Audio - Backdated to 7/30

[seismometrics]

[Audio only is rare for Toph. Usually she doesn't even bother to toggle the settings; it doesn't matter to her whether she's seen or not. But today, right now . . . it's audio only, and her words come out hard and flat.]

Last night I had a dream. About a kid with a woman who was teaching him to earthbend. He pretty much sucked at it.

He was wearing a soul gem.

[There's a pause. For a long moment she says nothing else. But the silence is almost tangible in its thickness.]

He was home. My home.

[There's an undercurrent that runs through the words here, dark and weighted.]

[It's rage.]



((ooc: Toph can only "see" through seismic sense, so although she dreams, she still doesn't see images in the traditional sense -- and can't see color. So for ooc puzzlings, I shall pass on that the boy's hair shifted colors in the dream in case it's important and matches up with anything else.))

Comments

[bigdamnhiro]

Like...your turtle home? Or your home home?

[Because, um.]

[seismometrics]

Home home.

[bigdamnhiro]

...How would they get there? Is this some kind of weird conspiracy to replace us all back home with kedan, or...?

[seismometrics]

How'd we get here?

I don't know.

All I know is there's some kedan where I'm supposed to be.

Which means getting home is possible some way besides random. And it's not happening to any of us.

[bigdamnhiro]

You really think they know how to send people out of here?

[The thump of his heart jumping is almost audible, to his own ears. It could easily just be a dream, with weird dream symbolism, but what if—]

—You think they could send anybody back? To wherever or—whenever? Even dead people? What if...

[Heeeeere's Hiro totally missing the point]

[Action]

[12goingon113]

[He waits until she's stopped talking, until she's gotten at least the edge of her anger out, before he clears his throat.]

Hey Toph, do...do you wanna talk about it?

[Action]

[seismometrics]

[He knows her better than that -- that Toph rarely "talks about it" if she can get away with it.]

[But he also probably knows that sometimes she can back into it.]

[Twisting sharply, Toph slides off her chair.]

What's there to talk about? It's not like anyone can do anything about it.

[Action]

[12goingon113]

Well no...not yet, at least.

[He chews a bit on his bottom lip, trying to find the words. Something hopeful to glom onto. Something Katara or Sokka would think to say.]

Maybe that's because we're not asking the right questions....

[Action]

[seismometrics]

What are you talking about?

[The words are weighted with irritation as she heads towards the kitchen.]

[12goingon113]

Dreams are just visions that come to us when we're sleeping, and...believe me, they're not always as straight forward as they could be. So maybe if we pick it apart more, we might find it means something else entirely?

[This is Katara-Levels of hope he's trucking out right here.]

audio;

[peacefullywreathed]

So, an exchange.

[His tone is thoughtful.]

I wonder if that was on purpose.]

audio back

[seismometrics]

I guess.

[Her voice continues with that same dark undercurrent.]

Which means if they could manage with some kedan, they could manage with the rest of us.

If what was on purpose?

[peacefullywreathed]

Sending kedan home. It could be an experiment. It could have been an accident, due to the soul-gems.

[seismometrics]

That implies somebody's in charge of all this.

[The words thrust out verge on defiance -- though that defiance may not be completely directed at Solomon.]

Is that what you're going to tell me?

[As far as an accident . . . she doesn't know what she thinks about that. She doesn't want to believe it -- it would be a very cruel twist of fate in a universe that already hasn't been too kind. It makes their time here, the people yanked in and out of their lives, some cruel trick of happenstance. She's not sure she could bear it.]

[peacefullywreathed]

Well, now I hardly need to. But it does seem to be a possibility.

[highprofilerichkid]

I had one too.

[Tony looks unsettled, and a little uncomfortable.]

There was a kid with a soul gem too, and my dad was talking to him. I couldn't hear what he said. The kid, his... skin changed colors? Like camouflage. I think he must have been kedan.

[He pauses for a few seconds, then slowly adds,] It's like they changed places with us, isn't it? When those kedan got soul gems - maybe the gems don't just "tie" your soul to a universe. Maybe they're part of how our souls get transported.

[seismometrics]

Doesn't make sense.

[The words are small and sullen. Toph's never been the sort to mince.]

It's not like we had these things at home.

[Might need some more 'splaining, Tony.]

[highprofilerichkid]

The kedan don't have them here, either. [You don't need a weird soul receptacle to survive in your home universe, obviously.]

Though... I don't know. There's something different about it. There's been a few different versions of the spell that brings us here. [Which is a can of worms Tony isn't familiar enough with to open - most of that predated his arrival.] But whenever we go home, it's like we've never been gone. When we get pulled home, or when Milyn does that thing that shows you your future at home, we pick up right where we left off.

We don't vanish from home. But the kedan vanished from here. [And Tony doesn't know what to make of that.]

[seismometrics]

[Okay, that is interesting. But she doesn't want it to be. She wants to rage, indulge in the fury that's been trickling in for months, piling up slowly in her gut. So admittedly her response is still sullen, almost begrudging.]

. . . Okay, it's interesting. I'll give you that.

Doesn't mean much of anything to me, though. I don't deal with magic stuff.

[Earthbending does not count as magic, okay? That's normal.]

I guess you'd ask her about it. Milyn.

[highprofilerichkid]

I don't either. But you kind of have to learn to live with it, here, even when it doesn't make sense. [He pauses, and almost says something like "wait, isn't bending magic?" but decides at the last second that it's not a semantic argument worth pursuing. Tact! He's learning!]

Yeah, that's a good idea. [The thought has occurred to him, and while he's sure Milyn would have said something if she knew anything about the kedan disappearances, it can't hurt to double-check. And who knows? Maybe these new dreams will mean something to her.] ...do you not like Milyn?

Audio;

[edgeoftheknife]

You mean... someone from here, sent back to your world?

[seismometrics]

[Her tone remains dark.]

Unless you've got another explanation for a kid with a soul gem earthbending, then yeah.

Wasn't there another kid or two that got them?

[edgeoftheknife]

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the term 'earthbending.'

What, soul gems? I... I don't know. I haven't been keeping up with the news around the city very well. I know there were a few Foreigners who were mugged. Does this have anything to do with that?

[seismometrics]

Means I move rocks. Big rocks. With my mind. When I want, however I want.

[Rather over-simplified explanation. But she's in no mood to give a more complete one -- or to turn on the screen and give her usual demonstration.]

I don't know. Ask whoever's pulling the strings around here. All I know is some kedan ended up with soul gems and then vanished, and then this.

And considering what soul gems mean for us . . . you can connect the dots.

[edgeoftheknife]

So... Earth magic, more or less. Or, well. Better Earth magic than ours, from the sound of it.

[He's not sure he CAN connect the dots, but he appreciates the blind faith. No pun intended.]

Sounds like things have been worse around here than I realized. And you think this dream might be real?