The Cantina <Si Wong Desert, Earth Kingdom>

[jochi]

It was a welcome refuge from the harsh climate of the Si Wong desert. Not only that, but it was a frequented place by a certain sandbender whose height fell short of an even five feet. In fact, that very afternoon, breaking from the endless dunes, the sandbender named Jochi made his appearance. His limbs and head swathed in the usual faded taupe-gray wrappings, his eyes obscured by goggles, Jochi lumbered into the establishment. The place was known as the Misty Palms Oasis.

There, the short and stocky sandbender barged over to the bar and leaned himself against it. A gravelly voice emanated from beneath his wrappings as his head turned slightly to the bartender; "The usual."

Oh, had he earned his reputation at that place. Notorious for skirt-chasing, starting fights, and even ending said fights, Jochi was somehow still welcome in the place as a common patron. People tolerated him only as far as was necessary.

But he adhered to his typical routine. Through narrow slits in what would otherwise be a blindfold did he spot a woman. A native of the Si Wong like himself, likely also a sandbender, she looked to be quite a catch. Or at least fodder for an interesting tale. Beneath his bandaged face, a grin formed. Without a word, he slapped a misshapen copper piece on the bar when he heard a mug lowered to the counter behind him, but took a few steps toward the table where the female sandbender sat.

She appeared to be playing mahjong with a desert tradesman, his beetle-shaped hat and white robes a dead giveaway. But surely she could make time for Jochi if she were truly interested. Arms crossed, he whistled at her across the room. This prompted a few faces to stare in his direction, one of which was fortunately the woman he had eyed. Taking one step closer, he rose his voice; "You! I like your face!"

She rolled her eyes. She was clearly unamused by the sandbender's feeble attempt to make a pass. Not his best attempt, sure, but at least he tried. He knew it was her loss. He was also glad she didn't belittle him due to his height. Any moron who heard his voice knew he was a full-grown man and not some twelve-year-old masquerading as one. And besides, who in their right mind could pass up quality time with Jochi? Regarding her lack of a response, he strutted back to the bar and leaned against it. He would indulge in his drink in due time. He just didn't feel like it right then. Of course, he would be vigilant as a hawk to make sure no one so much as touched his mug of mead while he was around.

[mulaqi]

It had been a little over a week since Muqali had returned from his travels abroad, and already he was getting anxious. Sure, the homecoming had been warm, his tribesman had been impressed by his stories, and it had been good to see his father again. Even so, compared to the outside world where the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom were locked in an epic struggle and where everything was new and exciting, life in the Si Wong was dull and meaningless in comparison. He’d been frequenting the Misty Palms Oasis over the last few days, but that provided only a temporary distraction. The most excitement he’d gotten from that was an Earth Kingdom woman passing through with some convoy. She’d been looking to fulfill some fantasy about exotic, rugged nomads and he’d been desperate for some kind of change in routine. Still it had only lasted one night, and Muqali found himself wholly unsatisfied. He realized it wasn’t excitement he wanted, but purpose. He was back to the same quandary: he wanted to do something great, but there was nothing of that sort in the Si Wong.

What was great, though? That was what he was dwelling on as he sipped an ale at the Misty Palms bar. He’d helped out those Earth Kingdom soldiers and that convoy, but while that had been a good thing to do, it wasn’t great. After all, he’d nearly screwed the whole thing up, and someone had gotten killed because of it. It had been worth it, to be sure, and he was proud of it. It wasn’t enough, though. Could that really be it? The extent of his achievements was this one little footnote? Looking around the bar, though, he decided he was at least in a good place by having his priorities straight. The diminutive sandbender he’d seen around the bar the last few days, whom he’d learned earlier was named “Jochi”, was again trying to pick up some random woman with all the grace of a mammoth camel. He smirked. Yeah, he was definitely in a better place than some people.

“Hmm, ‘I like your face,’” Muqali repeated as the small sandbender returned to the bar. “That one work a lot on your side of the desert?”

The bartender suppressed a chuckle and Muqali grinned lopsidedly in the direction of the little man. Really, for someone who spent all his free time chasing women, it seemed Jochi still couldn’t come up with a decent pickup line.

[jochi]

Turning his head to the much-taller sand nomad beside him, Jochi grimaced beneath the mountain of loose bandages. Glaring through narrow slits in his goggles, his displeasure would be clear if his face weren't completely covered. But rather than exploding in anger, his response to the sandbender was more passive. "Oh shut up, will ya?"

Jochi then pulled off his head wrappings and goggles with one hand, while his other instinctively grabbed his drink off the counter. Mumbling something under his breath, he took a big sip of his drink. Now who was this joker trying to tease him? Around the rumor mill of Misty Palms, he had heard of a guy who ventured into the outside world, but he wasn't even sure of his name. That, or he'd forgotten the fellow's name - that was a more likely event.

Being one who was curious himself about the land beyond the desert, Jochi saw no harm in asking. In a rather impersonal way, he never once turned his eyes toward the taller desert-dweller, but kept on staring straight ahead as though he knew the guy was listening. But under a gruff and gravelly voice, it was still apparent that the sandbender was curious about what the fellow had to say. "So, you that guy who left the desert? What was it like?"

[mulaqi]

A small chuckle rose from Muqali’s throat at the short sanbender’s response and he took another sip from his drink. The little man wasn’t very good at taking things in stride, it seemed. It wasn’t surprising, he supposed. When you were that small, you probably had to make up for it with attitude. Like how the smaller Si Wong tribes had to be twice as aggressive to avoid being picked off. So, he supposed he could let the man get away with a little rudeness, just as long as he didn’t take things too far.

"So, you that guy who left the desert? What was it like?"

Muqali smiled and turned his head slightly to regard the man before turning back to the bar and taking a drink. Word traveled fast in the Oasis. He’d forgotten that while he was gone.

“Big. Big and busy,” he answered after a moment. “Sometimes, parts of the desert won’t see any movement for hours, but out there, everywhere you go, there’s something always happening. Like the war. It’s all over the place. I mean, the Fire Nation took Omashu a while ago, but there were still hundreds, maybe thousands, of soldiers marching around.”

Muqali’s gaze lost focus, staring off into space as he spoke. The war. It was the defining conflict of their age, perhaps the defining conflict for all future ages. It was happening out there right now, but he was here in a bar. His previous smile slowly left, and he gripped his glass tighter.

[jochi]

"Big, huh?" Jochi paused to take a big sip of mead, pondering the thought of a big and bustling city. Even in the deepest reaches of his mind, he couldn't fathom such a thing. The largest settlement he had been to was possibly Kei Lan, or some other town on the outskirts of the desert. Spirits know none of those were anything like what the taller nomad described, but it was the only thing Jochi could picture.

He had seen Omashu from afar, but had never been inside its mighty walls. And thinking was overtaken by the Fire Nation, he was impressed. Though he was always glad the mighty Si Wong would never be annexed by those power-hungry madmen. It would simply make no sense for them to do so. But that didn't mean the desert was without its own dangers and conflicts.

Taking another big sip of his drink, he grumbled to himself as he eyed the room. Again his murky green eyes settled on that same woman he hit on earlier. Even though he knew she was out of reach, that didn't stop him from lusting after her in his imagination. Damn, that's hotter than a flaming falcon fly...

Leaning against the counter again, he let out a growl-like sigh. "Always wanted to see the country. Maybe I should just to break the monotony."

[mulaqi]

Muqali took the time the man’s reply took to take another drink from his glass. It was clear from the man’s reaction that he hadn’t been far beyond the desert. It was kind of funny, really, how the Si Wong was its own little world. Once you were born into it, you rarely left, aside from the occasional trading caravan, and almost no one ever entered it. Muqali glanced around. Almost everyone in the bar was a Si Wong native, like usual. He grimaced. He was proud of his people, his homeland, and his heritage, but after leaving the desert and seeing the outside world, he wasn’t sure if he could ever look at it the same way again. Just like the man he was talking to, the desert was just too focused in on itself.

He shook his head a little and took another drink. Damn it all. He had come to the Oasis to cheer up and forget these restless thoughts. Deciding the man next to him might help with that, he decided to engage in a little banter.

“It’s not that easy, though. I mean, you’ve got responsibilities, right? A tribe and all that?” he began before shooting the man a grin. “Or do you just spend all your time chasing women in this bar?”

[jochi]

Downing the last of his mead, following a habit common to Jochi of gulping drinks down as quickly as possible, he wiped his mouth on his sleeve. Peering back at the much-taller desert native, Jochi crossed his arms and leaned against the counter, his neck and upper back resting on the edge. Scoffing at the statement, he muttered back; "Do you spend all your time being a frickin' idiot? 'Sides, responsibility is for losers. I can get up and leave whenever I want."

Looking around, the short and stocky sandbender knew his words had at least an ounce of truth. As much as he doubted it, people in his tribe relied on him. If he left, it would be like a hole were ripped in the fabric of the Mogui tribe's community. Jochi couldn't care less though. In his mind, he was his own man, tied down to nothing whatsoever. If he wanted to leave, he would without any regard for what people thought. He was certain they could replace him anyway. There was truly nothing holding Jochi back. "...And no one would give a damn."

[mulaqi]

Muqali raised an eyebrow at the shorter Sand Nomad. His last statement was odd. However, he quickly dismissed it as unimportant. He doubted a man that flirted with woman so…forwardly actually had issues with his self-esteem. It was probably just his personality to say things like that. The man seemed a little bitter. So, with a shrug, Muqali turned back to his drink.

“Well, if that’s true, then why don’t you go? There’s a lot more women in the Earth Kingdom than in the desert, you know,” Muqali said somewhat jokingly. “Maybe you’d have better luck there.”

Muqali glanced over at the man briefly and flashed a grin, but quickly turned back to his ale. He took a long, slow drink and let out a satisfied breath as he put the glass back down on the table.

“But, if you ask me, finding responsibility seems more important than finding women,” he continued. “After all, if you’re not responsible for anything, then you’ve got no purpose, right? And if you’ve got no purpose, well, then that’s what makes a loser.”

[jochi]

With a fairly uninviting glare, Jochi pounded his fist on the table to issue an order for another mug of mead, then replied; "Who said I'd only want women? Maybe I just want to take a break from the desert. Y'know, go somewhere that's not burning hot each hour of the day. Someplace where I don't have to eat rotting dead animals on a regular basis and worry about dying of thirst every other minute."

Relaxing his facial muscles, Jochi's expression soon seemed more placid, even though his eyebrows seemed to form a constant scowl. "I'll find a purpose. I just want to see what else life could offer."

Quickly bolting his head back to the other sand nomad, he instinctively grabbed the mug of mead beside him and swallowed half the contents. Wiping his mouth, he returned another stern glare. "Besides, who died and made you an all-knowing wise and wonderful sage?" And in a manner quite presumptuous, since Jochi was probably just a few years his elder, he growled; "You just look like some stupid kid to me."

[mulaqi]

By the time the shorter man had finished speaking, Muqali had finished his drink. He let out a small laugh at the man’s sudden outburst and slowly stood from his seat. This conversation had been enough to lighten his spirit a little.

He raised his hands in mock surrender, “Hey, I was just trying to help, pal.”

Letting out another small chuckle, he started to stretch himself out a little. He had been sitting for too long, and his morning training had been rougher than usual this last week. It was another way he displayed how anxious he was just sitting around in the desert. After stretching his arms and cracking his back a little with a couple twists, he looked down at the man. He really was awfully short.

“Besides,” he said again, turning towards the man and grinning down at him, unable to resist the urge to crack a joke. “You look a lot more like a kid than I do.”

[jochi]

That was the last straw. As Jochi's face turned red, eyes pulled into a striking glare, Jochi could only wonder what that joker was thinking. His jaw firmly clinched, he swung out his foot and quickly took action.

As quickly as possible, a mere fraction of a second, he opened the earthen floor beneath the other sand nomad so quickly that it gave him little chance to react. Even if the fellow were a bender, his limited motion would afford little opportunity to dig his way out before Jochi made his graceful exit. So he soon did afterward. Turning from his place, a dollop of mead still swishing in the mug he slammed down seconds earlier, the sandbender stormed out rather hastily.

"Damn it! Damn it, damn you!" Jochi shouted, emerging into the scorching light of day in a blind rage. His fists now as tightly grasped as his teeth, often swinging about in rage, while obscenities galore spilled from his mouth. People may have stared, but the regular visitors of the Misty Palms Oasis knew exactly what was going on.

[mulaqi]

Fortunately for Muqali, the man’s change in facial expression gave so warning, and Muqali’s smile dropped just as the smaller man’s expression hardened. Instinctively, the Sand Nomad started to leap up and backwards as the man swung his foot out. Being used to fighting Sandbenders, Muqali’s first reaction to anyone in Sand Nomad garb striking at him was to get his feet off the ground immediately. If you got caught flat footed against a sandbender, you died. Period. Still, his reaction only partially saved him, for while he avoided getting trapped in the ground, his right heel caught the edge of the hole as he went backwards, and he fell on his back. Not letting the pain slow him down, he quickly rolled over, hopped to his feet with his tonfa ready and…watched as the man left the building.

Muqali let out a sight of relief and rubbed his back. He had no interest in fighting a pissed off sandbender right now. Had the man decided to continue the fight, he would have been in trouble. He was fairly quick for a stocky guy. It would have been trouble.

“You shouldn’t bring that up with that guy,” cracked the bartender.

“Thanks for the warning,” Muqali replied sarcastically, though he was grinning when he said it. “So, he does that often? Does that mean he’ll be back?”

The bartender shrugged, “I don’t know. Normally he finishes the fight. He might not be back for a while.”

Muqali shook his head and resumed his seat at the bar, “Well, I guess I’ll stick around for another drink, at least to make sure I don’t bump into him on the way out…”

[jochi]

"I'll show them all, damned idiots..."

Jochi grumbled to himself, kicking sand like a young child in his anger. He had half a mind to go back and kick that loser's ass from there to Omashu, but his short-sighted rage led him to only keep stomping on the ground furiously. In ten minutes or so, his temper cooled slightly, afforing him a modicum of rational thought. Instead of returning to the cantina, he stormed away. Seeing no reason why he couldn't leave the desert without warning, having stated his motivation to that stupid sand nomad earlier, he was all set to see the rest of the Earth Kingdom. All he needed was the clothes on his back and his own body, and his adventure would be set. Though a scowl emblazoned his face, his objective was set. Nothing could stop Jochi's iron will and mile-wide stubborn streak now. With each step brutish and violent, Jochi pulled his goggles over his eyes, swathed his head with gray-brown cloth, and started on his journey to faraway lands unseen. If that despicable fool could do it, why couldn't he?

~Jochi has left this thread...Earth Kingdom women beware!~