Carousing in Gaoling <Gaoling, Earth Kingdom>

[nasrin]

Things were getting out of hand, and very quickly. Despite the fuzzy feelings of inebriation Nasrin could tell that a sandstorm of trouble was heading their way. Her glance swiveled around the room, taking in the men advancing from the disrupted table as well as the other patrons who were either backing toward a corner or running for the door. The bartender was shouting over the ruckus for everyone to stop what they were doing, but not many people seemed to be listening to him. Overall, it looked like there was going to pain in the future for the little group.

Nasrin gulped down the remaining contents in the shot-sized cup in her hand and hugged the bottle closely. No matter what, she promised herself, she was not going to let these savages spill a drop of her precious cargo.

Manju and Tali seemed to be seconds away from tearing each other's throats out, and to be honest, Nasrin didn't care. Manju's riches were obviously a convenience, but the Si Wong native had made her living as a hired hand. She could survive without the Igni's help, and likely thrive without her insanity. Muqali on the other hand seemed like a decent guy; fairly talented and dependable. Not to mention they shared the same homeland, so she decided that if she had to save one of her two comrades, he would probably be it.

Her first chance to act on her choice came almost instantly, as one of the man who's table that been trashed by the thrown chair pulled a knife from a laniard under his shirt. Still feeling a little woozy and without earth to bend, Nasrin instead did the first thing that came to mind. Lifting a foot up and planting it against Manju's abandoned chair, she waited for a moment until the knife wielder crossed past her line of fire and then shoved out hard.

The chair slid forward for a yard or two before catching on the floor and toppling forward. The unsuspecting ruffian didn't notice the threat in time and stepped right between the chair's legs, tripping himself up and falling painfully onto his face. The man shouted in rage, and one of his friends stopped heading toward Muqali and glared at Nasrin.

"What was that!?" he damnded of her, to which Nasrin merely pursed her lips to the side and shrugged. The man seemed confused by her response, but started toward her with angry strides. "C'mere!" he shouted, "I'll show you to throw chairs, wench!"

Nasrin immediately rolled sideways out of her chair and scrambled away. She started weaving though, or rather, barreling into the tables spaced across the tavern floor in an effort to put some distance between her pursuer. He increasingly drunken state was making evasion quite difficult, and she was making quite a mess with all the mugs and cups she was knocking over.

[tali]

Chaos broke out in the bar but Tali wan't focused on that. She was glarring straight ahead at the jungle woman asking for a fight. Honestly she would have said ladies first but the short haired witch in front of her didn't seem very lady-like at all.

She seemed strong, but from what the earth kingdom native had learned, she wasn't that bright but also she was flexable and crude. That would balance it out in the end. The girl more than likekly wouldn't fight fair. A punch to the throat would be the easy way to end it, but Talia had morals to uphold to, a kick to the gut would work too.

Going on the offensive first did usually mean trouble. It gave the other combatiant a few good opertunity to see your style and judge how to best match it.

Brown eyes darted to the side when she saw a glimmer of a hand grab for her shoulder. Still very much mentally in her battle her hand took hold of the mans wrist yanking his body down into her knee and then a rounded frontal kick sent himcantering into a table to her left.

Blinking she winced at the mans pain, oops.....? The occupants of the table seemed rather un ammused by the drink spilled on the one mans shirt so when the person who tried to granb Tali stood up he received a punch to the face.

Blanching lightly she now noticed the extent of what they were doing. It wasn't as if bar fights were uncommon here but still it was problematic. Keeping on her feet she mused if she should leave, honestly her father wouldn't be too worried about her, in fact he'd be proud, Surviving her first solo bar fight... now to think of it she had a rather odd familty. With the anger dispursing she found it hard to remember why she was fighting to begin with.

[mulaqi]

Glancing between the four people advancing on him with gritted teeth, Muqali was trying to decide what to do when a chair suddenly skidded into one’s legs and tripped him up painfully. Turning, Muqali saw that it had been Nasrin who had intervened, and while at first he was relieved, as soon one of the men started chasing her, that turned to worry. Judging by how she was stumbling around, she was already on her way to being drunk. It was almost impressive how fast she’d managed to get there, really. Still, she was in no condition to fight, and he had to help her out.

Before Muqali could make a move, the large man that had chocked him earlier advanced from his front and took a huge swing at the Sand Nomad’s head. At the same time, the remaining man advanced from the right, and when Muqali ducked, huge swing the first man took slammed into the other’s fist. Alcohol probably aided this situation, but it was convenient nonetheless. Quickly taking advantage, Muqali, pulled back his right tonfa, and slammed it into the large man’s gut. The man gasped and then dropped, first to his knees, and then the floor. Before he had finished dropping, though, Muqali was already in action. He jumped on top of one of the large wooden tables, and quickly began to hop to three more, using them like stepping stones. With each hop, he gained on Nasrin and her pursuer, and as he leapt off the third table, he fired off a snap kick right into the side of the man’s head.

The man crashed into yet another table even as Muqali landed on the ground. However, the bar’s commotion had already spread to this area. The entire place was in an uproar. Sliding under an abandoned table, he sheathed his left tonfa as he did so, and then reached out to grab Nasrin by the wrist. Quickly, he tugged her under the table with him, and then turned his eyes back to the fight going on around them.

“Now we’re even,” he, briefly turning to grin lopsidedly before again looking out from under the table. “I think we need to get out of here, though. I’m gonna go grab Manju and that girl. Do you think you can get to the exit from here?”

Looking around, Muqali realized he didn’t exactly have a prime view. He could barely see anyone above the waist, and their were too many bodies to find Manju, even with her unique appearance. This was going to be trouble.

[nasrin]

“Do you think you can get to the exit from here?”

Muqali's question took a moment to process, as Nasrin was still trying to figure out how she ended up under the table. But after her brain worked out the rapid series of events through the haze of alcohol, she managed to glance toward the front door. "The entrance is the same as the exit, right?" she asked, scratching her temple with the same hand that still held the bottle. "I think I can do that."

Nasrin rolled out to her side and climbed to her feet with the aid of the table. A random mug flew past her head and shatter against the wall. The sandebnder looked at the spilled contents for a few second and nodded solemnly at the loss of beer. Then she started making her way toward the door.

Unlike a rational being, who might have thought to stay close to the edge of the room and make their way inconspicuously toward the exit, Nasrin simply started walking straight to it. That path took her right through the heart of the brawl. More than once she had to stop as a pair of men, clutching each other's shirts and trading punches, slowly staggered past her. She also stepped on more than a few bodies strewn across the floor. At one point she even tripped on a chair and took the moment where she was splayed on a table to sample some of the occupants' unfinished bread.

She was miraculously almost through the chaos when she suddenly felt someone grab her from behind. A rather short man had grabbed onto the back of her sash and turned her around. "You're with the bastards who started this aren't'cha?!" he demanded to know, his face displaying a few lumps and a cut inder his left eye. Nasrin simply stared, perhaps a little to intoxicated to worry that he might actually hurt her.

"Those guys?" she asked, raising the hand that clutched the bottle to point towards Muqali. But in the process of rotating her hand to point properly, she tilted the bottle over and spilled some of its contents over the short man's face. The nearly pure ethanol ran over his eyes and cuts and started to burn.

The man wailed loudly, letting her go as he frantically rubbed at his face with the sleeve of his shirt. He backed up into another brawled was summarily lifted off the ground and thrown out of sight over the crowd.

Nasrin simply waved ood-bye, took another sip and then turned to leave. A few steps later she was through the doorway, staring out into the midday sun. She swuinted her eyes, and suddenly became aware that a handful of people had stopped outside the tavern to listen to the sounds of commotion. To them, she simply thumbed over her shoulder at the ruckus and stated, "Happy hour."

[manju]

Manju was poised and ready to strike, virtually tuning out the chaotic chain of events that rose from pushing Muqali. However, Tali seemed to have interrupted the potential brawl, beating on some random guy that touched her. If even for a split second, she backed up to admire the girl's gumption. She wasn't kidding or sounding idle threats - Talia was truly a skilled fighter from how it seemed. Her reflexes and strength made the matter plain as daylight.

Shrugging with little disappointment, she muttered a hushed, "Oh well," before joining in the bar-wide brawl. Loosing a roundhouse kick on some random bar patron, she next bolted to the nearest wall to launch herself into the fray. Running a short distance up the wall, she used it as a springboard to launch herself at a pair of fistfighting men.

Without a care who the two were, she tackled one of them forceably, toppling him off his feet and onto the floor. Manju's fist walloped his face, and before the other man had a chance to attack, the Igni's foot jolted to strike him in the crotch. The man grasped that region, face contorted in pain as he fell to the ground, and Manju simply scurried away seconds later with a wide smirk.

Winding up under a table, she spotted a familiar face not too far away. Muqali was crouched beneath another table, with a drunken-looking Nasrin soon sauntering away. A slight scowl emerged on Manju's chapped lips, spying her traveling sack nearby the man, with her twin spears sticking out the satchel's top. She figured she would grab it and run, seeing how essential it had become, though she would regret leaving the bar fight.

Running between tables, she delivered a high kick or two to passing bar patrons while trying to eke out the smallest bit of enjoyment from the brawl. Swiftly, she ducked under the same table as Muqali and snatched her traveling sack as quickly as possible. Then, before bolting off to the door, she offered a small salute to Muqali and said, "See ya later, loser!"

Soon, after decking some guy near the door, she ran out into the street, her satchel in tow. Rummaging through to make sure nothing was amiss, her amber eyes soon rolled upward to spy a wobbly Nasrin standing amongst a crowd. With a vague smirk, Manju sauntered up to the sandbender and stood beside her like it was nobody's business but her own.

[tali]

A few well placed kicks got her out of the direct line of fire. A few of the people in the bar she recognised. For such an up beat city they sure loved to brawl, this had to be the third fight in the bar this week. One of which her father bragged being a part of.

That one was about someone comming in and trying to pay for a drink with firenation currency. A earth loyal town like this didn't take very kindly to Fire Nation. Punching another man in the gut she glanced behind her to see the firenation woman from before knock a man over. Tali was forced to jump out of the way landing in a crouch on a table.

Watching all the chaos she honestly could feel her heart pumping contendedly. At the very least today wasn't boring. What a send off. Her eyes widened slightly at the table was almost knocked over by one of the men falling onto it, instead she was sent foreward, ducking and rolling once she hit the ground sucessfully avoiding injury.

Her Braid had fallen out though leaving her hair to pool along her back and shoulders. Sitting up a little startled she blew the hair from her face her surprised look quickly turning into a grin.

Her eyes landed on the boy from before a bit to her left, she watched the second woman walk out of the bar with a bit of interest. Grabbing Muqali's hand she pulled him out from under the table with a bright smile on her face.

"Come on" Eagerly she pulled him through the crowd towards the exit emerging after the fire nation woman. Once she was out and a few people from town recognised Tali they knew the fight wasn't anything big. Her family was known for roudt behavior. A few moved on while others stuck around.

Tali herself hopped in the air stretchign excitedly. "That was amazing!"

[mulaqi]

Muqali raised a hand and opened his mouth to speak as Nasrin stumbled out of the bar, but was too frozen by the fact that she somehow was actually getting out that way. That woman seemed to gain a guardian spirit whenever she was drunk. She could probably walk through a battlefield without a scratch somehow. Lowering his hand, he sighed, just in time to hop upward in surprise and bump his head on the table at Manju’s sudden appearance. Rubbing his head, he grimaced as Manju ran off. At least she seemed to be fine. With Nasrin and Manju out safely, that just left…

“Come on!”

The Sand Nomad’s head hit the bottom of the table for a second time as Tali yanked him out from under it by the arm. Somewhat surprised, Muqali did little to resist, though he did flinch when a man went careening past him and into the bar. Somehow, though, they made it outside. As soon as Tali let go, he stumbled for a few steps, almost losing his balance before standing back upright and putting away his tonfa.

"That was amazing!" exclaimed the Earth Kingdom girl enthusiastically.

Muqali rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head and smiled, “That’s one way of putting it…”

In the bar, he’d been a little preoccupied with worrying about Manju and Tali killing each other and trying to keep a drunk Nasrin out of trouble, but he couldn’t help but smile at the girl’s enthusiasm. If he’d known she could take care of herself like this, he might have been able to cut loose himself back there. He did love excitement, after all. Suddenly, a man flew out one of the bar’s windows, propelled by a small pillar of rock. An earthbender had joined the fray.

“I guess fights just follow us around,” he said, his grin becoming lopsided.

[nasrin]

Nasrin watched as the others emerged from the tavern shortly after she did. For the moment it seemed like Manju and Tali had forgotten that they were about to kill each other. That was a bit of a relief to the sandbender who was not feeling up to hearing those two hiss and scratch anymore.

Letting out a sigh as Tali excitedly leaped into the air, Nasrin shook the bottle in her hand slightly to get an idea for the amount at the left. By the swishing of the liquid, it seemed like the bottle was a little over a third full. Apparently dumping some on that one guy's face had taken out a little more than she'd thought... Either that or she'd really had more of the stuff than she realized.

Nasrin was just starting to raise the bottle up one more time, but something gave her pause. Ironically, right after Muqali had mentioned fights following them around, a trio of authoritative-looking men became visible through the crowd. Two of them carried spears while the one in the middle was an earthbender if his barefeet were any indication.

The bottle slowly fell away from Nasrin's lips and she said somewhat quietly to the others, "Here comes another one if we don't get out of here."

[manju]

When Tali and Muqali ran out the bar's door, the sand nomad's wrist grasped by the girl, the Igni wasn't the least bit surprised. Of course, such a thing would merit a fair deal of teasing, considering how Manju had assumed from the start that one had a crush on the other. Her pallid lips curled into a small grin when the two neared, though her smile disappeared as her head quickly bolted, hearing and seeing the man crashing through a nearby window.

Another small grin occured when Muqali mentioned the chaos that often followed the trio, but Nasrin's words were much more enigmatic. Looking around the vicinity, Manju spotted who she assumed the female sandbender meant. Pointing at them, Manju said, "Wit' who? Dem?"

At that, her hand quickly moved to the sack slung over her back, strapping also across her chest, where she grabbed a short spear with each hand. Lowering her weapons to her side, she wore a slowly-growing smirk. "I'm ready."

[tali]

The girls beaming face slowly morphed into one of dread, the soldiers were no strangers to her, as they often had to break up the fights that her father was often a part of. In a village like this it was hard to not know people, unless you were one of the noble families up on a cloud word spread quickly. With a feigned smile and her arms behind her back she did her best to seem innocent. " Hi guys......"

The man flanking the earth bender on the left sighed looking atthe familure face, though slightly unsettled with the new people. He asserted himself in front of the other two men holding his spear taught. His goat tee was neatly trimmed to keep up apperances for his job. The Gaoling girl vaugely remembered him to be from the Niwei family, she couldn't remember his first name though. "Another bar fight? who started it?" The other man holding the spear glanced at the igni woman making it rather clear that he would use force if he needed to. Last of the group, the earth bender walked into the bar to settle the ensuing combat.

Tali looked off to the side placing a finger to her lower jaw trying to think of a good excuse. " I'm not really sure...." Her gaze moved back to the mans with the wheels in her mind beginning to land on something that sounded realistic. " I was trying to talk to these travelers when some one threw a guy into a table, it kind of just escalated from there."

Shaking his head the man went in to aid his earth bender friend with the second spear carrier giving a cold glance over the three strangers before following suit.

[mulaqi]

A sigh of relief escaped Muqali when the soldiers left. He didn’t want to hurt anyone that didn’t really deserve it, and Earth Kingdom soldiers certainly qualified as people who didn’t deserve it. They had enough trouble to deal with from the Fire Nation. Even so, he wasn’t about to get arrested, either, and if they found out how that bar fight really started, then those could end up as conflicting interests. In that case, it would probably be time to get going soon. Not too, soon, though. After all, he’d barely explored the town.

“Thanks,” he said turning to Tali and grinning. “We don’t want to go gettin’ into fights with the good guys.”

The Sand Nomad folded his arms back behind his head and turned to his traveling companions. Well, mostly Manju, considering Nasrin was still probably a bit a drunk. Then again, Manju was clutching a pair of spears and looked ready to stab something. So, really, they were about equal in the “capable of useful conversation” department.

“We should probably go grab some supplies,” he suggested. “If those guys find out exactly what happened, we might need to get out of here pretty quick.”

Suddenly, he was interrupted by a small growl from his stomach. He had forgotten that he hadn’t eaten since the morning, and they hadn’t been in the bar long enough to order any food, much less eat it.

“Also because I’m kinda hungry…”

[nasrin]

Nasrin still had enough of her senses to know that they had lucked out this time. The young girl's acquaintence with the law seemed to have save them quite a it of difficulty. Still, the day was still young and they had no immediate goals. For the time being, Manju's wealth was sufficient and they were free to simply relax.

Muqali's suggestion of finding something to eat actually sounded pretty appealing. Nasrin hadn't had a decent meal for weeks, excluding the few nuts and berries they'd managed to forage since they left the swamp. Her ribs were visible more than usual, and despite her world class tolerance for alcohol, drinking on an empty stomach was taking its toll.

"Let's find a restaurant," she suggested. The sandbender women swept a hand up over her eyes in a gesture of scouting as she looked around from some kind of sign that would identify a place to eat. Then in a moment of humor she decided to add, "Maybe they have rum cake."

[manju]

Though Manju felt like sticking out her tongue at the guards as they eyeballed her, the matter was over before she knew it. Tali weasled her way out of it, which was a relief. The Igni was barely going to respond well if the guards gave her any more grief, so the other girl's smooth dealings fared well in Manju's mind. Taking a few steps in a random direction, spears still grasped in her hand as her mind wandered, she soon heard Nasrin suggest something. Her voice still sounded slurred, likely made so by the near-lethal amount of alcohol she drank, but the statement that followed made Manju slap her own forehead. Amazing how, even through the drunken haze, such an apathetic woman could form humorous statements such as those.

But Manju nodded, not saying a word before she ambled off in an entirely different direction. She knew she would find a restaurant eventually, but an inkling of her conscience told her to wait for her traveling companions. So she did. Instead of walking very far, she started to walk in a wide circle around the dispersing crowd simply to move her legs. But as she neared Muqali, she poked him in the side with her spear. Grinning evilly, she asked the question that instantaneously popped into her mind. "So am I invited?"

[tali]

After the guards left it seemed the small group was coming back together. Talia was happy, mostly because the fight was her fault in a way,,, no sense crying over such a tiny mistake. Tilting her head to the side she looked at the boy and the tall woman, both of whom seemed to want to find a resteraunt, meanwhile the shorter woman strutted about for reasons unknown. Smiling a bit the brown haired girl turned towards the two of the group who still were near her sides. Each seemed slightly weary in their own way, not that she could blame them, hiking through the foggy swamp was a lot of work. It'd probably wear her thin on a good day. " I know a really great place to eat, rather cheap too"

Hopefully a good meal suggestion would be enough to mend any bad blood. Plus the resteruant she had in mind served some of the best shrimp dumplings she'd ever had the pleasure of sampling. Shellfish was a weakness that she couldn't resist, still the air nomads were pretty much extinct... they wouldn't mind if she slipped up their teachings now and then.

Of course she over looked the fact that she often did that when she got herself into brawls, another minor offense that could easily be over looked. Noticing her wild hair the teen quickly blushed and began running her hands through the thick auburn hair trying to tame it. She'd have to wait to braid it again, she seemed to have lost the strap anyway... Her pack at home had another one... Curiously though she gazed at the short haired woman as she confronted the boy, Of course she'd be invited... it was a public resteraunt....

[mulaqi]

His arms still folded behind his head, Muqali turned to Nasrin and blinked, a bit astonished. Had she just told a joke? On purpose? He’d never heard her do that before. Then again, her wrappings had needed to essentially be destroyed for her to dress in anything that didn’t make her look like a walking ball of cloth. Maybe she was finally starting to open up a little. Before he could dwell on that further, though, Muqali was interrupted by something poking his side, and glanced down to find Manju. She still had her spears out, which was probably a poor idea, and was asking him if she was “invited,” whatever that meant. She had one of those grins on that meant she was looking to cause trouble, but Muqali couldn’t for the life of him figure out what. The Sand Nomad raised a quizzical eyebrow and tilted his head to the side, finally lowering his hands from behind his head as he turned to face the Igni.

“Invited to what?” he asked. “Lunch? Well…yeah. I mean, you’ve got all the money.”

He glanced at Tali to see that she was just as puzzled as he was. He gave a small shrug and a grin in response. After all, if he hadn’t figured out Manju after traveling with her this far, the Earth Kingdom girl couldn’t be expected to.

“You get used to this stuff,” he said aside to Tali. “Anyway, where’s this restaurant you’re talkin’ about?”