Quoted By:
A couple of changes of clothes, your journals, a good snack, and a pair of… traditional weapons you brought all the way from home, just in case are what you take in the backpack that comes with you off the boat. You don’t think you’ll need the ‘traditional implements’ (you’re an earthbender anyway) but it’s no secret that Union City has garnered a bit of an unsavory reputation in the years since Avatar Aang stepped back from public life (then died), but that only holds true for some parts of the city. You also heard some of the other passengers talking about some new political movement (yuck) holding impromptu rallies all over the city, who aren’t particularly fond of benders. So you’ll try to steer clear of that, at least as best as you can, you really do want to explore Union City. Even Gaoling and Omashu don’t compare to the city, based on the view you got from the ocean liner as it crossed Yue Bay, and it really makes it clear that, even with all the recent development, Kyoshi Island is a backwater. Not that that fact will get you down, there was a reason you left to explore the big wide world, and what’s a better place to get started than the one place where all four Nations (and that includes the Air Acolytes!) come together.
You hand the porters that come to collect the rest of your things a roll of coins (probably too many, but you don’t want to be throwing money around while you’re here) before heading out onto the ocean liner’s deck. A crowd of people, mostly in the colors of the Earth Kingdom, flows towards the gangways leading off of the ship. You get a few glances, mostly from younger children, thanks to the lighter blue-green of your outfit and your light gray eyes making you stand out from the herd.
When it’s time to actually get off the ship, you’re disappointed to see what looks like a police escort waiting at the bottom of the gangway. A group of five men and one woman in slate gray jackets, pants, and peaked caps, adorned with gold buttons and carrying nightsticks at their sides.
Reaching the bottom of the gangway, you hold up your hands and sigh, “I don’t know who asked you to do this, if it was my dad or my grandfather but—” you cut yourself off when the group of police shoulder past you and move onto the second-class gangway, gathering up around a sweaty teenager dressed in Fire Nation blacks and reds. You fight down an embarrassed blush when you look around and see that seemingly nobody witnessed your faux pas.
>(1/2)
