Earthbender: The two characters get dirtied by mud/dirt
Prompts:
black/white (easy)
Ty Lee (medium)
You've Got a Friend in Me (hard)
Word count: 1,971
Talks and Mud
Toph grunted as she sent a boulder flying across the courtyard, where it landed with a loud crash. She reached up to wipe her brow, where a layer of sweat had formed. It was hot in the Fire Nation. How these people lived here all year round was a complete mystery. Zuko mentioned that the heat didn't bother them as much, being firebenders and all. To that, Toph wondered how the non-benders got by. Zuko has mumbled something about 'Inner Flame' before stalking off, probably to go do Fire Lord things like fire incompetent advisers or yell at evil generals. The like.
Toph brutally slammed another boulder into the ground before pausing when her feet sensed something light and jumpy come her way. "Hey Toph!" Ty Lee greeted cheerily, on her hands by the feel of it. And then there was something like a whirl, and Toph knew she was on her feet again. "What's wrong?"
"Why do you think something's wrong?" Toph asked, kicking a pebble into the pond. She only knew the pond was there because of the wide, blank space in her vision. It was a bit frightening, knowing there was something there she couldn't see, but it was nothing compared to the ocean. The whole thing was just a big, giant expanse of nothing. Besides the heat, that was probably the second thing Toph hated about the Fire Nation: it was a country of islands.
"Your aura," Ty Lee answered, as if that explained everything. She cartwheeled onto her hands and continued. "It's all black-ish and foggy. Usually, you're a nice, solid brown or green."
Toph turned her head in Ty Lee's direction, giving her her best 'Are you kidding me' look. "Well that's just great," she answered sarcastically. "Tell the blind girl that her aura is the wrong color!"
Ty Lee's heart jumped a bit in embarrassment, and she flipped back on her feet. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I just forget sometimes, because you're so independent and never need any help!" Coming from anyone else, Toph would just assume that the person was trying to flatter her, or kiss up to her. But after spending several months in the Fire Nation and with the Kyoshi Warriors, she knew that Ty Lee was genuine in her praise. She straightened a little, pride blooming in her chest. Until Ty Lee asked, "So anyway, what's bothering you? Maybe I can help!"
"It's nothing," Toph tried vainly, but she knew that once Ty Lee had locked onto something, it was next to impossible to get her to let it go.
"Is it Sokka?
"What? No! How do you even- What?"
"I mean, your aura always goes pink-ish whenever he's around," Ty Lee explained. "And it never goes pink. Your energy was totally different the moment he got here." Sokka was visiting the Fire Nation on important, peace treaty business. Stuff that Zuko had to deal with, and Toph didn't care much about. Except, of course, for the fact that it brought Sokka to the Fire Nation.
"Well, I mean- that's not...I- it kind of is, but...ugh!" Toph plopped down on the ground with a huff and trailed her fingers through the dirt. "It's a lot of different things," she finally decided on. She picked up a small rock the size of her palm and began absentmindedly rolling it between her hands, smoothing over the edges rounding it into a perfect little oval.
Ty Lee came to sit next to her, silent for a thoughtful moment before asking softly, "Did your parents send you another letter?"
Toph gripped the now smooth rock in her hand. "Yes," she answered with a sigh. "They asked me to come home again." Actually, ordered would have been the more accurate word. But Zuko had granted Toph citizenship in the Fire Nation, and there was absolutely nothing they could do. Save for go up against the Fire Lord himself, that is.
"I know the feeling," Ty Lee agreed with a sigh. At Toph's surprised face, she explained, "My parents aren't exactly happy with what I'm doing either. I mean, first I ran away to join the circus, then I betrayed Azula, and now I'm a Kyoshi Warrior. They've sent a few letters, sometimes threatening to disown me, sometimes begging me to come home and marry that gross 'son of some super important noble' like I was supposed to." She said it like she didn't care, but the extra tension in her limbs told Toph otherwise.
"I...I didn't know that," Toph admitted softly.
"Well, I don't like to think of those things," Ty Lee answered, a shift indicating that she had shrugged. "I mean, I'm happy here, and I get to be close to people I love, and I get to do things that I love. Why think of things that don't matter anymore?"
"I guess you're right," Toph nodded. "Except...I do want to see my parents again. Just...not if they're going to keep treating me like the helpless little girl they still think I am."
"Have you tried writing back?" Ty Lee asked.
She considered making another blind joke but instead sighed and answered, "Yes. Lot's of times." Toph pulled up her legs to fold her arms over her knees, chin resting on top. "It's just...they don't really see me, y'know?"
"I do know," Ty Lee agreed.
When she said nothing else, Toph lifted her head in confusion. "What, you're not going to give me some heartwarming speech about how it will get better, or advice on how to fix everything?"
Again, Ty Lee shrugged. "I mean, I could, but it might not get better, and it seems like you've already done what you can. You can do everything you're supposed to, and it still not turn out right in the end. The world isn't that black and white."
"Hm, black and white," Toph mused. "I've heard people say that before. Never really understood what it meant."
"Oh, right." Ty Lee took a moment of thought before explaining, "It's kind of like...opposites, I guess? Black and white, yin and yang...black is nothing while white is everything. I dunno really how to explain what they look like...how do you see things? I mean, I know you sense vibrations in the earth, but how do you actually see it? Like, in your head?"
"Through space," Toph explained. "To me, you're a shape, and you take up this space, and over there-" She pointed across the courtyard to the tree. "-is a tree, and it takes up that space. And then the air is like the negative space, that doesn't have a shape. And water too, I guess."
"So it's like positive and negative space then," Ty Lee decided. "And black is the negative space and white is the positive space."
Toph shook her head. "How did we get talking about such deep stuff?"
"Well," Ty Lee started. "I asked what was wrong and then you said-"
"That was a rhetorical question," Toph quickly cut her off. It was like a switch, and suddenly intuitive, meaningful Ty Lee was gone.
"Oh, okay then!" Ty Lee hopped up and stretched, leaning back on her hands and doing a single flip before brushing herself off and asking, "So...do you wanna spar with me?"
Toph's eyebrows went up to her hair line. She pushed herself off the ground and asked dubiously, "You want to spar with me?"
"Well, I want to make you feel better," Ty Lee explained dramatically. "And I know fighting always makes you feel better, so..." She trailed and probably gave one of those hopeful, puppy dog looks Suki had complained so much about it.
Toph gave a wry grin and shook her head with a chuckle. "Alright," she answered airily. "Just one thing." She hit her foot against the ground and sent Ty Lee as well as a small avalanche of dirt into the pond. The acrobat came up a spluttering, muddy mess. "It's not so much the fighting, but the beating people up part that makes me feel better!" She got into a stance and shot Ty Lee an amused grin, wondering just how comical the other girl's face was at the moment.
"That was mean!" Ty Lee declared, jumping up with all her fancy flips and twists. Toph made to chase after her, but had to pause when she sensed the girl climb up the tree. She tensed, not knowing exactly where the acrobat was. Ideally, she could've just moved away from the tree, except Toph wasn't really one to back down from a fight.
"Ha!" Toph didn't even have time to react when Ty Lee leapt down and pushed her into the sludge that had become half the pond. "See!" she shouted. "It's not so nice being all dirty, is it!"
Toph laughed. "I'm an earthbender! I love being dirty!" For emphasis, she scooped up a handful of mud and let it slop into her hair, earning a distasteful squeal from Ty Lee. She then began her assault, chasing down the flighty girl and staying out of the way of her finger-jabs. She was feeling considerably better by the end of it, still laughing as she and Ty Lee walked back to the palace, covered from head to toe in mud.
"Hey, you're aura is brown again!" Ty Lee cheered, before leaning closer. "Or maybe that's just because you're so dirty!"
Toph made to give her an affectionate punch on the shoulder, but stopped herself at the last moment. "I bet its as brown as whatever is supposed to be brown," she remarked. "Um..." She suddenly felt awkward. This touchy-feely stuff wasn't really her forte. "Thanks, I guess. Y'know, for talking with me. And sparring with me."
"Hey, no problem!" Ty Lee told her with that ever-constant enthusiasm. "I like making people feel better. So, well, if you ever need to talk again...well, you'll always have a friend in me." She tried ruffling her hair, except with so much mud, that only made it stick up every which way. "Oops!" Ty Lee didn't sound sorry at all.
Toph only grinned and mussed her hair even further. For a brief moment, she imagined her parents seeing her now, her dress ruined, her hair a disaster, conversing freely with someone from the Fire Nation...oh, and in the Fire Nation royal palace, she might add. Toph simply shook her head at the thought, and flicked a handful of mud at Ty Lee. But then she froze, eyes widening. "Zuko's coming!" she warned, just as said person rounded the corner.
"Toph, is that you? I've been looking everywhere for-" The Fire Lord froze upon seeing the two, and Toph only wished she could see his face. She and Ty Lee somehow managed to keep a straight face as Zuko stood there for a full thirty seconds before shaking his head and turning around, mumbling something about "not even caring anymore." Once he was gone, the two burst out laughing.
"You're fun!" Ty Lee decided. "We should hang out more!"
"Agreed," Toph nodded. "Now come on! Let's go see how much we can bug Zuko before he explodes." She marched down the hall, half expecting Ty Lee to give some sort of protest, but the acrobat followed with nothing other than a nod. That girl was just full of surprises today.
So why is Toph's aura green and brown? Here's why:
"Green is the color of balance and growth. It can mean both self-reliance as a positive and possessiveness as a negative, among many other meanings."
"The color brown is a friendly yet serious, down-to-earth color that relates to security, protection, comfort and material wealth."
(she's not big on wealth or possessiveness, but everything else if pretty spot on)
And yeah, that's right, I did research for this!