Fic: Earth and Sky (1/1) A:tLA
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Characters: Toph, Appa
Word Count: 560
Rating: PG
Summary: Toph had a lot of trouble adjusting to life with Appa.
Spoilers: Up through S2, "City of Walls and Secrets", kind of (mainly through "The Library")
Author's Note: Written for magpieinthesky as part of my drabble call (prompt: AtLA, Toph, "rocky relationship"). Unbetaed, and I'm not sure how it turned out, but hope you like this, Magpie! &hearts
Toph’s absolute least favorite thing about life with the Avatar was flying on Appa.
She could live with the scarce food, the constant running from the Fire Nation. She could deal with Katara’s nagging and Aang’s floaty approach toward Earthbending. Hell, she was thrilled about finally getting some time away from her parents.
But if she’d had the choice, she would have walked to Ba Sing Se rather than spend another moment riding on that hairy creature’s back. Whenever they flew to a new town, she would hang on for dear life to the edge of the saddle, feeling the icy wind whip through her hair and sensing the familiar solidity of the earth far, far below them, as they were suspended in nothingness. The others would chat about their destination or relive their old adventures while she clung to the saddle in near silence, her whole world reduced to the circumference of Appa’s saddle, waiting for the bison to stop moving so she could feel the earth under her feet again.
On Appa’s back, she was truly blind, not even able to rely on her Earthbending to know what was around her. Appa made her feel weak and powerless, the helpless blind girl her parents had always made her out to be. And though she knew it wasn’t Appa’s fault he made her feel that way, she couldn’t help but hate him for it a little.
And it was only natural to feel this aversion for him - Appa was the embodiment of air, her natural opposite. It wasn’t at all like her relationship with Aang, who might have been light on his feet but at least understood and appreciated earth for the stable, strong element it was. But Appa hated the cool darkness of a cave, always seemed itchy when on solid ground. When they were in the sky, the hot sun beating down on their heads, that’s when the creature inexplicably seemed happiest, growling happily as they got farther and farther away from the earth, wet droplets clinging to his smelly coat whenever they flew through a cloud.
But gradually, Toph had begun to develop a certain affection for Appa. She wasn’t sure what it was, exactly... maybe he reminded her a little of the badgermole friends she’d made when she was little, with his gentle spirit and soft, warm fur. His grumbling snores lulled her to sleep at night, when she was safely encased in her earth tent. He was definitely sweet, though she’d destroy anyone who dared suggest she was getting a soft spot for him.
He liked her too, she could tell. He would rub his cheek against her body and try to lick her, but she dodged him every time. She didn’t do cuddling, especially not with something so smelly. But it wasn’t long before they came to a weird sort of understanding, as he flew a little lower to the ground and she patted his head at mealtimes. And, as they were stranded together in the Si Wong Desert, he quickly became her confidant, as she spilled to him, the only one who could listen to her in patient silence, about all the resentment she had toward her parents, her blindness, her worries about not fitting in with this tight-knit group of friends that had already been through so much without her. Appa let out a gentle growl of understanding and she smiled for the first time in weeks.
She could only helplessly stand there as she listened to him get dragged away through the desert, her head bowed in defeat.
And for weeks after that, while Aang went near-mad with grief and Sokka plotted around the solar eclipse, even while the city they found themselves in was full of mystery and treachery, all she could think about was Appa, and how much he must have hated getting that much sand in his fur.
Characters: Toph, Appa
Word Count: 560
Rating: PG
Summary: Toph had a lot of trouble adjusting to life with Appa.
Spoilers: Up through S2, "City of Walls and Secrets", kind of (mainly through "The Library")
Author's Note: Written for magpieinthesky as part of my drabble call (prompt: AtLA, Toph, "rocky relationship"). Unbetaed, and I'm not sure how it turned out, but hope you like this, Magpie! &hearts
Toph’s absolute least favorite thing about life with the Avatar was flying on Appa.
She could live with the scarce food, the constant running from the Fire Nation. She could deal with Katara’s nagging and Aang’s floaty approach toward Earthbending. Hell, she was thrilled about finally getting some time away from her parents.
But if she’d had the choice, she would have walked to Ba Sing Se rather than spend another moment riding on that hairy creature’s back. Whenever they flew to a new town, she would hang on for dear life to the edge of the saddle, feeling the icy wind whip through her hair and sensing the familiar solidity of the earth far, far below them, as they were suspended in nothingness. The others would chat about their destination or relive their old adventures while she clung to the saddle in near silence, her whole world reduced to the circumference of Appa’s saddle, waiting for the bison to stop moving so she could feel the earth under her feet again.
On Appa’s back, she was truly blind, not even able to rely on her Earthbending to know what was around her. Appa made her feel weak and powerless, the helpless blind girl her parents had always made her out to be. And though she knew it wasn’t Appa’s fault he made her feel that way, she couldn’t help but hate him for it a little.
And it was only natural to feel this aversion for him - Appa was the embodiment of air, her natural opposite. It wasn’t at all like her relationship with Aang, who might have been light on his feet but at least understood and appreciated earth for the stable, strong element it was. But Appa hated the cool darkness of a cave, always seemed itchy when on solid ground. When they were in the sky, the hot sun beating down on their heads, that’s when the creature inexplicably seemed happiest, growling happily as they got farther and farther away from the earth, wet droplets clinging to his smelly coat whenever they flew through a cloud.
But gradually, Toph had begun to develop a certain affection for Appa. She wasn’t sure what it was, exactly... maybe he reminded her a little of the badgermole friends she’d made when she was little, with his gentle spirit and soft, warm fur. His grumbling snores lulled her to sleep at night, when she was safely encased in her earth tent. He was definitely sweet, though she’d destroy anyone who dared suggest she was getting a soft spot for him.
He liked her too, she could tell. He would rub his cheek against her body and try to lick her, but she dodged him every time. She didn’t do cuddling, especially not with something so smelly. But it wasn’t long before they came to a weird sort of understanding, as he flew a little lower to the ground and she patted his head at mealtimes. And, as they were stranded together in the Si Wong Desert, he quickly became her confidant, as she spilled to him, the only one who could listen to her in patient silence, about all the resentment she had toward her parents, her blindness, her worries about not fitting in with this tight-knit group of friends that had already been through so much without her. Appa let out a gentle growl of understanding and she smiled for the first time in weeks.
She could only helplessly stand there as she listened to him get dragged away through the desert, her head bowed in defeat.
And for weeks after that, while Aang went near-mad with grief and Sokka plotted around the solar eclipse, even while the city they found themselves in was full of mystery and treachery, all she could think about was Appa, and how much he must have hated getting that much sand in his fur.