Republic City

Rakka gave a pouty look toward Bael when he was told to chill out. Of course, he didn't expect the male to understand. Not for the fact that he wasn't a bender, but because this was Rakka's one chance to prove himself. To his family, to his friends, and to himself. He would just sigh, shaking his head as he looked to Leta.

"I'll pass on noodles... I'm sure my mo--" he stopped and glanced away from the others. "I'm sure I've got something at home I can scrounge together."

Leta finished her bowl, and looked around to Rakka. "We can head toward the Arena after we find a room for me... I think I can learn a lot by watching a match." Rakka would look at her and give a nod of his head. He would give a glance to Bast. "If you wanna go to the tournament, I'd be happy to get you in. You can meet us outside the arena in... about an hour, okay?"

Bast's face lit up when Bael bought him noodles and Falu tried to dive in them once again. The water tribesman sat right where he was standing, crossing his legs beneath him to cradle the bowl of noodle. He shoved the dried meat away and clapped his hands together to thank Bael.

"I will pay you back for every kindness you show me, promise. Thank you so much!" And then his mouth was full of noodles. If it was one thing Bast did well, it was eat. He pulled out one full length noodle for Falu and the polar rat ran circles out of joy, then hunkered down to munch the noodle.

Bast looked to Rakka and Leta with wide, exuberant eyes... and a mouth full of half chewed noodles. "I don't know where I am going, but I'm sure I can find it."

Baelfire was just quietly eating his own noodles, listening to them. "I'll write you directions. Even a kid could follow them. Just stay away from any people you don't know." Bael was pretty sure Bast was going to get himself killed wandering around this city alone. Other than that, he's just finishing his own bowl of noodles, "They can take care of that and I can show you where my place is."

Bael wasn't worried about Bast going to the tournament, how rough could it be?

Rakka nodded his head, glad that Bael was deciding to cooperate a little bit by agreeing to give Bast some form of directions. He supposed that things could still turn out pretty good today. He glanced at Leta, who gave a ready nod. He gave a quick wave to the other two.

"Stay out of trouble! Okay?" he laughed, before taking Leta by the hand to lead her away; since she had decided to become distracted by Falu.

She followed behind him quietly, and Rakka decided to point that out, as they made their way down the sidewalk. "You don't really talk much, do you? I thought it was because you were around your people, but you didn't even show much excitement for being in a new city."

"Sorry," Leta said quietly, watching as he finally decided to let go of her hand, and rub the back of his head. "It isn't a big deal really."

They would stop in front of an inn called the Majestic Mountain. They would go in, to set up a room for Leta.

He was content to wave good bye to his friend while he slurped up the rest of his noodles. Falu had tried to weasel some more food from Leta, but she was pulled away before he got anything. Chittering with aggravation, he hopped up Bast's arm to navigate his way into the man's hood. Bast chuckled as the little mouse tickled and finished his bowl.

Getting to his feet, he grabbed his things to wait for Baelfire. "You know, you're really a very nice person." He gave that childlike smile.

Bael would throw away his bowl and spoon when he was done eating, and he'd wait for Bast to say goodbye to his friends. "I'm not nice." He'd motion for Bast to follow, "This way." He'll lead him along, "Look, you're new in town, so I'm going to tell you, stay away from downtown. Avoid the triads, you'll just get into trouble." He could imagine them beating up Bast for money he didn't have, and he doubted if the kid knew any chiblocking moves.

It wouldn't take them too long to get to his place, it was modest, one room with a very small kitchenette and a bed with a small nightstand next to it that held a lamp and a small radio on top. There was a rug on the floor and curtains covering the windows, both just plain red, and that was it for decorations. "You can sleep on the floor." His nice-ness doesn't extend to giving up his bed. He'll go to the nightstand and he'll pull some paper and a pencil from the drawer, writing out instructions on how to get to the bending arena.

Rakka was on his way to his home, Leta following close behind. She had somehow convinced him to let her come along to her house, but not before changing her clothes a bit. The fur coat was nice for colder temperatures, but here, it was fairly warm. She settled for the under layers of her coat, to keep her a little cooler, showing off her form a bit more, though it wasn't exceptional to say the least.

He lead her down a row of houses, stopping at a fairly nice one, built with wood and stone, and he quietly made his way up the steps to the front door, pushing it open quietly and peering inside. No one seemed to be around, and he let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay, now be quiet..." he told Leta, who nodded her head in a bit of confusion. She followed behind him as he entered the house, and made it about two steps up the staircase when a shout was heard behind them.

"RAKKA! WHERE ON EARTH HAVE YOU BEEN?" came a shout from a woman; her voice making their ears ring.

Rakka turned around quickly, standing up straight as he looked at his mother. "I just... I went on a little trip -- to the Northern Water Tribe..."

"The NORTHERN Water Tribe?!" the woman yelled again, and she was now close enough for Leta to see that she had soft features on her face, despite her angry appearance. Rakka resembled her quite a bit. "Don't tell me you went looking for a water bend--"

She stopped, looking at Leta, who quietly looked back. Apparently... Rakka had left without telling anyone where he was going, and that made this all a bit awkward.

"Rakka! Oh, she is adorable! She's not really a fighter is she?" his mother said, embracing Leta in a hug, who then struggled for air.

"Mom... stop! She's interested in joining the team, so I'm just taking her to the Tournament tonight."

"Oh, that's right! Your brother is playing tonight -- against the Avatar! It is so exciting!" The woman was nearly giddy now, completely the opposite of what she had been just a few moments ago.

"Oh... That's great. Glad he made it so far..." Rakka said, sounding less enthused. His brother always seemed to be a thousand steps ahead of him. What was it now, if he became a Pro Bender and made it to the tournament next year? His brother would have already done all that.

"Hey, well, now that you know I'm back, I'm gonna go ahead and get over to the Arena, okay? I want to show Leta around a bit." He grabbed Leta by the arm, pulling her from his mother, and leading her out.

"Okay! You two have fun!" his mother waved after him.

Rakka grumbled lightly as he stomped down the sidewalk, leaving Leta to wonder just what had upset him.

"Did you want to join the Pro Bending Tournament... to best your brother?" she asked softly, nearly reading him like a book.

"Don't be ridiculous!" he said. "I'm already better than him!" He continued to fume silently toward the Arena.

Bast was more than happy to receive floor space as a bed. He chose whatever corner was free for him to lay down his bag, pull out the bed roll within it and flatten it on the ground. The city was warmer than he expected and he shrugged off the heavy over coat he had been wearing. Underneath, he had on something similar to a sleeveless tunic. He carefully folded his jacket and placed it back in with his things. Once his bed had been set up, he looked to Bael.

"You really don't want to go?"

Bael would fold up the instructions and toss them to Bast before flopping back onto his bed. "I really don't want to go. I think it's stupid, watching benders be elitist fools." Okay Bael, we get it, you have a hate of Benders. "Have fun though." He's quiet a moment, "Tell Leta I said hi." Just Leta, not Rakka.

He'd roll over and he'd pull a key out of the drawer before tossing that to Bast too, "So you can get back in. Don't lose it. I'd really rather not be robbed." Not like there was much to rob, but still. He's entirely serious about staying here, Bast isn't going to be able to make him go.

Rakka stopped in front of the Arena, watching the people go in. He tapped his foot, and watched as Leta looked at the passerbys with interest. This was the first time he had seen her actually show interest in something about this city. The way people were dressed was far different than what she was used to up North. He shook his head and smiled, looking out toward the crowds, hoping to find Bast soon. He didn't want to wait long, because they might lose out on a good seat.

"Rakka!" came a shout behind him. He turned to see a male, with messy brown hair and dark eyes. "I'm glad you could make it! Mom was worried, you know."

"Zhao," Rakka said, before being taking under his brother's arm and his hair being rubbed roughly. "Why aren't you in there?"

"I'm back up for Shaozu. If he gets hurt, then I play." Zhao pushed him away and grinned. He looked at Leta, who was still looking at a woman's short dress. "Ah, is she the water bender you brought back? She's cute!"

Leta immediately turned her attention to the brothers now, because she was being spoken about. She watched them both carefully.

"Ah, yeah... I guess," Rakka said, trying to shoo his brother away. "We'll meet you inside, okay?"

Zhao gave a wave to them both and made his way inside, leaving Leta curious, and Rakka looking flustered.

He had bid farewell to Bael after his friend had told him for sure that he did not wish to go. Bast still couldn't understand why Baelfire felt such strong distaste toward benders... If the man could draw better than Bast and there was some sort of contest for that, Bast wouldn't think of it as elitist or showing off. It was just putting to use your natural skills... But he shook his head clear of those thoughts; apparently a lot people thought that way.

Once he was outside, Bast unfolded the map, made sure it was right side up then followed it to the Arena. He had several issues of not stopping for cars and almost being hit, but somehow he had managed to get there alive. Street lights and signals really meant nothing to him; how could Bael let him go alone?

Bast arrived to the outskirts of the Arena just as Rakka's brother showed up. He found his friends as Zhao was leaving and waved exuberantly. "Hi guys!" He trotted up to the pair and gave them both a hug. "Sorry it took so long, I had a lot of people yelling at me on the way. I had to stop and apologize to all of them." He smiled and planted his hands on his hips.

"Oh and Leta, Bael says hi."

Baelfire had issues, he was a strange kid. Bast is gone, and Bael's just going to flip on the radio to listen to something to pass the time. Quite a few stations are covering the match, so that's probably all he's got to listen to, too bad for him. So he's just going to lay in bed and listen to the match, not much else for him to do in his tiny apartment.

"Oh -- Bast," Rakka would say, as he was pulled into a hug. It was very awkward to be shown such affection from a male. But, that was definitely Bast; he had come to accept that. "Glad you could make it."

The fire bender would frown though, when Bast mentioned that Bael had wanted to say hi to Leta. He crossed his arms, and looked curiously to Leta's reaction.

The girl only looked at Bast for a long moment, almost as if she hadn't heard him. "That's nice," she said quietly, but her bland expression gave way just slightly, though it wasn't quite clear if it was a happy expression, or a confused one.

And that made Rakka frown deeper. "Okay! Let's just go find seats!" he said, turning on his heel and heading for the arena. The would enter the main gates, and enter in, making their way down the aisles that circled the arena.

"Front row, yes!" Rakka said, pointing to a little space up front. He quickly pulled the two with him and they would sit, just as the teams were introduced. The Fire Ferrets versus the Red Sands Rabaroos. And so the players came out...

"Wait, this isn't the finals. That isn't my brothers team. My mom is such an idiot," Rakka would say, rubbing his forehead. "I think the winner of this game goes on to the finals. That makes more sense."

"Is that the Avatar?" Leta would ask, pointing to the female with the blue waistband. And, indeed, she was introduced as Korra.

Bast was more than excited to see this game; he had never been to a city, never seen Satomobiles, never been to a gaming event. He was like a child in a candy shop; which he had never been to either. He followed Rakka and Leta and asked a million questions about the set up of the arena, how the game was played, how you won, what the players were like, when was Rakka going to play, how did the announcer speak so loudly... All before they got to their seats. Once they had, his questioning cam to an abrupt end as his eyes lit up. He stared at the avatar with a reverence most lacked.

"There she is... She's amazing."

Bael was still rattling around in his apartment while listening to the match. "Heh." He wondered if everyone was excited to see the avatar, since they'd all been so keen on going to see her before. He doesn't have much by the way of entertainment, so he decides to cook something even though he'd already eaten. Bast would probably be hungry when he got back anyway.

And so the tournament began. They watched as the players took to the arena, and the game began. They watched as each player took their roll, and Rakka was quite impressed with the skills the players had. He watched the fire benders especially, trying to study their movement.

"I mean, I could probably teach them a thing or two, but this is entertaining." He crossed his arms, smirking a bit.

Leta was leaning forward now, quite interested in the water bending aspect of the game. She really hadn't had a chance to see offensive water bending. And the fact that women were doing it really made her intent on learning. Maybe, for once, she could be different from the rest of her people.

Bast was also watching with interest, but mostly Korra. Her waterbending skills were phenomenal; but of course they were. She was from the water tribe to begin with. He catalogued all of her moves, trying to remember them for later when he would relive the match in his head.

"I think I could learn a couple things," He said absently in response to Rakka.

Rakka glanced to Bast, and almost laughed. He was really taken with Korra. He wondered what exactly the water bender was thinking. He wondered what Bast had really expected when he had seen the Avatar, and if she lived up to that expectation.

With watching the match, it was so intense and fun, that the game was over before they knew it. Maybe an hour had passed at the most, but Rakka doubted it have even been that long. He watched as the competitors left the arena, and then he would stand.

"So, Leta... Are you still interested in doing this?" he asked, as he stretched his muscles.

Leta stood as well, giving a quick nod of her head. She held out her hands, trying to mimick a move she had seen, but with no water, she wouldn't be able to tell if it would work or not. Rakka smiled, and looked back at Bast.

"Okay, lover boy. I think it is time to go. I'm sure Bael is just dying to see you again." Rakka took a hold of Bast by the arm for a brief moment to urge him to follow.

Bast looked away from the arena finally and to Rakka. "Oh, alright." He stood and waited behind his friends to exit the row of seating. "That was amazing. It looks like so much fun. I wish I could play, at least once." He was reveling in the moves he had just watched; how the bending teams moved as a unit of elements to battle their opponents. In a way they worked like an Avatar themselves; except, well there was no air bending.

"I wish I could have seen some airbending though, that would have made it complete."

Rakka stopped immediately when Bast said that he wanted to compete, at least once. "Well! You do remember I am trying to form a team right? If you know some offensive water bending, you could take Leta's place until she feels she is ready to compete! And who knows! You might even face the Avatar one time!" Rakka was definitely going to sell this to Bast. He had seen how infatuated he had been with Korra, so might as well use that to his advantage.

Leta looked back at him though, her expression seeming slightly hurt. But she didn't say anything.

"Come! I'll walk you back to Bael's place! We can talk more about you being a pro water bender," Rakka added, as they walked out onto the sidewalk.