Avatar: The Warring Earth
Book Three—Water
By Twins of the Pen
Disclaimer: Avatar in itself belongs to Nickelodeon and Bryan Konietzko/Michael DiMartino. The only things that belong to Twins of the Pen are the original characters.
The ding of an elevator and the rattle of the door handle woke Shun up. He was staring at the ceiling of the living room, having chosen to occupy a couch rather than sleep on the floor in his brother's room, who he distinctly remembered having a bad habit of snoring when they were kids (Shun had forgotten to warn Syaoran, and now felt bad about it, though). Tiki had taken the floor in Nyla's room while ZanYi had joined Shun in the living room—they were both in agreement that Nyla would not be very happy if she came home to find the lieutenant in her room.
And speaking of his apparently flighty sister coming home…
Shun rolled over in time to see the door open, and the figure of his little sister entered, light from the hallway pouring in and blinding Shun for a brief moment before Nyla slammed the door shut. Heedless of ZanYi and Shun's presence, the singer made her way noisily to the mini-bar in the corner next to the door, cutting the lights on as she went. She grabbed a bottle of water and began to chug it as Shun slipped out from under the blanket Jin had given him and approached her from behind.
"Nyla…"
Nyla spewed her water and whipped around in alarm. Finding it was only Shun, however, she let out a breath. "Don't scare me like that! You almost gave me a heart attack!"
"Sorry," Shun apologized quietly. Nyla's eyes were rimmed red, he noticed, and that caused concern to rise within him. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Nyla brushed him off, turning back to the fridge to root for something to eat. Grabbing a carton that had her name on it, she turned around again, finding that Shun was still there. "…What?" she snapped after staring at him for a minute. The giant waterbender lifted a shoulder, letting it fall a second later.
"Just wanted to talk. You know, catch up." Shun's eyes traveled down to Nyla's neck—sure enough, a choker was there, a crescent moon etched into the blue metal. Just what kind of man had been Nyla's fiancé? Shun would have liked to have known him.
Unbeknownst to him, however, Nyla was checking out his neckwear as well. "Why do you have dogtags on?" she did not hesitate to ask him. When their eyes met, hers widened marginally. "You… are you a part of the Resistance?"
"No," Shun denied with a shake of his head. "ZanYi is. These are hers."
"So you gave her the necklace I made you in exchange for her dogtags?" Nyla's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why?"
Here, Shun smiled helplessly, "Because I love her, Ny."
Nyla stood there, frozen by this sudden bold proclamation. Her brother… was in love with a soldier? Oh, he was on a fast track to heartache… and she knew a little something about heartache. "You should break up with her," Nyla asserted, scowling at the dogtags as if they offended her. "Getting involved with someone in the Resistance can only lead to heartbreak."
Nyla did not appreciate the hand that went to her shoulder, nor the pitying look on her brother's face. "You only think that because of what happened to your fiancé," Shun said, illustrating that he knew too much. Nyla knocked his hand away and growled.
"Jin talks too much."
"Only because he's worried about you."
"No, he's not. He just thinks I'm a wild animal that he has to put up with because we're 'family'."
"I'm sure he doesn't think that way."
"How would you know?"
Shun smiled gently, daring to place his hand on Nyla's head. "Because all brothers can't help but love their little sisters," he reasoned. Nyla ducked her head at this, her face darkening with a blush that she tried to hide through a stubborn expression. It was an expression that was endearingly familiar. With a huff, Nyla ducked out from under Shun's hand, moving past him to sit at the bar.
"Quit treating me like a kid. I'm not four years old anymore, you know."
"No, you're not," Shun agreed, moving to take a seat next to his sister. "So tell me: who are you now?" Nyla began picking at her cold Earth Kingdom food straight from the carton, determinedly ignoring Shun. With a smile, Shun recalled a throwaway comment Jin had made earlier during dinner, and he mentioned casually, "Jin told me you have a motorcycle named Zephyr."
Nyla threw him a sharp look. "Yeah, so? What, are you gonna tell me I shouldn't have a bike because they're too dangerous?"
"Ha ha, no," Shun laughed, "I'm actually really jealous: due to certain circumstances, I had to get rid of my bike."
Nyla paused, giving her brother the eye. "You had a motorcycle…?"
"Yeah. Ai," Shun sighed, looking towards the ceiling as he reminisced. "I got her when I was sixteen and old enough to get my motorcycle license. To this day, I still miss her."
Nyla tapped her chin with her chopsticks, surveying Shun. "Ai, huh? Interesting choice… though you talk about her like she was your girlfriend."
"People say that a lot," Shun admitted with a grin.
When the door had slammed to a close earlier, it had been enough to jostle ZanYi awake as well. While normally the previous, more minor noises would have sufficed, it took the louder slam to get to her as she had fallen into a night terror. Whereas Shun had gotten up to move over to Nyla, the lieutenant had stayed where she was, breathing deep in and out. A bit of a sweat padded her brow, and her heart was racing. ZanYi knew it couldn't have been too bad—Shun was happily talking with Nyla, so that meant the lieutenant hadn't been screaming. In a way, she was thankful for the middle of the night interruption; it had woken her up before the terror had gotten to its worst point.
Considering it probably would be a bad thing to interrupt Shun while he was with Nyla, ZanYi rose up slowly. She should just go back to sleep, but now her throat was parched and thirsty. Which meant she would have to go past the Jiangs to get a drink. It was a bitter realization, but ZanYi wasn't going to let Nyla's attitude towards her stop her from getting a drink. So, once ZanYi thought she didn't look as haggard, she got up and slowly padded over to the fridge to get a bottle of water. Overhearing the comments about Ai, she smirked a little.
"Shun treated that bike like it was his girlfriend," she remarked as she undid the lid of her water. "Even visited it when he couldn't ride it." ZanYi could remember catching him in the loading bay the night after the Omashu raid. She could only shake her head. But, having her water, and knowing she was intruding on time with a family member that did not like her, ZanYi gave Shun a tired nod, and then crept back over to the couch to get out of their way.
Shun watched her progress, his brow furrowing in concern. ZanYi didn't look like she was sleeping peacefully… was she having another one of her night terrors? He wanted to walk over and check on her, but he was talking with Nyla now. Sending a silent apology to the lieutenant, the giant waterbender returned his attention to his sister, who was also looking at ZanYi, except with more scowl to her brow.
"Seriously, her?" Nyla mumbled, turning her eyes back to Shun. Her tone irked Shun as well as amused him.
"You disapprove?"
"She seems so… cold."
"ZanYi's a firebender. There's nothing cold about her."
Nyla blinked at this revelation. "A fire—how the hell does that work out?"
"Very well, actually," Shun replied, his lips hinting at a smile. "We clash sometimes, but we also balance each other out. It's very much a give-and-take relationship."
"Let me guess," Nyla deadpanned, "you're the one that does most of the giving?"
Shun reached up to fiddle with the dogtags around his neck. "Not at all," he assured Nyla, his face the epitome of seriousness. Nyla raised an eyebrow, her ice blue eyes searching her brother's face, his expression confusing her because she could not determine the cause of it. In the end, she decided she didn't like it anyway.
"I'm going to bed," she announced, closing her carton and sliding off the bar stool.
"Try not to wake Tiki up on your way in," Shun requested of her as she headed to her room. Nyla paused long enough to throw him a confused look.
"Who?"
"You remember the small girl we came with? That's Tiki, and she's asleep on your floor."
"Great," Nyla grumbled, resuming her walk to her room. "I'll try not to step on her, but no promises."
"That's all I can ask for," Shun replied, looking amused. "Good night, Nyla."
Nyla paused once again, turning to give Shun a nod before she entered her room, shutting the door behind her. Shun sighed in content. They were beginning to get somewhere. Shutting off the lights behind the bar, Shun moved off his stool as well, going to crouch by ZanYi's couch. "You okay?"
ZanYi sat back up and looked at him, tired and deadpanned. "I'm fine, Shun. Don't worry about it," she told him, trying to wave it off. She should've known better than to think that Shun wouldn't see through her. Which meant he wouldn't believe her now.
Grumbling, she took another sip of her water. "The dream didn't get very far this time," she divulged. With a jerk of her head back towards Nyla's room, the lieutenant further explained, "Your sister coming in woke me up before it got worse." ZanYi put down the water and looked to Shun a bit curiously, a brow quirked. "Sounded like things went okay though," she observed from what she could hear. Granted, as of right now Nyla still didn't seem favorable to the lieutenant, but that was not something of note to ZanYi.
Shun smiled. "Yeah… I suppose so," he agreed, moving to sit next to the lieutenant. His smile widening, the giant waterbender continued, "You know… she kind of reminds me of you: she's got a stubborn streak in her that my parents predicted would disappear when she got older. Instead, it looks like it grew." Shun chuckled. It seemed as if it was his destiny to love difficult women. At least he was patient enough to rise to the challenge, most of the time. Turning to face ZanYi, Shun took her face in his hands, wiping the sweat from her brow. "I guess it's a good thing Nyla woke us both up, then," he murmured, placing a kiss on ZanYi's forehead. He wasn't sure what was worse: her shrieking night terrors or her silent ones. At least when she screamed, he could wake her up from them. When she didn't scream, Shun had no idea to take it as her sleeping fine, or suffering quietly. It was aggravating.
She closed her eyes for a moment and let out a huff of exasperation. "I guess so, though you need to be asleep, Shun. You're training Syaoran now. You're going to need more rest, so you can't keep waking up in the middle of the night because of me anyway," she scolded him a bit. Hopefully more of her night terrors would be silent from now on. Shun shouldn't have to wake up every time she had one, and the last thing ZanYi needed was everyone else to know about her problems at night.
"Besides Syaoran," she continued, "you've got Jin and Nyla, who are both handfuls in their own rights as well."
The lieutenant just hoped Nyla wouldn't take her dislike of ZanYi and channel it all at her openly. Between that and Jin's constant flirtations and advances, the lieutenant was going to lose it on one of the two Jiangs or both. Patience was not her strong suit; it was Shun's. She had a feeling this was all going to wear quite quickly for her.
"I heard you tell Nyla about us," she brought up. "You going to tell Jin any time soon too? Or not even bother because it wouldn't change anything?"
Shun's eyes darkened perceptively. "Oh, I'm going to tell him," Shun asserted, turning to eye his brother's door. "I told Nyla first because I expected her to be the one with the problem, but her reaction… wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Since she seems like she'll get over it faster than I thought, I'm not going to waste any time in telling Jin that he can't have you, because you're mine."
A couple seconds later, Shun slapped a hand over his mouth, realizing what he just said. Strange… he had never claimed ownership of ZanYi before… that was usually her M.O. towards him. What possessed him to label her as 'his'? She wouldn't like that; it was one thing for her to claim Shun, but it was a whole other thing for him to claim her. He shouldn't be possessive of her, no matter how many men hit on her. He wasn't allowed to… and now he was afraid to look at her and see her reaction.
ZanYi just kind of stared at him for a moment, eyes narrowing as they peered up at Shun. She wasn't sure how to take this new development, in all honesty. Looking down at Shun's necklace around her neck, the lieutenant almost started to see it like a collar, as Shun so eloquently put her dogtags on him. "Yours, huh?" she asked, looking back at him with a lifted eyebrow. There was a mixture of irritation and amusement. Certainly, ZanYi did not belong to anyone; several men had tried to get her attention over the years for the sake of being able to say that. But considering this was Shun, it felt… different.
His way of saying that she was his was not based out of pride, or a way of showing her off like she was a possession. Shun meant that she would only be with him, that no other man could or should try. Shun cared enough that he was warding off others from her. That said something different than most others.
"Well, I suppose as long as it's you, that's all right," she reluctantly said, "though if you start thinking you can control me or put me aside, we're going to have a big problem, Shun Jiang."
Shun did look at ZanYi then, awestruck. For one thing, he thought she was going to singe him for daring to even claim such an arrogant thing, but she did not. Instead, she accepted it. But her last comments were almost laughable. "I would never do that to you," he told her seriously, amusement mixing with insult in his ice blue eyes. Didn't she know by now that he cherished her? Was he not making that clear every time he said he loved her? Besides, he knew she would kick his butt to the moon and back if he even dared to treat her like a possession. As if he would…
ZanYi was satisfied with that then. The only reason she was letting such a thing slide was because it was Shun, and Shun wasn't like other men. She trusted him, almost completely. There was still a part of her that wouldn't let completely go, but that was because of her own issues, not anything Shun had done. "Good, then that's settled," she said with a nod. "You're mine, so I suppose now I'm yours." It was a bit of a surprise to feel a hint of red creep up on her cheeks. The lieutenant pushed that back real fast.
To distract that thought, she reached over and pulled Shun down by the dogtags, forcing his lips onto hers. Even then it was so good, and ZanYi took the liberty of teasing him, letting her tongue lick his lip before she pulled away. "Now, we need to get back to sleep, because at this point, neither of know what tomorrow may entail," the lieutenant suggested, a small smirk still on her face.
Shun stared down at her, his face slowly turning red once again. "You're so mean," he grumbled in complaint, "teasing me like that and then sending me to bed…"
Well, two could play at that game.
Turning ZanYi's head and sweeping her hair back, Shun trailed kisses down her neck, stopping at the crook of her shoulder. There, he bit down, teasing her flesh with his teeth. It would probably create another dark mark on her neck, but at that point, Shun did not care. ZanYi started it, anyway.
Once he felt he was done teasing her, Shun let ZanYi's hair fall back into place, smirking a little as he met her eyes. "Good night, Lieutenant," he bade, pecking her lips before moving back to his own couch, rolling so that his back was to her. If he looked back at her, he did not know what he would see or what he would do—it was best not to risk it.
ZanYi held a hand to the crook of her neck, looking at Shun with reproach. At least she didn't leave a mark on him—though that could be quite easily rectified. Shun had better clear that up in the morning, if he didn't want his siblings to see his handiwork like Tiki and Syaoran had earlier. Still, despite the logistics, she was a bit pleased by his actions, and it made her smirk. Shun was getting increasingly bold lately, whether he realized it or not. It was making him all the more attractive.
"Goodnight," ZanYi eventually said as she settled back down into the couch. She pulled the blanket around her, reveling in the warmth. It wasn't as warm as it would have been with Shun lying there with her, but the lieutenant wouldn't complain. He was still close by, and hopefully the rest of the night would pass without a hitch or terror. Somehow the lieutenant knew the coming days would give her enough headaches without sleep deprivation to help.
It was late morning when Syaoran finally got up. He yawned, tired as he stepped out of Jin's room. He'd had to stay up later than he'd wanted; apparently Shun's brother had a penchant for snoring. Thankfully, however, the Avatar was a heavy sleeper, so once he fell asleep, he was completely out. It was a blessing not to have to wake up at dawn and he was going to thank Shun again later.
When he exited the room, he almost bumped into ZanYi as she was shaking a towel over her hair. "Shower already?" he asked, seeing the lieutenant's wet tresses. She nodded.
"Went for a run this morning and checked on Bumi. I brought back our stuff since we're here indefinitely," ZanYi answered, leading them into the living room. "I'm not sure if Tiki is meditating or still sleeping."
"Probably meditating," Syaoran observed, taking a seat on the couch, the blankets folded up on the side. "My question is: what are we doing for breakfast?"
"Did someone say breakfast?"
Jin and Shun were squeezing their way through the front door, bags of food in their hands. "We stopped by a restaurant that sells the most delicious bacon you've ever tasted! …And tofu bacon, of course," Jin amended, glancing around. "Speaking of tofu, where's the vegetarian airbender?"
Before anyone could answer, the ceiling opened up, the stairs descending from the roof. Tiki hopped down the stairs, looking in a pleasant enough mood. "Oh, good morning," she chirped, smiling at everyone once she reached the living room. "I was meditating upstairs and—" Tiki paused, her nose twitching as she sniffed the air. Her gray eyes zooming in on the bags in Shun's and Jin's hands, she asked, "Do I smell tofu bacon?"
"Here you are, Teeks," Shun offered the tiny airbender a bag with an amused smile. Tiki rushed over, grabbing the bag and opening it immediately to check the contents. Instantly, her mouth began to water.
"Oh my goodness, it looks delicious! Thank you, Shun!"
"No problem," the giant waterbender chuckled, pleased by Tiki's reaction. He set the rest of the take-out bags on the table and was about to invite everyone to dig in when a loud 'thump!' distracted him. "What was that?" he asked, looking around in confusion.
"Nyla," Jin replied nonchalantly, digging through each of the bags to pick out the breakfast foods he wanted. "She's really clumsy when she gets up in the morning, so she falls out of bed a lot… what's up?"
Shun had just clamped a hand over his mouth, his frame trembling as he tried to remain stoic. "Nothing…" he mumbled with some difficulty, his laughter threatening to burst out. "It's… it's not really funny…" But the reason Shun was so amused was because he was thinking, 'That's just like me.' It pleased him to know that he and Nyla were not as different as he had originally thought.
ZanYi smirked a little, knowing exactly why Shun seemed to be having a hard time containing himself. The man was an utterly uncoordinated oaf in the mornings. She'd known that for a while, but since they'd started sharing their nights together, it was only more amplified. It was a good thing the lieutenant preferred getting up early; whenever Shun tried to get up before her, he always, without fail, would manage to wake her up with his clumsiness. Just this morning he'd managed to wake her by hitting the coffee table trying to get up.
"Looks like she shares your curse, Big Guy," ZanYi pointed out, moving past to him to scope out breakfast as she allowed her towel to drop around her shoulders from her hair. Jin raised his eyebrows at her.
"Oh, really? And how do you know that?" he ventured to ask the lieutenant. "You'd have to spend the night together to know what he's like in the morning, wouldn't you?"
"Oh yeah," Shun interjected, sounding as if he had just remembered something. "Jin, come here for a second."
"Whoa, what's with the serious look, little bro? You—ack, hey, you don't need to grip me so hard! I can walk on my own, thank you!"
Tiki watched as Shun led his older brother, a firm grip on his upper arm, out a door she had not realized was there before, at the center of the glass wall. Shun nudged it aside, and the glass gave way, swiveling in the center so that it allowed them to pass and swung back into place once they were standing on the balcony outside. Tiki could hear nothing of their conversation, but as she watched their reactions, she could pretty much guess what they were talking about: Shun harbored a serious look as he spoke, though a blush was creeping into his face. Jin stared at him for a minute, as if he could not believe his ears. And then he made a bunch of emphatic gestures, pointing at ZanYi and Shun in quick succession, his expression a mix between shock and heartbreak. Shun gave a curt nod, which seemed to be it for Jin—he sank to the ground in depression and defeat, with Shun awkwardly patting his back in an apologetic manner. Tiki didn't need subtitles: Shun had just told Jin that he and ZanYi were together.
Syaoran, however, was more preoccupied with the promise of food. Seriously, staying here was pretty great. The food on Roku's Island had been the best so far, but this was shaping up nicely and the Avatar got to sleep in now for waterbending training. He was appeased.
He grabbed a fair portion of bacon, looking to Tiki with a curious look. "If you want the same taste, why bother with the tofu and just eat the original instead?" Syaoran asked. Why take the knock-off stuff when the real bacon was right there and tasted delicious?
Tearing her gaze away from Shun and Jin, Tiki turned to focus on Syaoran instead, his question causing her to give him a look. Did he really want to go there with her again? "Like I told you before," the tiny airbender began, frowning at Syaoran, "I don't believe in eating meat because I think it's heartless to kill defenseless animals for our own consumption! That bacon you're holding? That's some poor pig's family member! Don't you feel like a murderer every time you eat it?"
Syaoran ate a bite, feigned a thought, and then looked back to Tiki. "Nope, not feeling like a murderer. Hold on." The Avatar took another bite and looked back to Tiki. "Yeah, still not feeling like a murderer. All I can think is that this is really good."
ZanYi had been watching the commotion outside on the balcony, knowing exactly what Shun was telling his brother. How dismayed Jin looked made her roll her eyes. As if he'd had a chance, with or without Shun in her life. Hopefully this would keep his commentary at bay, though a part of her doubted that.
"Cut it out you two," she told Syaoran and Tiki instead, knowing another debate was eminent. They seriously would fight over the most inconsequential things. "Eat your breakfast so we can start figuring out where we go from here." The lieutenant grabbed a piece of fruit and walked over to her bag to fold up her towel and slip it away. Since she felt it safe to assume that everyone around them knew about her and Shun already, ZanYi dared to pull her hair back, not caring if her neck was showing. It wasn't exactly her favorite idea to basically blast the information with the display, but she was tired of wearing her hair down. ZanYi needed it out of her way.
At least it looked a bit better, the hickeys from the other night starting to fade. There just also happened to be a brand new dark spot right on the crook of her neck, courtesy of Shun last night. It would probably fluster him a bit in broad daylight, but ZanYi supposed that was his price to pay. If he refused to clear it up, he might as well be stuck seeing it.
Tiki poked her tongue out at Syaoran a little, allowing her childish side to show. He didn't have to agree with her—she just wished he would stop making fun of her personal habits. The only time she bothered to pick on his eating preferences is when he mentioned hers first. Why couldn't he just live and let live?
Well, whatever. Tiki had her tofu bacon, and it was delicious, so she was happy. She began rooting through the other take-out bags for more breakfast food when Shun and Jin finally decided to rejoin them, Jin seemingly now in disbelief.
"No way, you're screwing with me, aren't you?" Jin was asking Shun, who was looking more and more put out by the minute, "I mean, no offense little brother, but putting the two of you together just seems—" And then Jin noticed the hickeys on ZanYi's neck. "Aw maaaan!" he wailed, collapsing onto a nearby couch. "Life just isn't fair!"
Jin's complaining was cut short by a sapphire pillow being shoved into his face. "You're too loud," Nyla grumbled, pressing down on the pillow and causing Jin to flail about in panic. She let go eventually, uncaring as she traveled to the mini-bar while Jin gasped for air.
"Good morning, Nyla," Shun greeted his little sister. Nyla glanced at him as she passed, but otherwise gave no acknowledgement that she heard him. She did, however, pause when she saw ZanYi—more specifically, the state of ZanYi's neck. Shooting an icy glare at the lieutenant, the singer continued on to the bar to make a pot of coffee.
ZanYi merely quirked a brow at her in response. Yes, this certainly seemed like behavior of a younger sister that was going to 'get over' the relationship the lieutenant had with Shun—sarcasm intended. On one hand, she had one of his siblings that seemed to be too infatuated with her, the other who seemed to detest ZanYi the more she saw of her. This was going to be fantastic to deal with.
Ignoring both of the siblings, the lieutenant looked to Shun with her hands on her hips. "Have you eaten yet?" she asked him. "I told Syaoran and Tiki to hurry it along. We need to figure out what our next step is."
"Have we heard from General Chen yet?" Syaoran asked ZanYi, turning to ask her in between bites of his breakfast.
The lieutenant shook her head. "I just sent Xie Xie off last night, so he should have the message by now, so we probably won't hear back until tomorrow, permitting rest time for Xie Xie. I'd like to have a plan of action to report back before then, though."
Shun took a seat next to his brother, leaning his elbows on his thighs with his hands folded in front of his face. "Jin and I ate at the restaurant," Shun replied to ZanYi's question, his brows furrowing as he thought. "As for planning our next step… I honestly can't say I have any definite ideas right now."
Jin sat up, registering the sudden serious atmosphere. "You're not leaving, are you?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Shun saw Nyla halt in her motions, the coffee pot raised in preparation to pour into her mug. He frowned. "I don't want to leave you two here," Shun began throwing anxious glances to his siblings, "but… I don't know how long we can stick around. The pool is nice, but we have to operate under the radar. And since we're smack dab in the middle of enemy territory, the faster we move on from here, the better. I was planning on migrating to the South Pole soon, and I want you and Nyla to come with us, if possible."
Jin frowned as well. "But I told you: I don't want to leave until I know Haruto's all right," he insisted. "The man was a grouch, but he was a good man… and he's the Avatar's father too, apparently, so don't you think you should stick around until we find out where he's gone? I'm going to keep an ear to the ground and find out as much as I can, but I need time for that."
Something warm hit Shun's cheek, and he turned to find a coffee mug being pressed against his face, an impassive-looking Nyla holding it there. "Thanks," he accepted in surprised gratitude. Nyla glanced away from his smile to sit down, sipping from her own mug.
"Where's mine?" Jin protested, distracted.
"Get it yourself," Nyla replied simply. "You live here; I only need to serve guests."
Shun was about to point out that Nyla had only seemed to serve him coffee, but then felt it best to let the matter drop. Sipping at his coffee, Shun continued, "Okay, so Haruto is obviously a priority here. But we need to gather information fast. I'm worried about what will happen if we stay here for too long."
"We have to find out where my father is," Syaoran immediately asserted, looking more to ZanYi. Considering the reaction of the last few times he'd crossed ZanYi, he tried to think of a smarter way to go about this. No need to mess up the penthouse between him and ZanYi duking it out. "We have to at least get a lead on him. Then we can go wherever you feel is safe. Just let us stay for now."
ZanYi frowned at the two men of the team, a twist to her lips. With mild exasperation, she consented with a nod. "We'll stay until we can at least find out what happened to him. Beyond that, however, will have to be dealt with after we get out of the city. We can't stay here longer than necessary—none of us," she insisted, adding that last bit to show that she was including Jin and Nyla in that plan. No one on Team Avatar would leave behind family in a dangerous situation; she wasn't going to make Shun unless it was in the best interest of the Avatar.
Syaoran physically relaxed and continued to eat, satisfied with at least that much leniency. ZanYi took a seat on the couch she'd slept on, opposite the Jiangs, leaning forward on her thighs as she thought. "For now, the waterbending training will have to remain at night, because we have to lie as low as possible. No need to attract attention in broad daylight."
The Avatar nodded as he started on some biscuits, content with that. It meant sleeping in—though even it hadn't, he would have agreed. Last thing he wanted was Neo-Equalists to drop in on them. ZanYi then turned to Jin. "How fast do you think you can get the information without compromising yourself?" she asked him with a lifted brow. They needed to be quick, but not reckless. She wasn't going to put civilians in danger if she could help it.
Jin's lips quirked into a smirk.
"I work at a club, swee—uh," Jin cut himself off, registering the look Shun was giving him, "I mean, Lieutenant Tsong. Anyway, I might be playing the music, but I hear the things people say when they think no one is listening. Plus Nyla likes to hang out at the bar, so together, we can… entice information from the drunk party-goers. It shouldn't be too hard; just give me a couple days."
"Do you have to work tonight?" Tiki asked, swallowing the bit of pancake she had in her mouth before she asked.
"Afraid so—gotta make the Boss Man his money, or he'll get irritated and threaten us," Jin said with a roll of his eyes. "Speaking of, he's not going to be happy when we suddenly disappear from the city. I wonder if he'll try to hunt us down."
"Screw him," Nyla grumbled, "He'll find other slaves to make him money."
"So after we make sure Haruto's all right," Shun continued, "you two will be willing to come with us?"
"Of course, little brother."
"Nyla?" The giant waterbender asked, turning to the girl beside him. Nyla glanced up at him before looking away, a rosy hint to her cheeks.
"Whatever."
Shun would take that as a yes, as would ZanYi, so she nodded. "A few days then," she finalized. "We'll stay a few more days to give you two some time to find out to Syaoran's father, and then we'll all get out of here and head south." She looked over at Syaoran next then. "While Jin and Nyla are at work each night, you'll continue your lessons with Shun at the pool."
"Okay," Syaoran easily agreed, finally finishing his breakfast. He'd gotten enough to settle his stomach pains—for the time being. Surely he would be wanting more later. "So what does that mean during the day?"
"You'll have down-time during the day," the lieutenant answered, a bit disgruntled. While Syaoran's usually sardonic eyes lit up at the thought, ZanYi was less than pleased about this. They could only work at night—both angles, even—and having so much time during the day seemed like a waste. "But," ZanYi continued, fixing both him and Tiki a stern look, "you'll be staying here for that down-time. You can't be running around the city where either of you could be spotted."
"Got it," Syaoran agreed readily, just eager at the prospect of having more free time. Since learning he was the Avatar, there hadn't been a lot of that. "We'll stay out of trouble. Right, Tiki?" he promised, giving Tiki a small nudge with his elbow and a look. The airbender couldn't try a stunt again like she had to go to the club. It would get them killed, though whether by Neo-Equalists or friendly fire, he didn't know.
ZanYi rolled her eyes with a scoff, as if doubting it. "Then we have a plan. Once Xie Xie comes back, I'll have a new report ready for the general." The lieutenant stood then, rolling some kinks out of her shoulders. "I'm going up," ZanYi said, leaving them to go up the stairs to the pool. There was some extra space up there around the pool deck, and right about then, she just wanted to practice her forms. Even if she couldn't use fire, just being in the sun and going through the motions would help.
As ZanYi retreated upstairs, Tiki allowed her face to sour. She could understand having to lie low so they wouldn't be discovered… but did that mean that she now had to be cooped up in the penthouse? That was no good! Airbenders don't do well being kept inside for too long, and she was no exception to that rule.
"Hey, Jin," Tiki called, leaning forward with a conspiratorial gleam in her eye, "would it be all right if I came with you and Nyla to the club during the night? I had a lot of fun the first time, and I want to hear Nyla sing again."
Nyla ignored the tiny airbender, but Jin grinned and said, "Why not? Your leader said you only had to stay put during the day, right? As long as you wear those nifty blue contacts of yours, I don't think anyone will recognize you from the wanted posters."
"Yes!" Tiki cheered, beaming. It was awesome to know people who worked in the club industry!
Shun frowned, opening his mouth to tell Tiki that she should really clear such an action with ZanYi first before she ran off with Jin, but was promptly distracted by the yank given to his ponytail. "Ouch!" Bewildered, Shun turned to find his sister with her fingers in his ponytail, a speculative expression on her face. "What is it, Nyla?"
"You should let me give you a hair cut," she stated, her fingers running more gently through Shun's hair now that she had his attention. "It's too long—if you weren't so big, you'd be mistaken for a girl."
Tiki snickered, which contributed to Shun's frown. "I like my ponytail."
"You look like a thug with such long hair. Even Jin cuts his hair, even though it's shaggy… though with his pretty boy looks, he would be mistaken for a girl if he grew it as long as yours."
"Oi!"
"Let me cut it," Nyla insisted once more, ignoring Jin. A corner of Shun's mouth turned down: while he would feel bad refusing Nyla, he had grown attached to his ponytail, and did not want to part with it so suddenly. He could use a trim, sure, but to cut it all off…?
"…Maybe later," Shun answered with a hesitant smile. Nyla's brow puckered, but she released his ponytail nonetheless and returned to her coffee.
Syaoran looked away from the Jiangs to give Tiki a deadpan look. "I was starting to think that you have a death wish, but you're probably just getting that mischief back in you," he remarked with a shake of his head. No matter which way they cut it, ZanYi wasn't going to be happy that Tiki planned on going back to the club again. "You do realize that as soon as ZanYi finds out what you just did, she's either going to want to torch you or she's going to go with you to the club, right?" he asked the airbender, as if it should have been obvious. "Because you know Shun and I can't go since I've got waterbending training now, and in case you've forgotten, contacts or not, you are still technically a wanted fugitive here."
And frankly, Syaoran didn't exactly see Jin and Nyla to be nearly as frightening in a bout against Neo-Equalists as ZanYi would be, if trouble arose. Besides, Tiki couldn't be out there on her own; just a couple paces away from him last time she'd managed to get herself in trouble with one of the guys. Suddenly Syaoran was a bit more thankful that ZanYi was more focused on their safety than whether they were happy with her or not. Tiki may not like the lieutenant's orders, but one way or another, ZanYi would keep the airbender—and the rest of them—alive and safe.
Shun watched as Tiki seemed to visibly deflate as she took in Syaoran's reasoning. Strange—he had expected her to put up more of a fight. Maybe she was maturing after all.
"Aw, that's right…" Tiki sighed, "ZanYi would ruin all my fun if she actually had to come to the club with me."
Or maybe not.
"She'd be fine with us," Jin protested, the defeated look Tiki wore tugging at his heartstrings. "I may not be able to bend, but I can hold my own in a fight. So can Nyla! In this day and age, if you don't know how to fight, you're easy pickings. And we have bouncers that'll protect Tiki too. She'll be safe with us, right Shun? …Hello, Shun? Yo, little brother!"
"Huh?" Shun asked, tearing his gaze away from the ceiling to look at Jin. "Did you say something, Jin?"
The disk jockey sighed. "Never mind. Your attention is apparently elsewhere…" With a defeated look aimed at the ceiling, Jin nudged the giant waterbender. "So go on up there. That's where you want to be, obviously."
"Sorry," Shun mumbled sheepishly for his inattentiveness, but nonetheless did as Jin suggested, heading up to the roof. Nyla's expression soured at this.
"We finally see him again after fourteen years, and all he wants to do is spend time with his girlfriend," she grumbled, snatching up Shun's abandoned coffee mug and heading over to the sink behind the mini-bar. Tiki raised her eyebrows at Jin.
"I thought Nyla was mad at Shun?"
Jin smiled, winking conspiratorially. "She's not. Ny's just being stubborn—she missed her big brother a lot. She's just upset that Shun isn't paying as much attention to her as she wants."
"Shut your stupid mouth, Jin."
Was this a common trait of little sisters? Syaoran thought so. Sora could get pretty snooty if he ignored her—or even if he wasn't intending to but just had other things to do. The whole time she'd been on base with them it had been miserable to endure her when he visited in the evenings. Apparently Avatar training still wasn't a good enough excuse. If Nyla were an example, then that meant Sora would never grow out of it. This thought dismayed Syaoran and made him groan.
Trying to hope for better, but ignore the possibility, he contributed aloud, "Don't take it too personally. He's always like that when it comes to ZanYi. Anyway, thanks for letting us stay here. We definitely appreciate it. Nice place you've got."
"It isn't ours," Nyla bothered to correct, a scowl etched into her features. "Our boss owns it… just like he owns us."
"Not for long," Jin denied with a confident look. "Once we find out what's happened to Old Man Haru, we can get out of here. Working as a dj is fun, but I want to have the choice to do other things with my life, you know?"
"You don't know how to do anything else in your life."
"Besides," Jin continued, ignoring Nyla, "we've found Shun. He says he's not leaving without us, so even when we decide to leave, we'll be going with him."
Nyla sent a nasty look to the ceiling before her gaze returned to Jin as she sat down next to him. "How do you know he won't disappear with his girlfriend into the night?" Nyla asked her brother, the word 'girlfriend' a vile venom she spat out. Jin turned to give her a frown.
"Come on, Ny. I know it's been a while since we've seen him, but it doesn't look like Shun has changed much. You know he won't leave us."
"We'll see about that." Nyla rubbed the inside of her left forearm. "Still, what a waste of ink."
Jin chuckled, rubbing the same spot on his right forearm. "Yeah, well, I was a little hesitant to get them, since I still hoped our brother was alive, somewhere."
Talk of ink making her curious, Tiki peered again at the Jiang siblings. "Did you guys get tattoos for Shun?"
"Sure did." As one, the two rolled up the sleeves of their corresponding arms, revealing their forearms. As Tiki leaned in to inspect the tattoos, she notice that they each had half a heart that made a whole when they put their forearms together. Nyla's half of the heart read 'RIP Shun Jiang', while Jin's half read, 'Beloved son and brother.'
"Nyla's idea," Jin explained, smirking as Nyla looked away. "She said, 'since we don't know where Shun's body is, we should bury him in our hearts.' So that's what we did."
"Awww," Tiki cooed, sharing Jin's amusement when Nyla's face turned red, "that's really sweet."
"It's stupid." Nyla yanked down her sleeve and stood up, heading off to her bedroom in a huff. "He's not actually dead. We got the tattoos for nothing." The slam of her door effectively ended that conversation, causing Tiki to sigh.
"It's kind of hard to believe that she's younger than me when you look at her, but when she acts like that…"
"Seriously…" Syaoran muttered in agreement. Turning to Tiki, the Avatar raised his brow with a sigh. "So, what do we do now? We never have free time during the day," he asked. It had been so long since he had had time to himself. Usually it was spent sleeping because he'd been training all day. Now that they had time, he didn't know what to do with it. But, realizing he was asking Tiki, he added the clause, "Here. What do we do here?"
Syaoran was not about to escape into Republic City—bad for his health with both the enemy and the lieutenant. "Unless we want to join them upstairs? But you don't like the water and I'll spend enough time in it otherwise…"
"…We could always work on your dance skills," she offered, a teasing smirk tugging at her lips. Honestly, if Syaoran were anymore stiff, he would turn into the very earth he bended.
"What makes you think that teaching me to dance sounds like a good idea?" he asked her, completely skeptical. It wasn't like he couldn't find rhythm… it was more just the whole moving thing he had a problem with. "I've had to learn firebending and airbending in the past couple months, and now waterbending. You want to add dancing? You're crazy," Syaoran told Tiki in the end, vocalizing his sentiments.
Tiki shrugged, completely at ease.
"If you have a better way for us to spend our time, I'd love to hear it," she told him, a smirk hinting at her features. Unless Syaoran wanted to take ZanYi up on her offer of training non-stop all day every day, they had nothing better to do. At least dancing was fun.
"You really should learn to dance at some point in your life," Jin interjected, reclining on the couch. "Ladies love a man who can dance."
"There, even Jin says so," Tiki claimed, though she was admittedly not too crazy about the 'ladies' part, as in the plural. Syaoran was the Avatar: once this war was over, he would already get enough attention as it was. Huh. Maybe teaching him how to dance wasn't the brightest idea after all…
The Avatar, however, just continually shook his head. "No way. I'm not a dancer. Besides, you already tried to teach me the other night. What else is there?" he asked with a look.
Tiki shrugged. "Nothing, actually. You're right: not everyone aspires to be a dancer. And I could teach you the basics all day, but they would mean nothing if you're not feeling the music with your heart. Dancing's more than just a physical thing… for me, at least."
"Deep," Jin said, snapping his fingers in a poetic fashion, causing Tiki to roll her eyes at him. Glancing over at Nyla's door, the tiny airbender had to wonder: what was singing to Nyla? Why did she do it? She was good at it, of course, and Tiki understood that she brought in customers for her boss, but was that it?
"…I wasn't paying attention to the lyrics," Tiki admitted, turning to address Jin, "but when Nyla sang at the club the other night… she sounded heartbroken."
The smile dropped from Jin's face. "Yeah. She won't ever show it, but Ny's heart is still bleeding. It's not easy, losing someone you love."
Tiki understood that, more than she would like to. She looked away, a hand wandering up to her amulet. It was suddenly too constricting in this room. "I need some air," she dismissed herself, heading to the balcony. Once out there, the tiny airbender breathed deep, willing herself to calm down, to get it together.
What was wrong with her? There was a war going on, and she was still trying to dance around like she had not a care in the world. Meanwhile, her people still suffered under a temporary government, while she faltered between her decisions of staying and going. Really, what kind of leader was she?
Tiki let go of her amulet to fiddle with her hair, running her fingers through it. She had to stop playing around so much—she was slipping back into her old self without even realizing it, and it worried her. That Tiki—the childish brat who caused problems for everyone—had to stay gone. It was important that she remained focused on what was important to her… and that was Team Avatar and her people. The only dilemma she had left was figuring out which was more important than the other.
Back in the living room, Jin raised his eyebrows at the Avatar. "What's the matter with her?" he wanted to know, jerking his head over to the sulking Tiki. It had been all fun in games just a minute ago… had he unintentionally said something to upset her?
Syaoran just gave him a somber look. Jin lived in Republic City. He had seen the wanted posters and knew who Tiki was. Didn't he realize she had just lost her parents? The weight that would be bearing down on her right now? The grief?
Instead of saying anything at all, the Avatar followed Tiki out to the balcony and made sure it closed behind him. Shun's older brother could stay in there. This was not a spectator sport now. This was Team Avatar business.
Just like he had when they'd come to scope out Republic City the first time, Syaoran put one hand on either side of her on the balcony rail, coming up behind her. "What's on your mind this time, Tiki?" he asked, dipping his head to speak closer to her. "Is there a particular part or is it just all of it?"
Tiki did not turn to look at Syaoran. Were she in a better mood, she would have flushed over the proximity of their bodies. But right now, her mind was too preoccupied to worry about such trifling things.
"…I'm starting to see my mother more and more whenever I look in a mirror," she began, her voice quiet and sad. "I don't know whether to be proud or worried—I'm not my mother, nor could I ever be her." Tiki looked down, a finger touching her amulet. "I don't know if I can lead my people—only that I must. I was born to lead…"
A bitter chuckle escaped the tiny airbender. "And yet, I still remain childish. I'm goofing off and fooling around in the very city my parents were murdered in. I wish I could make a more conscious effort to not disgrace them." Tiki turned around now, looking up into Syaoran's eyes with a disgruntled expression. "And I wish you didn't feel the need to come and comfort me all the time." Expelling a sigh, Tiki folded her arms and looked away, her self-disappointment eating away at her. Yes, Tiki was being harsh on herself. But she knew that if she wasn't, no one else would be. Syaoran was blunt...but he was not that blunt. "I'm twenty years old. You would think I'd be able to get my life together by now… Pathetic."
"I wouldn't say that," Syaoran disagreed, frowning. "Granted, you could afford to be more attentive to your surroundings," he thought of Kei and Jin here and grimaced, "but you're not pathetic."
Did she really think that about herself? This girl's mood-swings were almost unbelievable. Syaoran hoped one day it would stabilize for her so she's not constantly going from super happy to more than down in the dumps. He wasn't sure who had it worse: him balancing Tiki out, or Shun dealing with ZanYi, who had two functions, which were 'neutral' and 'irritated'.
"I'm going to point out that just because you're twenty doesn't mean you should have your life figured out," he started again, looking out over the balcony. "Think about it: at least you've only had to actually try to lead more recently. Apparently I've been the Avatar my whole life and didn't figure it out until now."
The streets were busy with midday traffic, and the passerby below talked and walked amiably. It was like the war didn't exist for these people; they could just go on with their daily lives. The rest of the world—the entire bender population and their families—were not so fortunate.
"You shouldn't feel bad about having to lean on me a bit. No one can do everything on their own. Just look at Shun and ZanYi. They're probably some of the strongest people we know, and they still have their own crap to deal with. But they've got each other now—you saw how Shun broke down on ZanYi yesterday morning. Part of me thinks that things aren't always so stable or easy for her either."
Syaoran moved one hand to pat Tiki's head, seeing as how that seemed to work half of the time and was probably a safe course of action to assure her. "I've had to lean on all of you the past several months, and I'm supposed to be saving the world. So if you have to lean on even just me, go for it. We're all a team and we support each other. And you're the best friend I've got, so all the more reason not to worry about it."
The admission made his face heat up a little and he looked away from the little airbender in front of him, disgruntled. Tiki's face turned a rosy shade as well, and she peeked up at Syaoran from under her lashes. He seemed to be embarrassed about the words he said—why? It was no big deal that he called her his best friend, right? Well, it was a big deal to her, but even so, Syaoran was acting so weird about it. Maybe he was just as new to this 'having a best friend' thing as she was. And though a slight twinge of disappointment went through her at being friend zoned, it was enough for her… for now.
Tiki moved his hand from her head to hold it in between her hands as well, gazing at it curiously. What was it about Syaoran that always seemed to make her feel better, even when she felt lower than low? Did his advice hit home because she liked him? No, he was able to make her see reason even when she had not realized her feelings for him. Maybe it was because he was solid and dependable, able to ground her when she floated too high or sunk too low. Syaoran was her rock—no pun intended—able to help her when she couldn't help herself. And although it still made her feel bad to push all her problems on him as well, he took them in stride and said what was on his mind. No matter what, Tiki could always trust him to be there, and to be honest.
Curiously, Tiki pressed Syaoran's hand to her cheek. His palm was as calloused as ever, but somehow, it was comforting. Smiling, the tiny airbender allowed her eyes to drift closed. "Thank you, Syaoran," she said softly, feeling as if she never expressed her gratitude to the Avatar enough.
It only served to fluster him more, which made him even more petulant. Still, Syaoran found, he liked the feel of her soft hands on his, the smoothness of her cheek against his ragged hands. Great. Even if it was internal, things were getting awkward again.
The Avatar didn't stop her actions, but he pushed his affectionate thoughts away. "No problem, Tiki," he told her gruffly, but a small smile played on his lips. "No problem."
Hopefully something he'd said got through this time—though knowing Tiki, they would be back to this again sometime soon. She was a roller coaster, but at least a predictable one. It made it easier for him to deal with it.
"You good now?" he asked.
Tiki also realized the inevitability of her roller coaster emotions, for she sighed and allowed Syaoran's hand to drop from her face.
"For now," she acknowledged, though she returned Syaoran's smile with one of her own. Now her mischief urges were creeping up on her. She didn't know what it was, but something about Syaoran's expression made her want to tease him. Stepping closer, the tiny airbender stretched up to her toes and pecked Syaoran's cheek, disguising her grin with a smile. "You're really sweet, Syaoran. Don't change, okay?"
A flash of red streaked across the Avatar's cheeks and he tried to shrug it off quick. "Yeah, yeah," he mumbled, trying to ignore the fact that Tiki had just kissed him again. But in the end, he would just go with it. Tiki was feeling better, and that was the important part.
Little did they realize, Jin was too interested in what was going on out on the balcony to notice Nyla until she clocked him over the head with her motorcycle helmet.
"OW!" the disk jockey howled, swiveling to glare at his sister. "What was that for?!"
"Didn't Mom teach you it was impolite to mind someone else's business?"
"I'm just watching! It's not like I have my ear pressed to the door!"
"But you would if you could get away with it."
As Jin continued to sputter angry retorts, Nyla completely ignored him, her own ice blue irises going to Tiki. "That girl…" she mumbled to herself, her brow furrowed in concentration, "where have I seen her before…?"
"Her face is all over the city!" Jin burst out, still irritated. "She's Tiki Chouko, remember? The kid whose parents were—!" Abruptly, something seemed to click in Jin's mind, and he placed a hand over his face and groaned. "Oh man, I'm an idiot!"
"Well look who just got with the program."
"Shut up, Nyla. This is serious: I may have accidentally offended Tiki earlier… her parents just died, you know."
Nyla's eyes narrowed. "I remember. The nonbenders were broadcasting the news like there was no tomorrow when it happened. They even went so far as to say the daughter did it, what with the cyclone she summoned on Air Temple Island."
"No one believes that, though," Jin denied with a shake of his head. "Look at her: she looks so harmless."
"I wouldn't underestimate her. Big things do come in small packages."
Jin turned to Nyla in alarm—that had to be the first time she complimented anyone—to find her already out the door, calling for the elevator. "Where are you going?"
"Out."
Jin huffed as his sister disappeared behind the elevator doors. A wild ostrich mare indeed… but hey, if it helped her cope, he would say no more about it. Instead, he would continue watching the couple who wasn't actually a couple out on the balcony—they provided entertainment enough for the moment. And if they got boring, well, Jin could always pop up to spy on Shun and his sexy lady friend. That sounded like a lot of fun too.
A/N from DJ: Well, now they have a plan... but will they stick to it? That is the real question here xD Now, real quick, I'm going to do the acknowledgements because we have exciting news to report after those!
Masseffect321: You will have to keep reading to find the answer to that question! But I hope the Jin-abuse was satisfying enough for you this week!
No. XIII: Those questions, however, are completely safe to ask and honestly, we were both super happy to see such thoughtful questions! It's awesome to get these kind of questions from readers. So, for the first one: opinion on the ShunYiRan triangle. Well, it started with the fact that, in all of our collaborations together, we had never written a triangle that all three parties were central characters. In the end, it made a lovely mess for Air, but I'm still happy about it, personally. ZanYi is a difficult character, but that crush gave Syaoran a reason to try and understand her, and I like the teacher/mentor and teammate relationship they currently still have. I'm a fan of boy/girl friendships of a non-romantic nature. I also think it was good development for Syaoran, because it taught him lessons about relationships, and it makes him even more thankful for Tiki as well.
Now, your second question: why we started this series. Well, it started with us marathoning part of season one of Korra to catch up for finale, and the dynamic of bender vs. nonbender dynamic intrigued me. With the age of Industrial Revolution, being a bender was not as integral as it was in a rural world, so it made us think: what would bending be like in a world like today where everything is technology and bending would not actually be needed anymore? Did the math, approximated the next Avatar to be modern times, and pitched it to Eva, who also really liked the idea. The next thing we know, we're plotting the central characters and trying to figure out how to play with the themes of the franchise while still making it unique and stand-alone. It was honestly for fun, but when we started nearing the end, we wondered what would happen if we posted it? Thus, how "The Warring Earth" became a thing. That's the short version xD
Twd2010: Wow! Thanks so much for the alert on Water, the favorite on us, the favorite on Fire, and the favorite on Water! I guess that means you're enjoying the series and I really hope you continue to and we get to hear from you some time!
Writingbrick: Yes, we like to advance our plot in pieces - never give the full agenda in one chappie! This story is very character-centric, but we do have a purpose and we like to introduce it in pieces, since by finales, it all landslides together xP
ANewButOldGuest: Hooray! Surprises~! xD Life is never what you plan it to be, and so we like to make sure we make things realistic in that regard :] There are plenty more surprises in store, so you'll just have to sit tight and see what they are ;3
Ozai37: Jin is... a character. xD I'm glad you find him and his antics amusing! It's been dark for a while in the series, so it's good to know we're getting some chuckles!
Phew! Okay, that's all of the acknowledgements. Now on to our super cool announcement [man this is a long a/n xP]. So, June 7th will mark the two-year anniversary since this series was first being penned! WOO HOO! It's hard to believe we started this series two years ago, especially since it's only been a little over one year since we started putting it out online. And we're so incredibly thankful for all of our readers, whether you review or not! So, in order to appreciate you guys, we have a raffle of sorts coming up.
This is on my deviantArt account as well [see profile page for link], but everyone on here is welcome to participate! I, DJ, also am a bit of an artist, and The Warring Earth is one of my favorite subjects. I'm going to be drawing out scenes from the series - but we want you guys to pick! here's how you can participate:
1. Either in your review on here or in a comment in the journal on my dA account, tell us what scene you would like to see depicted and which book it's from [Fire, Air, Water]
2. Include with it why you want to see that scene depicted [i.e. favorite characters, important moment, action, emotion, etc.] and also why you like the series/characters/plot however far you've read.
Starting on April 20th, I will be selecting a few of these and will draw out these scenes. When they are uploaded, they will be dedicated to the reviewer/commenter who suggested it, and their blurb will also be included! Those who are selected will also have the option of receiving three chibi stickers of an Avatar character of their choice [from Last Airbender, Legend of Korra, or Warring Earth] drawn and printed by me. On my dA account, you can enter up to three times; we don't want a spam of reviews [we like ours to be legitimate!], so on here, you can enter twice: one in this week's review, and one in next week's.
I hope you guys get involved, because we love interacting with you guys and the series has only been published on here like this because your support! This is our chance to show our appreciation for you! So, can't wait to here what you have to say, and we'll see you next week!