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"They are simple," said Zhao. "Do not attack another person in anger. Do not damage the dojo itself. Obey the master if he's there."
She looked at Kuya. "You're especially quiet..."
huzzaaaaaaaah
"What the—" was all the officer said before screaming and throwing his hands in the air thanks to the sand now blocking his vision. It took him a while to get rid of it, but he immediately ran after the gang, once again blowing on his whistle (something that only park guards had, apparently). He ran past Zhao and her group, giving them a "watch it" glare before yelling "come back here!"
"Hold on, kid." Kaizer said, stopping and turning to face Phoenix. He had an eyebrow raised and one of his hands on his hips. "If you don't have that much money... then where do you live?"
Superhero
"What do you mean by kid? Looking at you, we're probably the same age."
As it dawned on him what Kaizer just asked, an embarrassed look came over Phoenix's face and he scratched the back of his neck.
"I used to rent an apartment next to the Sokka bridge, but um, hint of advice, never practice fire bending indoors. That cost me a lot of money. So what i'm basically saying here is, I live on the streets."
edited 30th Jul '12 4:21:43 PM by luckybreak91
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Mad Pinoy
Kuya shrugged at Zhao's observation.
"Well, my parents always told me to keep quiet and listen. My sister is the talker out of the two of us anyw-" His head turned to observe the sandbending students fleeing from the officer. He turned to Zhao with a knowing look.
"Let me guess: Sandbending students, right?"
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(Avatar by Coffee)
Zhao eyeballed the Sandbenders for a few seconds.
"Let's scram, we don't want to get caught in whatever they're doing," she said, turned, and ran, though not fast enough that Kuya and Aiko would lose her.
huzzaaaaaaaah
"Oh, great." Kaizer rolled his eyes. "So you're being chased by gang members, you live on the streets and you probably don't have any money to buy food and things like that. Why do I feel like you're telling me this story just to get into my house?"
Superhero
Phoenix looked at Kaizer with a confused expression.
"Because that wouldn't make any sense? You said it yourself, i'm being chased by gang members. It would be very selfish of me to do something like that and get you and your family involved in my problems. The only reason i'm telling you any of this is because I owe you for what just happened and this is the only serious request you have made."
edited 31st Jul '12 4:37:31 AM by luckybreak91
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Mad Pinoy
"I'll see you guys later." Kuya said. "I need to move my stuff into the Academy. I'll keep an eye out for you guys."
Going back to where his luggage sat, Kuya picked up his bags and made his way to the Academy. Hopefully whatever those Sandbenders are doing doesn't involve my room. he thought.
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Ahr river
Rubus had taken to sitting on the ground, and drawing an elaborate fantasy map on the ground, with his earth bending raising the mountain ridges according. A ghost of a smile was on his lips as he did this, entranced by his own work, deaf to anything going on around him.
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Transcender of Gender
"Outta the way please, coming through, 'scuse us!" Tai jumped off of the ground and a small patch of earth followed him; the others followed suit and soon the ground was uneven and difficult for the policeman behind them to traverse. They reached the edge of the park and split up into smaller groups, aiming to make it even harder to catch them.
Tai and two girls made their way down one of the many alleyways surrounding the park, already having picked out an alternate route to get back to the academy.
they/them || "Forgive me, regent of queer amphibians" - Lt.BGob
Mad Pinoy
It took Kuya several minutes by bus to reach the Academy, which sat near the outskirts of the city for the students to have practice outdoors. The young firebender sat quietly as he took in the sights, amazed by the sight of the great city. It had its criminals, one could tell just by lpoking around, but this city was still a massive innovation and a step forward into the future for Kuya.
Stepping off of the bus and picking up his stuff, Kuya walked the last few minutes to the Academy. He took a moment to take in the sight of the complex before walking in. Glancing around, Kuya saw a big earthbender playing with the dirt and making structures. Kuya paid no more attention to the earthbender as he received a map of the school and made his way to his dorm.
Kuya entered his dorm and looked around to memorize the space. The moment ended quickly and Kuya began to unpack. As soon as he finished, Kuya sat down on his bed.
Well, the space is alright. I can't complain about the arrangements, and I've unpacked just fine. Yeah, I'll make it here. he thought. As long as I don't get a roommate.
Getting up from his bed, Kuya changed into a short-sleeved white shirt and took off his shoes. The young firebender made his way outside to practice his regular Firebending. After all, he reasoned, one should never forget the basics of their bending.
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huzzaaaaaaaah
"Not make sense?" Kaizer asked, and he soon stopped walking right next to a small house. It was located right between an instrument shop and a restaurant. "Haven't you heard any radio shows? You tell someone a sad story, he takes you to his home, and you rob him blind while he cooks dinner for you." He picked up a newspaper from his bag and placed it in front of the door, and continued walking. "You really have to start doing something if you want to live on the streets."
The police officer stopped right in front of the uneven ground, stomping his feet and lowering his hands to make the ground even again. He followed the kids up to the place where they divided into small groups, at which point he gave up on the chase, turning around and walking back to the park.
Tai and the two girls eventually left the alleyway. However, they ended up right in the middle of what seemed to be an one-man protest. An older man stood on a platform in front of an ominous picture of a masked man, which they would recognize as the leader of the Equalist group, if they read any recent issues of the Republic City Times. A megaphone on his hand, the man began to yell things like "fight against the bending oppression!" and "fight for your rights and join the Equalists!" But the most interesting thing about his speech is that he would constantly point at the Academy (which wasn't that far away) and call it an "academy of oppressors", rambling on and on about how they taught kids how inferior non-benders were.
Superhero
As they were walking he noticed the instrument shop they just passed.
"Once I get a little more settled i'm gonna buy myself a instrument. I've been hearing a lot of that new type of music, Jazz lately. I wanna try that out."
Phoenix nodded.
"More of a fan of those detective stories personally. I was looking for a job before I got spotted by those goons. Do you know anyplace that's looking for a chef?"
edited 31st Jul '12 11:07:32 AM by luckybreak91
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Aiko waved at Kuya, then ran to try and keep up with Zhao. "The dojo sounds good. Let's go!"
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Zhao led Aiko to Republic City's outskirts. The dojo, a squat, simple building, was located near a wide, grassy field. It was built from wood, and its roof was sloped. All-in-all, it looked and was rather old.
She tapped its door, touching particular spots on it, and the clicks of locks opening could be heard. At last she pulled the door open and held it so, motioning for Aiko to enter it.
Aiko stepped inside, then took a moment to look around. For all her life, she had been trained by her mother, so she wasn't used to the way dojos were both in physical design and training style.
She walked further in, then turned back to Zhao. "Nice place."
She paused uncomfortably. "So, um, now what do we do? Do I have to enroll or something?"
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"Why would you have to do that?" asked Zhao, puzzled. She closed the door and stepped in.
"After all, there is no point of opening it to all Firebenders if they're forced to stay, neh?"
She opened one of the closets that stood near the wall and took two suits — they looked rather like Budo Nijutsu suits* — and tossed one to Aiko.
"Here, wear this," she said. "It's better not to ruin your clothes. You can change clothes there." She pointed toward a cordoned-off area, surrounded by curtains to preserve privacy.
edited 31st Jul '12 3:01:53 PM by desdendelle
The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground
Aiko walked behind the curtains and changed. When she was done, she walked over to the centre of the room and waited.
huzzaaaaaaaah
"How am I supposed to— oh no."
Kaizer stopped, frowning as he observed the situation in front of him. The two had also reached the Equalist protester, who was now being watched by quite a large group of people. Right now, the protester was talking about how benders have oppressed non-benders since the beginning of time.
"These guys again? How in the world am I supposed to work if they keep interrupting me with their petty protests?"
Transcender of Gender
"Hey old-timer." Tai planted his earth pile in front of him then hopped up onto it. "Do you mind? Some of us "oppressors" have important work we gotta do without you yelling slander right in front of us."
After some of the things his sister had said to him he really didn't need talk about benders being oppressive right now.
they/them || "Forgive me, regent of queer amphibians" - Lt.BGob
Superhero
Seeing that the crowd was blocking Kaizer from doing his job, Phoenix walked up to the head protester.
"I'm sorry about this, but my friend over there has a job delivering newspapers, and you guys are kinda in the way. Would you mind clearing a path?"
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(Avatar by Coffee)
Zhao was seated, cross-legged, already changed, in the middle of the room.
"Well, first things first: breathing exercises, neh?" she said.
She put her hands in her lap, closed her eyes and straightened her back. Then she began to breath — in through the nose, out through the mouth, in through the nose, out through the mouth...
Aiko sat down as well, and concentrated on her breathing.
She waited for Zhao to stand up to do the same. "So, what's next? Do we battle, or do training exercises?"
Part of her was hoping for combat. Sure, she'd probably get soundly defeated, but she'd get to see how Zhao fought, and that could come in handy later on.
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"A full Firebending duel is not a thing done lightly, Aiko," said Zhao. "We should start with close combat, then move outside for some Firebending practice."
She got up and assumed a stance — legs slightly apart, knees slightly bent, arms in front of her face — and waited.
"Ten, huh? Yeah, that should be long enough..." There was now only a handful of sand left in his palm, and before the policeman could begin counting he brought it in front of his lips and blew.
As the cloud of sand flew towards the officer he turned to the rest of the group. "Book it!" Quickly they all raised as much earth as they could and started to run away with it hanging above their heads, some of them whooping from the excitement of the chase.
they/them || "Forgive me, regent of queer amphibians" - Lt.BGob