Exploring the City(aphro/open)

[Leia]

When her parents had told her that they would be leaving their forest village to go travel the world, at first she had been apprehensive. Adira didn't want to leave her childhood friends, the spring behind their house where she would play and all their neighbors who were just like family to her. As the day they had planned to leave came closer, she realized that this was an exciting opportunity and eventually she could come back and visit her friends. To travel the world and see the places from her mother's stories, meet new people and learn new things was a dream come true, she just hadn't realized it at first. She began to eagerly help make preparations to leave and seemed even more enthusiastic than her parents to get going.

When the day finally came, it was a little sad, but at the same time she knew she wasn't leaving forever and she was more than ready to begin exploring the world with her parents. As much as she would miss her childhood home, the young girl knew there was more out there for her and was ready to seize her chance.

Now, here the little family was in Ba Sing Se, one of the largest cities in the world. When she had first laid eyes on the huge, towering walls, she had turned to her parents and asked, "Are we supposed to climb over those??" They had only laughed and told her to be patient. Moments later, the huge walls seemed to just split down the middle and opened to allow them into the city, moving seemingly as if by magic. It was only when she saw the earthbenders on the top of the wall that she understood how they had moved and just how amazing this city was going to be.

Adira was fascinated by everything in the city, from the delivery systems that used earthbending to get packages from one side of the city to the other, to the marketplace which was alive with sights and sounds to thrill a young teenager. Every little thing called to her and she was eager to get away from her parents to explore on her own. The thought that there could be danger in the city never once entered her mind and she came up with a quick plan to get away from her parents just for a little while. She could always find them again, she was sure.

Her plan wasn't much of a plan. In fact, it was more waiting for the opportune moment to get lost in the crowd. She waited until her parents were engrossed in conversation with a booth owner who was selling tokens from the various nations and she slipped away quietly, allowing the crowd to swallow her up. Without a second thought, she began exploring the city, stopping at many booths just to talk with the sellers. Some of them were easy to talk to and didn't mind that she wasn't buying from them, but some turned her away quickly and talked to a different customer who had money. She had a few coins, but she didn't want to spend them on anything just yet, so she kept moving. Maybe her parents would worry about her, but she was just fine. She could take care of herself.

She ended up at a fountain with turtle ducks swimming in the water. Nearby someone was selling bread to feed the turtle ducks and she used one of her coins to buy some, sitting on the edge of the fountain to toss in the bread. The city wasn't dangerous, it was wonderful and exciting! Adira looked around, hoping maybe there were some kids her age around who might be willing to hang out with her. Sure, exploring the city on her own was fun, but it would be more fun with a friend by her side to share it with.

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[MingYu ☀]

[atrb=valign, top][style=border-left:4px solid #fa7a7a; font-size:10px; line-height:13px; padding-left:8px; text-align:justify; text-transform:lowercase; padding-right:8px;] "Where Fears & Lies Melt Away" "Everything here is so wonderful, Laifu!" The girl exclaimed as her elicit orbs of almond hues wandered from every residency that solidfied the entirety of the great Ba Sing Se. Her articulate correlation was aimed at a fleecy, white lemur who rested alertly on all four's, steadying itself on the silhouette of the young Airbenders shoulder. With a set of intrusive, pointy perked up ears, Laifu stared, puzzled at the raven hair who over wroughtly addressed him. A hand of comfort was placed ontop of the lemur's head, lightly scratching in between his ears in order to ease his confusion. "I didn't mean to scare you, Laifu. I was just saying how amazing this city is." A soft gruntle of satisfaction derived from the sensational occurence of a repetative movement that he thoroughly enjoyed. Venturing off into the majestic earth bending colony, MingYu stumbled upon a fountain where a set of turtle ducks rested peacefully in unison. A set of crumbs began being tossed carelessly towards the winged critters in an act of kindness to prevent them from starvation. It brung a smile of across plumped lips as Mingyu wholeheartedly appreciated such generosity. The hand that casted down such benevolence belonged to a young girl who by appearence looked to be about the tender age of thirteen. Her eyes through contact, held a sense of hopefulness, the same eyes that MingYu constantly bore on a daily basis. To break an awkward silence which would soon follow, MingYu raised a neighborly hand and waved it back in forward at the young stranger. "Those birds are quite thankful for that. I bet their jumping in joy for the blessings their receiveing." The raven hair bender said, happily. [/style] [STYLE=font-size:10px; padding-left: 12px; font-weight: bold]words: Too Many To Count! tags: BabyGirl & Leia notes: F is for Friends Who Do Stuff Together credit: template made by oxymoron! of btn[/style]

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[Aphrodite ☾]

Malina prowled through the hard, overpopulated streets of Ba Sing Se's outer ring. She walked barefoot today and had to be very cautious of where she stepped. The street was littered with trash, spilled food, animal droppings and more; essentially, a bunch of stuff that Malina wouldn't enjoy immersing her foot into.

Where could she have gotten to? the mother asked herself, knowing very well that when it came to her daughter the answer could be anywhere. Malina knew that something like this would happen. When Adira had asked if they were supposed to climb over the city walls, Malina predicted that she would see this entire city has one astronomical playground -- but it was no such thing.

Ba Sing Se was home to not only citizens of the Earth Kingdom, but citizens from all over. A safe haven for refugees, Ba Sing Se housed practically anyone who needed a home. Malina saw garments that reminded her of home, as well as apparel distinct of the Fire Nation, and, of course, traditional Earth Kingdom wear. She even saw a few people donning the clothes of the Air Nomads. Probably just acolytes, Malina reasoned. However, their presence only made Malina's search more difficult because now as she walked among a sea of blue, red, green and orange, it would be harder to spot Adira.

"Where is she?" the Southern Water Tribe native asked aloud, albeit in a whisper. She looked to the roofs of buildings and to the delivery system, sure to find who she was looking for doing something rambunctious. If only she had turned around and looked to the fountain some fifty feet behind her with the peckish turtle ducks, her search would have ended much sooner.

[❋Izō ☁]

[/style][style=color:FFEFD5; text-shadow: 1px 1px 1px #444444; font-family: georgia; margin-bottom: -8px; text-transform: uppercase]THE WIND KEEPER | ^{TAKES TO THE SHADOWS}

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[/b][/color]”[/right]

Words uttered in a tone of complete calmness, the smell of pinecones would sweep across the woman’s nose from her southern verge. The smell, though subtle but sweet would come as a familiarity to her, for only one man she knew wore such a cologne conscientiously. Complementing the variation of the antediluvian Air Nomad attire, giving it a more modern flare with the help of his beautiful wife, Izō stood just a mere foot behind her as he gave responses of assurance to the over-protective mother. Ocean blue hues secured with almond sanctums, the Monk allowed his pearly whites to shimmer in the afternoon’s sun as a smile graced his lips.

Soon she would find two clothes arms comfortably locking themselves around her waist, and her back caressed by a strong, though clothed torso. A hug of sorts, Izō moved in, his chin perched upon her smooth shoulders and with a subtle peck, kissed the side of her face. “She is your daughter. I’d hate to be the fool that messed with her.[/color]” words of both comedic relief and broad seriousness, the blonde Air-bender found himself pacified by the sheer volume of strength the two women in his life held. It was almost frightening, and knowing full well that the mother of his child knew she was powerful was quite appealing.
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[Leia]

It didn't take long for Adira to notice the girl waving at her because she had been waiting for someone to come along who might talk to her. She smiled warmly and waved back, wondering briefly to herself about the curious way the girl spoke. She was giving the turtle-ducks blessings? She thought it was just mere bread. And they definitely were not jumping for joy, they were swimming about happily munching on the bread in the water. "Would you like to feed them too?" she asked amiably, offering a piece of bread to the girl. "They might come close enough for us to touch them." She smiled at her new found friend, not realizing for a moment that neither had introduced themselves.

Suddenly she seemed to remember and she looked slightly embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I didn't even tell you my name! I'm Adira," she said, extending her hand to shake the other girl's hand. "I'm here with my parents, but I snuck away from them." Her smile changed to a a slightly sheepish smirk, even though she wasn't all that sheepish about what she did. She would find them eventually and they could worry about her if they wanted to. She was having fun in the city and tagging along with her parents was a sure way to kill that. Adira looked around the square and saw her mother and father not too far away. "In fact, there they are right now...I don't want to be stuck with them all day," she groaned, although she was unsure whether running away from the square would draw their attention or not. Besides, she had just made a new friend and was loathe to leave her.

"Do you live here? Also, what is that on your shoulders?" she asked, indicating the white lemur that she had heard the girl call 'laifu'.

[MingYu ☀]

[atrb=valign, top][style=border-left:4px solid #fa7a7a; font-size:10px; line-height:13px; padding-left:8px; text-align:justify; text-transform:lowercase; padding-right:8px;] "Where Fears & Lies Melt Away" A warm smile followed by an excited nod assured the girl that MingYu would want to join her in such benevolence. As she handed her the bread, the raven hair complied with a gracious "Thank you." and began tossing out pieces of bread. The turtle ducks began to nibble on the small specks of food, begging for more whenever their was nothing left. When the girl known as Adira began to establish introductions, blood almost immediately rushed towards her face as she too was rude enough to forget her own establishment. "Oh my, how rude am I?! I totally forgot to give you a proper introduction. I'm MingYu." A friendly hand reached out and solidfied whatever awkwardness transpired amongst them. Adira explained how she had come with her parents but intentionally got herself lost in order to explore the city. Mingyu was not one to judge, she was the adventurous type and due to that, she constantly found herself in a worried fueled lecture whenever her mother reunited with her. "Your parents must be worried sick about you. Maybe you should search for them." The young airbender suggested but before it could be analyzed Adira stated that her parents were very much close by. As Mingyu's eye's scrutinized the two parental figures, she had come to realize that the young water bender was the same woman she had met at the great lakes. A loud gasp managed to escape her lips. "I know that woman! She is very nice, how come you don't want to be around her?" Laifu hid inside his master's hair with the only trace of his presences coming from his ears and tail which poked out unwillingly through her profuse raven locks. "Oh? Laifu is my pet lemur but um he's a bit nervous right now, which is weird considering he is always meddling into something. He's a curious little lemur." She chuckled to herself. [/style] [STYLE=font-size:10px; padding-left: 12px; font-weight: bold]words: Too Many To Count! tags: Leia|BabyGirl|Trey Wrongz notes: New Friends , Old Friends ;D credit: template made by oxymoron! of btn[/style]

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[Aphrodite ☾]

Malina felt the strong arms wrap around her and speak into her ear, never flinching all the while. Whoever dared to pull such a stunt on any person must know said person extremely well, so the young woman did not falter. As suspected it was indeed Izo, hugging her from behind as if they were still eighteen year olds.

"It's not her safety I'm worried about," the mother admitted, sighing and still keeping an eye for her daughter. "What if she breaks something, or has a run in with the authorities? She doesn't need to be getting into trouble." Malina began to walk toward a group of acolytes, scanning the sea of orange and yellow garments for any one of them with brown, braided hair. "She's too young to be in this city unsupervised, Izo."

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[❋Izō ☁]

[/style][style=color:FFEFD5; text-shadow: 1px 1px 1px #444444; font-family: georgia; margin-bottom: -8px; text-transform: uppercase]THE WIND KEEPER | ^{TAKES TO THE SHADOWS}

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[/b][/color]”[/right]

A content sigh escaping through his lips, Izō could sympathize with his wife. It had been within her nature since the young girl’s birth to stay overly protective; though this time she had more substance to follow up on. This wasn’t their home in the Earth Kingdom, and the likelihood of Adira stumbling, or willingly walking into trouble was very high. This alone only worked as impetus to push his ocean blue eyes into the depths of his own perception, gauging all within his range of sight as he looked for anyone remotely close to his daughter’s appearance.

He’d turn to both his sides correspondingly, attempting to discern not only his environment, but those who also inhabited it. Malina had wandered directly into the traffic of the busy streets, inspecting a crowd of itinerants and apostates, and by their attire, they were of his nationality. Needless to say, his time away from the temple had tainted his willingness to divulge into the studies he once rebelled against. He’d take it upon himself to move towards a group of steel-clad individuals, their insignia flourishing brightly in the sun’s rays. After but a moment of conversation, Izō would back his way back, hands gesturing in an innocent manner as the group of fire benders ignored his claims of assistance.

“Don’t worry, she’s very resourceful. And I’m sure she’ll find us before we find her.[/color]”
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