Snippet #2738204

“You are terrible! You are the most terrible person I have ever met!”

“You’re excluding your brother in that statement Kathy!”

“You leave him out of this! He’s been through a lot!”

“Yeah, a lot of chicks! The man uses and abuses women, yet you continue to protect him and go after me when my eyes wander the slightest amount!”

“He’s not supposed to be my boyfriend! He’s not supposed to look after me like you’re supposed to!”

“Kathy! Don’t you dare walk away from me!” The scene on the tv showed the rather attractive twenty something woman storming to the door, only to have it blocked by a wall of earth springing up to stop her.

“Stop! Let me out! You can’t control me!” Kathy screamed as the man stomped forward, grabbing her hands and putting them above her head, holding her against the wall.

“I never did…” He whispered softly. She slowly stopped resisting, and he leaned in closer until their lips touched and they embraced.

“Barf.” A voice rang out from behind Rook’s position of laying on the couch, a bowl of pretzels laying on his chest. He looked over at Mei, who was hanging upside down and performing crunches using one of the exercise machines as a ballast.

”Uncultured brute.” Rook countered, popping a pretzel into his mouth as the scene devolved into a makeout session between the two characters. Mei stopped doing crunches for a moment, sweat dripping from her as she looked between the tv and her brother.

”How is this, in any way, culture? This is softcore porn, and you’re watching it in front of me.”

“It’s a story of love, betrayal, redemption, humor and intrigue. You would know that if you paid attention to more than just the sex.”

“Please.” Mei stated, flipping off the bar and stretching slightly. “We both know you only watch this cause you have a massive crush on Taki Moari.” The lead actress in the show.

“She is a handsome woman.” Rook admitted, popping another pretzel into his mouth. Mei rolled her eyes as she walked over to the weights set off in a corner and pulled out a couple of 30 pounders. Rook took a moment to look around their apartment, and appreciate what they had managed to achieve for themselves. Two homeless children, fighting, killing and stealing their way to the top. Their apartment was based out of the middle ring in Ba Sing Se, in a well off neighborhood and was more than either one of them could really want or ask for. Sure, they could bump themselves up to the upper ring, but who wants to deal with those snotty assholes who never worked for a thing in their lives.

Built almost like a studio apartment, the entire area was an open concept. The living room, kitchen, dining area and recreational area were all one large area and only sectioned off by items or furniture one would associate with such a room. There were two bathrooms, one for each bedroom, and ultimately that was it. Hardwood floors, a pleasant ‘rustic’ appeal and nice looking couches, chairs, appliances and decor made for something out of a sitcom. The only thing that somewhat marred this picture was the fact that an entire section of their apartment was dedicated to their weapons and items of their craft. Rack upon rack of guns, blades, explosives, poisons and anything else one’s twisted mind could come up with occupied what would otherwise be the spare space in their apartment. Despite that potential sight maring an otherwise perfect looking apartment, Rook was satisfied with his current accommodations.

With his little gazing party over, he returned to his show only to constantly hear Mei’s grunts of effort from her workout covering up the dialogue. “Do you think you could get stronger faster, so that your grunts don’t sound like an out of shape gorilla?”

“Says the man laying on a couch and eating pretzels.”

“I did my workout this morning, you know, when the sun rose.”

“Waking up early is for bitches.” Rook rolled his eyes as he attempted to tune her out. It was only a moment later that his phone, which was laying on the coffee table in front of him, started buzzing. Sitting up slowly and placing the bowl of pretzels on the table, he picked up the device and looked at it. As soon as he unlocked it, information started flooding the screen. Mei stopped her workout to look over. “Job?”

“Yeah…” Rook trailed off, reading through everything before giving a sigh and flicking the display from his phone onto the TV. Mei put away the weights and walked over, breathing slightly heavy as she calmed her heart. “Looks like an interesting one.”

“Is that…”

“Yep.” Rook responded, looking at the picture of a younger looking woman. The name ‘Chiyo Saito’ was bold beneath the image. Mei’s face looked incredulous before a sharp smile planted itself on her face. She rubbed her hands together and small flames sparked as she did so.

“Oh man, we get to capture the Avatar. This has to be a high priority gig right? Lots of moolah? Is she trained? I want to have a good fight going into this!” Rook scrolled down on the listing, with information being presented such as family, childhood, current whereabouts, etc. At the end, the job priority was listed and it caused both of them to pause for a second. “Low?!” Mei yelled at the screen as she walked up and grabbed the side. “How the fuck is capturing the fucking Avatar considered a low priority job?!”

“Don’t know.” Rook answered, reading the listing. “The Red Lotus isn’t the same as the days of old, they’ve progressed for better or worse.” Mei pouted slightly, walking over and flopping onto the couch, her feet landing in Rook’s lap. Rook continued scrolling through the information as Mei kicked her feet right up into Rook’s face.

“They shafted us, didn’t they? Is this actually a shit job? Is that actually the Avatar? This is probably just a thing where they think it’s the Avatar but aren’t sure so we’re to go check?”

“No, it looks like it’s the re- Will you stop kicking me? - It looks like the real deal. Besides the pay’s pretty good” Rook answered, shoving Mei onto the floor with a thud. “You’re nearly thirty, could you not act like a spoiled brat?”

“Not until the wrinkles start to show.” Mei stated, climbing to her feet. “So what’s the plan.”

“It seems she has family.” Rook stated, climbing to his feet as well. “And by the looks of it, we’re not the only ones who seem to be after her. Looks like the White Lotus already got their paws on her.”

“Ooooh, we get to mess with the WL again?”

“Maybe. First, we need information and that means paying a visit to her family.” Rook walked over to the wall of guns, pulling down a rifle and laying it on the table. “Go get dressed, I’ll prep our gear.”

“Got it.” Mei answered as she went to get changed into her work clothes. Rook had to get dressed as well, but it only ever took him a couple minutes as he kept his work clothes ready for a moment’s notice. Instead, he pulled a laptop from a drawer in the wall and opened it up. Immediately the screen came to life and populated with information and applications regarding the Red Lotus network.

“Alright Ms. Saito and company...what have you been up to?”