Determining One's Values

Alyza had been traveling for days on end with no food, at least she still had enough water, barely. Even Evelyn was exhausted, her head hanging low and her gait weak and slow. Alyza laid across the Elk's back on her stomach, feebly holding the reins. Her tummy grumbled loudly. Luckily, Lyn just ate the grass so her tummy was full. But she was just as exhausted as Alyza was. She hadn't had time to go hunting for herself, and the few edible plants she's been able to identify and eat weren't enough to keep her healthy.

Hair messy, scrapes covering her face and clothing slightly tattered, the two travelers shuffled to the outskirts of this run down town. She managed to sit up straight just as they entered the village, looking around observantly. Barely anyone gave her more than half a glance. She cocked an eyebrow curiously, wondering what was wrong with everyone here. Normally her Red Elk caught quite a bit of attention, but not here. How odd she thought wonderingly, then her stomach growled again and she winced, focusing on food again.

Carefully she slipped from Evelyn's back and landed awkwardly on her feet, stumbling to regain her balance. Lyn scratched at the ground with her hoof, snorting and taking a couple steps to the side. Alyza stood up and ran a hand through her hair, then grabbed Lyn's reins. She led her to the outside of a building she believed to be a restaraunt or some kind of dining hall. Lyza tied Lyn's reins to a wooden pole, petting the side of her face lovingly.

"I'll be right back Lyn" she smiled, walking into the building. She looked around inside, the dining hall seemed as run down as broken as the rest of the town, an probably wouldn't have very good food. But at this point Alyza didn't care, she just wanted something to eat.

Alyza blinked, her eyes remaining half open as she looked around. Everyone seemed to have stopped whatever they were doing and were staring at her, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She reached up and scratched her head, dirt poofing from her mass of unclean hair. She squinted at the people, her ear twitching when she heard someone speak.

"That's Umar Toman?" Alyza tilted her head to the side, slowly becoming even more confused. There was a small scratch under her eye, and another running along her chin. The backs of her hands were covered in small scrapes she'd earned from travelling through an uncut forest. Evelyn looked inside from where she stood curiously.

"Who's Umar Toman?" Alyza asked in a quiet voice. She was about to say something more, but instead broke into a fit of coughing, even doubling over as she tried to get it to stop. How undignified She told herself, shaking her head and standing up straight again.

((That's okay I've made such mistakes too ^.^))

Alyza's face went from desperate to incredibly annoyed. Her eyes narrowed and she gave the man a steely glare, ignoring the happenings of someone shouting at someone else. Lyza leaned to one side and rested a hand on her hip, a deep frown tugging at her lips.

"Do I look like I've eaten anything recently?" She asked scathingly, looking the man up and down in a judging manner. She sneered angrily at him, her violet eyes squinting. "And if you're not going to eat that food that's been prepared for you, I'll gladly take it as I'm hungry enough to eat anything edible." On any other day, she would have eaten already, something delicious and hearty. Though, even in a good mood, she would still be stubborn enough to say no. She didn't care much for the health of others, as long as she and Lyn were fine.

((That's okay, as you can see, I'm not very good at replying quickly to posts anyways. Plus I can't post during weekdays until about 5:30. Hopefully this'll end this week...sorry >.<))

"Ooh thanks!" Alyza grinned widely, starting towards the food the strange man had offered her. You can imagine how annoyed she was when the elder stopped her. An angry look soon consumed her face, darkening her eyes as her brows furrowed. Her lip even lifted up in the beginnings of a snarl, though no sound came out.

"Look old man, I don't accept mercenary work unless I'm at my best. Though in this case it doesn't matter. I don't like to put myself in too much danger, which would include fighting an ex-captain of the Fire Nation army. I'd rather not die, thanks." Alyza sneered, brushing past the elder, giving Kei a look that said 'Thanks but I don't care anyways,' and rushing towards the food.

She plopped down and began to chow down. The horrible taste didn't bother her, she was too hungry to mind. Through a mouthful of half-chewed food, she said over her shoulder, "Beshidesh, ah dorn't need a deal wif shome random town jusht sho I can eat." She stopped for a moment, swallowed, then spoke again, "I can hunt just fine when I'm not starving to death."

Alyza looked up from her meal, a piece of stale bread could still be seen partly out of her mouth. She paused for a moment to chew and swallow, once again ignoring the elder. She hadn't meant to eat all the food, but it didn't matter she could pay them back by hunting down some meat for them anyways. Once she'd finished the piece in her mouth, she stood.

"Dangerous for anyone outside the building? Evelyn's out there, and I don't think anyone would like her inside..." She mumbled to herself. She then turned to the village elder and bowed, "Thanks for the food, I promise I'll pay you back. I just have something to take care of first." She flashed them a smile, less cranky since she had a full stomach now. She smirked and sauntered out of the building just after Kei. She strolled out casually, barely even casting a glance at Umar.

She walked to her Red Elk, patting the creature on the nose. She rested her head against Lyn's neck and stroked her fur for a moment, whispering to the elk. "I'm going to need you to leave for a bit okay? I just have to take care of something, so I can pay these villagers back for the food I took. Go graze for a bit okay?" She smiled, pulling Lyn's bridle off and dropping it on the floor outside of the dining hall. She then turned towards Kei.

"I know I said that I wouldn't help, but that ass interrupted my meal so he must pay for that." She grinned widely, and confidently, at the man. "Name's Alyza, by the way." She added, offering Kei her hand in greeting.

Alyza burst into cocky laughter when Kei told her to stay out of the way. As if she was weak-minded enough to do that! The very idea was simply hilarious. Once Lyza made up her mind, few things could change it. A man warning her away from fire certainly was not one of those things.

Wearing a wide, conceited grin, Alyza watched Kei's short exchange with Umar. The concept of believing in the negotiation with villains made no sense. That and Lyza preferred action above talking. When Umar attacked, Lyza ran across to the building behind Umar and scaled it with ease. She jumped up and grabbed onto a low ledge covering the entrance with shade, flipping herself up onto the flat, wooden canopy.

She climbed quickly up to the top of the building and stared down at the two men fighting. She dropped into a crouch, staying on the tips of her toes. She looked much like a bird about to take flight, which she seemed to be about to do. Still smirking like a mad woman, she leaped off the building and landed on Umar's back, just after he almost killed Kei. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, attempting to cut off the flow of oxygen.

Alyza, still grinning, had noticed Umar moving a knife towards her. She was about to take care of the situation herself, when Kei shot a kick into Umar's back, causing him to fall over with her landing on top of him. At this moment, she placed her right hand in the center of his back and applied light pressure. That is, until her hand started to heat up.

The girl cackled maniacally as she was sent upwards in the air by the force of her fire. She carefully aimed so she would land ontop of another building, then jumped down from it. Landing lightly on her feet like a cat, she padded back to wear Kei was. Then she saw Umar getting up, a formidable hole in the back of his shirt/armor(?) along with a small burn on his back. Alyza glanced at Kei, wondering if he had a plan. Her random acting and completely naive attack hadn't amounted to much. Though, she thought it had been pretty cool.

Alyza's expression deepened into an angry frown and creased eyebrows. She watched with annoyance as Umar started shooting Fire punches at them. She reflexively raised her arms up to cover her face as she sidestepped swiftly away.

Unfortunately, she wasn't quite fast enough. One of Umar's attacks hit her right in the left knee, and the other in the right arm. She clenched her teeth and held back a screech of pain, stumbling backwards a bit. She seemed to have just gained back her strength from starvation, and now she had two most likely third degree burns. Well this day was going well.

Of course, Lyza really should have expected this. But her idiotic confidence in herself was eventually going to get her into some shit, so, guess what that shit was? You guessed it! She got burned. Literally. But that wasn't going to stop her, for long. She stood weakly one on foot, her left leg lifted off the ground, holding her right arm with the left. Still wincing, she hopped backwards a bit.

"I gotta take a sec," She mumbled, flinching. She pressed her hand against the wound on her arm painfully.

Alyza watched helplessly as Kei finished Umar off. She was still cradling her injuries, wishing she was a water bender so she could just heal the burn. Oh well, she liked her fire bending abilities anyways. She observed with wide eyes when Kei seemingly burst directly through the fire, though she'd been at an angle where she could see he'd thrown something that dispersed most of the fire ball.

It was quite an amazing trick though, in Alyza's opinion. She wasn't much of a magician or trickster, merely a teenage run-away with a few skills to call her own. Oh that and a Red Elk. She looked over at Kei as he approached her, Umar lying unconscious on the ground. Her violet eyes glanced between the two, finally realizing how powerful this man was. Any normal person would be scared, but the very word wasn't in Alyza's vocabulary. She refrained from speaking for a moment, instead regarding the man in front of her.

"Well that was.....impressive." She finally admitted after a moment, then winced when she remembered her lovely new burns. Well that's going to leave a scar....

"Thanks." Alyza growled rather ungratefully. She wasn't one to accept help, really. But it wasn't like she had any burn cream laying around. So she took it, angrily, but still. She set the jar on the ground and opened it-with some struggling-with one hand. She dipped two of the fingers on her good hand into the cream and smoothed it onto the burn, sighing with relief as she did. She then did the same with her leg burn.

Upon finishing, she stood weakly. Alyza limped over to wear Kei was talking to the people of the village, though she tried to hide her injury. She stood, slightly slumped, beside Kei and faced the elder. When she realized what he was saying, she cocked an eyebrow and wore an expression that was a mix between confusion and a scowl.

"If I might cut it in," She said quietly, stepping forwards, "This man just did as you asked, Old man you shouldn't take his reward away just because he won't kill someone? Do you know how fucked up that is? You don't have to kill just to prove you won. It's not like this 'Umar' did more than steal. That's not all that harmful, you greedy bastards. Something is clearly wrong with you. You should be thanking him! Once Umar's been locked away, you and your crops will be safe and you won't be starving anymore! Kei has just saved all of your ungrateful asses!" Alyza was breathing hard now, her little speech having taken up quite a bit of her energy. The burns were hurting her more than she thought they would, and winced visibly. After taking a few deep breaths, she said "Just give him his damned reward, you worthless cowards."

Alyza stuck her tongue out childishly at the villagers before turning and running to catch up with Kei. She slowed to a walk when she reached him, hunching her shoulders up and sneering angrily at the ground.

"You're just going to let them get away with that? You did what they asked, you should demand a reward!" She was quiet for a moment, but before Kei could respond she realized something. "Hey! You just ordered me around like some sort of dog!" She complained, referring to when he'd called to her to "come on, let's go."

She folded her arms and scowled, staring straight ahead as she walked. Now she was just pissed off. This was the exact reason she didn't like travelling with other people. And so, she put two fingers in her mouth and whistled a piercing whistle. Off in the distance, Evelyn stopped grazing and looked up, before she began to run towards the sound.

A galloping Red Elk cantered into the village, running right past the Elder, and continued on till she reached Alyza. Lyza, in turn, pulled Lyn's reins from where they rested on her belt and swung them over the elk's head. She then clambered up onto her back, with some difficulty due to her burns (which still hurt a bit).

Kei

On their way out of the village, Alyza had told Kei, “You're just going to let them get away with that? You did what they asked, you should demand a reward!" Kei knew that she was right. Oddly enough however, Kei didn’t have any desire for a reward and felt contempt with the choice he had just made. Before Kei said anything else, Alyza had realized something. "Hey!” She complained, “You just ordered me around like some sort of dog!" Kei plainly told her, “You listened didn’t you?” His comment only seemed to anger her. Alyza had called for her Elk and hopped on her. They had left the village and headed toward Shu Jing. There, Kei had given up Umar to the people and both he and Alyza received a small payment from the village leader. Kei and Alyza had then shortly separated paths afterwards.

Mood: Contempt Condition: Hungry

Character Info Link: https://lastairbender.rpg-board.net/t1576-kei-heiwajima#16933

[OOC: This was a fun thread, if you ever want to start up another one with me, let me know.]