[private - Mai] Taking a break

[Chase Sato]

His crimson eyes studied her as she tried to recall the memory that was clearly buried deep. He wondered who he was, and what kind of imprint he had left on her to be giving her this effect. He concluded that it couldn't be good, but that didn't take much brainpower to figure out. Not knowing what to say, he opted for keeping quiet. There was nothing useful he could say to her anyways at this point. The realization seemed to dawn on her suddenly and she took off after him. From the look in her eye, he could tell that interaction wasn't going to go well. "MAI!" he yelled after her, his attempt at catching her arm failing. Damn she was fast. He took off after her, Zala taking off, gliding beside his head.

He finally caught up in time to see her corner him in an alley, scraping to a halt. He wasn't going to stop her, this seemed like something that she needed to do, but he didn't want her doing something that she would regret. "Mai.." he repeated her name gently, taking a step forward. He reminded himself never to piss her off, she was terrifying when she was angry. He had no idea what to say or do. It really looked like she was going to kill him right there in this alley, witnesses and everything. With the guards it was a little different, no one else was around and they were also keeping her captive. If the police got involved, she could get off on self defense. But this, she would definitely get locked up if she went through with it. "Just don't do anything you'll regret. You just got free, do you want to get locked up again?" he may have crossed the line a little with that last part, but he felt like he needed to say it to get through to her.

[Mai Toriko]

Mai was panting, barely able to console herself as she held his life in her hands. "You killed my parents..." she hissed, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. But Chase's voice brought her back, he was right. She knew she would go away for this, it was murder...but she had killed once and it made her feel so much better. She could summon that bending power and tear him limb from limb but by controlling the blood. But it wasn't right...it was no different than what this man had done. She dropped the dagger and it turned to water when it hit the earth. Slowly her fists uncurled and she dropped him to the ground, head hung as her hair hid her face.

The man spoke breifly as he regained his footing and backed away. "I..I didn't know...I was hired out by the men who I delivered you too.."

"get away from me...before I end you...you're lucky he;s here or I would have destroyed you seconds ago..." Mai knew she couldn't go to the police system in the earth kingdom, she wasn't even in a real citizen. They would ask too many questions and should a tainted cop recognize her from her many captures in the southern part..it wouldn't take long for her to snatched back up to the whore house. "Leave.."

"Hey not a chance you almost killed me-"

"Leave now!" she shouted and screamed in his face, and the man left quickly. The memory was there but she knew she could never go to anyone about it...he was one of many in her memory, once face of many. As he fled the scene she crumbled to her knees as Soru nuzzled her neck and tried to give comfort as she cied.

[Chase Sato]

He let out the breath that he had been holding in anticipation when she dropped the dagger. He closed the gap between them as the man ran away, kneeling down beside her as she crumbled to the ground. He knew he could never comprehend what she was feeling right now. Zala rubbed her face against her arm, meowing up at her, her huge golden eyes filled with worry. She always hated seeing people cry, and always tried to distract crying people with being cute. It usually worked, but Chase had a feeling that this time it wouldn't. But the feline had the right idea, the only thing he felt like he could do was comfort her, it's not like he could say anything to make her feel better. He put his hand on her back, rubbing it slowly like he did with his little sister when she was upset. She always told him that he sucked at comforting her, but always came looking for it when she was down.

"I'm proud of you." he said quietly, "What you just did was hard, a lot harder then just taking his life. You're a better person then that." It was easy to just take someone's life. But to let him go like that, while she was filled with so much rage, he was surprised that she hadn't at least hurt him before letting him go. "We need to get moving, we've attracted a crowd." the firebender observed, looking over his shoulder. A few people had stopped what they were doing to look into the alley to see what the commotion was about. He didn't know how long they had all been watching for, it would be best to just leave. Helping her to her feet, he looked down at her, lifting his hand brush a tear off her cheek.

[Mai Toriko]

Mai sniffled and pulled her hand over her face as she tried to stop her sobbing. Soru snapped at Chase's hand for a moment but calmed when hie master leaned into his touch. Mai ended up laying her head on his shoulder for a breif while as she tried to calm herself. Everything hurt, a deep ache forming in the pit of her stomach. "It hurts so much..." she whimpered softly, "I can't do anything...I can't avenge them, I can't even find them...I don;t know where I was taken from and I would have beat ti out of him but...what good would that do but land me in jail?" she sighed with a shakey tone before she felt him dry her tears as she was helped to her feet.

She was not usually a physical person but she chose at this moment to make the exception. Moving in a split second she hugged the other for a moment, seeking the comfort she had never wanted before but knew in this moment was exactly what was needed. There was no more sobbing but tears still ran. It was going to be a hard road and one that she couldn't see down with any clear vision but she was travelling down it at a speed that was making her sick. Memories were swirling, visions were flashing but the moment she held him, it all stopped for just a short while. Everything slowed down to a halt and for a moment she regained her peace.

Pulling away she looked up into his eyes and saw that unreadable expression once again. "my apologise..." she whispered before pulling her hood up over her face as she dried her face. "I suppose...we should get something to eat..." she gave a sad laugh, trying to move on.

[Chase Sato]

Chase narrowed his eyes at the small creature as it nipped at him, then returned his attention to her. "You don't have to avenge them. They probably wouldn't have wanted that. No body wants to put that kind of burden on their kid. They probably would have wanted for you to just live your life and try to be happy." he didn't know what kind of people they were, and hopefully wouldn't have wanted to be avenged. With Mai's luck they probably were. He had never known someone who's had so much happen to them so young. It really was unfortunate, but hopefully things would go better for her from now on. She'd gone through enough, and didn't need to go through any more.

He was surprised when he felt her wraps her arms around him in a hug. He was stunned for a moment, but then relaxed, wrapping his own arm around her. He usually hated contact with others, even with family, but with Mai, he actually liked it. It felt... right? he couldn't think of any other word to describe it. The firebender was a little disappointed when she pulled away, but hid it from his expression. "No need to apologize." he told her, dropping his hands down to his sides. "Ya, I'm pretty hungry." he could sense that she still wasn't okay, but probably wouldn't be for a while. but it would be best to just move on, she just needed to think about something else. "Common, over here." he spotted what looked like a nice quiet little restaurant, with low lighting, with one lone lady sitting at one of the tables. He led them over to the doors, holding them open for Mai, following in behind her.

[Mai Toriko]

Mai walked into the place,trying to quickly dry her eyes as she berated herself for letting those tears fall in the first place. It was pointless to cry over such things. Either way she had shown weakness to her new friend/aquaintance and she was not happy with herself for such a thing. Mai was supposed to be stronger than this but it had seemed she was reaching a breaking point. Though as they were shown a seat inside the restuarant she felt her body begin to relax. The lights were dim, the tables allowed for privacy and the people seemed disinterested in watching who came in. This gave her a little more sense of security as she sat in the booth and lowered her hood. The summer weather was not kind on her outfit choice, she would fix something up tonight when she arrived home.

Looking across the table, pretending to be glancing through the menu choices, Mai couldn't help but smile secretly to herself. This person...cared...the thought made her flush. the way he brushed away her tears, spoke so gently and seemed to want to take care of her, though at the same time was not so over bearing as to control her. It was a balance she was unfamiliar with but growing very fond of. The brunette turned her attention back to the menu, sipping a glass of water that the waitress had brought them, before offering it to Soru who had chosen to sit on her lap while remaining hidden under the table. She pet him softly until he slept peacefully. "Thank you Chase, for everything..." she said simply, not very good at starting conversation. "I shouldn't have lost myself so easily." she shook her head as the head ache gave her a same pang for a moment before fading, "I suppose it must be getting old coming to my rescue." she gave a small laugh, an actual laugh in good nature without bitterness or self anger.

[Chase Sato]

After all that, it was nice to sit down. Zala jumped onto his lap and curled up, closing her eyes. His hand instinctively found her head and pet it, this was obviously their routine. The atmosphere in this place was nice, it kind of reminded him of home a little. There was even some soft music coming from a radio in the back. He glanced through the menu, his stomach reminding him how hungry he was with a quiet growl, Zala lifting her head at the noise, then rested it back down once she deemed the sound non dangerous. His eye scanned the menu, trying to decide on what he wanted. There were so many delicious sounding foods. He sipped water as he mulled over the decisions, flipping between the pages.

His red eyes looked up from the menu when she spoke, snapping out of a kind of daze. "Oh, don't mention it. You'd probably do the same for me." he said quietly, looking away back to the menu. He probably should have said something along the lines of 'you're welcome' or something like that, but the firebender never knew the right way to say things. He often just said the first thing that popped into his mind and didn't really think about how they would affect others. He always seemed to say the wrong thing at the wrong time, so often opted with short simple answers.

Deciding what he wanted, he put the menu back down on the table, leaning back in his chair. He wasn't sure if he should talk to her or not, but this silence was so awkward. Maybe it would be best to try and fill it. "Where did you get him." he asked, motioning to her small pet in her lap.

[Mai Toriko]

Mai smiled as she looked to Chase, "He was owned by a customer. the man was kind for once and simply wanted someone to dance for him and talk for a while. As he gave the payment he also offered me his pet...Soru had taken a liking to me while the older man was speaking and he thought I could use a companion. Not all the men were pigs...it was much needed blessing." she explained as she ran her fingers along his short fur. "He's a moongoose dragon, odd little creatures from air kingdom. There aren't many left of them, but they're very easy to take care of. He can be a bit possessive over me though." her voice held it's humor as she glanced back up to Chase.

She remembered how she had asked about his pet before and felt no need to repeat it, though she did seem very well well behaved around them even with all the other hectic events that had come to pass this little pet never lost her cool. It was quite impressive on both her and Chase's part to have such. The waitress came and took their order, setting tea down for both of them while they waited. However, as Mai waited for the food to arrived she grew bored and began playing with the water in the cup. She made it twist and spin and move in and out of the cup before leaving it alone. Mai could be a restless person when it came down to it.

Instead she started playing withe blood gem again, running it between her fingers before letting a gentle sigh fall from her lips. "it's so odd...trying to life a civilian life."

[Chase Sato]

It was obvious that she really cared about her little pet, with the way she spoke about it. It was probably the only thing that she had to keep her rooted, and could empathize, Zala played that role for him. He had her since he was 6 years old, so could barely remember a time without her. If he was honest, he definitely loved her more then anyone, even his family. She was always around, if anything he had just grown used to her and would feel weird without his companion. He let out a small chuckle when she said the little creature was protective over her. Well, that much was obvious. "Hah, ya, I could see that. And I guess him and Zala have something in common, both being half dragon." well they technically weren't the child of a dragon, but they had the blood in their heritage.

Chase gave his order to the waitress as she came to the table, glancing back to the menu to make sure he had the order right, then handed it off to the waitress and waited for Mai to do the same. As they waited, Mai started playing with the water, he watched with interest. Well there wasn't really much else interesting going on. Even though bloodbending was so dangerous, water a a whole was a very calm, and soothing element, the exact opposite of fire. He sometimes envied them, their element wasn't so destructive, but he also liked the power that his own element held. Well, potential for power.

He smiled a little at her comment "Civilian life?" he hadn't heard the term used outside of military folk. "Well, start enjoying it." he told her, taking a sip of tea.

[Mai Toriko]

Mai caught how he stared at her water bending and knew its power to draw people in. It was like her dancing, it could draw people in and almost become like a hypnotism. She picked it up again and spoke softly, "I've always thought water bending to be a weak bend...but...watermoves earth, destroys fire and can is everyone and everything in some form..." she played with a small amount of the tea in the air and twisted it around her fingers under it sat in the air right above her palm. "But that can come with all elements. Everything has it's strength and weak points. Every element has it's way to conquer...and even with my bending....there is one i shall always fear."

Mai sighed and let the water drop. She looked to the candle on the table and stared intently at the flame that danced. "Fire and water are both a dancing element. They draw you in, control you...they have the power to create and destroy. But I control one, but the other not so much." she looked at the young man sitting across from her. "You're lucky to have that control over it..."