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Post by kaska on Dec 6, 2006 12:13:54 GMT -5
His eye wandered side to side, examining the little details of this small town. People were desperate. Desperate for money. Desperate for hope. His feet, covered in thin, yet strong bandages, made cushioned pats and slight poofs of dust as he walked, his eyes scanning all the while. In a town like this, one couldn't be too careful.
He was about to enter a small tavern when he instinctually grabbed an arm, the arm of a boy trying to grab at his satchel from behind. This boy could have been no older than 14, and was apparently vicious, drawing a small dagger from his side. A thief trying to strike in broad daylight? This one is obviously new.
The man in bandages, Saijin, simply took the arm he was holding and began to twist, putting his unsuspecting attacker into a kotagaishi (type of pain hold). He dropped his knife and fell to the ground when Saijin let go, rubbing his wrist with his other hand. "I think you mighta broke it! The hell it wrong wit-"
He was quickly cut off by a small coin hitting him in the forehead, gracefully flicked by thumb from the golden-eyed nightmare. It shone brightly of silver in the sun in the lad's hand, his arm either quivering from the residual pain of the lock or from the sheer excitement of holding a coin. Making a quick bow to Saijin, he hid the coin away in his pocket and ran off. To find a new mark or to simply tell his folks, he knew not.
Now that that business was put up with, Saijin walked into the tavern, sitting at the counter and, to everyone's surprise around him, due to his obvious Fire Nation appearance and the even more apparent scars, ordered water. He knew he was being watched, eyeballed by everyone, as he slowly sipped at his glass.
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Post by manju on Feb 7, 2007 23:42:16 GMT -5
The door to the tavern swung open once more, revealing a silhouette of a lithe female figure, her hand perched coquettishly on her hip while the other held a traveling sack halfway slumped on the floor. Manju barely looked around inside the building, at first noticing nothing but people dressed in dull browns, tans and greens, with the occasional splash of faded yellow. A smirk grew on her face. Nothing exciting here. It was another Earth Kingdom village with plain old Earth Kingdom villagers. She ambled forth slowly, feeling the piercing eyes of the prejudiced townsfolk scrutinizing her bizarre appearance. She turned her head only to see a middle-aged farmer whispering to the man seated next to him, clearly saying something about the young Igni woman.
Her smirk quickly turned to a scowl. She stomped over to the men, her arms held out straight down, shoulders tensed, hands forming tight fists. The man stopped whispering to his acquaintance only to now have an expression of dread on his face, as he knew not what to expect from the strange-looking girl. She slammed both hands on the table, looked him straight in the eye, and, shifting emotions entirely, she said in a sweet, yet clearly sarcastic tone "what'cha whisp'rin' about, honey?" In reply, the man said "well, I...I mean...you..." Manju leaned in further, now bearing on her face an expression something like a blend of irony and utter contempt. "I'm sorry, what about me?" she said with a growl in her lightly accented voice, raising her eyebrows.
The man stayed silent. "Uh huh. I t'ought so." She turned around and took one step forward, but instantly swung around and slammed both hands on the table again, causing the two middle-aged men to jump. She began cackling loud enough to be heard outside, and continued to do so while walking to the counter. She knew the entire tavern was staring at her, but she didn't care one bit. She was somewhat shocked to see a man dressed in Fire Nation colors seated at the bar, but more surprised at the fact that she hadn't noticed him at all beforehand. She seated herself next to the tall, bandaged man at the counter, sliding her traveling sack underneath her stool. She ran her hands through her short, puffy black hair in an attempt to be nonchalant, from time to time catching glances at the man beside her.
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Post by nasrin on Feb 8, 2007 0:09:39 GMT -5
"Kid had no idea what he was doing," rasped the voice of a middle-aged man as he watched the failed attempt of a young teenager to rob a heavily bandaged young man walking a little ways down the road. The man observing the exchange smirked as he watched the two part ways after the little scuffle. The would-be thief passed by the trading post where he stood, and he grinned under the cloth that covered half his face. He gave the dusty ground a slight kick as the boy ran past and a puff of sand burst from the ground at his heels. The thief gave a yelp of surprise and ran swiftly away, leaving the elder man to laugh at his reaction.
"You must be bored if you're flaunting your bending over punks like that," a woman's voice commented. The elder man glanced down at the heavily wrapped and clothed figure sitting against the base of the creaky wooden building. "Wishing that the trip here had been a little more eventful?" she asked, only her sandy brown eyes and a few strands of dark hair visible through her headcloth and wrappings.
"You know me, Nasrin," the elder man replied, reclining against a support beam of the awning of the trading post, "Can't stand to get paid for nothing... Hell, we're supposed to be hired to protect these guys and we haven't seen a single raider since we left the Cairn." He gestured into the trading post where the sounds of haggling merchants could be heard arguing over the worth of various goods.
Nasrin gave a sigh and reached to her side where there was a clay jug tethered to a thin rope. She grabbed it by its short neck and gave it a light shake, feeling that it was nearly empty. "I could use a drink," she thought out loud, drawing a glance from her comrade. "If we're going to just be standing around, I might as well be buzzed..."
The older sandbender laughed. "I love the way you think," he said. "I could actually use something too-Oooh! Would you look at that..." He led Nasrin's gaze to a strange-looking woman walking down the street. By the tints of red of her clothing, her short-cropped hair, and facial tattoos it was obvious that she was not your typical Earth kingdom woman. "What hole in the ground do you think she crawled out from?"
The female sandbender glanced up at the unusual women and offered only a stoic shrug. "Don't know... Don't care... Just tell me she's not-" she stopped mid-sentence and sighed as she watched the woman walk into the tavern. "Damn... I'm just going to wait until tavern's clear of wierd people... Or until I start to dehydrate."
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Post by kaska on Feb 8, 2007 0:24:58 GMT -5
The man, Saijin, didn't even bother to look up as this girl was galavanting around the bar and tormenting the patrons. Judging by the overall state of the town, it was only logical that things such as this would be commonplace in a village of such financial and moral disrepair. He simply took sips at the water that was given to him, the room temperature against his seperated lips hardly detectable through the damaged nerves of his skin. At least the glass is smooth.
When he set his glass down from that last drink, he began to carress it with his fingers, unable to feel it through the bandages that lined his flesh and blocked the nerves. It was both a blessing and a curse. He would never get cold, nor two hot. But he would never feel again. He was about to stand up from his seat when he heard a loud slam, turning his head just enough to see with his peripheral vision.
That girl again? I swear...Igni or no, she needs to calm down...take in the culture. His day was only getting better and better as, after he turned his head away, footsteps could be quite clearly heard. He knew what such steps meant, and starting carressing a wound on his arm beneath his right sleeve. That wound, received as an offshoot of a master bender's lightning bolt, always proved to be reassurance of what he was capable of surviving, be it a master firebender or a PMSing fire girl.
As suspected, she took a seat...right next to him, starting to fiddle with her hair. She was so clearly passing glances at him. Whether it was out of interest, attraction, or just some sort of taunt, it was impossible to tell. Well, he thought, it's impossible to ignore her forever. He silently cleared his throat before turning his remainining eye (assuming she's on his left), and spoke in the nicest manner that he could muster, "Were they giving you trouble or are you just a teenaged girl?"
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Post by manju on Feb 8, 2007 1:06:35 GMT -5
She stopped for a second at the man's comment, said in what she could tell was an agitated voice disguised as a kind one. "Were they giving you trouble or are you just a teenaged girl?" She wondered, what did he mean by that? JUST a teenaged girl? She gritted her teeth slightly for a second. However, whatever he had meant, she was sure her staring had irked him. She looked up, meeting her amber eyes with his while her elbows rested on the counter and her head lean against her palms. "Dey were starin' at me. I saw dem whisp'rin'. I wanted to tease 'em a bit, dat's all." She then looked forward so as not to seem like she was staring at his bandages and barely apparent scarred skin beneath.
"So..." she said as she tapped the fingernails of her right hand on the counter rythmically and she rested her face on her left palm. She stopped for a second, forgetting what she was about to say. She knew she had to say something now. The bartender gave her a glass of water and she drank from it, stalling for a little while. The water, though lukewarm, quenched her thirst as well as any other drink, which was good. She then turned to her right to look at the man again, inquiring of him, "you're from de Fire Nation...how'd ya wind up 'ere in de Eart' Kingdom?"
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Post by kaska on Feb 9, 2007 17:34:34 GMT -5
Whoever this girl was, at least she was somewhat amusing. Saijin found some great amusement out of the rather obvious frustration that he was causing her, as she had caused him perhaps under a minute before. Well, it seems like this town wasn't a bad idea after all. Still, she needs to calm down a bit and stop tormenting the already troubled residents...though I can't do much to stop her, I'd expect.
"Dey were starin' at me. I saw dem whisp'rin'. I wanted to tease 'em a bit, dat's all."
Her tones and dialect are very lax, Saijin noted, It's safe to say she's of the lower caste of the Fire Nation's citizens. But she's already a fickle person as it is, it seems, so bringing up her heritage might not be the smartest thing in the world to do. He took a few more sips at his water through the side of her mouth, the only available area from which he was able, and stared at her through the corner of his eye once more, just in time to catch her looking away, redirecting her eyes ahead of her.
Saijin simply chuckled under his breath, though such a noise could likely be heard by the girl. This chuckle ceased when he was asked a question from her, one which the concept had horrified him with the demons of his past. His eyes glazed over, a lack of emotion consuming them. Still, he had to quell her with an answer, so he spoke out, giving the barest of answers that he could muster, "I emigrated from the Fire Nation to the Earth Kingdom twelve years ago. This country is my home now...and yourself?"
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Post by manju on Feb 9, 2007 21:31:19 GMT -5
Manju heard the man's laugh, even though he seemed to be doing his best to hide it. She didn't do a thing to acknowledge it. She turned to face him a split-second after her inquiry, noting in his uncovered eye a changed expression – a strange, almost eerie one at that. She didn't know quite what his expression meant, nor did she particularly care. His reply was nothing out of the ordinary for her. She assumed him to have emigrated probably for some war-related reason, even though she would have preferred to hear a more in-depth answer. However, despite her natural curiosity, she thought it best to leave the matter at that, since the man had clearly found that question uncomfortable, at least from her point of view.
His final question, "...and yourself?", was only expected, though she was now at somewhat of a loss as to what her reponse would be. Now where do I start?... she pondered. Now I know 'e didn't tell me 'is life story, so I don't t'ink I ch'ould tell 'im mine... Her lips were now pursed in a pensive manner, clearly demonstrating her attempt to gather her thoughts. She moved around on the stool, repositioning helf so that she could lean her back up against the counter, and she crossed her arms and legs. She looked at the man once more, wondering what he must be thinking about her frequent fidgeting. At once, she cleared her throat, answering "I'm 'ere 'cause I wanted to be 'ere. Guess I was just bored on m' 'ome island..." At that, she turned her face away from him again and looked straight ahead, at the door and windows that faced the street.
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Post by nasrin on Feb 10, 2007 0:02:05 GMT -5
"Gaaaaahhhh!" the middle-aged sandbender grunted as he stood up from his leaning posture against the wooden support beam. "Now all your talk about gettin' a drink made me thirsty...." Nasrin turned her head to regard her companion with a look of incredulity. "You feel like making a run to the tavern?" the man asked, glancing toward the building a short ways down the road.
"While the freaky girl and the living Mummy are still in there?" she replied, sarcasm dripping from her words. Her nicknames for the strangers elicited a chuckle from the man beside her.
"As if you have any room to call anyone a Mummy..." he joked, referring to the thick wrappings on her hands, feet, and face. "Come one, though. I'll pay for both drinks."
"Why don't you just go?" Nasrin shot back, planting her hands beside her. "You're already standing..."
"I need to stay here and keep an eye on those merchants in case some kind of fight breaks out," he responded, his poor attempt at fabricating an excuse quite transparent. He gestured into the building though, where the sound of raised voices could be heard and a Desert merchants was waving around a sack of coins. Nasrin leaned to the side to look at the scene for a moment before returning her gaze to her comrade. "The haggling's getting intense...." the male sandbender added, barely containing his smirk.
After several seconds of silence, a heavy sigh escaped Nasrin's lips as she climbed to her feet. "Fine," she grumbled, dusting herself off with a few bending-enhanced pats. She extended her hand and was handed a small pouch of coins from the older man. She grasped the money firmly and withdrew it to her side. "But I'm getting something strong for myself..."
With that, she started for the tavern and left her fellow bender to wait outside the trading post. Her eyes barely left the ground as she started fantasizing about what kind of imported liquours the bartender might have in stock. She paused only briefly outside the swinging half-door that composed the entrance of the tavern before pushing them aside and striding into the room.
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Post by manju on Feb 18, 2007 15:21:59 GMT -5
Leaning her back the counter, arms and legs crossed, the young Igni woman sat. The tavern was getting to be too quiet for her tastes, and the bandaged man whose name she hadn't quite learned wasn't about to say anything from what she could already tell. Out the window she faced from across the room, she looked at the small birds perched side-by-side along the tiled rooftop of the building across the street.
Memories came to her mind of when she used to run around her home village early in the morning, chasing birds of every color in the rainbow. She always was fascinated by birds, wanting to be able to soar through the air as they did. Those birds she looked at were dull-colored and not much different than her current surroundings inside the sunlit tavern where she sat.
She leaned her head back, heaving a sigh. She felt the onset of boredom, but decided she would get a drink before she left. She turned around and said, loudly, in an attempt to get the bartender's attention, "e'scuse me?" coupled with a few slaps in rapid succession on the countertop. The bartender turned around and looked at Manju, not replying, but raising his eyebrows instead. "Can I get a glass a' rum, please?" the bartender, without a word, nodded, turned around, and started to pour a drink for Manju.
She swung around yet again, assuming the position she was in previously, but this time, out of the corner of her eye while turning, she caught sight of a tallish figure wrapped in tan clothing and bandages. She recognized this to be one of the sandbenders she saw while walking around town earlier that day. Interesting characters to her, they were. She leaned her head back yet again and began to click her tongue and tap her fingers on the countertop to the same strange rythm.
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Post by nasrin on Feb 18, 2007 22:37:58 GMT -5
The sound of the wooden flaps closing alerted the tavern's inhabitants to the arrival of a newcomer. Nasrin stood for a moment just inside the doorway as her eyes adjested to the shift in brightness. She narrowed her eyes for a moment as the constrast in light became clearer, and then sweeped her eyes once across the room. A pair of men were seated to her left, but they only spared her a momentary glance. Sandbenders were not entirely unknown to the town of Kei Lan, and considering the pair that had just arrived before-hand, Nasrin paled in comparison.
Before her sat the two she'd seen from her position outside. The heavily bandaged man and the strange-looking young woman who seemed completely alien to this place. Her glance lingered on her in particular for a moment, though they showed no hint of expression, before moving on to take in the remainder of the tavern. One other man was seated against that side wall, but he was staring deeply into his cup and seemed to be muttering himself. Chances are he was lost in his alcohol and likely far, far away from the events around him.
Nasrin's paused lasted only a few heartbeats before she started walking toward's the counter where the bartender was apparently preparing a drink for the strange-looking woman. The sandbender angled herself away from her and took a seat two stools down. Nasrin let out a slight sigh as she sank onto the chair and put her feet up for the first time in a while. She reached up with one of her thickly-wrapped hands and pulled down the layers of cloth over the bottom of her face. Her rather hard features made her gender rather ambiguous, and her clothing did well to hide whatever hints were in her figure. Only the few long strands of black-brown hair that snuck down over her face from her headdress might have given it a way.
The bartender was almost done serving the other girl, so Nasrin continued to stare straight ahead at the shelves of liquor and waited to be served.
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Post by manju on Feb 18, 2007 23:15:46 GMT -5
Manju, though her head was tilted back, could still see the man, or who she at least assumed to be a man, walking in and shifting his gaze across the tavern. Manju sat in wait, still tapping and clicking while the bartender poured her drink. She felt someone's knuckles graze her back in a clear attempt to get her attention, so she swiveled herself partly, with her right side to the counter where the bartender, a short stubby man, stood and presented her with cup of rum, which she grasped from his hand ungratefully.
Facing the door once again, her amber eyes followed the sandbender to his seat, assuming in her mind that the man was deliberately ignoring her like she assumed the bandaged giant of a man beside her probably was. She started to feel a little snubbed, thinking that nobody wanted to be around her because of her face tattoos, piercings, and whatever else she could think of. Not even the bartender was talking to her, presumeably, again, because of her looks. At least she was wearing her yukata, or people would probably throw her out on her ear for being "indecent". She figured as much. People around here were prejudiced, even if it was justifiable. She would never hurt these innocent people. Maybe tease them a bit, but never hurt them unless they tried hurting her first.
She lifted the glass to her mouth, her parched, colorless lips sipping the drink slightly. The rum, while it was of a reasonable quality, was weak and lukewarm. The lukewarmness she could handle, but the native Igni drinks from her home had a much stronger flavor than this swill – a much, much stronger flavor, and a better one in her opinion, at that. Rather than throw the glass at the floor as she felt like doing, she decided to take the "compassionate" route and finish her beverage before asking for something stronger, if there was anything stronger in this shack.
Then, impulsively, after gulping down the drink, she stepped over to the stool where the sandbender sat, sitting herself down right next to him. Her boredom had grown in the past few minutes, and she felt like teasing someone new. After sitting, she noticed the man to have removed his face coverings and some of his bandages. She was rather shocked to see that the man had relatively, well, vague features, causing her to question the man's true gender. Then, leaning in too close for comfort, perhaps the tiniest bit under the influence, she said rather abrasively to the man; "how'dya do, sir?".
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Post by nasrin on Feb 19, 2007 16:36:17 GMT -5
At the sound of approach Nasrin kept her eys focused straight ahead, though she was concentrating on the image in her peripheral vision. She could see the strange young woman scooting over to sit beside her, but she showed no hint of reacting. It wasn't until the girl spoke to her and asked, "How'dya do, sir?" that Nasrin casually turned her head to regard the younger woman.
Her eyes were still almost devoid of emotion, though a slight smirk tugged at the left corner of her lips. It had not been the first time in her life she had been mistaken for a man. More often than not, she was simply referred to as "you" by people who couldn't always determine her gender under all those bandages. She took no offense, and sometimes even as a compliment. Once or twice, when drinking, she'd even been approached by another woman and played along with the ruse. She had some funny stories from those encounters that almost always ended with a shrieking young woman and a chorus of laughter from her male sandbending comrades.
During that moment of reflection, Nasring took a second to look over the woman beside her then, and decided she hadn't had nearly enough alcohol in her system to play that game with her. She was about to correct the girl's mistake when the bartender strode up behind the counter across from her and asked, "What can I get you?"
Nasrin's smirk increased ever so slightly, and she decided to let her order be the other woman's wake-up call. "Give me two pints of mead and fill this-" she unhooked a porcelain jug from a thin rope on her belt and placed it on the counter, "with whatever brew you have that doubles as rat poison." Nasrin's voice was comparitively low, but unmistakably feminine. She noticed the bartender was nodding at her order, but the way his eyes lingered on the rest of her body for a moment longer, she figured he must had decided that was was indeed serving a woman.
"Ale okay instead of mead?" he asked as he took the jug from the counter.
Nasrin shrugged and gave the man a slight nod and a sound of resigned acceptance. He took that as a 'yes' and began to fill the order. The sandbender glanced to her side at the strange woman and wondered how she'd react.
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Post by manju on Feb 20, 2007 17:42:23 GMT -5
The woman took a while to respond, Manju not knowing why, but in the meantime anticipating an adverse reaction. But, after hearing "him" reply to the barkeep, she was, naturally, taken aback slightly. She wasn't as shocked as she could have been, since she had suspected something while noting the sandbender's facial structure moments earlier. She very well could have been a man granted inherently feminine feature, but her voice was clearly that of a woman. Or so Manju hoped. She didn't really feel like being wrong again. Needless to say, this awkward situation caused the Igni to wear her uneasy expression out on her proverbial sleeve.
When Manju saw the woman turn to look at her, she averted her own gaze, redirecting her eyes toward the bartender. He was filling the jug that belonged the Si Wong native, presumably with the same strong beverage that the woman had asked him for previously. Manju slapped the counter to alert the bartender. "Get me a pint a' ale, like she asked for", pointing her thumb at the woman beside her.
Instead of not vocally acknowledging her, like before, the bartender brashly said "can you even pay for all this, jungle girl?" Manju seethed. Standing up quickly, a scowl emblazoning her face, she reached into her pocket, pulled out a pouch of rubies, garnets, and various other rare gemstones, and loudly slammed it on the counter. The bartender recoiled at this sudden, random violent action, almost dropping the jug in his hand. "Does dis answer ya' question?” she growled, her scowl increasing in intensity. She was mad at the man's presumptuous response, but perhaps not as mad as she made herself out to be.
"Now I want a pint a' ale, please...or somet'in' even stronger, if ya' 'ave it..."
The bartender turned around to fill up a glass for her, but also possibly to hide the fact that his reddened face caused by Manju's response. She slowly lowered herself down to her seat, still scowling. She places her hand on her forehead and followed this with a deep breath to calm herself down, as she felt she had caused enough trouble for the time being. In a state of minor embarrassment, she laid her arms straight out on the table and rested her head on them, closing her eyes for a second until she was served. She started to think that wasn't the best course of action she could have taken, that her temper had gotten the best of her, even though, in the back of her mind, she thought that he deserved it.
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Post by nasrin on Feb 26, 2007 18:16:35 GMT -5
Nasrin contained a slight laugh when the young woman beside her made an elaborated use of the word "she" in reference to her. Aparently the message had been recieved. She was about to just let the conversation end there, but as the bartender asked for confirmaton that the other girl even had money, Nasrin was surprised to see her take out a pouch filled with some of the most precious gemstones hse'd ever seen. Her eyes widened slightly for a split second as she realized how much just that tiny handful of stones was worth. Most were only simply cut or even raw, but even so, she could probably crawl inside a bottle for a decade with that money.
The sandbender rotated on her stool to sit with her back leaning against the edge of the bar and her elbows propped up on it as well. Nasrin waited a moment as the girl collected her gems and then made a strange showing of exhasperation before she ventured to say, "Common mistake, kid..." She heard the sound of the bartender placing two mugs and her jug on the counter behind her. She could almost feel him looking at the back of her head, possibly thinking to ask for payment as well. Though after the other girl's reaction he likely decided to just assume she had the money.
Across the room, Nasrin happened to notice that the two men the other girl had harassed were looking directly at her and whispering intently. The sandbender kept her gaze from staying directly on them, but it seemed like the younger woman's display of wealth had caught their attention.
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Post by manju on Feb 27, 2007 1:30:51 GMT -5
"Common mistake, kid..."
Manju raised her head and turned toward the sandbender when she uttered those words.
The Igni smiled as a thought came to her mind. Dis could lead to somet'in fun, it could...
She raised herself back into a normal seated position, though she was still a bit slouched on her stool. Realizing she had forgotten her pack, she arose and walked over to her previous seat, grasping the dusty leather satchel that carried, among other things, her trusty pair of spears. Ambling back over to her seat, she noticed a mug placed on the counter where she sat. She slung her traveling sack under her chair and sat on it once more. Raising the glass mug to her mouth, she sipped from it, tasting what she had longed for since she entered; a good, strong drink and not the pathetic watered-down stuff she was served before. Gulping down little less than a third of the drink, she turned around on her seat and leaned on the counter like she had been doing much since her arrival in this tavern.
She turned toward the ambiguous, tanned woman and said "So 'ow often do people t'ink you're a man?"
At the same moment, she peering over toward the men whom she had ruffled a bit earlier, noticing them whispering, probably about her. Feeling a mite tipsy and not even close to waiting for a reply, Manju leaned over to the sandbender and muttered "dose perverts are whisp'rin' 'bout me again...dey just askin' for it, y'know..."
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