Closed

[motheroffaces]

ooc: The posts in here will take place shortly prior to part 2 of the plot.

A. Docks (Closed to Bumi) - The yelp is cut off all too quickly. The woman's pale hand snakes forward, impossibly fast, closing around the man's throat. She's strong -- too strong -- the momentum of it sends him crashing back against the wall, pinning him under her grasp. Her fingers press like daggers into the soft flesh at his jaw and around his windpipe. Her eyes are cold and black as stones.

He will not be leaving this encounter easily. If at all.

"The Avatar believes that you are capable of learning." Her gaze never leaves his face. "I do not."

B. Spirit Wilds (Closed to Mia) - The water of the former fountain twists in response to the footsteps, swirls. The Mother of Faces emerges from the depths, the great branches of her crown dripping.

She surveys the group -- two stone-faced men, each with a pouch dangling at their belts, holding onto a small, blue-haired girl. One hand lifts; the girl is released. Apparently the Mother has no concern about the girl running off.

"Mia." The name is greeting and question both. What exactly had she been doing?

Comments

A is for Airbender, that's good enough for me!

[abitofawildman]

Bumi doesn't often find himself down by the docks all that often these days. What were once his usual stomping grounds have become his guilty pleasure. Before, when Tenzin was still around and about, Bumi could easily go and wile away entire days in the backroom of the Eelhound drinking rice wine and playing Pai Sho, not so much anymore. There just isn't time.

So every now and again Bumi makes time. Just to remind himself who he is.

It's during one of these times that he happens to hear the cry.
Rational people would run from such a sound, but Bumi's always been one of the crazy few that feels compelled to run towards such a thing.

Run towards while reaching for the dagger that he keeps in the interior breast pocket of his United Republic overcoat.
(What? You didn't actually think he'd steal away to go gambling in his airbender initiate robes, did you?)

"Hey," he calls out to break up the scene he's just intruded upon. "That'll be just enough of that."

[motheroffaces]

Dark eyes flick to Bumi, take him in . . . and ultimately dismiss him. Her fingers do not move from the man's neck. He's a Triad member; his breath is quick, tight in his lungs, his hands braced around the woman's inexorable grip. His own eyes shift sideways as far as they can go in their sockets, trying to see Bumi His breath comes out in pants, gasps.

She reaches up with her opposite hand, touches his brow, and where her fingers connect with skin, light unfurls, blossoms. The light twists dizzily around the man's head and then fades. With it fades the man's consciousness, his eyes rolling back in his head as his weight slumps downward. The woman's hand withdraws, and he sags to the ground like a sack of wet sand.

The woman's face twists back over her shoulder to regard Bumi anew, her expression almost a challenge. Just what will he do now?

[abitofawildman]

Bumi looks quickly from the woman to the man and then back again. He has no idea what she's done to him, or even if the man is still alive. The only thing he does know is that the woman isn't human.

"Why did you...that was uncalled for!"

Slowly he advances, knife still drawn but not raised in an offensive position.

"Back away."

[motheroffaces]

Her eyes flick to the knife, which may not be offensively held, but which is offensive nonetheless. "You, who have just arrived and know nothing of this man's crimes, are in a position to judge?"

Her eyes return to the blade, further narrowing. "You will put your knife away. I will not permit it."

[abitofawildman]

"And you're not in any position to be jury and executioner! Not here. Not like this. I said back away."

The knife clatters to the ground, but Bumi continues to move forward.

[motheroffaces]

A shimmer of light gleams around the woman's form -- a warning. He may have dropped the knife, but he is still advancing, and this will not be permitted. "I will not. You will stop immediately and hold your ground."

[abitofawildman]

His pace slows to a stop. Bumi's careful to keep his hands raised in a surrender-style position, though there's no disguising the agitation in his voice.

"Regardless of what he's done, that man needs a healer, and I'm going to take him to one."