Toph and Sokka, Monday afternoon
Apr. 8th, 2013 04:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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om_mainSokka's first action upon arriving at Xaviers: mistake Toph for a damsel in distress. But once she sets him straight, things are a lot less rocky. (Oh my god I'm so sorry he made me do it.)
It was warm. It was finally warm, and the second the temperature had hit high enough, Toph had kicked off anything that might have been on her feet and headed straight outside to revel in it. It was a little weird how much she missed it, considering there was tons of ground right there all around the school, but it just wasn't the same as being able to bury her feet in it. Which she did, wriggling her toes until she was practically buried ankle-deep in the dirt and loving ever second.
Of course, it didn't take long for just standing in the dirt to get boring, however much she'd been longing for it. In no time at all, she was kicking up massive stone towers and boulders bigger than she was, mostly just because she could. She'd put it all back where she got it when she was done. Probably. Until then, she was going to throw dirt around until she was too tired to stand.
Sokka's jaw dropped when he got his first good look at the house from outside the car. This was the kind of whoa-amazing-holy-balls thing in movies about really rich kids in California with their super green yards and Porsches and pool parties and little drinks with adorable umbrellas. For just a second, he seriously entertained the idea that he was still asleep under seven layers of blankets back in his relatively itty-bitty three-bedroom prefab on stilts, trapped in a fever dream and never, ever, ever going to wake up. He'd probably end up building an entire dream life here until he got old and died and then woke up in Barrow again, still fifteen but without the weirdo blue eyes or the boomerang thing.
All that snapped him out of these horrifying thoughts was a sound like an avalanche to his right. The first thing he noticed was that he was starting to drool a little, so he closed his mouth. He turned his head to figure out what the hell was going on, which was when he noticed the second thing, which could not actually be a thing, because what the hell:
Giant rocks exploding out of the ground, dirt flying everywhere, madness and confusion and pure chaos and--
A tiny, like absolutely tiny little person about to be swallowed up by it all. She (so tiny, had to be a she!) was doing some weird movements, like she was trying to escape. From. What the hell? Yep, definitely trapped in a dream forever. Awesome.
Still, tiny girl in distress! Sokka leapt into action, leaving his bags in front of the steps and charging to her rescue. "Don't worry, I'm coming!"
There was a ton going on, not to mention Toph's own sheer delight at all of it, but even that wasn't enough for her not to notice someone running into the middle of it like an idiot. And about to get creamed by a boulder.
With one tightening of her fist, all of the movement very abruptly stopped, and Toph straightened up to turn in the guys direction. "What are you doing?" she called with a sharp from. "Did you seriously not see that? Do you have a desperate need to get flattened?"
Sokka was still leaning backward, a boulder that had materialized like three inches from his right foot having thrown him well off balance, and pinwheeling his arms. As the tiny, angry girl said the word "flattened", his butt hit the ground, and he sat looking up and over at her. Mouth open again. And hair falling into it.
After a few tries of blowing it out of his mouth, he finally just grabbed it and yanked. Then, "I was trying to save you from... um..." Then, more quietly, as a couple of puzzle pieces clicked into place. "Yourself?" No way. No. Freakin. Way.
"I don't need saving," Toph said with a derisive snort, and put both hands out in front of her, palms down. A minute later, everything had settled back into the ground with barely a disturbance. "You, on the other hand, are a moron. I'm guessing you're new here?"
"Okay, for one, I am not" --Sokka blew upward and send hair flying, stupid strand was still in his mouth, argh!-- "a moron. I am just not used to little girls throwing around gigantic boulders or whatever crazy magic was just happening here." Because seriously, he had actually been paying attention that time, and the girl had just shoved all the earth back into place, and that was weird.
He had more to say but he interrupted himself to blow again because seriously hair, now was not the time.
"Hello, you just came to mutant school. What did you expect?" Toph's eyes narrowed in his direction. "You are here here as a student, right? You didn't just wander on the grounds?"
"I am not a lost puppy, no," Sokka said, all indignant, standing and brushing off the backside of his jeans... indignantly. "I am a new student, yeah, so I'm not used to all these... wacky magical hijinks. I thought you were in trouble. You're tiny! The rocks are--" He gestured wildly to try and say, um, huge!
"It's not magic. It's geokinesis," she said with a kind of exaggerated patience, though from her tone it was clear that she was echoing the term from someone. "And if you think that's impressive, you should see what some of the other kids can do."
Sokka paused, one eyebrow high, the other practically squashing his eye socket. "Geo. Kinesis. Okay. That sounds science-y. I can get behind that."
Also, he was now officially being super rude, which would not please Aaka. Or his father. Or Katara, but whatever, nothing pleased Katara. Still, Sokka marched up to the tiny rock-girl, holding out his hand. "I'm Sokka."
"Toph," she grinned as she took his hand, then hesitated for just a moment. "Or Stone, I guess." From her shrug, she was leaving it up to him which one to use.
"Oh right, the code name thing. I kinda like tha--" Sokka shook, but by this time, he had noticed that her eyes, uh, weren't seeing anything.
He paused, her hand still trapped in his, and blurted, "Wait, how did you even know where I was?" Okay, he had shouted, but there had been a lot of other stuff going on, and she had been, um, not acting blind, which probably wasn't even a thing, and wait, why was he regretting that question already?
And Toph just shrugged as she reclaimed her hand, utterly unphased by it. "I can sense vibrations through the ground," she said matter-of-factly. "So if you're touching it, I can see you."
"Trrrrrrrrrrrying to think of a time I'm not touching the ground," Sokka admitted, scratching at his head. And finally that stupid piece of hair slipped out of his mouth when he did it, thank god. "Failing."
"Then you won't have to worry about me not seeing you," she snorted. And yeah it was more difficult on floors and such, but he already apparently thought she was helpless. She wasn't going to make it any easier on him. "So what do you do, then?"
"Nothing this, uh, epic. I throw stuff. It comes back. Tall, white, and magnetic says I'm creating attractive magnetic fields." Just like when she'd explained her powers, Sokka's tone made it clear he was reciting something he'd been told, there. He pulled a rubber band from his wrist and arranged his troublesome hair in a knot at the back of his head as he spoke. "One around me, and one around whatever it is I'm holding.
"So it's kinda like a boomerang effect, but not at all. But still. Boomerang." After snapping the band into place, he elaborately and full-body mimed throwing one--maybe she couldn't see it to appreciate it, but he was appreciating it enough for both of them. "Hoo-ah!"
There was a long nonplussed moment where Toph just stared in his general direction. "Okay then, Boomerang Guy," she said finally, a small smirk creeping across her face. With one hard step, a few smaller pebbles launched into the air before landing in her open palm. "Try these."
Sokka, mind still boggled by the way the rocks jumped for her, swiped them out of her hand and tossed them up and down once. "Boomerang Guy. I like it. That should be my code name.
"Okay, hang on, let me move away so I don't punch you full of pebble holes." He marched about twenty paces from her, then opened his fist and eyed the rocks, suddenly not so sure this was an awesome idea.
Toph just barely resisted the urge to chuck one of those rocks at the back of his head. "You get that I control earth, right? You're not gonna hit me with any of them."
"But you're not touching the--" Sokka stopped mid-sentence. Looked at the pebbles in his hand. looked at Toph. And then sighed. "Oh. Right. I get it. Earth." He rattled the rocks as an illustration, but changed his focus quickly.
He was never sure how, exactly, it got started. He just thought about it (or didn't think and totally ignored it...), and then it was like all the little hairs on his arms and legs and the back of his neck were standing, suddenly. He pushed his tongue between his teeth, focusing on the little rocks, hoping this wasn't going to embarrass him horribly--oh wait, he'd already done that, so okay, embarrass him more--and with three huge jumpy-steps and an "uff!", chucked them.
The stones flew away almost normally at first, but Sokka put up one hand, trying to sort of, uh, feel them there. Again, he wasn't sure how, but it usually worked okay. This time was no exception; he could definitely feel something out there answering, um, his something. The little rocks took a wide arc, nailed some low-hanging needles off a nearby evergreen, and came rocketing back to him.
"Crap," escaped from between Sokka's teeth. He held both hands out in front of him, and the little rocks hit with distinct thwupp! sounds one at a time in rapid succession--and ouch, that stung! Well, all except for the one that bounced off his coat and hit the ground with a loud clatter.
Sokka flushed. "Uh. Still working on my aim."
She made absolutely no attempt to cover a snicker. "Not bad," Toph said anyway, and she even kind of meant it. "Does that work with anything, or only stuff you can throw?"
"Anything, I think," Sokka said with a grimace. All sarcasm, now: "I guess I could do something huge, like one of those boulders of yours, and get myself crushed. That would be awesome.
"I once set down a glass of water and it came back. As in all over my shirt. I was" --a chuckle broke through-- "Heh--I was all washed up."
That got a loud snort of laughter, and Toph reached out to clap him -- maybe a bit too hard -- on the arm. "You're not bad, Boomerang Guy. Maybe if we get more practice you can try it with me some time."
Sokka gave a little "uff" sound again when she hit him--wow, she was way stronger than she looked--and then stood rubbing at his arm through his coat. "I have this mental image of me being chased all over this yard by gigantic boulders." But he had to admit, "Could be pretty fun."
Hey, he was a freak, she was a freak, he was living in freak land, now. Might as well... try and get used to it? "You're not so bad either, earth-shaky girl."
Totally had to think of a better name for her, though. Hm.
It was warm. It was finally warm, and the second the temperature had hit high enough, Toph had kicked off anything that might have been on her feet and headed straight outside to revel in it. It was a little weird how much she missed it, considering there was tons of ground right there all around the school, but it just wasn't the same as being able to bury her feet in it. Which she did, wriggling her toes until she was practically buried ankle-deep in the dirt and loving ever second.
Of course, it didn't take long for just standing in the dirt to get boring, however much she'd been longing for it. In no time at all, she was kicking up massive stone towers and boulders bigger than she was, mostly just because she could. She'd put it all back where she got it when she was done. Probably. Until then, she was going to throw dirt around until she was too tired to stand.
Sokka's jaw dropped when he got his first good look at the house from outside the car. This was the kind of whoa-amazing-holy-balls thing in movies about really rich kids in California with their super green yards and Porsches and pool parties and little drinks with adorable umbrellas. For just a second, he seriously entertained the idea that he was still asleep under seven layers of blankets back in his relatively itty-bitty three-bedroom prefab on stilts, trapped in a fever dream and never, ever, ever going to wake up. He'd probably end up building an entire dream life here until he got old and died and then woke up in Barrow again, still fifteen but without the weirdo blue eyes or the boomerang thing.
All that snapped him out of these horrifying thoughts was a sound like an avalanche to his right. The first thing he noticed was that he was starting to drool a little, so he closed his mouth. He turned his head to figure out what the hell was going on, which was when he noticed the second thing, which could not actually be a thing, because what the hell:
Giant rocks exploding out of the ground, dirt flying everywhere, madness and confusion and pure chaos and--
A tiny, like absolutely tiny little person about to be swallowed up by it all. She (so tiny, had to be a she!) was doing some weird movements, like she was trying to escape. From. What the hell? Yep, definitely trapped in a dream forever. Awesome.
Still, tiny girl in distress! Sokka leapt into action, leaving his bags in front of the steps and charging to her rescue. "Don't worry, I'm coming!"
There was a ton going on, not to mention Toph's own sheer delight at all of it, but even that wasn't enough for her not to notice someone running into the middle of it like an idiot. And about to get creamed by a boulder.
With one tightening of her fist, all of the movement very abruptly stopped, and Toph straightened up to turn in the guys direction. "What are you doing?" she called with a sharp from. "Did you seriously not see that? Do you have a desperate need to get flattened?"
Sokka was still leaning backward, a boulder that had materialized like three inches from his right foot having thrown him well off balance, and pinwheeling his arms. As the tiny, angry girl said the word "flattened", his butt hit the ground, and he sat looking up and over at her. Mouth open again. And hair falling into it.
After a few tries of blowing it out of his mouth, he finally just grabbed it and yanked. Then, "I was trying to save you from... um..." Then, more quietly, as a couple of puzzle pieces clicked into place. "Yourself?" No way. No. Freakin. Way.
"I don't need saving," Toph said with a derisive snort, and put both hands out in front of her, palms down. A minute later, everything had settled back into the ground with barely a disturbance. "You, on the other hand, are a moron. I'm guessing you're new here?"
"Okay, for one, I am not" --Sokka blew upward and send hair flying, stupid strand was still in his mouth, argh!-- "a moron. I am just not used to little girls throwing around gigantic boulders or whatever crazy magic was just happening here." Because seriously, he had actually been paying attention that time, and the girl had just shoved all the earth back into place, and that was weird.
He had more to say but he interrupted himself to blow again because seriously hair, now was not the time.
"Hello, you just came to mutant school. What did you expect?" Toph's eyes narrowed in his direction. "You are here here as a student, right? You didn't just wander on the grounds?"
"I am not a lost puppy, no," Sokka said, all indignant, standing and brushing off the backside of his jeans... indignantly. "I am a new student, yeah, so I'm not used to all these... wacky magical hijinks. I thought you were in trouble. You're tiny! The rocks are--" He gestured wildly to try and say, um, huge!
"It's not magic. It's geokinesis," she said with a kind of exaggerated patience, though from her tone it was clear that she was echoing the term from someone. "And if you think that's impressive, you should see what some of the other kids can do."
Sokka paused, one eyebrow high, the other practically squashing his eye socket. "Geo. Kinesis. Okay. That sounds science-y. I can get behind that."
Also, he was now officially being super rude, which would not please Aaka. Or his father. Or Katara, but whatever, nothing pleased Katara. Still, Sokka marched up to the tiny rock-girl, holding out his hand. "I'm Sokka."
"Toph," she grinned as she took his hand, then hesitated for just a moment. "Or Stone, I guess." From her shrug, she was leaving it up to him which one to use.
"Oh right, the code name thing. I kinda like tha--" Sokka shook, but by this time, he had noticed that her eyes, uh, weren't seeing anything.
He paused, her hand still trapped in his, and blurted, "Wait, how did you even know where I was?" Okay, he had shouted, but there had been a lot of other stuff going on, and she had been, um, not acting blind, which probably wasn't even a thing, and wait, why was he regretting that question already?
And Toph just shrugged as she reclaimed her hand, utterly unphased by it. "I can sense vibrations through the ground," she said matter-of-factly. "So if you're touching it, I can see you."
"Trrrrrrrrrrrying to think of a time I'm not touching the ground," Sokka admitted, scratching at his head. And finally that stupid piece of hair slipped out of his mouth when he did it, thank god. "Failing."
"Then you won't have to worry about me not seeing you," she snorted. And yeah it was more difficult on floors and such, but he already apparently thought she was helpless. She wasn't going to make it any easier on him. "So what do you do, then?"
"Nothing this, uh, epic. I throw stuff. It comes back. Tall, white, and magnetic says I'm creating attractive magnetic fields." Just like when she'd explained her powers, Sokka's tone made it clear he was reciting something he'd been told, there. He pulled a rubber band from his wrist and arranged his troublesome hair in a knot at the back of his head as he spoke. "One around me, and one around whatever it is I'm holding.
"So it's kinda like a boomerang effect, but not at all. But still. Boomerang." After snapping the band into place, he elaborately and full-body mimed throwing one--maybe she couldn't see it to appreciate it, but he was appreciating it enough for both of them. "Hoo-ah!"
There was a long nonplussed moment where Toph just stared in his general direction. "Okay then, Boomerang Guy," she said finally, a small smirk creeping across her face. With one hard step, a few smaller pebbles launched into the air before landing in her open palm. "Try these."
Sokka, mind still boggled by the way the rocks jumped for her, swiped them out of her hand and tossed them up and down once. "Boomerang Guy. I like it. That should be my code name.
"Okay, hang on, let me move away so I don't punch you full of pebble holes." He marched about twenty paces from her, then opened his fist and eyed the rocks, suddenly not so sure this was an awesome idea.
Toph just barely resisted the urge to chuck one of those rocks at the back of his head. "You get that I control earth, right? You're not gonna hit me with any of them."
"But you're not touching the--" Sokka stopped mid-sentence. Looked at the pebbles in his hand. looked at Toph. And then sighed. "Oh. Right. I get it. Earth." He rattled the rocks as an illustration, but changed his focus quickly.
He was never sure how, exactly, it got started. He just thought about it (or didn't think and totally ignored it...), and then it was like all the little hairs on his arms and legs and the back of his neck were standing, suddenly. He pushed his tongue between his teeth, focusing on the little rocks, hoping this wasn't going to embarrass him horribly--oh wait, he'd already done that, so okay, embarrass him more--and with three huge jumpy-steps and an "uff!", chucked them.
The stones flew away almost normally at first, but Sokka put up one hand, trying to sort of, uh, feel them there. Again, he wasn't sure how, but it usually worked okay. This time was no exception; he could definitely feel something out there answering, um, his something. The little rocks took a wide arc, nailed some low-hanging needles off a nearby evergreen, and came rocketing back to him.
"Crap," escaped from between Sokka's teeth. He held both hands out in front of him, and the little rocks hit with distinct thwupp! sounds one at a time in rapid succession--and ouch, that stung! Well, all except for the one that bounced off his coat and hit the ground with a loud clatter.
Sokka flushed. "Uh. Still working on my aim."
She made absolutely no attempt to cover a snicker. "Not bad," Toph said anyway, and she even kind of meant it. "Does that work with anything, or only stuff you can throw?"
"Anything, I think," Sokka said with a grimace. All sarcasm, now: "I guess I could do something huge, like one of those boulders of yours, and get myself crushed. That would be awesome.
"I once set down a glass of water and it came back. As in all over my shirt. I was" --a chuckle broke through-- "Heh--I was all washed up."
That got a loud snort of laughter, and Toph reached out to clap him -- maybe a bit too hard -- on the arm. "You're not bad, Boomerang Guy. Maybe if we get more practice you can try it with me some time."
Sokka gave a little "uff" sound again when she hit him--wow, she was way stronger than she looked--and then stood rubbing at his arm through his coat. "I have this mental image of me being chased all over this yard by gigantic boulders." But he had to admit, "Could be pretty fun."
Hey, he was a freak, she was a freak, he was living in freak land, now. Might as well... try and get used to it? "You're not so bad either, earth-shaky girl."
Totally had to think of a better name for her, though. Hm.
