~: Welcome, guys :~

Thanks Squidie. Is there a nickname you'd prefer or is Squidie ok? :3

~: Since everyone and their mothers(no lie), call me Squid, Squid is fine

Try to limit chat talk to the OOC thread, though, please :) It makes the game posts flow a lot easier for anyone following along, or anyone who needs to play catch up. :~

---------- Post added 10-14-2013 at 03:50 AM ----------

War. A world divided.

The Fire Nation on one side. The two remaining nations on the other. The Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes did their best to keep the Fire benders at bay, but it seemed the war was started to take a devastating turn. That is, until word spread that the Avatar had returned. Hope was rekindled and the brave warriors of the Earth and Water nations have started to beat back the Fire benders with newly found strength!

One soul, formerly tucked away safe in the North Pole, was one of the many filled with a new hope. Kesuk, a young woman and skilled healer, had been traveling the world for many weeks. She had given up her home, her future, and practically everything owned to make the trek. She needed answers to the biggest questions in her life and they were hidden somewhere out there.

Kesuk had made it, just about, to Ba Sing Se and was very excited. She expected not to find anything concerning the secrets of her own life in the greatest city in the Earth kingdom, but it was still a sight to behold! The outer wall was magnificent and she was truly in awe of its splendor. Despite her excitement over the outer wall, however, she still found herself plopped down in the visitor's center, arguing over not having a passport. She was not to gain entrance into the city until she produced some sort of official document stating who she was. She never needed anything like that in the Northern water tribe, so she never bothered to procure one. In fact, she didn't even know where one obtained a passport! Many others seemed to be having the same trouble, but eaves dropping on their conversations did not allude to where she could obtain a passport or some sort of proof that she was, in fact, Kesuk of the Water Tribe. The fact that she was a water bender should have granted her admittance, she thought. The passport system was to keep out Fire benders, or so she thought. She was no Fire bender! She stood a 50/50 chance of that, but fate decided to be kind to Kesuk. So why was fate denying her now?

Sitting on a very hard stone bench with her belonging's propped up on her leg, she watched person after person get checked in and then directed to where they would board some sort of transport into the city.

~: Worst post ever. Hope you guys liked it and I hope it gives you a good launching point for your own characters. If you protest my choice of opening setting, send a PM to my inbox entitled 'GOD DANGIT SQUID' and I will respond ASAP:~

Finx walked threw the Northern water tribe deep in thought of different things manly how to get away from the North. She did want to leave but she wouldn't leave Yue who really had no other friends being the princess of the Northern water tribe.

She was exhausted.

The stream she trudged through was freezing, but the current erased any sign that she might leave behind which would throw off her pursuers. After all, when one breaks 200 earth benders out of a seemingly inescapable, metal prison from over 300 feet away, it was bound to take a toll, as well as make a few enemies. And Fire Nation soldiers were known for their speed.

At least her father had been right. She might not be able to bend metal, but she sure as hell could bend the earth upon the metal was supported. Her father had also warned her of the toll it would take. Ciana had brushed it off at the time, thinking it couldn't be as bad as he was describing.

Now she truly understood what he had meant. The brunette doubted she could turn a pebble let alone defend herself if the Fire Nation found her. Her entire body ached like a bad tooth and the darkness had been slowly creeping on the edge of her vision for the last hour or so. But she couldn't pass out now. Even if she couldn't hear the fire bender's voices anymore it didn't mean that they wouldn't find her if she stopped. So Ciana would do whatever it took to make sure they didn’t. Even if that meant freezing her toes off.

Though, the pain was worth it to see the looks of surprise on the fire benders’ faces. Not to mention witnessing the hope brighten in her kins' eyes. That was worth something. Even if her family or the people who occupied her village she had left behind didn’t believe so.

When she couldn’t feel her feet anymore, Ciana trudged out of the water, using the wool socks her mother had made her last year to dry them off. The seasons were turning again, and with it the strength of the earth faded. Sometimes she wished she had been born a water bender. At least then she would not have to deal with her powers waxing and waning.

But then again, their powers were tied to the moon. As the fire benders were to the sun. The only ones who seemed not to suffer with nature's change were the air benders, but there were no more of them left.

Well, there was one.

Remembering the Avatar was out there somewhere seemed to give her renewed energy. Ciana had found a map of the prisons at the last facility, and unrolling it now, she was about two kilometers from the next one.

And with the coast jetting farther out to sea, reaching it shouldn’t be a problem. The Earth bender sighed and put her shoes back on, hefting her bag higher onto her shoulder. She couldn’t do much more today, and night was falling.

Grunting, she pushed away from the coast and on toward the mountain. With any luck she could find the cave before passing out for the night.

Ciana wouldn't think about the home she left behind, or the family who had begged her not to go. She would return to them. And hopefully be able to bring other families around the Earth Kingdom the same sense of joy, relief and hope.

What was once perfect became undone.

Aiden was making his usual rounds around earth bender camps, his last stop was to check up on the metal prison they had. It quite large, housing just about 200 of those filthy earth benders. They were inferior to him, without their precious earth they were practically useless. Which is why commends the high ups for starting this metal prison. As he recalled it works on water benders as well when you remove all sources of water from them. The only ones capable of doing anything would be air bender who were now extinct and of course fire benders.

While inside conversing with a general and a few wardens her heard a commotion outside, curious he and the other went outside, and on their way they saw a few open cells that were usually closed. "What is going on??" He asked calmly with a hint of fury in it.

He was answered as soon as he got outside to earth benders taking back there freedom, with the help of a unknown variable (Ciana) that could surprisingly bended the earth upon with the metal was supported, and she blocked all the routes that could let the fire benders re apprehend the prisoners and pursue he atleast for awhile.

"After her! Don't let her get away... tch." Aiden got inside one of those machine vehicles and started to pursue Ciana from land. While a few choose to use a small boat.

Xiao-Li stood there, staring up at the outer wall of Ba Sing Se with a slight frown on his lips. There was no way he could get inside, not without some sort of fake passport. He should have known better, but he honestly hadn't thought of that on his way here. At least he had made it this far without incident. Today Xiao-Li was clothed much like a typical earth bender. Wearing lots of greens and browns. He frowned at the wall for a few moments longer, before deciding to nose about for less honest ways into the city. The city should be impenetrable though. Should be.

Eavesdropping on anyone that seemed suspicious or shady didn't net him any helpful information at all and soon he found himself sitting on a bench next to a pretty girl. She was either waiting for someone, maybe waiting for the influx of people to calm down some, or like him, could not get into the city. He watched as a few people got checked in, then turned his attention to the girl next to him. "Are you going into the city?" It was an innocent question, one that many a friendly stranger would ask another in this general area. After all, the girl could just be waiting for the line of traffic into the city to thin some before she decided to go on in. Perhaps Xiao-Li could somehow get in with this girl if she was indeed just waiting a while before entering.

Kesuk sat on the bench for a while longer, sulking, when a thin male sat down next to her. She didn't say anything at first, just gave him a glance. She didn't want to be rude, but she wasn't sure how to start a conversation with a stranger.

She was relieved when he spoke first. She looked up to his face and squirmed in her seat. She frowned and looked at the check in line, "Unfortunately, no. I don't have a passport. I didn't think that I would need one." She heaved quite a heavy sigh and looked to him again, "Are you?"

Finx sat watching the men water bending she joined them sometimes in disquise girls were only allowed to learn healing.

She had almost missed the mouth of the cave, seeing how it looked to the average eye that it wasn't even there. Moss, vines and bushes covered the entrance, a fallen tree across the mouth made it even harder to detect. Which was perfect.

Her father had never revealed how long a taxing like this would take to recover from, and with the Fire Nation after her, it was hard for Ciana to relax in the way that was necessary for the healing to take place. If the pain and the dizziness was anything to go by, she would be out for an entire day, maybe more. Which wasn't good. Not in the least.

But if she remained quiet and suffered through the colder nights without a fire, then she might have a chance at least.

It was easy to hide among the shadows. She could sense that the cave continued on for at least a mile or so within the mountain face. Probably even more than that. The sense of all the earth around her helped the pain a little, gave her a sense of calm and peace that nothing else could. Distantly she wondered if it was the same for the other benders; for when they are surrounded by their element, if they felt the same euphoria and peace that she felt right then. A sense of rightness that nothing else compared to.

A sigh left her lips as she leaned back against the sand, feeling the energy that had allowed her to get this far drain out into the earth below. This was it. She couldn't move now if she wanted to. She would be a sitting duck for the next day or so.

Her eyes opened to the dark ceiling above, to the earth that surrounded her from every angle as her fingers dug into the sand below her.

"Please. Please don't let them find me."

When at last she