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Post by Fateful on Jan 22, 2010 3:09:12 GMT -5
Even though he didn't really try to calm her down, she felt a little bit more comforted because he was there. He came for her, which made her feel so much more confident in herself. She was touching him, so she felt his nervousness. It made her smile at him. He was trying, and she had to give him that at lease. "It also started and ended with you being a woman." She added, punching him playfully. "It's not your fault though, Twinkle toes, you are pretty feminine. And you do have baby skin. You bruise like a banana." A small laugh escaped her. Maybe it was because he was an airbender, but she always found it strange, or more amusing, that the two of them were so different.
Fighting with Sokka was fun, but he wasn't a bender. He was just a warrior and a thinker. She had once liked that in him, but it faded over time. Leaning her head on his shoulder, it didn't take long for her to move closer to him. She wasn't freezing, but she was fairly cold. Normally the earth would keep her warm. Not that she need heat or anything because she was normally fairly skilled at regulating her body temperature, but she was just too tired and so drained of energy. The apple helped, but she was still hungry. Nothing to do about it, so she just curled against his side, closing her eyes and started to drift to sleep.
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Post by nyrax on Jan 22, 2010 13:06:05 GMT -5
Aang smiled as he felt Toph’s punch hit him, it stung but he tried not to let it show. He always had taken hits fairly badly. The art of airbending really did cause him to be like this. His style was all about grace, style, and dodging the opponent while using the wind to completely knock them off balance and gain the upper hand. Because of this Aang didn’t really take hits in fights, normally using his enhanced speed in order to give him a huge advantage in combat. Toph had gotten strong through fighting in some of the most advanced earthbending tournaments to test herself against others training. Aang remembered when he thought “The boulder” was going to be the one to train him, but that idea was destroyed immediately when “The Blind Bandit” wooped him before he could make a move practically.
As she moved closer Aang couldn’t help but feel a bit better, like she found comfort with him being near. Whether or not Azula was freed today it was going to be a success in his eyes, they had rescued their great friend Toph and seemed to still be friends. Azula could wait years for this moment, Aang still had Toph. He smiled and slowly closed his eyes, although it would take him a while to sleep. Aang wasn’t sure what had happened at the palace, but if Azula had escaped……it was Mai that he was worrying about the most. She had betrayed Azula all those years ago, and that wasn’t something that she would forget so quickly.
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Post by Fateful on Jan 22, 2010 17:50:34 GMT -5
Under normal circumstances, Toph was fairly still in her sleep. The Earth was like an alarm to anyone getting close to her, and she had the skills to back up anything she said. Staying close to the body beside her, all she managed to do was slide from a sitting position into a laying one, being sure to curl her body around the one beside her. It could have been any number of reasons, self preservation, feeling safe, or just familiarity. This tree was creepy when she was awake, and it was ten times worse when she was asleep.
Even though she couldn't see, dreams had an interesting way of giving her sight even though she couldn't see through trees or water. Chasing this sound was all she could do, but it never made contact with the ground. Almost like it was a spirit. Ever sonic wave that went out returned with nothing in the surroundings but trees, some animals, and more water. She was surrounded, and the sound just made her run faster, the water put up much resistant, making it harder for her to run. Her legs started to burn, but that didn't stop her.
When she finally caught up to the sound, something crept over the Earth, and it was enormous. A giant tiger headed centipede wasn't this big. It walked over the area like it owned it, it seemed to stretch on for miles around her, but it didn't go anywhere. It moved around, but he didn't move away from her.
"Hello Earth bender..." He muttered, moving closer to her, twirling around her. Her eyes widened when she heard a human voice. A-a human? Th-there was no way! Shock must have registered on her face because sharp talons pierced her skin, hard. Moving her hand hard, nothing happened. She was unable to Earth bend. Her eyes widened as she trashed against him. Her face contorted and a razor cut her face.
This time, she woke up, bolting upright, her hand was holding onto the tree and she'd broken part of it. Cracks slid through the entire thing. Moving her fingertips, she could feel the broken pieces of wood fall. Panting, she wiped sweat off her face. "Hey!" She punched the man sleeping next to her. "The winds have calmed down. This place is freaking me out..." She touched her face where she'd been stabbed. Was it really a dream, or was this what being the avatar was like? Sighing, she held her face, which was stinging. There was no wound, but she put it off as she was sleeping on that side of her face. Shaking slightly, she listened. There was still rain, but it sounded light. "Twinkle toes!" She punched him again.
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Post by nyrax on Jan 23, 2010 4:16:09 GMT -5
Aang was never one to have trouble sleeping, especially when he was surrounded by friends. The only time he could ever remember having trouble was right before he was going to have to face the Fire Lord, but those were extremely horrible circumstances for anyone to be in after all, this didn’t compared to it. Yes, there was the possibility of Azula being free right now, but whether she was or not wasn’t something that Aang could prevent right now. They had either fallen for the trick, or Toph had heard wrong somehow. Either way, he knew that he needed to get his sleep, especially if there would be a fight when they got back to the Fire Nation.
Aang normally didn’t dream, and when he did it was normally back to when his people actually lived and were thriving as a nation. He would be playing games with his friends, taking rides with Appa, and many other such things. It still felt so strange that he was the last of his kind, destined to continue the lineage if he ever chose to. Would he ever find someone that would want him to continue the lineage of the great Air Bending Tribe? No matter who he picked she would be remembered in history, but that didn’t mean that he would just pick anyone. He would want his tribe reformed out of love, not out of a simple need.
Tonight was different though, at first he had begun dreaming of one of the many air temples and seeing his people prosper in numerous ways. However, soon enough everything started to get all hazey, as if Aang had just been swallowed up into a blanket of fog. It had never gotten this bad up on the top of the mountains. Aang looked around, unsure of what was going on. It was then that he began to see a familiar image coming towards him, that of a large insect, a centipede to be precise. “Kou?”, Aang asked curiously. He noticed something strange though. Kou seemed to be carrying something in his hand……and it was dripping. Aang’s eyes widened in horror as a chilling laugh from Kou radiated throughout the entire area, putting the bleeding face that he had just collected up to his face.
“What!?”, Aang suddenly shouted as Toph hit him the second time. He was sweating a little and found himself breathing heavily. What was that? It had felt so real and powerful, Aang didn’t almost believe that it was a dream. Was that really all it was? He turned to look over at Toph who would have easily heard that something was wrong. “Sorry just…..bad dream I guess”, he said slowly as he held his head in his hand. “What is it Toph?”, he asked since he didn’t realize yet that the storm had died down greatly.
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Post by Fateful on Jan 23, 2010 4:28:49 GMT -5
The dream replayed in her mind and she shook her head slightly. Turning to face him, she made a face and could tell that something was wrong. When he told her, she sighed. "Yeah... tell me about it. This place is creepy. Can we get out of here?" She asked, shifting closer to him. She wasn't touching him so it was hard to know where he was. There was a pause and she touched his shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it?" There wasn't much else she could ask. The blind bender was never one to talk about herself or about her personal feelings, but Aang always did better when he talked about his problems. If it would help him, then it would be okay with her.
As long as they GOT OUT OF HERE!
"Sparky!" She said, crawling over to where she assumed he was. Reaching in there, she grabbed something and pulled on it. It was soft so she knew it was his clothes. He groaned, made a sound that sounded like "five minutes" and rolled over. She moved over to where he was and made him sit up. "We're leaving..." She said, pulling him into a sitting position by the collar. "I want to leave. This place is fucking creepy..." She muttered, looking over at Aang. "Get Appa ready..." She bit her lip. "He... has a saddle, right?" She asked. Riding bareback on terrified her. She just wanted to be sure that they waited long enough to put a saddle on him.
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Post by nyrax on Jan 23, 2010 4:38:20 GMT -5
Aang couldn’t get that image of Kou out of his mind, him and some new face that he was holding. Who was it anyways? It felt so strange, and yet familiar or something like that. Aang did remember last time they were here though, it had caused hallucinations in everyone the last time they were here for some reason. Although he wouldn’t put it quite like Toph she was right, the place did cause some bad things to happen. She wasn’t here the last time they had journeyed through. “No it’s okay, it’s just this place does that to people. Last time we were here we all began to hallucinate about something close to us”, Aang replied. “Don’t worry, I’m sure that I will be fine”, he said with a smile.
Aang watched Toph crawling away over to where Zuko was. He spent a minute and just watched, making sure that she didn’t accidentally slip or had the branch break or anything. He was still worried about her. He watched as Zuko continued to sleep, or at least try to sleep through Toph’s little episode so that they could leave. “Yeah we brought his saddle, so we can head out once I wake him up”, Aang said with a smile before turning and leaping down to a different branch where Appa was. “Come on boy, we got Toph back. Time to go home”, the airbender said with a smile. “Yip yip”, he added in order to make the bison get up once it had awoken. The beast lazily flew upwards, getting to the point where Zuko and Toph could step on the saddle part while Aang steered. “Ready when you guys are”
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Post by Fateful on Jan 23, 2010 4:46:03 GMT -5
Zuko grunted and rubbed his eyes. "Good morning hunny." His voice was laced with sarcasm, pushing her hand off his clothing. Rubbing the sleep on his eyes, he stretched his arms above his head and yawned widely. Hearing Aang jump down, he stood up, rubbing the back of his neck. "This place isn't that bad..." He muttered. When his eyes were opened and he was somewhat alert, he looked out into the trees. His eyes widened and he shook his head. Rubbing his messy hair, he sighed. "I just saw Azula..." he muttered, rubbing his eyes. When he looked back, it was a branch.
"Yeah, let's go." When Appa came up to the branch, he looked down at Toph who was still on her knees. Bending down, he picked her up into his arms and stepped onto Appa. Getting into the saddle, he dropped her when she punched him in the face.
Toph felt someone pick her up and shifted when it move. When he started walking, she slammed her hand into his chin. She didn't do it hard, just enough to make a point. "I can walk..." She said, feeling the saddle. A smile spread across her lips. Crawling over to one of the holes in the side of the saddle, her arms slid into it, where she always stayed when they flew. Closing her eyes, she rested her cheek on the saddle. "Yay... Now I can see..." She muttered.
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Post by nyrax on Jan 23, 2010 4:57:08 GMT -5
“Glad to see that you rested well Zuko”. Aang said with a small laugh. He had napped on the way here, and last night alone he had gone to bed before them and also woke up after both him and Toph. He should have plenty of energy by now to function for the majority of the trip. The fight yesterday hadn’t really drained them or anything, the men weren’t all that prepared for two such strong individuals to face them, soon joined by a third. Aang couldn’t help but almost laugh as Zuko said that he just saw his own sister. “Yeah, the place does that to you once you’ve been here long enough. Don’t worry about it, or it’ll drive you mad”, he warned.
“Of course, not that getting physically abused will help your brain much either”, Aang pointed out with a grin as Toph punched him right in the face. Zuko really was trying to help her, but he should have known better than to try something like picking her up and carrying her over to the place. Aang watched as they both settled down and Toph took her usual seat in Appa’s saddle. “Glad to see that everyone remembers where their spot is”, he said with a joking smile. “Alright Appa, time to head back”, he said which caused the Bison to take off. Aang wondered where they would stop for food, mainly for Toph’s sake.
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Post by Fateful on Jan 23, 2010 5:05:33 GMT -5
Toph turned her head towards Aang's voice. "Listen Twinkle toes... this place is creepy and I want to leave. Get us out of here." As always her voice was strong and demanding. She didn't like this, even the air smelled weird and it made her uncomfortable. She'd spent enough time in this place. "Wait..." She said, resting her cheek on her arm. "You were here before?" She asked, trying to think back. "Is that what you were ranting about when you broke into my house about 'having a vision in a magic swamp' and a crazy King told you to find an amazing Earth bender?" She asked, a smirk on her lips. After all, she was pretty amazing after all, wasn't she?
Zuko sat down and rubbed his face. "Yeah..." He muttered, rubbing his chin. She may not have wanted to hit him hard, but it still hurt. Sighing, he leaned back against the back of the saddle, closing his eyes. "I could go for some roast duck... with rice and grilled spinach..." He muttered, as if day dreaming about the food that he had ever day in the fire nation.
Toph grinned. "Yeah... that sounds appetizing." She muttered, laying down on the saddle. She was on her stomach, but her hand was still holding the side of the saddle. "Don't fall out of the sky... I'm going to take a nap for a bit." The amount of sleep she got wasn't enough to make up for how much she'd lost.
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Post by nyrax on Jan 23, 2010 5:37:38 GMT -5
“Yeah I heard you the first time, better than checking after you guys fell off”, Aang said with a smile before using the reigns to motion Appa to take off and head towards their next destination. Aang glanced back to Toph as she suddenly sounded interested about the place. And a moment ago she wanted to leave so badly, that was Toph for ya. “Yeah that was the place, you were in it the whole time”, Aang said with a nod. “At any rate, it’ll be behind us for now. I’ve never been able to get used to that place”, he admitted with a shudder. They all had it bad enough last time after all. Hopefully they could leave and just forget about it now.
Aang couldn’t help but lick his lips at the next few words that Zuko let come out of his mouth. That really did sound pretty nice, some kind of food like that. Aang would have preferred some good food of any kind though. He shook his head, trying not to focus on that right now. If he kept doing that than he would never be able to stay steady with steering, plus the hunger would bug the crap out of him. “Yeah, you just rest well Toph. If I need you to hold on for any reason I’ll wake ya up……or if we get any food”, he added as they flew off into the distance.
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Post by Fateful on Jan 23, 2010 5:53:28 GMT -5
Toph smirked. "If you get food, I'll smell it." She muttered, her hand loosening on the saddle. Moving closer to the side, she closed her eyes and curled her body into something like a ball to fall asleep. She did need some sleep. As much as she didn't want to let go of what she'd been holding to, as long as Appa didn't fall asleep, she'd be fine. It's not like they'd throw her out or something. Getting comfortable, she started to doze off, exhausted. The good news was that she was safe now, no longer in danger of being hurt or having Azula released.
Zuko watched her and then looked over at Aang. "So what did you see?" He asked, able to tell that he was a little spooked. He faced the fire lord, he was the avatar. Come on, was it that bad? Not to mention that he was sweating a bit. Yawning, he stretched his arms over his shoulder. Looking around in Appa's saddle, he grabbed a blanket and opened it, putting it over Toph, making sure that she was already falling asleep. He didn't want to get punched again. "You seem a little spooked."
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Post by nyrax on Jan 23, 2010 17:46:12 GMT -5
Aang just gave a small laugh at Toph’s comment about food. “Fair enough”, he replied as he heard her lay down to sleep. He turned back and looked at her for a moment, feeling a bit warmer and happier now that she was safe and out of harm’s way. She was heading back to sleep, not that Aang could blame her. He hadn’t asked why Toph had woken up, but he had a feeling that she might have seen something as well. She didn’t say so but both Aang and Zuko had, so why not her? He gave a small sigh as she had already fallen asleep so quickly. “Sleep well Toph”, he said under his breath as they continued to fly.
Zuko’s voice suddenly caught his attention. He was curious as to what Aang had seen, but Aang himself wasn’t even sure what it was. He had seen a familiar spirit that he had met before, but what all did it really mean? He glanced back just in time to see Zuko place a blanket over Toph, helping her to sleep. “Well, I’m not really sure what I saw. Or at least I have no idea what it was meant to be”, he remarked. “I saw Kou, the spirit known as the face stealer. He knows a lot and I’ve met him before……he had a new face this time, just got it”, he said in a low voice as t he image filled his mind again. He was holding a new bloodied face, looking over at me, and laughing as he took it. “That was right when Toph hit me………but what does it mean?”
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Post by Fateful on Jan 23, 2010 17:54:30 GMT -5
Zuko thought about it. "Well..." He said, rubbing the back of his head. "You're the avatar. You have visions and weird stuff all the time. Maybe it was just... a premonition that you're supposed to prevent. Or, maybe it was just a nightmare. From what Katara and Toph have told me, you had them about my dad and about a math test and not wearing pants?" He chuckled at the thought. "You've met him, he's familiar, and it was just a nightmare because we were all in a creepy swamp. Toph saw something, which spooked her. I saw my sister, which... let's face it... is a nightmare in and of itself."
He started to think about his inference. Toph punched him right as he woke up. It was strange to consider the coincidence, and he was never one to believe in them; at least, not anymore... Running his hand through his messy hair, he pulled the tie from it, allowing it to fall messily around his face. "Well Toph hit you because she woke up. It's not like she punched you in the dream. I'd say don't read too much into it, but maybe this face stealer stole your face? Maybe that's why you were so scared?"
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Post by nyrax on Jan 23, 2010 19:03:54 GMT -5
Aang raised an eyebrow at Zuko’s comment. “I’m not sure if it’s something that I can really prevent. I would literally have to stop Kou from finding this person and than ripping their face off. He’s able to do it if they show any emotion in their face at all, I only barely kept my own the last time that I saw him”, he remarked. “I think it doesn’t really mean anything, that swamp just does strange things to people no matter who they are”, he admitted as he glanced back at Zuko. He chuckled as he was reminded about that dream with him. “Oh yeah, that was a funny one……although at the time it was pretty horrifying to actually be in it”, he remarked.
Aang shrugged at Zuko’s words. “I don’t know, I think I’m just too used to not having these visions anymore. It’s been years since I had one, maybe my mind is just playing tricks on me and I’m looking too far into it”, he said with a smile. “Yeah that’s it, what could Kou do to me anyways? I avoided him once and I’ve faced much worse than him to lose my cool to one of his faces”, he said with a grin. “Yeah, I was just being paranoid”, he said as he steered Appa forward, a smile coming back to his face. They were heading back now, all thoughts of Kou and Azula escaped his mind for the time being.
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Post by Fateful on Jan 23, 2010 19:56:08 GMT -5
Zuko nodded. "Yeah, I understand." He said, shrugging his shoulders. "At first I thought your visions were crap, but... you really do have them. And.. they're sorta interesting." he said, chuckling. "Don't worry too much about it. Like you said. He's not here, and it's not like he's just going to appear for a surprise visit." he shrugged his shoulders. "Let's just focus on getting back. Nothing matters, she's safe, Azula's in prison. We all have our faces." He joked with another laugh.
The journey back was somehow faster than the one there. They stopped, stocked up on food, ate, but flew most of the way back. Once in the fire nation, Toph was relieved to be on solid ground again. She ended up bending a giant tower, recreated Be Sing Se in a small tunnel and destroyed a building. A smile formed on her lips as they returned to the palace. They checked on Azula, and she was of course, in her cell. Deciding it was a good idea they planned a vacation in a month's time when everyone had the time. They'd gather on Ember's Island and party until the spirits forced them to stop.
As they left, Toph grabbed Aang by the arm. "You need to work on your Earth bending. Guess who's going to work for that vacation in a month." A dark grin spread across her face. "Come on. You are going to train your arrow off until you're earth bending is almost as good as mine,got it?" She asked, dragging him off in another direction, outside. "Do you want to go to the Earth Kingdom somewhere to practice?" She asked, looking up at him. "The fire nation sorta sucks for earth bending."
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