[Day 210] open action | everything changed when the fire nation attacked

[tophgirl]

Who: Toph & you
Open: Open
When: 210
Where: By the onsen, near the bridge to the Skyway
What: Toph makes her way from the Skyway and to the Bastion.
Format: Prefer action, but I'll match.
Warnings: TBD

[Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

That's the first thought to cross Toph's mind when she wakes up to find the world different. Wrong. She can feel earth beneath her feet, but it doesn't feel anchored. She can feel where it ends, which shouldn't be possible. Yeah, she's the greatest earthbender in the history of ever, but even she can't feel all the way to the inside of the world.

Everything around her feels barren and broken, like the earth had when she'd gone to see where Ozai had fought Aang. Maybe His Royal Loserness broke out of prison and rallied the Fire Nation malcontents against Zuko. There had been a lot of people not happy with her promise of peace & harmony.

She wishes for a moment that she'd gone to the palace after running away from home again — or better yet, she wishes she'd never gone home in the first place. If something's happened to Zuko, then Aang and Katara are probably in trouble too. Not to mention Iroh. If Sokka remained in the South Pole, he's probably fine, but what if —

No time for what if's. Standing around with your head up your butt is what diplomats and advisors do. Nobody ever saved the world by standing around and thinking about it. She should know; she helped save the world. If she wants to help her friends, then first she's got to find them.

She makes her way carefully across increasingly unfamiliar terrain... terrain which doesn't behave like earth should, and that's probably the most frightening thing of all. She's always been able to rely on earth. Reliability is the essence of dirt. She finally comes to a bridge and, when she crosses, she feels civilization.]

People are a good start.

Comments

[tophgirl]

[Totally. That this their sole and only purpose in life.

Under most circumstances, Toph would have seen him coming. Not with her eyes, but something even more reliable — her bending. The Skyway bridge — indeed, this entire place — has her feeling a little seasick, and she doesn't register the fact that a person is hurtling towards her until the poor guy is sprawled on the ground. Toph, of course, is fine — her instinct is always to root herself in the ground; it would take a much stronger force than him to send her toppling over.

That doesn't make her any more sweet-tempered.]

Hey! Watch where you're going!

[bedheadstyle]

[It doesn't help that Haruka is a bit clumsy in his own right. Running in to anything rooted was likely to have him on the ground because he's just that much of a klutz.

Being yelled at for his mistake was expected, though, and he quickly puts himself in a position to apologize like he's begging for his life.]

I'm sorry! You're right, I wasn't watching where I was going! Please forgive me!

[Calm down, Haruka, you're not going to get murdered for bumping in to some one geez...]

[tophgirl]

[Wow. Okay. That was unexpected. While Toph is definitely the kind of person who would kick a guy while he's down if it suited her, right now it doesn't. (Besides, it really is more fun when they fight back.)]

Fine, whatever, I forgive you. Just get up and tell me where this place is.

[bedheadstyle]

[Yeaaaah not gonna get Haruka fighting back. He's kind of a pansy in that regard.

But that gets him back on his feet, dusting his pants off with his hands and putting his things back in the bag he'd been carrying.]

Oh, well. Uhm. It's called The Bastion. "Where"... some one else could probably answer that better than I can.

[tophgirl]

The Bastion. That sounds ominous. [She tries to figure out the best way to phrase her question.]

Why does the earth feel weird? [Okay, that probably makes zero sense to someone who isn't an earthbender, but there's seriously no other way she can think to describe it.]

[bedheadstyle]

Well, it's not really! It's a safe place! Everything else out there is really dangerous.

[Meaning the Skyway.

And no, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, so there is a confused headtilt at "feel" but he does manage an answer he hopes makes sense in return.]

It's kind of... floating. In the sky.

[tophgirl]

[They said the same thing about Ba Sing Se. Toph would take good, honest mortal peril over oppressive safety any day. But she doesn't bother debating such things with him; what he says next is sufficiently mind-boggling.]

What?

[bedheadstyle]

[At least here no one was forcing anyone to stay. It was just a stated fact: Bastion was safer than the Skyway.

Her reaction makes Haruka tense, and fumble for a way to explain it.]

It's... it's floating. In the sky. Something happened that threw all the land up here.

[tophgirl]

That's ridiculous! [He has to be lying. He has to be.]

[bedheadstyle]

[But he's not.]

I know it sounds crazy, I didn't believe it either! But it's true!

[tophgirl]

You're crazy. Haven't you ever heard of a little thing called gravity? Unless you've got a lot of earthbenders working full time, an island isn't just going to float in the air.

[bedheadstyle]

[Haruka has no idea what an earthbender is but--]

I know what gravity is. But this place defies all logic. Whatever happened to make everything ruined put this piece of land up here.

[He's not stupid, Toph. He knows it's impossible but he's also been here long enough to know that it's not some crazy dream.]

[tophgirl]

[Well, he's not lying — she can sense that much with her earthbending. (Count 1) So let's go with "crazy." She hasn't known this guy long enough to trust him.]

So what's this thing that happened?

[bedheadstyle]

[Haruka is the least crazy of his friends.]

I wasn't given all the details but apparently there was some war between two factions of people - the Ura and the Caelondians - and the Caelondians created a weapon that was accidentally fired and caused the destruction here.

I'm not sure how that affected our worlds as well, but it did.

[tophgirl]

[...........................yup. Definitely crazy.]

Right. And I'm a 10 foot tall purple platypus bear named Yoshi. [She ain't buying it.]

[bedheadstyle]

[Haruka blinks, then tilts his head to the side a little like a SHAFT character.]

You don't look like a platypus. Or a bear. And you're not purple either.

[tophgirl]

[Toph would gape at the utter stupidity — but it's too good an opportunity to pass up.]

Are you sure about that?

[bedheadstyle]

[He's not stupid just... really oblivious and capable of missing the point at really poorly timed moments.]

Uhuh. I'm sure.

[A pause, then:]

Do you want to be a 10 foot tall purple platypus bear named Yoshi?

[Haruka...]

[tophgirl]

No, you do.

[bedheadstyle]

I do? ... no, I don't think so. I rather like being myself.

[That whole 'my heart doesn't actually work the way it should' issue aside, that is.]

[tophgirl]

Well good for you, Yoshi. [That nickname's going to stick until she comes up with a better one.]

So who's in charge of this place? [She needs to find someone who isn’t a lunatic to explain what's going on.]

[bedheadstyle]

. . . Haruka.

[Nope sorry correcting you on that right now.]

In charge? Ah... hm. I'm not really sure. The first person I met here seems to have a pretty good grasp on what's going on. His name is Colin Starfury.

[But if you're looking for some one who doesn't sound crazy, Toph, that would not be the person to talk to.]

[tophgirl]

Colin Starfury? [R U SERIOUS?] What kind of pretentious pansy-assed name is that?

[bedheadstyle]

[Very serious.]

I don't know. I never thought to ask him. What's wrong with it?

[tophgirl]

You're not seriously asking me that question. [STARFURY. Come on!]