tushanshu | 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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[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?

Video 002: Update

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