A Very Cold Landing

The ship pulled up to the harbor slowly and huffed to a stop. The gangplank dropped, and Yi Lin Sung stepped down it and onto the dock. There was a light dusting of snow, and the fire nation firebender was a little less than at home. He sighed to himself, shifting his weight and folding his arms over his chest. Nearby, a very savvy and unbelievably well placed merchant held a parka up to him, grinning at his luck in finding someone stupid enough to come to the South Pole without proper whether protection. Sifting through his coinpurse, Lin dropped some money into the man's hands in exchange for the coat, some warm pants, a pair of thick socks, some mittens, and a pair of boots. After ducking into a public restroom for a moment, he emerged fully dressed against the cold.

The walk through the tribe's veritable city was much more interesting than Lin had expected it to be. The craftsmanship of the buildings was exquisite, and he took his time picking his way through, looking at each one in turn. Eventually, he left the area around the dock, which boomed with the activity of visitors and tourists, and managed to meander his way more into the residential district. By now, he wasn't quite sure where he was going. He was just walking to walk. Perhaps he was hoping to trip over a giant sack of money, as at the moment he'd need it if he would want to sleep under a roof and eat all in the same 24 hour span.

*Click, click, clack*

The odd sound drew his eyes to the side of a house. Outside, a positively ancient woman knelt by a hatch in the side of her chimney. She was futzing with a flint and steel over a bunch of kindling, but no sparks were coming. She didn't seem to be having much success whatsoever, but she kept at it anyway.

"Let me help you with that." He walked over to her and knelt down beside her. When she offered, he took the two and started knocking them together. The day was cold, however, and they just weren't sparking the way they should be. With a quick glance to the side, he coughed and knocked them together once more, twitching his finger beneath his mitten he sent a spark to light the kindling ablaze. He smiled at the woman and handed back the tools to her. He then bowed slightly and turned, heading off down the road again.

"Get him, Atka."

"Yeah, show 'im who runs this place!" Teenagers and children seem to live by an unspoken code that dictated the hierarchy of being a minor. It determined the kind of friends you had. The food you ate. And even the clothes you wore. And for some, the fights you would fight. Even if he was a healer's student, Atka was no exception to this rule. He would fight dirty, clean, it didn't matter to him. What mattered was his status. He was the son of a fallen warrior and a healer, his parents had a standing within his people's culture. For someone to simply stand up to him and challenge him was unheard of to the young tribesman.


So, he taught him a lesson. This time, he was fair, the kid was a little soft and he appeared to be on the small side, he didn't use his bending out of principal. Instead, he offered his large fists as a type of consolation prize. With his boots firmly planted in the snow, the other boy threw the first punch; an uppercut. Atka quickly retaliated, as if the punch didn't hurt him at all. He said nothing as he threw his heavy hands into the boy's stomach and mouth, making a popping noise as a few of his baby teeth fell out. The made the other children gather around and jeer some more.

Another swing, this time, the other boy missed. Atka was cruel with his hand and struck the final blow, quickly ending the fight as soon as it was started. The other boy, defeated limped away along with his friends as he muttered something about 'getting back at Atka'. Atka's 'friends', oohed and aahed as the other boy hissed his threat, "You gonna let him get away with that?", Atka said nothing and walked away.

--

It was really just another afternoon in the city.

It was the same snow. The same children he went to school with. He didn't mind his family, but unlike his brothers and sister, they were all allowed to leave and 'sow their wild oats' so to speak. Now, it was just him, Koko (his mother), and, "Neemu! -whistle-" like a of wave of fresh snow, came Neemu, Atka's beloved pet polarbeardog, a gift from his sister. She greeted him with a slobbering lick or two on his face as she helped him up. He wanted to do so gently since it was recently discovered that she was pregnant, but she seemed to be eager to drive him home since she began to run as soon as he landed on her back.

"Easy, girl, easy!" the animal was strong and fast, the rest of the city seemed to be a blur to them. The smell of food, the cacophony of people talking and merchants trying to sell their goods swam around them as they rode across his home. Their home. Neemu's charge soon turned into a soft gallop as they reached the small bundle of huts and igloos that consisted of Atka's neighborhood. Up ahead, he noticed a strange looking man who seemed not fit. His skin was too pale, even to be from the foggy swamp tribes. He needed to take a closer look.

Steering Neemu along, he had her ease into a small walk until he was side by side to the stranger.

Looking him over once and twice, he decided to speak, "Hey." he's really said to anyone today, besides his mother, of course. [b]"You know, I couldn't but notice, but I haven't seen you around here. Where are you from?

Though Lin had taken on quite a tan, upon seeing the boy's darker natural skin color he realized just how much he must be sticking out. This boy (and his enormous pet) seemed curious about him. He smiled a little bit, remembering back to his homeland.

"I'm from..." He paused, thinking it through. "I'm from up north." He shrugged. It wasn't that he felt like keeping secrets, it was that he didn't want to think of home at the moment. He missed it, surely, but he hadn't been back there since his release from prison. He gave a sidelong glance to the boy, slowly realizing that he was at the south pole and, well, EVERYONE who visited here was from up north. He hoped it would pass without much thought, or at least that it would go by as a joke. A joke would be good.

As he walked, he pushed his left hand into his pocket. It burned slightly, as he wore the mitten on top of a glove, and now that it was in his pocket it felt almost uncomfortably warm. Still, for some reason, he left it in there. Somehow it still felt exposed to him. Somehow.

He small sound in his throat that could only be described as a sort of laugh. The man was funny, Atka gave him that. But the boy wasn't dumb. Anyone who visited the South Pole obviously came from the North. It really wasn't new information. and he wanted to pull more out of the older man, but he decided against it.

He should be nice. There was no fun in bullying adults, after all.

"The north, hm?" he nodded, Neemu's tail wagged in response as she sauntered along side the new stranger.

"Well welcome to the Southern Water Tribe! My name's Atka and my mother's one of the best healer's here. If you need any medicine or some food, you can just ask for Koko, which my mom's name."

The man, while he did look a bit odd compared to himself, seemed to be nice enough. He decided it wouldn't hurt for him to be nice, as well.

Lin turned his gaze to the boy. "Thank you, I'll be sure to do that." Being a wanderer, the offer of food was never one to be turned down. He stopped and turned, bowing politely. [color=darkred]"My name is Lin Sung. I'm a traveler, originally from Vermilion City. I figured if you were going to invite me into your home, I'd at least tell you my name, and a little information on me."[/darkred] He bowed slightly, respectively. Honestly, ever since his travels began to take him towards water tribe territory, the prejudice between benders and nations that still persisted throughout the world had begun to concern him slightly. This thought had drawn him a little bit back into the the more hermit-ish side of the spectrum.

This boy, however, seemed nice. His mother sounded like a wonderful, welcoming person. And the polar bear dog hadn't tried to disembowel him yet. All of these he took as good signs, and so he was testing the waters. Firebenders tended to be pretty universally seen as rough or easily agitated. Trying to fix peoples' viewpoints rarely proved effective, so instead he simply attempted to keep his origins on the down low unless it was necessary. As for why he was starting to reveal this in the first place? He wasn't entirely sure...perhaps his mind just wanted to know what would happen if he pushed his luck a little bit.

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