An Abstract Impression of Friendship (Tag: Airi)

Anonymous

Nov 7, 2013 13:57:52 GMT -6

THE DALAI ART MUSEUM

If Yutaka weren't deeply afraid of being beaten to death he would put a cigarette out in the eye of the next person who said 'It just looks like they dripped paint onto the canvas'.
There was also the iron clad rule stated by the No Smoking sign and as far as he was concerned art museums had the only rules worth following-art museums and clubs.
He had to settle for those people not being able to fully appreciate the artist's work which he supposed was a far worse fate than losing an eye.

After a day of repairing street damage caused by reckless earth benders Yutaka decided that an evening of art contemplation and music was needed. With his hastily tied back brown hair and black suit missing a tie Yutaka for once felt a little embarrassed about not putting more effort into his appearance. To him, the Dalai Art Museum was more a temple than all of the so-called holy sites in Republic City. It seemed like the least he could do was drag a comb through his hair.

It took three aborted attempts to ask strange women for a comb or a brush before frustration set in. He could have asked for one without an ounce of self-consciousness if he hadn't overheard some self-proclaimed pick-up artist claim that he could bed a woman by asking for a small thing like a comb.
There didn't seem to be anything that a random jerk couldn't ruin.
He could anticipate the disgusted and inconvenienced looks of women he asked for simple piece of grooming equipment.

He hadn't even begun to ask before Yutaka began holding his forehead in frustration and sighing, making sure to avoid any eye contact with the woman he spoke to.
"I swear this isn't a line, I just want to look nice for the paintings."
After a moment he realized he had forgotten to ask his question and let out another sigh while rolling his eyes at what an idiot he could be.
"A comb. Do you have a comb? Or a brush? Whatever."

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Last edit by Deleted: Nov 7, 2013 13:58:30 GMT -6

Anonymous

Nov 8, 2013 15:02:48 GMT -6

After getting her bending back, Airi had made something of a promise with herself not to let the incident ruin her life. She had spent the few weeks before the act even happened fearing it would and then after it had, she became somewhat depressed about it. The strange thing was, even though she didn't want it to make a huge impact on her life, it had inheritantly had without her permission. She no longer felt comfortable in her room and the open roads, the tight alleys and nooks and crannies Republic City were much more comforting. Something about being able to stretch or fight if she needed to was much more appealing.

"Why don't you head out to an art gallery?" her mother had offered after Airi's shift in the bakery had finished and her father was ready to take over. With nothing else in mind, she agreed. Sadly, she had never been to an art gallery before and getting ready for it was something her mother enjoyed for her. She had outfitted her daught in a red dress that looked like a mix of tradional and modern. Her hair wasn't left in a braid that fell laid on her head. Instead, her mother rolled it up into a bun on the top of her head, the shorter layer of her hair framing her face. Lastly, a purse with some money and a few other items and a red flower tucked behind her ear.

At the Dalai art meseum, she found herself enjoying herself more than she had orignally thought she would've. Some of the art was really impressive, looking very realistic and others looking simply pleasing to the eye. While she wasn't mentally challenged by her memory problem, it did make having fun looking at things a little... less fun. She really liked the ones with the simple blocks of color in them feeling like she could recall that kind of memory easily.

Her attention was taken from the art when someone asked for a comb. The firebender looked over the man. "Um," she began, wondering what on earth he meant by saing it wasn't a line. Obviously it wasn't a line. Those had been words. A line was something completely different. Everyone knew that. "I guess, sure," she said, unsure of how to responde. It really wasn't everyday a guy asked for a comb. Then again he had stated he wanted to look nice for the painting... though thinking about that, she was confused once more. Look nice for the paintings? It's not like they could see.

Unless the could.

She held her mother's purse up to look for a comb, pulling it out when she had found and and held it out to him. "Here you go, sir...?" she asked with hopes he'd provide for her a name.

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Anonymous

Nov 8, 2013 23:53:35 GMT -6

Yutaka paused for a moment to let out a disgusted grunt.
"Please don't call me 'sir'. It's..." He raised his clenched fists and closed his eyes and let out a sound like someone trying to suppress a scream.
"It's...it just bugs me."

He began combing back his hair into something a little less reminiscent of a bird's nest and handed the comb back to Airi before tying it back with a narrow strip of brown leather. He felt a little more composed.
"I hate to be called 'sir'. It makes me sound like I think I'm better than other people...well, I AM better than some people but not everyone."
The pang at being referred to as 'sir' had pushed his ramble button which embarrassed him greatly.

Yutaka blushed and groaned again while hanging his head. From that position he reached out his hand to the woman across from him in the red dress.
"Yutaka."
For fear of looking like a fool for reaching out his hand too long Yutaka withdrew it which upon a second of thought seemed rather rude.

The perfect distraction from his hand-shaking debacle was on the wall right in front of him. He gestured to the drip painting he was contemplating earlier.
"What do you think of this one?"
He could silently hold his opinion for nearly two and a half seconds.
"If you think about it, it's really quite brilliant. I mean, if someone is skilled enough they can recreate any piece of art...this though...it can't be duplicated. Paint will never drip the same way twice. Oh sure, they can make something look like this but this is just a random occurrence that can't happen again. These random paint drips are like the random bits of a person that makes them unique. It's like that old saying that you never step in the same river twice."
He was halfway through his take on the painting before he discovered himself going on like a fool but it was too late to stop.
"Ooookay...I will stop bothering you now. Thank you for the comb."

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Last edit by Deleted: Nov 9, 2013 13:08:02 GMT -6

Anonymous

Nov 9, 2013 1:37:17 GMT -6

"Oops, sorry. In my line of work, we always address our clients as sir and miss." The woman paused. "Then again, you're not a customer. I must've just been spending too much time working," she mused with a light laugh, her hand twitching, wanting to go up and smooth down her hair but quickly remembering that it was done up and not just in a braid. Still, the fact this guy thought himself better than some people but not all - and that sir mean that he was better than others - was quite strange. But who was she to call anyone strange? She neatly tucked the comb back into her purse when he was finished with it, enjoying the snap the purse made when it closed.

"Airi," she responded with her name.The firebender's eyes were drawn to his hand. What was he doing...? Oh! A handshake, that's right. Darn, she really must've spent too much time by herself to have forgotten that. Her hand outstretched itself but when he pulled his own back, hers hung in the hair for another moment, wondering if he would pick it back up to shake hers. Rather quickly, her attention was drawn elsewhere, to the picture he pointed out to her. Airi crossed her arms over her chest, staring down the painting and trying her hardest to put into words what she liked about it. Yutaka began to point out things she would've never noticed in a painting before. It was mostly recent, this kind of art - she knew that much. Before the photo, art was meant to capture the world. Now that that was no long required to capture the world, artists turned their trade in a whole new direction.

Not having noticed his good bye, she began to reply to his earlier question. "I don't think I see the painting quite so... darn, I can't quite remember the word... oh, never mind. I really like the colors. I like the way they drip down; I don't see the fact another drop might not do the same thing. I like that the drop gets smaller and smaller as it goes down. I mean, yeah, I get that paint does that, but it doesn't make it look any, uh, less nice?"

She squinted a bit. "And if you look at it a little more differently, if you change your perspective, it's changes too. They might not be drips of paint anymore. They might just be tea drips and someone might remember a time they accidentally spilled a cup of tea. Me, I see - uh - " she began to blush "sweat. I spend a lot of time in my family's bakery and it gets pretty warm in there. It's a nice feeling, though. I enjoy kneading the dough and working around the furnace." Airi took a moment to let herself breathe and turned to look at the man. "I guess two people can look at the same thing and see two different things, huh?"

Realizing what she had said, she felt her face head up. "Sorry, I must sound really weird," she apologized. "You sound really into art. This is my first time to an art gallery. I'm really kind of surprised I enjoy it this much." Airi couldn't help but imagine her brother giving her a hard time over it when she got home. "O-oh, and you're welcome. For the comb, that is."

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Anonymous

Nov 13, 2013 0:24:46 GMT -6

Yutaka raised his hands to gesture in awe at Airi.
"You get it! Don't apologize. Most people I talk to don't really think about art, that or they just get things wrong."
He let out a low hum while stroking his chin as he looked at Airi.
"Uh, so, would you perhaps like to possibly maybe look at some more art together? I don't get to talk art at museums with people much...I mean, not without people, you know, wanting to hit me in the face."
It had never actually happened but barely restrained anger was hard to miss, he'd seen so much of it in his time.

The fact that he could talk to a woman he just met with more ease than one he was pressured into dating was not lost on Yutaka. It made him resent his parents even more.
He pointed to a turn leading to another room featuring the sculptures. Yutaka liked the idea of sharing his favorite room in the museum with another person. As fun as the museum was for Yutaka, the idea of sharing the experience with someone else sounded even better.

Though his wallet wasn't nearly as full working in street maintenance Yutaka was allowed some supplemental income. He decided that he could sacrifice eating out once or twice to get the money necessary to pay someone to spend a little extra time with him.
"I'll...I'll buy you lunch after if you want."
He wasn't sure of the talking art/lunch exchange rate but it seemed like a good deal-unless he got too passionate and opinionated and was forced to take her to Kuang's Cuisine to make up for being a jerk.

Yutaka cast his eyes down and mumbled to himself.
"The die is cast. Can't do anything about it now." He took a deep breath and tried to manage his intentional obnoxiousness...the unintentional kind would, as always, do whatever it wanted and would not be controlled.
He raised his head and tried to speak in a calm and easy-going manner.
"How about it?"

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Anonymous

Nov 14, 2013 1:28:16 GMT -6

Airi felt her face heat up with the look the stranger gave her. "U-um, alright?" she said in response, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Sure!" the firebender chimed with delight, her golden eyes practically sparkling. "I'm by myself. I have to say, it's a lot more fun to talk about the art with someone rather than just kind of... uh, staring at it by oneself." It really wasn't often that people requested her company. Especially since a lot of her friends had left either due to the war the Equalists raged on Republic city or for other reasons. Plus, with her being a shut in for a good portion of time, she hadn't been able to go out very often. Now to be invited? This was a joy for her.

"Oh!" Any more delight in her voice and she might as well have been singing. "Lunch sounds great," the woman voiced with a smile gracing her lips. "Something spicy, I hope? Or, well, anything you like, since you're buying," she hastily added. While she loved bread - making it, eating it. However, when she rarely left her house, it got just a little bit old. And maybe it was her Fire Nation heritage speaking but man did she love spicy foods. With lots of meat and rice. Oh, darn. The only thing she was accomplishing was making herself hungry.

"This way?" she offered as she moved towards one of the other art pieces. Stopping by the next original project, on the outside looking like a black and white, watery painting of a forest, several of the trees broken. "It looks so dreary," Airi commented with a sigh. "What about a story? Why are the trees broken? What broke them?" A smile found its way to her face and she giggled. "What if what broke them was simply nature?"

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Anonymous

Nov 14, 2013 21:38:59 GMT -6

Yutaka found that the promise of a free lunch bought him half an hour of conversation before people began to tire of him-fifteen minutes of he talked about art. This woman, Airi seemed a cheerful sort so he rounded his estimation back up to half an hour before she tired of what one of his dates called "an odious melange of smug superiority and pretension". It wasn't even a date he intentionally sabotaged.
He didn't mean to come across the way he did, it was just difficult to stomach some people's asinine opinions.

"I think it's about death. I mean, the trees were alive at one point, right? Now they're all broken and dead. It could be about the ravages of age or sickness or..." he paused and took a deep breath through his nose. It was tough to be succinct while discussing art.
"Or maybe it's just a warning about the dangers of firebending in a wooded area."

He squinted at the painting further and leaned in closer and pointed to a tiny white dot in the middle of the painting.
"It looks like a speck of light in the middle of the vanishing point." He pointed to the small white dot. "It looks like the further you delve into the broken forest the closer you get to the light. It's really tiny but there it is, shining in the dark forest of dead trees. Maybe it's about optimism."

It was a risky move on Yutaka's part but he braced himself with a reminder that all opinions on art were completely valid and he didn't carry with him an unimpeachable truth regarding all things artistic, but he decided to ask someone else's opinion.
"What do you think?"

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Anonymous

Nov 14, 2013 23:31:27 GMT -6

She hadn't thought of death as to what the art meant, though now that she saw it through that lens it made sense. More than her story did. Her eyes carefully studied the painting, her eyes following the curves of the paint strokes as her ears tuned in to his words.

"Firebending isn't inheritantly bad -" she found herself blurting out though quickly cutting herself off the moment she realized what had slipped past her lips. Her fingers at her sides twitched a bit. Just a simple breath and movement, she could create fire. If it went uncontrolled, it could burn down all the nice art work. "Oh, you meant... in the woods. Right," she managed to squeak out, finding her embarrassment manifesting in her blushed cheeks. As an attempt to hide this, she coughed into her hands and listened to him talk on, finding it to be much easier to listen than to trust her voice.

"I really like that," she admitted. "But if that - that light - is supposed to be optimism and the forest is supposed to be death or disease, then does that imply that there's something to hope for in death?" The thought made her a little confused. Sure, living forever wouldn't be such a boon but what was there to hope for in death other than moving on? Her nose turned up at the thought of it; it was so grim and dark to acknowledge the gifts death bestowed. "Unless, instead of death, the forest represents life? Like, life can seem dark and sometimes bad things happen, like the trees breaking, but at the end is the light." Yeah, she liked that much better.

"How about we do a switch off? I chose this art piece, so now you choose one?" she offered, looking up at him.

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Last edit by Deleted: Nov 18, 2013 14:02:02 GMT -6

Anonymous

Nov 18, 2013 13:55:41 GMT -6

OOC: Sorry it's so short.
IC:

Switching off? Yutaka's previous conversations about art tended to be one way with either him doing all the talking or all of the listening. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Yutaka decided that maybe being a little nicer helped.

It was a short walk to the next exhibit but Yutaka wasn't sure if normal people made small talk in between looking at art.
"So, uh, you work in a bakery? What's it like? I've eaten at them but I have no idea what goes on behind the counter. Also, how do you do that thing where you stuff stuff inside the bread?"
Yutaka cut himself off before he could ask any further questions. Having grown up with people who did his cooking for him, baking seemed like an impenetrable mystery.

Suddenly, Yutaka found himself in front of a piece of art but was more interested in the person he viewed it with. For some reason he couldn't fathom he waited for Airi to alleviate his curiosity before contemplating the sculpture in front of him. Typically, his opinion of art came well before what anyone else had to say about them self.

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Anonymous

Nov 18, 2013 14:15:13 GMT -6

"Um, well, it's nothing special. I think it's fun, though others might now. I have to wake up pretty early to get the oven warmed up. Dough has to be made ahead of time so it can rise, otherwise it turns out flat instead of fluffy. Usually it has to be made the day before so it can sit overnight," she explained, rather happily in fact. "You'd be surprised how hard it can be to kneed dough." The firebender held up her arm and flexed it a little. "You need to build muscles for it otherwise you can get pretty tired really quickly."

Airi giggled at the next question. "I get that question a lot, actually. We have this sort of syringe we have the filling it and put it in the bread. The bread is soft enough that it moved out of the way for the filling. It's not too complicated, but I don't actually do that. My dad and brother are into the desert part of our bakery. I just enough the work," she added with a smile. She became itinerant as they reached their next art thing to talk about.

The sculptor he stopped at was a tall, metallic thing. It looked like a person or a platypusbear. The metal that compromised the art stuck out at random places but wasn't a solid item. It was hallow, as she could see from the broken (purposefully, she thought) and bend points of the metal. "Grotesque human nature?" she quickly summarized.

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Last edit by Deleted: Nov 18, 2013 17:29:10 GMT -6

Anonymous

Nov 21, 2013 17:21:01 GMT -6

"Um, hey, if it doesn't sound weird maybe some day you can show me what it's like to bake. It sounds complicated but fun."
Until a response was heard Yutaka couldn't concentrate on the angst wrought in metal form.

Even after getting an answer to his request Yutaka couldn't wrap his mind around the metal conundrum in front of him. He couldn't figure what it meant and for a moment that bothered him.
"...I have no idea about this one...I like it. I think I like that it confounds me."
He pondered the metal sculpture for a moment.
"The beast within us all, like you said. I like that. I get tired with obvious symbolism. Sometimes I just want an artist to confuse me and this does that."

Yutaka narrowed his eyes at the sculpture and noticed where the metal bent and where it was welded.
"Do you think this could have been a collaborative effort. One with a firebender doing the welding and a metalbender doing the shaping? Maybe one of the police is secretly an artist? Then again, it could have just been one strong person bending it into shape."

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Anonymous

Nov 23, 2013 6:44:51 GMT -6

"Sure, that sounds fine," she replied wistfully. "Hey, our bakery is called Hitomi Bread and Goods. It's a few streets over from the park and it isn't too hard to find. A lot of people know where it is, so if you can't find it, someone is bound to help," Airi mused. People were always so nice. Or, at least the ones she talked to. Then it hit her: she had dropped her last name. Her head awkwardly turned to look at him, studying his face to see whether or not he recognized it. A lot of people, when she mentioned her name, a lot of people remembered her one game as a probender. It was only one game! Yet it was enough to be put on a public radar.

Returning to the matter at hand, the firebendered listened to Yutaka as he talked about his interpretation on the sculpture, nodding where she thought appropriate. "Hey!" she chimed, recalling a memory from not too long ago. "I met a metalbender recently." She tried to imagine Hangetsu metalbending with a firebender to create abstract sculptures on his free time. The thought alone was enough to make her giggle a bit. "Maybe, maybe," she decided to say in response, finding herself wondering what kind of people made things like this and how.

A muffled roar sounded from her stomach. "So, about that meal?" she asked timidly, hoping she wasn't sounding too pushy but a nice warm meal right now sounded fantastic.

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Anonymous

Nov 25, 2013 2:15:19 GMT -6

Yutaka didn't like his face when he had to decide things. His mouth moved side to side like he was swishing around something and trying to decide how it tasted. It shouldn't take that much thought to think of a place with spicy food.
The dry swishing of his mouth stopped when he remembered something.
"Mr. Udon's near the station has The Agni Kai Challenge. It's a huge bowl of ramen. I hear it's super hot. If you finish it in a certain amount of time you get it free. I've always been too afraid to try it."

That was the moment Yutaka realized that transportation might be an issue. If she drove would they have to take two satomobiles? Would an offer to drive her sound like a thinly veiled kidnapping threat? Would Airi start imagining herself chained to a sewing machine making bootleg wallets and purses?
That line of thought continued and only grew more ludicrous and had to be broken through spoken word.
"I have a car outside...unless you'd rather walk." He regretted those words the second he hesitated and foolishly mentioned walking. After a hard day at work any physical activity more strenuous than eating or lifting a few drinks sounded absolutely dreadful.

He then was forced to wonder if mentioning having a car waiting for him made him sound smug and unbearably rich. Such things were only reserved for people he was intent upon alienating and for once he actually wanted someone to like him rather than be left alone.

Yutaka remembered why he preferred art and music to friends. He never, intentionally or otherwise, made a fool out of himself in front of art or music...he had done so because of those things but not so that they could sit in judgment.

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Anonymous

Nov 25, 2013 23:26:16 GMT -6

Airi felt the urge to squish his face after she had asked if they could head on out to dinner. He was sort of making a weird look and it was pretty silly. She managed to restrain herself, knowing that it would be weird to do that to a stranger whereas it wasn't when she did it to her younger brother when he made similar faces. She giggled at the memory of Aisen's face being squished but still having that stern look on his face that said "I was adopted, wasn't I?"

"Sounds fun to me!" the woman chimed, clapping her hands together. Oh yes, how she loved spicy food. The few times she went out, she hadn't many options for hot food since the people she went with weren't big fans on spicy food. Plus the only one in her family who liked spicy food other than herself was her mom so family meals were rather... well, not bland but they never had a nice kick to them. Bringing herself back to reality, she found herself with a large grin and quickly dropped it to a shy smile, hoping she hadn't looked too weird.

"A satomobile?" Airi asks, her eyes wide and curious. She had never been in a satomobile before! Well, unless she counted when the Equalists... No, she didn't count that at all. "I've never been in one before!" she told the man. She had seen plenty of satomobiles but having taken a ride in one? She couldn't say that she had. While her family was well off, affording a satomobile wasn't something they could do. Besides, she loved walking for errands. It was a nice break from working.

Airi spent the ride fascinated like a child, her face almost always near one of the windows to watch the scenery pass them by. It was so weird trying to think that nothing was pulling the thing. Not weird as in "How is that possible!" but rather "How does it work in a way I can understand?". She giggled when the car would bump and had a foolish smile on her lips most of the way, enjoying every second. She was even tempted to ask if they could go around the block again when they reached the restaurant.

"So this is the place?" she rhetorically asked, looking at it with interest instead of the fascination she had with the satomobile. "Agni Kai challenge, right?" Airi asked Yutaka as she entered the noodle place and taking a seat.

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Anonymous

Nov 26, 2013 16:26:06 GMT -6

Airi's enthusiasm was positively infectious. In the short time Yutaka had lived on his own he kept discovering things that he took for granted but were, in fact, a big deal to others. He'd been driven around for most of his life so it never occurred to him just what a ride in a satomobile could mean to someone.

Yutaka spent the ride to Mr. Udon's fascinated by Airi's fascination. Hers enthusiasm mirrored his own to an extent but when Yutaka thought about it his own excitement about the things that the non-wealthy seemed different. He couldn't quite put his finger on what the exact difference between Airi being excited about a satomobile ride and him being excited about working-class things like instant noodles and second-hand clothes.

While his driver didn't speak through the drive Yutaka could see his smirk and knew there would be some comments about him being a ladies man or some such thing. Spending time with women was somewhat rare and usually consisted of him intentionally offending them in order to banish the evil specter of marriage. All Yutaka wanted was something to talk art with for a little bit.

The driver broke his silence by announcing they had arrived and couldn't resist poking some fun the man he was paid to chauffeur.
"Careful, miss, it's hot." He paused, turned and grinned at Yutaka. "Probably kill you."
"Noted."

Growing up wealthy, Yutaka was not used to small restaurants. Even compared to the smaller places he had eaten in Mr. Udon's was small. It seated ten people at best. There was only one customer lying his head on the table which was obscured by a large bowl. A low, steady moan escaped. He feared this might have been the Agni Kai challenge he had heard about.

Some men liked to prove their mettle via the ingestion of spicy foods. The spicier the food the more manly the man. Yutaka Mifune was no such man. He'd leave the painful intake and discharge of spices to others.

"So this is the place? Agni Kai challenge, right?"
Yutaka couldn't stop looking at the person he assumed to be the last person who ordered the Agni Kai. "Uh...I think so, yeah." He looked up behind the counter and saw a poster of bowl on fire and tiny burned people attempting to escape it. It read simply: "The Agni Kai Challenge."
When the waiter, an old gentleman with salt and pepper facial stubble walked up to them and handed them their menus. Yutaka knew exactly what he didn't want and assumed that anything else on the menu wouldn't be nowhere near as hot.
"I don't like spicy things so I'll just have the phaal."
The look the waiter had given him could not have been any stranger had Yutaka been a talking, three-headed cat.

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Anonymous

Nov 27, 2013 0:13:03 GMT -6

Two words could probably sum of the entirety of Airi: painfully oblivious. She bounced lightly in her seat, grinning at the thought of spicy food. Never once did it occur to her if it was easy to do the challenge then it wouldn't be considered a challenge. She did all but purposefully ignore the moaning man with the half-full bowl of noodles. When the waiter came by, she placed her order and the man simply looked her over with an odd look but she didn't mind. Usually those weird looks came after blanks in her memory so it didn't bug her to get a weird look for a strange request from someone like herself.

Airi giggled. "Really?" she just sort of asked without putting much thought into it. "It doesn't bug me too much. I really like it, but I don't get the chance a lot. My father and brother don't really like spicy things so we avoid them - the spices, not my family - when it comes to family meals." She recalled a silly memory of having accidentally used red pepper flakes instead of black pepper. After a few bites of the dish, the men in her family ran straight for the sink, taking turns for water while she and her mother ate peacefully aside from fits of laughter from their behavior.

The woman stretched a bit, raising her arms above her head. "I don't think I'll be able to beat the challenge but it's worth a try, right?" she asked Yutaka. It wasn't long before their dishes had arrived. The aroma of her dish was wonderful even if it made her eyes water a bit. Wow, that's a first. As Airi picked up her chopsticks and passed a glance to her company, she noticed from the corner of her eye the waiter bringing out a timer. "Wish me luck," she said and as she brought the first bite to her lips the waiter pressed a button.

The first bite was delicious. The second she noticed a few flaws in the noodles, some being slightly more cooked than the others and the texture a bit off. But that didn't matter because by her third bite the spice began to kick in. More and more noodles went down, knowing that if she stopped the spice would catch up to her. Her eyes became a little teary and her nose ran a bit but that didn't stop her (well, for a second or two when she took her napkin and wiped it away, but she didn't quit!).

Then the timer rang.

Airi paused in the middle of her bite, looking down at her dish. There was probably a fourth of the bowl left. Quickly, she reached for her water, kind of disappointed she didn't win, but at the same time glad she got to eat something spicy, even if it was a scary kind of spicy. She set her glass down when she had run out of water, the waiter quickly refilling it. Her mouth still burned and she kept drinking until it was nothing more than a weird tingling sensation on her tongue.

"Almost made it!" she exclaimed, leaning back in her seat, wondering if she should bother finishing the dish. It'd be a waste, but at the same time it was so spicy. "Uh, hows your dish, by the way?" She had been so focused on eating her noodles she had almost forgotten she was with someone and silently wondered how weird she looked as she scarfed down the Agni Kai.

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Anonymous

Nov 29, 2013 0:59:21 GMT -6

It even hurt to smell. Yutaka didn't understand why a dish such as this phaal didn't come with a copious amount of warnings...unless that was what the fireballs on the menu were meant to represent.
With rice on one side and what looked like lava on the other Yutaka decided to try a spoonful of rice with a tiny dab of lava. The dab ended up taking up half of his spoon and he had to eat his mistake.

Yutaka imagined smoke must have been shooting out of his ears because his mouth felt like it was corroding from some harsh acid and threatened to melt him into a human puddle. A few minutes after Airi asked how his food tasted Yutaka responded with a muffled groan after burying his head and sliding his small plate of phaal over to Airi.
"....Too hot...need ice cream." He vowed to look closer at the menu next time and to stay away from anything that had fireballs next to the name.

After three glasses of milk, as there was no ice cream served at Mr. Udon's, Yutaka finally felt well enough to talk.
"That was beyond amazing." It felt like he was talking through a freshly opened wound forcing the pained man to take another drink of milk.
"Are you a firebender? Do you have a volcano stomach? Part dragon maybe?"
For a moment Yutaka forgot his pain and embarrassment at not being able to eat his meal and began humming a few notes of a song.
"I'm reminded of the song 'Fire In My Belly' by Gum Sing Mo. Are you a jazz fan by any chance?"

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Anonymous

Nov 29, 2013 13:45:22 GMT -6

Airi giggled at his need for ice cream, waving the waiter over for some milk for Yutaka. She watched him earnestly, reminded a lot of her brother in him in the way he handled spice. "Next time," she said, reaching over to pull the dish towards her and with her own chop sticks to take a bite of his phaal. "You might want to ask for it to be mild," she offered. It wasn't spicy for her, his dish, but she realized it would be the kind of thing other people would find spicy. Hm, maybe she could ask to take it with her and give it to Aisen. She relished in the thought of watching him rush to the tap after a bite or two.

"It's just food," she laughed, glad that he didn't find the display gross of her eating like that. "I am a firebender, though. As for part dragon..." Airi trailed off, her right hand coming up to her mouth, forming an "O" over her mouth. The woman took in a deep breath and then blew it out quickly, a quick trick of fire coming out.

In response, their waiter yelled at her, "No bending in the restaurant!"

She just giggled and rested her hands on the table. "Who knows? I might have a pile of treasure hoarded somewhere."

At the topic of music, the firebender could only shrug. "I'm not very good with names, but that tune sounded familiar. I only listen to whats on the radio when I'm in the bakery." At the mention of jazz, she grinned. "I love jazz. I like the energy it has, especially compared to older music. Anything I can swing to, you know?"

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Anonymous

Dec 5, 2013 3:27:50 GMT -6

Yutaka awkwardly chuckled at Airi's dragon comments while drinking his milk and to his great fortune did not shoot any out of his nose. Things were awkward enough without nasally propelled dairy products.
He felt even less composed when Airi responded to his question about music.
"I don't get that. I HAVE to know who is singing and what song so I can track down the album."
Yutaka swung him arm around to point to his driver standing beside his four door satomobile.
"If I can't remember a name or a song he usually does. I think he should get paid extra for that but I don't have discretion over his pay."

After a fourth glass of milk Yutaka felt better.
"I have to loan you my Gum Sing Mo albums if you liked my lousy hummed rendition of 'Fire In My Belly'. Blind Lemur and Yoko Kanno are also wonderful. Wait, do you have a phonograph? You need a phonograph. Everybody needs one. Radio's great and all but they leave out a lot. Only popular artists make it and unpopular but great musicians get ignored. Also..." Yutaka sat with an open, wordless mouth once he felt a tirade coming on. It was usually after such tirades that people left.
"Nevermind. Just...you know...radio is no substitute for buying records...and records are no substitute for seeing someone live."

The inferno in his mouth finally subsided by the time the check arrived. This raised in Yutaka's mind: What happens now? Conversation? Going their separate ways? The problem with experimenting with how he dealt with people was that Yutaka had no idea how to deal with success.
"Tell me about yourself, Airi. Like, uh, what you would name your autobiography."

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Anonymous

Dec 7, 2013 2:51:11 GMT -6

Airi let Yutaka talk about music a bit. It was kind of entertaining, actually. Usually she was the one that rambled on and on - even on subjects far less meaningful and with much less content to actually talk about with. A smile graced her lips as she listened. Music has been such a big thing lately. Well, more than lately, but it seemed overly present. A lot of people wanted to forget what was happening around them and she didn't blame them at all. With her experience with the Equalists all those months ago, she could completely understand wanting to forget or just not think about what was going on. Even after getting her bending back, things weren't one hundred percent back to normal. Forgetting was nice, but a pleasantry she couldn't always afford.

A laugh rose from her throat and her golden eyes shut as she did so. "I suppose not, but I haven't really had the time to do something like that before. Even this is... different for me. I bake, but when I'm not doing that, I'm doing errands. And then when I'm not doing that, I'm just sort of... enjoying my time doing random things. Going to the art gallery was one of the first times I've done something like that. It was really fun," Airi added at the end. If she hadn't met Yutaka at the place, she would've still enjoyed her time there but this, meeting him and going out for a bite just made things so much better.

"Oh, well, uh - ha - that's not what I was expecting to hear. Hmmm, perhaps I'd go with something like "The Life of a Probending Baker" or along those lines. But, uh, about myself? I have a younger brother, I have a bit of a short term memory problem, I was a probender for like one game, I had my bending taken and then given back, I'm afraid of turtleducks, and don't know what I want to do with my life." Was that too much? He had asked her to tell him about herself but perhaps some of those things were too personal. Well, she'd know once he decided to respond. "What about you? Tell me about yourself."

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