[color=bfbfbf][sub][table= //////= POST DESIGN v1=\\\\\\][row][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][img]https://i.imgur.com/PIePIcR.png[/img][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/row][row][cell][sup][img]https://i.imgur.com/5V87bF2.png[/img][/sup]

[color=2e2c2c]_______________________________[sub]........[/sub][/color]
[/cell][cell][color=white][center][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][img]https://i.imgur.com/DHKvx27.png[/img][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][center][color=2e2c2c]Outside the tower   ·   |@Exit], |@Fiber] & |@Mistress Dizzy] Collaboration[/color]Outside the tower   ·   [@Exit], [@Fiber] & [@Mistress Dizzy] Collaboration[/center][/sub][/center][/color][quote]
[color=9f9f9f][color=2e2c2c]____________________________________________________________________________.[/color]
[sub][sub][u][b][color=bca346]Exit   [/color][/b][/u][/sub][/sub]
[color=bca346]"Carefully..."[/color]

Nelu clasped his hand around Yi's wrist and slowly pulled the pilot out of the cockpit. Despite the damage sustained to the Firefly, Yi remained mostly unharmed. True to his skill, he'd managed to land the craft without seriously injuring himself and would be walking away from the landing with only minor cuts and bruises. The bird however was inoperable and could not be salvaged, which if Yi was being honest, hurt him more than any physical injury could.

By now, any surviving Benders had been cuffed and were lined up against the toppled tower and on their knees. The restraints around their wrist restricted their use of chi, removing the threat of bending for the time being. The Vanguard patrolling nearby made sure that none of them entertained the notion of trying to flee although the explosive collars around their neck was deterrent enough. All in all, about fifteen people had been captured. They would need a whole other transportation vehicle to take them all back.

The group didn't have to wait for long. A second aircraft similar to the Firefly arrived to take Katakuri and Yi back to HQ to be seen for their injuries. 141 joined them as well, obediently collected in yet another cage without fuss. Although not injured, he'd need a good wash to get the blood and sinew cleaned off his armor. Jin, Zhen and Nelu stayed behind with their prisoners to ensure no more were lost and more importantly, to keep an eye on a certain, still unconscious Earthbender.

[color=bca346]"Did they give you a hard time?"[/color] Nelu asked Zhen after joining her from the line of prisoners.
[sub][sub][u][b][color=a4c2f4]Fiber   [/color][/b][/u][/sub][/sub]
Zhen paced back and forth in front of the line of prisoners, ignoring her minor injuries. Her tattered cloaked blew in the wind, and she said [color=white]“One subject was notable, the rest were not. The earthbender in question displayed abilities indicative of some level of self-study, competent but not overtly familiar to any of the classical earthbending tradition, along with an as-of-yet novel ability to manipulate glass. If he was still with us I would love to see what the Old Man would have to say. Remember when he used to break our bones as fast as the medics could fix them?”[/color]

[color=bca346]”Made us learn fast.”[/color] Nelu replied. [color=bca346]”Although I think I just learned that I don’t like my bones being broken. Which one was the Earthbender?”[/color]

Zhen silently pointed at Chae-Won in the line up, the only one of the prisoners had the marks of having been in a prolonged fight.
[sub][sub][u][b][color=d7d0e7]Mistress Dizzy   [/color][/b][/u][/sub][/sub]
Jin had Mifeng dismantled and slung around their back, and was beside Captain Nelu, simply waiting. They had their sidearm, a modified standard synergy pistol, within easy reach. Just in case one of the benders decided to get cute.

Though they hadn’t said anything, their head was starting to throb. The speed calculus on the second airborne shot from earlier had set a pain going just above their left eye.  All that for a whiff. 

Things were dying down, and with them, Jin’s focus was starting to drain. Even though they had practiced and trained and practically beaten their brain into submission, there was a limit to how long they could narrow the scope.

[color=white]“Hey, ma’am?”[/color] Jin gestured to Zhen, not wanting to use her name in front of the prisoners. Even if it was a fake one, info was info. [color=white]“I’ve been thinkin about that thing you said earlier.”[/color]
[sub][sub][u][b][color=a4c2f4]Fiber   [/color][/b][/u][/sub][/sub]
Zhen saw Jin and was glad that they were mostly unharmed. Exhausted, sure, but there would be time to rest. More importantly she was excited that Jin had showed interest in their earlier conversation [color=white]“You have? Would you like to talk about it more?”[/color]

[color=white]“Yeah. I think I get it. Sorta? Maybe there isn’t a measurable center of momentum between knowing, and not knowing. Like. Maybe it’s just binary. You know, or don’t.”[/color] Jin shrugged. [color=white]“What I really wanna know is: who’s writin the definitions, and why?”[/color] Their thoughts tumbled out, a bit disjointed, like a kinked hose. [color=white]“Every time I run into people who wanna box stuff up like that, it’s not ‘cause they wanna know what’s [i]in[/i] the box. They wanna leave stuff [i]outta[/i] it. And that stuff is usually people they don’t think measure up.”[/color]
[sub][sub][u][b][color=a4c2f4]Fiber   [/color][/b][/u][/sub][/sub]
Zhen said [color=white]“So, the concept of knowledge is irreducible, that is to say that it cannot be decomposed into individual component concepts? I don’t know if I would take the same stance but I must commend your approach. There are so many problems in philosophy that just dissolve when you think rationally and refuse to give in to nonsense and imprecise definitions. Those snares can destroy the greatest minds and condemn whole civilizations to ignorance. New growth cannot exist without first the destruction of the old.”[/color]
[sub][sub][u][b][color=d7d0e7]Mistress Dizzy   [/color][/b][/u][/sub][/sub]
After listening to Zhen, Jin piped up again. Their hand dove into a pocket, pulling out the metal ball from earlier. [color=white]“I know that line. Guru somebody or other, forever ago.”[/color] They began to roll the ball over their fingers without dropping it, a quick handed trick. Their other hand dangled loosely around their pistol.

[color=white]“Hey, you know what I [i]don’t[/i] get?”[/color] It seemed Jin was on a new topic. [color=white]“When the people who write these phil-o-sophy books are writin, who’s doin the real shit? Like. The cookin, the cleanin, the laundry. Fancy thought is great and all, but what about the people who actually make the world [i]work[/i]?”[/color]
[sub][sub][u][b][color=a4c2f4]Fiber   [/color][/b][/u][/sub][/sub]
Zhen paused before answering [color=white]“I think everyone can benefit from the knowledge of philosophy, even if they cannot create new works themselves. It is very important to see the world without lies, no matter who you are. We are better than we were in the past, our meritocratic system ensures that even intellectuals must show aptitude and produce work that benefits society, otherwise they will have to find another profession quite shortly. Modernity has eliminated much toil, we have far more excess resources to support these endeavors than our ancestors did, and further progress will see machines capable of even more of those laborious tasks. We’re far removed from the days of Guru Laghima and his cohort of air nomads living a life of pure intellectual speculation from birth while the serfs in the foothills spend their lives laboring in the fields.”[/color] She was a flustered by Jin’s question, wishing she could talk about her own works or her foundation without revealing too much about her identity.
[sub][sub][u][b][color=d7d0e7]Mistress Dizzy   [/color][/b][/u][/sub][/sub]
The ball picked up speed over Jin’s gloved knuckles. [color=white]“Huh. I don’t know what a surf is, but I can guess it’s a fancy word for a poor bastard who has to work for a living.”[/color] Jin’s green eyes narrowed, squinting at Zhen. For several moments, there was an intense focus behind the gaze. [color=white]“We ain’t as ‘removed’ as you think. Plenty of people work for other people. Y’ever think about food?”[/color] They gave Zhen a slow, up and down searching look. [color=white]“No, you probably don’t. Someone has to grow that shit. It ain’t easy. It comes from a seed smaller than a BB,”[/color] Jin’s fingers pinched together [color=white]“-and if anythin fucks with it - bugs, too wet, too hot, too- you get the fuckin picture, it’s dead. You don’t eat. Multiply that times about 10000, no one eats.”[/color]

Jin scowled, the ball finally stalling in their palm. [color=white]“What if one of those surfs is breakin their backs out there, but they have the right answer to your question?”[/color] It would be clear to anyone who knew Jin’s background where that argument had come from.
[sub][sub][u][b][color=a4c2f4]Fiber   [/color][/b][/u][/sub][/sub]
Zhen had a long answer, the kind she loved to give at the start of a lecture.

[color=white]“I think a lot about food. I think about how one acre of those seeds used to produce about four hundred and fifty pounds of food, and how modern techniques allow us to produce twenty times that. I think about how they had to save almost a third of their seeds merely to have enough to replant for the next year, now it is below ten percent. I think about how many in the Lower Ring subsist on inadequate diets, how lack of protein cripples the brain, how vitamin A deficiency blinds children.

I think about how the agricultural sector covers less than a tenth of the city and is expected to feed the rest, and to keep pace with the ever growing population.

I think about how over seventy percent of the Earth Kingdom’s population used to be farmers, barely managing to sustain themselves and the rest of the Kingdom; today the majority is free to pursue other endeavors.
I think about how all plants must ingest Nitrogen, and how our pitifully inadequate natural sources Nitrogen have been replaced by massive plants running on the Yang-Li process, how eighty percent of the nitrogen inside us comes from that, and how that technology was unknown until less than two hundred years ago and not feasible until the advent of synergy.

I think about how all plant life must feed on the sun, but our traditional staple crops can only manage to capture one or two percent of it’s energy, and even under laboratory conditions have never been able to get above five percent, while some Algae species have a photosynthetic efficiency of twenty percent.
I think about how prototypes show that a single tank of algae the size of a water heater could feed thirty seven people a nutritionally complete meal every day, and how we could fill towers full of them, blanketing whole blocks, feeding them Synergy powered lights instead of the fickle sun. I spend a lot of time and resources to try and make that one happen, but isn’t even my only cause. I’ll have to discuss some of the other initiatives further some time, but make no mistake, just because I can’t plant or harvest doesn’t mean I don’t think about where food comes from. I want to liberate us from what has held down a thousand generations before us, not to perpetuate old notions of higher and lower statons.”[/color]
[sub][sub][u][b][color=d7d0e7]Mistress Dizzy   [/color][/b][/u][/sub][/sub]
Jin silenced as Zhen spoke, eyes half closed. The metal ball went back into motion as they gently tossed it up and down. Once the woman's soliloquy wound down, there was a silence from the smaller soldier. Then their eyes flew open, the green irises bright with emotion. [color=white]"Ma'am. I actually believe you wanna do somethin good. And I'm willin to give you a pass cause we're on the same squad."[/color] Then they paused, a distinct look of disappointment flashing across their face. [color=white]"If you took a quarter of the time you spend [i]thinkin[/i] about a problem, and put that into doin something real about it, we might actually be somewhere."[/color]

With that said, Jin walked off. It seemed the conversation was over.[/color][/quote]
[/cell][/row][/table][/sub][/color][table=bordered][row][sub]Prompt:[/sub][/row][row][cell][color=9f9f9f]The second transport arrives soon after to pick up the prisoners and the remaining LSF. Chae-Won is taken to [i]The Duster Hotel[/i].

End Chapter One.
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