Dedicated to Mrs. Aang, and a very, very, very, (sigh) very long email she once wrote me.

This is a really, REALLY long one. Took me a while to write. Enjoy.

Playland

Riiiiiinng!… Riiiiiinng!… Riiiiiinng!

"Answer that!" Toph yelled from her room. She was busy playing Matchmaking and didn't feel like answering the phone.

Riiii-click.

"Finally." Toph sighed just as her game started.

"Toph! Honey!" Her mother shouted.

"Oh come on. WHAT?" She screamed.

"It's for you."

"Grrr." She paused her game and grabbed her phone, practically ripping it right off her nightstand. "Who dis!" She shouted rudely.

"Chill out. It's me." Aang's timid voice echoed through the other end.

"Aang? I can barely hear you. Are you in a car?" Toph asked as she left her match.

"Yeah. I'm in Sokka's car. We're going to Playland."

"The amusement park? I thought it was closed this time of year."

"It's open for one more day! You wanna come." Aang asked.

"Pleeeeeeeease!" Sokka hollered.

"Is that Ponytail?" Toph asked.

"Yeah." Aang said. He tried to push Sokka away from him.

"I don't know. Isn't Playland like…for kids?"

"Duh. We're like fifteen." Aang reminded her.

"Fine, fine. When are you going?" She asked.

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP! A car's horn blasted from outside Toph's house.

"Ummm…is now okay?" Aang asked, still timid.

Toph sighed. "Is Katara coming?"

"No." Aang said.

"Good." Toph thought. "I'll be out in a minute. Hold on a sec." She hung up and grabbed her wallet.

"This is gonna be so much fun!" Sokka said as he sped down the highway, while Toph and Aang held on to their seats. "I'm gonna buy a cotton candy, and a soda, and a pretzel, and a cotton candy…"

"You said cotton candy already!" Aang yelped as Sokka switched lanes.

"I'm gonna buy two cotton candies. Don't judge me!" Sokka spun his car around a truck and launched himself onto Exit 9.

"OH GOD!" Aang screamed.

"It feels like we are on a roller-coaster right now!" Toph yelled, grabbing the ohshit bar.

"Yeah. The Sokka-coaster!" The driver boasted.

"IT'S NOT FUNNY! SLOW DOWN!" Aang covered his eyes.

The car ride was only ten minutes, as opposed to twenty-five minutes. Sokka thought it was an achievement.

"WOW!" Aang said when they entered the park.

The smell of poorly cooked and overpriced food was everywhere. People were screaming, laughing, vomiting and running around like a bunch of animals.

"It's like college…but for kids." Sokka said, smiling.

"What are we going to ride first?" Aang said. He hoped up and down on the balls of his feet, like a child with a sugar rush.

"I wanna ride that." Sokka pointed to a hot girl. Toph slapped the back of his head.

"Perv." Toph groaned.

"Not her! The ride behind her!" The girl moved away and Sokka's finger aimed at the bumper cars.

"Oh." Toph said.

"No!" Aang said. "Let's go on that!" He pointed to the famous, the monstrous, the infamous Dragon Coaster. The park's signature ride, the Dragon Coaster was a wooden ride that sent its passengers flying through a dragon's mouth on it descent. Smoke and scary sounds blared out from the dragon as it gobbled you up.

Both Toph and Sokka were surprised that Aang wanted to go on such a ride.

"Letsgoletsgoletsgoletsgo!" Aang begged, tugging on Toph's sleeve.

"FINE!" Toph screamed. Half of the park stopped and stared at her. "Just stop talking already!"

"Race ya!" Aang wasn't asking. He took off running before the others could even react.

"What's gotten into him?" Sokka asked Toph like she would know.

"Idontknow." She mumbled her answer into one sloppy word.

"Come on!" Aang shouted at them, already on line. "I want the front cart!"

CLUNK!

"Yeah!" Aang threw his hands in the air the cart connected.

Chink-chink-chink-chink-chink-chink-chink-chink-chink

"It's gooOooing." He bounced in his seat.

"I knooOoow." Toph mimicked him.

"Raise your arms. It's always more fun if you raise your arms." Aang said. Toph sighed, annoyed with him.

Chink-chink-chink-chink-chink-chink-chink-chink-chink

"Wanna do a countdown?" Aang said.

"Oh, for the love of God!" Toph slapped her forehead.

"10…9…8…"

"Aang, shut up!"

Chink-chink-chink-chink-CLANK!

"…1!"

Aang didn't hear Toph complain anymore. He just heard his tomboyish friend scream at a pitch so high that she could have broken glass.

Or maybe it was Sokka.

"Oh God…" Toph's legs wobbled as they walked away from the ride. "That sucked." She held her stomach and mouth, ready to toss her lunch.

"That was great!" Aang jumped out from behind her. He touched both of her shoulders and shook her gently. "Wanna go again?"

Quickly, Aang leapt away from Toph as she reached out to choke him.

"I hate these things." Aang said. His good mood evaporated when Toph saw the Haunted House and forced him to go on it.

"I hate roller-coasters. Shut up and enjoy the ride." She demanded. She wasn't as excited as Aang was on his ride, but Toph was grinning as they waited on line for their cart to pull up.

"Why couldn't you take Sokka on this?"

"Me and Sokka? Alone in the dark? He'd grope me."

"He would not!" Aang defended his best (male) friend.

SLAM! One of the ride's carts stopped in front of the two teens with a loud, spooky sound.

"Ah!" Aang jumped.

"Alright! Our turn." Toph jumped into her seat. "Let's go twinkle toes."

Aang hesitated, then slowly sat down next to Toph. She could feel him shaking.

"Wanna do a countdown?" Toph asked with an evil grin.

"Not funny." He tied his seatbelt as tight as it could and the ride started. "Eeee." He kept his eyes closed for most of the ride.

"I don't really need any souvenirs." Aang said, but Toph wouldn't listen.

"I'm buying you something. Live with it."

After humiliating Aang on the Haunted House, Toph felt a little guilty and wanted to buy him something at one of Playland's shops. Buying things was what her parents did for her when they hurt her feelings. Toph was a creature of habit.

She looked through the endless rows of toys and trinkets, knowing that she'd find something that her friend would enjoy.

"Um…you know, maybe we should just find Sokka and leave." Aang always felt uncomfortable when Toph bought him things.

"There!" Toph pointed to small green baseball cap on a high self. She whistled down one of the girls working behind the counter. "Excuse me, barkeep. I want that hat up there. Chop-chop." She clapped her hands together, for effect.

"Toph!" Aang gasped. Her rudeness always astounded him.

The woman, reluctantly, got the cap for Toph.

"Thanks doll face." Toph caught the hat as the lady threw it at her. "Try this on for size." Toph put the cap on his head for him and (forcefully) pushed him in front of the nearest mirror. "What do you think?"

"I don't know?" Aang looked at his reflection awkwardly, still feeling uncomfortable.

"Trust me twinkle toes. Green is sooo your color." Toph insisted as she pushed the cap down on his head. Hard.

Aang giggled, knowing that she wouldn't change her mind.

"Alright Toph. I trust you." He straightened the cap out and smiled. "Thanks." He said to her, still smiling, even though he knew that he probably would never after that night.

BANG! POP!

"WOW! Look at that one! Did you see that?" Aang asked.

"Mm." Sokka mumbled through a mouth full of cotton candy.

Aang's head swung from left to right. "Where's Toph?"

"Got me." Sokka wasn't paying attention. His focus was divided between the pink sugar cloud in his hand and the bright fireworks exploding in the sky.

Aang looked around for his friend, but she was no where to be found.

He left Sokka and looked around the far ends of the crowd. "Toph!" He yelled twice, but she didn't answer.

Eventually, he found her hiding behind a tree, covering her ears and staring at the ground with a worried look on her face.

"Toph?"

"Go away." She turned her head. BANG! "Eep!" Toph nearly leapt off her feet.

"Whoa, what's wrong?" Aang walked closer to her. He saw her shiver.

"Nothing. I just…" BANG! Toph shut her eyes and tried not to jump again. "…I just don't like fireworks."

"…you okay?" Aang put his hand on her shoulder.

"…yeah. Peachy."

POW, POW, POW!

Toph leapt again, this time wrapping her arms around Aang's thin chest.

Aang lifted his arms high above her, worried that she'd hit him later if he hugged her back.

BANG! She squeezed him tighter, but not tight enough to hurt him.

When the fireworks ended, neither of them said anything. Toph did her usual thing. She just pushed Aang off her (as if he had grabbed her) and then walked over to Sokka to steal some of his cotton candy.

As if nothing had happened.

"Sokka, you've wasted like twenty bucks on that thing." Toph said. "Just face it. You're a weakling."

"I'll get it! One more try!" Sokka said as he lifted the heavy mallet over his head and charged at the Hi-Strikers game. He swung the hammer, putting no real thought in the thrust, and the little pin reached only half way up the meter. "Dammit! One more try!"

"How about letting someone else try?" Toph said. "Aang, give 'er a swing." Toph slapped his back so hard that he nearly bumped into Sokka.

"What?" Aang gasped, not knowing what was going on.

"Come on little buddy. Show me what you got." Sokka handed him the heavy mallet. Aang could barley lift it. He blushed when he heard a few people laugh at him.

"Give it to em, twinkle toes! So 'em how strong you are!" Toph tried to encourage him, but she only made Aang feel worse.

Fortunately for Aang, he had knowledge on his side. He knew the secret to winning Hi-Strikers, so he tried to ignore everyone heckling him.

He lifted the mallet (with great difficulty) and slammed it down on the edge of the target pad rather than the middle, which caused the weight to land differently..

Sure enough, the pin flew up past Sokka's mark and dinged the little bell at the top. Sokka's jaw nearly broke off in disbelief.

"We have a winner!" The fat carnie shouted. "Pick a prize young man."

"Whoa." Toph's eyes bugged open. "Twinkle toes, you won!"

"Uh, yeah. I guess I did." Aang giggled. "I'll take that." He pointed to a little stuffed White Tiger on the prize rack. "Give it to her."

"Huh?" Toph looked up.

The carnie tossed the tiger into Toph's arms.

"Call it a gift. Like, we're even now" Aang smiled at her as he straightened the green cap, still on his head.

"Um…sure." Toph glanced at the soft toy, awkwardly. Most girls would have thought that it was 'cute'. Toph didn't say what she thought about it.

"What…time is it?" Aang asked with a yawn.

"Like 11:50, I think." Sokka was too tired to check his watch.

"We must have done…everything."

"Yeeep!" Sokka put his left arm around Aang's neck and began swinging his soda back and forth, pretending that he was drinking alcohol. The two boys walked towards their car, both happy, one laughing loudly and obnoxiously.

Toph trailed behind. She was still holding the little tiger Aang had won for her. Or the tiger that he had just casually given her. She kept debating on which one it was.

The doll stared back at her blankly. Toph pushed the arm up and down to make it wave at her. Thankfully, Aang didn't see.

"…I guess you're kinda cute." She said as she left the park. "Thanks again Aang." She said. Aang didn't hear her.

Did you know that, in Chinese mythology, a White Tiger is associated with the element Earth?