tushanshu_logs | (no subject)

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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.

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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.

. . . 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.

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."

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.

"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."

Under normal circumstances, Toph would snicker and make some kind of jibe . . . and probably ask about the whole turning into a bug thing. (Hey, not like she saw what really happened.)

But these aren't normal circumstances, and instead the corners of her mouth deepen. He seems to be all right . . . he's moving, anyway, and getting up. She turns as though to go again.

"Sorry I swatted you." The words are quick, sharp, brief . . . and not at all an answer to his question. They are a dismissal more than anything else. She fully intends to leave.

Toph gets a noncommittal grunt in response and a shrug, not that she can see that last one.

"S'fine. Happens all the time."

Swats are nothing new and honestly? After years of being pint-sized he probably should have seen it coming. What he's more concerned about right now is Toph and her apparent bad mood. She might not be his kid or even remotely under his protection, but he's an ex-dad and if there's one thing dads are good at it's fussing. And he's definitely going to fuss right now even if she doesn't want it.

"But really, are you okay? You seem down-er than usual." Especially her usual seems to be sarcastic and somewhat cheerful.

"I'm just trying to get home." She's not going to cry here, not even if she's starting to feel the heat of it build up behind her eyes. There's nothing to cry about anyway; it is what it is and is what it will be, and it's not like she regrets it, but . . .

She's losing control, and fast. She swipes hard at her eyes with the back of her hand and bolts.

Ordinarily, Scott wouldn't follow. He's had enough of his own problems and people trying to nudge him this way or that about them that he's firmly against the idea of trying to interfere when someone else is in distress. And it's not like Toph is a close friend of his, or someone he's taken responsibility for. Just a girl he's talked to a few times and likes well enough.

But. Just because he isn't close to her doesn't mean there aren't people who are. She's someone's best friend, maybe someone's sister, and she's definitely someone's daughter, and he knows for a fact that if Toph had been Cassie and a friend of hers had just let her run off alone, he never would have forgiven them.

It's that fact that leads him to shrink down again, call up another one of the turtle's many resident aliens, and fly his way back after her. She's pretty fast but he's pretty determined, and he manages to catch up after several hundred feet.

"Toph, wait! I just want to talk!"

Even while he says it, he's bracing himself for another slap out of the air.

"Stop following me!" Suddenly Toph rounds on him -- him and his bug -- whipping to face the space behind her. If he can see them in the light, her face is wet with tears, dark strands of her hair sticking to her cheeks where she's swiped at them. "Do you get it? Do you need a rock in the face like the last guy? What?"

Again she swipes at her cheeks -- a furious movement that's so hard, it leaves pink in its wake. "I have a kid, okay? Does that satisfy you? Make you feel better? I have a kid, and I found out in one of those stupid dream things where I'm sure she got to see things I wouldn't ever, ever want her to see, ever, and this whole stupid turtle just spills them onto her lap like it's nothing and takes my bending and my friends and--"

The words choke off as a shudder trembles through her frame. "I want to go home."

The sudden outburst is more than he expects and he has to physically reign in his bug so he doesn't get caught in her onslaught. Her anger and frustration are just that palpable.

And with reason. Scott's eyes pop wide open in surprise at the news. A kid is a lot to take in, especially when you're in your teens. Hell, he was in his twenties when he had his and it was still a lot to take in. Is a lot to take in now and for a second he just sits in silence before blurting out:

"...You seem kind of young to have a kid."

And then mentally - and physically - smacks himself because that is quite possibly the dumbest thing he's said all because really? Considering how many time-displaced people he's seen around the turtle, that really ought to have been the last thing to come to mind.

With a sigh he hops off his flying bug, upscales until he's normal size again. His face when he takes off his helmet is tied, sad, the face of a man who's seen too much. He doesn't move much closer than two feet from her though. A rock in the face sounds really unappealing right now.

"There's nothing wrong with having a kid. I had one." It's past tense but there's a clinical detachment to the way he says it that suggests he doesn't really want to talk about it. "They're great sometimes, an absolute pain other times."

But that's really only part of the reason she's upset, isn't it? He sighs again, and then risks the safety of his right limb by stretching out a hand and placing it lightly on Toph's shoulder.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry you're here without your bending and your friends and with a daughter you don't even know. But you know what? Even if your friends from home aren't here, I bet you've made some new ones. You're tough and smart and you don't take sh--crap from anyone and your daughter probably thinks you're the coolest mom ever. Or y'know, will, when you're older and a mom."

It's a pathetic attempt as far as motivational speeches go, but Scott'll be the first to admit that he should be the last person anyone goes to if they need motivation.

Her body quivers, shakes like a miniature earthquake.

And then, surprisingly, amazingly, she wraps her arms around her waist.

At another time, this won't have happened. But for the moment she clings and gets his shirt wet with the slow seepage of tears.

Sometimes words don't matter as much as intention -- or simple presence.

The dampness against his shirt is surprising but Scott doesn't say anything, content to let Toph cry out her emotions while he holds her close, one hand still on her shoulder while the other lightly strokes her hair.

He hates that she's crying and hates that he can't do anything about it except let her cry. Likely it's all she can do for now, but still. He can't imagine what she's going through, but he'll be a shoulder to cry on or a listening ear whenever she needs it.

He doesn't speak up, not until she pulls away, at which point he gives her a crooked smile.

"We should probably get you home though. I'm sure you'd rather be warm in bed than standing out here."

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