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Post by blackcrow on Aug 20, 2007 21:25:48 GMT -5
It was Li who grumbled and fussed as the weight was pulled off of his lap and he drew his arms up to his chest as he rolled over, knocking his head into the wooden trim that edged the glass-less windows of the wagon. His face was tilted upward, nostrils wide open and snoring despite his jaw hanging open. His hair was smothered back from his face by his golden-rod colored bandana.
As Xia retreived Tarak, Li's head turned and Bai, who had stepped aside onto the little stairs build at the rear where the door swung open at, grinned as his brother's head met the hardwood with a loud thud. Stirring some more, his eyes fluttered open in the daze of sleep. With Xia leaving the wagon, Tarak in her arms, Bai merely stared at his brother, grinning. There was something that exploded between them. Whether Li had a score to settle with Bai, or simply wanted to beat up on his barely younger brother, the lanky man lept to his feed, rocking the wagon. He tore past the sleeping Fukurou-kun, sliding sideways to pass through the narrow door with ease as Bai-Wu tore off down the worn road, kicking his shoes off as he went.
The ostrich horses merely looked at eachother. They were still harnessed to the wagon, which clamored with noise before suddenly becoming lighter. They had been halted, and their reins dropped, but they didn't run off like Dodo heads. No.. they only did that WHEN someone was driving. Instead, they dropped their heads and started grazing in the small and sparse clearing.
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The Lion Turtle
Ishvara Spirits
"Your own spirit must be unbendable."
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Post by The Lion Turtle on Sept 2, 2007 17:27:54 GMT -5
There was a scuffled and the wagon shook rather violently. A flash, and Xia Feng watched as Bai Wu tore off down the road and Li Wu leaped after him, both grown men acting like boys and playing a game of tag. Xia Feng sighed, and carrying Tarak back into the wagon, she set him in a groggy and very grumpy Fukou-kun's lap, and gathered the pot and ladle to make lunch in. Both were rather beat up, but still in useable condition. The pot was medium-sized, enough to make rice for six men, but not the huge pot that the main caravan had for community meals.
First, Xia scooped rice into the pot from the small bag of rice in the wagon. She filled the pot to just under half way. Next, she filled the pot with water from the small barrel of water the boys had at the end of the wagon. It was for drinking and cooking only, and it held only a few gallons, but the boys filled it whenever they stopped. To properly cook the rice, there should be two parts water for one part rice, so the water came up a thrid of the way to the brim. Hand on hips, Xia looked around for the boys.
"Bai! Li!" she yelled in every direct. "Please bring me firewood to boil lunch!"
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Post by blackcrow on Sept 6, 2007 23:24:19 GMT -5
The two twins who had gotten into a wrestling match in the clearing both paused to look up. Bai was on the bottom, clearly pulling his brother's hair with his feet posied on his brother's stomach as he tried to get Li off of him. Li had shifted all his weight to his front, and had Bai in some crazy sort of Headlock that was physically possible.. but then again what was? Both of them groaned identically at the same time with the same pained expression akin to a child upon hearing Xia's task. Great, she was gonna give out chores too.. JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER WOMAN IN THE CARAVAN. Spirits! All they wanted was a girl who didn't bark orders all day long!
The pretzel untangled themselves and with much grumbling about nothing in particular before heading off into the woods, shoving and shouting and still kicking at eachother. After all.. they were brothers.. and 13 year olds at heart.
Collecting wood was not their favorite chore. At all. The two hated it. They rarely took on this chore back in the Caravan.. the two more often than not ran off to do a 'Man's work' when chore time came. Man's Work.. involved drinking and singing badly to the ladies.. or wrangling the Ostrich Horses and getting down right dirty. So.. they begrudgingly gathered wood, and returned after about 10 minutes with a good enough supply for the next day or so... The wagon could only hold so much so there was no point in getting a lot. Li-wu called out as they neared the area of cleared dirt that Xia had pulled and kicked out for the firepit. "Here ya go, Miss Feng." Both twins were covered in dirt and sheepishly grinning.. it was must have been a competition to gather the most wood, and by the looks of it.. Li won.
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The Lion Turtle
Ishvara Spirits
"Your own spirit must be unbendable."
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Post by The Lion Turtle on Sept 7, 2007 21:41:02 GMT -5
A rye smile exploded on Xia Feng's pink lips and she shook her head. "Thank you, boys. The rice will be done shortly, so don't go too far!" They probably would, though. They were still young boys at heart. Would Tarak grow up to be like them, rowdy and troublesome? Xia Feng wondered if it would be so bad, but in a flash, she remembered many things Juning told her about raising the twins, and she prayed to the spirit of motherhood to lend her the strength to handle Tarak, whoever he turned out like.
But Xia Feng settled into her task once more. She arranged the wood and kindling to her liking, then struck the flint once... twice... three times before it started to smoke, and soon a nice fire was going. She set up the spit and the pot, and attentively stirred the rice so it would not stick to the bottom and burn.
As soon as it was done cooking, Xia Feng gathered the worn wooden rices bowls and the spare chopsticks, dishing out plunty of rice for all, and a little extra for the menfolk.
"Lunchtime!" she cried happily, and took a grumpy Fuku-kun his plate in exchange for a happy Tarak. She left the boys their food, and sitting in the wagon, she left Tarak roll on the floor with a toy of his, given to him by and elderly man in the Caravan and that had swiftly became his favorite, and ate while watching her son with loving eyes.
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Post by fukurou on Sept 8, 2007 23:46:28 GMT -5
Fukurou, tired of sitting in the back of the wagon, decided to come out. It wasn't that babysitting made him grumpy... he'd done it plenty of times. It's just that he'd like to be asked before somebody sat a toddler in his lap. Tarak was actually a good kid, didn't cry too much. Fukurou shrugged, and headed out to see what humiliation the twins would put him through tonight.
He began eating in silence. Surely they'd get to Zhy soon? He hoped so. Then he could get back to his routine. And maybe keep away from the idiot lords for a while. That would be nice. He sighed, and reached into his messenger bag for a notebook and some ink. He began writing about the day so far. Nothing extremely private was in there, so he didn't care if the twins played with it or something. Besides, if they did, they'd get a faceful of rice. He wasn't in the mood.
He sat crossleged against the wagon tire, and sighed again, eating and writing.
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Post by blackcrow on Sept 11, 2007 14:44:43 GMT -5
The two boys sauntered from where they had been hanging out, near the wagon playing a card game that was full of every single dirty trick possible when Xia called. Like typical boys, the cards were tossed aside, their stained, bent selves fluttering all over the wooden steps and the ground itself. Instead of the usual Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds and Spades, it was made up on Air, Water, Earth and Fire. Fitting really. And the game they played wasn't a traditional one. The Flame Dancers had invented their own games over the centuries, and the twins knew them all.
Seeing as Fukurou-kun had is back firmly planted against the wagon's wheels, the twins couldn't play their usual array of tricks. He had his back covered, and had learned all to quickly to keep an eye on his front.
Li-Wu looked rather disappointed.. he liked tormenting the water tribe's flutist. He yelled a lot.. and couldn't throw a good punch. Bai-Wu on the other hand headed straight for the rice, grabbing one of the carved wooden bowls Xia had set out. With a flip of the ladle. he grabbed the spoon and started dumping out loads of rice. Bai liked rice.. he liked it plain.. liked it with sauce.. butter.. salt.. anything! He'd be happy.
Li meanwhile grumbled a bit.. it was just rice. Unlike Bai, Li likes some more meat in his food. He took his bowl, and took what had been dished out and followed his brother back to their cardgame. Which they promptly resumed despite the fact no one knew whose cards where whose, which had been played, etc. etc. It was all completely random!
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The Lion Turtle
Ishvara Spirits
"Your own spirit must be unbendable."
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Post by The Lion Turtle on Sept 16, 2007 18:49:34 GMT -5
Xia Feng shook her head as the boys grabbed up their food and immediately started up their scrabbled card game. Xia chuckled, and resumed watching her son chew on the toy ostritch-horse with glee. Inside, she was at peace; she was happy with her place in the world. Was it her son that gave her this, or the fact that she had a family that expected nothing more than contribution for the whole? Well, of course Tarak gave her supreme happiness, but this new family... she had never felt this way before. Her parents, Spirits rest them, had expected a lot from her as a woman and lady, like proper manners and behaviors, taking a husband and raising her own family. Sure, she lived comfortably, but she never had the freedom to live as she pleased... In the caravan, however, she had only tasted what she could do. Why, she had learned how to drive a wagon just today, something her father had never let her do with his own mechaint wagons.
Xia finished her rice with graceful swiftness, laying the bowl to scrub out later and picking up her son. She made a vow to herself to let Tarak live the life he chose to, but having all of tools and learning he could ever want... she'd teach him manners, and book learning, and how to take care of himself domestically, but never would she force him to become what she wanted or what she thought was right. And she sealed this silent and private vowel with a kiss to each of his cheeks and his forehead.
"I love you, my little son..."
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Post by whitecrow on Sept 17, 2007 11:35:31 GMT -5
"Miss Feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeng!" Bai called out in sing song voice, bursting into the wagon's room with a grin and a jovial bounce in his step. Knowing, the sudden surprise would probably give her a heart attack, the young man had prepared by slipping an arm around her waist and pulling her ever so gently back against him, making sure Tarak was safe in her arms at all times. With his dark hair falling over his shoulders and gold edged mandarin collar, he smiled at her fron the side.
"Ready to hit the road? Li thinks we may catch up with the Caravan before their in Zhy since they move so slowly compared to one wagon." His excitement was contagious, pale lips curled into a constantly mischvieous grin. He didn't even give her a chance to responde before basically dropping her into a dip, his face looming over hers with it's long, silky and singed hair draping straight down his skull. Bai then with one arm tightly around her waist, lifted her back up onto her feet with a little spin. "Hurry up and come up front. Bring Tarak too, he can learn to drive too!"
The golden eyed boy at heart gave the woman a wink, before leaping off the end of the end of the running around it to adjust the ostrich horses.
[That enough Xia Wu for you? The Twins are moving on to Zhy and Merging with the Girls!]
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Post by fukurou on Sept 17, 2007 18:40:52 GMT -5
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