I could not for the life of me figure out a way to get Toph to the south pole to find Aang’s iceberg. You almost got Toph the waterbender.
On a side note, I know absolutely nothing about homecoming courts, but three out of five requests isn’t half bad!
I could not for the life of me figure out a way to get Toph to the south pole to find Aang’s iceberg. You almost got Toph the waterbender.
On a side note, I know absolutely nothing about homecoming courts, but getting three out of five requests answered isn’t half bad!
The tunnels branched out in all directions under the Bei Fong estate. The earth moved with the girl as she wound her way through the passageways, steps certain in the absolute darkness. Dirt stuck to her bare feet, reluctant to leave her. She squished her toes in the solid rock, and the rock bent under them.
The tournament season was over. Even her covert fun was over for the year. All she had left were her tunnels and the earth itself. She punched the wall and tossed the boulder that flew out from hand to hand. This called for new tunnels, going further beyond the borders of her parents’ estate, out beyond Gaoling. This called for doing something her mother and father would never ever get to know about, even if she lived to be a hundred, and they lived until she was that old too.
She shoved the wall with both hands until the stone gave way. Dust puffed out from the crumbling stone and buried itself in her nightgown. She let it coat every bit of her, like a second skin, her real skin.
The earth yielded to her. It didn’t think she was helpless, and it always told her the truth.
She pounded the wall, just to feel the rock give way, and for a moment, she felt a strange sort of grief. If she ever needed to hit something solid, and know it wasn’t going to give way, to just feel the blow all the way up her arm, she had to hold her target in place.
And that didn’t seem fair.
She slammed her hands into the wall again and the rock split open, the embryonic tunnel slowly growing outwards. Hands met new wall in the soothing rhythm of her earthbending. The stone pushed back with her hands. Until she met something in the middle of the new wall that wouldn’t give. The rock around it fell away, and it dropped to the ground.
It was stone.
Toph poked it with her foot in bewilderment. Why hadn’t it given way? Stone always yielded to her. This stone wasn’t doing what it was supposed to!
The stone she couldn’t bend lay against the tunnel’s living rock and Toph knelt down next to it. It was so weird, lying there it felt almost like a small, heavy person.
But people were strange, blurry things when they weren’t made out of stone, shapes that she could only see because they touched the earth and affected it. But this person was earth. She traced her fingers over his nose and mouth, into the curve of his ear, down his arms, and over his fingernails. His clothing didn’t swing, but stayed stiff, frozen in folds and ripples. In frustration, she struck it with the heel of her hand and bent as hard as she knew how, furious at it for not acting like stone should.
It cracked. Toph ground her teeth. Great, she’d found some sort of weird mystery, and she’d broken it. Just-
Suddenly, inexplicably, a bit of it vanished. Left in its place was something lighter, something warmer. Something moving.
The tiny bit of it that had vanished was the hand. Only a thin layer of dust remained over the living hand, attached to the stone wrist.
Toph poked it’s palm. The fingers snapped closed just after she snatched her finger away. She heaved out a hard breath and pounded the heels of her hands up along the statue’s arms and chest, and into his legs and feet. The stone fell away. Slowly, and with each strike, a little more of the statue came to life, until she came to his face and he opened his eyes.
He blinked in drowsy, slow voice. "I need to ask you something.”
“Yeah?”
“Please... come closer.”
He was so small, like her, slight, and safe. She could fight him off. She could fight off anything. Toph leaned in. “Okay, ask.”
He grinned, and pulled himself up from the ground, voice suddenly fast and excited. “Will you ride the badger-moles with me?”
Toph stumbled back, into the tunnel wall. “Are you for real?”
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branchandroot
Toph is the one who finds Aang
Date: 2010-10-05 03:00 am (UTC)On a side note, I know absolutely nothing about homecoming courts, but three out of five requests isn’t half bad!
I could not for the life of me figure out a way to get Toph to the south pole to find Aang’s iceberg. You almost got Toph the waterbender.
On a side note, I know absolutely nothing about homecoming courts, but getting three out of five requests answered isn’t half bad!
The tunnels branched out in all directions under the Bei Fong estate. The earth moved with the girl as she wound her way through the passageways, steps certain in the absolute darkness. Dirt stuck to her bare feet, reluctant to leave her. She squished her toes in the solid rock, and the rock bent under them.
The tournament season was over. Even her covert fun was over for the year. All she had left were her tunnels and the earth itself. She punched the wall and tossed the boulder that flew out from hand to hand. This called for new tunnels, going further beyond the borders of her parents’ estate, out beyond Gaoling. This called for doing something her mother and father would never ever get to know about, even if she lived to be a hundred, and they lived until she was that old too.
She shoved the wall with both hands until the stone gave way. Dust puffed out from the crumbling stone and buried itself in her nightgown. She let it coat every bit of her, like a second skin, her real skin.
The earth yielded to her. It didn’t think she was helpless, and it always told her the truth.
She pounded the wall, just to feel the rock give way, and for a moment, she felt a strange sort of grief. If she ever needed to hit something solid, and know it wasn’t going to give way, to just feel the blow all the way up her arm, she had to hold her target in place.
And that didn’t seem fair.
She slammed her hands into the wall again and the rock split open, the embryonic tunnel slowly growing outwards. Hands met new wall in the soothing rhythm of her earthbending. The stone pushed back with her hands. Until she met something in the middle of the new wall that wouldn’t give. The rock around it fell away, and it dropped to the ground.
It was stone.
Toph poked it with her foot in bewilderment. Why hadn’t it given way? Stone always yielded to her. This stone wasn’t doing what it was supposed to!
The stone she couldn’t bend lay against the tunnel’s living rock and Toph knelt down next to it. It was so weird, lying there it felt almost like a small, heavy person.
But people were strange, blurry things when they weren’t made out of stone, shapes that she could only see because they touched the earth and affected it. But this person was earth. She traced her fingers over his nose and mouth, into the curve of his ear, down his arms, and over his fingernails. His clothing didn’t swing, but stayed stiff, frozen in folds and ripples. In frustration, she struck it with the heel of her hand and bent as hard as she knew how, furious at it for not acting like stone should.
It cracked. Toph ground her teeth. Great, she’d found some sort of weird mystery, and she’d broken it. Just-
Suddenly, inexplicably, a bit of it vanished. Left in its place was something lighter, something warmer. Something moving.
The tiny bit of it that had vanished was the hand. Only a thin layer of dust remained over the living hand, attached to the stone wrist.
Toph poked it’s palm. The fingers snapped closed just after she snatched her finger away. She heaved out a hard breath and pounded the heels of her hands up along the statue’s arms and chest, and into his legs and feet. The stone fell away. Slowly, and with each strike, a little more of the statue came to life, until she came to his face and he opened his eyes.
He blinked in drowsy, slow voice. "I need to ask you something.”
“Yeah?”
“Please... come closer.”
He was so small, like her, slight, and safe. She could fight him off. She could fight off anything. Toph leaned in. “Okay, ask.”
He grinned, and pulled himself up from the ground, voice suddenly fast and excited. “Will you ride the badger-moles with me?”
Toph stumbled back, into the tunnel wall. “Are you for real?”