Honest Day's Work (Open)

[Teo]

September 9th

Carefully he cracked his back and rolled his shoulders back, muscles aching at the long and hard days work that had just been put in. Teo had been at it since 8 this morning and it was long after 10 at night now. Rin, his boss had left around 4, taking a thick envelope of cash from the office safe and tossing Teo his keys and telling him to lock up when he was finished; saying something about having meetings the rest of the day. Pft, right meetings. More like going to blow last months profits at the Jade Blossom.

Teo may not be from the city but he was not stupid, he was well aware of what went on and about Rin's vices. He didn't care really, to each his own and working alone had it's advantages. He was able to get more work done that way even if it meant pulling long hours to make sure everything got done on time and Teo could usually do the work faster when he didn't have someone here talking his ear off about his latest visit to the club. when his money started coming up short then he would have a problem. Which.....was starting to happen.

Rin had failed too pay him for this weeks work and while he could throw it up to forgetfulness he knew that wasn't the case. Rin had a expensive habit and sooner rather than later he was going to run this garage into the ground. He had already failed to pay him, how soon before he couldn't pay the rent? Then what? Teo knew exactly what: the Triads would move in.

There was hardly a shop in this district that wasn't backed by Terra investment, in fact he was almost certain that Rin's shop was one if not the only one that hadn't gotten involved with the gang which was why Teo liked it and had picked it to begin with. He wanted to stay as far away from dealing with the Triads as possible. Sure, a few of their goons would come in every now and then and try to hassle you but they always left empty handed but, if Rin kept at it he wouldn't have many other options and would have to go for them for help, that or, let the place go under. Both of which would be bad for Teo. He liked it here and didn't want to have to find someplace else which meant that tomorrow he was going to have to confront Rin face to face about the problem and hope that this could all work itself out before things got to much worse.

Yeah, right. Wishful thinking right there.

With a large sigh that quickly turned into a yawn Teo had decided to call it a night. It was late and he had to be back in the morning to open up since he now had the keys. Putting his tools away and washing up a little Teo grabbed his coat and hat and locked the garage up and began his long walk home. It was too late for the street cars to be running and he didn't own a Satomoblie himself (go figure, right?) so he had to hoof it on foot. Normally he didn't mind but his trek home took him past the Iron Temple and with it being so late there were bound to be people outside or hanging around it.

He had never been but he knew it's reputation, everyone in the industrial area and probably even the whole United Republic knew to stay away from it, that it was a place for criminals to gather. Like he said, normally he had never had a problem but there was always a first time for everything.

Zipping his coat up to the collar and pulling his cabbie hat down more to hide his face Teo kept a brisk pace as he began to approach the bar. Keeping his hands in his pockets and his head down, hoping not to catch anyone's attention. As he passed the bar there were a few men outside that sounded and smelled liked they had been hitting the booze and the Jade sticks pretty hard and he quickly made his way past.

He thought he might be in the clear, as no one had called out to him or seemed to follow after him but, after waking a block or so he began to feel like he was being followed. Teo quickened his pace some more and kept at it, not daring to look back as he rounded a corner to the next street but, at he did a large slab of earth came up in front of him and then another to his side; boxing him in.

Having no where to go Teo made another turn only to have the same thing happen and then another until he turned into a dead end. Realizing far too late that he was herded here like a rat in a maze. Turning around quickly and putting his back to the brick wall behind him Teo saw three dark figures start to walk out of the shadows the way he had come, the three men spreading out and blocking his exit and he couldn't be certain but he thought he saw the gleam of some brass knuckles.

Oh spirits.

"L-look, I-I-I don't want any trouble....here" Teo reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet and threw it on the ground and put his hands up to show that he wasn't a threat "Just take it and leave me alone' he didn't know why he thought that would work, that maybe a few measly yuans would be enough but he was really hopping that it would be and that they would take his wallet and he could just go home and try to forget about this day but, that didn't seem to be in the cards. The men drunkingly laughed and started to close in on him. Well, this was it, he was done for because drunk or not Teo knew he couldn't take on three guys at once. He was a goner.

[Kenji]

Kenji stepped out of the Iron Temple and slid his fedora onto his head as he hit the streets. There was a time where he would have closed the place down, but that was back when he had some minor celebrity as a criminal. However, as he learned, that spotlight can become a hot light before you know it. So these days, he couldn't wait but to put pavement between him and the seedy bar.

He had been there on business. It was a tale as old as time. Earth Kingdom Ambassador goes to the Jade Blossom and has himself a fun time but he ends up leaving his family's signet ring in the room as he takes his leave. Jade Girl he was with keeps the ring and then uses it to extort a nice sum of money from said ambassador and he in turn hires Kenji to facilitate the exchange in order to keep his name out of the papers. Kenji had agreed to to it and for less than his usual rate...because having a favor from a politician in his back pocket might come in handy one day.

There had been a few bumps along the way, mainly the Jade girl almost not taking the money. Seems that she thought that the ambassador had real feelings for her and was hoping that instead of paying her off he would finally ditch his socialite fiance for her instead. Kenji had set her straight though, and she had taken the money in the end. Kenji hoped that she would use that money to buy a ticket on the next boat out of here and go back to wherever she came from. It'd be better for everyone, as the Jade Blossom tended not to look favorably on girls that caused undue stress on paying clients and Republic City.....well the city itself had no room for romantics that were so caught up in the bright lights to not realize when they were the hired help.

So now he was walking away from the scene of the payoff, signet ring in his pocket,hoping that he may be able to catch the late train uptown and find a slightly respectable watering hole to wash the bad taste from his mouth that this case gave him. He was halfway there when he heard it.

.............and despite his better judgement he turned to see what was going on.

Three men, advancing on a fourth. The three men clearly had quite a bit to drink, given the slight sway in their movements and they were looking to give  to the fourth. Not an unusual occurrence in this neighborhood and probably not the only one going on in this block. Kenji really should have just kept walking, especially because he wasn't one for thrilling heroics. At least not in his current state. He should have just walked away, after all he doubted that they were going to kill him, just rough him up a bit.

He should have just walked away.

Instead he just sighed and tapped his foot as it sent a tremor down the alley, as the three men stumbled slightly as they advanced. Then he shifted his foot again and a small hole opened up by the center guy as his already shaking footing was completely when he stepped in the hole and clumsily fell forward, creating a hole in the wall of thugs so...whoever this guy was could at least get out through the now created hole.

Kenji began to turn away from the alley, his good deed done for the day.

[Teo]

As the three kept coming Teo started counting his options; they were limited and they all sucked. He could let the men beat on him and hope that eventually they would get bored and just leave and pray to the spirits that they don’t kill him. Or, he could try to fight and wind up dead because drunk or not three against one was not odds in his favor.

He really wished he would have paid more attention to his brothers and their ‘lessons’ about fighting.

Closer still the three began laughing and drunkenly talking to one another. Telling Teo how stupid he had been to come here, what they were going to do to him…so on. The hands Teo had up to show he had not been a threat had balled into fist. He didn’t know exactly what he was doing but he had to do something besides stand there and take a beating.

But, it seemed like he wouldn’t have to. A rumble came down the alley as the ground underneath them shook and the three men stumbled while Teo managed to keep his footing, the quake was followed shortly by a opening in the ground as the middle mans leg went right through and he fell forward. Teo did not know where that had come from or who had done it but he was not going to stand there to figure it out. As soon as he had his opening Teo ran, bending down to scoop up his wallet as he made his way past the three men and out into the street. He should have left the wallet but he didn’t want these guys looking him up later and paying him a house visit. Once he was at the street Teo looked around for who had helped him and he saw a man that had started walking away and Teo was fine with going his own way but the commotion of the earth bending had caught the attention of others in the area who had decided to come and investigate. All of which looked to be patrons of the Iron Temple.

”Oh come on!” Teo exclaimed. He had never caused trouble, he stayed to himself, wasn’t a bad guy….then why was this happening to him?!

[Kenji]

Kenji had been making his way up the street having done his good deed for the day and still hoping to catch the train, when he heard even more commotion. He was very pointedly not turning around and he managed to hold on to that self control for a few minutes before turning around.

Oh for the love of....

There were other coming to investigate though based on their slightly shuffling gate, they had already had one to many glasses of whatever they were drinking,and there was this guy just standing there.

This guy had to be tourist or something, somebody that as so overwhelmed by being in the big city they didn't grasp the simple thing they should be doing right now. That was the only way this could be happening right now. Anyone that had been in the city long enough would know to beat feet out of there.

Kenji shook his head and his palm hit his face as he honestly couldn't believe what was about to come out of his mouth was. However he simply grimaced and finally yelled at the guy  " Hey tourist I know it's a difficult concept, but running would be a good idea!"

That was two. One more and he was going to start charging the tourist.

I'm gonna miss my train I just know it. Kenji thought as he turned around and hoped this was the end of it.

[Teo]

Teo felt really stupid that he had let this happen. Usually he was more careful but he had been working such ridiculously long hours that his mind was pretty much mush. Normally he would have ran the moment he had his opening and would have put as much distance between him and the Iron Temple as possible...really he would but everything kind of felt to be moving in slow motion for him and when he heard a voice call out to him he turned and looked at the man some ways down the street.

What?" He said quietly to himself before it dawned on him what he had said. Right, he had to move and he had to do it now or else he was going to be put right back in the position he had been in and he doubted he was lucky to escape that scenario twice.

With his mind finally kicking into gear as the fight or flight instinct came back Teo started running...toward the man that had yelled at him. He didn't know exactly why but this guy had talked to him and it just seemed like the logical thing to do and right now he worked better if he had a destination instead of just blindly running in any direction and getting trapped again. As he started running he heard a 'whooshing' sound start to close in on him and a small boulder flew right past him before making a really dramatic turn to the right and hitting a building instead. Well, it looked like he had gotten their attention when he ran but whoever had tried to hit him with their bending was so drunk that they couldn't bend right.

As soon as he caught up with the man that had called out to him and saved him earlier Teo started to slow down a bit but as he did another boulder came flying at them, this time bigger and with better aim. "Look out!" He yelled before pushing the guy to the side to avoid...tho, he was sure he was capable of that but again, instincts..even if his weren't that great in this situation.

[Kenji]

He was so close to putting this all behind him when

"Look out."

The suddenly he was thrown off balance and hitting the pavement as he saw, the same stupid kid. He  was about to yell , when he heard the sounds of wheels moving along the tracks.

He had officially missed the train.

He pulled down his hat and sighed.

I guess we're doing this then. he thought

He then got up and started walking toward the drunken idiots that were still following. The lead idiot threw another boulder at him. However Kenji was done with this so he didn't move from his path, and instead simply swatted the boulder out of his path without breaking his stride finally before standing toe to toe with the head idiot. He then pulled a coin out of his pocket and said " Call it."
He then flipped the coin up high and the drunken idiot head went up as he watched the coin twirl in the air before suddenly hovering in midair.

It never failed, they always looked up, always.

While the lead idiot was amazed by the coin hanging in the air, Kenji balled up his fist and struck the lead idiot in the solar plexus causing the wind to rush out of him. Once he was doubled over, Kenji followed it up with an uppercut, knocking the lead idiot flat on the ground.

He looked at the others and angled his head, however they instead retreated back the way they came. After all they were looking for weak prey and Kenji had just proven that he was anything but. Once they left, Kenji held out his hand and the coin then fell into his palm. Great he had missed his train and messed up one of his better suits, all because...

He then remembered.

"You!" he turned around back to that kid " Hey you don't move or I'll kick your ass just like this guy." He then stalked back toward the guy that had started all of this " Do I look like your damned bodyguard?  Becuase, breaking news, I'm sure as hell not. You know Republic City is no place for cowards, but by numbers alone there has to be a few, but you know what separates you from the run of the mill cowards? It's that they  know how to run in directions other than a straight damned line, but you see to have missed that day in cowardice training you stupid son of a..."

Kenji went on like that for a while.

Eventually he ran out of creative insults ad finally wound down by sighing and saying " Do everyone a favor and buy yourself a ticket out of this city, because your a sad Republic City story waiting to happen."

[Teo]

Teo watched as the guy once again took down the men that had tried to mug him but he quickly turned at told Teo not to move or else he would get the same treatment. He was taken aback at the demand and he stayed where he was. Once the guy was done he unleashed on Teo a string of colorful words and terms.

”Give me a break man!” Teo yelled back when he had had enough. He was tired and now stressed and he didn’t need some stranger tearing him down either. ”You said run so I ran and I was trying to thank you for back there but you know what. “ Teo let out a loud groan, and let the words he wanted to say go before he did any more damage. ’Look, thank you. Sorry I inconvenienced your night.” He snapped while dusting off his jacket from the dirt that had collected there from the fight. He knew should have just dropped it but being so exhausted had put him on edge and after everything he was wound too tight and ready to snap.

SPOILER: Click to show

Ugggggh, sorry this took so long but I had no idea what to write, still really didn’t know if you couldn’t tell. If you cant work with that let me know and I can try to come up with something else.

[Kenji]

Kenji was almost ready to throw down again However he deflated soon enough as realized he wouldn't be any different than the idiots he had just dealt with if he ended up wailing on this guy. Besides didn't look like it would be much of a fight anyway.


There were days when being the bigger person just sucked.


So he the last train of the night had left and that meant he had to hoof it back downtown. It also meant that his client was going to have to wait another day, but that didn't matter much to Kenji...his client was kind of an ass anyway.


Kenji wanted a drink, but seeing as the nearest bar was back the way he came, and that seemed like the single worst idea.He'd settle for some food and a non alcoholic drink before he began his trek. He knew a little hole in the wall Earth Kingdom restaurant a couple blocks down. Not exactly fine dining,but they had decent elephant koi dumplings and they kept their doors open late.

So that was the plan then, he set his feet in the right direction and started making his way towards it, almost forgetting about the other guy, until he turned back around towards him.


He could have said many things: He could have said that he was sorry that he got a little hot under the collar and yelled at him. he could have said that just becuase he didn't belong here didn't mean he shouldn't try.


Instead he tucked his fedora down and just jerked his head in the direction he was heading and said " You coming or what? Apparently I'm running a coward special today, dodge one ass kicking and get a free meal."


Being the bigger person only went so far.

[Teo]

Teo was still fuming as he continue to fix himself to make him seem less disheveled and thankfully the guy had shut up. He was sure it wasn't because of his outburst but whatever, he would take what he get. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the guy start to walk away and once Teo was finished he began walking too, this time making sure to head the opposite way. He had only made it a few steps when he heard

"You coming or what?"

Confused Teo looked back in time to see the guy jerk his head in the direction he was headed. Was he really asking him to come with him? After all that now he was ok with him 'tagging along' What the hell? Teo still confused stood there a moment until he heard of the promise of food and his stomach rumbled as if almost on que. He hadn't eaten since this morning and if this guy was going to offer him food then he supposed he could go along, he could ignore the name calling for now.

Teo's feet began to move and in a few short steps he had caught up with Kenji and stuck his hands in his pockets as they walked. "Thanks." He said quietly, keeping his head down

[Kenji]

"Thanks."’



“Yeah yeah, whatever.” Kenji said as he kept walking. The remainder of the walk was silent, as Kenji did not feel like keeping conversation. It was enough that he was giving this guy a free meal. So finally they arrived at the small little restaurant sandwiched in between two larger housing complexes. He went in and took a seat, as he other guy joined him.



A waiter came by and handed them a menu but Kenji didn't need it as he said “ Elephant koi dumplings and an iced tea and whatever this guy wants.” he said gesturing to the guy sitting next to him. It was then that he realized something and one eyebrow quirked up as he said “ Hey what is your name anyway?”

[Teo]

The walk in silence was fine with him since this guy didn't seem like he was the small talk type and really, Teo had had enough of his comments for now. When they got to the small restaurant Teo followed behind him and took the empty chair across as they sat. Teo looked around a moment before the waiter came by and he supposed something good come from this night since he had never been here before.

When the waiter came by and handed them a menu Teo picked up his and started looking at it until the guy ordered right away. "Uh, the same." Teo said while handing back the menu, he didn't want to take his time looking through a menu and since this guy had a plan when he came here he thought he had better not push his luck in taking too long to decide. "I'm Teo" well, names were good, right? "And you're..?"

[Kenji]

When he was asked his name he paused for a minute and then finally shrugged and said “ The names Kenji.” The waiter quickly returned with with two glasses of iced tea, and Kenji grabbed his glass and took a healthy sip letting the coolness of the tea, wash away the frustration of the day. He then set the cup back down. It wasn’t the best tea, but he was in no mood or position to be choosy, so he just let it be.



Things were silent for a bit and eventually Kenji spoke up again and said “ So, you get beat up often. Or is tonight just special?”

[Teo]

[blokquote]When he got the other guys name Teo just nodded slightly, well, it was good he got his name. Teo half expected him to keep it a secret or something since he didn't seem to want to be bothered much but he would take what he could get. When the tea was brought over Teo gladly took a drink and while it wasn't the best he was not picky, a meal was a meal and there were many nights where he had had worse things simply because he didn't have the energy or the extra cash to get something with more sustenance.

They remained in awkward silence for a bit and while Teo hated silence he didn't really know what else to talk about with this guy. The weather? Probending? Somehow something told him this guy wasn't much for small talk. Finally the silence was broken however and Teo sighed at the question "you're really not going to let that go are you?" He asked, somehow already knowing the answer "I don't make it a habit, no. I try to avoid the Temple if I can help it...it just couldn't be helped tonight."[/blockquote]

[Kenji]

Kenji laughed and said " No I'm not going to let this go, and frankly neither should you, if you insist on living here, then your going to have to get a lot tougher. Soft people in Republic City  either get squeezed, get trampled, or get dead, and you don't look like you have the stomach or the nerve for any of those options." He took another gulp of iced tea to keep himself in an even keel and jump down this guys throat again as he said " or at least get some better moves than what your working with, I've seen street kids with better bending than you. "

Kenji chuckled and said " Even in a neighborhood this crappy you can probably find someone that'd be willing to up your game, even paying him whatever pocket change I assume you live on."

[Teo]

Teo slowly took in a deep breath before letting it out in a sigh letting Kenji dish out what he was. He really didn't have any room to complain, this guy had saved him from getting the snot beat out of him and then robbed after all. "Your right, I work with my hands and I fix things but I've never been much of a fighter" Teo agreed, he knew his bending wasn't up to par and that he barely scrapped by but Teo never had a need to use his bending like that before. "But from what I've seen, anyone worth anything is involved with the Terras somehow. I've kept my head down this far, don't want to get mixed up with them now just to learn proper bending techniques. It's hard enough keeping out of their business working for someone that's in their pocket" Teo picked up his glass and took a drink and angled himself so he was more in the corner of the booth.