*A Street*
Contemplating, speculating, yet she has only found grief, and pity...

Despite the grim news, the streets were still very active, almost too active in Hamari’s eyes. She was paranoid, and terrified; she saw the news, the bravery and dangers of the Equalists had grown to the level requiring more than the Metalbending police units sent in by the Council. Her hood was on, something she rarely ever did, her hands were stuffed in her jacket pockets as she gloomily shifted and pushed past people. She dared not show her face, everything about her spoke odd, the dark-skin and fiery eyes, the black but long hair. Definitely not a non-bender in her eyes.

Amongst other emotions, she was also feeling sadness, a pity for those who had their bending taken away from them. It was an unfathomable and horrendous fate, bending was apart of that person, it was something in there spirit. Amon simply tore it out of you; in Hamari’s eyes, that’d be worse than losing a limb or an eye. She almost thought it was worth it, but then realized that was silly. She turned the corner found a nice shady spot by a small drying business to her left, underneath a raster. She carefully watched the people around her, there was visible fear in those alright bright and vivid eyes of her.

She wished more than ever to have a master right now, teaching her how to fight. Hamari was starting to think that maybe she should train herself. There were plenty of books on fire-bending form, and some other materials as well. As an addition, she made money through her fire-bending dancing skit which means she could buy the tools… her eyes widened at a sudden realization. She couldn't dance outside anymore, if the wrong person found out she was a bender, she’d be snatched, just like that. She dug her hands into her face; she wanted to cry but held it in.

If only she could fight with police, she’d stop these people. She’d put her life on it. Her hands drooped from her face on to her knees as she knelt beside the wall and searched around a bit.

That’s when her eye met a bald head. Normally this wouldn’t interest her, except that she’s met an Air-Acolyte before. Kaede, a younger fellow, sort of adorable actually; if not a bit anxious. She watched him for a moment and wondered if maybe she should introduce herself. She’s been meeting a lot of the air-folk lately, she wondered if that was a sign or something. She wasn’t superstitious or anything, but sometimes, it just felt like things happened for a reason. If this person was an air-acolyte she wondered what he was doing here. Was he visiting family like Kaede was?

She sits in her shadow, curious, and watches city morph around time.

*A Street*
[Tagged=Ling]

As Hamari watched the Acolyte stride alongside other busy folk on an even busier street, something else sort of caught her attention beside him. It was a second person, who she could only describe as ‘unruly,’ well; she didn’t want to say it was a bad thing; because it really wasn’t. But he, compared to the Acolyte, seemed so different; the Acolyte, who she originally mistaken to be bald, thanks to the distance, wasn’t and had been cut short, showing signs of curling and such, the other boy had hair almost the same actually, simply longer. In fact, what was really interesting was that she felt the two appeared almost identical, but there were so many differences as well. Her natural intrigue was rising, normally she’d run over and start asking questions almost immediately, but at the moment, with all the strife and chaos; she was hesitant to do anything at the moment.

Right when she wondered if maybe she should start jogging to catch up, conversation started to sound from a group of young men behind her. She went silent and stayed still watching them very carefully beneath the shadows of her hood. Four of them, probably from an educational institute for older students not far from here. “I wonder what’s going to happen to the Wolfbats now that they can’t bend…” a taller, dark haired male beside him spoke up, “What do you think, moron? No bending means no probending, they’re done.” He put it simply, though rather crudely to the shorter brown-haired student beside him. “Man, dude that sucks. I mean, bending is the only thing those guys can do; now it’s gone, just like that?” The meager student contemplated on. Hamari’s eyes shifted to the ground as they passed, her memory on the scene of the Probending tournament.

“Who cares, they deserved it, all these benders nowadays deserve it. They’re horrible, power hungry jerks. I hope they all get their bending taken away.” The tall one retorted.

At that moment, the entire conversation muted from Hamari’s ears. Not because she didn’t want to hear it, no, because she was furious. Her orange eyes lit up like the sun in the sky and she glared at the man wrathfully. She was so angry she was sure she could hear her heart pounding blood through her ears. “Excuse me?” she growled, standing from her shadows and stomping toward him with a vicious look in her eyes. The male turned and went rigid as Hamari’s piercing gaze locked on his own. She threw her hood off and bared her teeth as she talked. “How can you say such a thing?” she shouted, “Not all benders are like that!” Hamari then corrected him and the male took it as a front. “Benders are the worse kind of people; all they do is oppress and torment the weak.” He retaliated, it was the wrong set of words, words that set Hamari’s emotions ablaze.

Normally, Hamari hated conflict, but at this moment, it was obvious that she was too angry and moody too care. Right now her volcanic anger was simply brewing, pressure was rising until eventually she’ll simply explode. Hamari was taking everything he was saying so personally too, his apparent ignorance on the matter only making things worse. She lived in the slums of this city, crime-ridden-benders didn’t just pick on non-benders, they had wars with each other, involving any-and-all who careless enough not to notice the dangers.

“You don’t know anything!” the fire-bender’s voice ascended to the point of yelling, and was starting to draw attention from almost every direction possible. “I’ve never hurt anyone! So are you saying I should lose my bending too?” the young-man was starting to step back, dithering as she started to approach him. The glare Hamari was giving was shimmering with tears; but there was no hiding that anger, one that beckoned a raging magma sea, waves just toppling and crashing into every. There were flames emanating from her fist, in fact her entire aura seemed hotter altogether. “Oh crap! Jin-Le, man! She’s a fire-bender!” the shorter male suddenly yelled. Jin-Le realized almost instantly, “Oh man, please, don’t kill me! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it, honest!”

Hamari was simply too mad at this point to care, but how she retaliated was unexpected. Her flames began to subside with his words, but her anger was still there. Her head shifted to one of those food stalls set up on the sidewalks. Not even a few feet from her was a pail of fish-oil.

Hamari spun around, took it by the handle and then rotated to fling the oil straight at him. Lucky for him it wasn’t hot, though Hamari, so infuriated at the idiot before her, probably would have done it even if it was. There was a shout of surprise, a loud splash, and now this Jin-Le fellow rolling on the ground trying to spit fish-flavored goop from his mouth. She threw the pail on the ground around her as the crowd started to erupt into a cyclone of shouts, laughter or insults towards her or Jin-Le. Her anger was slowly lessening; however the girl was still shaking.

When she felt the fire erupting around her, she was certain, that for a moment she might have burned this man in front of her. There was a deep shame in her, she felt like she almost became one of those people non-benders seemed to fear. She stuffed her hands into her jacket-pockets and hung her head solemnly, one wrong move, and she could have proven why benders were feared around her. She knew it was her anger, and was lucky to have regained her control.

But she couldn’t get the ever-looming questions out of her mind… What if she had attacked him, what if she had lost it front of all these people?

These people, her gaze rising to barely catch a glimpse of their eyes; these people, who were terrified too, had nothing but anxiousness in their eyes. All of them, except one. It was particularly strange to her how there seemed to be one face among the crowd, bobbing and weaving amongst the people, who bared a completely different energy and expression compared to everyone around here. She was mingling with the masses vanishing here and there. Whether she was here before or after Hamari’s little scene with Jin-Le, it wasn’t clear to her. She was tempted into approaching…

But maybe being cautious was a bad idea?

Considering her day, seeing someone in a bright mood was always nice. Hamari looked back to the Jin-le fellow with a speedy glimpse; who, now being pushed away by his friends, was giving Hamari a look she could only describe as ‘menacing.’ She bit her lip, shrugged her shoulders, pulling a complete one-eighty and decided distance was her best-friend at moment. Her feet carried her through the crowd; heading in the direction she last saw that woman, her curiosity drawing her toward the voice of clamoring chatter near a pub-n’-parlor not far from her. Amid the crowd was; a teetering fellow, a tall giant of a man, chattering old men, laughing-crying half conscious bystanders, a group of men slugging it out in the corner, arm wrestling, poker and dancing.

She couldn’t resist.

Hama slung her hands in her pocket and marched courageously in the direction of the door way, a large smile on her face, there wasn’t much of a line either yet it was obvious there were plenty of people inside. The structure larger than it seemed, and from just the door way, she could tell there was plenty of room inside it. Hamari had reached the last step when someone stepped right in front of her, “Age, ma’am.” Hamari froze for a moment; there was a tall man beside her, shady, conspicuous, and then without a bit of hesitation, “Twenty.” She stated quickly, and then put on a rich simper.

He frowned, it was obvious she wasn’t old enough to be in here; but honestly, how did he know she wasn’t some trained Equalists Assassin or something? Was he going to mess with that, or just let the kid go in…

It was the latter, thankfully in Hamari’s case, “Just go in, kid.” He said and shooed her away with a flick of his wrist.
Hamari smiled even wider, turned to the pub-doors and pushed them ajar.

*A pub…*

The energy inside was about as spellbinding as its exterior, if not more so. There was merriment shrouded with anonymity,’ all sorts of ages… though nothing too young, or younger than Hamari that is. The retro designs drew her eyes around for a moment with a childish-look on her face. She became a little more serious however, as she realized some eyes were on her, at the tables, across from her, and even by the bar-stools.

She was being watched.

Hamari regained some more of composure, and ambled along as if undaunted by the stares. In actuality, this was her first time in one of these places, amongst the loud noises and rooting voices, it was a lot to take in. Her slow-paced and rather stiff walk, led her to a stool where she sat-down and watched the bartender slide bottles, glasses, ice and other beverages across the table to people around them. In the corner, she was sure she saw some drinking games going on. “What can I get you?” a rough, deep voice resonated in her ears, and she jumped some. “Oh um, Tea? Please?” … there was a bit of silence as the rather thuggish looking man beside her eyed her like she was some kind of juvenile delinquent. A ‘eyeing’ in which she responded with a huge and nervous smile, making him huff and go back to his mug. The barter, who was definitely laughing, came back with an ice- tea and slid it in front of her.

Hamari sipped the drink, peering over at some movement where she noticed something, it was that woman again. The one she saw walking around the crowd, the person with the strange eyes. She looked at her drink, wondered some; and then decided.

She took hold of the glass cup and took a few steps toward her, she had dark hair and she was talking to a few other people around her, the conversation inaudible from her distance, but it sounded exciting. Despite her appearance, which Hamari was now wondering how she even picked this woman out from the crowd wasn’t anything too impressive, but her energy as a person seemed like it was on a totally different level than most of the people in here.

How was she even going to start this conversation, suddenly she was having trouble thinking on what to do.
She just couldn’t stroll over and say, ‘hey, I saw you walking through the crowd, hi.’ She’d think Hamari’s… crazy! Well, considering everyone in here was pretty wild, that may just work…

She took a deep breath, extended a hand to tap the woman on her shoulder and spoke her greeting, “Hello crowd-person…” that came out very wrong, “I mean hello, Prowd-Cerson! No!” she shouted to try and correct herself, “I mean the person I saw walking through the crowd earlier who had a … happy-face on.” People probably thought she was drunk or out her mind at this point, and her face twisted into something of humiliation and embarrassment.

Though, she had to admit, she was already having fun.

The random greeting far more successful than she previously imagined, considering how wild it was in here, she was expected something more like an explosion or maybe even something as simple as a few insults and a ‘shoo away.’ But this lass, this Ling, she did the complete opposite, at least now Hamari was excited again though; grinning wide as she watched Ling push a drunkard right off his seat and then motion to her to sit down beside her. Hamari’s feet were walking on their own, and she sat down in the bench not even considering that it once belonged to someone else. Though, her head did shift to him and for a moment her gaze show a little bit of worry, she looked back to Ling, “My name is Hamari, and…” she motioned with her thumb towards the now snoring fellow, a snot bubble ballooning form his nose.

“Is he gonna be alright?” she was actually showing genuine care fore a randomly drunken bum on the floor, that’s Hamari for you. Her curiosity drew her attention back to why she even approached this woman. She was… strangely forgettable to be honest, at least in her appearance. But even with such a natural appearance, Hamari; whose love of aesthetics even regarded that of human beauty, had to admit that their was a beauty in her features, yes she was natural and bright. Hamari’s cheeks might have reddened some as she spoke to her. Was it just for friendly conversation? She did have questions for her, mostly about this place and why it felt like everyone was so … carefree, if that’s what she would call it.

“So, do you come to these kinds of places a lot?” Hamari asked as she spotted several tankards on the table, most likely leftovers from Ling, and then watched several men in the background behind her lift up a smaller meek fellow and toss him across the air like a beach ball. Her expression was a combination of stupefied and amused, “That’s a new sight…” she added, “This is my first time in here,” she rotated in her seat to see a greasy haired young guy getting a wicked strike to the face from a very unhappy waitress, a hand print as red as roses swelling on his face. She winced and chuckled a little, “and I’m so use to everyone being in a state of panic right now.” A frown sort of played on her face as she remembered the events of the day.

Bring the boys home was not something that would go unnoticed. Either her father would notice, or he would hear from one of the gossiping maids. Asami couldn't blame them for gossip, thinking that regular housework all day could get boring, but she just wished -just the one time- that they would stay quite so she could approach her father herself about the situation. She didn't want this to blow up in her face and make things harder for Mako and Bolin. Well, Korra had offered a place of residence at the Air Temple, but if she could help it, she wouldn't add to the Air Acolytes stress of taking care of more people.

"I'll be right back,"

Airi couldn't remember having felt like this before, so low and down. Each day that passed by was another scare, another day with the threat of the Equalists, another day waiting for the inevitable. It was emotionally, and subsequently physically, exhausting every day for her to worry about something out of her control. She couldn't help it. It wasn't something she had control over, not at all. And with a feeling she had never faced, never encountered before, she chose a coping device she had never dealt with: drinking.

She was sure she was of legal age. After all, she was long considered an adult by her physical age, though not many considered her an adult by her mental age. The two never seemed to match up, a huge difference between the two at all times. Though, throughout this whole ordeal of the Equalists (sure, they had been around for a while, but they were suddenly becoming something big very fast) and probending, she had noticed that gap become smaller and smaller. And -well, she didn't know if it had to do much with Equalists or probending but - her memory had somewhat improved. Still, names were tricky, but she could remember remedial tasks and assignments given to her, rarely loosing herself in her memories to repeat things over and over again.

However, she had a feeling that today was going to be one of those days where her memory WAS going to be a problem, though she doubted it would be for the usual reason. She sat at the bar of the pub, a cup half full of sake to her name though it was far from her first drink of the night. She just really needed to take her mind off... well, everything.

"Hey, you're gunna want'a pace yourself," the bartender told her as he cleaned out a few glasses. She could only manage to nod in response, any words she might have said stuck in her throat.

The days, and most notably the nights seemed to pass along like a never ending sleepness cycle. The days blurred together, and this day in particular felt the most astrange. This all seemed to start happening when both of Jin's friends went on their own journeys (seemingly the largest impact cause by Ash). He didn't know what to do, and training alone lost it's flavor after some time. He didn't know what to do anymore; His family had their own plans, and just as Jin and his brother started to mend the pulsing wound that was their relationship, he up and left too. Maybe the idea of getting close again, and inevitably hurting his younger brother again was just too much for him to handle.

These thoughts, as prominent in his mind as they were, were only tempory most nights. He figured out a new way to cope with it all. It was the pub that seemed to make it all better. He would get a couple drinks, talk over everything that happened this time to the bartender, and then leave once he felt like the night was succesfully forgotten. Jin took in a deep breath and stared at the sign that hung over the doorway to the pub. He normally spent his nights there, but he was feeling especially depressed. He sighed and walked into the building. He looked around before taking a seat and waving the bartender over.

"Yeah, your strongest stuff, if you would."

The Bartender nodded, poured his drink, and then smiled before walking off. As Jin sat there, lost in thought his eyes began to wonder. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing to strange either. It was the same people he had seen before, and they were doing the same thing they had always done. Drink, argue, fight and then get kicked out. As his head turned away, from the corner of his eye he noticed something that was different. Who was....was that that girl Airi? He saw her during the probending tournament. Jin rose his hand, then dropped it for a momnent feeling reclusive. Then the all powerful liquid courage started to take effect and he once more rose his hand.

"You're Airi...right?" Jin said turning toward the small girl, his long frame now completely turned toward the other person. Black strands of hair fell out of place to the side from their normally spiked position. Amber eyes looking forward before nearly sttutering and speaking again. "I'm Jin. I believce we both competed in the probending tournament."

Airi was caught off guard when she noticed movement in her peripheral vision accompanied with words. Strangely enough, those words were directed at her. She turned her head slightly to see a man younger than her, but his eyes looked much older than his appearance. She listened as he talked but her head turned back towards her drink that sat on the bar. The mention of probending, though, somehow managed to lift and dampen her spirits at the same time.

She smiled. "Jin? I'm sorry, I'm really bad with names,"

Why her bed seemed to trap her in her room, Airi didn't mind at all. Sleepy and exhausted, moving around and doing things was the last thing on her agenda for the day. At the same time, being home wasn't as great as it used to be. It had lost it's appeal of being a, well, home after recent events. Being snatched up from right out of her bed, the very one she laid in, caused her home to lose whatever comfort it used to provide her. While it used to be a place of safe refuge, where she could bake from dawn to dusk and avoid the world's problems, it had become a nightmare of memories she wished would just go away. She couldn't forget what happened, no matter how hard she tried or wished her memory problem would take it away. Instead, she could leave.

The woman wretched herself up from out of the messy bed, her mouse brown hair as tangled and messy as it could be, though the longer layer managed to stay somewhat in the braid it had been in. A quick change of clothes, comb through her hair and rebraiding the longer layer, Airi found herself running down the front stairs, her mind already set on trying to figure itself out on where she wanted to run off to first.

"Ai-ee," her father called from the kitchen, sounding as surprised by her appearance as he was glad for it. "Are you feeling well?" The nonbender nodded, not able to verbally lie to her own parent who cared so much for her when all she felt was despair and regret. "Could you, then, take the phone for repair?" he asked, nodding his head towards a crate since his hands were sticky and covered in dough.

"Sure thing,"

Airi was surprised by his choice of words but nonetheless found her chapped lips breaking into a small smile though it faded as quickly as it came. "I might've well've been,"