Fandom The Greed Hidden in Power- IC

[Peach Tea]

It was silent. The stars would twinkle softly amidst the ocean of the black sky surrounding them and nearly drowning their light. Suddenly , a brilliant light exploded the dark sea into a bright painting of colors, the sounds of fireworks echoing across every landscape it could reach. Below the fireworks, thousands of people stood gathered, celebrating with joyful dances and the lighting of fireworks. Today signified a thousand years of peace among the nations with different celebrations related to the uniqueness of each and every culture.
"Elements Tournament! Come here to prepare for the remarkable battle among benders!!!" A tall lanky man stood amidst the crowd of people, waving a banner with all four symbols of each nation on it, yelling until his face became as red as the flame marking the Fire Nation symbol. Several different people rushed towards the sign-up booths, all of different stature, build, and age as the man continued on with his yelling rant. "The Fire Nation took the lead last year, who shall claim victory of this momentous day!" The man would pause for a breath and his eyes darting from person to person, an unreadable fear hidden beneath his wall of confidence. Today was the day. Something would change, but it was impossible to tell whether for good or bad.

*--*--*

A young girl was pushing her way through the group, attempting to not be trampled by the rush of larger benders all fighting for a spot. Eden Kim typically was not the type to be interested in dueling tournaments, her mother had taught her the importance of peace over fighting, but something about being able to prove her own power was attractive to the girl. Everything about Eden at first glance just softly whispered, 'innocent' without poor Eden even having to speak a word. Her short silvery blonde hair, that barely even managed to curl far past her chin, framed her face in a way that it conveyed all the childish features of her face that had yet to stiffen in her young teenage years. Her shockingly intense grey eyes showed not age, but rather shone with her past years of childhood making the girl appear as though the world hadn't yet beaten her down but rather coddled her like an infant.
"Um, excuse me sir-" Eden would lightly try and tap a taller gentleman who somehow was managing to block every line of sight she had to the sign-up sheets. Without even a second glance, the man would simply shove past the smaller girl, mumbling a small "get lost kid," and disappeared into the sea of people. Eden would stumble a bit and give a small huff and brushed loose strands of her light hair away from her eyes. Her eyes flitted amongst the crowd, looking for small openings no one taller then 5'5 could fit through and began to loop through the cracks until she finally reached the sign up desk. Slamming her fist on the desk, the girl exasperatedly muttered, "I'm here! I'm here to sign up for the tournament!" The lady sitting behind the desk merely raised her eyebrows and eyed the beaming teen.
"uh... sweetie how old are you?
"I'm... uh fifteen?" Eden's smile faltered for a moment and she began to nervously play with her sleeve, eyes darting back and fourth from the lady and the desk. Doubt had begun to creep through the cracks of her confidant outer shield.
"I'm sorry... you have to be 16 to be able to participate... maybe next year?" The lady flashed Eden with a look of pity and attempted a weak smile to console the girl, who in return just nodded weakly and turned and pushed her way through the crowd.

Escaping the mob, Eden moved to the outer area of the festival, chewing on the pad of her thumb in attempts to hide her disappointment.
"Aw a pity." She could hear her mom quietly murmur into her ear, imagining she was playing with her curls the way she used to when she was little. "The lady is right Peach, next year you'll be even more ready than this year!"
Eden closed her eyes and shook her head, banishing her mother's voice from her imagination. Now was not the place nor the time. Then, it started as a tiny little tickle, like the feeling you get when you try to remember something but it just would not come to memory. Then, it slowly turned into a tugging, as though something was demanding her attention, calling for her to follow it. Eden's eyes opened and she would ever so slightly turn her head back towards the festival, surveying the scene in attempts to locate this tugging. Unable to locate it, the girl shook her head, hesitating for a few moments, before she quickly moved headfirst into the ocean of people, following her tugging feeling.


Tags: Karcen FireMaiden fancries1 PolarBear20 Aleph Null ScatheAriiasqDrayceon Orikanyo poi MystiicWitch

 

[ScatheAriiasqDrayceon]

The sun bored down on the figures camping out on the large cliffs leading up to the desert, the harsh heat sinking into their skin and slowly leeching energy from those who were unlucky enough to be caught under it. To those who could see, rickety tents were quickly being plucked off the plateau, the darkened shapes vanishing just as quickly as they had appeared the night prior.

"Flame" Drayceon grinned as they darted between tents, humming a swift-measured song under their breath. Their bare feet barely made a sound as they moved through the camp, greeting members of the Guild as they passed with an unusually bright expression on their face. The flash of dark clothing and pale skin further fueled the bender's uncommonly happy mood, as they all-but danced across the dust-coated ground. Effortlessly, they tuned into the conversation their guardian was having with one of the members—Rouge.

The names were familiar in their mind, though likely foreign to any who were unfamiliar with the Guild and their practices. Few used their own names in the "Flock" as many affectionately called it. No one minded. They were there for a new start, were they not?

"Rouge! I heard your banishment will be ending soon." Jet's smooth voice was a comfort Flame would never grow tired of, the musical nature of his tone something they've never seen replicated. Spirits, even Flame, themself, hadn't managed it, and the two lived together for as long as they could remember.

"In five phases; 'fraid you'll be stuck with me a while longer, Owl." Rouge laughed good-naturedly, clapping the taller on the back. "And to the Spirits with my dignity if I didn't stay long enough to see you wed."

Jet's cheeks turned a light shade of pink as he chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm sure Platinum would have your head if you didn't."

The sound of thunder drowned out Rouge's reply, and Flame paled, steps away from the two. Dread crawled up their spine, and the bender broke into a sprint, though the figures didn't seem to draw any closer. Then there were hands grasping at their shoulders. Their neck. Their chest. They couldn't breathe. Why was it so hard to breathe—

CRASH.

The hands were gone. They were gliding, suspended hundreds of winglengths in the air and staring down at a raging ocean. It frothed white in its rage, waves reaching up to try and reach them only to be shot down by the waterbenders when they got too close. Wind whipped at their face, water stinging their eyes as they steered their glider to match the Wingleaders in front of them.

Thunder roared again, and Flame looked to the side, finding the source of the harsh wind. A hurricane, grey with ire and roaring its fury into the sky twisted to their side, the right-guard benders doing their best to dispel it. But with so many of their ranks injured and exhausted from using their bending, and just tired of the sun in general, it was no use.

Garnet's voice called above the storm, a calm in the whirlwind of water and air around them. "Skirt the side; we can use it to gain speed and launch ourselves up above the cloudlayer!"

That was a better idea than what they were doing, yes—

CRASH!

The newest strike of lightning burst forth from the clouds, aiming to strike one of the larger gliders built to carry those who couldn't keep themselves in the air, and, in an instant, the furious energy switched directions, turning around and aiming right for—right for the black and blue glider in front of them.

Jet.

Flame barely managed to close their eyes before they heard it strike its mark, a hiss of pain somehow coming through louder than the storm. Louder than the cries of their Guildmates for them to come back; that it was suicide. Leave it to the waterbenders.

But the waterbenders had to help keep the hurricane in check.

Flame, glider-hinges half-open, dove down, down, down. Further into the deep darkness of the inky sky.

The last thing they heard was the strike of lightning and a familiar cry of their and Jet's names.

*********************************************************************************************************************

It was cold.

That was the first thing Flame registered as they came awake again, the twisted dream lingering in the back of their mind like a foul scent. The salty taste of seawater rested on the back of their tongue, burning their dry mouth. that's right, they hit the water directly after catching up to Jet.

A pounding headache had set into their skull at some point in time—when they couldn't tell—and was currently bordering on migraine-levels of pain.

Whatever shape they were in, Jet likely had it worse, though.

It took everything in their power to squash that thought, repeating the command they had been told like a mantra as they continued to check over themself. "Tend to yourself , first. You will do no good to others if you cannot walk yourself."

That's right; as soon as they were done with their own physical check, they could find Jet. Then they had to locate their glider, which was undoubtedly in shreds from the storm. Wonderful. Flame took a long breath through their nose in exaggerated annoyance, the rich, earthy smell of somewhere not the Earth-kingdom desert comforting in a twisted way. Wherever they ended up, it at least wasn't back there.

But it also wasn't with their Guild.

A shudder wracked the Firebender's body as they reminded themself that they needed to warm up, cracking open an eye to be met with darkness. Blessed darkness. Maybe the Spirits didn't completely despise them, after all. They took a moment to open their other eye and let themself adjust, darkened shapes coming into focus under the light of the moon. It was nice to be in the dark again. They preferred it; softer than harsh sunlight.

Flame rolled their shoulders, stretching out their limbs one at a time before gaining the confidence the dig their fingers into the ground and haul themself up. Sore and aching muscles protested, and they got quite a vivid map of every single bruise on their body, as their battered form screeched at the sudden motion after having not moved in so long. Or, at least, Flame figured it'd been a while. They were dry, at least. Though, their ropedart was suspiciously missing, which allowed a feeling of unease to set in.

Just like any other time they'd crash-landed (which was quite a few times; giving Flame a "combat"-issue glider was probably the reason for most of Jet's stress), they ignored the pain and stood on wobbling legs, gritting their teeth with a snarl of pain. Right. They were fine. Time to go find their self-sacrificing, idiot guardian.

Raising their head, Flame sniffed out of habit, wanting to get a read on where they were. Pine. Definitely not Earth-kingdom desert. There didn't seem to be anyone else around, either. They'd ended up in a thick forest overlooking the sea, branches from the trees ripped off and bits of wing-sail littering the ground. That was going to be expensive to fix. There was no trail on the ground, though, so Flame assumed the heavy throbbing in their back was due to being slammed against something. Maybe a tree.

All of the wing-sail material was red and black, holding Flame's signature, flexible weave. No stiff-cloth glider fabric in sight. Shit.

Turning in a slow circle, Flame looked at the trees. It seemed they had managed to get Jet some air, as the tip of a tree had been all-but severed, likely due to the long-winged, strong glider the lightning-aligned bender sported.

Once again, the firebender paused to listen, noting the faint bassy sound of explosives. From the red and green painting the ground; fireworks. Other than that, nothing. Safe enough.

Flame raised their head again, opening their mouth and mentally preparing their parched throat for pain.

And boy, did pain come. "Kreeeeeeeeeeeeekeeeeeeee!"

The call was disrupted in the middle by Flame's voice cracking like cold glass, a harsh, rough sting rising through their throat from the combination of salt and how dry it was. But that was the least of the bender's concerns, at the moment, ears perking to listen for any return call. For a few, precious seconds, Flame waited, stone-still and feeling another shudder run up their spine. Everything was so cold. Their fingertips felt numb.

But nothing could compare to the ice-cold fear pooling in their stomach as the seconds ticked by, the ground flashing red and green again as more fireworks were set off.

"Kikikiiiir!"

There it was! Flame's head whipped around so fast, they feared their neck may snap as they turned to where the sound came from. Running would be idiotic. They couldn't run through unknown woods at night when there could be predators stalking the between the trees.

And yet, they did. They broke into a dead-sprint, leaping over fallen logs and using the highest rocks to their advantage. Stealth was all-but thrown out the window as they bolted through the woods, none-too quiet crashes announcing their presence before their silhouette was even visible. And as they stumbled over the metal skeleton of Jet's glider, still faintly warm from the lightning, hope flared in their chest.

The stench of blood was like a cold reality-check.

It permeated the air, thick and metallic. Jet was injured. Again.

Gritting their teeth, Flame approached a little more quietly, picking their way through the brush and—by now—following the sounds of harsh breathing and the scent of crimson water. They found him leaning up against a tree, a nasty slash going all the way from his right shoulder, under his arm, and around to his back.

Flame's breath hitched and they met the stark blue eyes of their guardian, teeth clenched and breaths ragged. He softened his expression upon seeing them and nodded at his arm, grinding out just enough through his teeth for them to understand. "Cauterize it."

Flame hesitated only for a moment before scooping a broken branch off the ground and offering it to Jet, beginning to deepen their breaths and force themself to calm down. It would do no good to be consumed by emotion; not with fire-bending.

Slowly, a calm settled over them and they lifted Jet's shirt, wincing at how the clotted blood clung to it. But they couldn't cut it off; their ropedart was likely tangled in a tree somewhere. So, Flame did the best they could, yanking it over Jet's shoulders and exposing the ugly, ragged wound in all its glory.

The edges were serrated and tinted pink, swollen from irritation and coloring the surrounding flesh in an ugly shade of bright magenta-purple, half from bruising and the other half from burst bloodveins. If it went on like that, there was no doubt it'd become infected, but, lucky for Flame, fire was excellent at getting rid of pesky things such as that.

So, they set to work, a small blade of fire extending from their index finger as they got it closer to the wound. Jet tensed in anticipation, all-too familiar with this song-and-dance. And, unfortunately, it never got any easier; for either of them.

As crackling began to fill the silence, Jet hissed in the back of his throat, biting down on the stick that was preventing him from shattering his own teeth. He didn't move, much less writhe, knowing the importance of sitting still and using all of his self-control to stay rooted to the spot he was in. The smell of burned flesh had both of them blanching, though Flame less-so.

And then it was done. In a few, simple moments, the wound had been closed, an angry red trench left in its wake.

They sat in silence for a time, Flame moving to the side opposite the injury to lean into Jet, the warmth he emanated greatly appreciated. He tilted his head over and rested his chin in their thick, currently-full-of-salt hair, humming. "Thanks, Baby Bird."

Flame made a noncommittal noise back, speaking despite the soreness of their throat. "We should speak in common. I am not sure who may be observing."

"I haven't heard anyone but you, but we need to get up, anyway." Jet agreed, bracing himself on the tree as he forced himself to stand. Flame followed suit, looping one of his arms around their shoulder to try and support some of his weight, despite the fact that he absolutely dwarfed them.

"We need to find our gliders and your dart," he stated, sharp blue eyes roving over the woods. He never did have as good night vision as Flame did. "Then we can get some resources."

Flame nodded, glancing up at the sky just as a firework went off again. "There's a place West of here. A celebration of some kind; perfect for slipping in and out... but not you. You're too injured, and your shirt's covered in blood. Not the most covert," they rasped, head tilting then bobbing as they established some sense of how to get around in the woods again.

"I can try salvaging some of the materials, but I need light to do it. I can wait just outside of town for you."

Flame's reply was a wordless nod, thoroughly tired of speaking. They just knew that once they sat down again, they wouldn't be able to get back up easily. Neither of the two would.

 

[Orikanyo]

Haifu Zhao

"...Come onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!" A nasally voice whined like a child not getting their way. "Jumping into a fighting pit where the typical strategy is to shoot flames out of your ass and throw rocks with nothing but your pinky toe is not what i'd consider a good afternoon." A most certain tone came from the man we would be following denotes a sense of "and that is that" for the young lady currently dragging on his heel like a sheet of stubborn waylaid toilet paper stuck to his foot.

He came here to have a drink, relax, watch people be stupid enough to hit each other with different elementally flavored types of sticks and maybe get a chuckle out of those types that pulled the old "This is for my family's honor!" Bullshit that always happens each and every year. Have tournament? Will add in overly stupid and needless stakes. Hell, maybe this time there will be an over arching plot to this stage play?

Maybe the young hero is doing it to win the hand in marriage of a nobleman's daughter? Maybe somebody's family is being held for ransom if he doesn't throw the championship match? Only for his plucky group of friends to swoop in and save the day, allowing him to "truly show what hes made of!" And what not. Really, hes here for a good show, from beginning to end.

It doesn't help hes seen most bender tricks, and he only has this set of clothes today so he'd really rather not have to wash or get the repaired as he sat in the nude for several hours...

Again...

Though if he had to guess his current ankle grabbing fan probably wishes for it.

He flicked up his foot out of her grasp and scurried into the crowd, wriggling his way through towards where people were signing up, figuring if he pretended, he may just be able to sneak away without actually attending the fights, pretend to sign up and have certain people wonder why his name isn't showing up. By then, he'd be too drunk to care! A brilliant plan by our resident main man. Surely, he wouldn't be caught up in any hi jinx or sillyness in the attempt of fooling anybody with a vested interest in see him maimed and maiming others.

....

Was that a kid trying to get into the festivale fights...? "...Can't say I didn't start early but..." the girl was, as you might imagine, quickly rebuffed, sent away without consideration. To be expected, she was still a baby, just because you can shoot fire outta your ass doesn't make you a master.

Though, it is impressive once mastered.

A true skill that Haifu would say is paramount to fire bending mastery.

But... That aside... The little thing seemed to rush off like a... Kid on a mission? Odd. Well...

Really he shouldn't pry. No doubt it will get him into trouble. Just another kid trying to get into adult sized shoes its all. Nothing truely to think about or consider... his eyes watched the kid sink into the crowd, he couldn't help... He... Well... Not like he has anything better to do. Why not see what this weird kid is doing.

Maybe grab a bottle or two of rice wine?

For him and his guests of course, he will have them... sooner or later, he doesn't know their names yet but surely they will come sometime.

Even if their names end up myself and I.

Onwards!

After the weirdo kid!

 

[FireMaiden]

Anuro Noya
Elements Tournament
Interacting:
Open
Mentioned:
N/A​

Further off from the main crowd of muscle-bound idiots, sat a collection of stalls. A typical sight at any festival, this is where those too weak or young to fight spent their time before the main events. Food and drink, games for children, and above all else, entertainment until the real fun began. It was smaller, a much less grand than the festivals back home, but as Anuro had learned over the past year, not every little town could muster up the money to make things as massive as people like herself were used to. But she found some sort of...quaint charm to it. There were people from each walk of life here, and it was very amusing to watch them interact. Anuro however found herself in an interesting position. Sitting upon a small stage, her fingers danced across the strings of a borrowed koto. Music filled the air around her, eyes closed but a soft smile on her freckled face, she was performing for the first time in a while.

Anuro of course had used this as an excuse to get away from her marriage and her parents, an excuse to travel the world. But the fact of the matter was, she genuinely enjoyed this. It was the one thing her mother didn't strive to ruin for her. Anuro couldn't use her bending in such a public arena as this, but it wouldn't have been boring if she hadn't found something to do other than walk around and wait. So this...this was the perfect solution. Every so often she would open her eyes a peak, watching the faces of the small gathered crowd. A range of impressed and moved, to pretending not to be interested for the sake of maintaining their reputation. Faces like that caused the brunette to chuckle under her breath.

Anuro wasn't playing for long though. The man in charge was picking when she walked by, the koto player he had hired had made the mistake of drinking a little too much wine to calm their nerves. They ended up losing their ability to play, so she asked if there was anything she could do. Sarcastically, the man responded with a koto player request. "If you can find one just as skilled as the one here, I'll pay you half of what the player would be getting."

"Why not all of it?"

And so here she was. Her pockets 100 coins heavier, and the excitement of performing again speeding her heart. It was an odd feeling to explain. It was a calming excitement rather than the adrenaline that took hold during combat. Her body knew what to do, it was like her hands were moving on their own and she was just a vessel for the muses. With the soft, plucky twang of the koto filling her ears, she could hardly hear the passing crowd. An hour. She only got to perform for an hour and that time was coming to an end, but Anuro was thrilled. From a crowd's eye view, she had to wonder what it looked like. Soft hair tied up neatly, silky red and gold robes, the gentle light of the fires illuminating her face in such a way she looked even softer than normal. Anuro knew what her mother looked like from the crowd, but never herself...it would be interesting to know.

*****​

The wood creaked under her as she stepped down, the end of her robes kicking up a little dirt as the smiling face of the man who hired her appeared from the darkness. "By the spirits, that was incredible! Where did you train?"

"Nowhere, my mother taught me." Anuro's voice was flat, but the corners of her lips were tugged upward in a gentle smile. Despite her feelings for the woman now, those memories were still something precious, Anuro holding them close to her heart.

"She must be a wonderful musician then! Would it be too much to ask for you to come back and play later? After the fighting, of course, I wouldn't want to be the cause of missing such an exciting tournament!" He seemed overly excited, an enthusiasm that caused Anuro to take a slight step back. When watching her on stage, it would be hard to imagine someone like that was shy...but then again, she did play with her eyes closed. Anuro could deal with small conversations such as this, but loud people seemed to put her on edge. Which would raise the question as to why she was here in the first place.

"I suppose I could come back," Anuro answered after a few moments of silent contemplation. Immediately the man burst into an excited rambling, briefly turning to fire the other player he had hired before focusing on Anuro again while she gathered her few things. "I'm going to enjoy the festival first, however." Bringing one hand up in a fist and the other flat palm, she bowed respectfully to the man, thanking him for such an offer before she turned and stepped out into the crowd. Her sword had returned to her hip and her rucksack once more in its place on her shoulders, she scanned the area with intense focus, her brown eyes trying to find something interesting. Street food seemed to be the best bet. Her hands were folded in front of her as she walked, sleeves touching to keep her hands hidden as Anuro tried to decide on what she wanted.

Turns out, fire flakes were what seemed the best. Walking up to the stall, she ordered and took her food quietly, already tossing a few in her mouth as she continued her walk back toward the main crowd of muscle-bound idiots. For a brief few minutes when Anuro first arrived, she had actually debated on entering or not. But it seemed like a bender-only affair so she made the choice not to. Even if non-benders could join, Anuro decided that she wouldn't risk it and would just try to enjoy being a spectator. After all, it was the very same basic principle as watching the Agni Kai back home. Some barbaric display of power and skill, only these fights probably weren't going to be used to settled disagreements.

Still, it would be interesting to watch.

 

[Aleph Null]

A lone teen soared through the air with the use of his reliable glider, his face etched with panic as he tried his best to go as fast as he possibly could. When Angus Rai decided to take a small nap before the festival he expected to wake up feeling refreshed with plenty of time to comfortably make it and sign up for the tournament since he ended up missing his chance last year, but it seemed like luck wasn't on his side this year either.
"Thank the spirits" he muttered after he caught sight of some fireworks going off in the distance. He did his best to steady his nerves as he approached the festival grounds, but his excitement was getting the best of him and he couldn't help but imagine all the amazing benders he'll have the chance to meet. He spotted a crowd of people gathering around below him and assumed that they had already begun signing up for the tournament.
Angus quickly began his descent after finding an open enough area to make his landing and immediately took off running when his feet made contact with the ground. Using his nimbleness to his advantage, Angus slipped past the gaps between the people in the crowd all while trying not to step on any of their toes by accident.
He could only make it so far however as the gaps soon became too small for him to pass through with his tall build but luckily he had managed to make a considerable distance into the crowd. He noticed someone else was making their way through the crowd as well but they were going in the opposite direction, and if he had to go off the expression on her face he would have guessed that she got turned down from entering because she was too young.
Tough luck, he thought as he moved closer to the sign up desk.

 

[PolarBear20]

Kodah found himself at the marvel of an exciting bending tournament while on his travels. Having made his way through the grand spectacles of astounding musicians and mouthwatering foods that would tickle anyone's taste buds, what really caught his focus was a small group of water benders. Two women and a man stood off to the side, bending a hefty vase of water that sat center of their circle. After introducing himself, they were immediately welcoming to his company. They were kind enough to allow him to join their bending circle, teaching him a few techniques that he'd never seen before. Nothing immensely impressive. In Kodah's experience, it felt more as if he were dancing with a group. Each gesture and motion carefully transitioned into another as water did in a stream.

"You're quite good at bending. Are you participating in the tournament?" one of the female benders asked.

"I won't be. To be honest, I didn't know there was going to be one."

Everyone slowly turned in a full circle, arms following suit as they swayed through the air. The water copied each bender's movements, a sphere being pulled in four different directions. The clear liquid circled each bender until each of them had an even amount. As each completed the rotation, the water joined once again in a upward spiraling fountain. "That's a shame to hear." The male spoke. "The water benders could really use the help this year." He looked to Kodah with a smirk, focusing enough to keep the water flowing. Kodah couldn't help but smile back. "You should really give it a shot. You're old enough, right? You have to be sixteen to enter."

Kodah gave a nod. "As of a few weeks ago."

"That's perfect!" The water dropped to the floor in a large splash. Kodah laughed as the girl's face reddened in embarrassment. "I'm sorry." In a quick motion, the water returned to the air and lowered into the vase. "I just mean, maybe you'd have a great shot. It'd be something to think about." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, avoiding eye contact at all cost. "Well, at least think it over."

The three benders stared down Kodah. Each of them seemed hopeful in a way. Was the tournament so important to these people. Kodah rubbed the back of his neck and turned away. "I'll think about it. I should get going though. Thank you guys for everything." And with that goodbye, he was off again to continue exploring. Kodah was on a journey of self discovery. He needed to find his true calling as a bender and as a person. The tournament just didn't seem like his style, being uncomfortable in confrontational situations. Dueling included. However, the tournament may be a way for him to find himself. It could be part of his destiny. Kodah struggled with the decision, walking around the festivities aimlessly, giving limited attention to where he was going and what he was doing.

 

[Karcen]

Hati was at one of the sign up tables jotting down her name abd such. While each element had a team and such they did allow lone competitors and even none benders. Hati was a bender she had known that all her life, but that was no blessing that was a curse. While she might look like a water bender her element was blood. That had lead her own people, her own parents to try to kill her with exile. Still the cosmos had decided that wasn't enough punishment for her abd had decided she was the avatar. That was something none knew of except for Hati herself and sge wanted 5o keep it that way. The avatar was expected to meddle with spirits and nations both of which Hati owned nothing to so why should she help them?

Hati didn't really think she would win, but she fought benders often enough as when mercenary work was scarece she did some bounty hunting and of course even benders could break the law. So she knew how to fight aginst benders even knowing some chi blocking that few ever saw coming. So while Hati knew she wouldn't win she figured she could get far along enough to win some cash to have a good time till she got another job. That was how she lived no responsibilities and no thought of tomorrow after all what was she really going to do with her life? Hati liked her life and didn't plan to change it, the world could do without an avatar till after she died

While Hati filled out the paperwork sone kid cane up and tried to join but was rejected due to age. That was a silly rule as killing knew no age and Hati had a decent body count by the time she was that girls age. Well it wasn't here problem and she wasn't going to make it her problem. Thus hati finished registering and was let loose to enjoy herself till the contestants were called.

 

[fancries1]

Akari Hara
​

The warm and vibrant lights of the fireworks brightened her mask with the most lively shades of red, green and blue she'd ever seen. The enthusiastic cheers of the mostly non-fire nation audience barely audible mixed with the other activities and firework show. Akari's troupe had, to no one's surprise, been asked to perform in the Thousand Years of Peace celebration. She could see why; popular acting troupe, firebending demonstrations, cheaper than the more recognized Fire Nation groups, it was a good deal. What she didn't understand, however, was the utter stupidity of having a play perform in the middle of a packed festival in what had to be the smallest stage she'd ever seen, even back when she was an amateur, surrounded by so much noise that the only way of being heard was shouting each and every line. Despite her usual hatred for masks (they were uncomfortable, didn't let the audience see her beautiful face after she'd spent hours getting ready, yada yada) she was glad they'd been forced to wear them, only because they hid Akari's anger and annoyance with the whole ordeal.

After shooting a fireball in the sky as the closure of the play - always worked with non-Fire Nation crowds, who barely saw firebending, at least not used positively, she followed the rest of the cast downstage. Quickly taking off her mask and grabbing the nearest cup of water, she was only allowed a minute for herself before being approached by the director. Who was practically bursting with happiness.

"Wonderful, wonderful work, my dear!" he exclaimed, handing her a bouquet of flowers she couldn't recognize. From Air Nomads, she presumed. Simply because she'd never been in their parts of the continent. "Did you see them? With that reception we'll definitely be hired for next year!"

"That's great!" Akari replied with a smile so vibrant he didn't notice its fake nature. The conversation seemed like it was going to go on longer, but she still made sure to excuse herself and run from her director as soon as she could. At the moment, talking about the show and how it was doing was the last thing she wanted to do. It was odd. She'd never been sick of performing. Ever. Despite all her blunders, she'd never regretted her career. So what made this festival so bad that it made her want to run away so desperately? Was she sick of the plays? Or was she starting to realize that the slow trek towards the admiration and power she so desired was, in fact, too slow and not giving her the results she needed?

Yeah, that was it.

In the end, she knew she would end up going back to her troupe. What other choice was there? Marrying to someone from the royal family? Like they would ever consider a commoner. No. Her career was all she had, and she wasn't going to throw it away over some whim. Still though, at least she could take some time to enjoy the festival. As she walked through the large hordes of people, her eyes caught the sight of the bending tournament advertisements. Immediately, like an insect drawn to the light, she moved as fast as she could to the sign-up table. She hadn't been in a proper duel in, well, forever, but she certainly wasn't out of practice. And there would be no better way to get other's attention than by winning the fair's biggest event. Besides, hadn't one of the men promoting the event said the Fire Nation had been last year's winners? She couldn't very well call herself a loyal patriot without at least trying to maintaining her people's standing, now could she?

 

[Peach Tea]

✽--Eden Kim--✽
--------------------------------------------------------
Mentions: N/A
Interactions: N/A​

The short haired child frowned, her head swiveling around the swarm of bodies as she attempted to identify where her strange feeling was coming from. Her hand gently came up to play a necklace hanging from her neck, a delicate flower charm her mother had gotten her as a gift years ago for a birthday or some holiday.
"Flowers! Get your fresh flowers over here!" Eden's head seemed to nearly jump off her neck at the sound of flowers and the girl quickly moved over to a stand where various sweet fragrant flowers were being displayed. But to the poor girl's dismay, the stocky gentleman selling said "flowers" obviously didn't know how the first step to even growing them. The petals of the flowers were wilty and drooped down to the ground, as though they were trying to reach back down into the ground where they were planted. The stems were a complete hack-job, without a clear cut line nor had any water for the flower to rest in while awaiting to be sold. Horrified, Eden covered her mouth and gently reached out her free hand to a struggling daisy and felt her stomach drop.
"How could you treat these poor innocent plants like this? I mean, not even give them water to lie in while they wait to be sold off to some messy couple?" Eden looked at the merchant, a look of anger sparking in her eyes. As the girl spoke angrily, the daisy almost seemed to be moving itself towards the girl's delicate hands and brightened in color like it was in the ground and flourishing rather then dying in a greedy merchant's stand,

"Are you going to buy anything?" The squat merchant barley even looked up from his neat stacks of coins, the flames from nearby torches reflecting off the shiny metal. Eden gaped at the greedy man, taken aback by his rather blunt response to her mini rant. Does he not care?
"Well no-"
"Then get outta here kid." He would look up for a moment, a look of annoyance reflecting in his lifeless brown eyes, before returning his gaze to his shining coins which only then made his eyes seem to light up with life and cheer. Chewing on the inside of her cheek, Eden stared at the coins resting between the grubby man and her and then back to the flowers that seemed to be calling out to her. "Make that disgusting pig pay... save as many flowers as you can!" She could hear her mother yell, shaking her fist in triumph with the same look of defiance in her eyes that seemed to gleam in Eden's. Without another word, Eden moved and pushed the small table that the man sat at with his coins and sent every singe shining piece of metal to go rolling in opposite directions which sent the squabby man into a panic as he went clawing for the run away change.
"Hey! You twerp!" At lightning speed, Eden grabbed as many flowers as her arms could carry and took off, whispering a silent apology to the plants she couldn't save, and darted in between the gaps in the crowd until she lost the stubby merchant.

Breathing heavily, Eden finally stopping her fast paced movement and stood in place for a few moments trying to catch her breath. Already, the flowers she had escaped with from the stand had become more vibrant in color and no longer seemed to reach towards the ground, barley resembling the wilting messes they had been before.
"It's okay.." Eden lowered her head and began whispering into the sweet scented petals, speaking as though she were talking to a newborn baby who had been startled just moments ahead. Just then loud shouts would catch the girl's attention, her gaze now focusing on the ongoing tournament between warriors.
"This ought to be good, don't you think?" She moved a few stray flowers that seemed to be falling from the bundle and tucked them into her silvery blonde hair and sat down, watching the battle with interest.

 

[ScatheAriiasqDrayceon]

Flame and Jet slunk through the forest, both having moved to favor stealth over speed. While Jet was quiet, shoes barely making a sound on the pine-needle-carpeted ground, Flame was utterly silent, moving with a felinic fluidity. It turned out, Flame was right about their throbbing back being from slamming into something, as they found their glider sprawled across a bed of broken tree-limbs, not quite as damaged as Jet's thank the Spirits. Distance gliders were always easier to repair than combat-issued.

Flame's ropedart was tangled in their glider, the knot that usually laid against their throat having been unraveled, seemingly due to force. Well, at least it worked and didn't choke them.

Thirty minutes of finding as much wing-cloth as they could later, Flame parted with Jet, heading toward the sound of fireworks and cheering. They looped their ropedart around their neck once more and hid the bottom half of their face in it, slowing down their breathing and running heat through their own body. Damn, was it cold.

Flame melted out of the shadows of the forest like they were one, themself, keeping their posture as neural as possible as they followed a small group of people—family, if their similar physical appearance had anything to do with it. But not four steps through the gates and they were hit right-smack dab in the middle of their forehead with—was that a gold coin?

Flame tilted their head as they bent to pick it up, noting the presence of a rather heavy-set merchant screaming at a someone as they ran away with... what seemed to be stolen flowers. The bender snorted, shaking their head and stalking their way through the crowd. Their ears perked as they caught the sound of fighting, and slowly, they made their way toward it, noting the stands and the two men facing off against each other. They caught a few words between lines from the crowd. "Tournament", "kid", "firebender" among them.

Interesting.

Well, Jet did need a new shirt... and they both needed food. Gods, though, they hated people. But... stealing at the moment could be disastrous. They had no plan B.

So, Flame watched. Just for the first few rounds, they observed, golden eyes roving over both the competitors and the gamblers. They took note of who was easy to sway; the ones who trembled when "their" competitor took even a single hit. They watched, and silently laughed just to themself.

It was a fair few rounds in by the time they descended into the pit of gamblers who smelled akin to a stagnant pond. They knew who to go after, but they had to figure out who would bet for a single gold coin.

Flame snuck up upon a sweaty little man they had seen earlier. He betted with no thought as to who it was, and his temper was shorter than a monk's hair. They took note of his appearance, if only to ensure they did not bet with him again. Once they knew the trick, there was no doing it again. "Hello, sir."

He was short and of average build, almost concerningly so. Though, he had a long beard and spat like a waterfall when he screamed at the competitors, likely being unaware of the fact that it was distracting and surely being aware of how his harsh, ragged voice grated on the ears. There was no way he couldn't know. His eyes were something between too small and too long, and they couldn't decide which, the swamp green of his irises raising the hairs on the back of their neck. There was something distinctly creepish about him.

But that was for later pondering, as when they announced their presence, he almost fell over backward from how fast he spun. Like a child's toy, amusingly enough.

"Wh—" he looked them up and down, narrowing his eyes. "What do you want?" Gods, the voice was somehow even worse when they were up close. Flame resisted the urge to are their teeth in displeasure, instead humming.

"A game."

The gambler, who Flame decided abruptly to call Swamp Eyes, scowled. "And what makes you think you're worth my time?"

The firebender tilted their head in an exaggerated manner, eyes widening in an absolutely comical display of fake innocence. "It's just a game, sir. Surely an all-but-free simple gold token from a little girl—" Flame mentally cringed at their own usage of the gender—"would suffice." They left it at that, despite wanting to add more. No need to lay it on thick.

They could see, in that moment, they'd won.

"Alright, Brat, you're on. One gold token each."

Flame mentally grinned, a sharpness coming back to their eyes. They were going to feel the effects of talking with a dry throat later, but it'd be worth it.

"Good. We bet on who's going to win mid-round, that way it's a game of skill; not luck."

And with that, the first round Flame was betting on started.

Both were non-benders, one male and another female... at least, that's what they seemed to be. The male was fast, but the female was strong in both offense and defense, blocking the hits the male laid forth. What should have been an intricate dance was left with one taking hit, after hit, after hit.

But by no means was Flame ready to bet on the male. They began speaking, fighting to keep the smile out of their voice. "The man's fast. He's going to win; there's no doubt. She's taking all the hits and approaching the border, see? There's obviously no recovering from this. Her balance's thrown."

They spoke as if they were rambling to themself, keeping their voice low, but not low enough so Swamp Eyes didn't hear. Anyone could see what the man was ramping up for, from the side... but only if they weren't distracted.

Which is exactly how Flame played, planting the smallest seeds of doubt with their ramblings and letting the fight coax them to grow.

And when the time came for betting...

Well...

"I'm voting on the man. He obviously knows what he's doing," Swamp Eyes stated haughtily.

Flame offered a fake, soft smile. "I suppose that leaves me with the woman, then." Their voice was pitched quiet and soft, like they were half their own age.

"You may as well give up the coin now, kid. Wit until you're older to—"

BAM!

Flame half-turned away from the fight to see that the woman had picked grasped the man's arm and thrown him out of bounds and into the stands.

"You were saying, sir?" Flame hummed, holding out their hand for the gold coin they were owed. Surprisingly enough, he gave it up without a fuss, allowing Flame to return to flitting through the crowd in search of their next target. They paused just in the line of sight of Swamp Eyes. "And sir, by the way; never call me 'Brat' again." They allowed a grin that showed too many teeth to be friendly to spread across their face, tilting their head up and to the side. "If you must address me, the name's Seven."

And with that, they were gone, just a face in the crowd.

Seven.

An informant alias Flame had used a while back, when it was easier to slip in and out of a city unnoticed. They were one of six others that used to sell information for a fairly hefty sum. However, it would never be detrimental to good people's health. That was one of the many things Jet—Six—had put his foot down on. They would observe and report. If something was going on that was concerning, they would sell the information to whoever may do well with it.

There were mistakes, they did have to clean up some messes while the Guild slept, but it worked out well for a time.

For a time.

 

[Karcen]

Hati would have had enough time to buy a snack and a few supplies for her fights. These supplies were weapons namely a pair of matching swords and sone throwing knives. They were all cheap and Hati didn't expect to use them after her fights, but she needed a bit more than her staff. Fighting benders was a challange, but when you understood how they tended to fight you knew how to get around them. Hati just had to get in close and hit a few key pressure points. Bending was the art of moving chi through the body via movements and pressure points was were it pooled, so you hit it you lose the arm and the bending for a bit.

When the tournament started Hati would have some time before she actully fought and did what anyone should do. She went to the bookies to place bets and get some spare cash. She would get the bets right more often than not, but she still lost some and didn't make all she could but was profiting. Still that was just a side thing the real money was the fighting.

Hati would finally step out and look out into the crowds as her name was announced and her none bender status was stated. While she could fight fellow none benders, fighting benders paid far more. Her first opponent was a make fire bender who had many burn scars. Hati could guess he did lots of dueling and had taken his fair share of hits. For this Hati pulled out her pair of swords having found blades did well against fire benders. The bell would ring and the fight was started.

Hati needed to close the distance, that was true of any bender, but fire benders might hesitate if you got close fearing they would get burned. Hati doubted this man feared a burn, but getting close was still key. The bender didn't just let Hati do what she wanted and the wisdom of her swords was confirmed. While they coukd not deflect a gaint gout of flame, the normal small blasts however could be directed away. Still even as Hati got close the bender changed up his tactics and he moved in with a jump that unleashed a flaming explosion when he landed. Hati had to back off and let the fire bender go on the attack instead of her. That was not exactly were she wanted to be, but she could adapt.

Hati would back off having to try to maintain a balance, she couldn't yet get close but she couldn't move to far way. The fire bender saw her retreating and grew confident making more elaborate displays and even landing some hits on Hati. While her skin would be slightly burned but nothing to bad. Ducking abd diving would let Hati close the distance while still seeming to be on the back foot. Then when the distance was small enough it was time for Hati to change things. She threw her blades in what must have seemed a desperate attack. This unconventional tactic managed to stop the fire bender if only to wonder at his opponents stupidity and he took his eyes off Hati.

That was all she needed as the set up finally paid off. When the fire bender looked back Hati was on him and her bare hands were to close to stop. He started to bend only to lose feeling in his arms as Hati's fingers found their mark. With that the match was determined and all that was left was clean up. The bender almost instantly decide to go for a flaming kick only for Hati to almost spun around him and hit another spot. His legs became jello and he collapsed. Falling flat on his face the match was over.

"You did well for a first match" Hati said actully meaning it as she wandered to get her swords and leave. "Now to get my pay" she chuckled letting the officials deal with moving the stunned bender. He would recover in an hour or with no issues, or well most did.

 

[PolarBear20]

Finding his way around, Kodah couldn't help but continue thinking about the match. Maybe there was more to it than what he was seeing. His goal in life is to discover purpose for his skills. Perhaps there was potential in watching other benders perform under pressure with their own. Nothing beats watching and learning. So lost in focus, Kodah was nearly too late as a young girl ran by with her arms full of potted plants. It was an odd sight for sure. However, he didn't let it occupy his thoughts for longer than a minute before he was back to thinking about the tournament. Kodah made his way to the main area, taking a seat to observe the battles to unfold.

Many of the fights were surely amusing. All bets were off between all fighters. Everyone that participated was skilled. Kodah nearly thanked the universe for allowing him to sit on the sidelines and watch. He was skilled in his own unique way, but that way usually had a path leading to his butt being kicked. Never much the fighter, Kodah couldn't imagine the training each participant would go through just to keep their own on the stage.

Kodah watched the benders fight. Each nation definitely had its own form of fighting style. He took note to the earth benders, unmoving and forceful. The fire benders were energetic and in constant offense (for the most part). Air benders, while light on their feet, took their chances when best opportune. Still, there were those with mixed talents. Benders of fire using earth techniques to create powerful blasts of heavy flames. Some water benders were using fire techniques to gain the advantage over the other. Each new contestant was more impressive than the last. The young Water Tribesman found himself getting invested into the events unfolding before him. Silently cheering for one side, he rested his hand against the pouch of water strapped to his side. Part of him was regretting not getting involved.

 

[FireMaiden]

Anuro Noya
Elements Tournament
Interacting:
Peach Tea (Eden)
Mentioned:
Karcen (Hati)​

As the tournament got closer to its start, Anuro found herself being drawn to the stands. Of course, she was here to watch, it was why she stopped in the first place. Drawn to the barbaric nature of the fights despite finding little interest in the...sociable aspect of it. A prime example of why scurried right in front of her, an armful of dying flowers clutched to their body. It was a sight that caused Anuro to pause, brows furrowing a bit. Her eyes then traced a possible route for the girl and stopped when they fell upon an angry shopkeeper. She had to wonder why the girl would take a bunch of dying blooms, but there was no point in her getting in trouble for it. Anuro's figure weaved through the small crowd as she made her way over, looking around at what used to be full of his stock. Now just a few weeds remained, and a man so red in the face she thought he may explode. "Excuse me?" Anuro asked softly.

"What do ya want?" The man snapped at her, causing Anuro to cock an eyebrow. "You gonna buy something?"

"There's not much here anything," Anuro replied, her face turning stern as she stared him down. "I noticed a young girl run off with what I assume is your stock, and I'd like to pay for what she stole." The man's anger suddenly turned to interest, a mischievous light in his eyes.

"Are you sure? My flowers are rare and quiet-"

"They're barely worth what you're asking for," Anuro cut him off, reaching out to pull a petal off a wilted flower. "Actually...they aren't even worth that much. But it would be a shame if that girl suffered because of some awful attempt at a heist." Anuro focused on the man briefly again, shifting enough to grab her coin purse. From it, she pulled 15 silver coins and placed them on one of the displays. "This is a generous donation, accept it. You are clearly in desperate need of money." With that, she put her coin purse away and turned to leave once more making her way to the stands.

As she walked, she was scanning for a good place to watch the fighting from. Back home, this tournament was seen as a small-time deal. With Agni Kai being such a huge deal, and the various other festivals they held in the capital, this place always seemed oddly quaint. Apparently, during one of their trips, her father actually competed and did pretty well. So, she had to wonder if anyone would remember him or not...after all, Noya was a powerful name. Anyways, as she walked, something caught her attention. The girl from before...talking to the plants she had stolen. It was an odd thing to watch, but Anuro found herself walking closer. But she said nothing, simply taking a seat next to her to watch the fights.

The fight between the tall darker skinned woman and a man would pass before Anuro finally said something. "The next time you decide to steal something...i would recommend something of higher value."

 

[Aleph Null]

It was just his luck really, that he would be matched up against an earth bender his very first round. The bending style with the philosophy of being rooted, strong, and willing to take anything head on; it was essentially the exact opposite of his own bending's philosophy which was something he followed to a T. This was without a doubt going to be one of if not the most challenging battle he'd have to face in this tournament and he just hoped he wouldn't lose his very first match, after missing out on his chance last year.

Angus didn't have any more time for contemplation as the announcer signalled for the match to begin and a sizeable chunk of rock came whizzing over his head not a moment later. Taken aback he instantly directed his gaze to his opponent, whose name was Ren if he remembered the announcer's words correctly. Ren was a tall, well-built middle aged man who wore nothing but a pair of loose fitted pants and bandages wrapped around his wrists. "Get your head out of the clouds, kid" he said with a cheeky grin on his face and Angus could instantly tell he was the playful type.


"You have an awful sense of humor" was Angus' only reply as he took his signature stance, knees slightly bent, balancing on the balls of his feet, right foot forward with legs shoulder width apart. Upon seeing this Ren took up a stance of his own, legs wide with a low center of gravity and feet planted firmly on the ground. The two of them just stood there for a moment sizing each other up, neither ready to go on the offensive just yet when suddenly Ren decided to make the first move.

Taking apart the very earth beneath their feet Ren sent a flurry of rocks hurtling towards Angus' head. He dodged the incoming projectiles by stepping off to the side, wasting as little movement as possible in the process. The Earth bender continued his assault launching rock after rock at Angus but he was far too nimble and had more than enough room for him to avoid them all.

Let's see how you handle this, Angus thought as he quickly shifted his stance and sent a blast of air at his opponent with a thrust of his palm, Ren reacted quickly however and created a wall of earth to defend against the attack. It didn't end there either as the very same wall came flying at Angus not a moment later. He attempted to dodge to the left but another wall came rising out of the ground to block his path, Ren had been able to predict his next move and would have landed a solid hit on him if Angus didn't choose to launch himself high up into the air with his bending at the last second.


Angus decided to use this moment as an opportunity change up tactics, since he wasn't the most durable combatant he needed to avoid getting hit by any of Ren's attacks and end this match without giving too many of his own techniques away, and he knew just how to achieve that.


Using the enhanced agility his bending art granted him, Angus dashed forward the instant his feet touched the ground and was able to close the distance between the two of them relatively quickly, or at least he would have if the sudden shift of the terrain underneath his didn't cause him to trip half way there. He recovered quickly, however, and used the still built up momentum he had to send a powerful slice of air at the bender that was stopped by another earth wall but not before it managed to cut a sizeable chunk out of it. Angus took a look at his opponent's face and saw shocked a expression just as he expected, Ren probably wasn't anticipating that an air bender of all people to be the agressor in a battle.

He immediately fired another off air blast into the gap created by his previous attack, breaking straight through the weakened shield and knocking the earth bender off his feet. Angus was about follow up with another and hopefully final technique, it required a bit of a build up, but he thought he'd have enough time to pull it off.

"Not bad, I honestly didn't think you'd go on the offensive like that. But I can tell you're still green, when going against an earthbender you need to be weary of the very earth you stand on" Angus stopped his preparation of the attack upon hearing Ren's voice and attempted to go back on the defensive. How did he get back up so fast- his line of thought was interuppted when the ground under him suddenly collapsed and he fell through, he didn't even get a chance to try and escape the hole before it closed up leaving only his head above ground and the rest of his body trapped underground.

"Guess that's a win for me, but there's always next year, right kid?" Ren spoke confidently as he strolled up to Angus, no doubt so he could hear the airbender admit defeat himself.


"You know...the tricky thing about airbending is that it can be hard to gauge just how much power you need to put into an attack to avoid seriously hurting someone if you've never used it against a living person before," Angus Mumbled under his breath. Ren, not having heard properly prompted him to speak up again even going so far as to move closer him and bring a hand up to his ear. "Now though, I think you should be just fine if I hit you with this... probably" Angus spoke in a cheeky tone before taking in a deep breath. To his credit, the bender reacted quickly by getting back into his stance in a blink of an eye but that wouldn't help him now.

With one sharp exhale Angus unleashed a quick but powerful burst of air that sent the earth bender rocketing off into the air and creating a cloud of dust that scattered around the ring in the process. Despite their field of vision being blocked off by the smoke screen, the loud thud that sounded when Ren's body made impact with the ground was enough to make more than half of the spectators present wince. The smoke soon cleared to reveal Ren sprawled out on the ground quite a distance away from where he initially took off.

Angus' heart practically stopped as Ren body remained immobile until he managed to give a weak thumbs up signaling he was ok, at least for the most part anyway. Taking another clear look at where Ren had landed showed that he managed to break the fall somewhat by making the earth beneath him softer to land on. Angus breathed out a sigh of relief, it wasn't the flashy finish we was going for but it would work.

"Umm...Could someone please get me out of the ground now?"

 

[fancries1]

Akari Hara

Mentions: Hati Karcen
​

With rapt interest and unwavering concentration, Akari viewed the ongoing bending fights from the sidelines, waiting for her turn. She had to admit, compared to the simpler, often unfair (especially when it was a firebender against any other bending art; her nation went through great lengths to ensure those would take place at noon to fuel their representative's powers) and Agni Kais she'd seen, this tournament was certainly proving itself to be one of the most interesting ones. These type of duels with little regulation other than age limitation often only attracted amateurs trying to prove themselves, making fights incredibly boring and one-sided. But this time, for whatever reason, everyone onstage fought like a fully-realized master. Or at the very least, incredibly gifted students and trainees. Even the non-benders had been able to give benders a run for their money, including a someone who'd been able to numb a fire bender's arms and legs, rendering him useless. That one in particular freaked her out, but there was still hope. All she had to do was beat the other contestants, win the tournament for the Fire Nation, and go brag in her hometown. Easy-peasy.

It wasn't long before she was called onstage to meet her opponent. A tall, scrawny boy who looked only a couple of years older than her, wearing typical water tribe clothing. She noticed he had two small pouches on his back, the ones waterbenders kept their water in. Great. Just what she needed, a fight against a waterbender at night. Well, at least there wasn't a full moon tonight. Akari did her usual waves and small tricks when her name was announced, riling up the crowd, while her opponent remained completely silent and unmoving. Then, the fight began. And Akari, in true firebender fashion, wasted no time in sending the first blast of fire in his direction. Which he quickly blocked like it was nothing.

Akari had never fought against a waterbender before. In fact, she could count the Water Tribe people she'd known in one hand, most of which weren't even benders to begin with. Air and Earth fighting philosophy was easy to learn. Air Nomads using speed and evasive manoeuvres with few but powerful offensive attacks, and earthbenders staying strong and firm on the ground, taking everything with extreme assertiveness and fortitude. Waterbenders, however, were proving to be harder to pin down than she'd expected. No matter her attack or approach, her opponent always found a way to adapt and change his strategy as he deemed fit. Deflecting her attacks with ease and getting a few good hits in before she was knocked off her feet. Once down, he shaped a puddle under her hands to cover them, only to turn them into ice and plant them against the ground for good. Her options were running out, and she knew this well. As he approached, most likely thinking she was done with fighting, she sent a burst of fire from the soles of her feet. Catching him off-guard and giving her enough time to melt the ice and propel herself to the other edge of the stage.

She'd made it, for now. But her near defeat wounded her pride. There was no way she would allow herself to fail against some waterbender. Not in front of everyone in one of the biggest festivals of the year. Her reputation would never recover. And besides, she was better than that. Better than some boring nobody from one of the poles, to be sure. Still, she had to think wisely. He'd been using her own attacks and approach against her since the start of the fight. She technically could change her approach, yes. But it would undoubtedly affect her bending.

He gave her no more time to think as he send a water whip her way, forcing her to jump sideways to miss it. When the water retracted, however, she noticed where it came from: his pouch. Of course. He couldn't create water out of his own energy like she did with fire. It always had to come from somewhere. And if there was no water, then there would be no way for him to defend himself. In a risky move, the fire jets in her feet propelled her closer to him, with her having to either dodge or deflect the water as quickly as she could. It was odd, not attacking face-first and evading him instead, but it was working. He clearly hadn't expected it from her, considering her previous strategy. But without giving him a chance to grow accustomed to this new tactic of hers, she went full in. Strong and unforgiving blasts of fire shooting at him in rapid succession. He deflected them, with less success than before, but it kept his mind occupied at the very least. Her shame and eagerness to proof herself proved a good emotional connection with her powers, making her attacks less precise but more potent. And then, as she got closer, her attacks suddenly stopped. And thanks to her agility, she was able to move behind him, using a small fire almost like a dagger and cutting his pouches, letting the rest of his water fall onto the ground.

It was dirty, very much so. But she didn't care, and the rules didn't say anything about taking away an enemy's source, so they continued. With him now moving to more offensive attacks that clashed with hers, hoping to knock her back down before his water ran out. It was fortunate, to say the last, that fire had the lovely effect of evaporating water. And before long, he was left with only the water covering his arm. Akari took her chance, and with one last barrage of fire, he was knocked off his feet and thrown against the wall. Loosing his grip over the water and leaving her as the winner.

"That should teach you not to play with fire," she declared, loudly enough to the crowd could hear her in an attempt to sound cool and witty. She boasted her victory to no end, cheering herself along with the crowd. Now fully confident that if she could get past that, the rest of the tournament would be a joke. She could smell her price and glory already.

 

[Karcen]

There would be plenty of time for Hati to linger around before her next fight, mostly spent placing bets and hoping that her fighter won. There were many people to bet with, but Hati stuck to mostly office bookies as if you just bet with random people you had to make sure they could pay up should they lose. There was also the matter of odds, bookies could set some up and you could win it big if you got lucky. Hati did win quiet a few bets, but lost others giving her a decent net gain despite a rather horrible loss in the last round. Still she could not linger forever and had to report back for her next round.

Walking out as looking at her opponent she could tell this one was going to be bad. They were dressed in the orange and yellows of the air nomads meaning they were likely and airbender. Those were the worst to fight as their speed and mobility made getting close hard and their strikes were hard to follow. While air might not be seen you could guess where the air was and the dust in the air often gave it away. That didn't make it any easier to deal with them. Still the way the guy stood was odd, his stance not quiet right, it was to solid for air bending. That was just what she needed an amatur air bender. Like a baby snake a bad air bender had little control and could just as likely blow you away as create a small gust. Well Hati would just have to deal with this guy close. A sword was not the best for an air bender as the flat of the blade could catch the wind, but a staff would cut through the wind with minimal resistance.

The bell rang and Hati was off in an instant she needed to close the distance right now. The airbender seemed surprised by the sound of the bell and hati didn't know how such a scared guy had managed to get through a round. The guy watched and breathed in and as he exhaled Hati rolled tot he side as blast of air came right at her. Hati managed to get in close only for the bender to raise his hands and unleashed whirlwind below him sending him up and leaving Hati no way to get at him. This let him unleash blasts of air which Hati only barely managed to dodge by constantly running around weaving here and there. Still Hati knew the whirlwind would stop Air benders could glide but not fly and the bender seemed to have minor issues staying in one place lacking control. To help distract the bender more Hati decided to do a risky play as if he was just playing dumb throwing things at an air bender was just giving them weapons. Hati rolled as she avoided another blast and threw a pair of knives at the bobbing bender. The result was a distraction causing him to lose control and not get her knives thrown back at her, but as the bender landers Hati was sent flying as a the falling bender created a huge gust below him in all directions.

Hati managed to get into a roll and stopped a distance from where she had been struck. The air bender had the advantage as she scrambled to get up he prepared another attack forcing Hati to stop and roll to get out of the way. Hati managed to get up the second time she tried, but got another blast of air to the face for her trouble,. though this one was oddly weak, so it seemed she had gotten lucky. The bender looked confused at his weakness and Hati used this to run and really close the distance. She got so close that as her opponent went to hit her with another move her staff came up and hit his arm causing him to yelp in pain. The momentum of battle was turning again this time in Hati's favor. Swinging her staff in swift controlled motions making sure to avoid wide arcs or overly dramatic spins hati was able to intercept the benders attempts to generate blasts by hitting at stopping his movements. While a bender could do a lot with even a small movement they had to want to and right now the air bender was knot thinking of how to fight up close he was panicking.

Bender or not panicking was one thing you did not want to do and one thing that made a person their most dangerous. Hati needed to finish this fast and she went in to hit the benders mid section, that was a mistake she realized to late as the bender moved his leg for a kick. A blast of air many magnitudes more powerful than either of them could have expected blasted Hati not only off her feet but high into the air. Hati flew higher and higher until she was sure she would not only break bones but die when she hit stone. The bender below tried to generate more blasts but seemed to fumble and anyone that could stop her was not likely to reach her in time. In an instant Hati felt her upward travel stop and gravity reassert itself. Staring down Hati saw the ground coming for her and she felt fear. Hati couldn't do anything, she didn't want to hit the ground, she couldn't hit the ground, She had to do something anything. The world seemed to slow down As hati panicked fear gripping her and she mentally pleaded to anything to help her.

Then she felt it, the fear stopped and she felt, weightless almost like her mind was torn from her body. She could feel her body move, her mouth open and inhale, but she wasn't doing it. Her eyes glowed as she breathed out moments before she would hit the ground. There was no splat, not crunch, not screams of horror, instead there was a burst of air and a collective gasp from the ground. Hati breathed out, or rather her body did as Hati felt like she was watched from outside her own body. She stopped as a whirlwind kicked off and Hati righted herself. Her arms moved by themselves and she whirled around as if generating a tornado in miniature. Then while in the air her hands tensed up and blocked of the arena floor flew up to orbit her. It was clear to all now as even the most ignorant would realize one that could control more than one element was the Avatar and her opponent was in mortal danger. Hati watched herself as she raised an arm and brought it down launching a block at the air bender who managed to get out of the way only to find his escape blocked by another chunk of earth. Hati could feel her air lift again and new fear ran through her mind. She could feel like she was holding back her own arm as the block that had been almost thrown stalled in the air.

" ENOUGH" Hati managed to shout as she reasserted herself over whatever this was " STOP" She ordered her self as she felt whatever had taken control of her vanish. Hati only then realized fully she had been floating and as one might expect she fell like a rock to the ground. Still she was not knocked out and slowly got panting to her knees to tired to actually get up.

 

[ScatheAriiasqDrayceon]

Flame had dipped out after a few rounds, having all they needed to buy some food and a new shirt for Jet. They looked like a wreck as they paid for the flat black tunic usually there for benders who ripped their clothing, and padded off to a food stand selling shish kebabs. They were primarily made of red meat, which was good news for the two benders, as they kinda needed the protien.

So, five kebabs, one shirt, and quite a lot of walking later, and Flame was cautiously stalking through a bush somewhere near where Jet had decided to camp out for the moment. They stepped on a nearby stick with a little more force than necessary, listening to him shift.

"Who's there?"

"A little bird."

The tenseness in Jet's stance bled out as Flame walked out into the open and spoke, a lopsided grin spread across their face. One could never be too careful with how they formed their code, and that was a prime example.

"A little bird" was an older one they'd used, meaning "all is well", "A scarlet dragon" meant "danger", and "You know who" meant "caution". It was useful, though they hadn't used it in ages.

"Little bird, huh?" Jet asked, offering a soft smile of his own. "I see the Little Bird stole something more than what we nee—" He didn't even get the entire sentence out before a shirt was thrown in his face, cutting off whatever he wanted to say.

"There was a betting ring," Flame replied easily, plopping down cross-legged beside him and leaning into his side. "Didn't steal anything... this time."

"Oh, so you used mental torture on them?"

"You could say that." As Jet wriggled into the tunic, Flame picked a kebab out of the bundle and started eating, being careful around their eye-teeth. It was a tedious system of tearing off small chunks with their incisors and just swallowing whatever it was whole.

Jet huffed, shaking his head as he accepted some of the food from his charge, being quite more efficient in stripping it. "Had fun, I take it?" He chuckled as Flame nodded with another grin, nestling themself under his arm. "Good. It's about time you went somewhere entertaining; hanging around the guild all the time isn't healthy."

The heatbender's wrinkled nose said all it needed, but they shrugged and the rest of their meal was spent in silence. As they finished their food, standing and offering a hand to help him up. "At least it taught me manners."

"Which you regularly avoid."

"That's fair."

Side-by-side, Flame and Jet came back to the festival, following the flow of people so-as-to not look as inconspicuous. They arrived just in time to watch someone get utterly catapulted into the air, limbs flailing in all different directions.

Flame cringed, reaching back for their glider and suddenly realizing oh, shit. We left those in the forest because we needed cloth. Fear lanced up their spine, clawing its way up their back and settling into their body with a prickling shiver.

Jet seemed to have the same thought, frozen in place in the realization that we can't do anything.

Flame knew what falling from a height looked like. They knew what it sounded like. They knew what the blood that came spurting and spilling out like thick, red water smelled like. A gag worked its way up their throat as the dread pooling in their stomach began to rise, the action choking into a cough halfway up.

They could hear it. The crunch of bone as the body hit the ground, calcium bending then snapping under the pressure as the momentum was too much. Organs would either get speared or break from the same force that snapped bones. Blood would spill everywhere—almost like a small explosion—the scream... the scream would rip through the air, too loud but too quiet at the same time. It would taper off with the gurgle of blood as they drowned in the red—

Jet snapped them out of their own thoughts by covering their ears and turning them towards himself, tucking their head against his chest and forcing them not to look at the falling body.

But there was no sound. Not even as Flame counted the seconds on how long the fighter had until they hit the ground; no screaming, no crack of bones... nothing. So, they looked. And Jet let them.

The fighter was hovering and bending two different elements, hovering in the air as blocks of stone bobbed in the airspace around them.

Flame and Jet shared a glance, both speaking at the same time in what would graciously be considered a breath.

"The Avatar."

And in the same moment came the realization that they were going to kill the airbender.

In a fluid motion, Flame and Jet broke off from each-other, racing through the crowd to deal damage-control. Jet parted people with his imposing height alone while Flame made due with occasionally vaulting over people and using others as kickboards.

Flame, predictably enough, got there first, just as the Avatar dropped to the ground. Many of the crowd had frozen to the spot, staring wide-eyed as their "savior" outed themself, but the two rogue benders were more worried about the people in the fight. It seemed, though, things were ramping down, as the Avatar was panting hard enough Flame could have sworn they heard a rasp.

Just in case, though, the heatbender grabbed the airbender by the back of the shirt, poised to yank them out should they need. Jet stalked around the other edge of the ring, ready to drag the Avatar out, as well, should he need, though he didn't touch them, yet.

The airbender seemed frozen to the spot, though.

 

[Peach Tea]

✽--Eden Kim--✽
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Mentions: Hati Karcen , Flame ScatheAriiasqDrayceon
Interactions: Anuro FireMaiden ​

The sudden sound of a girl's voice right next to her nearly made Eden jump out of her skin, the mentions of her mini heist causing a rush of red to bloom across her cheeks.
"I wasn't stealing the flowers for value.." Eden lovingly looked down at the unorganized bouquet nestled between her arms and weaved into her hair and silently admired the now vibrants colors spreading from the plant's stems. "I stole them because the way that evil man was treating them was wicked." The girl's silvery eyes finally shifted their focus to the stranger who stood before her. Something about the new woman seemed safe to Eden and she felt herself compelled to explain herself further, unafraid of possible judgement.
"I think it's rather unfair to make something so beautiful suffer because of our mistakes don't you think? I mean think about it, when a someone messes up in a relationship what do they most often get their partner? Flowers. Why should a plant that has absolutely nothing to do with their misgivings have to give up their life to try and patch up an already messy relationship? It makes no sense." Although the young girl's words were harsh, the way the girl spoke made it hard to judge being as that she was quite soft spoken and her voice sounded like a wind rustling through the branches of a weeping willow.

However, before the other girl could respond noise from inside the fighting ring caught Eden's attention, forcing her gaze to watch. A young air bender was battling against a young women who appeared to be of Water tribe descent and the fight felt... messy. The girl seemed to be keeping her composure rather well however the young air bender seemed completely out of control, his gusts of air attacks seeming to range from crazy powerful to weak at each strike.
"oh... oh this is not going to end well," Eden quietly murmured and glanced up to see if her new buddy was watching too. Instantly after Eden's words, the water-tribe esque female was seen flying several feet in the air, with no chance for a soft landing. Eden shot up, her eyes wide and terrified, wanting to look away but the grotesque scene coming up seemed to grasp tightly at her sight.

Eden began to nervously chew at her lower lip, awaiting the sound of someone splatting against the rough ground while they themselves would paint the grass around them. But instead of a splat, a bright light spread around the ring and the girl who was supposed to have a harsh landing instead seemed to hover in the air like some goddess returning to earth. Eden's breath seemed to catch in her throat and her light eyes widened even more as she mouthed in amazement, "the avatar...". The avatar seemed to carefully land onto the ground with such ease it felt like a dream, and as their toes tickled the grass her eye's glow seemed to disappear and they fell to the ground, exhausted.

A sudden burst of smoke curled around the arena around the airbender and the avatar and a tall hooded figure swiftly stepped into the ring, followed by at least a dozen identical hooded figures behind them, and forced everyone from their hazey shock.
"Ah Avatar, you certainly seemed to take your sweet time revealing yourself didn't you?" The tallest figure stepped forward, their masculine voice having a hint of humor to it. Unlike the rest of the figures, the tall individual had gold decal looping all over his robe with an unknown symbol seeming to repeat, hidden in the intricate design.
"You." The hooded figure turned so they were facing the air bender who stood near the outer edge of the ring, the collar of their shirt hooked by a stranger. The air bender's gaze jerked up to look at the hooded figure, their eyes seeming to widen with fear as the figure raised a gloved hand and motioned them over with a simple wiggle of their finger.
"How rude of you to endanger the world's gifted protecter, you should be ashamed." The figure seemed to place one of their hand's on the air bender's shoulder while the other rested at the his chin.
"I- I didn't m-mean t-to-" The air bender quickly turned their head to face the avatar, "R-really! I-"
"Look at me when I'm talking to you boy!" The figure quickly forced the chin of the air bender back to facing them and a low growling sound seemed to emit from under the hood.
"Allow this to be an example for the Avatar and those who choose to help them fight against the re-birth of Queen Yaizu!" A nasty feeling started to bubble up Eden's chest and she quickly moved her head down and forced her eyes shut to hide her vision as the loud sound of bones cracked and splitting filled the silence around the arena, followed by the loud thump of a body hitting the ground. Eden gulped her opened her eyes to see the twisted body of the air bender lying at the feet of hooded figure, motionless.
"Till we meet again Avatar," the group of hooded figures all seemed to form a circle around the body of the air bender, and just as they had appeared, the group disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

 

[PolarBear20]

Kodah watched in terror. All seemed to be well up until the big moment. The Avatar! There wasn't a single member of the audience that didn't know the name. The young water tribesman had only heard stories of how powerful one could be. Never in his lifetime did he ever believe he would lay eyes on one. Let alone, one only a very short distance away from his seat. No one truly knew what to say about it. Things became even quieter when they showed up. Figures in hooded cloaks, clearly too afraid to show their faces to the public. They surely got their message across. This group was there to warn the world. Not to get in their way? The way of what, exactly? They mentioned something about a queen. Could she have put them up to this task. Kodah had many questions. His mind raced while his eyes did everything they could to avoid the mangled body of the unfortunate contestant within the ring. Poor thing. In a belief he would win a simple bending match, he ended up being a plaything for these people.

What was one to do? The men had disappeared and there was no telling how long it would be before they came back and wrecked more havoc on the public. Kodah was frozen in place. Time had passed long enough for someone to make the next move. Benders rushed the arena to care for the pretzel-bodied boy. Unable to make out whether or not he would be okay (signs pointed to no), Kodah stood from his seat and slowly his way to the entrance. People were already beginning to flee from the match out of fear and panic. Others were still unable to move, paralyzed by their own sense of danger. Despite the fear that something could be waiting for him to put his life in danger, but he seemed willing to take that risk.

Kodah made his way through the exit with the rest of the rushing crowd. Just a slight distance from the arena, he stepped out of the rush and took rest by a small stand. What it was selling wasn't important enough for Kodah to check out. He was far more concerned with the trouble that would follow this public display. It was clearly political. Great, one of the things Kodah hated more than anything. The young water bender caught his breath, dropping to his knee. He had barely done any physical work. The cause of his breathing trouble stemmed from the events that had come to pass. Never in his life had he ever seen something so disturbing or sinister. He knew people could do stuff like that. As a bender, Kodah himself could do something like that. But as a human being who should value every life as important as it is, Kodah didn't want to believe that someone would.

Sick to his stomach, Kodah ducked behind the stand in a quick motion to hide his sickness from the rest of the people. Clearly, no one would be looking at him. Still, it seemed like the polite thing to do. The arena had what seemed to be a never-ending supply of people rushing out of it. Every exit was occupied by panicked, screaming people. He regained his stomach strength and pinned his back against the side of the stand. He needed a moment to collect his thoughts. Nothing from his tribe could've ever prepared him for what he had witnessed.

 

[ScatheAriiasqDrayceon]

Flame still had a firm grip on the airbender's shirt when they came.

Smoke exploded around them, forcing the young apprentice to hop backward to avoid whatever possible explosion there may have been to cause said smoke. The thick haze was already coating their mouth and throat in such a way that it almost burned, and they quickly shut their mouth and used the cloth of their Ropedart to cover it, ducking their head to their chest to avoid irritating their eyes.

Flame could hear Jet on the other side of the ring, a deep, unnatural clicking filling the air, a far-cry from the soft purrs that they usually formed. They responded in turn with their own call out, deterring him from coming to get them. If the people were hostile, it would make a hell of a lot more sense to keep a person on either side.

As the smoke thinned, they perked up, crouching at the lip of the ring and tucking the information away as it came. Hooded figures. Smelled kind-of sweet, likely from the smoke. They kept track of the highs and lows of the figure's voice; what caused it to waver, what it focused on. They were so keen on keeping track of identifiers that they didn't notice them approaching the airbender.

"Allow this to be an example for the Avatar and those who choose to help them fight against the re-birth of Queen Yaizu!"

Ccccckrak!

Flame lunged forward, but the bender's head was already being forced to the side at an unnatural angle, skin tearing with a wet rip. Cartilage crunched as it was forced to grind against itself, and finally...

The smell of blood hit them all at once as it sprayed like a geyser, drenching them in the sight of red and the scent of rusting metal. The body hit the ground with an unmistakable thump, and very quickly began overflowing the ring with crimson, the liquid spilling over the sides to pool around Flame's feet.

And they stared.

And choked.

Bile crawled up from their stomach, so acidic they could feel it in their throat.

They couldn't puke. They couldn't puke. They couldn't afford to puke.

So, Flame swallowed the burning semi-liquid down, noting the presence of soft hands on their face, and black cloth filling their vision. A soft voice cooled the fires of panic that were rising in their chest. The voice vibrated under their hands, set off by a steady, calm beat.

They didn't notice that they couldn't hear past the blood in their ears until they could, again.

"Five things you can hear, four things you can see, three things you can feel, two things you can taste, and one that you can smell," came the soft murmur in their ear. It repeated over and over, the firebender dimly aware that it was Jet who was speaking, keeping their face hidden in the crook of his neck, even as the crowd panicked around them.

"I can hear voices," Flame whispered, earning a soft hum for the disproportionate effort it took to speak. "I can hear blood dripping into blood. People are screaming. I hear water from the ocean, though faintly." They paused for a moment, inhaling shakily. "I hear you."

Another pause as they lifted their head from his neck, golden eyes picking out things they knew out of the clusterfuck of colors and blurry shapes that didn't register. "I see paper lanterns. Confection stalls. I see clouds. I see the sky." Another pause. "The braid stayed in."

Flame reached over to fiddle with a short braid tucked away in Jet's hair, humming to themself.

"I can feel the blood pooling at my feet. My dart's weight. Your heartbeat."

Jet stayed quiet during the entire thing, needing to keep Flame's focus on their instructions. Their heartrate was slowly calming from its previous state of nearly bursting out of their chest, though it was still fairly high from the adrenaline.

"There's blood in my mouth, but the teriyaki sauce from the shish kebabs is still present." Flame tilted their head and ducked it under his chin, letting out a long exhale. "You still smell like pine sap... you need to wash."

A soft smile pulled at Jet's lips, and he carded a hand through their hair. "There you are. Better?"

"Mh-hm..." Flame disentangled themself from him, shuddering. "I wasn't fast enough."

Jet tipped their chin up so they looked him in the eyes, leaning his forehead against theirs. "No one would have been. You did all you could."

The body's face was still twitching.

 

[Karcen]

Hati didn't know who the bastards in the robes were or who their queen was. She hadn't been seeking them or even aware they existed. She had only been working to live her own life, to pretend she was no bend, no avatar, she would have never even tried anything if they hadn't shown up. Hati watched at the men killed the airbender she had fought and only as she did, did she at last realize others had come into the arena. She realized her former opponent had been dragged away by some kid as if they were the injured one as if they had gone through anything. Of course they would help the other person not her, not the person who just had their body hijacked. The world always had it out for her, everyone but her was the one that needed help, that needed saving never her. That was why she didn't care to reveal herself, why she had become a wandering merc, the world had no help for her so why should she devote herself to helping others. Hati watched as the kid that had dragged the now dead air bender froze up, so much for helping anyone.

Hati slowly stood up as feeling returned to her legs and the arena continued to be filled with chaos. She didn't plan to hunt those idiots down, their queen could just take the world for all she cared. What Hati wanted was just to leave go back to her normal old life. She didn't want to be the avatar, she didn't want to be expected to do anything. Hati quickly picked up her staff and not even bothering to think about seeing if the panic stricken kid was okay she just started heading for the nearest damned exit. Hati would be able to blend into the crowd, she would simply vanish and the people would forget what she looked like. Hati would just leave town and head for the next then she could go back to normal. She could forget all this avatar nonsense and just live her life. That was all Hati wanted, she wanted to runaway and hide from such problems. She would just go back to normal or even start using her curse after all how could the spirits let a evil blood bender be the avatar.

Soon Hati was hidden among the many people fleeing the death they had just seen and no one could pick one another out and her status was forgotten. That people forgot who she was that fast made Hati feel a little better even though she had to fight not to get crushed. Hati had a room at a nearby inn and if she could get there she could just wait for the panic to blow over and let her leave in the night. That was going to have to be her plan as leaving now was impossible. Hati would slowly make her way in the direction she knew the inn was, though as expected the crowd flooding in all ways including towards the inn was slowing her down to a crawl.