Avatar: Scorching Earth // Not Accepting!

Kesuk raised an eyebrow when Zasi seemed a bit surprised at his request for assistance. She asked, "Wait, what? You want me to solve this?" Well, she was the peacemaker, wasn't she? It was only logical to ask for her advice. Although, he could understand her disbelief, since he normally wasn't the type to ask for such things. Or for anything. But he would readily admit that he had zero experience in the social aspect of life, and especially not in conflict resolution. And, up until now, he'd never wanted to experience either of those. But these were extreme circumstances, so Kesuk listened to her, trying to put the concepts together in his head while she explained everything. "She is one of us now," Zasi said. Us. There was an us? That made it sound like they were a close-knit group of friends. Were they? No, wrong question. Of course they weren't to him. But might the others consider the group as such? Yes, probably. Definitely. Lí did, apparently. Zasi, too. They were all...friends. Okay, think of it this way. He, Kesuk, had spent most of his time in the past couple days with Zasi. Lí had spent a considerable amount of it with Kyori. How would Kesuk feel if Lí offhandedly suggested they leave Zasi behind? Oh. Oh. So, Kyori must be to Lí as Zasi was to Kesuk. That is...friends. They were all friends. Of a sort. It was...logical, in a way. Somehow. Illogically logical.

Kesuk knew that Zasi was right. He never bothered to curb his words. Or rather, he often didn't realize that what he said might be harsh, as Zasi put it, and when he did realize, he didn't care. Well, it's not like he spoke a lot anyway. Zasi put a hand on his shoulder, and with his new comprehension of the idea that they were friends, Kesuk decided not to shrug it off like he might have earlier. He probably wouldn't end up going to terribly great lengths to watch what he said in future (after all, he was still himself, and he wasn't the kind of person who would waste time mincing words), but at the very least he could take into consideration the feelings of his friends.

"Okay," he said. "Okay. I think I get it. Let's go find Kyori." Kesuk strode off in the direction Lí had gone in.

Kyori stepped on something hard while on her way back toward the beach, and the sound echoed with a "clang" deeply below her feet. What's this? she thought, raising an eyebrow. Leaning down, Ky brushed the dirt away, exposing something metal beneath the surface. Hope quickly rose as she scrambled to her feet. Placing her hands out in front of her, Kyori used her bending to shift the earth and the large object slowly uncovered itself, kicking up sand and dust in the process. She ran to it, sputtering a cough, and grabbed the edge resting against the ground in attempt to flip it over. With quite a bit of effort and a deep "boom," it landed top up and revealed four wooden oars inside. Yes, a boat! While small, it was big enough to help her and the rest of the benders flee from the island. Ky quickly brushed off the sandy sides, uncovering an Earth Kingdom symbol. It must have belonged to a refugee who fled from the Earth Kingdom. It was too heavy to drag back to the beach by herself, but she didn't want to abandon it in fear of other fleeing refugees -- or soldiers -- find it. "Guys?" she spoke up, but not too loudly, in hopes they were near.

Within about 30 seconds of stomping of Lí cooled down enough to see that he might've been a little over-dramatic back on the beach... and to realize that yelling at the top of his lungs on an island full of Fire Nation soldiers was probably not very smart. He dropped his voice so that it couldn't be heard beyond the vicinity around him and began looking for signs of a human that passed through in the area. Lí didn't pick up on any signs, but after a few minutes, he thought he heard a voice calling out nearby. Heading in that direction, he heard it again: Kyori's voice calling "Hey guys!" He made his way toward her voice to see her standing over some sort of metal row boat that looked just big enough to fit eight or so people without capsizing. "Woah. Was this just lying here?" he asked. If this boat was fair game and the benders could get it to the beach, it could be their ticket off the island.

Zasi followed Kesuk as they made their way through the smoldering forest, looking for Kyori. She was nervous. After all, they were walking back into the forest that was most likely full of firebenders. Lí had walked off before them and Zasi hoped that he had found Ky. She didn't like everyone being separated. She was getting jumpy. As if on cue she heard a voice not far away. Startled, she grabbed Kesuk's arm tightly. Zasi recognized the voice. It was Kyori calling for them. As soon as she knew who the voice belonged to she let go of the waterbender's arm. Jogging to reach Kyori (and hopefully Lí), she smiled when she saw them both. She noticed the metal object and gasped. It was a boat. They were going to be able to- She stopped herself.They couldn't get excited just yet. "This has to belong to someone. What if they are still alive?"

(it's waayyy short, but WE NEED OFF THIS ISLAND)

"Their loss," Kyori said without any thought whatsoever. "Whoever it did belong to, they should have retrieved it by now if they wanted it. Or, they're probably dead, seeing as they haven't come looking for it to flee the island with." Dropping the conversation, Ky motioned towards the boat with her left hand. "Let's get it to the beach -- I bet we can push it if we all pitch in."

Seijin watched as Li passed her and went into the forest calling Kyori's name. She facepalmed. He could've let the whole island know where they were! Luckily he realized and quieted down. She hurried after him, carefully listening and watching around her for Kyori. She glanced over at Li, who seemed to have heard something, and continued to follow him. Low and behold, there she was! With a boat too! Okay this is a lot better than our other planshe thought to herself. Hopefully it would be able to hold all of them.

Seijin gave Zasi a very questioning look. She understood Zasi's concern, but at the same time the boat had been covered for sometime, and so no one was probably planning on using it anytime soon anyway. This was their best bet. Seijin didn't have time to give her two cents before Kyori changed the subject. Seijin nodded in agreement, and got into position to begin pushing. She put all her weight onto the boat, only moving half a foot. She wasn't that strong, Kyori was right, they would need to have some teamwork here.

(I ORIGINALLY wanted her to move it 1 inch but we really need to get this moving so iM SORRY she really isnt that strong )

Y O T E M \\ 19 \\ waterbender \\ tags; The lonely boat, Zasi, and the crew
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Yotem stood at the edge of the forest, which opened up to a beach. Although the rest of the group was just ahead of him he did not go up to them. He was a bit too weak from all the fighting and needed some time to gather his strength. Yotem closed his eyes and focused on breathing in order to calm his speeding heartbeat. The fighting between the firebenders may have been over, but the battle was not yet won as he and the other benders were still on the island. Yotem could not give up now, or else all of what he done would have been for nothing. He clenched his free hand into a fist while trying not to remember what had just ensued. The screams were now just a distant echo in his ears. Yotem opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and pushed himself away from the tree, heading onto the beach in order to leave the chaos behind them.

Yotem slowly trudged through the beach, kicking up sand as he dragged his feet. He walked in halfway through the conversation between the benders. They were discussing plans on how to escape. As he listened to their conversations, he noticed they were down a person. Kyori had disappeared. The rest of the group noticed as well because Li pointed it out to them. Where did she run off to? Yotem didn’t know why he cared about Kyori or the rest of them. But he needed a way out, and they were his best shot. Yotem suddenly felt tension between those talking and saw it escalate with an outburst from Li. He would not leave her behind. Yotem was a bit annoyed; he was just wasting time they did not have looking for someone who was probably dead. But Li was persistent and walked off to find Kyori. Zasi and Kesuk spoke before going after Li, and Seijin looked quite frustrated and annoyed at Li before walking off. Yotem decided to follow them to look for Kyori.

As he trailed behind, he heard a voice that called out to them. It was Kyori’s. Everyone rushed over, with Yotem making hasten to catch up. Laying before their eyes was a large metal boat which could fit quite a lot of people. A way out. He turned to Zasi as she piped in, wondering if it was right to take something so precious away from someone who needed it. Kyori did not seem to care who it belonged to; they left it so now it belongs to the group. Yotem made his way closer to the boat, and as he did he muttered something to Zasi. “Who cares if this belonged to someone else? We found it so it ours", he retorted. "Besides, our lives are more important than those useless beings on the island?”,referring to the refugees as nothing more than things taking up space. Yotem survived and he did not ever want to to give up his life for someone who had no chance to survive. He could not understand why those she did not know were so important or worthwhile. He took his time to come up to the boat, huffing as he was still weak from battle. “Tell me what I need to do in order to get this boat moving and leave this forsaken place” he said.

In the span of time that he had taken to try and figure out what to do next, the group had moved beyond where they had first gathered, searching for Kyori--the Earthbender. Kohaku worried his lip as he trailed behind them, keeping a careful distance between him and Yotem, the furthest away from the group. By the time he arrived at the other end of the beach, searching for Kyori was no longer the priority--she had been found with a boat--and their next dilemma was the morality of taking said boat off the island without the owner's permission. Kohaku stood by in slight disbelief, wondering how this was even a discussion. Then again, he had spent his entire life stealing what he needed to survive--perhaps his sense of morality was a bit more off center than he thought it was. But the rest of the group seemed to agree as each pointed out to the Airbender that their survival was much more important than whoever the boat belonged to. Perhaps he wouldn't have phrased it exactly like that, but Kohaku had to agree.

Kohaku glanced around the island again, letting out a small sigh. Ultimately, it seemed if he wanted to leave the island alive, he would have to rely on the goodwill of the refugees. Given any other circumstance, he would have done what he did best--stowaway, but the boat was much too small to be discreet. Kohaku waited for the waterbender to finish his statement before taking a deep breath, ready for his request to be met with violent backlash.

"Could I possibly... help?" he asked hesitantly, glancing nervously at the refugees that seemed to be the most likely to refuse him, "I'll be out of your way once we're anywhere else--but I'd like to help until then and if it's acceptable, er--" he gestured to the boat feebly, "Get off this island... as well."

Zasi couldn't hide the shock on her face as Kyori completely shut down her thoughts. The earthbender did make sense though. There was no guarantee that the owner of this boat was still alive. She gave a small nod. Seijin seemed to be thinking the same thing that Kyori was, judging from the look Zasi had received. She understood that it was unlikely anyone else would make it to the boat. Just as she was about to agree to help move the boat, Yotem added to the conversation. 'Who cares if this belonged to someone else? .... Besides, our lives are more important than those useless beings on the island?' Zasi felt her jaw go slack. She couldn't believe what he had just said. Those were innocent people who were being killed! She felt her cheeks get hot, but it wasn't from being bashful. She was getting upset. She had never felt this way before. It felt as if her blood was boiling. "Are you kidding me? Those 'useless beings' are just like you! People who lost everything, now up to and including their own lives. You want to tell me that we are more important than them?!"

Zasi heard her voice rising, but she didn't care. She had never been as infuriated as she was right now. He had no right to act as though the refugees were of a lower stature. She let out a huff of air. "And for the record I care about who it belonged to." She took in a deep breath as she felt tears beginning to form in her eyes. Turning away from Yotem, she tried to hold her posture. She couldn't be breaking down like this. Not when they were in danger still.

(Poor thing q _ p Also I didn't mean to have Zasi ignore Kohaku!)

Lí started to feel a bit indignant at Kyori's harsh words about the boat's previous owners, but then, it wasn't the time for sensitivity. He'd realized that on his way into the woods. Only slightly grudgingly, Lí prepared himself to help move this boat as he heard Yotem say something under his breath to Zasi in response to her inquires about the boat's owner. He couldn't make out the words, but he could hear that they were laced with disgust. When Zasi angrily retorted something about 'useless beings' and 'who it belonged to,' Lí thought he got the idea of what Yotem had said. But how could he have actually said that??? Taking a step towards Yotem, Lí said, "Ok, I was on board with using this boat, because it doesn't seem like anyone was coming for it." Then his voice began to rise, and his eyes narrowed. "But if you think for ONE SECOND that you, or me, or Zasi, or ANY of us, are inherently worth more than the other refugees on this island, then you need to seriously rethink your mindset, and maybe who you're fighting with. Watch what you say." Lí didn't try to hide the threatening edge that crept into his tone by his last sentence.