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Post by blindgirl on Aug 13, 2007 18:51:44 GMT -5
“Yeah yeah I see it” The Blind girls eyes stared blankly in his direction with a serious expression set softly on her face. Lips pulled in a line of thought as she assessed how much needed to be done, of course it wouldn’t be enough to tire her out but what else were these new associates of hers going to throw in her path. Maybe the entire firenation would come crashing on top of their heads. Quizzically she noted that it would be a more enjoyable experience than having to explain her double life to her parents. The older girls comments set her back a bit, they were so carefull with her, Why did people always assume that she was weak and useless, had this been a different scenario a few second could have been spared to tell the princess off.
It seemed that sort of time wasn’t readily available at the moment so Toph had let it slide. After all, why turn a mountain into a mole hill, she’d play along with this little group of three until it was safe enough to return home, perhaps they could be of some use to her in one way or another. It’d been so long since she had any real use of her pending prowess. Also a story would need to be fabricated covering her disappearance as well. All of this became more and more taxing as well as time consuming.
“Now if only a certain loud mouth would shut it so I could concentrate” Always one to procrastinate it would be best to save the pain for later. Wisps of black hair fell about her childish face as her body moved into position, a few short jabs and movements of her feet extended a path in front of the group moving towards what she could only assume was the make-shift entrance he described. The progress wouldn’t be too slow, surely faster than the worn down, dried up soldiers they had left in their wake.
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Post by airnomad on Aug 30, 2007 17:06:00 GMT -5
Aang could help a small smile from playing across his features as he watched this crude girl earthbend. Despite her apparent attitude problems, she really did seem to have complete control over her bending. If he didn't have his heart set on learning from Bumi, he might very well consider her as a teacher... If she would even accept him as a pupil.
However, now was not the time for such thoughts. With Firebenders eagerly looking for a way to reach them, now was the time for running. And since the earthbender girl hadn't started moving just yet, Aang decided t lead by example. "This way!" he announced, and darted forward while waving for the others to follow.
It only seemed like a few years to the Avatar, who'd spent the last century frozen in slumber, but a century was a long time for things to change. He could only hope that the sewage drain that a much younger Bumi had once shown him was still where he remembered it.
After running along the path for a short while, the gently curving wall of the chasm eventually brought him within sight of a slight protrusion on the stone. "There it is!" he called, speeding up his steps, heedless of the endless fall that loomed just a few feet to his right. Aang made a running leap over the last few yards of the distance and landed on the inner lip of a large circular ring of stone that surround an iron grate. Dark, foul smelling sludge was draining along the bottom of the portal, and the young Avatar blanched for a moment, pinching his nose. "I don't remember it smelling this much..." he groaned, looking back toward the others behind him.
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Post by meatandsarcasm on Aug 31, 2007 15:54:51 GMT -5
Sokka snorted at the earthbending girl’s comments. Loudmouth? The irony was so thick, he could almost taste it. Still, he said nothing to her in response. Again, it wasn’t worth getting worked up about, especially in this situation. So, he followed her and the others as they made their way towards the sewer pipe. It didn’t look so bad at first, he decided, and he couldn’t really smell it. Perhaps he’d be able to stand it after all. Then, Aang popped it open, and Sokka’s mind changed immediately. The smell was awful, and the sludge was disgusting. Instinctively, he took a step back from the sludge and made to plug his nose. He thought about holding his breath, but before he could do that, he needed to say something. A situation like this could not go without a sarcastic quip, and besides, sometimes, there were things that just needed to be said.
“Eewww,” he said in disgust, vocalizing what everyone was probably thinking. “Even Appa couldn’t compete with this on his worst day.”
Still, it was their only way in, he knew that. They had to go in there. That didn’t mean he’d be going first, though. Maybe Katara and Aang could bend this stuff out of their way…
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Post by blindgirl on Oct 16, 2007 10:41:12 GMT -5
“You three like to complain a lot donncha? “ Toph strode foreword hesitating a second before she jumped into the muck, as much as she loved much-her parents had made her clean it off- the thought of getting her nice clothes dirty worried her a bit. It was like being a kid sneaking out of the house. She didn’t want to get caught red handed, the fall back would always be to blame it on the firebenders who attacked but she didn’t want to stretch the lie further than she could keep up. It shouldn’t bother her and yet it was on the back of her mind, how long until they turned the carriage around and came back for her. Dirty or not she needed to get into the city walls before her cover was blown, the rest could be dealt with later.
It seemed to slip her mind that she’d already lost her shoes, have her dress singed in various places and her hair was in a disarray but over all she didn’t feel anything was wrong. She hauled back the spit and salvia to the back of her mouth before hocking the contents at the ground next to the loud tall obnoxious boy’s feet. “step back”
She rubbed her hands together standing in front of the wide opening with a heavy stance. Too bad she wasn’t a metal bender, it would make things a lot easier. Her hands quickly pulled out to her sides before she trust upward causing the stone to crush in on it’s self, warping the metal to the point where the sheer force of the stone surrounding it bent the poor grate. Releasing her hold and forcing the stone back to it’s place the iron grate fell easily to the floor splashing grime onto the small party of teens. It hit Toph’s face though it didn’t phase her much at all in fact her face lit with a grin as she pulled herself up into the muck. She wiggled her toes in the sludge enjoying the feel of the wet would be earth and sewage. “Well… ya coming of not?”
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Post by airnomad on Oct 20, 2007 13:25:03 GMT -5
Aang's nose wrinkled up at the sudden wave of intense smell that seemed to wash over them after Toph removed the grate. A few flecks of waste seemed to splatter his clothes, but for the time being he didn't care. He was about to get much dirtier in the next few minutes.
“Well… ya coming of not?” Toph asked them, to which the Avatar spared a momentary glance at the girl. Was she always this cranky?
"Katara and I will clear the way," he said, hopping up onto the lip of the stone tunnel as he brought his staff to bear in front of him. "Stay close behind." The water tribe girl climbed up into the tunnel as well, and they gave each other a slight nod to synchronize their timing. Aang pointed his staff at the sewage and began counter-rotating his hands in order to set the end swiveling in a circular motion. A small ball of air, much like his air scooted, began to form around the circulating tip. Aang lower the staff into the flowing sewage and the pressure of the ball displaced the flow and directed it to the side, clearing a narrow area big enough for a person to walk through without being knee deep in sludge.
Beside him, Katara had begun using her waterbending, flowing her hands in a wavingmanner that redirected the flow to her side as well. With one final call of, "Let's go," to Sokka and Toph, the pair started making their way up the steeply inclined tunnel.
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Post by meatandsarcasm on Oct 26, 2007 13:31:47 GMT -5
Sokka stuck his tongue out in final childish, but completely neccesary, display of disgust before taking a deep, final breath of fresh air and following Aang and Katara. Plugging his nose with one hand and his cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk's, Sokka held his breath as long as he could. Unfortunately, the moment when he could finally hold it no lo0nger came just as a stray bit of...well, let's call it "sludge" hit him in the face.
Sputtering and gagging, Sokka continued forward as even more of the ooze splattered him all over. It seemed that while Aang and Katara could easily protect themselves from the goo, a fair bit of it found its way around them and right into him. He would have complained, but after that first bit of sludge to the face, he decided keeping his mouth closed was most assuredly the wisest option. After all this trouble, he decided, they not only had better find Bumi, but a few pounds of jerked meat as well.
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Post by blindgirl on Oct 28, 2007 11:49:05 GMT -5
Toph glanced in Sokka’s direction though not looking directly at him, she’d found that people don’t like it when you talk away from them so she’d learned to face them somewhat. Her lips pulled into what could be considered a grimace as the obviously taller older boy panicked over some sludge. His voice and size told her that he had to be the oldest in the group and yet he sure didn’t act like it. “Don’t be such a baby It’s just a little grime.” Her hand swiped the wall taking some off and flicking it towards his face. She didn’t get why people hated the dirt so much, in fact she loved it, it was always everything that her parents wanted her to avoid. They were so constraining that sometimes she couldn’t take it.
She laughed a bit at the boys sudden misfortune then looked ahead with her chin low, she could ‘see’ the tunnel moving ahead of her, with each step she could ‘see’ more and more. “There’s a split in the path up ahead, I think right will get you to the city faster” Silently she took note that the boy who had confused her before with his odd bending was now moving the sludge, that meant that he was a water bender, but she’d seen maybe one of two of them at most. He didn’t move like them. The girl did, there was something weird going on.
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Post by airnomad on Oct 28, 2007 17:22:55 GMT -5
At the earthbender girl's mention of a fork in the path ahead, Aang couldn't help but wonder how she knew. It was definitely too dark to see very far ahead, and from what he gathered before... she was blind. "Did you come this way before?" the young Avatar asked, sparing a glance over his shoulder as he continued to bend aide the filth with the ball of air. Normally Aang didn't bother with such round-about methods of getting the answer he wanted, but neither was he about to doubt this girl because of an apparent disability.
In the next few steps, the tunnel suddenly opened wider as it forked off into two directions. Aang glanced at Katara for a moment and she looked his way. A slight shrug from the young boy was all that transpired and they both veered toward the right pathway.
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Post by meatandsarcasm on Oct 29, 2007 18:37:01 GMT -5
Sokka dodged the “muck” the girl flicked at him as deftly as he could with a plugged nose, though the look on his face made it look like he was dodging an arrow instead. That incident out of the way, he shot her a glare. He hadn’t responded to her attitude so far, but questioning his manliness was crossing the line. Baby? No three-foot-nothing little girl was going to call him a baby! Indeed, the comment took so much of his attention, that he passed off her giving Aang directions as mere bossiness without even thinking of it. His manliness took priority over any mysterious sense of direction.
“Grime? Grime?!” he yelled at the girl, flailing his free arm while keeping his nose plugged with the other. “This is a sewer! You know why it smells like poo down here? Because it is poo down here!”
Katara butted in at this point, “Thanks for making sure we were well informed, Sokka. You know, it was your idea to come down here in the first place.”
“Well, yeah,” admitted Sokka. “But that was before I knew we’d be walking through p-”
“I think I see an exit,” interrupted Katara hastily.
Indeed, just a few meters ahead, a few small beams of light could be seen shining through from the ceiling above. It was a manhole. Sokka inwardly thanked whatever great spirit it was that was finally going to get them out of there. Once they got out, they would be faced with the Fire Nation soldiers, however, and that was pretty bad in itself. Out of one world of BAD!, and into another. For Sokka, though, that was basically par for the course. Ah, the joys of traveling with the Avatar.
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Post by blindgirl on Nov 2, 2007 12:28:30 GMT -5
Toph couldn’t contain her grin when the loud mouthed boy began whining about the sludge she tossed at him, honestly it was just some sewage, nothing too gross in her opinion though she flinched at the thought of her mother finding her dress in the disarray she imagined it in. Obviously she wouldn’t be happy, with her everything had to be clean and proper, she was a daughter not a son.
Either way the loud boy seemed to get riled up so easily. Even though he apparently was the oldest, he seemed to be the least mature in her opinion. He couldn’t take a joke; that was for sure. At least the loud girl had the sense to cut him off. His mannerisms were odd, she noted how the younger boy and the girl seemed to stay still like most people, it seemed like the other one just flailed about like a fish on a river bank.
Her head tilted in the direction of the younger boy, for all purposes he seemed to be the leader, what with his odd fighting style it seemed rather obvious he’d be more suited for it. She still couldn’t figure out if he was a water bender or not, it confused her somewhat. “Nah never been here before why do you ask?”
Her eyebrows knit together lightly when she tried to think of why he asked her that, she was blind, she shouldn’t be able to see of course, maybe she could sling some of the sludge at him as well. Being cut off by the sudden discovery of the entrance the young earth bender grew silent for a time. Her face seemed to focus under the misplaced black bangs. Her feet dug into the ground softly and her breathing calmed feeling the lay of the land.
“there aren’t many people around, we should be able to get up alright without the fire benders breathing down our necks”
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Post by airnomad on Nov 4, 2007 19:06:26 GMT -5
“Nah never been here before why do you ask?”
"No reason," Aang replied simply to the earthbender girl. The Avatar could tell that there was something unusual about this girl, but he realized that her exact methods of sensing the world were a bit inconsequential at the moment.
The tunnel started to level out as they went on, and before long Sokka spotted the daylight. The group came upon an iron grate in the low cieling where they could smell fresh air. Aang stopped directly under the exit to the surface and planted his staff upright next to him.
Toph's declaration that the way was clear once more piqued his curiosity, and the airbender looked her way for a split second before saying, "Let's go."
Aang twisted his wrist, spending his staff into a spin while he stepped forward and used his other hand to accelerate the swing. He exhaled a deep breath through his nostrils and blew a powerful air current from the tip of his staff, directing it at the iron grill overhead. The iron creaked for a moment as the rust built up arounf it struggled to hold it in place, but moments later it gave way and the grill popped up into the air like a cork.
The stone cieling thudded as the chunk of metal landed forcefully on the ground beside the opening, and Aang brought his staff back to a resting position beside him. The young Avatar then bent his knees, summoning a high pressure cushion of air beneath him, and then jumped. The bending-assisted leap carried him through the opening and onto the surface where he landed softly on the earthen floor.
Aang swiveled his head around, looking out for any sign of Fire Nation soldiers. However, to their good fortune, the sewer entrance was located in a shaded alley between a pair of buildings.
"It's all clear," Aang said quietly to the others. He stepped to the edge of the opening and prepared to give the others a hand in climbing out.
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Post by meatandsarcasm on Nov 7, 2007 23:34:40 GMT -5
In truth, Aang didn’t need to help anyone up, as there turned out to be a series of rungs that functioned as a ladder leading up to the manhole. Katara, being closest to the front, climbed up first. Sokka followed, climbing as quickly as he could to get out of the sewage. Katara had never actually turned around to look at her brother since they had entered the sewage pipes, so her surprise was evident when she finally saw him climbing out of the manhole covered in all sorts of gunk. Before Sokka could even ask, she pulled her hands back and threw them forward in his direction, splashing water from a nearby troff all over him and wiping the gunk right off of him.
“Thank you,” Sokka deadpanned, spitting out some water in the process.
Shaking the water off, Sokka glanced around. The streets seemed empty. There wasn’t a soul in site. The boy frowned. The last time they had been in Omashu, the streets had been absolutely packed. Granted, the Fire Nation occupation would slow traffic down quite a bit, but this was a little too extreme.
“We need to get out of the street and start heading for the palace,” he suggested. “My instincts are telling me we shouldn’t hang around for long.”
Katara crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at her brother’s choice of words. He blinked for a moment, realized his mistake, and glared back at her.
“Don’t you even start.”
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Post by blindgirl on Nov 15, 2007 13:37:08 GMT -5
“ I didn’t know snake slugs HAD instincts.” Toph hoisted herself out of the man hole patting down her skirt trying to get the grime off even though her face boasted a smug grin. Yeah, if her parents were here she’d most defiantly get the lecture of the century. In a very un lady like manner she blew some hair out of her face indifferently. To be completely open if it didn’t tickle her nose she wouldn’t have cared that it hung in front of her eyes. Not like it was blocking her vision or anything.
She could feel her hands coated with grim in all the little crevices her joints held. It was comforting, more so it was thrilling to be going against her parents will for her to stay clean. They always told her what to do, how to act, what to say. She was their daughter but they both thought she was too frail to do anything, the girl could tell when her own parents were lying to her. She could really get into the habit of breaking the rules if she wasn’t too careful. Much like fighting in the area the thrill of breaking and entering was too much of a lure for her to ignore completely.
With her eyes down cast she wriggled her toes into the stony street, this city seemed like an earth benders dream, stone with stone layered over dirt. Except for the metal bits she sensed brought in by the fire nation. Her hand quickly shot up pointing off to the right, her lips formed a thin line as the self awareness came back to her like ripples on a pond. “I feel foot steps, a lot of em, we might have alerted someone to our position.”
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Post by airnomad on Nov 17, 2007 0:04:29 GMT -5
"Take cover," Aang said reflexively. The young Avatar swivelled his staff around in his hand for a moment, bringing its tip in line with the dislodged sewer grate. He bent a swirling current of air underneath it, lifting it from the from before giving his staff a slight jerk to the side. The motion tossed the iron bars back over the hole, which he then lined up more precisely with a shove of his foot.
Aang then backed up against the wall of the alleyway next to Katara, who had already been fashioning some cover by rolling a loose waterbarrel into position. Aang slinked down into a squatting position to stay out of sight and tried to peak around the edge of the barrel to see out of the alley.
"How can you tell these things?" he whispered to Toph, though he still kept his eyes peeled for potential enemies.
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Post by meatandsarcasm on Nov 18, 2007 18:04:36 GMT -5
Sokka again glared, though this time it was at the earthbending girl. Snake slug? He was nothing like a slug! Was she bl-oh…she was blind. Even so, he opened his mouth for a retort but was cut off by her warning about people coming. Straining his ears and looking around, he found no sign of anyone. However, Aang and Katara seemed to trust the girl’s instincts, quickly going into hiding, so he reluctantly followed, hiding behind a crate and peeking his head over it to get a look around.
"How can you tell these things?" asked Aang, voicing the question Sokka was thinking.
“Yeah, that’s what I wanna know,” Sokka added quietly, bringing his head back under cover and looking at the blind girl. “It doesn’t make any…”
The sound of clanking armor cut Sokka off, and he raised his eyes above the crate to take a peek. Sure enough, the sound was coming from a group of Fire Nation soldiers. Jaw dropping in astonishment, Sokka lowered himself back into hiding and stared dumbly at the blind girl.
“Getting a little freaked out now…”
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