cyclicality | Welcome to Republic City!

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Welcome to Republic City!

It was a bright and sunny normal day in Republic City. Children were playing, spirits were chirping about, and everything was going along like normal. Well at least that's what everyone seemed to think. That is until so many people seemed to be appearing out of nowhere. For some reason Republic City seemed to be more lively and the crowds bigger.

The spirits have grown restless as if something important was about to change, and to try to fix that change, the spirits with their big long tree like limbs dragged people into the world left and right. Even the vines covering Republic City seemed to help. Although the spirits had the best intentions in mind, some people were more affected by the grab than others. There's talk that people in this city don't even know what this place is. People who have never heard of the words "bender" or "non-bender."

Welcome to Republic City! And to those who already live here: Happy Saturday. Please make yourselves at home and don't mind a little spirit gunk. It's mostly harmless. Go enjoy yourself a classic mover. Maybe you're the athletic type. If that's the case, come watch a few Pro-bending matches or form your own team. Just watch out for any Satomobiles. They can be deadly no matter how pretty the driver is.

Please remember to enjoy your stay and don't cause too much trouble. The Republic City Police don't need more riffraff to take care of. And don't stray too far. To make the the peace is kept, there's a huge spirit barrier around the perimeter of the city. It seems pretty strong, but it won't be able to last forever. Still, it's worrying. Radio signals and telegraphs don't seem to be getting past it.

[ OOC: The game is officially open! From this point on, feel free to make any posts you want or tag into this. Please remember to tag your posts with Canon: Character. Finally, although the game has no real network, you're free to respond with prose or brackets, whatever you're comfortable with. With that said, have fun! ]

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Lloyd's smile starts to slip, confusion taking its place again. Darn it, just when he thought things were starting to clear up. "That doesn't make any sense. There's only two countries right now. Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, because those were the worlds before we reunited them. Maybe you're thinking of the countries that were before Sylvarant and Tethe'alla. Like... uh... Balacruf?" Okay, he's not even sure if Balacruf was a country or something else. This is starting to exit the realm of geography and going into history now, and History might well be his worst subject.

"Either way," he goes on, glossing over his uncertainty, "I've traveled a lot, so I'm pretty sure I would have heard if there were four other countries in the world."

Uhm, okay... that's not it at all, and Bolin's finally going to take this one. "Uhm, nope. I'm pretty sure four! I mean, I've visited three of the countries already just this year. Right now, we're here in Republic City in the United Republic. Just a few weeks ago, my brother Mako, the Avatar Korra, and I were down in Zaofu and Ba Sing Se, the capital of the Earth Kingdom. And a few months ago, we were at the Southern Water Tribe at the South Pole, which is where the where the entrance to the Spirit World is. And Lord Zuko told us everything is doing alright in the Fire Nation recently too, so... hate to break it to you. Maybe you're information is a little out of date maybe?"

Though that information would have to be very out of date if that was the case. Or he could just be making things up... like that Wan guy. "Uuuuuunless you're going to tell me that you remember cities being built on the back of lion turtles too, at which point... well, I can't help you there."

"I don't think I've ever even seen a lion turtle." Though he has seen some pretty big turtle type monsters before. None of them big enough to build a city on. Where in the world had that come from?

But that's a tangent, distracting Lloyd for a moment and then gone, because what Bolin is saying is baffling him. "I'm not making things up." Except Bolin doesn't sound like he's making things up either. Sure, someone might try to pull Lloyd's leg, but if they really wanted him to believe them, wouldn't they make it more, you know, believable? This is too complex, too big, and Bolin just looks like a guy who wouldn't lie to him. Not about something like this. Lloyd shakes his head. "This doesn't make sense. I've been around the world and never heard of any of those places. It's like we're talking about two different... worlds..."

Wait....

Bolin might be a sucker if you spin a good enough story, but this tale of Sylverant and Tethe'alla and all that that entailed was too implausible to simply be true. It couldn't happen in their world; there were too many unlikely names, places, and events. However, Lloyd starts to hone in on it, and this at least gets Bolin thinking along the right thread. "Two... different... worlds... like something beyond the Spirit World and our Material World...?"

And then finally, it does lock into place. "You know, come to mention it, there are a lot of people here that have uncommon names and... have been acting really... uncharacteristic, acting all funny." He pauses for a minute, deep in contemplation. "Naaaaah— but it kinda makes sense? Naa—" But despite his almost rejection of it, it's pretty plain to see that Bolin is still mulling over it, strange as the idea sounds.

"No, it does make sense." A lot of sense, now that Lloyd's actually thinking it through. "We know it's possible, right? We know there's more than one world." Or that there can be. Sylvarant, Tethe'alla, the Spirit World... "Why not three? Or four? Or more?" The more he thinks about it, the more mind boggling it is, but... but what if?

How many worlds could there be?

"Man, I wonder how big this is." What could have gone wrong to mess with all these worlds at once?

Oddly enough, even Bolin had to admit that Lloyd had something of a point. It was an implausible and weird point, but it still was possible nonetheless. After all, the only other thing that made sense was that Lloyd was absolutely crazy, and he didn't seem entirely crazy.

"Well, okay, I guess it's possible," he says tentatively to the swordsman in agreement. "But let's just see just how different things are here. Can anyone you know do something like this?" He turns around, assumes a centered stance, and holds his hands out before lifting them up. As he does so, a cube of earth just lifts up out of the ground. He eventually pushes it back down, leaving it more or less how it was.

Lloyd starts in surprise a piece of the earth shoves itself up, then just as smoothly sinks back down. Not exactly the kind of surprise of someone who's never seen something like that before, but the surprise of being caught off guard. "Whoa. Was that Grave?" It looked a little different, but same principle, right? He stares at the ground, then blinks up at Bolin with something like awe on his face. "I didn't even see you start to cast. You just moved, and boom! I don't think even Genis could do it that fast!" Which probably answers Bolin's question, but...

But just in case, Lloyd adds, "I've got three friends who can do something like that, but it's a lot more spiky when they do it. Kind of like..." He gestures with his hands, trying to illustrate the blooming eruption of spikes he's always seen with Grave.

Admittedly, Bolin is going to feel a little ecstatic about the fact that Lloyd does seem to think that he's pretty awesome with his bending. Even if it was pretty elementary bending... well outside of it being so clean-edged. It wasn't like it was a skill that no one else had seen a zillion times before, though obviously not Lloyd. However, the name for it still is going to be a... bit confusing. "Grave? I dunno what you'd call it, but it's just earthbending. There's no... casting or anything like that. It's just moving the earth and making it do what you want. Like this!"

Bolin recenters himself again and raises his left hand into the air, causing a rock a few feet from him to rise up into the air. Then Bolin punches with the right, and as if he had actually made physical contact, the rock goes sailing off in a direction. Bolin hadn't really looked where he was shooting, and he happens to narrowly miss someone that was walking by.

"Hey, watch where you're flinging rocks, boy!" cries out the gentlemen at Bolin.

"Oops. Soooorrry!"

Despite the close call, Lloyd's face lights up, and as soon as the gentleman turns back around, the teen can't hold his enthusiasm back anymore. "Man, that is so awesome! I wish I could do something like that!" Earth magic, earth bending, whatever it's called, Lloyd can just see all the cool things he could do if he could control the earth itself, and with Bolin's clear amount of skill!

Either way, Lloyd's got to get this guy's name. "I'm Lloyd," he says, thrusting one hand out. "What's your name?"

Even if there was a moment of embarrassment for Bolin, it's Lloyd's enthusiasm and practical hero-worship that makes him forget practically everything that he almost screwed up just moments ago. He may not know what it is exactly he's talking about, but Bolin does like Lloyd, and he can tell that he's a good guy. ~~Then again, Bolin really does see the good in everyone, so that's not exactly saying much.~~

But has it really been all this time and they haven't been introduced? That's... a little silly. Bolin immediately takes Lloyd's hand and gives it a rather firm shake. "And I'm Bolin! I actually was raised right here in Republic City. Pro-bender, mover star, and I've been helping the Avatar." He pauses for a few minutes before realizing that's not going to mean much to Lloyd. "She's the one person than that can bend all four elements," he says in a whisper, as if to not embarrass him by not knowing it.

Pro-bender. Given what they've been talking about, Lloyd can piece the clues together and figure that that's something like a sorcerer. The other bit, however... "What's a mover star?" Did they suddenly jump topics to astronomy?

When Bolin starts to whisper, Lloyd leans in to hear him. He'd probably appreciate the discretion more, though, if what the earthbender said didn't baffle him. "Only four?" he whispers back. "What about the other four? Aren't there eight elements in this world, too?" Could two worlds really be that different?

This guy really is from another world, isn't he? There is so much he doesn't know. Bolin is really going to have to start at the beginning, isn't he? "Mover, you know, moving pictures! They're the latest thing, only invented a few months ago." Bolin puts an arm around Lloyd and then outstretches his arm as if inviting him to create a mental picture of it. "Imagine a big screen in front of you, and then you can watch something that's been acted out as a series of pictures, except they're really fast, so it's almost like real life!" He pauses for a moment before adding, "Except it's in black and white...."

But he shakes his head as Lloyd talks about more elements. "Nope, just four. Earth, fire, water, and air. And the Avatar is the only one that can use all four; every other bender can only use one. Though there are a few special types of bending that are special types of them."

"Oh!" Lloyd's face lights up with understanding. "I think I've seen something like that before. The Desians had stuff like that in the Human Ranches. They used it to keep an eye on their prisoners and look out for intruders." That's a sobering enough memory to make the smile on his face fade. "So wait, if you're a mover star..." Someone important on a screen like that... The smile disappears completely now, replaced instead with concern. "So you're an escaped prisoner?"

Sorry, Bolin. Lloyd's experience with video recording is pretty limited.

"So there's no lightning, ice, light, or dark? Wow. It's going to be weird getting used to that."

Well, in fact, Bolin was an escaped prisoner, but really when it all boiled down to it... it's not like one had to do with the other. And with Lloyd's new conclusion, well, Bolin is both a little sheepish at it (since he is right) but also more than confused. "Are all mover stars criminals on your world or something?" he asks with a little bit of trepidation. "I mean, Varrick did a few things wrong when he made me a mover star, but it's not like I went to jail or anything because of that. That had nothing to do with it at all. Movers are just for entertainment; they're stories in moving pictures!"

Ultimately Bolin shakes his head about the other elements. "Nope, just the four. Though... lightning bending is a special type of firebending, and waterbenders can bend ice since it's made out of water. Nothing about light or darkbending though." Let's be honest; that'd just be weird.

Lloyd scratches the back of his neck, then shakes his head. He's still not sure he gets what Bolin means by a 'mover star,' but... "I don't know if I'd call everyone criminals. The Desians just used those screens to watch all the people they caught, so they could catch them if they tried to get out."

He tilts his head, listening to Bolin's explanation, growing fascinated. "So it's like a play? You're an actor?" Bolin's cool points just keep going up!

"Huh, I guess things really are different in this world. Two elements in one... " And no light or dark? He's not quite sure he buys that, but maybe no one knows how to use either one. That'd be almost the same thing. He shakes his head again. Just... "Wow."

The sound of these Desians certainly don't sound all that awesome. In fact, it almost reminds him of the Earth Queen herself. "They didn't have those, but man, I wouldn't want to be watched all the time. I mean, what if I had to go to the bathroom in one of those cells; they would be watching me the entire time!" Clearly, this is the worst part of that sort of prison.

"But yeah, it's exactly like that. It's a play except projected onto a screen!" he says with animated excitement, now that Lloyd has finally gotten the gist of things. "They show them in these dark rooms because otherwise you wouldn't be able to see it, but they're really popular here, across all four of the nations." Or at least so he's been led to believe.

"But seriously, don't think that this world is too bad." Bolin puts a comforting arm on Lloyd's shoulder. "It's actually a pretty great place, and Republic City is one of the best places to be in it. Believe me... I've seen some of the other countries, and they're not exactly the best places in the world."

Lloyd gives Bolin a startled look. Of all the things he'd worried about with the Desians and their surveillance systems, that's something that never even crossed his mind. "Ew, you think someone would really watch that closely?"

He spends a moment trying to envision what Bolin is describing to him. A play on one of those screens... "What makes it better than just watching a play in person?" Just simple curiosity now. "Don't the screens make it look... I dunno... Kind of flat?" He scratches the back of his head, not sure if he's got the right words, but as amazing and lifelike as video technology is, there's still something about it that just... isn't quite the same.

He lets out a breath, appreciating Bolin's gesture of comfort, even if it can't quite ease all the line of worry that's creeping around in the back of his head. Not that he's willing to acknowledge that worry just yet. He only just got here. He hasn't even begun to look for a way to get back, so of course he hasn't found one yet. Smiling, he gives Bolin a shoulder nudge in return. "I haven't seen much of it yet, but it seems pretty cool. Think anyone will mind if I stay for a bit?" You know, just until he figures out how to get back to his world.

"Well why would they need to watch you all the time anyway?" Bolin counters, shrugging his shoulders. "It's not like the cells had separate bathrooms!" Prison life is certainly the uncomfortable life. But that's neither here nor there. The Desians, whoever they were, didn't sound like nice people, and Bolin was happy to not be in the Earth Queen's jail, even if it was Zaheer that freed him.

However, as the conversation shifts towards movers, Lloyd does make a good point about it. But thankfully there are good answers. "Well, for one thing, if you screw up a line for whatever reason, you can always just do another take. I can't tell you how many lines both Ginger and I flubbed over the filming." Mostly Bolin though; he wasn't an actor before that. "And that way you can get the exact perfect film and just present that, not having to worry about memorizing the entire script at once!" Besides, the technology is completely brand new, and that makes it exciting for everyone to see.

"But yeah, sure, I don't think anyone will mind. I mean, there's a lot of refugees coming in from the Earth Kingdom too, so... I don't think legally they can send you home, since you don't really have a home here yet." There's also the Spirit Barrier that'd make that kind of tough too. And President Raiko is missing, so that's also tough. "Just stay away from the triads; they're not really nice people."

Lloyd blinks, puzzling through that thought. "Well, to make sure you don't escape?" At least, that's what he'd assume. Although... "Not that that stopped me from busting out anyway, so maybe they didn't watch that closely after all."

As the conversation moves on, Lloyd's expression clears up. He hasn't been in a play since he was much younger, and it had just been one of those things they'd done in school, but he remembers all too well the worst part about being involved. "You can go back and fix things you screwed up? Oh man, that'd make plays so much easier! I hated memorizing all those lines in school plays." Especially the really boring ones about poets and long dead countries that no one had ever heard of. "And no one would laugh at you for messing up either because no one would ever know!"

He hadn't really thought that anyone would object when he'd asked Bolin that question. It had been more rhetorical, his mind already thinking about what he'll need to do to get a place for his temporary stay. After all, why would anyone mind a couple extra people in a city this huge? So Bolin's warning makes him blink again, caught a little off guard. "The triads?" he echoes. "What's that?"

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Welcome to Republic City!

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Finally let us continue this!

/o/

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