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 Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 6:47 pm
"I don't need any charity," he objected, but found himself sitting down anyway. He folded his long-fingered hands on the table and looked around at the surrounding area. He wasn't entirely sure if he was trying to spot familiar faces or if he was more suspicious about the nature of Razuten's disapearance than he liked.
"I'm his student," he explained, solemn worry creeping back into his face, "and recently he just up and left. Under strange circumstances, even."
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Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 6:52 pm
"Really? I didn't know he had a student," Her voice was a little skeptical, as though things she didn't know existed simply -couldn't-.
"And don't worry about it, you're going to tell me a story in exchange, right? That way it's a fair trade."
She motioned to the waiter and asked for whatever they wanted to bring out to be brought out for herself-- she knew she'd eat even the most exotic of foods that they had here.
"What do you want to eat? Pick out anything."
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Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 7:51 pm
"Thanks, I've never paid for meals with stories," he said shaking his head, choosing a moderate dish that was both interesting and still something he imagined he'd eat. "I wish that worked all the time."
"He only agreed to teach me kinda recently." He said with a sigh. "Some of the guards know about me, but I'm not nearly as exciting to hear about as chasing down penguins or rescuing princesses or whatever he did in his spare time. Have you heard of anyone else he was seen with a lot, maybe..?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 8:02 pm
Ina grinned,
"That's because you've never met -me- before. I'm Ina, by the way."
She shook her head at this next,
"Oh, no. I don't know anything more than I told you. But, you could always ask my parents. They know even more than I do, since they have to get everybody's information before they let 'em on the ship."
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Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 8:08 pm
"Thanks, Ina," he said with a more satisfied smile, "I'm Rin-ji. Anyone you know that might help, I'd really like to meet them."
Suddenly he snorted, sounding faintly embarassed. "Here I was letting you pay for my lunch and I never even told you who I was. Nice, huh."
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Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 11:20 am
The waiter brought the food quickly enough, and Ina nibbled on it a bit,
"Oh, don't worry about that. I do stuff like this a lot. It helps people warm up to me so I can get stories 'n stuff out of them," she grinned,
"As far as information..well, you learn lots of stuff ship-board. You could probably hang out on our boat for a bit, might find something that way."
A dark strand fell over one eye, and she pushed it back behind her ear,
"I don't think it'd be expensive. Particularly if you offered to do some work or something. Do you have any experience with boats at all?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 10:03 am
Rin-ji shook his head, laughing weakly. "Not a bit. I was a servant. I've got plenty of experience polishing vases but I don't know about boats. Never even been on one."
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 1:27 pm
She smiled,
"Well, you could always learn!"
She stretched her arms above her head and finished her meal as quick as a wolf. She'd learned, once her parents let her eat with the rest of the crew, to eat quickly or she'd end up with nothing she wanted, or nothing at all occasionally. Sailors had big appetites.
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 4:08 pm
Rin-ji was impressed. Although he was making his way through his meal with zeal, it was nothing compared to the way this little girl inhaled her food.
"Maybe... Maybe one day. I have some things I need to address here, but if you come back here a lot, I can look for you again." Rin-ji agreed thoughtfully. If he was going to be leaving suddenly, well, there was no reason for him to be so delicate in his investigations over the disappearance of Razuten. He would throw himself at the problem, and them promptly run away and find shelter... on a boat?
Maybe that wasn't such a great idea. Rin-ji had never fancied himself a criminal on the run, but he would give up his one chance at being a great firebender over his dead body.
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Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 12:44 pm
She shrugged,
"Okay. Well, if you're sure."
She stretched out,
"Now, about that story...?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 1:06 pm
Rin-ji rubbed the back of his head, frowning thoughtfully. "Does it need to be a true story?" He didn't think he knew any true stories worth telling, or at least none that he would offer up to someone who was practically a stranger.
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Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 1:21 pm
She tilted her head thoughtfully,
"Well, I -prefer- true stories....but, sometimes you can't tell if they're really true anyhow, so I don't think it'd make much difference if it were a made-up one for certain."
She let her hands fall back to the table.
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Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 5:33 pm
"Uh, well... This is something my mother told me when I was little," he started awkwardly, obviously not used to telling stories at the drop of a hat.
"There was a frog that lived in a shallow well, and one day it called to a turtle that lived in the sea. 'I am so happy,' said the frog, 'when I go out I can jump all along the edge of my well, and when I come home I can rest in the holes in the wall of my well. If I jump in the water I can float on my belly, and when I walk the mud covers my feet. I look around at the worms and the crabs and the tadpoles and the fish, and none of them compare to me. I am the lord of my well, and my happiness is great.'" Rin-ji got into the rhythm of it, hearing his mother's voice in the back of his head reminding him of what came next.
"The frog then asked the turtle, 'Sir, won't you come and look at my place?' The turtle started to try and climb up to see the well, but he quickly tripped and fell. The frog was disappointed, but instead the turtle told the frog about his home in the sea." Rin-ji paused to take a sip of his water, thinking over the next part before he continued. "'Even a thousand miles cannot give you an idea of the sea's width, and even a thousand feet cannot give you an idea of its depth.' The turtle explained, 'In the time of the great floods, the waters in the sea did not grow, and during the terrible droughts, the waters in the sea did not shrink. The sea never changes no matter how much time passes and its level does not rise or fall with the rain. The greatest happiness is to live in the sea.'"
Rin-ji exhaled and folded his hands in front of him, finishing the fable. "After hearing this, the frog was shocked and realized his own insignificance, and he no longer felt happy."
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Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 5:39 pm
Ina tilted her head at the description of the frog and his well, then clapped her hands with delight at the end,
"oooh, but the sea -is- so beautiful!" she mused, tilting her head to the sky and smiling at the ceiling, then back at Rin-ji,
"You ought to travel by boat just once sometime, if you don't come aboard ours. Just to look out at the ocean properly, surrounded by it."
She practiced the story in her head a bit, making sure she'd remember all the details for her book when she returned to the ship.
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Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 5:47 pm
"I will one day," Rin-ji agreed confidently, smiling as well. "I've only traveled a little bit over land in the firenation, but one day I'll get to see it all."
"How far have you traveled before?" He asked after waiting a moment.
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