[Kana] Sparring Match

[Konei Kozuki]

"I could lend you a book or two. I have a thrilling one about the history of Fire Nation metalworking. Fascinating stuff," he said dryly, striding over to the wall mount from which the training sword had been taken. "I’m sure that with a read like that you’d have no need for me." He hung up the sword in its proper place and turned back to face Kana. He spread his arms for a second, as if to mime, Shall we?

"Unfortunately my place isn’t the prettiest in the world, but it’s better than being homeless," he said. He didn’t have the luxury of living in a place like the Tiger Flats Borough, but the alternative was living in a Triad territory or flat-out having no place at all. He’d slept a few rough nights when he first came to the city and he had been looking for a place to stay. Furthermore, Konei wasn’t a rich man. In fact, with his rent, bills, and food expenses he had to hold down two jobs just to manage the cost of living in the city. What he had was all he could afford without starving. As far as he was concerned Kana had it easy with the deal she got as a firebender. He’d always had to scrape by in life, and he’d even got some men’s blood on his hands on the way.

"Hope you brought a good coat with you," he added as he moved toward the exit and held the door open for Kana that led out into the pouring rain.

[Kana Saitou]

Her nose wrinkled slightly at the short summary of the book, looking quite a bit like her little rodent friend back home for a moment. "Metalworking, eh? I... think I'll pass. As... intriguing as such a thing might be, not sure it's something that could catch my attention." Her lips pulled once more into a one-sided grin as the other turned finally.

Unfortunately my place isn't the prettiest in the world, but it's better than being homeless, "Pretty? You say that like I expected you to live in a home adorned from floorboard to ceiling tile in flowers and ornate tapestries." She released a quiet snort, shaking her head. "I don't care. It's out of the rain--not to mention, hopefully closer than my place."

As the door opened, the sound of the rain outside suddenly changed. It was no longer a muffled pattering sound against the roof--but now she could hear the full on attack of the water droplets hitting the ground outside, no barrier blocking the sound from meeting their ears. She let out a rather dry, short laugh in response to the other as she pulled the shawl out from under her belt, wrapping it over her shoulders in it's proper place, before pulling the hood up. "This will have to do, I suppose. Not that I didn't already get completely soaked once today." Then she paused, something crossing her mind.

"Ah. Twice."

[/blockquote]

[Konei Kozuki]

As Kana passed him by the doorway, Konei flipped up the hood of his coat but did not zip it up. Instead, he stuck his hands in his pockets and used his arms to open out one side of the coat like a wing, and then wrapped Kana into its folds, pulling her close and shielding her from the worst of the rain. It wasn’t entirely a selfless gesture, though; he was still damp from having hastily dried off and the second he went out into the wind it was like icy breath down the back of his shirt. She, however, was like a living, breathing furnace.

"Well, stick close and I’ll keep you dry enough."

It was certainly a good thing that she didn’t expect anything fancy, and his place wasn’t nearly as nice as hers was. It was all he could afford, but it was more than good enough.

The distance from the gym to his place wasn’t that far, but with the rain and the city traffic it took him a while to reach it. The building was a plain one, constructed shortly after the founding of the city and it hadn’t appeared to have been given the luxury of maintainance since. His flat was on the third floor, after a short trek up a set of stone stairs, and behind a thin door with a lock that had a tendency to eat the key and jam when you tried to open it. So, after shoving his shoulder against the door a few times and quickly wrestling with the lock to retrieve his key, he stepped into his flat and gestured for Kana to follow him in.

The first impression was that of utilitarian bareness and plain walls. The main room was an L-shaped wedge with a bathroom in the corner to make up the square. The front door opened into the kitchen, which took up over half the flat, and opposite the door was the bedroom separated by half-walls.
Konei had made a visible attempt to make the place homely. He believed that the kitchen was the hub of any household, and there were shinng brass pans, dried bunches of herbs hanging from the shelves, and a full size mural that he’d painted on the largest wall. There were few plates draining by the sink, and on the opposite side of the room was the bedroom; a disproportionately small space into which he’d crammed a double bed and a set of drawers. And the end of the bedroom was a set of double doors opening inwards onto a tiny belcony that overlooked the busy city road below. The walls and ceiling of the bedroom had been inlaid with bioluminescent rock crystals that glowed at night.
And all over the place was a scattering of clutter; a screwdriver on the bedside table, a bookshelf of whatever reading material he’d aquired through his life, a shirt hung over the exposed boiler pipe on the wall to dry; the kind of mess that made the otherwise plain and bleak little cube of a flat a place to really live in.

"So, welcome," Konei said, tossing the keys into a bowl on a table by the door and turning on the radio that sat next to it. "This is my place, don’t mind the mess; it’s usually worse than this." He whipped the shirt off the boiler pipe and turned a small, stiff valve that would let more hot water run through the kitchen, heating the place up. "Want a drink of something?" Konei asked, tossing the shirt through to his bedroom, where it lnded on the duvet. And, just at that moment, the radio broadcaster changed the topic to the weekly events.

"A pair of benders were sighted screaming recklessly through the city on a motorbike. To cap it off, the police lost them when they jumped over a bridge and used their firebending to further propel themselves through the air. Believe me, listeners..."

"Whaddya know, we’re infamous," Konei said with a smile. "And I’m apparently a bender."

((The radio broadcast was Narye's. :) And I did not intend for the post to be this long.))

[Kana Saitou]

His arm suddenly around her made her blink once, twice, before her face flashed an expression of realization, which was quickly replaced by a gentle smile, her closest-to-him arm sliding around his back from the inside of his coat--If he asked, she'd simply say that it was so her arm wasn't squished between them.

He didn't ask though, a fact of which she was glad. After all, it was a terrible excuse.

Kana was, of course, relieved when they finally got to his apartment. Though, at the same time, she felt the slight pit of anxiety grow in her stomach, a pit whose reasoning she couldn't quite pinpoint. It was rare Kana was anxious about anything, making her even more confused.

She pushed that focus out of her mind though as she watched Konei struggle with the door, a quiet giggle escaping her as he finally unstuck the door with a good slam to its surface. "You should probably look into getting that fixed, Konei." She grinned at him as she followed the other in, quickly pulling off her half-soaked shawl so she could wring most of the water out of it outside the door before letting the other close the door behind them.
Kana glanced around the room slowly, taking in the little details here and there, the slight grin from before still hovering on her features.

"It's not messy. Believe me, mine has been much worse. Mostly with books and scrolls. And food, I suppose." A slight, breathy laugh slipped out of her as she moved to rest her shawl on the nearest flat surface that wouldn't be damaged by the wet fabric. "It's very... Well. You." At his question, she then paused, before shrugging. "Sure, whatever's fine."

Then the radio broadcast played, and she had to grin, catching direct eye contact with the other before finally laughing. "Apparently so. You know, I don't remember us screaming. I remember us laughing our asses off afterwards, but screaming? Not to mention, there weren't cops anywhere!" She shook her head, before letting out an almost exasperated sigh, wandering over to lean her hip against one of the counters in the kitchen near the other.

[/blockquote]

[Konei Kozuki]

He wasn’t too embarrassed to have her seeing his apartment like this. It certainly wasn’t the worst case scenario, and it wasn’t as if though he had food-crusted plates festering, untouched and dirty laundry strewn all over the place. He kept the place in order, mostly.

She’d described it as very him. He didn’t really know what that meant, and, considering the bare piping, sticky door, and cramped living space, he didn’t quite know whether it was an insult or compliment. Judging by her tone of voice, it hadn’t been intended for rudeness.

"Just some fluff made up to make it sound like the metalbenders are on top of things." If it seemed like they were in some thrilling high speed chase then it implied that the cops were on top of the situation, that they perhaps escaped by a hair’s breadth. That the cops were doing something in the city, that they might just be looking into those attacks on benders that had been going on recently. Every time he heard it on the radio, Konei’s heart sank a little lower in his chest. There was some serious anti-bender sentiment running rife through the city, and it was very obvious to him.

He filled the kettle up from the tap and lit the stove with a small flintlock lighter. It took him a few tries to get the hob to light, but he managed it eventually, and put the kettle over the heat. Kana would have been able to light the thing with a snap of her fingers, in fact she wouldn’t have needed to use the stove at all, she could just boil the water through the metal kettle, but he didn’t have that ability, and he wasn’t going to ask Kana for help when he was perfectly capable of doing it himself. It took him a little longer, that’s all.

He stood there for a moment, seeming to forget what he was going to do as he tried to remember where he’d put the teapot the last time he’d used it. Then, recalling, he rummaged around in one of the top cupboards, pulling out the teapot, box of dried tea leaves, filter, and a couple of mugs that were obviously handmade and a little wonky. They were chipped and used, glazed on the inside with bare ceramic on the outside. It had been cheaper than buying them.

"You ever got into trouble with the cops before?" he asked, relocating the lot to the kitchen table and shooting her a quick glance and a smirk as he put the teapot down.