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Post by tali on May 1, 2008 13:47:13 GMT -5
As Tali stared blankly at the dark skinned man she curiously pondered if he was joking or if there was a tiny army of rainclouds somewhere that latched onto peoples heads and just followed them around. Those people would indeed be unfortunate but it had to have been the former. She'd never seen a rain cloud move of it's own accord before. Such a sight would be frightening, unless perhaps an air bender was moving it. Could they move clouds if they desired? The wind seemed to have that ability, someone who was able to bend it might have no problem with such a feat.
Her hands moved to ring out her hair and soon she pulled her over dress off leaving her boots pants and the thin under shirt. For modesty's sake she'd allow the wind and sun to take care of those. The wet fabric did cling to her in odd and at least for her, undesirable ways. If only she were a water bender. " Well I jumped... and I didn't think my bag would break my bala-my bag!" Yes that was right, she'd left it on the stream back when she fell. Her cheeks flushed as she dropped her clothing to go get her pack. Knowing her she'd forget the neglected clothing and need to come back for it in the not too soon future.
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Post by sunil on May 2, 2008 12:48:53 GMT -5
That was enough mockery, Sunil decided. The girl was clearly in a bad mood, soaked to the bone, while her bag seemed to be taking a peaceful voyage down the stream. Eyeing the object bobbing in the water, he hopped off the bridge and onto the muddy banks. His bare feet sunk into the soft earth, while his kiwi simply watched from a safe distance. That bird, it seemed, was no fool.
"Tch. I know you don't need my help, but..." Sunil looked at the girl, walking right past her and Arai, then smiling. That moment brought him to reach as far as his six-foot body and lengthy arms could extend, allowing him ample distance to pluck her traveling sack from the shallow waters. There was no earthbending used for aid, since he didn't much mind falling into the stream. If it happened, it happened, and there would be no sense in crying over it. The girl clearly thought differently, but at least her bag was now in the hands of someone trustworthy. And soon it was offered to her hands, as Sunil gave a pleasant smile.
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Post by tarot on May 7, 2008 15:15:28 GMT -5
He was glad to see the girl was no worse for the wear, other than being soaked. And she seemed to take the merchant's playful jab sportingly. Arai listened as the girl explained what had happened, not looking directly at her as she shed several layers of clothing. He was startled a bit when she yelled about her bag. He moved forward to try to locate where the bag had fallen, but Sunil was already moving for it. His stance settled into something more casual, smiling as the darker man brought her the bag, "Crisis averted."
He looked between the two others, with the small bird moving through the grass. "You know," he said in an optimistic tone, as he reached into one of his pants pockets "Bad luck can't last forever, sometimes all you need is a little pick-me-up." He produced several coins, holding them out to Sunil." I think now would be a good time for some tea." he paused a moment, "If that's alright." The architect certainly had some free time to burn, but he was unsure of the others' schedules, and didn't want to impose.
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Post by tali on May 7, 2008 20:56:56 GMT -5
Tali relaxed considerably once her bag was safely in her grasp, greatfuly she smiled at the tall dark skinned man. Quickly she bowed to him a little clumsily blurting out an exasperated thank you. Now preoccupied with the general well being off the bag she dropped down to the grass and opened the bag. She checked out the contents thankful it wasn't completely soaked, A relieved breath left her lips and she slumped it over her shoulder and scooped up her clothing. Still rather wet her bangs were plastered to her forehead and cheeks but at least she was no longer floundering in the river. It was a step in the right direction as far as she was concerned.
Then her attention went back to the men, first to the taller one then the the other who'd helped her out of the stream. It was then the small bird caught her attention, she wasn't much listening to the exchange between the men much more interested in the obscure animal darting about in the grass. Her eyes widened lightly entranced by the creature. "Awww~.,,!" By her standards, it was kind of, well.. cute. She patted the earth in an attempt to catch it's attention, she sort of wanted to touch it... an odd bubbling in her chest that was common with woman and small animals. " Come'er boy...."
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Post by sunil on May 8, 2008 12:54:32 GMT -5
Sunil nodded and sated the girl's gratitude as she thanked him, but turned to Arai as soon as he started to speak. A capital suggestion he made, but Sunil knew there was no need to actually pay. He may have been in need of funds, but it was amazing that Sunil could support his travels on how many free cups of tea he 'shared' with random strangers. Banishing pride, he decided to humbly take the coins from Arai's hand and slide them into his pocket with a smile. Patting the man on the back, he said; "Y'know, I was waiting for one of us to say that."
Eyes happening upon the girl, he noticed his small kiwi friend had found a new source of attention. It didn't matter to him, since he knew the bird would scurry back to his side when the girl was gone, but he was quite sure the kiwi would spend the majority of its time trying to eke out as much attention as possible from the young woman. Crouching down to eye level with the girl, Sunil looked between her and the bird. The kiwi waddled right up to her and set his beady black eyes upon her face, tilting his head for optimum cuteness. "Ever seen a kiwi before?" Sunil said, casually holding a hand out to the creature. "This one...he seems quite fond of people."
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Post by tarot on May 16, 2008 0:54:14 GMT -5
The merchant seemed up for breaking out his wears, causing Arai to smile as he slid the coins into his pocket. He glanced over at the girl who seemed as interested in the kiwi as the bird did in her, then back to Sunil.
"Shall we?" he said as he motioned back nearer to where he'd left his things. It wasn't like he was afraid someone would steal them, but such a muddy place would be unsuitable for starting a small fire. He didn't wait to see if the others were going to follow, grabbing what few stray branches and twigs he could find from the ground. It wasn't much, but enough for to warm some tea. Dropping the wood into a pile on the dirt, he walked over to his pack, taking out his flint and some small bits of paper.
Taking up a wider stance, he brought his arms down swiftly, sinking a small area of the earth deeper. The small pit would prevent small embers from spreading into the grass. Kneeling beside it, he placed some of the smaller pieces of wood and tender, striking the flint to produce a spark. It took several tries, but soon the tiny twigs and parchment caught fire, which he soon began feeding more sizable sticks into.
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Post by tali on May 16, 2008 12:28:20 GMT -5
As the bird looked at her she couldn't help but giggle as her stomach bubbled with adoration with the creature. She reached her fingers out to him hesitantly pulling back slightly not wanting to hurt him, but the creature didn't seem too annoyed by the gesture so she began to stroke him admiring his soft feathers and adorably perky eyes. He fluffed up his feathers and then shook them out sparking a coo and another round of squeals from the earth kingdom teen, she'd all but forgotten about her soaked person as well as her bag with some of it's contents strewn about her. " No, he's a cute little fellow though."
Already the sun had begun to dry her hair, once that was finished she could re braid it settling it back in to it's previous place but for now she'd found a new friend. Scooping the creature up she settled him in her lap going about placing her things back into her bag now that she had made sure the bag wasn't in too bad of a condition. She left a Clementine out of her bag while she was settling everything into it's place and then pealed away the skin easily enough taking a segment from the fruit and offering it to the bird. In what she could remember of childhood pets they loved treats, birds couldn't be too much of an exception. Her attention left the small bird only long enough to notice that the one man was making a fire, someone mentioned tea. Did that include herself as well.
Her hazel eyes wandered back toward the owner of the small bird, mentally she attempted to figure out how many coins she'd have left at this point. " How much?"
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Post by sunil on May 16, 2008 21:02:24 GMT -5
Nonchalantly, Sunil looked from Arai building a campfire to the girl crouched to the ground. She seemed as enthralled with his kiwi as the bird was with the young woman herself, but she was clearly not being so rude as to ignore the humans in her midst because of a small, fuzzy creature. Shrugging, Sunil decided on a reasonable price. Sunil didn't allow her appearance to influence his choice, but he did consider a girl like her who traveled all on her own probably wouldn't be able to throw money around frivolously. "Four copper?"
He wasn't terribly concerned with prices, but took a second to consider which tea to share with these new acquaintances. Concluding that neither must have known each other beforehand, he decided to start off any and all introductions. Arai was a bit busy, but surely a nice fellow like him would take a moment to say hello. "I'm Sunil," he said, waving before holding his open hand out to the girl. He didn't say a single word more, but his actions and gestures alone showed what he was expecting. It wouldn't take a genius to realize he wasn't looking for a handshake more so than a name to assign to the female stranger.
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Post by tarot on May 27, 2008 15:01:40 GMT -5
Arai leaned slightly to the side, avoiding the light column of smoke which had begun to issue forth from the small campfire. The wind however, seemed intent on having him move from his current position, changing slightly to blow the smoke in his direction once more. He moved his arm up in front of his face as he stood, warding it off. He rose, still holding some firewood, to find the girl too, had given the small, excitable bird a snack.
He rejoined the conversation, once again paying attention, as the merchant introduced himself. He waited for the girl to respond before offering his own introduction, so as not to seem rude. But offered only his first name, "Arai" with a small kind of 'yo' gesture with his free hand. After he did so, he took the stick in both hands, and snapped it in half before throwing it on the fire. Now that the small fire was strong, he turned back, focusing more on learning about these newcomers, what kind of adventures had they been on, where were they from?
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Post by solusson on May 27, 2008 18:24:29 GMT -5
Undou practiced his handstand in the small grove of trees beyond the stream. He had been holding it for five minutes without the ghost of a quiver, but he was becoming more distracted by the sounds he was hearing. Being in a very zen state, his hearing was quite alert to everything around him. He noticed when the man had come to the brook some time ago when he was practicing tumbling and other minor feats in preparation for the show in Kei Lan later that evening. He had, however, largely forgotten the man since then as the man had been so silent and still. Undou then heard a small conversation. Pleasantries, it sounded like, though the specifics were not audible from his distance. He then heard a splash, but the two men were both talking when the splash occurred. A rock or a third person? Undou wasn't sure.
Undou relaxed down from his handstand position and decided to head out of his grove back to the small detail of the caravan that had come to entertain this village that night. They were to rejoin several other small caravan groups in three days, and then the group would make the long trek to Zhy. Undou decided to pass by the strangers on his way. He was wearing the garb of a caravan acrobat, not that he expected anyone to really recognize him by that.
Undou got out of the trees and onto the path just in time to see two men help a girl out of a stream. He stood still a moment longer and then, lithe and silent through caravan training and ingrained habit, we walked along the small worn path to the bridge. He wasn't initially going to talk to the strangers, but decided to try to drum up some more spectators, if he could.
"Fair day and fine weather! The Flame Dancers Gypsy Caravan has sent a small detail of some of their finest acrobats to perform in Kei Lan tonight. If you can make the show, I would advise it. It may well be the most entertaining thing you'll encounter for weeks if not months to come!" Alright, maybe they weren't exactly the finest acrobats in the troupe, but they were nothing at all to sneeze at. They had all been in the caravan for so many years that contortions and flips were second-nature to the performers.
Instead of trying to convince them further, Undou walked up to the bridge and calmly put his arms on the wooden rail. With not one sound or grunt, he hoisted himself up onto the railings on his arms, his legs going from the ground to straight up with a single smooth motion. He hand-walked across the bridge and performed a quick flip onto the ground on the other side of the bridge. After that, he walked a few steps away from the bridge toward the village before turning and running at the bridge. In one leap he was on the railing and with another he'd hopped onto the railing on the other side of the bridge. From there he catapulted himself into the air into a nice somersault, chin tucked and arms outstretched to either side. He landed in front of the three people with a solid landing. He didn't lose his balance at all and definitely didn't careen into the water.
With a deep bow, he added, "We'd be honored to perform for you three." He noted the small, unnatural mound near one of the three's foot. Instantly he knew that one if not all of them were earthbenders. He wasn't afraid, as there had been several earthbenders in the caravan.
"An earthbender is especially welcome. With their help we can add lots of fun new tricks to the show!"
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Post by tali on May 27, 2008 19:37:05 GMT -5
Tali nodded as soon as he mentioned the price, it was rather cheap given the price of tea today, but she wouldn't argue. There was no hesitation in getting out the coins, aside from rubbing the citrus juices from her hand onto her pants. After than she hoisted her back onto her back, the kiwi into one arm standing up planting the coins in his open hand with a cheerful smile. Finally it seemed she'd met some decent people on her travels. Her eyes trailed up his body in a modest sweep taking in his dark complexion, he must train a lot to have such a dark tan. Being from Gaoling, she'd never really seen anyone so dark, it was interesting to say the least. She grinned shrugging her shoulders and closing her eyes as a habit of the movement. " Talia Shiofeun, very nice to meet you Arai and Sunil." It was hard for her to not be open and outgoing, she was just like that. Her hazel eyes flitted from the man to the bird and smiled at the perky creature, he was her new friend, at least until the creature got bored of her. " Do you have a name Sifu Kiwi?" Her smile pulled tight and wide as she tried to keep from cooing at the animal, the brain of a female seemed to melt around small animals.
Still the matter of her discarded clothing came up, she would need to fetch the layers she'd shed, possibly change into something else, with two men in the vicinity that might need to be put on hold, they were earth benders though it seemed. If they were generous they might construct a make shift hut for her to attend to her soaked clothes in. Before she could start on either man her attention darted briefly to the bridge, her brows furrowed as the man announced himself. Well he was rather forward wasn't he? She shook her head a bit just waiting for him to hurt himself. A pang of guilt struck her, she shouldn't wish someone harm. Upon further inspection she found the man to be quite cute, his skin a bit darker than normal, was he earth kingdom?
Her other arm settled under the kiwi's body as she watched his various flips and jumps, she was able to do some of that, her form and training was in the wielding of a staff. She was able to balance on top of it for a time now, wrap her body around it in various ways and keep balance all the while, yet the idea of a performance was tempting, she'd rather have some tea though. " Flame dancers?" She repeated to herself before her eyes widened and lit up, she'd heard of them, there was something about all the different bending elements in their troupe, perhaps there may even be an air bender. Tali beamed at the prospect of seeing a real live nomad, how exciting would it be to see one preform? Something struck her as odd though. Her head tilted to the side gently and her eyes glanced up at him from under her dark brown lashes and thick chocolate bangs curiously. " If your part of a caravan where is everyone else?"
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Post by sunil on May 29, 2008 13:29:44 GMT -5
Sunil scratched his head. That again? He knew he really had to give that bird a name, even though there were more important tasks at that moment. Walking over to the stream to fill up his iron teapot, Sunil noticed the man making his presence known. Drawing up the vessel, now filled with water, he slowly walked over to Arai at the fire while the stranger's speech carried on.
Apparently from the Flame Dancers caravan, the man was intent on showing off. Sunil could totally understand, but the smirk on his face said otherwise. Eyes were half-lidded, arms crossed, possibly making one think he were ready to show the man up. That was far from the truth, though.
"Sounds like fun," Sunil said quietly, while approaching the campfire.
When he went on to mention their show in Kei Lan, Sunil was vaguely intrigued. Performances were always fun to watch, but he mentally declined the following offer to join in the actual act. Instead of seeming rude by turning down the offer, he simply knelt before the fire and set up the teapot to be heated. He would let everyone else reply before saying no.
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Post by solusson on Jun 6, 2008 11:33:21 GMT -5
Undou grinned at the group as two of the members agreed to go to the show later that night. They had been giving performances for the last two days in this town, and this would be their last before moving on to try to catch up with the group.
"Great. I promise that this will be a night that not one of you will ever forget. We Flame Dancers are the best performers to be found under Fire Lord Ozai's permission. We will live up to our name tonight, make no mistake."
With that, Undou had finished with the small group for the time being and needed to go get ready for the show which would be beginning in only a few hours, when the sun went down. His small group had decided that with the small amount of Fire Bending that some of the female acrobats could do, a twilight performance would be the best. Everyone could see, but the fire would stand out in the performances like a beacon.
Earth benders, too, would be in the show! Undou was excited that an earth bender had accepted his invitation to come to the show! They always used earth benders in his act. That was when Undou was really allowed to shine. He had good rhythm, even for an acrobat, and he delighted in the chance to dodge and weave between boulder-bullets.
Without another word, Undou backflipped onto the railing of the bridge and bowed deeply at the three people gathered, as well as the small, odd bird. With another quick flip he was on the bridge and running to where the other caravaners were waiting.
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Post by tali on Jun 20, 2008 11:49:29 GMT -5
At the mention of the fire lord Tali blanched and stood up slumping her bag over her shoulder with the kiwi in her arm. Would it be the best idea to go somewhere like that? She'd heard that the flame dancers allowed everyone into their midst still the thought of the impending destruction the fire lord wanted to bring to the earth kingdom was pause for thought.
She went to retrieve her clothing and placed those over her shoulder as well. Her eyes followed the boy curiously as he returned to the town and no doubt to the rest of his troupe, her question had gone unanswered but she wasn't too unnerved by that, he seemed to be in a rush. Instead of fretting over the performance she made her way to the group under the tree. The fire was made and the water was being heated.
" He has a lof of energy" Tali remarked after a second, a small smile tugging at her lips, had he been a fighter she'd want a match but a performer might be another matter. She'd settle for partaking in the performance Finally relinquishing the small kiwi she sat down on the ground with her legs crossed, her bag behind her. After tea she planned on getting a room at an inn, washing up, changing clothes and then she could head to the performance. The rest of her orange at hand she placed a segment in her mouth offering the other chunked to the Kiwi.
She giggled at his cheekiness, the bird was one of the cutest animals she'd seen in a while. " I'm From Gaoling, where are the rest of you from." Curiously she glanced up at the two men and tilted her head towards Arai then Sunil. If they were going to be sitting here they might as well have some sort of conversation.
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Post by sunil on Jul 2, 2008 13:15:56 GMT -5
Did that guy honestly hear what he said, or more importantly, his tone? Sunil raised an eyebrow in wonderment, trying to perceive what this short man's intentions were. Though he appeared Water Tribe in descent, the fact that he spoke of the Fire Lord without gagging on his own tongue made Sunil rather suspicious. It wasn't like the merchant to judge a book by its cover, but Sunil distinctly remembered implying he didn't want to be part of the performance.
Tali, on the other hand, took to ignoring, or at least disregarding the man for more weighty matters - well, weighty by Sunil's viewpoint anyway. The earthbender thought it a bit odd to change the subject so randomly, but figured the girl knew to include the Water Tribe stranger in their discussion despite the fact that she didn't look at him. Regarding this conversation, the more the merrier!
Reaching out to grab the teapot, knowing almost by instinct the tea had finished, he grabbed a small satchel from his backpack and loosened the drawstring. Delighted at the aroma, his wide mouth pulled into a wider grin before he emptied the mixture of dried leaves into the pot. He hoped they liked green tea with a touch of ginger peel and lemon zest. In the meantime, he didn't hesitate to answer. Sunil knew he'd heard of Gaoling, a commercial hub with a famous school of earthbending or something like that, but to clarify the whereabouts of his home town seemed proper to him. "I'm from Zhy. It's a big city in the northwest reaches of the country."
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