Something Like a Dream (Twins/Kura) <EarthKingdom>

[The Lion Turtle]

Pink, dewy dawn chased away the blackness of night. Xia Feng awoke early enough to watch the rosy light herald the golden yellow sun. Taking her baby in her arms, she nursed him as the sun rose, warming the gypsy caravan with soft rays.

It had been a long time, or at least it felt that way, since she came to the gypsy caravan. A month or perhaps even a month and a half she had spent here, and it was beginning to feel like home. She liked her daily routine, which was hardly a routine at all. She and some of the other gypsy women took care of Tarak as well as did chores like cook, mend, wash, clean and tended to the livestock. Xia was able to bath at several times a week, something she was extremely grateful for.

But now it was time to depart. Kura needed to reunite with her family in Ba Seng Se, and Xia couldn't be a burden to the gypsies any longer. She had an uncle to look for, after all -- someone who would take her in.

The preperations where complete, their things were packed, and the Twins Bai-Wu and Li-Wu would accompany Kura and her children, and Xia and Tarak. They were to leave today.

[whitecrow]

The twins meanwhile took their position as the twin princes in high regard, goofing off more than helping as the gypsy caravan packed and prepared to move. Juning and Huang had received summons from an annexed city to the west that wanted the Flame Dancers to preform for their spring festival. The plan was that the gypsies would go ahead without Bai-Wu and Li-Wu, that the prince's would escort the women, Xia Feng and Miss Kura and their children to their respective homes and then would meet up with the gypsies at the festival in three weeks time.

Bai-Wu and Li-Wu were busy harnessing their Ostrich-horses to their own personal wagon, which the two twins would keep when the Caravan moved on. Yet the two twins kept finding reasons to slack off, having barely gotten the poor Ostrich-horses into their harness and they hadn't even gotten started packing their clothes, their own fire pit essentials, and supplies such as the water canteens. Nope. Not the twins. Instead, the two had found a means of entertaining themselves.. Arm wrestling across a scorched stump that had been cut down.

They were locked in a deadlock, neither twin giving up as sweat poured down their forehead and their long black hair fell in identical sweeps over their bare shoulders. In the morning's cool air, they were shirtless, their pale skin glistening like cream in the soft sunlight. The gyspy women had grown used to this, and only the younger women, freshly filled with raging horomones and untouched by the two casanovas, swooned..

[fukurou]

Fukurou had been packed for some time now, and had been waiting on the others to get finished. More specifically, he'd been waiting on Bai and Li. But he'd found a distraction.

The old man on the other side of the stump thought a moment, and then put down an alligator tile next to Fukurou's raven tile. Ouch. That was going to cost him. Fukurou wondered whether he should have even played that yet or not, but he had been sure at the time.

20/20 hindsight. Focus.

There was a small crowd around them. The old man was hard to read, because his broad brimmed hat didn't show his eyes, and his long beard hid his mouth. Fukurou was without any cover, and could be read easily, depending upon where he was looking.

He smiled, however, seeing a crack in the defenses.

He placed a lion tile just beside a dog tile. The people who knew what that meant held their breath. The next move might decide the match.

The old man frowned so deeply that Fukurou recognized it, even through the beard. He then leaned closer to the board, scratching his head. He then shrugged, and placed down a cat tile, to make up for the lost one.

But the way was open.

Next, the rat tile, to multiply, and to invade his territory, then the wolf tile, to prey upon weaker tiles.

And last, but not least, Fukurou's own tile, the owl. Right beside the man's own tile, the frog.

The man sighed. "You got me." Then he smiled broadly, again, through his beard, and shook hands with Fukurou. "You're getting much better. But I've got to get going. See you!"

Fukurou got up and waved goodbye, and went off to find Bai and Li. Juning had told him to find them and to stay with them; she had something for him to do there. He shuddered to think he might have to spend more time around them.

He found them arm wrestling on a stump; well, he found the crowd AROUND them, and THEN found them. All the girls had red faces, and all of them were going for one or the other.

Show off's... he thought angrily.

He walked through the crowd, shoving a few people uncourteously out of the way. He then stood directly beside the two. "Hurry up," he said, rolling his eyes. "Everybody else is ready to leave except you two. As usual."

[kura]

Humming quietly under her breath, Kura sat on her bed (or rather, one of the twins’ beds) and finished up her sewing project. She had kept busy ever since joining the Gypsy Caravan; what with the many chores it was hard to find any time for leisure.

Having finished, Kura gave a satisfied smile as she held up the green dress in front of her. Whenever she had found spare time, Kura had been mending the outfits she and her children had worn when they first set eyes on the Gypsy Caravan. Though never one to attach herself to material possessions, the familiar green and brown clothing was something she could not part with. Besides, she reasoned, Fire Nation clothing is inappropriate outside of the caravan.

It had been difficult to become close with the Fire Nation citizens in the caravan; years of prejudice ensured that. Though Kura had formed close ties with some of the women - completing chores together, bonding over how fulfilling and, at the same time, headache-inducing motherhood could be, sharing the stories of their lives over hot meals and campfires – deep down, Kura’s prejudice for the Fire Nation remained.

Kura folded the dress and placed it in her bag. She stood, stretched, and then hefted the bag onto her shoulder. Heading outside, she sought Amaya and Akio; she found them a few minutes later. Akio was running around with a few of the younger kids, and Amaya was hugging her new friend goodbye – a young Water Tribe girl.

“Come along, you two,” Kura called out, and began walking towards the twins.

[blackcrow]

"It seems... we are an impass..Brother." One twin grunted through gritted teeth as the two faced off in their armwrestling. Sweat beaded on his brow, dripping down his forehead to his ivory skinned arm. The twins had been going at this for nearly half an hour, neither man's arm giving. The two were mirror image twins and their strenght seemed to match.

"Perhaps we should.. settle this the old way, then?" The other spoke, grin settling on his parted lips as his ragged breath came fast. The two young men were in a fightin mood, more than ever. They knew the caravan was on the move, and they were to occpany the ladies to their hometowns and then meet up again with the gypsys. It was rare that the two ever got to leave the horrible wrath of their mother, and of course.. leaving meant more lovely women to woo!

The two men stood up, seperating their hands and stepping back from eachother. Their long, dark hair swirled around their shoulders, as Bai-wu cracked his knuckles and Li-Wu rolled his shoulders. The two circled eachother like cats, like they had at the Agni Kai, ready to lunge at eachother's throats when the iron-clad voice of their Mother rang out. Cue the Psycho Music.

"Just what do you think you boys are doing?! Go and harness your ostrich horses to your wagon NOW!" Juning's bellowing voice boomed and the crowd that had gathered scattered like a flock of birds. She approached, the sash at her wide waist swaying with the movement of her hips. Frying pan in hand.
The two young men cringed at their mothers approach. The two young men dropped their heads and hands, shuffling their feet. They murmured a "Yes, Momma" and then ran off.

Juning sighed heavily, and then turned to see Kura approaching her with her two children in tow. Juning's face widened with a grin, as she bent down to open her arms. "Come no, Akio, Amaya! Give ol' Juning a hug goodbye, I'm gonna miss you two."

[The Lion Turtle]

Xia Feng had been watching all of this from a distance. Silly boys, she had thought. The were always showing off for everyone who would pay attention to them. She fell for it the first few times, but she got used to it after a while. The boys in her home town did the same thing. But, she thought, they weren't near as handsome as the twins. Her eyes landed on Bai-Wu's lanky body, handsome and mysterious. Her mind briefly fled to a few thoughts, be she soon wrangled it in. Approching the party, she saw Kura and her children as well as Juning yelling at the twins to get ready to leave and saying good bye to Kura and her children.

Bouncing Tarak in her arms, the young woman happily hummed and skipped over to Kura with a smile plastered on her face. She was ready to go, and like Kura, she had donned her own Earth Kingdom clothing once more, albeit repaired and patched with scraps of all different colors. She looked poor, but that was alright, she supposed. Yes, she would love to have a rich dress to wear, to be clean and smelling like sweet soap. She sliently whined and complained, but after a week, she resigned and thought that maybe it wasn't too bad.

Flashing a smile, she approched the group of women and children, and said, "Good morning! How is today for you?"

[kura]

Akio gave a toothy grin and ran into Juning’s open arms. He squeezed his eyes shut and gave the woman a great big bear hug (or as big as a seven year old could give). Amaya waited for her little brother to break away from Juning, and when he did, she smiled warmly and moved forward to hug her as well.

“I really can’t thank you enough,” said Kura. “I know we’ll all miss you.” Before she knew what she was doing, Kura found herself embracing Juning. Once finished with her sentimental act, Kura felt slightly awkward, and averted her gaze. Her eyes fell on the retreating backs of the twins.

“I don’t know how we’ll manage this journey without you there to control those two,” Kura mused, lightly chuckling at the thought.

“Oh!” Amaya exclaimed, pointing behind her mother. “There’s Miss Feng!” Kura turned to see, and sure enough, there was Xia Feng.

Kura grinned. “Today is just fine, Miss Feng,” was her answer to the young woman’s greeting. “In fact, I dare say I’m ready for this little adventure of ours.”

[fukurou]

Fukurou watched as the twins ran off to do their respective duties. He chuckled with glee, watching as a glaring Juning looked after them with her frying pan of doom. Ahhhhh... so many good memories... so many pan-ings...

But alas, they rarely got 'panned' anymore. And it mattered little. The pan had lost none of it's usefullness over the years, either in cooking or panning categories.

At the moment Fukurou was idle, something he did not enjoy being. It often got him mixed up in bad things. But soon, Juning was greeting two women, both who had children...

Well well... hello there. Do I smell trouble?

They were the women Bai had been trying to woo nearly a month ago. And they still hadn't done it yet? What was the holdup? It usually took less than a week, MAX... this was wierd.

He grinned a sadistic grin, and walked over to the women. His planned comment would probably get him slapped, but he didn't care all that much. So long as Juning heard it, the Twins would get something for it. Probably, anyway.

He walked straight up to the one with the newborn, and said, brazenly, out of nowhere, "So you're Bai's new girlfriend, right? Where is he anyway?" He smirked after he'd said it. If this didn't perk Juning's intrest, he didn't know what would.

[The Lion Turtle]

The gypsy man's comment -- Xia Feng couldn't remember his name for the life of her -- didn't sink in right away. She glanced at him. And then glanced back, her face hard and her mouth slightly ajar. She didn't even know what to say. But she did know that she was wasting prescious time in denying it. Maybe they wouldn't believe her...

"I, uh, n-no! No, no, of course I'm not his... girlfriend!"

But her pink face might have given it away. Or maybe it was her lack of vocal prowess.

She was sure Juning and Kura would be interested in that tidbit of information. She looked at the gypsy man, avoiding the two women's.

"Why, sir, you must have gotten the wrong information.... unless I am very much mistaken over the past month I've been here about the customs and rituals?"

Maybe that made up for it a little bit. Still, Xia Feng was worried. Yes, he was a handsome man and she was very much attracted to him, but, unless she missed something, he wasn't attracted to her in the least bit...

[whitecrow]

Juning's whized face seemed to light up with surprise at Fukurou's comment, for a moment her wrinkles seeming to disappear and a youthful joy spread across her face. "Really now..?" However, the beaming smile she gave Fukurou fell quickly as Xia cleared up the miss understanding. Juning's wrinkled and worn hand began to inch closer to the frying pan she had tucked into the sash she wore around her waste. Juning didn't just pan the twins, but often the other whipper snappers of the caravam and their friends. If she recalled correctly, Fukurou had been panned a time or two before.

Granted.. Juning knew what casanovas her twins were.

"'ey, Flute Boy!" The twin's exclaimed as they came up behind Fukurou, clasping his shoulders with their hands. The two leaned forward so as to be eye to eyes with the Water Tribe's man. Their golden eyes sparkled mischeviously and their flat, straight, hair framed their angular faces perfectly.
"What's up, Fukurou?" Bai-Wu started, his face breaking into a grin as his eyes shifted to Miss Feng and Miss Kura. Li-Wu however caught a glimpse of their mother's Fry-pan and backed his hand off of Fukurou's shoulder. Glancing up at his Brother, Bai-Wu did the same, stepping back with his twin and running his hands through his hair.

Both twins had gotten full dressed, now wearing their ruby colored vests with the golden diamond design on their respective sides. Crossing his arms across his chest, Li-Wu canted his head towards Juning and spoke smoothly.. "Our Ostrich Horses are all ready to go, Mother, and our wagon is tightly sealed. We're ready to head out whenever Miss Feng and Miss Kura are. We've already packed all of their things unless there's something we forgot.." At this, the twin with the white beads in his hair, but the one who was known as the black crow Li-wu, looked towards Miss Feng and Miss Kura and their children with a slight lift of his eyebrows.

Bai-Wu on the other hand knelt down and grinned at Amaya and Akio. "Have either of you ever ridden an Ostrich Horse before? Our Ostrich Horses love to have riders when they pull wagons and we'll let you ride them if you'd like. Whadda ya say, Akio? Maybe I'll teach you a few firebending moves...?"

[kura]

A bemused expression appeared on Kura’s face at the “girlfriend” comment. She glanced sideways at Xia Feng to see how she reacted to the comment, and had to conceal a grin at the sight. The poor thing was blushing furiously and seemed to be having trouble stringing two words together.

"I, uh, n-no! No, no, of course I'm not his... girlfriend!" Xia Feng stammered.

Of course, Kura knew this to be true. She suspected there was something between the two, an attraction perhaps, but certainly no relationship.

Kura looked behind her to see what Amaya and Akio were up to. Amaya had been paying attention to the conversation; she raised her eyebrows and shrugged at her mother when their eyes met. It seemed Amaya wasn’t sure what to make of it. Akio, on the other hand, was attempting a handstand. With his hands on the ground, he kicked his legs up; they stayed in midair for all of two seconds before falling forward, and Akio ended up sprawled on the ground.

He was attempting another handstand when the twins arrived. In his excitement, he fell down and quickly scrambled to his feet.

“Really?!” he exclaimed at Bai-Wu’s suggestion. “Yeah, that’d be awesome! Then I’ll be a firebender like you, right?”

Kura was about to protest, but stopped herself. It’s just a game, she mentally reprimanded herself, nothing to get worked up about.

“Well, how does that sound guys?” she asked Akio and Amaya cheerily. “Riding those Ostrich Horses sounds like it’ll be fun, huh?”

The two nodded in agreement.

[fukurou]

Fukurou glared at Bai and Li as they came in. No doubt, they were ready to make mischief. And as usual, they HAD to enter with STYLE for the ladies. He rolled his eyes, and busied himself with checking through his brown bag to make sure he had everything. He did.

Bai and Li were playing with the kids a bit. They HAD always been good with kids, a trait he actually envied them for. He wished he was better at being a people-person, but he just wasn't, and wasn't going to be either.

But last, was the woman... Xia?... yes... that was her name. And she was still blushing a bit at the sight of the boys. He'd struck a nerve? Or perhaps... perhaps he'd been right on target? He didn't know yet. Either way, this was an interesting development. Especially since the boys were taking the women home, apparently. He sighed, and decided to speak up. "Juning. You wanted to see me. What about?" He wanted to get this over with so that he could get away from the two idiot hooligans.

[The Lion Turtle]

Xia Feng smiled as Bai made his offer to Akio. The boy was very innocent and cute, and Xia Feng had grown fond of him indeed. She would dearly miss his cheery demenor and eagerness when Kura and her family stayed in Ba Seng Se.

Moving out of the way, Xia Feng scooted slowly to the Ostrich-Horses. Her father had owned a couple, and Xia Feng at least knew how to sit on one, maybe ride a little. Either way, she wanted Tarak to be used to them, for she, if she could help it, would end up owning her own one day. She slowly approched one, sticking out her hand low so the animal could smell it. Causion was key for trust.

She worked her hand to the Ostrich-Horse's nose, which was now sniffing her, and petted the hard beak. The Ostrich-Horse nosed her in turn, and her hand went up to it's forehead, where she scratch gently. It seemed pretty friendly, so she brought Tarak closer. The babe was quiet, eye wide with wonder. He mimicked his mother and slowly reached for the Ostrich-Horse, which, after a wary moment, touched his beak to the child's hand, who giggled appretiatively.

[blackcrow]

Juning turned towards Fukurou and nodded, placing both her pudgy hands on her wide hips. She glanced over to her boys with a impish smile, and then puffed out her...rather large rack, to put it lightly. "Fukurou, I would appricate if you would go with the boys and Miss Kura and Miss Xia, just to keep an eye on them and make sure the boys stay out of trouble and that the ladies reach their destination? At least until they for a few days or so... I know you probably do not want to leave the caravan.. You love playing your flute and dancing with the girls so much. You do not need to go with them the whole time. but just.. " Juning winked and pulled Fukurou in closer "make sure my influence and frying pan are remebered. The twins are.. rambuncious you might say?"
Juning released the flutist with a motherly smile, her round face beaming as always.

Li-wu, with his narrow face, turned to his mother having heard some of the converstation. He lifted an eyebrow, his eyes locking on Fukurou.. "Mother.. Bai and I are perfectly capable of taking care of our selves. We've run off from the Caravan plently of time and made it back in one peice."

Juning shook her fryingpan at Li, stepping closer to her much taller son. The twin visual cringed, holding up his arms in a defensive manner. "And nearly gave me a heart attack! Now I know you and Bai can most certainly handle yourselves. Gods knows you never listen to me.. But.. you will be traveling with two young women and their children and I want them to reach their destinations not only in one peice, but happy and content. And you best be praying the spirit Dong Feng doesn't swoop down into your loins, boys... or I will personally castrate you with your father's forge. Fukurou can help!"

Bai-Wu stood up and ran to his mother's side, throwing a hand over her mouth. "Yes Mother.. We'll be behave. Promise on the wings of Agni, the Avatar and whoever else we can promise on! We'llbehavewe'llbehavejuststopembarrassingus, Okay?!"

[The Lion Turtle]

Xia Feng watched the antics of the gypsies, which always amused her. Juning wisely asked Fukurou to accompany them, and although she wasn't particularly fond of him, the more who came along, the merrier. And he was there to keep the boys in line; something she was quite mixed on her feelings about.

But soon she was giggling with Juning's words to Fukurou and in turn, Li-Wu (or so she was sure; she had gotten much better at telling the boys appart, but sometimes she was mixed up). At the mention of Dong Feng, Spirit of Fertility and Lust, she blushed, but had a feeling that neither of the boys would dare bother Miss Kura. She did not seem so vunerable; on the contrary, she seemed very strong in her love for her family. And she spoke with a sharp tongue, something Xia Feng greatly admired about the other woman.

She, however... she knew that some of the boys'... charm... was effective on her, so sliently she planned to stick very close to Kura or Fukurou.

Xia Feng wrapped Tarak in her arms tighter, the young babe very quiet as usual. He was a very good baby, or so she was told, and was quiet unless something deeply disturbed him. In this Xia Feng, thanked the spirits. Tarak was content to watch the world around him quietly and amusedly.

"When do we depart?" Xia Feng asked anxiously, still paying attention to Tarak. She would feel much better when she was out of the gypsies' hair, not wanting to impose on them any more (despite Juning's repeted comments against such).