She heard them - but she didn't need to. It was enough to feel them. The stomping. The jumping. The hundreds and hundreds of bodies moving and jostling around in anticipation, the trembling and shaking of the stone above her from the crowds filling the stands. It was intimidating, enthralling, stimulating, and she loved every minute of it: the building anxiety, the restlessness in her muscles, the thrill and power that swelled in her chest.
Something about it always pulled her back. Maybe it was that rush of accomplishment she got from smashing her opponents off the platform, or the roar from the stands as her fist was pulled into the air by the ref. Maybe it was the knowledge that she had defeated someone, that she'd been more powerful and had overwhelmed a person that was recognized for their strength and physical prowess. They were icons of masculinity, and defeating them put her on top. Outside, in the day-to-day, she simply fed herself and rested. Here, she lived.
"Damn," Lee said, gravelly voice pulling her from her reverie. "She just got taken out."
Shit, she thought. That was gonna set Narissa's goals back a couple weeks.
"Who?"
"That Erikku brother. The runty one."
Damn. She respected the Erikku brothers, but she had a stronger connection to Narissa. There weren't too many female rumblers, and she took each of their losses personally - after all, a person's sex shouldn't be a factor in their decision to become a rumbler, and that was something she'd been trying to drive home. Look at her: sure, she had a bit more training than most, but outside of that she firmly believed there wasn't anything special about her.
"You ready? You're up next, kid."
She didn't say anything, but stood as a way of response.
The uniform she wore was tight and minimal: a long strip of cloth, wound closely around her torso, secured her breasts in place; a small pair of shorts fit snugly over her waist and groin; and the classic brown, studded guards were strapped around each of her arms and shins. In contrast with the other pieces, she also wore one loose article of clothing: her green-and-yellow vest, which was fashioned after the style of her childhood outfit. All-in-all, the uniform left a lot of her skin exposed, but it allowed her to stay agile and dodge projectiles - a tactic which all the upper-level rumblers were beginning to use in matches against her, so she didn't mind the trade-off. What she did mind, though, were all the comments people made. She could hear them now as she approached the entryway to the arena, chanting "Blind Beau-ty! Blind Beau-ty!".
She'd gotten used to it, though, even if she didn't like it.
"Who am I up against?"
He hesitated, and she suddenly realized that he'd already told her. "Hiro."
"Sorry... long week," she said, as a way of an excuse. "Went all over town. Nobody wants to hire a blind earthbender."
She wouldn't have bothered to say anything if it had been anyone else. This was Lee, though.
"You'll find something," he said, giving her a sympathetic cuff on the shoulder as they stood in the doorway. "See you in forty minutes."
"Thirty," she smirked, and walked out of the locker-room as the great doors smashed open violently. She cracked her knuckles and left the cool dark of the locker-room, letting the swell of anticipation in her muscles lead her out toward the arena.
The roar and cheering of the crowd washed over her, growing as each section of the stone walkway rose into place before here. Cutting clearly through it all, the announcer's voice rang out: "...please welcome... the seven-year world champion... the beautiful... the deadly... BLIND BANDIT!"
Forty-five minutes later, Toph was back in the locker-room. Outside, the segments of the walkway fell back into the ground in succession until, lastly, the heavy stone doors slammed behind her dramatically and shut out the noise of the stands. Finally away from the audience, Toph relaxed from her pose of dominance and made her way over to her locker.
"Hey," a voice said. Toph flinched in surprise, but played it off. It was Narissa.
"How's the Tectonic Terror?" Toph asked, with an appropriate amount of verbal elbowing.
"Better than Hiro, I'd say. You can definitely sense those projectiles, can't you?"
Toph smirked, unwinding the remnants of the tape from her knuckles. "Sorry, that's a trade-secret."
"C'mon, you don't even have a hair out of place! I don't know how you do it!"
The subtle longing in her voice made Toph turn serious.
She pulled the rest of the tape off her fingers and turned to her. "Practice," she said. "You know that. Practice everyday, until your knuckles bleed, until your feet can feel somebody drop their coins out on the street when you're up in your second-floor apartment. That's how you do it."
They were silent for a minute as Toph went back to her locker and dug her clothes out, unfurling her hair from the dense braid she wore during matches. Grabbing her pants, she leaned over and pulled them up her legs, not bothering to remove her shin-guards.
"Besides," she grunted as she straightened back up, "you're getting there. How long were you out with Erikku?"
"Hour-twenty."
"Hour-twenty, fifty minutes in the dust? That's stamina right there. Erikku's tough, but you can be tougher. He's got a style, and now that you've fought him you know it."
Toph sensed Narissa listening with her full attention, soaking up every word, just like every time she gave her a pep talk.
"You're in the big leagues now, and you're not going to win every fight. When you get knocked out, try to take a part of the match with you. Learn from it. Don't start doubting yourself, just acknowledge your mistakes and improve. I know you're good at that, you rose faster through the ranks than a lot of the other rumblers I've seen. Keep practicing. You'll win the next one."
"You bet that ass I will," Narissa said, standing with confidence - even though Toph could sense some continued apprehension from the tension in her movements.
She ignored it, though, knowing that the feeling would help to motivate her. She pulled a hooded sweater on over her uniform to hide herself out in public and headed toward the exit, but paused to end the conversation. Deciding to go out with some tough love, she punched Narissa on the shoulder - "I know. It wasn't a suggestion," she said. "You train up and bury his ass!"
Later that night, Toph was staring her drink down inside the Molten Crater. Well, not staring so much as feeling out all the little surface details of the cup - where chips had been broken away when it was shaped, the technique that'd been used to grind down the edges, the way the magma had flowed before it solidified...
Suddenly, Toph felt a hand on her shoulder. "Listen pal," she said, "unless you're bringing me another drink, you either walk away or get thrown through the wall. Not in the mood for company."
"What if it's an old friend?" It was Lee again. "By which I mean a friend who's old, mind you."
She smiled, happy he'd found her.
"Damn Lee, I thought you hated coming to this place!"
"I do. You trying to avoid me?"
"No, not at all. Just needed something hot and these Fire Nation guys know how to do it right."
"Yeah, I know you like that Fireball."
She kicked the floor, causing the stool next to her to scoot out for him to sit on.
Lee plopped down like a sack of root-vegetables and ordered a mug from the bartender - a drink Toph commonly referred to as "rice-flavored pansy water".
"What's the deal with you and this place, anyway?" Toph asked. "You've never told me."
"Eh, not that big of a secret," he said. "They don't have anything good on the menu. What about you, kid? Didn't see you after that match today. Not that I really looked, of course - that ugly face of yours."
"Heh. I, uh, got inspired to go for a run."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, bumped into Narissa in the locker-room," she said, taking a drink. "I hate it when people don't commit to something, you know? Especially if it's something that they want to do. They make excuses, tell themselves it's not worth it or something, and they give up. Pisses me off."
The bartender finished pouring and set Lee's mug down in front of him.
"Hey…" the bartender said. They turned their attention to him: he was an elderly man, and was looking at Lee with an odd expression. "Sorry. I thought I recognized you for a minute. Can I get you guys anything else?"
"We're all - bruuhuh -" Toph burped - "set!"
She turned toward Lee. "How've you been doing, anyway?"
"Oh, not bad," he said. "Taking it one day at a time, you know? Some of the coworkers get on my nerves, but it's no big deal in the long run."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. There's this, uh, firebender that I work with - I think he used to be a general for Sozin, maybe. I was just doing what I do, shoveling coal into that smelter to keep the temperature up, and he was talking to a couple of the other workers. Being all loud, like he wanted everybody to listen in on what he was saying. He was going off about that mess at the North pole…" there was a noticeable tension in his voice, some of his anger resurfacing.
He took a drink and sighed. "Ah, I don't really wanna talk about it. Best not to pay attention to that stuff, you know?"
"You gonna work there forever?"
"I wouldn't mind it."
Toph made a facial expression Lee had come to learn as the equivalent of the skeptical-eyebrow-raise.
"Honestly!" He said. "It's not a bad gig, all in all."
They sat there for a little while, drinking and listening to the chatter of the tavern. Toph was more than happy to just sit there in silence, enjoying Lee's familiar presence as the booze relaxed her. The atmosphere of the place was warm and comfortable, a little humid, maybe, but still nice. All too soon, though, it came to an end.
"Hey, what about you, Miss Bandit?" Lee asked, in that tone she'd come to recognize.
Damn, this conversation again, she thought.
"I could keep going."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah." She said, straightening up. She really didn't want to talk about this, and Lee should've known that. Why couldn't they just sit there? Why did it always come back to what she was doing?
"Listen, Toph," Lee said, voice soft - "how many times've you been down in the pit this month? Not the big arena... not the show."
"How do you know about that? Have you been following me?"
"No, I haven't been following you, Toph. You're always so damn suspicious, you know that? No, you've been getting all sorts of cuts and bruises, and don't tell me it's from going into those tunnels. You're too good of a bender for that. Where'd you get this, huh?" Lee poked her arm, where a long scratch had scabbed over. "- And your shoulder's bruised. Looks a week old, and his was your first official match all month."
"What do you care?!" Toph said, a little loudly.
A few people sitting at surrounding tables quieted, one of them whispering : "Is that the Blind Beauty?"
Toph had just about had it.
Lee kept his voice calm, trying to soothe her. "Listen, I'm your friend, right? This isn't a good way of life, being, you know, angry all the time and beating yourself up!"
That did it. Toph hit the table and stood, ending the conversation. "You don't know anything about me!"
She turned and headed for the door. Lee dug some coins out of his pocket, quickly checked that they would cover their drinks, then dropped them on the bar. He stood and took off after her, not wanting to make a bigger scene. Outside the tavern, though, he grabbed her arm:
"You're right. I don't know how you live. But I know a few things, Toph: I know about anger, and I know you can't be in the pit forever. Not if you wanna live through the next twenty years. The body can only take so much, you know that!"
"Well what if I don't care about the next twenty years, huh?!" She said, tugging her arm away. "And I've had enough of people talking about my body for today, thanks. And I don't need you, or anyone, looking after me! I can take care of myself, got it?"
"Damn it, Toph -"
"I'm going home! Don't follow me."
Toph didn't fall asleep for a while that night. She knew she'd been too hard on Lee, but she was seriously tired of him bringing it up... even though he really didn't bring it up that often, to be honest. Still, though, what else was she supposed to do? Who was going to hire a blind person? She knew that she'd be great for carrying and loading things, but no moving or transportation business was going to hire her. The rent had to be paid somehow, and there was no way she'd be able to go to her parents for help. That tunnel had fallen in.
She could probably get a job pulverizing all the rocks in farmers' fields, or making gravel or cement or some other construction material, but with the whole "not being able to see" thing she'd probably be put pretty low on the "potential hire" list.
Regardless, she was going to need to apologize to Lee tomorrow. There wasn't exactly a tight group of friends in her life, and even if she liked to say that she could make it on her own, it was nice to at least have someone to talk to.
The street outside was already noisy by the time Toph woke.
Someone was rapping on her door. Her palm flew to the ground, trying to read the vibrations of the building - there were two men outside in the hallway.
Standing from the bed mat, she slowly made her way to the door, trying to listen for voices through the throbbing in her head.
"Think anyone's in there?" One of them asked.
They knocked on the door again.
Toph could sense that their stances were formal, so more likely than not they were law enforcement. Which meant they were here for a reason. Which meant she'd either done something stupid, or they wanted something from her. Either way, they'd keep coming back until they got a hold of her. Shit. She'd have to answer this.
Trying to make her voice as gentle as possible, she called out: "One minute please!"
Hastily raking her fingers through her hair and hoping her face wasn't covered in dirt, she unlocked the door and opened it just enough to talk through.
"Who's there?" She asked, cautiously, as if she were a helpless lady that couldn't eject them through the hallway wall with a stomp of her foot.
"Police, m'am. May we have a moment?"
Toph opened the door.
"Hello, we - um -" he stuttered - "we're here to ask if you've seen any suspicious people around lately. You see, there's been an incident in your area, and we're trying to get the jump on this thing and see if there's any witnesses."
Something about their demeanor clued Toph off that they were probably firebenders, but she didn't say anything.
"No, I haven't, officer. I'm actually blind."
"Oh, I see - that is - umm - uh, well, if you see anything, or hear anything, rather, please try to pass it along."
"You're blind?" The second man said, his voice considerably deeper than the first's. "If you don't mind me saying so, m'am, your home looks very well put-together. Do you live with someone that helps out, by chance?"
Huh?
"No, why do you ask?" Toph asked, trying to keep suspicion out of her voice.
"Well, it's my younger sister, you see. She was blinded by fire a few years back, during the Extraction, and has been living with our parents ever since. Being as independent as you are, it would mean a great deal if you were able to come by and visit her. I don't know how busy your schedule is, but she's pretty down about her situation and I'm sure a conversation with someone such as yourself would do a lot of good. She works in the laundry house by the river up town. Do you know it?"
"Yes," Toph said, somewhat taken aback, "although I'm not sure how much help I'll be. I use earthbending to help find my way around."
"Oh, you don't say? Well, in any case, I'm sure she'd love to hear from you. She doesn't have too many friends, and even fewer people in her situation. Please consider it."
"Yeah, um, sure."
"Also -" the first man said, piping back up - "if you happen to have any firebending friends or work with any, tell them to be careful. We don't want to alarm anyone, but the perpetrator appears to be targeting firebenders specifically."
"Oh."
"But please, don't worry, just keep an eye out - or, uh, an open ear, or something, for any information."
"The incident - was anyone hurt?" Toph asked, remembering having heard about a string of firebender murders over the past few years.
"Again, we don't want to make anyone concerned, but the incident did involve a casualty. At the moment, there's a strong likelihood that it's related to the string of homicides I'm sure you've heard of, but there still so little we know at the moment. I'm afraid that's all we're at liberty to say. Do you know where the nearest law enforcement office is?"
"Yes."
"Well, please stay alert and warn others around you to keep a look out, and report any suspicious activity that you might see. The more eyes we have, the better! Or, uh, ears, um -"
"Alright."
"Have a nice day, m'am," the deeper-voiced man said. "And stop by the laundry house sometime!"
Toph closed the door and absent-mindedly made her way to the water basin, where she scooped up a ladle-full and drank to help clear her headache.
Another homicide, another dead firebender… well, seeing as the occupation had only recently ended and the Fire Nation military was forcibly deporting people, it wasn't hard to imagine that there was some sort of backlash. Good thing she was a citizen of the Earth Kingdom.
Toph spent the day the same way she spent every one: she cleaned up any mess from last night, jogged up to the mountains around noon, spent the next four hours getting lost in the badger-mole tunnels and finding her way back out again (occasionally resorting to bending, even if she preferred the challenge of making it out without using it), bathed in the shallow pools along the river, then jogged back into town, all the while thinking about where she wanted to eat that evening.
After changing out of her exercise clothes, she went to check on Lee again - he hadn't come to his door earlier - and was happy when he answered it. Although he wasn't up for going out to eat, she was able to get her apology in and leave the conversation in a fairly polite fashion. More or less.
She then went back to the Molten Crater, but finding it closed went to a food cart instead. There, she bought a bowl of rice and pig-chicken off the very friendly cart attendant, who was winding down from the dinner-rush and happily told her all about the ranch the pig-chickens were raised on as he went about cleaning his utensils. She then went to an underground Rumble pit, where she handed over some money for entry - spectators were way overcharged - and was able to sit through three full matches without anyone coming up and disturbing her (for once).
Afterward she went out for drinks, but finding the Crater still closed ended up at a the "Sea Urchin", another popular tavern, but themed after the water-tribes. She took a seat at the bar, and over the course of the evening two men and one lady came up and tried to strike up a conversation, but she wasn't the best at keeping it going and nothing came of it.
That was fine by her, though, she didn't mind just sitting there. There was an overweight man in the corner playing a stringed musical instrument, and a small audience had gathered around him and clapped when he finished songs. She thought about asking him to let her try playing it, but ended up just listening.
She stayed until the place closed, at which point the owner's son helped her back to her place - this wasn't the first time this had happened. She knew that the son had a thing for her, but she was too clumsy of a drunk for the boy to do or say anything outside of trying to keep her from knocking buildings down (and it's not like he'd have had the stones to make a move on her anyway).
Once back at her place, she threw her clothes in random directions, broke a few cups in the process of adding a few more decorative holes to the walls, passed out at the table, woke up at some point in the middle of the night, and got into bed... scratches scabbing over and bruises healing.