Whether it is or isn't the right reaction, Jim used to be that kid, running around where he shouldn't. Constantly underestimated and talked down to - it didn't really get better with age. The shitty thing about growing up was that you're never really grown - everyone who ever told you that you were too young tended to grow with you, and it was impossible to catch up.
Jim tries to stand, maybe to follow her, but a PA boxes him in and forces him back down into the chair. Jeez, pushy much?
By the time Toph returns, Jim's got his face angled as far away from the plate as he can get it, eyes watering. While it smells wonderful, don't get him wrong - whatever the hell is in it is absolutely triggering his allergies. Thank god he didn't eat it, because he's not that confident this place would have the necessary concoction of life (his words, not Bones') to stop full-blown anaphylaxis.
"Cutting it a little close," Jim coughs into his arm, pushing back from the table, finally permitted to stand. "Let's blow this popsicle stand."
That's a 21st century idiom, right? Don't mind him, he's trying to blend (poorly) with the locals.
The 21st century idiom is completely lost on Toph, who has barely become accustomed to her tablet and still doesn't actually speak English. She's dependent on whatever is making them automatically intelligible to one another. She would, however, identify completely with the distaste for being talked down to.
For the moment, Toph gives him a healthy slap on the arm on her way past. "Ehhh, you're fine. Let's get out of here. I told them you're working for me and I need you for something."
Not even remotely true, of course, but Toph doesn't evince any shame about it. She just takes off with a confident stride and offers a wave goodbye to the production workers. She really does know a lot of people around here by now. She's social, easily bored, and likes helping out; it was fairly inevitable.
The kid is strong, that much is sure, almost making Jim stumble with the smack to his arm. He just wasn't expecting it from a person half his height, though he should probably know better by now, being first on the line for interspecies relations.
"Sure," Jim agrees easily enough, hastily edging out of the studio. Like he said, he'll take the out, and he doesn't really have pride to damage - not with something like this. It's better to be underestimated anyway, in his experience. "Assistant extraordinaire, that's me."
Jim's breathing improves as they leave the Plate of Jim Death behind, and he coughs to clear his throat, grateful. "Ugh, it's going to be impossible to find food around here, isn't it?"
He hasn't seen heads or tails of a replicator around, and given the technology level otherwise - he can't say he's surprised. Everything's cooked, and Jim's been spoiled, living in the 23rd century, with all the modern comforts it provides (like...not having to guess).
Toph is soon coming to realize that future people are all delicate and soft and want things as cushy as possible. They'd all been whining and complaining while the power was out recently. Hilarious.
She doesn't slow down in the slightest as she responds in a sly but open tone.
"Okay, Mr. Fussy, how about you tell me what you can eat and I'll find us something? I've been here a while."
And, as stated, been around the block a few times. Toph isn't going to make someone buy her a dinner they can't eat. If she really disliked someone, she wouldn't be having dinner with them at all. What's the point in being an independent, autonomous child if you can't openly scorn the assholes and the idiots?
Hey, let it not be said Jim can't fend for himself in hostile environments; but usually the danger is more in-his-face, like a giant monster trying to eat him or people shooting at him. Death by anaphylaxis is about the least cool way to go, all things considered.
"That's Mr. Diva to you. I'm a TV star, don't you know?" Jim snorts, tilting his head to eye his companion. Well hey, gift horse mouth, he'll take the help.
"Kumquats, almonds and most other tree nuts, shellfish, grapefruit," Jim ticks each one off on his fingers, but it's clear he'll run out of fingers soon enough. "Soybeans, beets, raspberries, papaya, pears, avocados..."
"Nickel, though that's unlikely to be found in food." He contemplates it for a moment, counting on his fingers again to make sure he's got them all. He probably does, it can be hard to keep track. "Some medications, including the anti-allergy medication - which is kind of a medical marvel, truth be told."
"Okay, buddy, I asked what you can eat, not what you can't. I don't need your whole medical history."
Toph's mostly saying this to be difficult, and a little to test his tolerance. She likes ragging on people and she likes people who can send back what she dishes out. It's her preferred method of communication, after all.
"Sounds like it's gonna be burgers again. That's what I had when I first came here." It's almost become something of a tradition at this point -- Vi treated her to burgers when she arrived, then Toph showed them to Kakashi. She figures bread and meat can't be too difficult for his apparently exhaustive list of allergies.
"Sorry I'm," Jim runs a hand over his face, snorting and offering a sheepish smile when Toph points out his mistake. "All over the place."
Not used to even thinking about it, truth be told, after being in deep space for so long - the only things he was ingesting came out of a replicator, and synth food could be calibrated to his genetic code. Of course, saying out loud I don't usually have to think about this would stand out like a sore thumb here; especially with his impressive laundry list.
"Burger, I can do." When's the last time he even had a non-synth burger? Probably sometime during his tenure in Iowa, if he had to chance a guess. Jim falls into step beside Toph, happy to escape the studio - he wouldn't be coming back here, given a choice. "Jim Kirk. Looks like I'm in your debt."
"Toph Beifong," she answers cheerfully, not about to harass him for the mistake when he so readily admits to being overwhelmed. Toph walks at a fast clip for her size and with unerring confidence; she knows the city well. After it changed overnight, she deliberately spent days relearning the layout and navigation so she didn't have to ask anyone for directions.
"Like I said, just pay me back with dinner. Just got here, huh?" Usually people that've been here for a while are more used to the nonsense they get dragged into. "If you still have questions, I might know some answers."
Although she isn't prone to speculating and doesn't waste time worrying about hypotheticals, Toph is a social person and she's collected a decent amount of information just by poking her nose into people's business unashamedly. Kind of like she is right now.
Toph seems to know perfectly well where she's going, so if Jim had to hazard a guess about the lack of dilation in her pupils, he'd probably just assume it's not a full loss of vision. He keeps pace, taking in the area around them as they go - he's still learning the city, which paths to take, which to steer clear of.
"Not an exaggeration to say you just saved my life." Jim shakes his head, sticking a hand in his utility pocket, thumb dragging across the strange, half-moon coins. He should have enough - probably. He'd only stopped for a quick poker game, leveraging his phaser to win him these strange credits. "Yeah, I'm a...new arrival."
"I guess asking why is pretty self-evident." They move through the town center, past stalls full of different local goods. Jim rolls his shoulders, shaking out residual tension. "Don't suppose you've had a meeting with our captors?"
"Not yet -- nobody's tried to drag me in for anything," she answers with a shrug, readily discarding the idea that she'd saved his life. Maybe she had, but that doesn't mean they need to make a big deal out of it.
In any case, Toph wouldn't be surprised if she were dragged in for sentencing one of these days given that she's been flagrantly scamming people, which is the literal crime listed on her parchment, but maybe they feel like she's small potatoes given she hasn't really been hurting anyone.
"As for why, I'm not so sure yet it's on purpose. Just because somebody's in charge doesn't mean they know what they're doing."
Toph sounds relatively unperturbed by the idea of it, though there's a thoughtful tone indicating she takes it seriously as she steers them around market stalls and toward a side street where a little burger dive awaits.
Why assume malice when you can assume incompetence? It could definitely be both, but Toph is reserving judgment until there's more evidence. For all her brash attitude, Aang had foreseen her as the one who waits and listens for a reason. There's nothing compelling to tell her either way just yet what to think about their supposed captors. It could all just be nonsense they tell them to cover up a mistake.
"Me either." Jim muses, furrow gracing his brow. It still seemed odd to him, given the crime that marred his parchment. Something so severe should have landed him behind bars, shouldn't it? Not wandering free in the city - except for the fact that there was no way out, so they were, effectively, caged. He still hasn't figured out if it's taboo to ask about the crimes they all carry, so he doesn't - but he also knows better than to judge a book by it's cover. Still, it's hard to imagine Toph is carrying something utterly terrible - or that it would be true, even if she was.
"That's...a new take." He cocks his head to the side, considering her point for a moment. "But if it's not on purpose, that means it would be an accident and I'm...not quite sure how that would happen."
Not having an organized plan, sure, he could buy that - but there had to be a reason this whole thing had started in the first place, right?
Jim is a man of action, so the waiting-around-for-more-information has not exactly been going well for him. It's all he can do, though, sniffing around for whatever meager clues he can find (zip, nada, nothing, actually). Hence his foray into culinary entertainment.
If it's a taboo then it's one Toph utterly doesn't care about. No one's asked her hers, but she'd share it if they did, and she'd ask someone else if she were interested. She just generally isn't. True to her 'wait and listen' nature, she prefers to make up her own mind from her own experiences. What somebody with self-appointed authority tries to tell her is a crime doesn't mean anything to her.
"Hey, I don't know how any of this could happen," Toph points out. "Where I'm from, we don't even have electricity."
Apparently that makes her antiquated. Whatever.
"Screens don't seem all that great to me," she mutters to herself, stepping into the hole-in-the-wall joint and offering a wave to the proprietor. After they seat themselves -- too casual a place to wait for a host -- she continues, "Anyway, all I'm saying is we don't really know much. Just because something seems obvious doesn't mean it's true."
Like the Fire Nation being a country of evil bastards who want to annihilate society. That's Ozai, and some of his scummy sycophants, but not everyone. Or they'd never have teamed up with Zuko, who Toph now counts as one of her closest friends. She'd been ready to take each individual person on their own terms back then, and she's ready now.
"The details are a little fuzzy," Jim allows, because it's true, and waking up down by the docks with no recollection of how he'd wound up there wasn't exactly a comfort. He eyes his companion for a second, processing the no electricity information. The way she says it, and her following comment about screens, implies that it's less an access issue and more that they hadn't existed at all.
"Where are you from, if you don't mind my asking?" Jim settles on, schooling his tone into something neutral, masking any trace of surprise. It seems this place is a mish-mash of a people from a lot of different corners of the universe - some who may have made first contact, and some who hadn't.
The restaurant Toph brings them to is clearly a favorite local haunt, and Jim does a cursory sweep as they seat themselves, noting the exits, the patrons. Nothing strikes him as out of the ordinary, but he'd be remiss if he wasn't on the lookout anyway. "Fair point. But just because it's obvious doesn't mean it's not true. Often times, the simplest explanation turns out to be the truth. It's when motive gets involved that it gets complicated."
Still - Toph is right. Withholding judgment isn't a bad option. Jim drums his fingers on the table, restless energy breaking free. Despite the near-brush with anaphylaxis, he is hungry. "What's good here? Your favorite."
Toph knows her answer to this question isn't likely to mean anything to him, but she answers readily enough, anyway. "Gaoling, in the Earth Kingdom," she says, not even making an attempt to look at or find a menu for pretty obvious reasons. "Which is nothing like this, for the record. Except for the fact that people are the same everywhere."
Spoken like someone who already had any and all xenophobic cross-cultural assumptions busted on her worldwide expedition. Not that Toph was prone to making crass judgments in the first place, case in point being her reluctance to commit to an interpretation of what was behind their imprisonment.
It's an issue they aren't going to solve today, talking idly over burgers, so Toph lets it go in favor of said burgers.
With perfect bluntness, she answers, "I wasn't paying attention to your big list earlier, so I don't know if you're allergic to it or whatever, but I usually get a cheeseburger with bacon and pickles."
“Gaoling, Earth Kingdom.” Jim repeats the words; he’s always liked the taste of new knowledge, eyes shining with keen interest. A kingdom, somewhere with a ruling class then, or at least that’s the implication. Of course, it could mean something different depending on how the translation was being ordered, unable to come to a closer approximation - but then, what’s translating them? Surely Toph isn’t speaking Federation Standard, even though that’s what Jim’s hearing - he’d considered this before, but he still couldn’t figure out what was doing it. “Sentient beings tend to be that way, yeah. What’s it like, then?”
The bluntness, while rude to some, just makes Jim laugh, loud and brash. He grins, decidedly a fan of the attitude. “No, that passes the checklist. Though if they fry anything in peanut oil, I’m a goner, which would be a shame, ruining your hard work keeping me alive. Maybe I’ll just stick to a burger.”
Toph loves new things, too -- but more so places, people, experiences. Knowledge for knowledge's sake has never appealed to her. She's less interested in general culture or society or history, and instead in the person right in front of her. So she answers Jim's question with the idea that she'll be pestering him right back over their food.
That he laughs makes her grin back, pleased. Toph always jives with people that aren't put off by her rudeness. There's a pause in conversation as they order their food, and then Toph leans back casually, reflective.
"You asked what the Earth Kingdom's like... well, like I said, we don't have electricity. The capital is Ba Sing Se, which is super lame -- there's just walls and rules in that place." Her scorn is very evident. "We were in a big war that ended pretty recently, which everybody was still figuring out how to deal with when I left. Oh, and we have this thing called earthbending, which nobody here recognizes."
She's had to explain enough times by now that she preempts the obvious follow-up questions. Toph reaches to her left upper arm and pulls off a metal band like it's made of putty, shapes it into a solid sphere almost absentmindedly, and offers it out for Jim to take and feel for himself that it's real metal.
Jim's got a penchant for learning, this much is true; he does thrive when learning in an in-the-field situation, so to speak. Perks of diplomat training, or whatever. They order their food, a simple burger and sodapop for Jim (his resulting, amused grin at using outdated slang with what he thought was accuracy is ridiculous).
If Jim's surprised at the mention of war, it doesn't show - but generally, he's been assuming that most people around here aren't from his time, and wars were common prior to the 23rd century, weren't they? He takes in the information with a tilt of his head, but before he can ask the inevitable follow-up question, Toph presents her demonstration with ease, and Jim tries (and fails) not to gape. He reaches across to accept the metal ball, which sits solid and firm in his palm, no trace of the malleability from before.
"How did you - " Not a question worth asking, considering she just told him, and Jim cuts himself off, rephrasing. "Your people can just - do that?"
He tosses the metal from hand to hand, suitably impressed, before setting it on the table between them, offering it back. "Are you human?"
If this were earlier in her time here, Toph would be incredulous to be asked if she's human, but by now she just shrugs and holds her hand out. The metal ball zooms through the air into her hand with a satisfying smack, and she replaces it as an armband while she answers.
"Yup, though the original earthbenders weren't. 'My people' is kind of a stretch -- there's a lot of earthbenders, but it's not everyone. And there's not a lot of metalbenders." Toph isn't shy about bragging or showing off her accomplishments, but she isn't so egotistical that she'll disrupt the natural tenor of a conversation to do it, and this isn't the right time.
Since he's so clearly impressed and interested, she adds helpfully, "There's water, air, and firebending, too."
The ball flying towards her is also unexpected, and Jim's eyebrows rise up towards his hair as the metal is bent back into shape with a dull thwang sound as it reshapes. He wonders - electromagnetic control? Manipulating the fields surrounding the matter in order to mold it? The theories swirl in his mind, fingers dropping to drum against the table in thought. He's not the best out of his team when it comes to matters of science that aren't physics, necessarily, but he does have a good enough grasp to postulate.
"So metalbending is an offshoot of earthbending?" That makes sense, tangentially related, similar base properties. "That's - wow. We don't have anything like that where I'm from."
Telepathy, and telekinesis, beings beyond their realm of understanding in some regards - but not matter manipulation, and definitely not within human capabilities. "Do the other types of bending have subsets, like metalbending? Is it something you're born with, or something you learn?"
Since this is a casual place with a basic menu, their food arrives pretty fast, and Toph is happily munching on some fries as she continues. It's disappointing on a regular basis that so few people here have anything like bending, but she's getting used to it. It seems completely natural to her, like an obvious facet of reality, and as much as it surprises other people, it confuses her to imagine their own homes without it.
"Waterbending can heal, firebending has lightning," she lists off. "I don't know about air." This doesn't seem like the right time to casually drop a cultural genocide into the conversation, so Toph moves right along. "And there's probably others no one's figured out yet.
"You're born with the capability, but you have to learn," she clarifies. "I'm the one who invented metalbending. I'm probably the best earthbender in the world at this point."
Toph always likes to make sure other people understand her accomplishments are a product of hard work and natural aptitude, not some innate magic skill she's flinging around. It's effortless because she is that good, like how playing a complicated song effortlessly is recognized as impressive. But she also sounds utterly casual about it, picking up another fry and chomping idly. That she's the best is old news and she doesn't need anyone else's recognition to make it valid, she just wants it acknowledged. She wants the respect she's due to be understood, and then she can move on.
The burger is as promised, mouth-watering and, to Jim's delight, not synthesized. Life aboard a Starship doesn't lend itself to a non-replicated diet, and yes, he's aware that there's no molecular difference between replicated and non-replicated foodstuffs, but also, yes, he insists that it tastes better. Just illogical human things, don't worry about it.
When was the time to drop firsthand genocide knowledge? Really, he wants to know; he's never been able to tell, himself. "Huh, that's - interesting."
The urge to fill in the word fascinating is so amusing Jim hangs his head, taking a bite of his burger to contemplate it. He gestures with the sandwich a moment later, brain catching up. "Wait, you invented metalbending? How did you discover it?"
The tone of the questions isn't borne out of suspicion or disbelief, but bleeds with earnest curiosity, which probably says enough about Jim's approach to new places, people, and knowledge. Underestimating someone - old, young, man, woman, other species or not - could be not only an offensive mistake, but a dangerous one in most circumstances. Besides, everyone deserves respect. The fact that Toph commanded it by virtue of her own achievements didn't preclude him from extending it, unfettered, in the first place.
"Somebody put me in a metal box and told me even I couldn't bend metal," Toph answers, her tone airy to conceal the very real and more painful nuances of that memory. Her own parents hiring kidnappers rather than trust her on her own still hurts, not just a sting but deeply, like a sliver that keeps pressing deeper every time she worries it.
But she's not about to say that to someone she just met, so she passes it off believably as a fun story. And it was a moment of considerable triumph for her; it portrays with exacting accuracy how Toph handles being told she can't do something.
She can tell he's asking out of fascination and not incredulity, so she goes on with more detail between bites. She's not an especially polite eater, and though she's not talking with food in her mouth, there's certainly no ceremony being stood on, either.
"Metal is like really purified earth, and it's stubborn. It doesn't like to move. Since I can't see, I listen a lot more closely than most people, and I use my earthbending to sense things around me. I invented it because nobody before had really tried to listen to metal and feel out its composition."
Jim buys it, at least for the moment, offering a chuckle and a sympathetic shake of his head. "On a dare, huh? I like your style, kid."
He knows something about that, rising to a challenge just because no one else believes you can. Coming at it ten times harder than you might otherwise, and yeah, maybe it wasn't healthy going back three times to the Kobyashi Maru to prove his point, maybe he shouldn't have loaded his courses up higher than any cadet in the history of the Academy - but spite was a powerful motivator.
Jim just watches Toph eat with a vaguely amused expression, charmed, despite (or perhaps because of) the lack in table manners. He takes another bite of his own burger, musing over the new information - and the fact that she really can't see, which is interesting. "I can imagine it would take a lot of force to mold metal like that. Does the power you use to Earthbend originate from somewhere physiological? Or is it in the mind?"
She doesn't outright preen, but she does smirk, pleased with his approval.
"No clue," she answers without an ounce of shame, not even slightly embarrassed to admit her ignorance. "We don't really treat it that way. It's part of nature. It's like asking where your power to think comes from, or why there's an ocean."
Toph is not a big why person. Things are what they are, and she accepts them as reality, no matter how upsetting or bizarre. She believes there probably is an answer somewhere that could be understood, she just doesn't care about it, because knowing it rarely changes anything. It's a habit that's served her in good stead in her time here, that's for sure.
"Anyway, that's where you're wrong." Toph points a fry directly at him. "Everyone thinks it's about bossing the metal around, but it's not. Nobody really good is just telling their element what to do. We're working with it. Earth just likes to be still, so it doesn't respect it if you're all gentle polite requests."
There's a bit of a mocking tone in her voice, thinking fondly of Katara and Aang, and Toph chomps on the fry with relish.
"Because God commanded it," Jim jokes, nodding with her explanation. He would have to disagree - why was the key to unlocking understanding, and it was only through understanding that one was able to achieve tolerance of things different to their own experiences. Then again, perhaps he's biased; but he did sign up for a life of peacekeeping and exploration, so that's not really a surprise.
Still, questions are only valuable if the answer is conceivable, and if Toph doesn't know, Jim won't pester her with them. Accepting the status quo also isn't in his nature - but he wouldn't be a Captain if it was.
"So if you had to define what it takes, what would you call it? Willpower?" He's genuinely intrigued, taking another bite of his burger and washing it down with a sip of his drink. "You said there are other 'benders' too, right? Can anyone bend more than one type of energy?"
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expiationlogs2024-04-14 10:44 pm
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Jim tries to stand, maybe to follow her, but a PA boxes him in and forces him back down into the chair. Jeez, pushy much?
By the time Toph returns, Jim's got his face angled as far away from the plate as he can get it, eyes watering. While it smells wonderful, don't get him wrong - whatever the hell is in it is absolutely triggering his allergies. Thank god he didn't eat it, because he's not that confident this place would have the necessary concoction of life (his words, not Bones') to stop full-blown anaphylaxis.
"Cutting it a little close," Jim coughs into his arm, pushing back from the table, finally permitted to stand. "Let's blow this popsicle stand."
That's a 21st century idiom, right? Don't mind him, he's trying to blend (poorly) with the locals.
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For the moment, Toph gives him a healthy slap on the arm on her way past. "Ehhh, you're fine. Let's get out of here. I told them you're working for me and I need you for something."
Not even remotely true, of course, but Toph doesn't evince any shame about it. She just takes off with a confident stride and offers a wave goodbye to the production workers. She really does know a lot of people around here by now. She's social, easily bored, and likes helping out; it was fairly inevitable.
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"Sure," Jim agrees easily enough, hastily edging out of the studio. Like he said, he'll take the out, and he doesn't really have pride to damage - not with something like this. It's better to be underestimated anyway, in his experience. "Assistant extraordinaire, that's me."
Jim's breathing improves as they leave the Plate of Jim Death behind, and he coughs to clear his throat, grateful. "Ugh, it's going to be impossible to find food around here, isn't it?"
He hasn't seen heads or tails of a replicator around, and given the technology level otherwise - he can't say he's surprised. Everything's cooked, and Jim's been spoiled, living in the 23rd century, with all the modern comforts it provides (like...not having to guess).
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She doesn't slow down in the slightest as she responds in a sly but open tone.
"Okay, Mr. Fussy, how about you tell me what you can eat and I'll find us something? I've been here a while."
And, as stated, been around the block a few times. Toph isn't going to make someone buy her a dinner they can't eat. If she really disliked someone, she wouldn't be having dinner with them at all. What's the point in being an independent, autonomous child if you can't openly scorn the assholes and the idiots?
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"That's Mr. Diva to you. I'm a TV star, don't you know?" Jim snorts, tilting his head to eye his companion. Well hey, gift horse mouth, he'll take the help.
"Kumquats, almonds and most other tree nuts, shellfish, grapefruit," Jim ticks each one off on his fingers, but it's clear he'll run out of fingers soon enough. "Soybeans, beets, raspberries, papaya, pears, avocados..."
"Nickel, though that's unlikely to be found in food." He contemplates it for a moment, counting on his fingers again to make sure he's got them all. He probably does, it can be hard to keep track. "Some medications, including the anti-allergy medication - which is kind of a medical marvel, truth be told."
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Toph's mostly saying this to be difficult, and a little to test his tolerance. She likes ragging on people and she likes people who can send back what she dishes out. It's her preferred method of communication, after all.
"Sounds like it's gonna be burgers again. That's what I had when I first came here." It's almost become something of a tradition at this point -- Vi treated her to burgers when she arrived, then Toph showed them to Kakashi. She figures bread and meat can't be too difficult for his apparently exhaustive list of allergies.
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Not used to even thinking about it, truth be told, after being in deep space for so long - the only things he was ingesting came out of a replicator, and synth food could be calibrated to his genetic code. Of course, saying out loud I don't usually have to think about this would stand out like a sore thumb here; especially with his impressive laundry list.
"Burger, I can do." When's the last time he even had a non-synth burger? Probably sometime during his tenure in Iowa, if he had to chance a guess. Jim falls into step beside Toph, happy to escape the studio - he wouldn't be coming back here, given a choice. "Jim Kirk. Looks like I'm in your debt."
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"Like I said, just pay me back with dinner. Just got here, huh?" Usually people that've been here for a while are more used to the nonsense they get dragged into. "If you still have questions, I might know some answers."
Although she isn't prone to speculating and doesn't waste time worrying about hypotheticals, Toph is a social person and she's collected a decent amount of information just by poking her nose into people's business unashamedly. Kind of like she is right now.
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"Not an exaggeration to say you just saved my life." Jim shakes his head, sticking a hand in his utility pocket, thumb dragging across the strange, half-moon coins. He should have enough - probably. He'd only stopped for a quick poker game, leveraging his phaser to win him these strange credits. "Yeah, I'm a...new arrival."
"I guess asking why is pretty self-evident." They move through the town center, past stalls full of different local goods. Jim rolls his shoulders, shaking out residual tension. "Don't suppose you've had a meeting with our captors?"
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In any case, Toph wouldn't be surprised if she were dragged in for sentencing one of these days given that she's been flagrantly scamming people, which is the literal crime listed on her parchment, but maybe they feel like she's small potatoes given she hasn't really been hurting anyone.
"As for why, I'm not so sure yet it's on purpose. Just because somebody's in charge doesn't mean they know what they're doing."
Toph sounds relatively unperturbed by the idea of it, though there's a thoughtful tone indicating she takes it seriously as she steers them around market stalls and toward a side street where a little burger dive awaits.
Why assume malice when you can assume incompetence? It could definitely be both, but Toph is reserving judgment until there's more evidence. For all her brash attitude, Aang had foreseen her as the one who waits and listens for a reason. There's nothing compelling to tell her either way just yet what to think about their supposed captors. It could all just be nonsense they tell them to cover up a mistake.
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"That's...a new take." He cocks his head to the side, considering her point for a moment. "But if it's not on purpose, that means it would be an accident and I'm...not quite sure how that would happen."
Not having an organized plan, sure, he could buy that - but there had to be a reason this whole thing had started in the first place, right?
Jim is a man of action, so the waiting-around-for-more-information has not exactly been going well for him. It's all he can do, though, sniffing around for whatever meager clues he can find (zip, nada, nothing, actually). Hence his foray into culinary entertainment.
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"Hey, I don't know how any of this could happen," Toph points out. "Where I'm from, we don't even have electricity."
Apparently that makes her antiquated. Whatever.
"Screens don't seem all that great to me," she mutters to herself, stepping into the hole-in-the-wall joint and offering a wave to the proprietor. After they seat themselves -- too casual a place to wait for a host -- she continues, "Anyway, all I'm saying is we don't really know much. Just because something seems obvious doesn't mean it's true."
Like the Fire Nation being a country of evil bastards who want to annihilate society. That's Ozai, and some of his scummy sycophants, but not everyone. Or they'd never have teamed up with Zuko, who Toph now counts as one of her closest friends. She'd been ready to take each individual person on their own terms back then, and she's ready now.
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"Where are you from, if you don't mind my asking?" Jim settles on, schooling his tone into something neutral, masking any trace of surprise. It seems this place is a mish-mash of a people from a lot of different corners of the universe - some who may have made first contact, and some who hadn't.
The restaurant Toph brings them to is clearly a favorite local haunt, and Jim does a cursory sweep as they seat themselves, noting the exits, the patrons. Nothing strikes him as out of the ordinary, but he'd be remiss if he wasn't on the lookout anyway. "Fair point. But just because it's obvious doesn't mean it's not true. Often times, the simplest explanation turns out to be the truth. It's when motive gets involved that it gets complicated."
Still - Toph is right. Withholding judgment isn't a bad option. Jim drums his fingers on the table, restless energy breaking free. Despite the near-brush with anaphylaxis, he is hungry. "What's good here? Your favorite."
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Spoken like someone who already had any and all xenophobic cross-cultural assumptions busted on her worldwide expedition. Not that Toph was prone to making crass judgments in the first place, case in point being her reluctance to commit to an interpretation of what was behind their imprisonment.
It's an issue they aren't going to solve today, talking idly over burgers, so Toph lets it go in favor of said burgers.
With perfect bluntness, she answers, "I wasn't paying attention to your big list earlier, so I don't know if you're allergic to it or whatever, but I usually get a cheeseburger with bacon and pickles."
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The bluntness, while rude to some, just makes Jim laugh, loud and brash. He grins, decidedly a fan of the attitude. “No, that passes the checklist. Though if they fry anything in peanut oil, I’m a goner, which would be a shame, ruining your hard work keeping me alive. Maybe I’ll just stick to a burger.”
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That he laughs makes her grin back, pleased. Toph always jives with people that aren't put off by her rudeness. There's a pause in conversation as they order their food, and then Toph leans back casually, reflective.
"You asked what the Earth Kingdom's like... well, like I said, we don't have electricity. The capital is Ba Sing Se, which is super lame -- there's just walls and rules in that place." Her scorn is very evident. "We were in a big war that ended pretty recently, which everybody was still figuring out how to deal with when I left. Oh, and we have this thing called earthbending, which nobody here recognizes."
She's had to explain enough times by now that she preempts the obvious follow-up questions. Toph reaches to her left upper arm and pulls off a metal band like it's made of putty, shapes it into a solid sphere almost absentmindedly, and offers it out for Jim to take and feel for himself that it's real metal.
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If Jim's surprised at the mention of war, it doesn't show - but generally, he's been assuming that most people around here aren't from his time, and wars were common prior to the 23rd century, weren't they? He takes in the information with a tilt of his head, but before he can ask the inevitable follow-up question, Toph presents her demonstration with ease, and Jim tries (and fails) not to gape. He reaches across to accept the metal ball, which sits solid and firm in his palm, no trace of the malleability from before.
"How did you - " Not a question worth asking, considering she just told him, and Jim cuts himself off, rephrasing. "Your people can just - do that?"
He tosses the metal from hand to hand, suitably impressed, before setting it on the table between them, offering it back. "Are you human?"
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"Yup, though the original earthbenders weren't. 'My people' is kind of a stretch -- there's a lot of earthbenders, but it's not everyone. And there's not a lot of metalbenders." Toph isn't shy about bragging or showing off her accomplishments, but she isn't so egotistical that she'll disrupt the natural tenor of a conversation to do it, and this isn't the right time.
Since he's so clearly impressed and interested, she adds helpfully, "There's water, air, and firebending, too."
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"So metalbending is an offshoot of earthbending?" That makes sense, tangentially related, similar base properties. "That's - wow. We don't have anything like that where I'm from."
Telepathy, and telekinesis, beings beyond their realm of understanding in some regards - but not matter manipulation, and definitely not within human capabilities. "Do the other types of bending have subsets, like metalbending? Is it something you're born with, or something you learn?"
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"Waterbending can heal, firebending has lightning," she lists off. "I don't know about air." This doesn't seem like the right time to casually drop a cultural genocide into the conversation, so Toph moves right along. "And there's probably others no one's figured out yet.
"You're born with the capability, but you have to learn," she clarifies. "I'm the one who invented metalbending. I'm probably the best earthbender in the world at this point."
Toph always likes to make sure other people understand her accomplishments are a product of hard work and natural aptitude, not some innate magic skill she's flinging around. It's effortless because she is that good, like how playing a complicated song effortlessly is recognized as impressive. But she also sounds utterly casual about it, picking up another fry and chomping idly. That she's the best is old news and she doesn't need anyone else's recognition to make it valid, she just wants it acknowledged. She wants the respect she's due to be understood, and then she can move on.
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When was the time to drop firsthand genocide knowledge? Really, he wants to know; he's never been able to tell, himself. "Huh, that's - interesting."
The urge to fill in the word fascinating is so amusing Jim hangs his head, taking a bite of his burger to contemplate it. He gestures with the sandwich a moment later, brain catching up. "Wait, you invented metalbending? How did you discover it?"
The tone of the questions isn't borne out of suspicion or disbelief, but bleeds with earnest curiosity, which probably says enough about Jim's approach to new places, people, and knowledge. Underestimating someone - old, young, man, woman, other species or not - could be not only an offensive mistake, but a dangerous one in most circumstances. Besides, everyone deserves respect. The fact that Toph commanded it by virtue of her own achievements didn't preclude him from extending it, unfettered, in the first place.
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But she's not about to say that to someone she just met, so she passes it off believably as a fun story. And it was a moment of considerable triumph for her; it portrays with exacting accuracy how Toph handles being told she can't do something.
She can tell he's asking out of fascination and not incredulity, so she goes on with more detail between bites. She's not an especially polite eater, and though she's not talking with food in her mouth, there's certainly no ceremony being stood on, either.
"Metal is like really purified earth, and it's stubborn. It doesn't like to move. Since I can't see, I listen a lot more closely than most people, and I use my earthbending to sense things around me. I invented it because nobody before had really tried to listen to metal and feel out its composition."
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He knows something about that, rising to a challenge just because no one else believes you can. Coming at it ten times harder than you might otherwise, and yeah, maybe it wasn't healthy going back three times to the Kobyashi Maru to prove his point, maybe he shouldn't have loaded his courses up higher than any cadet in the history of the Academy - but spite was a powerful motivator.
Jim just watches Toph eat with a vaguely amused expression, charmed, despite (or perhaps because of) the lack in table manners. He takes another bite of his own burger, musing over the new information - and the fact that she really can't see, which is interesting. "I can imagine it would take a lot of force to mold metal like that. Does the power you use to Earthbend originate from somewhere physiological? Or is it in the mind?"
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"No clue," she answers without an ounce of shame, not even slightly embarrassed to admit her ignorance. "We don't really treat it that way. It's part of nature. It's like asking where your power to think comes from, or why there's an ocean."
Toph is not a big why person. Things are what they are, and she accepts them as reality, no matter how upsetting or bizarre. She believes there probably is an answer somewhere that could be understood, she just doesn't care about it, because knowing it rarely changes anything. It's a habit that's served her in good stead in her time here, that's for sure.
"Anyway, that's where you're wrong." Toph points a fry directly at him. "Everyone thinks it's about bossing the metal around, but it's not. Nobody really good is just telling their element what to do. We're working with it. Earth just likes to be still, so it doesn't respect it if you're all gentle polite requests."
There's a bit of a mocking tone in her voice, thinking fondly of Katara and Aang, and Toph chomps on the fry with relish.
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Still, questions are only valuable if the answer is conceivable, and if Toph doesn't know, Jim won't pester her with them. Accepting the status quo also isn't in his nature - but he wouldn't be a Captain if it was.
"So if you had to define what it takes, what would you call it? Willpower?" He's genuinely intrigued, taking another bite of his burger and washing it down with a sip of his drink. "You said there are other 'benders' too, right? Can anyone bend more than one type of energy?"
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