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 Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 12:05 pm
It was time to face facts: Tingzhe had been avoiding Qiao.
He hadn't meant to avoid Qiao. At least not consciously. But every time the opportunity had come up to go visit her, he'd latched on to some really great reason as to why he couldn't make the trip. It was too far. He had too much work to do. He might get arrested trying to go through customs. She was probably busy with her boyfriend, whatsisname, the big Water Tribe star, and he didn't need to go charging into the middle of her love nest.
Hah! What a bunch of bullshit. Damn his amazing charisma. It was the only reason he could sell himself on that load of ostrich-horse crap.
The truth was simple. Tingzhe hadn't wanted to go, because he was worried she'd be disappointed in him. It was easy to talk himself up in letters, to speak between the lines and in garbled half-truths, to make it look like he was still a star. But he wasn't. Hadn't been for a long time. Now, he beat the crap out of small-time crooks for larger-time crooks; dive bars had replaced his circus ring, and he fed on fear, instead of adulation. A guy had to make a living once he wasn't cute enough to stay a child star.
He wondered if Qiao ever realized the exact why he'd fled the circus just before he hit puberty. Training, his a**. Tingzhe'd been getting older. Filling out, with muscle and hair and s**t. He was scared, because he knew that once he was just another guy doin' cartwheels, the circus would have no special place for him.
Tingzhe hadn't wanted his friends to see him fall that far.
But now he was here, in the Capital, on some unofficial business, and the old familiar markets made his heart ache in a way he didn't care to describe.
Before TIngzhe quite knew what he was doing, he'd tracked down Qiao's house, and broken into the kitchen. He busied himself with stealing her food until she got home.
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 3:12 pm
Qiao was in fact, busy with water tribe whatshisface, AKA, Tuyok, which would explain why it was so easy to break into the house without getting beamed in the head for not knocking, let alone for breaking in. But all that aside, she was busy but had now made her way back to the house to find the door wide open.
That can't be Shen. She thought. Shen's over at Ghazan's and never leaves the door open, especially after the attack. Oh, s**t! What if that guy is back for the rest of his fingers? How crazy IS his mom? Doesn't this guy have chores to do instead?
It didn't matter. Even if he was an advanced bender, even if he'd kill to make sure he wasn't seen, none of that mattered. Nobody breaks into her house and mutilates her friend. ....Twice.
She stood outside the house, poised and ready to attack. She shouted into the house. "This is Yu-Yan bow and arrow set. One of the most powerful weapons in the world! It could blow your head clear off. The problem is, I don't know if I've shot three arrows or four. So my question to you is; do you feel lucky? Do ya, punk?!"
Qiao didn't really have any arrows, only rocks. But she only hoped the threat alone would scare whoever was inside away.
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Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 12:25 pm
A low chuckle resounded from the direction of the kitchen. Whoever had broken into Qiao's house was quaking with laughter rather than quaking with fear.
"You really haven't changed, have you," Tingzhe said. The pot of tea on the table came back to a boil with a flick of his fingers. It wasn't stealing Qiao's own tea if he shared it with her.
"Is that what you call a dramatic entrance? You've got the dramatic down, but if you're gonna make an entrance you still have to come inside."
He expected she'd recognize who he was from the sound of his voice, not realizing that the last time they'd seen each other in the flesh, he's been speaking several octaves higher.
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Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 12:48 pm
Haven't changed? She thought. This guy must be bananas, I've never even met him!And was he making tea? She could smell it from outside what with the door being open and all.
Clenching her fists, she shouted into the house once more. "Oh, you want me to come in and be dramatic, eh? Oh, I'll give you dramatic, you just watch, I'm gonna kick your a**!" Qiao grabbed as big a rock as she could find and ran inside.
"Get ready to lose some teeth you..." She stopped right there and stared at the person who broke into her house. He was taller, tougher-looking, had an eye patch, and obviously hadn't had a manicure in months, but she'd have to be blind not to recognize Tingzhe.
Qiao opened her mouth to say something witty but all she could manage was, "Hey, you.."
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