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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"Oh, you do? I wonder if he can use other people's maps to make a more complete one..."

For the relative clarity and intelligence of that thought, her next question wound up being the complete opposite.

Because it really had taken her this long to realize there was something different about Toph.

"Why wouldn't a map do you any good?"

Toph gave another shrug.

"He might be able to. If I come across him again, I'll ask him."

She honestly had no idea of where to find the old guy, and filed the thought away with a sip of her tea.

"My feet would have a better read of the terrain than my eyes would of a map," she shrugged yet again.

"Blindness does that." She wasn't shy about it.

"You're-- ... you're blind?!" Haku yelped, slapping a hand over her mouth.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the sister of Miku Hatsune - the biggest derp in Japan.

She was bound to have these idiotic moments.

But it didn't take long for her to go from shocked to sheepish, shoulders slumping.

"I-I'm sorry... I didn't even--"

Wait.

"... how... did you know I was here if you're blind... ?"

Not her fault. Toph liked to think she hid her blindness well. It didn't take much to do, really. All she had to do was work around it, not make a big crybaby deal about it, and not let it hold her back. Sometimes, it took people a long time of knowing her to realize she was blind, and more often than not, her closest friends who had known her for a long time forgot that she was still blind.

She smirked at Haku's reaction, but hid the smile behind her cup.

"For one thing," she started, answering her question, "You spoke when you walked in. Second, while I can't see, I can sense, and know where you are. It's pretty cool," she smiled at her.

"O-oh."

She knew that. Really. Why would she forget that she spoke? That's silly.

The explanation, however, was very interesting and made her sit up a little to listen. Sensing? That was pretty cool.

"Wow... that's amazing."

"You make vibrations when you walk on the ground. I can feel them and tell where you are."

It was a simple explanation. It usually satisfied most queries.

"That's... really incredible..."

It made her wonder what would happen if she sang, but she wasn't about that to bring that up.

"You're kind of amazing, Toph-chan..."

That surprised her.

... what had she been called?

"... Just Toph is fine... but thanks. I know I'm amazing."

She couldn't hide her smile, though.

"Oh... sorry..." Haku grumbled, rubbing a hand over her face. "I keep forgetting no one here knows honorifics... Just... Toph. Right. I'll remember that."

"Don't worry about it," she told her. "If it's a habit that makes you comfortable, go ahead, but there's really no need for it."

The tea was great, but she wondered if next time she shouldn't ask for a box of the cookies to go with it.

Cookies would have been nice. Haku was suddenly having a craving for rice crackers herself.

"I don't mind not saying it. It's just confuses most people."

"Where I come from, those words haven't been used in centuries."

She remembered hearing about them in her classes about etiquette and manners and being a polite, quiet little girl hiding from the world behind her father or something like that- she'd honestly stopped paying attention.

"Sometimes if you're lucky, you'll meet some old spirit or grandpa that wants you to use it, but no one really knows what to say, so the point is moot for the most part."

"Honorifics?" Haku asked to clarify. She figured that's what Toph meant, since they were on the subject.

"There are older ones that aren't in use anymore in Japan, but for the most part the practice remains. It's respectful, really... though I'm learning not many people here mind if I don't use them," she went on to explain.

"For the most part, people are just confused by them back home," Toph shrugged.

"What's your place like?"

She found it was really interesting listening to all these stories everyone had about their homelands and their crazy adventures, be it running around with a robot, or running around IN a giant robot, or living in the stars, next door to the moon, or living in the shadows as the East's most deadly force...

And here she thought saving the world from Ozai was fun...

"Just Japan, or my whole world?" Haku asked, letting out a quiet laugh as she did so, "Either might take a while, so we might want more tea."

"Whatever you want to talk about," she offered with a grin.

"Are we getting low already?" she asked, picking the pot up and shaking it close to her ear. Sure enough...

"Go ahead, I'm listening," she told her as she began preparing more from the water in her canteen.

"Oh, well... Japan is rather small. It's just an island nation. But it's beautiful, I think... Even the big cities. I lived in Tokyo. The main part of the city is mostly just buildings and people. And there are a lot of people in Tokyo. More than you'd expect for an island." Haku explained while waiting for the tea.

Toph waited, listening. It was harder for her to picture the world as people described theirs, but she could imagine the solid ground, thundering with the footsteps and hoof troddings of the life around her. She could imagine the smell and the heat of so many people in such a small space, and could think of all the various smells that came with people and their businesses and their animals, and more recently, their simple machines.

She decided she wouldn't want to live there.

"Sounds crowded."

Once again, she monitored the heat of the water by holding her hand over the pot, switching it from her palm to the back of her hand every so often.

"Very. The whole world is," Haku agreed with a nod, recalling the cities she'd seen in the many Vocaloid tours she'd taken. Being on stage and seeing thousands of people crowded around it was one thing, but the truly daunting experience had been when they attended a Robotics conference in England. They met other Vocaloids and UTAU like themselves, other creators, but what had really been scary was the sheer amount of people coming in and out of the convention hall.

And that wasn't even a fraction of the human population.

"But most places are bigger than Japan. There's seven continents, and Japan is among the smallest."

"Makes me wonder why no one just spreads out. Sounds like there's plenty of room, right?"

The water was ready, and she groped for her box. It didn't take her long to find it and she scooped out two spoonfuls with a small stone scoop in the box.

In a few minutes, they'd have more delicious, fruity tea.

"Resources, mostly."

Haku's finger trailed along the ground, pushing blades of grass over and digging in to the dirt idly while she waited for the tea.

"Not every environment on Earth is capable of providing what's needed for survival. There have been advancements made to help that, but even so, it doesn't solve every problem."

"It seems that with a population like that, the resources would run out faster than if everyone spread out from each other," she suggested. She remembered traveling with her friends, and how their water and food dwindled so easily when their numbers changed.

A few minutes passed and she removed the pot from the small fire.

Fresh hot tea! Even better when it's not old!

Haku was looking forward to more of that tea. She smiled as it was poured for her, the aroma just as wonderful as it was the first time she smelled it.

"Maybe. But it's just how people are. There are cities in your world, too, right? Humans... naturally survive better together than they do alone."

"I guess so," she agreed.

People could till the land and tend vegetables. People could grow trees and produce fruit. Other people could fish. Others could hunt. Still more people could head out to other cities and into other parts of the land and get various materials and resources, and make their part of contribution simply transport.

The more people there were, the harder it was to survive, sure, up until the point that it became much easier to divide a heavier work load to make survival and even thriving much easier.

With a thoughtful noise, she sipped her drink.

"Well, I've answered your question. What's your world like?" Haku asked after a long sip of her tea. This really was good tea.

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