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[Schrift]

Discussion thread--> https://pokecharms.com/threads/avatar-au-discussion.22520/
Participants --> @Gamingfan, @Night's Shadow , @EnviousWorm , @Pinch , @BartenderReaper

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"Water, Earth, Fire, Air only the avatar can master all four elements. When Avatar Aang died, the world waited for the next avatar, but they never came. It has been over 500 years since and the four nations have fallen apart into war. Nobody knows how the war started, rumours say that the fire nation fell into old ways, others say it was the earth kingdom. All benders are sent to war, those who don' make the cut are forced to work in the fields. Those who don't join the war, are sentenced to death.", said the story teller. He used fruits to tell his tales about the Avatar. "The avatar is gone, they left people like us to die" shouted the cabbage seller.

The city of Gaoling, was nothing like it used to be. Most of the place were stalls selling whatever they could. Most people wore rags or anything they had. Most of it's glory had left and it was now a husk of it's past. The Earth Bending Academy, was now a shelter for those who didn't have any houses. The only place that stood up was the Beifong Estate, the rich lived there. They seperated themselves from the rest.

Hayato, wandered the bustling market place, pick pocketing from those blind enough to leave there pouches on their sides. "Like taking fire from a candle" he said laughing. He checked his pouch to see what he had managed to steal, "one lightweight money pouch, four apples, one ring and two stings of coins" he closed his pouch happy with today's grab.

 

[EnviousWorm]

For two days, Maru hid in Gaoling in plain sight. Staying in the homeless shelter than used to be a bending academy and setting up a small stall to sell flowers, Maru debated how much time he might have until the Dai Li found him.

In the five days he'd been gone from Ba Sing Se, they'd not come closer than the first chance. Maru's restless anxiety pushed him further away from them each moment he could move.

Against his better judgment, Maru spotted a pick pocket further along down the marketplace, reveling in his own skill. Maru doubted the kid expected a trained eye to be on him. He was tempted to leave the thief be, but could not.

Brazenly, the pickpocket opened his pouch and admired his take. In that time, Maru grabbed his sword, still in its sheath, gripping it in his right hand. He stood in front of the young pickpocket and said, for all to hear,

"I hope whatever you took is worth the pain you've caused today, thief." His voice was a low growl of disdain. "A whole estate filled to the brim with coin and food and you steal from those who are lucky to see an apple and a coin together in one day? This must be a performance."

 

[Pinch]

Fukushimi had been wandering the Earth Kingdom for the past couple months pretty aimlessly, taking on small bands of Fire Nation soldiers if he knew he could take them. He eventually arrived at Gaoling, the place completely devestated and stripped of it's former glory. He didn't want to stay here for long, the place seemed much more dangerous than the smaller villages and towns he'd been visiting. As he wandered the streets, he looked around at the various stalls selling unusually odd items, until his eyes settled on two people. One had their sword at the ready, their hand ready to unsheath it at any moment, the other person appeared to have stolen some things. He walked over to the pair to break it up before things got nasty.

"Calm down, take your hand off your sword, there's no need for violence. Most people here are probably in the same situation as him, you can't expect thievery to NOT run rampant around here. If he needs money I'll give him some." He said, pulling out his satchel. Luckily for him, his deeds in repelling small bands of Fire Nation soldiers, although small, had netted him some coin from locals grateful for his help, and he could regularly afford essential items, he'd even earned some excess.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Xaraia Catonia was hiding out. Gaoling was a great city... for thieves. And scammers. While she wouldn’t turn down a good scam, she’d much rather hunt for herself for food. Unfortunately, the most there was to hunt was rats, and she really was not looking forward to that. What she really wanted was a dependable water source for her to practice her bending as well as fish, but of course, she was no longer in the South Pole, and the most dependable water source around was the sewers. Still, though life was different in Gaoling, she knew this was what she wanted; a chance to fight for her people. A chance to end the war. The girl pulled her cloak tighter around herself, flipped up the hood to conceal her face, and headed to town.

When she arrived at the marketplace, Xaraia noticed a standoff. Not an uncommon occurrence, but they were always fun to watch. There was already a crowd growing around the three, and she grinned behind her cowl. This would be interesting. A swordsman, a thief, and... ooh, someone from the nearest southern tribe that she’d spied on from afar? Waterbender? Maybe, probably not. Didn’t matter. She pushed her way to the front of the crowd in anticipation for a fight. Generally when these things happened there was a mad scramble for anything dropped; she’d seen enough of them to know that. Maybe she’d get something out of it, who knows?

 

[Gamingfan]

Winston snuck along the shadows, keeping mostly out of sight. He sighed as his stomach growled. He needed food, but to get food he needed money, but how was he supposed to get money? Stealing was out of the question, and it's not like he could just walk up to someone as ask for money.
He heard something land.
He looked over to see a money pouch, oddly enough. Someone must've dropped it. He quickly ran out of the alley and looked around. A man was walking away, and he seemed to be the only one with a pouch.
Alright winston, maybe that guy has more money at home. Besides, it's his fault for being so stupid. Jus take the money.
Winston sighed, why was he like this? He quickly took the pouch, and ran behind the man. "Excuse me! Sir! You dropped something!'
Fortunately, the man turned around. "Oh? My money pouch! Thank you child."
Winston finally caught up, and passed the man his pouch.
The man shuffled around in it and gave Winston some money. "Let me just give you something for your troubles. Say, you seem old enough. Why aren't you in he war?"
Winston took the money "Thank you very mu-" and flinched, "I..uh...bye !"
WIth that, he sent and air blast from his feet, propelling him high into the air. Skilled airbenders use this technique to travel quickly in a short time. Unfortunately, aiming at not Winston's forte. He crashed into a rooftop, miraculously not breaking it, before coming to a stop. After shaking the pain from his head, he saw a commotion coming from a crowd. A dude was getting showered with money for reasons he didn't know. He felt a bit jealous, but the wind that was knocked out of him refused to return. So he just laid on the rooftop, planning to rest until the clouds stop being green

 

[NDB]

It had been a couple of days since Ruby had disembarked from the ship. After her parents had been taken from her, she needed to find a new home away from the close eye of the Fire Nation. She had heard about Gaoling while she was on the ship. Joining a small caravan once the ship made port, she eventually made her way to the city.

Ruby finally arrived at Gaoling and parted ways with the small caravan. With her scimitar on the back of her hip and her bag over her shoulder, she wandered through the city looking for the former bending academy. Ruby’s trek through the city brought her to the marketplace. There were stalls scattered all around selling anything they could. As she was browsing, Ruby saw a crowd start to form. Form the chatter of others, it sounded as if a fight was gonna break out. Intrigued by the possibility of something interesting happening, she climbed atop one of the stalls to get a view of inside the crowd. Ruby l noticed three people in some sort of standoff with each other.

 

[Schrift]

"Well if you want a fight, I guess you can try" he smirked. Hayato pulled out his bo staff and tapped Maru's blade with it. "you can have the first strike", he jabbed it at him, before spinning his around his head, creating flickers of fire. He smashed his staff on the floor creating a sudden wall of fire. "Oh crap" he said, looking surprised at his little out break. He was met with shocked stares from the crowd. "He's a fire bender!" one of them croaked, the others started broke into concerned thoughts on what they should do with him. "I'm not a fire bender, it's a little trick I added to my staff" he spluttered, as the crowd started to turn hostile. He ran towards the nearest wall of people, and vaulted over them using his staff. He ran down the nearest alley way out of desperation.

 

[EnviousWorm]

The situation broke off in vectors. Another person ran up to Maru to protest his actions when the thief tried to start the fight Maru put on the table. Soon his rash actions sent fire flowing from his staff, and sent the gathering crowd into a frenzy.

The pickpocket slipped thru Maru as though he were a ghost, though those who tried to follow found themselves walled by Maru's heavyset weight against the ground. He refused to budge.

A thief he couldn't abide, but a secret bender was as close as Maru could call kin.

As several valuable moments passed, Maru finally let the angry mob through, running in the reverse direction to cut into a parallel alley. He swore he could hear and feel the thief's footsteps apart from the rest. Maru just had to hope his instincts were right, as that was the route he followed.

 

[=Nightshade=]

A bender! Xaraia was in shock, but recovered quickly. The crowd was all around her, pushing, shoving, hemming her in in their wild dash for the firebending thief. She pushed to the edge of the crowd and began scaling a building, then ran across rooftops, chasing the bender and the swordsman. She didn’t know if Sword Guy was a bender, but judging by the desperate way he seemed to be moving, she thought it was a possibility.

What Xaraia did know was that she could relate to the firebender; she, too, was undercover due to her waterbending abilities. What could she do without giving herself away?

The answer hit her like a solid strike. She hid a smile as she jumped from the building and hit the ground running, ahead of the two. She let them pass with hardly a second glance before freezing the water in the cracks between rocks and letting the resulting ice cover the cobbled path. It would be pretty impossible to tell who did it, and hopefully they’d waste time accusing each other of the waterbending, giving the rest of them time to get away. That should slow them down. With that, she followed the other two down the alley, cloak billowing out behind her.

 

[Pinch]

Fukushimi gasped as fire emitted itself from the thief’s staff. A firebender? That definitely didn’t bode well with him, was he scum after all? A spy bent on hurting the people of this once amazing and glorious city even further? He had to know, but the only way for him to catch up at this point would be to use his waterbending to get someplace higher so people wouldn’t chase him down. He looked around for a bit, noticing a low hanging roof that could easily be climbed. A perfect candidate. He prepared himself and jumped up high, using a small amount of his power as a water bender to boost his jump and ensure he’d land on top of the roof. A couple people noticed him, shouting “look! There’s a waterbender too!” As they began to follow him. They were too late though, as by the time the few people who had seen him had clambered onto the roof, he had already moved on to the next.

As he leapt from rooftop to rooftop, Fukushimi surveyed the chaos in the streets, his eyes widening as a wall of ice appeared almost out of nowhere, trapping the crowd that were chasing the thief behind it. Who had done that? Was it the firebender? He refused to believe that, there was no way the avatar was still around, he was long gone, maybe it was an actual waterbender like him? He spotted two, no, three people on the other side of the wall entering the alley, one with a similar bo staff to the firebender. He took off after them, slowly descending using rooves lower and lower to the ground, until eventually he was just above the alleyway they were running down. It wasn’t a steep drop, so Fukushimi took the jump, landing in front of them like he’d hoped. He turned behind him and created a wall of ice, preventing them from just running past him, before turning to face the thief. “Stop! Who are you to dare risk bending in such a public place, and as a firebender no less! Are you a soldier of the Fire Nation?” He asked, his hand now ready to unsheath his scimitar at any notice of an attack.

 

[Gamingfan]

The commotion from the crowd behind Winston was getting louder, which wasn't helping his newfound headache. The roar and crackling of a fire were probably the most annoying sounds.
Wait.....what?
Winston turned around to see one of the people in the crowd summon and pillar of flame, and immediately dip, followed by the rest of the crowd.
A firebender! But more to the point, a undercover bender!
He had been on the run for so long, and he couldn't remember the last time he had spoken to a human being without being constantly worried that they'll turn him in. He needed to meet him.
He put his palms on the roof, firing an airblast from them as to propel himself in front of the crowd, and followed. But of course, things can't be that easy, as the floor in front of him had frozen into ice!
What the-? Is there a water bender here too? was his first though, then Ow was his second as he slipped and fell.
Then the third thought Aw crap.
The mass of people were closing in on him, and he wasn't sure how he was going to escape. Out of sheer desperation, he sent two airblasts from his feet, the ice giving him huge momentum and sending him flying into a wall, an ice wall. Winston crashed through and stopped his fall with an air cushion, although he skittered a few more feet before coming to a full stop. He got up, grinning despite the abuse his body had taken. Dazed and disoriented, he said the first thing that popped in his mind as a greeting.
"Heyyyyy, amigos..." he slurred.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Now what? Xaraia thought darkly. I found a bender, possibly two. Next thing she knew, a kid shot through an ice wall and stumbled to his feet, dazed. She whirled. Airbender! Wait, who made that ice— A voice in front of her! Waterbender! She was hemmed in, and not liking it. She drew three throwing stars in one hand and a throwing knife in the other in preparation for possible combat.

“You’re benders too,” she said, stating the obvious as a stalling tactic. “Don’t know about Sword here”—Xaraia jabbed a finger at the guy who’d confronted the thief—“but judging by the looks on your faces, y’all saw Staff firebend. Did some nice bending there, too, Ice Wall, but looks like Faceplant managed to crash through it with some airbending. Probably because he slipped on my ice. Far as I’m concerned, there’s no need to fight; we’re all pretty much on the same side: the side that’s pro-not-getting-forcefully-drafted-into-war-because-we-can-bend.” She grinned darkly. “Of course, if I’m mistaken, I won’t hesitate to change my mind.” Her fists tightened on her throwing weapons as she braced herself for any violent responses.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Benders came flying from the sky like meteors crashing to the earth, meant to shift everything set in place from their mold. Before Maru could call out to the firebender, there was ice at his feet. It took all balance trained to his mind and body to stay afoot, spinning three-sixty, seeing a figure close behind.

A waterbender now? Who-

He came back around to just a small enough patch of earth to catch his feet and stop from tumbling into a wall of ice. The waterbender came down from the rooftops, shouting of fire nation plots.

Stepping between them, Maru held up his sword - still in its sheath, but his right hand gripped firmly on the hilt.

Before he could speak, there came slumping into the thick wall of ice...an airbender? What was going on here? All the elements come to clash. And a second waterbender, talking some sense this time. Maru nodded, and spoke out:

"If he were Fire Nation he'd be on the front lines, just like you'd be if the Water Tribes knew you were a bender." He pointed out "Any time spent fighting one another is time lost running from the approaching mob."

To emphasize, the secret earthbender brought his sword back down to his side, though kept a hand on the hilt. Because the mob was nearby. He could feel them in the earth before he could hear them.

 

[NDB]

From her spot on top the stall, Ruby could vaguely see what was going. She saw a burst fire erupt near one of the people in the center. Fire bender perhaps. Or a small incendiary was set off. She couldn’t tell from her position, but judging from the crowds reaction it was probably the former. She watched the fire bender vault over the crowd and take off running, the other fighters following.

Ruby followed behind the crowd as they chased. She was interested in finding out who those people were. Eventually the crowd came to a stop as ice had blocked their path. Someone called out that there was a water bender running on the roof. Ruby looked up and caught a glimpse of someone running across the roofs. She looked around and saw some boxes stacked against a wall.

Quickly thinking, Ruby climbed up the boxes and onto the roof just as she saw the person dip into an alley. She quickly followed and found that there was another standoff between everyone. Her hand quickly went to the handle of her scimitar. “I’ll have to agree with Stars over here,” Ruby interjected nodding her head towards the girls with the throwing stars. She looked around and spotted the fire bender. “I really don’t think we need to draw attention from our nation.”

 

[Schrift]

"Please don't mix me with them," he told this person."If it means so much you can try to fight me, or we could escape the angry mob that will turn us in, to the Earth king. Either way I'm not going to die tonight" he said. He looked at the others around him, perplexed by how many benders are in Gaoling. "So we are all benders, if those people tell any authorities that some benders that are not earth kingdom are here, we will probably find our heads on a rock, my plan is that we run away before they try to get here" he said. He fiddled with his staff, making some small flames spew out. "My suggestion my house" he proposed.

 

[EnviousWorm]

Looking around at this ragtag group for a short second, Maru sighed and turned back in the direction of the charging crowd. Any moment they would rush into the benders' secret meeting alley and be all over them. And no matter the combined strength, they hadn't the numbers.

"Yes, your home, firebender. But don't stay too long. They know where you live, too, once they put all the pieces together."

Pulling his sword from its sheath as if he did so to meditate, Haru took a stance by instinct alone.

"Let me distract them for now. I've earned some of their trust, selling in the stalls, helping their sick. I could maybe convince them to trust me."

He dug his feet further into the ground, like he himself were the earth's arm extended outward.

"You lot haven't the time to argue with me, either."

 

[=Nightshade=]

As much as she hated running away, Xaraia knew the swordsman/possible bender was right. “Fine,” she growled. “I’d stay, but I doubt they’d trust someone who makes a habit of scamming them.”

Suddenly, she became aware of a new presence in the group. She’d talked, too, but Xaraia hadn’t been paying attention. She whirled, and the knife left her hand. Her aim had been precise, meant only to pin the newcomer’s—possible enemy, she thought—sleeve to the wall behind her. But still, the knife flew, and Xaraia couldn’t take it back. “I— apologies, I was— startled, forgive my hostility— or don’t, I can always just go back to— Er—“

(OOC: okay, implement plan Unmask the Avatar! XD)

 

[NDB]

Time seemed to slow down as Ruby watched the knife fly at her. She didn’t have time to draw her scimitar to deflect the knife, and out of instinct, she brought up left hand to block it. As she brought her moved her hand, a gust of wind followed and knocked the knife away. It sent the weapon spinning away and clattering to the ground behind her. Ruby gasped at what she’d done, and then glared at the girl who threw The knife at her.

She wanted yell at the girl but bit her tongue as the others decided that running for safety to the fire bender’s home was the best option. “Fine,” Ruby said. “Let’s get out of here. No sense of dilly dallying.”

 

[Pinch]

Fukushimi snarled at the firebender, he was unhappy with the situation, but if he really wasn't a soldier what was there to be prejudiced against? He thought for a moment, though he didn't really have the time to, and came to the quick decision that going to the thiefs house was the best possible plan of action, especially since that other guy with the sword probably wouldn't let him stay anyways. "Ok, fine, let's go then. Lead the way." He said to the firebender in an unhappy and disgruntled tone. "But we won't be staying for long- I won't, at least." He took note of the benders he had seen, he wasn't sure about the sword guy, but he knew there was at least a firebender, another waterbender like him and two airbenders, the girl of the two dressed in Fire Nation attire, which he found odd.

 

[Schrift]

An air nomad dressed as a fire bender? A fire bender that knows air bending, or is she might be the avatar? These thoughts flooded Hayato's head, before it was broke by Ruby. "Ok great let's get running," he ran at a wall, "You water benders can use those barrels of water" he shouted, before dropping to the street below. He sprinted down the street before using some crates to get on top of a house, from there Hayato bounded from building to building, until he came to a halt in front of a run down house. It was more of a hut or a shed but it was home either way. When he opened his door, his mum was waiting for him, her face red with rage. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" she shouted at him. Her eyes went from his pouch to him. "You can't keep doing his Hayato, you promised me you would stop", she said, clearly disappointed in him. "Mum I think I found the av-", he was cut short by her. "No Hayto you can't keep bringing random people and saying they are the avatar" she snapped. "Don't tell me you" she gasped, "Mum she is, I know she is, we might have a chance of seeing Neko again" he said, throwing his pouch on the floor.

 

[=Nightshade=]

“I don’t need no stinking barrels,” Xaraia grumbled as she scaled a building in five seconds flat. “I wouldn’t be able to control it anyway. But I can do...” She trailed off as she raced across the rooftops after the firebender, leaving a thin layer of frost in her wake that melted almost immediately. In her mind, she was puzzling over the Fire Nation airbender, but dismissed it as she focused on not losing Thief Kid. She landed behind him a few seconds later as he argued with who she assumed was his mother, processing the conversation.

Avatar? I suppose it’s possible that’s who the fire/airbender is... but no one’s seen the Avatar in five hundred years! How could it be? It’s unlikely, but— Realizing that he’d said “I know she is,” Xaraia put her hands up and took a step back, tilting her head down to hide her face behind her cowl. “Not me,” she said quickly. “Someone else.”

She cast a hasty glance over her shoulder. Had Broadsword managed to hold off the angry mob? Didn’t really matter, actually; if he hadn’t, Xaraia could probably freeze their feet to the ground and get the hell out of there. That wouldn’t help the other undercover benders though, so she really hoped he’d succeeded in diffusing the situation. Otherwise, they’d be on their own. Oh, well.

 

[Pinch]

“Who does he think I am? A novice? He just saw me raise an ice wall!” Fukushimi muttered as he sprang up to another roof, following more or less the same route as Xaraia. As he followed the two, his mind was focused on the female airbender, was she undercover or something? He had no clue, but if at some point she ends up accidentally firebending like that thief had done, he would know. The avatar had been missing for a long, long time though, and he seriously doubted that she was the next one, especially after a five hundred year hiatus.

He landed behind the two, discontent still visible on his face, though he heard the boy mention the avatar and felt the need to clarify it wasn’t him after the other waterbender had. “Not me either, just your regular average waterbender here.”

 

[NDB]

Ruby followed the others and up the crates the fire bender had used to reach the rooftops once again. She glanced at the others, just a small group of benders jumping from roof to roof. Nothing strange at all. Eventually they all jumped to the streets below and Ruby followed, staying a small distance behind as they entered a rundown looking house. She was still cursing herself for using air bending. Hopefully she could find a way to explain it.

As they entered the house, Ruby heard a woman yelling at the fire bender, who she learned was Hayato. When she entered to the house, she kept to the back.

 

[Gamingfan]

"Faceplant? Oh hey that's me!" Winston spoke, still slightly dazed. His eyes fell on the weapons the name was holding. "Oh, geez, sharp things!" he looked over at the other's who had their own respective weapons out.
Ah, more sharp things. Great.
Luckily, Name-caller seemed to be all for teaming up, and the others seemed okay with it, if not a little tense, noticeable by all of them holding a friggin weapon.
"Erm, I guess I'm okay with joining random strangers who could kill me bloodily with the weapons they're holding out menacingly." he dryly
Damn, I guess I'm also okay with insulting said random strangers and being left for dead.
Speaking of dead and leaving.
Name caller had thrown a knife at fire nation girl, who had deflected it with airbending? EIther way, that was not the focus here, as many of the people started dipping after fire staff did, so Winston did too.
"W-w-wait for me!"
Airblast after airblast, he went along with the others, until they had reached a rooftop. He heard shouting from two voices, Fire Staff's pleading one and a female, older one. His mom, presumably.
Despite the circumstances, or maybe because of them, Winston felt awkward witnessing this event.
"I..think I'll go do lookout. Just checking if Crazy Gang is following us."
Anything to escape these theatrics.
With that, he ran off, searching for a higher vantage point.

 

[EnviousWorm]

He stood facing them, sword held in the gedan-no-kamae style. Maru knew how to use it, and often those who charged at him could see it in the way he was grounded. What had been a group of a dozen or two had ballooned. The faces they'd seen in the marketplace now blended into a riotous haze of irrational hatred.

The ice that had plagued the alley was gone, and but earth stood between them. Whoever led the charge, a man maybe in his mid-thirties in the earth kingdom greens, snarled but seemed to waver when Maru took a single step forward, shouting, "Stop and hear me!"

Like a hazardous river split by a waterbender to traverse, the crowd circled around Maru just close enough to be free of the tip of his blade, as he spun around as if he might try and fight them all.

"Where did the bender go?"

"What of the others chasing him?"

None seemed to believe him one of the secret-benders, though none seemed please at his stopping their progress. Maru shook his head.

"I believe one of them was an earthbender," He lied so easily, though some of them had bought flowers from him earlier that day, or sold him food or tea. Maru looked them in the eyes none the same, "I tracked them down to this alley but the bender took them underground, where I was unable to follow."

That seemed to take the energy right out of the crowd. They slumped, the adrenaline of mob fury released from their bored souls. Maru explained a little further that they must be half-way to the Fire Nation by now, that someone should report this to the authorities. He even offered everyone a free bouquet at his stall the next day. Slowly, they dispersed, back about their days. Except the leader of the pack, the older man.

"I've already contacted the Dai Li," he said, almost under his breath, as if they were being watched and only Maru should hear, "If I were you, I'd be off running with your reckless bender buddies."

Gripping his sword, the young earthbender went to strike when the man held up a hand and slid himself under the earth, and away. Maru's hands began to shake his he sheathed his sword. It took several moments of meditative breathing, but he calmed himself down and began to feel through the earth for signs of the firebender's house. With what he thought to be the best lead he'd get, he started walking, still shaking in fear of the Dai Li.

 

[Schrift]

"Mum it's her, I know it's her" he said pointing at ruby. At this point, he looked like a child in a toy store. "C'mon please, please do the avatar test, please" he begged. "Fine then" she snapped. She went outside for a bit leaving the rest in the hut. "So I'm Hayato Fenikkusu, I'm a fire bender" he exclaimed proudly. His mother entered the room again, holding four objects: a pebble, a cup, a candle and a miniature fan. "There are four elements the avatar has to master, Hayato could you please" she held up the candle in front of him. From the flick of his wrist, Hayato sent a massive flame heading towards Fukushimi, it stopped abruptly, inches from his face. "Hayato, Learn to control the flames, not the other way around" she snapped. "Water, Earth, Fire and Air, only the Avatar can master all four elements" she said, placing the candle on a stool in front of Ruby. Then she spilled half the cup on he stool, the rock and fan were then layed out. "Do what you have to do" she said backing away. "Watch mum, she will probably make all of them fly" he whispered.

 

[=Nightshade=]

Xaraia rolled her eyes, not that anyone could see them. She certainly wasn’t going to give out her full name like Hayato, at least not yet. Her dark eyes followed the ritualistic motions his mother was making as though she’d made them a thousand times before. Finally, she opened her mouth to speak.

“I’m a waterbender as well... at least, of sorts; I’m better with ice and plants than actual water. Figured I can’t just let the lot of you call me Knife Girl, so you can just call me X.” Xaraia cast another glance behind her, keenly aware of the mob that was hopefully gone, more likely split up and biding their time, on their guard. She’d have to find a different disguise; they could probably recognize the rather characteristic blue topaz set in her cloak. Shaking her head, she blinked the worries away and focused on... whatever was going to happen.

 

[NDB]

Ruby watched as Hayato’s mother placed the stool and objects in front of her. It seemed like everyone was looking at her and it made her uncomfortable in this situation. She knew she should could fire and air bend, but everyone else had only seen her air bend. Ruby picked up the pebble and examined it. Something about It was pulling at the back on her mind. Out of the corner of her eye, on the floor, she spotted a few more and picked them. In total, Ruby had six pebbles in her left hand. She picked one up with her right hand and held it in the palm of her hand. She moved her hand around, letting the pebble roll around in her hand. Slowly, Ruby placed all the pebbles in her right hand until all of them rested in her hand in a neat, little circle. She brought her left hand over to her right hand, hovering a few inches above. A wind started to whip up inside the house. It was just strong enough rustle everyone's clothes and hair, but nothing extreme. Ruby felt the winds around her and pulled them into their hands. The pebbles began spinning around in a circle, suspended in the air between her hands. A small smile appeared on her face, as if remembering an old, happy memory.

After a few moments, Ruby snapped to her senses and she noticed the pebbles spinning around. She smiled sheepishly and placed the pebbles back the stool. "That was some air bending that I practiced at home," she replied softly. "That's all I can do. And these clothes I got from the caravan I rode in with.” She hated lying, but her parents told her to never reveal that she was the Avatar. She hadn't practiced anything like that. In fact, she hadn't used her air bending since she had first discovered that she could. Hopefully she could play this off as her just being an air bender.

 

[Schrift]

"See mum that was some earth bending" he exclaimed pointing at the pebbles. "No Hayato that was just air bending" she countered, bowing her head. "I am so sorry, he has brought you all here, he is just so strung up of the thought that he will find the avatar. He believes if he finds the avatar, they can stop the war, and his brother will be safe, he was drafted a couple years ago. But what are the odds of him finding the avatar?" she said, before picking up the items. Hayato stood there, motionless. He wanted to lash out, say that everyone was wrong, but he just couldn't find it in him. After a moment, he reached for his pouch and offered everyone else some money for wasting their time.

 

[Foxex]

Shao laughed and danced around as she walked along the small caravan of traveling traders. She had been with travelling with this group for several days now. A small traveling caravan of traders, merchants, and entertainers going from town to town to offer their services before moving on, she had met them in a smaller nameless town that she just happened to have stopped to rest on her own travels.by now the caravan knew that Shao was a capable fighter and is more than capable of holding her own, in the brief few days she had traveled with them she and a few others managed to fend off a rather vicious bandit attack with very little loss. Shao did not show them that she was a bender though even during the bandit attack she utilized a kicking, kneeing, and grappling style of melee combat to fend off the attackers.

“There it is!” Lee shouted from the head of the caravan pointing to the distance as the caravan crested over a hill, “Gaoling City, such a shame, used to be such a beautiful city… not nonetheless onwards we go!” Lee was a retired Fire nation artesian skilled in glass blowing and making beautiful glass figurines from sand.

Shao looked at the city from the top the hill, it was no Ba Sing Se or Omashu, but she could imagine it in its former glory, she remembered seeing pictures of the city in some of the history books that her mother had, and the strategic significance the city had during the Earth Kingdom wars, and the Beifongs. With a smile Shao carried on.

It was roughly an hour or so before the caravan managed to reach the city to which they were received with a warm welcome and managed to made a few deals already before even making their way to the main market place of the city. Shao noticed a few kids kicking around a ball nearby and decided to join them as the caravan finished its deals and discussion with the guards. Shao skillfully kicked the ball around in the air juggling it around with her feet without it ever touching the ground, and even preformed a few acrobatic tricks to the children’s delight before returning the ball to the kids and waving them good bye and joining back up with the caravan now moving deeper into the city.

Looking around at the streets now Shao could see how the city really has fallen from its former glory a terrible sight to see, even the Earth Bending academy was reduced to nothing more than a shelter for the homeless, but at least it was still being used for good. At a glace of the market place it was obvious there was some recent conflict judging by the amount of people and guards around along with murmurs of what sounded to be possible benders being involved. This caught Shao’s interest and she began inspecting the area. “Lee, I’m going to take a look around the city, don’t wait up for me all right.” Shao nodded at the older man before she walked off to explore. It didn’t take long for her to see something of interest a young man no older than she was stumbling around trembling like he just had an unpleasant meeting with spirits, after a large crowd disbursed and a lone man spike to him and sunk into the earth. “I knew it, there were still plenty of Benders around.” Shao refocused her attention on the young man, now that he was closer she noticed that he had a scar on his face and his features were sharp and rather handsome. “Hey,” she smiled at the young man walking casually up to him, “so what was that about? Don’t really see Benders that often now….” she asked holding her hands behind her back as she walked alongside the man.

@EnviousWorm

 

[EnviousWorm]

Though he was caught off-guard by the girl of around his age who approached him, Maru was able to refrain from bringing his hand down to his sword. It would have been far too many times that day for him to fall back on the safety of his steel. Maru rubbed his eyes and turned to her, offering a reassuring smile as he caught his own nerves.

"Oh, you must have just arrived; today's been quite crazy," he said, at least being able to claim some truth, "there was a firebending pickpocket in the marketplace today. I confronted him about the theft but when everyone found out he was a bender they sort of lost it. I'm just mad because he singed some of my bouquets. Not all of them, though,"

Reaching under his cloak, Maru pulled out a small bundle of white, blue, yellow and red. His smiled changed from approaching-stranger to somewhat-dishonest. He almost offered her a discount, but paused, dropping his arms to his side, right hand still gripping the flowers. Maru cleared his throat. somewhat uncomfortable.

"That guy he," He helped kill my parents lumped in the bottom of his throat, but instead he said, "said he'd called the Dai Li? Y'know, because of the firebender. And, well, he bended away. It was weird. You don't see that stuff often."

He picked up his pace from his solemn shuffle from before now that she walked beside him, though Maru lost track of the hidden benders in conversation with her, and in that lost where exactly he was walking to. It had been a long time since he'd walked simply to walk, though the luxury was never his.

 

[Foxex]

Shao grinned, hearing about the Dai Li always made her think about her father, a highly ranked Dai Li operative, despite her only memories of him were from a long time ago when she was still a little girl before he was sent off on special missions for the war. “Sooo it’s good thing right? Then why did you look so shaken? The Dai Li protects, so if that Fire Bender is no good, then there’s nothing to worry about! The Dai Li will ALWAYS get whoever they are looking for.” Shao took a in a deep breath enjoying the air, “Anyways! You were right! I just came to this city today, only hours ago actually, I came along with a trading caravan troupe of traders and entertainers made of people from all over the world, they’re a fun bunch of people.”

Shao began noticing some of the people around them were staring at her, it was true that she dressed rather immodestly for most people, but she was an entertainer, a dancer at that so she dresses to show of her form and body, it was only natural, but these prying eyes she could tell were looking at something else. Something many bandits, and would be thugs had tried to rob from her, her six solid gold bangles that she always wore with pride. She felt slightly uneasy but if anyone were to attack her she was confident in her ability to defend herself regardless if she could use Earth Bending or not.

Shao turned her attention back to the young man, “So, what’s your name? And where ya from? I’m Shao Deng, from Ba Sing Se.” she casually asked as she stretched her arms over head and rotated around her torso stretching her back as well showing a rather impressive display of flexibility. Shao had always enjoyed the feeling of being loose and warmed up, but she was getting ready in case anything were to happen and masking it as merely stretching.

@EnviousWorm

 

[EnviousWorm]

"My name is Maru, and though I was born in Omashu, I spent most of my life selling flowers in the markets of Ba Sing Se," he admitted, ignoring her as she stretched and sauntered down the street they were walking on. This was as much to attract her attention as it was to defy it. Every man they pass seemed to have eyes for this young woman, and Maru would at the least show he could maintain discipline. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Shao Deng."

They walked for just another several beats before he turned and asked, "Where would this troupe of performers happen to be? Should you need help finding them?"

 

[Foxex]

Shao chuckled lightly, "We were not too far from it, they should be in the center of the main market area. Don't misunderstand, I am not a part of them, I merely joined up with them on a whim a few days ago at a previous town just so I could have some travel companions. I may hang out around this town a bit longer than they want to stay so we may part ways here. There seems to be quite a lot of sad children in this town so I wouldn't mind hanging around to cheer them up some. " Shao finished her stretches and bounced up and down a bit with a few hops, anyone with a trained eye could tell she was extremely light and springy on her feet, an individual with some type of training.

"So, you're a florist eh? You wouldn't happen to have a flower to give to a girl would you?" she asked with a playful smirk.

@EnviousWorm

 

[EnviousWorm]

As if on command, Maru pushed his right hand forward from its resting position inside his cloak and, like a magician, produced a moon flower, a panda lily and a simple sunflower. The first was a wonderful white flower that wilted in direct sunlight, so he held it carefully so as to remain in his shadow. The panda lily, oft born on the rims of volcanoes, was the classic gift one would choose if proclaiming love. Maru assumed Shao would like that one. The sunflower, however simple, glistened yellow in the light of its namesake, as if it were the center of a small galaxy he held between his fingers.

"If I hadn't a flower to give such a pretty lady wouldn't I be the world's saddest florist?" He smiled, holding the three flowers out to her - still taking care to keep the moon flower shaded. Maru hoped she would find the flattery of his words promising but lacking; enough to mark interest but no different or more forward than she would get from any man who did attempt to speak to her on a given day.

 

[Foxex]

Shao gave a genuine smile that gradually turned into a grin as she looked at the flowers. "Now are you the world's best florist? Or are you the most crafty? " she picked the panda lily and stuck into her hair right above her right ear. "You only just met me and your already giving me a Panda Liliy? Well aren't you a ladies man... or.... a better question is where would a simple florist get a flower found exclusively around volcano tops? Perhaps you're actually a season adventurer?" she gave him a knowing wink. "So, how do I look lover?"

 

[EnviousWorm]

Maru grinned back at her and let out a small chuckle. "The choice was yours, Shao, wasn't it? The were three to pick from," he pointed out, full well knowing that she never could have turned down such an obvious choice. They made a few more steps as she took the volcanic love flower and placed it above her right ear. This Shao was on to him. But she offered a sly wink and he let it slip by like a breeze. Even the life of a florist can be exciting, but, don't conflate adventure with survival.

Shao next asked the obvious, and from an unknown depth he answered, "Lovelier than the earth shining under the fullest moon," but then without pause added, "like you've had practice putting panda lilies in that exact spot"

The young earthbender felt odd. He wasn't acting how he normally did, especially considered he had just been confronted by the Dai LI. He should be on the move. But to waste a moment such as this? Maru's teenage years neared and end and he felt as though he'd lived a hundred years in excess. Let the Dai Li come. He'd escape again.

 

[Foxex]

“There’s the smile I was looking for!” Shao smiled happily and laughed at his comment, “every girl is well practiced at sticking things into our hair with style don’t you know?” she chuckled at her own dumb joke. She gently nudged the florist, “So, Maru, got any plans for the day?” She looked around not really sure where to go, but getting lost and meeting new people was something she enjoyed, but she knew that there was more to Maru and that something is something she feels is very interesting and Shao can’t help herself to find out what it is, “Mind showing me around town?” she asked slyly.

@EnviousWorm

 

[EnviousWorm]

Maru's heart raced a little. There was something about the way Shao asked that question that unsettled him. Attempting discretion, the earthbender looked in several different directions, checking for a tail. He said, "That sounds lovely. Hmm, where to go, though?" Then he paused, as if in thought, grunting then, in displeasure.

"Shao, I apologize, but I was actually supposed to meet a friend and his mother for tea," Maru lied once more, using his unease to appear apologetic, though this one felt wrong to him, "I fear I was already late when you approached me, so they must believe me callous, standing them up in such a fashion. I would invite you along, but it's a friend I've not seen since we were boys. It'd be, unfair."

Using the earth under his feet, Maru reached out again in search of the bender-friends he'd lost for a moment. Though activity in Gaoling returning to normal made it harder to pick up on their individual impressions, he was able to remember the house as he'd found it before, and locked onto them once more. He looked around again to make up for his silence.

"Sorry," he chuckled, "I forgot where their house was for a moment."

Looking back to Shao, Maru sighed, and rubbed his forehead: "If I haven't so dissuaded you, would you meet me at my stall in the marketplace tomorrow?"

 

[NDB]

Hayato’s brother was drafted into the war too? Ruby grumbled to herself as she walked to a window and stared out. Her parents always told her to hide her bending and let know one now she was the Avatar. But she had learned from legend and books that the previous known Avatar stopped the Fire Nation, during Sozin’s Comet no less, and ended that war. Could she really do the same? She might be able to save her own brother and her parents.

“Wait,” Ruby said. She was still facing the window. “My parents told me never to tell anyone.” She turned around and faced everyone before walking over to Hayato. She placed her right hand on his left shoulder and gave him a small, sad smile. “My brother was drafted into the war as well, and my parents were protecting me when they were taken away.” Ruby stood in front of everyone and took a shaky deep breath. In one fluid sweeping motion, she brought her right hand from her side to in front of her. In her hand danced a small ball of fire. “I am the Avatar. Sorry I lied to you.”