castleinthemist | 02

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02 - open

Toph knew she found the courtyard through various senses. She could smell the fresh air, hear the birds, and feel the warm sunlight and cool breeze. The hard stone from the castle faded into softer walkway stone as she moved out into the yard. When her feet touched the grass, she smiled to herself. No longer was the resonance of vibration from the earth surging out and back at her with all its strength. Instead, it met resistance and the grass muffled her senses as it tickled her feet, creating a sort of static for her until it gave way under her soles to let foot meet soil and allow the reverberations communicate to her nearly half a second later than solid ground.

It was a strange sensation, but she welcomed it. It calmed her, and she continued to smile while she moved to what she thought was a nice spot.

She breathed calmly and evenly as she took her stance. One move, another, and then a third, and a perfectly shaped chaise rose up from the ground. She felt proud of herself as she moved to it and lay down, body lying comfortably against the contour of the grass-covered reclining seat.

Once decidedly comfortable, Toph pulled a flask from her belt and took a drink from it. Nice, cool water. She'd stolen the idea from another castle inhabitant and had made one out of a chunk of metal ripped from her bed frame. He used his for naughty juice; she used hers for water.

Toph felt a little guilty. Most of the castle was trying to figure out how to get out of there. She, though, wasn't putting so much effort into it. Sure, she wanted to leave, but what could she do? She'd promised a new friend that she wouldn't go far without eyes to help her spot the monsters she couldn't detect. While she wanted to do her part of the exploring and searching for a way home, she didn't want to be useless in a fight against a flying shadow with claws.

There were very few times that Toph would admit her blindness to be a hindrance. A skirmish against the monsters that moved without contact or sound was one of those very few times.

"I'll just wait for a friend," she told no one before closing her eyes and laying her head back against her arm.

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Bro? That was... different, unexpected even. But... not completely unwelcome. Hell, they were brothers in a very strange, cosmic sense. It worked, and he wasn't going to call the other out on it, especially if it made him feel better about the situation as a whole.

"Uh... well... all I did was grab a thing of wood that was leaning against one of the walls. It wasn't very heavy... bet if those damn things hadn't fallen they woulda been back up after one hit. ... soo..." he drawled, scratching his chin thoughtfully, "Something heavier than that would probably be more effective, in that case."

The Earthbender pouted, slumping just a little.

"Well, whatever you have in mind, I need to know what it is. With everything that's different between your world and mine, I can only imagine the weaponry is different, too.

"Hot air balloons are barely a new, ground breaking development for us. You and your 'technology' and 'floating around the earth' and 'far away suns' lead me to believe what you have in mind and what I have in mind as far as weaponry are not the same thing."

"Doesn't need to be too heavy that you can't lift it." Duo said under his breath, walking onwards until they hit the hallway that he'd explored with Ratchet before.

"Here's some metal along these windows right here." Why not grab it? Ain't like anybody is using it. He looked at it, pausing. So what to make?

"Sword? Staff? It's gotta be light enough not to make your self get tired too soon and heavy enough to swing hard to kick some ass, right?" He still mulls it over, thinking back to the little bender.

"How about a riot club?"

Duo stared at Toph in slight confusion. He really didn't know anything about her, except that she was young, blind, and could move rocks just by moving her body. Her comment didn't make much sense, but he figured whatever his double had told her had given her some insight in to their world and from the sounds of it, they were severely advanced in comparison.

"Uh..." he shook his head, dismissing the thoughts to focus on the task at hand. "Riot club? Like what police officers use?"

"I can do a club," she told them as she moved over to the window. She reached up and knocked on the bars with one knuckle before lightly touching it with her finger tips. Yep, she could bend that.

She wrapped her hands around bars and with a deep inhale through her nose, ripped the bars off the window and into the hall.

"Yes!" She hissed to herself, grinning as she began molding and shifting the metal, working hand over hand with her Bending to make an acceptable arsenal for them. The metal moved with her will like putty.

"I don't know how accurate these are. I never took the time to examine weapons back home because I never thought I'd need reference. This isn't a whole lot of metal to work with, anyway."

Regardless, she easily crafted a Water tribe influenced club and had just enough left over to make a kama, something she'd noticed was used frequently both as a agriculture tool as well as a weapon.

When she was done, she stepped back from the wrought iron weapons and cracked her knuckles.

"There. How's that?"

"Yeah. Police or military." Duo nodded at his double, though noting his confusion at what Toph had said where he just shrugged it off. Guess he shoulda explained that stuff better the other night. Turning his attention to the pipsqueak. To his sober mind the action against the metal was a shock, but he quickly remembered that she'd done the same thing with him not too long before with that metal piece around her arm, and then this was exactly what he'd planned on her doing.

It's just seeing her in action? Whoa. He watched the metal twist and turn before she finalized the two pieces. He reached over and picked up the kama.

"Well well... Toph. Anyone ever said you have a knack for the ironic?"

"Holy hell..." Duo breathed after watching her work, more than shocked and amazed that she'd been able to pull that off so well. What else could he say? It was like watching a damn miracle in the making, that was for sure.

"... is that some crack about the metal?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest. The implications went straight over her head, yet again. This just confirmed her thoughts that Duo and Sokka would get along swimmingly.

"I think I broke your friend."

"Oh." He pauses. "Irony? No!" He snorted a laugh out of the amusement of the lame pun.

"I didn't even consider that. I just mean that me and this guy here... This is our weapon of choice." He said, handling it over and pressing his thumb against the blade.

"It might just work." He pauses and looks to his double, offering him the weapon. He could have it.

"What I tell you?"

Duo shook his head sharply, snapping himself out of whatever shock had settled on him. He smirked faintly at the weapon, finally taking note of what it was rather than how it had been made, lifting in to his hand to test the weight of it. Smaller than what he would have gone for himself had he the ability to make it, but right then he really couldn't complain about it.

"Damn... this is impressive. Really, really impressive."

She grinned, arms behind her head and back straight as she at least tried not to boast.

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet!"

She turned away from them and moved farther into the hall.

"Feels like there's more down this way. If I get enough of it, I can make bigger, sharper, stronger, and better. You said you had a lot of friends here, right? Maybe they would like something."

At that point, she was just fishing for a reason to metalbend.

Duo scooped up the club. It was heavy, but it was nothing he couldn't handle by himself. What spare design features there were in it, it left a sturdy handle and a weighted end. Worked for him. Would give him a better swing.

He whispered towards his double. "Maybe we can get her to make us a new gundam while she's at it." Just a joke, and a stupid one. But with her enthusiasm they could make anything.

He leaned the club on his shoulder and made to follow.

The joke earned a quiet snort and a shake of his head. He wasn't sure what any kind of mobile suit would have done to help them in their current situation, but it didn't make the joke any less amusing.

He fell in step next to his double again, following Toph deeper in to the castle.

"I think a lot of people would be grateful for weapons and tools, not just us."

"I can try to make whatever you want," she responded. Good hearing coupled with the echo of the stone hall made it hard to hide things from her.

"But I'm thinking some armor would be useful. And something to cook with, maybe some fishing hooks, a couple arrow heads, maybe."

She paused and motioned for them to hang back as she took her position between three windows on her left and three windows on her right. That much space between her and the target, plus that many targets, would take a lot of effort, but she was just in the mood to exert it. She took her stance, wide, rooted to the ground, strong and solid enough to stand firm through it all.

After a few short movements of her hands and arms, it appeared that she was pulling on something invisible. She struggled with it for just a moment, but then the metal bars began to creak and groan, screaming and whining against their own inertia and refusal to move.

She put more force into it, gradually as not to snap herself or the bars, until finally, like a loosened tooth, they pulled completely free of the stone and clattered to the ground around her.

She was grinning.

"Didn't even break a sweat!" She was just showing off at that point.

Armor? Augh, thinking about all of this in a medieval perspective was tough. He didn't know where to start. Maybe talk to those guys from that era to find out what they could use? He was by no means a history buff.

He stepped back when she took a stance, knowing it was probably best not to be in the way when she was doing her thing, but the creaking and strain of the metal and the rock was the most concerning. He stepped further back, watching the wall for any cracks.

"Careful." He shot out, his eyes darting from Toph and back to the wall. There was no way to tell how stable the ground was.

Showing off or not, Duo was impressed to say the least. This was way beyond anything he could have imagined existed within the realm of human ability. It was a little bit scary even, knowing that she could do that with barely a movement, and he stayed far back with his double to ensure they didn't wind up getting caught up in an accidental collapse of the wall.

"Damn..." he muttered under his breath.

"Relax," she told the older, nudging the metal with a foot before sitting on the pile of bars.

"... on second thought, this is probably poor material for armor. It'll protect you, sure, but unless I make it thin armor, I don't think you could move much with it."

"Chain mail or kevlar would work much better." Duo shrugged. "But you can't make either of those I don't think." Duo replied, shrugged his shoulders as he walked forward.

"Let's just stick to making weapons for now. Actually, let's just stick to salvaging and make the weapons when we get back." Better use of their time, not to mention much safer.

He looked down at the pile of metal. How were they even gonna get it back to home base?

"I think this is enough for now."

"Gotta wonder how much armor would work against those things..." Duo mused quietly, kneeling down to pick up one of the lengths of metal and examine it. Of course that led him to wondering if there was anything or anyone else they should worry about. So far he hadn't run in to anyone with ill intent but that could change easily. It wasn't like this castle was picky on who it pulled there.

"Yeah... I agree. Let's just get weapons goin' for now. Maybe we can ask the fountain for a different kinda metal for armor later."

"Heading back already?" she asked as she folded her arms across her chest. "Boy. You guys must not get out much. This was hardly adventuring and exploring."

She let out a disappointed but relenting sigh.

"What now, then?"

"Not well, I'd think." Duo replies as he picked up another rod, then looked to Toph briefly when she made her comment. Hm.

"We'll figure out the armor thing later. We'll figure out this stuff later." He shrugged, glancing to his double. Okay, fine. Let it be up to them. "You up for that train tracks thing or do you wanna go back? Up to you guys."

"I'm cool with it if you guys are," Duo nodded, "I wanted to check 'em out anyway. After all the crap that happened the other day..."

He didn't want to think about that, actually. What he really wanted was to go explore it unhindered and actually see if they could get somewhere. And there was power in numbers at least.

"Let's go. I want to know what's out there."

She wasn't too comfortable with the fact that her "sight" was limited to what seemed like only one room at a time. It was like the walls were refusing to talk to her.

With that thought in mind, she placed a hand against the wall of the hall and concentrated. The vibrations told her how many doors and windows there were and where they were, but she couldn't tell how big the rooms behind those doors were, or where they led, or if anyone was behind the doors. She couldn't tell how many floors there were. Her vision of the immediate area was as fine as usual back home, but whatever was keeping her from detecting anything beyond the encompassing walls was... well, blinding.

It was unsettling at the very least. She hid her nervous sigh, but not the forlorn droop of her shoulders as she turned back to the boys.

"Lead the way. We can come back for the metal.

"Alright. Onward, brave explorers." He quipped, holding the club against his shoulder to halve the weight burden. He pondered the things he and Toph could make with that iron. A few long weapons and a few swords should be enough, he figured. And this club would come in handy too.

He lead the way down the hall into another chamber. There were stairs down there too. Wondered how easy it would be just to get Toph to bend some stairs or a bridge over there.

"So, the only way up there is a chain. You think you can bend a ladder or some stairs or something? So we don't gotta climb that thing again?"

That would be convenient as hell, and the thought actually earned a smile that unfortunately Toph couldn't see. His double always seemed to be just slightly ahead of him in thought, but age likely had a factor in that.

"Any way to get 'round this place would be better than what we got right now," he added in, making a mental note to look for other places that Toph could use her power to that effect.

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