Cursing the Day <Wilderness, Earth Kingdom>

[gandalan]

Hibiki cringed as Jia berated him for giving out his name. He'd had no idea that it was apparently secret information. He moved further away from Jialing, towards Reed. Perhaps he would be kinder to him? Jialing was always in a bad mood.

Tsuya and Jia then had a spat about who had it worse, and then Jia dropped everything. After telling Tsuya his NAME, and then having her spill the beans on EVERYTHING, Hibiki was just plain lost as to why the name was such a bad thing to give away. He sighed helplessly, as he watched Tsuya's reaction. He gulped. "P-please miss, don't tell anybody." Even though it was rather pointless to bother with saying something like that- as Jia had pointed out, the whole area was annexed by the Fire Nation. But his fear was taking over.

He nervously hugged his knees up against him. His fear was blinding him again, even though he tried to fight against it. His face was still contorted into a worried, fearful countenance, that few would have attributed to a child of his age. He closed his eyes, trying to blot out the fear, but it just wouldn't work. Now that he was free, the thought of returning to the mines, and the punishment he would have to face for 'running away', was unbearable.

He looked up, two lonely tears running down his cheeks. "Please, don't tell anybody."

[reed]

Reed held up his hands to keep Jia from lashing too much. Yeah, it’s true that was pretty stupid of him to give out his name. But, really; the girl was a Kyoshi Warrior no doubt.

Reed pinched the bridge of his nose as Jialing basically told their life story in a few sentences. Had she totally blown their cover? Why yes! Yes, she did! He sighed, “Yeeeppp’.” He said sighing. “You could have just TOLD her your name, but no….”

Reed decided to intervene his opinion. Sure Jialing was doing dandy, but he decided maybe he could get them all on the same side. “Okay, so! You need help, we are help… and-,” He was cut off by Tsuya’s angry rambling. “- While everything's just fine for you here.” Reed’s brow furrowed, his eyes angry and narrow. Reed was not one to glare but when he did, oh, he did it pretty well. “WHAT!?” He said raising his voice walking a few steps closer digging his heels into the ground. “You think being in danger every second means ‘everything’s fine’?? If those villages even find out we’re anything close to rebels we’ll be taken done by the Fire Nation within that MINUTE. If we breathe ANYTHING that’s not ‘Go, Fire Nation’ we’re goners. And Jialing just risked A LOT! to save Hibiki who could have easily been in the same situation as one of your friends..” Reed continued to glare then ended with a scoffed and folded his arms. The air was getting more violent, kciking around the strands of hair that obstructed his vision. Okay, Reed thought, That was pretty stupid..

[lili]

"How was I supposed to know any of that?" Tsuya asked quietly. Her hazel eyes were narrowed and her forehead creased as she mulled all this over. She had over stepped her boundaries in saying they had it so easy; that was just sinking to the other woman's, who she now took to be Jialing, level. But they had revealed themselves as rebels, and Reed said they were help.. Tsuya looked at Hibiki. "Why on earth would I tell anyone?" A questioning smile, though small, came to her as she raised a thin eyebrow.

"Fine. You guys win." Tsuya said, giving in in hopes of having this all over and done with. "I'm sorry. Now, you say you're part of the Rebellion? I don't suppose you would be willing to offer a hand." She didn't know much about the group they claimed to be a part of, if anything. But if what they said about the Fire Nation annexing everything, which she had no doubt was true, these three might be the best she could find. Plus the dog, who Tsuya still kept a light hand on.

The wind felt good on her skin, as she had warmed up out of stress. "It's bad enough I had to leave them. If I can't find reinforcements I'm not sure what will happen. But it won't be anything good. And the Fire Nation cannot be allowed to reach Ba Sing Se's walls. At least think about it." The Earth Kingdom capital would be such a huge defeat for the nation; and if they did succeed Tsuya wondered what else would be able to withstand them. She breathed in the damper morning air, praying it would not become too humid.

[jialingjin]

Jialing continued to stare at the Kyoshi warriors, the gears in her head turning in thought, clearly visible from the vacant expression. She ignored the boys.. Reed was an Idiot and the kid.. Well he didn't seem all to bright. So she dropped her boots at her feet and stepped forward, her soles brown from the moss-covered ground. Her gaze dropped down to her hands as she placed them in front of her, palms facing each other.

"So.. Lemme get this.. You're a Kyoshi Wariorr.. Yeah I've heard of them.. know a bit. You guys were ambushed by the freaking Princess of the Fire Nation, correct? What the hell is she doing here..?" She'd mutter, shaking her head at the last sentence before continuing.. "Whatever.. and.. your comrades have been captured and the Princess and her.." Finger quotes. "Army.. are at Ba Seng Sei?" The ringleader glanced up at the Kyoshi warrior though her eyelashes, still keeping her head some what lowered. There was a ever present smudge of dirt on her long, thin, nose as she pressed her lips together. Suddenly Jialing straightened and lifted her chin, turning her face upwards as her hands curled into fists on her hips. ".. The Princess is leading the Army?! Really, Now?! That.." And here she pointed a finger at Tsuya and leaned in close a bit... "is impressive, if I say so myself."

Jialing wasn't one to give anyone a chance to respond and she didn't as she turned on her heels away from Tsuya. Her arms flew out to the side, forty-five degree angles to her body as she sashayed over to her boys. "There's a slight problem.. Miss Kyoshi Warrior.." Of course, having ignored her name earlier, Jialing improvised. She kicked her bare feet out to the side , pivoting one more on her toes to face the warrior. With the smooth grace and finesse of an agent of the Dai Li, Jialing hiked up one elbow up to about the height of her ears to lean on Reed's expecting shoulder. The first try was a miss and the poor, thin woman nearly fell on her face, but she recovered and managed to secure her elbow in a crook in Reed's shoulder. "We may be.. members of the Rebellion.. but we're also highly under skilled, highly under trained, a bunch of imbeciles and one dog." For once, Jialing seemed to talk confidently of her as she rattled off their bad qualities as a group, a smirk spreading across her copper colored lids as she closed her ruddy colored eyes. Tilting her head to the side, she let the curled, crimped and greasy strands of taupe colored hair brush her jaw and neck. "...Let's do it, boys."

[gandalan]

Jialing had made her decision, and she didn't even seem serious about it! It hurt his feelings a lot to think that she could just change her mind like this, when his whole village needed her help. Despite Tsuya's comforting words moments ago, he was again plunged into sadness. His friends and his village were apparently not all that important on Jialing's great list of things to be done. He hugged his knees tighter, helplessly sighing before letting his legs lay out straight. He looked over at Tsuya with a pitiful look, one that didn't know whether to be angry or sad, and if angry, it didn't know who to be angry at. He wanted to save his friends. Why couldn't they help him?

He stood up, shakily, his eyes still tearing up a little, both from fear that he'd be leaving, and because of frustration about being thrown about like a rag doll. "J-Jialing, what about my village? Who's-... how-..." He couldn't say anymore, he was so confused. He desperately wanted her to stay and help free his friends. He finally managed to stutter out, "Who's going to save them?"

[reed]

Reed wrinkled his nose and harshly blew stands of hair out of his eyes. "..I like how I am being ignored..." He murmured under his breath. Whatever, it's not like he was the leader. To tell the truth, this team didn't really have a leader. Well, Jialing, but she was just someone who took charge and made commands... And made all the decisions. Heh! Reed huffed Less for me to do! Reed honestly had no problem with having Jia lead. Seemed like she was better suited for it than he was.

Reed listened as he shook his head with a smirk plastered on it. Bragging about how terrible they were?? Oh, yeah, even Jia could make the team, as horrible as they were, sound good by only giving out insults about them.

"...Let's do it, boys." Jialing said. Reed grinned, "Now that's more like it." Reed said supporting part of Jia's weight on his shoulder. The sudden weight had caught him off guard but he soon regained his stability. Hibiki started to speak up. Reed reached with his free hand and rustled his hair. "About time you said something, kid." Reed looked to Jia, "Kid has a point, though. We would need to send a message or go back to the rebellion base and see when they're send us back up. Or unless they wanted to take on this mission, since we're just the scouts."

Reed yawned, "I have --an idea!" He shook free of Jia and Hibiki and walked over to the fire. 'How 'bout, since we all know we're not evil and on each other's side; we make food! 'Cause, I'm hungry and I bet you guys are hungry... So, I'm going to make something." Reed started to dig through their supplies. He held a pot and grabbed some random deer-fox pouches and piled them in the pot. "Hmm... So, oats.. More oats.. Some beans... And jerky... And more oats...."

[lili]

Tsuya's hazel eyes lit up when Jialing said they would do it. Her gloved hands came to rest on her hips once more and she gave an excited nod. They were going to do it! Hold on. she thought to her friends silently. [/i]I'll be there soon.[/i] "This is perfect," she told the trio sincerely. "We have to get planning right away." If Jialing simply sounded confident about their meager means that was enough.

The younger boys small words hurt Tsuya. "Were you already engaged in a mission?" she asked the other woman. Her training as a warrior to put others before herself was telling her Hibki's village could not just be left. But her comrades needed rescue just as much as some Earth Kingdom village. "If he was in your care first I can't simply tear you away." Or could she? Certainly Reed and Jialing hadn't forgotten about the boy's village but neither had mentioned it. "Hibiki," she said. "If you help me I'll help you. I'm sure my leader would want to find a way to return the favor of freeing the warriors." Of course, Tsuya was assuming. First, their rescue attempt had to be successful. And she was sure Suki would not want to see any people suffer under the Fire Nation.

"I wish I had some supplies to offer up." Unfortunately her escape had not allowed much time for her to prepare. Tsuya unconsciously bit down on the inside of her cheek. "Is it you guys don't want to risk going into one of the towns or you don't have the coin?" They could covertly enter a town to resupply, lay low and just get in and out. A lack of funds was a different issue, and something Tsuya was not used to dealing with. She supposed she took having the proper items usually needed for granted. Even though she was good with numbers going through with the chore of shopping, when it was rarely done, was not assigned to her. Sometimes they received gifts of food out of gratitude from people, or they foraged the land.

[jialingjin]

Well BAD!. Jia's face drained of it's color as the young boy brought up the issue of.. their original intent to free his village. The fist that was resting on her hip detached itself and spread. Her palm met her face with an audible smack, fingers spread far apart as she drug her hand down her face. D'oh. That was a dumb move..She stayed silent, even as Reed moved away and left her struggling to regain her balance as she kicked her bare foot out, having been hooked behind her ankle. With her face half covered by her fingers, She shot the back of Reed's head a death glare, before she rolled her eyes up, throwing both hands out to the side. "...Yeah... Kinda.." She answered in response to the Kyoshi Warrior's question, ignoring Reed's breakfast commentary, as amusing as it was.
Her heart dropped a bit, kinda like a piece of coal and she sighed, folding her skinny arms with their torn, dirtied and lackluster fore-arm wrappings across her chest. ".. Yeah.. Um... Well we're kinda.. scouts for the Rebellion.." The truth wasn't exciting. She pouted her lips, wrinkling her eyebrows as she furrowed her forehead, staring towards the direction of the fire as Reed worked to get it started and to start breakfast. Great.. a 5th mouth to feed..

"..We're scouts for the Rebellion.. we have very little money and.. we were kinda put here.. just to keep us out of trouble... The nearest village is his.." Jialing jerked her head in Hibiki's direction, having still not bothered to learn his name. "..I kinda.. grabbed him and ran.. it's.. really horrible over there." Her voice dropped from the commanding boom it had before, though Reed might disagree. There was a softness that came to it as she spoke quietly, dropping her gaze. She really didn't think before she leaped did she?

[gandalan]

As Jialing recounted the story of yesterday, Hibiki sunk further down. It wasn't that she didn't care, it was that she couldn't hold the concept long enough to understand. He was frustrated with it, but there was nothing he could do. Also, it showed him that she was not truly a full member of the Rebellion, and he felt a little betrayed by that. Reed was still the only one who had been really kind and truthful to him. It was very frustrating.

He sighed helplessly. One thing he knew was that Tsuya wouldn't be happy with was Jialing's tiny treatment of the story. He sighed, and decided that, while he didn't want to discuss it, he would tell them about the story from his own point of view, on his terms.

"I... I worked in mines in the mountains. My whole village either works there, or... farms. Tries to. The Fire Nation took us over a few years ago." He lapsed into silence, and moved over to a small tree, which he sat down and leaned back against. He looked up and said, "I... I helped move the minerals around. I'm an earthbender... and..." He didn't want to talk about his friends. "Well, we just do what they tell us to." He hugged his knees again, closing his eyes, blocking out everything else. That was all he was going to say.

[reed]

Reed rested the pot of water and oats on top of the burning logs. Surely that should be enough for five… Or at least he hoped. He listened to what Jia had to say. Little money? It was true Reed had left most of his money for his remaining family back in Tachi Dai, but he still had quite a lot with him. Reed reached over to his knapsack. There was a hidden pocket that he reached into and pulled out a fair sized pouch. He slipped it opened and got a brief look at what he had left. His eyes widened and his brow rose. Reed had started out with at least twenty gold-pieces. Now he only had about five or six and some silver but mostly copper pieces. What the hell… Reed thought. We couldn’t have spent that much! …. Oh, wait. No, that’s right. Jialing had challenged him to a drinking contest a few villages back on their way here and he, being a fool, accepted it. They just kept the drinks coming until the bartender wouldn’t give them anymore. They had both tied, since none of them passed out before their cut off. That plus food could really be pricy.

Reed folded away the money stash and walked back over to the conversation as Hibiki was finishing up telling his side of the story. Technically, their mission was already complete. Their full orders were to stake out the village, learn about the conditions and citizens, and remember all of the information and details, then report back with the information. All they needed to do was let them know everything and go back to get another mission, but Reed didn’t say anything. He wanted a hands-on mission and this was it.

“I'm an earth bender... and...” Reed elbowed Hibiki’s shoulder. “You’re an earth bender? No way, man! Let’s see what you can –,” Reed cut himself off. He had remembered Jialing’s detest toward benders, since he had experienced the accusation part of it when they had first met. “Uh, so…Er, who else here hates the Fire Nation?” He finished off trying to make a new subject.

[lili]

What Jialing explained made Tsuya sigh heavily. This complicated things. "So can you really just leave his village?" she asked. Just leave the town that was probably home to his family and friends? Hibiki's whole demeanor suggested what he went through and the more she allowed herself to think about it the more she wanted to find a way to intervene. "If you're an earthbender and the others who worked in the mine were benders how come you never tried to escape before now? Was there no resistance from anyone?" Tsuya couldn't imagine simply giving way to whatever the Fire Nation ordered no matter the circumstances. What they did was often so grueling she wasn't sure she would be able to even if she wanted to.

Noticing Reed begin the routines of cooking Tsuya shook her head. "You guys have enough to look after. I hope you weren't worrying about adding more on my account." Sure, she was hungry. Among other feelings running through her mind and body. She wouldn't have them being responsible for her. Tired of standing she took the liberty of moving closer to the fire and setting herself down, legs tucked under her behind with the skirts fabric pushed out to the sides. For many it wasn't an ideal or comfortable sitting form to take up but it was how Tsuya had been taught.

At Reed's comment she gave a dry laugh. "Yeah, the Fire Nation..." her voice murmured. Looking at Hibiki she nodded at him. "What can you do, anyway?" She was speaking of his bending. Being a Kyoshi Warrior she herself couldn't bend and that fact had never really bothered her. Tsuya had also not seen too many benders in action, and certainly not outside of the Earth Kingdom armies. Because of that it held a small amount of her curiosity. "Can you do any tricks or anything?"

[jialingjin]

Placing her tongue in the corner of her mouth, Jialing lifted her eyebrows as she glanced back and forth between the two boys. Well.. it seemed she had been dropped from this conversation. It did not please her, but at the same time, it did. It was all getting too confusing.. The boys had gone their separate ways. Reed was busy making breakfast... spirits what would it be today? While the boy, hibiki, had scuffled away to one of the few smaller trees that dotted the clearing that ran along the river's edge.

She had commented to Reed when they had first picked this spot that it looked like a giant hand had come in and scooped out the trees decades ago.. but now younger trees had moved in and planted their leaves. They decided not to disturb the new growth as much as possible when making their camp due to that. So now.. that she was clearly being ignored in favor of the boys.. as always.. Jialing huffed out a sigh, being careful to make it JUST noticeable enough to make a person wonder. She wandered towards the fire again, stooping down as she passed her boots to grab them once more. Her thin legs and big feet stepped over the log, one foot then the other and she popped a squat on the bark of the log before hiking one foot up. Her dirty fingers made quick work of loosing the laces in both her boots, shaking them out for wolf spiders before slipping her feet in them. She stretched her leg completely out, pulling tight on the laces before knotting them in some crazy knot.

Settling her feet back down, she sighed and folded her arms across her knees, but kept one up as a head rest. Even Jin was excited by this new comer. So far the giant dog had not left her side, his tail gently swaying back and forth as he listened to all that was going one. Sure.. the dog had a good people instinct.. he knew who to trust, who was nice and who had the bacon.. but.. c'mon! It was like Betrayal here!

"Reed.. Get over here and sit with me." She snapped at her companion. It was unusual for her to want him within a foot of her, but it had happened before in their past six or so months of Traveling. Usually when she was stressed or.. spirits forbid.. actually concerned about something.

[reed]

Reed looked at the mush in the pot. He threw some dried leachy nuts in with it and mixed it vigorously. He poured more water in it and capped it with a metal lid. He looked over at the rest of the supplies and looked to see if he could add anything else. Reed reached into a bag and pulled out plum-berries. They looked fine so he shrugged and grabbed a handful. "Reed.. Get over here and sit with me." Reed loked over to Jialing and obeyed. He placed the berries in and tried to set the lid a little off to the let the steam out, burning his palm in the progress. He winced yanking his hand away. His shoulders hung low and he threw his head back as he sat next to Jialing, “It’s not even noon and I end up hurting myself…” He muttered leaning against the log and exchanging looks with the two women.

Reed sat in silence with them for a while before coughing and turning attention to the new comer. “No offense, but I think I’ll speak for us all when I say our first priority is saving Hibiki’s village. We took the mission, so it’s our responsibility. If you were to help us out, maybe we’d be able to make some kind of strategy.” He said thinking over everything. Maybe they would make direct contact.. Or maybe, a sneak attack. Or maybe! “- I got it!” He said a grin forming on his face. “We get Hibiki to earth bend us all into the cells. After we get in every two nights we’ll take another earth bender. But after a week we’ll go underground to the center of the village and take down the Fire Nation from the inside. It’s pretty basic, but it’s something to work off of,” he said facing Jialing.

[gandalan]

Hibiki flinched at Tsuya's words. Yes, he knew he was a coward! What was he supposed to do? He couldn't beat a firebender if he tried! He wasn't trained in combat, his mother was held hostage, as was Rin, and Arai couldn't fight any better than he could! He was screwed at every angle if he tried to fight back! He just hugged his knees tighter to his body.

He knew his father wanted him to fight. But his reactions, drilled into his being, were to submit and do what was demanded of him. In that way, he minimized the harm done to him directly, and kept his friends and family safe. What more was he supposed to do? He, alone, attacking the firebenders would be suicide, and his friends would die, as would his mother.

He didn't know what this girl expected of him, or why she wanted him to do it. He would try to do as his father, not this girl, asked him to. He just didn't know how to go about it. Fight the Fire Nation? HIM? He couldn't see it. He just sat there, contemplating what he was trying to do.

[lili]

Now she had just alienated them. At least Jialing's dog hadn't abandoned her, though Tsuya couldn't help her arm growing tired. Giving the animal one last pat she laid her arms in her lap and examined the fabric covering her hands, envisioning her hands beneath. She bit her lip and blinked a few times. Really, Tsuya needed to start thinking before speaking. Hibiki was already quiet as it was, and now the other female seemed to have a distaste for the Kyoshi Warrior. At least, that was how Tsuya perceived her sitting off by herself and calling Reed over.

What the boy said was true. The village did come first. It was only right and fair and Tsuya saw that perfectly clear. Could the Fire Nation really wait that long? She doubted it, but Suki and the others were also resourceful. No doubt they would be able to hold their own. Nodding to herself, Tsuya could just picture what the girls would be saying and doing. They could always hold their own, even in a losing battle. Even though they were down they were most certainly not out. She couldn't wait to free the other girls and just see the look on the princess's face.

At the sound of his voice, Tsuya lifted her head. "That could work. Maybe." she said, looking at Hibiki. If he just trusted in his own skill level she was sure it could work. Even when the warriors went up against the army of the enemy everyone had to know there was the chance they would lose. Tsuya thought it silly to deny it. But for her, just looking at those fans and knowing how much training she had gave her the courage and will to take on the obstacles ahead. "Do you think you could do it?" she asked the boy. No, it wasn't up to her. But Tsuya was willing to consider anything.