cyclicality | Call For Help

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Call For Help

After the events from November 11th, the city has been in a constant state of repair. In an effort to speed things up, a variety of construction companies have offered high wages for helping out since many have too many orders to keep up with. Earthbenders in particular are welcome, especially if they're able to metalbend, but it's hands for labor that are most needed.

Those who received the newspaper on the 5th of this month will have noticed some overlaying text that probably shouldn't be there. It said to meet outside the city council office if you want to help rebuild the city, but those who went on the 5th and the 6th know that nothing happened. Around noon today, however, a golden light shoots out of the ground. Instead of dissipating right away, it sketches out the word "hope" in the dirt. Shortly after, genuine gold appears where the light had burst forth. Every now and then, a variety of items and tools appear, lying scattered among the gold. Many of the newly appeared items can be used to help rebuild the city such as stacks of timber and stone, but many of the other items appear to have been previously owned. Heirlooms that had been previously destroyed now in perfect condition along with other lost items and the like keep appearing at random in front of the city council office in addition to all the gold.

The text on the newspaper wasn't lying, though. Someone is watching. Or something. Everything everyone does will be under close surveillance. Whether they keep the gold, leave it alone or give it away; whether they work to repair the city or sit and do nothing. Either way, the area around the council office is brimming with spiritual energy, but no spirits are coming out to play.

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I don't know where. Just somewhere where else. Where you're not going to burn perfectly usable wood just because you're bored or whatever. People were invited to come here to help. And you're not helping.

[Wan said as he put one hand on his hip and let the water bucket dangle from the other as he shifted so he could stand between the troublemaker and the glowing word in the ground.]

Got news for you: I'm gonna do this wherever I go. I don't think there's anywhere out there that I'd hate any less and if that's how it's gonna be, I don't see why I should have to leave any of it standing.

[He's going to knock it all down eventually, anyway. It's just a matter of time and finding the best way to do it. Funny how this guy thinks standing in front of something is going to keep him from destroying it, though he'll give him a little bit to run his mouth off to see if he says anything interesting.]

Why?

[Wan asked as his ire turned to disappointment and confusion.]

What's so bad about this place, this city, that you hate? And why is there no place you would hate less? What's so wrong with it all that you hate it so much you want to destroy it?

It's boring. Everybody lives out their petty little lives because that's what they're supposed to do. They build up their governments so they can have someone to do the thinking for them, so they can complain about someone else not doing their job right so they don't have to try to do anything for themselves. Now they even have magic crap appearing for them so they have to work even less. They're a bunch of brainless sheep and it's dull as hell and I hate them all. Not too hard to understand, really.

[It's just the tip of the iceberg, though. If he wanted to list the reasons he hates the world, they could be here a while.]

That's not true at all. There are plenty of people who are genuinely happy with their lives and there are just as many who are working harder than they should just to barely survive. It sounds like you're saying you hate all these people for what? Just living. In ways you wouldn't want to?

If you don't want to live that way, don't. But hating others for not living the way you would live is beyond petty and pointless.

[It's pretty much completely stupid as far as Wan was concerned.]

What part of "brainless sheep" and "dull as hell" don't you understand? This whole world has itself blindfolded and pacified. They can keep themselves busy with their toys and their fancy buildings and their faith in their bickering politicians and their dumbass Avatar, but where do you think they'd be if all that got torn down and they had to think for themselves for once?

[He kicks over the smoldering pile of wood. Yeah, it would look kind of like that.]

You keep saying these people aren't thinking for themselves, but you're wrong. They just don't think their lives are as boring and dull as you think they are. And if they do? They go out and change their lives. They do something with it instead of complaining about how 'dull' everyone else's lives are.

[Wan's hands went to his hips as he continued to level a glare at the kid.]

If you can't see that, then you're the blind one. And you blinded yourself.

[He rakes his hand back through his messy hair, briefly uncovering the third eye tattoo on his forehead.]

What makes you think I'm not doing anything about it? Sure, other people took all the credit for it, but riots don't start themselves, you know. I was pretty busy in Ba Sing Se before I got stuck in this stupid city.

[It's the last time in recent memory that he truly had fun. What good is immense destructive power if people keep telling you you aren't supposed to use it yet? He's getting really sick of orders and not having anyone around to give him orders isn't any better. It just means he's going to get chewed out more if he acts on his own. It's a pain in the ass.]

You started riots?

[Wan's shoulders straightened and he would be hard pressed to look any more offended and appalled.]

You started riots for fun? That's not doing something to change your life, that's doing something to hurt others. You shouldn't be proud of being a bully.

A bully? Are you six years old or something?

[He can't help but chuckle at that one. That's something you call a kid who says he'll punch you in the face if you don't give him your allowance, not someone who'll destroy a country because its existence pisses him off. Not that he's not bothof those things, but it's a matter of scale, really.]

I'm not here to waste my time on people, I'm here to burn this world to the ground.

Age doesn't have anything to do with being a bully. And someone who wants to cause that kind of destruction is as much a bully as the next.

There are other ways to live. All it sounds like is that you have nothing worth living for so you keep looking for something to fill the emptiness. The boredom. You can find another way. A peaceful way.

[He's been smirking a bit to himself, but that remark makes his face go completely serious. It's not an inaccurate assessment, after all, except for the part about the emptiness. He's already filled that, though he's pretty sure that this guy wouldn't accept anger as an acceptable choice for filling in every last empty space.]

A peaceful way? Doing what, exactly? Sticking my fingers in my ears and singing songs and pretending I don't see what's going on around me? There's no such thing as peace.

You're wrong. There's plenty of things in the world that hurt others, and some of them are inevitable, but humans hurting each other on purpose is not one of them. We have a choice, we control our actions. That doesn't mean those who seek peace ignore what's happening around them, those who seek peace must actively work to bring it because it's inaction that brings the most pain to others. Peace is not the absence of trial and pain. Peace is people working together to get each other through times of trial and supporting each other when they hurt.

Help others and you find the peace you're blinding yourself to.

Are you done? I stopped listening a while ago when things got too stupid. Who the hell are you anyway? You sound like you're a walking philosophy book and that's really annoying.

[This is not the place you go for deep thoughts, unfortunately.]

[Wan paused for a few seconds before rolling his eyes.]

No wonder you're so bored. You're too lazy to even listen to someone talk for half a minute.

[He waved a hand at the guy, obviously dismissing him as he turned around. He wasn't worth the effort at the moment. As much an annoyance as he claimed Wan was and little else.]

It doesn't matter who I am. With how little you care, you've probably already stopped listening, haven't you?

What, no intros? It's easier to avoid you if I know who I'm avoiding, after all. I'm Judar, by the way.

[The name on its own means little, sadly. He should do something about that.]

...Fine. It's Wan. And there's a thousand more people in this city that share it. It really doesn't matter.

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Call For Help

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