ghost by my side, so perfectly clear. [ catch-all ]

[insertdadjoke]

Who	"Jacob Kane" (Cain) & You
When	Month of September, barring plot explosions
Where	All around Keeliai and various establishments
What	Just one of those catch-all things
Warn	Will update as necessary. Please consider filling this permissions post!

Things were tense around the city. The breezy weather had subsided, and with it went some of the feeling of just waiting for something to happen. Now the air was humid and people were scrambling to collect what they could, prepare not only in case the air dried again but for whatever was to come when the Justicar appeared. No one had any idea what to expect. Cain certainly didn't, but he was more or less okay with that; he didn't need to borrow trouble rather than make sure his own interests would be all right should push come to shove.

To those ends, Cain was being a little more directed in his wanderings of the city. Places where the natives seemed more steeled than frantic, still appreciated foreigners or at least was willing to let individuals prove themselves, anything where he could make himself appear more solid. His carefree attitude was great and genuine, but if things went to hell, Cain wanted to make sure people would look at him and not question if he had to take some kind of control. All hail Romulus, father of the Holy Roman Empire. Ha, yeah right. Not that it would even mean anything to most people here.

He went about his business. There were places to be, people to bother, and plenty of things to keep up on.

Comments

September . . . sometime? Before canon update.

[seismometrics]

After the Hamadas left, Toph vacated the shop, backing off and leaving it to the invasion of the old man Callaghan. Time to regroup and re-evaluate her plans . . . and honestly, with her mind preoccupied as it was, decisions had been placed low on the priority list.

The shop knew where to find her -- the house in the Sky Sector that she lived in with Aang -- and forwarded individuals to her every now and again. Even though the shop hadn't been open long, she'd made a small reputation for herself as a fabricator, able to bend and mold metal in ways that would have been unwieldy and complicated for anyone with a hammer and anvil. Some just liked to watch the method of it, too, with the fascination of watching someone fold origami or twist balloon animals, enjoying watching the shape emerge from the metal under her hands.

Any inquiries made about the girl who could bend metal would be forwarded to her at home.

[insertdadjoke]

Being directed to someone's home directly to request work wasn't something unheard of to Cain. However, it had fallen out of vogue in recent times and he wondered at what kind of person would recluse to their home when someone as talented as she had been billed could easily open her own shop somewhere and make a larger separation between life and work. It wasn't really any of Cain's business, but he was interested to see who he was going to meet.

Once he arrived at the house, he knocked politely and waited. He was in no particular rush, although he did want to get this project started sooner rather than later. Having something more effective than a switchblade to defend himself or others with seemed like a growing necessity in the political climate, of late.

[seismometrics]

The pattern of the man outside the door -- movement, heartbeat, breath, all the vibrations of the human body that allowed Toph to see without sight -- was unfamiliar. Whoever was outside the door wasn't someone she knew. Sliding from the twisty chair where she'd been idly spinning, listening to the bursts of Foreigner chatter on the radio sets, the girl padded to the door, tugging it open without ceremony. Dark brows shifted upward under a heavy fringe of hair, eyes not focusing on Cain whatsoever.

"Yeah?"

If he was expecting someone taller, he was going to be disappointed.

[insertdadjoke]

To be honest, Cain didn't know what he was expecting. This wasn't really it, but he was only really taken aback for a moment before he decided it didn't really matter at all. If this was her and she could do what people said, then that was all he really cared about. He shifted, not out of needing to change his body posture for her, but just for his own comfort and shrugged.

"I'm looking for Toph Bei Fong in regards to a possible commission. Would I be right in assuming that's you?"

[seismometrics]

"Yeah, that's me." Her eyes never came up to meet his face. They fixed on a point somewhere beyond him, through him. Her face, however, was interested, alert. "What kind of commission?"

Her eyebrows furrowed a bit, remembering. "You're that guy from the network. The one talking about government."

[insertdadjoke]

"Correct." Better to address that first and make sure she would be willing to work with him before really trying to get business rolling. Cain didn't mind her errant eyes; it was easy enough to tell what was going on with that unfocused gaze. It answered, partially, how she was so independent. "Jacob Kane. That was me. Less of a government, more of a club."

He tilted his head, watching her reaction for a moment before he continued on. "Some kind of a weapon, probably a knife. Something better to use for self-defense than a switchblade should it come to that."

[seismometrics]

No reason, as far as she was concerned, why not. He'd been polite and not treated her like a kid . . . and so far, at least from what she could tell by network, his intentions were legitimate. Actually, all the more reason to work with him: here, in physical proximity, he was subject to seismic sense, and she could get a much better sense of what kind of person he actually was -- someone like Long Feng, who took power under the guise of help, or someone who was earnest about it.

So he received little except a nod and a small pause as she considered . . . and then she stepped aside. "You should probably come in."

[insertdadjoke]

His intentions were nothing but pure right now. He really had no ulterior motivations aside from getting this work done and possibly seeing what kind of person this girl was outside of her political views, but that was just how Cain was. Someone who needed other people, enjoyed their company, made what he could of it. He wasn't always that way, but it was the easiest way to cope with how long he had been around.

"That works for me." He watched her as he walked inside, gait regular and paced. How she was getting around was curious to him; Solomon used his shadows to feel more comfortable with his surroundings, but she seemed just comfortable with everything as it was. A lifelong condition if not something developed when she was too young to remember differently? Idle curiosity continued to spin in his head while he took the house in. "Any objections to making weaponry? Some artisans don't really go for that."

[seismometrics]

The house was big -- obviously designed for several people rather than just one or two. Toph looked smaller somehow in it, like a single marble rattling in an oversized container. It was more sparsely decorated, minimalist, and not completely sophisticated, as though it had been done by more than one young adult -- though it also looked as though said young adults had had fun with it, popping in things that pleased or amused them.

Toph shut the door behind him, heading inward. As he'd noted, she seemed perfectly at ease in her surroundings, confident. This was her space, and she knew it completely.

"Not really a problem." Her shoulders lifted. "The way this turtle works, I figure pretty much everyone needs a backup. I'm a bender, not an artist.

That said, I don't really make weapons much. But a knife's pretty simple. If I tried a sword, Sokka would probably crawl out of our world and try to give me an earful, but. I'll take my chances with a knife."

[insertdadjoke]

Cain took it all in, noticed it for being like an especially large dorm more than a home. Not that they couldn't be one in the same, but the air was definitely different and it did seem rather empty for all of the space there was and the touches placed about. Perhaps they were out, or perhaps the pieces were just a legacy of previous tenants. Hard to say.

"A bender?" he asked politely. Not a term he had heard before. Was that how she did what she did? Not that Cain was entirely certain how she went about her craft but more information never hurt. "They're mostly about form and balance, which provides the function. Is this Sokka the same as you?"

[seismometrics]

Some of the minimalism, honestly, was intentional -- an aesthetic verging on more traditional Asian sensibilities. But not all of it, either. There was also definitely a sense of something absent. Missing.

A snort from her. "Sokka? No. He likes swords, though. Made one of his own back at home with the help of a master. Pretty sure he thinks he knows all about them now."

There was just the slightest edge of wistfulness as the description trailed off -- but it was something very quickly buried as she pushed on.

"Bending. I'd show you, but my bracelet's pretty much in use." She shifted her sleeve up briefly, where a bracelet made of dark stone wrapped around her upper arm, set with a soul gem of a rich, deep green. "And Katara made me promise not to tear up the floor." Side muttered: "Even though I could fix it just fine."

"Basically, though, it means people who can make elements do what they want. In my case, earth." A sudden grin: "Or metal. I made metalbending."

In spite of all that was weighing on her as of late, in spite of the strong dip in her mood, that was a pride that still couldn't quite be contained.

[insertdadjoke]

This girl was definitely confident in herself and Cain smiled to see it. There was obvious fondness in her tone for the ones she spoke of and yet she seemed to be doing all right on her own besides. That she'd created her own container for her soul gem was pretty impressive, too, and reminded Cain just how fragile and movable those things really were. He wore his own around his wrist like any ol' bracelet mostly out of an attempt at obfuscation but also because he just wasn't used to wearing things on his neck as it was intended to be. Maybe he should see about resetting his own to something more convenient...

"Made it, huh?" He could see the logic in that. Metal was made from earthy materials and if one could manipulate one, why not the other? That no one had seen fit to do so before spoke of something he was missing. "Guess that makes you uniquely qualified for my order. Among benders, anyway."