Two years. That's how much time I had put into this business by this point. Two years.
That's right. A whole year has passed since we last left off. I guess because nothing particularly interesting happened during that time. The war ended, business prospered, and the Triple Threat Triad had a pretty good year at the end of it all. It was a nice change of pace from constantly wondering about shifting allegiances or getting shot on a street corner, or… well, I guess, at the end of the day, those are things you always had to worry about in this business. But not nearly as much as you did during a war. Honestly, I was just happy to not have any grudge-holding Agni Kais out to get me anymore.
Now, I know you're expecting some spiel about how I still couldn't believe how, after all this time, I was still doing this, but, honestly, at this point, I was used to it. I mean, I still found it a bit weird at times. What with the circumstances and all. Who wouldn't, right? But, yeah. I was totally used to it by then. So, if you're expecting to hear anything like that from now on, sorry to disappoint you.
At the present moment, I was sitting on my usual stool at Gan's bar with a glass of scotch in my hand, getting ready to hear Yoshi's new stand up act. He was supposed to go on five minutes ago, but he apparently got caught up in traffic. Not that it mattered much to me. Even after all this time, I still didn't think his stand up was that funny, so I didn't really mind having to wait.
Gan, on the other hand, felt differently. "This is just great," he said. "He's already five minutes late. He called me from Appa Avenue, which means he's not gonna be here for another twenty minutes. Oh, and you know he's gonna wanna sit in his dressing room and eat something first, so that's gonna be another fifteen minutes."
"I really doubt that many people are dying to hear his bit about the similarities between Fire Nation men and hog monkeys," I replied. "I love the guy, but I don't think it's gonna kill anybody to wait for him."
"Believe it or not," Gan said. "People here actually think he's funny. And I promised them a show tonight."
"Well, there's nothing you can do about it," I said. "So, there's no point in getting upset."
"Yeah, I guess," said Gan.
"So," I said, changing the subject. "How's Mala doing? Is she feeling better?"
Mala was Gan's new squeeze. Well, I shouldn't say 'new'. They'd been going out for about ten months now.
I gotta admit, I didn't like her at first. Due to the fact that she was needlessly intimidated by me. She did all the typical bullshit you would expect. She'd act hostile towards me, tell Gan that our relationship was unusual, everything straight off the paranoid girlfriend checklist. But then, once I took her to lunch and had a nice chat with her, I convinced her that Gan and I were just friends, and had never even considered being anything else. Now she and I were actually on pretty good terms.
"Well, she's still a little weak," said Gan. "But she's feeling a heck of a lot better than she was yesterday. Thanks for asking."
"It's weird," I said. "Her not being here. I've gotten so used to her walking around here every night."
Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention. Mala was also the new floor manager here. Again, I use the word, 'new', loosely. She was basically in charge of making sure everything in the club ran smoothly, allowing Gan more freedom, less stress, and the ability to pour me more drinks than he could if she wasn't around.
"Yeah, she's been a real big help around here," said Gan. "Damn, I'm so lucky I found her."
"I'll say," I replied. "I don't think I've ever seen you as happy as you've been since you met her."
"I honestly think she might be the one, child," Gan said. "She's everything I've ever been looking for."
"Ooooh," I said. "Do I hear wedding bells?"
"I don't know yet," said Gan. "But it's not unlikely that, in a year from now, that just might be where we are."
"Well, let me give you some advice," I said. "Try and aim for less than a year. Because if you're thinking about all this, then she is too. And women don't like to wait. Take it from someone who knows."
"I'll keep that in mind," Gan said. "Thank you. Now, since we're on the subject, when are you gonna find yourself a nice man?"
"Gan, really?" I whined. "Are you ever gonna stop bringing this up?"
"Listen," he said. "I just want you to have with someone what I have with Mala. I know that's what you want too. Why don't you get back out there?"
"Gan," I replied. "Do you remember the last guy I dated?"
"That was a year and a half ago," Gan said. "It's time to move on with your life. Besides, call me crazy, but I feel like none of the guys you'll go out with for the rest of your life will end up being as lowdown and dirty as him. And you can keep going from guy to guy if you want to, but I feel like you would be better suited for an actual relationship. Now, I happen to know a guy who said he'd be interested in getting to know you. You can say no if you want, but I feel like that would be a mistake."
"A blind date?" I asked. "With some creep from this place? Oh, yeah. That sounds much better than what I've been doing for the last year and a half."
"Just consider it," Gan said. "Please."
I rolled my eyes, knowing full well how this was gonna turn out, but decided to cave anyway. "Fine," I said. "Give me his number and I'll call him."
"That's what I'm talking about!" said Gan.
"When this goes badly," I said. "When, not if, I'm gonna come all the way over here and slug you in the arm for making me do this."
"Trust me," said Gan. "By this time Friday night, I think you'll be singing a different tune."
The following afternoon, I was sprawled out on the couch in my living room, wearing sweatpants and a tank top, and listening to a new record I'd gone out and bought earlier. It was from this hot new jazz singer named Jasmine Hikage, whose music I had come to absolutely adore over the past year.
I consider myself a fan of pretty much any genre of music. I can connect with any kind of song, but jazz music had this… this… quality to it that I connected to on such a deep level. They say that it's the gateway to the soul, and that was something I could honestly attest to. Especially after getting into Jasmine Hikage's music.
And, the way I always saw it, the reason people's taste in music varies is because the essence of a song is the right words and the right melody randomly happening upon each other to deliver an emotional sensation that the listener uses to connect with it. The combination of the words and the melody was different for each person. And Jasmine Hikage had found my combination. The sultry sound in her voice, marinated with heartbreak and personal struggles, paired with the words you know she so carefully chose to express her feelings through the song… it really struck a chord with me.
I want you to think of a melody in your head. Take one you've already heard that you know you like, or come up with one in your head. Now pair it with these lyrics, and let yourself feel whatever comes.
It was three o'candle I'd had to wait Four whole hours For my hot date I never would've But I felt I should've For the one who left me there
We'd met that morn We spent all day Making each other Feel some type of way It really killed To feel so thrilled By the one who left me there
He had to go To meet with friends He said meet me here Once my dinner ends At just eleven I'd be back in Heaven With the one who left me there
And now I'm here Feeling a fool Swigging my scotch Here on this barstool So now I'm drinking And now I'm thinking About the one who left me here
If you didn't feel anything at all there, I'm sorry, but you have no soul.
Just as that particular song was near it's completion, I heard an unexpected knock on the door.
I quickly shot up off of my couch and switched off my phonograph, wondering who the fuck would be knocking on my apartment door at four o'candle in the afternoon on a day I wasn't working. I ran towards the door, staring through the peephole to see none other than Yin standing on the other side, already looking annoyed that I hadn't answered my door yet, even though she had only knocked ten seconds ago.
Deciding that I didn't have time to change, I swung the door open, bringing the two of us in a position I sincerely did not want to be in with her today. Face-to-face.
"Hi," I said, a hint of confusion in my voice. "Is there something you need me for?"
"Get dressed," Yin said. "Qin's called for a meeting with the Makapu City people."
"Now?" I asked, noticeably frustrated by the lack of any kind of a head's up on Qin's part.
"It's a last-minute situation," said Yin. "Gun is already down there, so he asked me to drive you. By the looks of it, it doesn't look like I'm interrupting anything."
Aw, man. After two whole years of working together, one thing about Yin that definitely hadn't changed was the fact that she was a condescending bitch.
"Fine," I said, practically through gritted teeth. "I'll get ready." I then promptly slammed the door in her face, which, I'm sure, caused her to roll her eyes.
I set out into my bedroom to get ready for this impromptu meeting, dreading the car ride with Yin on the way over more than anything the actual meeting might've contained.
About thirty minutes later, the two of us were in Yin's Satomobile, cruising through Republic City's industrial district on our way down to the docks.
The people we were meeting were from Makapu City, a place located just over the mountains, across from Republic City. They were the leaders of the biggest drug empire in the United Republic of Nations, which meant that it was one of the biggest in the world. And, from what it sounded like, it seemed like they were looking to do business with us. That was just one of the many things that had brought change over the past year. Dealing in drugs. We'd never done it before, but Qin and Yash seemed to think it was the way of the future.
Among the other things that had changed was the woman sitting next to me. In the past year, Yin had finally started to come out of her shell a little bit. She was still a cold, quiet, condescending bitch, but those were just pieces of the puzzle now, rather than the whole thing. She had become less withdrawn, less antisocial, and a lot less of a pain to be around. Of course, you wouldn't know that, given the fact that all I've done this whole time is complain about how much she annoys me. But, still. These days, she was less the antagonistic bitch who everyone hated, and more the ultra-serious buzzkill friend who, at times, had plenty of snark to go around.
I wondered sometimes what caused her to change. The Yin I knew before wouldn't let what anyone thought of her make her feel the need to better herself. The Yin I knew before couldn't give less of a shit about what anybody thought of her. And I couldn't think of anything else that might've made her change. She certainly didn't wake up one day and decide she needed to be a better person.
But there was a reason. There was a reason that she'd changed. And it fascinated me to no end to think of what happened in her life, a life I knew absolutely nothing about, that could've caused it.
Finally, as that particular train of thought ended, we pulled up to the docks, where we could see everybody from both our camp and the Terras' was already waiting. It was all the usual suspects. Gun, Zolt, Qin, Ryu, Toji, and Wong repping our side, and Yash, Goru, Ren, and all their captains repping the Terras.
Unfortunately for me, it looked like the Makapu City people hadn't arrived yet, which meant that I was gonna have to do some waiting. "Thanks for the ride," I said, opening the car door and letting myself out.
"Whatever," Yin replied, indifferently.
The moment I had shut the door, Yin had already started backing up, apparently not wanting to waste a minute getting on with her day.
Having finally arrived, I made my way towards my colleagues, eager to be filled in on why we had all been called down here on such short notice. "Hey," I said. "So, what's the deal? Why the sudden meeting with these guys?"
"They called us about an hour ago and said they wanted to meet here," said Qin. "They said they have business to discuss with us."
"Hopefully they'll get here before we all fucking freeze to death!" Zolt groaned, shivering as he breathed a little puff of fire in front of his hands, in order to keep them warm.
Having gotten my explanation, I ignored everyone else and walked straight over to Gun, who I noticed was also shivering. I'm telling you, man. Republic City in the winter is a real bitch.
"Hey," said Gun. "We interrupt anything important?"
"Nah," I said. "I was just listening to some records."
"Jasmine Hikage?" Gun asked with a grin.
"Yeah," I replied. "How did you know?"
"Because you wouldn't shut up the other night about how much you loved her," Gun said. "You did us all the favor of singing one of her songs out loud. I thought Mong was gonna piss his pants."
"Wow," I said, my face bright red. "That's mortifying. Did I sound good at least?"
"As good as anyone can sound after five glasses of scotch," said Gun.
"Still better than any of you yahoos," I said.
"Oh, I'm sure," said Gun.
"Here they come," said Ryu.
The rest of us turned to see a sleek, black limo pulling up just in front of us, stopping only a few feet away from where we were standing. Out from the limo emerged just three individuals, and each of them could not have looked more like criminals. If you ever pictured in your head what three high-level drug manufacturers looked like, these are the three images that would come up.
The first one was a bald guy, with little scraps of snowy white hair lining the sides of his head. He was probably in his seventies, if I had to guess his age, and his skin tone was a bit tan. Not as tan as a waterbender, but not as light as an earthbender or a firebender. I naturally assumed he had a mixed heritage. He also had a scowl on his face that looked natural, rather than something he was willingly summoning up. He was surely the boss. And not just because he was standing in front of the other two.
His two companions looked like a matching set of gangster action figures. One of them had black hair with silver wings running through the sides, and an even bigger scowl than the leader, although his clearly wasn't natural. This guy was born to be a gangster. He never could've turned out to be anything else looking like that.
The other one was a guy with a face like a bull-dog, but without the horns of course, and a set of wavy, ink-black hair on the top of his head that had to be a mile high. His scowl, weirdly enough, was the biggest of all.
I wasn't sure if they were all just trying to project a certain image of themselves onto us, or if they really were in that fowl of a mood, but either way. I did not get a very friendly vibe from these people.
As the guy in the front approached us, the other two followed. "Qin! Yash!" he said in a rather scratchy, gravelly voice. "So good to see you!"
"Lao," said Qin, as he and Yash approached the man. "It's good to see you too. Although, we were both expecting your brother."
"Well, that's the thing," Lao started. "He's dead. He passed away about a week ago."
"Oh, spirits," said Yash, visibly startled by this revelation. "I'm so sorry to hear that."
"We all are," said Qin. "He was a good friend."
"Yeah," said Lao. "We've all been pretty shaken up about it. Of course, naturally, I've been made the new head of this operation, and I'm determined to make him proud."
"I have no doubt you will," said Yash.
"Thank you," said Lao. "Now, let's talk business."
"Alright," said Qin. "What've you got for us?"
"I want to make a deal with both you guys," said Lao. "I'm looking to expand to Republic City. Chao was always too afraid to do it, since it would bring a lot more heat down on us from the feds, but I think it's the next logical step for this business. We'll keep manufacturing the dragon grass, and you guys will distribute it throughout the city. You'll, of course, get a sizeable cut of the profits."
"Hmm," said Qin. "Sounds like a lot of potential extra trouble for us. But I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle. What d'ya say, Yash?"
"Same thing as you, Qin," said Yash. "We're in."
"Excellent!" said Lao. "Glad to hear it!"
"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful partnership," said Yash.
"I certainly hope so," said Lao. "Listen, we'll all be in town for the next few days. Why don't we all get together for some drinks sometime?"
"That sounds wonderful," said Qin.
"Gun," Lao said, addressing my mentor for the first time. "I know Po and Lito here have been itching to pay you back for the last pai sho game you played together. I'm sure we'd all like to see that rematch!"
"I'll take these two jokers on any time, any place!" Gun replied, motioning towards Lao's henchmen.
"Keep acting cocky," said Po, the henchman with the silver streaks in his hair. "See how far that gets ya."
"If you couldn't tell," chuckled Lito, the henchman with the wavy black hair. "He's way more upset about losing than me. But I'm still planning on taking your ass down."
"I look forward to ruining your plans, then," Gun retorted.
"Alright," said Qin. "It's getting late, and I'm sure we all have places to be. It was nice seeing you, Lao. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of each other in the near future."
"You can count on it," said Lao, climbing back into his car with his henchmen in tow.
And just like that, the meeting was over. We all got dragged down here and were forced to endure this freezing cold weather just for about five minutes of talking, if even that.
I really hated my job sometimes.
The following evening, I was sitting in a nice restaurant, in the middle of the first date I'd had in a year and a half.
It felt weird, going on a date again. Not just because of how long it had been since my last one, but because I had just never been on that many period. Normally the way I interacted with guys was by meeting them in Gan's nightclub, then going back to either my place or his and fucking his brains out. That was the process I preferred more when it came to meeting guys, but I knew that was no way to actually get to know them. Which is why I was here. To actually get to know one. And, y'know. Not have him turn out to be a crazy gangster trying to kill me.
Surprisingly enough, it was going pretty well so far. The guy, whose name was Fah, by the way, was funny, cute, and he actually listened, which was always a plus. He was a bit of a skinny fella, about my age, with a bowl cut atop his head and a stylish leather jacket draped over him.
"I gotta be honest," he said. "I've been wanting to do this for a long time. I always come in there and see you talking to Gan up at the bar, and I always tell myself 'tonight's the night I'm gonna ask her out', but I always end up pussying out."
"Well, if it makes you feel good," I replied. "So far you haven't made me regret saying yes."
"That is a relief," Fah said.
"So," I said. "Are you a fan of sports?"
"Oh, yeah," he said. "I'm a huge pro-bending fan."
"Alright!" I said. "Getting off to a good start!"
"Are you a fan too?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah," I replied. "Lifelong fan."
"Who do you pull for?" he queried.
"The Elephant Koi," I answered.
"Ooh, nice," he said. "They're doing pretty well right now."
"How about you?" I inquired.
I was met with a brief chuckle before I was met with a reply. "The Moose Lions," he said. "Yikes," I said. "That must suck."
"Yeah," Fah laughed. "I'm telling you, you can never know the feeling of misery that comes with being a Moose Lions fan."
"Yeah," I laughed. "I can imagine."
"No, you can't," Fah replied. "Trust me. I mean, you'd think it'd be impossible for a team that started off so strong to be such a shitshow for thirty-five years, but when you've got management as bad as theirs, it's really no wonder."
"Yeah," I replied. "That's always a killer. And no matter how much they change it up, it always seems to stay the same."
"Yeah," he said. "And all the illegal gambling doesn't help."
Aw, shit. There it was. The thing that was gonna ruin this evening.
"What do you mean?" I asked, treading very carefully in the treacherous waters his words had created.
"C'mon, you know what I'm talking about," Fah said. "All those fucking gangsters who bet on the matches. Half the time, it doesn't matter how good a team is. If Kingpin Qin wants 'em to go down, they go down."
"Yeah," I said, nervously clearing my throat in what was seemingly an attempt to act as suspicious as possible. "I guess that is a real problem."
"I tell ya," said Fah. "Those fucking triads are a cancer to this city. If the police force wasn't so damn corrupt, they might actually be able to do something about them."
"Yeah," I muttered. "They're uh… they're pretty terrible."
"I mean, they just do whatever they want," Fah continued. "They murder, they swindle, they turn the greatest city in the world into a fucking shithole, and they get off completely scot free. As far as I'm concerned, every single one of 'em is scum."
As you might expect, this was not exactly something I was thrilled to hear. I did my best to turn the situation around, hoping he might just have it in his heart to make an exception for me if he ever needed to. "Well, I mean… not every single one of them," I spoke up. "They aren't all necessarily bad people."
"What are you talking about?" Fah asked.
"Well, I mean, maybe some of them don't have a choice," I said. "Maybe some of them are just doing it because they have nowhere else to turn."
"Nowhere else to turn?" he repeated. "No where else to turn?! There's always somewhere else to turn other than organized crime!"
"You don't know that!" I insisted. "Sometimes there are circumstances where a person has no choice! And, y'know, it's not like they kill innocent people! They only kill other people who are involved with the triads!"
"That's not true at all!" said Fah. "And what the fuck are you defending them for? What, do you got a relative who's a gangster or something?"
"No!" I replied. "I just don't think it's very fair of you to judge an entire group of people you don't even know!"
"That's a load of bullshit," Fah spat. "If you wanna sit here and try to justify the actions of the people who are making this city one big gutter, then go ahead. But I know better. And so does everybody else in this city who's ever been victimized by those thugs."
Well, that sealed it. There was no future to be had with this guy. Rather than stay and needlessly sit in uncomfortable silence for the rest of the evening, I leaned in towards him in order to say one last thing.
"Just because what they're doing is wrong, doesn't make them bad people," I told him. Then I stood up, took out my wallet, threw down some cash, and promptly headed towards the exit.
What happened that night was something that had actually occurred to me several times over the past year or so. That my job would only increase the difficulty of finding a special someone. Because not many people would want to marry a gangster, right? Fuck. I just said 'marry'. That was a pretty heavy word to use. But it was true. It didn't matter how many advantages I had when it came to courting guys. I would always have a neon sign over my head that said, 'Gangster. Approach with Caution'.
And it was a hard enough time for a man in this business to find himself a wife. But that was far more doable for a woman in this business to find a husband. Because men never wanted to feel like the weaker one in the relationship. Like their wife was tougher or stronger or more of a badass than they were. It made them feel emasculated. So, imagine what it would be like if I married a salesman or a bartender. You think he'd be secure with his masculinity knowing that his wife was some hotshot gangster who had the word, 'danger', in her job description? So, that was another hindrance to my love life.
But, honestly, if I took anything away from that night, it's that the whole thing reconfirmed what I already knew. I wasn't in a place in my life where I was really looking for someone special anyway. I was twenty-seven years old. Sure, I was in a place where I could have been looking to get hitched, but it wasn't a necessity right now. I was fine doing things the way I always did them for now, and if something happened down the road, something happened down the road. There was always gonna be time to find somebody, and right now just wasn't the time.
And it was probably gonna be a bit rough, but I knew that I'd eventually find someone. I had to.
The following evening, I was in the place I most often found myself these days. The back of our restaurant hideout, chatting it up with my crewmates.
As Gun sat behind his desk, counting the profits the day had brought, the rest of us sat on the sectional couch against the wall.
As was often the case, we were right smack dab in the middle of gabbing about the various love affairs the previous week had brought, and right now it was Chi Pa's turn.
"So, at this point," he said. "It's abundantly clear that we're not gonna be getting out of here until past midnight, which means we won't be getting home until around one, what with all the traffic. Of course, we had to pick the night where they went seven rounds into overtime."
I actually remembered listening to that pro-bending match on the radio a few nights ago. Even I was annoyed with how long it went, and I wasn't even there. The only problem I had to deal with was sitting on my couch and listening to it for longer than I had expected.
"So," Chi Pa continued. "It becomes very apparent that we're not gonna get laid tonight, since we'll both be too tired by the time we get home, which is unacceptable on a date night. So, suddenly, a thought pops into my head. Why wait? Just find some place here in the stadium. So I take Shikya, head outside the arena, and look for the nearest empty storage closet."
"You didn't," said Lu.
"You motherfucker," Mong chuckled.
"So, thirty minutes later," said Chi Pa. "We've just finished up, and we can already hear the sound of people leaving the stadium. We don't wanna get caught up in the traffic, so we just decide to wait in the storage closet. And before it even occurs to us to put our clothes back on, the janitor opens the door and sees us there."
"And you're completely naked?" Lu asked.
"Completely," said Chi Pa.
"That's a pretty tough spot to be in," Gun said.
"I wouldn't say tough," said Chi Pa. "At worst, it was just uncomfortable. Because as soon as he saw us there, he started yelling at us to get out, asking what was wrong with us, y'know, what you would expect. Shikya's hands have already shot up to cover her chest, meanwhile I'm still just lying there. And after he's done yelling, I just say, 'If you'd like, I'll turn over onto my other side and show you my ass so you can kiss it. Then you can get the fuck out, unless you want me to take one of these mops and shove it down your throat'."
This elicited a collection of laughs from everyone in the room, except for Yin, of course. As if I need to specify that she wasn't laughing.
"And he just left after that?" asked Mong.
"Yep!" said Chi Pa. "Didn't even say a word! Shikya was so turned on by how forceful I was, that we ended up going another round."
"Sounds like a pretty good date night to me!" I said.
"Speaking of which," said Chi Pa. "I do believe that it's you turn now."
"Oh, yeah, I can't wait to hear this," said Mong. "Song always has the best stories."
"Yeah, well," I said. "Sorry to disappoint you guys, but I don't have much to report tonight."
"Didn't you say you had a date last night?" asked Gun.
"Yeah, but it didn't go well," I replied.
"Wait a minute," said Lu. "Song went out with a guy and didn't score? What is the world coming to?!"
"What happened?" Mong asked.
"He started mouthing off about how he hates all the gangsters in this city," I said. "Saying how they're all scum and shit like that."
"The nerve of that fucking punk!" Mong said. "Where does he get off?"
"You tell him to go fuck himself?" Chi Pa asked.
"Not quite," I replied. "But I did tell him off."
"Atta girl!" said Lu. "Way to let him know."
They were all cheering me on for telling the guy off, but, to tell you the truth, what he said had made me think. For the first time in a while, it had made me think about the nature of the business I was in, and how I felt about being a part of it.
I knew that our business was dirty. I knew it was a business I wouldn't be involved in if I had any other choice. But that was the business. Not the people.
Sure, there were plenty of pieces of shit in this business. Zolt, Khan, Kodana, and plenty of other people spanning all four triads. Honestly, I would say there were more bad ones than good ones. But these guys? The ones I was sitting with right now? They weren't bad people. They may have done bad things on a fairly regular basis, but they weren't bad people. I had seen firsthand their capacity for so many emotions that bad people could never have. Honor. Loyalty. Love. If you took away the business, and were just left with the people, you would see them in a whole different light. But that's something that most people couldn't do. And I couldn't really blame them for that. But it was something I could do, with the position I was in. At the end of the day, I knew who they were, and no one else in this city, who only read about them through the newspapers, could. They were my friends. And I didn't want to be involved with anybody who would talk about my friends that way.
Or me, for that matter. Holy shit. I just realized I was also talking about myself that whole time.