Hakoda: The Demon Barber of Ba Sing Se (Rated T-M)

Ursa

"That was Katara? Oh my...well, this has certainly put a wrench in things." Ursa said. Well, so much for killing that monster once and for all. What could they do now? Ozai would likely never come again...

Hakoda

"Yes, that was her. Ozai is going to force her to marry him."

Toph could feel trouble occuring but she kept quiet as it began to settle down. She tapped her foot, wondering what to do now. She moved to where the gin was and drank a little.

Ursa

"What?!" Ursa exclaimed, her face twisting into an expression of fury. "Why that little...!"

Ursa tried to calm herself down with a few quick breaths, but wasn't all that sucessful. Still, she managed to compose herself.

"Well, he won't get away with this! We'll get him back here soon, don't worry. Oddly enough, he's an easy man to please. We could use that to our advantage. But..."

Ursa's eyes trailed over to where Bato's body was hidden.

"What are we gonna do with him?"

Hakoda

"I don't really know. Don't really care either....." Hakoda replied as he walked back to the chair sitting in the middle of the room.

Ursa

"Well, I suppose we could find a place to bury 'em. I don't suppose he's got any relatives to come poking around." Ursa said. It would certainly be trouble, getting rid of the body. surprisingly, there wasn't a lot of places in Ba Sing Se where they would successfully be able to bury the body. Still, they'd have to make d....

Wait...perhaps there was an alternative option. The price of meat these days was pretty high....such an unsavory thought, she knew, but, it was really the only sure-fire way....

"You know, it seems...a downright shame. Letting him all go to waste." Ursa began, a smile slowly coming to her face.

Hakoda

Hakoda simply cleaned up the mess in the room, not understanding Ursa's hints. "And your point? It wont be hard to just burn them in your furnace in the basement." Hakoda stated in realization as he took the subject off track.

Ursa

"Ah, but that'd be such a waste. After all, with the price of meat these days, what it is, when you get it....if you get it..."

Ursa's smile widened further. Hopefully Hakoda knew what she meant now.

Hakoda

Hakoda looked at Ursa. He was amused at the Pie Makers lack of morals and audacity. " But do you have the seasons for such a...different type of meat?

Ursa

"Oh, yes. Business has needed a lift, lately. And it'd finally give me an advantage of Mrs. Mooney, that witch who opened up a rival pie shop. Besides, I'd love to bake Ozai into a pie. A fitting end for such a vile and oily man. Not to mention he hates pie. Double the irony." Ursa assured, giving a sadistic smile.

Hakoda

"I had no idea that you had such a depraved mind, Ursa. Very well, you can have the meat." Hakoda replied as he opened teh chest where Bato's body was waiting.

Sokka

Sokka followed Toph, and took a sip of the gin as well. It wasn't uncommon for the two of them to do this. They'd snuck it a couple of times from Bato, and it didn't really cause any adverse effects for them.

Zuko

Zuko stood and watched the two, ignoring his mother's offer, having heard Katara's screams. He glanced a couple of ways before exiting the shop, bent on finding his father and her.

Aang

Aang had also begun his search for her. He didn't know what he was going to do now... who knew where that vile "judge" Ozai would bring her? All he knew was that when it was all said and done, he would find her. And he would bring her somewhere where she could be safe, and sound, with him.

Ursa

"Of course, we simply can't bring the body downstairs. The kids are suspcious enough already, we can't alert them. We may have been able to do it with the blind one, but that Water Tribe boy is here too."

Ursa walked toward the end of the room, near the window. She lightly tapped her foot on the flooring.

"If my memory serves correctly, underneath this section of the floor here there's a straight trip down to the basement. We could remove the flooring, cover it up with a hidden trap door or something, and make a mechanism to activate it. Maybe put it near your barber chair? In fact....hm, how would you feel if you killed all your clients who came up here, and sent them down to me to be made into pies?" Ursa asked, turning to Hakoda.

Hakoda

"So you want to kill everyone then? My you really must be desperate for profit..." Hakoda commented as he glanced at the floor that Ursa had been referring to. "Very well then, I accept your proposition."

Ursa

"Wonderful!" Ursa declared, clasping her hands together. "Great, great! That'll show Mrs. Mooney...! Now, I'll go make sure the kids are occupied and take a quick trip to the market, get some supplies for carving out the floor, and the trap door."

((I think a time-skip is in order now. Any objections?))

((No objection here.))

(I'm fine with it)

(It's cool with me)

General Narrative

One month had passed since the Judge had last visited Hakoda's shop, and during that time, many things had changed. In a month, Ursa's pie shop had completely transformed. It had gone from a dingy, run down food establishment with poor pies to a prosporous and well known pie shop that nearly everyone in the middle district of Ba Sing Se knew about, and often visited.

Ursa's shop, at the moment, was busy with customers. The inside was nearly packed to the brim with eager and hungry people. To keep up with the constant stream of customers, Ursa had extended her shop outside, and had a few tables out in the back for when it was overcrowded.

Sokka and Toph were now advertising Ursa's pies out into the street, singing its praises. During the month that had passed, Ursa had managed to forge a bond between the two orphans, and was very close to them now. Toph had even trusted her enough to share her real name with her now, too.

Things couldn't be better for Ursa's pie shop, and her life in general. With the constant supply of 'meat' coming in from Hakoda, she had a steady supply for her meat pies. Thanks to the new fortune Ursa was acquring, her house was better looking, and Hakoda's shop upstairs was more furnished.

While this had been going on, Aang had continued to search for Katara during that long month. He had yet to find a trace of her, though now, as he passed an insane asylum, the airbender could hear Katara's voice through the many cries of the madhouse's many inhabitants...

Aang

Aang was walking on the street of the insane asylum, Katara in his mind as usual. Ever since that incident in the shop, he had not found any trace of her whereabouts. It pained him, but he refused to believe that anything had happened to her other than simply going missing. And his determination to find her and rescue her had not left him. No, it had only grown in her absence.

And now he was passing the madhouse. The shrill cries of its inhabitants gave him a terrible feeling.

It was then that he heard her voice, perhaps at the same volume of all the rest inside, but still louder, a beautiful voice he hadn't heard in what seemed like so long.

His first response was to rush toward the entrance. But part of him knew that this would not be effecient. He had to formulate a plan...

Sokka

Sokka was doing his typical job, cheerfully advertising Ursa's Pie Shop right outside its doors, customers weaving in and out. It sure had changed in that one month that he and Toph had been there. And when he promoted it, he knew that she was not a fraud. He knew exactly why he was doing it. Her pies were truly as good as they said they were. And so very popular. It was exciting to know that things were going as well as they were, for someone so genuine.

However, he had his suspicions about the barber above her shop. He was... an interesting character, that was for sure. But he'd grown a little bit used to the man. Still, he wasn't so sure what his intentions were, being there. And the questionable way men never seemed to leave his shop after a shave...

Hakoda

There was a polite smile on his face as he welcomed in the Customer. The barber whistled a rather somber tune as he directed the Customer to the only chair. It was in the center of the room, an awkward position, admittedly. But it was necessary, for the deal he had with Ursa now.

The Customer tried to make small talk as Hakoda stirred the lather, but like always, he quickly put the notion that they would be having a decent conversation out of the man's head. Then, he quickly lathered the man's face, shaved his cheeks, sliced his throat, and operated the lever connected to the chair. The body quickly slid through a trap door and into the basement three floors down. Rinse, Lather, Repeat. That's how it went every night.

Toph smiled sincerely as she advertised the pies. She was really beginning to enjoy her life with Ursa. It wasn't as bad as she first thought it was going to be. Thoughts of what happened the first day they were here was gone from her head, stored away in the back of her mind.

But like Sokka, Toph was a little bit unsure of the man upstairs. She had to resist the temptation to spy on him and so she avoided going near him as much as she could.
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Kya pursed her lips as she glared at the pie shop.

"A witch! Can't you all see she's a witch," she cried out to the people who went in or were just passing by. "You can't trust that woman!"

Ursa

"Isn't it a lovely day?" Ursa said to herself as she hurriedly delivered the meat pies to her hungry customers. She went about her business, chatting with a few of her more regular customers, and served the baked meat pies to them all.

Business had sure boomed since she made the switch to that....other....source of meat. Surprisingly, the new meat had made the pies taste even better than she had hoped, and once word of her delicious new pies had spread around, business had skyrocketed! Her place was nearly packed to the brim every day, all thanks to the agreement she and Hakoda had reached almost a month ago now. Ursa had even managed to form a bond with the two orphan children that nasty Bato had taken care of. Things couldn't be better for her and Hakoda now! All they had to do was get the Judge back to Hakoda's shop, and everything would be swell! And, of course, reunite Hakoda with his daughter Katara.

Ursa happened to look outside and see Kya, shouting some mad ravings, no doubt. A shame, what had happened to that nice and beautiful woman. She had had it all once: a loving husband, two adorable children, a pleasent and well off life...more than she had ever had, too. Ursa herself had had a nasty and vile husband, and a child that would follow her father in his footsteps, if her last sight of Azula had been any indication. But at least she had one good child, Zuko. Still, Kya probably hadn't appreciated her wonderful life back then, too, no doubt. She probably had taken it for granted, the ungrateful little...!

But....that was then, this was now. Their roles had been reversed. Ursa had two great, wonderful children with Sokka and Toph, a good relationship with Hakoda (which she was starting to hope would grow into something more), and a respectable business now, while Kya was a beggar woman in the streets with no loving husband or children anymore. It was all more than she could ever hope for! And Ursa certainly wouldn't take this all for granted, she'd make sure of it.

"Sokka?" Ursa asked as she approached the boy outside. She heard some of Kya's rantings, and scowled at the word 'witch'.

"Would you be a dear and chase that old, crazy woman away? She might scare the customers away." she asked kindly.

Zhao

"What are you doing here, boy? It's against the law to loiter around." Police Chief Zhao shouted as he approached Aang from the other side of the street. The boy looked an awful lot like the one Judge Ozai had told him to watch out for, but there could always be the chance he was mistaken. Airbenders, while rare in Ba Sing Se, weren't exactly uncommon. Still...

Sokka

Sokka smiled, and nodded.

"No problem, Ursa."

He began to chase the woman gently out off the premises. He felt a little bit bad for the crazy old beggar, but he couldn't have anyone disrupting Ursa' business.

Aang

Aang nearly jumped when the man shouted over to him, but quickly regained his composure.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, sir," he replied as he began to walk away. Foiled again. It was alright, however. All he needed was a little more time. Now that he'd found where Katara was, that was all he needed.

Kya looked at Sokka with a grimace. She pointed a finger in his face.

"You have no right talking to me young man. You...you work for that witch. She'll kill ya, I'm warning you."