ooc: The posts in here will take place shortly prior to part 2 of the plot.

A. Docks (Closed to Bumi) - The yelp is cut off all too quickly. The woman's pale hand snakes forward, impossibly fast, closing around the man's throat. She's strong -- too strong -- the momentum of it sends him crashing back against the wall, pinning him under her grasp. Her fingers press like daggers into the soft flesh at his jaw and around his windpipe. Her eyes are cold and black as stones.

He will not be leaving this encounter easily. If at all.

"The Avatar believes that you are capable of learning." Her gaze never leaves his face. "I do not."

B. Spirit Wilds (Closed to Mia) - The water of the former fountain twists in response to the footsteps, swirls. The Mother of Faces emerges from the depths, the great branches of her crown dripping.

She surveys the group -- two stone-faced men, each with a pouch dangling at their belts, holding onto a small, blue-haired girl. One hand lifts; the girl is released. Apparently the Mother has no concern about the girl running off.

"Mia." The name is greeting and question both. What exactly had she been doing?

This part of the plot will last for the next 1 ½- 2 weeks. We’ll keep an eye on things and see how it’s going for you guys, as we don't want to hurry you, but also don't want things to drag along. Feel free to use this post for questions, discussion, and rp threads!

***

The spirit vines are spreading, unfurling tendril by tendril – first slowly, then at a rate of growth that is visible. They are spreading into territory previously left to the city’s human population, expanding the Spirit Wilds inch by inch, foot by foot. While they aren’t hurting anyone per se, and their expansion isn’t horribly fast, they are persistent. They can also be destructive, cracking through buildings and stone. Attempts to kill them or to thwart their expansion will result in a doubling of their growth, as well as additional destruction – much as occurred when Korra attempted to appease them at the beginning of Season 3 of LoK.

Additionally, strangers are appearing throughout the city – individuals that no one has seen before. They seem to be focused, interested in planting seeds . . . seeds that, when left untouched, erupt into more spirit vines the next day. Their mission seems to be to plant seeds in areas where there are none, in parts of the city where it would take longer for the vines to reach themselves. They appear in homes and businesses as well as public locations, undaunted by any chaos they cause in the process. Indeed, if people attempt to fight them off, they will be met with force as the strangers protect the seeds they plant, the vines, and any spirits in the area.

People have continued to disappear. The outsiders may even find that three of their own have vanished. Even the Triads seem daunted as their numbers slowly shrink and have quieted, banding together and holing up as though this will prevent the loss of any more. Things are looking a bit daunting in Republic City . . . What will you do about it?

You can expect:
+ Spirit vines in unexpected places
+ Property damage as spirit vines expand their territory
+ Persistent strangers appearing in places they shouldn’t be (including your bedroom!)
+ Those same strangers being touchy about you not wanting seeds planted in your bedroom
+ Citizens displaced/needing help as spirit vines slowly take over more buildings
+ A general sense of anxiety and panic in the city

1 - The Fighting Addict

Things had been getting rough lately with the Triads getting agitated, and it hadn't escaped Yuri's notice. Despite living in the higher class part of town with that girl, for now, he still made regular trips to the Dragonflats and the surrounding areas to make sure everyone was doing okay. Unfortunately... not everything was okay. Some of the thugs had spotted and quickly surrounded Yuri and were tossing threads and accusations of him being the reason their buddies had gone missing.

"Whoa, hey, you've got the wrong guy!"

But that didn't really do anything to appease them. In fact, it only made them angrier, to the point that Repede started to growl in warning. 

That's when a flash of fire, a surge of water, and pieces of earth appeared in the hands of the Triad members, their intent rather clear. They were going to take out their frustration on someone, and that someone was going to be Yuri.

"So you guys want a fight, huh?"

Flipping his sword up, he caught it by the hilt, and with a swing of his arm, sent the scabbard flying through the air. Where it hit a Triad thug square in the nose. A cry of pain and a gush of blood indicating he'd hit his mark, a smug look on the swordsman's face. 

"Why you!" the others growled and quickly converged on him. 

"Bring it!"


2 - Bruised and Battered

Later, Yuri can be found bruised and bloody in Avatar Korra Park. His faithful partner, Repede, laying in the grass beside him as he sat on a bench. 

Feel free to approach him or hand him an ice pack. 

3 - Open!

Need an idiot vigilante for any reason? Or just want to hang out? He's your man. 

[Bolin's life has been improving after all the terrible circumstances that happened with Opal last month.  He looks more positive, and things seem to finally be clicking into gear.  And it's important too since this month is a much bigger month for a variety of reasons.]

A. [Open - Pro-bending Arena]

[Finally!  It's the event everyone's been waiting for: the Pro-bending Tournament!  The teams have finally been chosen and entered into the huge contest to see who's going to take it all.  And of course the Fire Ferrets have been entered.  They're not the favourites this year, naturally.  After all, Bolin's team had a rather embarrassing loss last year in the first round.  But Yang is a much better firebender than whatever floozy he recruited for the team last year, and so they've got a decent shot.

[Want to give Bo a pep talk before the discs and the elements start flying?  Want to watch the match from the crowd?  Want to greet Bolin after the game?  Spoilers:  The Fire Ferrets will win their first match, so feel free to congratulate him on a job... better done.  The Fire Ferrets are going to be a little rusty because it's their first game as a team, but it just so happened that the other team was even more rusty than they were thankfully.]

B. [Open - Police Station]

[Bolin is checking in at the police station, checking to see if any word has been heard about his brother and Korra.  He's worried sick about them, and the odds are looking pretty bad by this point.  However, like a loyal puppy that's lost his master, he still makes a weekly visit to the station to see if anything's been heard.]

C. [Open - Air Temple Island]

[Though he's been living with Asami Sato in her mansion ever since slightly before the disappearance of Mako and Korra, and he's been spending a fair bit of time there, Air Temple Island is like a second home to him.  There's just something about being in a place with so many memories that stirs him.  Plus, Opal is there pretty frequently, and he's actually gotten a chance to see her every now and again, and that's one of the things that's keeping him buoyed up above all the rest of the drama in his life.]

D. [Closed to Dove - Varrick's Yacht]

[Varrick disappeared a month ago, and with that meant that the mover that they were working on had gotten canned.  There goes Bolin's source of income.  And honestly, without the head man in charge, that pretty much meant that the entire studio was pretty much idle.  Without Varrick, there wasn't much to do.  However, Bolin didn't see that as a reason to just give up making movers.  In fact, he saw it as a possible opportunity.

[So with the help of a rather trusted assistant, he sent Dove a message to meet him on the yacht.  After all, Varrick wouldn't be using it, so why not have a business meeting there?  Like old times.]

I've got a great idea!

[Scarier words by Bolin have never before been said.]

E. [Choose Your Own]

[Have an idea that you want to thread out?  I'm all ears!]

A. Streets of Republic City

[While one could potentially live a fairly comfortable life in the abandoned Spirit Wilds dwellings, one still needed a few basic necessities. Namely, food. Fighing for money could only go so far, and occasionally such a life could leave one a bit short of the necessary funds to feed oneself.]

Stop that kid!

[And sometimes those who are hungry and without money resort to dining and ditching. Today's poor victim? That nice noodle place in the Little Water Tribe district. Nezha, the thief in question, bolts down the street and through the alleyways with agility more befitting an airbender than a Fire Nation native. A shame he doesn't seem to pay much attention to where he's going in his haste to flee the scene...]

------

B. Spirit Wilds

[Those who wander through the Spirit Wilds today may happen upon a young firebender up on one of the higher vines, sparring with some unseen opponent. In truth, this is how he spends most days when he's not in town, scrapping for food money or causing trouble for the police. Should you find him here, he'd be perfectly happy to take time out of his 'busy' schedule for a chat.]

------

C. Catchall

[If you have any other ideas, go for it! He's been squatting in an abandoned Spirit Wilds apartment all this time, so if for any reason someone's actually looking for him, that's where you could find him. If he's not there, you might also be able to find him in some of the seedier districts of Republic City, brawling for money.]

A. It's too cold to be outside, or she would most certainly be out. It's snowing outside the library, the flakes drifting down beyond the pane, and the woman perched in the windowsill doesn't seem to be anywhere near dressed for the weather. Her robes are light, more ornamental than practical -- some relics of a bygone era. Dark hair is impossibly long, spilling down the sill and nearly to the floor, left loose and undecorated. In her lap is a pad, and she appears to be attempting to draw . . . though it's hard to say, watching her, that she even knows how to hold a pencil. She keeps shifting her fingers, trying to find something that looks comfortable, and the scrawl that she's producing doesn't look much like anything at all.

You'll either find her trying at this or casting down her pencil in disgust, staring out at the falling snow. For anyone spiritually-inclined, she's exuding an enormous amount of spiritual presence; for anyone else, she's merely a woman -- though one who looks very out of place.

B. Sounds like the triads are at it again. They seem to have cornered a tall, pale woman in the nearby alley. Her dark eyes spear them, her voice raised in demand. Whatever she says, however, is lost on the triad members, who smirk. One sparks fire into his hands, ready to move.

The woman answers with no bending. Perhaps she doesn't have any at all.

With all the excitement going on with the penguin races, the spirits came to a conclusion that the citizens and the people they brought to this city just weren't doing their best job to take care of the problem that they were sensing. Maybe they didn't bring the right people, or maybe they just needed more protection. Things seemed far too quiet and it just didn't sit well with them. So, some of the stronger spirits who preferred to watch instead of interact with humans decided to combine their powers together to summon more people from all over the worlds.






Welcome to the Fourth Wall Event of Cyclicality.

The spirits are bringing in all sorts of people for three weeks to try and gain more help and more alliances to help protect Republic City from anything that may wish to harm it. Any characters can come into the game with their powers to try and help out Republic City or just make things even more chaotic for the citizens. Your characters can come in as their original self, or you can AU them into the setting as well.

At the end of the event the new characters that were pulled into Republic City will be sent back to their own homes, unless you wish to app the character you brought in. You will be able to app them and let them keep their memories of the event. That goes for the characters already in the game as well. However, any canon powers will be lost as usual upon apping unless they're a canon bender or apped as AU. An overflow post will be posted around this time next week depending on if there are a lot of people tagging/commenting, so hop to it, everyone!

Some rules to follow:

1. If you’re a player in the game and interested in participating in the event, use the [4th wall] tag. This will let everyone know if you want to participate. You can also tag posts here.

2. If you’re not in the game, you can post a starter post here or tag into someone else’s post who has the [4th wall tag].

3. As always, remember to be friendly! And, if you have any questions, feel free to shoot us a PM.

( CLOSED TO TEAM RJBY )

[ Around Republic City & Avatar Korra Park ]

[ Dogs needed walks and that was exactly what Zwei was going to get. Altogether, the dog was very excited to be in the new city. Though without a leash, the dog was happy to follow his owner. Occasionally he would stop to offer strangers a friendly bark, hoping for a pet or a bite of food they had just purchased.

Yang showed him as much as the city as possible, pointing out wherever they were going whether the Probending Arena or the statue of Avatar Korra in the park. Zwei took a particular liking to the park, there were tons of trees to pee on and he even took a moment to sniff and take a leak on Korra's statue. Yang sighed loudly. ]

Zwei, you can't pee on that, that's our Avatar. [ The corgi tilted his head at the statue and parked before he pranced back to Yang with a wag of his tail as if asking where to next. ]

[ Ferry & Air Temple Island ]

[ Through their adventures around the City, Yang and Zwei decided to surprise Ruby during her break in training with carry out. As Yang was not blessed with the ability to bend air, she was forced to take the ferry across to Air Temple Island. Both woman and dog enjoyed the nice breeze across the ferry well enough though and occasionally Zwei would run in circles in excitement.

As they reached land, Zwei sniffed the ground and barked loudly. ] Alright Zwei, this is what you're made for! Let's go surprise Ruby!

[ Zwei barked in response and took off... in completely the opposite direction. ] Hey-- Zwei, wait up! You're going the wrong way!

[ But the dog had a mind of his own, rather than taking the quickest way to training location he took the long way around. Running through the kitchens, indoors and occasionally stopping to sniff outside someone's room, only to bark and run off again.

Yang sighed after him, often offering the same apology along the way. ] Sorry, he's just excited.

[ Probending Arena ]

[ Even on days that Bolin wasn't drilling the team, the Fire Ferrets newest fire bender took the initiative to keep herself in shape. Most mornings she could be found doing laps around the arena with the "help" of a corgi. Around the fifth lap or so the dog usually gave up, choosing to watch her and bark his encouragement over joining her. Out of team pride, she wore ferret colors while she ran.

Once she completed laps, she would head inside and work on squats, sit ups, push ups and fire bending forms. ]

A: The streets
[ If Lin emerging from the spirit wilds wasn't odd, she didn't know what was. She wasn't spiritual. She had no idea what she was doing in or even so close to them. She ran her hand over her face once she was free from the vines. She would like to know why she was near the vines. She was not particularly spiritual and she wasn't quite so fond of dabbling in something like spiritual matters. It was another language to her. She shook her head to try and clear the fog that felt like it was clouding her mind. She was chief of police. She couldn't stand around and question all day. She had to take care of a few things, namely her job. She was going to take the long way. She could use the time to both figure out what was going on and to make sure no one was causing trouble while she was around. ]

B: Police Station
[ Lin can be found almost anywhere near or in the station. She didn't know what happened but whatever did it threw all of the work she used to have out of whack. Things had changed. People seemed to react slightly differently to her but she was willing to chalk that up to imagination. Either way she looks like she's in a more natural state of being then she was before. She's not to back in the saddle yet but she's creeping closer. Either way she has a lot on her mind and the pacing, the work, the people all help distract from the more useless thoughts. ]

[It didn't make any sense, it was almost like she'd tripped and the company she'd had was suddenly gone, leaving her standing amidst the spirit wilds.

She was almost sure she was in the same place, but everything was wrong. There was a distinct absence of what should have been there, and a distinct presence of what shouldn't. After a few seconds of initial confusion she made the choice to retrace her steps to head back into the city -- not without taking another several minutes to remove her handcuffs of course -- to try and figure out what was going on.

Kuvira took her time getting back, careful to watch her step and not exacerbate her side anymore than she already had. She didn't know how long she walked until she finally emerged from the wilds and stepped out into the busy streets. Well it hadn't been this busy the last time she came through here either.]

This...isn't...

[Picking a direction she started to walk again, steadily attempting to collect herself more as she went, listening to the conversations of the passerby's.]

[ It had become a daily habit for Ty Lee to start and end her days off in Avatar Korra Park performing a rigorous set of nearly impossible stretches, often times helping anyone else that wished to join her and learn along the way. Even the cold of winter didn't stop her and she kept herself clad in just enough to keep warm. It was mid-back bend when she performed a trick she didn't even know she was capable of-- she disappeared.

It was exactly three days that she went missing, at least to anyone in Republic City. For Ty Lee, it had been much longer. In that time she had betrayed the Fire Nation's princess, unexpectedly made friends with a group of Kyoshi Warriors, joined them only to end up as one of the new Fire Lord's personal guard. It wasn't until shortly after Zuko left on Appa with the very person she betrayed that it all ended, and Ty Lee found herself right back where she started.

In the very place Ty lee had disappeared from days before a woman clad head to toe in the gear of a Kyoshi Warrior appeared, performing the same back bend Ty Lee had been performing. Though she didn't falter, Ty Lee was confused to say the least. After a roughly a minute, she sat down and blinked around. It took a moment for where she was and why to come back to her, but when it hit her she stood up suddenly.

She needed to talk to Zuko-- He had tried to tell her everything, hadn't he? And now she understood. She took off through the city and it wasn't until an hour later she was able to admit to herself that not only was she clueless as to where to find either Zuko, nor did she have a very good geographical knowledge of the city.

She had been close to giving up, returning home to see if Yuri hadn't given away her room yet when she remembered she did have one friend here that might know where to find him. Perking up, she tapped the first person on the shoulder. ]

Excuse me, do you know how to get to Air Temple Island from here?

[ Once she had the answer, she dashed through the city at top speed. The green blur was quick to dodge around, under and even occasionally jumped on top of building pieces and swung over to get to catch the next ferry over.

It wasn't much longer until she landed on the island and went in search of Aang. ]

(( Feel free to stop Ty Lee anytime through her adventures through the city or Air Temple Island!))

She doesn't remember anything.

It's a jarring feeling, to have no recollection of the series of events that have led up to this moment - to her standing in Republic City, near the Spirit Wilds, still as she always is among the throng of people going to and fro. Could this be one of Varrick's ridiculous plans? Some transporter that had the unintentional side effect of ruining her memory in the process? No, that didn't sound right. She can clearly remember what they'd been working on in Zaofu. The gap in her memory seems to have started one night when she went to sleep and ended here, with absolutely nothing in the middle.

She needs a moment. Just a moment to duck her head, to push her glasses up, to try to force herself to recall something from the past... period of time. She doesn't even know how long she's been like this. When nothing comes to mind, she comes up with a second plan, just as she always does.

Straightening and feeling for her notebook (breathing a sigh of relief when she finds it where it always is), she approaches the nearest person she can find, tapping them on the shoulder. Brisk and efficient as always. This isn't a problem she can't fix. "Excuse me. Do you happen to know if Varrick is in the city?"

It's been some weeks now since Yuri had discovered his new... talent. He had been disgruntled at best to learn that he was suddenly a bender. After all, he had taken pride in being able to defend himself without needing bending, using his sword skills instead. So this was quite the change and shock for him. A lot of people had their bending changed or suddenly granted to them, but most of them he'd come to find out, had lost it or gone back to normal. In his case though, he still had it.

He was an airbender now, and he had to deal with it.

So deal with it he did. Yuri had experimented with his new skills in private. Practicing when there was no one around. But lets face it, he couldn't learn as well by himself. He had never needed a master to teach him swordsmanship when he was a kid, though he did hone his skills while he was in the Earth Kingdom military. But well, bending was a whole different animal. So it was time to make a pilgrimage... to Air Temple Island. Where all the airbenders supposedly hung out.

Anyone there might see him wandering around, sword held at his side as it hung from his hand. No, he had no shame when it came to carrying weapons. He was also followed by an interesting dog. Repede, after all, was the only one that actually knew about Yuri's airbending. So they walked around, taking a look at stuff. If anyone was practicing, they would find him trying to watch discretely. He wasn't quite ready to just admit that he needed help. He was here to observe, that was it.

[Bolin has been busy. In fact, his social calendar has pretty much been jam-packed for about the last month, and it shows no signs of easing. Every once in a while he won't be present in Republic City as he's off to Zaofu with the love of his life on what he thinks ought to be a life-changing field trip, but it actually turns out to be a boring, boring thing since he barely gets to see Opal while he's there. Meanwhile, when he's back in Republic City, he's splitting his time (perhaps marginally unsuccessfully) between training at the arena, getting the Fire Ferrets on their feet for the upcoming tournament, potentially working with Varrick on a new mover idea, and... well, he's helping the poor, needy foreigners by buying food and supplies for them. With the last of these, he's practically prioritising them over himself.

And so, if you catch Bolin, he's going to be looking a little tired, thinner, and perhaps more than a little stressed and frustrated.]

A. At a café [Open]

[You might find Bolin in a small ramen shop in one of the less expensive districts in town. While Bolin's got some money stashed away, it's not like he's making a steady income quite yet with the pro-bending thing or the acting gig, so he's been a little more thrifty on himself, especially since some amount of food is going to help others.

[The meal he's eating will look a little meagre, and while he hasn't asked any of his more well-to-do friends for help (because this is something he's doing on his own for now), he will probably still be a little hungry when he finishes. After all, he's the equivalent of a pro-sports athlete in the middle of training.]

B. Air Temple Island [Open]

[In his few moments of spare time, he will try to get to Air Temple Island, but he'll remember about halfway there that Opal's not at home, and he'll look kind of dejected and sad. There's a lot on his mind, and he could totally use a friend to talk to him, though he's not exactly going to be rushing to perfect strangers to spill his guts.

[That said, he's got his fire ferret Pabu and his adopted turtle duck Kitsi with him, and he'll be feeding them in the attempt to make himself feel a bit better about life. He'll just say that he's taking them out to enjoy nature, especially since the turtle duck seems to have taken a liking to him.]

C. Pro-bending Arena [Open]

[Bolin is working out at the gym. Yang and/or the NPC waterbender that are officially on the Fire Ferrets might be with him as well, and he's explaining how things go. However, he doesn't seem ridiculously into it, and he's just not quite hitting the bricks like he's used to. But the last thing he wants to do is disappoint the fans like last year, his sponsors, OR his teammates, so he's keeping at it, trying to get a rhythm going.

[But he's clearly distracted, and occasionally he'll just miss a target outright. It's not like he's doing overly badly--he still manages to do decently. But it's not his usual thing.]

D. Republic City, near a Pet Shop [Open]

Turtle ducks, turtle ducks for sale! I've got 26 of them looking for a good home!

[Yes, Bolin happens to have a large box full of turtle ducks that had been deposited in his apartment by the spirits' good(?) graces. He's adopted one, the smallest of them, and of course Pabu is on hand to "help" him sell some turtle ducks. But it seems like there's not many takers for them, seeing as how so many other places got plastered with turtle ducks for some reason. And so he's just having one of those moments.

[Help a guy out?]

E. Varrick's Studio/Yacht/Wherever [Closed to Varrick, Dove, and/or Ty Lee]

[And after enough hiatus, Varrick has finally started the plans to make a new mover, and Bolin's of course going to be attending the meetings, you know, since he's going to be one of the stars in the new film, of course. At the very least, there will be talk about what's going to be happening along with a general meet-and-greet with all of the actors. Bolin will be dressed up a little for the attendance (at Lord Varrick's insistence, of course; he doesn't want any low-class people in his presence), and otherwise Bolin will be looking around somewhat awkwardly, waiting to figure out what exactly is going to be going on.]

F. Zaofu [Closed to Opal]

[Bolin is off for his one-week pilgrimage to Zaofu with Opal, and at the very least he'll be travelling there with her. However, Bolin isn't looking forward to it as much as he was the first time last month as, despite their best efforts, Bolin didn't really get to have much Opal time given that she was busy with meetings to actually help run the city. So perhaps Bolin's not going to be quite so fond of the place now. I mean, just how many times can you go around the city appreciating the "fine" "sculptures" created my Skrillex Beifong?

So Bolin's going to be bored to tears, but he's still going to try very hard for a brief bit to see Opal when she's hopefully less busy. If there's such a time?]

G. Create Your Own?

[OOC: Want to plot? Have I not given you enough options?? Ping me on Plurk. Or send the journal a PM if you like, either or.]