tushanshu | Video 002: Update

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Video 002: Update

[There's a Toph on the screen resting her feet up on the desk, grinning and looking . . . well, smug. Definitely pleased with herself.]

[And . . . older?]

[Must be the light, right? Her bangs seem longer, though. Heavier. Even more prone to falling across her eyes. And her face just has a slightly different weight to it that's hard to explain.]

[Grin is completely the same, though. Some things just don't change.]

Hey, I'm back!

I guess technically I never left, and most of you didn't know I was gone in the first place. [Her grin widens.] Whatever. I feel like I'm back, and that's the point.

If you're wondering [(And yes, she hopes you are.)], basically I did the whole "go home through the Dreaming" thing where you don't really go home, but you get to live out what happens in your world just like you're there. Pretty good stuff. Found out a few things.

Basic rundown:

The war? We kicked butt. Stopped the Fire Lord, saved the world from looming destruction, all of that. I started up a school for metalbending. Started with just a few students, but now it's really taking off. Have to expand the place when I've got the time and the money.

Everything's in a lot better place now, even if it's still pretty much a mess, so can concentrate a lot better on this place. [Can that grin get any wider?] Plus I've got the metalbending to back things up.

[And yes, she'd love to show it off -- how did you guess?]

((ooc: Toph has officially been canon updated to the beginning of The Rift and is feeling a lot better. Age is now approximately 15.))

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You went back home... but you... didn't?

[The lightness doesn't fade in her tone whatsoever.]

Pretty much.

Your body stays here. Basically, you're asleep. And your mind is off experiencing whatever you were supposed to be doing at home through the Dreaming. So it's like you're there -- just not.

Your body catches up with it, too. I was thirteen before. Like . . . days ago. However long it's been, anyway.

[ Casey's not bothered by the lightness. Just confused by all this weird everything here. ]

A dream within a dream? The more I hear about this place, the more confusing it gets...

Actually, we're pretty clear on the "not a dream" bit. So just one dream inside a reality that kind of sucks sometimes.

Generally halfway decent, though, when something isn't sinking or exploding or invading.

Are... are all of those happening at once?

[ Because Casey's heard about the sinking, but exploding and invading? why ]

[Wow, kid. Nervous much? Reminds her of one of her own students, anticipating doom at any given moment.]

[. . . She doesn't give him a lot of patience with such things either.]

Well, the Chihuelans just left, so the invading is pretty much done for now. And exploding hasn't happened for a while, so.

Just sinking, so we're pretty good.

Don't count on it too much, though.

[So helpful, Toph.]

[ You ain't seen nothin' yet, Toph. They've got an iron will when it comes to medical things... but really not much else. This whole thing is freaky, okay? ]

I've heard about the sinking... This whole thing just keeps getting better and better.

[Oh, she knows. Just . . . what is life without trolling the newbies a little bit?]

[But her voice tempers, losing some of the brassier edge. We won't say it softens, but you know. Closer.]

You've got two choices here. You can flail around or get pissed off or whatever. I've tried that one. It doesn't work. At the end of the day, you're pissed off and you're still here.

Or you can accept that even though it's stupid and freaky and probably any other word you can come up with, you're stuck here for a while. You take your breaks when you can get them, make whatever life you can when you can, and keep moving.

Well, wouldn't you say it's a good idea to figure out what's going on first before you try moving forward? There's just a lot that seems to be different between where I'm from and here.

[Cleaning her ear with a pinky.]

I figured that was a given. My advice was more to not freak out about whatever you find . . . because in the end, it's not going to matter how you feel about it anyway. Mr. Flippers keeps doing whatever.

[Typical non-gentle, blunt Toph advice: Relax, kid. Things will be fine in the end. The world keeps moving and behaving as you don't expect it to -- flow with it.]

[She knows he won't follow it right away -- if he chooses to follow it at all. But she'll still offer it. It's the only way she's discovered how to survive.]

Mr. Flippers... Asti?

[ That's the name Casey was given, anywho. ]

Yeah, I suppose you're right. I-I guess it's just my unfamiliarity talking...

That'd be him. Tu Vishan, if you're feeling formal. I'm usually not.

[Actually, that's a "pretty much never."]

So Mr. Flippers it is.

How long have you been here, anyway?

Um, about two days. It sounds like you've been here a lot longer.

Working on two years. Unless you count the year I was apparently nowhere.

Still kind of ticked off about that one.

Apparently nowhere? [ Two years is a long time, but a missing year entirely? ] What does that mean?

It means I went to sleep one night, and when I woke up, it was a year later.

Before you ask, no, it's not like that "just happens." Not to most people, anyway. So you're probably fine.

Um...

Did you ever find out what caused that?

Nope.

[Still so helpful, Toph.]

That's that part I mentioned about Mr. Flippers doing whatever.

Welcome back, Toph.

[A grin at the familiar voice.] Thanks, Lightfoot.

Did I miss anything after the Chihuelan guys left? Nothing broke or exploded?

"Lightfoot", huh?

Nothing exploded. Mostly nothing unfixable broken.

We're working on what to do to help Asti, now.

It'll work in a pinch. "Twinkletoes" was already taken. It'll come to me.

[That's reassuring, right? Interest takes over, though, at the last part.]

Yeah? Wake him up, you mean?

Do you nickname everyone?

I hear that's the plan. Too bad it wasn't as simple as building a giant noisemaker.

Just the people I like. [A grin.] And some of the ones I don't.

The noisemaker would definitely be easier. . . . Do we know exactly when he fell asleep in the first place?

We don't exactly know. Malicant said that Asti's been dead longer than we've been here, but Zatanna proved that wasn't true. But we still don't know how long Malicant was possessing him, which means... we may not even have "met" him, when we thought we were.

She proved it? How?

. . . Somewhere around the time when I first came, people had seen him. In a dream. Something.

You're saying it could have been the M-guy instead?

[That is . . . not appealing. Not at all.]

There was a big seance-type spell thing, most of the Foreigners pitched in with energy, it let her contact Asti. Or, sort of. Like mental voicemail. We all got visions from it.

[The image on the screen keeps shifting, and remains out of focus. First it's a blur of orange and yellow...maybe some blue. Then it's an uncomfortable close up of one large grey eye.]

Wait...hold...how does this....

[Okay. There he is. A very overexcited Aang.]

TOPH!

[Wiggling a finger in her ear as though to clear out the ringing:]

Geez, Twinkletoes. They probably heard you in Sinbrilee. And they're pretty much dead, you know.

[Is that a pleased smirk? In spite of her words . . . it definitely is.]

[He sees that grin, Toph! He knows you're happy to see him....er....hear him. And it only makes him smile more.]

[Entirely undeterred by her snark, Aang continues.]

I'm so glad you're back! Where are you? I'll find you! Hold on!

[She was so counting on him being undeterred. Her smirk widens into a grin.]

The house. Where else?

[Not that Toph can see this, but Aang scrunches his face up closer to the screen in an effort to get a closer look of what's behind Toph.]

[Only to realize it is, indeed, their house.]

[Real fast on the uptake there, Avatar.]

Oh. Right! I'll be right home!

[And he means it, because almost as soon as the words are out of his mouth, Aang zips away from the monitor and makes a break for it home.]

[Good job, Aang. Get all four cylinders running over there. Except . . . you kind of forgot to cue the blind girl in on the fact you left.]

[After a moment of silence:] . . . Hello?

[Sometimes she could swear she's got wind blowing around upstairs too.]

[Nothing. Not so much as a sound from Aang's end of the conversation. Not until a random Kedan wanders over to the console and switches it off with a click.]

[All is quiet...until the sound of light footsteps sound from...uh...is that the roof? Yeah, that's totally the roof.]

[The overall pressure in the house shifts as a window is airbent open, and an airbender leaps through it.]

[Of course...then there's the quiet still pocket of air which usually signifies the speedy arrival of Aang, swooping in for an epic hug.]

[Fortunately for him, she can feel him -- from the moment his twinkletoes graze the roof to everything subsequent.]

[Somehow, though, in spite of that, the hug that he swoops her up into still manages to be a surprise.]

[Probably she should have expected it. He is, after all, the hug-giest airbender ever. But in spite of the number of them that she's received in the Gaang, they still always manage to be a surprise, unexpected and unplanned for.]

[Giving out a half-yelp, she wiggles in his grasp a bit more in principle of the matter than in earnest, her undertone pleased in spite of the overtone of wryness:]

Okay, okay! I was gone . . . what? A week?

[And then he'll find himself hugged back anyway. Because that principle is important too.]

[It's only after she hugs him back that he lifts her into the air so he's no longer stooping. And even then it's only for a second or two, because he knows she's not exactly thrilled to have her feet not on solid ground.]

Dunno, didn't keep track.

[Which is a lie of epic proportions.]

Welcome back.

[It's a good thing for Aang that she trusts him; she definitely wouldn't tolerate that from more than a bare handful of people, if even that. Even so, he'll be able to feel her stiffen at least from reflex; suddenly losing that floor contact, even with someone she trusts, is still like a stone plunging through water in her stomach.]

[Also probably a sign that she needs to be hugged a little more often; with the Gaang separated, it doesn't happen as much as before -- or nearly enough -- and even she can feel the scales of old armor surfacing against it.]

[She distracts herself from it by delivering a solid punch to the shoulder as he sets her down -- with a smirk, because she can sense the lie immediately. Aang has always been terrible at lying, and he gives himself away pretty much every time.]

Good try, Twinkletoes.

Thanks.

[There's a sharp intake of breath through his teeth when her punch connects.]

[There's not a doubt in his mind that tomorrow he's going to wake up with a bruise o that shoulder the exact same size as her tiny-by-comparison fist. It's okay though, Aang wouldn't have it any other way.]

So you went home and made it past the war, huh?

[Tony only knows the rough outlines of recent events in Toph's world, but he's still happy for her.] Welcome back! That's great news. I did the same thing a few months ago. It was... [Slight pause.] The right thing to do. It helps a lot to have everything cleared up.

You did? How long were you out for?

[Hesitation. Because she doesn't confess the darker feelings easily. But her features soften temporarily into something quieter. For just a moment it shows -- the relief, the weight that preceded it. There's a small smile, very slight.]

Yeah.

Less than a day. That was about as much as we saw of our futures, too, but— it was enough. [Whoops. He doesn't realize that he let that 'we' slip out.

Then he smiles, and his tone lightens.] So, are you glad to be back? Did you miss us? [It's a joke: he knows she wouldn't even have remembered them back home.]

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Video 002: Update

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