vietmyke

ᵗʰᵉ Last Avatar.

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Location · Date & Time · [&vietmyke]Desert Outpost· Morning · @vietmyke _ The last 24 hours had been a blur. The explosion at the Synergy Center, the sudden empowering of his already little known powers. On the bright side, anyone that saw his powers was either dead or on his side for the time being. On the not-so-bright side, that brief anonymity would not likely last long. They needed to get out of the city and somewhere safe- relatively speaking. The Xuoshi engineer new a possible refuge away from the city, and that was all Jin needed to hear before he started formulating plans. Reman had a direction, Jin had a means to achieve said direction, and from there they were flying by seat of their pants. With people still confused about what was happening, it was easy for Vyska to use her authority to push the other SynEn employees to do what she wanted or needed of them- she along with the rest of their growing little group wouldn't be there to suffer the consequences anyway. Additional provisions, or at least whatever they could grab at such short notice were procured, and any unnecessary junk and weight was unceremoniously dumped out of Jin's car and onto the garage floor. Jack cleared the garage of personnel, and Sumire discreetly gave the override to open the usually secured gates to allow them to reach the outside. As for Sumire, it was a difficult decision, but one that ultimately only had one answer. She had a life in this city, and people depended on her just like Jin did. But Jin couldn't and wouldn't let her stay behind in the city- she'd already incriminated herself by assisting them, and if it was ever discovered that Jin and Vyska were benders, it wouldn't be long before the RSF were knocking on her door. No, as terrible as it sounded, the safest place for her to be was out of the city with him. In truth, her fate had been sealed the moment she discovered he was a bender- she was his closest, and to an extent his only friend in the city, and any RSF spook would be able to piece that together with ease. There was a tearful call goodbye to her mother, saying that she was going on an extended expedition along the pipes, and wasn't sure when she'd be able to get in contact again. And with that, they were gone. Admittedly, Jin and company's journey to the rest stop was easier than most. The Kyoshi was custom tailored to handle the trials and tribulations of the desert, and with much of the excess gear ditched, it was much lighter and easy to maneuver. The same couldn't be said of others- many walked, others came in beat up vehicles that frankly Jin was surprised were still able to keep themselves together. Jin wasn't sure how he was roped into it but at some point he became a designated driver for the burgeoning caravan of refugees. He didn't remember if he volunteered or was voluntold, but he was now the driver of his own little company of benders and outcasts. Even from his spot in the shade of the rest stop, he could see the other drivers eyeing up his car like a hunk of meat at a butcher shop. He wasn't happy about that, but he wasn't surprised. While quite suped up- even for a Pipe Runner vehicle, amongst his coworkers, his car wasn't that much of a jump ahead. But here at this rest stop, his car may as well be from another world. Being frank, Jin was surprised that those old beat up cars had even made it out here in one piece, never mind try to brave the oncoming sandstorm. Even in the Kyoshi, Jin would be hesitant to take a storm like that head on. "Should we stop them? Sumire yawned, interrupting his thoughts. Her voice was slightly digitized through her Pipe Runner helmet- a white helmet similar to Jin's, with a bunny ear headband affixed to the top. Her helmet was also notably in much better shape than Jin's, rarely used and still relatively unscarred by the sands. The two had been taking turns getting some rest, and only the desire to stretch their legs saw them exit Jin's Kyoshi. Jin's gaze beneath his polarized visor affixed itself to the one man that had taken it upon himself to take a closer look at the vehicle. The armored shutters made seeing into the vehicle itself an exercise in futility. "Unless one of them has a grenade launcher in their pants I'm not that worried." Jin replied casually, though he still stood up from his seat by the wall of the rest stop, picking up his rifle as he did. "Though that being said, I'd rather these guys not get too comfortable with my car." Catching sight of the Xuoshi engineer rounding the corner as he got up, Jin waved him down. They didn't know each other, not really. But something about their current circumstances meant he was one of the few friendly faces that Jin could relatively trust not to stab him in the back- at least for the moment. "Reman, c'mon, we're gonna be mounting up soon." Jin called out to the man, gesturing for him to follow. "How're you holding up?" A small group was also already forming around the Kyoshi, most likely the others that would be riding with them. The one that didn't belong was a sort of rough and tumble looking man- likely another driver- with a gun at his hip. Seemingly ignoring the growing group around his car, the man continued snooping around Jin's car, even going so far as to grab the door handle and try to open up the driver side door. It was locked, obviously. Jin for his part had his own gun in his hands as well- though not aggressively, but held rather casually in his grasp, with its muzzle pointed at the ground. "Those of you in my car," Jin's digitized voice called out to the others, making his presence known, "Spare helmets and filters are on the outer racks on the left. Help yourselves. Might come in handy- though I might not have enough for everyone." Sumire quickly crossed over to the car, giving both Jin and the other driver a fairly wide berth as she approached the others. "They're not as necessary while we're in the car, but they have sand and dust filters in case the weather stays bad!" Sumire said helpfully, pulling her own helmet off to greet the others. "Hey there, friend. I think my car is full up on riders." Jin called out to the man creeping about his car, in a tone that, while not hostile was decidedly less than friendly. Jin stood a few feet away from the man, hand casually resting on his rifle. Now, I'm not looking for any trouble here. I hope you're not looking for any neither."

ᵗʰᵉ Last Avatar.

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Location · Date & Time · [&vietmyke]Synergy Storage Facility _ Jin watched the small talk between his boss and the Xuoshi engineer with a mild interest. He was more curious as to what they were doing than anything else. It was generally talk about making their job on the line a little easier- which was surprising to Jin to say the least. The thought of higher ups actually giving a shit about the general conditions of the Pipe Runners was the last thing Jin expected them to actually be doing. He was more expecting some sort of backroom or underhanded deal- occurring under the guise of a 'ride along'. Though that being said, he could still be wrong. Maybe it was all an elaborate ruse after all. Whatever was actually going on, Jin would never find out- as Sumire was quick to gather everyone's attention. It took a second for Jin to fully be aware of what he was looking at, he wasn't used to looking at data displays from this level. The wave of caution symbols appearing on the screen quickly followed blaring sirens and a wave of pink explosions along the pipeline stretching out in front of them. Stepping closer towards the window, Jin watched the blossoming flowers of energy with morbid interest before his mind truly registered what was happening. His eyes darted for Sumire, mouth opening to tell her to stand back, but he'd barely gotten a word out before she flung herself at him. The impact of Sumire's smaller frame against his did little more than rock him a step or so back. Jin blinked- physical contact wasn't a regular occurrence in the life of a Pipe Runner, a mixture of surprise and amusement passing through him as he lightly patted his junior's head. "Safer than a seatbelt." Jin chuckled as he watched Sumire step back, noting the flush to her cheeks as she quickly began dusting herself off. The mood quickly shifted however, as a strange feeling, a sort of pressure on his brow made itself present, though Jin was quickly distracted by Vyska's screaming. Jin quickly turned to his boss, noticing the burning hands. Turning back to Sumire in time to see the Operator behind her grab her, Jin's eyes widened in surprise. "Woah! Hey what the fuck?! 'Mire!" Jin shouted out, quickly closing the distance between himself and his junior. "Get the fuck off her." Jin continued as he grabbed the operator's wrist with one hand and wrenched it off of Sumire, his other arm quickly wrapping around her and pulling her behind him. The operator's eyes looked glazed over, vacant, but seemed to still have awareness, as the arms clawed, flailed and grabbed at the two of them. His mouth was agape, but he seemed not to hear or respond to any of Jin's prompts. As Jin struggled to keep the man away from him and Sumire, he could've sword he saw what looked like a shadow or a cloud of smoke behind the crazed operator. Normally, he'd be too busy to clock that, but the shape was vaguely that of a human's, and tethers seemed to connect it to the madman in front of them. Whatever the true nature of shadow was, Jin couldn't tell- he was far too distracted as the operator swiped at him again, his time managing to scrape across Jin's face with an outstretched hand. "Sonova bitch!" Jin growled as he covered his face. Jin felt the metallic taste of blood on his lips as the blow from the operator broke the skin. "Fuck off!" Jin bellowed. Squaring his feet, Jin placed his hand on the psycho operator's chest and shoved the man away as hard as he could. All the tension and pressure on Jin's brow suddenly lifted as a gust of wind followed his shove. Jin had air bended before, so he knew what it felt like, but he'd never felt it like this before. Usually, he had enough self control to not accidentally bend- his life was on the line after all, but now it felt unruly, wild and free. The mad operator took a half step towards Jin, struggling against the massive current of air pushing at him before he lost his footing and was sent flying head over heels across the room like a ragdoll. The massive windows of the control center shattered as the body was thrown against it and shoved through, glass shards and chunks flying outward along with the wind. The warm desert air met Jin's face as he and Sumire stared out the broken window. "You okay?" he asked. Sumire nodded breathlessly. The two shared a look for a moment before looking back out the window, down at Jin's hands, then back at each other. "Fuck." The young operator said quietly. Jin nodded in agreement. "Fuck."

ᵗʰᵉ Last Avatar.

Jin Wei

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Jin dropped his salute before Vyska had even finished saying stop, his eyebrows raising slightly in some sense of bemusement as Miss Moon thanked him for being willing to take them along with him. Willing wasn't exactly the word Jin would've used- voluntold would've been more fitting. She might not have been the president, but she was a Moon. When it came to the Moon family, willingness wasn't a factor in what you were doing. There were very few ways Jin could lose his job- refusing the Moons' were one of those ways. He offered Vyska's bodyguard Jack, a considerably more casual nod as he reached out and clasped the man's hand, his eyes darting all over the man's face, as though he was analyzing something.

"Sure hope that's not your favorite suit." Jin replied, "You'll never get the sand out of it."

"The helmets are bulletproof," Jin clarified, "But they're more for air filtering and protecting your eyes. I don't expect to be running into any trouble..." Jin's eyebrows furrowed a bit as he shot glances at the two ride-alongs. Not necessarily accusatory glances, but not far from it. A Ride-Along? Not likely. There was no way in hell anyone from the Moon family cared about the nitty gritty details of their Pipe Runners, surely not enough to get in a car with one. They could just send inspectors or managers or some other lower level executive more suited to the job. No, there was something else up- and he was just their glorified chauffer. The glances lasted for a moment before Jin remembered he wasn't wearing a helmet. Cursing himself Jin quickly tore his eyes away from them. Whatever was going on, he'd find out soon enough.

Falling silent, Jin took a half step back and crossed his arms as Sumire quickly interposed herself between Jin and Vyska.

"You'll have to excuse him," Sumire laughed nervously, "You know Pipe Runners, they're not used to interacting with people from the city. A lottle rough around the edges, but I promise! Jin knows what he's doing."

Before Jin could say anything, apologies or otherwise, their group grew by one. Jin didn't recognize the man, but he did recognize the name: Xuoshi. An electronics and drone company, their drones were pretty popular with Jin and his colleagues. Jin used to sport one of their surveillance models, deployable from his car, but a particularly nasty storm had knocked it out of its housing and was currently most likely buried somewhere in the desert.

If Jin wasn't suspicious before, he was certainly suspicious now. What on earth could they be doing out in the desert that called for both a member of the Moon family and a representative of Xuoshi? A rather sour expression crossed Jin's face as he pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and stuck it in his mouth.

"Lots of suits. Hope that's not your favorite either." Jin remarked.

ᵗʰᵉ Last Avatar.

The Desert Rat

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>11:47am
>Deserts outside of Ba Sing Se
>Rat Radio

A figure on the dashboard, with a comically over-sized head bearing some minor resemblance to the ever energetic radio-op, bobbed its head up and down as the modified Kyoshi RS soared over yet another sand dune. The car rattled slightly as the souped up suspension and shocks absorbed most of the impact, the arm on the bobblehead- stretched up high with a rocker's fist matching the rhythm of Not-Sumire's head. The windshield flickered a bit, the edges distorted for a split second as the cameras attached to the car reacted to the sudden impact, its various vision spectrum effectively scrubbing all the sand, dust and grit from 'view'. A scratchy radio blared loud rock music as a pair of gloved hands drummed almost casually against the steering wheel. The steering wheel itself formed the center of an almost cockpit-like layout- the interior of the car was almost foreign to its original form. Where most of a standard vehicle's controls sat in the center of the car, between the two front seats, this vehicle had almost all of its functions within hand's reach of the steering wheel, forming a sort of shell of buttons and switches around the driver. The center of the car itself was mostly empty, save for a gear shift stick, a GPS screen lazily hanging off of a bending arm, and the butt of a short carbine.

Nestled inside the driver's seat, buckled into his seat by a full harness instead of a typical lap belt was one of SynEn's many Pipe Runners: helmet visor popped open, plumes of smoke slowly flowing out of the open maw. Peeking out of the open helmet was a shock of ash white hair contrasting tanned, mocha skin. Usually piercing green eyes stared lazily ahead at the growing walls of Ba Sing Se, a beat up, bent and half burned cigarette mashed unceremoniously between his lips.

"Really putting me on a pedestal, huh Miri?" Jin grunted into a mouthpiece built into his helmet. Sumire had forgotten to mute her end of the headset, so Jin had heard most of her side of the conversation through his earpiece.

"Would you rather me tell them the truth?" came the hissed reply, "You remember who this is right? Can you please clean up for- Hm? Oh uh, nothing! Don't mind me! Right this way-" Sumire's voice cut off as her attention returned to the suits around her, this time remembering to shut off her mic.

Jin Wei chuckled to himself as the car caught another bump in the dunes, the bobblehead rattling as he tore across the desert sands. He wasn't quite sure why they were pulling him off the pipes and recalling him to BSS- usually he came back to the city of his own volition, maybe once or twice a month. Something about a ride along, but Jin Wei found it exceedingly odd that one of the Moon's themselves would bother with the likes of him- nevermind even stepping foot into the harsh desert sands. The pessimist in him told him that they knew he was a bender and that this was an overconvoluted plot to do him in, and to just book it far into the desert and never come back. The realist in him told him he didn't have the supplies at the moment to last any longer than a few weeks out in the wastes anyway.

So, set up or not, there was little else he could do but return to Ba Sing Se. The great walls of the lower ring grew to consume the whole horizon as he grew ever closer to the city. A flicker of a shadow through the sunroof caught Jin's eye and he spotted a drone flying alongside him, keeping pace with him surprisingly well. A battered, sanded SynEn Logo was emblazoned on its body, and the barrel of a 40mm automatic grenade launcher was pointed a bit ahead of the Kyoshi to compensate for their high speed. A red light flickered across the body of his vehicle as it scanned him.

"That you Jin? Is it that time of the month already?" crackled a drawling voice over his comm. The two shared a chuckle before the drawl went about its usual, company mandated spiel. "Please raise the driver side shutters and confirm your ID number."

With a flick of a switch, the view on his driver side window blinked off for a moment, leaving him staring at the back site of a metal plate before that too slid up and out of the way of his window. Jin squinted as the sunlight broke into his vehicle, shading his eyes a bit as he glanced at the drone sidling up alongside him.

"Jin Wei, ID number 2464, coming in for refit and reassignment." Jin called into his mic as he offered the drone's camera a lazy salute. Seemingly satisfied, the drone lifted up and flew off.

"Roger that Jin, please proceed to Garage S3, Bay 17." Jin's GPS seemingly updated as the voice spoke. "Looks like you're doing some work for Lady Moon huh? 'Whole company's talking about it, lucky you eh?"

"Pah," Jin snorted sarcastically. "If that's what 'luck' is, I don't want it."

---

>Ba Sing Se
>SynEn Storage Facility

The garage filled with the sounds of a loud, muscled up engine as the Kyoshi slowly rolled into its designated spot in the garage. Tracking in sand and soot, it was quickly attended to by a small team of mechanics as Jin climbed out of the driver seat. Usually, he had to do all the spot repairs on his own, but one of the few good things about returning to Ba Sing Se was that SynEn had a whole team of techs to fix up everyone's rides- a full refit and repair, all on the company dime- or at least subsidized by it. Just as well, the Kyoshi had gone through the ringer in recent weeks- bullet marks and ricochets scored the driver side armor plates, while one of the roof mounted foglights was just missing, torn from its housing. The cargo netting on the sides and top were torn and sand covered, and the spare wheel was gone.

Without a word, Jin tossed the keys to the lead mechanic, a portly looking man with a prosthetic foot, before making his way out of the garage and through the halls of SynEn Storage Facility. Pipe Runners generally stood out amongst the employees of SynEn, mainly due to their lack of uniformity- in the outlands, even SynEn admitted that comfort and utility took precedent over uniformity, and Jin was no different: brightly colored helmet under the crook of his arm and broad, dusty jacket. Other employees generally gave him a wide berth- not because he was particularly mean or nasty, but because they didn't want to explain to their managers why their uniforms were suddenly covered in dust, sand and dirt.

The doors to the control room hissed as they slid open, and there were a few muffled, muttered curses as the SynEn Pipe Runner stepped into the room, a solid pair of boots tracking desert sand all over as they clunked against the steel floor.

"Oh for spirits' sake Jin, you're trying to make me look bad, aren't you?" The junior Runner and Operator whined, taking a distinct step away from her senior as he stepped forward to greet her. "Don't you fucking dare." she growled, pointing an accusatory finger at his dusty jacket.

"Now why would I be trying to do that?" Jin asked innocently. He was rewarded with a flat, blank stare.

Sumire took a deep breath, calming herself before jerking a thumb towards the 'big boss' on the other side of the control room. Another deep breath, and Sumire was back at it, her cheery voice ringing across the room.

"Ah! Miss Moon, here he is, our senior Pipe Runner!" Sumire chimed enthusiastically, delivering a not so subtle, sharp elbow into Jin's side.

With a pained grimace, Jin stepped forward and offered the golden haired lady a relatively formal salute as he greeted her- seemingly his best effort at appearing serious. "Ma'am, Jin Wei, reporting as ordered."

ᵗʰᵉ Last Avatar.

Jin Wei

Jin Wei

Name: Jin Wei
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Element: Air

Residence: Technically, Jin Wei possesses a small apartment around the SynEn Power Plant, but in actuality, Jin ends up living out of his car more often than not. He frequents Ba Sing Se often enough that he occasionally rents out a space in the Lower Ring.

Occupation: SynEn Pipe Runner

Who are you:
A free spirit and a blue collar worker- admittedly one of the few instances in which such a combination were ever possible. Work is still work, but no one from SynEn corporate really wants to wander their way out into the desert long enough to tell me how to do my job (or fire me for that matter), so they usually leave me alone and let me do my own thing. So long as the Synergy keeps flowing, I guess they don't particularly care how.

Being a SynEn Pipe Runner isn't glamorous work: Take one part plumber, two parts pest control, and one part border security, slap minimum wage on it and you have me. Granted, base pay for SynEn is much better than anything you'd get in the city' and hazard pay on top isn't bad either, so I'm scraping by a bit better than some folk. I can afford the basics: ammunition, lodging and food- but it always feels like I'm short a buck or ten more than is comfortable. Kinda forces you into being a bit more resourceful when we're out in the sands...

_{Between you and me, none of us out here really pay for fuel- I mean, there's a whole pipeline's worth of power a few meters away. We're always patching leaks anyway, so what's a few more missing units of Synergy, right? I mean really, the big bad power company can't afford to provide fuel for the people who keep their pipelines in order? They make me pay for my own ammunition for spirits' sake...}

Anyway, life isn't that bad out here for the most part. Its hot as all hell, but people leave you alone usually. And if trouble does come knocking, usually other Pipe Runners will always keep an eye out for you too. There's an honesty to life out here that you don't really get in Ba Sing Se. A bit rough and rugged sure, but you know everyone's angle. There's no gang politics or corpo backstabbing, no con men or thieves with hearts of gold. The people out here are either out to steal Synergy and shoot you, or back you up and shoot them. That's the type of simplicity I can get behind.

I've got my gun, I've got my car, and I've got Sumire on the Radio. What else could I need? Well, other than an ice cold beer and working AC.

What is your opinion on Benders?
Well if you asked me in public and for the record, I'd tell you that benders were the devil and all deserve to be thrown out into the desert and left to wander the wastes until their bodies eventually shriveled up in the heat or went crazy from all of the Synergy radiation.

Now of course, if you asked me behind closed doors... its... a bit less cut and clear. I mean, all my life I learned that Benders were the reasons behind all the troubles society went through- and I was happy to believe that until I found out that I could do a bit of airbending myself a few years back. Now, I know I'm not exactly what you'd call an "upstanding member of society", but I've had time to take a step back and look at things and how they are right now- and I'll tell you what...

Benders for the most part are gone, any and every bender they find are snuffed out quicker than people knew they existed. And after all of that, guess what? Ba Sing Se still has problems. Gangs still run the lower levels, the aristocrats still pretend none of us shit-stains exist behind their high walls and ivory towers and legions of bought out RSF. Maybe, just maybe, Benders aren't the problem. Now, I'm no revolutionary, I'm not gonna get up in arms and start fighting the system- I'm not an idiot, and I'd like to live and see another decade. I'm just saying, as far as I'm concerned, if I run across you and you're a bender? I never saw ya.

Notable Gear

• Sato General Automotives Kyoshi RS

  
  Jin Wei's personal vehicle is a highly modified Kyoshi RS. Suspension and handling has been modified to make it a viable offroad vehicle, and its chassis has been replaced with armored plates to protect its occupants from both gunfire and the general hazards of the lands outside of Ba Sing Se. Armored shutters replace the glass surfaces of the vehicles, the high winds and sands typically render visibility moot anyway, so the vehicle relies on a series of multispectrum cameras to allow the occupants to see while the shutters are lowered. Storage racks on top of the vehicle provide additional storage, and the back seat has been replaced with a plush bench that doubles as a sleeping mat.
• Pipe Runner Kit

  
  While Pipe Runners don't have any particular uniform, they do generally possess the same components: Utilitarian, durable clothes with plenty of pockets, a sealed helmet to filter out the sand and toxic air, a SynEn ID badge, an outer coat to protect from the sand and winds, and typically a rucksack with survivalist supplies such as spare batteries, flashlights, emergency rations, first aid kit, survival knife, and the like.
• Sato Armory L-45 'Defiant'

  
  This short barrelled lever action rifle was originally designed as a marksman weapon for RSF scouts. A relatively older design, the L-45 has since been phased out for newer weapons, but still remains rather popular amongst survivalists, gun enthusiasts and frontiersmen alike. Durable, reliable and chambered in a relatively high caliber, the L-45 still sees use among groups such as the SynEn Corporation's Pipe Runners as an accurate but affordable weapon that can handle the dusty and rough conditions far away from society. Jin Wei's rifle has a medium range 1-4x scope and aiming laser, as well as a side mounted ammo carrier.

Extra:
Color Code: steelblue

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Sumire

Sumire Lin

Name: Sumire Lin
Age: 20
Gender: Female

Residence: SynEn Power Plant

Occupation: SynEn Pipe Runner, Radio Operator

Jin Wei's junior in the company. Occasionally accompanies him on his outings into the wastes, but usually functions as a dispatch operator, coordinating with the local Pipe Runners and sending them where needed. The only person who knows that Jin Wei is an Airbender, though that discovery was made by accident. Excitable and friendly.

ᵗʰᵉ Last Avatar.

Anxiety intensifies

ᵗʰᵉ Last Avatar.

Whoop whoop, this one has really blown up

ᵗʰᵉ Last Avatar.

I imagine there are areas of straight slums, but the super poverty/places where you get shanked on the regular is probably in the underground. I imagined the majority of lower ring as basically the projects or low income/large volume housing, or the not so nice parts of the city like others have said

ᵗʰᵉ Last Avatar.

I also generally like to keep the party smallish when I'm GMing groups, I get too frazzled trying to focus on more than a few people

ᵗʰᵉ Last Avatar.

3 fire, 1 water, 1 air, 1 earth, 2 non, it appears that fire is the popular element for this rp

I almost went with fire as well, for a wanderer that spends a lot of time in the hot desert, but air felt more fitting for a free spirit