Open to all! Dated before the barrier goes funny.

[dustonmyfeet]

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!

Comments

[dustonmyfeet]

[Even dryer:] Yeah, I get a lot of that.

[That comment, apparently, touched something a little deeper, and for a minute it's visible in the lines of her face. But for the moment, point made, and Toph moves on.]

What do you mean, what can I do? How do you feel the earth?

[raavashing]

The same way I feel my hands or feet, I guess.

[He shrugged out of habit rather then anything else.]

I can tell where it is if I need it and it's always sort of just... there, but it's not something I feel other things through.

[Wan went to brush his fingers through his hair and stopped, realizing something.]

Actually, it's more like my hair than my hands or feet. Since I can't feel anything through my hair, but I can feel my hair and move it. I'm aware of the earth in the same way I am my hair.

[dustonmyfeet]

[Toph nods; the analogy is apt enough for her.]

Yeah. But for me, there's more. I feel about everything -- the people in houses, where trees are . . . but also smaller things. Insects. Heartbeats. To the point where I can usually tell kind of what people are feeling. If they're shaking with fear, or anger. If they're telling the truth.

[Her feet kick lightly in the air.] This city is just making that hard. And kind of annoying. All the people and those satomobile-things going through the streets . . . they're making a lot of vibrations that wouldn't even be there. It's kind of hard to keep track of everything, and honestly, it's making my head hurt.

So. Like I said: Taking a break.

[There doesn't seem to be any concern in her in telling a stranger these things.]

[raavashing]

That sounds amazing.

[Wan replied with no small amount of awe. And here he had thought he was pretty connected to the world when really, he was nothing compared to all that.]

Is that something you learned or were you born with that kind of connection to the element?

[dustonmyfeet]

[Oh, he hits a good spot there, as evidenced by Toph's immediate smirk.] Not going to lie; it is pretty amazing.

[Toph's ego. It's a profound thing.]

As far as learning or being born with it, though . . . I guess it's a little bit of both. I can't ever remember not having it, even when I was little. But I can use it better now than I could then. I couldn't make the same kind of sense of things, and my range wasn't as good, so while I could tell some stuff, it was fragments. It was still pretty much like being blind.

[raavashing]

I've never been blind, but before I learned to use the power of Earth, I never felt a connection to it.

[He wasn't lying, but he was stretching the truth. Good thing they were on vines where heartbeats were harder to rate.]

It would be nice to learn how to be that connected. I'd like to be better with the power of earth. I'm actually hoping to find a teacher here in the city.

[dustonmyfeet]

I guess I could teach you. [Another shrug.] If you're asking.

[Not like she hasn't taught before. And it'll keep her busy . . . something familiar, concrete to do in this extremely unfamiliar place. If she doesn't find a few things, she'll probably lose it quickly.]

Maybe you can clear up a few things for me, too.

[raavashing]

I wasn't going to. But I wouldn't mind it.

[Which was the truth. He hadn't actually been thinking to ask her. He probably would have gotten there eventually, but that wasn't the intention when he'd said it.]

What do you need cleared up?