[table= //////= EXIT'S POST DESIGN v5 =\\\\\\][row][sub][h1][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][img=/// TOPIMAGE \\\]https://i.imgur.com/hOFGYmY.png[/img][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][sub][color=#e7b9a7][sub][sub][color=2e2c2c][sub]...[/sub][/color][sup][b]▇▇▇[/b][/sup][/sub][/sub][color=2e2c2c]_[/color][sub][color=coral] Z I O T E A[/color][/sub][sub][sub][color=2e2c2c]__[/color][sup][b]▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇[/b][/sup][/sub][/sub][/color][/sub]
[color=2e2c2c]________[/color][sup][sub][sup][sub][color=555555][color=888888]Tu Zin[/color][/color][/sub][/sup][/sub][/sup][/h1][/sub][/row][row][cell][justify][color=white][sup][color=2e2c2c]__________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/color][/sup]
Ziotea had always stood out just a little thanks to her bright red hair.  It was unusual, in most places, and drew attention.  However, ever since her arrival in Tu Zin, she'd been subjected to more attention than usual.  She was an outsider in a place that didn't get many newcomers -- and they all assumed she was a bender, because she was fleeing the city.  [i]That[/i] made her interesting.  Ziotea did not enjoy being interesting.  Her usual attitude wasn't great to begin with, and the additional attention made her even more grumpy.  At least she'd found a place to stay at the tavern, and a means of income by way of doing message running and assorted small jobs around town.

Everything was going fine until the town leader, an earthbender named Unye, had contacted her a day or two after her arrival.  There was an expedition being formed to investigate recent disappearances in and around the city.  Ziotea had heard about the disappearances, of course.  Some thought it monsters.  Some thought it spirits.  [i]She[/i] thought it likely a load of nonsense, until she was asked to investigate.  It was framed as a request, but of course she knew it was more likely a demand.  [i]We will give you shelter, but we want something in exchange.[/i]  That was how things worked, after all.

It was the day before the expedition was to leave when a strange-looking caravan came into town.  Traders.  Mostly of things advertised as mystical when they truly weren't, but also of some normal stuff, and two peculiar items.  Ziotea recognized one as some sort of drone, the kind that patrolled the Wilds.  She was quite familiar with them, since she'd spent a good amount of time outside the wall.  They were annoying before, and now that she was a bender, outright dangerous.  You couldn't negotiate with a drone, after all.  The other was some sort of funny-eyed lizard.

Ziotea decided she was probably going to buy a week's worth of rations, but she was curious what was under the tarp.  She could hear faint noises coming from beneath it, like a person in pain, and a metallic scraping.  [color=coral]"What's under the last tarp?"[/color] she called, her voice easily carrying over the sound of the crowd.
[/color][/justify][/cell][/row][/table]