Scribosaurus Recs! - Avatar: The Last Airbender (Toph and Sokka fic)
Spoken but Unsaid by Swiss Army Knife
An accident during a sea crossing forces Toph to evaluate who she trusts enough to be dependent upon.
Rec!view: I read this because Swiss Army Knife has been one of my favourite fan-writers for years, but I was well and truly caught by this particular fic the moment I read the author’s notes: ‘I have a lot of appreciation for Toph’s character. She’s an incredibly strong-hearted, immovable little creature, which is perhaps why the odd shows of vulnerability are so touching’. At no point in this fic is that interpretation forgotten. This is a really stunning look at what makes Toph tick, what it's like inside her mind, but doesn’t completely woobify her. She still has her core strength here, and the abrasiveness that makes her so fantastic to watch - especially when it comes to her dynamic with Sokka, which plays a bit part in this fic. There's a real sense of her character being lost here, questioning herself in a crisis and genuinely not knowing what to do, and having her confidence crumble a little as a result because that's all she really had before. It’s not a pairing fic in the truest sense, but it does examine her relationship with Sokka in a way that feels completely real and very Toph-like.
Excerpt:
Toph was a deeply independent girl. And by deeply independent, it was meant that she would sooner crush a person's body into an unattractive smear of jelly than accept their help. It was part of her nature; she couldn’t help it.
Which didn’t at all explain what she was doing in Sokka's lap.
He didn't notice, of course, being that he was unconscious, and should he wake up there was very little chance he would mention it. It was one of the very few things he was good at keeping his mouth shut about - comforting someone. So, no, she didn't fear humiliation from that quarter.
Just then the wooden shift lurched beneath them, the boards creaking ominously as a splash of cold water broke over the side. She gasped at the sudden cold, unconsciously sinking closer into Sokka's side. She'd awoken there, curled up small under his arm, which lay just as heavily around her now as it had then. Dead weight. As near as she could figure he’d passed out soon after he had dragged her out of the ocean and onto the awkward dingy.
Though she would have chewed on her own arm to keep from voicing her terror in those dark moments of complete disorientation, Toph had been unable to stop a trembling sob from welling up behind her teeth. Separated from her element, she was completely blind. The only sound had been the constant churning of ocean, the frightening slap and gurgle as it repeatedly assaulted their crude vessel, and the sound of the panels moving beneath her feet, already damp from periodic infusions of gushing water.
Worse had been the smell of blood mixed in with brine and wet wood. She could feel the throb in her own body, sorely battered, but her trembling fingers had not been able to find the source - not on herself or her rescuer, and Sokka had remained insensible.