First of all I don't own Avatar or Toph, which is a shame because I'd love a little sister like her. I was inspired for a lot of this by a full-fledged fanfic I may or may not write someday, especially since minor characters tend to fascinate me. And you don't get much more minor than people who aren't given names...except maybe the cabbage man, or foamy guy. Oh, I should do foamy guy next...
Anyway, I'm probably going to hate this tomorrow, but for now I rather like it considering I did it in two days(actually started before I remembered to sign up for the challenge on LJ). I was originally going to add more about Toph and make it about the whole Bei Fong family, then finally decided there wasn't any room and concentrated it on the parents. I wish I knew their names, because there's some major pronoun abuse in this. It also concentrates a bit more on the mother than the father, but she only got, what, three lines?
And yes, I know, horribly cheesy title.
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1. When Toph's mother was young, she wanted four children; two boys, two girls, and at least two Earthbenders, one boy, one girl.
2. When Toph's father was young, he didn't care how many children he had, or what genders. He just hoped they were all Earthbenders; he knew exactly what it was like to be left out of sibling games just because he was the only one who couldn't earthbend.
It was particularly irritating with his younger brothers, who kept giving themselves ridiculous nicknames and talking in the third person.
3. They both got their wish. Toph has two older brothers and one little sister.
4. Her oldest brother was accident-prone from birth; he fell off the changing table three times (there were several other near-misses) and by the time he'd been walking for a month, every sharp or hard surface in the house had been removed or cushioned.
When he was two, he fell into the courtyard koi pond.
5. His name was Fai. Nobody talks about him.
6. The next boy was sickly from birth. He died in the cradle at six months.
7. His name was Liang. Nobody talks about him.
8. The little sister was dead from birth; stillborn. Toph doesn't remember.
9. She was never named. Nobody talks about her.
10. The Bei Fongs were overjoyed at Toph's birth. At last, a beautiful baby girl; graceful (she never fell, not once, even when she started walking; it was like the earth tilted for her every time she went off-balance) and healthy (she didn't even catch a cold for two years; though this may be because they had every healer in town coming in for daily check-ups). She was perfect.
And her eyes were the prettiest shade of green.
11. The understandably paranoid parents kept her under wraps for the first couple years of her life; only the healers knew of her existence.
12. When Toph was two, she fell ill with an unknown disease. The healers were helpless when she was struck blind.
13. Her sight returned two weeks after the other symptoms had vanished.
Not even her father knows this.
14. Toph's mother was declared a master herbalist a year before she was supposed to marry the Bei Fong heir. She decided to take the chance to travel the world and help the war effort, so she said goodbye to her grandmother and Miyuki the First and left. She learned many things, but one in particular stuck with her for the rest of her life.
The world is a terrible place.
15. The world is a terrible place. It became her mantra, her most important truth. She repeats it often to herself; loudest on the days she serves her daughter's meals personally.
On days like that she wishes she could shout it out loud, tell all the things she's seen, let Toph understand, make Toph understand that it's for her own good, her safety, her innocence.
She settles for a constant loop in her head while she sits by and makes idle conversation; watching that Toph eats every bite and scolding her when she comments on the funny taste.
16. Toph's father traveled often as a boy, tagging along with various merchants under his own father's service along their routes. Technically he's traveled more ground, but he knows less of the world than both his wife and his daughter. All he has to really go on are the horror stories he heard from the guards.
17. Her father planned to let Toph accompany his most trusted merchant on the safest route under an assumed name with a tripled guard when she turned fifteen. She's still the only heir to the Bei Fong family and he thinks it's a valuable experience for anyone taking over a merchant family, even if she'll only be managing in name.
Her mother has tried everything she can possibly think of to convince him otherwise, including having her engaged to a man who can take over instead, but the thought of her marrying has him more terrified than the thought of her traveling.
18. Toph has low opinion of her parent's intelligence concerning, well, parenting. Otherwise she would have realized quickly enough that her parents knew where she snuck off to every week. It wasn't hard; she never went anywhere else.
It was a difficult decision, but they finally decided she should at least have the chance to see--in a sense--other earthbenders in action, besides her teacher, and at least at an underground function nobody would connect her to the merchant family. Her father sent a hefty sum of money to the man in charge each week to insure her safety.
The man pocketed the money and wisely chose not to mention when she started competing (and winning) the next week.
19. Toph's mother is surprised to find, after the rescue party has been sent out, she's not so much worried about her daughter as curious. She wonders how long until the potion wears off and how her daughter will react.
Toph returns a week after the comet has left once more and her mother is so surprised that the effects have become permanent, she forgets her own vow to tell the truth. Toph is gone before she can find the courage again.
20. Toph's father is surprised to find, after the rescue party has been sent out, he's not so much worried about his daughter as curious. He wonders how long until they've caught up with the Avatar and how Toph will react when she finds out about her uncle. He wonders why his youngest brother still refers to himself in the third person.
And when Toph returns a week after the comet had vanished once again, he wonders why his wife fainted when she saw her daughter's eyes for the first time in two months.
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Every time I do one of these I try to add more humor and less angst and fail miserably. Maybe it would help if I didn't choose such potentially angsty characters.