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Post by baoli on May 7, 2008 17:59:15 GMT -5
The coin purse had a wonderful cascade effect, just like it had on that first morning. Just like Bao Li had hoped it would when he threw it. He couldn't stand seeing the pair of benders act like they had been, and as awful as they were normally, it was better than this facade. His mouth tugged up at the corner as the dance began again.
The metallic tinkle of money on flagstones quite literally seemed to shock the two adults into action - first the woman stopped dead and stomped as if she'd always been ready to, as if she'd been just kidding when claiming to be a servant of the city and just waiting for a time to kick into the pair of males. The shockwave knocked Jochi off his feet and into a cart, but Bao Li was ready this time - had he known that first day Ikeru was a bender, he'd have been on his fastest feet and done what he did today. As the effect spread from Ikeru's foot to lash out at him, Bao Li dove and rolled with it, absorbing impact where possible and transmitting what he couldn't in his controlled roll. He popped back to his feet at Ikeru's side, just out of her range of vision.
The marketplace scattered again, adults and children alike running for cover as they'd not had the sense to that first time Ikeru and Jochi had met. Bao Li stayed this time. He had work to do.
He couldn't have been happier at the reaction. Bao Li opened his mouth, wanting to tell the angered Ikeru everything he had to tell her - about the Dai Li, about the city, about the definite need to stop bending right now and run for it before they got here and repeated this week of brainwashing over again. Well, he meant to, anyway. That was until Jochi seemingly regained his 'senses' and his feet, and retalliated against the attack by sending the market road tiles flying in all directions. Bao Li flung his arms over his head and curled up with his back to the barrage, but too slowly - one of the tiles clipped him in the head and sent him sprawling.
On his way down to kiss the market floor, all he could think of was one thing. Maybe he should have just kept the gold and stayed quiet. These two were way more headache than they were worth.
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Post by ikeru on May 9, 2008 6:12:07 GMT -5
Ikeru would have proudly carried on in her tirade of kicking up boulders twice the size of her head and pummeling rickety carts into smithereens with them, but suddenly, the marketplace's tiles reared up and all around her like a rug that had been snapped out to clean. Narrowing her eyes, she fluidly swept her hands into the air, creating a rock wall that more or less protected her from the attack. She leaned forward to stomp again and maybe even trap a pair of feet that she could only assume belonged to Jochi in blocks of stone, but the collapsing body of Bao Li, visible out of the corner of her eye, snagged her attention. A tiny thought, not much brighter than a weak candle flame, wormed its way into her head.
She had fought in public before, yes...and did that end well? Not really, no. What happened when she fought in public? She was carted off by the Dai Li. That wasn't very good. It was time to stop and think things through, no matter how hard or boring that could be.
Ikeru heaved a heavy sigh and pulled out of her stance; in the same motion, she put her hand up in the air, as if in surrender. She knew exactly what it looked like to suddenly give up before a battle had even begun, and while that bruised her ego, Ikeru had bigger fish to fry. "Cut it out, you moron," she called, nervously glancing about the deserted marketplace for the tell-tale signs of the Dai Li: shadows of men on the horizon warped by the early-morning sun for dramatic effect; an unnatural hush that descended over and smothered the bazaar like a blanket; the tight and painful stone gloves. "You're gonna get me in trouble again! Jackass," she added under her breath.
Wrapping her arms around her chest for comfort, she sighed again, this time quieter and with a tinge of shabby pity, as she eyed the unconscious Bao Li. He was a fool to get involved with her and her business, and even more of a fool to reverse the "work" the city's keepers had done to them...but he had helped her (and unfortunately, he had helped Jochi as well), so that maybe knocked him down a few pegs from the top of her BAD! List. Also, he had returned her money, so that earned him a few brownie points.
While he wasn't number one anymore, that still didn't mean he had some 'splanin to do. She squatted and nudged Bao Li with her fist a little harder than necessary. "Get up, kid."
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Post by jochi on May 9, 2008 13:41:00 GMT -5
The seething Jochi made little effort to calm down, while also failing to take notice of the marketplace folk scurrying behind any safe object they could find. But it all came back to him. The clash between him and that scrawny woman, that annoying kid trying to interfere, and the guards carting them off. Confined to that glowing green prison where he was convinced he was the exact opposite of his true self. While he wasn't quite aware of how things culminated and why he was suddenly so clean, Jochi knew he was mad.
The source of that winding earthen trail - which he was already barreling toward - ended at a rock wall, but it didn't matter who stood behind it. Granted, he heard a woman's voice - but possibly also that of a very feminine man - shout some minor insult, but he only had the vaguest idea who it may be. He had every reason to assume it was that bony woman who attacked him when he first arrived at that hellhole of a city. With a running start, he leapt into the air and delivered a flying kick straight at the earth wall. It shattered, sending sharp fragments everywhere, but he shouted to the emaciated figure beyond the dust before the air even ceased to be murky. "Don't tell me what to do! You started it, hag!"
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Post by baoli on May 9, 2008 18:09:37 GMT -5
The world floated by Bao Li on a pleasant river, everything bobbing and ducking in the current happily as he watched it and smiled. Surely it was a wonderful thing to be the benevolent ruler of this beautiful, war free world of his. Even the animals were happy - the saber toothed moose lion cubs on the banks played happily with the little children of the village, the mothers of both laughing and sewing clothing in the shade of a nearby tree, as Bao Li figured mothers should. He ran his eyes over the scene lazily, content with everything.
Until that rock hit him in the ribs. King Bao Li jolted to one side, his royal robes fluttering in a passing breeze as he drifted to the ground in slow motion. For some reason - and it really didn't connect at the time - he watched this happen from outside his body.
The whole world flickered and faded, and a voice cut through it from somewhere above. "Get up, kid."
Everything rushed back immediately. His wealth disintegrated, his clothes shredded, his skin dirtied. He lost a good foot of height. Rather than being on a royal palanquin, he was sprawled across the market square in Ba Sing Se, a large bruise on his head and a bending battle happening around him.
He really wished no one had woken him up. His dream was so much nicer than the reality. Rubbing the back of his head gingerly, he winced and looked at Ikeru. "Hey lady, you and the other guy need to stop doing this," he tried to say. He managed "Lady, guy. Ow." before the sound of his own voice made him stop speaking again. He sat up and stared, failing to show any reaction when Jochi shattered the wall in front of Ikeru.
For some reason, things just weren't right here.
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Post by ikeru on May 9, 2008 20:39:08 GMT -5
Not expecting a counter-attack from Jochi so soon, Ikeru winced and gritted her teeth as sharp shards of earth went flying in all directions, and she flung her arm up over her head to protect it, grateful for a split second of the thick cloth and hanging sleeves that softened the blow of falling earth. She ignored his presence for as long as she could, instead focusing her attention on the bruise blossoming in Bao Li's head (it wasn't like she cared or anything--heavens, no! anything to show this little terror she had no respect for what he had to say...), but the insult drilled a hole in her already pounding head.
"Hag!" she cried, climbing to her feet and looming over Jochi in one swift motion, fists at her side and shoulders hunched. "I'll tell you whatever the hell I want to, and right now I'm tellin you to QUIT BREAKIN STUFF!" She raised her fists in a classic "why I oughta...!" pose, but the idea of more Dai Li, sure to be arriving any moment now with the enormous plume of dust overhead clearing and the scarred and pitted streets of Ba Sing Se requiring work once more, forced her to curb her temper and, almost literally, bite her tongue.
Taking a deep breath, she puffed her cheeks, narrowed her eyes and rolled them skywards. "Look. Clearly, some crazy stuff has happened to us. I dunno what it is and I don't wanna find out, but I'm pretty pissed off and I wanna do something about that.' She stooped to help Bao Li back on his feet and wrapped her skinny fingers around his shoulder. "This little snot helped us somehow. I dunno how. But he did." She shook him and served him with a glare that, while not loving, wasn't filled with death and hatred, either. "And I look positively ridiculous in this dress."
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Post by jochi on May 12, 2008 14:28:12 GMT -5
"Who the hell cares?" Jochi scowled, too upset to listen or even cross his arms over his chest. A vein or two still bulged from his reddened face, his fists still curled tightly. Angered breath escaped his nostrils, while his teeth were bared in rage. He had absolutely no regard for what either of them claimed. Very slowly was he calming down, but that was soon to change at the slightest provocation.
"I don't. I sure as hell don't!" he barked at the two. It was a cold day in the Si Wong before one of Jochi's bad moods resulted in good. Come to think of it, the same applied to Jochi for any day of the week. For all intents and purposes, Jochi was currently making himself seem like an angry little dog.
But with a final huff, his ire seemed to escape him, leaving him to rationality. With his arms crossed, he glared at the two sternly. "Look, who gives a sh*t? You're makin' it seem like he stopped the frickin' war or something. You're fooling yourself."
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Post by baoli on May 12, 2008 14:37:15 GMT -5
Bao Li's head swam as he desperately tried to make sense of the words running through his head at what seemed to him a breakneck pace. Why wouldn't the adults slow down? Yelling and barking like dog-pigs, they went at one another, their voices sounding for all the world as if they were submerged in the fountain in the square...but at least the rumbling of bending had stopped. That was good. He managed a small smile as he held his head. Looking slowly up at Ikeru, he screwed his face up and finally managed to speak a coherant sentence with much effort.
"My head hurts and we needa get outta the market," he managed, blinking. "The Dai Li are as good as here, an' I think you both know it." Bao Li stood up, stumbling against the remnants of Ikeru's rock wall. When he finally regained his footing entirely, he looked from one bender to another. "I don't care where you go, but I want you both to leave now. I didn't take a road in the back of the head for you to both get dragged away again!"
Bao Li got his act together as best he could and jogged off, somewhat warily and with great effort. He intended to not be here at all when the Dai Li came this time, regardless of what it meant. He wasn't going to stay here and try to help those two again, all it ever got him was hurt. He was going to lay low in the slums for a bit, and not come back to the market for a long time.
The two benders could rot for all he cared.
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Post by ikeru on May 12, 2008 18:07:38 GMT -5
The urge to punch Jochi in the temple was intense and almost too overwhelming. It would be simple and she'd be able to get away with it, too. Just one fist swiftly planted on the side of his head, and he'd be down for the count. She even weighed the pros (of which there were many) and the cons (of which there were none), and almost reared back her hand to bust him upside the head, but Bao Li wound up unwittingly preventing another domestic dispute by interrupting to hobble away. She followed his lazy winding trail with her eyes, waiting until he was out of earshot or maybe even out of the range of fire, before bending over until she was eye-to-eye with Jochi.
"I'm not making it seem like anything," she hissed, her voice low and icy. She jabbed at his shoulder. "I dunno about you, but I'm not super keen on being the Earth King's bitch." Ikeru fluttered her hand in a dismissive wave around his head as the desire to seriously knock his head off his shoulders surfaced once more. She opened her mouth to start off another round of arguing when a sharp voice rang clearly through the marketplace.
"You there! You two! What's going on?"
Lips turning up in a momentary snarl, Ikeru's gaze flickered from Jochi to find a group of about three or four of the extremely unwelcome Dai Li standing just a few yards away, stone gloves formed into fists and hanging in midair in front of them. She couldn't tell if it was the same men from last week as all figures of authority looked the same to Ikeru, but as far as she could tell, they thought she was just another blank, ditsy citizen of Ba Sing Se. More importantly, they seemed to think she was another blank, ditsy Joo Dee. Thinking fast, she fully turned her body and quickly stuffed her hands inside her sleeves and began the artful process of lying through her teeth.
"Ah, gentlemen!" she exclaimed, working her lips into a wide and harmless grin. "I was just thanking this...delightful man for his help. You see, there was a rather nasty-tempered Earthbender in here earlier, creating a ruckus and generally being unpleasant. This man helped me." She tipped her head in Jochi's direction and served him a strained smile. "I am afraid I would not be standing here thanking him had it not been for his skills!" For one moment, Ikeru locked her eyes on Jochi's and willed a solitary yet powerful message through her gaze and hopefully into his head: Play the BAD! along.
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Post by jochi on May 13, 2008 15:00:18 GMT -5
Just because she was a woman didn't mean he wasn't about to deliver a left hook to her jaw. She was clearly not one of those 'dainty flower' types whose company Jochi loathed, but one that could defend herself both in word and action. If he wasn't so completely incensed, he probably would have tried to hit on her. She seemed to be his type, in any case. They just met at the wrong time under hostile circumstances. Either way, his fuse was burned to a crisp when she finished talking.
The interruption wasn't much better. If they looked hard enough, they could probably see steam shooting from Jochi's ears and nostrils when Ikeru suddently started acting so strange and condescending. Those Dai Li were nothing but nuisances, making the whole situation worse. Still, it dawned on him before it was too late. There would be a ruse, and he was supposed to play along.
In any other situation, Jochi would have spat on her and walked away. He wasn't an idiot, nor would he act like one. But this case was different. The woman seemed to be taking his situation into concern as she did her own. Strange, since he considered her to be some evil wicked demon lady, but there was more to her than Jochi would care to admit. As he did with most people, he underestimated her.
But that still didn't mean he would talk. He would simply do enough to appease either party, but no more. There was no way someone could convince him to act stupid just to avoid being thrown in prison again. Though the brainwashing was pretty bad, he still didn't say acknowledge the woman with more than a quiet "Uh-huh". Crossing his arms, looking unamused, he merely played along with what Joo Dee had planned. If 'Joo Dee' was even her real name...
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Post by baoli on May 13, 2008 17:49:51 GMT -5
Not even a block from whence he had come, Bao Li was forced to take cover behind some crates stacked along the alley wall. The Dai Li darted past him, emerald and black fluttering. He knew all too well what was going to happen next, and as much as he wanted to stay out of it, he had to make sure the pair of loudmouths were alright.
Those two adults were going to be the death of him.
He ducked behind the crates for a few seconds after the authorities had run past and made his way back towards the market as quietly as he could. He wasn't sure what he could do to help if they screwed it up again, but he wasn't about to let all this work go south on him that fast.
He watched from the safety of a trash heap at the alley's end as the scene unfolded.
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The Dai Li agents looked at the woman presuming to be a city official with nothing short of stone cold expressions. Not a one of them betrayed a hint of emotion as she rather blatantly lied her way through their encounter. They knew she wasn't Joo Dee. They just needed proof to haul her and the man with her off to Lake Laogai for impersonation of a public official and extreme public disturbances. Looking from the supposed Joo Dee to one another, the one on the far left finally nodded.
"Joo Dee, please give the Earth King my regards when you see him next," he intoned, giving her the first half of a phrase all Joo Dees knew - something she'd be able to give back if she really was who she said she was. And if she could complete the code, the Dai Li would be forced to believe her story and let her go.
They waited, a half second's movement from bending, for her answer.
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Post by ikeru on May 13, 2008 18:31:24 GMT -5
Unaware of her lips unconsciously pursing, Ikeru fixed the mostly uncooperative Jochi with a hostile glare. How dare he try and BAD! up her chances to escape! How dare he barely even try and play along! Didn't he want to get the hell out of the accursed city? What was the matter with him? Ohh, when they got out of this, she was going to smash his face into a pile of sharp rocks, that was for sure...
The Dai Li's bizarre statement almost fell on deaf ears. It took a lot of effort to swivel her furious gaze away from Jochi and warp it into one of blank helpfulness. The Earth King? She was going to see the Earth King? For one fateful second, her carefully constructed expression flashed her true feelings: surprise mixed with fear and with a dash of desperation thrown into the mix. She could almost feel the tension pressing against her skin like hot electricity. At that moment, she realized two things simultaneously.
The first was that she was supposed to reply with some secret code word to the Dai Li, and she didn't have it.
The second was that her cover had been blown and she had to leave--right now.
Sliding her foot over the ground, Ikeru kicked up a block of earth into the air and punched it into the group of Dai Li. Hardly wasting a second, she turned on the balls of her feet and shrieked, "Run!" She took off down the same street Bao Li had wandered down just a few minutes ago, arms pumping and legs sprinting madly. She made no other noise besides the hurried "BAD!BAD!BAD!BAD!BAD!!" that slipped through her pressed lips like slices of paper.
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Post by jochi on May 14, 2008 12:16:27 GMT -5
Jochi may have had no idea what was going on, but he knew the woman's idiotic choice of earthbending at those accursed Dai Li agents was one of the worst routes she could have taken. He also knew to run away without hesitation. If that skinny woman - whose name he still didn't know - wasn't so much taller than him, he probably would have outrun her in seconds. It was an unfortunate event where Jochi's height left him in danger.
If he were a total idiot, Jochi would have told the woman to slow down, but that was impossible to even think. The two likely shared the notion of self-preservation, often at the expense of others, and Jochi knew there was no reason to run faster than anyone at that moment. He just had to run fast, and hope to escape. If only there were a large body of sand around, then he could pummel the guards into submission. But now was the time to escape!
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Post by baoli on May 14, 2008 17:48:28 GMT -5
As soon as Ikeru's voice had rung out across the empty market, several things happened at once. She bolted, Jochi followed, and the Dai Li behind them immediately flew into action. The group of men split into two smaller groups and skated off on earth-waves, heading in seemingly opposite directions, neither of which was towards the running fugitives. Bao Li watched those groups go off at a faster clip than Ikeru and Jochi, and his stomach fell like a boulder from the city walls - he knew the area better than the two benders who had bolted, and he was sure the Dai Li were going to have them cornered with no effort. They were aiming to pincer the rogues at a cross street ahead, and they would have no problem getting the drop on them and outbending them.
Bao Li flew into action. With an uncanny speed and agility born of running from market stall owners through crowded streets and tiny alleyways packed with people and garbage, he was on Ikeru's heels as if he'd been there the whole time. "Lady! Lady, hold up! You're going to run right into them again. You gotta trust me on this one. I can hide you," he managed, hurdling himself over a fallen stack of pots outside the door of a restauraunt kitchen. Landing and continuing without breaking stride, he looked at Ikeru. He was sure she was going to kill him when the Dai Li weren't a problem, but he had to do something.
Grabbing the front of her dress, he tugged hard and swung his weight, attempting to fling her into the open back door of a shop. He knew the owner, and as long as they didn't break anything, he wouldn't care that Bao Li was there - and he'd even cover for the boy and give him enough time to leave.
Bao Li just hoped Ikeru wasn't going to go into a screaming rage and give their hiding place away - or worse, trash his friend's shop - if his skinny self actually managed to budge her into the door at all.
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Post by ikeru on May 14, 2008 18:10:08 GMT -5
Her mind yammered on and on and on as she peeled wildly down the streets of Ba Sing Se, forcing herself to keep her eyes and ahead and biting back the wild desire to check behind her for the emerald and black monsters that had, so far, failed to catch her. Ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshit. So preoccupied in her daring escape, she didn't even notice the little boy suddenly pop up and run alongside her until he began speaking. "Shut the hell up, kid!" she snarled, wholly uninterested in whatever ti was this snot-nosed ball of greasy dirt had to say.
That was, until he had grabbed onto her dress and somehow yanked her into a building. Either by nerves of steel or the fact she was just too freaking stunned at being handled in such a way, it didn't matter as, even when she slammed into a pile of trash and the sour stench of rotting garbage filled her mouth and nose and made her eyes tear up and water, she was silent as the grave.
Still, she understood the basics of Keeping Your Mouth Shut Or Else You'll Get Pinched by the Man-no jitsu, and when Ikeru climbed out of the garbage, looking livid and smelling like twelve-day-old cow-goat's milk, she gnashed her teeth together to keep her from screaming and pummeling the young boy's face into a bloody pulp. It was completely irrelevant now that he wasn't even half her age. If he acted like a grown up, he was going to get treated like a grown up.
Her gaze white-hot and settling on Bao Li's face, she clapped one hand over her mouth and slowly slid the other index finger across her thin throat, promising that when they got out of this, he was going to be sorry. Truly, truly sorry.
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Post by jochi on May 15, 2008 14:26:24 GMT -5
Instinct drove him to obedience, despite the annoyances floating around him. As much as he would have liked to strangle that kid when he suddenly appeared, they couldn't afford to brush off everyone offering assistance. It wasn't often in a hellhole like Ba Sing Sei that people actually tried to save your hide. Survival was key, and Jochi was driven to follow the direction that little boy pointed out without question. Also, he exerted a bit too much effort trying move his tiny legs at the same clip as the woman, rendering coherent speech a very difficult task.
Close behind that Joo Dee impersonator, he managed to turn on a dime when she suddenly disappeared into a building. With every right and reason to believe she and the boy knew the city much better than him, he too tumbled into the garbage heap beside that woman. While caught off-guard and completely disgusted, he knew he was safe for the time being. If he expressed his disgust, those guards were certain to hear him.
Now that there was room to breathe, he let out a quiet breath and rolled to his back. His once clean, spotless, and pale gray clothes were stained, wrappings around his arms and neck not straying from the same standard. It was then that, tucked in his sash, he felt and saw something familiar baring its deep green frames and black straps. For some reason, the Dai Li had allowed him to keep his goggles tucked away in his sash. Ready to scoff, he couldn't help but think it was a shameless stab at diversity amongst the lower-class denizens of Ba Sing Sei. What losers.
Tying the eyewear's band around his neck, he rolled onto his back. He felt an insignificant urge to thank the kid, but more of an urge to whip his sorry behind with a bolt of sand. There were probably a million better places to lead them, but at least their safety was assured for now. That didn't stop him from scowling at either the boy or the woman, whom he still blamed for the entire mishap.
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