castleinthemist | 02

Entry tags:

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"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.

Toph shook her head as she approached the wall in question, fists clenched at her sides.

"Y'know, I'm beginning to think you only have me around for my Bending," she said, smirking to herself.

She shoved her hands against the wall, feeling the vibrations shoot out and then back to her. Palms flat, she dug her fingers into the hard stone like it was damp ground.

Without much more effort than that, she pulled hard on the wall. A slab of stone followed her, and many others ran parallel to it until she indeed had formed a set of stairs leading to the next level.

She smirked wider and leaned an elbow on one of the stairs.

"There. How's that?"

Duo didn't acknowledge that comment from Toph, glancing back at his double to nod in fragrance. He was quick to think, but it was weird that his double was much better at spotting the puzzles than he was.

He watched the little bending master do her thing. Now this room was easily navigated and no more running from shadows from far off places only to have to climb down that chain in a hurry.

About to speak, he backed up suddenly from the left. "Shadows! Over there!"

He drew his club and pointed over to the shadow portal. He was ready this time. Felt much better with a weapon.

"Noooo... it's your winning personality. I swear," Duo said with an even bigger grin at Toph. He was impressed with her skill, but that didn't leave her free of his occasional teasing.

And then Duo called out about the shadows. At least they were ready this time.

"Damn bastards don't waste any time, do they?!"

Teasing was just fine with her. In fact, she would have teased back had she not forgotten all about it to give her attention to where they were pointing instead. She turned, a fighting and Bending stance ready and waiting.

"Wait, where are they?" she asked, actually surprised. She knew Duo had said that the monsters were probably more dangerous to her than others, but she hadn't quite believed him. Hey, a lot of people thought a lot of things were dangerous to her.

But this...

... this made her incredibly uncomfortable. But she wouldn't let that show.

Duo glanced between his two companions and started moving forward, taking point. "Straight ahead of me, Toph."

Why couldn't these things be the ones that made noise? Rattled chains? Scruffed up against the floor so she could hear them?

One of the shadows charged at him and he took a big swing of his club just as it neared him.

Duo stayed close to Toph since his double was taking point. He knew he was lacking in hand to hand skills since it wasn't something he practiced on a regular basis. Thankfully these things weren't so much skilled as they were quiet and hard to hit.

"Portal's right in front of us, about twenty feet," he answered Toph, twirling his scythe-like weapon. "Just stay by me, I'll direct you if any of 'em get close!"

The small body clenched tight and she glared unseeing eyes in the direction they were telling her.

"Just tell me where to hit," she told them.

She didn't need to close her eyes to increase focus, but she did, anyway, perhaps out of instinctual reflex. She concentrated on the boys, more importantly their heartbeats and movements. She could tell if they were hurt and if anything was too close to them for comfort.

Maybe she couldn't be the main offense against these baddies, but like always, she made one hell of a supportive defense.

His shadow took the hit and turned back around with a back hand to his chest, claws nicking his chest and tearing his shirt. He jumped back from another strike and swung his club again at what had to be the thing's head. That knocked the other thing back, but his club smacked into the wall, wedging into a little nook with one of it's stylish edges. It was stuck for a moment and Duo was about to take another hit when said defense came right up out of the ground.

A slab of stone between him and his enemy. Gave him time to get his weapon back.

"Thank!" He said with gratitude, tugging that thing out only to dash forward when the slab fell to beat that thing into the ground.

Meanwhile Two more were heading for the other Duo and Toph. One flying above.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject