Horse Stance [Open]

[metalbent.livejournal.com]

There'd been so much to worry about, to run from, to fight against lately.

Toph wasn't one to poke her nose in and around politics, or complicated, grown-up social drama, or whatever it was that seemed to have plagued so many of her friends the past little while. The Nightmare King had been vanquished, they'd found and rescued Aang and beat the snot out of the guy who shot him, and as far as Toph was concerned, all was well.

Or about as well as it could be, considering she was on a ship, and nowhere near her home. There was plenty to think about, but she didn't know how. Katara and Sokka and even Aang now - all of them were infinitely older than she, with their own problems. They wouldn't want to confide in her. She was too young, too carefree, too ...whatever.

But she still had something: the ship had Earth; or Stacy could make something that felt like it, and so she was in one of the Sensoriums, which, this time, had been made to look like a miniature Great Divide, except without the bug creatures.

Plenty to play with.

She assumed her stance and started slow, levitating boulders, then roundhouse kicking them into the distance.

Destroying fake Earth? Great stress relief.

Comments

[grayaura.livejournal.com]

The last time Mai had actually seen Toph they'd been trying to hurt each other. Luckily, Mai didn't really care all that much. She watched Toph shoot a few boulders into the distance and then finally slipped inside, hands clasped behind her back. She didn't say anything yet. She just wanted to watch. She might as well try to see if the Avatar's friends were interesting.

[metalbent.livejournal.com]

Toph saw her coming. Mai had very quiet footsteps, but noticeable nonetheless. But she seemed to be staying out of the way, so Toph simply called out "Hi there!" and kept up her Earthbending, the boulders getting larger and larger as she progressed.

She wasn't too afraid. Since getting on the ship, everything had pretty much changed. The people who she'd fought against back home were now friends. Or at least weren't mortal enemies.

[grayaura.livejournal.com]

Mai watched in silence for a few more moments before finally replying. "...hey."

It was a bit odd, but Mai had gotten used to it by now. Besides, it wasn't like it had really been her fight in the first place. She'd gone along because of Azula. Here, there was no reason to fight. And they were from the same world anyway.

[metalbent.livejournal.com]

Toph stopped punching at the column she'd bent out of the ground to grin in Mai's general direction.

"You're Zuko's girlfriend, right?"

Toph: extra smooth.

[grayaura.livejournal.com]

Smooth like the craggy, rocky face of a mountainside! Oh, wait.

Mai shrugged. No use denying it and what did she care if people knew? "Yeah."

She paused for a moment, considering. She'd never been good at making "small talk". It irritated her. She much preferred scathing comments and dry indifference. So much easier. "...you're Toph."

At least she thought she was.

[metalbent.livejournal.com]

"Yep, that's me. So..." She kicked the ground idly, and a pillar rose up in the distance. "...what brings you here?"

[grayaura.livejournal.com]

"Nothing. Just bored."

Mai was always bored, so this wasn't precisely news. She watched the pillar for a moment before continuing.

"What about you?"

[metalbent.livejournal.com]

"Bored. Thinking about stuff."

Toph sat down on the ground with a pronounced thud and turned her eyes back in Mai's general direction.

"We've gone through an awful lot," she commented. Toph was a perceptive girl, but when she was perceiving herself, she found it very difficult to talk about it. "I mean, you probably didn't know us before. But... do you think we've changed?"

[grayaura.livejournal.com]

Mai felt a twinge of amusement as she watched and listened to the blind girl. Interesting, if only slightly. She took a few steps, arms firmly folded. "Are all of you going to be asking me for life advice? Katara wanted to know about how to handle her love-life."

She paused and then shrugged idly. She hadn't really known any of them before they arrived on the ship. She still didn't know them that well.

"...and how should I know?"

[metalbent.livejournal.com]

"Oh. She did? Huh."

Was she blushing? Maybe she was. She didn't normally open up this way, and she totally picked the wrong person, and --

Then she shrugged, backpedaling fiercely. "That's what I figured. Just thought I'd ask, in case you happened to know me or the others before."

A very pronounced silence fell, but then Toph broke it with: "You fight with knives, right? Do you have them here?"

Awkward situations can always be remedied with sparring, in Toph's world.

[grayaura.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. She did."

Mai didn't mention it was specifically because of her relationship with Zuko and perhaps because she was more 'experienced' with that sort of thing. Instead she simply circled idly for a moment, taking in the landscape. How dull. Nothing but rocks and dirt for miles.

"I didn't."

During the awkward silence, she quietly adjusted her hair slightly. She was used to awkward silences. She'd instigated them many times around the supper table. She glanced up at Toph's question about knives, one brow quirked curiously. "I always do. Why?"

[metalbent.livejournal.com]

"Well.. you said you were bored. Why don't we spar? You could throw at me and I could try to block it with Earth. Just don't try to hit me too hard."

[theregularguy.livejournal.com]

Sokka slouched quietly into the sensoriums, careful to keep clear of any flying rocks. Getting hit by Toph-propelled boulders, while fun (for her), wasn't really all that conductive to conversation. He meandered towards the girl, piping up as he got closer.

"Hey, Toph."

[metalbent.livejournal.com]

"Oh, hey Sokka!"

A boulder crashed within his proximity, and Toph grinned. "How are you?"

[theregularguy.livejournal.com]

"Okay. Better now that I, you know, got some sleep. And better now that Aang is okay. Kinda worried about Katara, though." He sighed and scratched his chin as the boulder smashed into the ground, his eyes on Toph.

[metalbent.livejournal.com]

"She's been acting extra motherly lately, but other than that, what's going on?" Toph brushed the dust off of her front and looked over at Sokka.

"Is she... okay?"

[sent-herself.livejournal.com]

Destroying fake Earth? Also amazing to Mulan.

"You MUST be a friend of Katara's."

Or from her world, but Mulan can't really picture anyone NOT being friends with Katara.

[metalbent.livejournal.com]

"Oh." Toph straightened, sensing the newcomer. "Yes. I am. I'm Toph. What's your name?"

She'd never seen the woman before in her life.

[sent-herself.livejournal.com]

"Fa Mulan." She bows, having not yet noticed Toph's blindness. "It's an honor to meet a friend of a friend."