Fire Lily Festival! (open! breaking the ice topic woo)

Flames danced around the open area filled to the brim with people moving from booth to booth in the midst of music on every corner. Today was the first day of the week long Fire Festival held every year. Shows and concerts were scheduled almost every hour on the stage that was built in the middle of the plaza while all sorts of food booths, mini games and souvenirs decorated the streets. Streamers festooned the light posts and lit up almost the entire city. It was a beautiful festival and the clear sky above made it the perfect night for all sorts of festivities.

Ringa had just made it into the city when the parties had begun. It was absolutely gorgeous walking in and seeing the assortment of colors and the amount of people with smiles on their faces. She couldn't take her eyes off of the scenery around her and had almost bumped into at least four or five different people on her way through the streets. It was so different from the Southern Water Tribe. There were colors and a warm beauty that she couldn't have fathomed until she got here. She also couldn't care less how she stuck out like a sore thumb in her water tribe outfit among all of the red Fire Nation. "This is so amazing!" she said to no one as she walked around, her eyes gleaming as she turned around and quickly backed into someone. With a sharp gasp of immediate regret she turned around with an apologetic look. "O-Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"

The Fire Lily Festival was one of the great reasons to live in the Fire Nation. Kaida smiled as she moved around the crowd, a lone figure lost in a mass of forgettable faces as she attempted to decide on what to do first. Such a joyous occasion...It was easy to forget any worries that one may have amidst this time of high-energy. With ease, she slipped between any gaps in the crowd that was presented to her, that was until a person backed into her. She easily caught herself, turning in surprise to see a girl in a strange outfit apologizing to her. However, her moment of surprise quickly faded as she grinned widely at the girl. "Its fine," she chirped with a smile, doing her best to speak loud enough to be heard over the chatter of the crowd but yet not seeming to loud to her new friend. Her eyes flickered as she studied the girl's outfit before she spoke once more. "Are you...From the water tribe?"

Aerden was leaning against a pole, looking through the crowd with his arms crossed. Big crowds weren't his thing, but not even a lot of people would keep him from enjoying the Fire Lily Festival. Scanning the crowds, he noticed an obvious Waterbender backpedaling into someone. Shrugging, he decided that was where he wanted to be. Pushing his way through some people, with some angry grumbling coming from them, he made his way to the two. "Is this your first Fire Lily Festival?" he asked the Waterbender. "The name's Aerden." he said with a half-hearted grin.

It was packed. That was the biggest thing Torano noticed as he tried to walk through the packed streets of the Fire Nation city, looking for someone familiar. He had arrived with a bunch of other Water Tribe people but they had all dispersed among the crowd, losing him without hesitation. Torano had never been to the Fire Lily Festival. He hadn't even ever been outside of the Southern Water Tribe, so going as far as the Fire Nation was very different. It was also very warm. At least, much warmer than the South Pole. He wore his usual Water Tribe clothing, but had striped down several layers so it was a simple tank top instead of his big, fluffy coat.

He missed his big, fluffy coat.

Walking through the crowd - more like shoving (there were no crowds in the south) - Torano tried to find a familiar face and instantly spotted the blue in a sea of red. Making his way toward the color, he noticed the person wearing the blue was actually a familiar face. And she was with two other people of the fire nation. He didn't realize this until he was right up with them and then froze, terrified of two strangers in a nation he didn't know. He hadn't heard the start of the conversation so he had kind of intruded. "Uh, hi. Sorry if I interrupted." He said warily, looking around at the three.

Vibrant colors of red, orange, and yellow filled the sky, murmurings of a crowd could be heard a distance away. Not far away there was a hill overlooking the festival, on a tall oval-ish rock sat a lone fire bender. His grey eyes peered over the town as it was as lively as ever. The annual Fire Lily Festival was taking place, his favorite time of year. Rokko fumbled with a few crumbs of rock in his hands, the dust covering his dark pants. A small flame erupted from his palm engulfing the rock, charring it completely.

Satisfied with his work, the fire bender swiftly hopped off the rock and brushed off his pants. He began making his way down the hill with a steady pace. Within a few minutes the bright lights, crowds of people, and familiar smells surrounded him. A smile formed on Rokko’s face as he was trying to determine where to stop first. The dark haired bender had on casual clothing consisting of maroon pants and shirt, and a dark redish-black robe with a gold trim, all held together with a robe-belt. His hair was pulled back into a traditional fire nation knot, with a few strands of hair falling loosely onto his face.

A brightly lit booth caught Rokko's eyes as he quickly made his way over. The smell growing more intense as he got closer. ”One basket of flaming fire flakes please” Excitement danced in his eyes as he was handed the fresh basket. Rokko spun around on his heels, a giant smile on his face, ’Where to next?’

A hand tugged on Ringa's clothes gently. A short child stood next to the older of the two. "Can we get food?" The girl asked, her voice was light almost as a bird. Brown doe eyes looked up at the other waterbender. Then they looked over at the dish that a firebender had in his hand. They appeared to be flaming fire flakes. And little ol' Rilo wanted a snack.

The young girl was not afraid of the strangers, her eyes danced with the music, skirting around from one thing to another. Her eyes taking in the bright colors, the smell of the freshly baked foods, and warmth that was never found in the Water Tribe. While the girl liked the cold, the heat didn't seem too bad either. That being said, the people there didn't seem to treat her like anything but a child. And she was not a child.

The frustration was hidden behind a puppy look, begging for a festival snack.

Her gaze fell to the ground for just a moment as the Fire Nation girl she ran into asked if she was from the water tribe. "Oh, yeah!" she said with a smile as she tucked her hair behind her ear. "I guess you're from around here." She wanted to say more but suddenly another person approach. Turning her attention to the boy, Ringa's eyes suddenly lit up. "Oh, Torano! Hi!" she grinned. "You're not interrupting anything! I was just apologizing to, um..." She looked to the girl for some kind of name before she felt the tug on her clothes. Looking down at Rilo, she smiled again. "Of course! It should be free for the festival. If you want to go grab something real fast, I can watch you from here!" She didn't want to leave the young girl alone but she didn't want to leave so suddenly either.