LoK: Rise of the Equalists

Happiness flooded Bao at Quyen's eagerness to assist him. Grinning, Bao nearly embraced her, but quickly decided otherwise and habitually bowed politley. As he did so, he felt a delicate hand wrap around his wrist for a short while, before slipping away as softly as it had arrived. Before Bao even had time to blush, passer-bys barged into the Four Dragons, and then...

"Your father was taken!"

Bao's eyes flashed. His posture morphed and his jaw clenched.

Somewhere in the noise of his thoughts, Quyen's voice...

She held him. Quyen was holding his arm with a grip so tight, Bao could swear she would have been able to save him if he were falling.

He remained silent. What was she talking about? Who was this woman, vaguely familiar, but a stranger? A stranger that made Bao's stomach churn, his chest heave.

Bao shifted away from Quyen, cupping her hands in his. He stared at her for a moment before stepping away from her and approaching Shuri.

"I am Bao Roshan," He spoke without hindrance, without so much as a quiver. "What do you know of my father?"

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"Hey, move it! Learn where to walk, girl!"

"Yeah, yeah. Keep it movin', gramps!" Sada shouted as she jay-ran across the street. She was sprinting towards The Four Dragons, hoping that Linda wouldn't be upset that she was late (as usual).

Some mornings, when Sada wouldn't make it on time, she would find Linda talking to that corporate worker. What was her name? Lorin. She seemed like a nice enough woman, but she was a bender. Benders left a bitter taste in Sada's mouth, no matter how sweet the spirit.

Turning the corner, Sada spotted a bit of a crowd gathering at the shop. Was there a tea sale that she wasn't aware of?

Not fair! No one tells me when there's anything good happening! Tch!

Mimi dropped her box of tea, twisting around sharply to face the commotion. In an instant, she was rushing toward the crowd of concerned faces, lines furrowing her brow.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked no one in particular. She glanced through the sea of mostly unfamiliar faces. "I really know my way around the city ... I make deliveries for the Jade Lion."

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As the girls around him gasped in the wake of all the confusion, Shin sat back and watched, enjoying the spectacle. Other people's problems were so very, very interesting.

"Oh, Shin," sighed one vapid voice beside him, "what should we do?"

Shin shrugged, raising one perfect eyebrow. "I don't get involved in issues like this."

Another girl grasped his forearm. "But Shin, you're so rich and smart... Can't you help them?"

He fought the urge to grin. Of course he could help them; it was well within his ability. But he saw no reason why he should interfere.

Especially with so many willing volunteers stepping up to the task, he thought, fixing his gaze on the Amagawa girl. What idiots.

His eyes floated over the rest of the crowd. Shame, too. A lot of these girls were rather pretty.

"Keep moving old man." Liandri's hope of avoiding the masses with a hostage had quickly been put down, since they seemed to be coming out of the wood works thanks to Shuri's Earthbending and Kori's aggressive show of flames; she was impressed he didn't go too far though.

That lead to Liandri weaving their little group through the dark alleys, dragging the man by the ice cuffs that were currently freezing his skin and doing some serious nerve damage, but effected her on no level what so ever.

"Kori, mind getting the door?" asked Liandri as they reached their destination, a Metal-Bender equipment bunker. It would be lightly guarded, on the average day there was one guard until noon, meaning they could break in, take the guard out, get uniforms, have a little chat with their prisoner, and then get his home address and finish this business up.

"Be prepared for a bit of a fight, try not to fry the cop," warned Liandri as she waited for her younger sibling to take the lead.

Kai rubbed her face. She hadn't even noticed there was anyone she was about to smash into... of course, until she smashed into her. The shock of the event pulled her out of her lost stupor. She was quite lost. She was just wandering about trying to decidewho she should ask directions from, when suddenly she and this woman before her ran right into her, literally. She had been running. Well, jogging would be more the word. But still. Kailani blinked a few times with wide eyes before she gathered the ability to speak.

"Um... Yeah. I'm lost."

((OOC: Kailani's dad is named Amarok, which means "wolf" in Inuit.))

Piece of paper? What pie- Oh! Right ... duh...

Kai had almost forgotten about the scrap in her hands. She un-crumpled it and looked at the directions and names scrawled out by her father; even Amarok's scrawl was quite neat. But even with her father's thoughtful gesture, she still ended up lost. His directions proved to be unhelpful, seeing as she knew none of the places or streets on the little map he had doodles up for her.

But of course, the name of the place she was looking for was on here.

"Oh! Haha, well you're right about that. I've obviously gotten myself to somewhere that is not the place I'm trying to get to... Meaning, I'm hopelessly lost..." She laughed a bit, glad this woman seemed so nice and willing to help. Kai had been wary about some of the other people she'd passed on her wandering. Not that she couldn't defend herself. But still. It was nice to find someone who seemed nice in a city where she knew no one at all.

"I'm looking for this place... some tea house called 'The Four Dragons', near this area... I think... " She brushed her single wrapped braid-like bundle of hair from her line of sight and showed the woman her father's hand-drawn map.

Shuri's eyes frantically searched for a face similar to that of Garin Roshan. Finally, a figure stood but only spoke when he was in front of her. With panic still in her eyes, she hesitated with the knowledge she knew. Her every fiber, her every being was now put into this new character she was fabricating out of thin air. Fear, hesitance, loyalty were all traits she was quickly adopting. She felt the fear she was feeding herself as the worry over the old man consumed her. "I-I... the Triple Threats took him. He helped me once. Saved my life," she told him in quieter tones. Not quite as personal as a whisper but one that indicated that the rest of the room was no longer invited. No doubt every word was being eavesdropped but that was none of her concern.

"I don't know why they have him only that he was running. I told him to circle into an alley to jump a fence into someone's backyard but they trapped him before and took him away in ice manacles. I ran to you... I didn't know who else to turn to..." she said tearfully, fighting hard against the droplets of water that were threatening to build before falling. "I don't know where they took him but we have to hurry! They'll kill him!" It was that last line that broke her resolve and the first tear fall.


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Li easily returned the bow with a demure curtsy of her own. Sailing? Beautiful? Puh, that seemed impossible to her and she was a water bender. Nothing was more liberating than being surrounded by her own element yet boats only constricted her and trapped her in a glass bottle of emotions jk. She watched as his eyes unfocused and he was lost in thought and a small pang of curiosity beckoned her as she wondered what he was remembering and experiencing twice.

In a matter of a couple of short seconds, his gaze sharpened and he was back to the present. Disappointment wracked her as she realized she'd have to keep up the pretense of being a lady in their household even in the car. Posture, grace, and elegance were pushed into her mind, body, and soul but she'd so much rather loosen her corset and slouch. One by one, the Kuans and Li filed into the car left in the care of Chozen and Ghao as Master Kuan signified his two guards should be left to travel a separate car. Li knew she could handle these men in a closed space on her own. There had been many simulations to make absolute certainty that she was capable despite wearing such a tight, albeit beautiful, gown.

Once they were comfortable (or as comfortable as their finery would allow), conversation between Li's lady and master continued.

(Yeah, the drawbacks of having a mute character. Since the Kuans were your creation, I didn't want to voice them or anything but it would be great to throw out that Li would like a "self defense" teacher while she's here and blah, blah, blah, plot? Idunno. If you had ideas then by awwwwlllll means. :3)

Bao's eyes frantically examined the woman. His brows furrowed. His face became hot. He tried to understand why The Triple Threats would ever have anything to do with his father. Why? How did she know he had a son? Did his father mention him in passing? How did she find him, here? She must have spoken with him long enough to be able to track Bao down...

Despite the rising feelings of unease and suspicion, it was of no consequence. Whatever Bao felt towards or for this woman were nothing. She was an infinitesimal happening at this moment. His father was in danger.

He observed a tear roll down her cheek. Bao's countenance returned to indifference.

"Bring me to him, as quickly as you can," Bao responded, his voice flat.

We'll discuss the details later...

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Sada grinned.

Well, that was easy...

"Wonderful!" Sada exclaimed, half sarcastically. "So, what's your name? Where are you from? I mean, you're obviously from a Water Tribe, right? Unless you're trying to disguise yourself, in which case, I wouldn't be able to trust you." She laughed.

This girl seemed trusting, naive, and easily influenced. Maybe Sada was jumping to conclusions, and maybe there was more to the stranger, but for now Sada didn't mind her. She wasn't threatening - like Linda. Sada cared for Linda like a sister because Linda needed that. And maybe Sada did, too...

Perhaps there was more than met the eye to this woman. Kailani always found it easy to talk to anyone, and seem at ease with them. It wasn't that she was afraid of Sada, but something about the way she had said "wonderful" and all the questions just made Kai feel a bit on guard. As a Waterbender, changes in the energy around her, including the energy of a person. But still, it was probably just the woman feeling the same way about Kai. She was someone dressed in a manner that was quite different that anyone else she has seen in Republic City so far.

"Well, I guess it's not hard to figure out where I'm from." Kai pulled at her clothing to emphasize the point. "Well, my name is Kailani. But, if you want, you can call me Kai. And yeah, I come from the Northern Water Tribe. Just arrived in Republic City today... Actually. I just came to see the place for myself. My father's a merchant and has some friends here and I just wanted to come here to get to experience the culture here."

Suddenly, a scruffy looking dog had come over and offered the two girls his paw. Kailani, who was fond of animals, laughed and shook the dog's paw. He seemed well-trained and non-aggressive. She patted him on his head.

"My my, you're quite a character." But perhaps, she was talking to the wrong creature. Her eyes wandered over to a ragged looking man standing waist-deep in a bush.

The dog barked a reply, walking over to Sada now and sitting with a paw out ready to be taken.

The man laughed heartily, "You know that most people can't speak dog! Told ya he was crazy."

The man pushed his way out of the bush, brushing himself off a bit and said, "His name's Scruffy, on account of, well... just look at him! Isn't he scruffy looking?"

The dog barked again, looking at Nagano and growling a bit. "Okay, okay. I get it. Not in front of the girls." The dog barked again and then turned his rear to Nagano to get more attention from the girls. Nagano stood with mouth open, really shocked.

"You are not scruffy because you hang out with me! You looked like that when I found you," he stated and then continued with an accusatory finger toward the dog, "And don't start talking like you were the one that found me... heh..."

He just looked up, realizing how strange this probably all was. He brought his arms to his sides and looked around innocently. "So, what are the ladies doing in the park?"