cyclicality | Unrest

A medium-sized group of people have decided to take matters into their own hands. In the middle of the night, they split apart and casually make their way through different parts of the city. And then suddenly, all across the city, homes and apartments catch fire; some buildings, specifically businesses, collapse due to suddenly unstable ground; other areas near water are completely flooded.

It's not long before most, if not all of the suspects are apprehended, but quite a bit of damage has been done. Boroughs 3, 4 and 5 were hit the hardest for what seems to be due to the fact most of the refugees live in those areas. Some parts of the Spirit Wilds also have some damage, but the spirits were quick to chase away the vandals from their home.

For anyone awake at this late hour, word is quickly spreading and the blame is being squarely placed on the shoulders of the refugees. At least, that's why the the vandals claim to have done it. They're taking all the resources...! That... the group just destroyed. Apparently if they can't have them, neither can the refugees. Most of the members of the group seem to be members of the Triads. Apparently they felt the need to be "heroic."

For those not awake, well, they probably will wake up soon. The earth begins to rumble and shake violently all throughout Republic City, much too strong for even a large group of earthbenders. A few more buildings fall victim to damages from debris.

The shaking stops after a solid three minutes or so, but throughout the night, strong aftershocks will shake the city. What's of interest is what happened during the earthquake. On Air Temple Island, a bunch of spiritual energy has gathered. The result of the gathered spirits is a ball of energy that fiercely glows a red color. Sparks of red leap away from the gathered energy and apparently draw in quite the impressive strike of lightning! Hopefully the airbenders won't mind a giant red glowing thing of doom right where the symbol for Tui and La used to be.

Someone could investigate. It's dark and the glow from the ball of energy can be seen for a few miles, although as time goes on the glow will subside a bit, but not completely.

[ Tags from this account will probably come tomorrow. We'll comment back about the red thing of doom, but otherwise let us know if you want us for stuff. Otherwise, feel free to NPC some things. Catch a runaway or two, etc. ]

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"Because I had no way of knowing the city was any safer, and no one I saw was crazy enough to touch the blasted thing."

"It's not crazy to touch it!" Wan's voice started to rise. "It's perfectly safe! Which I proved when I walked into it. The humans on the other side are the dangerous ones!"

Edited 2014-11-14 20:46 (UTC)

"It was before you knew that!"

Then there's a beat, where Bumi just...gapes.

"...on the other side?! That's why you were running?"
His head whips around.

"That's what I told you already!" Wan threw his hands up. "There are people who can throw fire on the other side and they were really mad at me when I showed up and they found out all the humans that should have been in the buildings near the spirit portal were gone. They tried to arrest me, so I ran."

He grumped for a moment more, but then let go of his frustration with a sigh and looked back at the portal, "They haven't followed me through it, though. I'm not sure, but I think I was somewhere in the Fire Nation. Most things were decorated in red and they were using the power of fire."

Bumi pinches the bridge of his nose again, in an effort to focus his breathing.
It's been a long time since he's wanted to shake someone as hard as he'd like to shake Wan right now.

"Come with me," he says before he turns and heads back towards the Glowing Ball...er...Portal.

"And tell me exactly what you saw. Because if you're telling me that there's now a door on Air Temple Island that goes to the Fire Nation, and that you some how managed to tick off the people on the other side to the point where they come barging through and attack? We are going to have a problem.

A serious problem."

"I didn't even do anything!" Wan protested as he followed Bumi back toward the portal. "I took a look around, answered all their questions, then they tried to blame me for making everyone disappear and said they were going to arrest me!"

"Yeah," he says with a sigh. "You did. You showed up out of no where at a time when people are already scared. Often times that's enough."

He stops, turns, and shoots Wan a frustrated glance.

"People are afraid of what they don't understand, Wan. And it's real easy to go from afraid to angry."

Bumi couldn't have hurt Wan more if he tried. Wan was already very aware of that and having it said so pointedly, to put the blame squarely on him for making it worse... He stopped following and looked away, shutting his eyes as he bowed his head.

"You're right," he said softly. "I should have stayed and let them arrest me. I... I panicked."

Shame wasn't Bumi's intent, getting Wan to understand was.
He crosses the distance between them, and puts a hand on Wan's shoulder.

"No Son, I think panic at the threat of arrest is the right response. You getting arrested wouldn't have helped either of us, so you were right to run. But Avatar or not, we're all in this together, and we can't help if you don't let us." Bumi gives that shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

Bumi's attempt to be reassuring backfired. The hand on his shoulder just made him want to cringe and pull away, something he forced himself to not do. He couldn't hide how tense it made him, though, as his whole body stiffened.

"I'm not your son," he said flatly, keeping his eyes shut and taking a couple long breaths to keep himself centered. "And I made a mistake. It's mine to fix, so I'll fix it."

Edited 2014-11-14 22:11 (UTC)

That's not the reaction Bumi was hoping to get, and so he removes his hand.

"No, you're not. I'm yours. We're family, and family sticks together. I'm not trying to tell you not to do crazy stupid things. I'd be the wrong person to tell anyone that. I'm saying don't do them alone. Don't do them without back up."

"You're not my son, either," he grumbled.

Family.

Something he hadn't had outside of Mula and Raava for a very long time. He'd been relying on no one else but himself for just as long that it never occurred to him to look to anyone else, to think of asking for someone to come with him. He just did it. Like he always did.

Toph's chastising him about not trusting people a few weeks back was suddenly a very loud voice in his head.

Wan brought his arms up to hug himself, taking another deep breath before he responded in a softer, kinder voice that was also very exhausted at this point. His adrenaline running out on top of being worn down emotionally by Bumi being very, very right.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, "I didn't mean it like that. Just that you're Aang's son, not mine. I didn't mean it to sound like I don't want you to be family. But I don't have one. Or I didn't. Before coming here, I mean. To this time. I haven't had anyone but Mula and Raava since closing the Spirit Portals and-"

If Bumi let him, he would keep babbling on.

Bumi holds up a hand as a signal for Wan to stop talking.

"It's okay, S-...Wan," he corrects his vocal tic at the last second. "It's okay. I understand. I really do."

"I don't think you do," he said after Bumi broke him off. "You have a family. You always have. You have a father and he's... he's a great person and everything I've learned about him... I'm really proud I'll get to live that life one day. He's amazing. You're really lucky to have him. And a mother, too. You've known her all your life. She's been there for you when you needed her. Neither of them left you to-"

Wan shook his head, "Nevermind. I'm sorry. From now on, I'll try to remember I have people I can ask for help."

"Wan I..." Bumi sighs. There's not going to be any getting through to the boy right now, is there? "Thank you."

Wan was too exhausted to question how easy that 'thank you' came and only nodded.

"There were people chasing me," he got back to the subject at hand as he looked toward the portal. "They haven't followed me through, yet. I don't know who they are. But they were dressed in red and brown and the place I went to had a lot of flame symbols. Based on that, it's probably the Fire Nation. Somewhere in it. I don't know enough about the world to be sure, though."

"Good to know. Important to know. I'll stick close by. Last thing Izumi's going to want is the Fire Nation invading another Air Temple," he says with an equally exhausted sigh.

Unrest

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