Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was almost too easy to escape camp for a night. The ol' man had taken him off the performance roster until he 'recovered' from his ordeal, which meant that every man, woman, and beast in the Yongjia Circus was caught up in entertaining the citizens of Gaoling. All except for him.

The doctor they'd brought in said he needed peace and quiet. That he was supposed to take time for the ankle he'd sprained to heal up fully, and for the bruises on his ribcage to disappear. But from the moment he'd gotten back, he'd been smothered by everyone from Huifen the make-up lady to the old man himself, his days packed with wall-to-wall distractions. Tingzhe knew they didn't want him to notice the gawkers that gathered, wanting to know why so many great and powerful people had died to rescue a scrawny sideshow kid like him. And he hated it. He hated every second of it! His glorious return was nothing but ashes. The whole world knew his name and it was terrible. Coming to Gaoling had helped a bit, but not enough.

It was like living in a cage all over again. It made him feel like he couldn't breathe right. Like days and days of darkness, when the only noise came from the scratching of little rat-owl claws and Alya's furtive stretching.

So Tingzhe left a note for the Ringmaster, and slipped away from the stagehands who were supposed to be watching him, disappearing into the town. he worked his way in from the bustling outskirts to the main square. It was emptier than usual. The circus drew a good crowd from the laborers and buskers, lower-class folk who couldn't afford real theater.

"Hey hey, mister," he warily approached an old map-merchant. They were in the middle of a public square. He had a whip. He was an acrobat. It- it would be okay, yeah? Yeah. He was still Tingzhe Ma, no matter what happened.

"Map of the town for a copper?"

"A guide? Maaaaybe." Tingzhe considered.

He put on a grin and arched back into a hand-stand, before walking backwards on his palm, examining the girl intently. Regular ol' Earth Kingdom green, but that didn't explain the Fire Nation armor.

The young acrobat flipped up onto his feet again, enjoying the feel of smooth, cool flagstones beneath his thin slippers. It was a hundred timed better than the gross, gravelly floor at the Hiyama back.

"Can you keep a secret?" Tingzhe leaned in, lowered his voice, and winked. "I gotta rescue mission on the go."

"Yer not up to it, I can find someone else who wants the copper."

Tingzhe pivoted out of reach, white coat swirling around him. The girls' gasp had cheered him up immensely.

Tingzhe smirked to himself. Yeah, that was the way. The ol' man would be proud of him. Spin the story out to keep their interest. Always leave 'em wanting more.

"Ol' friend of mine. Kinda a nerd. He doesn't know I'm gonna rescue him, but I bet he'll be glad I showed."

Of course. Who wouldn't be glad to see Tingzhe!???

He led the map-girl to a quieter part of the square.

"You know a family around here that's got a jade quill symbol?"

It had taken forever to get Shen-Ru to come out with his own name, and Tingzhe didn't know his last one. But he talked the posh talk, walked the posh walk, and that earring of his had looked a heck of a lot like a seal, once they were back in the daylight.

"Me? Y'can't guess?"

Tingzhe paused, unable to decide whether it was a good idea to tell the girl his background. He flipped the copper piece he was going to give her so that it caught the lamplight, glimmering at it twisted in mid-air, then caught it in his open palm.

Tails.

"I'm yer lucky day." The boy smiled. "Whole circus is in town, an' you get ME for nearly free. Tingzhe Ma."

He hoped, vainly, that she didn't know him from the news scrolls, and decided to cut any of that kinda questioning off at the pass.

"Who're you? You lookin for a brother?"

The pair of children started off down the side-street that would take them to Shen-Ru's home.

"Psh," Tingzhe scoffed. "Figures he'd leave you behind. You can't count on family."

He and Qiao made their way through the streets, towards the house on the map. They were lucky. All the rich folks liked to live close to the action in the middle of town, so there wasn't far to walk.

Eventually they came to a well-lit house, with fancy sealed gates and high walls around the garden.

"Friends, though- friends're a while 'nother story."

Tingzhe eyed the windows speculatively. Knowing Shen-Ru, he was probably nerding it up in the most solitary place there, caught up in a cubby-hole like a little pigeon-mouse.

"My friend's in there," Tingzhe told Qiao, grinning. "That's HIS family. Real posh set-up, but I don't think he likes 'em much."

{i]Tingzhy!?

Tingzhe puffed up a little, and inwardly smirked to himself. Qiao obviously had a crush on him. And who could blame her? He had great threads and cool moves. And the costume department ladies had spent days fussing over his hair after he got outta prison.

Hah. He was SO the best. Maybe before he left, Qiao would want his autograph.

"Maybe if it's pretty." Tingzhe rocked back and forth on his heels, looking for a way in. "Or has lotsa stuff on it? He's a poetry nerd. I gotta same him from himself."

He stared at the wall for a while, before locating a small stone lion statue on top of the perimeter.

"Hey, hey- check out the awesome." He uncoiled his whip from its palce on his waist, and swished it back and forth in the air a couple of times,before snapping it upwards so that it wrapped around the statue. Lucky for him, the wall wasn't all that high - only as tall as a grown man.

"I'll go first." Tingzhe used the whip to scale up the wall. It cut into his hands some, but he'd live. He had plenty of callouses from walking on them. "Man, these guys are rich, yeah? Like, I knew he was rich, but this is really rich. In Hiyama we'd need passes to get near a place like this."

With a grunt, the thin young boy pulled himself up to the top. He didn't have any problem balancing.

"You coming? It'll be fun."

Shen-Ru was getting antsy. He had been doted and loved upon since he had gotten home, his parents (or at least his father) having been delighted to have him home again. His mother was angry, he could see, that he hadn't been there to perform that night... but her temper was being reined for now.

The poet was sitting outside of his room, resting in a small garden that was there, separate from the main blossoms and trees and paths where his mother held her parties. His feet were bare, as was his latest scroll, ink and quill sitting beside it, waiting for his creativity to flow... but it was being blocked by that nervous feeling that was plaguing him.

What is this now?
Someone sneaking upon me?
It feels it may be...

Ugh. The boy flopped onto his back and looked towards the sky with a light scowl on his lips. It was obvious things were strange - he had just returned home from being kidnapped! Things were going to feel strange for a while... there was no reason for him to be so paranoid. It was dumb.