Crossroads

Subject: Crossroads Tue Oct 22, 2013 3:22 am

Sijo Ban Kang	A day just like any other, Sijo put one foot in front of the other since the rays of the sun touched his face. Leaning on his cane, the Fire Nation exile moved onwards towards the distant and looming silhouette of Omashu, protruding from the earth like a great monolith. Even from this distance, Sijo was impressed with the blunt and straightforward approach the Earthbenders took in constructing one of their greatest cities. It was a challenge to would-be invaders, a challenge that his people had bested in a bygone era. Sijo paused at that thought and pondered upon it for a moment as he walked. Could he call the people that did what they did "his people"? Sijo could look on any record in the Fire Nation and would not find his name. He would have been stricken from the Fire Nation until hardly even his memory remained. Perhaps that was what was best. Pausing for a moment to wipe the sweat from his brow, Sijo leaned on his ironbark cane, feeling the dry heat of a passing breeze brush by, tousling his ragged hair and dirty clothes. He had been on the road for days without even a tent to sleep under. Thankfully, the weather had been amiable for the time being and the rain stayed well enough to the west. With his brow dabbed, Sijo continued up the road for a ways until the sun reached its zenith. Under normal circumstances, a Fire Bender would feel no better than he or she would under the noonday sun, but Sijo just felt the heat of the sun's rays beating down on his skin while the firebender's spirit churned within him like a lion in a cage. There was no way for the fire to be released, leaving Sijo with one option. He needed to rest. Finding a suitably sized boulder, Sijo sat himself down with a grunt, resting his brow on his cane and practicing some deep breathing with his eyes closed. Wiping his brow again, Sijo reached to his belt for his waterskin, the heat from within and without his body drying his throat like desert sand. Biting out the cork stopper, Sijo raised his leather wineskin to his dry, cracked lips. He was rewarded with a short splash of warm water. It was not enough to quench his thirst, but it wet his dry throat for the time being. Sighing in dismay, Sijo corked the empty waterskin and let his fall back to his belt. "Perfect..." he grumbled to himself in a hoarse tone. Sijo cast his two-tone gaze up the road to the looming, shadowy shape of Omashu. "Out of water and still another full day's walk waits... Fantastic." Sijo laid back against the boulder, resting his head and closing his eyes as he tried his hand at meditating through the pain he felt in his scars and his limbs. It was much harder than the gurus and Air nomads made it look. The throbbing in Sijo's head was too loud to ignore. Beyond that, there was something nibbling at the corner of his sensed. Furrowing his brow, Sijo opened his eyes and sat up with a straight back, straining his ears. He heard it again - the distant sounds of a confrontation. Bandits? Probably. The roads to trade hubs like Ba Sing Se and Omashu were usually rife with such lowlives. They sounded as if they had already found a mark, though. Deep down, part of Sijo told him to ignore it. It was not his problem. Forcing himself to stay seated, Sijo kept reciting that to himself over and over. It was not his problem. It was not his problem... "Curse it all..." Sijo said, leaning against his cane as he forced himself to stand. Walking around the rock he had been catching his rest, Sijo's keen eyes searched for the source of the noise to gauge whether or not he would need to get involved.
Mood: Apathetic Condition: Tired	Link:

Subject: Re: Crossroads Tue Oct 22, 2013 3:47 am

Z. Katara Len	Suicidal treks across the desert seemed to be only done by people who wished to die and be left among the sands; either to be preserved in the dry, lifeless wasteland, during under centuries of dunes, or to be picked apart by buzzard-wasps or other unsavory creatures. It was not to say that Zelgius Katara made this journey often, but she knew how to make it, often getting help from the various sand nomads who would either sympathize with or pity the blind girl. She didn't care at this point, being somewhat beyond that feeling. If it got her where she needed to go, then it was good enough for her. More trekking across the Earth Kingdom and then Katara was soon approaching the great city of Omashu. It was a towering fortress that beckoned a challenge to invaders, some of which had succeeded in times past. Whatever the case, Katara did not know its appearance, other than that it was here. She was blind, swinging her cane along the ground as she walked. it was mostly quiet, until she suddenly felt someone run past her, and a weight on her shoulder had been lifted. Maybe she looked like easy prey? a lone, scrawny little blind girl, no older than about 16 or 17 surely, swinging a cane helplessly as if she couldn't figure out any of her surroundings? no. She was not malnourished--she was a bit on the thin side, aye, but she was small and fast. Without even skipping a beat, she took off after the culprits, her bare feet hitting the sand several meters apart as she took fast, long loping steps. It seemed the thief had buddies though, and that this would not be an easy task. Katara grumbled, shaking her head as she sensed them form something of a semicircle around her. "There's nothing in there of any value." she said bluntly and mostly truthfully. There were some memorabilia of her family, but her valuables were just a few pairs of rings on the upper ridges of her ears, and the golden hoops that dangled form her lobes. "Hand it over, and we can avoid a fight." Unsurprisingly, this was just met with taunts and jeers. none of these thieves looked very old--probably only between 16 and 23, and about 5, maybe 6 or 7 of them at the most. "Or what?" one of the jeered, and without skipping a beat again, the boy swiftly received a strike on the side of his face from Katara's cane. "or else I send you home with pissed-pants and broken bones, that's what." Katara threatened, cracking her knuckles. She hated fighting, as she did not think it ever accomplished anything productive. But she'd be damned if she was just going to take something like this lying down. She decided to take this defensively, and preferably with no firebending involved. Sure it'd work in blasting them away, but it'd probably also burn her arms or her face. Her elbow-length, plated gloves usually helped a bit, but there was only so much they could do. However, one of those uses was that it helped the kid pack some hurting punches. the extra weight that she bore from them (since she wore them nearly 24/7--even to sleep) had given her some arm strength, and when her fists connected with a target, the metal plates would just make it hurt that much more. This would be the scene of commotion that any passerby would walk into should anyone be coming this way. It looked to be a 6-on-1, although the 1, which was also the only girl fighting, was holding herself fairly well. Then again, kids these days were usually not very bright, and were obviously stooping low enough to fight not jsut a girl, but a blind one at that.
Mood: Irritated Condition: Weary	Link: Katara

Subject: Re: Crossroads Fri Nov 08, 2013 5:08 pm

Sijo Ban Kang	Departing the beaten path with puffs of dirt and dust following his every step, Sijo followed the muted mumblings of the far-off figures. What was transpiring, he knew not. With the abundance of lawlessness in the lands fare outside city borders, Sijo was not surprised if it was some manner of theft, extortion, or something more sinister. Whatever it was, the odds were far from fair. Taking a deep breath, Sijo steeled himself. He was about to walk into a situation that was not his business, betraying one of his core principles of survival as a vagabond because the honor of the soldier within demanded it of him. Moving as quick as he could with his limp, Sijo approached the altercation, feeling the tension grow thicker in the air with every step he took. Getting within shouting distance, the exiled Fire Bender planted his cane into the sand, preparing himself should the situation fall apart into violence, "Come now, this is hardly a fair fight," Sijo began, his voice gravelly and dry, but still hard as an anvil. As he spoke to the brigands, Sijo shifted the grip on his cane, the veins in his hands rising to the surface as his body tensed and his pulse quickened with the anticipation of combat. "Return to the girl her possessions. It will be easier and cleaner for everyone if you do." Sijo spoke matter-of-factly to the bandits, almost sounding pitiful for the lost and desperate thieves. Sijo knew by the cut of the victim's garb that she was of similar ethnicity as himself, and a firebender was never someone that was intentionally crossed, for their tempers were known all too well across the four nation, becoming something of a defining trait and a staple in the stereotype. Usually, Sijo tried to break from the mould, since he was technically no longer a citizen of the Fire Nation, but old habits always die hard and such dishonorable behavior tended to bring out the worst in the man.
Mood: Apathetic Condition: Tired	Link:

Subject: Re: Crossroads Fri Nov 08, 2013 5:43 pm

Z. Katara Len	Even Katara stopped upon hearing the voice of what sounded like an older man. However, also in this time, her assailants stopped, and Katara used it as an opportunity to snatch her bag back. with it safely on her shoulder, it triggered the fight sequence again, and while Katara was good at defending herself, she was still quite outnumbered. "get 'em off me if you can!" she barked in what she assumed was the direction of the man, hoping he'd give her a hand here. She was using that case of hers now as sort of a staff, using it and the metal plates on her gloves to deflect blows. She was playing a very defensive game--rare for a firebender--or most Fire Nationers in general. Katara hadn't used any bending just yet. 6 to 1 might not have been a very fair fight, but Katara and a friend... that might just make it right.
Mood: Irritated Condition: Weary	Link: Katara

Subject: Re: Crossroads Sun Nov 10, 2013 4:03 pm

Sijo Ban Kang	"It would be a pleasure..." Sijo said in a low and confident tone as he twirled his cane in his right hand as if it were the most balanced and keen of blades before bounding off of the balls of his feet like a tigerdillo pouncing at its prey. With a roll of his shoulder and a flick of his wrist, Sijo brought his cane about with a sharp whistle as it cut through the air, followed with a sound akin to the crunch of wet celery as the wood shaft connected with the first bandit's nose. Keeping his movements fluid, Sijo twirled his cane in his hands and hooked the back of the bandit's neck with the crook of the cane. The exiled firebender pulled down with his cane while driving his knee into the gut of the outlaw, sending him tumbling into the hard dirt followed by meeting the bottom of Sijo's foot as he stomped on the side of the bandit's head. First blood had been drawn, now, and the melee had truly erupted. Without missing a beat, Sijo was ready for the next bandit. By the posture of his fighting stance, this one was an earthbender. To give validation to his speculation, boulders the size of Sijo's head erupted from the ground and were cast in his direction with great velocity. Sijo would bob and weave as best he could around the stones, receiving a few glancing blows to his broad shoulders and back before entering striking distance. As the earthbending bandit raised a foot to begin another bout of strikes, Sijo hooked his foot with his cane and pulled outwards, forcing the bandit into a cruel and unexpected posture of the splits. By the man's facial expression, the muscles in his groin and hamstrings just pulled and tore. Stepping out and swinging his cane in full circle, he met the man's expression with the brass cap of his cane, showering the dirt and dust with a handfull of yellowed and rotten teeth. The bandit, while unconscious, remained propped up by his posture. Sijo, being the kind of man that he is, shoved the earthbending bandit over with a gentle nudge of his cane.
Mood: Apathetic Condition: Tired	Link:

Subject: Re: Crossroads Sun Nov 10, 2013 5:33 pm

Z. Katara Len	hearing the other firebender jump into the fray seemed to give Katara the boost of confidence she needed, and she suddenly struck out, her feet on fire as she spun and kicked one of the bandits with explosive force. he stopped moving, but Katara ended up on her back, her ankles now stinging from her own explosive firebending. Still, that wasn't enough to stop her just yet and she kicked her legs and jumped back onto her feet. Katara's moves were wilder and less disciplined, but she seemed to know what she was doing. one of the other ones, also an earthbender, wasn't about to let Katara simply get away with it. a barrage of rocks came the young girl's way, and since she ciould not exactly see them, she took the hits quite nicely, getting knocked right back down. She could hear him approaching though, and this was enough for her. She retaaliated by palming one of the rocks a little smaller than a basketball, and lobbing it right at the man's face. He hadn't expected it, since Katara had just revealed that she was a firebender. indeed Katara was not an earthbender, but she had enough physical strength to grab a rock and chuck it back at one of her assailants. after this, she slowly got back to her feet, not entirely sure how many of them were left, but remaining ready in case one of the ones that had been knocked down suddenly got back up.
Mood: Irritated Condition: Weary	Link: Katara