[Finished] Flooding Therapy...

[Lao Shen]

It was another busy day in Republic City. Hundreds of people walking along the sidewalks of the city and driving by in the fancy looking Satomobiles. There were many people sitting at tables throughout the city and enjoyed conversations with others. The wind was blowing slightly and the sun shined high in the sky, letting the entire street be in the light.

Inside one of the apartment buildings was a young man who seemed to grimace at the thought of getting out into the city. He sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the ground for an unusual amount of time before forcing himself up and into the bathroom. Minutes passed and the man looked anew. His twisted, dread locked hair was tied back into a ponytail and his face looked clean and rejuvinated. The man walked over to a dresser cabinet and grabbed his clothes, putting on his shirt and pants, tucking his shirt into his pants, and put on his shoes. He sighed as he looked in the mirror, making sure that he looked orderly and presentable before walking out of the room and down the flights of stairs.

The man was known as Lao. Lao Shen. He looked at the people passing by and he chewed the inside of his cheek for a bit. He scratched the back of his neck as he walked out onto the sidewalk and headed towards the center of the city. He stopped by the side markets as he did, perusing the wares of each. He purches an apple from one of the old women selling fruits and stood next to her stand for a second, enjoying his apple and watching the large number of people. It was obvious that the man was still unusued to being around so many people.

[Konei Kozuki]

Konei was not familiar with the Dragon Flats district, and he avoided going into the area whenever possible. It was a Triple Threat hotspot, and the last thing Konei wanted was to be sucked into some bending drama he had no part of. That wasn’t to say that he couldn’t handle a bender or two – quite the opposite – but there was no need to seek out violence and every reason to avoid it. Besides, Konei was no fool. Should he face the Triple Threats directly, he was really no match.

However, on this particular day, Konei had been sent into the district, quite against his own wishes. See, his day job was at a forge, and while he could shape and mould metal almost as well as any metalbender (albeit with a lot of heat and more time) his boss still had him running deliveries. Technically, the newest apprentice, Karnook, was the go-to delivery boy, but he was at Waterbender lessons all day so deliveries were instead made by Konei. They’d use the postal service like normal people, but personal couriers were cheaper when they were already employed, and the goods far less likely to be damaged.

So. Konei was wandering around the Dragon Flats district, almost completely lost. Scratch that. Completely lost. He didn’t know this area of the city, and he had little desire to find out past delivering the delicate set of boiler parts and getting the hell out.

Konei stopped on the pavement, waited for a break in the Satomobile traffic and crossed the road.

“Hey, kid!” he called to a dreadlocked guy, who actually looked around his age. He jogged up to him, digging around for the slip of paper with the recipient’s address. “Know where I can find, uh-” he found the address, took it out of his pocket “-Dragon Flats eastern residential block?”

[Lao Shen]

Lao stood there, enjoying the rest of his apple as he listened to a strolling couple that had come to a stop and sat near the fruit stand that he was standing by. He closed his eyes, savoring the juices from the fruit as he finished it slowly. He held the core in his hand, and looked back towards the stand. He noticed a small wastebasket and gently tossed the apple core into it. He grinned to himself as he watched the core fly into the basket.

As Lao was about to walk away and head back onto his wandering for the day, he noticed a man who just crossed the street and called out for someone. At first, Lao knew the man wasn't talking to him, at least he convinced himself from hearing 'kid'. The man got closer to him and started to ask him a question. Lao blinked as he watched the man, wondering what on earth a complete stranger wanted with him. I'll have to branch out some time I guess.., he thought to himself to quiet his suspicions about what the man wanted.

Lao listened to the address and his first instinct was to tell the man that he just recently moved to the city himself and that he didn't know much of the place. "I'm sorry, I just moved here myself.." His voice trailed off slowly. He looked down the street for a moment and ran his hand over the mass of his hair for a second. "You know," He said looking back to the man, "I think I do know where it is. I'll show you."

Lao nodded to the man and turned towards the street he was looking at before. He put his hands in his pockets as he walked, not sure if the man was following him or not. He kept his eyes forward, making sure that he didn't bump into anyone ahead of him and he suddenly spoke up, "You visiting the city or just getting settled?"

[Konei Kozuki]

Konei jammed the parcel under his left arm and stuck the slip of paper back into his pocket. His face fell somewhat when the man mentioned that he was new here in the city - Ah, a newcomer. Just my luck – but the guy thought about it for a second, then said that he might just know the place. His eyebrows shot up, the shadow of a lopsided smile on his face.

"Really?" Konei asked, when the guy said he’d show Konei where it was. "Wow, thanks. You had me going for a second there." He rubbed his scarred brow and fell into step at the man’s side, a half-stride behind so that he could turn when the other turned.

"I’ve actually been living here in the city for a few years," Konei said, with a sheepish grin. "So I should really know this area by now, but if you’re not a bender or a cop you’re advised to stay well away." Konei paused, having subtly revealed that he wasn’t a bender himself. Not that it made much difference either way, but he’d noticed that benders seemed to bond quickly with others, especially of the same element. It generally meant one-on-one sparring sessions and a quick exchange of tips. With non-benders, it was a brief conversation of , "Hi", "What’s your name?", "Where are you from?", "Do you bend an element? No? Well that’s great too, I guess..."

He studied the man’s face under a sideways glance. "So I take it you’re a bender then? What’s your name?"

[Lao Shen]

Lao looked out of the corner of his eyes at the man. His amber eyes studied the man as he spoke about being advised out of this area if one wasn't a bender. He looked back ahead as he recognized the buildings and turned down one of the streets, being careful not to lose the man. He shrugged as he sighed quietly, "Advised to stay away? Hm.. because of the Triple Threat thing right?" He said more in a thoughtful way.

He nodded to the man's question. Lao wasn't ashamed that he was gifted. At least that's how he was raised to think. That his bending ability was a gift from the spirits. Neither of his parents were benders, so he was accustomed to interacting with non-benders. For the first few years of his life he even believed that he was a non-bender. He inherited his ability from his grandfather and was trained how to foster it by the same. "Yes, I am a firebender." He said in a prideful voice. He turned his head and gave the man a friendly look, "You're not one of those bender haters are you? It would suck to help someone who could be thinking about how to kill me."

Lao continued down the path and stopped at an intersection. He saw people that he was warned about during his first few days there. They were initiates for the Triple Threat gang. He looked to the man he was guiding and tried to decide. There was a way around them, but the man seemed to be in a hurry when he stepped to Lao... and those initiates were in the way of the faster path. "I'm Lao, by the way. So I've come to a dilemma," Lao paused for a moment and removed his right hand from his pocket and used it to gesture to the two different paths, "Straight ahead is the fastest way... but there are some Triple Threat wannabes up ahead, but if we go down this way," he pointed to his right, "I can swing us around to avoid them, but it would take a bit longer."

He turned so that he was facing the man and his right side was facing the initiates, just in case they noticed the duo. "Which way do you want to go?"

[Konei Kozuki]

"Yeah, the Triple Threat Triad," Konei said. "If you haven’t been warned about them before, then here’s the heads-up now. Don’t get tangled up with them, especially if you don’t think you can take them."

So the kid was a firebender. Cool. For Konei that meant instant hot baths and cooked food. Sounded pretty sweet, and he sounded rather proud about it himself.

Konei held up his one free hand; the universal gesture of peace. "Nah, I’m not an anti-bender. In fact, I’d love to be able to bend an element but I just wasn’t born that way." Hey ho, never mind, right? There were plenty of other cool things non-benders could do. Just... shooting fire and lightning from your fingertips wasn’t one of them. "Don’t worry, I won’t kill you," Konei said with a grin. "I’m Konei."

When Lao stopped at the intersection, Konei also stopped. Were they already here? No, apparently not; Lao was looking to him as if for direction. Were they both lost now? Because that would be just fantastic.

Straight ahead is the fastest way... but there are some Triple Threat wannabes up ahead, but if we go down this way I can swing us around to avoid them, but it would take a bit longer.

Oh. So that was the issue. Konei sized up the two men and quickly calculated his odds. Two initiates versus him and a guy who sounded proud of his firebending. Konei assumed Lao must be good at it, then, and Konei himself was a force to be reckoned with in a fight. Sure, he decided eventually, they could take them if they needed to.

Don’t get tangled up with them, especially if you don’t think you can take them, he’d said. He could risk getting a little tangled this once.

"Straight on ahead," Konei said, with a shrug, and began to walk towards the two men, but decidedly trying not to make eye contact. These guys were like armadillo wolves; they took direct glances and staring as a challenge. Konei was confident in his own abilities, but he’d rather not provoke someone or have to chi-block a couple of guys in front of someone he claimed he wasn’t an anti-bender to if he could help it.

[Lao Shen]

Lao watched Konei for a bit. As he looked ahead at the two initiates he had a feeling of what his response would be. Lao smiled inwardly, though his face conveyed a slight bit of shock with the quirking of an eyebrow, at Konei's response. Straight ahead. He wouldn't say it to a man he just met, but he was raised with the pride of the old Fire Nation. He would have gone the same way if he didn't have to worry about Konei's safety. He chuckled slightly and looked at the ground for a moment and quickly proceeded after the man at his own, casual pace.

As they neared the two, Lao paid the wannabees no mind. He looked straight ahead the entire time. His body language gave off an 'alpha bender' vibe as he passed the two, as though the initiates and himself were but animals. His left hand remained in his pocket, but his right was freely at his side, just in case there was a confrontation. He could feel the band that was holding his hair back in its ponytail start to loosen. He sighed to himself, but decided to ignore it for a while.

The closer they got to the two, the more attention they drew, so it seemed. Soon, the smaller called to them.He wore a sleevless vest and pants, with a pair of black shoes. He didn't seem like much physically, so Lao brushed the idea of earthbender out of his mind, not seeing much muscle development on the man. Lao also took note that he was too tan to be from the Fire Nation, he resembled a water tribe member. "Hey there! What's that you got under your arm?"

Lao had nearly forgotten about the package that Konei was delivering. He didn't stop moving, however. He looked the other initiate over out of the corner of his eyes. He was nearly the height of Konei and Lao, towering over his associate. He looked gruff and serious, stubble around his chin and jaw. Then Lao saw it, he had amber eyes. Another firebender.. He shifted his eyes from the two initiates to Konei. He had a feeling things were gonna get bad.

[Konei Kozuki]

As he walked, Konei sized up the two men from the corner of his eye. One couldn’t be too careful with Triple Threats. The smaller of the two, dark-skinned, turned towards him as he drew nearer. He could feel dark eyes examining him, and the odd-shaped package he carried.

Hey there! What's that you got under your arm?

Konei was very aware of the sound of Lao’s footsteps behind him.
"Oh, this?" Konei called back, a dangerous note of confidence in his voice. "Boiler parts. You wouldn’t be interested." He flashed a grin at the man and his amber-eyed associate, and instantly assumed them fire- and waterbenders. Even that small guess would help him anticipate their attack pattern and allow him to dodge accordingly.

The dark-skinned man – Konei guessed he had Water Tribe genetics in him – moved out into the centre of the path, aiming to block his way. Konei moved aside to walk straight past him, but the guy put out his arm, palm against the wall, to stop him in his tracks. Konei, still paying him no mind, arched backwards and ducked under his outstretched arm, limbo-style, and carried on walking. His disregard was disrespectful. He could feel the coming storm; the man was about to attack him as he walked away, and Konei would be ready to twist aside.

[Lao Shen]

Lao watched how the tribesman treated Konei. He narrowed his eyes slightly at the situation and looked to the larger man. He could see the man moving towards the other two. He inhaled deeply through his nostrils and exhaled slowly through the same. This drew the larger man's attention. Lao figured that the man could tell that he was a firebender and for some reason wary of his breathing. Most in a hostile situation would think that Lao was prepping himself for the confrontation by filling his lungs. In actuality, he was just keeping himself calm. He knew that if he lost it, the results could leave the district in ashes.

He stepped past the smaller waterbender and larger firebender, trying to think of a way out. He knew they wouldn't let Konei walk away with the parcel. He knew they didn't care about the parcel at all. It was just something for them to make an excuse to try and bully Lao and Konei over. He grinned as he looked at the back of Konei's head. Surely he knows they won't let us just waltz by after that.. He thought, referring to the limbo move.

As he walked, the air around him started to heat up slightly. It was his way of warning the other two that he wasn't someone to mess with. He wasn't an overwhemingly great bender, but he hoped that his ploy would at least ward off the firebender off. It was a simple nature tactic of making himself seem much more indomitable than he really was.

[Konei Kozuki]

Konei heard a small pop. That was cue for him to start dancing about like a freaking Kiyoshi Warrior.

The Water Tribesman had uncorked his pouch, and Konei, his every muscle having been tightly coiled in anticipation, sprung aside. The water whip that had been aimed at his back missed him, and Konei turned his evasion into a counterattack, sprinting at the waterbender. The man tried to call back his water, but Konei hooked his ankle around the man’s knee, put his free hand to the back of the man’s shoulder blade (pausing to use the man to block a blast of fire from his comrade), and in one swift motion had brought the bender to his knees and planted his face into the ground.

Though not a waterbender himself, it was obvious that Konei was well trained in the way they moved. His actions were fast and fluid, evading and launching a counter. Tui and la. Push and pull. Positive jing and negative jing. Like a waterbender, he was capable of turning defence into offence and using his enemy’s own force against them. The man should’ve seen it coming, really, but Konei had a feeling that he’d been born and raised in Republic City, away from the traditional styles.

It was probably being raised in the Northern Tribe that made Konei such a skilled chi-blocker, too. He used to spar his sister outside the healing huts, and he knew those life-sized mannequins they used. He’d seen so much of them in his childhood, and memorized the chi paths carved along the statue, that he had known where which location caused what effect before he even came to this city.

The waterbender now down for the count, Konei straightened up and stared coldly at the firebender. He stretched out his free arm, like he was presenting himself to the Triad wannabe in silence. As if to say, come on, mate. Give me a reason.