Exit

ᵗʰᵉ Last Avatar.

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Si Wong Desert · AfternoonSi Wong Desert · Afternoon ____________________________________________________________________________. "I. Am. So sorry." Sumire had removed her helmet and was carefully replacing the 'not-sumire' bobblehead that she had removed earlier, concealing once again the button that was underneath as quietly as she could. Tension from the back had filled the rest of the cabin and she refused to be the one to break it. Outside and under the hood, smoke was coming from the engine, both from the beating it had taken from the elements and the speed boost Sumire had forced through it. It could still run, but judging from the noise it was making before they stopped, it was any wonder how much longer it would last. Thankfully, the gas levels were still somewhat good at a little over half a tank. If they were careful and didn't run into any more sandstorms or killer Benders, they could cross a significant stretch of the remaining desert before they ran out of steam. Possibly the whole stretch if they were lucky. By now the storm had passed, presenting the group with clear skies and nothing but miles of sand in all directions. The tower they had run from was nowhere to be seen and neither were their pursuers. However, in the distance on the horizon was what looked to be a shape jutting out of the sand like a massive rock. Other than that, there was little else to see. Sand rolled across the desert sea in light waves, glinting sunlight as it glided away. The sun stood at its highest point in the sky, beating the ground in heat. Clouds were sparse and their shadows chased after the wind, too few and too fleeting to find any solace from the sun's fire. In the back of the Kyoshi, a layer of blood had pooled under the cold body of Kanna.

_Prompt:

A little less than an hour has passed since the Kyoshi escaped from the abandoned outpost. The sandstorm has just cleared and the engine needs to rest.

ᵀʰᵉ Spirits Within/Aeon

@Prisk

I'm good with whatever. Whatever you think would service the story.

Code Vein (Closed)

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__Howling Pit · [&.FunnyGuy] [&.PigeonOfAstora] [&.Daxam]Howling Pit · @FunnyGuy @PigeonOfAstora @Daxam ______________________________________________________________________________..... . . . . . . . . . . Before the other thrall could recover, a hole suddenly opened up in its chest. Its rot smeared all over the flat of a blade as it dug into its flesh, rendering it visible. After a moment or two of struggling against its invisible aggressor, what remained of its life gave out and the thrall eventually stopped thrashing about. The blade was removed smoothly from the cavity it had left in its chest just as the body began to decompose. The knife too began disappear into the ether, slipping into transparent swirls of dust until it was no longer visible. Dirt on the ground depressed into a footprint and then another and another with each step connecting a path that lead up to and stopped next to one of the remaining thralls on the ground. The one at her foot was missing its leg. Within a few seconds, it had been pierced through the back and had begun turning to dust.

ᵀʰᵉ Last Avatar & ᵀʰᵉ Red Lotus.

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Outside the tower · |@Exit], |@Fiber] & |@Mistress Dizzy] CollaborationOutside the tower · @Exit, @Fiber & @Mistress Dizzy Collaboration ____________________________________________________________________________. Exit    "Carefully..." 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. "Did they give you a hard time?" Nelu asked Zhen after joining her from the line of prisoners. Fiber    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 “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?” ”Made us learn fast.” Nelu replied. ”Although I think I just learned that I don’t like my bones being broken. Which one was the Earthbender?” 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. Mistress Dizzy    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. “Hey, ma’am?” 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. “I’ve been thinkin about that thing you said earlier.” Fiber    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 “You have? Would you like to talk about it more?” “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.” Jin shrugged. “What I really wanna know is: who’s writin the definitions, and why?” Their thoughts tumbled out, a bit disjointed, like a kinked hose. “Every time I run into people who wanna box stuff up like that, it’s not ‘cause they wanna know what’s in the box. They wanna leave stuff outta it. And that stuff is usually people they don’t think measure up.” Fiber    Zhen said “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.” Mistress Dizzy    After listening to Zhen, Jin piped up again. Their hand dove into a pocket, pulling out the metal ball from earlier. “I know that line. Guru somebody or other, forever ago.” They began to roll the ball over their fingers without dropping it, a quick handed trick. Their other hand dangled loosely around their pistol. “Hey, you know what I don’t get?” It seemed Jin was on a new topic. “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 work?” Fiber    Zhen paused before answering “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.” 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. Mistress Dizzy    The ball picked up speed over Jin’s gloved knuckles. “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.” Jin’s green eyes narrowed, squinting at Zhen. For several moments, there was an intense focus behind the gaze. “We ain’t as ‘removed’ as you think. Plenty of people work for other people. Y’ever think about food?” They gave Zhen a slow, up and down searching look. “No, you probably don’t. Someone has to grow that shit. It ain’t easy. It comes from a seed smaller than a BB,” Jin’s fingers pinched together “-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.” Jin scowled, the ball finally stalling in their palm. “What if one of those surfs is breakin their backs out there, but they have the right answer to your question?” It would be clear to anyone who knew Jin’s background where that argument had come from. Fiber    Zhen had a long answer, the kind she loved to give at the start of a lecture. “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.” Mistress Dizzy    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. "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." Then they paused, a distinct look of disappointment flashing across their face. "If you took a quarter of the time you spend thinkin about a problem, and put that into doin something real about it, we might actually be somewhere." With that said, Jin walked off. It seemed the conversation was over.

_Prompt:

The second transport arrives soon after to pick up the prisoners and the remaining LSF. Chae-Won is taken to The Duster Hotel. End Chapter One.

ᵀʰᵉ Spirits Within/Aeon

Maybe we meet halfway and have a shouting match.

ᵀʰᵉ Spirits Within/Aeon

@Prisk Updated my sheet with the new info.

I just wanted to know: Is it okay to keep to one element or would you like me to pick two more?

ᵗʰᵉ Last Avatar.

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In the Sandstorm · A TLA collaborationIn the Sandstorm · A TLA collaboration ______________________________________________________________________________. vietmyke    "Hooly fuck." was all Jin managed to get out as the Kyoshi threw itself headlong into the sandstorm. His hand gripped the wheel as he slowly eased off the gas pedal and reached over for the injector dial. He didn't want to slow down too much, but barreling through the storm would just end up with them wrecking and then they'd be in all sorts of trouble. Already, a warning light had begun blinking on his dashboard, and too much more would likely wreck their engine- or at least render it requiring maintenance at a dedicated shop, which they didn't exactly have the luxury of accessing at the moment. To make things worse, the sandstorm was one of the biggest Jin had ever seen, much less drive through. The Kyoshi's haze filter was meant for the general sand whipping around them, but it wouldn't let them see through such a large storm, his visibility was barely a few yards past the nose of the car. "I don't think they're gonna follow us. " Jin said, his chest heaving as he continued driving them forward, "Everyone okay?" canaryrose    Just then, Chu Hua started to scream. There were no words to it- just a high, keening wail of horror as she saw Kanna slump to the ground, a fist-sized hole punched through her neck. Instinctively, she leaned forward to catch her head in her hands, keeping her off the ground, but there wasn’t much she could do. Her hands were slick with blood, her eyes wet with tears that she didn’t realize she was making, and all she heard was her own awful screams and the gurgling of a person drowning in their own blood. It had been so fast. One moment they had been afraid of the monster ahead but together and alive, and then… where had that come from? Why? WHY?! Chu Hua gripped Kanna’s skull in her hands, trying to staunch the bleeding with her thumbs, but all she got from that was sticking her hands right into the viscera of Kanna’s throat. She gagged, just barely keeping from vomitingNononononono- She couldn’t lose Kanna, the woman who had just saved her life. It wasn’t right. “HELP! SOMEONE FUCKING HELP, PLEASE!” KillamriX88    Weiyuan had the misfortune of having to witness the fortune of their escape be further soured as the hot bolt of energy cut through the armor of the vehicle, and then Kanna. Screaming was not an option for him, just stunned silence, as his exhausted mind refused to accept the horrific reality before him. Chu Hua’s scream snapped him out of that. He couldn’t think of what to do, though. He frantically turned his head, scanning the interior of the vehicle to see if anyone else had noticed, but of course not. Chu Hua’s scream had been eaten up by the roar of the engine and the whistling of the wind coming through the hole in the armor. However, the moment his eyes passed over Vasra, a glimmer of hope was born. They had a doctor on board. Not worried about manners, he almost violently grabbed Vasra’s shoulder and shook her while pointing into the back of the vehicle at Kanna as Chu Hua began to explicitly call for help. No. No, everyone was not OK. Abstract Proxy    Vasra didn't think. She didn't hesitate. Patting the hand that shook her shoulder, she nodded at Weiyuan and moved towards the trunk of the car, stumbling, tumbling, and then rolling as the Kyoshi bumped across the sand dunes. Crashing into the side of the trunk, almost slipping on the blood as she rose to her knees, Vasra grabbed hold of the young woman, Kanna, with one hand. The sight that greeted her was horrible. Worse than she had expected. The wound was obvious. Kanna's throat had been savaged by whatever strange round round had torn through the Kyoshi. There was too much blood. She couldn’t see. Steading herself, she opened up her medical bag with one hand, retrieving a loop of dressing as she shifted closer. “Move your fingers, please, just for a second,” Vasra said, gently moving Chu Hau’s fingers away from the wound, as she tried to mop the blood out of the way and then applied pressure. She had a second before the blood returned, streaming out faster than she got. Carotid artery, Vasra noted clinically, fighting off the surge of adrenaline that raced through her. A mortal wound. A hopeless wound. They couldn’t burn it. They couldn’t tie it off. They didn’t have surgical tools. They were in a bumpy buggy racing through a storm. She didn’t have time to go digging through ravaged flesh. Five seconds. Ten seconds. Fifteen seconds at most. “Driver! We’ve got a casualty,” Vasra shouted, her voice full of urgency, “I need a moment, I need you to keep the car stable, as stable as you can.” “You!” She said, pointing at Weiyuan, “Grab hold of her legs!” “And you!” Vasra continued, grabbing Chu Hau’s hand, “Hold her head! Please, take a deep breath, I need your help!”

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Si Wong DesertSi Wong Desert ______________________________________________________________________________. Weiyuan clambered into the trunk of the vehicle, not exactly happy about the situation they were in, but more than happy to have someone directing him. Thinking for himself right now was too hard. Looking at Kanna was even harder. He wedged himself into position, using his bodyweight to hold her legs in place. He could still hear the awful whistling from the accursed hole and feel the sting of the sand flying through it. It would make a great distraction, and jt would be no good if the sand got into the doctor's eyes as she worked. He held a hand up to the hole and did his best to push the sand away before it could fly through. He couldn't do that forever. He then tried to bunch the sand up in the hole, but the wind was making it hard. Why did everything have to be so hard? He was exhausted, lonely, and one of the few halfway familiar faces he did have was bleeding out right next to him She'd lied to him. She'd said she'd be right behind him. He always told himself he existed to take care of his more fragile half, but that was bullshit. Chae-Won had taken care of both of them. The whistling had stopped, allowing him to hear the sudden creaking and groaning of metal. He realized he'd effectively compacted the sand into solid stone, plugging the hole. Still, he didn't want to look away. He was afraid of what might be behind him.

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In the Sandstorm · |@Fiber] & |@Theyra]In the Sandstorm · @Fiber & @Theyra ______________________________________________________________________________. vietmyke    The Kyoshi slowed to a gradual crawl, the storm was moving against them, so he doubted the RSF would keep chasing them when they had aircraft. Keeping the car steady as Vasra suggested wasn't exactly a thing the Kyoshi was capable of at the moment- what with the sand and wind buffeting the car, but at least at a slower speed there wouldn't be any sudden jostles. A quick peak in the rearview mirror told him that there was an injury they were taking care of. It seemed bad, but there wasn't much Jin could do besides keeping them moving forward. "Mire, you hurt? " Jin murmured quietly, so as not to disturb the doctor and the others. Sumire merely shook her head no. With a small sigh of relief, Jin placed a sandy glove on her head. "Good. Reman, how're you holding up?" Theyra    “How am I?” Reman made a nervous chuckle and looked back at the truck. At the crowded trunk. ”I feel like we should be concerned about the group on the trunk but, me?” Looking down at his case that was on his lap. Looking at the two bullet holes in it and wondering if anything in there is broken. Then taking a couple of deep breaths before speaking again. “I think I am fine Jin, do not worry about me.” Now looking out of the window and only seeing flying sand and not much else. “I will be better once this storm ends or we get out of it. So I can gauge how far we are from the Tu Zin and get us to true safety.” Or at least Reman hopes that for their sake and that there will not be any other surprises or near death encounters. But, it will be a long trip to Tu Zin and hopefully the worst is over but, that is something that Reman hopes for very very much.

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Si Wong DesertSi Wong Desert ___________________________________________________________________________. Vasra let go of the dressing she had been pressing against Kanna’s throat and dove her blood soaked hands into her medical bag, rummaging with maddening haste until she found a carefully wrapped vial. Tearing the thick paper away, Vasra pulled the cork out with her teeth, spitting blood away, as she carefully shoved the vial into Kanna’s throat, placing the edge as close to the carotid artery as she could manage with the woman’s predictable flailing. Pouring the precious liquid out, she slowly moved her hand further from the most critical areas of Kanna’s throat, trying to ensure spirit water spread out as much as possible. There would be only one chance. Waterbending. Healing. Healing using water as a catalyst. She didn’t believe it. She didn’t think it was possible. But in a world of nightmares, surely there had to be dreams. There had to be hope. She had to try. “We have to try,” she said, turning towards the other, “We can’t stop the bleeding in time. We can’t cauterize the wound. The spirit water…probably won’t work. But it will ease her pain. It’s something, at least.” Closing her eyes, Vasra took a deep breath, placing both her hands over Kanna’s throat. She could almost feel it, the life flowing out of the woman lying beneath her. She tried to remember the anatomical drawings. She tried to remember the exposed throat of the cadavers they had used for practice. No, not like that, she thought with a shudder. She thought of the water. She thought of the spirit water shining bright with ethereal energy. She thought of energy. She thought of the energy flowing through Kanna. She thought of the energy flowing through herself. She thought of the energy flowing between them. All of them. From Weiyuan, to the dying Kanna, and to the panicked Chu Yuan. Her hands felt warm and then cold. Numb, as she imagined how Kanna’s throat should have been. She imagined the pain fading. She imagined her wounds healing. She felt a strange sensation, a rolling wave of energy as the spirit water reacted, and then evaporated in a burst of steam. She didn’t dare to open her eyes.

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Two Weeks AgoTwo Weeks Ago ____________________________________________________________________________. "Mom! Would you just listen to me?" Kanna jumped around the couch as she chased after the woman into the kitchen. "We can go. We have the money. We can get supplies. They said-" "And do what, Kanna? Run? Forever?" "We wouldn't have to. There's a place where it's safe." "We are safe." "What are you talking about? We are anything but! She saw you, mom! And at the worst possible time! Maybe if we were some random fucks in the Lower Ring it would be different but you're not just anyone! You think she's not going to talk? Do you know how much that information would be worth to the right people right now? Like say, I don't know, your opponent?" "It's been weeks, we're fin-" "I don't care how long it's been! We're never going to be safe!" "Kanna..." "You don't get it!" Kanna nearly screamed. Her frustration had boiled to a point where she could barely contain it. The fact that her mother continued to be so nonchalant about the ordeal only made things worse. She watched as she began pouring herself a glass of wine as if it were any other evening. "People don't just let this shit go, and even if... even if she doesn't report it... how long before you slip up again huh? Or maybe years from now she has a change of heart and then what? I can't... we can't live looking over our shoulders for the rest of our liv-" "When you were born..." Kanna's mother interrupted. She was looking into her wine glass. "I was... afraid." She looked at Kanna. "I was afraid because I knew what my life had been like the twenty years before you arrived. I knew what it was like to live with this secret and I was afraid I was bringing you into that. And every year, as you got older, my fears only got worse. But... then we found out you weren't a Bender and you have no idea how relieved we were." She smiled and looked down at her glass again, watching the red liquid inside spin in slow circles. "And yet... it felt wrong. Bender or not, I would have loved you more than anything and I would have wanted you to live any life you wanted." She motioned with her glass at the house they were standing in. A place in the Upper Ring that they could call home. Her mother had taken the time to design the interior and too discovered a part of herself that she learned to love. Walls were an off white with furnishings made of a pale wood finish, accented sparingly with small foliage that seemed to grow out of the framework itself. A stone fireplace built into the wall stood vigil in the main living space that was adjacent to the kitchen, and where the two women stood, large windows provided a clear view of the horizon sitting upon the outline of a wall. "This. Everything we have is built on a lie because they say it is. And why? Why is that? Why do we need to run from this? I've been a Firebender all my life and yet, I am doing what I've always done and every night, I come home to this. I come home to you. Who said that's wrong?" "They did." "And who said that they're right?" Kanna's mother replied, taking another sip from her glass. "It doesn't matter who's right. They'll kill you." "But it should matter... and maybe.. maybe bending is bad, but there's a big difference between what I think is wrong and what I know feels wrong. Being afraid for the life of my child when she's barely taken her first breath... before I can even celebrate her life... that is wrong. Somebody has to change that." "That's not going to be you! Not when you're a-" "My daughter is the best stickball player in the world. She fought tooth and nail for that crown. Where do you think she got all that fight from huh? You think I can't?" She raised an eyebrow at her daughter. Kanna shook her head. "Mom, that's not... I just don't-" But before Kanna could say anything else, her mother had put down her glass, walked around the counter and put both hands on the side of her face. "I will not run and leave my child to live a life in fear for the people she loves. I'll fight, the same way you're fighting right now."

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In the SandstormIn the Sandstorm ______________________________________________________________________________. Kanna continued to struggle against every pair of hands holding her down, her body moving involuntarily as it tried to cover the hole in her neck where her life was spilling out. But as the seconds ticked away and her consciousness began to slip, her mind devolved from desperate attempts at preserving her life to a numb acceptance of her pain. Fire had spread from her neck that began eclipsing all her other senses until it was all that she knew. She couldn't hear anything anymore. Couldn't feel anything else. She could only smell iron in the air and in that moment, all she could see was the fear in Chu's eyes. There it was again. That fear. Kanna was so tired of seeing it. The brief flash when her mother had been caught. The way it stared back at her in the mirror every day after. Even now, out here in the middle of nowhere it had found her. Someone. Fearing for her life. She wondered if it had been the same way for her mother on the day she was born. What sin had she committed bringing her daughter into a world only for both of their lives to be plucked like the petals of a flower. What sin had she committed saving Chu? Was it really wrong for her to have done this? It looked wrong. She seemed upset. Maybe running was wrong, but then who decided that? Kanna didn't know anymore, but she did know that this... felt right. Maybe in the end, that was all that mattered. Her neck began to warm slightly. The pain faded away. Her fingers tightened around Chu's wrist as she looked up at her and smiled. ...I'm still the best Stickba-...

_Prompt:

Kanna eventually stops moving and her hand over Chu's wrist slips free. Although her eyes are still open, it's clear to all that she has passed away. Over the next hour or so, the sandstorm will settle. There will be no tower in sight and no obvious pursuers. Everyone within the Kyoshi is safe. End Chapter One.

ᵀʰᵉ Spirits Within/Aeon

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_{DAY 1 《》 STEELWATER [RD-PRS] 《》 After Noon 《》 @Prisk}

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This had been a mistake from the start. Since the drop, nothing had gone to plan and now here she was standing in a building where she did not belong, crossing paths with the weary faces of other Aeons. She recognized all of them although there was one who stood out more than the others. BlackRock had always been a force of strength backed by its wealth. A corporation waging a war against invaders with numbers and logistics rather than its much smaller by comparison private military. To this end did they take from those around them and in many ways, indirectly affect the lives of those they did not. Everything was done for the 'greater good' of course, but it didn't always feel that way and because BlackRock never bothered to explain or apologize if they felt it a waste of their time, offended parties held grudges they seldom forgave. The other faces she'd recognized included Aaron Nyles, Errikos Rigas, Eun-Ji Park and Robert Hernandez. All of them were Aeons, but none of them bore the presence of Scylla Fleurane or her history. There was a nation out there who had tried to shutter themselves away from the rest of the world, sitting on a throne made of rock and warriors. BlackRock had moved in with the rest of an impatient world, encroaching upon a land that was not their own and in the name of defense. The actual truth of their move mattered little and in the end, all BlackRock walked away with was a piece of a mountain. Dragoons were worth more than any amount of carved stone and an Aeon of Fleurane blood arguably more than any other weapon conceived. There was history in the room and again, Christina was reminded that she was not meant to be here. So when Emilia found her in her contemplation some time later, she'd already asked herself the questions she was about to be given. "So, what happened? Why are you here?" "Emilia Clark pointed a gun at me with no ammo." Christina began, but then immediately shook her head. She shifted around in her chair to better face the other woman. The acknowledgment of just that statement alone hurt her pride to some degree but it was shadowed by the real shit she was in. She knew she'd answered the wrong question and that her response was not what Emilia wanted. She also knew that saying the real answer out loud meant putting truth to the images she'd been sorting through in her head for the past hour and she hated knowing that. Christina took a deep breath as she tried again. "I'm here because I was sent with my team to find and secure an HVT. However, what we found wasn't what we were expecting. At all. Our HVT ended up being an archon. He... killed my entire team and being the only survivor, I did the only rational thing which was to run... into your gun." She sucked her lip as she looked down at her wrist, noting the time on the digital display. Her lip slipped from between her teeth making an audible pop. She seemed half annoyed, a little impatient, but very eager to make conversation if only to get to the bottom of the situation. "It's obvious to me now this entire situation is UDF involved and to make matters worse, there is a new strain of Stigma." Christina turned briefly to where they had taken the child and then looked to Emilia. Her eyes shifted from an inquisitive concern to a curiosity that was directed. "So that's what happened. But, I guess the better question now is 'What happened to Benjamin?'"

Summary

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Emilia approaches Christina and begins to interrogate her. Christina asks a question of her own.

ᵀʰᵉ Spirits Within/Aeon

I'm partially through with my post. I'll have it finished up after work tomorrow.

ᵀʰᵉ Last Avatar & ᵀʰᵉ Red Lotus.

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Outside the towerOutside the tower ____________________________________________________________________________. The sands that were blowing around at their top speeds felt like sandpaper along with the shards of glass stabbing into his exposed flesh – he only began to realize the pain after influencing the swirling winds of the tornado. Seconds of pain registered, his nerves felt shot, and he stopped scorching the earth with his ghostly flames. He didn’t want to look at his hand… they hurt… it felt like a heartbeat. BUDUM The sound was getting louder while his eyes fell to the blood stricken parts of his body – BUDUM BUDUM BUDUM! – His hands looked almost similar to scrapped leather, at least in his mind, and they stung. The more he moved them, the more they ached from the glass that was placed into his muscles. Only snapping out of these thoughts while he heard something shifting near him, turning around, he noticed the tower was falling directly close to him and quickly, "Well…fuck me…I guess" he whispered while looking at his best option. His one hand was worse off than the other, so he kept it close to his chest. It was the one that was being hit the most from how the winds turned, so he did a few quick calculations in his head. Stepping about five or six feet to the one side and standing there. He placed himself right where a window was going to fall, his reinforced armor would take the majority of the impact – if any was to be done – and he waited for that impact without hesitation. His calculations were perfect when the multi-ton tower came crashing down into the hot sands. Feeling the pressured winds, dust, and sand force its way against gravity, up, he breathed out – trying his best not to breathe in any of the hot dusk. Was his mask filtered? Did he replace the filter the last time he came back from a mission? He was going to need to change the filters. Exposing his dark eyes for a moment, he couldn’t handle the build up of dust and minimal sand particles forced their way into his mask. CLICK, chhhhh… the uncompressing sound of his helmet. Taking off the protective-gear his face was covered by a black undersuit, holding his helmet in one hand – blood crawling across the metal. Simply sliding down to where it could drip off into the world. His other hand pinched the fabric around his nose before pulling it at it. A couple dry-chesty sounds could be heard from him as dust flew off from his under mask. Blood began to soak into the darker fabric and the movements of his hands shot electricity through his body. A piece of rubble fell from the ceiling, or what was once a wall, near him. Making sure that his fabrics were not full of dust, he replaced the protective-helmet before moving around in the dark building. He was going to have to figure out how to get out of this ruined maze, so he began to look at the weakest points. There was a possibility of being able to kick a weakened wall out or find another window or doorway somewhere to the outside world.

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Outside the tower · |@Mistress Dizzy]Outside the tower · @Mistress Dizzy ____________________________________________________________________________. As the tower was collapsing and Jin was in freefall, she didn’t have to time to keep an eye on where Kata or the Earthbender might be. At the precise moment that the trajectory would be right, Zhen jumped up into the air with an airbending aided jump and grabbed Jin as they fell, cushioning both of their landings on the way down. As she set Jin down she saw another person falling out of the sky, having jumped from the tower. She caught this one too, bracing them on her shoulder. When the person began to thank Zhen she spun him around and slammed him face first into the sand. Before he had time to recover she had already handcuffed him and affixed a strange collar with a blinking to his neck. “Please remain where you are. Venturing more than five feet from your current location will cause the charge inside to activate, resulting in fatal damage to your carotid arteries, your trachea, and your brainstem. It will be removed once additional personnel arrive. Wait for them, and you’ll survive this. Or don’t. It’s your choice.” After that it was time to focus on finding the Earthbender.

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Outside the tower · |@Fiber] & |@KillamriX88] collaborationOutside the tower · @Fiber & @KillamriX88 collaboration ____________________________________________________________________________. KillamriX88    The sand opened up like a mouth, allowing Chae-Won to crawl her way back out of it. She’d thought about trying to tunnel away underground, but… air was still a problem. She needed it now. And what if her bending finally began to weaken again while she was down there? No, for the moment, being above ground seemed like the better of her options. Two, very, very unappealing options. She had felt the crash of the tower coming down right before she surfaced, so she knew where to come up so as not to be crushed. She only had a few seconds of relative safety now. The tower’s collapse had thrown quite a bit of dust and sand into the air, but it would clear soon. She wasn’t sure what to do. There wasn’t enough time to make a run for it. If that sniper was still around, tower or not, she’d be an easy target if she just ran. Then she heard one of them calling out to her. Fiber    “If you surrender now I can guarantee safe passage back to Ba Sing Se and a fair trial. The longer you resist, the greater your chances of dying here become.” Zhen walked slowly, circling, remaining light on her feet. KillamriX88    Chae-Won just sighed as the dust began to settle around her, resigning herself to the cards she’d been dealt. “Funny. A murderer asking me to stand trial?” Chae-Won chuckled wryly. “You know despite all the stuff I’ve done you could arrest me for, I don’t think I’ve actually killed anyone.” She held her hands up. “But sure, come get me I guess.” That said, she didn’t move from her spot. Fiber    Zhen kept her distance and circled around with precise, mechanical footwork, just like the drills had taught her. She spoke. “Killing in the service of public order isn’t murder. Before you defend your clean conscience, I have a question: Was that tower empty? I know the answer, but do you?” She sent some low kicks as she walked, never disrupting her stride, each integrating fluidly with the circular motion. The kicks carried a windblast towards Chae-won, sweeping sand off the desert floor. Earthbenders needed a connection to the ground to get power, so that was the natural point of attack for her. All of this was an exercise in watching, measuring, probing; never expending much energy. KillamriX88    Public order? They were in the desert after being chased out of their homes! Well it wasn’t like she’d expected them to suddenly have an eye opening moment. They knew exactly what they were doing. As for the tower? She didn’t have the luxury of worrying about that. She could say it was their fault for taking that luxury from her, and maybe to some extent that was true, but in the end she knew all she cared about was Weiyuan. She’d made her choice and more than likely she was about to pay for it anyway. As the kicks came, she quickly drew the sand up and over her lower legs, anchoring herself to the ground and just bracing herself. The first one or two blasts of wind mostly broke around her, but by the end she had lost her balance and stumbled back, falling to a knee. So this one was a bender too!? There was some serious hypocrisy at foot here. “OK, and why is my existence a crime and not yours, huh!?” There was no reason to expect fairness, but this was ridiculous. Fiber    Underneath her mask Zhen was smiling, content that she had gotten the bender to talk. She said “Neither of us belong in this world, not in this era. I don’t take pride in what I am, I don’t enjoy what I do, but I do what must be done.” Once Chae-Won stumbled, Zhen picked up speed and started running, tumbling, never spending too long on the ground between jumps as moved towards Chae Won, throwing out jabs and punches in the air as she went. They were a mix of high and low attacks, done at different points in her jump, and her path arced around, making them come multiple angles. KillamriX88    “Right. Brainwashing. Got it.” Chae-Won grumbled to herself under her breath. Definitely no point in talking to her then. She Tightened up her stance, just trying to absorb the first few hits, still too off balance from the last barrage to dodge. However… as much as it kinda hurt, she realized it really wasn’t doing much damage. It was just air after all, and it would take more than that to do any lasting damage. More than that, the air bender was moving in. While Chae-Won really didn’t want to know why they wanted to get closer, it did make fighting back a lot easier. Chae-Won grit her teeth and then jammed both her arms into the sand, letting the blast of air hit her. It still hurt, but she was too anchored to be moved. Then, the sand between them began to almost bubble and shift. Should her opponent step into it, they’d almost immediately sink into the soft, loosened sand. Fiber    The next time Zhen landed she felt her foot sink deeper than it should have. It slowed her for a moment. KillamriX88    Chae-Won… almost couldn’t believe that had worked. She quickly focused in on the sand around her target, trying to pull them down just a little deeper before compacting the sand around them. If they didn’t break out soon, then a moment later they’d see two, towering waves of sanding rising up around them to bury them completely. Fiber    As she felt the sand get tighter Zhen summoned an air blast from her hands and her feet to escape, first it stopped the sand from closing, then it propelled her into the air. At the height of her jump she feinted launching another blast then added a flip to make her landing unpredictable. The waves were tall, one came just shy of brushing her head during her descent, but she paid it no mind. Zhen just continued to make a waving motion with her hands, summoning a ball of air that grew, positioning it below herself as she landed. Now standing on top the ball of air, she rode the airscooter around Chae-Won, gathering speed and holding her hands to her side, gathering air for some kind of attack. KillamriX88    Chae-Won grit her teeth. Of course an airbender would be able to loosen the sand almost as easily as she could. Mind you, she’d never fought another bender before, not really. Not unless one counted Weiyuan and… he wasn’t much of a challenge for her. She was almost dumbstruck, watching them fly around her on a ball of air. However, she couldn’t waste time just watching. She set her feet beneath her as she ripped her arms from the sand, in one motion pulling up the sand with them and swinging her arms out. The sand to her left and right jumped up with the motion and then she again focused on solidifying it as much as she could, creating two, admittedly thin, walls of sand, hoping to cut off the runway of the Airbender and make them crash. Fiber    There was no need to adjust course when the airscooter could scale sheer walls just as easily as it could move across flat terrain. Few knew that, but Zhen loved to give her opponent little surprises. She had to admit that even she had learned something this fight, combat in sandy environments was something she had only limited experience with. Upon crossing the top of the wall Zhen intentionally overshot, gaining height, hoping to attack Chae Won from above. She thrust both of her hands forward and unleashed a crescent shaped blast of air straight at the Earthbender. KillamriX88    Chae-Won… was rather upset. They hadn’t even really had to try to deal with that one! Unfortunately, she was left too surprised to have any real answer for the counter attack. She was able to raise up some sand, but for the most part that just meant said sand was blasted right into her face as she was flattened to the ground. She coughed, spitting out a bit of sand in the process. Laying there on the ground, head spinning, she had a moment to think. This really was going poorly. Did it even matter if she won? There were still more of them. Her luck would run out if nothing else. Fiber    After knocking Chae Won over, Zhen landed on her feet and went towards her. She grabbed Chae-Won’s wrist tight, preparing to wrench it into position. She said “It doesn’t matter, but the tower wasn’t empty. You’re ahead of me in terms of people killed today. If you want to count up our sins and our good deeds over our entire lifetimes, I’m afraid you would also come up short.” KillamriX88    “Never claimed to be a good person,” Chae-Won choked out. “But I’m not here to compare cosmic score cards.” She chuckled. “But hey, speaking of the tower, I figure you must’ve been the one who blew the windows out earlier. Remember that?” From her position laying on the ground, it was easy to see the little pinpricks of light from the half-buried shards of glass lying in the sand. Chae-Won furrowed her brow and then, even as she lay on her back, lifted her leg up and stomped it back down. A pulse shot through the sand, and suddenly dozens upon dozens of glass shards of glass jumped into the air like scared fish, filling the air around them with the razor-sharp fragments. Before Zhen could grab her other hand, she directed all the shards inward and then clenched her fist. “Get fucked.” Fiber    Zhen’s eyes went wide when she realized what Chae-Won was doing. In an instant she let go of Chae-Won’s wrist, the sent out a jet of air, more to propel herself away than to hurt Chae-Won, but it only gave her a little bit of space. Already the first of the shards had whizzed by the side of her head, and so she summoned the only defense she had left, spinning around to summon a shield of air. That gave her temporary safety, but it took energy to maintain, and she didn’t have a boundless reserve to keep it up, let alone try to get out of the maelstrom. The shards were beginning to slip through, they were tearing her cloak to shreds, scratching her visor, lodging in the lightly armored torso of her combat suit. If she had to stay at the center of this, death was certain KillamriX88    Chae-Won flipped back to her feet, propelled by a burst of sand against her back and then focused all of the glass in on the air-shield. The spinning current of air would attempt to deflect the shards, but her own bending pushed back, allowing them to slip through. The moment the resistance was gone the shards would accelerate toward the woman again. Judging by the lack of blood and screaming, she had armor under her cloak. Well, sooner or later she’d hit a soft spot…

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Exiting the collapsed tower · |@Fiber] & |@KillamriX88]Exiting the collapsed tower · @Fiber & @KillamriX88 ____________________________________________________________________________. Katakuri traveled through the broken maze, sc-lurp, an eerie sound to be made when you’re in a desert within a ruined tower. His feet felt something wet, he knew it was not water, and he could tell he was leaving the footprints of a forgotten soul behind him. Coming into a room, he noticed that he found himself at a dead end – a broken dead end. Knocking on the walls, he found a spot that sounded hollow compared to the rest and kicked through it easily. Once a floor, this new wall fell down without much effort and some of the old wall which was now a ceiling collapsed on him. Dust went everywhere, and he found himself with light raining from the ceiling, "Finally, a window." he muttered to himself before boosting himself up. Quietly, he went through the window and landed on one of the sides of the cracked tower to see the outside world – it was comforting to see the outside world. Allowing his eyes to gaze, he spotted the aftermath of Zhen and this unknown earth bender. Underneath his protective gear, his eyes sharpened seeing Zhen in such a position. Focusing his sights on Chae-won, he began to move his arm up and back. Allowing his pointer finger and middle finger on each hand point together as the other fingers curled back into his wounded palms. Breathing in deeply, the pain caused his hands to become shaky – they hurt. Focus… Focus or you could kill Zhen… His eyes staying locked onto Chae-won, he needed to stop focusing on the pain or he could kill both of them with this ability. Purposefully moving each hand on the opposite side of his body, he was building up energy, and he could feel this power coursing through his veins – drip… drip… drip… - The more he moved in this way caused red droplets from his hands to fall onto the concrete, metal, and whatever other material there was to build this forsaken tower. Turning his body to the side, he pointed his dominant hand towards Chae-won as his other hand pointed the other direction. A crackling roar of electricity came from his direction before heading towards the oblivious Chae-won.

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Outside the tower · |@Fiber] & |@KillamriX88] collaborationOutside the tower · @Fiber & @KillamriX88 collaboration ____________________________________________________________________________. KillamriX88    A few more shards slipped through, one shattering against Zhen’s mask. She couldn’t focus on just forcing a few through quickly, she needed her opponent to remain surrounded or they’d just slip away. And then Zhen might see one or two particularly worrying shards of glass starting to worm their way through the wind barrier, seeming like they just might be in line with her throat. CRACK! Suddenly Chae-Won’s entire world lit up. In the same moment, all the glass fell back to the earth. Chae-Won dropped like a stone, twitching and convulsing. Every nerve ending was on fire, but at the same time she was barely aware of it. When her mind finally caught back up, it was like needles were stabbing into every part of her body, overwhelming her and robbing her of her ability to move. What the hell were these people? Fiber    The shards stopped and Zhen lowered her shield for a moment. Nearby she could see Chae-Won writing on the ground. Someone had come through and given her the opening. She was close enough now and there was no point in hesitating. She made large, circling and pulling motions with her hands, aiming towards Chae-Won’s head. It was working now, the subtle flows visible to one trained to see them, the current of nitrogen forcing it’s way into Chae-Won’s lungs. Once initiated all there was to do was watch Chae-Won slowly slip off into oblivion, her body going limp while Zhen stood over her, silently clapping as a way of acknowledging a grand finale. KillamriX88    Chae-Won looked up at the Airbender, seeing them do something and then immediately feeling something… off. It was hard to place it with the searing pain coursing through her, but she could also tell it was something new. It was over and she knew it. She couldn’t fight back anymore. It didn’t matter, though. The kid was safe. Even if her sad, little story was over, as long as he was safe, it was fine. As long as that light kept on shining, she could accept the coming darkness. And then it overtook her.

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Outside the tower · |@Fiber]Outside the tower · @Fiber ____________________________________________________________________________. Taking a few steps closer to the edge of the building, closer to Zhen, he pressed on his intercom, in a quiet voice with a sound of shortness of breath, he asked, "Are you okay, Master Lun?" He felt his blood pressure dropping, was it from the pain? The loss of blood? Most likely both. Kata stumbled, trying to catch himself before falling off the edge and onto the ground. He thudded hard, it sounded like something in his armor broke over the intercom. Katakuri fainted under all the stress and energy he used, and he was out cold before hitting the ground. _