She'd liberated a number of melons from the kitchens earlier this morning, and now they form the heads of a small army of rock men that dot her arena, surrounding her in concentric circles: a few leer down from the makeshift stands.  She stands in the middle, Aang's glider in her hand, and taps out a slow beat on the rock beneath her feet before ( Read more... )

Call it what you like: she's a growing girl, she's active every day, she needs vitamins and proteins and vegetable matter in order to build muscle and stay healthy -- however you want to say it, Toph is hungry all the timeIt's down to Vincent (how is Vincent? She reminds herself to look him up, now that she's back) that she can now pick and choose ( Read more... )

It's so easy to disappear when he feels it's necessary. He was good at it before his training with Ducard. How else could be have vanished so completely that the world thought he was dead for seven years? But that was then; now, if he chooses not to be seen, he won't be, not by anyone but the most acute observer, and they're not very common to find ( Read more... )

Toph stomps through the portal room door, holding a sturdy wooden staff in one hand and and bag in the other, from which comes a dry, rattling sound.

The day had started well enough. Aang was a willing, if not entirely determined, student, and she'd walked him through the basics as gently as she knew how, but one set-back and he's backing off, ( Read more... )

[Toph returns in the nick of time, but now there's another member of the Fire Nation Royal Family after the Avatar, and she's a far fiercer opponent than Zuko. Next up: Aang gets his first Earthbending lesson.]

One evening, Weetzie turned up at Toph's door wearing her jeans, engineer boots, leather jacket and one of her customized white T-shirts. She had promised to take Toph to a movie and was looking forward to keeping that promise. Toph didn't seem deprived at all, but it seemed that she never went to stuff like movies just because she couldn't see. ( Read more... )

She takes a deep breath.

Out here, east past the park, there's a field of flowers and a wide stretch of open sky. Here it's almost impossible to hear the sounds of the city (although she can) or smell its multiple odors (if the wind is right, she can catch a few scents) or be distracted by the routines of the people who live there. Out here she ( Read more... )

Stepping back into this environment after a week's absence should have left him... rejuvenated, perhaps. The truth of the matter is that while the respite has been a much-needed one, the first thing he does is remove his glove and place his hand on the computer console.

NO DESTINATIONS AVAILABLE.This... is not unexpected, but neither is it ( Read more... )

"Lanky lizards!"

Weetzie couldn't believe her eyes when she and Slinkster Dog entered the pool area. She was decked out in the best retro swimwear she could find: a polka-dotted red bikini that Esther Williams could have worn. She wore a flower in her spit-curled blond hair, too, just like Esther, and perfect red lipstick and a bracelet with ( Read more... )

That afternoon, neon pink, green, orange and yellow papers started cropping up all over the hotel ( Read more... )