Post #2510014 in Republic City Nights, a roleplay on RPG

Plans? For after the parade? Was she supposed to have made some? Perhaps there was another event she hadn’t heard about or something. “Uh… I hadn’t planned anything, really,” she confessed, taking his example and waving out at the crowd, a broad smile on her face when several people waved back. Well, maybe they were waving at Zian—it was kind of hard to tell from up here. Still, she was almost certain that she recognized at least a few of the kids from the bending clinic she’d been to earlier that week, and bounced up and down excitedly in her spot. She was so glad they’d made it!

It seemed a bit of a waste to be doing nothing but waving, though, and an idea came to her quite suddenly, curling her lips in a smile. “Hey Wen!” she said, calling to the waterbender of the Badgermoles, a lanky man of about thirty. He lacked the darkened complexion of a tribesman, giving away the fact that his family was actually several generations integrated into the Earth Kingdom. She waved him over and grabbed Zian by his elbow, forming a rough circle. “Why don’t we make this a little more exciting, huh? People don’t like us because we smile and wave; they like to watch us bend. So let’s bend! Did either of you ever play Floater?”

She referred to a game played among waterbending children in the tribes, but Wen nodded, apparently familiar anyway, thumbing his short, dark goatee. “You might be onto something there, Kiara. I’m in.” Smiling brightly at him, Kiara nodded, bending the ice away from the centerpiece of the float—she could always put it back later—leaving the flame and the earth to stay where they were, at least for now. Melting it down, she formed it into several perfect spheres of water and tossed one to Wen, who lengthened it into a coil of water and whipped it around his waist before putting it back into the ball and tossing it further on to Zian.

The point of the game of Floater was essentially to keep all the water in the air and moving back and forth between benders, while manipulating them as stylishly as possible. You could also use them to disrupt the other players, but only to the end of making things look cooler, such as when Kiara lashed a water whip at Wen’s knees, forcing him to jump over it. For extra style points, he landed in a handstand and bent the next two spheres over to Zian with his feet. Fortunately, the float was rather large, and all three waterbenders were very skilled with their craft—usually, kids who played the game got soaked, but the three of them just kept moving, and it looked like they’d coordinated the whole thing from the beginning. The laughter and pointing from the audience was a sure indication that the change was a popular one with the parade-goers, with children climbing onto the shoulders of their parents to get a better look.

In between juggling water spheres, Kiara managed to look down the side of the float at Rika. “Come on, you guys; I bet earthbenders can do something like this too, right? Have a little fun!”

Rika had been too occupied watching the waterbenders work their magic, that she almost didn't catch what Kiara had stated to her. She blinked, glancing towards Daichi as he raised a brow, a slow smile spreading across his lips. Well, the Earth Kingdom didn't really have games they played. If they did, it was something along the lines of earth soccer or sliding through the tunnels of Ba Sing Se. Daichi, however, seemed to have something in mind, and took some of the earth from nearby. He compressed it into a ball, hovering it in front of him and smiled towards Rika. She grinned in response and nodded her head, motioning for the Badger's earthbender, Yaozu, over towards them.

"You do realize that it's a little different, right?" he stated, but both Daichi and Rika nodded their heads in agreement and Yaozu grinned along. "Count me in, then," he stated. It wasn't quite earth soccer, but the motions were the same. They would kick the earth ball to each other, keeping it from touching the floor, however; Rika stepped towards the side, heading towards Haki and Ying. She grabbed Haki by his arm, glancing towards Ying and smirked in her direction.

"Sorry, but I have to borrow this," she stated, causing Haki to blink owlishly at her wording and was pulled along towards the group of earthbenders. "Let's make it a little interesting, shall we?" she stated, causing the three males to give her a questioning glance. "Haki, light these on fire," she stated, bending a column of earth to her into the shape of rings. They were large enough to fit over the three of them, and Rika lowered them so that they caged the three of them. "A little game of Ring of Fire should be a little interesting," she stated. Haki shook his head. He was a little familiar with the game, and so he obliged, lighting the rings on fire.

"Don't burn yourself, Lotus," he spoke, stepping back as the Earthbenders began their little game. Rika started first, holding the ball out in front of her and levitating it. She smiled and kicked threw the ball at Daichi, watching as he lowered himself to his hands, using only his feet to bend the ball in a circular motion as the hovering rings of fire came down towards him. He smirked, pushing the ball through the ring, watching as it became a small ball off fire, and aimed it towards Yaozu, who only smiled wider. Haki shook his head with a faint smirk tugging at his lips as he watched the others perform. Perhaps the fire trio could do something similar, however; he glanced towards Ying, and shuddered once more.

Ying watched with a bit of exasperation as Haki was dragged away. Attempting to make conversation with him while also participating at least a little in the parade was proving to be difficult. She didn’t really understand his reticence, because he never had the problem of saying too little when around his teammates, she had noticed. She suppressed the little flare of jealousy in her stomach—it didn’t matter how things were now, only how they came to be, and challenge or not, she wasn’t going to lose this one to some two-bit waterbender from the sticks.

That was a bit mean of her, maybe, but she could find the time to make friends with the other two when she’d gotten what she wanted, and the idea that he could be simply uninterested didn’t really register, because she’d never had to deal with it before. Even Daichi, neutral and unruffled as he usually was, had been interested, and Zian was interested in pretty much anything with a feminine figure. Not that she reciprocated, of course. Men had always been rather simple for her, but this one was getting complicated, and she had to admit, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense to her. Well, if nothing else, she was persistent.

“Well, I think we ought not be shown up by our own teammates,” she pointed out, gesturing Shun, the Badgermoles’ firebender over with a crooking of one finger. He was a youth of perhaps nineteen or twenty, considerably younger than most of the rest of those on the float. But then, he’d been bending in the arena style since he was old enough to conjure a flame; his parents were both from the first generation of probenders. Beckoning to the flame left at the middle of the float, Ying was surprised when it continued to change colors—probably an artistic bender had created it. Dividing it evenly into three, she passed the other two thirds to the others, then with a few gestures, shaped hers into a birdlike form, sweeping it around to take flight over the float.

Shun made his into a fire ferret, and sent it scampering after the bird, shifting colors at the same time. Ying smirked and flew her bird around behind it, scattering harmless colored sparks everywhere. They passed the waterbenders on the other side, and Kiara grinned, spreading her next sphere into a disk, catching Shun’s eye. He nodded, and ran his ferret right into it, creating a massive jet of colored steam, which they bent together into the logo that represented probending to the entire city. There was much applause, and Kiara looked out over those assembled with a huge grin on her face, only to meet a pair of very familiar eyes. Her own went wide, and she did a double take, dropping all the water she was currently bending.

It couldn’t be… but it was.

Her lips parted, but she was interrupted by a shout from the very same person. “Kiara!” The voice, at once familiar and long left behind, belonged to a tall, well-built man obviously of one of the Tribes, for he still wore their traditional dress, blue and white, mostly. She shook her head rapidly, but he was already pushing through the crowd, trying to approach the float.

“Kohaku? What on earth are you doing here?”

She obviously didn't sound as pleased to see him as he expected, because he flinched slightly, but pressed on, trailing after the float. Not now, she thought, please not now. “Why else would I be here, Kiara? I’m here for you!”

“Well you shouldn’t be!” she replied, looking around desperately for someone working security. If she didn’t get him away from here, it was going to cause a problem, and she didn’t want that. Not when it could affect her team. Thankfully, who of all people should appear in that moment but Fang, dressed in the all blacks the parade security were wearing, physically blocking Kohaku from getting any closer. Her old friend was broader, but her new one was taller. “Fang, get him out of here. You can tell him where I live, just… he can’t be here now.”

The golden-eyed man nodded, pulling Kohaku back into the crowd. Kiara, however, had lost all desire to be in the parade, a hard knot of dread forming in the pit of her stomach. Kohaku was here—and he’d come for her.

Rika laughed as she watched the fire ferret chase after the bird. She glanced towards Haki, watching as he contemplated for a moment what to do with his flame, and a contemplative thought crossed his mind. He molded his flame into a Turtle Duck, and sent it scurrying after the waterbenders. Zian spotted this and frowned, moving his water so as to attempt to drown Haki's display. Before he had the chance, though, Kiara dropped her water, causing Haki to glance at her with a worried glance. She seemed to be startled, and his eyes searched the crowd for the source. He couldn't see anything, but he did notice Fang pulling a water tribe man away. Did Kiara know him? He made to go towards Kiara, however; he was stopped by a passing flame, the bird Ying had created, and he turned towards the firebender.

Rika, however, stopped what she was doing, dismantling the column of earth and replacing it where she got it from. She stood beside Kiara, placing a hand on the waterbenders shoulder and gave her a worried glance. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked, concern laced in her voice. Daichi stood off to the side, glancing out into the crowd, nodding to one of his comrades from the department. Security would be tightened a little. The crowd was getting a little rowdy, something they were used to dealing with by now, however; they were a little more energetic this time. He glanced towards Ying and Zian, motioning for them to return back to their group as Haki stood next to Kiara and Rika.

"Do you need to sit down, Kiara," Haki spoke, all seriousness becoming his tone. He detached all amusement, all sarcasm he held, and regarded his friend. It looked like she'd seen a ghost, and had he known just who she saw, perhaps it would have been an understatement. Regardless, he wasn't going anywhere, not while his friend was in a momentary state of what seemed to be shock. "The parade is almost over, do you want Rika or myself to accompany you home?" he spoke. Though he was sure she'd probably prefer Rika to take her home, he wasn't going to let her go by herself.

“No,” Kiara said quickly, and perhaps a little too panicked to come across as truthful. Shaking her head slightly, she gathered what water she could back to her and replaced it in the sculpture. “No, I… I’ll be fine, really, thank you. I just… hadn’t ever expected to see him again, is all.” She felt a little bad for sending him away like that, actually, but she couldn’t bear to cause any more of a scene than she already had, and he would only have made things worse. Reforming the water the way it had been, she froze it in place around the flame, which someone had already put back. She smiled up at her teammates, but anything further she could have said was stopped by the sound of a commotion from ahead of them in the parade.

“What was that?” she asked, furrowing her brows and moving to the front of the float. It looked like… a cloud of smoke, billowing from further up the line, where the Council members and their bodyguards were. There had been nothing that sounded like a fire or an explosion, so the smoke cloud was hard to explain. She could definitely hear people screaming, though it sounded more panicked than pained.

Swallowing hard, she wondered if maybe today wasn’t all of her luck running out. The universe had given her a life and friends she loved, and now karma was coming back around to make everything go wrong. Well, not if she had anything to say about it. The parade float had come to a stop, but Kiara was hardly satisfied with that, and hopped over the bars keeping the benders on it secure, taking off in the direction of the smoke. If it was a Triad attack or something, then the people were going to need help, even considering the police force.

Haki frowned at the quickness of her response. He wasn't going to press the matter further. It was clear enough that whatever was bothering her, was doing so greatly. He didn't want to add to that, however; he also didn't want her to go alone. He shook his head softly, letting a sigh escape him as Rika raised a brow in his direction. She gave him a questioning stare, but before she could say anything, both her's and Haki's attention was taken by a commotion. Haki frowned, his brows furrowing deeply. Was it another attack? He glanced over the float, trying to get a better view of what was going on, however; Kiara was already over the rails, Rika not far behind her.

"Daichi," was the only word Haki needed to state. Daichi understood full well and jumped off the side of the float as well, going into the crowd to help keep people from stampeding. Haki followed after his teammates, his eyes fixed in front of him. He wasn't sure if it was another Equalist attack, or perhaps a Triad attack. He was certain, though, if it had been an Equalist attack, it wouldn't be this subtle. They were going for the grand theatrics now, and this was too small for something of their caliber. Whatever it was, they were going to be needed to help. The firefighters and police force could only do so much, and at least they had a bit of experience dealing with the Triads, if it were indeed them.

Rika followed behind Kiara, trying to keep up with the waterbender, however; she was pulled back by a few of the panicking people. She growled between her teeth, trying to avoid the people, but every time she took one step forward, she was pushed a few steps back. She glanced towards her side, noticing Haki passing her, avoiding people as fluidly as if he were an airbender instead. She pursed her lips together as she tried to mimic his motions, and to her surprise, she was able to avoid a few people. Still, she wasn't getting anywhere fast enough, and she cursed herself. Haki was already by Kiara's side the moment Rika arrived, and her eyes widened slightly.

"What's going on?"

“They’re taking people,” Kiara replied, pointing to where several figures, disguised as additional security for the event, were in fact apparently disabling people and then throwing them over their shoulders and disappearing fast into alleyways and shadows, where none but the most experienced eyes would be able to follow. She cursed herself for making Fang deal with Kohaku—he would have known what to do here, and she did not.

“We have to protect the Council.” It was true that it was sometimes hard to tell if the members of the Council were more concerned about the city or their own power, but even so, there was no mistaking that if something happened to them here, the entire city would fall apart. Without another word, she took off again, her teammates hot on her heels, hopping up onto the Council’s float, where several members of that group were already trying to fend off more masked attackers. It was strange, though—she knew that every last one of them was a bender, but only a few seemed to be using that as a method to defend themselves.

It hit her at about the same time as she saw one of the masked figures get in close to the Council’s firebender, striking with a series of quick jabs at the man’s arms. They fell limp, and he staggered backwards. “Chi blockers!” she warned the others, grabbing some water from the air itself and lashing it right into the face of the firebender’s assailant, who was making as if to grab the councilman. Another came at her, but she spun past him, encasing his feet in the ice she made from her water, then pulling more from the air. It was tiring to get access to her element that way, but she had no other way to do it—there wasn’t any other water around right now.

She lost half of what she’d gained when another chi blocker hit her arm. His aim wasn’t perfect, but she felt the disruption and knew that arm was all but useless for bending now. Lifting a foot, she kicked him square in the chest and sent him off the float. There was more than one way to do his job, after all, though she wouldn’t like her chances will all her bending gone, that was for sure.

Haki frowned, his eyes hardening slightly. Why would they want to attack the council members? Were they trying to prove a point? Perhaps, but it was not a thought he had time to linger on. He needed to act as quickly as he could, dispatching a few attackers before he heard Kiara's shout. He cursed beneath his breath, sending a ball of flames towards a Chi blocker heading for Kiara's back. He narrowed his eyes dangerously, when he spotted a chi blocker attacking Kiara. He spun around, catching his attacker in the back of the head, kicking him away.

"Rika," he called out, watching as she ducked away from a chi blocker as well, however; she seemed to be struggling a bit. Closer inspection caused Haki to frown. She'd been hit by the chi blockers, and her bending was temporarily gone. She was relying on her bending style to keep herself safe and protecting the council members at the same time. This wasn't good, not one bit. He gritted his teeth together, running towards the members as they continued fending off their own attackers. He managed to get in the way of a chi blocker, going for the Council's earthbender, and in doing so, was hit with a quick session of jabs to his arms.

"Haki," Rika stated, watching as her friend defended himself as best as he could. This wasn't good. They needed more help than what they could give. She frowned, furrowing her brows together. There would be no one else coming, and at the moment, she and her friends were the only ones capable of helping. With her bending gone, all she had to do was fight a little longer before she could bend again. Chi blocking was only temporary, however; the removal of one's bending completely, was permanent. She fought her way towards Kiara first, shoving into one of the chi blockers and tossing them both off of the float. At least Kiara could still bend... in a way, and Haki could at least keep fighting with her on the float.

She could try and take care of the blockers on the ground level, keep them from going up, at least. She felt something cold, and hard hit the back of her head, causing her to fall to her hands and knees with a painful hiss escaping her. She tried to roll out of the way, but felt something hard against her ribs, and she cried out in pain. The boots the blockers were wearing might as well have been laced with metal, because the stinging of her ribs notified her that they were either broken, or at least sprained. She was going to bet on sprained, but she didn't have time to linger on the thought. She was on her side, sprawled on the ground, bending useless, and her attacker was using this to their advantage.

After getting Kiara’s friend to a safer location, Fang was back into the fray. Truthfully, he was supposed to have been there all along—he and several other Equalists, mostly chi blockers, had infiltrated the ranks of hired security for the parade, with the intent of making off with as many Council members as possible. The idea was to remove their bending in a later underground display, as Amon had been doing with less-important benders for years now. But they’d been complicated from the very beginning, it seemed, and now as he came upon the scene, still dressed in his security uniform, he saw that his friends had become involved.

Fang stopped, now suddenly uncertain about what to do. They were in the parade—he had known that from the very beginning, but somehow he had not been expecting them to make it this far. He’d rather hoped that they would stay out of it all together. Apparently, that hope had been in vain, and watching them now, he supposed he really should have known. They were not cowards, empty husks like him. They were the stuff of which heroes were made, and it did look quite heroic, standing with the Council and the few police forces that were still up and moving. He wasn’t like that, like them, and he wondered if this was it, the moment when he would finally be forced to face them down and reveal himself for the unworthy wretch he was. Even after all this time.

But then he saw an Equalist standing over Rika, his friend, and the man’s intent was clearly not to knock her out. His blade was aimed to kill—Fang of all people would know what that looked like. He acted before he thought, throwing his hand outwards, a sharp gust of air knocking the other man off his feet, carrying him forward into his own sprawl. Fang followed at a sprint, leaping over several unconscious people and drawing his swords. Before more than a few moments had passed, his left-hand blade flashed downwards, removing the man’s hand from his arm. “I thought,” he said flatly, “that Equalists were once committed to nonfatal means.” They once had been. And then the only killer had been him.

But now they were the people who blew up buildings and killed innocent benders that stood in their way. That… he could not let that take place in front of him. Not to them. Not to her. The man’s eyes went wide, and he clutched at his stump, bleeding sluggishly and in great amounts. “You!” Clearly, he recognized Fang, but at least he hadn’t said how. And he wouldn’t, for the flat of Fang’s sword caught him hard across the temple, and he fell unconscious.

The rest of the Equalists, having expected much less resistance than they were in fact getting, beat a hasty retreat, a few of them still carrying hostages. None of the Council members had been taken, however, and Fang picked his way back over to Rika, sheathing his swords at his back and crouching beside her. “You are hurt,” he said, a note of concern creeping subtly into his usual monotone. He held a hand out to help her up, deciding that the implications of what he’d just done could be puzzled through later. Much later.

Rika stared wide-eyed up at the Equalist. His sword was raised, the strike inevitable, and she couldn't do anything to defend herself. This was it for her, and she had never felt such fear course through her body in her entire life. She almost wanted to laugh at herself for comparing it to the moment she began fearing the giant rhinoceros beetle. As he readied the fatal blow, Rika felt a strong gust of air seemingly coming out of nowhere, and cast the man to the side. She blinked in surprise, trying to comprehend what had happened, and finally spotted Fang. She let out a choked cry of relief, one falling on deaf ears to the other sounds in the area.

She tried sitting up, grabbing her ribs as a sharp pain shot through her. She closed her eyes together, taking short breaths to regulate her breathing again. "I'm fine," she tried to speak, and forced a smile upon her face. She winced at the sudden pain coursing through her side again, and sighed. "Thank you, Fang. I... I don't know how I can repay you for this," she muttered softly. It might not have seemed like much, but he just saved her life. Literally. She could feel her shoulders shaking, trying to keep her tears at bay. This fear, this feeling, it was something that she couldn't fully grasp, and instead, she took his offered hand.

She didn't let go, and instead pulled herself forward, wrapping her arms around him. She could feel her tears spilling through her eyes now, soaking his security shirt, and she tried to stop. Maybe she was over reacting, or maybe she had never had her life threatened before, and it was something she couldn't understand. The sound of someone clearing their throat caught her attention, and she pulled away from Fang, wiping her eyes dry as she glanced towards Haki. He did not know what was going on, but he could only presume to guess. "Lotus, Fang, are you both alright?" he questioned. He, himself, managed to escape unscathed.

"Haki," she began, hearing her own voice crack at just the mention of his name, and she shook her head. "Yes, I'm fine, thanks to Fang," she continued, her voice lower than normal. "I... I am not sure what happened, but," she paused, trying to word this statement carefully. "There was... there was a really strong wind that passed through, right before Fang showed up. I do not know if it was just a coincidence, or what, but," she continued, glancing towards Fang before returning her attention to Haki. "I think... I think there might have been an airbender here," she concluded. She sighed and shook her head, wincing slightly as she pressed her hands against her ribs.

"Are you sure you're alright, Rika? The airbenders are still on Air Temple Island. I doubt one of them heard the commotion and came to help."

“Not all of them,” Kiara put in, hopping down from the float and clutching her side, where her uniform was now being stained with her blood. There wasn’t any water around to heal the cut immediately, but it looked worse than it was. She’d been careless, and a sword had cut her in the side. “But whatever the case, I’m glad you’re all okay.” she smiled wanly, shaking her head. This might just have been the worst day she’d ever had, and it had started so well.

“I don’t know about you guys, but… I really just want to go home.”

Snippet #2510014

located in Republic City, a part of Republic City Nights, one of the many universes on RPG.

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