Toph Beifong · 北方拓芙 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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expiationlogs2024-01-01 04:28 pm
fieldtrip) wrote in expiationlogs2024-01-01 04:28 pm
Entry tags:
you've seen nothing once
Who: Toph Beifong & OTA
Where: Various places around Aldrip and at various times in the first half of the month.
What: Toph's intro post! Keeping all her TDM threads canon unless otherwise requested. She can be found in the first couple weeks of January fighting monsters, earthbending some glowy rocks, fixing buildings, and also complaining about it being so cold out because she is perpetually barefoot. Also perfectly happy to do brackets if preferred for anyone.
Warnings: None so far!
Toph's number one way of keeping busy is fighting, and right now the area around Aldrip is providing. She's already gotten her explanations in, she's met and harassed a few people, and she's built a thorough mental map of the town and surrounding region. It's not huge, so it hadn't taken more than a few days of walking, her bare feet freezing. She consistently has to stop to try to warm them up with her hands as the rotting snow begins to fall.
Whether it's mid-fight, saving someone who needs it, or appearing to need saving herself as a tiny girl sitting in the middle of the road massaging her feet while monsters creep up, feel free to run across her.
It takes Toph a while to find out about it, but not too long. Of course, she has no idea the rocks are glowing -- she's blind -- but she hears about something called the Lorentia Caves, and she's not going to go check it out immediately? Please.
The caves themselves give her creepy memories of that bloodbending old lady, and she's secretly relieved not to find a bunch of trapped prisoners as she explores, though she eventually feels strongly compelled to leave in a way she finds equally creepy. She can often be found pondering the glowing rocks deep in the labyrinthine tunnels in otherwise absolute darkness like the weird earth creature she is.
Days later, once she realizes how valuable they are in fighting the monsters, she can also be found earthbending tunnels directly to and from the best sources of the crystals.
And, finally, once that's done, Toph sets about testing her earthbending with them directly, frowning at a handful outside the entrance to the cave system. She looks like she's staring intently at rocks until she picks up her hands and makes a few short, deliberate movements, like she's precision striking a target. Toph is far more careful than normal given the strange vibrations they give off.
The pile of glowing rocks creaks gradually into one, much larger rock.
Toph smirks. "Gotcha."
Throughout essentially the whole month, in between fighting and messing around with the glowy rocks, Toph fits in some building repair. She'd been bored at home, and she's certainly not bored now. This place has that going for it.
Although at first Toph had indulged her sense of showmanship about it, it doesn't take long to realize the situation is getting increasingly dire, and she's now perfunctory, almost business-like. The locals start to recognize her and direct her toward the most needed efforts where the rot is weakening critical building foundations.
Toph ends up segmenting out the places subjected to the rot and replacing them with fresh earth and stone, creating an ominous pile of blackened building materials besides the building she's shoring up in a dramatic feat of earthbending. Said earth and stone go flying in coordinated waves with her stomping on the ground, replacing what she's taking out simultaneously, smoothly enough that the building doesn't topple. She's holding it up, too.
The best earthbending is always the parts that sighted people can't tell she's doing.
Where: Various places around Aldrip and at various times in the first half of the month.
What: Toph's intro post! Keeping all her TDM threads canon unless otherwise requested. She can be found in the first couple weeks of January fighting monsters, earthbending some glowy rocks, fixing buildings, and also complaining about it being so cold out because she is perpetually barefoot. Also perfectly happy to do brackets if preferred for anyone.
Warnings: None so far!
1. Keeping Busy
Toph's number one way of keeping busy is fighting, and right now the area around Aldrip is providing. She's already gotten her explanations in, she's met and harassed a few people, and she's built a thorough mental map of the town and surrounding region. It's not huge, so it hadn't taken more than a few days of walking, her bare feet freezing. She consistently has to stop to try to warm them up with her hands as the rotting snow begins to fall.
Whether it's mid-fight, saving someone who needs it, or appearing to need saving herself as a tiny girl sitting in the middle of the road massaging her feet while monsters creep up, feel free to run across her.
2. So you have caves
It takes Toph a while to find out about it, but not too long. Of course, she has no idea the rocks are glowing -- she's blind -- but she hears about something called the Lorentia Caves, and she's not going to go check it out immediately? Please.
The caves themselves give her creepy memories of that bloodbending old lady, and she's secretly relieved not to find a bunch of trapped prisoners as she explores, though she eventually feels strongly compelled to leave in a way she finds equally creepy. She can often be found pondering the glowing rocks deep in the labyrinthine tunnels in otherwise absolute darkness like the weird earth creature she is.
Days later, once she realizes how valuable they are in fighting the monsters, she can also be found earthbending tunnels directly to and from the best sources of the crystals.
And, finally, once that's done, Toph sets about testing her earthbending with them directly, frowning at a handful outside the entrance to the cave system. She looks like she's staring intently at rocks until she picks up her hands and makes a few short, deliberate movements, like she's precision striking a target. Toph is far more careful than normal given the strange vibrations they give off.
The pile of glowing rocks creaks gradually into one, much larger rock.
Toph smirks. "Gotcha."
3. Rebuilding
Throughout essentially the whole month, in between fighting and messing around with the glowy rocks, Toph fits in some building repair. She'd been bored at home, and she's certainly not bored now. This place has that going for it.
Although at first Toph had indulged her sense of showmanship about it, it doesn't take long to realize the situation is getting increasingly dire, and she's now perfunctory, almost business-like. The locals start to recognize her and direct her toward the most needed efforts where the rot is weakening critical building foundations.
Toph ends up segmenting out the places subjected to the rot and replacing them with fresh earth and stone, creating an ominous pile of blackened building materials besides the building she's shoring up in a dramatic feat of earthbending. Said earth and stone go flying in coordinated waves with her stomping on the ground, replacing what she's taking out simultaneously, smoothly enough that the building doesn't topple. She's holding it up, too.
The best earthbending is always the parts that sighted people can't tell she's doing.
1
While it might not matter to Toph, there's a flash of Orange as Tsuna lands a power flaming punch on a monster.]
Are you okay?
no subject
Wow, you're like my hero!
[ The opportunity for bright sarcasm is just too good to pass up. But he's probably genuinely a good person if he's helping out some random girl on a road, so Toph climbs to her feet and relents. ]
Thanks, but I'm fine.
no subject
No injuries or anything? But if you're okay, you should probably get back into town.
The monsters have been really bad lately.
no subject
I was clearing some out. I was just taking a break for a second -- I didn't really need the help.
[ She has to make sure that's very clear before they go any farther, but she's not going to give him a hard time when her immediate read on him is that he's as painfully earnest as Aang. ]
no subject
[Tsuna, at least, has the grace to look a little embarrassed.]
Sorry. I mean, I just saw you in the middle of the road and all....
Did you want to clear them out together?
no subject
Toph smirks much more sincerely. ] Why not? I'm Toph Beifong. Were you using fire earlier?
[ Normally she'd have a harder time being able to tell that, but, well, she's fought plenty of firebenders at this point.]
no subject
And yeah, I was.
[Did she not, see him?]
I mean, it's not really normal fire...but yeah.
no subject
Toph is ready to pester him with about five more questions after this one, too. This is already the closest thing to bending she's run across here so far. ]
no subject
[How does he even explain? It's a problem every time. He activates a small ball of it over the ring that he wears. It's a comforting orange colour, and warm. Not that any of that matters to Toph.]
It's kinda like...willpower?
no subject
Look, are you a firebender or not? I just want to know what I'm working with here.
no subject
[Because that. Is a thing he can probably do. But it also sounds like something specific.]
no subject
But fine, she can demonstrate. She snaps a few quick hand movements and a chunk of rock lifts out of the earth and goes flying into the distance at high velocity. ]
That's earthbending. That's how I've been fighting the monsters.
no subject
[And he's about to ask more questions but the earthbending demonstration stops those dead in their tracks. It's definitely new to him, that kind of fighting. It's not even like any of the Shimon flames, and that's the closest to the Earth he can understand.]
I. How...how did you even do that? Like, magic?
no subject
[ That's the pre-school level explanation, at least, but Toph doesn't tend to go into more detail unless she has a receptive audience. ]
no subject
[It's a very bare bones explanation. And Tsuna can sense that there is more under the surface.]
And you've just, always been able to do that? Just make the Earth move?
no subject
I wasn't, like, born with the ability to obliterate slimy octopus monsters.
no subject
I don't think most people are, even though this place seems to have a problem with them.
no subject
[ Not because she can't handle them but because she'd rather not deal with ocean-based things, especially out in the cold. For real.
Toph cracks her knuckles. ] So -- still down for obliterating some octopuses?
no subject
[He'd rather not, but someone's got to do something.]
I guess. If, you're up for it. You're sure you're fine?
no subject
[ She is a kid, but don't treat her like one. ]
That's what I was out here to do in the first place. You can come with me or not.
no subject
[He did find her in the middle of the road.]
I'm coming. No one should have to face these things alone. And you're hardly much older than me.
[He assumes.]
no subject
I don't mind the help, but believe me, I don't need it.
no subject
We've all got to work together, and those things are nasty anyway.