• Welcome to The Cave of Dragonflies forums, where the smallest bugs live alongside the strongest dragons.

    Guests are not able to post messages or even read certain areas of the forums. Now, that's boring, don't you think? Registration, on the other hand, is simple, completely free of charge, and does not require you to give out any personal information at all. As soon as you register, you can take part in some of the happy fun things at the forums such as posting messages, voting in polls, sending private messages to people and being told that this is where we drink tea and eat cod.

    Of course I'm not forcing you to do anything if you don't want to, but seriously, what have you got to lose? Five seconds of your life?

Open Avatar: Charismatic Conspiracy

"All human." Although the end of her sentence was murmured, June was grateful she was able to finish it at all--sadly, she was afraid she had lost control by this point. She wasn't sure how this piece of Avatarist rhetoric resonated with her in particular, but if she followed the train of thought presented to her... well, it was a nice way to explain the cause to the public, and she had a much smaller chance of crashing and burning this way.

"As humans, we live in a world full of spirits, and it's our duty to live in harmony with them and the earth. For those of us with bending, it's much easier, isn't it? If we all could live peacefully - remember the example set by the Air Nomads? - and with a higher level of spirituality... maybe we all could be benders someday. For now, though, us benders have to stick together--peacefully, to help the world grow."

Turning quickly to the man willfully ignorant enough to call her words "slander", June replied with the smoothest tone she could attempt. "I don't see how explaining our cause in a reasonable way should be irritating. If the way things are makes you upset... what would you prefer? You expressed enough support at her outburst; wouldn't you have done the same in her position? She acted the way you would have if you were a waterbender, presumably."

The longer she was here, the more she she felt she should drop her microphone and get in a better position for bending. Her spear felt odd in her left hand; she considered switching it into her dominant one, but if she could just keep the fight from starting in the first place...

June hoped it would be best, but she wasn't sure.
 
Ami barely understood what happened. A waterbending girl didn't like what the man had said, attacked him, and then two more girls came up to try and recover the situation. Now they were arguing philosophy. Police were showing up to dissolve the conflict.

Whatever happened, she hoped the waterbending girl was okay. She liked her for lashing out on that man. And her friend (she assumed he was her friend) was really cute. She went to the crowd, and stood on her tiptoes to see over some people. She wormed her way through as close as she could get, and found herself beside the one the two on stage were arguing with.

"She didn't do anything for the purpose of expressing my feelings; I can do that well enough on my own, thanks."

She liked him, too. Most of these people, actually. So she agreed with him. "He's right! We don't need help from people like you! People so invested in themselves that they don't see the rest of the world as good enough." She glared at the Sandbender who spoke up. "And as for you!" She pointed an accusing finger. "You don't know anyone here, and the spirits have just as much use for someone like me as the Avatar! It's called 'balance' genius!"
 
"By the way, I'm Kaskae, and that's Adelé. Just so you know who you're helping."

"I'm Rai," she said, following Kaskae closely as he weaved through the crowd. People were becoming more and more angry, and that man in the front wasn't helping at all. She had no idea why she was getting involved in this. She easily could have left Kaskae to handle this on his own. But something inside her felt a sort of responsibility. These people weren't just slandering non-benders, they were smearing the names of benders. And now they were trying to turn Adelé's actions into fuel for their fire.
That, she was sure, was cheating.

She stood by Kaskae's side as he tried to wave his friend down, but to no avail. She was staying put. Something was becoming increasingly clear to Rai, the girl was in rough shape. Either she had stage fright, or she was about to pass out... maybe both. "Kaskae, I don't think she looks too well," Rai said, glancing again at him. The crowd was growing more and more violent by the second, and already Kaskae had been hit by a rock.

Rai had to admit, she was getting nervous. She nodded to Kaskae as she took her stance, the classic Dragon style taught to her by her father. She hadn't used her bending in a long time, usually embarrassed by stranges looks from the color of her bending. If Kaskae didn't know she was a fire bender before, he would know now.

She also couldn't deny the fact any longer, she was itching for a fight, and these crude benders were more than perfect targets.
 
Last edited:
"But I'm not," Yue said, a little petulantly. "It's what happened. Even if she was only thinking of expressing her own opinions, she's representing people who believe the same way." And besides, if everything that was said or done supported the Avatarist cause, didn't that say something about how right they were?

But her words were swallowed by the rising voices of the crowd. People shouting their agreement, and others their dissent.

"Tui and La," she murmured. Was he doing this on purpose? Trying to rile people up? This is why nonbenders are causing problems. Without the innate understanding of balance granted by the spirits, he and probably the rest were following base instincts that drove them toward anger over spirituality. And since benders no longer commanded the respect they once did, it would be harder to force control...

The earthbender guard gave a shout, and Yue half-turned to see him deflecting some small rocks. Nothing like an earthbender's power, of course, but they could cause real damage to someone unprotected.

Yue scowled. If people got hurt here, it was on the Neo-Equalists' heads.

And the police were moving in. That might calm things down, but if people interpreted that as an aggressive act...

Now that things were like this, she didn't want to drop the water and watch it soak into the stone. Water could be trusted not to go berserk and worsen things all on its own. The forces that pushed and pulled on water were familiar to her, but whatever was tugging on the crowd was not.

Someone else called out: "He's right! We don't need help from people like you! People so invested in themselves that they don't see the rest of the world as good enough. And as for you!" The speaker jabbed a finger. "You don't know anyone here, and the spirits have just as much use for someone like me as the Avatar! It's called 'balance' genius!"

If she was claiming that she was as important as the Avatar, well... that was pretty much literally not true. The Avatar was the spirit of the world itself. For anyone else to claim such important... what arrogance! People thinking everyone should be equal in defiance of the spirits' will, and in defiance of fact.

But she guessed that wouldn't help.

"Right! We've all got a place in the world," Yue said, almost desperate. "To keep the world in balance, as the spirits intend, we all have a..." Wait, she'd already said that. "For benders, it's making sure the balance stays so the Avatar can take care of the bigger, important things that threaten the world itself. Nonbenders can still go on with their lives, and live as they please, because those of us with a closer connection to the spirits can keep everything in check, so humans and spirits don't collide."

But the response was more shouting.

Spirits take them all! Kanzan's speeches never exploded like this, and even if they did, he'd know how to calm people down again. Even though Yue was more comfortable in a fight where she could fling around water instead of words, she didn't want one to break out.

Even though it would be so much easier, and perhaps a better demonstration of why benders were meant to rule.
 
((OOC: You have no idea how much I want to start a rap battle right now. GRRRRRRGHRESISTYOSHIRESIST))

"Nice to meet you, Rai." Kaskae felt another pebble whiz by his ear. "Okay, yeah, you're right, she's not looking so good." He looked carefully at Adelé. She was as ready to collapse as move her pinkie toe. He'd never seen this happen to her. He thought as quick as he could. Getting her out without the Police nabbing her would require something much worse.

Well, the Police would probably push the detonator themselves, so Kaskae would go ahead and let them. He said to Rai, "If I jump off, catch her first." He jumped onto the stage.

"Adelé, we gotta go, like, now." He tugged on her arm, and looked over his shoulder at the two girls on stage, giving them an awkward smile. He pulled at Adelé's arm again, saying between teeth, "Now is a good time to leave."

One of the Police was close enough for Kaskae to hear over the shouting. He didn't seem happy that he was taking this lady who had publicly assaulted a man away. He kept trying to reach the stage, but as it happened, a large number of people now seemed quite fond of Adelé, and were being very troublesome for him.
 
Last edited:
"If I jump off, catch her first."

"Sozin's tits," Rai growled, but nodded as she watched Kaskae jump onto the very full stage. She gazed at the crowed in front of her. They needed to leave, now.

The metal bending police were edging into the crowd, trying to reach the stage and not get run over by the angry herd of people that were now chanting, throwing rocks, and overall being very annoying and very dangerous in general. It was like a pot that had just started to boil over.
 
"Adelé, we gotta go, like, now."

She felt a tug at her arm. Adelé's eyes slowly rolled over to see none other than the ex-Pro bender himself, flashing a grin at Kanzan's "equalists." Or, at least, that's what she was assuming. Things had started to get blurry and moving in slow-motion, it seemed, the shouts and screams and that strange whooshing sound as if someone was swatting projectiles into the open crowd were muffled.

As Kaskae gave her arm another pull, Adelé lost her balance. She stumbled a few inches closer to him, and leaned on his shoulder for support. After regaining her footing, though, she pushed off of him again, but couldn't shake off his hand without falling over again. "... Baka," she slurred, giving Kaskae what could have been interpreted as a frown. "If we both get arrested... What about your brothers...?" Adelé turned her head a bit more to see the police officer nearing the stage.

Bright eyes began to sweep across the crowd, never once blinking, but were in fact a short distance away from closing. She saw cheering smiles of triumph, more than likely because of her little feat, boos frowns of anger, probably from Kanzanite supporters, and just faces that were growing restless in all the chaotic anarchy. These particular people would either try to get closer to the stage or slip out of the crowd altogether, but there were a number of them just staying put, watching to know what would happen next. Adelé didn't blame them, though. She hardly knew what was going on herself, and she was the one that started it all.

The waterbending girl looked back at Kaskae, and let her head fall into a nod. Her eyes, though the pupils were taking more of her eyes than the colored irises at the moment, said fairly and clearly: Let's just go. She couldn't exactly move, however, so she was vaguely wondering how Kaskae planned on taking himself and her to safety from this uproar.
 
((Fffffff, thanks for exploding the thread when I went to sleep, guys. :P))

Shion visibly winced as the speaker completely went off the rails, spitting radical insults to the crowd rather than the measured rhetoric she had written for him. He hadn't butchered her speech, he had taken it and burned it to a crisp and then dropped the ashes into the depths of an abyss. She would need to deal with him later, including a proper background check - right now, there was a situation brewing, what with the waterbender freezing the speaker and screaming at him. But the waterbender who had taken offence had clearly been the aggressor, and if the others could keep calm, she could spin this to put them in a fortunate light.... Thankfully, June did act on their previous discussion of taking over for the speaker, taking the microphone and addressing the crowd.

Perhaps this could still be salvaged.

Or... perhaps not. She ducked a rock and made her way to the stage, briefly nodding at the guards, one who was deflecting further missiles. The shouting match that had erupted was turning violent, and she... did not want that. Most of these people were, presumably, innocent and could even have supported them, if the previous speaker hadn't ruined their chances completely. Any casualties would reflect badly upon them, and with the crowd in this mood, it was quite likely that both their supporters and those attacking them would only cause more damage. At least the police were stepping in - hopefully they would be able to disperse the gathering quickly.

Stepping up onto the stage, she slipped into a neutral stance, not prepared to bend just yet. The guards were so far doing a good job of keeping them safe, but with so many people, they could be overwhelmed. Still, bending now, and especially doing so in front of a mob that was at least somewhat motivated against them would only make them look tyrannical - and that was not the point. "You both tried well, but I do not think anyone will listen to us at this point," she told the others, shoving away the feeling of being exposed. She had no time for nerves about being a target. "What is important is defusing this as quickly as possible now, before more get hurt." After this, she could get her contacts working on a way to have this all set up in their favour - but until then, they had to limit their actions and make sure their attackers looked like the villains here.

"Please," she called out to the crowd. "Comply with the police and disperse. People are in danger here, and we do not want anyone to get hurt!" It was too late for words of peace, probably, but she had to at least try and minimize this disaster.

This was the last time she let someone else take care of choosing a speaker. Kanzan had never had this sort of problem, of course. And she had thought herself prepared for all eventualities - a radical speaker expressing himself and an angry teenager had proven her very wrong.

This wouldn't happen again.
 
What sort of force was pushing and pulling on the crowd now? They seemed to be doing it well enough on their own, with every call by a Neo-Equalist bringing the rest closer to disaster.

But that was how Neo-Equalists operated, wasn't it, as well as their end goal? To bring everyone down to their level. In this case, to bring an entire crowd of previously rational people to... well, to this.

She tapped the firebender on the shoulder - he had by now shifted into another stance, perhaps planning on roasting the waterbender who had started this all, and she could really understand the temptation - and growled, "Let them go. Follow. Tracking only."

Before he could respond, perhaps to ask for clarification, Yue had pushed him away and made her way over to Shion.

"They're not even listening," she said. "If we have to we can drop charges against that moron" - because for something like this, either the Avatarists would deal with it and the police would get in the way, or if the Avatarists didn't care, what the police did wouldn't matter - "but if this gets worse the main charge will be whatever 'causing a riot' can get you cited for."

The water that had been pinning the man to the stage was still streaming around her, and she brought it to a globule above her hand. Hopefully it looked a little less threatening. It'd be easier to bring up a shield this way, though attacking with a water-whip wasn't going to be as quick as usual.

While one of the police officers was trying to get through the crowd, most of the other uniformed metalbending police had formed a line near the front of the crowd. They had batons in their hands - or perhaps those were their cables? - and marched forward, calling for the crowd to disperse or face arrest. People who refused to get out of the way of a marching wall of metal, well, they got to learn what the batons were for. Other police behind them were setting up a spool of metal cable or focusing on deflecting flying projectiles. Either way, it seemed, a peaceful demonstration was over, so addressing the crowd wasn't going to be the primary goal any more.

The earthbending guard had backed up almost to the stage, still deflecting stone projectiles but casting nervous glances back at Yue, Shion, and June.

Two pairs of Avatarist guards had penetrated the crowd and were trying to break up conflicts between Avatarist and Neo-Equalist supporters before they got too messy, and another guard was after someone who was throwing rocks, maybe, although by now multiple people had gotten into it, despite the limited availability of ammunition.

Despite herself, Yue smirked. "We're going to be busy tonight. Just as I was getting bored."
 
Last edited:
Straining his ears to hear through the noise, Togei pulled his hat lower over his face. A rock pinged off of his metal forearm as he looked to the stage. The redhead girl from before seemed to be positively unconscious, held up only by stubborn will and her friend. Still concerned with her safety/freedom, especially with the police advance, Togei decided that he could be useful. There was, he noticed, a girl roughly his age who seemed to be speaking to the Water boy (by her dress, Fire Nation like his father's family). She was probably helping too, but Togei thought he'd be more direct about it. Clambering one-handedly up on to the stage, he presented himself as nonthreateningly as possible to the man supporting someone who he called 'Adelé' at one point.

"Hey, if you need to be hands-free and keeping her safe then I could, you know, carry her along after you or something?" Togei wasn't exactly strong-looking, but the girl wasn't big or anything and he was used to carrying things at his old job anyway. "I mean, you don't know me and I get that but I'm thinking she's not too safe here."
 
Kaskae supported Adelé with one shoulder. She was heavier than when they were little. She slurred something about his brothers, which had been in the back of his mind as well. "On problem at a time, Adelé." Another person showed up to offer help. Kaskae looked at him questioningly. It was the guy who liked to argue.

"Pretty sure we're all screwed if we stick around here." He glanced at the crowd, becoming more violent by the second. More people were climbing onto the stage. One guy ripped his shirt off as if that meant something. The Police were having to try harder to push past the crowd, but were going nowhere fast. "Here. Just take one side." He gave the stranger Adelé's left arm. "We're going to have to push our way through the crowd. That's going to be tough, but-RAI!" He called out over the crowd. "We'll need you in front of us to push a path out!"

He looked at the line of Police. People had become outright violent. The more they pushed, the more force the police pushed back with, and the more force the police used, the angrier the crowd's attacks became. It was an endless cycle that was rising exponentially. "Yup, we need to move now." He said starting forward. Getting off the stage was easy, but after that it was going to be a bumpy ride.
 
The stage, which Yue had once thought much bigger than necessary, was starting to become crowded. In addition to the very man who'd started riling up the crowd, who was off doing something with the woman who'd started all this in the first place, there were random audience members leaping onto the stage. Yue couldn't help but wonder what all these people, apparently Neo-Equalist supporters, were doing here in the first place.

The audacity. They were literally right there, and even if at least one of them was a waterbender, Yue could freeze them where they stood and they wouldn't be able to get away. And it was so, so tempting. But there were more important things than catching the people at fault for the riot, like preventing it from getting worse. But then again, she didn't know how to calm these people down or even to stop them from hurting... well, mostly themselves and each other... so surely she might as well?

But there was a reason she'd told the firebending guard to let them go.

The police weren't completely unaware of what they were doing, she supposed. The smaller squad behind the line of advancing officers, apparently now ready, used their prepared cable spool to create a fence of sorts. Every so often, an officer would stomp the ground, creating a fence post to meet the cable. Though it wouldn't really stop someone determined to get past it, the fence did present a kind of barrier that made some of the rioters hesitate. The fence primarily snaked between the crowd and the stage, and was continuing to encircle the crowd. It could later be used to divide them into groups and trap them if the police decided the situation was unsalvageable so they may as well arrest everyone they could catch.

"Disperse or face arrest," one of the officers called, only to be met by more shouting.

The rioters weren't acting like, well, people, Yue thought. She'd heard terms like mob mentality being thrown around, but still, surely when faced with the prospect of being hurt or backing down, most people would realise this wasn't worth their lives and go away? That was what the police would usually rely on, but it didn't work when the rioters genuinely did not care about being hurt. And yeah, there were people at the back of the crowd fleeing, and some people in the middle were trying to get away, but more of them were throwing rocks and fists at each other. Yue winced when she saw a hurled rock strike someone in the face.

Normally, perhaps, most of the rioters would be Neo-Equalists - even though they had no reason to be here - so the stage would be the primary target, and it would be a simple matter to hurl water until they shut up and went away. But instead, other than the Neo-Equalists crowding the police or climbing onto the stage, their conflict was with each other. Brawls broke out in the middle of the crowd, despite Avatarist attempts to stop them. The earthbender who had been focusing on keeping the stage clear of rocks had been overwhelmed by charging people, so the occasional stone was flying past Yue's ear.

At least the people coming up onto the stage were easy to deal with. A blast of water to the face shoved away a woman who'd barely lifted herself by her arms, and Yue brought the water back around to push away a man trying to do the same. The earthbending guard, given some reprieve as the fence was built between him and the rest of the crowd, managed to clap stone over their legs.

Of course, not all of the people clambering toward the stage were necessarily Neo-Equalists, but they weren't going to take that risk. Yue directed the rest of the water into a ring around the three Avatarists, which would ideally prevent anyone from getting too close.

Yue shook her head. "They're beyond reasoning with. No point staying, right? If we let the police take the stage, we can prepare for the aftermath."

Even though leaving now would be a bit like fleeing.
 
"RAI! We'll need you in front of us to push a path out!"

Rai nodded. The audience, if it could even be called that anymore, was in a full out riot, and Kaskae and the another person from the crowd held the waterbending girl up, barely conscious. They needed a path cleared.

And what clears a crowd faster than fire?

"Follow me!" she called out, hoping Kaskae could hear her over the turmoil of rioters surrounding the stage. Pushing more people out of the way (and even dodging a few punches), Rai made it to the side of the stage, motioning for the others to follow. She then turned back to the crowd.

She dropped down into her fire bending stance, and, with a hint of flourish, punched high into the air, creating a steady stream of bright blue flames. She didn't want to hurt anyone, so she kept the flames high, but the heat was beginning to become intense as she kept the flame burning. She wouldn't be able to do this forever. With her luck the crowd noticed, getting out of the way as the blue fire surged overhead. "We need to go!" she called, stepping forward as a hint. How they would get past the police, she could only guess.
 
Last edited:
After Ami had shouted her nonsense, she immediately had regrets. True, the girl on stage didn't have much of an argument, but now Ami felt she was being rude. Her face flushing red, she sidled away from her spot, worming her way to try and escape the crowd. She needed a drink.

Except there seemed to be a fence. Well, that was an issue. Her thoughts about fences and the climbing of fences were interrupted by a lot of heat and blue light. With a little squeal, she jumped out of the way of the girl spouting fire from her hands. She was tempted to trip her or something when she saw who she was leading. The girl who started this whole mess, the guy who got her involved with that arguing, and the boy who was with the waterbending girl.

She considered following them to see if she couldn't get past the fence. More importantly, the police on the other side. The fence itself was hardly an obstacle. If anyone could find a way, it was probably this little group of misfits.

Of course, they might tell her to buzz off. Hopefully not. Because she'd already worked her way back to the Firebending girl yelling over the crowd, "Hey, hey! I can help, let me help you!"
 
((Jay, 12, Non-Bender. I need to catch up.))

Techinically, we also have a lot of bones. That doesn't count as meat, I think. It's really loud out there, even more than usual.

Wait, I'm supposed to be revising my history test on the Equalists. Well, let's get back to that. My eyes are on the page before some hysterical girl starts shouting.

Great.

I slam the window shut, and try and read the book again. But the noise is still painfully distracting. Why do I live in such a crowded area?

I open the window again yell at the top of my voice. "Shut up!" Then I slam the window shut. On second thought, that probably wasn't a good idea, because no one would hear me and even if they did they're not going to listen to a random little girl.

Deciding that I'm not going to any work done at this rate, I plan to go outside and check out what's making all this noise. The shouting gradually gets louder as I head towards the source, but not because of the distance to it, but because of something else. I'm fast, so it couldn't have taken that long, but by now the noise is deafening and apparently there's a bunch of police and a bunch of fighting going on. Something inside me tells me instinctively that this isn't safe, but what the spirit world. I can just run away if anything goes awry. They can't catch me.

I feel a grin sneak up into my face as I dash towards the commotion.
 
"It's always good to have an interesting way of passing the time," Shion said, almost idly. But her eyes narrowed as she looked into the crowd and the advance of the police. "A pity that our way of preventing boredom seems to have exploded in such a fashion." She would be the one dealing with the media, and though telling the truth was hardly an ordeal, ensuring it was phrased to grab attention, calm the citizens and ensure she wasn't acting too competent all turned it into rather a mess. No matter how much effort she put into it, it was always a headache, one that no amount of political savviness or firebending skill could inherently solve.

Well, she supposed she could electrocute or burn every journalist she saw, but even the thought of doing so was a half-hearted joke. She didn't have the spirit for such an act.

The sight of so many, screaming in fear or anger - at this point, it all blurred - made her frown, wishing she could do something to calm the crowd instantly. She was not the Avatar, of course, and a flashy stunt would probably just make her a target, rather than stun them into compliant silence. The mob was not a creature that could be tamed through peaceful measures. She had read about that, heard it - even dealt with a burgeoning one once. It still shook her, to witness an event where bender or nonbender, the whole world went completely mad. There was no room for compassion or reasoning, just as Yue said. How she wished it was the opposite, but there was nothing for it. Thus far, they had been untouched by the riot, but Shion hardly hoped for that sort of luck to last. Sooner or later, the guards would be overwhelmed, and the police would falter, and they could be injured as well.

Her frown tightened, and she finally nodded. "There is nothing we can do to help them," she agreed. "Better to leave, and keep ourselves safe." She gritted her teeth as one of the people in the crowd began to firebend recklessly, the blue flames making the bender a huge target. No discipline, of course. Anyone properly trained would have never chanced such a technique in a throng. What if someone bumped into them or shoved them? Such power and heat, suddenly redirected... and then innocents would be hurt, maybe killed.

She didn't want to leave such chaos, but the police would be able to impose some sort of order. She had her press release to think about, and possible interviews. Putting forth a pleasant, if concerned mask, to deal with such tragedy, would take some time and planning. No matter how much she wanted to stay.... She motioned to the earthbender guard in preparation for a quick and hopefully inconspicuous departure.
 
One problem with firebending, it was hot. She just couldn't hold the streams of fire any longer. She let her arm drop, and the flames stopped. Her knuckles felt tender, but it was a curse of a firebender, it was a hard element to control. To her dismay, the crowd had only moved slightly, and she feared she'd just made herself more of a target.

She really needed to think things through more before acting.

"Hey, hey! I can help, let me help you!" Rai heard a voice cry over the roar of the crowd. A young Fire Nation woman was running to her. Frustration at the situation was taking control of Rai, but she took a deep breath and called back, "Then help us get out of here!"

[C'mon guys, this RP is sort of awesome.]
 
Last edited:
June was wordless for a while, letting Yue continue on as she tried to get a grip. The cry of "You don't know anyone here, and the spirits have just as much use for someone like me as the Avatar!" had made her completely lose her ability to speak; she flat out could not respond to that. All she could think to do was to show the presumably non-bending idiot just how wrong she was... but she had to stay calm.

June felt lost; while she usually was comfortable persuading a crowd, the chaos started by the waterbending girl and continued by the misguided Neo-Equalists was too much to handle. A quick, forceful stamp on the stage reminded her that it was made of wood; completely useless to her, and much more of a irritation than it would have been if it was made of dirt. (Thinking back, she realized that she had no chance to "get grounded" with that attempt--but in her frustration, she had tried it anyway.)

The crowd was wild, possibly almost uncontrollable at this point--out of the corner of her eye she saw a firebender bending her way through the crowd, with blue flame to top it off. Offhandedly she wondered if Shion knew how to do that; even if she did, it was probably unimportant aside from particular instances. In any case, the firebender seemed to grow tired and stopped earlier than she thought she would. It probably was more energy-consuming than normal bending, she thought.

"There is nothing we can do to help them. Better to leave, and keep ourselves safe."

Snapping back to attention, June glanced at Shion, then the guard she was pointing to--an earthbender by the looks of it, and one proficient enough to assist them in escape. "Fine by me. If we don't go... well, even though I'd like to fight, we'd probably get overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the mob. Besides, if we can say we were trying to keep the peace and failed; that's better, right?"

The guard approached with a confident-enough look, considering everything. "The Neo-Equalists are getting out of control... I assume it's time to leave, then?"

"Of course. The old Equalists tunnels still exist, don't they? Let's use them."

And with that, the earthbending guard brought up their arms in a sweeping motion and created a hole next to the stage. Looking down, June realized it would be an almost completely straight drop--she doubted the guard's judgment, but it wasn't like she was going to fix it. Taking one more bite of her fried cactus before putting it with the microphone in the sack she used to keep her sand, June grinned at her Avatarist teammates and jumped down with no real hesitation.

---

Meanwhile, the police advanced to catch and arrest what seemed to be the most chaotic rioter in the group; the one pushing their way through the crowd with blue flame. Planning to uproot the ground below their feet (along with the other members of the group, too) in a well-defined tactic, the earthbenders quickly approached Rai.
 
Last edited:
“Not what I meant, Rai!” Kaskae shouted at the blue flames. They died down quickly enough, but it seemed to have angered more people than it scared. Kaskae took Adelé off the stage. She’d never had stage fright as far as he could remember, but here she was, numb and barely conscious.

Metalbending Police had decided to target Rai. She had, in the end, only made it harder. Some other girl was shouting she could help, and Rai gave the instruction to help them escape. For a brief moment, despair ran through Kaskae as he thought about their odds. They had to pass the officers coming straight for them, get over the fence, and in every direction was a long sprint through the courtyard. He shook his head and reminded himself of his own words to Adelé. One problem at a time.

He could find no water nearby that he could use. So it seemed he’d have to find another way out of here. All he could think of was how much he was wishing he was an Earthbender. Someone was shoved back, and they collided with Kaskae. He fell out of the little path they’d made, and into the crowd of people lashing out at anything that moved. At this point, they seemed to have lost all ability to reason, all purpose, and some more primal instincts had taken them over. Kaskae jammed his way with Adelé through the layers of the crowd. He had felt something hit the side of his head, and now something warm was trickling past his ear and onto his neck.

The crowd thinned out a little at the fence. It wasn’t a very tall fence. He probably could have vaulted it easily if Adelé wasn’t half-asleep. “Adelé, hurry up and feel better, would you? If I get arrested because of your new public speaking issues, I swear I’ll go to your house and throw fire flakes on every scrap of food in there.”

He hoped Rai would be able to get past the Police, because he wasn’t sure where she was now. And then there was the other guy who tried to give them a hand. And the girl who was probably still near Rai. If he could get Adelé over the fence, and across the courtyard, which was unlikely given the Police still surrounding the fence, and any on their way to help, he could try and help them get out. It would be better still if Adelé came to her senses and was able to help him do that without having to make any attempt at escape just yet.
 
[[Waking powers activate >.>]]

Adelé felt Kaskae yank her off of the stage, and she glanced over at the blue flames flying into the air. Oh, that was pretty... She hadn't ever seen flames in that color before. She'd only seen them in that standard orange-ish-red shade... But blue flames were interesting. And probably more dangerous.

She blinked, trying to stay conscious. The loudness and blurred figures darting in and out of view were almost hypnotizing, and her eyelids began to fall once again...

That is, before that person rammed right into her and Kaskae.

The force of it was more than enough for Adelé to snap out of the trance she was in. The nausea she had felt died away, and her hearing wasn't muffled anymore, didn't seem as loud. Her vision sharpened as she saw the screaming crowd with different eyes, and the reality of what was happening struck her like a lightning bolt.

She had caused this, hadn't she? Well, you know what they say... If you start something, you better have every intention to end it. ... Although, ending it was clearly out of the question now, she get only option was to just get her ass out of there. The crowd could simmer down on its own, right? It wasn't her problem anymore.

Adelé slipped her arm out of Kaskae's iron grip—or rather, swatted his hand away and slid passed the roaring crowd with him. She was clenching her teeth tightly, her eyes narrowed, and as they neared a fence, Kaskae started to speak to her.

"If I get arrested because of your new public speaking issues, I swear I’ll go to your house and throw fire flakes on every scrap of food in there."

"Kaskae, don't take this the wrong way, but save your bitching for someone who actually gives a damn, will you?" She flashed him a smirk before she was about to leap over the fence, but stopped herself. She saw the police bordering the fence, and frowned a bit. "I hate to admit it, but we can't exactly go about this lightly, as we have no resources to fight back with," she muttered to him, referring to their endeared element.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom