Republic City

Ashya blinked as Rakka made himself known, she let a small smile play on her lips. "I was actually looking to join a team." she said and then looked towards Bast, "Yes I am a fire bender, I'm guessing you are a water bender?" she asked, looking over his wardrobe. She then turned back to Rakka, "Sure, I suppose I could tag along to meet the avatar...what team are you on Rakka?" she asked, ready to go whenever they were.

He had been about to answer Ashya when she turned and spoke to Rakka again. Letting the air out of his lungs his face settled back into the comfortable smile he always wore and he watched Ashy'a face as she talked about bending with Rakka. His eyes wandered to Leta who was frowning now that Rakka had removed his hand from her mouth. She followed her gaze back to Bael who seemed agitated and impatient now. he figured he felt left out and tried to include him into the conversation.

"Do you follow any bending teams, Baelfire?" He thought the question was safe because it seemed to be a very popular topic in this city.

It looked as if they had acquired another duckling to add to the party. Bae sighed and nodded at Leta, "Alright. This way. It's really not much farther." They probably would have been there by now if they hadn't stopped to talk to Ashya. Bast asks him a question that has him tensing up, "No. Of course not. I'm not one of you people." He was still assuming that Bast was a bender since he wanted to see the Avatar. With that he would turn and start heading the direction he'd been taking them before, eager to dump them off at the ship and get away from all of them.

If Rakka had heard Bae's comment of 'you people', he may have just given him a couple of his own, less pleasant, words. But he had been distracted with Ashya's question of what team he was on. He hadn't quite thought of a name yet. "Oh... well, we just actually joined the League, so you might not have heard of us yet. Yeah -- We are... um... the... uhh --" He racked his brain, trying to think of a name that hadn't already been taken. Just an animal... any animal. That seemed to be the trend. And then it hit him. He cleared his throat. "We are the Sparrowkeets. We still need a sponsor, but I'm sure someone is bound to pick us up with our skill." He said all of this with such grandeur.

Leta stared at Rakka for a long moment, before she let out a heavy sigh. She didn't know much about team names... but that, itself, made it sound like they would easily be defeated. Such a tiny bird is easily overcome. She shook her head slowly, before looking over to Bae, speaking softly as to not bring attention back to him for what he had said.

"I'm sorry if we offended you in some way. I'll gladly pay you a few yuans for your trouble," she said. The last thing she wanted, was to make a bad first impression immediately after arriving to the new city.

Ashya couldn't help but chuckle at the name Rakka had given her, "That's cute." she commented teasingly, catching only slightly of what Bael had said. She locked her eyes on him, narrowing them slightly. She didn't understand why there was so much anti-bending activist. Without bending a lot of jobs would be harder, and she hated how all benders were thrown into the 'bad' category because a couple became power hungry. She decided to leave him alone about it, because honestly she did not want to start out her first moments getting into an argument. She let out a small sigh as she followed them, carrying her bag at her side. "So what makes you guys want to go see the avatar?" she asked, glancing at all of them.

By "one of you people", Bast assumed Bael had meant foreigners and let it go, knowing some people just didn't understand other cultures. He'd learned quite a lot since sailing away from the snow, but apparently not quite enough about the goings on of Republic City. He saw the tension between Ashya and Baelfire, and was about to say something, but then the fire woman spoke. She mentioned the Avatar and the water tribesman's ears perked.

"I want to meet her; I really believe in the peaceful world the Avatars work at making." He was beaming with pleasure as he spoke of her.

Bae would gladly have gotten into an argument with Ashya but it was thwarted. Instead Leta took his attention, "I don't want your yuans. You're going to need them for the ship anyway." He seemed a little embarrassed, it was obvious that he felt a little awkward around girls. Still, they're marching along and it doesn't take them long before they're stopping in a touristy looking area, with a big banner that listed off the times and costs for trips out to air temple island.

He was about to announce that they had arrived, when he heard Bast speaking up. He's looking at the kid, and he's almost laughing, "You're joking right? Peaceful world?" Bast had to be kidding right? He's even looking around at the other benders in the group as if they were going to agree with him. What fantasy world was Bast living in?

"There is nothing wrong with hoping for a peaceful world," Leta said, glancing out over the waters. Though, she too was doubtful she would ever live to see one, but it gave some people hope. And that is what some people needed in this day and age.

She looked to her bag, making sure she still had her savings in her bag. It wasn't much, but it would hold her over until they starting making and saving money for the Pro-bending Tournament.

Rakka, gave a slight scoff, though it wasn't clear if he was giving it to Bae, or to Bast. He waved his hand in the air and pointed to the boat. "Let's go then. I would like to visit and leave. We have plenty that we have to do after this." Like finding an earth bender to be on their team, a water bending to teach Leta some offensive skills, finding enough yuans to enter the tournament... The list went on and on in his head and he shook it slightly, starting to feel a bit of frustration.

"Have you ever been to Air Temple Island?" Leta asked aloud to Rakka, and Bae both. They were both from this city, so she was a bit curious.

"No, not yet. I haven't been here long, and it was never on the top of my to-do list," Rakka would say with a shrug.

She looked towards Bast and smiled, "I believe that too Bast." she said, tucking her hair behind her ear. Ashya's attention was brought to Bael again, and she frowned at his outburst. "Not all benders are bad." she said, looking towards Bael. She narrowed her eyes slightly, "Just like not all non-benders are good." she said, a bit of spite in her voice. She let out a small sigh, knowing this wasn't going to make her friends. "Forget I said anything.." she said, turning to look around at all the banners and tours.

Bast looked visibly stunned by Baelfire's words, and then Ashya's rebuttal. He frowned deeply, unsure of what to make of it and he began to reason out loud. "Avatar Aang ended the Hundred Year War, and not all of those soldiers were fire benders; sure a bunch were, but regular people fought too. They thought that their nation was better than any other; that is, not to say that you guys aren't amazing people... but we are too. And to say non-benders are better than benders is like saying the Fire Nation is more important than the Earth Kindgom. Which is it not. These things seem to be cyclical.. "

His expression cleared then and he smiled at both Baelfire and Ashya, nodding to them both. "I believe Avatar Korra will sort this out peacefully and we will all be able to live among each other without regret or envy." Of course, the tribesman knew nothing of the true extent that the Equalists had gone.

Bae felt ganged up on, which was precisely the reason he didn't really like benders. They all stuck together, and they all refused to admit anything was wrong with the system. He'd glance at Leta, "No. I haven't. Why would I go? I'm not a bender." His attention is soon grabbed by Ashya, and he frowned at her, "Is that supposed to be some sort of dig at me? What are you going to do if I disagree? Burn me with your fire bending? I'd bet you'd love to do that." It seemed that he had a bit of a temper when provoked on this subject.

His eyes drift to Bast, "But it's okay to say that benders are better than non benders? You know why those regular people fought? Because they were frightened for their families, and their homes. Just like someone from the water tribe to blame everything on the fire nation. Keep your silly beliefs if it helps you sleep at night. Avatar Korra is no better than the rest of you. But I assume you all think it's okay to destroy an entire block of businesses and not pay for the damage. After all, the places she destroyed didn't belong to any bender merchants." With that, he's walking off, leaving them there. It shouldn't be too hard for them to book passage to air temple island on their own from here, he'd taken them to the exact spot the needed to be after all. Sadly, Baelfire didn't know the extremes to which the equalists had gone either, if he had, he might not be so eager to side with them.

"I don't understand why you're upset! I never said benders were better. I never even said I was a bender, you just guessed." Bast was frowning deeply, his brows knit together in confusion as he automatically started after Bael. It seemed almost likely that he hadn't seen the ship at all. "Did I do something to offend you? I want to make it better, I never meant anything to upset you!"

He was following Baelfire, holding his hand out to hopefully grab his friend's shoulder to stop him from leaving.

Baelfire didn't expect any of them to follow him, let alone to talk to him and try to reason. He'd turn to Bast when his shoulder was grabbed, and for a moment his expression was more hurt than angry, before it faded to something more neutral. "You're not a bender?" He seemed honestly baffled, "Why would you want to see the Avatar then? And if you're not a bender why are you sticking up for them? They'd probably sooner beat you up and take your money."

He really had a warped view of benders, for whatever reason. "Benders are not better than non benders, even though they all seem to think they are. That's why I like the equalists, they want to make things equal for everybody. The way it should be...the way this city was founded." He'd lowered his voice at the end, so it was for Bast's ears only, not the entire group.

Ashya had scoffed at Bael's outburst, turning her back to him and folding her arms. She had so many things to say, but knew it was better not to even let it out. It wouldn't be respectful because she was angry, and there would be no reasoning with her when she was angry.

She watched out of the corner of her eye as Bast chased after him, she knew she had lost her temper. She hadn't meant to sound like she thought she was better than anyone, nor had she meant to make it a dig at him. She had been putting them in equal standards, had she not? But she could see how she could have came off wrong and sighed.

She turned and followed Bast, and waited till they were done talking before approaching them. "Look I'm sorry, I may have come off wrong...I'm with the whole equal thing, I really am. I in no way think you are beneath me, it didn't even occur to me whether or not you were a bender or a non-bender. Anyways, I'm sorry for losing my temper and snapping at you, it was not intentional. It just feels like I'm being chastised for being born this way, it's not like I chose it..." she said, looking down.

Rakka just threw his hands behind his head and watched Bae and Bast leave. He didn't mind so much, since the first impression of both of them didn't sit well in his mind. But when Ashya left them as well, he let out a sigh. He looked over to Leta, who was looking at the boat schedule. She didn't seem to be paying much mind to what was happening around her.

"Well, I suppose we can leave without them. Let's go see the Avatar," Rakka said, making his way toward the docking area.

"We can't," Leta said, standing up straight and looking at him. Rakka would glance back at her with a questioning look. "The last boat just left for the day. We will have to wait until tomorrow."

Rakka flailed his arms over his head, before giving a loud sigh. "Damn it. Okay, fine. Let's get you some place to room then."

"I'm not staying with you?"

Rakka grew flustered and shook his head. "No way! That's all I need, is for my brothers to give me a hard time about having a girl stay with me. I don't think my parents would like that either." He looked to her as she turned, walking toward the others, before shaking his head, and following her.

Bast's face flushed slightly at Bael's change in attitude. He was about to answer his questions when Ashya came over and started to speak. Instead, he fell silent and watched the exchange.

Bae was confused by Bast's reaction, but he didn't have much time to say anything to him because Ashya was coming back over to them to apologize, which was...weird to him. Normally benders just took what they wanted and didn't apologize for anything. "And most of the time I feel the other way around. Stay in this city awhile, you'll see what I mean." With the bending gangs running rampant, and the police force not seeming to do much about it.

Bae is even more confused when Leta and Rakka rejoin the group, "I thought you were all going to see the avatar?" He'd used up most of his lunch break to take them to the right dock! Hopefully they were planning to make use of it!

Ashya nodded at Bae's response, it was fair enough, she knew not all benders were sunshine and flowers. She glanced over as Rakka and Leta joined back up with them, giving them both a small smile. She didn't have much time left to dilly dally, she needed to find a place to stay. She kept quiet though, letting the others finish their conversation since it looked like Bae was getting upset again. He looked like the type that needed to have some fun, to loosen up at bit.

Rakka stopped by the group, but seemed eager to continue on. "The boats seem to stop running around noon. Probably because the air benders do their rituals or whatever soon, so they don't want people bothering them. But that's fine. I'm going to set Leta with a place to sleep for a few days. Did you say you needed a place to sleep as well?" He would direct his question to Ashya.

Leta would look to Rakka and Ashya, and then to the other two. "It was nice to meet you all." She would give a slight nod of her head to them, thanking them for their time, before she would turn as Rakka would lead her off, Ashya too, if she wanted to follow.

Bast was left waiting with Bael as the other three conversed about living arrangements. Honestly, he had not made any for himself, but he was used to a very harsh landscape and sleeping outside in this city was going to be much easier than in the South Pole. Falu had made his way up to Bast's head and nestled among his dredlocks to watch the dock full of people.

"So... Baelfire; does your employer need a worker?" He offered a half grin to try and lighten the awkard situation they had just plowed through.