A Collaboration between Akayaofthemoon and OneWayOut
Shizue's eyebrow quirked as one of their recently regular customers approached the counter even though the elder had paid his bill. It made her think that perhaps he had a complaint or something important he wished to express with her, which seemed a little odd for this person. He wasn't usually one for much words, though he was always pleasantly friendly without such things. She didn't know much of what to expect from the retiree but a simple blank white envelope had not been it. Shizue had went to object, thinking it was some kind of extra money or tip that was too big to just leave, and she wasn't one just take hand outs, but he didn't even give her the chance. She didn't know one that advanced in years could move so fast and it had her leaning over the counter, calling out to him to wait but it fell on deaf ears as he continued onward. A light frown found its way onto her features, her eyes moving to the envelope in her hands and turning it to try to see if it had any indication to what was inside but even the seal was blank. It tickled her curiosity, her fingers moving to break the seal only to be interrupted by the call of a customer which made her realize that the strange letter would have to wait.
Shizue made sure to place the letter aside in a safe place, keeping it on the back of her mind for later. If it really was something of great value or importance than she should open it with Azome. They were in this together no matter what, and she would not leave her out of strange or important occurrences. Whatever was in that envelope was as much her older sister's as it was her own. If Azome thought it wasn't right to keep than they would just have to wait for the elder man to return, thank him for his gift or whatever it was, but apologize that he needed to take it back. She trusted her sister's decisions after all just like Azome did in return.
Meanwhile, a few minutes away, Azome groaned in frustration and pressed the horn on her
brand newMoped once again.
"Come on! Drive!" she yelled at the person in front of her going snail speed in what looked like a brand new Satomobile. She honked her horn again as the driver seemed unsure if he could fit between two cars that were ahead of him. Of course the guy wasn't going to take any chances with his hot new ride, but Azome wanted to get home. She wasn't going to let some horrible driver keep her from a warm cup of tea and her cozy bed.
With another frustrated groan as the people behind her started honking as well, Azome decided to find another way around the guy. She revved her Moped a few times before taking off, making a sharp right turn and illegally crossing lanes to get to a side street. Inner city traffic was one of the reasons why she hated being one of the last matches in the Probending Arena. It seemed every time her team went late in the day, by the time she was able to go home, the traffic was at its worst. Despite having a maneuverable Moped, it was always a struggle getting home.
What Azome hated the most was leaving her little sister, Shizue, at home to run the tea shop on her own. She was reassured time and time again by her sister that she was fine running the tea shop alone, that Azome could follow her passion with pro bending, but there was always a thought in the back of her head... a thought that made Azome want to stay by her sister's side at all time. There were some crazy people out in the world and Shizue was so cute and weak looking, even if she
was an adept Waterbender, it was only a matter of time before a group of drunks stumbled into the Tea Shop and tried to harass her.
The worst part was, if that were to even happen, there was no way Shizue would tell her. She knew Azome was a worry wart and would throw away her pro bending career at the drop of a hat if it meant keeping her sister safe.
After going down some side streets and cutting through several alleyways, Azome made it back onto the main road, almost hitting a man as she swerved and cut across the sidewalk to get to the correct lane. She was only a few blocks away at this point, and sooner than later, she ended up home, coming to a stop with a screech.
Getting off her Moped, Azome would make her way to the back of the shop that her and her sister called home, locking up the small bike before lifting up the seat. Under the cushion was a storage compartment that was really handy to keep her things in as she was driving. She reached for her bottle of water first, bringing the thing to her lips and taking a long drink from it. She downed over half the container at once before taking a moment to breathe, wiping at her chin where some drops had trickled down from the corner of her mouth. Azome wasted no more time gathering the rest of her things: a small bag, her probending uniform that needed to be washed, and a brown envelope with her share of this weeks winnings.
When she had everything, she closed the seat of her Moped and moved to the back door, fishing around in her bag for a key before going inside and locking the door back behind her. Azome's first instinct was to call out to her sister and surprise her with the money - finally enough to get the renovations done that they'd wanted to parts of the shop - knowing that Shizue would be happily surprised, but she had to remember that a Tea Shop was a place of peace, so she couldn't go screaming. Instead she placed her things at the door and went to find her sister.
Azome would appear from the back of the shop and go to the counter, surprised to not find Shizue there. Shrugging and assuming she went to help a customer, Azome would patiently wait for her sister to return.
It didn't take long for Shizue to return to the counter once again but this time she was happily greeted by the sight of her older sister which brought a bright smile to her lips.
"Azome! Welcome home, how was your match?",she warmly asked before giving her a gentle hug.
Azome returned the hug with a smile.
"Hey sis." she greeted, releasing Shizue after a moment.
"It went alright. It was tough though... I may have a bruise in a really hard to reach place." she said with a light laugh.
It didn't bother Shizue to run the Panda Lily alone but was always better to have Azome around as it made her feel a little more at ease, though she wouldn't admit it. She wasn't ignorant about the fact that danger could occur anywhere which meant even the Tea Shop wasn't completely safe. She wasn't defenseless by any means, but Azome had always been, and still was the stronger out of the two. Shizue's looks were even weaker in appearance than the other, though again that was something she would deny. She listened to Azome's reply, a smile stuck on her face until she heard about the bruising that may have happened do to the match as she dug out the plain blank letter and waving it lightly.
Azome couldn't help her curiosity and so she snatched the letter from her sister's hand.
"Let me know if you need help with healing that bruise. You shouldn't be uncomfortable just because you can't reach it. In other news, I received this today from one of the more recent customers. He said it was just a little something extra but I am not sure what that entails. I would assume a large tip but I thought it might be nice to open it together though I admit it was very tempting to do alone.""I'll let you have a look at it once we close up the shop. So... I wonder what this is..." Azome said curiously, turning the thing over and finding nothing interesting. Impatiently, she broke the seal and opened the envelope, taking out the paper inside and turning it so Shizue could read it too. The message read:
"We are contacting you in regards to a matter of the utmost urgency. We have witnessed your unique talents and are reaching out to you specifically in the hopes that you will respond to us in our most dire hour of need. Should you choose to aid us, we will pay you any price you ask to the greatest extent of our abilities, be it your weight in gold, a specific favor, or the knowledge that our organization is forever in your debt. If you have chosen to accept our request for help, come to the address listed below by midnight tonight. A representative from our organization will be in the basement of the building."Beneath the words was the familiar symbol of a White Lotus along with an address.
"Well... that's creepy." Azome said, turning the paper over to see if anything was on the back. She was unsure what to make of it.
"Who did you say gave this to you? Did he look shady?" she asked, turning to Shizue.
"You got that right..." Shizue replied with a frown before continuing to speak in order to answer her sister's questions.
"It was one of our newly regular customers. He has never seemed shady at all and is always completely pleasant like most of our other elderly patrons.""Huh. That's odd." Azome said, handing the letter to her sister before stretching out her arm and rolling a shoulder.
"Do you think it's serious? I mean, maybe the guy is in some trouble or something. It says we'd get paid but, I don't want to get wrapped up in anything dangerous." she paused and remembered she too had something to show. She reached over to where she'd placed her bonus and held it up to her sister, wearing a smirk on her face.
"Then again, we'd have a bit more cash to add to our renovation funds." she said, waving the brown envelope.
"I don't know if it is serious or not but it seems like it if they went through all this trouble or someone is just that creepy enough to believe I wouldn't show this to you and appear alone. If he is in some sort of trouble than aren't their better people to turn to or wouldn't he come to you before giving it to me? I'm just not sure but if it is true than it might be worth it even if some risk is involved." Shizue replied, lost in thought for a moment before a brown envelope came into view and she looked to Azome curiously as her sister wore a smirk. It definitely made her feel like she was out of the loop somehow until Azome told her exactly what it was. Shizue's eye widened before lighting up, excitement easily bubbling to the surface as she bounced up and down in a childish manner.
"Oh this is wonderful!" she squealed before hugging her sister tightly and quickly letting go to list off the things they needed to fix first. She stopped for a moment, looking to Azome calmly before asking,
"What are we going to do about that strange letter? Should we go? At least to check it out?"Azome shrugged and crossed her arms.
"I guess. I mean, if anything goes down, we're more than capable of handling ourselves. And, why wouldn't he come to us? You're looking at a member of the probending team that won the championship three years in a row. Soon to be four by the looks of it." she said proudly.
"And I'm pretty sure I've heard a few people call you the Tea Goddess or something." she paused and put a hand to her chin.
"Or was it the Tea Whisperer...?" After a moment of deep thought, Azome shrugged.
"In any case, as long as is nothing illegal, I'm up for anything that can make us some quick cash. We sure could use it." she said.
A blush dusted over her cheeks at Azome's words since she did not fail in making her feel silly for her previous comment. She was right that they were two members on a probending champion team that was three...four years running. It makes sense that that would bring in some attention if help was needed. The blush on her face deepened greatly when her sister's next statement of what people called Shizue. She had heard both names and more from people though the reason she didn't quite understand half the time.
"Than let us hope all goes well tonight and that what they ask is none to difficult or illegal since you are completely right that we could use it." Shizue stated softly with a gentle smile before getting back to work. The shop would be open a little while longer after all and she couldn't keep everyone waiting.