare since his breathing increased fasted and heavily. Her eyes were slightly open while her mind was opened like a book. When Nakamura asked if she was alright Raine continued to wipe her tears away, “Yes…Every thing’s fine,” She said her voice slightly breaking and shaky, “...Why wouldn’t I be?”
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Post by gandalan on Feb 26, 2006 11:08:32 GMT -5
She's crying...? And she hasn't gone to sleep YET? It must be late...
He sat up in bed, pushing the covers off of him. He looked kind of funny, seeing that his hair was screwed up (bedhed), but he messed with it for a second, just running his hands through it so he looked half decent.
He looked at her with concern. He'd never seen her like this. When she said that everything was fine, he replied bluntly, "No it isn't." Her eyes were red, tears still running down her cheeks. "Raine, tell me. What's wrong?"
Whatever was wrong, it must be pretty bad. Even when she left the North Pole, Raine hadn't cried. In fact, she hadn't seemed the least bit scared. But now... now she seemed as though that other Raine could never have been here.
He walked over to her, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Please Raine, let me help you, okay?" he asked kindly.
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