(no subject)

[dustonmyfeet]

Characters: Toph and OPEN
Date: Backdated to just after this thread during the party.
Location: Anywhere between the party and Toph's home in the Earth sector.
Situation: Toph learned she has some family on the turtle. She was not prepared.
Warnings/Rating: Bit of angst? Family issues. Probably rocks.


She goes.

Seismic sense is on autopilot; she sees the patterns between people, furniture, walls, and shifts through them. They might as well be obstacles on a course -- simply something to get around. Her eyes are closed; her head is down.

There is one focus, and one focus only: To get out of Sinbrilee. To get home.

And if you're in the way . . . well. Hard to say what will happen. Approach at your own risk.

Comments

[michaeljangelo]

By this point in the evening Mike has danced himself silly, which...when one takes into consideration his nearly limitless stamina for such physical endeavors, is saying something. And it's saying it loudly.

He's making his way back towards the turtle so as to pick up some provisions in the Water Sector for the long night of egg sitting to come, when the movement of the girl catches his eye.

She's moving with purpose through the crowd like she doesn't even see them, but she's not looking up. It's curious at first, and so Mike pays closer attention, and doesn't like what he sees.

She looks upset.

"Excuse me," he calls out to her. "Um...miss?" He takes a couple of steps towards her, but his footfalls are so light they're damn near inaudible.

"Are you okay?"

[dustonmyfeet]

She feels him. She doesn't need to hear him. But he's one more bit of noise, and one more voice she doesn't know.

She doesn't pause. She lets him fall away behind her.

[michaeljangelo]

He winces.
"Soooooooo, that's a no. Yikes."

Mike looks back towards the party fully expecting to see someone in hot pursuit of the girl. He waits a good five count, spending half time watching her retreating form and the other half looking for someone to come and give chase. When no one appears, he sighs.

"Fine then, I'll just go. 'Cause you know...yeah," he says to one one before he breaks into a run and makes to catch up with the girl.

"Hi, I'm Mike," he calls to her when he's about four paces behind her.

[dustonmyfeet]

It's him again. Same voice, same steps.

Why?

Toph twists, rounding on him, and is suddenly still. Her eyes are open now, and if she could glare, she would. Even in the faint light, her unfocused eyes are pale and potentially startling.

"If this is your pickup line, I'm 13. Go away."

She doesn't want to be seen right now. Doesn't want to be looked at.

[michaeljangelo]

When she turns, Mike starts.
When she goes still, Mike does as well.

It's not the eyes so much as the practiced stillness. It's the kind of thing that only comes with training. The body, when agitated, wants to move. When it stills, it's for a reason, and very seldom is that reason a good one.

He keeps his hands in plain sight, though...a better look at the girl's face makes that point moot.

"I'm sixteen," he says lamely. It's the first thing that springs to mind. "No one's following, if...that's what you're concerned about."

[gathersnomoss]

Zelgadis wasn't spending much time at the party -- as nice as it was to see something other than the city, he detested crowds.

On the other hand, he's going to notice Toph, given they live in the same sector, and he probably stands out like a beacon to her senses. "Hey."

If she doesn't notice him, or look like she's going to run him over. "Hey, watch it!"

[dustonmyfeet]

He registers, yes. But as an obstacle only. Interaction is pretty far from Toph's mind. At the last moment, she twists and shifts her path around him, continuing on her way.

[gathersnomoss]

"What's your problem?" Zelgadis shouted.

[dustonmyfeet]

Her problem? What's his problem? She didn't even run into him, and he's shouting after her like a jerk with road rage. The whole fact of the matter registers only dimly with Toph, and she yanks a hand upward.

A statue spears through the earth near Zel. . . . It appears to be a finely-articulated middle finger.

[gathersnomoss]

"Fine! See if I care, then."

[langsyne]

Scott's leaving the party because after being thoroughly embarrassed not once by twice on the dance floor he really doesn't relish the idea of going through all of that a third time.

Still.

He can't say it wasn't fun, because it was. It was the most fun he's had in a good long time and he knows he'll keep this little bit of memory tucked away for a rainy day. There's a smile on his face and a languidness to a posture that rarely sees the light of day and he thinks that for once, he might sleep well that evening.

Of course, all those thoughts are dashed out of his head when he sees Toph, striding through the crowds looking oddly determined. He zooms down, maneuvering the ant he's riding until he's drifting about a foot away from her right ear. From up close he can see that she's less determined and more upset and that worries him a little.

"Hey, you okay?"

Luckily his helmet projects his voice to make it sound normal even at his reduced size, but he's hoping all the same she doesn't mistake him for a bug and attempt to slap him out of the way.

[dustonmyfeet]

. . . There's a bug near her ear. Toph can hear it; her ears are probably more attuned than most sighted people's. And since Scott's voice sounds normal, she doesn't really connect the two.

So . . . worst fears may come true here. Toph's hand whips up to smack the bug away from near her ear even as she whips around to confront the voice.

There's no one standing there. What the hell? It was right next to her, but there's no one there at all.

[langsyne]

Owwwww--

--is really the only thing Scott's thinking at the particularly moment of time, because when Toph hits she doesn't miss. At all. So naturally both he and the bug go flying through the air to land on the ground in the tiniest of bug-sized crashes.

"Oww."

He spends about a good second lying on the ground in pain - flicks and smacks hurt a lot more when one is small - before resizing himself back to normal human size. While still laying on the ground because oww. He does manage to say a little more than ow though, at the least.

"That definitely wasn't how I wanted to end my evening."

[dustonmyfeet]

Okay. That jolts Toph out of her own brain a bit.

At least enough to stand there and try to figure out what the heck happened. Because one minute there's no person there. And the next there's a bug crash (yes, she can feel that) and a big person there.

"What are you doing?"

Because this is always the reasonable question to ask the person you've just smacked senseless.

[langsyne]

"Um."

Don't worry Toph, Scott has a very witty rejoinder for that, just give him a minute to stretch out his arms and legs and make sure they're all still in one piece.

"I'm currently lying on the ground but I'm planning on getting up soon because the ground is dirty and I don't want to do laundry again."

His reasons are the best reasons really. But true to his word, he pushes himself upright shortly afterwords, dusting himself off and wincing at the bruise he seems to have obtained on his right knee before turning towards Toph.

"You okay? Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

[demon_brat]

Damian actually saw her leave the party. He considered it for a moment, then. Well. There was the possibility that something big had happened.

So he followed her, at some distance early on, but then, as she seemed so careless with how she was making her way ahead, he started catching up.

"Toph?"

[dustonmyfeet]

She doesn't want to stop. At all. The only place she wants to stop is at home, in her own suite, behind the enormous slab of rock she calls her front door. She wants to be able to sort out her own feelings without anyone to look at her.

But. Damian is a sifu, and that plus her name is much harder to ignore.

Toph's steps slow until she comes to a gradual halt, her hands tightening at her sides. It's not a verbal response. But it's something.

[demon_brat]

Of all things, when Damian catches up with her, he sounds angry. This is not how Toph usually acts, at all, and he. Has to know.

"Did somebody say or do something to hurt you."

It's almost not a question. But a threat, to that unknown person.

[dustonmyfeet]

That surprises her. Of all things he could have said or done, that surprises her the most -- enough to jolt her thoughts out of place, to jerk her head upward.

"No." The word surprises even her a bit; as much as she'd like someone to blame at the moment, there really isn't anyone to give blame to. Lin for telling her? No. Obviously Lin has been guarded in anything she's given to Toph -- and hadn't Toph asked for silence to begin with? Herself? Not that, either. Even Toph recognizes that this is what it is -- nothing but a slow culmination of events that have built to a head.

Something she can't solve or fix. Or even control.

Her hands tighten again. "Look . . . no offense. I just want to get home."

[demon_brat]

Damian's nostrils flare, even through the firm denial, but then he nods, slowly. This, he suspects she will know.

"Of course. Let us go."

And he'll walk her to her door. That only seems appropriate.

[duelkatana]

Doesn't take long to figure out what happened. After slipping away from Sinbrilee and unexpectedly running into his cousin laid out in front of a slab of rock, Leonardo had been on instant guard, but the pieces that fell together from Michaelangelo's testimony and the tent of earth jutting up from the ground already tells him everything he needs to know.

The culprit, if he's right - and he's fairly certain he is - is someone a little close to home. That complicates things. And while she may be rough around the edges, and while Mike may have a legendary talent for provocation that transcends dimensions, Leo has a hard time believing that Toph would knock out his cousin for being annoying.

He's worried; both about his student and his cousin. And what this might mean for future relations between the earthbender and the turtles. But aside from a couple lumps on his head, Mike will be okay. Leonardo suspects Toph might not be.

It's what drives him to the suite his pupil has taken up residence in several hours later. Although he's anxious for answers, he doesn't intrude without being granted permission - instead he takes a post by his usual window, tapping a finger rhythmically against the glass pane. To Toph, this is likely the standard sound indicating a Leonardo dropping by - except this one has a slight sense of urgency, a speedier tempo and an uneven rhythm that would never be present otherwise.

And it doesn't go away. Really; he can be pretty darn persistent.

[dustonmyfeet]

She thought home would be safe.

Once home, Toph does something she's done since she was a little girl: She burrows. Every pillow in the apartment becomes a small mountain, and into the mountain she delves inward, curling up in the warm darkness like a small animal. Only there does she allow herself to shudder, to hug herself around a pillow as though the pressure of it could stave off the gnawing of her insides.

Quietly she allows the emotion to ripple out of her with the same shivering of her body fluttering through her frame. The mountain of pillows quiver in a silent earthquake. In the darkness, though, there is no one to see.

She might stay like that until she sleeps, until morning, were it not for the knock at the window. At first it's an annoyance -- a sound puncturing the edge of her consciousness, tugging her back out of herself. She burrows in tighter, trying to shut it out. She knows who it is. She doesn't want to talk.

The sound persists. The pillows can't block it. No amount of pillows can. Even so, she tries a good ten minutes before finally giving in, emerging from her cave in an avalanche, trailing pillows in her wake. She heads for the window in her training room and squares off against it, planting her feet defensively. Her hair and dress are disheveled, a mess. She doesn't care.

"I'm not home."

Yes, she knows the blatant lie of the words; it's fully likely he can see her. But it's minimally more polite than saying, Go away.

[duelkatana]

Most people might quickly grow bored with hunching against a window and repeatedly tapping the glass for an extended period of time, but the monotony of this task isn't anything new for Leonardo. Patience is a crucial principle of the work they do - one he wishes his brothers would take to heart more often - and even when the ten minute mark passes, his gaze is still attentively fixed through the glass, one thick finger tapping with nearly robotic dutifulness. From here, the shadows of the dark room seem askew, lying at different angles across the walls and floors. This is the most worrying thing of all; although the darkness is too obstructing to make out any details, the room is clearly in some slight disarray.

A flicker of movement within the dark room. His eyes pull toward it, hand dropping from the pane. A pillow scuffs against the floor as it slides partway out of the shadows. Moments later, Toph emerges from the darkness, wearing a tousled dress and a stormy anger that radiates out from her in waves that are palpable even through the barrier between them. When she stops short just of the window, squaring off against him and speaking her piece with muffled words, Leonardo can't help the way his brow line creases in concern.

"Toph." His voice raises to carry through the glass, and he lifts his hand to set it open-palmed against the window with the very soft, hollow whump of flesh meeting glass. "Let me in."

Make no mistake; there's no hard edge to his words. Though garbled by the layer of glass they may be, everything in his tone is a gentle request, a plead for her to open up to him both literally and figuratively. He's not angry. He won't be here if you really, truly don't want him to be. But please - let him in.

[dustonmyfeet]

Her mouth tightens. Clearly she is deciding whether or not to acquiesce to the request. She can't see him -- can't see the eyes fixed through the glass -- though she feels the tension in his body just outside the pane. She knows he very much wants her to agree.

Alone. She wanted to be alone right now, to have a chance to chew this over, to try to figure out what the heck it means, why it hurts, why it scares her so badly, right down to her very core. No one is letting her have that tonight.

But somehow, suddenly, she's just getting so tired of running. The night is sitting like a weight on her chest, unalleviated, and the heaviness of it is crushing her chest, bending her ribcage. Part of her, unconfessed, wants this out into the open air, if only to relieve some of that weight.

A few more moments of silence hang between Toph and her sifu, and she steps forward to unlock the window.

[duelkatana]

He watches, unmoving, as Toph struggles with the decision. If she turns him away now, he isn't sure what it means for the future... and he refuses to let himself speculate. While she has been his student for a while now, Leonardo has started regarding her as something more: a friend. He would like to help her. But she has to want it, too. And even friends are not obligated to disclose every little thing to one another.

For these reasons, it's a bigger relief than he'd expected when she steps forward and unlocks the window with a soft click. Leonardo waits in silence for a heartbeat; then, very slowly, pushes the window open and shifts forward on the sill to crouch balanced on the threshold.

His eyes flicker briefly again over the shadows still settled deeply across the room, resting on the pillow for a barely a moment. Then his gaze is back on Toph, studying her state of dress and disheveled appearance. Although his stares are often intense, this time around it softens; this isn't an interrogation, nor is it a teacher evaluating his pupil. Whatever had upset her enough to attack his cousin... it's clearly put her in some remarkable distress.

"I know something happened." He speaks plainly; if there's one thing he's learned through teaching her, it's that cutting straight to the point is the best way of doing things. "Want to talk?"