Playing in the Park [Open]

"I've never seen a diamond in the flesh. I cut my teeth on wedding rings in the movies. And I'm not proud of my address. In a torn up town, no post code envy..." The young girl began to spin as she sang softly; not really caring who was around, or the random stares she might be getting from the adults within the park. She was a kid, she was allowed to do awkward things right? Besides, with her parents 'parked' over in the Market, their stall set up to sell all of their goods, it wasn't like she had anything better to be doing.

"But every song's like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin' in the bathroom. Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room, we don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams. But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece. Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash. We don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair." She began to spin to the left now, red hair flying around her as did her red Ao Dai, revealing the white colored pants she wore beneath it that were baggy and made of silk like the rest of her outfit; including her white colored flats.

Zansho's Clothing:

After another spin She collapsed onto the grass covered ground and just laughed; far too lost in her own world and her own happiness to really bother with the odd looks she was definitely getting by this point. She laid back in the grass for a moment, attempting to catch her breath from all of the spinning and staring skyward. A butterfly came flying over, and fluttered down to land on the tip of her nose, causing her orangish red colored eyes to go cross eyed in the process of attempting to look at the beautiful blue butterfly.

Umi looked about the air city. She had only just landed, and had spent the first couple minutes looking out at the clouds from the flying city. What to do though. What to do. She got directions to a park, and set out. Umi walked for what had to be near 30 minutes, sure she was lost. The city was alien to her. She was used to the northern water tribe home. A big city entirely carved from ice from glaciers. Here, stone and mortar, shingles, the architecture was alien to her, as was the city layout. But she heard some singing and decided to walk towards it. Once she founded the corner she found the park. "Finally! thought I would be lost forever." she said, to herself of course but she got a couple odd looks. It did not help that she looked so different. She was wearing a black one piece "dress" of sorts. the dress had 2 cuts on it, made that way really, so that it separated to let her leg through. It went down to her mid shins. Under it, she had pants, as her legs would be exposed sometimes when she ran or did anything more than walking. Then boots and gloves. All of which black. It didn't make much sense here, but they were good clothes for her. They had helped keep her warm, but were not thick, as such not uncomfortable in the much warmer air so far from the northern water tribe. In joy, Umi walked briskly into the park. She had never seen much greenery. Such a green place. And trees! it was alien to her.

She knew what they were of course, but still, there were not such green trees in the north pole, let alone in the city, which was carved entirely from ice. It was like someone from the mid fire or earth kingdom knows what snow is, but never sees it living so far from the poles and so near the equator. It was so beautifull, yet so strange to her. Who knew everything could be of such vibrant colors. She still heard singing, and thus moved slowly towards it. She opened her water-skin and bended out a ball of water, then closed the water-skin. Just bending a small stream around set her at ease. A little piece of home. She was looking forward to meeting other kinds of benders. The only ones she had seen were water, though she caught a glimpse of other kinds, she never got more than that. Being the air city, surely it would be full of airbenders. Umi was exited as she walked forward, spotting the singing girl. She stood back and watched for a second. "Nice singing, you have a great voice. I am Umi by the way, Umi Okeru Hakumei"

A man went running by. Moments passed, before another man went running by full speed with a look of terror on his face, skin glistening with sweat. He looked in shape and had toned muscles, and he was running quite fast, so whatever it was that had him running away in terror had to be quite menacing.

A crowd of men went running by then. At this point the sounds of rapid popping noises could be heard, getting louder as it got closer. Two men went flying by to land and roll several times, falling motionless. A distance away, there was another man that looked like he was doing a dance move. Closer inspection would reveal that he was being hit with a long red stick, by a kid wearing a large cape, so large that it dragged the ground behind him as he walked. Underneath the cape he wore a black shirt, a red sash about his waist, black jogging pants and black shoes. The kid himself had a mop of black shaggy hair and red eyes. When the wind blew, if one were to look closely, they'd be able to see the blue arrow tattoo on his forehead.

The kid was swinging the stick around in a quick and stylish fashion. Each swing met it's mark on the man in front of him, giving off loud popping sounds when the stick impacted. After a rapid machine gun-like combo, the man was sent flying off of his feet from a hard gust of air. He flew a distance, slammed into the ground and fell motionless, hurt, but alive and humiliated. The red stick in his hands, 6' in length, could be seen shinking to a length of 3' then. As the kid walked past the park where there were 2 girls, both of whom the kid had never seen before, he twirled the stick in one hand while calmly approaching the rest of the fleeing thugs, who were stumbling and tripping over each other while trying to get away from the maniac kid. Bystanders were standing around cheering the kid on, like usual, "Go Hidoi!' and "Beat those thugs good!"

Who would have thought a city full of supposed pacifistic nomads would have been so boring? Catching the first air ship here was probably not the best choice Wei ever made, but he was determined to make this place interesting. How could he not? Being as awesome as he was, bringing excitement to this place would be a piece of cake. His mighty companion Harvey seemed to be enjoying the wide open skies of the city. He had left Wei long ago, probably hunting for a juicy rodent to fill his belly up with. But Wei needed no wing man. He would be able to handle himself without the likes of that raptor.

His endless search for something to do brought him to a park. Plenty to do there, right? His amber eyes scanned the people in his immediate field of vision. Some old folks enjoying the weather, some kids at play. Nothing all that unexpected or great. But then his eyes landed upon something lovely. Fantastic. Fantastically lovely! The spirit must have blessed him, for before the young firebender were two; yes two, fine young women. One of them looked a tad younger than the other, but she was still a lovely female in his immediate age group. He could not pass up such a wonderful opportunity! Licking his finger, he slicked a strand of his hair back and brushed his shirt off before strutting towards the young women. He briefly heard some sort of singing before arriving, and managed to catch the end of the dark skinned woman's introduction.

"I hope I'm not intruding." Wei began, announcing his presence to the girls with a charming (in his mind) smile, "But I couldn't help myself. Seeing two lovely ladies like yourselves. I just had to come over and introduce myself. I'm Wei." Of course, there was also a bit of a ruckus near by, but he was too entranced by this beautiful examples of the female gender to pay attention!

Annnnnd cue the sudden shyness and inability to be around large crowds. Zansho got to her feet, staring first at the woman who looked as if she were dressed for far colder weather - weather she figured likely came from one of the water tribe areas, which she only knew of because her family was traveling merchants and had gone there a time or two. "Tha--thank you.", she managed to get out, her voice soft and barely above a whisper. Her shyness did always do her in in the end.

And then she saw people running past, followed by some odd sounds, before she spotted the kid who didn't look very much older than herself. He was beating on the adults, and using air to attack them - which automatically made her recognize him as an Airbender, the tattoo on his head only furthering that. She found herself wondering why he was beating on the adults, but figured that they had likely done something wrong - little kids didn't beat on adults for any other reason, right?

And then... well and then there was another arrival; a male who spoke in such a way that made her feel uncomfortable almost at once. Her father had always given her warnings when she was out and about to abide by; and this was one of those situations where she felt she should follow her fathers words and walk away. "I uh.. have to go...", she said softly before turning and walking towards the kid with the stick who had been whooping all kinds of adult butt; it seemed the fastest way to get out of the park after all. As she quickly walked she folded her arms across her chest, her shyness causing her shoulders to hunch in and her steps to be hurried.

Umi sighed as some weird airbender ran by chasing what she would guess were thugs through the park. Then came a boy a couple years younger than her perhaps, it can be hard to tell. And he seemed to be the flirty type. She barely had time to take him in when the poor girl, apparently far too shy to be here now, seemed to "run" off, walking perhaps as fast as politeness would allow, away. Well. Perhaps she had done her part as well. Some people were not good with complements. Then again, she suspected it was Wei and the airbender who drove her off. Umi blushed slightly, and looked aside, pretending to look towards where the thugs and their attacker had ran. She wasn't quite used to someone so confidently approaching her. It was surely something new. It would not have made her blush but she was in a city that was alien to her. Her water ball that was weaving through the air dispated and almost splashed onto the ground before she picked back up bending it. " Hi Wei...I am Umi. Nice... to meet you?" Umi didn't quite know how to react to this, let alone considering based on his redish clothing he was likely a fire nation citizen, or a firebender. And that was the opposite bending art. Perhaps it had something to do with personalities. Waterbending was defensive, fluid, and firebending was far more direct. She forced herself to look towards Wei. " I am from the northern water tribe, where do you come from?" She adjusted her stance, and let the ball sink and float back up into the air, fluid and gentle. Oddly enough, that one element of home, comforted her, her blush start to go away.

Several of the thugs converged upon the kid wielding weapons like kitchen knives, tree branches and clubs. The 4 thugs all attempted to ambush the child and hit him all at the same time, but found themselves unable because of the child's incredible speed. The red staff, expanded again to it's full length of 6', deflected every attack that came in his direction. The clatter of weapons colliding was loud, along with the pop sounds of the staff meeting skulls each time an opening presented itself.

”You know, if you guys would just give up this gangster thing I wouldn't have to keep embarrassing you like this.”

They weren't going to listen. One man had the tree branch knocked from his hands and the staff repeatedly slammed against the sides of his head. In the end the staff slammed into the front of his ankles, knocking him off of his feet and onto his face. Another was disarmed and had the wind knocked from his lungs due to a hard jab into his solar plexus. He began to cough and gag in a heap on the ground. The third had every blow he attempted blocked, to be then smacked in the face. This happened 3 timed before he too received a hard blow that had him on the ground seeing white spots.

The last tried to take the kid from behind, only to run into a firm wall of air surrounding his small frame. He was launched backwards, toward one of those girls that were in that park, where there was now a male. The girl had her arms folded over her chest and looked to be hurrying away from the scene. In a feat unbelievable to most people, The child closed the distance between he and the child in under a second, quickly coming to a stop and using the staff to divert the thug's flight path, preventing him from colliding with the girl.

”Sorry about that... You seem pretty rattled, did one of these perverts try to grope you? Did that guy back there do something to you?”

The kid propped the staff on the ground next to him, standing 2 feet taller than he was. The winds surrounding his small form had his cape blowing around in the winds. He hadn't seen this girl before, and seeing as how she was dressed, the kid guessed that she was probably from the Fire Nation. His mother and father had many times described them as enemies, but the kid himself had nothing against them... not yet, anyway.

”If i'm freaking you out i'm sorry. I was born here so I feel like it's up to me to keep this place safe. Hidoi's the name, who're you?...”

Ahh! How cruel! It seemed his flirting had scared off the younger of the two! She must have been shy, unable to take his compliments. How cute! If only he could pursue, but it was best not to scare the girl. He had one more to attend to, one who seemed to be more accepting of his advances. He even saw a faint blush on the tan cheeks of the beauty. Ahh, how exotic she appeared. He had never seen a water bender up close, only briefly from a distance since he left his homeland. What a treat this opportunity was! "Ahh, but the pleasure is all mine. It is not often I'm graced with the presence of such an echanting woman." He replied flirtly to the water bender, Umi as it turned out. She seemed nervous. Had no boys ever complimented her as such before? How rude of them! Beauty such as this deserved attention! He had deduced she was a water bender before she even announced it. She did seem to be levitating an orb of water now and again, perhaps out of nervousness.

"I hail from the Fire Nation. I'm out exploring the world, taking in its sight, and maybe I say you are quite the sight.~" Be grinned towards her, his flattery never ending.

Zansho looked up just in time to see a thug looking individual come flying towards her, she gasped... but apparently, she wasn't about to be hit. A boy appeared with a staff, diverting the thug in another direction and keeping him from colliding with her. She couldn't believe how fast he had moved; she hadn't even seen him do so until he was there, diverting the thug. She stopped walking and stared for a moment at the boy as he spoke to her. She looked over to the thug and the direction the rest had gone in and shook her head no.

She was still trying to get over the shock over how fast the boy had moved - she had heard that Airbenders were fast but she had never known how fast they were - when he introduced himself. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to relax enough to be able to speak. "No, no, you're not freaking me out... I just... that guy back there creeped me out a little is all. I'm Zansho, Zansho Jun Chi."

She glanced back in the direction of the female and the male she had hurried away from; they seemed to still be talking, so she focused back on Hidoi. "What did those guys do that you were beating them up?", she asked curiously, relaxing a little more, though she kept her arms folded across her chest regardless.

[color:399e=#red]"Ahh, but the pleasure is all mine. It is not often I'm graced with the presence of such an echanting woman." Umi fidgeted a bit, trying to decide what one said to this. She was not used to such boldness, and combined with the fact that she was rather lost in a city she had just barely gotten to, less than an hour ago, this was quite disconcerting for her. Perhaps it had much to do with the elements. Water is fluid and graceful. Fire was direct and bold. Perhaps the bender had to have a personality similar to the element to bend it. Regardless, she had no idea how to cope with this. "I hail from the Fire Nation. I'm out exploring the world, taking in its sight, and maybe I say you are quite the sight.~" Her blush was back. And just them some big thug came running towards the girl who had just left. She tensed to attack, when he was deflected by a boy who's speed she had never seen before. He was an airbender, no doubt. She knew they could move fast, but it was different seeing it. She decided to use this as a nice legitimate reason to delay answering the fire nation boy. She bent her ball of water and tried to throw it at his shins, with luck her water would catch his ankles or shins and she would freeze it.

If not, her ball would probably hit the ground, and she would sight, feeling embarrassed. She felt it was a legitimate reaction. The boy had deflected the thug and knocked him away, but who knew what he would do when he got up? Even if she failed she would have the pleasure to going to the outer area of the city and trying to bend a cloud into her water skin. They were made of water after all. She desired to go see how they were doing, but too many people had forced the girl to run away before. So she contented in shooting a concerned expression, taking a step, then stopping, making a show of thinking better of it. She didn't want to make it worse for the girl, but didn't want them thinking she was cold for not caring that she nearly got mauled. With luck, this would give the impression that she purposefully wasn't trying to make her too embarrassed by coming over. "I...don't think I am quite deserving of all that." She said to the fire nation boy, not looking at him.

Like a lost dog who was wondering the streets in search of food, Kenta dragged his feet as he walked through the road that lead to one of the parks here in Chokujou City. He was minding his own business and enjoying his little stroll before he noticed a spectacle taking place right in front of his very eyes. A gang of suspicious gentle were having their butts handed to them by a single boy and that fact alone made it clear that he was no ordinary child. He was casually facing his foes with air bending while speaking with another girl in a red dress who seemed scared out of her mind. Accompany them was another athletic male who seemed to be around his own age, the young earth bender chuckled at the sight of the man trying his hand at catching a young woman's heart. He never understood the whole concept behind love but it did look interesting to say the least.

The alert young Earth Bender's head immediately turned his attention to one of the thugs who was taken out by the air bender earlier had slowly to his feet with a knife in hand. Kenta narrowed his gaze and started to casually walk around the scene and closer to the thug trying to sneak away while unknowingly passing the young air bender and his little female friend. Fortunately, the man tried to slowly walk away from the young air bender and upon seeing this, Kenta's expression had lighten up and he nodded once respecting his decision since it was very smart move to make. "Good move..." He thought before the thug rushed over to an old woman nearby with intentions of using her as a hostage.

"Wait a minute..." With a single stomp from his left foot a long crevice forms and small chunk of the earth that was roughly the size of a small ball rose in front of the thug's left foot. The poor thug's toe the crashed into it and he fell over and landed flat on his face. Kenta shook his head as he approached the fallen man before he knelled down and took the kitchen knife from his hand.

"That was a bad move..." He thought as showed sympathy towards the thug because he believed that there had to be something in his life that led him to choose this path but then again, it didn't really matter now did it? Kenta grabbed the back of the thug's shirt with both hands and used his strength to chuck him at another thug whose feet had been frozen by ice, courtesy of the water bending woman the male was flirting with. Kenta then took his time to walk over to the water bender and her friend. "My sincerest apologies for interrupting you two but do either you know what to do with them? Does this place have a prison or something...?" He asked in a soft spoken tone of voice as he pointed his forefinger at the two unconscious thugs that were piled up on top of each other.

[Exit]

(OOC: I didn't know it was my turn, sorry to keep people waiting.)

”These idiots like bullying people and making them give up money for protection, but my dad calls it ex-something. Some fancy word, extortion? I'm gonna put a stop to it.”

Other people were beginning to show up. A male, an Earthbender from the looks of things, attacked one of the thugs he missed. The female looked to be attacking one of them too. Hidoi didn't like being around a bunch of foriegners. The Earth guy seemed alright, but that other one was just totally ignoring all of the violence and commotion to hit on that other girl, if his ears were working correctly. The girl Zansho here didn't seem so bad. She looked like she just wanted to get out of the way. Hidoi wouldn't stop her, for he had more work to do.

”Nice meeting you Zansho, I better go now. Got some butts to kick. See you around, huh?”

A tremendous amount of wind picked up around the child, lifting him airborne. At a speed that couldn't be seen by normal eyes, he was off...

/Exit/

Jeez, was the world conspiring against him today? The second he went to interact with this lovely young woman a small army of thugs had to appear! Now there was bending all over the place, an airbender shooting wind about, an earthbender making people stub their toes. Even the waterbender he had taken to speaking with had gone in to freeze somebody to the ground. Here he had expected the air temples to be relaxing, peaceful places. Apparently he had been wrong. By the time he got around to actually focusing on the situation, it all seemed over and done with. Just as well, he doubted his bending could have helped anyway. Even if it could have it tended to... injure people. Not the best apprehending tool.

"Of course you're deserving of it! You need to be more confident in yourself. I'd not have complimented you if I didn't think it was true." Wei assured the woman a smile. Another approached just then. The earthbender with the toe stubbery. Wanting to throw the thugs into jail? It was probably for the best. But, he was completely unaware of how the justice system here operated.

"I have no idea. Maybe if you leave them there a police officer will pick them up? Do they even have police here?"

As the order seems to be Zansho, Me, Kenta?, Wei, as Hidoi left. It has been 4 days since Wei posted, more than the 3 days allotted for Zansho. I really don't want to be stuck in Air City forever due to this topic. So, I am going to post now, as Zansho's 3 days are more than up. No offense meant, but I might never end up leaving at this rate. At 3 days the topic can also be declared abandoned, but I am not sure you guys want to do that.

Umi wondered what was going on. Was not the Air city the home of the peacefull air nomads? Didn't they, as a nation, believe in separating themselves from the world and spiritual enlightenment? So why were thugs running around? It didn't make much sense to her. And it was a bit vexing to have so many people around. So much for peace. Umi had just wanted to made idle conversation, get some information on where to go perhaps, but then more people, and thugs, and then another person. This was not going to end well. "Of course you're deserving of it! You need to be more confident in yourself. I'd not have complimented you if I didn't think it was true." Umi thought about that. She must admit she liked his approach to flirting, if only he could hold himself back a little, Umi thought, he would be a real charmer. But the constant barrage of compliments might make many girls nervous. Umi, unused to such attention from someone she didn't even know, well, it definitely made her nervous. After yet another person entered, someone left. "I am sorry, but I need to go, I hope to see you again sometime." Umi was interested in meeting him again, he seemed at least willing to be friendly and not a thug, the only problem was the fact that he was a little too-flirty and complementary. Too much and one might think he was just trying to spend the night. Umi Smiled at him, and towards the others, and left the park, with no real hurry, yet no hesitation either.

[Exit]