castleinthemist | -01- Open

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The only indication Toph had of her small, stuffy prison finally breaking open was the rush of cold, fresh air that surged in around her. Oh, thank the badgermoles, she thought as she carefully moved out of the sarcophagus and onto hard, cold flooring.

The annoyed, pained grimace fell from her face as her worst fears were confirmed- she couldn't see. Her bending was gone! But how?! What happened?! Where was she?!

All she could remember was finishing up her bedtime tea and relaxing in her room to the sound of the old general playing his-

Her thoughts stopped dead.

"Uncle? Uncle!" Nothing but her own echoes. She tried not to panic- maybe he was outside? But where was outside? Forget that, where was she? This wasn't the tea shop! It didn't smell like it. It didn't sound like it. It didn't even feel like it. Had she slept through being attacked and captured? "Sokka? Aang? Katara? ... anyone?"

No answers. She felt exposed and frightened. How many years had it been since she was this alone, this disconnected from the earth and her friends? Not without incident, she made her way to the wall, limping now, as she tried to find a way out. A door? Window? Anything?

Maybe she'd only traveled a few feet, one wall, or even an entire room. She couldn't tell through the pain in both her head and her knee. The bewildering silence and humbling lack of bending didn't improve matters. The instant she found a nice corner, she sat, back pressed firmly against the wall, feet and hands flat against the floor. If nothing else, she could wait it out, see if something happened.

[Ooc: I do not believe Toph has a tag yet, but the instant she gets one, I'll come in and fix it. ^^; ]

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After finding his way to the living area, Danny had almost immediately left to explore the castle again. Okay, so he still didn't have his powers back and he was pretty much doomed if he ran into a fight. So what? He sucked at self-preservation anyway.

He stumbles a little as he spots the girl up against the wall and hastily makes his way over to her.

"Hey, you okay?"

While Toph was numb from lack of bending, she could still at least hear the other approaching. She didn't look at him, only tilted her head.

"Who are you?"

"Danny Fenton. I just woke up here myself." He was still annoyed about that. Seriously, how many times was he going to get kidnapped like this?

"Oh yeah?" She scoffed, relaxing into a cross-legged position. "And just where is here?"

She didn't feel too uncomfortable with him in front if her. He didn't sound like much if a threat... A really puny non-threat, actually.

"Are we still in Ba Sing Se?"

It felt safe to ask him. If she was captured, it was unlikely he was the captor.

"Some kind of creepy abandoned castle." He hesitates, shifting his feet nervously. "What's Ba Sing Se?"

Okay, with questions like that, maybe he was involved in whatever was going on... Or maybe he just lived under a rock. Raised by wolfdeer or something.

"... Okay, is this more crazy Avatar magic?" She'd never been a victim, but Sokka had stories.

"And what happened to the bending?"

"Ava-what? Is that some new ghost?" Danny was lost. "I don't know? This place looks pretty straight to me."

"Ghosts?" She turned her head in his direction, an eyebrow cocked.

"You mean guardian spirits, right?"

"Um, no? I'm pretty sure I mean ghosts." What the heck was a guardian spirit?

This was getting irritating. She couldn't tell if he was being serious or pulling her leg. Sure, she was good at telling intentions and honesty through voice alone usually, but she honestly wanted her senses to detect his vitals.

"... so we're not in Ba Sing Se..." She hunched over to lean her elbows on her knees.

"Unless it looks like a creepy castle I'm going to have to go with a no." And since he didn't see anything glowing he was guessing that this wasn't in the ghost zone. The lack of Packers memorabilia meant this probably wasn't Vlad's castle either.

Edited 2012-01-28 15:00 (UTC)

"I wouldn't know either way," she commented idly. She relaxed out her legs and thought about standing, but her head decided that wasn't going to fly. Instead, she simply leaned her head back against the cool stone of the wall behind her.

"You said you just woke up? Was it in a box, too?" The last time she'd been in an entrapment like that, it was first when she met Aang, and then when she fell into the trap in Ba Sing Se.

"Be honest with me... and don't lie, because I can tell!" At the moment, she couldn't, but he didn't have to know that. "Does Lao Bei Fong have anything to do with this? What about Yu? Xin Fu?"

"Yeah. It was kind of creepy, right?" And that was coming from a guy who spent half his time as a ghost.

He blinks. "Never heard of them,. But sounds kind of chinese."

... Well, clearly, she was no where near the tea shop. Probably not even her own plane of existence. It sounded weird, she admitted, but she'd heard of worse. Sokka abducted by a giant spirit panda? This didn't even touch that.

"So what do you know about this place?"

"Whoever designed it was a fruitloop." Danny was sure of that just from his brief explorations. "And I'm pretty sure I'm not in Amity Park anymore."

Amity Park? Just how far from home was she?

"... I already don't like this place."

So far from the tea shop, away from her friends... And with the lack of bending... Thinking about all of that didn't help her headache. She held the side of her head with a hand.

[One arm and two feet moving around the area, the dai was not about to give up in his current situation. While he had come to slowly learn bits and pieces about the place he had made today a focus on the beginning of mapping out the area by sight and paces. Having just finished counting the stairs, he was walking across the upper levels when he heard the commotion, halting his progress. Tension still in his body he moved along the ground, around the pieces of the tombs that remained.]

Miss? [He approached her carefully, brows knitted together slightly. He kicked a small stone along the way to alert his presence as a courtesy.]

"Whoa!" He had come out of no where. She was NOT expecting that kind of trick. She hadn't heard his footsteps or even his breathing. That was terrifying.

On pure reflex, she was up and on her feet, taking an offensive stance learned from her Earthbending. Suki once told her that just the movements could be a good defense, bending or not.

"Who are you?" she asked after calming down a tad.

[Ooc: Sorry! Had an icon malfunction and couldn't fix it over my phone.]

[Watching her take the stance he tensed himself but he didn't make a move of attack, he simply lowered his hand and loosened his own stance, watching her face carefully and catching her eyes which were different in a way, like a blind man he once knew. Exhaling he murmured his reply, arching a brow but replying in a collected tone, as accent creating a certain severity in his voice but otherwise he was calm.] My name is Malik Al-Sayf.

I'm not here to harm you if that is what you are wary of.

[OOC: Don't worry about it ♥]

Toph listened to both his words and his tone of voice. She studied them for a moment until she decided that what he said was true. She relaxed out of her stance but remained on guard anyway, fists formed but not tight at her sides as she kept her head turned towards him.

Being truly blind to the world around her had her on edge. Had she her bending, she would have seen the stone as an approaching man instead of a stalking saber toothed lion moose, or a hungry platypus bear.

"Don't you know it's rude to sneak up on people?"

[The talents of the other would come as a surprise, such sorcery or will power of earth was not existence in his world. Still, he see's her as another lost soul amongst the tombs of this place and at the moment, he is out to assist, not to hinder. He keeps his posture light and loose, to not seem or feel intimidating as she seems to be reading him well.] I apologize.

It was not my intent to do so. I simply saw you while I was exploring the area and figured it wise to assure that you were not harmed.

Harmed? No. Confused, scared, aching, sure. But other than that...

"I'm okay," she confirmed.

"You're exploring, huh? What have you found out? This place is... weird. Do you know where we are?"

[He bowed his head slightly and looked around the area before keeping his attention on the girl.] I have not been able to find a name nor does anyone else I've come across quite know much either.

It's a mystery thus far but the realm we're in looks more like a dungeon of sorts. Down the stairway there are rooms, a fountain but thus far nothing else more that I've been able to find. Still, I've only been here for a few days time now.

Dungeons... she made a face at that. She'd had her fair share of dungeons already! ... well, not really, but she'd heard stories and she had no desire to get caught in one.

"Wait. There are others?" ... possibly someone she knew?

"And rooms? Where?" How far from them was she? Without her bending, all she could tell was that she was in a large room. She probably could have found more and eventually her way, but she'd tired out and given up too early.

[Pausing at the others reply he looked to her and then looked around.] Many others from what it seems, many strangers. Those who know each other, those who don't know each other.

If you need assistance I could lead you to the rooms or at least in the general direction.

Toph hesitated. She'd heard enough lectures about accepting help, but the old man who gave her a place to live free of charge or expectation was also a really good friend. So was Sokka, who'd carried her when she couldn't walk, and so was Katara, who lead her when she couldn't see the ground. This man, she didn't know. She wasn't sure she could trust him.

But whatever he might do was surely better than being stuck in this room where she heard unmistakable but unidentified noises and had spent the past hour with the hairs on her neck standing at attention.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go." One hand remained on the wall as she moved towards his voice.

[His offer for assistance was not meant to belittle her, not in the least because he knew how it felt to have something missing, something that would deem someone weak or unfit for survival on their own. Malik detested when people offered to hold things for him, help him move through the streets or much of anything due to the loss of his arm, so he knew how it felt, he knew all too well and he often refused.

Watching her move he was quiet for a moment and did not offer to reach out and lead her, if she seemed like she was struggling later then perhaps he would but right now he allowed her, her pride and moved slowly along--assuring that his steps made the norm of noise to follow, not as much as the light-footed manner he was used to.]

Do you mind me asking where you come from?

When she was sure she was close enough to him, she removed her hand from the wall and merely walked beside him, making sure his footsteps and voice were always in one position relative to her. If it changed direction so did she.

"Sure. Ask away," she offered, shrugging and lifting her hands for a split second to match her shrug before dropping them back to her sides.

"I'm originally from Gaoling, but more recently from Ba Sing Se. What about you?"

[He could tell the other had a good sense about her despite the obvious blindness, the color of her eyes a dead give away at this point--unless they simply were that color. Something he doubted though as he listened, his brow furrowing at the names.] Those names sound as if they come from the East, but I can't say that they sound familiar.

I'm from a place called Syria. [That was about all he could say and was willing to offer, much of him a secret.] It's a desert country primarily.

"Ba Sing Se is in the East, yeah, but Gaoling is more southern. I think. That's what it feels like when we're walking, anyway. I couldn't tell you for sure. I've never seen a map," she told him, a grin on her face as she walked beside him.

"Syria," she repeats, almost questioningly. "I've never heard of that place before. Where is it?"

Looking back to the girl he arched an eyebrow even though she could not see it but a small breath of laughter escaped his lips. At least she had a decent sense of humor and it was obvious that her blindness was not a disability. "I can't say I have heard of these places but Syria, it's located in the Middle East."

Middle East?

"That's in the desert, isn't it?" Boy, she hoped he wasn't one of those irritating sand benders. Okay, maybe that was unfair. She only found them irritating because they stole Appa. And could sand bend better than she could. And took advantage of a bad situation. She thought it was fair, anyway.

But they'd been through the desert and marked off every place on Sokka's map. They would have been to a Syria if there was one. Maybe it was a smaller village?

"What's it like?"

"Yes--it's the primary geological surrounding but there are plenty of other regions that are not completely covered in sand." Came his reply, and while currently before he arrived in this place, he had been living in Jerusalem it did not mean the entire region was completely desert, just majority so. Still, he didn't seem annoyed by it just informative.

"It's hot in the summers, thought the nights are surprisingly cold." Malik uttered as they moved along, carefully slowing down when they neared the stairs. "The people there live in villages scattered throughout though there are larger cities spread around."

A pause. "Is yours similar? Your home that is."

"My home town is a pretty big place. I wasn't exactly allowed to explore it too much. It's surrounded by mountains. I know those mountains better than I know my own town.

"Where I live now is in Ba Sing Se."

If he hadn't heard of that one, well, he might as well have lived under a rock as far as she was concerned.

Knowing fully well that people seemed to come from other realms he was certain that these places could not have been known of existed from his own time and realm. With a huff of breath he looked to the other and arched a brow before making his way to the bottom of the steps. "I can't say I've heard of these places before."

Came his utterance after a moment of thought and for a cartographer, a man who studied maps and locations--that was strange.

She was quiet for a time as if trying to figure everything out in a very achy, unclear head.

"... then we're not in the Earth Kingdom anymore, are we?"

That was about as much thought as she could figure in her state.

"No one is certain what this place is but everyone is agreement that it is not home." Came his reply after the others comment. He would sympathize but at this point everyone was hoping for the same thing.

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