Double Whammy

The sun was just setting over Western sky. Siri leaned against an outer wall near a corner in the market district. She sighed deeply, tapping her foot impatiently on the ground. She knew it was going to happen tonight, but she just wasn’t quite sure what time. Any minute she expected to get a sign, but it was later than she thought it would be. Maybe something had gone wrong? She glanced around the corner. No, even if it had, they’d have shown up. The tea shop down the street was starting to empty out a little bit. In fact, she saw the owner shooing one particular patron out himself. The elderly man shop owner huffed a little and crossed his arms. As everyone’s sights went in different directions and he felt no one was paying him any mind, however, his shoulders sagged and his eyes drooped. He looked down the street at Siri’s watching eyes. She gave him a small nod of condolence. Everything would work out fine, she tried to motion. With good reason, he didn’t really believe her. After all, this was the night that the Tigers came around to collect their protection money from him. And she was just one young girl. What could she do against these hardened criminals?

Oh, she’d show them what she could do, alright.

Sitting onto of the outerwall of the lower ring of Ba Sing Se, Tamaki scrutinized his surroundings with his distant, blue eyes. He was waiting on a fellow comrade that was accomplishing a task for the Earth Kingdom Rescue Squad that afternoon, leisurely resting on the dressed stone. Having the tendency to finish up his missions at an impeccable rate, since he never associated with other citizens or duties while proceeding with his job, he was oftentimes left without anything for the day, or was found waiting to be assigned another mission. The later of the two is what he was doing this day, swinging his legs as he sat on the edge of the wall.

Raising an eyebrow when he noted an elderly man that appeared worn and tired, the uniquely, sky blue-haired curiously followed his gaze to a woman, far older than he. Observing her moments and then her nod, Tamaki was always a curious soul that liked to poke his nose in business at times in boredom, finding the notions leading to adventurous outcomes that sparked pleasure within him.

Promptly standing up on the wall, he followed along the edge until he neared her presence blatantly. However, on his smooth and silent journey towards the unfamiliar, young woman, Tamaki found himself slipping on a stone fragment on the wall, falling closely to her side, and roughly onto the ground. Letting out a grunt of discontempt, he slowly stood and dusted off any speckles of dirt that latched unto him from his unexpected fall. He was aware of how majority of his composure was lost, but saw no use in attempting to regain it by playing it off as if it never happened. "Pardon my interruption. I apologize for my sudden disturbance, ma'am," he placed a hand on his chest in remorse, speaking in a stern, rigid tone, "I slipped."

Siri sighed to herself and began tapping her fingers on the wall along with her foot. Her ear caught the sound of something or someone headed her way. She glanced up just in time to see some kid falling towards her. She made no moves as he hit the ground next to her, but watched him silently. When he stood and apologized, she yawned behind her hand. Before she spoke, a small, reddish brown blur circled up her leg and over her shoulders. A loud hiss signaled the creatures intent to attack. What looked like an elongated squirrel with reptilian eyes dove towards the boy, jaws open to reveal pointed fangs. However, before it struck, Siri reached up and caught it gently with her hand, pulling it back to her shoulder.

”Stop, Sky. He’s not an enemy.” She returned to looking around the corner, sighing once more out of frustration. ”Hey, you. If you can’t fight, you should leave.” She didn’t turn to look at him. Her eyes were instead fixed upon the tea shop down the street. ”Things are going to get rough around here pretty soon.” Where WERE they? The sun was sinking lower, and her signal still hadn’t even returned. She was starting to wonder if they’d gone somewhere else instead, and were currently mugging someone else. The thought made her grit her teeth.

Taking note of the girl's features and movements, she appeared as a relatively collected individual, recalling how she didn't shift positions or even show a sign of a flinch when he fall before her. However, the creature coiling around her didn't appear as calm or reverent. Staring curiously at the unique snake-like animal moving over her shoulder, soon baring its sharp fangs in his direction, Tamaki almost reached out to touch it, but refrained, finding the being intriguing. "Hm. Not a fire ferret, not a mere snake. How interesting," he declared aloud, genuinely meaning his words, though it may not have appeared in that manner due to his low, monotonous voice. Having his eyes steadily watching it, the ocean blue orbs quickly averted back to its owner after the relieving of a sigh.

"Fight?" he inquired, "And, why is that?" Scrutinizing the young brunette, Tamaki felt her explanation to be vague. She didn't give him a reasoning as to why a combat was going to occur, or why it was going to begin with, in the slightest. With not a hint or a brief notion, he stood his ground, continuing to hold his attention onto the girl.

[OOC: To be perfectly clear, he looks more like a squirrel than a snake. A squirrel with a longer body (about a foot) and serpent eyes and fangs...but still mostly a squirrel xD]

Siri glanced back at the younger boy for a moment. Sizing him up and realizing that he wasn't going to leave until he felt like it, she begrudgingly began. "First of all, Sky here is a Viper Squirrel. Very rare, et cetera, et cetera." The little mammal eyed the boy with warning. Any funny moves, and he was GOING to get bitten. "Secondly," she continued, gently reaching up to stroke her pet's fur, "There's going to be a bit of a melee. More of a slaughter, as it were. The Tigers are going to be coming soon. And I'm going to teach them a lesson. They've been extorting the people here, worst of all the old man in that tea shop." She resumed looking around the corner. A scowl spread across her face. "So, basically, don't get in my way."

(( Ah, alrighty. xD Sorry about that - I'll keep the description in mind for when I describe him next. ))

"Viper squirrel," Tamaki repeatedly lowly, as he peered at the mammal. Undoubtedly a intriguing species, never seeing a creature like it, the blue-haired boy wanted to touch it, like a child would touch a new gift, or toy. However, he refrained, noting its defensive and seemingly aggressive nature. The last thing he wanted was another mark forever embedded into his skin, once again.

Averting his attention back towards the older brunette, he repeated her words, "Slaughter." Cocking his head slightly in thought, quite a few suspicious notions flooded into his mind -- for example, these, unfamiliar to him, Tigers, and their motive for extortion in the people residing in the lower ring. Not exactly knowledgeable of the area's history and background, the new found information wasn't surprising, to say the least, for he was sure that there was a fair amount of unsuspected occurrences within this part of the city that he was unaware of.

Taking in her bad-tempered facial expression, Tamaki declared, "Okay. I'll help you." Seeing no reason why he shouldn't have helped in her predicament, having plenty of spare time that afternoon and confidence in his bending abilities, the new experience was exciting enough to him that he wanted to be involved, as well, rather than come across as his typical, disinterested self.

(( And, here I am, trying out the coloring text thing. ))

"Help me?" She turned her head again to look at the boy standing next to her, her eyebrow quirked up in mild confusion. "Who said anything about-" As she spoke, another small creatures dove down upon her, circling her head a few times, chattering away. It then went on to speed over this new person's person, sniffing and chattering as it darted down his back, around his leg, back up his chest, over his face, and around his head and neck a few times. It then leapt off of him and perched on Siri's shoulder, opposite Sky.

This creature was a bit smaller. It was a flying squirrel, and, while it's flaps were folded against it, it looked just like a small, chattering, overly hyper little squirrel. "THERE you are! What happened? Oh, never mind, how long?" The squirrel chattered and motioned towards the street. She peeked around the corner and, surely enough, about 6 musclebound men were just turning the corner. She shot a glare at the smaller mammal. "How many times have I told you, Slither, no stopping for snacks when you're scouting!" She whispered coarsely, making sure to keep her voice low. Slither folded her ears against the back of her head. Siri sighed and shook her head. So much for advance warning. Two of the men had stopped outside the tea shop and stood on either side of the entrance, their arms folded like they were some big-shot bouncers. Right over their hearts, on their orange tunics, a black design of a tiger appeared to be leaping out of the fabric. This was the shakedown team, of course. They were meant to stand out as much as they could, and to look as intimidating as they could. Still didn't mean they could fight.

Siri looked at her two animal cohorts and nodded to each of them. Slither leaped up and expanded her wings, gliding up and onto the rooftop. Sky darted between the boy's legs, making sure to shoot him a glare as she went. She shot around the back corner of the building and disappeared. "Look, just don't get in my way, ok?"

A moment later, she saw some small movement down the street, a short distance past the tea shop. It caught the guards' attention, and they turned their gaze that way, both of them loosening up to fight. These guys were a little too itchy for their own good. Sky had done her job, and Siri rounded her own corner, walking out into the vacant street and heading towards the shop. From the way they were standing she already knew: One was a firebender, one was an Earthbender. She already had an advantage.

"Hey." She called when she had closed half the distance between them. "Get out of my district."

With only a mere nod in response, Tamaki blinked in an emotionless manner as a small creature flew in the duo's direction. The creature ventured down his Earth Kingdom Rescue Squad uniform, into his pants and around his legs, back up his torso, over his face, and then around his head and neck a couple of times in a flash. "Affectionate," he declared and described the flying squirrel as he latched back onto its owner, seemingly unfazed by its unexpected arrival.

He then peeked around the corner just as the older woman had done, feeling as if it was something he should have done in the spur of the moment, before returning to his original position. "If I may inform you, you're foreign creatures and yourself are not very inconspicuous. Merely stating for future reference, of course," the blue haired boy spoke up as the brunette lectured her animal in a harsh tone. Observing the two men that had made their way in front of the tea shop the two seemed to have been staking out for some time now, he squinted as he took in the characteristic of each man. Dubbed them as easy targets, he felt as he if he could knock them out in a breeze. However, he was unaware of the other woman's plans, and decided it was best for her to lead, if anything, in order to refrain from any interference in her plans.

Shooting an icey stare at the squirrel whose name he learned to have been 'Sky,' Tamaki then nodded at the elder's words, following her movements from behind in a leisurely pace in order to appear least threatening. Standing his ground off to her left, he watched carefully to see the men's facial expressions as they neared. He also promptly raised an eyebrow at the girl's brash commands, seeing her approach as one he wouldn't have taken.

The two men turned quickly at her call. Sky's diversion now forgotten in their minds, they struck fighting poses facing the pair approaching down the street. Typical. They really were scrubs. "What'd you say, little girl?" This one was the firebender. Siri shrugged off the comment and kept approaching at a steady pace. She waved her tagalong back, signaling for him to let her take care of these two. She had something special in mind.

"Girlie, you best not get any closer." Now the earthbender was getting in on it. She flicked her eyes to him and altered her course towards him. The two looked at each other and shrugged, and the earthbender cracked his knuckles and came out to meet her. The pair stopped mere feet from each other, each staring the other down. "Take a hike." he grunted. She narrowed her eyes and glared up at him. He had a good foot on her. That wouldn't mean much.

The thug seemed to grow incredibly irate at Siri's insistence on being so stubborn. His face snapped into a rage and he raised his foot and stomped it into the ground. Siri felt it coming before it happened. The earth beneath her feet lifted straight into the air, but she had braced herself for it. She crouched just a bit as the column of earth grew out of the ground, then, when she was just above his head, she gently pushed herself forward, rolling lightly off the rock. As she came down, head first, she tucked and rolled, and was soon crouched on the ground behind the neanderthal. She wasted no time, and taking advantage of his surprise she turned on her toes, her hands striking out deftly and quickly, striking the back of his legs. She pushed herself to her feet and let her hands follow a practiced path, her fingers thrusting into several points on his back and along his arm. When she was finished, and after he fell to his knees from the sudden lack of chi, she reached out and caught him by his collar, holding him in a kneeling position.

His compatriot was none to happy about this, but by the time he took a step forward he found that his vision went a little fuzzy. Very fuzzy, in fact. Slither had swooped down from the rooftop and latched onto his face, and was scratching and biting just a bit. When he reached up to swat at her, she removed herself and darted around his body. This confused him greatly, and as he danced and spun trying to grab the thing, he failed to notice another assailant. Sky had shot out of her hiding place and climbed the man's back, and by the time he heard the hiss in his ear, she'd bitten him three times, once on each shoulder, and once at the base of his skull. The chi-blocking venom worked quickly, and he toppled like a tree, completely out like a light. The pair of animals bounced away into an alley.

The earthbender was groggy, but awake. He tried to mutter out something, but his speech grew weaker as he went. "Oh no, I want you conscious. " She pulled him backwards and dropped him, side stepping as he landed on the ground with a thud. She rotated her body and brought her leg up, then brought it crashing down on the bottom of the man's rib cage. He let out a loud cry of pain that echoed through the streets.

She had about 5 seconds before the other men would burst out of the tea house. She looked up at the boy, who was still hanging around. Suddenly she grew extremely curious. She knew there were 3 more guys left, two more lackeys and one guy who would probably be a bit tougher than them. They needed at least ONE guy who could fight properly on these rounds, just in case. She quietly slipped her hands in her pockets and stepped towards the side of the street a little bit, turning and waiting for the new wave of thugs to emerge.

"Hey, kid. Why don't you take the next two?"