cyclicality | Open to all! Dated before the barrier goes funny.

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Open to all! Dated before the barrier goes funny.

The girl making her way through the city probably wasn't anyone's image of Toph Bei Fong, and certainly not the image of the statue standing near the police station. She was small, verging on scrawny (an effect compounded by oversized clothing), face marked with at least a couple of layers of dirt. In that clothing, her features obscured, she might even have been taken for a boy -- were it not for the heavy braid trailing down her back.

Frankly, Toph didn't mind the whole arrangement. The makeshift disguise let her explore the city pretty much as she pleased -- or at least the parts she was currently interested in seeing. No one paid much attention to a street urchin, and there were some benefits to being blind; it tended to make others look away, and by the time they thought something of a blind girl wandering around the city by herself, Toph was gone.

So far, she had a good thing going, except for the lack of idol worship.

((ooc: Pick a setting option. Feel free to pose in with whatever your character is doing in that area, and I'll pose back off of you with whatever Toph is up to. Glad to work out anything in advance -- just PM me or poke me on Plurk!))

A. Toph is in the less well-off parts of town, taking stock of the area and probably noting the triads with interest. You might even catch her at a scam. (Hey, new place, money is necessary, and she has to test the limits.)

B. Up near the bending arena. Maybe it's just a practice day; maybe there's a game going on. She's just as likely to come either time. It's enough like Earth Rumble that she'll be interested.

C. Taking a break somewhere in the city (though likely not in the upper class districts). The satomobile vibrations are still a little rough on her, and a girl's gotta eat.

D. Wildcard -- have an idea? Poke me on PM or Plurk!

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If Satoru hadn't actively been looking for Toph and the others, he probably wouldn't have even looked twice in her direction. Every instance where he had some free time, he used it to walk through the city in hopes of finding someone else he knew from his own time period. Thanks to his goal of finding people, he was always on the lookout for people who looked familiar. As it were, her thick, braided hair immediately caught his attention. She was small, shorter than he remembered her being—just like Avatar Aang—but there was was a distinct air of confidence in how she made her way through the streets. Even with a different hairstyle, she still seemed very... Tophlike.

As quickly as he could, he approached her before he lost sight of her. He was almost positive it was her, but 99% wasn't good enough. As he reached out to lightly grab her shoulder, he whispered, "Toph, is that you?" He kept his voice low, remembering how Avatar Aang had wanted his presence kept secret. Please let this girl be Toph, he hoped.

It took a considerable amount of self-control for Satoru not to get a rock to the face right there. In fact, he very nearly did. It wasn't quite as though he'd sneaked up on her; seismic sense had told her he was coming, but she'd expected something else -- a pickpocket, maybe.

A hand on her shoulder, her name in this place? Not at all.

The girl whirled on her assailant, the braid a startling extra weight as it whipped around with her, pale eyes raking across his face without quite taking it in. Said eyes narrowed as her feet planted, prepared, in the dust, very close to an earthbender waiting to strike.

"Who are you?" No confirmation of the name. The voice, the footstep . . . she didn't recognize either of them, and that meant this was a stranger -- a stranger who somehow knew her name when he shouldn't.

Satoru immediately held up his hands as if admitting defeat. He had to admit, that was a little terrifying, the way she turned around so fiercely. He would apologize and leave her be, but those eyes of her... they had to be Toph's.

"M-My name is Satoru," he breathed out. He looked down at her, studying the girl in front of him as he tried to piece together a proper explanation. It didn't sound like she was still mad about him about the whole Boss Man Lao thing, so the only other explanation would be that she hadn't quite met him yet, similar to Avatar Aang. Though he did promise he wouldn't mention Avatar Aang's presence in the city, so he couldn't voice that comparison.

"We've met. I swear. It was recently for me, but for you... if you are who I think you are, then you must be from around the time the war ended, right?" She was a fair bit shorter, after all. "I don't have any plans to tell anyone, I just—I've been worried about you. The last time I saw you, you were holding up an entire iron mine all by yourself and when I was dragged into this time period... you weren't anywhere around. I thought you might have been hurt."

He was a flood of words, almost babbling. And none of it made sense; she didn't know him, and she'd never been near an iron mine, let alone held one up . . .

But within that outpouring of words, there was an assurance. An absolute certainty. And in his heartbeat . . . although the rate had increased, it was steady, one beat after another. Whoever this boy was, he was telling the truth. He had met her. Knew her . . . at some point from now.

Toph's mouth furrowed. Her hand snaked out, grabbing his arm, hauling him forward with her, fingers tight around his wrist. She hauled him down a nearby alley and yanked him in, perching in a crouch among the garbage cans. ". . . Okay. Talk."

Explain.

He was surprised by her suddenly jerking him forward, and he went along with her into the alley. "I don't..." It was a false start, so he tried again. "I don't really know how to explain. This city seems to be from a time period far from our own present. Mr. Varrick said it's been roughly 70 years since the end of the war."

It was hard to compress all the information he'd learned into just a few short sentences, and he figured Toph wasn't in the mood for anything too long-winded.

"There are people here from different time periods. You know that, right? People who were teenagers at the end of the Hundred Year War, who are probably really old now or who have passed away. I mean, look!" He gestured in the general direction of the police station. "There's a statue of you in this city! There's a statue of Avatar Aang nearby, of Fire Lord Zuko... they were built a long time ago, but everyone depicted is really young. And as for me..."

Because he figured he should explain a little about himself before Toph sent boulders his way or something. "We met about two years after the war. You were with Avatar Aang and his friends. Avatar Aang was upset that a refinery had been built there, and I was in charge of it until my uncle came back. The co-business owner was..."

...No. He didn't want to tell her that. She and her father were in a difficult position. Telling her that she'd seen her father again might upset her, and with the whole people from different timelines showing up here... he'd probably said enough.

"I'm sorry. I know I... have a habit of going on and on. You just have no idea how relieved I am that you're alive. I mean, I know you're the greatest metalbender the world's ever seen, but still..."

The tension eased slowly from her muscles, listening to him, the sharpness drifting from her eyes. Whoever he was -- Satoru, was it? -- he didn't sound like a danger. Not a threat to either her or the others. There was too much earnestness in him for that, too much sincerity.

And her lips upturned at his admiration. The admiration definitely didn't hurt.

"Yeah, I'm Toph." At last she confirmed the name he'd already guessed. Her spine uncoiled, and she settled, leaning up against the wall. "Sorry -- with all the people here, and not even our time, I think most of us are kind of lying low. We don't know what's here . . . you know? Probably better if you call me Yin, at least out there."

Her mind flicked back over his info dump. "This whole thing is pretty weird. In my time, we were getting ready to face off against Ozai, trying to get some sleep -- and the next thing I know, I'm waking up here. I mean, what is that?"

Her expression drifted, brow furrowing. There was something bothering her, something deeper, but she didn't put a name to it, and a moment later, brushed it away entirely.

"I'm probably fine, for the record -- in your time, that is. I've wrestled with bigger things than an iron mine. I wouldn't worry about it."

This was apparently some attempt at reassurance.

Edited (tense fail) 2014-10-15 14:58 (UTC)

Satoru figured that as long as she was here, healthy and in one piece, she was fine. It wasn't that he lacked faith in her ability to get out of sticky situations—she saved the world—but sometimes, things had a habit of going wrong.

"Yin," he echoed. "Got it."

He looked her over again. It was so hard to believe she was here, even harder than when she'd just waltzed into the refinery like a dream come true. At least that kind of made sense. A refinery and a girl who could metalbend. Sure! They went together! But seeing her in what was some kind of... awkward, futuristic... future...? Completely illogical. But it happened anyway.

"I'm sorry for just coming at you out of nowhere. And... again, I'm sorry for all the rambling." Satoru ran his hands through his hair and sighed. This was crazy. He was crazy. At least Toph was here to ground him.

"A-And yeah. You're pretty terrific. Guess it's kind of insulting to say I was worried you might have kicked the bucket with strength like yours. I kinda have a habit of doing that." The whole not making people mad thing was something he needed to work on. "Um... if you don't mind... I have something to ask. I know you want me to call you Yin when I refer to you, and I know you don't remember who I am and I swear I'll let you get on your way if you want, but... is it okay if we still talk if we bump into each other again?"

What was with this guy, anyway? He was so . . . affable. Interested. And really, really complimentary.

It would have made her completely suspicious had there been absolutely no sense of lying from him. And sure, her sense wasn't perfect, but people who could usually evade her were usually a different breed. Oily, usually with something to gain. And Satoru . . . wasn't.

"Yeah." She found the word come without her even considering it. Then, as though to cover up that uncharacteristic openness, "Why not? You don't seem like a jerk, so it's not like you really have to ask."

Added, "I'm not exactly in a rush anywhere. Nobody knows who I am, so there's nowhere for me to go. I get to just check stuff out. You can come if you want."

Maybe she can figure him out a little more in the process.

Satoru clapped his hands together when she said he was still allowed to talk to her even after his terrible first impression. And okay, sure, she didn't remember what he'd said before to tick her off so much and maybe that was part of the reason she was being so forgiving, but... either way, he was grateful. Besides, he'd had time to think about Toph's situation with her parents and his own situation with his uncle. It hadn't been that long since that day, but he still felt as though he'd matured, at least a little.

At her invitation to join her, he had to cover his mouth with his gloved hands to keep the excited shriek of joy inside. She really doesn't hate him. She's okay and his idol doesn't hate his guts. This was the best day he'd had in a long while!

After a second or two, he pulled himself together and eagerly nodded his head. "Yes! I would love that very much, Yin. I've done a lot of walking around, but I was too focused on the finding people that I haven't really had the opportunity to appreciate this place for what it is."

This guy could twist his own underwear in a knot if he didn't calm down. But it was . . . weirdly pleasing. (If still weird in general.)

"Yeah . . . so you can call me Toph still when we're alone, okay?"

Hopefully Satoru could keep a secret. He seemed good-natured enough, but . . . kind of flighty. Kind of like Aang in a good mood. Or Sokka on cactus juice.

She pushed herself to her feet. "So . . . Satoru, right? Since I don't know you yet, you're going to have to fill me in a little."

"Got it." Well, he sort of got it. He had no problem calling Toph whatever she wanted, but it seemed risky to call her by her real name unless they were 100% alone or with Aang and the others. But even then, people could overhear.

Satoru smiled warmly at her as she stood up and—she said his name again—lightly pounded a fist into an upward-facing palm. "Right! Right...." He took a breath and promised himself to not overwhelm her with details. Short version only. "Well, as you know, my name is Satoru. Before all... this... I used to work as an engineer in my uncle's and his business partner's refinery. What we did was basically process ore, and it was terrific. Not because of the potential profit, but because it was the very first joint business adventure between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom."

Satoru paused. Wait, that was going off track, wasn't it? "A-Anyway. We were only supposed to use one stable, safe mine, but my uncle... decided to try his hand at mining the rich ore in another, incredibly unstable mine. Which, as expected, ended up collapsing with you, me, Katara, and a few other people inside."

Then came a heavy sigh. He imagined she'd figure it out one way or another, so he felt he might as well tell her now. "Before the mine collapsed, we'd had an argument. It was... really stupid, and entirely my fault. I'd spent all this time defending my uncle and what a great guy he was when I didn't even look at the whole picture. And then look what happened: my uncle's actions put so many lives in danger. You tried to set me straight, but I didn't want to listen at first. But... I eventually got your point. And... I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. You were right. I really was acting like a sniveling flunky."

. . . Completely weird, hearing an apology for an older version of yourself, for an argument you know nothing about. It was like hearing an apology to a stranger, and just about as uncomfortable. Not to mention she'd never really been comfortable with apologies anyway.

"I know you probably want me to forgive you and all." Frowning, she scratched at the side of her nose. "And honestly, it does sound stupid. But I'm not the one who was getting hurt."

Pause. "Your uncle doesn't sound like that great a guy if he was doing all that. What were you clinging so hard to that for, anyway?"

"My uncle..."

Even now, Satoru found it difficult to be angry at his uncle. Betrayed, sure, but not very angry, despite almost being killed.

"He did a lot for me. My parents worked for Ozai's government when he was Fire Lord, and even after Fire Lord Zuko took his place, my parents were only supportive of Ozai. I couldn't stand the fact my parents supported the man who killed so many people for the 'sake of the Fire Nation.' Someone who was trying to raze the entirety of the Earth Kingdom."

He shrugged his shoulders and threaded his fingers behind his head.

"So I had this brilliant idea to run away from home because of that. My next brilliant idea was to go to Ba Sing Se. But the war had just ended and me being Fire Nation... things didn't work out. I ended up in the lower ring begging for food. And a few months after that, my uncle found me. He took me off the streets and gave me an engineering job at his new refinery that he opened with your..."

And he wondered if it would at all be possible to take back those last two words. Maybe she wouldn't notice, or maybe if he was lucky, she'd already tuned him out.

Nope, he wasn't lucky. "My what?"

Honestly, she was expecting him to cite a thing. Your money. Your help. (Though it didn't make sense, either; hadn't he just said they'd only met each other later? And what would she have ever cared about a factory, anyway?)

Him and his big mouth. Why did he have to ramble so much? He could have just said 'Yep, I sure did work in a refinery and it was great. The end.' Ugh. Why did he let it slip?! He doesn't want to be the one to upset Toph. Sure, if she and her father actually had a chance to talk, Satoru was positive they could work things out but... well... He was pretty sure Boss Man Lao wasn't anywhere in this city. Maybe if he wasn't here to pretend Toph's not his daughter then she wouldn't be so upset.

"Your... father," he said simply. There wasn't any fancy way to put it, after all.

There's not a single quiver of untruthfulness going through the ground.

"Lao Beifong. He opened the refinery together with my uncle Loban."

His assessment was accurate. After all, it wasn't the fact that her father lived and breathed in the world that would ultimately hurt Toph; it was the fact that he would deny her existence, refuse to call her his daughter, and turn away.

It would be the fact that after all she'd done, he still couldn't see her.

And didn't want to.

"Oh." She took this in a moment, turned it over . . . and her shoulders lifted. "He's good at picking out stuff that'll do well in the future. So in a way, if he got involved with you guys in the first place, it's probably a good sign."

Pause. ". . . He didn't know about the unstable mine, right?"

Satoru immediately shook his head. "No, no, of course not." He held up his hands in a display of what he hoped was honesty.

"It was... actually my uncle who brought in people to work in the iron mine." His voice was quiet and ashamed. "Your father told my uncle right from the start that it was far too unsafe for workers and that any mining would be done in the crystal mines instead."

He wrung his hands together and coupled the movement with a sigh. "Even as it was collapsing, my uncle threatened to fire everyone... said they were replaceable. I wish... I wish I'd known about the mine. Despite how much I used to respect him, I would have done something to make sure no one's lives were at stake. But... no. Your father was always a good man and very fair to his workers. He wasn't willing to let them risk their lives just because it was an easy way to make ban."

A tightness that she hadn't realized that was in her chest subsided. While she'd never known her father to be a dishonorable man . . . the idea of facing that possibility struck harder than she'd realized.

"Why are you telling me all this?" she asked after a moment. "We just met, and you're pouring all this out when -- no offense -- it doesn't mean nearly the same thing to me as it does to you."

"...You're right. I'm sorry; I suppose in the end it really does seem like it's more for my benefit than for yours. Which wasn't what I meant."

Satoru stopped a sigh from escaping. He knew it was weird. It was weird for him; imagining how weird it was for Toph was beyond him right now.

"I thought you might like to know, though. About your dad. I'll... try to lay off about the other things."

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Open to all! Dated before the barrier goes funny.

A mix of A and/or C?

A works!

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