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Two of a Kind (MysteriousD/DaddysLittleSkank)

DaddysLittleSkank

DaddysLittleSkank

Banned
Banished
Joined
Oct 3, 2012
Location
Florida
There were rumors that the mountain range that was roughly half an hours walk out of Omashu at some point in the last ten or so years had someone who was executed by Fire Nation soldiers after having been discovered to be an Airbender. The most anyone in Omashu could say for certain was that this person had been married, was a woman, and had no children. Her name, who her husband was, or even the year she was killed was unknown, but it was something. The fact that an Airbender had relatively recently been killed meant that the genocide of the Air Nomads hadn't killed everyone. Maybe if this woman's husband could be found, he would have information about other airbenders. Qudai and Aang had been warned that these "hill people" as they were called, were... different.

The village was large with tons of people, there seemed to be a main road that lead through the village and split off going between mountains, and carved into the sides of the mountains were plateaus with doorways leading into the mountains in what was clearly homes. In the middle of the village was a bustling market with tons of shops, restaurants, and other businesses, if there was anyway to get information it'd be there. Sure enough, there was a busy looking shop in the middle of the chaos which was run by an old man.
 
Qudai had no idea how he had gotten this. Weeks ago, he was just a traveler. His father was a successful manager in a merchant guild and his mother was a homemaker. Qudai had left home to go traveling for a bit or so to help cool himself. He had a rough time in the academy. Despite being very bright, he was also rebellious and anti-authoritarian, getting into arguments with the instructors. As such, he was suggested to go on a wilderness sabbatical to cool down.

He didn't expect to end up in the Poles... or to discover the long-lost Avatar here. He was a young man who was frozen for a century. They along with the help of two Water Nation friends helped repel a Fire nation ship nearby. However, the two got injured and thus couldn't accompany them for long. The two ended up staying in Kyushi for a while for some training. This left Qudai and Aang to head to Omashu.

According to Aang, an old friend of his could be living here still. Qudai wasn't sure, but it couldn't hurt to check. Besides, finding an Earth-bending teacher could help. Qudai was in many ways different from Aang. Qudai was a man of the future; he loved designing stuff for new gadgets and such and believed in a better tomorrow while focusing on present. Aang was a very spiritual person (which was justified by him being the Avatar) and focused on the past (though once more, justified, give what happened.)

Despite this, Qudai viewed Aang as his best friend, especially when it was just them... well, besides Momo the Lemur and Appa the Bison. Qudai did not like heights, yet the Bison provided a sense of comfort to him.

Qudai and Aang had been wondering around in disguise looking for anything in particular. "Let's try this shop," Qudai said as he approached the store run by the old man. "Excuse me sir. I would like to purchase some wares and maybe get some information as well," Qudai told the man quietly.
 
The old man looked at the two boys and said, "You are not old enough for what we sell here." He gave the two a stern look leaning against the wooden countertop in front of him. "As for the information, I suggest you think carefully before you ask. There are many people in this town who aren't very keen on outsiders. We've faced discrimination for our beliefs and we aren't looking for our children to be taken over false allegations." The man was extremely intimidating and his posture was clearly drawing the attention of the other patrons. "So what would you like to know?"
 
Qudai raised his eyebrow at the man's attmepts at being an intimidation. Qudai's father was a loving man, but also a strict one who's knowledge and seriosuness made him very intimidating and such, he had experienced in dealin with such men.

He then removed Aang's hood and revealed the boy's tattoo on his head. "My name is Aang, sir. And I'm an Airbender," Aang said before he made a small circulation of air in his hands to show the man he was true. Qudai had his crossbow at the ready in case things would go sour.
 
The man reached over and pulled the hood back over Aang's head, asking, "Boy are you crazy?" He then lowered his voice. "You need to keep that quiet, if the Fire Nation finds you, you're as good as dead! Look I don't know much about that stuff, but I know my nephew, Hansuke, would. You probably heard the stories of an Airbender being killed not too long ago, she was his wife." He pulled out a piece and drew a crude map. "That how to get to his house. He'll be able to tell you anything he knows about that stuff."
 
"If is a subjective matter, sir. After all, the Fire Nation will be after us regardless because he's not just an Airbender," Qudai told the man before he looked at the map and took it. He paid a bit of money to the man for his help. "After all, with all this madness, it's up to the Avatar to set things right, isn't it?" Qudai said, giving an audacious grin as they left.

Aang just rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but laugh a bit. Qudai was his first friend since he was thawed and he was unlike anyone he ever met. Well, not necessarily. It reminded Aang a bit on Bumi, both of them being mad geniuses, but Qudai seemed think beyond that. He thrived on audacity and had a rebellious streak, but still liked routine.

However, he became a bit more serious in thought. "I really hope we can find her. I mean... it's scary to think I could be the last Airbender," Aang confessed to Qudai. "I know, Aang, but I'm sure this will be a good lead. After this, we'll try and head to Omashu. I know I'm not a bender, but from what we talked about, it sounds like Earth-bending will be the hardest one for you to master. But if this Bumi is still around and knows someone, you can learn Earthbending and get that down," he added.

It didn't take long for them to reach the place. Qudai took a moment to look at the house and how it was carved into the area. He also noticed there were several doors.

Aang took a deep breath and picked a door, trusting his instincts. He knocked on it.
 
When the two approached the house it was a large mountain which had been carved into several plateaus with eight doorways. Four of the plateaus contained crop fields while several smaller plateaus held various livestock and work areas. There was a sign to one side of a path that lead to the mountain and split into two smaller paths going up either side of the mountain. The top of the sign read, "Tsao, Hansuke" and under were seven names and a large mark where something had been removed; in order it read Junko, the missing part, Meili, Shu, Xhu, Zhu, Qingge, and Xifeng. There were more sign pointing in the direction of the eight doors with each name and one with a name missing.

Soon a noise could be heard behind the two, turning around it was was two girl about fifteen-ish surrounded by at least twenty small children. The younger of the two girls was definitely more interesting. She had eyes that were gray on the outside and gradually changed to gold closer to the iris that had a distinctly almond shape to them, her face was a bit more oval shaped, and looked extremely pale next to the older of the two girls but had a scarf carefully wrapped around her head hiding her hair. This younger girl had many physical characteristic that were very reminiscent of air nomads.
 
It seemed like not much happened until Qudai turned around and saw that there were two girls there. He elbowed Aang to get his attention. Namely at the younger of two older girls. She reminded Qudai a bit of Aang in how she held herself.

Aang himself noticed it. The monks for the most part were divided amognst the genders, but Aang would still hang around with the female monks every now and then. However, seeing the girl in front of him was still a surprise. She looked so much like the girls did yet not.

Qudai himself realized they didn't exactly plan on how this would go. Looks like they would need to wing it.

"Good afternoon! How are you doing?" Qudai said as he removed his hood and Aang's. He hoped Aang's appearance, namely the air monk tattoos, could be enough to warrant a good response.
 
The older of the two girls looked at them before sending the younger one ahead with the small children. If they'd watched her, they'd see her going to seven of the eight doors dropping kids off at each.

The older girl that still stood in front of them was clearly a waterbender and had similar eyes to the younger girl with the exception that where the younger girl's eyes were gray, the older girl's eyes were blue. She looked at the two up and down a few times clearly sizing them up before speaking, "Can I help you?" She clearly did trust them and was probably suspicious of them.
 
Aang and Qudai was paying attention to what the girls did and looked to one another. Qudai figured it was probably some form of polygamy, but he shrugged it off. It wasn't his business as long as it was concensual.

When he saw the other one asked them if he could help them, Qudai realized they would need to be direct. "Yes, I'll be blunt. This here is Aang. An airbending master and the Avatar, and I'm his non-bender friend," he said. Aang shook his head at the lack of tact his friend could have.

"Look, what he is right. We're here because we heard that there could be other air-benders here," Aang told her with a sincere tone. Qudai admired that about Aang. He was open and honest. He had a form of innocence to him that was endearing.

"Aang, show her the air scooter," Qudai told ehr before Aang smiled. He formed his spinning ball of air before he rode on it, going around the area where it was just them.

"No, you ain't dreaming," Qudai told her as Aang went back to them.
 
The girl still looked a bit suspicious. "So?" She asked. "You do realize being an Airbender is a death sentence, right? My family lost a mother and she didn't have children, so this is a dead end." She walked past the two and up towards the house, however a pregnant woman had come out of one the houses and talked to the girl.
 
“Wha does it matter? He’s the Avatar. He’d be killed even if he was Fire Nation. This stupid war started when Avatar Roku suddenly died,” Qudai notes to the girl with his arms crossed.

“What do we do?” Aang asked Qudai and Wudainsighed. He had no idea. After all, if they can’t even convince her to come with them, then what? However, he did see that the girl was talking to an older woman. “We’ll give it a day. If nothing, we’ll head to Omashu tomorrow and see if we can find an earth-bender teacher for you,” he said while thinking.
 
The pregnant slowly made her way down the mountain. She was quite tall with dark skin and bright blue eyes. Her clothing and hairstyle showed that she was clearly a member of one of the Water Tribes. It took a few minutes to reach the two, but when she did, seemed to welcome them. “I am Junko,” she said, “and I apologize for my daughter’s behavior. Please come inside.”
 
Aang and Qudai saw the pregnant woman make her way over to them. She reminded the two a bit on Katara. Both young men hoped she was all right. "Thank you very much," Aang said as he bowed , with Qudai following. The duo followed the pregnant woman inside of her household.

"I... I apologize for the disruptance. But I wouldn't come here if it wasn't important," Aang started when they entered. Qudai remained quiet as he looked around the place.
 
“I completely understand.” Junko said guiding them to the living area. Once inside she prepared some tea and food. “My husband should be over soon.”

The house was large and most likely housed many children. On a wall we’re two paintings; one showing Junko, a man, and at least a dozen kids and the other contained six more women with dozens of more children.
 
Qudai and Aang to a seat in some of the chairs while they were waiting. Both noticed the size of the house along with the numerous rooms. The paintings were of great interest. One showed Junkp and the man along with several kids. The other paintign showed the other wives and other children. Qudai and Aang both noticed that while there were't any adults that they could tell, they saw the other girl from earlier there.

"Yeah, that's her. She looks like the girls from the sister area," Aang pointed out. "Not to mention that she just stands out compared to the others," Qudai added while they were waiting for the man to come over.
 
Junko brought a tray with food and tea on it into the living area and placed it on the table. One of the foods being small fruit pies. Just when it looked like the woman would sit down, a large man walked in and seeing this, he quickly went to her side to help her sit. The man was tall and thick with dark hair, pale skin, and gold eyes. “Careful, my love,” he told Junko, “I wouldn’t want you to fall.”

Junko chuckled, saying, “I have done this many times before, Hansuke, it’s nothing new.”

“I know but I would still like to help you when I can.” The man said. His appearance would have been completely intimidating if he wasn’t being so gentle with the pregnant Junko.
 
Qudai and Aang saw Junko bring a tray of food into the table. Aang looked very surprised when he looked at what looked like little cakes with colorful and fruity-smelling icing on top.

Whilenlooked st the cakes, Qudai noticed how the man helped his wife. Both young men couldn’t help but smile at the interaction between them. They could clearly see the love the two had for one another.

“Where did you get the recipe for the fruit pies?@ Aang asked. Qudai then realized why Aang was fixated on them. They were those fruit pies he mentioned were an Airbender speciality.
 
“My sister taught me.” Junko said although she was more likely referring to her sister wife. She poured herself some tea before pouring a second glass for Hansuke explaining. “It was just the two of us and Meili for years so the three of us became rather close. All of us knew she was an Airbender, it was no secret. Of coarse she didn’t have the tattoos but that was more or less phased out after the war started. I believe my husband would know more about that.”

“I was coming home from defending a small mining village from soldiers from the Fire Nation when my brothers and I came across a massacre. We knew there was a small amount of surviving air nomads, and they’d began to hide in plain sight. Some had mixed into the population of the Earth Kingdom, never revealing their true identities for fear of death while others became more like gypsies, living in small groups that never stayed in one place for long. Over the years the Fire Nation had discovered many of them and would kill any they could.

But anyway, my brothers and I stumble on a settlement of wagons, which was our first clue that it had been a group of air nomads, the second being that everything was burnt. It was clear the Fire Nation had torched the place and killed everyone.” He paused and took a sip of tea. “They showed no mercy: expectant mothers, infants, children, it didn’t matter who, they were all dead. We heard a noise and followed it, discovering Mika as the sole survivor. She was injured but nothing too severe, at least not physically. She had pulled her younger brother from their wagon and he had died in her arms. After we tended to her wounds, we dug graves and made headstones for all those that were killed. Many of them didn’t have names that Mika could remember or were burnt beyond recognition so we would put ‘unknown woman’ or ‘unknown infant boy’ on the headstone so they had something showing who they were. I promised Mika I would protect her from the Fire Nation and on the day she was killed she told me to protect our child.” He smiled to himself, remembering the woman. “Mika was an amazing woman! She loved everyone and held no grudges even against those who sought to kill her. She was kind and patient and before she had become pregnant she considered herself a mother and treated the other wives’ children as her own. We were so happy to have a child of our own and she was an amazing mother.”

Junko took her husband’s hand, “The Fire Nation caught word that there was an Airbender in the area but luckily they didn’t know she had been pregnant. Mika surrendered voluntarily, she knew if she did there’d be a better chance of her daughter not being discovered.”
 
Qudai and Aang were both quiet as Junko began explaining everything about how the air bending woman and the past that was shared between them all.

Aang went through a dozen different emotions on how his people still managed to be alive yet many still met unfortunate ends because of the dogmatic pursuits of the Fire Nation. However, thisade him determined to do more for the people and his duty as Avatar. Furthermore, it also meant that he would want to do so to teach her about the monks.

After Junko finished, Aang let out a breath. “I was only 16 when I found ounI was the Avatar. They were getting ready to train me when the war began breaking out. I escaped because I thought that it would get the monks away or trick them into thinking K was gone or something. Of course, instead, I got frozen for a hundred years and ended up in the North Pole,” Aang explained to them.

“I found him while doing business there and after driving the Fire Nation away, we set out so Aang could learn all the bending elements and figure out how to end this war,” Qudai notes to them. “It’s part of why we came here. Your daughter’s heritage is important and Aang was recognized by the monks as an Airbending Master,” he continued.

“We were in Omashu for a bit, but when we heard the rumors, we couldn't help but leave the city so we can investigate this. I would be honored if you would let us talk to her to see if she wishes to come with us,” Aang told them as he bowed down. Qudai noted that after this, they would head back to Omashu to keep looking for more on Bumi and on earthbending teachers.
 
The couple listened to what the two boys had to say before Hansuke began speaking again, “You have to understand that what you knew the air nomads as and what my wife knew them as are two completely different things. You knew a strong and proud people, Mika knew a people who would hide and run. They changed over time, they stopped living and started surviving. I tell you this because I do not want you to expect my daughter to be what you knew, as you will only be disappointed. My daughter does not have tattoos, she does not bend, she eats meat, and she is not a pacifist. However she is kind and gentle, she will heal the sick and help the poor any chance she is given, she defends those who cannot defend themselves, and she will protect those around her with her life.”
 
Aang listened to what the couple had to say. "The tattoos are symbols of being an Airbending Master so I wouldn't expect her to have them anyway," Aang explained to them before thinking more on the nature of the others. "As for the other stuff, well, with pacifism, it was not about the fighting. We did not want to fight, but we would. We just put the line at killing," he added. "As for the meat eating, well Qudai eats it and that doesn't bother me," Aang said. He was still thinking on the airbending aspect.

"And as for the bending, that all depends on her. For all we know, she could know how, but keeps it a secret. Alternately, she has the potential, but her lack of experience or meditation means it hasn't been unleashed," Qudai interjected. He really hoped that he could teach the girl airbending.

Both did smile at hearing how gentile and kind she was along with her good things. "And we would do the same," Aang said. "I would be honored for the opportuity to teach her airbending, if she can," he added.
 
“If she could bend, Junko or I would know it.” Hansuke stated. “Junko raised Miku from infancy and has treated her like her own.”

Junko rolled her eyes, “I treat all of the children as my own. I did raise Miku, but I made sure she knew that Mika was her mother. However we tell the outside world that Miku and my daughter, Tamiko, are twins.”

“However in regards to her going with you,” Hansuke said, “that is my daughter’s decision. She will need convincing as doing so would mean leaving behind her family but you are more than welcome to stay here as long as needed.”
 
"Well, we will have to see that for ourselves," Qudai muttered under his breath as he wondered how these pair of parents forgot on how kids would keep secrets from them at their age. He did smile at hearing at how they treated all of them as if they were their own.

"Thank you and do not worry. We do not want to attract attention to any of you," Aang bowed and said respectfully. "That and I don't want to get violent," Qudai reasponded as his hand went toward the crossbow at his waist.

"We would like to meet her. Where is she at?" Aang asked them. He was still being formal and polite and such. However, he was also worried at how thigns could be, especially if she didn't wanna come.
 
“She is probably still at Xixi’s place watching her younger kids.” Junko said.

“Where is Xixi?” Hansuke asked looking a bit confused.

“She went with Ai, Aiko, and a few of the older girls to help Aiko pick up her wedding dress.” Junko reminded him. “So that means you need to bring Ryo to get clothes for the ceremony tomorrow. The wedding is in two days.”

Hansuke nodded, “I’ll be happy when it’s over.”

Junko rolled her eyes, “Aiko is going to be Yuichi first wife and Yuichi is Xixi’s first child to get married, be patient with them. You remember how hard it was for me when Huan married and how hard it was for the other wives when their first married.” She stood up and walked to a set of stairs calling up them, “Kyoko could you come down here?” A young girl, maybe eight, appeared. “Could you go over to Mother Xixi’s house and get Miku for me?” The girl nodded and left.
 
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