This Could Be It

Kaizu stole carefully along the streets of Taimen Bay. A bustling portside city it was relatively easy for him to go unnoticed amongst the roaring morning crowd.

Everywhere he turned routine activity burst out, dockworkers hauling wares, street merchants haggling for goods, and street urchins were trying to pick his pocket. He gave another one a quick hit on the head before dashing quickly through the crowd. He was being pursued of course, it wouldn't be right to leave another city without having the whole militia out looking for him. But he had a little time thanks to some inventive use of his mornings breakfast and a poleaxe that just happened to be lying around.

What was he in trouble for anyway? Gambling probably. It was a little infuriating because he usually knew the reason. It was either because he'd gotten into one to many fights, or someone recognized him from his wanted poster, or because he'd called a local guard fat. Not this time. They'd just showed up at his hotel, pointed in his general direction and said get him. They may not even have been after him. Perhaps they were after the thin looking gentleman with the handlebar moustache. Either way they were certainly after him now. He needed to find a boat. Perhaps even get off the fire nation entirely, lay low in the earth kingdom for a while. Maybe go see an earthbender fight or two.

The smell of the sea invigorated him and he felt more alive the closer he got to the actual port. The sites seemed more familiar to him, the large looming ships both wood and metal, surrounded by smaller sleeker vessels for fishing or sailing down the straits. There were even a few luxury vessels for holiday travel to one of the smaller islands south.

Carefully he removed himself from the crowd and ducked into a nearby alleyway. There was a chance that guards would be placed around the area just to catch any mischevious young criminals looking to make a quick getaway. He hid himself in the shadows next to a vomiting drunk and observed carefully. Sure enough he began to spot the tell tale signs of local law enforcement. An odd patrol here or there, bosun's checking worksheets and passenger lists, a few urchins whispering to a uniformed officer. A few urchins pointing in his general direction. A bunch of heavily armed guards running his way.

Figuring it was time to go Kaizu ran through the alleyway as fast as he could, feet tearing up the ground as he did. He was too unprepared. His bag rattled incessantly as he ran, and his books weighed him down. He considered dumping it, but just the act of slinging it off would negate any advantage the lesser weight would afford him. He had to slow them down somehow. Firebending? It wouldn't be the best idea, best to keep that a secret. He made a sharp turn. What luck, an open door. Without thinking he ducked in and slammed it shut behind him. Quickly he scanned the room. With some luck by the time they rounded the corner they would have assumed he'd slipped back into the crowd. If not then he could always slip out the back way. He glanced around the room. Empty crates and pieces of rubbish lay about the abandoned hovel. Various smells emerged from the corner, there didn't seem to be a backdoor out. Kaizu began to wonder if he'd made the right decision.

He heard a pounding of feet. This could be it. He thought. Would he be caught? Perhaps summarily executed for a reason he would probably never know? He held his breath. Partially because the smell was really starting to get to him. The pounding got louder then slowly faded away, they'd obviously run past. He gave himself a few minutes then opened the door just a crack. The coast seemed clear. He ducked out hesitantly.

They would have the port surrounded by now, he would have to find another way out of the city. And he was so looking forward to getting on a boat again. But that would be too dangerous. Just to get out of the alley would be dangerous. Kaizu wondered what he could have possibly done to warrant so much trouble. Or maybe it was something that woman who was sitting across from him with the snakefox fur scarf did. He thought she had an evil look in her eye. He would just have to trust the fates. Pulling his hood over his head he hunched his shoulders and moved to wade back into the crowd. He would have to keep a low profile, absolutely no attention. Of course at that moment someone chose to run right into him sending them both sprawling across the ground. They rolled down the street for a little bit before landing in a heap. And of course just everyone turned to stare. This was the last time he'd be trusting the fates for a while.

OOC: sorry, but you kind of wasted your time with this post. Everybody is in the earthkingdom. so you would just be rping by yourself, so you should probably just delete this and go to the earthkingdom.

OOC: Actually, he doesn't NEED to be with other players if he doesn't want to. I may not know if he seeks interaction with other players just yet, but it is his decision whether he is active there or here. So, there might not be a reason for this to be deleted if character development can come from it. I remember when I started. I had a whole thread where there was not a single person on the island I was on, but rather, somewhere else. With a bit of coordination, I managed to meet other players.

It isn't the goal of the RP to flock around others, but rather, tell your character's story. If that story begins far away from other players, then so be it. The character development is worth it in my opinion.

OOC: wow, did not figure that. Well I don't really want to delete it, can I double post? Just want to put 1 more to flesh it out then another to exit to the earth kingdom.

(OOC: Yeah just double post, your in a topic on your own so it should be fine. Just do what you wanna do, you'll get to be a part of action in no time at all)

OOC: It's how Phin Feng took over the city of Omashu. The only posts in the thread for a while. XD

I'll just leave you to your important IC posts now  Enjoy!

So that was how he ended up in jail. Alone and desolate, his possessions taken from him he lounged in a small cell with an undesirable hobo dressed in only his pants and boots. He would at least rot peacefully in the knowledge that they were indeed after him. It seemed he had gained a lot more notoriety than he had initially believed, it seemed his bounty had actually been raised to a price worth noticing. Probably being involved in the destruction of a small army had something to do with it. Although to be fair he'd mainly stood back during the fighting and emerged to claim credit when everyone was dead. He knew that would come back to bite him some day.

He glanced at the half naked hobo. The man was asleep. Good, now was probably the best time to make a getaway. They weren't really in prison yet, more a holding cell in the militia's office. The walls and bars were iron, and they had taken his bag and his daggers. Good thing he never used his firebending. Although he almost wished he'd used it on that fat oaf he'd bumped into that got him into this mess in the first place.

He took a deep breath and concentrated. A nice thin line of flame emerged from his palm about three inches in length. He concentrated harder. Slowly he released and compressed more and more flame into that little burning line, increasing the heat, and narrowing the point till it was just so. Almost white hot. He placed it against the hinge and watched as it ate through the metal. Sweat poured down his brow and he gave a grin.

"You have much more tenacity than our sources credit you with," Came a voice from the shadows. Kaizu reacted instantly and shot a fireball at the man. He had to make his move now. Kicking the weakened door he began sprinting. Had he been more observant he would have seen a firebender appear to knock his pathetic attack away, and perhaps seen the earthbender hiding in the ground in time to avoid the hands that shot out of nowhere and dragged him into the earth. He couldn't react in time and suddenly found himself trapped up to his neck in dirt.

"Even more impressive," came that voice from the shadows. The firebender and earthbender bodyguards shrank back to their hiding places, but they seemed painfull obvious now. As he looked closer Kaizu began to observe a few more figures lurking around that dank corridor. "Excuse me if I don't show myself but I have a feeling that would be most unwise of me."

Darn right thought Kaizu. He may not have possessed his brothers intellect or his sisters tendancy to destroy cities with her bare hands, but enemies who showed their face to the Hei family tended not to enjoy retirement.

Kaizue decided instead to observe the bodyguards. They wore masks, cheap paper ones, easily made. And their clothes were a plain brown. Unusual that they would be working together in this climate. Obviously this wasn't a government thing.

"In about two hours from now a boat will be leaving from the jetty," A figure from the shadows threw down tickets, a bag of money and Kaizu's possessions. "I suggest you be on it."

Kaizu said nothing. This was some kind of game. Maybe they wanted to frame him for something...

"You're wondering who we are and why we're doing this," Came the voice again. It was male, older, gruffer. But so damn commanding. "You'll probably figure this out anyway, but it's not about you at all. It's a chance to help your country. The fire nation isn't doing so well. A war that lasts a hundred years? How many colonies still exist? Let's face it. It's time to end this conflict. For the good of everyone get on that boat."

Kaizu made a blank face. Maybe they wanted to use him as a distraction. Give the police something to do while they knocked off a local bank...

"And of course if you need further convincing..." The bodyguards withdrew. There was a flicker of movement. The earth that was holding Kaizu crumbled but he made no immediate movements content to just listen for any signs of life. Apart from the slight snoring of the hobo in the cell all was quiet. Empty prison cages surrounded him. A piece of paper floating down from the ceiling landed at Kaizu's feet face down. It was then he made a choice. He knew that if he picked up that piece of paper he would be hooked. Whatever was written on it would make him curious, far too curious to ignore this strange invitation. Of course if he didn't pick it up he might be able to forget all about this incident in a year or two. Actually he didn't really have a choice. He picked up the paper.



Daithi he thought. Now he had to go. Whether the note was real or fake someone knew too much. He would have to play along. It wasn't exactly the smart play, but Kaizu wasn't that type of person anyway. Grabbing his things he headed to the jetty.

There was only one ship leaving. A seedy looking craft, but seaworthy. Kaizu still had a sailors eye. A man on the deck was playing with an unusual looking knife. Kaizu handed him his ticket.
The man looked at Kaizu with some apprehension.
"Jus in time..." He muttered before ducking back in the hatch. Kaizu followed him. As he expected the walls were riddled with damp, and the rooms were packed with unfortunate looking souls huddled together trying to find some measure of relief in the chill of the hull.
"This is yer room," he said pointing towards a large metal door. Kaizu pried it open. It was small, as expected, but unlike most of the other rooms his seemed to have a working lock. And at least enough space for him to lie down comfortably. There was no bed, but the ceiling was high. That suited Kaizu just fine. It would allow him to practice his bending a bit more. Subtle advanced techniques and basic breathing only, nothing showy, might cause the place to overheat. Kaizu didn't normally indulge in such things, but he had a feeling the extra practice would be useful. He wondered if his benefactor had paid extra just so that he could do this.
"Just so I can make sure," he said just as the knife man was leaving. "Where are we headed."
"Heh heh heh," The man wheezed. "Boy's gettin' on a ship he dun know where it's goin'. This here's a smuggling ship. We're headed for the earth kingdom. And lemme warn ya now, every damn navy vessel on both sides of the globe will be lookin' to stop us."
The man left laughing his head off.
Kaizu closed the door leaned against the wall and sighed. He pulled out the piece of paper. He'd studied it so many times now... Without much effort he radiated flame from his fingers and burnt the note away. It wasn't much use to him now.
What was he getting himself into? How was Daithi connected? He gave a smile.
This could be it.



(exit)