tushanshu | 001

Entry tags:

001 - Video

[The girl on the screen is tiny, likely barely more than 12. Her arms are folded across her chest, and her eyes, pale, seem to glare at the screen.]

[. . . Kind of. There’s also something a little off about that glare. It doesn’t quite seem to focus like a glare should.]

Okay, so whose bright idea was it to put dirt on some of the turtle shell, but not all of it? If you’re going to put dirt on a turtle in the first place, you should at least not be stupid about it and finish it off.

Also, what kind of turtle are we talking about here? Is this a turtle-duck, or a lion-turtle, or what? I tried to ask one of those kedan guys, but they wouldn’t tell me.

[A small smirk, highly self-satisfied.]

Guess they were still sore.

[She shrugs.] Anyway, name’s Toph for anyone who cares. You’ll learn it soon enough.

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[Toph pokes a pinky in her ear, rubbing as though to clear it out.]

Better. You're like . . . lightning lips or something.

[And a potential nickname is born!]

Turtle-duck. It's . . . a bird. With a turtle shell on its back. That swims.

[This is a dictionary-quality definition.]

[ Molly laughs. ] Nah, you haven't heard fast until Tommy gets going. He's sorta my big brother, and he's super super fast.

[ she ponders, as if trying to recall if she's seen one ] I've never seen one, but they sound really cute.

Yeeeeeeeah. I'll just wait for that.

I guess so. People say they are, anyway. I think one tried to bite me when I was three.

[ headtilt ] What do you mean? Didn't you see it when it tried to bite you?

[Shrug.] I'm blind. So no.

Oh, sorry, I didn't realize. [ Molly doesn't sound particularly horrified at her mistake, though, just apologizing out of trained instinct. ] Have you always been blind? What's it like?

[It doesn't bother Toph particularly. She'd be more insulted if Molly had launched into a stream of "that's awful!" That would be annoying.]

You mean what's it like not to see?

. . . I dunno. What's it like to see?

Besides my parents getting all paranoid about it, it's really not a big deal. I've never really needed eyes to see, anyway. I can always tell where I'm going and what's around me.

[She grins.]

I see with my feet.

Edited 2013-06-02 22:21 (UTC)

Parents are stupid.

[ She sees with her feet? ] Seriously? [ Oh my lord she SEES WITH HER FEET!!! ]

That is so freaking cool. Do you have super powers?

No kidding.

[Starting to like this girl. Yes. Her grin increases.]

Yeah. You could say that.

[A stomp on the floor, and suddenly the room around and behind her is a spiny mass of stalagmites.]

This is part of it.

[ Breathless ] That. Is. Freaking. AMAZING.

I can't do anything like that, I'm just really strong!

I know.

[Said with a continued grin. Sometimes Toph gets really excited by her own earthbending too. Especially when there's someone to show off for.]

Strong, huh? Like how strong?

[ Lifts her chin proudly, even though Toph can't see ]

There was a giant monster that was like 50 stories tall, and I knocked it over.

[ Granted, she needed a caffeine jolt from Nico's magic to stay awake and powered up long enough to do so. But still! ]

[These are the problems with being blind. Or at least stuck in a time period when most homes are one level.]

. . . You're gonna have to catch me up on what a story is.

Oh, uh. Like the floors of a building? You go upstairs to the second floor, and the third, and stuff?

And it was like 50 floors or taller! It was gigantic.

[Toph is pretty self-impressed. But that doesn't mean she doesn't have any room for being impressed with anyone else.]

Wow. Okay, that's pretty big. Yeah, you're strong.

Yeah, I am. It's pretty awesome. And when I'm using my powers, I can't get hurt, either.

[ Molly has a secure sense of self-worth. ]

That's not as cool as being able to make rocks move and stuff, though! How do you do that?

[Strength like that and invulnerability, and she's impressed by earthbending.]

[But then again, earthbending is pretty awesome. Toph gestures, and the room smooths out around her again.]

I was born with it. People are where I come from. They can bend water, fire, air, and earth.

'Course I'm the best at earth.

[Toph's sense of self-worth is pretty darn healthy too.]

That is so cool, I wish I could do that.

[ Molly is basically chinhandsing. ]

You're the best? Like in the whole world? You're only my age! [ EVEN MORE AWESOME ]

Sounds like you do pretty good on your own.

[And a grin.]

Haven't been beaten yet!

[Not by an earthbender, anyway. But swarms of firebenders just don't count.]

Someday when I'm out of a building, I'll show you what I can really do.

[ Swarms of firebenders TOTALLY don't count when talking about who the awesomest earthbender is. ]

Totally! There's parks and stuff all over, maybe we can go to one and you can show me your earth stuff and I can... can pick up heavy things or something! And maybe play tag or something - you can run around if you see with your feet, right?

Yeah, I'm fine. Can probably "see" some things better than most people.

. . . Tag?

[She knows what it is, but no one's ever asked her to play. She's actually not played much in her life. Been playful, sure. Relaxed, definitely. But not really played in the sense that most people her age have. It's not even certain that she completely thinks of herself as a child.]

[So yes. Chalk this one up more to surprise that she's being asked.]

Edited 2013-06-10 01:37 (UTC)

Yeah, it's a game! It's ok if you don't have it in your world, it's totally easy. One person is the tagger, and they chase everybody else and try to touch them, and if they touch them, then that person gets to be tagger!

[ Molly bounces a little - friends her own age! ]

It's not so much fun with only two people, but I can ask Rikki and Tommy to play and Rikki will make sure Tommy doesn't cheat - his super powers are he can run REALLY REALLY REALLY fast, so it wouldn't be fair. And maybe Miss Natasha can play, too, I've been teaching her how to play 'cause she never got to when she was a kid. And it'll be totally fun!

[Again, Toph really hasn't played much before. This is a really new idea. She blinks again for another moment, then grins a bit.]

Sure.

Is all the power stuff out, or just for the guy who runs fast?

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