[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

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko's already experienced a bit of home today, having spent much of the morning with her new ostrich horses. After two months on her own, little things like that are as much as she was expecting to ever have. There is still a part of her that entertains hopes of other survivors out there, on their own like that group of Ura they ran into, but it's no longer anything she really believes in.

So she did not expect to turn around and spot a familiar face, just like that. Even at a distance, Zuko can tell there's something different about her--she definitely looks less tiny--but the figure waltzing in from the Skyway is still unmistakeably...]

Toph?

[She's not standing still either, but striding across the field to meet her, because she needs to be absolutely sure.]

[bedheadstyle]

[New arrivals are totally meant to be physically bumped in to, right?

Totally.

Not that Haruka meant to. Having just finished a nice soak at the Onsen, towel around his shoulders, the tall skinny teenager had been leaving the changing house connected to it when a bottle had dropped out of the bag he was carrying. It rolled away while he yelped and attempted to chase after it, clearly not paying attention to whoever might have been coming off the Skyway right then.

The entire endeavor sent Haruka plowing in to Toph, grunting as he went toppling backwards on to his rear in the most ungraceful fashion possible.]

Omf--! A-ah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

[findsrisks]

[The fun thing about living in the Bastion is that you get nifty little tools to help you survive out on the Skyway. Like the amulets, which help stabilize the ground around them, and form the Skyway into little paths that can be used to get around.

Nanaki sees Toph from a distance, as she is returning from the Skyway, so at first her path isn't connected to the bit of land Toph is on. But as Nanaki moves closer, the land is forcibly moved around, with new chunks of floating land being brought up to form a bridge of sorts. By the time it connects, Nanaki is already calling out to Toph, trying to get her attention.]

Hey! Hey you, over there!

[wayofvoice]

[The sound of enormous wings flapping through the air probably does little to calm Toph's nerves- something in the air is something unseeable, after all, and something large doesn't usually bring good news.]

[Fortunately, this particular creature is both not a threat and soon landing. The earth shudders from the weight of both it and its burden. It's a mammoth, no longer living, and on top of it, adjusting itself- Paarthurnax.]

[His head is turned in the young woman's direction, looking over her. Deep in his chest, a heart the size of a boulder beats a steady and calm rhythm.]

[He speaks soon enough, voice low and deep.]

Drem yol lok. You are new to this Bastion, then. It is good you have arrived safely.