The Strange People of Chin Village

Loki

Loki flew down and landed at the gate of Chin Village. She had decided to fly instead of walk, because walking was horrible. "Well, my friends, we're here. Chin Village!," She walked into the town and found it to be very middle class. She couldn't really spot any upper class or lower class individuals among them. It was very strange, and Loki could not find class distinction. Loki needed both rich and poor people for her escapades. This would not do at all. "Is this it? Are there poor districts or rich quarterings?," Loki inquired to her friends. Maybe the people by the gate were just middle class. She looked at her friends with fear in her eyes. She was being a bit overdramatic, and she knew she could always go to the next town if this one didn't work. The important thing that she'd forgotten was Zai's arrow wound.

Mood: Worried Condition: Fine

Nokomi

"No, Loki. Chin Village has always been one to share what wealth they have between all their families. Nobody really is poor nor rich. Even the Village Elder is no more wealthy than his neighbors," Zai said, snapping Nokomi out of her thoughts. The whole way here, she'd been completely silent, but she spoke up now. "Since you apparently know so much of little Chin Village, then perhaps you'd know where we can get some food?" she asked. She was completely starving, and cared for little else at the moment. All she had in her bag were some disgusting pieces of bark that she ate only when absolutely necessary, as in when she wasn't around any villages or towns. She was also exhausted, and couldn't wait to find a nice, high tree to sleep in. Noticing a slight limp to Zai's usual smooth walk, she spoke again, quietly. "You should probably also go see someone about that wound, Zai."

Mood: Famished Condition: Tired

Nokomi Nefara Sen

Loki said he doesn't really feel like replying, so......yeah.

Nokomi

Nokomi nodded at Zai's answer, before looking around the market, her hand twitching. Whether this was just another reaction to the people around, or because she just really wanted to take something so she could eat right away, she didn't know, but controlled it anyway. She dug into her bag, pulling out a few small coins. How odd it was to actually be paying for something, but Zai was right about these people needing everything they had. They couldn't afford to be stolen from. Although Zai had offered to pay for their food, she was fine doing it herself. She didn't necessarily want nor need someone else helping her survive. She passed a few coins to a man, and he in turn passed her a bowl of hot food. She thanked him, then looked to Loki, saying, "You want anythin'?"

Mood: Hungry and slightly worried Condition: Tired

Nokomi Nefara Sen

Loki

Loki observed the people of Chin Village and was disappointed in each and every one. Didn't they know they could have it all with just a bit of deception and corruption? They could be rich and beat out their neighbors! Wasn't that what everyone was supposed to aspire for? Well Loki would just have to show them, some way, somehow. She gazed lazily at the market. The merchandise was disappointing; it contained nothing of value to Loki's appraising eyes. Food was fine, but it wouldn't leave a mark on anyone. "You want anythin'?" "Eh, sure," Loki responded. She sat on a bench nearby and put her hand on her chin with her elbow resting on her leg. She'd wait for her food with her sheer disappointment giving off a sense of unrefined poutiness. She stuck her lip out a bit unconsciously. When Nokomi gave her her food, Loki handed her some of the cash she'd saved up from reselling stolen goods. "Paying for stuff. Who knew I'd be reduced to it?"

Mood: Disappointed Condition: Fine

[OoC: Oh god. Sorry for the huge post, guys. Kinda got out of hand with Anaja. ><]

Hakota-Zai

Nokomi took well to the fact these people were worse off than they were, buying her own food, even offering to buy Loki's at that. Zai merely dropped his juan back into his pocket, saving it for medical supplies. Loki's response was less understanding, as she began to pout about having nothing to steal. "Sorry, Loki, but stealing isn't everything.. At least we're safe here," he said, grunted through his wound. He felt dizzy, but he'd be fine. He'd taken plenty of arrows to worse spots before. He just needed some minor medical attention. But no medical supplies nor care could prepare him for the re-opening of a wound that'd come next. "Hako?.... Zai, is that you!?" It was the voice of a fairly young woman, barely out of her teens. Hakota didn't have the time to even fully turn around before he was nearly tackled by the young lady in Kiyoshi Warrior robes and armor. On a good day, Zai could of held his weight and the girl's, but with a piercing wound in his side, he had little choice but to keel over with the girl's arms still about him in a tight hug, which let a yelp from her as the two fell to the ground. The girl didn't seem to mind. On the ground or not, she smiled broadly with delicate features painted in the tradition of the Kiyoshi. "Is it really you, Zai? Am I seeing things? Where have you been? Why are you so weak now," she barraged him with questions as he gasped for air beneath her awkwardly strong embrace. It took her a moment to realize the mercenary was in pain, and bleeding everywhere. She quickly got off of him. "Krap. I'm sorry. You're hurt, Hako. Do you need help?" Zai merely coughed for air, standing weakly. He looked to his new acquaintances, seeming to ignore the oddness of what had just occurred. He had wished more than anything that he wouldn't have been recognized, but here he was, standing in front of the only person in the world who'd recognize him no matter what. The girl, too, seemed to be eying Zai's companions expectantly, only to realize Zai was just glaring in that funny-to her- one-eyed way he always did. She patted Zai on the shoulder once, speaking abruptly again-did she ever stop?-, "Wow, Zai... You're quite the swinger, bagging two chicks like that. How do you-" she began, but Zai quickly cut her off. "They're friends, Anaja... You can shut up now. That's Loki, and that's Nokomi," he said, pointing to the two respectfully as he introduced them. "Nokomi, Loki... This is Anaja... An old friend." He slunk over again, grasping his side, looking as if his day couldn't get any worse.

Mood:.....*Sigh.*...... Condition:Bleeding, wounded.

Link:Lee Hakota-Zai

Loki

Loki blinked in surprise at the sudden tackle of her acquaintance. She watched the discussion between what seemed to be old friends and made a bit of a pretension eye roll. The young woman did remind Loki that Zai was hurt, and she felt a bit bad that she'd forgotten about it. She would never admit it though. She watched the ensuing conversation with mild interest, her face haughty with pride. The girl made the assumption that Zai was with her and Nokomi at the same time, and Loki gave a small and deep laugh at this. While Zai was nice looking, Loki was a bit of a loner, she couldn't imagine herself in a serious relationship with anyone. This woman was confident, and Loki took that as a bit of a challenge. "What's up?" Loki said to Anaja, "You two old lovers or somethin'?" She decided to continue the strange perception that Zai had been with a million chicks, all while he was slowly collapsing from pain.

Mood: Ammused Condition: Fine

Loki

Loki wondered if Zai would be cool with telling this woman what happened. At the same time though, she wasn't a very caring or thoughtful person. But she didn't want this woman blabbing and then getting them all in trouble again so she said, "Zai recommended it as a safe, crime free city from which we could run our new business together." Loki said with a smirk,It's Zai's idea, he can tell you all about it. She said while pointing her finger. His response would either be hilariously bad or respectable, Loki couldn't go wrong. She examined her various rings pretending she'd heard whatever Zai was about to explain a thousand times.

Mood: Amused Condition: Fine

Loki

Loki was concerned with the menacing glare Zai had given her and decided that damage control would be in her best interest. She backtracked a bit and yelled over to the overly-excited girl, "Oh gosh, I was just ribbing you. I see now that Zai can dish it right back." Loki's face was a bit less smirky than usual, and she decided that she'd need to be a bit more honest with Anaja now, "We're actually just passing through. We're heading off tomorrow." She didn't want to fill in too many blanks, so she left the destination open for others to fill in. Zai's look worried her, and she held up both of her hands in surrender.

Mood: Worried Condition: Fine

Loki

"Uhh..." Loki looked around, noticing Nokomi wandering down the street. One of her eyebrows went up in skepticism. "She's uhh...walking over there..." Loki found the information odd and intriguing. She loved it when people had something off about them. Maybe Nokomi had a disease of some sort. It could be anything: short-term memory loss, a stroke, alzheimers; the possibilities were fun and exciting. She always loved filling her life with interesting people. Either that or Nokomi simply zoned off, forgot herself, and walked down the road. But that was boring. Loki floated over to her, and flew above her, wondering if she'd notice her presence. She alighted on her head, slowly added more and more weight. She'd notice eventually.

Mood: Amused Condition: Fine

Loki

Loki did a rather sweet backflip off Nokomi's head and landed with a grin. She then pretended to be very concerned and inquired, "Why are you wandering off?" she kept up her joking sternness and touted, "We're a family now. We must stick together..." Loki broke on the last part and gave a slight silent laugh that was complemented with a smirk of the lip. She looked back at Zai to see his reaction and shouted, "My God Zai! You look horrible, why haven't we taken you to a doctor yet!?" as if she wasn't part of problem. "Guess I have to play mom here. Let's ask someone for directions," Loki found a rather unintimidating merchant in the corner of her eye and hopped over there with much style and grace. She landed in front of the stall and leaned onto it with her elbow on the varnished wood. "Hello sir. You see my friend..." she pointed over to Zai, "He is..." she began to shed fake tears, "Oh God! He's dying! Please! You have to help us! Oh! I don't know what I'll do!" Loki threw her head down on the stall with as much drama as was believable and shook her shoulders to give the effect of crying when she was really laughing to herself. She pretended to put herself together a bit. "Well uhh... the merchant walked around his stall and put a hand on one of Loki's shoulders, There are few of healers in this town. There's one right over there. See that little home? There's one there, I've heard the healer is tender and nice. Go ahead now, your friend doesn't look that bad off quite yet." He gave Loki a small push in the right direction. Loki walked back to the group and said, "There is a healer right there. Let's go." Loki began walking to the home which was about two houses down.

Mood: Dramatic Condition: Fine

Three cloaked figures stood quite some distance away from the group that had just entered Chin village. None knew of their identities or reasoning for being there except the three themselves, and for the time being that would be how it continued. The orders from upstairs were fairly clear: to retrieve a certain individual from that group and bring them to the Fire Nation for "reassignment". Her skills had been made waves throughout the upper brass of the Fire Nation militia and she was seen as an asset that could no longer be looked over, and though any number of lower ranking officials could have been given the task a certain General requested to perform the task himself. This man was none other than Tensei, who fresh off the debacle at the Western Air Temple was now back in the thick of things, but on a much stealthier scale.

Two of his best men were brought along should things go array, though Tensei would have much rather gone about the mission solo. This was much more than retrieving a simple target, no, family was now involved. The lone sister he had alive was now in shouting distance from the man, but the chances of a loving reunion were slim. Tensei had abandoned her after the death of their youngest sibling for a more structured life in the Fire Nation some years ago, and up until this point had not heard anything about his lone surviving family member; often thought to have died at some point. But now she stood before him, a simple target for the Fire Nation yet so much more for the General.

"Keep your distance and disperse a bit, but stay vigilant to the targets location." Tensei instructed to the two following him. Running up on the group while hooded would have done little more than provoke the trio, and that was not the object of this mission. Tensei would have his audience with the target... his sister, in due time. For now the group would wait, splitting off to browse around the market in order to deflect attention.

Loki

The group had arrived at the healer, and Loki opened the door swiftly. She didn't see anyone immediately, so she shouted into the home, "Hey! We got an injured guy here!" Loki heard some sounds upstairs and watched as a middle aged man walked down the stairs. He wore boring, classic earth kingdom uniform and had glasses. His hair was graying but speckles of black were lost in the old hair. Wrinkles were beginning to take over his features, and his slight stoop told of a man approaching his later years. He went a bit slower than Loki would have liked. She tapped her foot impatiently. When the man arrived at the doorstep, Loki pushed Zai forward and said, "Can you fix him?" she noticed the man staring at Zai's face and reprimanded him quickly. "Not that, his leg." she said with a point.

Mood: Bossy Condition: Fine