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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A man came screaming around the corner, his hair ablaze. Two more followed after him, a bit singed, but in slightly better shape, but that didn't last long when they were hit by a jet of flame from behind.

"Running away so soon? We were just getting started!"

All three men screamed and scrambled over each other trying to cram themselves into the same alleyway to escape, the waterbender of the bunch at least having the presence of mind to douse his compatriot's hair first. Judar poked his head around the corner, pouting a little as he looked back and forth to try to figure out where his latest playthings had escaped to. When he saw Lau approach, he immediately brightened.

"Oh hi, Lau!"

"I realize that the concept of keeping a low profile is foreign to you, my friend, but might you refrain from shouting my name on a public street?" Lau sighed and massaged his forehead with a long, theatrical sigh. He and Judar were comrades, inasmuch as any members of the Red Lotus could be called "comrades." The organization operated in the shadows, and few members ever saw each other's faces. Judar, though, had been raised by the Red Lotus and had little to fear. As for Lau... well, Lau had little left to lose.

"I thought I might be seeing you again soon. Have you already resorted to shaking down the locals for spare change? I'm disappointed, Judar - I'd have thought you would have stuffed your pockets with enough of the late Queen's jewelry to keep yourself fed for at least a few months." With chaos following the successful assassination of the Queen, the Red Lotus had little current interest in Earth Kingdom politics. The heirs to the throne would squabble amongst themselves for several years, and the organization could then pick off the survivors at its leisure. Judar had been a Red Lotus agent in Ba Sing Se, but clearly he'd been recalled to Republic City for the time being.

Which meant that someone would have to keep Judar fed, and clothed, and preferably out of prison. It appeared that that "someone" would be Lau.

Judar shrugged, not really feeling guilty about roughing up street punks or not having any interest in spending his money wisely. He actually had a nice little stockpile of gems and jewelry still tucked away, but they were all things he wanted for himself. All that was easily pawned was long gone and the money was already spent on food, some new clothes, more food, and temporary lodging in the city. Operating on the logic that there was no need to pay for your own food if you could con someone else into doing it for you, he hadn't really made an effort to find a more reliable source of income since arriving in Republic City.

"I brought you a souvenir, though. Here."

He pulled a ring off one of his fingers and held it out. For a member of a secret organization, his only nod toward secrecy seemed to be keeping his hair long enough to cover the third eye tattoo on his forehead most of the time.

"Oh, for me?" Lau raised an eyebrow. "That's remarkably - some might even say suspiciously - considerate of you..." His voice trailed off when he saw the insignia on the ring. It was a gold signet bearing the emblem of Earth Kingdom royalty in fine green jade, sized to fit a woman's small hand. Lau was a verbose man by nature, so the sudden silence meant that his composure had completely faltered. His ever-present smile twisted into an unreadable expression as he took the ring and slid it over his smallest finger, carefully turning the jade towards his palm so the insignia would not be visible.

"Why, Judar, you must have stolen this from the Queen's finger before the rigor mortis set it," he murmued. How fitting it was that the woman who'd ordered the executions of his family would meet a similiarly ignominious end. Lau wondered if Judar knew the significance of his gift, or if he'd just stolen the first expensive-looking item. Perhaps the firebender was more cunning than he'd thought.

Finally, Lau smiled again. "You have my thanks. Shall we head to my airship to talk? I'm renting an apartment in town, but I mainly reside on my ship." This was Lau's roundabout way of offering Judar a place to stay. "That way, if anyone eavesdrops on my conversations, it's easy to drop them from few thousand feet up."

"As secretive as ever, L-- ...Squinty." He was nothing if not considerate. Actually, not resorting to some sort of insulting nickname was more respect than he showed most non-benders (and most benders too, let's be honest), but if he wasn't supposed to use real names, he was more than happy to oblige.

As for the ring, he'd chosen it very carefully. It was easily concealable (not that he bothered, but Lau would want to), but immediately recognizable for what it was. The message it sent was also clear, but most importantly it was something he figured Lau would want, thought that expression of his hinted there was more going on there than Judar knew. Which was good, because it meant it would give him something to weasel out of him while checking out his sweet airship.

"Can we find someone to eavesdrop? I want to toss them out."

"Oh, with airbenders popping up all over lately, it shouldn't take us too long to find someone who wants to attempt to unlock the ancient and mystic airbender art of flight," Lau agreed brightly as he lead the way towards the nearest airship docking station. "I've been rather successful lately, and success tends to attract imitators and spies. Although this new spirit barrier around the city could affect my deliveries... I expect it has something to do with the Avatar." He let out a dramatic sigh. "These sorts of disturbances almost always do."

Belatedly, Lau found himself stroking the late Queen's ring, and he quickly furled his long sleeves over his hands. It was strange... Hou-Ting's death should have brought peace, or at least closure, to his mind, yet he was still unsatisfied.

"But yes, as I was saying, lately I've had a bit of a rat problem. I could use the services of a good cat."

"With that barrier up, there should be all sorts of interesting rats. That could keep a cat busy for a long time. Provided they get enough food."

That last bit was non-negotiable. That was the biggest cost when it came to keeping this particular cat. Judar's appetite could be monstrous at times and it didn't really matter to him whether his funds could support that or not. He'd already bankrupted a few unsuspecting tourists by ingratiating himself into their party as long as there was food on the table and making a quick exit once it was gone. It was so much easier when he was growing up and people just gave him whatever he wanted whenever he asked for it...

"I thought cats were supposed to be self-sufficient? There's no need to worry, though. I spare no expense when it comes to the happiness of my pets," Lau assured with an indulgent smile. Judar's appetite for food could be dealt with easily enough. His appetite for entertainment would be more difficult to satisfy, but Lau believed he could handle that as well.

The airship docking station was only a brief walk from the slums. Unlike in Ba Sing Se, here the poor lived in the literal shadows of the wealthy. Only the spirit world vines that had enmeshed the city showed no regard for social class, nationality or bending ability.

"But the rats should be interesting indeed... what do you make of these rumors of strange people arriving from the spirit wilds?"

"I've heard them, but I haven't seen it for myself yet. That was on the schedule for later."

He figured he'd park himself in whatever spot looked promising and wait to see who showed up, lost and bewildered and hopefully worth expending a little effort on. There was a lot to do in Republic City, though, and he'd gotten hungry fairly quickly.

"Have you heard anything more?"

Lau heard most everything, so if there was something worth knowing, hopefully he knew it already.

Edited 2014-10-07 03:17 (UTC)

"Oh, you know me, I keep my eyes closed and my ears open~" Lau employed a network of informants in Republic City and beyond, so he'd heard rumors of people just appearing almost as soon as they'd appeared. However, he'd sensed something even before that... a sort of underlying instability in the spiritual fabric of the world.

"You remember, of course, that business with the Avatar's uncle and the opening of the spirit world several months ago." Here he paused to click his tongue disapprovingly. "Typical bender trouble. In any case, this caused at least as much disturbance for the spirits as it did for we humans. The barriers between our worlds were weakened, and they began to intersect. I believe that what's happening currently is the next stage of that process, accelerated by the recent attempt on the Avatar's life... isn't it wonderful, my friend? Now the barriers between worlds and eras are beginning to collapse. What an exciting time we live in!"

"Eras?" He'd considered the connection of worlds through the spirit world, but the fact that time as well as space might be warped by it hadn't occurred to him. That opened up a whole new world of possibility. If this wasn't why he'd been sent to Republic City, his original mission no longer mattered. Making this best of the distortion had become his number one priority.

"You know, that could mean some very important people not finding their way back to very important times. If the barrier situation isn't sorted out, I mean. That would be terrible, wouldn't it?"

He didn't look too distressed about it.

"Indeed, my friend. That would be terrible!" Lau didn't look like he thought the idea was a terrible one, though. There was a dark and fervent gleam in his half-opened eyes. "Although I can scarcely claim to be an expert on the subject, philosophers have long theorized that even very small disturbances to the flow of time may have profound consequences. They call it the 'butterfly effect,' where the slight breeze caused by a butterfly flapping its wings might alter the course of a typhoon."

Lau smiled indulgently and tilted his head towards his companion. "What this means in layman's terms, Judar, is that we are in an excellent position to cause quite a lot of trouble."

"What do the philosophers say about setting butterflies on fire?"

Judar's answering smile was downright evil. His red eyes had madness in their depths even on the best of days, but there were times when it flared to the surface. You could keep him as a cat, spoil him and keep him entertained and somewhat complacent, but the fact remained that he had a mind of his own and no one really ever knew what was going through it.

"Who knows? Once you've burned the old world to ash, we shall need an entirely new philosophy." It went without saying, of course, that this new philosophy would be decidedly less Avatar-based.

Lau recognized the madness in Judar's eyes, as hot and bright as a flame. He also knew that in playing with fire, he himself was likely to be burned.

Judar folded his arms behind his head as they walked. The next time he had to travel anywhere, someone was driving him in a Satomobile. The decision had been made. Really, he wished he could just fly wherever he needed to go, but he'd ended up a firebender, so that simply wasn't to be.

"Or maybe we could get rid of all of the philosophers, too. It's not like they're doing anybody any good."

With Zaheer imprisoned, the Red Lotus had for the time being lost both its spiritual and tactical leadership. As a businessman, Lau viewed this not as a setback, but as an opportunity.

"We are an obtuse and unreliable sort, aren't we?" Lau agreed with an amiable nod. "Don't doubt the power of philosophy, though. Even you, my friend, with all your strength, can accomplish only so much. But dreams can move an entire nation... therefore, we must be the people who move dreams."

That earned him a blank look for a few moments before Judar burst into laughter.

"That's what I mean! That didn't even make any sense! Do people really fall for things like that or do you just like how it sounds?"

There probably were a lot of people who would fall for things like that, though. People liked words and they had a tendency to focus on them so much that they lost track of the people who had no time for them. It was the easiest way to bring down a government, really. Now that he thought about it, all the Red Lotus really needed to bring the order in Republic City to an end was the two of them: Lau for words and Judar for action.

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Welcome to Republic City!

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