[Open] A Slice of Night Life

[Lijuan Qi]

Dragon Flats District…the one place you don’t want to be at night. Sure, there are those folk who are not so educated and end up regretting their shortcut home. Truth be told, though, a lot of folks are just lucky enough to have no choice to walk in the shadowy streets during that prime time for the thieves and pickpockets… or for the more worse of criminals roaming around the place. One of those lucky people happened to be the dancer named “Princess Iron Fan,” who was just about ready to leave his shift at an entertainment establishment to go home. After the routine laughing and flirting with patrons, he mysteriously disappeared backstage in his final moments in some feathery Fire Nation festival get up. As always, Li quickly escaped to his dressing room and got into something more fitting—his reliable black qi pao with neon-colored floral designs, black elbow length gloves, and black flats. His process was meticulous as he freshened up a bit, eventually adopting a more natural look with his makeup with dark purple eyeshadow. He left all the layers of fabric and ostentatiousness behind, took his pay, and went on his way.

About now, it was late night, but still a few hours from witching hour. The lights and lanterns dappled the dreary street, though, adding to the illumination provided by the moon and stars. The hustle bustle of Republic City was still weaving its way through the district, but most of the people here at this hour were waitresses and waiters, scoundrels, and the sundry lowlife types. Lijuan chuckled as he thought about this for a moment. He was one of them and always would be. “Better to be free and poor than not free at all…”

It was not long before he sort of was able to melt into the crowds, walking alone as it were. But he was no stranger to some of the not-so-legal activities that happened in Dragon Flats. It certainly wasn't just petty thievery. Li had made enemies and friends alike in this district among some pretty shady people, so he was not one to let his guard down. He walked with purpose, deep brown eyes occasionally darting back and forth, waiting. Patience, the essence of earthbending. He did this every day at the same exact hour. Waiting. Just waiting for someone to try and jump him as he walked home. He hoped deep down that it would never happen, but one should never assume that every day would be nice and easy. If anyone, Lijuan knew this fact above all.

One problem. He only had to endure this for the hour walk home...It was like he was playing a bad game of Roulette. Eventually, the wheel would not be in his favor.

[Kai Tano]

Kai ducked into a side-street. He had made it to the Water Tribe Market in Dragon Flats just minutes before it closed for the night. He had finally made enough money busking on the streets with Tsa, his Koala Otter, to afford that deliciously ornate leather water pouch that he had had his eyes on for so long. He had filled it with water from the fountain in the plaza. It really was a beauty. Unfortunately, while he was practicing water-bending with his new toy, he kinda sorta splashed somebody who looked really important. Not important like city official important, but important like, "We need to talk about that three hundred yuans you owe me," important. Needless to say, he wasn't too pleased about being soaked. When Kai had waterbended all the moisture out of his clothes, he had accidentally thrown it onto somebody equally important-looking. This really wasn't his day.

Kai bobbed and weaved through the crowd, hoping to find some sort of cover where he could hide from the two-and-a-half angry men chasing him (the second guy had a midget with him that looked like he could bust an iron bar just by looking at it). He could hear them running after him, and they weren't too far behind. He had to find some way of hiding, and fast.

Suddenly, Kai had an idea. It didn't happen often, but this one was a doozy. He gathered the water in his new, oh-so-lovely leather pouch and created a thick layer of fog, covering the whole street. He reached over his shoulder, and Tsa stuck up his paw, giving him a high-five. He turned around, very pleased with himself, and ran smack-dab into something substantially shorter than he was. He faceplanted. "Holy shit, that hurt!" Noticing the small-ish person situated underneath him, he blushed, stood up, and made for a hasty retreat. Right into a brick wall. Definitely not his day.

[Lijuan Qi]

Lijuan was initially disturbed by the actual serenity that had so far been the first half of his trip. No dirty business. No people being loud and obnoxious. Just the hum and chatter of the crowds around him. It was almost too bland for him. A good chunk of his more childish side wanted to try and scale the buildings and climb the roofs and wires like he did every weekend. ...That little childish fire was quickly quenched, however, out of sight, the dancer could hear some commotion. He paused, listening. Four men, clearly. He sighed, shaking his head, at first deciding not to waste his time being nosy.

How naieve of Lijuan to assume he would get away scotch free! The commotion was getting steadily closer. But it wasn't until the fog settled in that Lijuan's curiosity got the best of him. The moment he turned around, what exactly happened was not exactly clear for any party involved. At some point, Lijuan opened his mouth to say "Stop!" but instead got his face slammed into a chest of some boy who derped right into him. The dancer cursed under his breath, slipping onto the ground, with the same fool right over him. A few blinks and splutters later, Lijuan looked up to see Kai's bright red face. He, himself, blushed, and as soon as Kai stumbled up, Lijuan wasted no time in leaping up to grab his bearings.

Some of his hair had fallen out of the perfectly made braided bun, and his fan held loosely at his waist. What was more, there was the dirt and grime of the concrete on his qi pao. Rolling his eyes, Lijuan watched, with absolutely no sympathy, as Kai hit a brick wall. He didn’t even crack a smile. Taking only a few seconds to wipe himself off, Lijuan walked right up to Kai. With a flick of his right hand, there was only a single CLICK before an iron fan was held completely spread out in front of his face.

The dancer wasn't on the offense... yet. "Please," he breathed, speaking very softly as he closed in on Kai, "give me one reason why I shouldn’t tell whoever was following you that you are standing right here. In front of this brick wall. Hmmm~?" It didn’t sound as cold as it would have been in his police officer days. In fact, it sounded almost joking, light-humored. Like this was... fun. Lijuan was a strange creature when he was irritated.

[Kai Tano]

Kai found himself in a most awkward position. He was pinned to a brick wall by a five-foot-three person of slightly indeterminate gender with a metal fan. Kai suspected that he could just reach his leg out and escape with a well-placed kick to the man's chest, or even waterbend his way out of this situation, but something in the man's tone suggested that this was nothing more than a joke. He didn't want to risk it, though. He looked like he could do some serious damage with those fans. He was probably a metalbender. Besides, it was kind of a long story to tell and he didn't know how much longer he could last with what looked like thugs from the triple-threat triad on his tail. Suddenly, he had an idea. This one was even better than his last one. Honestly, he didn't know how he kept coming up with these awesome ideas.

"Look, um, sir. I don't know you, and you don't know me, and I'm pretty sure you don't care what happens to my ass out here in Dragon Flats, but you do look like a reasonable man. Yes. Very reasonable. These guys, they really don't like me. I might have accidentally waterbended all over their clothes, but it was an accident, I swear! I have this plan, see. You could help me get out of this mess and I'll be in your debt. Anything you want, I'll do it! I swear on my honor as a Bender! Please! All you need to do is help me fake my death or something like that, and they'll get off my case, and you have a free favor from me, and PLEASE DON'T LET ME DIIIIIEEEEEEE!"

Kai didn't usually rely on hysterics and babbling, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Besides, who wouldn't want somebody in their debt? It was a win-win situation. Or something like that.

[Lijuan Qi]

Lijuan couldn't really keep a straight face at Kai's story, nor his genius idea of getting out of there. At first, the crossdresser only tried battling a smirk, but soon enough, he was trying to muffle noises of laughter. But by the time Kai had finished his hysteric mess, Lijuan was giggling. He had to even bring up one of his gloved hands to hide his laughter, for the sake of his image--although clearly, he wasn't doing a good job of keeping that up. Unfortunately for the both of them, in the nearby distance, it sounded like those thug friends of Kai's were catching up. Lijuan scowled a little bit, looking over his left shoulder, just as he finally managed to sober up from the giggling fit.

"Fake your death? What would that accomplish? Your plan sounds like it might backfire on me.. and what if they want your dead body any way?!" Lijuan countered, raising an eyebrow. He paused briefly, closing his fan and putting it back at a little sheath at his side. "Listen, I think I have a better idea. Just... go along with it, okay? That is, if you don't want to deal with those guys. You just need to... stand still."

He smiled, but there were little beads of sweat on his forehead. There was a little period of reflection in which Lijuan was wondering why the hell he was helping out this stranger, who could, for what it was worth, be just as much a scoundrel as the rest of them. But something in his intuition was saying otherwise, and he felt in his gut that he was right. Side thoughts aside, Lijuan took a step back from Kai and slammed his hands into the ground. The concrete around them crumbled, creating a fracture line of a perfect circle. "Hyaaaa!" Well, so much for that feminine disguise. Lijuan lost all sense of feminine impersonation when he raised his arms. Traditional moves, in that smooth yet hard motion of intense Earthbending. The little circle they were on rose upwards like a stone pillar, rising 10 feet..20 feet...30 feet...40 feet...50 feet...

Until SLAM, their own personal Earth elevator stopped all of a sudden at the roof of the brick building Kai had just conveniently ran into. Lijuan seemed to be getting a little more nervous. "Um... you're a good jumper, right?" The Earthbender was praying that this guy wasn't as clutzy as he was in that altercation below. "Follow me on the rooftops. The apartments are just down this way. You can climb down the fire escape there, and after that, you should be free to go..." With that, Lijuan leaped onto the roof of the building, looking over his shoulder to see what Kai would do next.

[Kai Tano]

Kai looked at Lijuan inquisitively. This was a dire situation. Two-and-a-half really tough guys were on their way to mop the floor with him and this really short guy was standing here laughing. Kai didn't see what was so funny about his situation. Maybe he was just a sucker for desperation. He wouldn't be the first. Most of the boys back in the Southern Water Tribes were like that. They'd talk you into getting yourself into truly horrific situations and stand by and laugh while you struggled your way out of it. It didn't seem like that's why he was laughing though. Maybe there was something truly funny about Kai's situation. Granted, at the moment it was hard to figure out what that was.

The short one spoke logically, as well. He was oddly straight-headed, given the situation that Kai had put him in. Kai just kept silent, and nodded, slightly open-mouthed at the logic pouring out of this guy's mouth. Kai's brain kind of shut down while Lijuan's words battered him with sensibility. He was jolted out of it, though, as soon as the ground beneath them suddenly started moving upward. Kai came to, staring at the force of nature before him. All the femininity was driven from his demeanor. It was truly frightening.

"You're a good jumper, right?" Kai laughed. "Are you kidding? Did you see me down there? I couldn't jump to save my life! I do have another idea though. This one's a doozy. My other ideas, they're like flecks of dust compared to this one. Insignificant. This one takes the metaphorical cake." Smiling, Kai centered his breathing, letting the energy within him flow smoothly. The flow was important. Letting it extend through his limbs, Kai reached down. The energy moved through his pouch, filling the water within. He brought it out of the pouch. Concentrating intensely, he drew the energy away from his feet, bringing down the body temperature below his knees. This was something he had come up with himself. He drew the water to his lower extremities, where it promptly froze. He used his legs to direct the flow of energy, creating a patch of thick ice wherever he stepped. Taking a deep breath, he walked off the edge of the building, letting the ice form a bridge beneath him. He turned back to Lijuan for approval.

[Lijuan Qi]

"Are you kidding?"

Kai is probably one of very few people in Republic City who has seen Lijuan's face change so drastically in a short period of time. There was something about him that broke down all of the training this performer had endured himself to be the best. Because at first, Li's eyelids drooped a little in growing irritation. His first impression of the waterbender was, needless to say, getting worse by the minute. So this man was a klutz all the time? As he stirred for a moment thinking about it, he was about to throw in the white towel and let him figure his own way out, when all of a sudden, he noticed Kai adjust his stance.

And that's when Lijuan's mouth dropped a little. When Kai walked his way over on a bridge of ice, Li was pretty much rendered speechless for a good few moments. Shaking his head out of his stupor, Li tried to gather his composure back together again. For the second time in about ten minutes with this guy, for Maker's sake. "Ahem..." He cleared his throat, instinctively patting his hair to pretend like he was not astonished by any means. "That was very skilled waterbending...To be... upfront with you," he paused, considering his words, "I think I've misjudged you."

Lijuan began walking ahead, plotting his next jump to the roof below them. And he prayed that one of the men below did not see him earthbend and knew how to do it themselves. He walked casually, clearly in no rush despite the circumstances. Then, a bit of an impulsive thought, and he turned on his heel all of a sudden, qi pao shivering a bit in the wind. "How about we start from the beginning? Clean slate? My name's Lijuan Qi. And I just saved your life, you know~." Spoken sweetly with a sharp touch of arrogance, Li couldn't help but smile now as he looked directly at Kai, batting his eyelashes just to be mean.