[OPEN] earth rumble yeaaaaa

[barefootbender]

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.

Comments

[scour]

ctsv takes her compliment very cautiously, and a little grudgingly. He uncrosses and recrosses his arms, looks to the side, and huffs.

"It's not dumb, either," he says. "Everyone here is bigger than me. So I have to learn how to fight you big people, eventually."

He rolls a shoulder, and finally admits, "It's a... work in progress."

[barefootbender]

That's fair enough. Toph can relate to that feeling. But their situations aren't exactly the same... she has to wonder just how much damage this guy could do to regular-sized people.

"Are you sure it's not dumb?" she says, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "I mean, wanting to know how to fight, I get that. But I dunno how much you're ever gonna do with those two tiny swords, Mosquito. You miiiight wanna consider a change in strategy."

[scour]

"If I get up onto someone's face I can stab their eyes out," ctsv says. He's thought long and hard about this, okay. "I think that'll be enough to take most people down."

He pauses, and stares at Toph's eyes.

"Maybe not you," he says, uncertainly.

He regains some of his confidence to add, "And Mosquito is not an acceptable name."

[barefootbender]

Nope, he's definitely Mosquito now. But she puts that aside.

"Yeah, but you're assuming you can get up onto someone's face," she says matter-of-factly. "How often is that ever gonna happen, you know? I'm betting the chances of them stepping on you or swatting you away like a housefly before you get that close are pretty high. And you'd really have to hack at someone's eyes for a while to do much damage."

[scour]

"I'm fast," ctsv says. "Faster than you people. The only reason I let you catch me is because I don't care about this fight."

Which isn't entirely true, but try getting him to admit that.

"And eyeballs are soft! I can at least damage them, very easily." Has he actually tried already? No, he hasn't had the opportunity to, yet. Even though ctsv has fairly violent tendencies, he's very much aware that under normal circumstances, he's not allowed to try and stab out peoples' eyeballs just because he wants to.

[barefootbender]

"Fast is good for dodging," Toph says, giving him that. She can tell he's lying his butt off about not caring about their fight, though. She doesn't need to use lie-detection earthbending to know that statement is opposite to how he'd been acting earlier.

It's actually a little worrying that this little spunky guy is so eager to take on people so much bigger than him - there are plenty of people here who would've just squashed him.

She thinks of how to phrase it. "Listen, Mosquito, it's not that I don't understand having a disadvantage and being underestimated by everyone, you know? But you gotta approach it using the skills you do have."

[scour]

Stare. ctsv considers this statement. Then he finally puts his swords away, straps them back into his belt.

"All right," he says, slowly. "What do you suggest, then?"

He had figured that he was already going about it that way. He'd been counting on his speed as his main advantage -- hoped that he'd be fast enough to dodge anything that might crush him, fast enough seek out and strike at vulnerable spots before his opponents could try to stomp on his head. But that hadn't worked out so well with Toph.

[barefootbender]

"Hmmm." It's a little hard to say, maybe not having seen everything he can do yet, but she considers the question earnestly. Then, suddenly, she brightens a little and leans down towards him in excitement.

"--I know! Like... ninja stuff. Something more covert! Sneaking up on people. I bet you'd be really good at stuff like that, because you're so small. You know what I mean? Something like that!"

[scour]

"I could possibly do that," ctsv says, haughtily, as if it were never in question. He's about to add that he could probably sneak up on Toph (and, according to himself, totally did!!) before he realizes that might be unnecessarily rude, at this point.

He does give Toph's suggestion a little further thought.

"So I could..." ctsv taps a knee. "...sneak up on people, and then stab them?"

[barefootbender]

"Exactly," she says, still grinning. "I mean, you can really disable someone if you hit just the right spot. There's this person I fought a few times back home who could take away people's bending and paralyze them for a little while by hitting the right spot."

[scour]

ctsv sits up straight, perking up.

"weak spots. Yes. But there aren't that many benders here," he says, sounding contemplative. He can guess that 'benders' refers to people like Toph, with her weird... rock magic, or whatever it is. Earthbending. Right.

"So I'd need to discover weak spots for normal people...?" Other than the eyes. Hmm.

[barefootbender]

"Yeah! There has to be a way. I don't know how that person from back home did it, but she could paralyze non-benders too. So I'm guessing the same kinda thing could be done here."

She straightens up a little, feeling like she might really be helping the little pipsqueak. "So, instead of just chargin' at everyone and risking getting smacked like a real mosquito - you can be The Mosquito, silent but deadly, striking from seemingly nowhere and disabling your foes." SHE LIKES IT. Alternate personas are one of her things.

[scour]

ctsv is still not very pleased by his new moniker, but he figures it's not something he can fight at this point. Toph seems to have taken quite a shine to it.

He scratches his chin contemplatively.

"I suppose," he says. "I'm going to need help learning about weak spots, though."

[barefootbender]

She can't really help him with that. Her strategy is more the... "shoot enormous rocks first, ask questions later" type. More of the... "oh, I can feel the guy over there, so let's just pound him with boulders and hope he stops moving" type.

She tucks her hands behind her head and sighs. "Maybe there's someone around Exsilium who can help? Or the library, if you can read..."

[scour]

"I can read," ctsv says, as if offended by the mere possibility of him being illiterate. "But it's-- it's troublesome, just getting the books and turning the pages."

He crosses his arms, huffs, looks to the side.

"I could ask the people here," he concedes. "I bet someone would know."