castleinthemist | 03

Entry tags:

03 - Open

Tea. The past few days were incredibly rough and all rough days call for tea. Lots and lots of tea. The well had come through and she was graced with a lovely tin of flavored tea straight from the Jade Dragon. It was a blend made specifically for the delicate senses. 'Bandit's Brew,' Iroh had called it, specially mixed just for her after she expressed an intense fondness of a fruit flavored jasmine that hadn't quite taken off the way he'd hoped.

Toph, though, found it as calming as it was delicious, as tasty as it was smooth, and it was exactly what she needed at that point in time. She'd had enough adventuring and exploring for the time being. Instead, she wanted to relax and let her injured back and shoulders heal.

Toph Bent a fire pit under the shade of the tree in the courtyard and let a small blaze grow while she crafted a sturdy pot and a set of cups out of clay. She monitored the water in the pot with the back of her hand, waiting until it had reached the perfect temperature to boil the leaves. She judged the time by smell and before long had a nicely brewed pot of rosy red tea, sweet and fruity in both taste and scent.

She poured herself a cup and hesitated before filling the other three.

The general turned tea guru had always said that the best tea in the world didn't taste half as good unless it was being shared with someone. Friends made it delicious enough, but complete strangers often added a unique zing. At first she thought he was finally hitting that nutty stage of old age. As she sat there, taking tea alone for the first time in ever, she wondered if, like everything else out of his mouth, there was some underlying wisdom that she didn't understand until... well, until she simply understood.

((Ooc: Free tea for all!))

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"Thanks," she grinned.

"Company? Nope. Just me as far as I'm aware," she shrugged. She'd invited her roommates and new found friends to join her, but no one had shown up yet, or really even expressed an interest.

"Want to join me?"

"I-if... if you don't mind... I'd love to..."

She managed a tiny smile, still not aware that Toph was blind. She was talking to Haku as if she could see her just fine, so of course the Vocaloid had no reason to question it otherwise.

She moved over quietly, sitting on her knees on the ground next to the fire pit. It wasn't very comfortable without any cushions, but she didn't mind it too much. Hell, it was nice just to have company.

"Oh... uhm, I'm Haku," she added after a second, bowing at the waist from where she sat, trying to be polite despite her nervousness.

"Sure! Go right ahead!"

Toph was a little lonely, too. She understood. She had friends, of course, or people she would consider friends- Duo, for one, perhaps Ratchet and she'd gotten along with Quatre pretty well- but they weren't anything like the ones back home.

"I'm Toph," she returned, giving her own little bow over her hands.

"Those are probably cold by now. Let me get you a fresh one," she offered as she threw out one of the cups before refilling it with fresh tea from the warm pot. She refilled her own before sitting back.

"... so... been here long?"

"Alright... thank you for letting me join you, Toph..."

The smile came easier this time as the tea was prepared, and Haku found herself surprisingly calm in the presence of this new person. Maybe she was finally getting used to the idea of having to meet new people, starting all over again with her family no longer there for her to hide behind. She was out of her element to an insane degree, but everyone she had met so far had been wonderfully nice and helpful. It made a huge difference.

She took the cup with a thankful nod, wrapping her hands around it and enjoying the warmth.

"A couple of weeks... not very long at all. It's... hard to get used to..."

"No problem," Toph shrugged as she leaned back against the tree, propping her feet up on a little pillar that may or may not have been there just a few moments prior.

"You're telling me," she agreed and paused to take a sip before continuing. "And still, no one has any idea of how to get back home. Or, to our different homes... not from lack of trying, though."

She imagined others had done what they could to explore a bit, but one could only go so far before they met doors that wouldn't open, or rooms that were just too full of monsters, or even just felt that they were going too far into the castle, with or without a group, to make it back to the living space with out losing bits of limbs.

"Where are you from?"

"Ah... Tokyo, Japan," came Haku's quiet answer, already knowing she probably had no clue where that was.

She fiddled with her cup, turning it around in her hands a few times before taking a sip and asking after, "Where are you from?"

Toph wasn't nearly as formal. She knew the proper procedure for optimal fanciness while consuming tea, but like most things fancy and high society about her, she completely disregarded it. Instead, she only held it in one hand and took gulps at a time until she emptied her cup.

Haku was right, though. Toph had no idea where Tokyojapan was or even if it was really a place. It didn't matter. Haku probably didn't know where Toph's home was, either. It was just small talk, trying for bigger talk.

"Ba Sing Se right now," she answered. She moved to refill her cup, keeping the kettle high enough to make a sound while pouring.

"But I might go back home to Gaoling when things cool down with my father."

When the cup resonated with the right pitch, she stopped pouring and set the tea kettle down. "Help yourself to more if you want it."

Haku watched her pour curiously, head canting to the side a bit. She'd never seen anyone in Japan pour their tea like that. It was... a bit odd. Maybe they just did things differently where she was from? She didn't want to ask, though, always so afraid of being seen as rude.

"Thank you..." she said to the offer, taking the kettle to pour a little more in to her own cup. The tea really was good, and wonderfully relaxing to her often frayed nerves.

"Ba Sing Se... that sounds Chinese, but I doubt it is, if you've never heard of Japan..." she said, inferring Toph's earlier silence to mean she was right on that.

"... what... happened with your father, if you... don't mind me asking?"

"A lot of people keep saying that, or saying that it sounds 'Eastern.' I'm not entirely sure what they mean by that," she said with a shrug and sipped her tea again.

Ah, her father. She scratched her belly thoughtfully before propping the hand behind her head against the tree.

"He's... not happy with me. He doesn't like that I left home without his permission to do something he didn't want me to do and now I won't go back to be what he wants me to be."

A frown came over her features before it crinkled into a scowl.

"I don't care. He can be angry all he wants."

"Our world is... divided in to "East" and "West". At least, culturally speaking. It's a little... archaic, the concept of it all, but the mentality of calling something "Eastern" or "Western" still stays..." Haku rattled off quietly, not sure why she felt the need for an impromptu history lesson of sorts. She didn't elaborate much more beyond that, though, letting Toph explain her situation with her father.

"... your father sounds... difficult," she said with a little hesitation, "I can only guess that he probably loves you and wants what's best for you... but... honestly if I said that I'd just be repeating something I hear all the time. I really don't know how parents are. I don't have any."

"No, I get that, it's just that it doesn't sound any different than the other cities we have back home. It sounds just like the ones in the north, south, east, and west."

Though, maybe, she thought, some places had different kinds of names for cities, maybe even different languages? But... even that made little sense to her.

Toph didn't feel like talking about her father too much. She loved the man and she loved her mother and she missed them both dearly, but as long as they insisted on treating her like a porcelain doll, she refused to return. Instead of elaborating, she ignored it completely.

"You don't have any parents?" She thought everyone did. At least at one point or another. Or someone to stand in as a parent, sort of like Katara did for the three of them, and like Iroh did for all of them.

Toph hesitated. Maybe it was weird or impolite to ask, but she was still curious. "Not to broach a painful subject, but... ... why?"

It was an odd subject, and one Haku herself didn't fully understand, so rather than try to continue her thoughts on it she simply nodded in agreement to Toph's statement and moved beyond it.

Which brought them to her own comment about not having parents. She had said it thoughtlessly, not even realizing how odd it might sound, but now that the question was out there she realized she was once again going to have to explain something not everyone there understood.

"W-well..." she started nervously, setting her cup down slowly, fingers fidgeting with one another. "I'm... not human. I'm a creation made by other humans."

Toph normally would have been surprised, probably even a little bit wary and scared, but this castle had desensitized her to things that were, well, out of the ordinary. Space men, talking lemurs, ghosts, shadows that tried to eat you, walls she couldn't see through, and oh the many other things she'd heard about...

Someone not being human?

Hardly touched the snow of the iceberg.

"... if you're not human, what are you?"

That had been a relief, at least. Most people didn't seem to react poorly to her being an android here. She had been well beyond worried when she realized she would have to explain herself to people who had never seen a Vocaloid dancing on a television screen before, but so far no one had reacted poorly.

Hell, Ratchet had practically exploded in to fanboy love at the mention of it.

"I am a Vocaloid. It stands for Vocal Android. Vocaloids were created to be performers in my world," she said, giving the most simple explanation she could manage.

"What's an Android?" she asked, eyebrow raised.

She waited a moment before waving a hand.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'm sure it's more 'technology' and things like that."

She took a sip of the tea, thinking about her parents and family and her friends and the family she had with them.

"You know, an incredibly wise and twice as old man once said that family is what you make of it. For example, I consider my best friends to be my brothers and my sister. Do you have anyone like that?"

"I am. Technology, I mean," Haku nodded, tugging on a long strand of her white hair.

"I... actually have siblings. Sort of. There are others like me, some built by the same people as me, others that I consider siblings because we're the same. And the ones that adopted me did so not caring that I was made by some one else. So... I can understand that. Family being what you make of it."

That was just confusing, and Toph scratched the back of her head while listening. Instead of focusing on the whole issue of the technology, she instead paid attention only to the part about having someone to take care of the other girl.

"Well, that's good, at least. Everyone needs a family, right?"

In one way or another.

Haku would likely confuse Toph a lot more in the future.

"Yes. Of course. I don't know where I'd be without them, to be honest..."

Toph knew how the Vocaloid felt, and while she knew exactly where she'd be- still stuck in Gaoling and treated like a fragile egg to be pampered and protected- she wasn't any happier than not knowing.

"So what are your plans for being here and getting out of this place?"

It seemed like everyone had one. Toph didn't, other than just to get home, whatever it took.

"Plans for getting out... ?" Haku echoed hesitantly, fiddling with her cup again. She shook her head, looking away sheepishly.

"Oh, no, I don't have any plan to get out. I-I'm not... brave or strong or smart any of that... I'm just trying to survive and hope I don't wind up broken beyond repair..."

Toph shrugged.

"There are a couple of people around here that are pretty handy with that technology stuff. Maybe they could help you if something DID happen," she said as she dug a finger into her nose.

"Is there... ? I've only met a few people so far..." Haku admitted quietly, looking in to what was left of her tea, watching as a few loose leaves floated around in the liquid. "It would be good to know if I can be repaired, though..."

"Sure! Hey, I'll even talk to one of them for you," she offered, taking another sip.

"Or, maybe, introduce you. That might be easier. That way you can tell them what you need."

"I-introduce me... ?" Haku stammered nervously, fingers curling tightly against the cup. She wasn't shaking. Yet.

"Y-you don't... have to do that..."

No, but Toph could still sense her apprehension, so she dropped it.

"Okay... if you want. I guess I could just ask for you, instead."

Though she didn't know what to ask or how to ask it. She'd figure it out, she guessed.

"If you change your mind or need the help, the offer's still there."

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