paradisalost | (no subject)

Toph could pick him out a mile away. He'd been stomping heavily everywhere, sending vibrations back to her, and her sensitive ears picked up his movements easily. Getting up from her perch on a flat stone, she faced the direction from which her opponent arrived from.

Zuko was probably going to yell at her when she got back, or reprimand her somehow. You shouldn't be picking a fight with everyone who calls you weak, Toph! he'd say in that angry but protective tone. But how else was she supposed to prove that she wasn't a helpless little blind girl? Was she supposed to sit back and take that?

Besides, what'd he know? He wasn't a kid, he wasn't blind, and he sure as hell wasn't pathetic-sounding.

"Yeah, I'm here," she answered loudly, bringing a column of rock from the ground to lean on. This was the best thing about the forest; it was abundant with rocks, earth, and dirt that she could fling around. "How's this gonna work, mister Manly Man?" she taunted, her unseeing eyes trained on him and a smug grin on her face.

This guy was going down.

He kept his hands in his pockets and shuffled toward her, a smug grin on his face. She was even smaller than he imagined, already trying to puff herself up to look tough. What the hell was that ridiculous thing on her head, anyway? Was that really fashionable on her world?

"Tell ya' what, short-stuff, I don't really like fightin' women. Because of that, I'll let you have the first shot," he said, watching her much smaller fists, "Come on."

He bent over and turned his head up, exposing his chin.

"Come on, give it your best shot pip-squeak!"

Toph's grin widened. He was already underestimating her, which was definitely not a smart move. He was big, and he sounded like a typical tough guy, but what she really wanted to know was if he had any sort of intelligence.

Like waiting and listening. She was good at that.

"I don't need a head start or anything," she said, closing her eyes and shrugging her shoulders, "but if you really insist..."

Acting quickly, she brought the stone column she was leaning on back into the earth. She leaped back and stomped on the forest ground, creating vibrations so she could get a better feel of the distance between her and Greed. After she decided that he was far enough, she brought her two fists up, and with them two boulders erupted from the ground.

A flick of the wrists brought both boulders flying towards him, and Toph hoped that her precision was correct. After all, she couldn't locate things when they were in the air.

Had Greed's eyes been open, he could have evaded the blow. Unfortunately, such was not the case. Both boulder struck him squarely, smashing into his face and chest and knocking him back several feet. He fell to the dirt, stunned.

"Wh...What the hell was that?!" he sputtered, spitting out some blood.

A good question, indeed. Where he was from, there was only one type of person able to do tricks like that.

"You never told me you were an alchemist!" he yelled, jumping to his feet, the damage on his face quickly healing, "I never suspected it! You're pretty young to do such advanced alchemy. I didn't even hear you making a transmutation circle."

Judging from the sound of the impact, the boulders had hit her target. Her pleased smirk, however, was wiped from her face at her opponent's words.

What the heck was this man going on about now? First that Xing thing... Toph frowned, her white eyes narrowing at the ground as she crushed the boulders. And what in the world was alchemy? Or transmutation circles? She'd never heard of such terms.

"I don't know what you're going on about," she started, digging her heel into the soft earth, "but I'm not an alchem-whatever-you-just said." Putting her heel right side up, she sidestepped and brought her arms forth in a her defensive position. "I'm an Earthbender."

Then she stood there, listening and awaiting his next move. Whatever his powers were, she wasn't afraid. She'd kick his butt and make him take back what he said about her.

Greed gritted his teeth and finally managed to calm down. He had already garnered information on this place. There had to be people on other worlds with similar powers. It was just statistics.

"Hm..." he said, dusting himself off and walking toward her again, "That's quite a trick, this "earthbendin'" thing of yours. But I'm willin' to bet that you're not made of rock, right?"

He dashed forward, picking up speed as he moved, aiming to put her into a small joint lock and end this practice. Better to do it before the little girl got hurt, after all. Beating up a kid certainly wasn't going to net him any allies.

Toph inwardly shook her head. He was the type of guy to just rush into battle, wasn't he? No waiting or listening, like she'd hoped. Oh, well. She'd see what she could do.

Taking a small step back and still keeping track of his vibrations, she shot her arms out. Rocks erupted from the ground and came towards her, covering her entire body like a rock suit.

"No, my body isn't made of rock," she retorted, her voice slightly muffled by the stones covering her mouth. "But this is close enough, right?"

To be safe, though, she elevated herself on a stone column, which she Earthbended from the ground. She wasn't that high up -- just enough so that he could still get to her.

If Greed could fly, though, she was in trouble.

"Here I thought you were blind! What a mistake to make, ha ha!" he said, kicking off from the ground and jumping high into the air, "Incomiiiiiing!"

He aimed for her as he come down, hoping to shatter her armor. His legs straightened out like a missile as he came down, his skin transmuting to armor beneath his pants. This girl was certainly full of interesting tricks. He was going to have to get her to show him how she did all that. It was never too late to pick up new knowledge.

"I am blind, dunderhead!" she yelled, following the sound of his voice. He was in the air now, so she was at a disadvantage, but she kept her ears open and awaited the impact. She didn't have to tell him that she could bend metal, too. He could figure that out on his own.

She braced herself and concentrated on hardening on her rock suit. Come on, come on, she told herself inwardly, clenching and unclenching her fists. Why wasn't it working?

He hit her hard, and she widened her eyes in surprise. I can't metalbend! she thought frantically, panic rising in her throat. Was this what that "loss" business was? How could this happen? She fell off the column and landed on the ground with an 'oof', luckily cushioning her fall with a soft pile of dirt. The rock suit crumbled, and she sat on the ground, a deep-set frown on her face her mind racing.

What had just happened?

Edited 2008-02-08 01:10 (UTC)

Greed grinned, pleased that he had hit his mark. He noticed her shocked, rather displeased look and laughed.

"Ha ha! Gotcha'. That certainly worked well. Why didn't you just dodge out of the way?"

He started walking toward her, putting his hands back into his pockets.

"The smart thing is always to dodge, if you can. Better than just taking the hit. What did you think, I had no chance of gettin' through? I gotta' wonder, though. You can see me well enough on the ground, but claim you're blind. How do you see me at all, then?"

Toph wasn't in any mood for his banter, so she raised her eyes in his direction and spat, "Can't you tell I'm blind? My eyes. Look at them. They can't see anything." She waved her fingers in front of them for emphasis. "I can't read, I can't write. You can't get any blinder than that. But Earthbending lets me 'see' people with vibrations in the ground, making up for my lack of eyesight."

Sighing, she brought her hand down and lowered her "gaze" at the ground. Why hadn't she dodged? Of course she wanted to prove that she could bend metal and probably counterattack, but she had realized that she didn't have that ability a split second before. She could've dodged him.

"I would've dodged, but I thought..." she hesitated, wondering if she should actually tell him, but decided to anyway. "I can bend earth and metal, but for some reason I can't anymore."

Right away, she regretted saying it, but it was done. She heaved another sigh and flopped onto her back, her arms behind her head. "This sucks."

...Well, this was certainly getting to be a depressing environment. He never knew how to deal with things like this. Why did people waste so much time feeling sorry for themselves? It seemed the time to play nice guy, then.

"Yeah, yeah," he sighed, plopping down next to her and crossing his legs, "Things are tough all over. You're not the only person with problems."

It was about as close as Greed could get to sympathy. Not that he was completely incapable of feeling for others, it simply wasn't a priority in his existence.

"I still don't think you woulda' beat me. I've got more tricks than you'd think. Wanna' see some? Might get you outta' your funk."

"I know, I know," Toph said, crossing her legs and lazily picking her nose. She didn't feel like fighting anymore, anyway. What was the point when she'd already showed him what she was capable of?

This guy. What was he? Now that she thought about it, no one's legs could break through rock. They'd be broken, mangled. But his seemed fine. She propped herself on her elbow and asked with sudden interest, "so... your legs aren't metal, are they? What was that all about?" She paused and grimaced at his comment. "I still think I could've beaten you, if I wasn't feeling so cruddy right now. But yeah, I'd like to know what your tricks are."

She paused again, and continued, "you know. As long as they don't require that I'm able to see."

Well, she still kept up quite the facade. He shrugged and laid back, to see if anything interesting was floating by. Maybe they had pink clouds or something here. Anything could happen, really. He knew little about this new land.

"Well, lemme' put it to ya' this way," he said, edging closer to her. He suddenly false-lunged at her, instantly shifting his flesh into his other form, "BOO!"

So much for relaxing.

She let out a rare yell -- she never did, since she pretty much knew what went on most of the time. But THAT... Catching her breath, her bangs in her face, she clutched her chest and let out a little laugh despite herself.

"That was so weird!" she said, turning her head to face his direction. What was it? She'd felt the vibrations for a split second and noticed that he wasn't in his usual form. Was he a spirit? Only spirits could change forms and shapes.

He switched back to normal and couldn't resist a laugh.

"Ha ha! I wasn't even sure that was gonna' work! It's a lot more effective when you can see the change, rather than feel it. My body density changes just so when I do that."

With a quick movement, he grasped her hand and brough it too his face. This was how blind people could tell distinct things, right?

"This is my face....Now, check this out."

After letting her take a good feel, he switched again.

"Get it? Just my outside changes."

She let him grasp her hand, just this once. She didn't normally let people do that -- she was careful to keep her distance, but this was a different case. He wasn't threatening her, and since they weren't fighting anymore, it was okay to let him.

Her mouth formed an 'o' of surprise when she felt his face shift under her fingers. It was like Earhbending, only with skin. "That's really crazy," she breathed, and she wished she could see it. It'd probably be a lot cooler.

"Why do you do it?" She asked, curious now. "Is it to scare people? That's it?"

"Eh? Not usually. It ruins my sexy good looks, so I usually don't use it. Only in emergency situations. That skin is impenetrable by any normal means. I'm just about unstoppable like that."

He scratched his chin and stretched his legs out, laying back down.

"Well, I WAS at least. They've got some pretty tough things here, I can tell already."

Sexy good looks. Whatever that meant.

Toph shrugged, settling into her pile of dirt again, and began subconciously shaping some earth in her hand. "Yeah, there're a lot of tough guys here," she mumbled, bringing a bigger chunk of earth from the ground. She levitated it and threw it into the forest, the echoes of it hitting the ground scaring away a flock of birds. She smiled.

"But it doesn't matter, since they're strong in their own ways. I bet I could beat the pants off all of them," she said smugly, "and it's cool when you find people who fight using the same element."

"I know guys who can shape the world around them to fight in different ways. We call 'em alchemists. They don't use fightin' moves to do it, though. They use ornate circles and knowledge to do it. It's a science."

He let out a much louder laugh at her statement.

"You shouldn't take on TOO many fights. Don't get in too deep. You forget, I don't fight all out with girls. You're tough, but if I full-force punched you in the skull, you'd die. Hitting me with rocks wouldn't do much good if I was fully armored."

"Science is dull," Toph said, grimacing. "Sounds like something my friend would be interested in. Me, I just use my surroundings, none of that alchemy stuff. But it does sound kind of cool. Any of them here?"

She'd heard of angels, ninjas, and other beings at the castle -- as well as another blind person, but she couldn't recall meeting or hearing of an "alchemist". If she did. she'd definitely challenge them.

"And I fought a lot, back in my hometown, at something called Earth Rumble VII. I fought against they greatest Earthbenders in the world, and I beat all of them!" She frowned. "And if you did try to do that to me, I'd do exactly what I was supposed to do when I figured out I couldn't Metalbend. I'd dodge."

"Ugh," he stuck out his tongue, looking away, "One, but he's a total dick. He's short and easily perturbed. He can't compromise, either."

He grinned at her and cocked an eyebrow. She was full of spunk, he had to give her that.

"For how long, though? See my kind? We never run out of stamina. I'd still be going strong, long after the point where you got tired. There's a limit to what humans can accomplish."

Toph shrugged, shifting and crossing her other leg. "They weren't much competition -- they never waited or listened. That's why I always had the advantage. I was undefeated."

It was true, though, what Greed said. She was only human -- even she got tired after a while. Some were downright relentless; Azula had been a challenge, back when they were fighting her during the Day of Black Sun.

But she could totally kick her butt, eclipse or no eclipse.

"Well, then," she said, crossing her arms, "then if you were human like me, d'you think I'd be able to stand a chance against you? Give me an honest answer."

"Oh sure," he replied, shrugging, "You've got more power than the average human, with that ability. You'd kick most regular folks butts."

He looked at her hair again and couldn't resist a snicker.

"I gotta' know, what's with the hair?"

Upon hearing his comment, Toph smiled. So she got to prove herself to him. That was good news. She wondered if he thought she was so weak and little now.

She subconciously put a hand to her hair, then sighed, shrugging again. "I don't know, I like keeping it out of my face." Blowing her long bangs out of her face, she laughed. "But it doesn't do me much good, does it? I should cut it or something."

The truth was, she liked keeping her hair like that for a reason. She was only twelve, after all, and she'd kept her hair like that for years. In some ways, it reminded her of her parents.

But no way was she ever going to tell anyone that.

"Eh, I'm not sayin' if it's good or bad. I'm only an expert on how mature women look."

He reached over and tugged down her cap in a playful manner. She was a cute kid, if a bit too rough.

"Stick with what ya' got, for now. You're at the age where guys'll start noticing it, soon. I'd say wait till then before makin' any snap decisions. Besides, a lot of guys like tomboy-types."

Now he was talking to her about boys? Toph stuck out her tongue and distracted herself by absentmindedly picking at her toes. They hadn't had much attention for a while.

She couldn't tell him that she already... kind of had a crush on someone. No, even if they were on the subject of boys or whatever, she'd never say anything.

"I don't care if guys like me or not," she said firmly, "as long as they don't underestimate me or think I'm some little tiny doll, I'm okay."

He crossed his arms and laid back down again. Should he be brutally honest with her? He was never the type to beat around the bush with people.

"Kid, that's gonna' happen. You've got two strikes against you. One, you're a child. Two, you're a female. That's kinda' how things go. You're always gonna' be underestimated. Take your bendin', for instance. Without that, the average male could probably take you down with little effort."