* 土強 ｡

interrupted  ;  hands unravel in makeshift silks, tied to a sturdier branch of a yunnan tree.  tài lì stares at the younger girl for a moment   (  registers that she cannot see her the same  )  then looks down at wrapped feet.  brows furrow, lips drawn tight. this isn’t a conversation she wants to be having.  “ it’s just what having six sisters who look exactly like you do does to a girl. ”  and best attempts at staying nonchalant are thwarted by a slight bitterness to her tone.  she loves her sisters, really, but it’s hard being the odd one out.  “ you’re an only child.  you wouldn’t get it. ”

 well  it’s  not  like  toph  knew  that  taì  lì  had  to  grow  up  with  six  sisters  who  look  exactly  like  her  !  and  maybe  she  has  a  point  ,  that  toph  wont  ever  get  it  ,  but  there’s  no  way  toph’s  going  to  admit  it  ｡  in  fact  ,  the  comment  only  makes  her  scowl  ,  like                      why  did  they  think  letting  all  these  fire  nation  people  hang  around  them  was  a  good  idea  ?  clearly  ,  they  want  to  make  things  harder  !      ❝  i  still  get  a  lot  more  things  than  you  do  ｡  ❞      a  bite  back  ,  before  any  other  little  comments  can  come  her  way  :  solid  as  an  earthbender’s  protective  earth  wall  ｡      ❝  why  ?  you  scared  to  tell  me  ?  ❞

                              ❝     …     𝒊'𝒎  𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓  𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚.     ❞          @tofh·

He smells her before she announces herself, blood hot and pumping (and AGNI is he thirsty, the jackalopes he’d hunted earlier are not doing anything to curb it,, not when there’s an actual human being here.) -This is why he secluded himself from the world, this is why he ran away from Uncle when he tried to follow him into exile, to avoid this, to avoid wanting to hurt anyone.

He holds his breath, the overwhelming thirst abates slightly when he can’t smell her, and steps out of the shadows.

“You shouldn’t be here.” He warns, it’s dangerous, he’s dangerous. His hands twitch towards his dao swords, and he internally reaches towards his bending. It’s weak now that he’s been turned, but he still has his breath of fire -that’s stronger than ever. (But it would mean he has to breathe, and breathing right now means smelling her.)

“You should leave now.” He hisses to scare her, his fangs flashing sharp and dangerous in the weak light. 

 she  stands  in  the  large  doorway  of  the  castle  ,  one  arm  already  reaching  out  to  touch  pads  of  fingers  against  the  side  ｡  if  she  so  wanted  to  ,  she  could  listen  to  that  voice  ,  which  carries  so  much  threatening  warning  in  it  ,  and  leave  right  now  ｡  she  could  turn  around  and  never  look  back  ｡  a  warning  like  that  spells  trouble  for  her  common  sense  ｡  but  the  stronger  part  of  her             the  part  that  absolutely  hates  following  anyone’s  orders  ,  no  matter  who  they  are  or  what  they’re  warning  her  again             wants  to  stay  here  and  see  just  how  dangerous  he  thinks  he  is  compared  to  her  ｡

She was the last person he expected—supposedly for the BEST, considering anyone else from her group would’ve crashed in no questions asked, elements and boomerang(?) blazing on the offensive. Which was some big talk from the guy who just tried to set the forest on FIRE because someone nudged him—and he didn’t even really have the REASONING they had. But she was strangely calm after the initial startle summoned by his flames. And by the time he could turn to her without the threat GNAWING at everything else in vicinity, she was moving toward him.

Odd that he didn’t immediately stiffen or bristle. That he didn’t rear his head and shuffle a step BACK to establish more distance. He just… stood where he was, and too acknowledged that the proximity was kept COMFORTABLE for them both.

Not many words exchanged for the time being, and yet what she expressed was enough to STUPEFY him and render a speechless quiet until he found his voice again. “You believe me?” Her implications were parroted while his brows sunk into each other. “I… don’t—know what to say.” This was something he hadn’t been able to PRACTICE. This was something he hadn’t been prepared for.

A sideways glance to the popping embers of a dwindling campfire, and Zuko pressed his lips thinner. “Look”—in a sigh, he peered back—“I get why everyone wants nothing to do with me, and maybe they’re RIGHT; maybe it’s better that we don’t— I can’t ask for forgiveness when I don’t deserve it, not after everything I’ve done and put them through. But you…? You were never THERE for any of that.”

Ultimately, it was a source of confusion and explanation at the same time: that she make a JUDGMENT without having the history, and yet capable of an open mind because of it. What made her think he was worth any of their time—? “You don’t KNOW me.” 

 three  steps  back            at  least  in  the  mind  ｡  you  were  never  there  for  any  of  that  ｡  her  instinct  is  to  be  angry  ,  to  take  a  nice  big  chunk  of  earth  and  quash  him  with  it  ,  the  way  she  would  quash  everyone  else  who  said  something  that  stupid  to  her  ｡  no  ｡  she  wasn’t  there  for  that  ｡  she’s  been  constantly  reminded  that  she  was  never  there  for  any  of  that  ,  that  she  had  missed  everything  that  ever  went  on  with  them  ｡

 ❝  you’re  right  ｡  i  don’t  know  you  ｡  ❞      well  that’s  the  most  obvious  phrase  in  the  world  ｡  of  course  she  doesn’t  know  him  ｡  she’d  clearly  never  even  really  met  him  or  talked  to  him  or  even  known  who  he  was  until  sokka  had  sat  her  down  and  told  her  who  zuko  was  ｡  even  now  ,  she  doesn’t  know  him  ｡  he’s  the  fire  lord’s  son  ,  sure  ,  who  was  banished  and  disgraced  three  years  ago  ｡  she  knows  that  real  well  :  word  travels  far  when  it  comes  to  the  important  things  ｡  and  if  she’d  been  asked  a  year  ago  if  she  thought  she  would  ever  meet  the  fire  lord’s  son  and  like  him  ,  she  would  have  said  no  ｡  and  maybe  she  doesn’t  even  like  him  ,  but  she  knows  she  has  to  understand  him  and  work  something  out  with  him  ｡

 ❝  but  you  know  what  i  do  know  ?!  ❞      now  she  takes  another  step  toward  him  ,  breaking  the  bubble  that  was  their  comfortable  distance  and  jabbing  a  finger  out  at  him  ｡      ❝  i  know  that  you  want  to  join  us  now  ｡  you’re  the  only  firebender  in  the  whole  world  who  wants  to  join  us  now  ,  and  you’re  the  only  firebender  in  the  whole  world  who  can  possibly  teach  aang  firebending  so  that  he  can  face  your  dad  ｡  that’s  what  i  know  ｡  so  if  you  don’t  suck  it  up  that  i  ‘  wasn’t  here  for  any  of  that  ’  ,  your  dad’s  gonna  make  more  than  your  life  miserable  ｡  ❞

 too  far  ?  she  has  a  second  where  she  thinks  that  might  be  the  case  ｡  that  maybe  she  shouldn’t  have  said  that  ,  that  it  will  hurt  him  to  hear  it  ｡  but  that’s  too  bad  ｡  the  truth  hurts  ｡

 finally  ,  finally  ,  finally  ,  her  parents  had  let  her  out  into  the  world  ｡  not  without  an  ultimatum  ,  though            and  with  all  the  tension  between  all  the  upper  class  families  and  the  vampires  brewing  for  all  these  years  ,  she  should  have  expected  them  to  send  her  out  with  a  goal  in  mind  ｡  go  out  and  see  what  she  can  find  out  about  the  vampires  she’s  so  desperate  not  to  hate  ｡  she’ll  change  her  mind  quickly  ,  they  expect  ｡  she’s  not  so  quick  to  prove  them  right  ｡

 it’s  only  her  luck  that  she  stumbles  upon  what  she  had  expected  to  be  an  empty  castle            except  she  can  feel  someone  else  inside  ｡  an  actual  castle  in  the  middle  of  nowhere  ,  with  only  a  single  other  person  inside  ｡  she  should  probably  find  that  intimidating  ,  and  should  probably  avoid  it  ｡  so  of  course  she  goes  straight  for  it  ｡

𝚂𝙷𝙴 𝙻𝙸𝚂𝚃𝙴𝙽𝚂 𝚃𝙾   her story      ,      remembering how she was once one with   𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓   .         however      ,      she can’t help but worry about the girl’s parents                                          they must be worried sick about her      ,      they must be looking for her still   .         the queen could only think about the worry if her daughters were to run off like she did      ,      so      ,      she purses her lips and begins to speak      ,      ❝            wouldn’t your parents be worried   𝑆𝐼𝐶𝐾   about you by now   ?            ❞               she asks gently      ,      ❝            i’m sure they’re lovely people         .         why would you run away from them   ??            ❞

 ❝  they’re  not  as  lovely  as  you  wanna  think  they  are  ｡  ❞      toph  reaches  out  ,  running  her  fingers  along  the  ground  until  she  finds  a  small  ,  thin  twig  to  twirl  in  her  fingers  ｡      ❝  if  they  were  ,  i  wouldn’t  be  here  ｡  ❞      it  was  all  their  fault  anyways  ,  for  making  her  run  away  ｡  she  wouldn’t  have  if  they  actually  listened  to  her  sometimes  ｡  but  they  listened  to  her  never  not  even  after  she’d  run  away  the  first  time  ｡  so  the  second  time  ,  she’d  come  all  the  way  out  here  ,  hoping  they  would  never  find  her  again  ｡  at  least  not  until  she  was  old  enough  not  to  have  to  listen  to  them  ｡

𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒈𝒐  𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅  𝒉𝒊𝒔  𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅  𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅  ,   𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚  𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈  𝒇𝒐𝒓  𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆  𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕  𝒔𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒚  𝒚𝒆𝒕  𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈  𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆  𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆  𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎.   he  knew  it  was  toph  ,   the  moment  she  greeted  him.   she  owned  the  ground  beneath  her  feet  ,   despite  being  significantly  smaller  than  he.   obviously  that  wouldn’t  stop  her  ,   nor  intimidate  her  in  anyway.   and  why  should  it?   diego  has  seen  what  that  kid  was  capable  of.   an  absolute  badass.

                    ❝     jeez  kid  ,   where  did  you  come  from?     ❞     diego  asked  ,  nearly  jumping  out  of  his  own  skin.     ❝     this  city’s  shit.   ain’t  nowhere  safe  for  someone  like  you   ,     ❞     don’t  do  it  ,   diego.   don’t  even  think   ——     ❝     if  you  want  ,   you  can  stay  the  night  with  me.     ❞

everyone: please leave us alone

                      “That or  I could do it less high on air, ya know doing the acrobatics in the rope is difficult wether it’s up an unholy height or down to a mans level but people always likes the risk, I call it the morbid factor.” He imagined that and maybe using a less flexible rope that would heighten tension could help her up feel his act, which by the way was important if he wanted to be hired her for at least a night or two, plus he could’t be left behind; he might not be able to bend elements but he had his thing when it came to bending his body and he couldn’t miss a chance to show off  a bit wouldn’t it?

                        “So how long have you been a master at earth bending little miss? Tell me the story while I settle things to give you a free demonstration, you can humilliate me with your rocks later.” Which didn’t sound as humilliating when his boosting self confidence left little room for shame once he accepted her superiority in that regard, something he could imagine she wasn’t quite used to; not without a fight. 

 the  charm  works  ｡  kind  of  ,  anyways  ｡  because  the  length  that  people  go  to  to  compliment  her  is  nearly  nonexistent  ,  well            the  fact  that  he’s  here  complimenting  her  and  calling  her  a  master  at  earthbending  gets  right  to  her  ｡  it’s  both  flattering  and  confusing  and  it  makes  her  want  to  crawl  out  of  her  own  skin  and  rip  it  right  up  ｡  but  she  has  to  stay  it  in  anyways  ,  so  she  crosses  her  arms  ,  turning  away  so  he  doesn’t  notice  any  of  that  confusion  on  her  face  or  in  her  posture  ｡  she’s  got  no  clue  what  on  her  face  would  give  it  away  ,  but  it’s  happened  before  ｡  no  thanks  ｡

           “  Oh, um..  I can just tell ? ”   She knew her response was that of sarcasm,  but politeness inquired her to at least try to keep a cheerful attitude.   She most certainly did not look like someone who frequented the kingdom, and Anna had spent so much time memorizing as many faces as she could that this face was certainly not one of them.

         “  Oh, well here.  ”   A hand moves to pick up the freshly baked bread off the cart, holding it out towards her.      “  You can have it, it’s my treat.  Arendelle makes wonderful fresh bread.  What’s your name and where do you fare from ?  I hope it wasn’t a long journey.  ”

 toph’s  about  to  go  off  to  search  for  more  food  when  she  senses  the  other  lady  offer  the  bread  out  toward  her  ｡  she  pauses  for  a  moment  ,  then  turns  to  face  her  ｡      ❝  oh  …  ❞      she  doesn’t  know  whether  to  take  it  or  not  ｡  but  she’s  real  inclined  to  do  the  former  ,  so  she  brightens  up  in  good  time  and  swipes  it  out  of  her  hands            although  she’s  wondering  just  how  she  can  just  take  some  food  from  someone  and  give  it  to  her  ｡  maybe  she  knows  the  people  or  something  ｡