Alchemy vs. Earthbending
Who: Edward Elric, Toph Bei Fong
What: Edward is almost flattened by an earth bender training outside of Ashenvale, and the two get to chatting about their talents
Where: Ashenvale
When: Tuesday, December 30th (completed Sunday, Jan. 4th)
Note: Tag needed for Toph Bei Fong Please!
Azeroth is an interesting place to visit. Not that Toph could -SEE- the pretty colors that the land was noted for - but she could tell it was a lovely place. SHe's not traveled far enough to reach the Barrens or the Labor camp mind, instead keeping to the outskirts of one of the small villages to practice.
This is why outside of town locals may have heard resounding *BOOMS* every couple of seconds. It was faint, so as not to disturb them very much, but still loud enough to draw the curious. Most of the curious tended to be bears, but after a number of them were knocked insensible by a flung boulder three times the size of the bender, they've known to keep their distance.
... and harass the travelers a good bit more. Oops!
The Fullmetal Alchemist has understandably kept his distance from any Dark Elf settlements, especially after his first exposure to them in ...wherever that other world had been. So they might not exactly be the same Dark Elves, but all the same, Edward figures it's probably better to play it safe. Hah- since when does he ever do that on a regular basis?
He's really not sure where he is right now, but after some aimless wandering he's settled down in a smallish clearing to eat something while he took a break, glancing over notes he's scrawled, chewing on something that looks vaguely Hot Pocket-ish. The subtle trembling of the ground at first had been dismissed- it was hardly enough to be of concern if it were an earthquake, and there weren't any sounds of hoofbeats or footsteps to herald an army. It's when a giant slab of rock comes flying through the trees not several feet in front and past him that Edward has second thoughts. He freezes in place, the last bit of his snack halfway in his mouth as he stares at the boulder that has come to a tumbling stop some ways from him. "...."
The young alchemist claps his notebook closed, stuffing it into the beltpack slung behind him as he shoves the rest of the cheesey pastry into his mouth, turning his eyes towards the direction the boulder had come from. Curiosity getting the better of him, he begins to walk that way.
And soon the full metal alchemist will come upon a tiny earthbender barely reaching five feet. Small, female and shoeless, with her back to Ed. No worries of sneaking up on the girl though, she's fully aware of his presence - HOw, you might wonder? Trade secret! - only not really. There's a boulder about twice her size in front of her though, and Toph has a hand resting against its surface, considering - "Oh no you don't!" She suddenly announces, spinning around and her foot digging into the earth - which somehow propels the boulder upwards by some mystical! force, sending said boulder STRAIGHT AT EDWARD. "It'll be a cold day in the Fire Kingdom before some stupid highway robber gets the drop on Toph Bei Fong!"
Yeaaah!
"Bwuh?" Golden eyes blink, Edward not having set foot two steps past the small stand of trees that had separated them earlier when he sees a GIANT BOULDER FLUNG RIGHT AT HIM. Grimacing, the boy brings his hands together with a sound clap, dropping down to smack his palms against the ground. Blue light crackles, the earth in front of him rising straight up just in time to intercept the boulder, cracking beneath the force and size of it. The alchemist ducks beneath the shower of rock and then darts around the makeshift wall, shaking a fist at Toph.
"Are you crazy?! What was that for-!?" he growls.
Toph is crazy! CRAZY LIKE A FOX. The younger girl rests her hands on her hips, smirking! "So you managed to avoid that after all! Well, you've got skills for a highwayman." She points a finger, "But that's not going to be enough to get the better of me! I bet you thought I was just some puny, helpless little girl when you saw me. Easy money right?" She stomps a foot on the ground - which actually *shakes*, "Well I've got news for you!" STOMP STOMP STOMP, "TOPH BEI FONG IS NO ONE'S VICTIM." Cries the girl creating miniature, localized earthquakes with every stomp, "SO you can wipe that grin off of your face, and take that back to whatever bandit leader you report to." She stomps once more for effect, and crosses her arms, "What do you have to say to that, Bandit boy?" ... She kinda wants to know how he did what he did too - but that will come later.
"DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A GRIN?!" Edward glares, but then he realizes the girl probably can't tell, now that he gets a better look at her. He takes a step back as the ground shifts beneath him with each stomp Toph takes. But... it'll take more than some kid making the earth move to shake him!
"Anyway! I don't know what you're talking about- you're the one that was disturbing the peace! I was minding my own business over there and nearly got flattened by a flying boulder! Whaddya have to say about -that-?!" he shouts back, not at all concerned with the fact that he's probably not helping in regards to disturbing the peace.
Maybe she should give him the stampede treatment! But -- it seems that it was a misunderstanding. Of course, at a distance it isn't easy to tell Toph is blind, considering she has a tendency to face and point directly at the people she's addressing. But the fact that her head is often tilted to seem like she's staring at the ground - or nothing - is a definite tell. That and her inability to note details, like the fact that Ed wasn't grinning.
"I was training! And no villagers were saying I was bothering them this far away - what were you doing out here," she asks suspiciously, "If you weren't planning on stalking some defenseless girl for her money? Huh? Answer me -that-!" She doesn't punctuate her words with a stomp - she's picking up something -WEIRD- from the man. A sense of ... metal? Sort of like he was wearing armor, but not armor at the same time. Hmm.. Weird!
At least she isn't flinging any more rocks at him! Edward arches a brow sharply, snorting at the charge. "Hey, were you even listening to me?! I was almost hit by one of your stupid rocks over there- and I dunno about you, but that usually isn't an everyday occurrence unless you're on a battleground!" Or got on his nerves. "I thought I was under attack so of course I'd come look!" And see who he had to beat some sense into this time!
Toph Bei Fong is silent for a moment, thinking. "... Okay, I guess you're not lying." And she'd know! She's a human polygraph! "Sorry about almost clobbering you back there," she waves a hand, "I can't exactly -tell- where they are once they're in the air, you know. Besides, most people go the other way when there's boulders flying at them. How was I to know you'd walk _TOWARDS_ them? What, do you have some kinda of death wish or something?"
A smirk finally breaks through the scowl on his face. Edward folds his arms in front of him, leaning back against what's left of the wall he'd made a few moments ago. "What good's running away from trouble if it might just end up following you? I'd rather meet it head on and deal with it." He tilts his head, looking over Toph. "So you were training here, you said? That's... some pretty interesting abilities. Are you restricted to manipulating rock?"
A wide grin graces Toph's face at Edward's comment. "Yeah! Meet any obstacle HEAD on! You know, you think just like us earthbenders," she approves. At the question of her own abilities, the girl shakes her head, "Course not. I'm an earth bender, so I can manipulate any aspect of earth," excluding wood, which CAN be an element of earth in some worlds, but Toph's not learned how to use that yet, if at all, "Like sand, mud and stone, and minerals." Like metal. Though she's yet to bend metal at the moment.
"Huh. I see," Edward nods. Makes sense, sort of. Alchemists that specialize in things like manipulating something like earth and whatever fell into that category aren't unheard of, in his world. "An earth bender. Never heard of that term before, but I guess it depends on the world. Interesting." He strokes his chin thoughtfully.
"Not just -any- earthbender. THE BEST." Toph feels it necessary to note this. Because she is the best. "What about you? You made the wall came up but you didn't use earthbending or anyt kind of bending art I'm familiar with. How'd you do it?" While she talks, she decides she's tired of standing, and promptly plunks down on the ground, more at home in the dirt than in an actual homey environment by FAR. Look at those dirty feet!
He chuckles. "The best? I'll have to take your word for it since you're the first earth bender I've ever met. What's your name?" He smirks again, knowing the question about what he was able to do would be bound to come up sooner or later. "How I did it? Alchemy. I'm an alchemist- although... where I'm from it's probably a little different in practice than others."
Bah! He's just humoring her! "Toph; what's yours?" she leans forward against her knees, propping her chin against her hand, "Alchemy..? Isn't that that crackpot method for turning metal into gold, or something like that? I didn't know you could use alchemy to manipulate your surroundings." She scritches a hand into her hair, flicking a few bits of dirt away, "Pretty cool though. Not as cool as earthbending, but I guess it's all right."
"Edward Elric," he replies. He shakes his head, even if she can't see it. "That's what most people relate alchemy too. That's illegal though. Alchemy... well, it's kind of a science. But you can manipulate a lot of things, make them into something else." He holds up a finger, gesturing more out of habit then forgetting Toph's blind. "But you can only do so if you have enough of something to do it with, or the right things to make something. You can't make something from nothing, in other words. With the earth, it's just a matter of shifting material, concentrating it into a certain spot to do what I did." He grins. "So how does earth bending work?"
She can't see by normal means, but her connection with the earth allows her to see the motion and where people stand and things. Just.. no colors or details. Of course, if Ed assumes she can't see the way normal blind people can't see, so much the better for fun misunderstandings, yey! "Huh. It really does seem like bending, this Alchemy of yours. Earth bending works a little bit similar. It's based on movement, and the bender's connection with their element. For example," she stomps on the ground with one foot, and a pillar of rock juts upwards, "We can create objects from the earth itself, like this pillar here," she pats a hand against it, "And we use that element when we fight." She turns and punches her left hand into the pillar, causing a spiderweb of cracks to crawl upwards, and then the pillar itself shatters. "It's similar to what you were saying. We can't manipulate the earth if there's no earth around us, and if we're not on the ground." She gestures slightly, though not in a method of manipulating the earth to bend to her will again. "There are alternatives to solid earth, like sand and mud. Something as hard as that pillar," she points downward at the collection of rocks and pebbles around her, "Can be as soft as sifted sand when you really get good at it." She won't give away ALL the secrets though, like how she can feel even an ant walking across the ground a hundred feet away, or that she can see people and things the way no one else can.
"Oh.... I get it." Edward nods as he watches her, smirking a bit at the pillar that appears with a footstomp. He arches a brow as the girl shatters it with her fist, but the smirk remains unfaded. "Interesting," he notes, stroking his chin thoughtfully with his left hand. Very similar to how his alchemy works, indeed, if at least, to a certain degree. He has a feeling there's more to it, but then the same could be said about using alchemy and what he's told her. Besides, just speaking of anything didn't mean a person could automatically make use of it.
"So you came all the way out here to train or you're just traveling on a whim?"
No need to mention to Ed that she's a runaway, right? Right! "A little bit of both," answers she, "I didn't get much of a chance to explore back hom, so now that there are other worlds and things, I thought I'd check 'em out. And to keep on training, because I wouldn't want to get rusty. You do the same thing, right? if you don't use your Alchemy you get rusty. It's just like a muscle," which is probably why a lot of earth benders tend to get very muscley. Toph's going to be -BUFF- when she gets older. Not as buff as the fellow who played her in the Fire Nation play later on, but..
Nodding, Edward shrugs his shoulders. "Yeah. Well, maybe not exactly rusty, but keeping up on training is always a good idea too. All kinds of crazies out there," he mutters, flicking a sideways glance past the trees as though expecting one to show up as an example. He wouldn't lump alchemy under training, but he continues his studies on it all the same. Alternatives for getting Alphonse's real body back have been proving about as fruitful as finding the Philosopher's Stone. Edward falls silent at the thought, looking at the ground, pensively. "...."
Toph Bei Fong doesn't know anything about getting people's bodies back or philosopher's stones and whatnot -- well it's a stone, aka a mineral, so she could probably manipulate it into something else - which would probably screw with Ed's plans for it if she suddenly turned it into a bracelet. But she could always turn it back into a stone, so all is well. "Something wrong?" He got pretty quiet for a bit there.
Blinking, the young alchemist lifts his head as he glances back at Toph. He smiles weakly, shaking his head. "Just thinking about some things I needa get done. Haven't progressed as much as I'd hoped to..." He pushes away from the wall, dusting off the shoulders of his coat. "Maybe I should get going. I should probably let you get back to your training."
Toph Bei Fong dusts herself off, "Well, stay focused on the things you have to do and follow through. You'll get it done. Just don't panick and rush through things." That'll just screw it up more! When he moves to go, Toph blinks, "Oh - Oh yeah, sure. It was nice talking to you Ed," Toph grins, "I guess I'll see you around the multiverse -" Well not *SEE* but.. she pauses, "You know what I mean."
He pauses at that piece of advice, and this time his smile is a little more genuine as he nods to that. "Thanks. That's stuff I've always known, but a reminder always helps." Edward lifts his hand to wave, hesitating before he goes ahead and does so anyway. "Yeah, see you around, Toph. Maybe next time we can train together or something. I'd like to see what else you can do with earth-bending some time."
What: Edward is almost flattened by an earth bender training outside of Ashenvale, and the two get to chatting about their talents
Where: Ashenvale
When: Tuesday, December 30th (completed Sunday, Jan. 4th)
Note: Tag needed for Toph Bei Fong Please!
Azeroth is an interesting place to visit. Not that Toph could -SEE- the pretty colors that the land was noted for - but she could tell it was a lovely place. SHe's not traveled far enough to reach the Barrens or the Labor camp mind, instead keeping to the outskirts of one of the small villages to practice.
This is why outside of town locals may have heard resounding *BOOMS* every couple of seconds. It was faint, so as not to disturb them very much, but still loud enough to draw the curious. Most of the curious tended to be bears, but after a number of them were knocked insensible by a flung boulder three times the size of the bender, they've known to keep their distance.
... and harass the travelers a good bit more. Oops!
The Fullmetal Alchemist has understandably kept his distance from any Dark Elf settlements, especially after his first exposure to them in ...wherever that other world had been. So they might not exactly be the same Dark Elves, but all the same, Edward figures it's probably better to play it safe. Hah- since when does he ever do that on a regular basis?
He's really not sure where he is right now, but after some aimless wandering he's settled down in a smallish clearing to eat something while he took a break, glancing over notes he's scrawled, chewing on something that looks vaguely Hot Pocket-ish. The subtle trembling of the ground at first had been dismissed- it was hardly enough to be of concern if it were an earthquake, and there weren't any sounds of hoofbeats or footsteps to herald an army. It's when a giant slab of rock comes flying through the trees not several feet in front and past him that Edward has second thoughts. He freezes in place, the last bit of his snack halfway in his mouth as he stares at the boulder that has come to a tumbling stop some ways from him. "...."
The young alchemist claps his notebook closed, stuffing it into the beltpack slung behind him as he shoves the rest of the cheesey pastry into his mouth, turning his eyes towards the direction the boulder had come from. Curiosity getting the better of him, he begins to walk that way.
And soon the full metal alchemist will come upon a tiny earthbender barely reaching five feet. Small, female and shoeless, with her back to Ed. No worries of sneaking up on the girl though, she's fully aware of his presence - HOw, you might wonder? Trade secret! - only not really. There's a boulder about twice her size in front of her though, and Toph has a hand resting against its surface, considering - "Oh no you don't!" She suddenly announces, spinning around and her foot digging into the earth - which somehow propels the boulder upwards by some mystical! force, sending said boulder STRAIGHT AT EDWARD. "It'll be a cold day in the Fire Kingdom before some stupid highway robber gets the drop on Toph Bei Fong!"
Yeaaah!
"Bwuh?" Golden eyes blink, Edward not having set foot two steps past the small stand of trees that had separated them earlier when he sees a GIANT BOULDER FLUNG RIGHT AT HIM. Grimacing, the boy brings his hands together with a sound clap, dropping down to smack his palms against the ground. Blue light crackles, the earth in front of him rising straight up just in time to intercept the boulder, cracking beneath the force and size of it. The alchemist ducks beneath the shower of rock and then darts around the makeshift wall, shaking a fist at Toph.
"Are you crazy?! What was that for-!?" he growls.
Toph is crazy! CRAZY LIKE A FOX. The younger girl rests her hands on her hips, smirking! "So you managed to avoid that after all! Well, you've got skills for a highwayman." She points a finger, "But that's not going to be enough to get the better of me! I bet you thought I was just some puny, helpless little girl when you saw me. Easy money right?" She stomps a foot on the ground - which actually *shakes*, "Well I've got news for you!" STOMP STOMP STOMP, "TOPH BEI FONG IS NO ONE'S VICTIM." Cries the girl creating miniature, localized earthquakes with every stomp, "SO you can wipe that grin off of your face, and take that back to whatever bandit leader you report to." She stomps once more for effect, and crosses her arms, "What do you have to say to that, Bandit boy?" ... She kinda wants to know how he did what he did too - but that will come later.
"DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A GRIN?!" Edward glares, but then he realizes the girl probably can't tell, now that he gets a better look at her. He takes a step back as the ground shifts beneath him with each stomp Toph takes. But... it'll take more than some kid making the earth move to shake him!
"Anyway! I don't know what you're talking about- you're the one that was disturbing the peace! I was minding my own business over there and nearly got flattened by a flying boulder! Whaddya have to say about -that-?!" he shouts back, not at all concerned with the fact that he's probably not helping in regards to disturbing the peace.
Maybe she should give him the stampede treatment! But -- it seems that it was a misunderstanding. Of course, at a distance it isn't easy to tell Toph is blind, considering she has a tendency to face and point directly at the people she's addressing. But the fact that her head is often tilted to seem like she's staring at the ground - or nothing - is a definite tell. That and her inability to note details, like the fact that Ed wasn't grinning.
"I was training! And no villagers were saying I was bothering them this far away - what were you doing out here," she asks suspiciously, "If you weren't planning on stalking some defenseless girl for her money? Huh? Answer me -that-!" She doesn't punctuate her words with a stomp - she's picking up something -WEIRD- from the man. A sense of ... metal? Sort of like he was wearing armor, but not armor at the same time. Hmm.. Weird!
At least she isn't flinging any more rocks at him! Edward arches a brow sharply, snorting at the charge. "Hey, were you even listening to me?! I was almost hit by one of your stupid rocks over there- and I dunno about you, but that usually isn't an everyday occurrence unless you're on a battleground!" Or got on his nerves. "I thought I was under attack so of course I'd come look!" And see who he had to beat some sense into this time!
Toph Bei Fong is silent for a moment, thinking. "... Okay, I guess you're not lying." And she'd know! She's a human polygraph! "Sorry about almost clobbering you back there," she waves a hand, "I can't exactly -tell- where they are once they're in the air, you know. Besides, most people go the other way when there's boulders flying at them. How was I to know you'd walk _TOWARDS_ them? What, do you have some kinda of death wish or something?"
A smirk finally breaks through the scowl on his face. Edward folds his arms in front of him, leaning back against what's left of the wall he'd made a few moments ago. "What good's running away from trouble if it might just end up following you? I'd rather meet it head on and deal with it." He tilts his head, looking over Toph. "So you were training here, you said? That's... some pretty interesting abilities. Are you restricted to manipulating rock?"
A wide grin graces Toph's face at Edward's comment. "Yeah! Meet any obstacle HEAD on! You know, you think just like us earthbenders," she approves. At the question of her own abilities, the girl shakes her head, "Course not. I'm an earth bender, so I can manipulate any aspect of earth," excluding wood, which CAN be an element of earth in some worlds, but Toph's not learned how to use that yet, if at all, "Like sand, mud and stone, and minerals." Like metal. Though she's yet to bend metal at the moment.
"Huh. I see," Edward nods. Makes sense, sort of. Alchemists that specialize in things like manipulating something like earth and whatever fell into that category aren't unheard of, in his world. "An earth bender. Never heard of that term before, but I guess it depends on the world. Interesting." He strokes his chin thoughtfully.
"Not just -any- earthbender. THE BEST." Toph feels it necessary to note this. Because she is the best. "What about you? You made the wall came up but you didn't use earthbending or anyt kind of bending art I'm familiar with. How'd you do it?" While she talks, she decides she's tired of standing, and promptly plunks down on the ground, more at home in the dirt than in an actual homey environment by FAR. Look at those dirty feet!
He chuckles. "The best? I'll have to take your word for it since you're the first earth bender I've ever met. What's your name?" He smirks again, knowing the question about what he was able to do would be bound to come up sooner or later. "How I did it? Alchemy. I'm an alchemist- although... where I'm from it's probably a little different in practice than others."
Bah! He's just humoring her! "Toph; what's yours?" she leans forward against her knees, propping her chin against her hand, "Alchemy..? Isn't that that crackpot method for turning metal into gold, or something like that? I didn't know you could use alchemy to manipulate your surroundings." She scritches a hand into her hair, flicking a few bits of dirt away, "Pretty cool though. Not as cool as earthbending, but I guess it's all right."
"Edward Elric," he replies. He shakes his head, even if she can't see it. "That's what most people relate alchemy too. That's illegal though. Alchemy... well, it's kind of a science. But you can manipulate a lot of things, make them into something else." He holds up a finger, gesturing more out of habit then forgetting Toph's blind. "But you can only do so if you have enough of something to do it with, or the right things to make something. You can't make something from nothing, in other words. With the earth, it's just a matter of shifting material, concentrating it into a certain spot to do what I did." He grins. "So how does earth bending work?"
She can't see by normal means, but her connection with the earth allows her to see the motion and where people stand and things. Just.. no colors or details. Of course, if Ed assumes she can't see the way normal blind people can't see, so much the better for fun misunderstandings, yey! "Huh. It really does seem like bending, this Alchemy of yours. Earth bending works a little bit similar. It's based on movement, and the bender's connection with their element. For example," she stomps on the ground with one foot, and a pillar of rock juts upwards, "We can create objects from the earth itself, like this pillar here," she pats a hand against it, "And we use that element when we fight." She turns and punches her left hand into the pillar, causing a spiderweb of cracks to crawl upwards, and then the pillar itself shatters. "It's similar to what you were saying. We can't manipulate the earth if there's no earth around us, and if we're not on the ground." She gestures slightly, though not in a method of manipulating the earth to bend to her will again. "There are alternatives to solid earth, like sand and mud. Something as hard as that pillar," she points downward at the collection of rocks and pebbles around her, "Can be as soft as sifted sand when you really get good at it." She won't give away ALL the secrets though, like how she can feel even an ant walking across the ground a hundred feet away, or that she can see people and things the way no one else can.
"Oh.... I get it." Edward nods as he watches her, smirking a bit at the pillar that appears with a footstomp. He arches a brow as the girl shatters it with her fist, but the smirk remains unfaded. "Interesting," he notes, stroking his chin thoughtfully with his left hand. Very similar to how his alchemy works, indeed, if at least, to a certain degree. He has a feeling there's more to it, but then the same could be said about using alchemy and what he's told her. Besides, just speaking of anything didn't mean a person could automatically make use of it.
"So you came all the way out here to train or you're just traveling on a whim?"
No need to mention to Ed that she's a runaway, right? Right! "A little bit of both," answers she, "I didn't get much of a chance to explore back hom, so now that there are other worlds and things, I thought I'd check 'em out. And to keep on training, because I wouldn't want to get rusty. You do the same thing, right? if you don't use your Alchemy you get rusty. It's just like a muscle," which is probably why a lot of earth benders tend to get very muscley. Toph's going to be -BUFF- when she gets older. Not as buff as the fellow who played her in the Fire Nation play later on, but..
Nodding, Edward shrugs his shoulders. "Yeah. Well, maybe not exactly rusty, but keeping up on training is always a good idea too. All kinds of crazies out there," he mutters, flicking a sideways glance past the trees as though expecting one to show up as an example. He wouldn't lump alchemy under training, but he continues his studies on it all the same. Alternatives for getting Alphonse's real body back have been proving about as fruitful as finding the Philosopher's Stone. Edward falls silent at the thought, looking at the ground, pensively. "...."
Toph Bei Fong doesn't know anything about getting people's bodies back or philosopher's stones and whatnot -- well it's a stone, aka a mineral, so she could probably manipulate it into something else - which would probably screw with Ed's plans for it if she suddenly turned it into a bracelet. But she could always turn it back into a stone, so all is well. "Something wrong?" He got pretty quiet for a bit there.
Blinking, the young alchemist lifts his head as he glances back at Toph. He smiles weakly, shaking his head. "Just thinking about some things I needa get done. Haven't progressed as much as I'd hoped to..." He pushes away from the wall, dusting off the shoulders of his coat. "Maybe I should get going. I should probably let you get back to your training."
Toph Bei Fong dusts herself off, "Well, stay focused on the things you have to do and follow through. You'll get it done. Just don't panick and rush through things." That'll just screw it up more! When he moves to go, Toph blinks, "Oh - Oh yeah, sure. It was nice talking to you Ed," Toph grins, "I guess I'll see you around the multiverse -" Well not *SEE* but.. she pauses, "You know what I mean."
He pauses at that piece of advice, and this time his smile is a little more genuine as he nods to that. "Thanks. That's stuff I've always known, but a reminder always helps." Edward lifts his hand to wave, hesitating before he goes ahead and does so anyway. "Yeah, see you around, Toph. Maybe next time we can train together or something. I'd like to see what else you can do with earth-bending some time."