Through Republic City

Anonymous

Jun 29, 2012 0:38:21 GMT -6

Some Street Somewhere in the City

The Waterbender’s usual coping method when he was sad was to make other people laugh and by doing so cheer himself, but that wasn’t going to work here. He definitely was not in a joking mood. He still didn’t understand where things had gone wrong. Sure, he’d gotten things off to a bad start by talking about killing, but he always did stuff like that, and they had moved past it to get him home. But now…he didn’t know where they stood now. This situation was new to him, and he was not enjoying it.

He had nothing to be sorry for? Psh, yeah right. If that were true, she wouldn’t have gotten mad in the first place. But she was apologizing, and that alone made him reconsider his feelings. Most people who got mad at him stayed that way, but Kira was different. Maybe she really did mean what she was saying. He might as well try talking to her again. He’d just avoid mentioning bending, if it bothered her that much. Bending was the first item on the “Do Not Mention To Kira” list that was beginning in his head.

In the pause before Kira continues speaking, a breeze blew through the street, making the Waterbender shiver. He should have brought a jacket with him, but hadn’t thought he would be out this late. He considered asking Kira to use her bending to keep him warm, but considering the list he had just made perhaps that wasn’t the best idea. So he’d just shiver in silence. There were worse pains to have to endure, like having someone he’d just met snap at him.

Kira explained her earlier outburst, and Takeo’s hurt feelings were momentarily forgotten as he gave back a look of confusion. ”That’s stupid,” he muttered, then hurried to elaborate lest he cause more offense. ”People not liking your bending, men, not you not wanting talk about it. I got that. Why don’t people where you live like Firebennders? U-unless you don’t want to tell me. That’s fine too.” The man held up his hands between them as if to protect himself from another outburst. He was going to have to be careful about what he said to his new acquaintance. That would be a challenge.

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Last edit by Deleted: Jun 29, 2012 0:38:39 GMT -6

kgal

Jun 29, 2012 5:17:13 GMT -6

Beach

Sashu watched her companion agree with her, laughing and enthusiastically illustrating his point. "You can't just run and gun, you really have to gauge the enemy." In fact, it was a bit surprising to see such a mood change come over him. It was like the cloudy weather cleared away his doubts and fears. Or maybe not. Maybe she was just imagining things. As usual.

Still, she nodded in response. "That's why I'm gonna go watch all the probending matches I can. If we get a spot in the qualifiers, then we'd better study up on other teams, see if we can get a good read on them. It might just give us a win." Though, Sashu had to admit, she wouldn't actually mind if her probending career was stunted by the first round. Yes, she'd be a bit upset and disappointed, but if she had two good friends at her side, it wouldn't matter as much. There was always next year. Sometimes teams took many seasons to rise in the ranks. The waterbender had waited for years to get herself a team; now that she had one, it wasn't too hard to wait for glory.

They reached the alcove, and Jin seemed more than pleased. The surf crashed quietly. "This is amazing, Ash. It's perfect." He seemed awestruck, and actually laughed aloud. Sashu couldn't help but take his words as a direct compliment to her person, even though he clearly only spoke of the little circle. Then his mood changed for just a moment, but then the enthusiasm returned with vigor. "C'mon Ash, we need to get a move on," he cried as he broke into a run.

Sashu burst out laughing and raced him, her shorter stride made up for by the lithe quickness of her footfalls. Her toes dug into the damp sand and were just soft enough to give, and just hard enough to support her weight. She found herself gaining on Jin, but then he reached the natural formation.

Sashu didn't stop.

Instead, in the midst of the firebender's words, Sashu used her momentum to vault herself up the formation, and there she stood, tall and proud. "No problem. Schedules are easy." She was taller than Jin from the vantage point, and she looked down at him with a smirk and her hands on her hips. "Easier than putting up with you, that's for sure."

She winked and extended a hand down to her acquaintance — no. Her friend. With her help he could easily climb over, but she wouldn't be able to bear all of his weight. Worst case scenario: Sashu would fall backwards, pulling them both onto the soft sand on the opposite side of the wall. She glanced at the ring for a moment: it was probably 10 meters in diameter, including the water border on the southern side. A small but rough circle. No farther apart than two opponents stand at the beginning of a probending match.

"Come on in here, you big lug. Today we're going to do some target practice, as well as defensive moves to stop the shots from reaching their target." She laughed and a breath of wind knocked her hair over her face as it smiled.

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quinseparable

Jun 29, 2012 6:23:29 GMT -6

Some Street Somewhere in the City

That shiver (and the subsequent ones) did not go unnoticed by Kira. She herself felt the goosebumps raise up across her skin and her own body convulsed slightly as a shiver ran through it. The black "jacket" - if it could be called that - did nothing in regards to keeping her warm. She herself had not known the night was going to end up being this cold. It was probably a good thing she was not going to make it to the beach.

For the millionth time since entering Republic City, she wished she could control her bending. She was definitely not a strong bender and wasn't sure that she could produce a flame large enough to warm them without it getting out of control. It had already happened numerous times since coming to Republic City; once she almost lost her apartment because of it. It was embarrassing to be so terrible. It was the reason that she would go down to the beach - to practice. If anything went wrong, as it often did, she ahd the water there to put it out.

Takeo opened his mouth to say something. She regained a little hope that she hadn't truly hurt him or, at least, he was going to forgive her. When he spoke, however, she could still hear the hurt in his voice.

"Why don’t people where you live like Firebennders? U-unless you don’t want to tell me. That’s fine too.”

It was not a story many people wanted to know, and not something she often volunteered. After all, who in Republic City wanted to know her whiny history? Her sad existence? Takeo did, otherwise he would not have asked. Kira studied him a moment, trying to see if he was genuinely interested of if he just wanted to keep a conversation going. For the little she could tell of him, she believed that he did want to know.

Another sigh escaped past her lips. "It's a long and boring story, so I'll skip a lot of the details." She paused a moment before continuing, trying to gather her thoughts. It was not often anyone asked about her past. "You see, I grew up in a tiny Earth Kingdom village. It was attacked during the War, and the Firebending soldiers stationed there practically destroyed the entire village. There were only a handful of survivors." Another pause. "But those survivors began to rebuild once the War was declared over. They had very little at first, but my village grew larger than it had ever been. They became prosperous, but their hatred of fire benders never lessened."

She paused again to rub the back of her head. "I guess their hatred is what gave them the drive to rebuild. I don't know. All I know is that when I came along and first produced a fireball, everyone was in a frenzy. My parents managed to convince the rest of the council to let me stay...it wasn't pleasant in the least. When I was old enough, my parents gave me some money and sent me here. I - I have the ability to firebend, but not the skill to do so. I, I guess that's why I'm a little touchy about the subject."

She blinked her eyes in surprise. Normally she would have never told anyone she had just met her life story, but something about Takeo made her feel comfortable enough to do so.

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Anonymous

Jun 29, 2012 11:21:20 GMT -6

Some Street Somewhere in the City

Well, Kira wasn’t looking like she was going to yell at him. That was a step in the right direction. Progress was being made, albeit slowly. Now if Kira was willing to answer his question, maybe they could move past the whole angry outburst thing. Takeo would still put actual effort into thinking before he spoke, though. He had offended the woman once, and had no desire to do so again, even if his mistakes were accidental.

The Firebender did answer, and her explanation was longer than he had expected. There were several times when the Waterbender opened his mouth to comment, but remembering his new policy of actually using his brain he stayed silent until the end. The tory didn’t make a lot of sense to him, though. Some soldiers were evil, and so all Firebenders were assumed to be from then on? Stupid. He didn’t know Kira well at all, but she definitely didn’t seem like the type of person to go around destroying villages. Of course, that could be a secret hobby of hers that she just wasn’t telling him about, but that seemed unlikely. Villages were big, and he didn’t think one person could destroy one on her own. And if she did like destroying villages, there would have to be a good reason for it. Kira didn’t seem like a very angry person. She’d managed to put up with him for a little while now, and if she could do that she had to have a lot of patience. Takeo was definitely on her side, and thought the people of her village were crazy.

Finally, he spoke, his pace a little slower than it usually was as he paused to think about what came out of his mouth. ”That’s not very nice of the people in your village. If you weren’t causing any problems they should’ve let you stay without being mean about it.” He smiled encouragingly. ”But it’s better here, right? No one here hates Firebenders like that. Well, the Equalists do, but they hate all benders so you can just ignore them. That’s what I do. And maybe you could find somebody to teach you how to Firebend. My parents taught me Waterbending, which is the only reason why I’m not terrible at it. But I’m not that good, either…but that’s just ‘cause I can’t focus very well on training. I’m sure you could! Then you could go home and show everyone that there’s no reason to hate you just for being a Firebender.” The plan made sense to him. But then, everything that came into his head made sense to him. It was getting his crazy ideas to make sense to other people that was the challenge. But this idea wasn’t too crazy, was it? He was sure Kira could find someone willing to teach her how to Firebend at a school or something like that. It just didn’t make sense to him that the people in her village could hate her for something she didn’t choose.

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tae

Jun 29, 2012 21:10:45 GMT -6

The Streets of Republic City: The Shadowhand District

As the Black Fox laughed, Jun’s stomach chuckled along with her.

“Whew, I’m glad then.” He scratched the side of his head in a clueless fashion, “Still kinda new to this… Gotta learn how to differentiate between what can happen and what not.”

Jun noticed the eyes. However, he was somewhat relieved that they were focused on his gang leader instead of him. The way certain people would pause as she entered their line of sights was almost impressive. It was as if she had an enchantment, a spell that caused the spines of people around her to bend over, hiding them behind the common obstructions of vehicles and store corners. Her air of authority was enviable, but he knew he didn’t want the burden of that reputation. After all, he was still young- or at least, he considered himself to be. His second decade of life would be his prime, he thought. And look at him now, in a gang, following the leader, to a dumpling shop- or so he believed.

“Quick stop before?” Jun’s stomach trembled, “Alrighty.”

The gauntlet in Jun’s hand felt comfortable wrapped around his wrist and arm. He gripped it fondly as soon as Kayako inquired about it.

“My family runs a firework business.” Jun cleared his throat, “We use these to uh, light fireworks. But you already know that. Only use it for special occasions, so I guess that explains why they aren’t seen as much. We make ‘em them ourselves too. Pretty cool, yeah?” He winked, “Guess that’s why you wanted to nab it off of me awhile back.” He was on a roll, “And the teeth of the dragon are kinda sharp too. So you know? If someone comes close to you?” Jun punched the air, “Slice and dice.”

"We almost there by the way?

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quinseparable

Jun 30, 2012 13:43:31 GMT -6

OOC: Sorry for the short post. My creative muse is almost non-existent today.

Some Street Somewhere in the City

She noticed that Takeo's speech was slower, no doubt not wanting to bring about her icy tone once more, but at least he spoke again. She didn't like to be the person that others had to be careful what they said around her because, most of the time, she didn't care. In fact, she was not exactly sure why she had reacted so angrily to his question in the first place. She just hoped that she could fix everything.

As Takeo went on speaking, Kira listened to him. When he mentioned it being better in Republic City, she nodded her head. It had been in regards to her bending - no one cared! It had been quite a shock when she realized that she didn't have to hide her bending for the sake that she was a firebender, and it was something that she still wasn't used to. It was a good feeling nonetheless, and she was glad that Takeo had brought that point up. In addition, his idea about learning how to control her bending and returning to her village was not a bad idea either.

She smiled back slightly. "You're right. It is better." She didn't mention the Equalists at that point. They were a whole other ball game that she just as soon not deal with at that present point in time. "And I would like to learn how to bend, its just, well, sometimes I'm not the best at talking to people...if you haven't noticed."

She looked away from him for a moment and back in the direction that she had been walking before her royal screw up. She shivered again and decided that it was time to warm herself up and give Takeo a little bit of heat. "It's cold," she said, hoping that the change of subject would put the man at east once more. She spread out the palms of her hands and a small ember of fire appeared. It didn't grow very big before she stopped. If it was too big, Kira knew that she would lose control over it, but it gave off a bit of heat.

"I know it isn't much, but it's definitely a bit warmer." she turned back to Takeo. "It will at least warm your hands up."

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Anonymous

Jun 30, 2012 18:50:17 GMT -6

OOC: No problem. I'm in the same boat.

Some Street Somewhere in the City

He hadn’t messed up again. Good. This was going kind of well after the one major hiccup. Takeo was glad that things were better for Kira in Republic City, but wasn’t all that surprised that that was the case. When he’d first decided to stay in the city rather than continuing sailing around the world with his friends, he’d been depressed and worried that he wouldn’t fit in with all the people around him. He’d quickly realize, though, that everyone was welcome in Republic City no matter their background. Benders, nonbenders, rich people and poor people…there was a place for everyone within the city’s many districts. True, not everyone got along—the Equalists once again came to mind—but fights were uncommon. At least, he didn’t see many. Republic City was a new opportunity for everyone. A newcomer to the city could be whoever he or she wanted to be. That was true of Kira as well; hopefully she understood that.

The woman’s description of her social skills made Takeo laugh. ”You’re not that bad at talking to people. Look at me! Everyone tells me I talk too much and say stuff I shouldn’t. I mean, I don’t really get that, ‘cause I just say what comes to me, but it makes people mad a lot of the time. But I’ve made friends here, and you can too. Maybe you could go to a Firebending school and try to get somewhere there to teach you. But then you might have to train with little kids…are there bending schools for adults?” He trailed off, wondering about that, before remembering that he was in the middle of a conversation. ”But, um, yeah, you can find something, and then you can be the best Firebender ever!” The Waterbender grinned at his new acquaintance, hoping to instill her with confidence.

Takeo shivered again just as Kira mentioned the temperature, and he nodded in agreement. His eyes widened when the woman made a small fire between her hands. He’d seen Firebending before, but it always impressed him how some people could just make flames appear out of nowhere. He envied them their ability, and often wished that he could create his bending element the same way. Having to carry a water skin around all the time, and, like right now, he often forget the blasted thing at home. Firebenders definitely had a bit of an advantage.

”See? Your bending’s fine,” the man remarked and went over and gratefully warmed his cold hands, rubbing them together above the flames. ”You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

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azn

Jun 30, 2012 20:44:24 GMT -6

Bridge by Yue Bay

They walked notably slower on the bridge than on the streets. Zenkai took his time admiring the structure. He had been in rural environments for the past five years; the last thing he saw as tall as the support beams was an ancient tree out in the middle of the Earth Kingdom. Even that he only saw from a distance, from so close the beams seemed to bend backwards as they stretched towards the sky. Zenkai quickly stiffened his back, realizing that it was he who was bending backwards. He listened to the girl tell her story, not that he could stop her.

This little girl is… curious. She looks so young and… cheery? Is that the right word? But she works at such hard things. Construction, delivery, all on her own. I suppose I shouldn’t judge her strength, we have only just met, but little girls should be interested in ‘fun’ things.. not construction. Reminds me very much of father, actually, only without military discipline.

A seagull cat swooped by from the left and hissed at Zenkai as it flapped toward the sea; Zenkai never understood it, but animals rarely liked him. Zenkai followed the seagull cat up to the side of the bridge; watching it get lost in the sky. He placed his palms on the railing of the bridge; a thick, but short, stone wall that also served as a mild windblocker for people walking on the rather tall bridge. Zenkai’s heart felt heavy, but he wasn’t sure why. The great sun was high over the sea; the waves in the water distorting the giant reflection of the sun. The large carving of Avatar Aang stood firm, steady; in the middle of the tormenting sea, there he stood. Zenkai suddenly felt tiny. Even this little girl’s dreams were bigger than him.

There was something oddly familiar about the guard rail, the roughness of its surface on his palm was something he’d felt before. In fact, the view towards the sea was very familiar. A memory whispered from the depths of Zenkai’s mind, trying to puncture through the veil of things he purposefully forgot. He snapped his head and spoke sharply:

“What is the name of this bridge?”

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quinseparable

Jul 1, 2012 0:36:28 GMT -6

Some Street Somewhere in the City

His description of his social skills was accurate, but Kira did not understand just how people could get mad by his constant stream of words. Yes, annoyed she could understand though she had yet to feel that, but mad? If nothing else, his constant chatter actually made her want to speak more - something she never thought she would admit to even in her own mind.

When Takeo mentioned the firebending school, Kira held back a shake of her head. Why hadn't she thought about that? Granted, there was no way she was going to sit around with a bunch of six year old snot bags and try to learn her bending, but if there was a school that catered to adults, that would be worthwhile. Then again, a school would cost money, and that was something that she was strapped for at the moment. Spending money on something other than food and the bills was just about out of the question for her. The catch twenty-two, she knew, was that if she could bend better she could probably get a higher paying job using it. Life was so unfair.

A grin. Seeing the waterbender's face lighten again made Kira's own spirits lift. It was such a strange feeling that this new acquaintance could make her feel better than she had in a long while simply by speaking. She envied that for every time she seemed to open her mouth, as evident by her earlier screw up, she seemed to say something in a way that she had not meant it. Or, if she had, it made her come across as a snob...she doubted that the adjective described her at all. Honestly, Kira wished that she had the ability to start up a conversation with someone without feeling her heart racing in her chest and her mouth going dry; and what's more she did wish that she could brighten someone's day just by speaking instead of the opposite.

”See? Your bending’s fine, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

She gazed into the orangy-red flame that burned brightly and warmly in her hand. In her peripheral vision she saw the waterbender move up to where she held the flame and begin warming up his hands. After a moment, her eyes unfocused on the flame and began to stare past it. Thoughts came unbidden in her mind and she had to force her mind to ignore them. Instead she concentrated back on the sphere that she held in her slender hands.

"It's only fine because it's small," she commented as she watched the flames dance in the sphere that she held. "Trust me, if this was any larger everyone in the next mile would be nice and toasty warm."

Moving her gaze from the sphere back to Takeo, she had to blink her eyes a moment in order for them to focus in the darker night sky. That's when she noticed that the two of them were truly alone in the street. Kira realized that she hadn't seen another passerby in quite some time. That had to of meant that it was relatively late in the night. "Perhaps we should get moving again. Standing around in the street in the middle of the night probably isn't the wisest idea."

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Anonymous

Jul 1, 2012 2:08:32 GMT -6

Some Street Somewhere in the City

As much as he wanted to help his new acquaintance feel confident in her abilities, Takeo was honestly quite confused about how Firebending could get out of control. The way he’d heard about it, it was just a lot of punching and shooting fireballs at people. How could that go wrong as long as you made sure you were facing the right way? Then again, what did he know about it really? The announcer for all the Probending matches made everything sound so complicated. Maybe Firebending took a lot more skill than he realized.

But Kira didn’t look that young. She’d probably been Firebending for years, and so should be really good at it. So why wasn’t she? It didn’t make sense. Unless there was something wrong with her…maybe she had some strange disease that affected her bending! The Waterbender’s eyes went wide as he stared at the woman, wondering if he had just discovered her secret. If it was a disease, maybe he could fix it! His healing ability wasn’t amazing, but it might be good enough for that. But what if it wasn’t? What if he tried and just made everything worse by mistake? That would be horrible! Maybe he shouldn’t offer, just in case. Yeah, good idea.

Kira spoke then, explaining her Firebending issue. Takeo was still confused. ”So you have trouble bending a lot of fire? Well that’s not so bad. What if you just used a bunch of little fireballs like this one? You could do that, right?” There had to be a solution to the woman’s problem, and the Waterbender was determined to find it. Of course, since he knew next to nothing about Firebending, that wasn’t likely to happen, but that didn’t stop him from trying. Ever the optimist, he was.

The flames lent an eerie glow to Kira’s face as she suggested that they continue on their way. Takeo nodded slowly, too busy staring at the shadows that flickered across the woman’s face. In the dim light she looked strange, like some kind of spirit. That was so fascinating that it took a few seconds for him to realize what she had actually said. When finally did, though, he blinked rapidly to clear his head before speaking. ”Right, yeah. Good idea. Don’t wanna be out here all night. If we were, though, we’d be together. That wouldn’t be so bad. Unless we ran into gang members or something like that. Huh, I keep thinking about that. I should stop doing that…”

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Anonymous

Jul 1, 2012 19:32:14 GMT -6

*Lu Ten Bridge*

"...I mean, it's interesting enough to know how things were built and when, but I'd also like to know how they came up with the idea." Lykka said with a small smile. A design such as this suspension bridge and all the others must have had some great story behind its invention. What could inspire someone to use pillars and cables to hold the bridge on such a distance ? The little girl wished she was elligible for that kind of inspiration. To be touched by an idea as incredible and life-changing would be a real blessing... But, as with everything concerning this matter, she would have to wait until she grew old enough. She needed to have patience.

And that was almost an unnatural request. She was at that age, the start of her teens, when impatience was pretty much what defined her behavior. Although she didn't feel like blowing up anytime soon, Lykka couldn't stand this... eagerness that she was keeping down, creeping under her skin. Even now, walking on this bridge, she just wanted to jump off and climb down one of the pillars to be able to observe how it was made under there. Maybe it would be something beyond her comprehension, but perhaps not... If she understood its inner structure, she'd likely be more subject to having a streak of inspiration in the future !! That was optimism. And it just served to fuel her impatience about this.

Suddenly, a seagull-cat flew close to them. She jumped away from its flight path a bit, feeling on the defensive and keeping her hands in front of her. "Whoa !! Watch out, these things are nasty !" She shouted, taking a few steps back and keeping it in her line of sight. That was a bit of an exaggeration on her part, those were actually rather nice creatures that minded their own business, but... Lykka had always had trouble trusting feline-birds. Probably because Kyoshi's fauna did not have any. This one just flew away, apparently drawing the older man towards the edge in the process. Since it was obvious they were going to pause here, Lykka shrugged and stepped next to him, looking at the horizon. The youngling stood barely tall enough for her head to see over the railing.

Out the corner of her eye, she glanced at the man's figure. He seemed pensive. Not lost in thought like she saw many adults do from time to time, but his eyes were.... she couldn't say, it wasn't something that she could describe even to herself. So she looked down at the water under them, for a couple of seconds... Then she remembered her fear of deep waters and looked straight up at the clouds, her heart starting to throb. Those couple of seconds had been enough to think about being engulfed under all this water. But there were birds in the sky, their sight was more comforting.

She let out a long sigh when the question about the bridge's name came up. "This is the Great Lu Ten Bridge. I think the Fire L-... former Fire Lord baptized it himself." She replied, trying to remember what she'd read about this bridge. "I don't think I know much else about it, though." The wind suddenly rose from the front. Her left hand ran through her bangs, trying to keep it going down like a feather as much as possible. Then she looked up at the man, with just a little bit of concern. "Is everything alright ?"

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Last edit by Deleted: Jul 1, 2012 19:55:03 GMT -6

quinseparable

Jul 1, 2012 23:16:01 GMT -6

Some Street Somewhere in the City

The fire in her hands danced as Takeo spoke but she paid it little mind. The heat from the small orb did push some of the chill in the air out of her hands, and she hoped Takeo was warming up as well. Since moving to Republic City, she had seen firebenders do amazing things with their bending skills - the Probenders, for example. And where was she at? She was stuck creating small balls of fire that barely warmed herself, let alone someone else. She knew that Takeo was trying to cheer her up with his talks about bending, but she wanted to be a great firebender, or, at the very least, a not-so-terrible one. The man's suggestion about a school still stuck in her mind. If she began to save her money now, perhaps she would be able to afford the school before too long. Maybe.

When Takeo mentioned using smaller fireballs, Kira cocked her head slightly. "That may work," she said and it might, until she became more comfortable with her bending. Then, perhaps she would be able to bend better. If she could not get into a school, at least she would have that to try out. "I'll have to try that out." There was a moment of silence between them. In that moment, Kira glanced at Takeo only to notice that he was staring at her. She raised an eyebrow only slightly. Before she could say anything, he spoke.

”Right, yeah. Good idea. Don’t wanna be out here all night. If we were, though, we’d be together. That wouldn’t be so bad. Unless we ran into gang members or something like that. Huh, I keep thinking about that. I should stop doing that…”

She did wish that he would stop mentioning gang members. The thought of being attacked was not something that she particularly wanted going through her mind - especially on her walk back to her home, alone. Kira did not need every little sound causing her to jump out of her skin - or worse, she did not need to be jinxed. She would just have to push the thought out of her mind. Luckily in the couple of years that she had been in the city, she had yet to run into any gang members, but she definitely did not wish to. Instead of mentioning that to Takeo, however, she began walking again. Fear was not an emotion that she liked to show. Fortunately, the two of them were relatively close to Takeo's home, but even then, it still was a bit of a walk.

The two of them seemed past Kira's earlier outburst, and for that she was glad. It was at that moment she realized that she had revealed the basic story of her past, yet she had little knowledge of her new acquaintance's experiences. "Erm, so...what about you?" Kira asked suddenly. "You know my story...and...if it's not too personal, I'd like to know your's."

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Anonymous

Jul 1, 2012 23:57:19 GMT -6

Some Street Somewhere in the City

Kira accepted his suggestion about her bending! He might not actually have solved her problem, but right now the man felt like he had. And to think, he knew almost nothing about Firebending. Maybe he was just a good problem solver. Yeah, that was probably it. Maybe if he worked at this skill of his, he could turn it into a full-fledged job. Takeo Maeda, Professional Problem Solver. But then what if he ran into a problem he couldn’t solve? He should keep his bellhop job, just in case.

When Kira started walking again, Takeo followed, once again focusing on the constant sight of her back to guide him. A gust of wind blew past, and he caught the faint scent of the sea, which made him grin. They were close to the docks, which meant he was close to home. The grin disappeared, however, when the Waterbender realized that getting home also meant leaving Kira, which was something he didn’t want to do. They’d just met, but she tolerated him. He’d made plenty of friends in his twenty-six years of life, but for every one of those there were ten people who’d told him to go away after just a few minutes of conversation. The Firebender had stopped to help him when no one else had, and had stuck with him even after he’d asked a question he shouldn’t have. She was different from most people, and Takeo would be sad to part from her, especially since there was the very real possibility that they’d never see each other again. Republic City was huge, and people came and went every day. If the two of them ever met again, it would be quite a stroke of luck.

Pinching himself on the arm, Takeo rid himself of those depressing thoughts. The adventure wasn’t over yet, and who knew what could happen before it was? They could discover a secret cave or get into a really exciting fight or any number of exciting things. Better to think about that kind of stuff.

The Waterbender’s mood had improved by the time Kira asked about his past, so he smiled at the woman as he caught up to her. ”Sure, I don’t mind! Things were really boring when I was a kid, so I’ll just skip that stuff. All I did was train at Waterbending with my parents. The cool stuff happened when I was sixteen. I got a job on a trading ship, and I got to go all over the place! I saw all kinds of places in the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation. It was amazing! That’s when I got the nickname “Monkey,” by the way, since I was always climbing the ship’s mast. It was the best! And then a few months ago the ship landed here and I decided to stay, and…” The Waterbender had been speaking continuously, and now stopped to draw breath before he passed out. ”And that’s it. I mean, I got a job here, but nothing really interesting’s happened yet. ‘Cept meeting you, of course! You’re great!” Takeo grinned at his new acquaintance once again.

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jin

Jul 2, 2012 15:53:27 GMT -6

Jin nodded to what his teammate was saying. He had been listening well, and was genuinely interested in the prospect of watching other teams. It actually made a lot of sense for both of them, and their third, mystery teammate to go and watch what the other teams had to offer. It would give them an advantage and would let them come up with a sound strategy to take on their opponents. His voice was calm, and the tone implied that he was in complete compliance with the proposed idea. "That sounds like a great plan Ash. See that's why YOU'RE the captain." Jin said, chuckling to himself.

Then, as the two of them raced, Jin couldn't help but feel only joy. Happiness was something he wasn't used to outside of his families home, and to feel it with someone besides his father, and his mother was a great feeling. Ash made it very easy to be himself, and that's what made Jin the most happy. Even now she was pushing him to be better, to race her; it was like she wanted it to be a competition. Jin laughed to himself inside of his head, but didn't run at his full speed. He could easily cover more ground than he had been with his much longer legs because at the time of their race Jin was only extending them about seventy-five percent as far as he could get them to go. Jin's eyes widened and a short, loud laugh erupted from him. She had leaped from the ground, atop the rocks in front of him, but that isn't what made it so funny. It was the way she stood atop those rocks with pride, and for once in his life as an adult, someone was taller than him.

Jin nodded and agreed. "I can imagine they would be. I mean they're long, tedious, and you have to account for the possibility of our other teammate or I not showing up for practice." He continued, pacing from one end of the rock she stood on to the other. "And I'm, well, I'm calm, collected, and can even be a little bit funny at times - I MUST be a terror." Jin said laughing then added one last thing. "It's not all bad though, I finally got a new perspective on this whole shorter thing - I know how you feel whenever you're around me." He said jokingly. He took her hand, placed his second hand on the rock to his left, one leg on top on the front of the rock, and then pulled himself on top of the rock. Jin nearly toppled forward on top of Ash, but he just as quickly caught himself using his free hand to stabilize himself, and Ash holding onto her hand a bit more tightly.

Jin's eyes caught the inner circle, and his they soon widened. It was exactly how he imagined, and seeing it from the distance previously didn't give this place justice. He scoffed at himself for thinking it had, but soon relished in the idea of the two of them training inside of here. "It sounds like a plan Ash. Let's go!" The words barely escaped his lips before he jumped from the rocks and moved toward the center of the "ring" - it was just like the stage. His heart was pounding, and millions of butterflies seemed to flutter inside of his stomach. "I hope you're ready for this Ash. I'm no pushover..." He joked before getting in his stance, waiting for her to send some water his way.

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Last edit by jin: Jul 2, 2012 15:54:46 GMT -6

Anonymous

Jul 2, 2012 16:42:42 GMT -6

Random Alleyway

Airi traversed through the dark corners of Republic City. Dark as in literally dark, but now that she thought about it, it was a pretty shady looking area as well. As a firebender, she could easily make a little flame so she could see something, but she wasn't quite sure where she was. The Equalists hadn't been on her mind when they first started out, but that guy at the park, always talking about benders being evil almost made her feel dirty to use her bending, even if she used it for random stuff, light lighting up an alleyway. She hasn't actually met any of the more devoted Equalists or any chi blockers, but she heard that it wasn't much of a pretty sight.

She held out her hands, trying to find a wall, or perhaps a person with a lamp. Her hand hit solid brick, fingers first. "Ouch!" she exclaimed in a whisper. As much as she didn't like that feeling, she kept her hand on the wall. If she followed it, it could lead her to a street or someplace with a sign to show her where she was. But with her luck, she'd probably just end up going in circles if the wall she touched was a building.

Should she dare bend a small light to help her? Wait, before any of that, what was she doing again? In her other hand, she brought to her face a crumbled paper. No luck. It was too dark to read. After a quick surveillance of the darkness, she decided to light a small light, just enough so she could read what she wrote. Holding the light near the paper, she remembered that she was looking for the tea shop's stolen goods. Right; that's why she was in this kind of area at this time of night.

Putting out her light, she decided to start walking forward with the wall.

Tagged: Benjiro

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benjiro

Jul 2, 2012 18:20:55 GMT -6

Somewhere on a Street in the City

He could not believe what had happened. His eyes scanned various buildings and alleyways, but she could not be found. How did this keep happening? How did he keep loosing sight of Airi so easily. No, better question, was the girl some sort of spirit meant to play tricks on his mind and drive him crazy?

Well... he knew that wasn't true, but still, there was times where such a crazy thought seemed like a possibily with how often he would have to backtrack just to find her. However, with the thief on the loose and the night already upon them, Benjiro really did not like the feeling of the situation. A quick search of his bag allowed him to pull out a flashlight, which after a few stuttery flicks, came on full force.

With that, he began to sweep the different alleyways, looking for Airi, wondering if calling her name would be smart, or if it would just get her into trouble. His mind was starting to hurt a bit, from all the possible situations she could get herself into that he had to physically shake his head to clear his thoughts.

Find Airi. Find Airi.

"Airi where are you." Benjiro called out, but not too loudly, into one of the alleys.

OOC: Tagged: Airi

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Anonymous

Jul 2, 2012 19:33:21 GMT -6

Random Alleyway

"Ro! Airi chimed softly, hearing the familiar voice call out in the alleys. It was faint, but she knew she had heard it. However, any noise here bounced off the walls and made it hard for her to figure out exactly where Ro was. "Ro?" she decided to ask. If it was Ro, he'd respond!

Waiting for a response really wasn't Airi's thing, leaving her antsy to run and find him. If she remembered correctly, it had sounded like it came the way she was heading. When she set out to find that thief, had he tagged along? Oh! That's right! He had! But... when did they get separated? She couldn't pinpoint the last time she saw him with her.

Each step was a gamble, unknowing of what lied ahead. It could be a spider-rat! Or maybe it could be a homeless person! Whatever was the case, she wasn't overly fond of the dark. A light began to shine, but it wasn't a flame; the color was too white compared to her orange and yellow flames. Was that a flashlight?

"Hey, Ro! I lost you!" she said, seeing the candy maker. Her hands on her hips and an exasperated look. "Where have you been?" Airi asked, acting like she wasn't lost at all. In her head, she wasn't lost at all but merely misplaced her sense of direction.

"Have you see any of the family's stuff?" she asked, remembering why she was here without the help of the paper for once. "I don't... I don't really want to stay out too late with all that activity from the gangs 'n stuff." Thinking about the Equalists was one thing. Actually saying the name and talking about them was another matter as well as one she liked to ignore.

Tagged: Benjiro

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benjiro

Jul 2, 2012 23:19:18 GMT -6

Random Alleyway

A voice echoed through the alleyway a bit, and Benjiro strained to hear the what exactly it was, and he heard once more, a simple, single word. "Airi! Where did you get off too again?" He asked, glad that he had at least some chance for him to find her relatively soon. With a sigh, he walked a little further into the alleyway, slowly moving his flashlight from one side to the other, hoping to find her sooner then later.

Sometimes he thought about getting her a bracelet with bells on it whenever they hung out. That way he'd always be able to follow her sound due to the constant jingles of the bells, but he doubt she'd be too keen on being tracked like that. What else could he really do to keep her from getting loss again, besides literally tie themselves together by the waist. Even then she'd probably burn through the rope if he might have gone too slow for her.

He moved the light over a few time before noticing a figure appear and he brought the light over the new appearance, focusing on the figure briefly before letting out a sigh of relief before lowering the flashlight to the ground and walked over toward her.

"Yeah, and I lost you as well." Benjiro responded with a shake of his head, before smiling at her and rubbing the back of his head a little bit. "Where have I've been? Well, after looking for you for a bit, I found you." He said, looking at her.

"No, and I don't really have any leads either. As for staying out late... well... we either can either go looking for them now, or just give up and tell the family that we haven't been able to find them." Benjiro said, looking at her and wondering just what she might want to do.

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Last edit by jin: Jul 2, 2012 23:20:58 GMT -6

Anonymous

Jul 3, 2012 13:27:50 GMT -6

Random Alleyway

"Me? Lost? Airi asked. She shrugged her shoulders. "I just kept looking. I thought I saw someone holding some of the missus's necklaces, but I think I lost him," she told Ro. She flashed a smile right back at him and began to walk again, thinking about what they should do, rather than what they wanted to do. A little pacing never hurt anyone.

"Um, I think we should keep looking, but if we don't see something in an hour or so, we can head back," she suggested to her friend, looking at her hands. "Do you think I should use my... bending?" The alleys were rather dark, but she became very timid with her bending. Unlike water or earth, fire had a reputation for being destructive, accompanied by the stereotype all firebenders are temperamental and made it hard for her to make good first impressions on benders and non-benders.

Clenching her fist, she kept on walking forward. With Ro's flashlight, they'd be able to see quite a bit better and they were bound to hit a street at some point, or perhaps the outskirts of the city!

"Oh," she said, perking up, hearing something in the distance. "It sounds like people are ahead of us. Think they could help?" Airi asked Ro, also hoping he would be the one to approach them and ask for help. With all her energy, it wasn't always the best idea to have her do the talking, and she knew that herself.

Tagged: Benjiro

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kaitokatashi

Jul 3, 2012 13:33:50 GMT -6

The Streets of Republic City, The Shadowhand's District

Still kinda new to this… Gotta learn how to differentiate between what can happen and what not.

The district's eponymous Black Fox raised an eyebrow; was he kidding? She let out a sigh when she realized that no, he wasn't, and it appeared she needed to be careful of what she said to him. He might take the wrong thing seriously.

"It's fine. While the Shadowhand has your back, you don't have to worry; we'll make sure you know everything you need to know." Most gang leaders in Republic City kept their followers in the dark about things that went on; the Shadowhand, and more specifically the Fox, didn't. Everyone in the gang knew everything everyone else did; doing otherwise would mean miscommunication, harbored resentment, and eventual mutiny. She swallowed a lump in her throat at the last thought; she was the face of the Shadowhand, its leader, and to not be such was...well, it wouldn't be. The guys respected her.

My family runs a firework business. We use these to uh, light fireworks. But you already know that.

As they walked and he explained the functions of his gauntlet, she soaked up every word. She had to chuckle at his wink and the motion he made before saying "Slice and dice."

"I've gotta give you major props. I haven't seen anyone in my life with anything like what you've got and...I've gotta say that I'm impressed. You don't just know how to use it to light fireworks, you know how to use it as a weapon. Knowing how to use things as weapons is an invaluable skill." In her self-defense training, she'd learned how to use almost anything as a weapon in case her favorite, the throwing knives, wasn't at her disposal. She'd thanked the spirits every day since then, especially since it had allowed her to get out of some pretty sticky situations. She sighed and looked around, spotting something interesting; she pointed to the harbor.

"We're going down there."

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The Avatar RP

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Through Republic City

Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2012 0:38:21 GMT -6

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Post by benjiro on Jul 2, 2012 23:19:18 GMT -6

Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2012 13:27:50 GMT -6

Post by kaitokatashi on Jul 3, 2012 13:33:50 GMT -6