Welcome to Republic City!

[cyclicalitymods]

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! ]

Comments

[redcladidealist]

Lloyd could have accepted the 'born with it or not' explanation as close enough to what he knew, but that part she tacks on catches him by surprise. "Really?" he echoes curiously. "People just started using magic- bending?" Gonna take him a while to get used to calling magic something else. "How does someone know if they're one of the ones who changed?"

Magic is something he thinks of as taking conscious thought. If someone never tries because they don't think they can, how would they know if they've got magic?

[airyopalescent]

"Well... for me it took blow most of the papers off of my mother's desk when I was telling her about my problem. And before that I *might* have destroyed one of my brother's statues."

There's some sheepish embarrassment in her tone. "Sometimes bending can happen unconsciously, particularly if you're not trained in it."

[redcladidealist]

For a moment, Lloyd can just picture Opal unleashing a wild Wind Blade on a desk of papers or a hapless statue, and he can't help but grin at the image. "Hey, if it makes you feel better, at least you did it with a cool technique." Even if it was by accident, and that still baffles him, because how can you do magic by accident? Messing up is one thing, but doesn't it take concentration?

Unless maybe she did concentrate without realizing it would do anything, like if she wished really hard that her mother's papers would just go away. Lloyd's definitely felt that way about homework sometimes.

But right, he's trying to reassure Opal right now. No getting sidetracked from his story. "One of my best friends keeps knocking these huge holes in walls just by tripping into them." Colette's his friend, one of the nicest people there is, but...

Well...

Colette is Colette. There's no other way to put it.

[airyopalescent]

"... She must be pretty strong if she can put holes into walls by hitting them."

Maybe she's a dwarf. Are dwarves freakishly strong then?

[redcladidealist]

That comment earns a weak laugh from Lloyd, more rueful than anything else. "Yeah, no kidding. She's even stronger than me."

It still wounds his manly pride just a little to admit that to someone else.

"It sure makes tracking her down easy, though!" he adds with a grin, pushing the embarrassment aside with a joke. "It's easy to tell if she's been through a town if you can find a hole in someone's wall shaped like her!"

[airyopalescent]

Opal's responding laugh is weak and a little 'what?' in tone. "Do you really have to track her down that much?"

[redcladidealist]

"Er... sort of?" His smile is still a little bit weak, though this time it's more at the reminder of how many close calls there have been. "I mean, the hole-in-the-wall thing only helped once, but I've had to look for her a few times. People used to try to capture her a lot."

[airyopalescent]

The little ferry bumps up against the dock for Air Temple Island around the time Lloyd speaks of capturing. Opal's eyes widen in surprise.

"Why would they want to?"

[redcladidealist]

"Because she was the Chosen of Regeneration." Almost unconsciously, he shifts his stance to absorb the jolt from the ferry's landing. As he reaches for the bag of groceries he set down, though, his eyes flick to Opal. Differences in magic aside, she at least knows what that is, right?

[airyopalescent]

That blank look says all it needs to say, right? "I don't... really know what that is."

[redcladidealist]

A blank look is the last thing Lloyd had expected. He gives her a flummoxed one in return. How could she not know about the system of world regeneration? Unless...? "What about the Chosen of Mana? You know about him at least, right?"

Maybe she's from the Tethe'alla side of the world and knows more about Zelos than Colette.