ROLEPLAY HQ - paths-of-freedom

It felt as if another calm day was passing through the beach town of Yu Dao. Children played in the water, families alike couldn't stop raving about another day of great weather. Mothers took advantage of each second of peace when their children played, while father's made sure they were safe, not swimming out too far, or drowning, just taking the burden off their wife for this time. Inside the town, a surprising amount of people enjoyed the weather sat outside a building on the road. The town square, where business in the market were open and selling all varieties of things, from food to hand made furniture. One in particular was strides ahead of everyone else, and yet had barely anyone competing against her for it. Why? All her customers were being served for free. She ran solely on generosity. Anhe Yīn, three years ago she opened up her little restaurant in the market, running on donations, with the sole goal of feeding those that couldn't feed themselves. She wanted to nurture those that needed to be. Children played in ecstasy when she earthbended little games and toys in fun shapes, and families came to her for meals in order to sustain their family. The people that could pay, offered up their donations to keep her business running. Right across her bar stall, her motto was written: "Bring the soul to the dish." "Next in line please!" The woman called out, taking out a notepad and charcoal pencil to write down the next order.

7:04 AM

@Cecil

Despite the lighthearted air of the village, not everyone in the vicinity had such a carefree attitude. Overlooking the village from a nearby hill, a lone man stood with a frown on his face. These were the rebels they were being sent to deal with? It didn't look like they had much in the way of defenses, nor any care for their safety. They all seemed too.. happy. Maybe they had strong benders in their ranks, giving them a strong sense of security. It was people like that.. Zhi despised people who had an easy life due to benders. He had nothing of the sort, having to claw his way up the ranks with sheer skill and determination alone. Countless sleepless nights were spent training under moonlight, his only companions being the ache in his back, the sound of his breathing, and the thunk of arrows hitting wood repeatedly. It had never been enough, he hadn't shot fast enough, the shot wouldn't have been fatal.. He never could compare to benders in the eyes of the military. That's why they made him a scout- He'd just get destroyed on the front line. That's what he felt like the assignment said to him, at the very least.. Turning his back to the village, he moved silently back to where the rest of the army was located, approaching his commanding officer. "Scout Cheng, reporting in! The village seems unprepared for an attack of any caliber. Their defenses are nearly non-existent, and the people seem complacent. If we are going to attack, now would be the time. Most of the population seems to be congregated around a shop of some sort." @Giyuuchan

The man he approached turned his head to Zhi with a look of curiosity, taking a few steps forward before peering over the cliff. The town was so small, and indeed, most everyone was outside, gathered by a small restaurant. He sneered at the sight of it, the rebels playing and laughing. They were unpatriotic, traitors to the Earth Kingdom. Praise the king for sending them on this mission, to rid them if these people. The man took a step back and exhaled some, before shifting his gaze back to the scout. "Set the building on fire. It'll be a clear enough signal for the rest of our ground troops to head in and take care of whatever remains. The rebels will show themselves, and you can take them out quickly, or leave it to our esteemed earth benders. They don't seem trained enough to handle either..." He mumbled. "If they're complacent, we take prisoners. If they fight, kill them." He sighed a bit. The commander of Gaia, Jun, still hadn't found the Avatar. Rumors spread they he or she was working with them, or that they had already kill him or her off... The bitter truth remained secret, even Jun couldn't find her yet. The more towns of the Earth Kingdom they took over, the more likely they'd stumble upon their one obstacle that'd stop their goal to wealth and domination.

9:47 AM

@Cecil

"Right away, sir." He nodded, turning and jogging back to his lookout spot. He understood what his commander wanted of him, but he wasn't going to just run in and throw himself at the village in order to give the signal. No.. That wasn't how he did things. Kneeling down, he tore a piece of cloth and dipped it in his lantern's oil, wrapping it around his arrowhead. Striking it aflame with a flint and steel, Zhi raised it up. Taking a deep breath, he focused in on the building he was to set flame. These filthy rebels, relying on the cushy life that benders give them.. He'd enjoy watching them panic. The bow creaked ever so slightly before the arrow flew, striking the roof of the resturaunt that everyone was congregating around. As the fire began to take root, he moved down the hill quietly, preparing to shoot anyone who seemed like they were taking charge or trying to put out the fire. If he wasn't a frontline fighter, he'd be a sniper. He'd pick out an important target and take them out. @Giyuuchan

Things went as they did after the arrow struck the roof, nobody really seemed to hear or notice anything out of the ordinary, until the flame started to spread. "FIRE!!!" One of the women shouted, and immediately Anhe had to react, taking her only water from the kitchen used to cook, poured it in a bucket, and threw it at the flame. However, it was already too strong. It killed off only a small part of the whole problem. The noirette immediately started ordering people out of the building, using her earth bending to slow the fire down by barricading it. However, it just didn't stop, it only moved, adapted to the change, and continued to consume every ounce it could. Her efforts did allow everyone inside to leave alive, some more burned and hurt than others. She practically threw herself out of her own restaurant before the roof finally gave in and collapsed. This was her life's work. Every bit of her passion was poured into this building, only for a fire to strip it away from her. Tears immediately began to roll down her face, covering her mouth and shaking her head. Anhe was in complete denial... Various people from the town gathered buckets from their own homes, ran to the ocean, and ran back with full buckets of salt water, and started to drench what was a popular restaurant. They just had to salvage it, it was a staple of Yu Dao! More and more was pieced together though, when something caught her attention. The sound of marching... Troops, and they were close by. The Gaia was here. They probably caused the burning of her restaurant. "THE GAIA IS HERE! ANYBODY THAT'S AN EARTH BENDER HELP ME!" @Cecil (edited)

His sharp eyes and ears quickly caught on to one particular woman that seemed to be leading people in dealing with the fire and attempting to lead people in the resistance against the army. His bow creaked once again as he took aim, carefully studying how she moved, where she was going, how the wind would affect the shot.. A single arrow to the chest would be all he needed. Something unexpected, since her attrntion would be drawn by the troops. With a deep breath, Zhi loosed his arrow at the woman, quickly ducking behind cover and watching to see where it landed. Being a non-bender, his greatest strength was not being seen.. He couldn't take out his targets if he got a massive stone through his gut. Better to let the benders be the ones to be seen. @Giyuuchan

The people quickly began to move. Non benders took shelter where they could away from the remnants of the fire, and the earthbenders began to move to the outskirts of the town to fight against the Gaia. However, in that shuffling around, an arrow meant to kill Anhe, flew past her when she moved with the benders, and landed in the neck of a younger girl, probably fresh out of school, and no taller than 5'. The moment it pierced through on both sides of her throat, she immediately fell onto the ground, and began to die. Anhe's attention almost instantly shifted from the incoming army, to that girl on the ground. She knelt down on the dirt, lifted the girl up into her arms, and basically just mourned until her inevitable death came with others by her side. This was a girl, Min, she grew up with, one of the kids around her age, she graduated just three years after her, only for her life to be taken by a loose arrow. Once her eyes lost their shine, and she knew her life was over, Anhe gently laid her back onto the ground, untied her apron, and laid it over her face and wound. The first person she blamed, was the Gaia's foot army. Her eyes started to glow a bright blue, only for a moment before she used her earth bending to launch herself away and towards the approaching army alone. There, on display, her earthbending was some of the most powerful it could get. Columns of stone rose and fell at her command, shaking the ground the men walked on, not to mention, catching legs and arms of some of them. The ones unlucky enough to be snared, had that limb crushed, and taken underground to be joined with the earth. .

5:51 AM

Whomever remained, either ran, or tried to fight. Those that tried, were disposed of quickly. She conjured a massive ring of fire around herself and these stupidly brave soldiers, before launching them. One by one, she summoned pillars of the earth to catapult these soldiers away in any direction. To the sea, to the cliffs, or to the continuation of nowhere to land near their fleeing friends. Once the fight was over, and there was nobody left to target, all she did was black out and collapse on the ground. The commander was horrified, taking a few steps back, before alerting his soldiers on the cliffs, including Zhi. "Retreat, now! The Avatar has been hiding in Yu Dao, we need to report it back!"

5:51 AM

@Cecil

Dammit, of course the rebels had to be working with the Avatar! Why did it have to be here, for fuck's sake?! Screw this. Turning and beginning to retreat away from the cliff, Zhi was ready to just get out of there. This wasn't anything he signed up for- He was a scout, someone who took out the dangerous targets on the battlefield.. But he couldn't do anything to the fucking Avatar! However, due to the sheer amount of earth getting moved as a result of her outbursts, a large chunk of the cliff began to collapse, taking Zhi with it. He let out a shout of surprise and fear as the collapsing earth took him all the way down to the bottom of the cliff, several stones falling on his leg and trapping him beneath. "Motherfucker!" He shouted, struggling to move the rubble. Looking around for any of his compatriots, he watched as they disappeared behind the hills. Which meant that he was trapped near this rebel village, which would presumably lead to his death once they found him. Or if they didn't, he'd just starve to death with his leg trapped beneath half a cliff. "Fucking.. benders.. That shit isn't natural.." That cliff was stable before the benders got involved, he'd tested it. He'd stood on it. But all that moving earth caused a landslide. All he could do was wait now. @Giyuuchan

Get up, get up, get up... The noirette groaned, digging her fingers into the dirt and gathering up every last bit of energy she had to stand up. What just happened? She remembered an arrow in Min, then, now... It was black, she couldn't remember anything, and no matter what she tried to recall it, nothing worked, all it gave her was a bit of a headache. With enough effort, Anhe finally rose to her feet, with a few people coming to her side to check on her. The rest stayed back in fear. That's when she was caught up to speed, and she had to quickly move through all her stages of grief. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, acceptance. She didn't have time to process it all reasonably, well, if an hour or so counts as unreasonable time, given different undiscovered circumstances. Which, couldn't stay undiscovered forever. Something caught the new Avatar's ear, mumbling of a man..? She turned her head in the direction, and spotted a dirty green sleeve in the rubble. The first thing she did was use her bending to practically snowboard over in his direction... Once she arrived, she knew what she was looking at. A ranger... Hatred built up in her once again, violently throwing all the boulders and rocks off him at once, before pinning him back down in a more proper and safe hold. Conjuring up another stone, and crushing away at it in one move to create five stakes, she had every intention to kill him, but not without answers. So, she threw all of them but one into the ground for later, keeping the last in her hand as a threat. The noirette then brushed it onto his throat, the snarl comparable to bloodlusted animal on her face. "Why did you kill an innocent girl?? Better yet, why did the Gaia attack Yu Dao?? We've been neutral this whole time! Talk, NOW!" (edited)

9:59 AM

@Cecil

Each minute passed at a snail's pace. It didn't take long for Zhi to lose all feeling in his leg, which felt so much worse than the constant pain in his mind. Several questions flew through his mind as the seconds passed. Would he even survive this day? If he did, would he ever walk again? If he lost his leg, that meant that he would no longer be able to serve.. Which meant his life was essentially over. Done in by the Avatar.. the pinacle of the people he hated.. Ironic. By the time Anhe had arrived, Zhi had closed his eyes and let his consiousness fade. Better to nap than to feel his body any longer.. though he quickly snapped awake as the rubble crushing his leg was moved, pinning him against the ground. After his eyes focused on her face, he cursed silently to himself. "..I'm just a soldier, Avatar." He spat the title with such.. disdain. "That arrow was meant for you, not the girl. As for your other question, I don't give the orders, I follow them without question. We were told that there were rebels here, and we were sent to deal with them." His eyes went to what remained of his leg. "..And look at where that put me. How many did you kill? How many will never walk again?" This was all he had. Now it looked like it was gone. Slowly, he looked back up at her, meeting her hateful gaze with a defeated one. "..You might as well get your revenge. A stone like that should be able to crush a windpipe easily, if you want me to suffer." He was a defeated soldier. A casualty. What difference would it matter in the end of he was a fatality? It wasn't like the military would care that much. He was just a non-bender. With a deep breath, he closed his eyes. @Giyuuchan

Her eyes narrowed at the hatred dripping from this man's voice, to nothing more than a cook defending her home, that just so happened to be the Avatar. He was loyal to the people he worked for, how could she blame him? He seemed honest, the arrow being for her, and just following orders... She sighed a deep and heavy sigh, laced with some guilt, even if she was unapologetic in her actions. "How many families has this corporation torn apart? How many children will never feel the arms of their mother and father again? How many widows and widowers have they made? Because of you, two parents will grieve their first daughter for the rest of their days, because of the orders you didn't question." Anhe turned her head, and kicked the ground below her to raise a column of stone. Then, she kicked it once again, and fragments of it fell away to reveal a crutch. It wasn't perfect, it was just temporary for someone in his condition. "I'll be right back." And with that, she turned and left. She was only gone for ten or so minutes, but she had returned with a small backpack in hand full of non perishable food, money and some water skins, as well as some cloth to wrap around the crutch's underarm prop. The noirette knelt down and started to wrap. "I don't want revenge, I've done enough." She mumbled, tying the cloth down. "The only thing I ask," she started, standing up and assuming position, "is you leave once you're free. Don't return to Yu Dao." Indeed, she kept true to her word, widening her stance and raising her hands, the entirety of the landslide following her will. Pushing her hands forward cause everything that once fell, to swiftly climb the mountain side and rest closer to the sun. Anhe, while he was on the ground, slid the bag over his shoulders. "If you go back to your commander, please tell him or her that even as I travel, Yu Dao is solely under my protection." She said, before raising him up, and proping the crutch under his arm. "Safe travels, soldier."

8:04 AM

@Cecil

8:04 AM

// Sorry that took so long

To him, this woman wasn't just a cook defending her home. None of the people who had actually fought were 'just' whatever. They had it easy in their lives- With superpowers making the world bend to their will, quite literally. How were the rest of them supposed to compare? What chance did the rest of the world stand if benders decided to tear through them? "Don't preach to me about death." He said quietly. "You've done way more damage than I ever could because of your bending. Soldiers have families, too, and far more soldiers die that your village people every day." It wasn't that Zhi enjoyed killing, it's just that he didn't have much else of a choice to stand out, or to move above what his lack of abilities allowed him. Once the adrenaline fully faded, he was sure that this would be a major source of him drinking.. Killing a child was something else. When the crutch was formed, Zhi sighed. So he'd be forced to live with this shame, huh? She couldn't just finish him off. That fact alone hurt worse than his leg.. "..Don't bother." When she returned with supplies, he scowled. So not only was he being spared, but he was being given enough supplies to make it back home on the condition that he doesn't return to the military? That was probably the greatest shame that could come from this encounter. Abandoning his people, losing the ability to walk due to the Avatar? Even losing his only chance to prove himself as something more than just a non-bender.. As she tried to put the bag over his shoulders, he snapped at her. "Don't treat me like some child! I can put a bag on myself, I'm not some invalid." Snatching the bag out of her hands, he put it over his shoulder and grabbed the crutch, slowly lifting himself to his good foot with a significant amount of effort and pain. He wouldn't be shamed by having to stand with the help of the Avatar. He'd faced enough already.

4:07 AM

Once he was standing again, he sighed. What a terrible soldier he was. "..There'll be more. Stronger benders. Better-equipped soldiers. Even if you never see me here again, that doesn't mean that the military'll give up on taking you down, especially now that you've killed several soldiers and injured the rest." Even if she claimed that she wasn't a rebel, striking out against the military made her one. With those last words, he began to slowly trudge back up the path, wincing in pain all the while. With no splint or cast for his ruined leg, it'd be unlikely that it'd heal correctly unless he made it to town any time soon. Unfortunately, that wouldn't be in the cards for him.. His pace was too slow. This damn crutch wasn't helping enough with the uphill walk. Pain shot up his entire body every time his foot even brushed the ground.. So what the hell was he to do now? It'd be a few days before he was able to get medical attention, and then he'd be stuck in whatever town he was in until his leg healed. If it healed. He'd just need to send a courier to inform his commander that he was still alive, but recovering. If he was unlucky, he'd be discharged and have no future. If fate smiled on him, though, he'd be allowed to return. So that's exactly what he did. Hobbled his way to town, sent a letter back to base, and was forced to wait for a response while his leg healed. Every night during this time was plagued with dreams of screams and glowing eyes, the pain of the world crashing down on him, his arrow hitting an unintended target.. Blood, so much blood. To dull his pain, he drank. To forget, he drank. @Giyuuchan