[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]

That doesn't make any sense. You're from right after the war. I'm from three years after the war. The world can't be gone. [They put a lot of effort into saving the stupid thing!]

[daughterofursa]

[Three years? Zuko thought she said two. Whatever. Toph is right, neither one makes sense.]

Well- I don't know how that works, but I've seen some of the remains of the Fire Nation.

[tophgirl]

[Two years since she's seen Zuko; she spent the better part of a year after the war staying with Aang, Katara, and Zuko at the Fire Lord's palace.]

That doesn't mean the entire world is gone! There were a lot of places not happy with how easy the Fire Nation got off, you know. [No, Zuko doesn't, but that's not the point.] Maybe they got revenge or something.

[That doesn't make much sense as an explanation either, considering the time difference between them, but just about anything makes more sense to Toph than her entire world being destroyed.]

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko will feel stupidly touched once she realizes that's where the other year was.

But right now Toph is presenting a pretty upsetting idea. She's not stupid, she's aware plenty of people would be hating the Fire Nation, but to say it was an intentional target of all this?]

This was not someone's revenge on the Fire Nation. Whatever happened to this world hit our world and tens of others. We've never known anything like it!

And you weren't even in the Fire Nation.

[tophgirl]

[Better the Fire Nation than the entire world, Toph would've retorted. Better some bitter jerks getting revenge who can be caught & punished than being the accidental victims of some idiots destroying themselves.]

So maybe it's that loser father of yours. [If anybody should understand complicated feelings about shitty parents, it should be Toph. And under normal circumstances she would never needle the other girl about her father. But these are far from normal circumstances.] You know he's psycho enough to break out of prison and try to destroy everything just to spite you.

[daughterofursa]

[If she stepped back to look at it logically, then, yes, of course it would be better to lose part of the world than the whole thing. But for all its faults, Zuko loves her nation, and it's painful to think of anyone hating it enough to wipe it out completely.

Bringing up her father doesn't help.]

That's not it.

[She's struggling to keep her voice in some semblance of level.]

Even he and Azula together couldn't make this much of a mess. We're on a piece of land in mid-air. When I got here, there was no moon. We still don't even have night outside of this town.

[tophgirl]

Did you drink cactus juice or something? That doesn't make any sense! [It does, however, explain why the earth feels weird. It's not an explanation she's prepared to accept, though.]

[daughterofursa]

There aren't any cacti here either.

I know it doesn't make sense. But it's how things are.

[tophgirl]

That's exactly what a person high on cactus juice would say.

[daughterofursa]

I am not high on cactus juice!

[tophgirl]

How can you be sure?!

[daughterofursa]

Because there isn't any for me to drink! Will you drop it already?

[tophgirl]

You drop it! [Toph stamps her foot to bring up a seat that she can throw herself down on.

Earthbending count: 1.]

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko takes a step back, half-expecting that earthbending to be coming her way.

Oh. No, Toph is just sitting down. Okay. Phew.]

...look. I know it's a lot to swallow. And I wish I could believe it's not as bad as everyone says... but things are bad outside this town. Really bad.

[tophgirl]

No moon, no night outside this town. Big whoop. [It makes no difference to her, you know, being blind and everything.]

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko makes a frustrated noise. Just because she can't see them doesn't mean they aren't indicators of the world being seriously broken.]

And all the fragmented earth floating around in the sky?

[tophgirl]

[Ooooh boy, yeah is Toph aware of that one. That's what makes her snap —]

So what are we doing here?

[daughterofursa]

Surviving.

I don't know why us and not other people [Aang?], but... I'm glad it's not just me, anymore.

[She's not sure how much consolation that is to Toph, and it may seem like a strange thing to say with the other girl yelling at her, but it's no less true.]

[tophgirl]

[If Toph were a little more sentimental, she might say "Me too." As much as she's enjoyed the year traveling on her own... she kind of misses having company. Someone to share adventures with. Finding a scribe to write letters to her friends is both really hard and just not the same. She'd rather dive into a sea of Fire Nation soldiers than admit to any kind of sentimentality, though.

She shrugs.]

Twinkletoes is probably just lost or something. He couldn't travel in a straight line if the fate of the world depended on it. They'll all show up eventually.

[She has to believe that. The alternative is too awful to contemplate.]

[daughterofursa]

[In light of that remark, let's all be grateful the lion turtle personally escorted Aang to the scene of his battle with Ozai.

Another day, Zuko would have disagreed with her. But with Toph here...]

Yeah. Maybe they will.

Even you took two months to get here.

[tophgirl]

[Toph retorts by bending the earth under Zuko's feet — not hard but enough to knock her over if she's not careful.

Earthbending count: 2.]

[daughterofursa]

Woah-

[Zuko wasn't expecting that, but she's had enough experience on the Skyway that she almost catches herself-- almost. Onto her butt she goes.

She doesn't get up right away, instead glowering up at Toph for a moment.]

...you might be older but you really haven't changed.

[tophgirl]

[Toph beams with satisfaction.]

I wouldn't have it any other way.

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko picks herself up and dusts herself off. She wouldn't have wanted Toph to change either, but that's a little too sentimental for her to admit to.]

Well, anyway...

Do you want me to show you around?

[tophgirl]

Oh yeah, I can't wait to see all the sights!