{Riot in Republic City}

[Shana]

Konno followed after Shien as they looked for this "Sun-Ling". This gang seemed to really care for each other...though she also wondered if maybe they were worried she would give out information. Hmm. Still, she scanned the streets, looking for someone...out of place. However, Shien had started towards a noodle shop and Konno's mouth started watering. She hadn't eaten since this morning. She followed the group into the shop and looked shocked as Shien just waltzed into the kitchen area. He called out a name and Konno saw a girl turn at the sink. She looked pleased to see them. Oh...that's Sun-Ling.

She was pretty and by the way Shien acted with her, she wondered if they were related. They were both earthbenders after all. What was she doing cleaning dishes in here anyway? Konno felt out of place as the other gang members greeted Sun-Ling happily. What should she say? Would Shien introduce her? Should she introduce herself?!

[Aziraphale]

Tangi and Ferlan walked down the streets with almost no issue. Tangi was well-known enough that no scumbags would bother her without seriously considering their actions. There were whispers in the alleyways that Tangi was not all she seemed to be. Of course, a few people knew, but they were afraid of telling. Secrets got around in this quarter and that secret was one that got quite a few people killed.

“So, Ferlan, you ever think of apprenticing with other metalbenders? I mean, you’re really good at it, so I thought that…well, yenno, if you were ‘prenticed, at least the Agni Kais wouldn’t rough you up so carelessly. I know a few guys in the business who are, rarely enough, fair to the ‘prentices, and, well, if you need an introduction…”

She smiled at the earthbender, genuinely wanting to help. People often deserved better than they got in life, and she could sometimes make things better. Sometimes.

The trek to the arena was a long one, not that Tangi minded. There were always tedious announcements and advertisements for the various sponsors before any of the fighting actually got started, and she did not mind walking with the earthbender-guy. He was nice and genuine. Genuinely nice. However that was supposed to go. She wanted to make life easier for him, and if he wasn’t being harassed by the Agni Kais, it would be somewhat easier.

The Probending arena loomed in front of them, bright and golden. Tangi smiled at that, too. Closer and closer they drew. The evening, at least, was looking up.

++++++++

“Get them. All of them. We will equalize them all.”

The man’s voice was like the roughest gravel, and held no tone of remorse as he gave the command. The company had been suffering the live-in firebenders for too long, and their power to all but cripple the electrical grid, and thereby harm the lives of thousands upon thousands of nonbenders was just not to be tolerated. This company could not thrive without the firebenders though…there was no way for them to pull enough energy in without those men and women who reported in every day.

So.

What should they do?

The benders should not control the electricity output of the city, but they do. Their lightningbending was invaluable to the electricity and energy use of the city. But if they could leave, their lightning would go with them.

They should stop them.

Technology was amazing. They had machines that could extract that lightning.

The few firebenders that bunked in the business that night would be taken. And then next week, a few more. Never to be found again, just…gone. Like they should be.

[Valiance]

OOC: Google Translate don't fail me now on Chinese!

Ferlan walked along with Tangi, and noted the sights and sounds, while trying to ignore a few of the smells, of the industrial area and eventual the docks as they made their way to the Arena. He noted a few thugs back into their alleys after observing the two... He'd never been there, so he presumed it was the Firebender's reputation... a reputation on the sight of her and a reputation to be feared... She must be very powerful and well known then.

"Um... I already am apprenticed, actually. . . To my uncle." He mulled over how much to tell her. Deciding she'd showed nothing but kindness he responded in full: "My uncle Yerlan; a family obsession ending our names with -lan," he noted.
"He was one of Chief Toph's initial recruits for the metalbending police force. A water bender shredded his knee though, apparently by blood bending; if my uncle's to be believed. After the early retirement he tried figuring out how he could still use his metal bending to live. He started developing techniques to metalbend jewelry, and was very successful at it." He heard the calls of the gulls, and knew they were getting closer.

"He used my village's earthbending techniques to shape curves into stone, gem stones, and the metalbending to affix and decorate them. He owns the "Mìmì Suìdào: zhūbǎo hé zhēnbǎo" means "Secret Tunnel: Jewelry and Treasures." Uncle thought it would add mystique and 'antique' credibility... It did." He smiled as they reached the water's edge of the bay. Though he was terrified of waterbenders, the ocean was something marvelous to him. A giant blue field of shifting sand and dirt, freshly tilled by his village is what he was always reminded of... of home.

"So, Uncle Yerlan has me go out on the streets to try and sell my wares, practice. Practice of mercantilism, and practice of 'jewelry bending': the combination of earth and metal bending. It also keeps my apprentice level work from giving his renowned store bad reputation. It's rough, but makes sense." He figured she had some questions, so he paused for her response as they kept walking towards the Arena.

[KazeShinobi]

Rinzen, with her ticket now secure in the pocket where the yuans used to be, sits on the area’s steps with a pile of wax paper-wrapped skewered foods in her lap. Five discarded skewers litter her feet, and she’s getting to work on the sixth one when she notices the people staring.

And as much as she’d like to believe that they’re staring because she’s stuffing her face rather appallingly, she knows they’re staring because of the arrows on her face and hands. She gets it a lot. She’s an airbender, a rare breed in the modern world – but getting less and less rare by the day – and that, apparently, gives people license to stare and gasp and guffaw loudly in her direction. She is aware that Republic City is known for housing all of four the world’s known airbenders, so people were usually surprised to find out that there was a fifth, unrelated specimen out sweeping the streets. In the years since she’s move to Republic City, Rinzen has become more or less accustomed to it, but it's still unsettling to have people staring at her while she's trying to chow down on some street grub.

She takes a decisive bite of her smoked seaweed and meets the gaze of one particular bystander. “Can I help you?”

The teenager wobbles in place, looking for a moment as if he might just walk off at the realization of his indiscretion, but instead he steps forward and, pointing to his own forehead, indicates the tattoo on Rinzen’s face. “Are you the Avatar’s granddaughter?”

“Nope,” Rinzen replies cheerily. She starts on her seventh skewer.

“But you’re an airbender?”

“Are you asking me or telling me that?”

“Telling," he says. "You're an airbender. How can you be an airbender when you're not related to the Avatar?”

Rinzen is not the kind of person to grace gawkers with the (admittedly boring) story of her development as an airbender, but as she was not done eating, and in no mood to scoot from her spot while her meal was unfinished, she relents. “It goes like this, kid,” she absently picks her teeth with the end of a skewer. “Airbending has actually very little to do with family lineage. It is an art of meditated spirituality. The Air Nomads were a nation made up entirely of benders because meditation was worked into the culture and spirituality was high among them. It has to do with your mind and your spirit, an expression of who you are inside.”

The teenager’s eyebrows shoot into his hairline. He speaks reverently, almost in a whisper, “Are you here to train with Tenzin, then?”

“Not at all,” Rinzen answers. “I’ve done my training. Years of it, back home in the Earth Kingdom mountains. I’m here to watch some pro-bending.” She picks up the empty skewers around her and stands. “Welp, better start shuffling inside. Don’t want the good seats to be taken.”

[Aziraphale]

“I see! Well that’s excellent for you. Yerlan…and Ferlan. Hrm, at least you guys are consistent,” Tangi said with a broad smile. She was enjoying this. It was nice.

“I hope you won’t end up in trouble for what the Agni Kais did to you and your stuff. I mean, you’re really good at what you do,” she said, reaching up to the crafted piece of jewelry she wore. It was beautiful, and she rather disliked the idea of Ferlan getting in trouble for what was not his fault.

The arena loomed above them all at once. Tangi blinked. She had not realized they were so close.

“Alright, ticket time!” she chirruped happily, darting to the ticket booth and very quickly haggling for two tickets of reasonable view to the night’s match.

“Aaawwww, yeah!”

The exclamation came from a nearby man, not quite recognizable as a Pro-Bender, though that was exactly what he was.

“Look, it’s Heatwave, back at ‘er old haunt. ‘Oos this?” the guy slurred, stumbling towards Ferlan. Tangi was in his path remarkably fast, the hand with the tickets pressed into Ferlan’s chest. Her eyes were narrowed and she did not move.

“Back off Koavo,” she growled. The man was a waterbender, a lush, and an absolute prick and Tangi had no kind words for him. She had crossed paths with him a while back, and she did not want a repeat performance.

“Aww, come now, Heatwa-”

“The name is Tangi Keahi.”

“Fine, come on Tangi, I have much better seats than that, and yer mor’n invited to come by and watch how real Pros bend.”

Tangi snorted and smirked.

“Hun, if you want to see how a real pro bends, I’d have to get my uniform out again. Let’s go, Ferlan.”

Tangi motioned for Ferlan to follow her, gave Koavo one last-second glare, complete with a two fingered point, and entered the arena.

“Sorry. Asshole waterbender, like too many of them. Used to fight him, no biggie. Our seats should be somewhere near the middle of the stadium…”

[Valiance]

As they arrived at the arena, Ferlan noticed... did he? He wasn't sure. The blue was definitely on the forehead, and was definitely an arrow. Could it... be...

-----Two years prior----

Ferlan had always been mistified by his village's lore. Before the great war, their earthbending village had been on a major air nomad trading route. A few air nomads too old to ride their bisons enjoyed the high peaks and elaborate, bee hive like caves at their tops. As if the Badgermoles had tried to accomidate a herd of Air Bison, Ferlan mused as he entered into the opening of the only remaining caves. The Whispering Caves.

~At the start of the war, the earthbenders of his secluded village tilled soil on the largest field over looking the main passage for the air nomads, between the two tallest peaks, they tilled a large airbending arrow indicating that they were a safe haven for air nomads fleeing the Fire Nation's wrath. Many air nomads were caught in Fire Nation traps, were mountain top caves were littered with airbender items, equipment and apparell. But the nomands knew his village was a haven... but everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked!
The Fire Nation's invasion finally reached the secluded village.
The earthbenders had no martial education, no military traditions. Their earthbending was to farm, and till soil. Almost a use of airbending to earth than any earthbending technique the Fire Nation warriors had seen. The village was surrendered without resistance, and they supplied crops in return for not being exterminated. The large field was tilled, to show a Fire Nation symbol, a sign for nomads to stay away. But the village was so remote, they couldn't keep a constant garrison, only patrols to ensure the supplies and taxes would make it. A few airbenders would hide for a few days, rest, recupperate, or heal, before moving on as they always do.

~~"Seeds must fall, and some from the highest trees find fertile, accepting soil." His family's passphrase and code. He ventured deeper into those infamous and 'haunted' Whispering Caves.~~

An airbending woman, with her ahcievement tatoos and and all, stumbled into the village, haggard and burned. Her air bison, burned beyond recognition and missing its tail and middle legs, was dying. The village did all they could to ease both's suffer. The nomad was bed stricken for months, as the burns heal, thanks to the village's wiseman's son's efforts. He had utilized the villages techniques to make earthcasts, thin enough to allow for growth, healing, and breath, but thick and study to shield from harm. The air bison was given a funeral and burried in a tomb in the untilled field. Over the top, a statue was erected of Sozin the Fire Lord, so as not to arrise suspision by the Fire Nation extortion troupe. Yinlan was devistated to her the loss of her bison, when she had regained her consciousness, no longer over burddened by herbs or pain. It was also when Ferzeh discovered the burned woman was an airbender, the soot and inflamation had hidden the tatoos at first, and his effective earth cast healing technique had covered her form for weeks. She had escaped an ambush in a cave system two days away, were many airbenders had been depositing a repository of their books and scrolls. The scrolls were safely sealed, she informed him, and she had to end the Fire Nation ambusher's lives, much to the shattering of her persona. She would not airbend again, she vowed, for now she could only feel rage and anger of a tornnado. She had airbended the breath out of their lungs. Ferzeh took her back to the repository, and used earthbending to move it back to their village. She established residence in a hut, on the far edge of the untilled field, near the tomb of her companion who now stood eternal watch over the repository.

Ferzeh visited this village recluse almost everyday, and no one else had much details about her. He was utilizing the dust and soil bending techniques to forcibly purge the blue ink of her airbending tatoos. He was also the only person who had made her smile in nearly a decade. He was gentle, kind, passive: until he raged with a force best left undisturbed, so much an airbender, but so rooted. Their love blossomed with the removal of her tatoos, except a blue circle over her heart and heels. Ferzeh's reminder of who she was, and where she had traveled. The village welcomed this outsider, most rumors of her quelling when the engagement was announced. When his father died, he took over position of the village's wiseman, and she aided him with her airbending knowledge. 'Keeper of the winds' eventually became her title. She knew better than the oldest farmer when the rains would arrive, or how long they would stay. The village thrived. They had a child, Ferlan, who embraced his father's dirt and dust bending. A second son, Yinzeh, was far more... passive, and showed no aptitude to anything than listening to the wind. Yinlan never taught him airbending, and he was too involved in the world to listen to its lessons, too rooted. He reclused to the highest peaks, and only came down to talk with his mother, take some food and then returned.

When Yinlan died, the village mourned her passing, and Yinzeh became the new 'Keeper of the Winds', having spent most of his time meditating on his mother's wisdom about the weather. A statue of her was erected above her tomb, the tomb of her bison... the tomb of her people. Generations passed. It became tradition in the family. -lan to the first born. -zeh to the second. Memorable names were Ferlan, the Primarch and his namesake, Yinzeh, and Yerlan. When the Avatar Aang overthrew Ozai, the 'Keeper of the Winds' was Yinzeh, fourth of his name, uncle of Xinzeh and Yerlan. Ferlan, nineth to his name, was only two... the statue of Sozin was deconstructed, and one of the Avatar, facing towards Yinlan's Statue, was erected in its stead. The untilled field was tilled a third, and final time. The soil, from the air, showed a giant symbol of the element of of air. But the people now also let the untilled field become a watered garden, highlighting both the Avatar's and Yinlan's statues. Avatar Aang, on his travels about the Fire Nation colonies, informing them they were once again sovereign Earth Kingdom territory, but dual citizens of the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom spotted the strange, but familiar, sign. He was also spreading word of his new project: Republic City. As the a Avatar was the peaceful exsistance of the elements, Republic City was to be for the nations.

Curious, and excited, Aang landed. To be greeted by Yinzeh, fourth of his name, greeted him before anyone else even knew. "The teaching of our matricarch say when the clouds rumble like the mountains, then make ready for the emisarry of the wind." He greated Aang in the manner of an airbender and handed Appa a melon. Aang was stunned. He was escorted to the Family estate, right in front of the Statue of the matriarch, and patriarch, of the family, blue arrows now adorning her forehead and hands. There, he was relayed the teachings of the 'Keeper of the Wind' and was shown the tomb; the repository. The Avatar requested the repository be moved to his new home on Air Temple Island. Yerlan obeyed his father's wishes and prepared to make his life in Republic City. Before the Avatar departed, he took Yinzeh to the Whipsering Caves, and neither was seen in the village again.

~~ Ferlan had been wandering the caves now for an hour in darkness. His guess that the caves were not haunted was right, and that it was the torch explores carried that made them be expelled from the caves. Expelled by the howls of the dead was the rumors, but Ferlan speculated that it was airbending. Suddenly he was encased in a torrent of air. A cyclone. He was immobilized and the howls of something more than the ring of air. "Great Uncle Yinzeh; I've come to ask the wind's blessing for me and my sister. I brought you egg custard tart. You're ruining it." The winds ceased immediately. Yanzeh apeared with a torch a few feet away. "Took you long enough," She taunted. "Great Uncle's over this way." She turned and started walking... up the side of the cave. Ferlan had the biggest grin on his face that she'd mastered what he showed her only weeks before.

-------------

Ferlan snapped back to reality long enough to see a drunk about to advance on him. He rdied sand when he noticed the colors. Watertribe. He assumed patience, but Tangi intervened, fire in her blood and her tone to the man. She wasn't without her enemies either, it seemed. Tangi delt with him curtly enough, and quickly they began to head to the doors. He let the tears in his eyes go to the winds, as was his family's legacy. A seed... that falls... shall find fertile soil, he swore his oath again.

[Himeno]

Once Shien had explained the reason for the gang's absence in the warehouse, Sun-Ling redirected her attention to the unfamiliar girl who stood alongside him, with a grumbling stomach to add. She didn't seem like an Earthbender and much less like someone from a gang. She wasn't from any pampered place, of that she was certain but all the same, her expression did not have that hardened, tough and rugged one that belonged to the streets.

"And you are...?" Sun-Ling raised an eyebrow, tilting her head sideways.

"Oh right. This is Konno. She's just someone we picked up along the way." Shien answered patting Konno's head. It was a habit of his to do that with those younger than him. And that indicated Sun-Ling that this girl would be a new addition to the gang.

Sun-Ling stood in front of Konno, eyeing her up and down with her hand on her chin. There weren't many girls in he gang but those who were had proven to be strong, formidable and ale to defend themselves quite nicely. Some opposing gangs considered them the weak link. That thought always backfired on them. It was the best to see their faces of complete shock and utter failure whenever the female power on the gang crushed them.

Would this girl be a good addition to that female power?

Perhaps so.

"How tough are you?"

@Shana

[Aziraphale]

“I hope tonight’s match is a good one. I’d love to see Koavo get his ass handed to him, the egomaniacal prick, but alas. Not this evening. Still, it should be a pretty even matchup.”

Tangi was really just talking out of nervousness and pre-fight jitters. She did not want to be tagged as being her, especially not by Koavo. If she got in trouble, Ferlan’d be dragged into it to, and the kid seemed like the type that shouldn’t be tarnished like that. His life had been hard enough, it seemed, and Tangi did not want to unduly add more danger and drama into it.

Their seats were surprisingly good for the price she paid, something Tangi attributed to her winning smile and personality. She waited for Ferlan to get comfortable before hailing one of the nearby wandering vendors.

“Fire flakes! Please!”

“5 Yuans!”

Tangi fished in her pocket for the money and threw the proper coinage at the vendor, who tossed the requested snakum at Tangi’s head. She jumped up to catch it and sat down happily, reaching into the bag and shoveling the spicy food into her mouth. Fire Nation. Spicy food.

Awwwwwwww flameo.