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 Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 8:48 pm
[Takes place while Petch is in Ba-Sing-Se]
The sun was especially bright today. Bright enough for Esen to feel at least a little at home as she wove through the surprisingly crowded streets. She was obviously in a hurry and was carrying in her hands a sizable bowl full of cold noodles. Every few steps she would heft another load of them into her mouth and chew noisily as she sped past the more slowly moving pedestrians.
She narrowly ducked under an oar that was moving toward her. "Hey, watch it, bub." She said with a mouthful of food. In truth, the narrowly avoided collision was more Esen's fault, but she rarely liked to take blame for these sorts of things.
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 3:52 pm
Petch was hungry. As much as he was trying to ignore it, his stomach was making loud protesting sounds to alert any passersby of his condition. As a result he most certainly wasn't looking out for any small Earthbenders - or rather, Sandbenders - while he was walking by with his oar characteristically slung over his shoulder.
As Esen ducked under the oar, the top of her head brushed against it just enough to alert Petch as it nudged his shoulder. Turning in confusion, he scowled as the younger girl chided him. "Right back at you, lady," he snarled and only then noticed the bowl of noodles she was carrying. He tried to ignore it, but his stomach had other things in mind as it growled loudly.
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 5:47 pm
It was hard to blow someone off if their stomach was louder than the ambient noise of the city, and Esen found herself gawking at the oar-wielding wanderer before her. She grinned.
"You're hungry?" She asked rhetorically, and then, probably to add insult to injury, she shoved more of her food into her mouth.
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Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 2:36 pm
Petch gave Esen a look as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. His stomach growled louder as he watched the wide-eyed girl chew her noodles and quite a few expletives were muttered under his breath.
"Yeah, you could say that," he snapped back at her. He already knew that there wasn't nearly enough in his pocket to afford a decent meal.
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Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 8:00 pm
"You look pretty poor." She informed him, in case he wasn't already aware, and gestured with most of her upper body toward him - she was probably indicating his clothes. "I know how that is. You want some copper for a meal - uh, as long as you don't spend it all on booze."
Was it that Esen was feeling generous? Or did she find the hungry young man before her notably more attractive than most? Not so much. It was most certainl that she merely loved to burn her parents' money. Every coin spent was another step back toward the desert, in her opinion.
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Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 8:40 pm
Esen wasn't falling for Petch's stunningly good looks? That was hard to believe. After all, he was a perfect example of pure masculinity, standing well over six feet tall with exotic features, rock hard abs and buns of steel. Any woman would think she was blessed for him to look her way.
...Wait. Wrong guy.
Petch was actually half a foot shorter than six feet, stocky, and covered in various scars and bruises. He did, however, have big feet.
"Nice observation," he grunted, "Why the hell would I buy booze when my stomach is growling?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 8:56 pm
And what fine feet they were! Is what someone with a bit more couth may have thought, but Esen was decidedly ill-mannered and hadn't even noticed!
"Well, you know..." She said, her voice trailing off into silence for a time as she expected this to somehow answer his question. "...Because men wandering the street begging for coin are always saying things like 'Excuse me, ma'am, could you spare a few pieces of copper for some tea and a bowl of rice?' and then they go off and buy an ale." She hummed for a second, "Although, you didn't actually as me for anything. But this might be some sort of backwards trick! So, I'll go with you and make sure you get some food and not any firewater."
Truly, Esen was performing a good deed!
No, really. Honest.
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Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:13 am
Well that was a shame, because Petch's feet were really something that should be marveled at. After all, he had been polite enough to notice and oogle her cleavage for a moment.
"I don't need some kid babysitting me," Petch snapped, irritated by Esen's implications. "And I'm not some beggar. I work for what I eat." He was nearly ready to stomp off, but hunger always won out over pride.
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Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:32 pm
"You can pay me back by getting me out of this city." Esen muttered to herself. "Eh, just, you know. Do somethin' nice for someone else, and that'll be pay enough." That sounded like something her father would say. Ugh.
She made a popping noise with her lips. "Now, come on. Let's get you something. I need more sauce for this, anyway."
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Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 2:07 pm
Petch snorted. Like hell he was going to do something out of the kindness of his heart. That was what poor people did. And, well, he was poor. But that wasn't the point. He was fine letting Esen believe whatever she wanted.
"I'm not some stray dog," he muttered, slinging her oar over his shoulder and following after her. "And where the hell are you from?" He indicated her strange clothing, not that his own was typical of Ba Sing Se either.
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Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 5:12 pm
"I could ask the same thing about you!" Is what Esen, said, but it came out quite muffled, because she had already taken another load of noodles into her mouth.
She chewed and swallowed before actually answering his question: "I'm from the Si Wong, originally. My father found a great big treasure or something." She made a 'whoop-de-doo'-like gesture with her free hand.
"Now we live in the upper ring." She made it sound like the most awfully boring thing ever. "I just don't like the whole, uh, 'thing' here." She led Petch down a less crowded path, toward the noodle shop she had come from earlier. "What's your story, pal?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:58 pm
"Water Tribe," Petch grunted in response. "Grew up in the Earth Kingdom." There wasn't much else to say, was there? Well, probably, but Petch didn't elaborate.
"Never been out to Si Wong," he added, in his closest semblance of conversation. "Seems a bit counterproductive, all things considered. Never been to the upper ring either."
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Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 9:52 pm
Yeah, well, wearing those barges on your feet was pretty counterproductive, too. Humph. "No way!" Esen protested. "The desert is amazing! Sure it's hot, and there's not a lot of water, and most of the tribes are full of unfriendly swindlers, and you can easily get lost and die within fourty-eight hours if you get dehydrated...but it's home!"
Petch did not look convinced, so Esen changed the subject. "Uh, so, are you a bender?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 8:56 am
Yeah. The whole dying of thirst thing was rather unappealing to Petch. The rest didn't sound terribly appealing either.
"Something like that," he replied, "You a bender too?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 12:57 pm
"Sandbender." Was her confident reply. "Although, I can't do the, you know:" she illustrated by giving her best attempt at an earthbending stance, jumping up and landing solidly on the dusty unpaved road, as though she were trying to pull up a giant boulder.
Save for what was perhaps an abnormal amount of loose dirt, nothing left the ground, and so she started walking again. "It doesn't work for me - I don't know why."
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