For the people who're as patient as peaches, or impatient as sour plums, here's the next chapter~

Like I said before, I don't own the characters: Mike and Brian do.


It had been days since Skoochy got possession of this book. Days and days and he still didn't understand the thing, none the less read more than a page of it. Even the back cover didn't make any sense, and that was the only part of books he'd even read. It was official; the book didn't have any purpose for him. Oh well. He could have just burned it already and made for fire. Why he didn't was only a matter of upholding his word. To a girl he only met once. And probably would never see again. Yeah, he was gonna burn it when he got back.

Meanwhile, Skoochy found himself in the park. He'd have to watch his step here. Despite it being against the law or whatever, some of the kids that could fish, would. He himself was a decent fisher but he never had anything to fish with unless he went into the water. But that wasn't the only thing to look out for. There was always a guy here; he was pretty okay but if people even saw him looking at his bush, he'd go into a deep story about the Park Wars of Republic City, and the many he had to defeat all for a bush. And that would probably lead into his past. At least the telegraph story was better than the bush one.

A cold breeze brought leaves with it around the park, passing Skoochy on the way to the ground. It was going to be winter soon. They were going to have to stock up on food soon. It was a good thing that they had a constant supplier, not to mention Gommu, that hobo with the bush story, had plans for the winter that he was more than willing to share with them. But another thing Skoochy could do before winter came, was look at the leaves fall. Was he a romantic? Not exactly, but they were kind of cool. So he stopped, letting his eyes being the only thing moving until even they came to a halt at a particular sight.

"Looks like I'm not the only one." He thought as his eyes rested on a park bench. The bench itself wasn't that important but the person occupying it. The person who he knew even if he could only see her back. Carefully, he went over, leaning over on that bench so their backs faced each other. "Careful Panda Lily ; We don't wanna lose another book, do we?" He asked, definitely catching her attention.

"You. You're the one from that party. The one who took my book because he was sore loser for me beating him. " Did she really have to rub that part in? It didn't matter anymore, because this was timed really well. Too well to be a coincidence, even if it was.

"And you're Jinora."

"And you're Skoochy"

Never did the sound of his own name seem so foreign until then. "Wait how do you know my name?" he asked.

"Hard to forget a name that could easily fit a weasel-rat" She said, this time with more bite and a clear representation of how she felt about the last time they met.

"Low blow Sugar Queen."

Skoochy saw her face go from ready to fight, to kind of confused. "Sugar Queen?" And something else; she didn't ask in a tone that mocked the effectiveness, but a tone that made her curious of that particular word choice.

"It's an insult, not a rhetorical question"

She turned around, getting a look of him."How do you know my name?" And the tone was back in her voice.

"I have my ways." Skoochy said, his normal confidence in his voice.

"Where's my book?" Well someone wasn't one for small talk...

"Your book? I don't seem to recall which book"

"The one you said looked like junk." He saw her turn her head around, even her body some, but not all the way. The benches here were okay, but not worth staying on there for a conversation. Skoochy would know; he's slept on one a few times.

"You havin a bad day Fire Lily?"

"First Panda Lily, then Sugar Queen and now Fire Lily? If this were any other situation, I'd say you were trying to flirt with me." Oh now she was just teasing, and Skoochy knew it. At least she was starting to lighten up.

But he wasn't flirting. Skoochy knew how to flirt - enough for his age - and if he was really flirting, she would have probably been blushing like crazy. But yeah. He wasn't flirting with her. Nope. Not at all. "Flne. Ji-No-Ra" He said, accentuating every syllable of her name as his voice was taking on the same teasing nature as her own. "Seems like you don't wanna hear my deal." He said, pulling out the book slightly, only to put it back in his vest.

The book got her attention and he knew it. "What deal?" Looks like they were finally getting somewhere.

"The deal I have to getting this piece of junk off my chest." Skoochy said, his elbows propped on the bench, his back arched slightly. Something told him that she was probably counting all of the times he called the book junk or something. That or plotting to kill him. Girls. Assassins if you're not careful. It was weird. If she was an airbender, couldn't she just like, snake the thing out of his clothes or something?

But that didn't happen. "Fine, I'll listen." Her voice was calm, kinda submissive too. Then again, she was like that when the two of them first met too. She was definitely planning something.

Skoochy extended his hand, still not really moving from his spot. "Then come with me. I'm not allowed to 'Solicit' on park grounds." He said with a sly smile. Of course, he still liked to sell things like meat and important stuff to people but that all happened under the bridges. Dirty work. Skoochy thought that it wouldn't take so long for him to get a reaction, considering that she seemed so desperate to get that book back. So why wasn't she taking his hand? "What you don't trust me?" He asked.

"That too" Ouch. What, she thought he was gonna rob her or something? Well he had her book but that didn't mean anything. "But I can't leave." She said. Her butt wasn't glued to the bench or anything, so what was keeping her?

"Why?" He asked.

She turned back to a normal sitting position. "My dad was with me, and he just went to get something." she said.

Skoochy's brow raised. "So he left you on a bench?" he asked. It took him a little bit, but he finally decided there wasn't any harm in joining her on said bench. This conversation was taking them into a dark place. A place Skoochy didn't exactly think was worth it after all.


I fail at cliff-hangers forever. I'm so sorry :( The original of this chapter turned out to be like, 3000 words and I couldn't do that to ya so I had to cut it and now it's horrible...

R & R still?