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 Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:29 pm
"Here."
Tsai Shen's tanned, scarred hand gently gripped Avani's shoulder as he bent down to hold a steaming bowl of food in front of her and smoothly took a seat on the bench beside her. They were in a small, yet clean and warm, inn on the way to the Fire Nation. They were almost out of Earth Kingdom, and they'd gotten chances to reaquaint themselves. Tsai Shen thought nothing of spending money, and in that way was naive, however, he was a selfless being, very caring and giving. There was no denying that he was a kind man, if innocent in some ways.
He also, as Avani was finally beginning to notice, had long periods of silence, of serious contemplation, and could be seen staring into flames, feeling the earth... Practicing. He was probably more complex than she'd ever known. He was realizing more about her as well.
Smiling that warm, large grin of his, Tsai Shen also set a drink for each of them on the table. "The sun has been gone quite awhile, we should sleep too, morning is approaching." They had to get up early, and it was now well into the night.
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:58 pm
"Oh, thanks." Avani said, taking the bowl gratefully. She blew on it carefully and poked at it for a little bit with her chopsticks, but she still ended up buring her bottom lip when she finally brought some up to her mouth, so then spent the next minute sucking the lip, before she could finally start eating her food.
The journey to the Fire Nation so far had been long, so much longer than she though something could ever last. Her legs ached from walking (they had only been able to find rides every now and then) her shoulders hurt from carrying her pack and she thought she was starting to get a sunburn. No, she knew she was. Her poor pale skin was light red now.
They hadn't always been lucky enough to come across inns, either. One very long and cold night was spent on the ground. And she had thought her old home was bad...
"Can't we sleep in today?" she whined, the question seeming to have become a ritual each night, now. And each night she expected the same negative response. Darn his responisble nature. She wanted to sleep! And her quick, cold baths in the morning were certianly doing nothing for the dirt caking on over the coarse of the journey.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:18 am
"Don't whine, Avani." His tone was amused, though.
Tsai Shen was quiet for quite a while, sipping his tea and calmly eating his meal. Weighing their options. Avani had been firm about wanting to come along, but obviously had no idea what traveling really entailed. Tsai Shen wasn't as spoiled and prissy as she had though. He just looked pretty.
"... Okay. We can afford a few extra hours so that you can sleep more and have a long bath." Quickly finishing his bowl, it was just as quickly collected by a young waitress, who smile at him in a friendly manner. Grinning back, he thanked her, and was just as pleased when she returned the bowl moments later, full again. People were so nice!
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:27 am
"My feet huurr--Oh...Ok."
She wasn't really as pathetic as she seemed. She was just very vocal about when something bothered her. Avani had known traveling would be hard, but she had hoped she had been wrong. It was terribly disapointing when it was everythign and more of what she expected.
"Are you saying I smell?" she asked, moving so her shoulder bummed his arm in a playful way. "That's not a very nice thing to say."
Instinctivly she pulled her half empty bowl closer, not wanting the waitress to take it, then blushing when she realized she wouldn't have. Thankfully, the sunburn covered the blush.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:35 am
"I did not, and would not say that." His laugh brightened the room a bit, and Tsai Shen shook his head. "You've just been whining about that, as well!" Getting his 'innocent' expression in place, he calmly finished his second bowl, setting it aside to take a swallow of tea.
"Besides, I'd never say anything derogatory about my girlfriend." Tsai Shen was still himself, despite the muscles and 'maturity' that'd come with age. He still liked to bring up the teasing he'd given her during their first encounter. Was this because he actually wished she was his girlfriend? Who knew. Probably not?
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:44 am
"Whine? How could you acuse me of such a thing, sir?" she asked, trying to sound as offended as possible, and failing.
"Shhh!" she hissed, putting her finger up to her mouth and waving the other franticlly, trying to make him lower his voice. Not that she could make him unsay it anyway. "You've gotta stop doing that. You'll crush the dreams off all those waitresses staring at you."
Avani nodded her dark head faintly towards the group of three girls, all who seemed younger then them, and all with their heads together, whispering and giggling and occasinally looking towards herself and Tsai Shen.
It seemed to happen in any tavern, bar or inn they stopped in. "Looks like you've got three new members for your fan club. I wonder if any of them would beat out the president in that one town 2 days back..."
Avani had named the young girl Tsai Shen's fan club's president, after the girl had followed them throughout the town, then cried as she couldn't get them (Or rather HIM) to stay behind with her. Very nasty names were thrown at her that day.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:53 am
Tsai Shen was actually rather oblivious to such things, and wrapped an arm around Avani, clearly thinking she was making the whole thing up. "Oh, honey, there's no need to be jealous! I treat you right!" A big, big grin spread across his face as they were now both finished. "Let's go to bed." This was said in an almost suggestive tone, causing the waitresses to titter, and purely to set Avani on edge.
Raising both his eyebrows, the tall teen stood, holding out a hand to help her to her feet. They actually did share a room, considering that Tsai Shen was the one paying for everything, but he was still teasing.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:00 am
Her face was a furious red now. "I...You...Smother...Sleep!" She was too embarressed to even vocalize the sentance properly.
The teen pulled herself up to her feet, refusing to take his hand. Those waitresses knew they were in the same room. What were they going to think NOW? She turned her little nose up at Tsai Shen as she marched passed him, determindly.
"I'll sleep on the floor, thank you," she said, standing outside their room, waiting for him to unlock the door.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:08 am
"... Avani..." Tsai Shen unlocked the door, opening it for her, and following her inside, shutting it, locking it. They were alone. He looked genuinely sorry. "I was only playing."
Venturing to smile, he lightly touched her arm with a few gentle fingertips. "Come on, it's me we're talking about." Chuckling, he moved to sit on the bed. "I think you could probably take a long bath tonight, if you wanted."
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:19 pm
"Good," she said airily. "Then you can sleep on the floor and I'LL sleep on the bed."
She pulled her hair out of it's bun and smiled. "I guess I could now instead of tomorrow morning." Then she'd be dry by the time they left. Her hair cascaded down her back in sheets of black and she walked into the bathroom, pulling the door shut behind her.
Once inside, she pulled off her robes, considering washing those as well, but deciding she couldn't risk them still being wet when they started up traveling again. She dropped into the warm water in the bath that had been draw, playing in the suddsing bubbles, using her hand to put some on the tip of her nose, giggling then blowing it off.
She sank low, so only her nose, eyes and forehead were visible and her dark hair floated around her.
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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:26 am
Avani was poor and Tsai Shen wealthy, but if one was to go purely by their attitudes, they're probably assume it was the other way around. As Avani took advantage of the bath he'd already requested to be drawn for her, the boy headed back downstairs to get a spare blanket and pillow.
Returning, the boy arranged his retrieved bedding and stretched himself out, settling in to scrawl in a leatherbound journal, as he'd done every night of there journey. Finishing the page, he reached up with a lanky limb to turn off the lamp on the table, and proceeded to breath slowly, as if asleep, though his brown eyes focused on the shadows against the wall. It had been another long, long day.
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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 6:14 pm
She shampooed and rinsed her hair quickly, scrubbed the dirt from under her nails and off her body. The teen sat in the tub until steam no longer rose from the water and it finally cooled off, thinking about the road ahead, of the people she would meet and the ones she left behind. Laying her head back she thought of the journey so far with Tsai Shen. Sometimes, she wondered what had happened to his sense of humor. They had both gotten older, and with the age, he seemed to view her old jokes as childish and innappropriate, but she saw no reason to leave behind her own sense of humor, even if he had.
Avani stepped out of the bath, wringing out her hair into the bath, then patting it mostly dry with a large fluffy towel. After she had patted down her hair, she wrapped it around her slender body. Carefully she braided her damp hair, then pulled a dirty white shift she had brought with her over her head.
Quietly she slipped out of the bathroom and crawled into the bed, curling up on one side of it, under the covers. Beside the bed her small travel bag lay half open and she reached her hand into it, pulling out her old two-headed stuffed animal and holding it close to her chest, smelling the earthy scent.
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Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 5:32 pm
Tsai Shen finally fell asleep on the ground, maybe an hour or so after Avani, and was up before her. He almost woke the girl up before remembering his promise to let her sleep in, and cleaned up his bedding, taking it downstairs to the innkeeper.
Around the back of the inn was a flattened dirt area, obviously a practice area for warriors and the like. The teenager spent the next two hours working out. General stretches, combat stances, bending... He did every day. Lately, though, he had an audience, whether it be other customers of the inn, or the staff themselves.
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:37 pm
Avani heard Tsai Shen get up and clean and leave the room. She laid for an hour longer, before streching out in the bed and getting up. She dressed quickly, and easily found where Tsai Shen was practicing that morning.
The girl watched from the corner of the building, smiling faintly as she watched him in his stances and bending. She dumped the small glass of water she had carried out there into the dirt and swirled it around with her hands, then picked it up and formed a mudball.
"Catch!" she said, thowing it towards him as he finished up his second hour of training.
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Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:34 am
Tsai Shen spun mid-strike to stop the mudball with a firm palm, it floating briefly in the air before he sent it speeding right back at her with a swift strike. He had gotten a lot better since they'd first met.
A gorgeous smile appeared on his face as he shouted back to her. "Good morning, Avani! I hope you like the taste of mudpie!"
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