exsiliumlogs | [OPEN] earth rumble yeaaaaa

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[OPEN] earth rumble yeaaaaa

Date & Time: Monday, March 18, 2:00 pm
Location: a small open area wedged between buildings just outside the Hold.
Characters: Toph Beifong (

barefootbender) and you!
Summary: There was quite a lot of interest in Toph's earthbending, and she isn't going to pass up a chance to show off to everyone! Toph puts out a message to the network telling people where to go if they want to see (or if they wanna challenge her!), and everyone is invited. Snarkiness, blind jokes and amazing earthkaratemagic ensue. (Either prose or brackets are fine.)
Warnings: none anticipated

[Around lunchtime on March 18, the following video message is posted to the network:]

HELLO, fellow Transports! Today's your lucky day! I, Toph Beifong, greatest earthbending master who ever lived, teacher of Avatar Aang, have decided to take out some time to display my talent for the curious. I know some of you that I talked to a coupla weeks ago wanted to see, so here's your chance.

And more specifically... I'm gonna take some challengers! So if you think you can take me on, let's go! I'd like to see you try.

[The camera swings away from her face and down at the floor, where there's an incredibly intricate and detailed model of the streets outside of the hold, that appears to be made out of rock. A little stone figure of Toph is standing in an open area about 5 minutes away from the apartments.]

I found a little bit of space, so come to this spot. I'll be ready at about 2 pm.

A.

Toph told everyone 2 pm because she wanted a little time to get this area ready. It's actually pretty small, so it's really not ideal for the kind of enormous show she'd like to put on for everyone, but it'll do. As far as she can tell through her feet, this city stretches on for miles and miles and miles. It's amazing, really - even bigger than Ba Sing Se, and Ba Sing Se was enormous - and unlike Ba Sing Se, the earth below is almost entirely covered in rock and metal over that entire expanse of city. It's pretty crazy, this future stuff.

If you get there early enough, or maybe if you just happen to come across her, you'll find her lounging on the ground eating instant ramen out of a styrofoam cup, or squashing back down her "map," or clearing out chunks of broken asphalt and cinder block by sending them to the tops of the surrounding buildings with a swipe of her fist. She seems pretty focused on these little tasks.

B.

At 2 pm, whether people are there or not, she's ready. It's time for some exercise after sitting around for two weeks. She stretches, does some push ups and sit ups, and finally plants her feet flat on the ground. Thrusting her arms forward, a sheet of rock suddenly sprouts from the ground, and she turns about 30 degrees and does it again, until there's a ring around her.

Whether you just want her to show you some tricks, or you want to challenge her, it's best to just walk up and announce yourself!

...Otherwise you might get a sidelong, suspicious glance from her as she waits for you to say something, especially if you're a stranger or someone she's never met in person.

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"More of my kind? No, I am the only Space Marine in this place." He shakes his head, opening and closing his hand, which is accompanied by more metallic whirring.

Indeed he is not the same as Wing, Priad is mostly flesh beneath his armor, with no major augmetic replacement parts. He's posthuman, but still... human enough, for an 8 foot tall being.

"I've heard briefly about bending before. From a... student of mine, you might say. But I haven't se..." He notices her eyes, and says in a softer voice, "I haven't observed it."

Edited 2013-03-18 20:40 (UTC)

[Toph doesn't get what he means at all, and he's still sounds more like Wing than an actual person. But she does pick up on that awkwardly avoided usage of the word "see." Well, at least he's trying to be considerate, even if he basically failed at it.

Smiling sarcastically, she crosses her arms and turns her body so she's facing him.]

That's funny. I've never observed it either!

Priad grunts. "I understand. Well, as I said, I was curious, and I've been impolite. I am Priad of Ithaka, of the Iron Snakes."

He hunches slightly, focusing on her as she turns around, his booted feet pushing a little into the soil.

"Why are you taking challengers?"

[the tiny vibrations from him moving his feet his feet light him up like he's a Christmas tree. Yes, she can tell now that he's mostly a person, just an enormous person and covered in a lot of metal.

She unfolds her arms to give him a shrug, dismissing the impoliteness. whatevs, metal guy, it's cool.]

Oh, I see you heard my message, huh? Basically, I'm bored to death and I need some exercise. You wanna go?

Yes, I did. What sort of exercise are you proposing? [ Priad flexes his lightning claw briefly, letting a bit of energy pulse into the oversized fist and clawtips in order to "wake it up", already suspecting what she has in mind ]

Edited 2013-03-18 21:39 (UTC)

[oh, what is that. she hears it and she kinda feels it. getting firebender vibes now.]

Well, just what it sounds like, some one-on-one friendly sparring. But, uh... don't take this the wrong way, but I dunno if it would be very fair for me to fight you.

[ Priad nods his head, and she can almost feel his amusement from a change in balance. This guy is a warrior, no play-acting in him whatsoever, from his stance. ]

As in: you're afraid of defeating me so soundly I'd weep? [ He laughs, the sound less metallic than his other vocalizations. ]

It wouldn't be the first time a person of your age has bested me. Perhaps after this I'll tell you about the cheese run, how I was beaten, and how I beat Veii squad when I was your age.

[...that sounds like a pretty cool story. But FOCUS, TOPH. At least for once he's not outright dismissing her for being a kid, there weren't a lot of times older guy types like this ever didn't.]

Not to toot my own horn here, but that's exactly what I'm worried about. [crosses her arms.] You seem to be mostly a regular person, but it sounds like you're basically glued into that suit you're wearing. If I was really giving it my all, I could smoosh you in your own armor.

You probably could. [ Priad cedes easily. ]

But people who try to smash me in my armor generally have other concerns. Ones I won't bring to the table here because, well, you're trying to get exercise.

[ He makes a show of setting his boltgun down on the ground. It is a huge, metallic object that weighs more than Toph does. ]

I don't have pride, except that which I get from being a son of Ithaka, and an Iron Snake, and you cannot break that.

As for being mostly regular, well, we shall see, won't we?

[ He unslings a huge pole from across his back, and removes a barbed lance tip from the end of it, making it into a 9 foot long pole that looks suitable for thumping people. He holds it in one hand, the other still crackling with energy from his lightning claw. ]

Let's give each other an objective, eh? You knock my helm off, it is a win for you. I knock your hat off, I have the victory.

[knock his helm off... that kind of delicate handiwork really isn't her style. She's really the "throw rocks until it stops moving" type. And his head is the one part of his body she can't sense very well, it's the farthest part of him from his feet. But hey, maybe it'd make it a challenge.

apparently unphased by his gigantic spear, she grins at him.]

Alright, deal!

[-- STARTING NOW. Without missing a beat, she takes a step to the side, stomping hard onto the ground with her foot as she brings her fists together out in front of her. Two thick slabs of cement and rock suddenly rise up from the ground on either side of Priad's pole and speed towards each other, ready to trap it between them.]

A geomancer!

[ He booms, his voice suddenly amplified up to human-painful levels. Priad calculates the point of impact, then throws himself forward into a somersault that is pretty graceful for a guy basically wearing a portable tank, his armor's servomotors buzzing as he does so, and he rises, pole still in one hand. The trapping slabs smack together impressively behind him, and he makes a humming noise almost like approval, he shifts his grip on the pole and spins it once, starting to circle Toph. ]

I haven't heard of anything like you except for the Librarians amongst the Salamanders. Interesting.

I met somebody sort of like you once, but you're way more talkative and less murderous.

[He actually does move pretty well. The mental image she's formed in her mind of this person's weight and body type usually gets attached to the "lumbering idiot" personality. so kudos for not being a lumbering idiot.

Toph counter-circles as he moves, but doesn't make much of an effort to keep herself facing him. Every time he took a step, it vibrated through the ground like sonar and fed information into her brain. Her little surprise attack was over, time to really do her thing - so she waits.]

[ Priad takes a step forward, breaking the circling, lashing out with the pole to try to graze her hat off, a lighting-quick motion that betrays just how trained he is as a lancer-user, though he seems more used to fighting in formation with his brothers than this sort of solo duel. ]

What were they like?

[With a stomp to the ground, another slab sprouts next to her, much thinner now - more like a wall. It knocks his pole upwards and away from her. With all that metal armor on, it's much easier for her to sense his body movements and form a picture in her mind of how he was posed.

With that, she throws her open palms in his direction and sends the wall speeding towards him.]

Ummm... Explodey!

[ Priad lowers his shoulder and smashes into the wall, trying to crush it with his immense body mass and genehanced musculature. ] (Visual demonstration of what marines do to walls) http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZIUeQZBb3uM/TlyEc9_x-eI/AAAAAAAAAc0/1Xq80hCTtJM/s1600/SpaceMarine_CoverIsForTheWeak.jpg

Ah!

[ Once through the wall, she shakes off the dust, and spins in, backhanding the lighting claw at her hat, deactivating it as he realizes that using a weapon with a disruption field might not be a sensible solution for leaving clothing intact. Still, she can definitely sense him coming, he's not exactly light. ]

[It's basically impossible for Toph to not sense him coming. But he's still very big and very fast. Clenching her sightless eyes tight, she crouches and slaps one hand on the ground. A rectangular slice of the cement underneath them suddenly tips up at one end like a seesaw - the end beneath Priad - sending him possibly flying over her head, and definitely sending rubble everywhere - but most just in order to lower herself down a few feet and knocking his steps off-track.

She doesn't know what that sparking thing on his hand is but it definitely reminds her of Combustion Man. It's sorta creepy.]

[ Priad is launched into the air by the seesawing concrete, bunching and leaping to give him extra force, and vaults quite high indeed before coming down with a thunderous crunch. He rests his hand on the rock for a moment, uninjured but clearly regaining his balance, the long pole discarded in the mixture of leap/launch that he had to do because of Toph's swift and canny reaction. ]

Good.

[ He says, clearly pleased, and smiling behind his helm. ]

[if that means they're done, Toph doesn't get it. the clack of his pole hitting the ground far from him makes her grin.]

You're pretty speedy for somebody so gigantic and heavy!

[As she taunts, she stomps a rock up into the air as sends it sailing towards his head with a thrust of her fists. She really doesn't know how she'd ever knock his helmet off without getting close to him, and she's certain she should not get close to him. Really, that kind of fancy delicacy isn't her thing. So the next best option is to smash up his helmet and hope it falls off before it breaks. Earthbender solutions!]

[ ANd the speed is demonstrated again, as he sees the rock hurtling towards him, and he sweeps his claw into and through it, shattering it into spalling rock shrapnel with a quick, charged gesture. ]

Nice try.

I suggest a larger one.

[ He steps forward, snatching for her hat with his non-clawed hand, using the lighting claw as a power-field activated, crackling defense for the moment, ready to smash or deflect if need be ]

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[OPEN] earth rumble yeaaaaa

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So sorry about the late tag! I've been moving my apartment.

it's fine!!

Re: it's fine!!