A pile of newspapers was ready to be distributed the moment the results were in. There is, as is most likely expected, a problem with that. Some of the newspaper headlines reads as the following:

( Oops.... )

( The real results )

( Missing Persons )

[ooc: Backdated all the way back to the first day!]

At the end of a long day, Katara and Aang have ended up settling in the most unlikely of places: their own future home, Air Temple Island. Aang was left with a lot on his mind. Meeting a past Avatar and the future one, his granddaughter and his son, his best friend as an old man and a number of other faces new and old. Including new airbenders and new sky bison and lemurs. And a constant reminder that he doesn't belong here. He shouldn't be alive anymore, and this isn't his time. It was a lot for Aang to take in, and he wondered how Katara was holding up.

That means it's time to visit the girl's dormitories. He's afraid of getting in trouble, so he's sneaky as possible, darting between trees and airbending around. Luckily he knows which room is hers and so approaches from the outside. Soon, there's a monk perched at her windowsill, smiling softly as he peers into the room and waves. He calls out to her in a conspiratorial hush. "Katara?"

Today is voting day in Republic City. There are multiple voting booths set up for privacy throughout the city for easy access. Avatar Korra and Lord Zuko are listed as candidates on the ballots, but there is also an option to submit a write-in. Everyone is welcome to come and vote, although considering everything is in Chinese text it might be a little harder for those who can't read or write the language. Still! All it takes is one vote to tip the balance. There are guards available to write down any vote someone has on an official slip of paper, which can then be submitted via the write-in slot inside the voting booth.

Whoever lands the majority of votes will be elected as a provisional ruler until President Raiko's return. It could be Korra or Zuko; it could be a cabbage merchant. The choice is up to you!

To vote, just comment here with any name, real or made up. Whatever is IC. Some of the voting booths may or may not have a couple of posters slapped on, summarizing Wan's explanation of the spirits. Other posters around town are a list of pros and cons of allowing the people who were pulled in via the Spirit World to stay in Republic City, eating its residents food and stealing jobs.

All comments will be screened, but any outside the Voting category will be marked as unscreened as they're seen in case someone wants to play something out.

[Duo can be found wandering around the Spirit Wilds with a pencil and a newspaper in hand, scribbling bits of English onto the paper and occasionally going up to people to ask to get a bit of the text read to him.]

Hey, can you make out what that says?

[Man, he was glad the locals spoke English, even if they didn't write it. Couldn't be too hard to pick up the rest though, right?]

Air Temple Island:

A. Aang starts off his morning with airbending training. Some meditation, some rounds through the air gates, some general practice of forms and some balancing upon pillars. He'll be glad to tutor anyone else in need of instruction. He is a master, after all, even if he's claiming not to be Avatar Aang. Just a random prodigy airbender who happens to be named Aang! At least, that's the cover story he's trying this week.

B. This young monk has commandeered the kitchen! His goal? To make some fruit pies! Feel free to stumble across him while he's in the act of baking them, while some doting air acolytes try to help out.

Republic City/Spirit Worlds

C. And so Aang makes his way through the city atop his sky bison, Appa, who has a large batch of the fruit pies kept on his back. Aang may stop to check in on any number of his friends if they're around, with personalized fruit pies for new friends and old.

D. Aang will also spend time down exploring the Spirit Wilds. He'll use the rest of his batch of fruit pies here, distributing them to those who need it. He'll also try to investigate the spirit vines and wandering spirits some more, puzzled about all of the odd things he's heard about so far.

E. Finally, he can be found near the barrier, meditating in an attempt to commune with the spirits. He better be careful with all those stray spirits wandering about...

Option A. Spirit Wilds (OPEN)

With the press catching on that she was "recovered" and around again, it was only a matter of time before they started trying to hound her for more information. And only a matter of time before Korra realized the Spirit Wilds were a perfect place for her to get some peace and quiet from them. The people in the city were still wary of the vines and tended to stay away. The spirits were a different matter, of course. The vines were their home, and Korra occasionally saw them watching her curiously as she passed.

There was one that was particularly persistent. She swore she saw those leafy ears disappearing behind some vines at least four times in the past half hour. What the heck was it doing?

When Korra heard some rustling behind her only a few minutes later, she stopped and said, "If you're going to follow me, you could at least quit it with the hiding act."

Except it wasn't the spirit at all when she turned around. "Oh, sorry! I thought you were...someone else."

Option B. Around Air Temple Island (OPEN)

Though Korra had trained all her life, there were still new things to be learned about bending all the time. After seeing a few air new air benders practicing the day before, Korra had the bright idea to do the same, with one of the more...interesting training moves. The tip of her tongue stuck out as she concentrated on balancing with one foot on the narrow pole, her hand raised and keeping a leaf dancing above her palm with a gentle air spiral. She stayed aloft for a few minutes, thinking how it wasn't as bad as she thought it might be...

Of course, her balance only lasted until a lemur, without a certain young air bender to latch onto, leapt onto her head and sent her tumbling to the ground with a yelp.

"Pokey, get back here! Ugh." Korra watched him fly off with a scowl as she rubbed at her head. Hopefully, no one had been around to see that...

Option C. Closed to Lord Zuko

Lord Zuko's presence in the city was a great relief to Korra, especially with Raiko, Lin, and Tenzin all missing. Now that a few weeks had passed, with still no news or developments, she thought it was high time she and Lord Zuko had another talk.

Following his directions to his home in Republic City, she loitered outside the door, twisting the material of her shirt between her fingers. This is stupid, she thought after a few minutes. Breathing in, she forced herself to raise her hand and knock on the door firmly.

[She hadn't cased the place, she really hadn't done any intel on it at all. All she knew was that no one had come in and out for a good hour and it was getting pretty late- and also it was a nice complex. Nice places had nice stuff. Her laziness in the plan was chalked purely up to boredom. That and she could tumble out a high rise window with the best of 'em.

So if she got caught she got caught. She doubted very much that someone would follow her out the window unless they were an airbender (and lucky her they didn't seem to live in the city). So she scaled the back side of the building and she felt good doing it. It had been a long time since she'd even attempted something of the sort, and already served to refresh her spirits.

In through the window and out into the living room she was sizing the place up, taking a few trinkets as she walked around. Even if she got away with nothing, the fun was always in the chase and the proverbial chase had gone just as expected.]

[EDIT:  OOC:  This post is mostly private for waterbenders and firebenders as they're the only people that would actually be trying out.  However, if you want to interact with some of the others (and Bolin would be okay with you being there -- feel free to ask me if you're unsure!), feel free to pose in, either for Bolin or with the other people involved.  Sorry for the complicated rules and whatnot, but I figure it'd be worth it to be inclusive as opposed to exclusive!]

[Private-ish to firebenders and waterbenders]

"Alright, Pabu.  It's time to get the Fire Ferrets back in action!  Are you with me?"

The fire ferret squeaks in approval as he sits atop Bolin's shoulder.  Bolin nods back with the biggest grin, and he pushes open the doors into the gym where no doubt several candidates were waiting to join his elite crew.

"Welcome, everyone, to the official Fire Ferrets team tryouts.  I might not have met each of you personally, and you might have instead just found one of my many fliers instead, but my name is Bolin, team captain and previous pro-bending champion!  Also, I'm a mover star and the earthbender of the team.  I hope you've all brought your A-game to this event, because only the best of the best can be on the Fire Ferrets, and this year we're going to show all those other teams what we're made of and take back the championship!  I'm not going to go easy on you, and I definitely want to make sure we're taking on the right people.  Some of you will go away disappointed, but two of you will ride with Pabu and I to victory once again!  To each of you, I wish you all the best of luck.  Let's get started!

"So first up today, we have..."

[OOC: Bolin will be pairing up potential candidates into 1v1 or 2v2 matches.  Feel free to find a friend with the opposite element and fight some NPCs, or find a competitor of your element and have a duel with one another?  Or have a more personal "interview" with Bolin... and you can try to get to know Bolin and the rocks that he throws at people better?  Or all of the above!  While you do need to impress Bolin, feel free to have fun and show off your bending to your competitors too.]

[So far, Dipper and Mabel hadn't really had a great time so far in this new world. After angering a gang and having to work off their "debt," they'd spent the last few weeks tenuously keeping themselves from angering them further.]

[That is, until they stole back some protection money, fudged the numbers in the books, and gave it back to the old baker lady who was always nice to them. Because despite their best efforts, they'd gotten caught.]

[That's why they're now on the run through a busy marketplace with Mabel's pet pig Waddles, trying to keep one step ahead of the dangerous Benders now on their tail.]

They're gaining on us!

Who: Anyone that's taken up residence near Wan's abandoned apartment in the Spirit Wilds + their friends
What: Catch-all for threads happening in that general living area
When: Oct 4th-Oct31
Where: The Spirit Wilds Vagabond Hippie Commune (not actual name of neighborhood)
Warnings: None!

Post a Top Level for people who are living or temporarily crashing here to tag your character for any reason. It's open to all, not just people wanting to punch/arrest/visit Wan.

With this much upheaval in the city and an election on the way, you can bet all the fringe candidates are starting to come out of the woodwork. On a wall near the barrier (that has acquired somewhat of a trellis of outrageously colored flowers due to the dispersion of the barrier), handbills are starting to be pasted up. Some are the usual political nonsense you'd expect, some are screeds against the current regime (or lack thereof), some are just plain nutty, blaming the current situation on some sort of vast platypus bear conspiracy and calling people to rally in the park in protest of it. Among all the various papers is some graffiti of an eight-petaled lotus with an eye in the center. Is it a portent of things to come, or did someone get bored and decide to leave his personal mark on the wall?

Maybe both.

Judar has parked himself at the street corner with an armful of fruit and is watching traffic go by and the occasional unlucky soul get latched onto by a spirit. He's totally not paying attention to conversations about the various postings on the wall. Not at all. Just having a snack. Listening to people talk is Lau's job anyway.

[Backdated from this post.]


[With the statue on the island looming large overhead, Lloyd's heart races with excitement even as he struggles with his oar to paddle the makeshift boat he and Jin are in closer and closer to shore. Though, perhaps calling it a boat is a bit too generous.

Okay, maybe way too generous. But hey, even if it's a washtub, it worked!]

Look, Jin! We're almost there!

The girl making her way through the city probably wasn't anyone's image of Toph Bei Fong, and certainly not the image of the statue standing near the police station. She was small, verging on scrawny (an effect compounded by oversized clothing), face marked with at least a couple of layers of dirt. In that clothing, her features obscured, she might even have been taken for a boy -- were it not for the heavy braid trailing down her back.

Frankly, Toph didn't mind the whole arrangement. The makeshift disguise let her explore the city pretty much as she pleased -- or at least the parts she was currently interested in seeing. No one paid much attention to a street urchin, and there were some benefits to being blind; it tended to make others look away, and by the time they thought something of a blind girl wandering around the city by herself, Toph was gone.

So far, she had a good thing going, except for the lack of idol worship.

( Choose your own adventure: Pick an option! )

The White Swanfish Gala is this evening - A VIP-only event where invitations are only sent to the likes of the heads of industry, Mover stars, avatars, and their guests. The host is Wil Zan (Slade's affable civilian alter ego), and he is dressed in a fine white and blue silk nehru, smiling broadly and chatting with what seems like every patron there, one at a time. He has brought in the finest chefs to provide an unlimited stream of fine food and drink, popular musicians provide entertainment and lively music to dance to, and this gala is sure to be an event worth talking about for years.

Interestingly, Zan has set up some rather unusual security measures. Though your average riff-raff will be kept out, he has intentionally left strategic security gaps that can be bypassed by the bold and the cunning. Zan actually has men covertly watching these gaps, but instead of stopping these party-crashers, their instructions are to inform Zan. (This serves as a sort of test for potential apprentices that Slade may try to recruit in the future.)

((NOTE: This is an event log, so not every reply has to be toward Slade. Feel free to write what your character is doing at the party or how they snuck in, etc. "Zan" is likely to give you his attention, but others can too.))

Is it really fair to say that Republic City has been "normal" these past few days? People from different time periods and different worlds all together have made their way to the city. But, for a city that's usually the epicenter of trouble? Yeah, things have been normal.

And Republic City and her people have adjusted. Future Industries has passed out care packages. Air Temple Island has opened itself up as a temporary shelter until the new inhabitants find their footing. Parts of the city that weren't usually a recipient of care packages received help as well recently. In general, the mood of the city has been a helpful mood. If someone needs aid, it seems others are quick to act.

There is still buzzing around the city, though. Quite literally when one takes into account the spirit barrier that's made the city its home. It's been roughly ten days, but the barrier is still going strong. Bending doesn't affect it and nothing seems able to pass through it. It, like the Spirit Wilds, seems ready to stay.

In the middle of the night, however, something changes within the barrier. Or seems to change, at least. If one watches it carefully as it shimmers in the blackness of night, he or she might realize that the barrier isn't just made up of spiritual energy, but of individual spirits. They peel away from the barrier and drift away in bits and pieces, thinning the barrier considerably. But in the end, the barrier still stands. Those bits of spirits root to nearby objects, merging with them. This usually results in a new vine attached to a building or a tree inside a previously tree-free establishment.

Some of these smaller spirits get further away as if to find people to attach to. It's probably best to avoid those spirits if possible. Having a spirit attach itself to you is dangerous. People who are unfortunate enough to be attached to might have parts of their skin resemble tree bark, or even experience a rash that makes an effort to resemble some kind of animal fur or skin.

These are small spirits, though, so the damage won't be long-lasting. Just strong enough for the spirits to change small bits of people to something... else. For the time being, it's best to avoid these small spirits as best as possible. They're not malicious, but they do have a strong desire to attach to anything and merge with it.

At any rate, it seems like the spirits are going to take their time leaving the spirit barrier. At this pace, the barrier might dissipate in a week's time. But does the city really need something like this when its leaders have gone missing? There's talk of an election, but how is that going to happen when anyone near the perimeter of the city is in danger of suddenly getting tree bark for a face?

[ OOC: You don't need to post here, but you're free to do so if you want! Just keep in mind that for the next two weeks, it's dangerous to linger around the barrier. Spirits will attach to you and any other physical object to merge and make it more nature-y. They're small and a good healer should be able to fix the damage. So it's probably a bad idea to not go to a healer should someone end up with a Spirit Face. An election will be held sometime in the next two weeks, whenever it's safe. Republic City's gotta have a leader, after all! ]

[A couple days after the festival, Korra pulls Jinora and Aang aside for a talk that she's been putting off since things in Republic City started getting a little...weird. A secluded patio on the island, where she prefers to meditate and think alone sometimes, seems like the perfect place; they'll have the privacy they need, since the air acolytes don't come this way very often, without having to really hide.

Plus, Jinora and Aang already know each other's identities. That makes things a lot easier.]

Okay, it's been about a week already. I think...we need to face the facts. If Tenzin, Beifong, Raiko, and the other missing people have been gone this long, I don't think they're going to be coming back anytime soon. And there's people showing up from other times, like Aang here.

We should probably decide what to do. Aang, you're still hiding who you are, right? Jinora, do you think you can lead the air acolytes until Tenzin's back? You two are the only masters left.

[Well then.

This was awkward. It started well, it really did! But now? It was super awkward.

The first friend she makes in this city was probably a negative friend at this point. The only reason she's probably even sticking around at this point was because there was literally no other place to sit at this food shack, and she already got her noodles cold because of SOME PEOPLE. (By which she means tiny, eager airbenders such as herself.)

Really though, this is what she got for trying to make small talk. Protip, she thought to herself, definitely don't try to point out scars on people's faces, even if it was meant to be a compliment. If you thought someone was tough? Just stay quiet! Also, don't say anything about what they should do as a job, either. That probably gives you more negative friend points.

Ruby's looking at Weiss, clearing her throat slowly. She should probably say something. Instead, she's almost staring... but at least she has an apologetic look on her face!]

So....

(ooc // Dated after this thread, but immediately continuing this thread.)