I'm posting this as my sister nags me to go eat lunch, and now she's dragging me away...
Now, I am back! Thank you to the 643 people who have read The Clashing of Time, and the six people who reviewed (it makes sense in context reviewed twice, so double thanks to you!). I find it slightly off that the number of readers is a hundredfold more than the reviews... Meh, whatever.
This time, Aang and Toph were sitting together in the room. Zuko and Sokka kept guard outside while Suki and Katara did their shopping. Aang was forced to read aloud to Toph, because she decided she wanted a taste of the reading. "Give it to me, Twinkletoes!" she yelled, wiggling her fingers in anticipation. So Aang did, clearing his throat multiple times before opening his mouth to read.
"Wait!" Katara yelled, bursting into the room. "Sorry," she said, huffing and puffing from her run. "I forgot to label the things back to Aang and Toph." Inspecting the statistics closer, she furrowed her brow. "Why is the rating M?" she said, puzzled. "Tsk, tsk." Then she changed it back to K. On her way out the door, Toph yelled at her back,
"Sokka and Suki were the last ones to have it!"
Toph grinned as she felt the disturbance in Katara's demeanor at her words. The waterbender stiffened, took a huge breath, and then stiffly walked out of the room, Toph guessing she was no doubt on her way upstairs to her brother's room. Chuckling, she nodded to Aang.
"Read!" She commanded.
Snapping back to attention (his eyes had been following a beautiful silver butterfly outside of the window), Aang saluted.
"Yes, ma'am!"
Punching him roughly (although she secretly enjoyed the title), Toph laid on her back and rested her hands behind her head. A few moments passed, and then Aang's tiny, whispery voice sounded.
"She's the one. By El-elemental Baggage C-claim." He said faintly. Toph frowned and picked at her ears.
"What's that, Twinkle toes? Louder, please."
"She's the one. By Elemental Baggage Claim." Aang repeated, slightly louder. Toph shook her head disapprovingly.
"Sounds like a wedding bell. No thanks. Next!"
"Er, um, d-deal with it. By, erm, a flicker of candlelight." Toph slapped her arm.
"All right! That's what I'm talking about!" she guffawed. "But the name sounds kinda wimpy. Meh, whatever. As long as the story's good."
Whimpering slightly, Aang read the short story to Toph in a shaky voice. When they reached about the fourth or fifth line, his voice cracked, and he stopped.
"Whoa, Twinkle toes!" Toph exclaimed. "What's up with your heartbeat? I feel like I'm on vibration! And why'd you stop? The story was getting pretty good. I like how this... 'a flicker of candlelight' wrote me as me. Hm... maybe your new nickname should be rat-weasel."
Aang shivered at the thought of being compared with a brown, scraggly rat-weasel. Losing his nerve, he called Sokka into the room.
"Mind reading to Toph for me? I... have to... um... use the toilet."
Sokka pouted, knowing full well the dangers of even being around Toph, much less READING to her.
"No thanks, I bet you can wait." And he started to leave the room. Frantically, Aang tackled the older boy's legs, tripping him.
"No! No! Don't, you can't leave!" Aang pleaded. Thinking hard, he reached the only thing that would bait Sokka into staying without having to chain him to the ground.
"Uh, this is a test of your manliness!" He yelled. Slowly, Sokka, who had been trying to wriggle out of Aang's grip, turned around.
"A test of manliness, eh?" He said, stroking his 'beard'.
"Let me think about it- okay!" He declared. Squealing with relief Aang quickly Air-bended out of the room before Sokka could change his mind. Then, he gently blew a bit of fire onto the door knob so that it melted to the door, and Sokka was locked in like that. In a surprisingly evil, non-Aang-like moment, he smirked and pressed his ear to the wood of the door. Finally, somebody who would get beat up, other than him!
Inside the room, Sokka was not faring well. He felt pain even when Toph just described what she would do to Aang. The blind earthbender was vicious. Sokka knew that, he just hadn't touched the bottom yet.
"When I see that bald wimp, I am going to earthbend him into oblivion! I'll seal him inside a earth tent, and then pummel him with the ground! His bones will crack! His skin will bruise! And that's nothing compared to what I'll do to that... that 'a flicker of candlelight'! How dare she make me, Toph Bei Fong, even affectionate to that rat-weasel!" Then she squinted her eyes in forethought.
"Though, maybe I should lay it down a bit on her or him. I mean, the insults were pretty good, and I think I would say the exact same thing if really were in that situation... Hm..." she mused.
Sokka was wilting under the load of verbal violence he was undergoing. As he imagined what Aang would look like after Toph un-tented the earth tent, his body began shuddering, and his cheeks turned a lovely blue shade that complemented his Fire Nation clothes perfectly. Toph noticed.
"What's happening to you, Snoozles? Your vibration went up like Hawky being chased by a wild dog-cat! It's like somebody beat you up, threw you in a cabbage bin, tossed you around..." As Toph continued to list the painful, slightly appalling scenes that Sokka resembled, the Water Tribe boy couldn't take it anymore. With a very dramatic, gaspy sigh, he keeled over and fainted. Raising her eyebrows at the sudden thud on the ground, Toph crawled over to where the iPad was and picked it up.
"Hey, Aang!" she called, knowing he was right outside the door. "Open up! I know you're out there! Open up so I can kick your butt! Now!"
"I think not, Toph. You're blindness limits you." Aang replied, a smirk playing at the tips of his mouth. Toph was taken aback.
"Whoa, Twinkle Toes! What's up with that? Wise plus snarky plus noble talk equals creepy, y'know?"
Snickering quietly, Aang opened the door and hopped on his air scooter, all the while playfully (but none too softly) spinning Toph around and around. Then he raced out the door and landed in a tree, watching as Toph ran outside (smiling in relief when her toes landed on hard, cold, sightful (literally) dirt.
"I see you, Twinkle Toes!" she yelled. Then she created a crack in the ground, making the tree fall in. Aang jumped out just in time, and Toph let the tree fall. She didn't bother closing the gap. Who knows, when Aang was done with Ozai, she might just throw the body in there. Then some shouts caught her attention. Tilting her head, she spun around. The thudding, slightly warmer than usual vibrations on the ground indicated that Zuko was coming. Creating a stool of earth to sit on, she started picking her toes.
"Hey, Sparky! What's up?"
Her calm demeanor did not exactly match his. Toph could feel him heating up every second that passed.
"What's. Up?!" Zuko seethed through his teeth, clenching his fists so as not to burn Toph to a crisp right then and there.
"You just made the species of the magnolia-sakura-peach tree extinct! That was the last one in the whole universe! And it made my house look pretty! If you're not going to get it out for me, I'm going in myself!"
Toph was tempted to submit to his demand, when she decided to get an explanation.
"Oh, really? Pooh. But why is it so important to you, Hotpants?"
"My mother was dedicated to saving those species."
"Ah."
And with that, Toph raised the bottom of the chasm, bringing up the broken frame of the tree.
"Here, have it back. Take the seeds. Whatever. I still have to murder two people, so, see ya!"
Zuko raised his eyebrows at the quickly disappearing form of the small earthbender. Sighing after a bit, he cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled,
"Toph! Hey, Toph! Aang's in the other direction!"
Yes, I know, what happened to Aang during that magnolia-sakura-peach thing and why the heck did Zuko suddenly appear? I'm glad to find that I can effortlessly write a thousand words now without realizing it! Well, hoped you enjoyed this. I really need to go eat dinner now.. LOL
