Avatar: Scorching Earth // Not Accepting!

Kyori let out a relieved breath when Lí changed the subject back to food, her shoulders relaxing every so slightly; she was glad he wasn't the type to pry further into her personal life. Kyori showed her agreement in Lí's proposition by leaning forward and removing the rabbit squirrel meat from the fire. Picking up three more sticks near the fire pit, she divied up the three pieces of meat so Lí and herself would each get one, and then split the last equally between Seijin and Kohaku. "Here's your rabbit squirrel ona stick," Kyori said with half amusement, half I-just-want-to-eat-and-go-to-sleep in her tone. She paused for a short moment, not knowing if she wanted to stay here and finish her food with Lí, agree to have Lí come with her to the cells and eat, or to just leave him here and get the firebender's their meat before heading back to her own tent. Quick to decide before Lí could say anything, she spoke up. "Thank you for the trade today. I'll go give these to the refugees," she said, motioning to the rabbit squirrel that was split between two sticks. She was careful to say 'refugees' instead of 'firebenders' because they were in camp after all. "And then I'm hitting the hay."

Zasi felt a blush creep on her face as Kesuk caught on to her exclusion of herself in the conversation. She finished eating and put her cores back in her bag. By now her small blush had left. She turned her attention back to Kesuk. "I was never really seen playing with the other children. Most of my time was spent talking to Hohin. He was really the only one who had faith in me. He helped me learn how to bend. The other kids never wanted to play with a kid who couldn't bend." Zasi let out a small sigh and glanced down at her hands resting in her lap. She had never really told anyone how much it had bothered her being excluded, or that she wished she could be a part of the games. She never wanted to make things worse by confronting the others about it. So she had stayed silent. "I guess the tides turned for the better in the end. I ended up being one of the best benders in the temple. I did have one of the best trainers after all." Zasi smiled and let out a soft chuckle. "Speaking of trainers, are you still going to teach me how to use my staff? I mean if not that is fine, I was just wondering because it was really helpful and I had some fun."

Lí accepted the Rabbit-squirrel kebab that Kyori handed him, noticing that her comment's tone sounded very 'I'm done with this.' That made sense. It had been quite a long day, and he was looking forward to curling up on his bed roll in a little while. Just as Lí was getting ready to lead the way back to the cells, Kyori thanked him for the trade and made a comment that very much sounded as though she wanted to make the trip alone. Well, he was pretty tired anyway. "Well thank you too; I wouldn't want to eat my rabbit-squirrel raw! Alright, sounds good. I could use some shut eye." Still, Lí couldn't help but feel like he did want to walk back to the firebenders' cells. Whether that was because he wanted to check on them, or spend a little more time with this earthbender, he couldn't tell. "I guess I'll see ya tomorrow then. We'll need to figure out what happens next for Seijin and Kohaku. Want to meet by them around 8:00 tomorrow morning? I feel a little bad leaving Yotem there by himself... although for some reason I also don't think he's going to complain."

Kesuk was starting to think that he shouldn't have asked. Zasi clearly seemed bothered by the fact that the other airbender children at the temple had never wanted to include her, but Kesuk was not empathetic by nature; he had no idea how to comfort her, nor even the desire to try. He was a person who came up with logical solutions to problems instead of dwelling on those problems. She seemed to turn herself around on her own, though, saying how it had all turned out for the better. After that, she changed the subject, asking if he was still willing to teach her. Kesuk decided quickly that he wouldn't mind. Having a sparring partner, no matter her skill level, was better than having no partner at all. He nodded. "I'll train you," he agreed. Then he rose smoothly from his cross-legged position on the floor and collected his things. Now that dinner was over, he had no real reason to stay. "Meet me at the clearing tomorrow morning," he said, pausing at the entrance of the tent and looking back over his shoulder. "We need make sure we stretch properly before training this time so you don't end up with...how did you put it? Noodle arms." Kesuk smirked at her and ducked out of the tent, heading back to his own so he could finally get some peace and quiet. Today had been far too filled with people for his liking. With any luck, tomorrow wouldn't be so insane.

Zasi gave a friendly smile as Kesuk left her tent. She was happy for multiple reasons. For one, she would still be training with Kesuk. She was glad to be able to not rely completely on her bending, even though her bending meant a lot to her. The second reason was because Kesuk had left with a small smile on his face. He had also mentioned something from earlier today. It made her smile that he remembered. As she got ready to sleep, she thought about tomorrow and what would happen.

(Gah it's sooo short. I just basically wanted to show she was super happy -and maybe happy she got Kesuk to smirk. It is her life goal after all-)

"Sure, we can meet then," Kyori said almost dismissively as she nibbled on her rabbit squirrel. All she was concerned with right now was heading to bed, but Lí's mention of Yotem stressed her slightly. I forgot about him watching over the firebenders... Kyori certainly didn't want to relieve Yotem and take his place, but she just might have to take on for the team. "I'll see what Yotem thinks," she called over her shoulder as she left Lí and his warm fire.

Arriving at the makeshift earth cells, Kyori noticed a small bag sitting on the ground, untouched. She looked at Yotem, then back down at the bag. By now Kyori had finished her meal, so having one free hand, she leaned down and peered inside. Fruit. Zasi and Kesuk must have come back and left it for Yotem and the two captives. "So are you gunna eat this, or just stare at all night?" she asked Yotem half jokingly. She tossed a few pieces of fruit at Yotem, hoping he'd catch it and actually eat it, and then peeked into the two cells. Kyori then spoke up in order to address them. "I brought you guys some rabbit squirrel, fresh off the fire." She set the two halves on the shelf of each of their cell windows, and split what little was left of the fruit between the two of them. Casting a glance at Yotem to her side, Kyori asked a little more quietly, "Do you need me to take over from here?"

"Thank you," Kohaku said, struggling to his feet to take the fruit and the rabbit squirrel. He gave the earthbender a small smile, then looked over to their guard, shrugging slightly. He sat back down, picking at the fruit. He was starving but he wasn't entirely comfortable eating in front of the refugees and he felt a twinge of guilt eating before their guard did as well. Kohaku was sure that the angry waterbender was hungry as well, just too distracted or proud to eat anything.

Kohaku stood again, peering out from his cell and placing the rabbit squirrel back on the ledge, "Would you like some?" he asked the waterbender, hoping that he'd take his offer. It'd clear his unfounded guilt of eating before anyone else, and maybe the waterbender would hate him less--although Kohaku doubted that.

Lí Ren - Male - 19 - Earthbender

Lí was ever so slightly taken aback by Kyori's dismissive tone as she was leaving his dome, but he tried not to take it to heart. She was clearly as tired as he was, and she surely just wanted to get some rest as well. After Lí regained his thoughts, he said, "Alright, well see you tomorrow then; we should chase some firebenders again sometime!" to Ky's back as it disappeared around a tent. He was pretty sure she hadn't heard him anyway.

With that, Lí's day had come to an end. He packed his knife away into his haversack and crouched down next to his fire. Placing his hands on the earth around his fire pit, he bent a small dirt wall out of the ground to bank the embers until the next morning. (This protects the embers of a fire so that you can use them to start a fire the next day hopefully.) Finally, he curled up into his bedroll, closed his eyes, and tried to push thoughts of what would happen to the firebenders out of his head. Whatever was going to happen, Lí got the feeling that he would need to be well-rested and alert.

(woooo Lí is ready for time lapse, waiting on y'all slowpokes now )

Y O T E M \\ 19 \\ waterbender \\ tags; Kohaku, Seijin, Kyori
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Yotem waited for an answer. His hopes were high; after 3 years of searching he had only been given empty leads, or was too late. This was also his first chance to get information out of a member of the Fire Nation. Yotem had faith that he could at least get some information out of them. He turned to look inside the cell of Kohaku, listening for his voice. Nothing. He caught a few changing facial expressions, but nothing indicating he knew who Yotem was talking about, or if he did the firebender was withholding information. Yotem squeezed his hands into a fist and opened his hands back up, trying to release some of the tension and anxiousness that had been built up in anticipation of an answer. He was a bit disappointed and frustrated, both at the lack of answers and at his willingness to believe there was hope. That's when he heard a voice pipe in, causing his whole body and demeanor to change. Yotem rushed over to the other cell to listen to Seijin’s words. High ranking military officer; meaning regular citizens were bound to know him. And brutal. Yotem knew all too well how brutal he was. Images flashed through his mind, of what this mad did to him and his family. I wont let you get away with what you’ve done…Yotem thought. He wanted to inquire more, to know where to find him, but Yotem heard the footsteps and voices of the other benders returning and decided to hold back. He would have to find out on his own, but at least he had a direction to follow.

Yotem turned around as the other benders returned. He saw Kyori peer down into a back that was left behind; probably Zasi’s when she offered Yotem food. In that moment Yotem realized that he hadn't eaten in awhile, and working up all that anger and frustration only made the hunger worse. He heard Kyori speak to him before seeing object zoom toward him. Without thinking his arms reached forward and grabbed the fruit that was tossed toward him. He stared at it, mouth watering, wanting to wolf down the food as fast as he could. In his travels he couldn;t afford to let a meal go to waste. But Yotem resisted the urge and held onto the food; he would eat it when no one was looking. He saw Kyroi checking on the firebenders before picking up a whisper from her. He wanted to say yes, as he was exhausted and needed to relax, and maybe eat in peace, but he also didn’t trust the firebenders and felt if he left they would try to escape. Yotem stared out into the distance as he responded to the earthbender. “Do as you will. I am fine watching over them” he muttered. Maybe if she decided to stay Yotem could sneak off to eat. He sighed softly as he waited to see what Kyori would choose to do.

Seijin waited for Yotem to vocally respond, however Kyori came over with food and more woooooords. Seijin inched closer to the bars, said thank you, and then took the cooked half rabbit squirrel from Kyori. She glanced between Yotem and Kyori as she ate, and assumed that because of their interaction her and Yotem's conversation about Azuron, or whatever his name was, was over. She yawned, it was late and quite a trying day. If he had anything else to say to her, she would make him wait until morning. Seijin finished eating the bones clean, placed them neatly through the bars, outside of her cell (bc ew gross bugs on them near her while she slept?? no thanks). She curled up near the back of the cell and pulled her satchel over to use as a pillow. She began breathing deeply and slowly, hoping to get to sleep as soon as possible, so that way the next day would seemingly come faster.