Open Avatar: Charismatic Conspiracy

[Black Yoshi]

OOC/Signup Thread​

The sun was beginning to sink low in the sky. Republic City was bustling with activity as people moved to either go home, or get out while the night was still approaching. The Pro-Bending Arena hummed with activity as people prepared for the upcoming matches of the night.

Outside the arena, merchants had stalls set up to sell their merchandise to the crowds. Among the cheap souvenirs and silver tongues was a makeshift stage. A scrawny man stood on top with a microphone, preaching to whoever would listen. As it happened, he had the ears of a good number of people.

“When I tell you, my brothers and sisters, that we are the apex of our civilization, I speak the truth! Listen to what I have to say, what Kanzan has to say! Our gifts are meaningless if we hold them back. We need to seize the day while we can!” The man wasn’t nearly as charismatic or convincing as Kanzan. He had the face of a weasel. The crowd was a mixture of curious passersby and already devoted followers of Kanzan, or his cause, sticking around in case the rally went south.

-----

“I can’t stand those guys.” Kaskae muttered under his breath, looking at the man on the stage from the corner of his eye. He was walking his brothers, Paka and Talir, around town along with Adelé. Paka had a piece of taffy he was chewing on. Talir watched the man on the stage warily. Paka was the youngest, and the only one who couldn’t Waterbend. He was too young or too innocent to fully understand the gravity of what was going on, and these areas made them nervous.

Kaskae listened to the little man go on and on. He looked at the crowd listening. The most stone-faced ones were most likely Kanzan’s little toy soldiers. It was hard for him to say how far exactly Kanzan would take this movement of his. He had, apparently, announced that he had no desire to end any lives, and his body count was all made from fights that other people started. But kidnappings and hostage situations with his name attached had been increasing lately. Anyone, Bender or Non-Bender, who made any action against him was getting dealt with.

“I’m really getting sick of these guys.” He said to Adelé. “I don’t support Kanzan, but he could at least get some people who can talk convincingly as he does out here. This guy just sounds terrible.” He was surprised she was here, given her grudge towards him the past few days. Adelé had tried leaving the city, and the two of them had argued, and he’d almost gone with her. His brothers were all that kept him rooted there. They had been trying to find a way to keep them safe when they were gone, but Kaskae basically won the argument, and Adelé had stormed off saying she could do it herself. She came back a few hours later with the news that she had run into some complications.

 

[Ulqi-chan]

Adelé hardly spared the scrawny man on the stage a glance, and rather let her gaze float around him. She also avoided meeting eyes with Kaskae, as she was still rather pissed at him and his decision to stay in Republic City. Really, that boy could get on her nerves sometimes. He was so keen on keeping his brothers safe all the time. Why couldn't they just bring the two along with them? Honestly, it wasn't that big of an issue.

Perhaps she should've suggested that before he set her off.

Adelé would've left by herself, even though she wouldn't be accompanied by the one man that could keep her sane (however, it doesn't seem to work when she's angry at him, as previously shown), but she ran into a few problems. The major one was there were no ships setting out for the Northern Water Tribe anytime soon, and all other options soon diminished in time. So with no way of travel that could get her to the North Pole in a short amount of time, she just dropped the idea altogether. Although, if the subject was brought up, she'd threaten to leave again, just to push Kaskae's buttons.

Just a few hours prior she ran into the before-mentioned Waterbender, not intentionally, of course, as she was still giving him the silent treatment, but decided to tag along after the thought of Paka and Talir being heartbroken that their brother and sisterly figure were fighting. They were good kids, Kaskae's brothers, and they respected her, so Adelé was not about to disappoint them because of something like this.

"I'm really getting sick of these guys."

"So I heard," Adelé countered casually, her bright eyes locked into Paka's for a brief moment. She soon broke the stare by glancing over at Kaskae, her lips in a frown, her tan arms crossed. "But... I do agree. That guy doesn't even look like half the decent bender. Hell, I bet he's a non-bender wannabe, under the impression he can keep himself alive a bit longer by speaking for that Kanzan."

 

[Blastoise Fortooate]

Togei fished a few coins out of his right pocket, where he kept all of his belongings that required quick access. He handed them over to the woman on the other side of the stand, and in return she gave him a small rice-paper bag, filled with something that made it rather bumpy. Thanking the woman and turning back into the crowd, the young man tore the string from the bag with his teeth, spitting it onto the ground below and shaking the bag open. This revealed its contents, which consisted entirely of multicolored candy wormslugs, dusted with sugar. With a small smile, Togei picked one out, again with his teeth, and consumed the orange confection with all the unrestrained grace of a clumsy bird.

His small moment of enjoyment was, irritatingly, overlayed with the annoying pseudophilosophizing of the pro-bender movement, who were (un)ironically doing so in the immediate vicinity of the city's Probending arena. The idiots were dangerous to nonbenders, but at the moment the only pain they were causing Togei was in his ears. He'd cover them and block out the sound, but that would be a bad idea for several reasons: one, that it would be awkward to walk through the city with hands clamped over one's ears; two, that his right hand was full of recently-purchased candy; and three, that Togei only had true use of a single hand.

The police really should do something, thought Togei, his pitch-black eyes glaring at the reedy man who lead the rally. Although it was entirely possible that the law enforcement in this city, composed primarily of metalbenders, were at least partially in league with these crazies. Togei allowed a rare thought to pass in his mind; Togei didn't often wish for bending ability, not these days, but at that particular moment he'd have given an arm and a leg (limb humor is only funny in his own head) to be able to metalbend that microphone into pieces.

Togei ducked into an unoccupied alcove between a bookshop and a small jeweler's, crowd-watching and consuming the other candy wormslugs, again in an awkward no-hands technique.

 

[Lil Kuchiki]

Ami found herself standing facing away from the stage as often as possible, keeping stalls between her and it, and always staring at her feet if she turned in the stage's general direction.

She was out tonight because she had been planning on seeing the Pro Bending match, but she never went when things like this were going on outside. Not so much because she was afraid, she would assure herself, but because it just made her feel uneasy.

Okay, so maybe she was a little afraid.

But she kept telling herself it was irrational and childish, that the chances of her getting involved in anything bad for her were slim to none, and even if she did, she had enough training or enough money available to fix it, right? So she had convinced herself.

She puttered around, looking mostly at different foods at the stalls, having seen all the cheap souvenirs they sold here a million times, trying to ignore the man and his speech. She considered lobbing a rock his way, just to give a good knock on the head. She had a good enough arm, after all.

It didn't seem like the best idea right now. She came to sitting on a bench against a building, elbows on her knees with her chin in her hands. Now she was facing directly at the stage. She shuddered at the thought of everyone like her being thrown aside because they couldn't make a little pebble float, or breathe fire or anything like that. She'd heard a number of mixed accounts, that Kanzan planned to kill every non-bender he could, or that he wanted as little bloodshed as possible. Either way, he and all his little friends gave ehr the creeps.

 

[Coroxn]

Haruko had been quite enjoying reading his book when a scrawny man struggled to convince people of the benders' natural superiority to non-benders. Luckily enough, the man was about as charismatic as a deformed table spoon, but still, Kanzan and his little movement caused his stomach to clench almost painfully. The worst part was how little people seemed to care. The words and speeches being thrown at him from all over Republic City were almost identical to that of the previous Equalist movement, just with the opposite effect in mind. Nobody had given any attention to that movement either, until it was beating down their doors. Haruko feared that this movement would have a similar effect, and it would be far too late to take it seriously when everybody eventually did.

"This needs to be stopped," he muttered, under his breath, and, knowing that he'd never be able to read in peace with that man prattling on at the top of his voice, he swung his feet off the bench and set off through the crowd for a quieter bench.

The crowd was constricting, tightening, a surprising amount of people working their way through the area. Haruko tried to keep his breathing steady as he pushed through people, trying to keep everyone at arm's length, but in the end his claustrophobia got the better of him, his panic rose, and suddenly he was almost running through the crowd, trying to get to that blessed area of light just ahead, just-

He bounced off the side of a rather muscular water-tribe girl and slipped to the ground. He picked himself up off the ground, breath still heavy although rapidly calming in this less-dense portion of the crowd. Whilst he caught his breath, he took note of the girl he'd slammed into. Red hair, blue eyes, the coffee-coloured skin of the water tribe, and something about her appearance that did not mesh well, like her traits were all too dominant and forceful and didn't harmonize well together.

Haruko looked away, muttered an apology, and set off for that peaceful-looking bench in the distance.

 

[Phantom]

Rai handed the vendor a few coins and took her tea, giving a nod in thanks as she did so. She took a sip and frowned. Nothing was more disgusting than cold tea. She turned, making sure that no one was paying attention. She reached for her inner fire, and breathed a tiny blue flame into the cup. She took another sip. Much better, she thought with a small smile.

The courtyard outside the Pro Bending Arena was bustling with fans and merchants. Rai was fascinated with Pro Bending. She hadn't even heard of it before she left the Fire Nation. She'd been to her first match last week, and had been addicted ever since. The way the Fire Pro Benders moved was so different from the traditional style, but it had an elegance all it's own. Street bending, she thought. That's what first came to mind when she first saw it. It was downright simple, but that meant it was so much more convenient for this new world. There were no overly complex stances. It had its own elegance, just of a completely different sort.

Plus, it took guts to bend so skillfully in front of thousands of people.

There were new people in the courtyard today though. As she walked she noticed small crowd gathered around a weasel looking man, who was preaching loudly to those gathered around. It took her a moment to realise what he was talking about, but when she heard the name 'Kanzan' she knew immediately what the topic of his preaching was. She listened for a moment, shaking her head in disgust. Bullies. They were no more than bullies. Father would have liked them, she cursed.

Still, she listened quietly a ways from the main crowd, not really listening, but still catching a phrase here and there. She didn't like what she heard. She sipped her tea and smirked as a young man in Fire Nation colors ran straight into a red headed girl dressed in Water Tribe garb.

 

[allitersonance]

Few people had the oratory skills to match Kanzan's, but Yue was certain they could have chosen someone better than the poor guy onstage. She couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for him - it took guts to speak in front of a crowd, especially since he was apparently so nervous he couldn't remember anything beyond the general idea of the script - but there was annoyance, too. Several skilled benders had been posted here to keep the peace, since the Neo-Equalists might try something unpleasant, so if they were going to use this much manpower, they might as well have brought in a better speaker.

At least they hadn't had to use too many members of Team Avatar (as they called themselves) to ensure the Neo-Equalists didn't cause too much damage. From her position at the back of the crowd - Kanzan wanted them to look like part of the crowd, so this made it easier to keep an eye on the audience, even though she thought proper guards at the front would make things safer - Yue could see several police officers scattered around the edges of the audience, some of them even here officially. Of course, no matter how much some nonbenders tried to pressure them, the police could do nothing about a perfectly legal gathering and exercising free speech, but most likely, that wasn't why they were here. Kanzan expected trouble. It wasn't impossible the police might, too.

Still, Mr. The-apex-of-our-civilisation got the job done. Eloquently phrased or not, eventually the truth would resonate with the people who, after all, must privately already suspect that the world would be much better when ruled by people with a closer connection to the world. Nonbenders were so limited in how they could interact with and understand the world; if they were allowed to rule, they'd only focus on themselves and their own petty desires.

"... hey," Yue said, her memory triggered by her musings about Avatarist rhetoric, "didn't he skip the whole paragraph about the whole spiritual decay thing and the enrichment of the" - she cut herself off as she glanced at the sandbender beside her - "er, what are you eating, exactly?"

 

[Mai]

This guy sucks. I could do so much better... how, I'm not entirely sure, but I know I could. All it takes is a little charisma, which I’m not short of if I try. However, for whatever reason, June was stationed in the middle of the crowd with... Yue, she thought her name was. Perhaps she could knock the speaker off the stage and take over, quite literally; it wouldn’t be that hard, assuming she could surprise him, but the example it would set could be harmful to the cause. It would be best if the movement seemed at least somewhat unified, and in the end it wasn’t like she memorized the script either.

Even though she wasn’t hungry, June shoved a fried strip of street food into her mouth--it wasn't quite like the cactus she had at home, but it was tasty. It wasn't easy to track down the vendors that sold things other than the common hallucinogenic cactus juice (hell, she was probably that poor sandbender's only... "customer"), but it was worth it. The cactus was crunchy and flaky, and eating it was a nice distraction from the man onstage. Snacking was always a nice distraction.

"er, what are you eating, exactly?" June would have thought the answer was obvious. Then again, she was the one from the desert.

"Fried cactus. You want some?" Only just swallowing the bite she had taken, June offered the half-empty package to Yue in offering; she doubted that the waterbender would accept it, but she figured she might as well attempt to share. "... It's not that bad, once you try it. And no, it's not like cactus juice. It’s… not like normal cactus at all, actually. It just tastes fried."

Grabbing her spear and stretching out a bit, June motioned to the current speaker for the Avatarists' cause. "Yue, what would you think about taking over for the guy onstage? Wouldn't be too difficult, right? I know it's probably a bad idea, but I could make a much better speech than him. Should've put him on guard duty and let me talk; sure, it'd leave you with him. But you wouldn't mind, right? Much better than having the disaster left onstage."

 

[Stormecho]

The "apex of civilization" that the speaker was declaiming was finding it difficult not to roll her eyes. Doing so would have betrayed her exasperation, though. Really, no one better could have been found? Organizing rallies when Kanzan wasn't speaking was always a mess - they were never as good, of course, and everyone knew it - but rarely did they manage to find a speaker that could butcher a speech so well. She had put effort into writing that, and all her eloquent points were being discarded by the wayside.... Still, if she had to express her displeasure, she could wait until after the rally was over. Interrupting would only make both of them look stupid, and have a negative impact on the movement's image at large. Still... next time, she would at least try to influence the choice of a speaker who could remember and recite a speech.

Shion crossed her arms and looked out over the crowd again. No trouble brewing yet, as far as she could tell, and her informants had said there were no plans to disturb this rally, especially since Kanzan wasn't present. Without him, the movement instantly seemed almost harmless, a fact that troubled her at times, when she was too gripped in sentiment to appreciate the actual value of being underestimated.

Eventually, the world would realize the truth in their words, and accept the guidance of benders. But until then, she could wait, and do what was needed to protect the movement and give it strength. Doing a quick check - cape still in place and unripped, miraculously - she began to drift through the crowd, stopping occasionally to smile at a few of those listening, or eavesdrop onto the scattered conversations. She was, officially, meant to be guarding. That meant mingling to make sure that her presence wasn't noticed in the crowd, and besides, it let her get a feel for the mood of those gathering around. Maybe it would even give her a chance to deter any trouble. She idly wandered over to one of the vendors to purchase some fire flakes, and then ate them as she walked, coming to a halt near two of the other guards that had been stationed for the rally.

"He really isn't that good," she murmured, still smiling faintly. "But replacing him now would be rather messy, and interrupt the rhetoric. There's no telling if the crowd will be willing to listen again, even if the new speaker is any better. Would either of you care for some fire flakes?" She still hadn't discovered many outside firebenders who could stomach the spiciness, but to her it was a taste of her homeland.

 

[allitersonance]

"I, uh," Yue said, not really considering it just tastes fried a real selling point, but realising refusal would be rude. "Sure."

She took a small piece as a somewhat familiar firebender paused beside them, and June continued into a proposal.

"Yue, what would you think about taking over for the guy onstage? Wouldn't be too difficult, right? I know it's probably a bad idea, but I could make a much better speech than him. Should've put him on guard duty and let me talk; sure, it'd leave you with him. But you wouldn't mind, right? Much better than having the disaster left onstage."

Yue found herself nodding along, but Shion had a counterpoint: "He really isn't that good. But replacing him now would be rather messy, and interrupt the rhetoric. There's no telling if the crowd will be willing to listen again, even if the new speaker is any better. Would either of you care for some fire flakes?"

Yue had the distinct feeling that she should have bought some seal jerky or something. She didn't much like spicy stuff either - fire flakes in particular, she was half-convinced, was probably made of pure spiciness, and also a practical joke on everyone outside the Fire Nation - but she took a couple with a murmured thanks.

"If we replace him fast enough, they won't have time to lose focus, though, right?" Yue said. "I mean, you don't have to kick him off or anything. I bet he'll just let you take over as soon as you give him a chance to scurry off." She shrugged. "Most of the people sticking around to listen will be people interested in what we've got to say. May as well say stuff that'll make them think."

In a brief moment when neither was looking, Yue placed the fire flakes on the cactus strip and tasted them together. It was, surprisingly, not terrible, but she had to stifle a choke anyway when she chewed a fire flake.

 

[Black Yoshi]

Now, I'm feeling a little paranoid of somebody else beating you to the punchline. So here's the post in it's entirety. I'll post in an hour or so. Earlier, if need be.
----

"Kanzan isn't known to kill people. A few suspicious disappearances, but nobody seriously injured." Kaskae felt his eye twitch. The little man on stage was getting on his nerves. His voice never stopped. He never shut up. And Kaskae felt that he wasn't the only one. Many people nearby seemed tense, and he wasn't getting a whole lot of friendly looks.

He shook his head, and turned his head forward again. "Anyway, I don't think a non-bender would be fond of the idea of helping Kanzan. Lives aren't at stake just yet, and who knows if they will? Maybe Kanzan will die out like any other fad."

A young man was running by with a book when he collided with Adelé. He tumbled over, and was quick to lift himself up and let out an apology under his breath. "Watch youself, buddy. She'll bite your head off, I've seen her." Kaskae passed the man a 'don't sweat it' smile. Hopefully Adelé didn't get mad at the man for bumping her, or at him for saying she bites off heads.

---

On the stage, the little man prattled on, sweating profusely as he saw more and more brows furrowing at him. He was skipping around, messing up the whole script, and was sure he'd have to do some ridiculous gruntwork after this. He was beginning to stumble over his words, and sometimes, completely forgot the script and had to make things up on the spot.

"I-I-ahem, if you would just open your eyes, open them, for only a minu-a moment-er..." He went on pretty much like that. He began flicking his eyes between all of his 'brothers and sisters' in the crowd, silently begging for help, mercy, anything. He began blurting things that Kanzan would have hurt him for. It was his last-ditch effort.

"I'll say it! Benders are the only reason we have any civilization! The rest of you are nothing! You-why you're no more than a stack of meat! What good have you ever done, what could possibly guide you?!" A dead silence had fallen on many in ear shot. This was not the ideal put forth under any circumstance by Kanzan before.

In fact, the last person to tie that sort of extreme idealogy to Kanzan publicly was in Ba Sing Se. He was found screaming while dangling off the edge of the Western Air temple two weeks later. His nose and left leg had been broken, and on top of that, his tongue was mysteriously missing.

This man seemed stupid enough to try his hand at it, now. Before there was a feeling of tension, and now he felt a clear hostility brewing.

 

[Ulqi-chan]

[[ Ooooo snapple, here we go. ]]

Adelé snorted, shooting a sharp glance at the man upstage. Geez, did he not notice this crowd wasn't listening? Sure, there were some people actually finding meaning in his words, but besides that, all he was doing was causing unnecessary noise. It was causing her temper to waver back and forth, and at this point, she had already tuned out Kaskae. Whatever he was saying probably had a lot of wisdom behind it, but the ill-tempered waterbender was not in the mood for hearing it right now.

Her demeanor certainly didn't improve when some guy decided to run right into her, bumping off of her like a beach ball. She sent a judgemental glare down at him, icy flames dancing in her blue eyes. Adelé was about to spat a nasty comment in responce to his murmured apology, but Kaskae cut her short.

"Watch youself, buddy. She'll bite your head off, I've seen her."

At this, she jerked her head in her friend's direction, growling. "Hush up," she barked, releasing her anger on him instead of the other man. She was tempted on smashing her foot into his book, but thought better of it. Kaskae would've shown her up after, and a completely unneeded foe was not in her favor. At least, not with this guy.

Adelé scoffed as she turned back to the scrawny man, eyebrow raised, one hand on her hip as her weight shifted to her right leg. He was obviously having trouble keeping up with his own game, as he was stuttering and stammering like a battered-up old record. Another disapproving sigh escaped her lips as her eyes rolled boredly. "How much I would give to shut him up," she told Kaskae flatly, shaking her head.

However, all sense of order and composure flew out the window at his next remark.

"I'll say it! Benders are the only reason we have any civilization! The rest of you are nothing!" the skinny man shouted. Adelé's eyes immediately shot wide open, her body going stiff. "You-why you're no more than a stack of meat! What good have you ever done, what could possibly guide you?!"

Adelé felt her jaw drop open in shock. What—! What did he just say?! her mind cried out to her. After a few seconds of dead silence from the crowd and civilians passing by, surprise quickly morphed into anger. Red hot rage. Her heartbeats increased dramatically, the noise resounding in her head. Adelé's eyes levitated over to Paka, and for a split second she gave him a look of sorrow. As soon as fixed her gaze back on Kanzan's speaker, though, the same enraged glare set itself onto her face, and she knew what must be done.

"How... How dare you!" she screamed loudly, piercing the silence. After locating a small booth set up with a few bowls of water, she bent the liquid to her will, bringing it to her chest. It was a considerable amount of water, really, at least enough to cause damage. She was going to make that arrogant, ignorant little bastard pay for his flaming tongue.

It all happened in an instant, too quick for her mind to process what she was doing. Adelé had side-stepped into an area in the middle of the crowd, and upon seeing the element in her palms, the crowd parted out of her way, sensing the danger brewing up. The fiery young woman then sent the water flying at the scrawny man with great force, knocking him clean off his feet with no time to react. As he stumbled to the floor, Adelé recollected her weapon and, in one swift jump-step, stomped onto the stage. With a burning passion she sent the water over the man again, but this time froze it as it connected with his skin. The water instantly turned into ice, pinning his limbs (including his hands, mind you; Adelé was careful with this sort of stuff) and chest to the wooden stage, and Adelé didn't as much as bat an eyelash at his shouts of terror or cries for help for his fellow Kanzanites. She knew he couldn't bend—Not now, anyway, as his hands were frozen to the core. His head flailed about fruitlessly, but his calls never once silenced themselves.

After giving the mousy man a gawk of pure hatred, she looked back at the crowd, seeing faces of all sorts. Some where absolutely terrified, others were blank and wide-eyed, a few sweating bullets while others actually began to bawl, and others... A few others seemed angry. Must be some of Kanzan's crew, no doubt. However... Adelé couldn't bring herself to just walk off like it was nothing. She had just frozen a man to the floor, for Aang's sake, so what else was she to do? Run like an idiot? Certainly not, as that would inflict a painful stroke to her ever-alive pride.

Adelé turned so she was now facing the crowd fully, and gave it her most lethal glare. Hopefully it would send off much of it so no more trouble would boil over, but that was out of the question, anyway. She saw a few officials planted here and there across the once-busy street, so this would not be an easy thing to slide out of.

 

[Mai]

"Sure, I'll take some," June replied. Popping a handful of fire flakes into her mouth, June was slightly surprised by how spicy they were--her face flushed red for a brief moment, and June was suddenly aware of how unbearably dry her mouth was. Still, it wasn't the worst thing she'd eaten; if she got herself used to the heat, she could imagine eating fire flakes frequently. "These are... nice," June said. "Thanks."

"I'll say it! Benders are the only reason we have any civilization! The rest of you are nothing! You-why you're no more than a stack of meat! What good have you ever done, what could possibly guide you?!"

So she should have taken the stage much earlier, it seemed. The speaker was much more of an idiot than could be expected from someone asked to recite a speech for an important gathering; still, there was only one way to progress past this. Striding over to the stage while trying to keep composure, June sped through a review of the speech that she had never even studied. Bender spirituality, bender unity, bender power (which it seems my incredibly talented predecessor has already covered), something something something benders. I doubt I can screw things up as thoroughly as weasel-face, and silence only hurts at this point. Time to start speaking--

Her thoughts were interrupted with a piercing scream of dissent—for seconds she couldn’t even understand what the apparent waterbender was saying, she just knew that she had to take control now. The man was protesting, flailing, all upset and hoping for her help, probably--but the Avatarists’ movement was about power, at least for her, and if he couldn’t even defend himself…

Well, she could attempt it anyway.

She was up on the stage now, and she wasn’t sure quite how she was going to react. Still, she had her spear and sack of sand in case things got rough—this wasn’t going to be an issue. If that waterbender happened to overpower her somehow… well, it only proved how valuable bending was. Could a nonbender freeze a man to the ground in seconds?

"So. What's your plan now, waterbender? Satisfied you showed your power forcefully enough?" June asked. "That's what benders can do, right? It's the power that we're born with, that's all... nice to know you're not above jumping a man who's only saying something you don't agree with." Wrenching the microphone out of the man's hands, June figured it was now or never when it came to salvaging the situation.

"People of Republic City," June started. "I apologize for what our former speaker has said. He's an idiot, and I figured someone taking the stage would be better at this "not calling nonbenders sacks of meat" thing. Most people who agree with the Avatarists' cause are not like him, as you could expect. However!"

"We all have one thing in common. We're all..."

 

[allitersonance]

Yue's palm hit her face at a speed usually restricted to rocks flying in a pro-bending match.

"Tui and La," she hissed, following June toward the stage. "If he'd held out just one more minute..."

It might not cause all that much damage to the Avatarist cause, since people would most likely just remember that an outburst happened, but she didn't want to risk anything. She glanced around the crowd and met the eyes of another hidden guard at the edge of the crowd; he nodded back and touched a finger to his hat.

Even people who did believe nonbenders were absolutely worthless had the sense not to blurt it out to a crowd. Radicals had their place, of course, but usually they just damaged the cause, so no one wanted them to become the face of the Avatarist movement. Except, of course, the people trying to discredit them.

The man on the stage might be a plant.

And, oratory skills aside, he'd managed to get Kanzan's trust.

But there was a drawback to staying at the back of the crowd - she was as far as she could reasonably get from the stage, so another bender managed to get there first. Not an Avatarist.

"How dare you!" a woman screeched, and she - at least, Yue assumed it was the same one - ran to the stage, water at her fingertips. Yue's eyes widened and she pushed past June into a run. Water could be lethal, and idiot or not, she didn't want the speaker to die. Yet.

And while there were a pair of benders at the front, neither of them were waterbenders, since Kanzan had thought water would be a less useful element in a situation like this.

Water swept the man off his feet, then pinned him to the ground as ice. Fortunately the waterbender (Neo-Equalist!, Yue's mind cried, but technically she and June had been planning to do the same) hadn't gone for anything lethal yet, and when Yue got within range - shoving aside a guard who, she was certain, was taking a pose reminiscent of shooting lightning - she made a sweeping movement with her arms. It was rather unlikely this waterbender was maintaining control over stationary ice, so Yue intended to melt and sweep the water off the man so he could scramble to safety.

She coolly eyed the young woman on the stage, streaming the water around herself - the audience politely sidled away from her, though out of the corner of her eye she noticed the firebending guard shifting into a not-quite-yet-aggressive stance, as though he hadn't been planning to very publicly and dramatically kill someone who had yet to shed anyone's blood. The earthbender, she thought, would be focusing his attention on the crowd.

June grabbed the mic and started her speech, but who knew how far she'd get before she'd be interrupted - the waterbender was right there and...

... maybe if Yue held her attention, they could defuse this.

"Thank you for demonstrating the power of bending before our audience," Yue said, though her words were punctuated by June's, "and that has its time and place, but our peaceful gathering here is to spread information to those who have chosen to hear it."

 

[Phantom]

Rai stared in disbelief at the girl who was in the crowd one second, and on the stage in the next. Rai agreed that the speaker's tact was a little crude at best, but waterbending him in front of a crowd that contained supporters? She put down her tea.

Instantly, Rai liked this waterbender.

The crowd was speechless, for now, but Rai spotted a few who did not look happy with the water benders little trick. That and the city officials were closing in. Things might get bad, and soon. Two new benders took the stage, that girl was trapped between some pretty strong benders and an angry crowd.

Rai edged her way to the waterbending girl's companion, or, at least, who she hoped was the bender's companion. He was dressed like everyone else in the city, but wore a water tribe band around his arm. Rai made her way to him, half running to him. She stopped beside him, taking in his size for a moment. Blazes he's tall. "She with you?" she said quickly. "We need to get her down, I don't think anything good is going to come out of this."

 

[Blastoise Fortooate]

Togei was, generally speaking, not too easy to rile. Nevertheless, Togei's right hand clenched unconsciously into a fist. Injustice, inequality, whatever you called it, this was really the singular thing that could easily anger the young man. As it happened, it also had the power to anger him very much. The man on stage had just gone from ridiculous to repulsive in less than five seconds; bending supremacy rhetoric was irritating, of course, but what the man was saying now was entirely too much.

Tossing his empty paper bag onto the ground and stomping on it, Togei strode forward into the crowd. He moved with such a level of determined hate that his extra-long sleeves, and his red embroidered vest, flapped loudly. His eyes locked onto a dark, probably Water Tribe girl in the crowd shortly before she froze the weedy man where he stood. Despite himself, Togei grinned. He wasn't much for enjoying the pain of others, but the situation practically demanded it. As the girl turned around to face the now-panicked crowd, she seemed to have an expression of anger and, perhaps underneath it, the subtly-different look of a scared predator in a corner. This could end badly; she didn't look (or act, apparently) very rationally.

Deciding instantly what he should do, Togei pushed his way as gently as he could through the crowd until he came out relatively close to the girl. Although she seemed to be accompanied by a few other people, it couldn't hurt to sidle up next to her, show that she wasn't the only one who didn't want to let this slide.

Also, Togei doubted she'd be able to defend herself legally as well as she could physically. When the cops inevitably arrived, Togei might be able to keep her from spending some time in jail if necessary; he'd certainly organized enough law books at his library job.

And then a couple of girls ran up on stage and took over for the idiot. They were, apparently, competent (as competent as any bigot could be) and rather skillfully manipulated the situation in they're favor. Scowling, Togei steeped forward more defiantly, almost-but-not-quite placing himself between the waterbender girl and the stage.

"Peaceful gathering? Myself and people like me have been publicly slandered, is more like it," he spat, although his current tone of voice probably wasn't loud enough to completely reach the stage.

 

[allitersonance]

An man not quite stepped between Yue and the stage, as though he thought that would help. Yue wasn't about to start violence, but if she had to, then he'd just get hurt. Besides that, Yue and the one who'd interrupted the speech had matching elements, so a bodyguard was the last thing the unknown waterbender needed.

"And, as our sandbender friend has stated, that's not what we stand for, and you can rest assured that the previous speaker's going to answer for it," Yue said. "It's good to see that you're happy with how a bender's represented your feelings by using her spirit-given powers to change the world according to her will, and ideally that's how the future's going to be, on a larger scale. But power has to be tempered by discipline, and the way Republic City is now, it's pretty clear benders aren't being taught what they need to learn, isn't it?"

The previous speaker had gotten off the stage, but Yue couldn't keep track of his movements with all these distractions. Hopefully one of the other agents was already on it, but she needed the two guards with her if things were going to go south.

"That'll change. One day, all benders will reach their full potential, including the discipline necessary to know when to use their powers. So when we're meant to use words instead of force, we can."

 

[Blastoise Fortooate]

"Would you please stop with that?" sighed Togei, a little exasperatedly. "Turning everything anyone says or does into some big philosophical argument to further your cause. She–" he began, unconsciously waving his fake hand in the redheaded girl's direction, "didn't do anything for the purpose of expressing my feelings; I can do that well enough on my own, thanks."

Togei felt weirdly light. He wasn't normally this aggressive, but every time the ponytailed girl wheedled out another piece of rhetorical bigotry he saw red.

 

[Black Yoshi]

Kaskae flinched first at the man's words. Both his brothers turned their heads at the little man's last sentence, and then all three jumped when Adelé had her little outburst. She wasted no time in getting to the stage, and two of Kanzan's little lackeys were just as quick to grab the microphone.

"Oh no." Kaskae whispered to himself. He told his brothers to run home, and they quickly made off with what food they had bought. He did a double take at the girl who approached him. "That might be harder than you think. She seems pretty set on being up there."

Voices all around were beginning to raise. More people were being sucked into the crowd. It was going to turn to hell quickly with tempers flaring the way they were. "Come on." Kaskae shoved his way to the front of the crowd, though he himself was pushed back plenty. About halfway through, he turned his head, and in as polite a voice as he could manage in the situation, said, "By the way, I'm Kaskae, and that's Adelé. Just so you know who you're helping."

Somebody in the back threw a rock. They had poor aim, and it hit Kaskae square in the head. He growled under his breath. He didn't get up on stage when he reached the front. Police were now going to the stage. Adelé had pretty much assaulted the man. Voices were getting louder. Some guy said something about being slandered. That riled up more people. This was like sitting on a powder keg.

One of the girls on the stage began talking about discipline, and going on and on. They really couldn't shut up. It sounded like she was talking to a small child to Kaskae. He motioned at Adelé to get down. He wasn't much good at shouting, much less shouting over all these people, so he mouthed the words, 'get your ass down here.'

The man who talked about slandering said something else. Kaskae didn't catch it, but some people did, because they were shouting their agreement. Fist started pumping in the air, and people who didn't even understand what was happening were growing as restless as the rest of them.

 

[Ulqi-chan]

Just like the process of approaching the stage, pinning down the bony man and seeing all those faces start to come closer and closer to the stage, everything happened so quickly. In an instant, two other girls had made their way to the stage, one of them snatching away the microphone and beginning the spout out the same nonsense the scrawny man had been blabbering about, though in a much more respectable tone. At this point, Adelé's anger simmered down slightly, enough to where her actions weren't nearly as rash. Her outburst had caused quite an uprising, and there were supporters of both sides. The yelling and fists rising into the air were distracting her. As much as she kept trying to look at the two girls, obviously Kanzanites, something would keep snagging at her focus.

One of these forces, though, was actually on her side. A man had made his way to the stage, and started speaking out in her defense. Adelé took a step back, suddenly feeling a wave of nausea crash over her. The loud noise, her heart beating repeatedly in her head, which was causing a massive headache, and her body pulsating from said heart rate was bad enough, so when her eyes slowly started to slowly heave closed, it was a definitely bad sign. She blinked at the girls again to keep herself in the game.

Her anger had faded now, leaving behind the sickly feeling, which then led to frustration. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kaskae, gesturing for her to get her ass off the stage, but she couldn't move. Her eyes began to get that glazed-over look again, her mouth slightly ajar, her eyebrows furrowing not in anger, but rather helplessness. Her legs felt like jelly. Even if she did want to leave the stage, she couldn't. And it wasn't just because of her pride this time.