Avatar: The Rise of Dual-Bending [IC]

[Ketsora]

THE OOC

Kesuk

The sun streamed through the open shade slats, and Kesuk rolled over onto his side, burying his face into his pillow. It was his day off, and he didn't understand why his normally laid-back roommate was up so early. "Bano," he mumbled, "What's up?" His hair was mussed and his words were muffled and he wouldn't have been too surprised if Bano hadn't heard him.

"I've got a job," he said simply, pulling on a very formal dress jacket and running a comb through his black hair, "Waiting tables." Kesuk raised an eyebrow. He was intensely curious as to why Bano would be wearing such a fancy jacket to wait tables at such an hour, but he respected the closest thing he had to a friend's privacy and kept his mouth shut. Looking up from the pillow, he saw as Bano slid the door closed and the room fell deafly silent. Kesuk decided not to dawdle any longer, and he began to get dressed. Slipping on a light jacket to keep out the chill that still hung in the air, he thrust his hands in his pockets and decided to go out for a jog. While his neighborhood wasn't the safest, Kesuk was confident in his speed and good attitude to keep him out of a fight situation, and his knife and the faulty water mains all around the streets to aid him in combat. Passing by the local storefronts, he didn't notice any of the regular members of the Triad. This was normally a sign of trouble brewing, so he kept his head down.

Akane

Holding her bags in her hand, Akane exhaled sharply. While it was good to be back at Siang Wang Academy after the summer holiday, she couldn't help but feel that the school had expanded greatly in her absence. While it was true that the Academy had decided to reach out to a larger range of students this year, it looked to her as though the student body had doubled. There was a group of jockish firebenders standing by the front gate, their amber eyes shining as they observed the grand building. She couldn't help but smirk in spite of herself. While it looked like a good enough group, the large numbers would probably result in the assigning of search parties for the Avatar much sooner, to reduce the amount of students to train. By her estimation, some of the best would be sent out first, and she was incredibly certain that she would be among those ranks. It wasn't arrogance, it was fact. She was aware that the headmaster was incredibly cautious to promote her because of her father's position, but as a third year, she had certainly risen past that stigma.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Akane made her way to the girls's dorms on the east side of the campus. She would once again be in Room 91, but she would apparently have a roommate this year. This was just another sign of the crowding of the school, she thought to herself, but it would serve her well to have someone to talk to. Hopefully her roommate was an earthbender so she could practice her learned element a little more.

Tossing the bags onto the bed closest to the window, she left as soon as everything was settled. Akane headed down to the training hall and set up a few sand bags for herself. She decided it would be prudent to practice her lightning bending before too many others showed up and made it hard to concentrate. Large crowds were unsettling and useless when it came to getting anything of value done.

Placing two fingers towards the sky and closing her eyes, Akane took a few deep breaths and channeled the energy through to her other hand, watching as the blue jet of electricity singed the bags. She smirked, controlling the flame absentmindedly, making it grow and shrink and finally extinguished it, hoping to try with lightning once again.

[Baratheon]

Drew

Earlier this morning, Drew's father had offered him a ride to Siang Wang. "No dad," he mumbled, "I'm just gonna get a few more minutes of sleep okay?" His father sighed, "Don't be late, Drew." And then he heard his dad exit their home, getting into his old car and the sound of the engine sputtering as it moved down the road. Drew closed his eyes tight, trying to go back to sleep. It didn't work.

He grunted as he got out of bed and dressed himself, spending a good deal of time checking that he had everything he needed for his 2nd year back at the Academy. He grabbed the bow that was on his desk and strapped it to his back before heading out.

Turning the corner to the Academy, he saw a small group of firebenders at the front gates, admiring the school. Freshmen, he thought to himself. They turned their head up at him when he got closer, narrowing their eyes at him. Slowly a cocky smile started to grow on Drew's face, as he was hoping, almost praying that they'd want to fight him.
"Hey you!" one called out to him. He glared at them, and shot back coldly, "What?" They looked stunned for a moment, before asking "Where can we find room 345?" Drew looked disappointed for a second. Freshman... he smirked to himself.

After helping the novice firebenders find their way around, Drew made his way to the archery training grounds. He saw that Akane was practicing her fire bending in the training hall as he strolled past there. He remembered her from last year, she was always so good at bending. "Now there's a worthy opponent... Much stronger than those freshmen." Drew muttered to himself.

[Extraordinaire.]

Through the crowds of new and returning benders, it wouldn't be terribly difficult to spot out Lenette, just from the heel-to-toe bounce in her step./ It really was amazing, how well Lenny's personality was reflected into her stride. Her head was slightly tilted up, eyes closed just to prove she knew her direction, and her looped pig-tails synchronized with her gondola-like arms.

You could read the disappoint on her face when she found that her roommate had already arrived, but nearly every emotion was an open canvas, for her. And to think, she'd already memorized the map, or at least the route from the entrance to her dorm, prepared a speech, and now she was the unpunctual one! Seeing her roommate's bag's had been untouched, she considered being the first to unpack and settle in, but she didn't get past the zipper before realizing they didn't have a closet, bathroom, or bed agreement- although seeing how her roommate's bags were placed on the bed nearest the window, she opted for the other. Everything had been incorporated into her welcoming speech, which was supposed to be rehearsed when her roommate entered her dorm, and now she couldn't do anything without her!

Leaving her room, she trailed back through the interior of the dorm, and set out for the campus. It wasn't until she ended up at the cafeteria, that she really grasped how little she could navigate past her dorm. The building itself was blank, although crowds of people formed outside, so rather than go person to person, she skimmed the wall of the building, until she hit what she presumed was the training hall.

Hadn't something about the summary of her roommate that she'd found, include that she could bend electricity? She was almost sure of it- and advanced benders were work-addicts, weren't they? The logic made perfect sense in the earth-bender's head and one way or another, her logic always seemed to work itself out, so entering the training room, she made a b-line for the nearest fire bender.

"Akane?" she asked hopefully, only for the interrupted trainer to point her head deeper into the room, where another girl was working. Practically frollicking over to the fire-bender, she got in her blind-spot, but growing impatient when she didn't turn around.

"Hello! You're Akane, right?" she asked briefly, wondering why the girl's pointer and middle finger's were extended, interrupting her in the middle of her move. She'd never actually seen electric bending and couldn't grasp the intensity, or control that it required.
"I'm your new roommate. I got to the room and you weren't there and didn't know what to do, so I figured you'd be down here, since I heard you were a super good bender and here you are! How'd you learn to do that?" she gushed after a moment, her words becoming more and more closely pact the longer her tongue extended.
"Oh! I'm Lenny, by the way," she giggled, extending her arm with a cheek-to-cheek grin.

[iFluffy]

Akira

Balance it out... Stay light on your feet.... These are the thoughts that raced through Akira's mind. Hoping to earn some yuans before heading to the Siang Wang Academy, Akira was at the docks, attempting to help the fishers catch the bigger, trickier fish. One foot shifted back, sliding over the stone ground as his one arm drew closer to his chest. The long moon-silver hair was tied back in a weak ponytail, though some of the more stubborn strands hung in his face. Tickling the skin of his face, especially his cheeks. A puff of air left the corner of his mouth, blowing away a strand. Only for it to fall right back in its original place.

He sighed, wiping sweat from his forehead with his forearm. He needed to focus on the task at hand. Sucking in a deep breath, he edged a bit closer to the water. His eyes locked on a glimmering silver object that seemed to dwell deeper in the water. Gritting his teeth, his arms and hands moved as he carefully attempted to lift the fish from the water. Would it be easy? Probably not..

Still working at lifting the sphere of water, Akira focused on keeping the bubble intact. His fear more of it breaking once it reached the surface. He'd done this before, he just felt so out of place. It would take a while before he could bend a large fish from the water without constantly wanting to check his surroundings. The early sun shined down, making the bronze skin simmer with a warm touch, the blue-silver disks focused intently on the water before him. Daring to take a quick glance over the water's surface, he saw with a grin that the sphere holding the large silver fish was now emerging.

Within moments the orb was levitation in the air. The large fish suspended in its tiny pocket of water. Slowly, Akira began bringing his arms and hands in, dragging the sphere to him. But, just as the sphere was coming to the edge, a loud RRRRUUUF! shocked Akira, causing him to drop the fish and the water sphere back into the water. For several long moments Akira just stood there, his hands shaking and his mouth open, eyes on the water. It was just a moment where all you could do is stand there and think: Tell me that did not just happen.. Someone tell me I DID NOT just drop that fish...

Of course he actually did, and once he finally did turn around a exasperated expression was on his face. His eyes bore down at the culprit. A white, fluffy cub sat about three feet away, its head cocked and eyes huge as it stared back at him. The pup barked, tail wagging at its master.

[Ketsora]

Akane

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed one of the non-benders who was returning from last year. It took her a moment to assign his familiar face to a name, but she finally grasped it, Drew. It's good to see him back. I always liked the spark he showed while he sparred. She couldn't imagine why he stopped to watch her, as she assumed he came down for some early archery shots. She shrugged and returned to her deep breaths. One, two, she rooted herself and let the lightning fly once again. The way the air crackled and singed made her grin. That was the feeling of true power coursing through one's body, and it was exhilirating. She longed to glance at Drew to see if the boy still had his eyes upon her, but decided it mattered very little to her. He wasn't a distracting presence.

She extended her hand and put out the bright flame left behind. The bag was singed quite badly already, and Akane figured it could stand one last hit. Extending her fingers, she closed her eyes and prepared once more, this time aiming for a quick-fire burst.

"Hello! You're Akane, right?"

The firebender recoiled in shock, sending off a blue bolt that completely missed the target and actually shocked the tips of her fingers. Scowling, she held her right hand gingerly, glad that no damage was caused to her person or the gym's walls. The girl had snuck up on her while she was focusing, and even when her eyes were open, the girl had positioned herself in the firebender's blind spot. Akane figured it was accidental, but she still swore to remain more vigilant. The stranger had been going on and on about how she was her new roommate. Akane ignored the compliments, and smirked darkly to herself, She could be an airbender from the way she talks.

However, her formal nature took over as soon as the girl introduced herself. "Lenny? Well, you already know my name, but in this situation it bears repeating. I am Akane Rei. It's a pleasure," she said with a smile. In truth, her fingers were still searing and she was about ready to string this Lenny girl by her ankles when they returned to their room, but she couldn't bear to be that rude so soon. In order to get her mind off of the new girl for a moment, she focused on the charred sand bag on the other side of the floor and she raised the ground below it suddenly at an angle, catching the bag as it fell in her direction.

"I suppose we should return to our room, then. I can dispel any rumors about my bending ability there, and discuss room regulations," she said coolly. Akane put away the equipment she had been using and waited in the doorway for Lenny to approach.

[MaskofSilence]

Nira Musso

Nira had been having a peaceful night of sleep, when suddenly a loud, boisterous sound filled her small, old apartment. Slowly, she turned over and glared at her alarm clock. It was four o'clock in the morning. Sighing, she threw her legs over her bed and walked across the room, successfully shutting off the alarm with a small "smack" from her hand.

She stood there for a second, wondering why she had gotten up at four that morning, when her eyes landed on the bags by the door. Her mind then kicked in to gear, today was the start of academy and she had to be in her dorm by ten. Not only that but she had to go work at the stables, bring Aro back, take a shower, load him and then go.

Quickly walked into her tiny bathroom, washed her face and brushed her teeth. She then proceed to get dressed in a pair of pants, T-shirt and boots. Minutes later she was walking out of her apartment and braiding her hair as she walked down to the Stables.

When she got there, the door was already opened and the owner, Jock, was standing in the doorway talking on the phone. He saw her coming and nodded at her while she walked past. Automatically, her legs carried her to Aro's stable. He must have sensed her presence because he was standing at the door with neck stretched in the hallway, peering down it. Smiling she stroked and petted him while he nuzzled her. After about a minute of that she whispered to him, "Well, time to get to work." At that phrase he retreated back into the stable and fell asleep.

Four exasperating hours later, she had finished for the day. It was 8:30 by the time she saddled Aro and led him out of stable back to her apartment. She was done showering, and loading him by 9:00. They ran through the city to make it to the Academy by 9:15.

Pulling out her acceptance letter, she re-read the contents. She was housed in room 43 with a roommate, only it never mentioned who the roommate was. Shrugging to herself, she made her way to find her room. It wasn't hard to find, stopped Aro in front of the building, she unloaded all her bags and made her way up to her room. Upon opening the door, she found it empty. She then proceeded to place her bags on one of the beds and walk back out.

Now that she had found her room, she took her time to observe her surroundings, there were people everywhere (and some were staring), defiantly more people than last year. She had also heard rumors that they built stables here where students could keep pets if they needed to. She put that on the top of her list as she wandered thought the campus grounds.

[Zatory-Master]

Ienzo

Ienzo looked as his clock."6:00 am...guess I should get up" he thought as he rubbed his eyes and climbed out of bed. He went to the restroom and did his everyday routine of brushing his teeth,making his hair, and applying deo. This was his last day in his parents house. He went to his closet and got his regular day attire wich includded the latches and bandages around his body. Ienzo began to pack,remembering everything needed for his stay.

He ate his last breakfast in the house that was made by his sad-feeling mother. "It's alright mom, I'll visit..." He promised her as he gave her the empty plate that held his breakfast. Then he added at the door, "Tell pops I'll come back to fight him someday" He smiled and closed the door behind him.

The dark navy blueish hair covered a bit of Ienzo's eyes as he walked down the road on the beautiful day. He suddenly felt a rush of exitement as he thought about what was about to go down."Yeah!, First day at this Academy. People just like me who are gifted in their talents. If I am to be at the Top of my class I will have to train harder!" He put up a fist into the air to show that his was determine to make that goal come true.

He walked down the sidewalk and watched the diffrent street merchants as they tried to persuade tourists to buy their goods. The cars drove up and down the streetss in single file and birds hanged on the street lights minding their own buisness. The day was pretty much perfect. The aura in the air made the boy want to feel free. "I need a warm up, a fight with someone strong perhaps." He shouted as he looked around looking for someone worthy. In the park he spotted a male with spiked hair that leaned to the side, and a buff body that represented that he was a strong individual. His white grey and tall figure probably meant he was a bit older but probably not by much.

He walked over to the man in the park. The park was located in front of the school but it wasnt really part of the campus so administraitors couldn't stop a friendly fight in the location. The fight could be seen from the school completely,if there were a fight. The man seem to have a moving bag as well, so he was probably a student of the academy. As he approached he planned in his mind," If this fight goes down, My rep in this school will start up in a high rank...and not just me but my opponent as well."

He stopped in the tracks of the tall man," Hey do you go here?...(waits for the answer)...The names Ienzo, and you seemed like a person who would do great in a match... How about you give me a demonstraition of your skills before we enter the school premises." He threw his bag against the tree and stood there awaiting for the response of the man he challenged to a friendly match...

[TheDoctor]

Aelos Faleon

Aelos Faleon was sitting on a park bench, looking down at his hands. He was about to go back to Siang Wang Academy for his sixth year, but he wanted to spend some time in the park first. Wearing a light brown tunic with his bag slung over his shoulder, he sighed, glancing over at the gates of the school that were right next to the park. The academy was his home, the home that he never had. For the whole break, he had trained with other homeless kids, defeating opponents one after another. He had even faced a couple soldiers who noticed his talents and wanted to duel. The memories made him smile.

Pushing his white hair out of his eyes, Aelos stood up, stretched backwards, and took off the top part of his tunic, revealing his very muscled chest, arms, and back, which had a large jagged scar trailing down the spine. He wanted to practice some of his firebending and airbending before he went to the academy, to "warm up," if you will, in case anyone wanted to pick a fight. Firstly, he committed to his stretching and balance drills. After stretching all of his muscles, he did a handstand and held it. Then, he spread his legs, which made it more difficult to balance. When he was sure that he was balanced, he lifted his left hand from the earth, supporting the handstand with only his right hand. After a couple minutes, he switched hands. When he was done, he compressed his handstand into a somersault onto the ground, continuing his momentum until he stood up. Putting his hands together in front of his chest, he closed his eyes, breathed in, held it for several seconds, and then exhaled slowly. As soon as he finished exhaling, his eyes flashed open.

Swinging his torso down and his right leg up, he executed a roundhouse kick that sent flames cascading out in a wave. As soon as he landed that leg on the ground, the other leg popped up and he kicked straight forward three times in quick succession, sending three blasts of fire with it. Quickly restoring his stance, he executed a barrage of punches at invisible enemies, sending blasts of fire in every direction. Then, feeling the tingle of his bending, he leapt up into the air using his airbending. Circling his arms in the air in front of him, he bent the air to compress into the space between his hands. As he fell towards the earth, he grabbed the compressed air with one hand, and when he landed on the ground, he brought the hand down, slamming the air onto the ground and sending a shockwave in all directions, flattening the grass around him.

He continued with his drills, combining air and fire attacks to form a deadly front of wind and flame. When he was finished, he stood up straight, put his hands together, closed his eyes, and breathed again. He hadn't even broken a sweat. As he sat down on the park bench again, brushing his white hair out of his eyes, he heard the challenge, and his eyes glistened with an inner fire that could never be extinguished.

"I need a warm up, a fight with someone strong perhaps."

The shout came from a boy with dark navy hair who was in the park with him. The boy's lack of complexity on his face made him seem several years younger in Aelos' eyes, but he didn't know for sure. His eyes linked with the boy for a moment, and that was all that was needed for the boy to approach. The boy spoke to him, offering a challenge.

Aelos looked up at him, grinning smugly. "The academy? Yeah, I go there. This year will be my sixth year. It has been quite a long time." He stood up, exhibiting a taller build than the boy had. As the boy, who revealed that his name was Ienzo, continued to speak, Aelos extended his hand in greeting. "I would love to. I was looking for a good match today, so let's see what you've got." Ienzo took his hand and they shook, then they backed to opposite sides of the park. Aelos straightened his back, put his hands together, and bowed. As his back straightened again, he felt the scar on his spine grow slightly warm. Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply and slowly let his breath out as he had done before.

Then his eyes snapped open.

[valkoordb]

"I need a warm up, a fight with someone strong perhaps." Bumi woke up, the shout stirring him, and looked around. He saw leaves? "Wait, what?" he said a second before he snapped awake, falling out of the tree. "Ah!" he said as he formed a small ball of air between the ground and him. "What the... Why did I sleep in the park?" He asked himself aloud. It was a bad habit he had started recently. Then he saw two benders, from the academy no doubt, about to fight. "Oh no, not here! There are equalist following me! If they fight here and I don't stop them the equalist will stop trying to reqruit me, and start trying to kill me. Curse my dad for being so good at what he did. I guess because he was one of Amons most important helpers, his kid has to finish his work for him."

With that he began walking over to the other two, untill he saw them. Chiblockers. About eight. He saw that they were after him not the boys. He wanted to keep it that way. "Well here goes nothing." He said as he acted like he was in a panic. He began to run in the oppostie direction of the two boys, hoping to be followed. He was. Before he made it ten yards the Chiblockers were on him. He stopped dead in his tracks as they flanked him. "Oh, good morning gents. I was wondering. Is there anyway we can settle this in a civilized talk?" Bumi asked knowing the answer as one of the men put on an electrified glove. "No? I was afraid of that."

Bumi then attacked, not bending infront of the stupid academy, but simply imobalizing. He had numbed the man with the glove before the others had moved to stop him. He let out a flurry of blows taking down to more, but it wasn't enough one of them was about to get his front right shoulder. 'Crap!' he thought as he gave up on hidding his bending. He realeased a huge blast of wind throwing the man twoards the two boys who were about to fight. He then instead of imobalizing, decked one of the other in the face knocking him out cold. He then used some water from a nearby pond to freeze the final three to there spot on the ground. "Well looky here." he said in a mocking tone, before using a technique from his many street fights to slap them all back with a water wip.

"Now leave me alone, and go gather up your friends who are out cold." Bumi said as he began to walk away from the academy. Aparently a few students had seen this, even an old dude who looked like the headmaster, and Bumi did NOT want to be asked to join that dumb school. However he had forgot about the other two students who had almost been attacked because of him, and walked straight into them. 'Crap! Bumi pay more attention next time.' He thought as he stopped himself from walking into the other two. "Sorry... ugh... my names Lee." He gestured his arm out in habit, could never stop himself from making an introduction. Even if it were with his fake name.

[Extraordinaire.]

"Oh, you're a dual-bender! That's so cool! I've never met a dual-bender before," she smiled, although she had to take a moment to register it all, before asking if she was the avatar.

The thought of going back to the dorm, creating schedules and organizing what would soon be their "usual" days, seemed tasteless to the energy of the training room. Sure, few people had entered, but what better opportunity did she have to get to know her roommate? Even Lenny was interested in knowing the extent of Akane's training. Although most of her practice was fun and games, serious training was something she'd consider, if her roommate was that devoted.

"Why would'ya wanna do that?" she turned her head to the side, when the girl suggested returning to the dorm.
"We just got here and I've never watched a fire-bender before. Oh, I know! Why don't we practice together? Or you could show me around! I'm already in year seven classes, but this is my first year here since I transfered fro-Oh! What's that thing?"

Dashing over to a line of dummy's that were stacked against the wall, intentionally undisturbed, she grabbed the nearest one and started to heave it out to the center of the rink. After a few failed attempts, she glanced around and lifted the floor of the training room to create a rock-cut version of a slide, where gravity brought the dummy to its intended place.

"What are these used for?" she asked, only moments after she'd run off from their conversation. With a small jump she lifted herself onto the practice dummy, balancing her heels against either shoulder.