kittenofdeath
*Confused screeching*
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2007
- Posts
- 9,628
It was cold and quiet in the hold of the small passenger ship as it came to the end of its journey, a long haul all the way from the Fire nation capital, through the great gates of Azulon, across the ocean and to the ports of Republic City. It had made good time in its three week trip, even managed to shave almost two days off the arrival date, and should be coming in to port in time for daybreak on day twenty. Not all was calm in the cheep seats section at the back of the ship though, one passenger, a young water tribe man, was tossing a turning in the little hammock bed he could afford on the ship, a cold sweat running from him making him look like he was fresh from a sauna and murmuring incomprehensibly under his breath.
The man sat bolt upright with an sharp intake of breath, his eyes glowing pure white for the briefest of moments before they returned to the far more mundane pupil and iris configuration. A few seconds later he came to his senses, remembered to breathe and looked around, reacquainting himself with where he was, much to his lack of his surprise, he found himself half naked in a cheep swaying bed on a cheep ship, covered in a thin layer of frost that had been sweat only a moment ago. “This why I don’t like top bunks” he whispered to himself, the inflections all sounding like it was a joke, but the look on his face was anything but jovial.
He jumped down from the hammock he was on and turned to regard the poor sap underneath, who now had ice cold sweat water to look forward to in about half an hour when it thawed and dripped through “I tried to warn him” his tone still wildly at odds with the shake in his hands and the troubled look in his eyes. He quickly brushed most of the frost off and threw on some clothes before heading off to catch some air above deck, it occurred to him half way up that he could have just gotten rid of all the water and ice on his hammock without too much trouble, but he was already gone, and that guy had been a jerk about getting the bottom bunk anyway.
Up above on deck it was much nicer, cleaner air and a lively comforting chill on the wind that would remind any water tribe native of home, though it seemed to to little for the mans mood as he made his way to the prow of the ship. What he saw there though, managed to bring a smile to his face. He saw land and a few scattered lights in the distance, he saw Republic city, his final destination and where he was going to make it big as a pro bending champion. He punched his palm and stood tall, confidence finding its way back in to his features “Yeah, this is it” he said to himself “no more sleeping in alleyways, no more living day to day, time to do some winning for a change.”
****************************
An hour and half later and the ship was making its final approach to the city wharf through Yue bay, not only had the man since retrieved his luggage from down below, a bag slung over one shoulder and a well worn suitcase, but he had been joined by quite a few of the other passengers, all of them showing themselves as awestruck tourists to the city by they way they were all marveling at the sights and pointing things out to those around them. The thing that had caught his eye and held it, was a small island in the bay with a giant statue of a young man in monks robes, its gaze falling over the city like it was their protector.
The statue was of Aang, the last Avatar, the man who ended the hundred year war, the man who created the United Republic of Nations almost single handed, and, the man he had been in a past life. He was Korroh, the great and might Avatar, or at least that’s what he was supposed to be, when he was attacked and his family killed for no reason other than him being the Avatar, he decided he was going to pass on the job.
But he still couldn’t look away from the statue, it was like it was looking at him, it felt almost familiar, like looking at an old photo of yourself that you had forgotten about. He ended up watching the damn thing all the way to the port, only pulling himself away when the ship was finally letting off passengers, as enthralling as the statue had been, it didn’t hold a candle to the promise of finally being off the boat and on dry, not constantly swaying land again., so with almost a skip in his step, he made his way off the boat and followed the directions of the port officials to a large building that he realized too late was a customs office.
Well, too late to slip away without causing a fuss, Korroh would just have to lie his way through the process yet again. “Next” called a tired and overworked functionary, gesturing for the next person without even looking to see who it was. Korroh sighed and made his way over, sitting down across from the man and trying to look as awestruck as some of the other passengers had been “Good morning” He said in his most chipper voice, causing the functionary to finally look up form his stack of papers to scowl at Korroh, clearly taking offense at how awake he was.
“Papers please” Korroh quickly handed over the ticket stub he had used to get on the boat, still keeping an innocent tourist look on his face. The functionary looked at the ticket and sighed, looking back to Korroh “Don’t tell me this is all you have, no other documents to prove who you are.”
“Well, I can not tell you, but, um, I also can't give you any other documents” Korroh hated intentionally trying to sound stupid, but sometime it had to be done for the greater good of him being let out sooner. “Is this going to be a problem?” The functionary sighed “No sir, lets just start with where you're from Mr” he looked at the ticket stub “Tashi? Strange name”
“Oh I'm from the southern water tribe originally, though I'm coming from the fire nation right now, and yeah, my name is a little weird, apparently its the name of some old airbender monk, my mum was a huge fan of the Avatar” Korroh made no signs of stopping this little information dump of things completely irrelevant to the functionarys needs, until the functionary gave up and ended it by raising his hand to silence him.
“That will be enough sir, Tashi of the southern water tribe, coming via the fire nation, please sign here to verify that what is written is correct.” the functionary slid the document he had been writing on over to Korroh for inspection, it wasn’t even half done, but he signed it and slid it back anyway. “Thank you sir that will be all, please enjoy your stay in Republic city.” And with that, Korroh was free.
“Oh I will” he quickly grabbed his bag and left before anyone could stop him, not that anyone made any moves to, everyone in there was just as tired as the functionary had been, that dawn arrival had really worked out for him. Now he was out in the light of day with nothing to stop him, in Republic City, and he had absolutely no idea what to do next. “You'd think that at some point in the boredom of the three week boat ride over here I would have thought of some kind of game plan” he sighed and hung his head “but no, none at all. Alright, time for the basics, get my money changed to the local currency and find somewhere to sleep” he picked a direction and started walking, with any luck, towards either a bank or a cheep hotel.
The man sat bolt upright with an sharp intake of breath, his eyes glowing pure white for the briefest of moments before they returned to the far more mundane pupil and iris configuration. A few seconds later he came to his senses, remembered to breathe and looked around, reacquainting himself with where he was, much to his lack of his surprise, he found himself half naked in a cheep swaying bed on a cheep ship, covered in a thin layer of frost that had been sweat only a moment ago. “This why I don’t like top bunks” he whispered to himself, the inflections all sounding like it was a joke, but the look on his face was anything but jovial.
He jumped down from the hammock he was on and turned to regard the poor sap underneath, who now had ice cold sweat water to look forward to in about half an hour when it thawed and dripped through “I tried to warn him” his tone still wildly at odds with the shake in his hands and the troubled look in his eyes. He quickly brushed most of the frost off and threw on some clothes before heading off to catch some air above deck, it occurred to him half way up that he could have just gotten rid of all the water and ice on his hammock without too much trouble, but he was already gone, and that guy had been a jerk about getting the bottom bunk anyway.
Up above on deck it was much nicer, cleaner air and a lively comforting chill on the wind that would remind any water tribe native of home, though it seemed to to little for the mans mood as he made his way to the prow of the ship. What he saw there though, managed to bring a smile to his face. He saw land and a few scattered lights in the distance, he saw Republic city, his final destination and where he was going to make it big as a pro bending champion. He punched his palm and stood tall, confidence finding its way back in to his features “Yeah, this is it” he said to himself “no more sleeping in alleyways, no more living day to day, time to do some winning for a change.”
****************************
An hour and half later and the ship was making its final approach to the city wharf through Yue bay, not only had the man since retrieved his luggage from down below, a bag slung over one shoulder and a well worn suitcase, but he had been joined by quite a few of the other passengers, all of them showing themselves as awestruck tourists to the city by they way they were all marveling at the sights and pointing things out to those around them. The thing that had caught his eye and held it, was a small island in the bay with a giant statue of a young man in monks robes, its gaze falling over the city like it was their protector.
The statue was of Aang, the last Avatar, the man who ended the hundred year war, the man who created the United Republic of Nations almost single handed, and, the man he had been in a past life. He was Korroh, the great and might Avatar, or at least that’s what he was supposed to be, when he was attacked and his family killed for no reason other than him being the Avatar, he decided he was going to pass on the job.
But he still couldn’t look away from the statue, it was like it was looking at him, it felt almost familiar, like looking at an old photo of yourself that you had forgotten about. He ended up watching the damn thing all the way to the port, only pulling himself away when the ship was finally letting off passengers, as enthralling as the statue had been, it didn’t hold a candle to the promise of finally being off the boat and on dry, not constantly swaying land again., so with almost a skip in his step, he made his way off the boat and followed the directions of the port officials to a large building that he realized too late was a customs office.
Well, too late to slip away without causing a fuss, Korroh would just have to lie his way through the process yet again. “Next” called a tired and overworked functionary, gesturing for the next person without even looking to see who it was. Korroh sighed and made his way over, sitting down across from the man and trying to look as awestruck as some of the other passengers had been “Good morning” He said in his most chipper voice, causing the functionary to finally look up form his stack of papers to scowl at Korroh, clearly taking offense at how awake he was.
“Papers please” Korroh quickly handed over the ticket stub he had used to get on the boat, still keeping an innocent tourist look on his face. The functionary looked at the ticket and sighed, looking back to Korroh “Don’t tell me this is all you have, no other documents to prove who you are.”
“Well, I can not tell you, but, um, I also can't give you any other documents” Korroh hated intentionally trying to sound stupid, but sometime it had to be done for the greater good of him being let out sooner. “Is this going to be a problem?” The functionary sighed “No sir, lets just start with where you're from Mr” he looked at the ticket stub “Tashi? Strange name”
“Oh I'm from the southern water tribe originally, though I'm coming from the fire nation right now, and yeah, my name is a little weird, apparently its the name of some old airbender monk, my mum was a huge fan of the Avatar” Korroh made no signs of stopping this little information dump of things completely irrelevant to the functionarys needs, until the functionary gave up and ended it by raising his hand to silence him.
“That will be enough sir, Tashi of the southern water tribe, coming via the fire nation, please sign here to verify that what is written is correct.” the functionary slid the document he had been writing on over to Korroh for inspection, it wasn’t even half done, but he signed it and slid it back anyway. “Thank you sir that will be all, please enjoy your stay in Republic city.” And with that, Korroh was free.
“Oh I will” he quickly grabbed his bag and left before anyone could stop him, not that anyone made any moves to, everyone in there was just as tired as the functionary had been, that dawn arrival had really worked out for him. Now he was out in the light of day with nothing to stop him, in Republic City, and he had absolutely no idea what to do next. “You'd think that at some point in the boredom of the three week boat ride over here I would have thought of some kind of game plan” he sighed and hung his head “but no, none at all. Alright, time for the basics, get my money changed to the local currency and find somewhere to sleep” he picked a direction and started walking, with any luck, towards either a bank or a cheep hotel.
