Avatar: Rise of The Red Lotus//IC thread

[Nachthexe]

Attacks. Attacks all over the world, and suddenly Yei felt powerless to stop it. How could she when Earthbending was still such a significant obstacle? It was difficult and the young Avatar wasn't feeling particularly confident, amidst this news. She didn't want others to die. Not anymore. Not when it was her objective in life to protect all those she could. I'll never get this... She mentally slapped herself as she slumped down into the soil beneath her feet. It was unusually soft from being continuously tampered with, but still few results had come. Earthbending simply would not come to her, and she was certain there were true masters anywhere in the world who could remedy it.

Finding a master was only the last of Yei's worries, though. She knew she had one of the best, but clearly it wasn't enough. She knew she had hit her final stumbling block. What was so wrong with her that she couldn't bend one of the crucial four elements? She was losing confidence and fast. "I'm going inside now while I have a chance. Master Bosho can come find me later." She ranted, storming off in frustration.

As soon as she slumped down into her bed, Yei felt very alone. No matter how much she wanted it Earthbending was not something others could drill into her. No, she had to learn it, somehow. And fast. Options were growing limited and she was growing desperate. It was only upon spotting a sheet of paper on the floor beside her she developed an idea. Inspiration hitting fast, she bolted off the bed and toward's the room's desk.

Asuna. It was a name that often entered Yei's had these days. Now was no exception as she proceeded to pen a note to her. In some ways Yei was incline to envy the girl, knowing just how easy she made Earthbending appear. It was as if she was a natural and the Fire Nation Avatar knew she was not. She was hardly an Earthbender at all, and Asuna had a right to know.


Dear Asuna,

I know it may seem silly I'm writing this since we live together and even train here together with one of the greatest masters of Earthbending in the Earth Kingdom, but I cannot do it! How can Master Bosho get through to me so I can learn it? Hell, how can you get through to me? I feel just like Avatar Aang. Supposedly he struggled with it too, but I am not Aang! I am Yei! So why can I not do this?

Please speak to me soon,
Yei

"No, why am I even bothering? I should talk to her myself." Yei quickly changed her mind, crumbling up the sheet of paper and tossing it on the ground once again. Recollecting herself, she made her way down to the hallway to the room of one of the people she trusted most and knocked. "Hello, are you there? It's about this Earthbending thing. Attacks have been becoming more frequent and I'm still far from mastering it." Her annoyance only became more prominent, knowing all-out war was possible. Whoever was responsible for the attacks nobody truly knew, but Yei could only hope with all her heart it would not escalate. She hated the thought of being dragged into a conflict she frankly did not want to get involved in.

Yei did not want to become like her predecessors fighting in a tireless war.

[SithInquisition]

The door opened the reveal a women crying. "And he just took it!" She spat angrily as if she was trying to rid herself of venom. "I trusted him and he just took it! It's been in my family for years and I trusted him!" She put her hands to her face and immediately stopped crying. Whiping away the fake tears the young woman smiled. "Pretty good, huh? I'm meeting Jason tonight." She grinned, proud of herself. Her way of making money wasn't entirely honnest. She would find a handsome rich looking man, seduce him into believing she was the one or something like that. Then she would tell him of a past that he couldn't ignore. In this case, he would buy the family ring from a pawn broker that her previous lover had snatched. If he was honnest he'd bring it to her, if not then she split the money he had used with the pawn shop.

Asuna wasn't a woman easily ignored especially by young wealthy men. She was beautiful. With a tall lean body, fair skin with chocolate coloured hair and eyes set like jewels in her face. Her hair was on point tonight with a dress that hugged her body. It was black and open in the back. Blue diamonds adorned her ears and hung around her neck. She looked every bit the beautiful wife of some rich business man.

Her eyes rested on her friend before her, the only person she had grown to trust in a long time. "Common in, darling." Once inside Asuna took a seat in the desk chair, paying attention to not wrinkle her dress. "How are you?" She smiled her glorious smile though she already knew the answer. "I could hear you out there you know. Making no noise." Her smile fadded as it was time to get serious. "You'll get it, it'll just take more time. Every Avatar had their challenges, yours is just earthbending." She shrugged as she flicked a lock of dark hair behind her shoulder. She didn't want to tell her friend she had come out with metal bending too, it just seemed like something for another time. Plus, why would she rub that in right now. Knowing her stress Asuna sighed, "do you want to go out tonight? Maybe have some fun and relax for a night?" She raised her eyebrows as a small grin crept up to her scarlet stained lips.

[Splat]

Nilak roamed the halls of the museum with a wide smile. Her eyes were bright as she scanned the cases of spiritual artifacts and books. She was walking down the aisle when a certain object caught her attention. She gasped excitedly and rushed over to the case.

"This pendant once belonged to Avatar Kuruk of the Northern Water tribe," read the plaque next to the display. Nilak's eyes widened as she examined the artifact.

"Wow, a real Avatar's possession," she exclaimed giddily, gazing at the necklace. "I wonder what being the Avatar is like... or what the Spirit World is like for that matter. The Avatar would know that. I wonder where the Avatar is right now... she must be off on some important mission or something." Nilak finally stepped away from the display and went off to admire some ancient scrolls, then looked at the clock.

"Oh dear, it's getting late," she sighed. "Back home, then." She left the museum and stepped out into the city. Many shops were closing and stalls were dismantling for the night. Before heading off onto the road, Nilak stopped near the bottom of the steps and bent down to retrieve something. When she straightened back up, a fire ferret was perched on her shoulder. She smiled, "Sorry, Shila. They didn't allow animals in there." The ferret chirped and went back to resting on Nilak's shoulder.

After a few minutes of walking, Nilak arrived at a small hut near the edge of the city. "Home sweet home," she sighed and walked in, removing her shoes. As she sat down to relax, she couldn't help but think of the large academy she had passed on the way home. It had seemed busy, even at this hour. A strange thought appeared in the back of her mind. She quickly dismissed the idea, since it was pretty ludicrous. I mean, what would the Avatar be doing in a city like this?

[Bionicllama]

It seemed that as all the shops and stalls closed down more and more people were opening up in anticipation for the students of the academy to come out. The night life of the Earth Kingdom city was one of the things that brought Zian to try and find work here. Even during the day things were lively with street vendors trying to peddle goods and even a few arena fights where Earthbenders test their might. Many people did not associate the Earth Kingdoms with culture but they couldn't be further from the truth. Even though you wouldn't find the gracefulness of the Air Nomads or the complexity of the Fire Nation, if you simply studied the people you would find that their culture resides inside them. No matter who you talk to the pride of the Earth Kingdom lives in all of them.

Catching one of the food stalls before they closed Zian bought a pork bun and walked the streets that were now dimming. The academy bell rang out indicating that classes were now over and that soon the city would be filled with students looking for a good time.

"MY CABBAGES!" An old man yelled down the street mourning his broken cart and destroyed produce. Just ahead of him someone was running away, and were they laughing? Sighing to himself Zian ran after the man. Come on, it's too late for this stuff. With the students now coming out and making a fairly big crowd it was hard to keep up with him but that also meant there wasn't many places for the culprit to run to. It didn't take long before Zian's speed was too much for him to run from and with a few well placed punches the man was down in a heart beat.
"H-hey! Why can't I move!?"

"Simple, it's because I don't want you to. And I need to make sure you stay put so that they guards can go ahead and take you in." He searched his pockets and found a coin pouch that had a painting of a cabbage on it. "Don't worry, I heard they don't cut off both your hands anymore for thievery!" Walking away he didn't listen to the curses that were thrown at him from the thief. He also made sure to talk to a guard and explain the situation to him before trying to find the unfortunate merchant but sadly he couldn't be found. "Oh well, guess I have some spending money for my good deeds."

[Jinn]

The great city of Ba Sing Se in the formidable Earth Kingdom.

And Ekavir had hated it already.

The people here were snobby. Giant spoiled brats who always had to get their way. Or at least, those who he had met so far. The Airbender stood to the sidelines of the garden, watching keenly as his mentor conversed with the family that resided within the nearby mansions. In the richer part of the district, the boy had refused to even politely greet any one of them. ‘It was going to be fun’ he said. ‘You should at least become familiar with other nations’ he said. ‘It will be a good experience for you’ he said. That was all just a bunch of BS. And in result Ekavir fumed quietly, bored out of his mind. He couldn’t wait to get out of this forsaken city.

But Gyilang had in mind to take his sweet time. What were they even here for? He couldn’t quite remember. Something about becoming spiritually Intune to the earth, maybe? Whatever that meant. Ekavir didn’t see a reason to be there anymore and blew a gust through his nostrils in frustration. His clothing lightly flapped and he slowly wandered away, looking up to stare at the darkening sky. The only place he wanted to be right now was up there! Not down here with the hooligans.

A grin flashed onto his lips.

Maybe he should go for a bit of sightseeing? Eh?

With that thought, he leapt onto the nearest roof, bursting with air as he spun his glider. Up and up he went, trying to get to the highest point he could before takeoff. A few of the street bustlers stopped to watch his advances before continuing on. Probably wandering what he was doing. If only baldy could see him now. One last jump and he decided it was enough. A deep breath of sweet air swirled deliciously into his lungs, taking in the moment above the noise. To him the ground was such a stuffy place. He couldn’t understand how people did it.

“Now this is what I call attunement.”

In one great whoosh he bounded over the edge. Adrenaline rushed through his veins excitedly when he free-falled for a moment, his heart missing a beat in the thrill. With a spin he popped the wings of the glider to full reach and was pulled suddenly from gravity, soaring aloft the great city. A whoop escaped from Ekavir’s tongue when he twirled and flipped.

An unexpected screeching chirp rang beside him. Unexpected, but familiar. It was that stupid flutter bat again. The creature took residence beside him, chatting away in its flapping swivels.

“What do you want? Following me all the way out here. You’re such a stalker.”

The animal stopped vocalizing as it listened, folding its wings to duck underneath him. Its squawking pick up once more before when it did so and dived further down lower to the streets.

Usually Ekavir would ignore it. This time, he was in a better mood to humor it. Quickly he followed, laughing as they circled around one another. An idea popped into his head and he decided to have some fun with the locals. Taking a deep breath, he dove straight into the street. The nomad pulled up at the last second to the ground, maneuvering just a breath away from the dirt and he excitedly shouted.

“HELLLLLooooOOOOOoooOOoooooooo PEOPLE OF BA SING SE!!”

There were screaming shouts as both woman and men alike jumped out of his path, almost knocked down by the gust tunnel of wind he created to trail behind him. The bat chirped unhappily, almost blown away and dropped onto his head, hanging on for dear life. The wind howled even louder in his ears, greedily taking up his bending to further speed up its current in the enclosed space of the street.

“EXCUSE ME!” He nearly dodged a fruit stall that was trying to shut down for the day.

“WATCH OUT!” Ekavir twisted over a cart pulled by…boarcats? He couldn’t tell, he was going too fast.

“COMMIIING THROUGHHHH.” Somehow managing to weave his way through a large crowd of students. That’s right. There was an Academy or something like that around here, wasn’t there? The scholars screamed in surprise and dispersed, earning a cackle from Ekavir. At this point he wasn’t paying attention, gleefully watching them curse at him as he flew by.

The Flutterbat screeched alarmingly and flew off. But it was too late.

Before he knew it, he impacted headlong into something... hard. The boy went flying along with the victim, their bodies crashing and skidding into the dirt unforgivably. A wham of air bursted forth like a shockwave to mimic the collision, kicking up the parched ground to engulf the surrounding area into a mini dirt storm.

Voices of surprise and alarm raised above the wind as it settled. Ekavir untangled himself, breathing shallowly and releasing a string of harsh curses.

That freaking hurt.

Speaking of which.

“Sheet, are you alright? You’re not dead are you?” He rolled over, getting to his knees to look for whoever it is he just exploded into. His ribs panged painfully in protest and he gasped lightly, wrapping an arm around to try and hold them in place as he moved. Just great. Cracked ribs.

“Gyilang is gonna pop a twister when he hears about this.” Ekavir cursed to himself again.

So much for ‘attunement.’

[deamonstalker]

Seikō sighed, finishing his morning practice routine of both blade and bending, before he packed what little gear he had before saying fare-well to the kind farming family that allowed him to stay for the previous night. Looking at the walls of the great Earth Kingdom city, he smiled grimly. He was finally there. Taking his time, he entered the city just after noon. Where in customs, he jumped through all of the hoops required to allow him entry to the city and keep his few belongings, especially the sword, with minimal fuss on his part.

Seiko looked at the vague map of the city he had been given by a native, trying to make heads or tales of the scribbles that ran all across the hand-drawn map. Not gaining any insight on his current location, he put the map away before picking a random location to walk in. Eventually he'd get to a location he knew, right? Sighing, he pulled a canteen from his shoulder pouch and took a swig before beginning walking.

Two hours later and the various shops around him were closing up for the day. The busy street only got busier as a nearby academy released its students for the day as well. Sighing again, Seiko muttered to himself about the futility of finding the metal worker's shop that he had wanted to visit to get his sword repaired.

He heard a commotion behind him, but didn't turn around to investigate it because he was busy thinking about what to do for dinner and lodging for the night. This was a mistake. Pain blossomed from the middle of his back and the force of something ramming into him threw him forwards. The next thing Seiko knew; he was on the ground, face down, with someone laying on top of him. Vaguely hearing what the young man said, he blinked as he rolled around and said, "Yeah, I'm fine. My sword took some of the blow. But are you OK?" He asked, seeing how the kid held his ribs.

[Zulera301]

"Travel the world," they said. "It would be fun!" they said.
Clearly those monks needed to get their stuffy asses out of their air temples a bit more often or something. Or maybe there was something to be said about not flying over Si Wong, even if she had just barely clipped a small portion of it. There was no way anyone would traverse the entire thing in a single sitting--especially not when armed with little more than a wooden glider.

then again, or maybe it was just old urban myths, but Kiera recalled that in some parts of the world airbenders had a sourer reputation stemming from the assumption that many of them were rogues and thieves. as someone who had dabbled in that sort of thing herself, Kiera couldn't exactly argue against that point. On the other hand, the titanic walls that had appeared in the distance meant that her flight path had been accurate enough to take her all the way to Ba Sing Se. Granted, that was not an easy target to miss. She probably could have been off by about 14 degrees and still at least grazed the fringes of the eastern walls or something.

Still... she had been there before, and if there was one lesson she had learned from the place apart from there being a slew of suckers waiting to lose a few coins in one way or another, it was that there ain't no party like a Ba Sing Se party, cuz Ba Sing Se was the city that never slept.

Not exactly being one to want to check in with the guards, she simply used air currents to glide over the walls and disappear into the crowds again.Most of the Dai Li didn't even look up. It wasn't like she was some sort of terrorist or anything either. If they had inspected her person, they would have just found a few basic necessities of a travelling nomad, an extra change of clothes perhaps, and a glider.

On the other hand, she had no idea where the hell she was, and so with that in mind, she simply followed the music, so to speak. She figured that commotion would lead to action, and that action would lead her to what she wanted.

[Nachthexe]

Promptly Yei entered the room, all too eager to talk with her friend. It was difficult for her to become particularly close to most people, knowing her duties and of the power she surely held over them; were people genuinely wanting to be her friend or did they have deeper ulterior motives? It was a regularly occurring question in Yei's mind and one she was admittedly afraid to discover the answer to. Those who understood her power surely wanted it for themselves. It was a sort of power Yei had never even asked for, but so many others were willing to take advantage of it.

"Thanks, I'm just so lost and confused right now," Yei grumbled putting her full attention on Asuna. "Master Bosho says I'm not focusing and putting my full spirit into it, but that's the thing. I am. Every time it seems I can do little more than move a few pebbles out of place. I would have just stayed in the Fire Nation and been a firebender, but clearly fate had other plans for me." Yei's stress was clear, even if she didn't know how to express it fully. She had wanted nothing more than a better life for both herself and her family, but being the Avatar hadn't exactly been in her list of options. She had wanted to simply be an ordinary Fire Nation girl, but now it was never to be. No, she had a greater purpose to fulfil and for years little had been done not to remind her of it. With tensions growing the world needed her.

Despite her distress, Yei's eyes lit up when Asuna mentioned going out. She did like the idea, but quickly other concerns filled her mind. Certainly she had little in the way of fancy clothing for such an event, and everybody knew that typically only the most powerful of Earth Kingdom citizens came to this renowned academy. Somehow being the Avatar granted privileges Yei didn't even feel like she deserved. She simply wanted to be herself if she couldn't at least have a normal life. "Go out? Go out where exactly? It's not like I have much to wear if you plan on taking me somewhere fancy. It would be nice to get away from here for a few hours, though." She admitted, offering her friend a small smile as she pulled out her braid.

"Oh, and if anybody asks I'm just a non-bender. I'd rather not have ogling eyes on me tonight if I agree to go with you." Yei jested, simply referring not to be the centre of attention. She felt fortunate such a topic was unlikely to ever come up, protecting her secret just a little bit longer. Even her Fire Nation heritage was safer to disclose, despite a lingering reputation due to historic events she preferred not to think about.

[SithInquisition]

Asuna reached up to pull her earrings off placing them down on the desk. Next was her necklace and before long her dress. Asuna had never been ashamed about her body nor changing in front of other people. She grabbed some more common clothes (still incredably beautiful) and put them on. She didn't adjust her hair nor her make-up. She simply looked fine and rich in semi-causal clothing. "There's a fight tonight, let's go to that."

The two girls hit the town off towards the stadium where people got they're teeth knocked out for fun and of course money. "You don't have to look fancy here nor do you have to talk to anyone besides me," she shrugged kicking a rock down the street. She smiled down at her friend before retrning her gaze to the street. Night life in the capital had gotten significantly better for the past couple years. More people and more to do. Stopping at a stand she bought a bottle of clear liquid that was most certainly not water. She tucked it into her jacket. she knew of the great responsibilities that came with being the Avatar, while she didn't want to impede her growth she didn't think that she didn't deserve a fun night every once in awhile.

Opening the bottle she took a swig before handing it to her friend. Her look said, I know that you're scared that you won't be a good avatar, but drink just for tonight.
The crowd grew thick in one of the streets. There was a lot of yelling and panic really. "What's going on here?" Asuna knew how to handle a crowd. She displayed a certain body-language that said, I know exactly what I'm to do.

The crowd split to let the two pass clearly at a loss of what to do. Shifting her foot she could feel the waves coming off each person was doing. Two unknown travellers were on the ground moaning, and another had robbed a merchant or so it seemed.

Shifting her blue eyes over to the two who had fallen she frowned, deeply concerned. "What happened here?" Dressed in a dark green skirt with a vest clipped over to one side, hugging her waist she she looked like some rich daughter. Her boots were black with a massive heal at the end. Her hair was done up and her make-up on point.

[Bionicllama]

Oh man this is awesome! His first night in Ba Sing Se and Zian was already impressed. The food was fantastic and the people were mostly fun. Food stalls and games were open to the public and young people all around were enjoying themselves. Overhead he saw someone on a glider harassing the people below and he sighed. He seemed like an Air Nomad but at the same time was acting like a drunkard. Some people have no respect for their heritage. He wasn't at all surprised when he heard a large crash and a crowd of people gathering at the scene. "Oh boy...guess I should see what kind of structural damage was caused, shouldn't I?"

Finishing off the last pork bun he wiped his hands and started walking over to the injured boy and his victim. Thankfully there wasn't too many people and it had him thinking that things like this happened on a fairly regular basis. "What happened here?"

Zian had to try his hardest not to blush at the aristocrat as he walked forward. "Seems like an Airbender having just a little too much fun, or maybe he tried to aim for the innocent victim groaning beneath him." Looking at the boy's side he let out a low whistle. It was already bruising and mostly likely broke a rib or two. "I think a trip to the hospital is in order though, unless you like walking around with broken bones." He gently tucked one of his arms under his and looked up at the two women. "Mind helping me with this?"

[Nachthexe]

A fight? Yei wasn't terribly fond of the idea. She knew trouble always seemed to stem from conflict, something that her time spent among the Air Nomads had firmly reminded her of. She was inclined to believe it correct, even if she wasn't so naive to reject the necessity of conflict entirely. Nonetheless, the idea of watching a fight suddenly seemed refreshing. It meant less attention would be on her with more towards the ring. It was those within who truly mattered. Unfortunately, it meant those prone to violence were bound to be in the vicinity. Yei only hoped to not get caught up in the middle of it, not wanting to have to explain to anybody who she really was.

Once dressed and feeling slightly more confident as she always did by Asuna's side, Yei slipped out the door alongside her. Leaving the academy behind and finding herself in the busy streets of Ba Sing Se was a large transition, but not beyond anything she couldn't handle. Navigating a few streets was nothing compared to everything she had had to endure over her lifetimes and she knew it. In some ways it was almost a motivation to remain confident and strong; streets were only a minor hinderance and one easily passed as long as she kept a low profile. She knew people were desperate for their Avatar; their saviour. The nations were growing unstable and even the greatest politicians seemed to be running out of options.

The worst is yet to come... Yei imagined herself caught among a barrage of all the world's powers, thrown into yet another war. She nearly screamed before glancing over at Asuna and taking the bottle from her. Without any second thoughts, she began to chug the clear liquor within. "Thanks, I needed that." She blurted out as she passed the bottle back while attempting to repress a particularly loud belch. Just above Yei felt a gust of air blow over her. She hadn't thought much of it until she heard crashes and a pair of moans. Following Asuna, she took a quick glance and quickly drew the simplest conclusion: a rogue Airbender had decided to play.

"I never imagined it would be like your type to come into these cities and create trouble. Don't the monks have an ancient teaching about that or something?" Yei jested, although with a hint of genuine curiosity in her voice. Like bending, she knew she still had plenty of the spiritual stuff to master and the Air Nomads were among the best. It was a certain trait that had quickly increased her respect for them while living and training with them. Still, she knew there was so much she didn't know, making this fallen Airbender into a curiosity.

Yei continued to eye the Airbender boy cautiously as others tended to her. She knew tensions were increasing between the nations and, by extension, malice towards her own. Sins of the past were truly never atoned for and one word in particular stained her mind as she realized she was very much donning the colours of the Fire Nation: genocide. There was simply no escaping the past and reality was that her own people had done some terrible things in the past. Did this Airbender boy also see it in this very moment? Was he too just another victim of whoever was spreading propaganda about each of the four nations?

[Zulera301]

"Follow the music", she said, "It'll be fun", they said.
Perhaps Kiera just needed a better idea of 'fun'.
For that matter, the whole thing was really fucking ironic right about now, considering that there was no music, and instead Kiera was simply presented with the sound of commotion in the distance. Of course, that was still actiony enough that she wanted to get in on it (or at least see what it was about), and so even if it was not music and partying like she hoped, she figured that it wouldn't be a dull evening after all.

By the time she arrived there, there was already a gathering of people and it looked like some were injured. She was generally passive and evasive like many airbenders were, and since she wasn't a healer, she decided not to get involved. She didn't know anyone here, and as far as they cared, she too was a nobody. The only thing that might make her stand out were her orange Air Nomad robes, but that couldn't be helped. Air Nomads were fairly rare in any part of the world, and so even in the large cities of the other three nations, seeing more than a couple at a time was generally a rare sight.

She did not interact with anyone just yet, but it was clear from the way her eyes were moving that she was sizing people up for one reason or another, otherwise remaining motionless. Waiting and listening might give her the information she wanted--and reveal to her just what was going on here.

[deamonstalker]

Seiko groaned a little as he rose to his feet, mostly out of habit than any injury he received from the collision. "There's no need to go to a hospital. I can get him patched up easily enough." He said, readjusting his cloak and checking on his old Fire nation sword. His clothing in order once more, He glanced down at the now-empty canteen laying at the feet of a couple of younger ladies, one dressed in Earth kingdom clothing, holding herself with poise, and the other in Fire nation clothing, currently teasing the kid who had crashed into him. Sighing, he tried to bend the spilled water, but was only able to pick the canteen up with the remaining water that was inside. Calling it enough, he pulled it to his hand before closing the cap and putting it away.

His belongings in order; he turned to the helpful young man trying to pick the kid up, and said, "It's up to him though."

[Splat]

Nilak was skimming through one of the books in her collection when a loud crash startled her awake. She ran to the window and saw that someone had collided with a nearby stall. It looked like the people involved had sorted out their injuries, but she went outside to check just in case. Among the crowd gathered were a Fire Nation girl and an earthbender. Nilak's eyes lingered for a while on the girl in red. What is someone from the Fire Nation doing in Ba Sing Se, she wondered, but dismissed the thought. Someone could easily ask that about her, she realized. She kinda stood out in her bright blue clothing. She looked down at the people who caused the crash; one was a waterbender and the other, Nilak guessed, was an airbender, judging by the staff.

"Is everything alright over here? What happened?" Nilak asked. Most of the crowd had become disinterested and went off to what they were doing, but the Fire Nation girl and her friend had stayed. Nilak waited patiently for an answer from one of the bystanders, and wanted to make sure everyone was unharmed.

[Jinn]

“Oh good.” Trying to feign fineness, the Airbender rolled over onto his backside and stretched. The pain that rattled through his chest made him cringed but he tried his best to ignore it.

“Yes, I’m fine. In fact I never felt better in my whole life.” Ekavir exhaled slowly and swiveled his white fluffy head to search for his staff. He hoped it hadn’t been broken in the collision. Though currently he couldn’t place the item and got a little worried. If his chances of trying to hide all this from Gyilang was pretty good, it was zip now. “Don’t mind me.”

When he heard someone ask if they were okay, he carefully sat up. Ekavir hadn’t noticed the crowd before, taking note of the two female’s looking at them in concern. Especially the one wearing fire nation clothing. Before he could curty reply however, someone decided to take it upon themselves to try and lift him up. The Nomad stared at him for a good second before he registered what he said.

“Hell no. I’m not going to a hospital.” Ekavir puffed up some air to show his protest and blew a gust, sticking his tongue out. “And yes, I suppose we are taught that. Though I’m not a very good listener.” He swatted away the other lightly, quickly pushing himself to his feet and sucking in the pain. “Good thing. I missed all those lessons about Genocide. And those lessons about forgiveness too.” If it was one thing that he couldn’t stand, it was the fact that benders used their abilities to hurt each other.

He heard the victim offer to heal him instead, but from the sound of things, he wasn’t doing very well. No matter. The Nomad stared down the fire girl, searching for her reaction before turning away and looking to the waterbender. “If you can, that would be a life-saver. Sorry again…..” He sighed and rubbed the back of his head, giving him a small smile.

Someone else came running along, showing her concern and he wondered if people in the city were always so nosy. “We’re fine, I’m fine. Or I will be.” He glanced to the fire girl again, mixed emotions stormily twirling. Perhaps that was a bit harsh. But whatever, he didn’t care at this point.

[Bionicllama]

"Take that back and apologize." Zian crossed his arms and brandished his Fire Nation-style glove. "You shouldn't disrespect those that offer you help, you know? I don't care if you don't listen to your teachers but even the most uneducated know common decency don't you think?" He began to stare daggers at the young Air Bender. "Besides, the genocide was almost 200 years ago conducted and ordered by a tyrant who is long dead. Don't try and bring up ancient history and peg it on people that had nothing to do with it. After all, boys who play with fire tend to get burned." Turning on his heel he started to walk away. It seemed that no matter where he went the genocide of the Air Nomads still followed him around. And not just him but every Fire Nation citizen who proudly wore their colors. "Pft, damn kids..."

[Nachthexe]

Yei continued watching the airbender boy and the others gathering around him with intrigue. She took particular interest in how one of the boys proceeded to heal through waterbending. To her, it was one of the more respectable sides of Waterbending, but she knew she was far from mastering it; she was never meant to be a healer. She was the Avatar and had different duties in this time of tension building up between the nations. Whoever was spreading propaganda to turn the nations against each other seemed to be succeeding and it was scaring the Fire Nation girl.

The propaganda appeared to be doing its job well as Yei listened to the Airbender spoke. She rolled her eyes, prepared to speak up. How was she responsible for the crimes of people hundreds of years ago? She was merely an insignificant speck on the world, or at least it was what she strove for. She didn't want to be part of anything larger, and allegedly others didn't want to either.

"He's right you know. You can't blame us for the actions of a man long dead. Our nation has progressed and Fire Lord Zuko, a name well-respected all throughout the Fire Nation, saw to it." Yei blurted out, glancing over at the Fire Nation boy and then the Airbender. Suddenly she felt powerless, knowing it was just another one of her duties to potentially stop conflict before it started. She feared this was just the beginning; if nations were hostile then what was truly stopping them from picking up arms and going to war? "So whatever you've been being told about us and being violent and aggressive do not listen to it."

Violence. Aggression. Those were the exact two things Yei was hoping to never again see from her nation, yet in the corner of her eye she saw flames: flames colliding directly into one of the city's buildings, followed by frantic screaming as its occupants attempted to flee. She looked on in disbelief for several moments, deciphering a way to help. Closely examining the scene she saw her exact worst fears realized.

Firebenders. It was unmistakably Firebenders causing what was quickly becoming little more than carnage and destruction. Oh why would you do this? Why now when hatred is already growing? Yei pleaded to herself, leaving Asuna's side at last. Somebody had to step up and stop it. Suddenly it seemed right for it to be a Fire Nation citizen. Suddenly Yei, on one rare occasion, actually felt eager to act.

"I don't know what you intend to gain from harming innocents, but I don't see anything good coming from it." Yei scanned the crowds and quickly made out who were unmistakably the culprits. Donned in their crimson robes, and more unusually, masks that resembled dragons, she faced them. Immediately the stuff of nightmares began to present itself in her mind. What if they were an organized group what if they had been hired by somebody to attack in a city centre where many would witness? Perhaps by the Earth Kingdom itself to push war? Such possibilities entered her mind, but she didn't want to accept any of the sort. Not yet. Surely none of the nations were so desperate for war they would harm their citizens? Nonetheless, there was no taking chances and Yei readied herself in a fighting stance. Eyeing the first masked attacker, she unleashed a flurry of punches, launching a series of fireballs towards him.

[Splat]

Nilak watched the scene unfold between the airbender boy and the young fire nation girl. "She's right. Not all firebenders are bad. In fact, my aunt is a firebender," she blurted out, wanting to end the awkward tension. She had a feeling that it wouldn't help. Before anyone could respond, however, a roar of flame could be heard from behind them. Nilak whirled around to see a massive fire envelop a nearby building. People were screaming and running from the burning structure.

"There's no way that was an accident," thought Nilak as she followed the young firebender towards the scene. She caught the sight of the unmistakable colors of the Fire Nation. The culprits turned around at their approach, and, despite the attempts of a peaceful resolution, began to attack. The Fire Nation girl quickly took on the closest assailant, unleashing a barrage of fire towards him. Nilak went to work trying to put out the fire, bending a large stream from a nearby fountain. Another large masked man ran towards the other girl from behind, and Nilak quickly sent a group of icicles to distract him.

The man became enraged and sent a torrent of fire in her direction, which Nilak barely evaded by moving the wall of water in front of her. She pushed the tsunami around her attacker and froze him in that position, giving her time to plan what to do next.

[Bionicllama]

The building exploded right in front of Zian's eyes. Flame and debris came crashing down on stalls and people alike. At first he was confused but soon it became clear where the fire had come from. A group of masked men came out wearing masks and red robes. Looking at him they punched as fire came shooting his way. He rolled out of the way and took cover behind a fountain where the Water Bender from before was holding others at bay. "Ok, this is so not helping my argument!" Unsheathing his sword Zian darted from cover to cover gaining ground on the trio of enemy benders. Flames licked at his body but he was too fast for them to get a good hit.

Using his sword he tripped the closest man in front of him and he went crashing to the ground. The other tried to use a fire punch in close range but Zian parried his arm away and sent multiple blows to his arms and chest blocking his bending. He was too slow, however, to notice the third bender crashing down on top of him with his leg enveloped in flames. His shoulder got caught in the hit and he screamed out in pain. Damn it, I think it's dislocated... "You know, those are some pretty cool masks. Wonder how good they'll look on my wall." Sheathing his sword he ran at the man in a blur. He attempted to shoot more fire blasts but Zian was far too quick again sending blows to his arms and chest, while giving him a kick in the groin for good measure.

Bending down he unstrapped the dragon mask and put it on his belt. He'll inspect it later but for now he had to do something about his injury. Sitting against a broken wall he bit down on his shirt and grabbed the dislocated arm. Ok...one, two, thr... He let out a muffled yell as he pushed his arm back into the socket. "Yeah, just like old times."

[SithInquisition]

Hearing screams Asuna immediately leaped into action. Planting her feet firmly on the ground the rocks below her started trembling. Shifting one foot forward a slab of rock jutted down, creating a tunnel for the panicked people to follow. She jumped up quickly, fending off any attackers that came for the people. As a student at the academy Asuna didn't get to face many other competitors with different types of bending. It was challenge she was willing to take. Dodging low Asuna got in close quarters with the fire bender. He was no match for her once she got right up close.

However, she quickly noticed her side getting a little too warm for comfort it wasn't long before seering pain spread across her side. Yelping she quickly she took off her jacket as quickly as she could. In her icy eyes could only be seen one emotion, absolute anger. "That was silk," she hissed before ramping up the speed. Rocks hailed from every direction but it only took one lump in the ground to take him out completely before encasing him in a rocky shell.

With a hole in her under shirt her attention turned to the wires that ran above the city. Taking a deep breath, filling her lungs before letting it out slowly she put all her concentration into finding the earth material within the metal. They quivered for a long moment before they came crashing down, controlled by Asuna. They slithered through the air, snaking their way up the tall building that was aflame, catching the people who could not get out and brining them to safety. The metal wires fell to the ground after that. While Asuna couldn't pride herself on what she had just accomplished she did let herself slip a small smile.

The building began to groan loudly as it began to topple over. Swearing up a storm that was distinctly unladylike Asuna attempted to make beams to reach up to the building. They fell short of their mark, her exhaustion evident. But it wasn't long before the police arrived with their own earth benders. Reaching down to her side Asuna found that she was bleeding, her skin burned and blackened due to the fire.

[Jinn]

Ekavir eyed the fire nation glove and scowled, “Take that back? Once something has been already been done, it cannot be. It’s already out there in the world and people have to deal with the consequences. Some little Air Nomad who is supposed to practice ‘peace’ and act like a prude. That’s what got everyone killed in the first place. That and bending. I think the world would be better off without it.” He spat, watching him walk away in a flaring rage.

He turned to the girl. “But-“

Ekavir’s words were interrupted as a flaming ball of fire shot forth from out of nowhere. Not a source that he could see anyhow.

The Nomad pushed the healer, tackling him to the ground in the nick of time. “AND YOU WANTED ME TO TAKE THAT BACK.” He shouted, something exploding off to the side. Flying to his feet, he stared for a moment in disbelief. There was fire everywhere now. Engulfing the street and burning the shops to a crispy nothing. The lighting reflected in an ominous dance, shading the fire benders dressed in red and donning masks. They must have used his accident as a cover.

A few seemed to decide that taking out the Air Bender was a good idea and Ekavir spun in a huge burst, flying upwards to the nearest not-on-fire roof. “You’re kidding me right now.” He poked at his ribs. A tiny bit of pain, but it would have to do for now. No doubt Gyilang will be on his way, so he might as well help a bit….right?

More people would get hurt or die if he didn’t, right?

The others had already sprung into his action. Then again, those guys didn’t want to leave him alone. He jumped, passing the parkouring benders that were trying to reach him. His feet hit the ground and he rolled, pushing forth a giant gale of wind that slammed into the attackers, hard enough to knock them off their feet just as they landed. “What is with you guys and Airbenders? Seriously.”

[Nachthexe]

"Yes, you focus on extinguishing this fire, we will hold these guys off!" Yei shouted over the commotion at the Waterbender who had joined in the fight. Amidst everything, she was thankful the man had shown up. Even with his presence, however, a more disturbing reality lingered in Yei's mind. Now all her efforts to show the Fire Nation as a changed nation were suddenly in vain. Surely somebody somewhere had ulterior motives and she didn't want to wait around to find out who. Beginning a chase, she pursued one of the smaller masked figures who was attempting to make an escape. Remembering everything she had heard in her Airbending training, Yei swiftly maneuvered around him until he was finally cornered.

Glaring directly at the man, Yei frowned. "Why do you harm these people? What is there to gain in reminding these people of a horrific past best forgotten?" Flustered and certain she wasn't going to get an answer, Yei conjured a wall of flames she then forcibly shoved into the masked figure's position. Yelping, he began to flee like a lost puppy. Yei sighed, but almost as quickly as he had gone several more appeared in his place and begun to advance on her. "Yea, this was definitely a carefully orchestrated attack and I have a feeling these ones aren't so cowardly." She uttered as a barrage of flames surrounded her in all directions.

Was she going to end up fried? Was the legacy of the newest Avatar about to end in the streets of Ba Sing Se? Yei was growing desperate and even remnants of fear flooded over her. Being out of options, she acted upon first instinct and conjured a gust of air, propelling her upwards onto a shop roof. Gaining the height advantage she conjured a second gust of air, this time much larger than the last, pushing the attackers back several feet before dropping to the ground.

With the attackers temporarily stunned, Yei dropped off the roof and proceeded to make an escape of her own. Before she could advance far was stopped dead in her tracks. She, a Firebender, had just Airbent in front of the prying eyes of many. Surely somebody would have witnessed. Surely the one secret she had been trying to conceal was finally out. "Oh no..." She cried, carefully eyeing the Firebenders who surely had incentive to come after the now revealed Avatar.

[Zulera301]

"Go out and meet people", they said. "It'd be a blast," they said.

Whoever was giving Kiera this kind of shitty advice really needed to put a cork in it. Or be pushed face-first into a pile of bison dung. Maybe she should stop listening to that little voice in the back of her head. Still, a fight broke out, and all of a sudden, Kiera felt an all too familiar vibe from what was happening: firebenders attacking airbenders. Now where had she seen that before?
Okay, so she hadn't actually seen it herself, but she and everyone and his monkey from here to the Southern Water Tribe had known about the Fire Nation's genocide against the Air Nomads a couple hundred years ago. Naturally, the Earth Kingdom was not left out from the list of people who knew about it. Neither was Kiera.

specializing more in finesse and agility rather than strength and resilience, Kiera did what she did best and disappeared into the shadows, trying to throw off some of the firebenders with gusts of wind and bursts of air to deflect their attacks. However, that was not the only thing to catch her eye...
A woman, clearly Fire Nation if her appearance and attire were anything to go by, had just made a daring escape by... airbending. either the Avatar, or an elaborately-dressed and disguised airbender.

As such, it did not take much for Keira's nimble agility and dexterity to catch up to her--and the firebenders as a result.
"Well, well," she quipped, "what is it with you guys and wanting to attack airbenders. That's really not cool." she expected combat, but at the same time she made enough evasive maneuvers in her fighting style that she was confident that she'd remain mostly unscathed, even if she wasn't able to stop them on her own. Hopefully the girl next to her could also hold her own...

[deamonstalker]

Seiko had been half-way through healing the young air bender's broken ribs, when the kid tackled him to dodge some debris from an exploding building. Right after an argument about the Fire Nation's reformed way. Eh. Some people never change while others do. Didn't matter to him to much, just so long as he could wear his fire nation gear with some level of impunity. Still now was not the time to be thinking about such semantics. This in mind; shortly after the kid flew off, he rolled to his feet and drew his sword after bending just enough water out of the still-open canteen to create his ice blade.

He charged at a distracted fire bender that was trying to sneak up on a water bending girl who was trying to put out the fires. The fire bender realized he was being attacked just in time to block the ice blade, but not fast enough to block the steel that cut the tendons in the man's elbows. Grimacing at the feeling of drawing blood, he kicked the man in the chest and froze his arms and legs to the ground. Twirling the blade around enough to throw at least a little of the blood off, he moved to stand next to the bender, saying "Focus on the fires, I'll guard your back."

In combat he was almost another person; rather strong and fierce, taking after the Fire Nation standard and the fury with which he attacked. He tried to disarm or incapacitate those that he could, but in chaos the best choices aren't always made. His bending blended with his movements in an almost hypnotic fashion with his ice blade deforming and reforming as needed, often changing from a solid blade to a liquid whip as the situation required. He stayed true to his word, regardless the fury of his attacks, and didn't move farther than 5 feet from her; leaving her unprotected.

[Splat]

Nilak continued to spray a jet of water on the flaming building, but she was making little progress. She tried to quell the fire before it spread to other buildings. However, as she was doing this, something... odd... caught her attention.

Did that firebender just... airbend? she thought to herself as she stared in the direction of the girl, her mouth hanging open. In fact, she was so distracted by this sudden revelation that she let her guard down and didn't notice that the masked man she had frozen was now free. Luckily, she saw the fire before she felt it, and quickly jumped out of the way. She reached with a tendril of water and wrapped it around his leg, and with two quick movements, sent him flying into the air and slamming back into the ground. He let out a soft moan, then fell silent.

Nilak tried to concentrate on putting out the fires, but she just couldn't get that girl out of her mind. What was the Avatar doing in Ba Sing Se? And how in the world did the stars line up right so that Nilak was there at the same time? As she thought this, she sent a huge wave to cover the building, hoping to put out the last of the fires. It worked, but all that was left of the building was a steel frame and charred rubble.

Now that that was done, Nilak ran over to the Fire Nation girl, who was fighting with another airbender that Nilak didn't recognize. She tried her best to hold off asking questions until after the fight, but she found it very hard to hide her enthusiasm. Another attacker came in from the left, and Nilak sent a flurry of icicles his way, glad to have something to distract her thoughts.

[Bionicllama]

"Well, that's something you don't see everyday." His vision was partially cut off but Zian was certain that he saw a Firebender use Airbending. Getting to his feet he rolled his shoulder went back into the fray. There were still a few terrorists left standing and he couldn't ask any questions if they were still up and kicking. With a combination of chi-blocking and cutting tendons he made quick work of many of the benders. "Huh, I don't think I killed any of them." Above him he heard creaking and cracking. Looking up he saw the smolders of a burnt building starting to topple. "Oh shi-" Jumping as far as he could the side the remnants of the building fell on top of him. Half of his body was caught underneath and it didn't seem like he could wriggle out of it. "You gotta be kidding me!"

Hearing footsteps close by Zian looked back to find a dragon mask looking back at him. "Oh, hey, would you mind helping me with this? I seem to be a little bit stuck." The man shook his head and held a fireball in his hand. Well damn, and I thought I made a new friend.

[SithInquisition]

Hearing footsteps close by Zian looked back to find a dragon mask looking back at him. "Oh, hey, would you mind helping me with this? I seem to be a little bit stuck." The man shook his head and held a fireball in his hand. Well damn, and I thought I made a new friend...

Asuna unfortunately has to watch as the building fell to ruins. Even with her burnt up side she managed to get over to see if anyone was hurt. There was as it so happened. The Firebender hadn't seen her coming plus she had the hight advantage. Rocks flew from different directions before the ground fell out from under him. Before he could fall into the hole she snapped the ground back into place, he wailed and screamed both legs broken.

Turning to the non-bender she sighed heavily. Her eyes closed for a long moment. The building began to rumble. It quivered and shook but slowly began to raise off the ground. Crying out at the effort Asuna summoned rocks to keep her from slipping. Beads of sweat fell down her temples. The building rose just far enough for the trapped victim to quickly crawl out. The building fell back down instantly after he was safe. "You're not hurt a-are you...?" The bender's glorious eyes turned up in her head and she passed out falling to the ground. Her side was bleeding still. Somehow with her face covered in dirt and grim there was something still attractive about her. As if she was a fallen angel.

[Nachthexe]

With the attitudes of those around her shifting, Yei felt herself growing increasing uneasy. As she again began moving, she shot out a barrage of flames towards the masked men. As expected, at least a few seemed to be focused exclusively on her. She only expressed mild surprise at the endeavour. Had they seen her Airbending stunt? There was only a single person who could bend both fire and air, and surely Ba Sing Se was one of the last places they had expected to see such a person while the world was on the brink of war. Still, Yei wasn't going to allow these men to further terrorize people, tainting the already demonized Fire Nation.

Yei hated to see her home and everybody in it associated with the crimes of the past, but surely it was exactly what the masked men had in mind. As they continued their assault it became clearer and clearer it had been a planned attack. Too bad they never anticipated me being here... Yei shook her head as she turned to face the man who appeared to be leading the others. She gave him a cold glare before focusing on the others who had joined the fight. Did power come in numbers? She was about to find out. "This man here. He is the one responsible!" She declared, pointing towards him before settling her gaze on a single point on his mask. "The Fire Nation is your home too. Hasn't the world suffered enough at our hands?"

Taking in each of Yei's words, the masked man cackled. "Really? You think this is about the past, Avatar?" Yei gasped as the man put special emphasis on his last word. He was at least one among many who now knew, and surely there were those who would not hesitate to use it against her. This man and everything he surely had had in mind upon planning the attack entered her own mind. None of it was pleasant. "You have to rely on these others to help you save these people? You're weak." The man taunted, sending another barrage of flames towards her. She yelped as she felt the heat of the flames against her skin. Burns.

Recollecting herself amidst her minor burns, Yei confronted her attacker. Stretching her arms out in front of her she began to produce a series of sparks. Momentarily they spun around her fingers before gathering into a larger and more powerful bolt of electricity that hit the man head on. With that, he collapsed to the ground. Almost immediately action ceased around him as the remainder of the masked figures gathered around him. The largest took his leader up into his arms and began leading the others out of the city.

"Don't bother pursuing them. They're not worth the trouble, especially since they're leaving us alone on their own terms." Yei grumbled as she collapsed to the ground, fairly winded from the drawn out battle. She only hoped the others who had gathered to fight were willing to obey. She didn't want any blood on her hands. Certainly not now when she was fairly certain more than just the masked men had witnessed her Airbending. It was a revelation she knew had potential to change a lot for a lot of different people, but most of all it was one not everybody took kindly to. Past wars had proven a lot more than the Fire Nation girl liked to admit.

[Zulera301]

"keep your distance," they said, "they won't find your body in 5 different districts if you do," they said.

Maybe that advice was right this time. Kiera avoided the conflict, knowing that these powerful and dangerous firebenders would have an edge over her if she got too close. instead, she watched from her vantage point, not wanting to get too close to what she knew was a dangerous situation. as long as they didn't notice her, she was content with being where she was.

Besides, it seemed that the avatar could fend for herself. That big ol' bolt of lightning sent most of them running. Well, Kiera was certainly not about to go after them. She was only a deadly fighter when she was stealthed, and armed with something more than just a glider. Whatever the case, this time she actually spoke more directly to her. So this was the avatar, huh? Kiera wasn't good with names, and didn't care much for them either way considering that she usually just made up nicknames for people anyways.

"Well of all people to run into in this titanic walk-up flat the avatar was one of the ones I probably expected to cross paths with the least." the airbender quipped, offering her hand. "What brings you here, if it's not too much to ask?" It wasn't like she could talk much. She had only been in the city a few hours as well, but surely wherever the avatar was, the action would be close by. and that was what Kiera wanted for the moment--action. Then again, what had just happened might have also been a little too "actiony". It was hard to tell.

[deamonstalker]

Seiko sheathed his blade, freshly cleaned, and said, "Anyone hurt?" As he surveyed the group near the avatar. He didn't really care one way or another whether she was indeed the avatar, only that she helped save people's lives. This fight was meaningless, but hopefully no one innocent was killed in the chaos. Doing a quick head count for the people from the initial air bending incident, he only counted four of the six people, plus another air bender. "Where's the earth bender and the other Fire Nation guy?" He asked, looking around seeing only smoldering rubble and a few small fires down the street from them.

While waiting for a response, he doused some of the smaller fires with what was left of his ice sword. The water weapon nothing more than steam, he opened the third canteen within the past hour and used it to clean some of the soot and ash from combat from his face and hands. His coat would have to wait until the drama that was about to flare up died down and he could rest.

[SithInquisition]

(Cooks the by Sith and Bio)
Zian took deep breaths and tried to calm himself. That was probably the closest he's come to face death and he was saved by a woman he's met no more than five minutes ago. "Yeah, I think I'm good, how about you?" Turning around he saw her on the ground and unconsciousness. Scrambling to his feet he rushed to his savior and tilted her head up. Gods, damn my carelessness. He held his ear to her mouth and was relieved to here her breathing. Picking her up Zian got to a safe place and laid her down.

"Alright, lets get you patched up until we can get a Waterbender." Cutting off a piece of his shirt he used it as a bandage for her side. It wouldn't be a perfect fix but it had to do for now. Footsteps could be heard coming closer and closer to the duo. With one of them knocked out and with him not being a bender it would be a hard time. wait a minute. Zian remembered he had one of their dragon masks still with him. Quickly putting it on he faced to where the running was coming from.

"You, what are you doing with that woman? Kill her and lets go, we're retreating." One of the terrorists asked Zian.

"She's already dead, look." He held up his hand, stained with blood from not only her wounds but from the others he had combated.

"Pft, let me take a look, make sure we do not have a witness." The man stepped forward along with his two companions.

Yeah, that's not happening. Exploding off of his feet Zian quickly made multiple strikes to the front man's abdomen blocking his bending. Bringing his arm around his neck and turning around he was now looking at two angry Firebenders with flames in their hands. "Well, seems we have a situation here, don't we?"

Asuna shifted slightly, her breathing shallow. Her eyes opened slightly but didn't seem to comprehend anything that was going on. Her muscles and body felt as if they'd been stretched to the limit.

She shifted her head, trying to look up at the person who had moved her. She heard voices calling out of the haze. Her head felt as if there were puppies all shoved up in it. She groaned softly, wriggling in her advanced state of confusion.

One of the terrorists noticed Asuna shifting and beginning to wake up. He fired a ball of fire at her around Zian. "NO!" Tossing the man in his arms away he spun around and caught the fireball on his back. He grunted at the impact and held in his scream at the pain. "Alright, lets end this." Drawing his sword he lunged at the two attackers parrying their punches and kicks. "You know, it's not exactly chivalrous to attack a lady who's down." This time he did more than just take away their bending. Within seconds all three men were on the ground and paralyzed.

Zian knelt down next to Asuna and held her head up. "Welcome back, sleeping beauty."

Asuna looked up at him with glorious blue eyes. "Thanks," she said weakly, chuckling softly. Her laugh turned into ugly hacking caughs soon enough. She grimaced shifting a hand to her waist. It came back bloody.

"Yei... I need to see her..." She coughed again this time coughing up blood. "Is she okay?"

Zian looked grimly down at the girl. She was in bad shape and needed a healer quickly, and he was definitely no healer. "Yeah, I'm sure she's fine." His mind went back to when he saw her use both Airbending and Firebending. He thought he had just imagined it over the chaos but he was almost positive it was more than just his imagination. Gingerly he lifted her off of the ground careful not to move her too much.

"Let's get you to your friend and preferably into clothes without blood on them." Removing his mask he began walking over to where he last saw the supposed Avatar. "When I wanted something to do I never expected this to happen. Though I guess I'm no longer bored."

Asuna gave a grisly chuckle and nodded slowly. "It's never a dull day in Ba Sing Se," she leaned her head against his chest as he carried her over the ruins to to their friends. "Thank you," she whispered so only he heard, "we're even now." She smiled up at him softly and carefully pressed her lips to his cheek. While she was more beautiful clean there was something special about the kiss. It was honest and real. Not the fake ones and gave to the rich folk she was ripping off no, this was a real genuin thank you peck on the cheek.

It was then that the two parted, Asuna was off getting healed and he was left waiting with a lipstick stain on his cheek.

[Splat]

Nilak, tired from the battle, slumped to the ground. She hadn't sustained any serious injuries, just a few cuts and bruises. She didn't feel as though she should burden the healer, he probably had worse problems. She sat silently, catching her breath, and cursing her uselessness. "If anyone has a papercut... call me," she said with a chuckle, although she realized laughing hurt. She looked down and felt that one of her ribs was fractured. She hadn't felt it before due to the adrenaline, but now, it hurt like hell.

She ignored the pain and slowly got up from where she was sitting and made her way to where the Fire Nation girl was resting. Near her was an airbender girl that Nilak didn't recognize. Nilak nodded in acknowledgement and sat herself down next to the girl. Even though it hurt to talk, Nilak could hardly contain her excitement.

"Did you just... Are you...?" She struggled to ask between breaths. Realizing she probably was doing more damage by speaking, she fell silent and tried as hard as she could to mend the broken bone with bending. Alas, she never really had the knack for healing, and the dull, throbbing pain continued. She closed her eyes, then realized sleeping probably wasn't a good idea in this state, so she waved at the other waterbender that she had encountered. Hopefully, he wasn't too busy with the earthbender girl and could spare a second.

[Jinn]

The fight ended as quickly as it had come.

Thanks to a certain airbending-firebender.

To think. He disrespected the great Avatar in front of everyone. His mentor was defiantly going to have a field day with him. All that blah blah and scolding. It was going to be an annoying trip home. If he was ever found…

An idea clicked and Ekavir hummed in acknowledgement to the healer. Basically everyone was there…including another Airbender. A female airbender. The Nomad raised a brow and sidled up next to her, his plan forming as he decided to silently stand beside, watching the exchange between the Avatar and the other Nomad.

“Well, that was exciting.” He sarcastically commented, turning to the healer. “I saw that earth Girl and the other fire guy over there before that building toppled. I think she was hurt.” The Ba Sing Se police overhead, and got to work on excavating anyone out who became trapped. There seemed to be other healers too, fussing over the people they found. Anyways, Ekavir couldn’t really tell all that much. Since he was too busy being chased. But letting the Waterbenders know would be a good idea for immediate attention.

Turned out they came limping by and the healers immediately got to work.

Of all of the people, he came out pretty unscathed (If you didn’t count beforehand). Distracting the attackers by leading them on a wild chase, thanks to his air scooter, he could say he did help…some. Though, assessing the injuries and exhausted state of their strange group, Ekavir felt a welling of guilt. The Nomad had been debating, even before he was chased, if he should jump into the fray or not. Some hypocrite he was.

So the Airbender sat, watching as fires were finally put out and some try and salvage what they could in the burnt rubble. But it looked like there was some fish to fry right now. Firebenders were attacking again. Would it turn out like before? Will history repeat itself?

“The world really would be better off without bending.” He said to no one in particular, his attention still fixed on the scene unfolding around them.

He would disappear. Away from civilization and their abusive power. Why didn’t he just run away before? It would have been easy. Just sneak out of the temple at night, stock up his bison, and off he could have gone. He had made the mistake of staying.

It would be the first thing he would do once he got back.

[deamonstalker]

Almost as soon as Seiko had asked the question, he spotted the Fire Nation man rounding a corner with the Earth bender in his arms. His eyes had widened at the sight of her wound and he swore under his breath as he ran to her side; water already flowing around his hands. This was a serious injury, and one that he was actually surprised she had done the bending feats she had. "You are very strong, and lucky." He said to her face, with his hands over the wound. The water was glowing very brightly with the amount of effort he was putting into the act of healing her wound. "If I, or another skilled healer, had not been around for proper healing... You may have lost the use of your leg." He clarified, nodding to the leg closest to his hands.

"Thankfully that's not the case this day." He added, before opening the fourth canteen of the day; The canteen he kept on his shoulder in easy reach of his mouth for instances just as this--his hands occupied, but in a position where he needs more water for some reason or another. The new amount of water added to the water currently over his hands, and his patient's wound, helped speed the process up. Even so, he was only half-way done when he saw the water bender wave her hand up in response to his earlier question. Nodding his head to her, he signaled that he'd get to her as soon as he could.

[SithInquisition]

Asuna relaxed, responding to his touch. Her skin slowly started mending itself, forming what had been the skin covering her waist. She she sighed heavily not dating to move. "I hadn't faced anyone other than earthbenders before today," she explained Softly. "Guess I wasn't expecting it." Her cold eyes returned to the scene. People were still trying to escape the wreckage. Water benders were still putting out the fires along with trying to save others. "Who could do something like this..." She wondered aloud.

Later after she had stopped caughing up blood she tried to get up but found herself weak. Looking up at the water and fire benders, "thank you guys for everything. I'm Asuna by the way..." In the hassel she seemingly had forgotten about introducing herself. "Can one of you guys help me, I need to see my friend."

[Bionicllama]

Zian had left the Waterbender to heal Asuna. His presence would probably just distract him from his work and with her critical condition he didn't want to risk anything. He walked around the battle scene looking at the destruction that happened in just a few minutes. Whoever this was they weren't from the Fire Nation. Terrorist attacks weren't their style after all. Kneeling down he looked at the uniform of one of the fallen enemy soldiers. He recognized the emblem immediately. "The Red Lotus..." He had only heard of them in history books. He had thought that Avatar Korra defeated them and they disbanded, though obviously this is not the case.

He took his shirt off an winced at the pain. He was starting to feel the soreness of today's events and the burns on his back were not helping either. With the flames and having a building fall on him there wasn't much left of the shirt and all that was left was tatters of cloth held together by strands of string. "Man, that was my favorite shirt too..." Going over to a fountain he cupped his hands in the water and washed his face. Making sure he wiped all of the dirt and soot off of him he made his way to the Avatar full of questions.

[Nachthexe]

Taking the next moments to catch her breath, Yei was fairly certain she heard further struggle break out ahead. She clung to hope that it was the city's forces capturing the terrorists. If she, a single person, could confront them then she was almost positive the infamous Dai Li could. Besides, she just felt fortunate the terrorists had fled when they did. There was nothing to be gained in harming innocents and now more than ever she realized it was part of her duty to prevent it from happening. Whoever, or whatever, this group was they had to be stopped. Naturally, it made the Avatar thirst for more information. It was information she was almost certain was going to be potentially dangerous to obtain, but now she had the throbbing of her fresh burns to deal with.

Yei tried to keep her eyes open for the Waterbender she had commanded earlier. He did seem adept in the art and perhaps he knew a thing or two about healing. It was at least one aspect of waterbending the Avatar had only minimal experience in. To her disappointment, her masters had been mostly focused on instructing her in the combatant elements of waterbending. It was most crucial for the Avatar, as they had always insisted. Suddenly she wasn't so sure, finding herself in need of a healer. "Just my luck. There's no healer around when I need one." She groaned just as an Airbender approached her.

Watching the Airbender, Yei did not recognize her from the battle. What the girl wanted she wasn't sure, but all became clear as she spoke. The words made Yi shake her head. Supposedly the Airbender had been just another witness of her bending more than one element. There was simply no longer keeping her secret, but maybe now the world needed their Avatar? Maybe now the attacks were an indication of unbalance in the world? Accepting her fate, Yei sighed and took the Airbender's hand. "You wouldn't believe this, but I cannot Earthbend. I was sent here, to one of the finest Earthbending academies in the world."

Everybody had their struggles and Yei hoped this girl understood. It was well-known that past Avatars had had their own struggles: Aang with earth, Korra with air, and Roku with water. The prospect of any Fire Nation Avatar being able to master water as easily as she had was still a very new concept in her mind, reminding her more of her predecessor Aang. "Imagine that, me struggling with Earthbending. I'm no Roku, that's for sure." She mused, glancing into the crowds in search of the familiar faces from earlier. Finally spotting the Waterbender she stumbled over to him. "I hope you're able to heal along with being able to extinguish these fires. They're not too bad, but these burns are throbbing."

Despite knowing she was probably in safe hands Yei knew her work was far from over. Approaching those who had joined in the battle suddenly brought a slew of attention and an entire bombardment of questions. One among them appeared particularly excited by her presence. She let out a small chuckle before nodding at the Water Tribeswoman. "I suppose there's no hiding the fact any longer, considering circumstances. I am exactly who you think I am." She declared, simply glad somebody was finally tending to the injured and that the culprits of the attack had probably been caught.

[Splat]

Nilak couldn't hide her excitement when the young, previously unassuming firebender confirmed her suspicions. If not for the pain, she probably would have hugged her. Finally, when Nilak flagged down another healer to repair her broken rib, she went up to the newly recognized Avatar.

"Name's Nilak," she said, extending her arm, "What's yours? Oh, and, might I add, it's a bit of an honor to meet you. I don't want to make this awkward or anything... Well, I probably already have. Anyways... yeah. Hi." Her enthusiasm was obvious. I'm shaking hands... with the Avatar, she thought, as if unable to grasp the concept. The Avatar, the bridge between the physical and spirit worlds, was standing in front of her. She had immense respect for anything spirit related, and the Avatar was pretty much as high as you got without actually travelling into the spirit world. Which, the Avatar could do, thus adding another reason Nilak held her in such high esteem.

[deamonstalker]

Seiko had just helped the earth bender, Asuna, to her feet when he heard the Avatar ask him about healing her own wounds. "I can't multitask that effectively, but I'll do as I can." He replied, calmly. not really acknowledging the fact that she just reveiled her identity as the Avatar. A wounded person was a wounded person, and someone who needed his skills. "I take it that this young lady is your friend, Asuna?" He asked his previous patient, even as he waterbended the water back out from his canteen in preparation to treat her friend's burns.

His hands enveloped in water once more, he said, "And my name's Seiko, a pleasure to meet both of you." introducing himself as he started healing her wounds. "Though I wish it were under more pleasant of circumstances." He added, glancing at the devastation around them. The fire and chaos was reminding him of when he was younger, but he put his feelings aside to heal, much like he had done then. He'd probably have a relapse when everything calmed down, but for now he was pushing it as far back as he could while still healing. His face mirroring some of the stress of his past, though he didn't say anything about it.

[Bionicllama]

Zian chuckled to himself in revelation of this news. "And so the plot thickens." He sat down within the group and let out an audible sigh. It was nice to finally sit down after what had just taken place. "You know, if you act any more excited people may think you're a fan of the Avatar!" He laughed again and nodded towards Nilak, the female Waterbender. He looked around for Asuna and was glad that she was now alright though he was more than sure that she would be feeling it in the morning. "It's nice to know that the Avatar didn't take 100 years to show up this time, though your timing is pretty impeccable." He smiled. "The name's Zian by the way, just so you don't call me 'that one guy who can't bend.'"

Zian sighed once again. "Too bad this couldn't have happened tomorrow. I was really looking forward to the festival. Students always seem to through the best parties." He looked over the entire group and smiled to himself. "We have a pretty diverse group here, huh? Every type of bender from all parts of the world plus the Avatar. Pretty amazing how circumstances bring people together."

[Nachthexe]

"Nice to meet you, Nilak. I'm Yei." Yei responded to the Waterbender without any further hesitations. Her secret was out and the woman was bound to just be one of many who were excited to see her. If the attacks and increased tensions really were as common as they were made out to be then perhaps the world needed their Avatar. It was a role that Yei knew she had no choice but to fulfil. She was the Avatar and now more than just a select few knew it. The attack had been in a populated area with plenty around to witness her having done the seemingly impossible.

Sure enough, plenty had witnessed with attention quickly turning to Yei. She became slightly overwhelmed as all eyes set on her, but she offered a small smile. "It's a pleasure." She declared as some proceeded to introduce themselves, although her attention quickly shifted back to the healer. "Yes, she's my friend. One of my first in this city, in fact. Something I could admittedly use more of with all the enemies I'm bound to make." She observed, taking a more serious tone. If there were in fact ulterior motives behind the attack and she had intervened then it meant somebody somewhere was now angry. The thought didn't sit comfortably with her, taking a gulp as she stared into the rubble.

"This isn't good. I have a feeling this isn't the last we will see of those terrorists..." Yei blurted out, sharing her concerns. Somebody would have to discover more about the group responsible if they were to stop them, and certainly bar them from their next attack. It was not going to be an easy task, an even clearer fact as the sound of smashing stones erupted around Yei and the others. Startled, she dodged an incoming chunk of earth just as it grazed past her forehead. "You!" She cried out, recollecting herself and facing the culprit.

Or culprits. All lined up were several uniformed men, unmistakably bearing the insignia of the infamous Dai Li police force. "Our job is not complete until we capture the other half of the terrorists responsible for...this atrocity." The chief spoke, signalling for his forces to launch a series of stone gloves at the group. "We do not care if you claim to be the Avatar." The chief taunted as the gloves almost immediately grasped and restrained some of the suspects. Just as Yei prepared herself to act she felt a pair restrain her own arms, forcing her down to the ground. In desperation she began to struggle, but no avail. Without the ability to Earthbend any escape attempts were futile.

"Useless..." The chief remarked, giving his forces a second gesture as more and more of the suspects were being restrained. "Take them away and ensure they never see daylight again." He commanded, muffling her before she could protest. As the layer of Earth smacked against her cheeks she wanted to gag, but such reflexes were quickly repressed as the chief proceeded to drag her along and into his custody.

[Zulera301]

"Jump out of the frying pan," they said, "you won't land into the fire." they said.
Okay, so no one actually said that, but Kiera was now paying for her socializing. the Dai Li had just shown up after the terrorists fled. Perhaps they had seen the agents coming and flew the coop as to not get caught and frame the act on someone else. If that was their plan, it had worked flawlessly. Kiera felt particularly gypped, considering that she had not even gotten involved in the fighting apart from a few defensive attacks. Now she found herself dodging rocks.

Her persistence in skillfully evading their attacks had them on her tail, but when she ran she nearly got restrained, and so she mostly just tried to defend herself, deliberately not using her airbending at all. "I didn't do a damn thing. I'm innocent, I tell ya!" Of course, everyone said that, but still. there was no evidence for this crime. Maybe if they had records of her pickpocketing or lockpicking or something then sure, but otherwise...

well, suddenly she had an idea. She immediately stopped fighting, and with a slightly painful collision with the ground, she submitted. There was nothing they could use as evidence against her, and so, welp... this was do or die. Besides, they had the Avatar with them, right?
"Man, this sucks." Kiera grumbled as they dragged her away. perhaps she could use some airbending tricks to get herself out. While she had never formally been affiliated with the Red Lotus, she knew a trick or two that some of the criminals had done to escape. Time would tell though. Time would tell...

[deamonstalker]

As soon as the Dai Li went on the offensive, instead of outright resisting he water bended the remaining two canteens into his mouth, drinking all that his stomach could hold while dodging the rock fists. His stomach full, he held up his hands and yelled, "I'm not resisting!" Though the only thing that that earned him was four sets of stone fists clamping his entire body in place. He knew that his sword and most of his gear would be confiscated; him being a water bender and all, but they probably wouldn't resort to beating the water out of him... Hopefully.

With him bound and immobile, he was dragged alongside the avatar. Hopefully his preparations for the uncertain future would pan out fortuitously, but right now all that they had given him was a sore stomach and a painful pose for the trip. He knew he was at the least, going to be banned from Ba Sing Se thanks to him breaking the customs agreement of not drawing his blade within city limits, but with the additional charges of him supposedly being affiliated with a terrorist group... His mind flashed to the chaos of his past, and thus began reliving the pain and terror through the relapse that he'd pushed back for too long.

[Jinn]

Their little greet and meet didn’t last very long after a few introduced themselves. The Dai li agents had decided they had been a part of the attack. Which was a bunch of BS considering the eye witnesses. They just needed someone to place the blame on. And who perfect than the Avatar herself? Plus others.

The Avatar would always take the blame for something that was out of their control.

In that case, Ekavir didn’t even a move a muscle from his siting position as he was clamped and tagged. There was no form of resistance…psychically.

“Oh yeah, us Air Nomads are able to firebend. We’re the avatar too.” He snarkily remarked. “I mean. That makes total sense right? Us who are obviously not firebenders able to cause all this fire. Totally the culprits.” Well, there was other ways to set things on fire (Plus the Avatar) but that wasn’t exactly the point.

“We all know our left from rights, I hope? I wouldn’t want to get hopelessly lost with you dimwits on the way. That’s worse than Jail.” There was a bloom of pain as the airbenders forehead met with the ground, nearly knocking him unconscious.

Of course. Words were always met with violence.

“Shut up or I’ll bend gravel down your throat.” The Agent arresting him snarled. These people were touchy. And they were supposed to be professionals. How funny was that?

“Well, you’re going to have to hit me harder than that then.” Ekavir groaned out. This time he was ignored, now dragged along with the others who willingly submitted. He hoped someone had a plan to get them out of this.

Today was just not his day.

[SithInquisition]

Asuna yelped loudly as rocks clamped down on her limbs. She squirmed and stuggled. She could have bended the rocks off her if she hadn't just been injured. When they started to drag her away she spat up at the one holding her, proclaiming that they had nothing to do with the attacks. This earned her a clamp over the mouth.

Silenced she screamed and wriggled with all her might but to no avail. She was dragged off into the darkness like everyone else. Raw anger sad boiling in her stomach. The whole experience was rubbing her the wrong way. It brought back childhood memories. When she had been homeless on the street. She could remember trusting someone and having it blow up in her face. By the age of six she had simply stopped trusting people. Now even with the precautions she had already taken... It was happening again.

[Bionicllama]

Chaos. That was all that Zian could describe the scene as. One moment they were all relaxing and recovering by the fountain and the next thing he knew Dai Li pounced on the small and battered group. Before he could even act rocks were being thrown at him as they caught his left hand and right leg. He cursed to himself and brought out his sword and pummeled the rocks with the pommel of the blade. "Do we look like terrorists to you! We just saved this entire block from being incinerated!" The woman in front of him didn't seem to care for his words as more and more rocks were shot. He managed to dodge them for a little while but with no skills in Earthbending eventually he was just another easy task that was taken care of.

An earthen gag was put over his mouth and he was dragged along by the earth that was on him. What the hell is happening? We don't look anything like the Red Lotus, and only a couple of us can bend fire! I'm not even a bender! He continued to fight against the restraints but to no avail. Looking back he saw his sword was now on the ground and he was sure he would not see it again. Great police work, really amazing job. You get here too late and have a bunch of civies fend off against an unknown attack and then you capture them claiming that their the bad guys. The Earth Kingdom is forever in your debt.

[Splat]

One moment, Nilak was calmly introducing herself to her new comrades, and the next, her friends were falling beside her. She gasped-- several Dai Li agents had surrounded the group and began to round them up.

"Arrest them! Make sure they never see the light of day again," shouted the head agent. Nilak acted quickly, bending a stream of water in front of her to protect herself. The resistance was futile, however, and she quickly found herself subdued with everyone else. She struggled against her earthen bonds, crying out, "Come on! I'm not even a firebender!"

She looked around too see the Avatar and everyone else being dragged away, and was determined to escape. When the agent restraining her was distracted, she flicked her wrist and summoned a small band of water to inconspicuously wrap around her arm. Hopefully no one would notice-- she had a feeling she would need it later.

[Nachthexe]

"I don't know what you're talking about! I was not involved! I was only saving lives..." The words echoed through Yei's mind as she slowly opened her eyes. She was certain that with each passing day she was feeling weaker. She knew that whatever the Dai Li were trying to get out of her they were not going to quit until they had it. They wanted something, and somebody had undoubtedly set it up. Suddenly everything down to her mere existence seemed like little more than a giant game established for somebody's entertainment. She was merely a pawn, along with all the others she was certain were all rotting away in cells as well. The Dai Li had ways of containing people and having examined the four walls of the cell for the past two weeks(or what she had assumed was two weeks) she had decided it was physically impenetrable. "If only I could metalbend, but I suppose the Dai Li would have taken precautions against that too..."

Physically the cell may have been impenetrable, but Yei was growing desperate. There had to be a way out. There just had to be! Escape had been on the young Avatar's mind more than ever since retreating into the Spirit World, the one place she could truly enjoy freedom as long as she was in captivity. The few brief moments of bliss had been times of reflection, but also realization of missing her friends. She wasn't slow to forget about Asuna and where she was. Was she being subjected to extensive brainwashing and interrogation as well? She could only cringe at the thought of her one friend within the Earth Kingdom being subjected to such abuses, now more than ever with new hunches she was developing about the entire situation.

There had to be a reason for why they had been targeted specifically. Perhaps somebody had known the Avatar had been living in Ba Sing Se? It was an absurd and farfetched possibility and one Yei quickly threw out as she attempted to clear her mind once more to go into her place of refuge. Asuna, I need to get through to her. What was that thing the monks mentioned? Spiritual projection? I can do this... Yei began to focus intensely, channelling all her remaining energy into leaving her physical body.

More exhausted than ever, Yei found herself gradually drifting away from her physical body. She knew the technique was potentially risky in her state and didn't know how long she could sustain it, but she had to. For everybody's sake.

Wasting no time, Yei carefully tracked Asuna's spiritual energy. She knew it wasn't as strong as her own, but nobody's truly was. She was well aware of the special bond she and she alone held to the Spiritual World. Truly only her predecessors understood it, but now was not the time to muse over such big questions. This was a dire situation. "Asuna. Asuna, can you hear me? I can't sustain this for long, but we need to break out of here. Somehow. Before they break me." She called out, hoping to draw her friend's attention towards her upon being certain she had found her in the subterranean labyrinth of cells.

"These men are either responsible for the attack or have been paid off by those who are to keep us contained. It is well known that the Dai Li have been a corrupted force for years. Aang himself told me much..." Yei pleaded, certain that through words alone she could gain her friend's attention. She put a lot of trust in the woman and now was no exception when she was certain they had both been played, hence ending up in their current situation. It was one that not even flight to the Spirit World could resolve. Physically, the bindings were still very much there. "Do you know if any of the others are in here? Those who were at the scene of the attack with us?" She asked, knowing that breaking such bindings was going to potentially take all their might.

[SithInquisition]

Over the many days in prison Asuna had gotten the most visitors. Men she had cheated and lied to and stolen from came flooding in once they had heard she had been arrested. But of course they didn't know that side of her. They knew her as the lovely and charming woman they had recently met. All in all the walks from her wooden cell and too the meeting area she'd gotten a pretty good sense of how the place worked.

Laying on her back, suspended above the ground where no rock could be under her control she heard a voice coming out from the darkness. She shifted, the wood groaning beneath her weight. "Yei?" she called out into the darkness wondering where her friend was coming from. The flickering spirt form came out and Asuna pulled in a tight breath. "Wow... that's pretty impressive." She shook her head. "I've been trying to think of a way to get out since we got here. There's a shift change early in the morning then another at midday. If we're going to escape the early hours would be better. I heard them talking about the others but I'm not sure they're all here."

She heard one of the agents talking softly and lowered her voice. "Jason, you know that guy I've been seeing is coming tonight. I could fight my way out when they come to get me then hide out before I can find the others."

With the plan set in motion Asuna waited for her escort. Normally prisoners weren't allowed to leave after dark but Jason had paid them off so handsomely that they couldn't refused him. So that night they came to get her. Lowering her cage down to the solid earth. Her feet welcomed the feet of rock and metal like an old friend. Her bare feet clenched and relaxed. They strapped on a pair of metal handcuffs before escorting her out. She smirked internally.

They were heading down the long hallways that seemed to look all the same. "So..." she began, earning some glares. "How long have you been Dai lee ?" she grinned, batting her eyes at the closest agent. He must not have had a thing for women she thought as her best efforts got her nothing. She huffed running her finger across the cool metal wrapped around her wrists. "Any of you metal benders?" Within that small hesitation she struck quickly. Her escorts flew back before they had any time and into an empty cell. Her cuffs came off easily and she locked the door.

Time was of the up most importance she knew that the Dai lee and Jason were not patient people and would notice the escort gone. She ducked down the hallway, feeling her way through her feet. Her eyes peeked around the side of the corner noticing that Yei was guarded. Only one. He was like a baby bird... so helpless...

"Hey there," she purred gently from around the corner. She came out with far to many buttons undone and her hips swaying. Asuna's womanly charms were far to hard to ignore and even harder to resist. He fell prey to her quickly. He yelped as the floor gave way into another cell then she quickly replaced the floor and released the Avatar. "Miss me?" she grinned happily. "Let's find the others."

[Bionicllama]

Zian's head pounded to the point where he thought his head was going to explode. He lay on the cold stone floor with his elbow propping up his head. Around him was even more stone with no doors, windows, or light to give him any comfort. How do I get myself into these situations? I swear I'm cursed. He got up and leaned against one of the walls attempting to get his head to stop hurting to no avail. It felt like he's been here for a week though he could not really know for sure. He's always been bad at estimating time. He grasped at his hip out of habit but only found air instead of the the hilt of his sword. He felt naked without it. Even though he could fight without it it was almost like he's lost a limb and was trying to grab something that at least felt familiar.

I don't understand, why keep me here? It's obvious I'm no bender and I didn't do a damn thing wrong. They've asked their questions and I've given them the answers so what else do they need? His vision then blurred as another wave of pain went through his head and he knelt of the ground clutching it. Just an hour before they strapped him to a chair as he was forced to look at some sort of light. He thought that it was just some sort of interrogation but whatever it was it was not sitting well with him.

Plans of escape started to formulate in Zian's head but everything that he thought of was proven to be useless since he didn't know where the Dia Li would come for him. They simply Earthbended their way in and blindfolded him. He grew frustrated and wanted to punch the wall if he knew it wouldn't break his fingers. "Guess I might as well wait...."

[Splat]

Nilak sat in the corner of her cold, metal cell, her hands chained to the wall. She'd been waiting for what seemed like hours, although time was hard to tell due to the lack of sunlight. She was instantly glad of her small frame, for her wrists could easily move around in the cuffs obviously meant for larger men. She struggled against them for a while, but they were just small enough to not allow her to get free.

Luckily, that small ring of water that was curled around her arm, hidden under her sleeve, came very much in handy. She waited until the agent guarding her cell was distracted, and used a small motion of her wrist to summon the band and fashion a pick of ice, just small enough to fit in the keyhole of the restraints.

Please don't break, please don't break... she thought worriedly as she inserted the pick into the keyhole and carefully moved it around. She held her breath until she heard a satisfying click, and the metal handcuffs fell to the ground. She stopped herself from shouting with glee and quietly slipped towards the door and peeked through the small barred window. The agent had resumed his duties and stood diligently in front of the door with his back to her, preventing an easy way out, but as far as Nilak could see, he was the only one there. She grinned and brought forth the small amount of water she used earlier. She slid the water between two of the bars and manipulated it so that it now faced the lock on the outside of the cell. She inserted it once more, and once more did she hear the sound of the tumblers setting into place and the door unlocking.

Very carefully, so as to not alert the guard, she cracked open the door just so she could see better. The guard was oblivious to her-- obviously, he wasn't the greatest at his job. She smiled when she saw that the man was sweating--it was particularly hot that day-- and she bent the beads of water formed on his forehead to create another, larger band. By now, he noticed that Nilak had escaped, but before he could raise the alarm, she wrapped the water tight around his neck. He gasped for air and collapsed on the floor, becoming silent. She ran over to his body, checking his pulse. She felt a faint, rapid heartbeat and sighed.

Quickly, making sure there were no guards coming, she rushed down the hallway. She got about halfway down when she suddenly collided with another person running opposite her. She scramble to her feet and readied her water until she realized that she had run into Asuna and Yei.

"You! What...How did you get out," she whispered excitedly, then, realizing that this was not the greatest time for conversation, fell silent. Hopefully they could work together and find the rest of the wrongfully imprisoned companions.

[deamonstalker]

Keeping time was a lost cause for Seiko. Torn between reality and reliving the horrors of the Equalist's prison from his childhood, time had lost all meaning for him. The two had been merging since the moment he first saw the explosions in the city. He knew he must have slept, though he didn't know when or how many times he had. His mind was at war with itself. His physical body was chained against the earthen wall, bruised and scraped from both his panicked thrashing of his dreams and the beatings he had gotten from those Dai Li that he had had the nerve to spit on when they accused him of being a terrorist. He'd told them of his past, and they laughed. They thought it was a joke. His mind faded into and out of reality often... just as it did again.

Smoke and screams. Fire and blood. His brothers fighting with unknown strangers in the snow. Four huts on fire, three gone--only smoke remained, another explosion. He blinked. There was silence, broken only by his ragged breathing. Darkness reigned, and he breathed heavily in the cramped cell. He blinked again, and he was back in the snow. The silence was deafening and he scrambled forwards, looking for anything remaining of his village. An eternity passed, but he did find what he was looking for. The skeletons of huts, still smoking. red snow and several drifts. Nature was already hiding the evidence. He screamed again. A weak cough answered.

Hearing the cough, Seiko froze. Listening intently, the silence was broken again by a faint groan. Hope flowered in his chest as he raced to the red drift that was the source of sound. Scraping away the snow, he found the face of his village elder, cut and bruised. One eye open, the other only a blackened mess. Young Seiko stumbled back, right into the arms of the one who started the massacre.

Blinking again, he swallowed painfully, his throat sore from screaming again and again within the darkness of his earth cell. He shook his head slowly from side to side. He sighed, feeling his thoughts flutter about. It was so hard to remember. Even harder to forget. He tried to recollect his scattered thoughts. Where was he? When was he? How did he get there, and why? Think! Focus! He opened his eyes, and saw a Dai Li agent relaxing in a chair, a single beam of light illuminating the table to the man's right. On it was his sword. His canteens. And his cloak.

He closed his eyes again when the man asked him for the tenth time, "Why do you work for terrorists?" Seiko was already gone, though, reliving the chaos of when he met the avatar. What felt like several hours later, he opened his eyes again. He smiled into the darkness, a new flower of pain blossoming in his side. "I will not break. I will survive this." He whispered, the same words that he had said in a very similar cell a long time ago. And this time, when he closed his eyes, his mind flew to the chaos of the break-out.

[Nachthexe]

Struggling to retain her spiritual form, Yei was careful to leave her words clear and concise. She was running out of time as she body drained of all its remaining energy. She was now quite certain the Dai Li had left her weak and potentially near death for this very reason, but the Fire Nation woman was strong and determined. She had to be if she was going to survive this ordeal. There was little choice if she was to find out more about those responsible for the attack. Now that she was involved and people knew her true identity there was simply no turning back. She had a job to do and being cooped up in a cell she came to realize it.

"My cell is fortified on all sides to prevent bending of any of the four elements. I feel as if it was designed specifically for the Avatar. This escape is something you will need to orchestrate and I trust you." Yei explained before finding herself forcibly returning to her physical body. Exhausted and drained, she panted several times before collapsing to the ground. She was certain that by morning she would be collected once again for further interrogation and "re-education" as the Dai Li agents were so insistent on calling it. Certainly it served as an indication that time was running out. Asuna, being the only one she was able to contact, had to derive a plan. Fortunately, it seemed she had an idea and Yei tried to retain faith in the Earthbender. "You are our salvation..." She uttered before blacking out entirely.

~`~`~`~

Yei was unsure how long she had been out, but the sound of an all too familiar voice quickly stirred her. Opening her eyes, she eagerly searched for its source. Coming into focus she spotted a face she had been certain she was never going to see in person again: Asuna. "You...came? How?" She mumbled, retaining her gaze on her friend. She didn't appear to be alone, suggesting she hadn't broken out on her own. It made a sort of pride flush over Yei, knowing all the faith she had put in the woman hadn't been misplaced. At least not yet. There was still a long way to go if they were going to break out and still be home free. "I'm not sure how much strength I have, but we have no time to waste. This place is crawling with guards, being one of the most secure cells in the entire facility. I'm sure you know by now as well that the Dai Li don't exactly play nice. They're bribed. THat much I'm still certain of." Yei began, struggling to her feet. Finding herself struggling with even the more mundane tasks she clung to hope that their scape wouldn't involve too much of a struggle.

Too much of a struggle. Quickly, it was working out to be too much to ask for as Yei heard the sound of footsteps down the corridor. Guards. Surely it was just more guards - guards picking up on suspicious activity. Instinctively, Yei stopped dead in her tracks and listened. "Yea, they're onto us and we're hardly out of this sector. I knew it was secure." She whispered, improvising a plan of action. With a massive lightbulb going off in her head she squealed with as much strength as she could muster, projecting her soundwaves through Airbending. At that, she heard the footsteps grow fainter. "They're turning around, thinking we went that way. Now go." She demanded, limping along for several metres before finding herself directly colliding with somebody else.

With pain surging through her entire body Yei felt every temptation to snap, but carefully held her tongue. She felt a surge of panic building up within her. Had she been captured again? Had the Dai Li found her, seemingly effortless at all? Surely they couldn't have. The thought of spending eternity in a cage was far from appealing to her and such fears only began to fluctuate as she carefully made out the face of the person she had collided into. She appeared about as surprised as she was, but she felt relief in knowing she was among friends as soon as she recognized the face as the Waterbender she had met at he scene of the attack. "I'm kind of wondering the same, but there's no time for explanations when I'm certain the guards have noticed our absence by now..."

"Oh yes, we certainly have. When will your lot ever learn. Being the Avatar does not exempt you from the law. Never has and never will." A deep voice boomed through the corridor, interrupting Yei mid-sentence. She hardly had time of her own to make her escape before her arms were once again bound behind her back. "Truly it's a pity you cannot Earthbend. You may very well be the first Avatar who cannot, contributing to your early demise that the entire world will remember generations from now." The voice that unmistakably belonged to a Dai Li agent boomed once again followed by frantic panic from Yei. Finding herself confined once again she took a deep breath and unleashed flurry of flames at the ever approaching agents who skillfully put up a rock barrier to block.

"Just because I cannot Earthbend it doesn't mean I still can't bend two whole more elements than you." Yei moaned, feeling more of her strength leaving her. With the fire having consumed what little she had she was fairly certain this was the end. She was going to die in the custody of the Dai Li and the Avatar was going to be reborn anew within the Air Nation. The world was about to enter a new era and it wasn't going to be ushered in by her. She had lost. Humanity had lost.

[Bionicllama]

Zian heard the commotion outside of his cell and knew that something was obviously going on. Many thoughts ran through his head as to what would make the Dai Li so frantic and the one that he was clinging to was that the others had somehow managed to escape. The door to his cell opened to reveal a duo of guards talking to him. They said something about moving the prisoner to another section though he wasn't exactly sure as his head still pounded. When they went to grab him he smirked and put his little plan into action.

Taking the hand of the guard to his left he sent a strike to the shoulder blade, dislocating the arm. As the victim yelled in pain he focused on the other and sent several strike to the chest and stomach, blocking his bending and sending him to the wall unconscious. He punched the other man in the groin. Hard. He was effectively sedated. Another wave of pain went through his head but he ignored it for now knowing that there were more pressing issues than a mild migraine. Bending down to one of the guards he stripped him of his gear and donned it himself. Surprisingly it fit like a glove.

Once again Zian missed the familiar weight of his weapon on his hip. He felt naked without it, almost defenseless. He made a mental note to try and retrieve it later, but after he got out of this facility. As he came to a crossroad the sounds of a woman screaming came from two sections, both opposite of each other. He was confused, though the one to his right was followed by a loud commotion. Earthbending. If I'm to find my past comrades they'll be where the most trouble is being caused, naturally. Running down the hallway he was soon met with the sight of his prison mates, and the Avatar cuffed by another guard. He smiled as another plan formed in his mind.

"Amazing, some Avatar she is." He chuckled to himself as he stood next to the guard, who shot him a suspicious look. Before he could inquire Zian continued. "But many people forget one thing...the Avatar never works alone." Zian sent a strike aiming at the arm of the Dia Li agent that was blocked by a wall of earth. Grunting in pain he recovered and worked around the wall and got a shot onto the guard's left arm, dislocating it. Just as he thought he was gaining the upper hand Zian felt the ground move underneath him as it rotated and made him fall as he lost his balance.

Rolling out of the way he narrowly dodged a barrage of rocks aimed at his head as he jumped up to his feet. Running forward he used the weakened bender's state to his advantage. His movements were slower now and Zian managed to get up close before another wall of earth formed or a pair of cuffs were slapped on his wrists. He slammed the guard against the wall and sent strikes from his arm to his legs making sure that when he woke up he'd feel it in the morning.

Taking the Dia Li uniform hat off Zian looked back at the rest of the group, sweat rolling down his face and his vision a bit blurry. "So, anyone have a plan?"

[Splat]

Nilak barely had time to catch her breath before another wave of Dai Li guards surrounded the group. Luckily, the chi-blocker guy joined them, but that did little to even the odds. The group was outnumbered two to one.

"Here's my plan," Nilak replied to the newcomer who had joined them. She took a deep breath and arced her arms in a sweeping motion. Water appeared at her fingertips, and she was instantly very glad of the humidity. She sent the newly collected water in a wave towards the nearest agent, knocking him off his feet.

"We may be outnumbered, but outmatched? That's still to be seen."

[deamonstalker]

Seiko's eyes opened to the now-familiar darkness of his cell, though he couldn't quite place just what had awoken him from the most recent trance. Then he felt it again. Someone nearby was either water or fire bending, if the sudden drop in humidity was any sign. Smiling into the darkness, he twirled his fingers, collecting a little water to fashion an ice lock-pick to remove his shackles. 'Those corrupt and cocky Dai Li... Thinking that a water bender was useless if restrained spread-eagle against a wall. Enough bending can be done by the hand alone that lock-picks are easy enough. I should know, I'm a healer.' Unfortunately, the water from the air alone wasn't quite enough to pick the hardened steel cuffs, so he let his mouth fill with saliva until he had enough before spitting it into the palm with the ice pick.

Within a few moments, he had released four of the five cuffs chaining him to the wall of his interrogation chamber. The same one that they had been teasing him with his equipment sitting on a table at the other end of the room. The final cuff released and laying in a heap with the others, Seiko took several unsteady steps in the direction of his gear. Stubbing his toe against the sharp metal leg, he cursed as he lost his already unsteady balance and fell to the ground, knocking the table over. "I guess hanging from a wall for a long time will make one's legs unsteady..." He muttered, feeling around on his hands and knees for his gear.

Finding only six of his seven canteens, his cloak, and his sword, Seiko called it good enough as he rested against a wall, and for all he knew it was the same wall he had been chained up to. Still. Equipped and free of chains was a good start to a good old-fashioned prison break. Suddenly, he felt another drop in humidity and knew that it originated from the other side of his wall. Now to get over there. He stood up and started dancing. With the first few steps unsteady, but quickly becoming more sure and fluid, he started collecting the necessary water from the air.

Occasionally spitting into the tendril of water that he'd gathered, he prepared to force the water into a jet strong enough to cut through the earth even though not knowing just how thick the wall was meant that he may blast too far or not far enough. Regardless, He was ready. It was time to rejoin the Avatar. With a shout, He released the water, cutting through the rock with ease and blasting through the wall right next to the Dai Li agents that had surrounded the Avatar and friends on one side, knocking a few down with the rubble.

Blinking against the sudden light, Seiko pulled the remaining water back and formed his ice sword. The unused water he put into his empty canteens, filling two of the smallest and a fourth of one of the two medium. Drawing his blade, he stepped through the hole even as he slowly regained his vision. "Need assistance?" He asked calmly, his eyes not exactly seeing the Avatar and friends, but rather a combination of them and those dead friends that had broken out of an Equalist camp with him so long ago.

[Nachthexe]

(OOC: Placeholder post so this doesn't get recycled.))

[Nachthexe]

Yei hated being bound up. It was humiliating and it made her feel powerless. What sort of Avatar was she that she could not even escape bindings made of solid Earth? The reality echoed in the back of her mind as the agents continued dragging her away a second time just as they had done in the square. Surely there was no escaping this time, only an impeding doom.

"Where's Asuna when I need her?" Yei groaned, quickly being drowned out by the laughter of the agents. Now they knew all too well the weakness of the prisoner they had in their possession, the one who was supposed to be powerful - the one who was supposed to have proper control over all four elements. Even more it made her feel like a failure as the very last of her strength seemed to flee from her body. It left her vulnerable, surely to be locked away forever. It seemed an awful fate, but one she knew she would have to face if she remained so powerless. "Why don't you just kill me now? I mean it's preferable to rotting away in a cell for the rest of my days since I'm useless in here." She suggested just as a more familiar essence of power overcame her.

"You can Earthbend. Remember that you are the Avatar." Spoke a voice within Yei's conscious. Almost immediately she recognized it as that of the last Avatar, a young man who had met his end much too soon, but one the woman knew to be full of wisdom nonetheless. "Remember..." The voice soon faded away, leaving a new and empowered Yei, one who had just entered the Avatar state. Almost immediately she sent flurries of flames around the room, leaving the agents distracted. It appeared to be working with them fleeing into the furthest corners.

Glaring intensely at the man who appeared to be the commander, Yei nodded. "What was this about me not being able to Earthbend?" She scoffed, focusing all her energy into twisting her hands free from their bindings and flinging them back directly at those who had braced them around her wrists. Soon they found themselves bound, giving an opening for the others. Yei quickly realized it was a chance for escape, collapsing to the ground just as she broke free from the bindings around her ankles. Drained of all energy, she quickly reverted back to her regular self, but she knew there was no time to rest yet. "Now is our chance. Let's go." She suggested, slowly forcing herself to her feet.

[Splat]

Nilak was fending off several guards when she was nearly burnt to a crisp. "Hey! Watch where you--" She turned to see the Avatar sending fireballs around the room, her eyes glowing intensely. Nilak could do nothing but watch with her mouth agape, extremely excited but also terrified at the same time. Yei sent her earthen bindings flying across the room as her short period of invulnerability came to an end and she fell to the ground. Nilak watched the Avatar recover and ran to her side.

"I got your back, Avatar," the waterbender said, never dreaming she would ever be able to say that. Water collected at her fingertips and she sent icicles flying towards an advancing guard, pinning him to the wall. As soon as she saw an opening, she took it. "Let's go!"