Toph and Sokka, Saturday afternoon

[om_ricochet]

Toph is a bad-ass. Sokka... is not. This does not stop him trying to convince her (and himself) that he is.

For someone so short--and who saw where she was going through the soles of her feet, or whatever--Toph kept a pretty good pace in the halls. Didn't help that he'd only just spotted the back of her head as she was turning a corner and he was coming around a far one, himself, but still. She was way too tiny to be so quick.

He sort of skipped to catch up--well, no, Sokka did not skip, it was a very manly sort of walk-run, but still. From a few feet behind her he said, "Hey, Rocky, where's the fire?"

She'd seen him coming -- well, she'd seen someone coming through the indistinct muffling of the wood floors, but somehow Toph wasn't too surprised at the sound of Sokka's voice. It made her turn her head just a little in his direction, enough of acknowledge that she had some idea of where he was even if she didn't bother to fake eye contact. "I want to get out of here," she said succinctly, nearly bouncing on the balls of her feet at the idea of getting to go play outside. "You coming?"

"Heck yes." He caught up, also bouncing, but in a more puppy-like manner. Then he made a suspicious face--which bled through into his voice. "Waaaait a minute. Lemme guess, you need someone to use for target practice?"

"Don't need it," Toph argued with a grin slowly spreading its way over her face. "Wouldn't mind it, thought."

"Uh-uh," Sokka said emphatically, with a shake of his head that was equally emphatic enough to smack him in the face with his not-a-ponytail. "I'm on to you. Your tininess is camouflage. You're a ruthless killer at heart." He smiled and looked at her sideways, then said, as if this was something he'd just considered deeply, "I can respect that."

"Hah," she snorted, reaching out to punch him none-too-gently on the arm, though it was really meant to be a friendly gesture. "Not my fault people get distracted. So what do you want?"

Sokka grimaced and rubbed at his arm--seriously, so tiny, but capable of inflicting so much pain. "Ow.

"Well, truth is, I wanted to inform you that I have been getting a lot more practice, since I came. And my aim is way better. And I am prepared to rock you. Instead of you rocking me." He chuckled at himself, even holding his belly for effect. Oh god. Good one. "And since we're on your way out anyhow..."

"Yeah, come on then," Toph agreed with just a little more bounce in her step. "We'll see who rocks who."

"You are so on," he agreed with a little smirk.

The second they made it outside, Sokka raced forward and executed a not-so-graceful but totally serviceable front handspring--courtesy of the whole 'learning not to land on your ass' lessons from River before--well, yeah. Unfortunately, when he landed on his feet, he staggered forward because his favorite super sweet (and completely unironic) Three Wolf Moon t-shirt was stuck over his head. "Gah!"

His foot caught on something and he started to fall forward. "Ohhh shiiiiiiiiii--!"

With an exasperated, if over dramatic sigh, Toph just stomped hard on the ground in front of her, shooting a small pillar out of the ground right in front of Sokka, knocking him back upwards. Where he went from there was his own issue. "Yeah, I'm impressed so far Mr Boomerang."

Sokka's momentum changed abruptly, but he managed to do a back shoulder roll as he fell, like perfect old school Hollywood fight style, and popped back up to his feet. A little wobbly, yeah, but still. "Aw, come on, I gotta at lest get some style points for that finish. Oh, and thanks for keeping me from breaking my face."

"Could have been worse," she agreed critically, and turned in his direction. "So okay. What did you want me to do?"

"I dunno," he admitted, crossing one arm over his chest to prop up the other elbow, then tapping at his chin thoughtfully. His head was still a little spinny from that up-and-down, but like hell he was gonna show it! "We could try and see who's stronger. Like if I charge a rock and throw it, will it still come back if you try and grab it with your dirt-o-mancy? Or... something like that."

There was a long moment where Toph just stood there, completely motionless, before breaking into a broad, almost wild grin. "Okay then." She set her feet, hands out in front of her at the ready. "Try me."

"For some reason, that look on your face terrifies me." Sokka grabbed a smooth, palm-sized rock from a nearby garden-bed and tossed it up in the air once. When it smacked down into his hand again, he concentrated. The field fizzled to life--it didn't actually fizzle, it just felt like a fizzle because of the way it pricked his skin--quickly. "And yet, I'm totally gonna do this anyhow.

"My field isn't messing with your dirt-powers, or anything, is it? You can still feel this sucker?" He hefted the rock and it smacked back down into his hand hard and fast. "Ow."

"I could smack you in the face with it to prove it," Toph said easily. "Seems like you're gonna do it yourself, though."

"Keep dreaming, little girl." Sokka was careful not to make that sound like an insult (because hey, he could learn!), but figured she just might take it as one anyhow. Just in case, he chucked the rock before she could hurt him, long and hard -- then held out his hand and felt for it with the weird freaky mystical-whatever-energy-field-connection-thing. The rock began to arc out, then back in to change direction...

She might have taken offense to the comment, but Toph's attention was instantly taken as the rock went flying. It wasn't hard to catch hold of it, but the feel of the thing trying to fly sideways back towards Sokka was seriously weird. One hand clenched into a fist in front of her as she frowned, but the little stone quivered in the air before stilling.

Okay, this was freaky. Sokka had expected her to be able to do something, yeah, but he hadn't expected... this. He knew what it felt like to pull something that didn't want to come all the way--at least, a little, and for a while. But he'd never felt like something this small was trying to pull him into it instead of the other way around.

Tongue between his teeth in concentration, Sokka planted his feet wide and unconsciously mimicked Toph's pose with one fist out. Then he opened his hand and waggled his fingers, tugging on the magnetic field answering his own from waaaaay over there. He understood it a lot better, since Lorna had been explaining things but... "Weeeeeeiiirrrrrd."

The rock quivered again, yanking slightly forward.

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she regained her grip on the rock. "So you're pulling it, right?" Toph asked, managing to sound completely nonchalant despite the effort. "What happens if it doesn't move?"

Through gritted teeth, Sokka replied, "Well, right now I'm trying to keep myself from getting sucked into it." He tugged--or whatever!--again, but... nothing.

Geez, did she have to make it look so easy? This was killing him!

"Really? You get pulled towards it?" Toph contemplated that before setting herself more firmly against the ground and tugging at the rock. Just a little.

Sokka shot her a glare, but refocused quickly because damn that was some serious pull, and his heels were digging down into the dirt now just to keep him in place. He bent his elbow, pulling the complementary field towards his as hard as he knew how, because no way he was gonna let her win now!

Part of her wanted to laugh, even through the strain of it. Yeah, she'd had a good few sparring partners since she'd gotten there, but no one had given Toph a good fight here with her powers, not yet. And that was always awesome.

Though it didn't stop an entirely mischievous expression from sliding over her face before she very suddenly let go.

"Hooooooyyyyyyeaaaahhhh!" Sokka whooped when the rock jerked towards him again, jumping into the air. And only then realizing that it was coming right for him and going really fast, because diamagnetism turned up to eleven and coming right for his rib cage.

He changed his tune to, "Hoooooshiiiiiiiiii--!" Stop, stop, stop, stop coming at me, stop it, stop now, un-charge, un-charge-ify, "UN-CHARGE-INATE!"

There was only a second or two, but somehow, all that getting yelled at by Magneto and his green-haired girlspawn must've done something good for him, because the feeling was suddenly gone. The hair on his arms settled, his skin didn't prickle, and though the rock was still carried forward by its own momentum, it started falling down, too.

He was too stupefied by this turn of events to move out of the way in time. It smacked into his thigh--which stung enough to get a little "Ow!" out of him.

But. Wait. Had he just--?! Or had she--?!

And Toph, for her part, was nearly bent over she was laughing so hard. "Unchargeinate," she repeated as best she could through the giggles. "That is the best."

Sokka was shooting her his darkest of looks, preparing a protest along the lines of, Why do you feel the need to do that? for her apparently trying to take his head off with his own powers (he had figured out by then that she'd let the rock go and he had not won anything at all). But that last thing she said changed his face in an instant. Sokka put his hands on his hips and chuckled. "Yeah. I'm pretty awesome with the making up words, it's true."

"Way awesome," she agreed as the laughter finally trailed off into the occasional snicker. "Also? That was pretty cool," Toph added, gesturing around them like she was trying to encompass the entire idea of it.

"Apart from the thing where you tried to injure me with my own powers." Sokka tried to sound annoyed, but, honestly, he had the feeling that she would've stopped the rock from doing any real harm. He wasn't gonna say it, but still. He just kinda got a good feeling from her.

Possibly because she laughed as his jokes and made up words. It just showed good judgment, though, right? "It was completely awesome. I've never done that before. I mean, uncharginated something on the fly like that--and without touching it."

"Knew you'd be fine," Toph said with a dismissive wave of her hand, "and you are. So awesome. And..seriously?" She frowned a little at that, mostly in concentration. "What did you do before, then?"

"Um. Get a lot of bruises?" He rubbed at the back of his neck. "I mean I can take away the charge, but I usually have to concentrate. Mostly I'm touching it when it happens, too."

"That's dumb," she declared and instantly braced herself again. "You need more practice in not bruising yourself?"

"It is not dumb," Sokka grumbled, but the sound of his smile was also in his voice. Okay. Toph was pretty cool. Even if she occasionally tried to kill him. "But yeah, sure. If you need more practice getting your dirt-mancing knocked around a little."

Should he make a stance too? Uh. Hm. The only ones he knew were for fencing.

Maybe not. So he just said, "Hit me."

"How big?" Toph's expression shifting to faintly measuring. "Do you need to be able to lift the stuff or can it be anything?"

"Anything." Sokka said, then paused. "Actually, something I can't lift would be perfect."

And that was way too good an opportunity to turn down. A few measure movements later and a boulder that easily dwarfed both of them rose it's way right out of the ground. "Like that?" Toph grinned.

Sokka looked up at slowly and swallowed hard. "Uhhh. I'm. Well."

Okay, right, he could do this. He rolled up his sleeves to bare his arms completely (why, he wasn't sure, but it seemed like the hardcore thing to do) and approached the boulder slowly with his hands out. "Just don't let me get squashed."

"Promise," Toph agreed solemnly. And though she was smirking faintly, there was a surprising lack of mockery in her tone.

He shot her a doubtful sideways glance, but settled his hands against the giant rock and refocused quickly. This time, he hardly even had to think before the slight tingle that meant the charge was working happened. "I've done this in the gym with people before. Pulled them towards me by running around."

When it was fully charged and he could feel the field all over it, he stepped back. The rock shivered a little. Then pulled towards him, tearing up grass as it dragged.

Sokka took off running.

Okay, that was actually really weird, feeling the rock get pulled along like that, but Toph just watched both of them to make sure Sokka wasn't about to get crushed or anything. Which was about when what he'd said registered. "Wait, you do this with people?"

"Yeah." Sokka shouted over his shoulder. Then he saw the giant freaking boulder still coming after him and sped up, running around in an arc so he didn't get too far from her. It was drawing a weird little furrow in the grass, which was kind of hilarious, but he was kind of busy concentrating on the whole huge magnetic field pulling at him from behind and the conversation with the tiny girl. "I charged Eames up and threw her around the gym some. We're talking about getting Kurt to come try sometime--apparently he was in the circus or some--

"Ahh!" Sokka tried to run faster, but it was catching up (but not as much as his pseudo-panic made it sound like. At all.) as he neared the inside of his little arc-reverse. Should've gone out wider!

With a slight frown, Toph reached out to grab hold of the boulder, setting her entire body against the momentum of it to slow the thing down. She was used to pulling against gravity and stuff but it was still the strangest thing ever to have it tugged by something -- or someone -- else. She did at least manage to pull it back a little to keep it from terrifying Sokka any more than it already was.

He looked back again and whooped in triumph--even though it wasn't his triumph it was totally still a triumph!--and kept running. Even tugged a little making his hands into fists and sort of pulling inwards to try and yank it forward. When it struggled and wouldn't come half as fast as he expected, thanks to Toph, he decided this was, "Sweet! Hey can you make little stairs on it? I wanna see what happens if I climb on top of it."

"Stairs, huh," Toph murmured, cracking her knuckles. And one sharp downward movement carved them right into the boulder, at almost perfect ninety degree angles. "Like that?"

Sokka turned--which was a little terrifying as the boulder was now coming right for him--and shouted, "Hoooo-yeah! Awesome!" He ran towards it and it actually sped up a little as he got nearer. Just as it was about to smack into him, he jumped onto the first little step.

It was like mega-gravity, or something, which was probably a good thing, since the rocks sudden stop would've sent him flying (or flattening) otherwise. Still, Sokka pushed himself up the perfectly measure stairs and towards the top. By the time he got to the top, his feet were stuck to the top securely. He posed up there, flexing.

Okay, she couldn't see it, so he helpfully informed her, "I am totally king of this boulder."

"You're totally not," she countered, rocking the stone a little just to make her point. "So are you still holding on to it, since you're touching it and everything?"

Sokka blew a half-hearted raspberry--once he was done throwing out his arms like a ridiculous bird to try and keep his footing. (Totally unnecessary, since his feet were stuck firmly to it anyhow, but he realized that after he was done flailing.)

"Yep, still got it. Lucky thing it doesn't flatten me to it; kinda relaxes once part of me is touching it." He stepped nearer to the edge and realized he could probably walk down the side of it... if he was strong enough to keep his body straight out. He took a step over the edge, so the soles of his feet were at maybe a 45 degree angle--as far as they could go without the rest of him succumbing to gravity. "Whoa. This is like having some serious gravity boots. Wonder if you could throw me off or if I'd just end up breaking myself."

Almost instantly, he was forced to admit, "Okay, probably that second thing, yeah. But I'm like prince of this boulder, at least."

"I'm not gonna break you," Toph said with the kind of exaggerated patience that meant she'd probably have been rolling her eyes. "But you're probably going to roll it over if you keep doing that." Never mind that she could hold it still without breaking a sweat.

"I am no--" But as if to prove her point, Sokka started to fall forward and had to bend his knees and sit back, feet still stuck to the side of the boulder, to keep from faceplanting in the thing. Or snapping his ankles, possibly. "Okay. Point taken. I will, uh, come down now. Somehow."

"Like this?" She put both hands out in front of her, palms down, and slowly lowered them. Just as slowly, the boulder began to crumble under him, from the bottom up until Sokka was back on the ground.

And Toph grinned at him, more than a little smug.

It felt so weird as she was doing it, like the boulder's little bits were slipping through his field, or something. He couldn't keep a hold of all of them and draw them back together, and even if he could've it'd just draw them into him. (Note to self: see if I can become a rock-monster, someday.)

But once he got over that, Sokka actually realized just how amazing what Toph was doing was--how much control she had to have to set him down like that, nice and easy. He killed what was left of the field and said, "I can tell from the look on your face that you don't need to hear this. But you are kind of a little bad-ass, you know that?"

"Yep," she agreed, easily and brightly. Another moment's concentration and all the little crumbly bits of rock had sunk back into the ground without much more than a slight disturbance in the grass. At which point Toph's attention went right back to Sokka. "Anything else you want to try?"

"And modest, too!" Sokka tried to sound disapproving but he laughed and ruined it. "Yes. I can go all day. If you think you can keep up."

And Toph grinned even wider, sinking back down into a ready stance. "We'll see about that. Want to try something smaller this time?"