Day 236 [Open]

[daughterofursa]

Who: Zuko and anyone
Open: Open!
When: Day 236
Where: All over the Bastion
What: Toph is gone. =(
Format: I'll match
Warnings: Honor

The first day, she wasn't worried. The second, she tried not to be. But now it's the third day that she hasn't seen the only other person from her world that she knows is still alive. Not one to sit idle, Zuko spends most of the morning searching the Bastion for any sign of her friend, asking whoever she runs into:

"Have you seen Toph?"

By afternoon she decides to move her search beyond the Bastion. She shoulders her swords and leads one of the ostrich horses out to the bridge to the Skyway, but there she stops. She's lectured more than one person on the dangers of going out alone. As much as she wants to get moving, it won't help Toph if she just gets herself into trouble, and it would be hypocritical of her not to wait for someone to join her.

Comments

[bedheadstyle]

"Toph?"

Haruka was heading from the kitchen back to the Tower Apartments when Zuko had gotten his attention, head canting to the side.

"She was... the blind girl, right?"

[daughterofursa]

"That's her," Zuko confirms impatiently. "Have you seen her around?"

[bedheadstyle]

"Not since the last feast, no. Sorry..."

Haruka paused momentarily, tilting his head.

"When was the last time you saw her?"

[daughterofursa]

"Three days ago. She hasn't been to the house." Zuko frowns, looking off past Haruka as if she has to continue looking in the middle of their conversation.

"I wouldn't put it past her to want to get out of here for a while, but I thought she would've told me."

[bedheadstyle]

"I would think so, too. That's troublesome..." Haruka frowned as well, fidgeting with a strand of hair behind his ear.

"I would help you look but..."

He is really not capable of going out there.

[daughterofursa]

It takes Zuko a moment to figure out where he's going with that 'but.'

"If you can't handle the Skyway then forget it. We don't need anyone else going missing. Just tell her I'm looking for her if she shows up here."

[bedheadstyle]

"I think Colin would have a conniption fit if I went anywhere near the Skyway."

So he is a-okay with staying behind.

"I'll keep an eye out for her, though."

[daughterofursa]

"Colin?" She knows Colin is no more of a fan of people going out unprepared than she is, but this sounds more specific. And also like something she doesn't need to get into right now.

"Never mind. Thanks."

[bedheadstyle]

Pretty much.

"Ah... okay. I'm sorry I couldn't be more help.]

[headphoneactor]

"Don't know who Toph is."

And frankly, while she should care more about it, she doesn't know the girl well enough to really care all that much. Sorry, Zuko. She likes you, though, from the little you've interacted.

Okay, fine. She'll be nice.

"There can't be too many places Toph can be around here, though, so I'm sure you'll find whoever Toph is eventually."

[daughterofursa]

At the moment, Zuko isn't interested in how much Takane cares about anyone.

"She's Earth Kingdom-- she wears yellow and green. Big hair, loud mouth. Sound familiar?" For all she knows, Toph might have been introducing herself to people as the Queen of the Universe.

[headphoneactor]

"Nope, not at all. Sorry."

Sorry, she's not much help. Takane's also super anti-social, though.

[daughterofursa]

Zuko lets out a frustrated breath.

"Well, if you do see her, tell her to wait for me back at the house."

[headphoneactor]

"Sure, whatever."

Anti-social and she just promised to socialize a little with someone if she saw them. Great.

"Where have you looked so far?"

[daughterofursa]

Does giving someone a message even count as socializing?

"Most of the Bastion except the apartments. I'm going to head out to the Skyway. She might come back while I'm gone."

[headphoneactor]

Well, she does have to talk with someone she doesn't know. Takane's going to count that.

"Does she have any friends here she might have gone to visit at the apartments?"

Because not everyone has a severe lack of friends and social skills like Takane does.

[daughterofursa]

"...I don't know. I didn't ask her if she was making friends."

Should she have? Maybe not everyone is lacking in social skills but Takane isn't the only one either.

[freedom_engineer]

It may not be who Zuko wants, but Colin's noticed Zuko's search.

"Rosethorn and Skysong have been gone for over a day as well," Colin says, approaching from behind while Zuko's preparing the ostrich horse. "They may have gone out as a group. It's worrying that they haven't come back..."

He gives a nod to the ostrich horse. "Mind if I accompany you?" he asks. "Rosethorn doesn't have the best health."

[daughterofursa]

No, Colin is not exactly the person Zuko would have picked, but she knows he can handle himself on the Skyway which is really what she needs right now.

"Can you ride? I have more ostrich horses." This one can carry two, but that will slow it down some. Plus she'd... be riding with Colin.

[freedom_engineer]

"I can ride, though I'm not familiar with this species," Colin says, studying the ostrich horse. "If they've got any particular mannerisms I need to know about..."

His father owns an extensive stable, with mounts from a half-dozen different worlds. Colin's not an avid rider, but he knows his way around an animal well enough to not get thrown, or bother the poor creature.

[daughterofursa]

"These aren't war mounts, so they're fairly docile. Give it a try."

It's not like Zuko had any experience with them before she stole one. She'd mostly ridden komodo rhinos before that. Those can be tempermental.

[freedom_engineer]

"Got'cha," Colin says, walking up to the animals, letting them get a little more comfortable with his presence before he tries anything. Once he finds an animal that doesn't seem put off by him, he reaches out a hand to put it on the bird's neck.

"We're going to need to figure out a good search path, though," he says as he lets the ostrich horse prepare itself for what's to come. "Have you got any ideas on that?"

[daughterofursa]

"I don't know about the other two, but Toph would avoid places where she can't see. Not that that narrows it down much, but I think we can at least rule out Jawson's Bog."

Though Zuko has had a lot of experience with 'search all the places' so being able to rule someplace out? Always a good thing.

[freedom_engineer]

"The bog is dangerous when you can see," Colin says, sighing. "If we were going there, we'd need a lot more than the two of us. If, for some reason, they couldn't get back to the Bastion, Rosethorn might have taken them to the observatory. But that's two days away on foot, so we'd be gone for a while. I'm due to fly out there again in a day or two with Paar, so I can check that out tomorrow."

He starts to pet the ostrich horse's neck gently as he speaks. "We should probably check the mines, I think," he says. "From what I understand, Toph would have felt more relaxed there. And there's a lot of reasons to go back there..."

[daughterofursa]

Zuko nods in agreement. "Any earthbender would have an advantage there. Maybe she took them to look for more of those big shards."

It does make sense for Toph to pick a place like that, when she's still learning how to handle a weapon and her best defense is her bending. Even with the place infested with snake birds, they're also basically earthbenders, so that's something Toph can deal with, not like the peckers and windbags that she can't see in the air.

"Let's get going."