|
|
Post by Toph Bei Fong on Jul 21, 2010 6:31:43 GMT -5
Toph would never admit it, but Greystreak's 'map' was helpful. She had only found Calla's room last time because of her glow, and she wasn't sure which one was hers now. Turned out it wasn't far from her own room. Convenient!
But now she had a new problem. She could sense, albeit fuzzily that Grey had been right about the door, the deadbolt was pulled back. But how to open it with her arms full of druid?
Focusing on the mental portion till she could feel its mineral impurities, she mimed turning the knob with the hand under Calla's head.
The door swung open.
"Damn I'm good," Toph utter to herslef before sliding into the room.
Calla's room was much like hers all told, and she placed the slumbering woman on the bed before returning to the door and closing it. She locked it out of habit before returning to the bedside. All the while, Calla's globe of earth trialed behind her.
She stretched out her arms. "You've heavier than you look, Teach," she teased the sleeping woman. And Toph allowed herslef exactly three seconds to let her eyes linger on the princess' glowing, slim, willowy body, from the arch on her feet to her gentle slop of her nose, before she pulled her focus away and made for the wardrobe. She selected a light, long and fairly modest sleeping chemise Well, it felt modest to her fingers. Straight neck, long hem, short selves. What Toph didn't know is that under the light, the material was practically transparent. In darkness, it was merely translucent.
Undressing Calla was.. harder than she anticipated. First she had to figure out what she was wearing, then how to get it off with the least amount of jostling. Her earthsight was useless in this, which meant she was reduced to touching. A lot of touching. Calla's boots were especially stubborn.
Finally though she was able to lay the now redressed Calla back on the bed, and pull one of the lighter blankets over her. Toph herself breathed sigh of relief, then kicked at stone floor, before gesturing upward slowly with her hands.
A small pedestal with a hollow cup in the top soon emerged, and Toph waved the sphere of earth onto let letting it fall into palce enar the foot of Calla's bed. She then raised a chair or her own out of rock and stone at Calla's bedside, took a seat in it, swung her feet up on the edge of the bed, and simply wacthed the princess sleep.
She was marveling just how oddly peaceful Calla's face looked without any animation when Toph nodded once, twice, and fell asleep herslef.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sablerose on Jul 21, 2010 6:50:21 GMT -5
Calla rarely remembered her dreams, certainly not in great detail when she did. But this one she remembered.
She sat on the soft earth of the Hunting Grounds, her slim feet dipped lightly in the stream that ran through it. Birds chirped around her and a light breeze, just warm enough to counter the cool water at her feet blew against her skin. The sun was not directly on her, as tall trees shaded her, dappling her skin with patches of shadow.
All in all, it was a comfortable day.
Callas scooped up the water and let it drip through the fingers of her cupped hand. She giggled. Then she lay back on the soft cool grass, enjoying the feel of it on her skin.
As she lay back, she stretched out one hand and gestured absently. There was a slight ripping sound, and a bit of earth extracted itself from the ground and hovered in mid-air.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In her room, the clod of earth that Toph had brought with her wobbled in the stone cup before rising into the air and hovering.
|
|
|
|
Post by Toph Bei Fong on Jul 21, 2010 20:52:38 GMT -5
With a surprised snort, Toph jerked awake. Something had changed in in the room, but the vibration had been so slight, and she had not been paying attention. Plus her feet where still on Calla's bed so what sense she did have came through her makeshift chair, which threw her off a bit.
Now she slid her feet to the ground and her surroundings sharpened. Calla still slept, the door was still locked, everything was still in place...
Ah, not quite.
The earth globe was missing.
Toph stood up and approached the pedestal she had made. Where did it go? She had not moved it since arriving. It didn't roll out, otherwise she would feel it on the floor. No one could have taken it. Not only would she have sensed if anyone set so mush as a toe into the room, but also, c'mon, who would steal dirt? No, the only other explanation was...
Toph froze, turning her attention back to Calla. She was still sleeping. If anything she looked more peaceful now than she did earlier. "No way," she breathed. She reached out with one hand and touched the to of the empty pedestal. Then she began to raise her hand upwards through the air.
Her hand was roughly shoulder height when her fingers touched the lost bit of earth.
"Teach," she said. "You're a natural."
Figuring that if Calla was rested enough to unconsciously earthbned, she might be rested enough to wake, Toph retruned to he bed side and took a seat on the mattress. Gently, she tapped the woman on her shoulder thrice. "Wakey-wkaey, your highness. I've got a surprise for you."
|
|
|
|
Post by Sablerose on Jul 21, 2010 21:56:16 GMT -5
In her dream, Calla manipulated the clump of earth with ease. Here, she had no doubt of what she could do, though controlling a dream was never an easy thing. She watched and laughed at how it made circles in the air and changed form, shifting from a ball to a doughnut shape to a disk. All the while it moved easily through the air.
But there was a sound. It wasn't an unpleasant one, and was actually faintly recognizable. The earth stopped its motion as she strained to hear it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The clump mimicked its counterpart's movements in the dream, though it came dangerously close to striking Toph a couple of times. Then, when the other woman tried to wake Calla, it stopped and floated in the air, as if waiting for something.
|
|
|
|
Post by Toph Bei Fong on Jul 23, 2010 8:14:04 GMT -5
Since she did not maintain a sense of the earth after locating it, Toph's only warning that Calla was still whizzing it around was the wind as it passed by her face. "Whoa!" came her startled response as she bent her backwards from its latest passing, throwing of her balance and nearly falling off the bed as she did so.
How is she doing that? Toph wondered. Sleep-bending want exactly unheard of, Toph herself had been know to cause minor earthquakes in the throes of a nightmare. But that was a random thing, a dramatic flare up of chi. Judging by the sound of the air rushing around the clump, this was far more controlled.
When the rushing sounds stopped, Toph felt about in the air blindly for it again. It took a few tries, but she soon found it, and this time touched it with her own bending. She could feel Calla's touch at once. It was a firm thing, but inexperienced. Had she a mind to, she could have ripped control over it from the other woman easily.
Instead, she mental palmed it, the 'fingers' of her touch fitting together with the 'fingers' of Calla's. She then folded her legs under her on the bed, next to Calla and turned her full attention on the globe.
"Let's see what you got teach," she said in a normal voice.
She tugged at the earth playfully, hinting toward a more complex shape, a that of a pyramid. A crease here, a fold there, but she did not finish the shape. She wanted to see if Calla would fill in the blanks.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sablerose on Jul 23, 2010 9:01:49 GMT -5
Calla gave squeal as if she was still a young child. Maybe in many ways the dream was a reflection on the one thing she had lacked: a simple childhood. From birth, she was destined to be royalty, possible Queen of Laurelmoon. She had been tutored as long as she could remember: the duties and responsibilities of being a member of the Royal Family; politics and pose; and, once her talents for being a Druid were established, the extra duties of being trained as a Nature priestess. Choice had been taken from her hands in some many things.
Now, here, she was able to simply be herself. But now, herself seemed to have an extra ability that she had never seen until recently. And part of her dreaded the new level of responsibility. But the child that had never really been able to be reveled in the power.
She felt that the form was being changed. Changed from outside. Outside, against her will. Even in her dreams, she didn't seem to have any control over her life.
Her will became steel, and she took a strong hold of the earth. She took a moment to recognize the pattern. Whoever it was wanted a pyramid shape. Though she had nothing against it, she wanted something else, a shape of her own.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In her room, the struggle began. She forced her will against Toph's. The clump of earth began to elongate, trying to become a column.
|
|
|
|
Post by Toph Bei Fong on Jul 23, 2010 9:25:44 GMT -5
"Interesting, " Toph thought. The earth was changing, but into a whole different shape. But the grip Calla was exerting made it clear this was no accident. She was actively resisting, and Toph was impressed. Yes she could force her to make the pyramid -- Calla might be a natural, but Toph was an expert -- but she kind of liked where this was going better.
So instead, she simple offered resistance. No sense in making it easy. When she graduated to rocks and boulders, the natural resistance would be greater anyway.
She pushed back, trying to reform the pyramid. Calla's return pressure would not be deterred, however, and Toph found that she had to but more effort into the resistance than she had expected she would on. Eventually though, she relented, and the column was born.
This was fun. Toph leaned forward on the bed to whisper in Calla's ear. "Bet you cant make a star... with six points?" she challenged.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sablerose on Jul 23, 2010 9:59:49 GMT -5
That sound was back again, the voice. It was from outside. Calla wondered if it had been the source of the force behind the shaping of the piece of earth she had been toying with. There was a mocking undertone, challenging her to do something. Well, she had succeeded in making the earth into a column. She would succeed in making it into a star. A six-pointed star! Then maybe, she would see about giving the voice a challenge in return.
It took her a moment to visualize the star. And as she did so, nighttime rose in the dream. Cool, but not uncomfortably so. White stars twinkled in the firmament, and that gave Calla an idea...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The column slowly melted into a sphere again. This time, though, several point began to jut out from the surface. Six of them, to be exact. And, oddly enough, they seemed to move in a way that gave the impression that one was looking at a star as it twinkled.
|
|
|
|
Post by Toph Bei Fong on Jul 23, 2010 10:46:01 GMT -5
Of course, Toph had never seen a twinkling star. But she did feel through her earth sense the way the six points of the new globe moved and undulated. And though the image was lost on her, she still was in awe of the natural skill.
Toph felt her smug smirk curl into a complete smile. She regarded the glowing, (and to her) naked form of Calla before her, even as she sensed the 'shinning' star onto one side.
"Okay, okay, I'm impressed," she whispered to Calla, and though there was a smile in her voice, there was serenity in there as well. She 'patted' the the earth with her chi, and though she maintained her feel of it, she stopped trying to control it.
"I wish I had a witness. No one is ever going to believe this. I wonder if you'll even know you were doing it when you wake up."
|
|
|
|
Post by Sablerose on Jul 23, 2010 11:20:04 GMT -5
Calla felt the release of pressure on the earth clump and clapped in her dream. Then she felt the light caress of someone else, rather than their forceful hand. For some reason, she enjoyed the sensation. For all the determined independence in her dream, she felt quite comfortable with this outside influence.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the real world, the star became a slim hand, roughly the size of Calla's. Cautiously, it approached Toph's face and ever so gently, touched one of her cheeks, stroking it lightly.
|
|
|
|
Post by Toph Bei Fong on Jul 24, 2010 15:46:15 GMT -5
“Well, this is unexpected,” Toph confessed as the ‘hand’ caressed her face. The touch was gritty but gentle. It was odd, but damn if it wasn’t nice in a strange way. Toph’s face felt warm as she flushed.
“You know,” said Toph, “I can’t believe I never thought of this before. How many times would having a third, free flowing hand have come in handy? And here you are, a two-hour old earthbender, coming up with the idea it in your sleep. I’d be pissed if it wasn’t so awesome.”
Toph reached up without thinking, giving the ‘hand’ a pat with one of her own, mimicking the physical movement with an immaterial pat on the bent earth. “Just what are you dreaming about in there, teach?” Toph wondered.
She reached out with her other hand, and lightly touched Calla’s cheek in the same way. “Can’t remember the last time I slept that well,” she went on, speaking to the sleeping woman as much as herself. “Without nightmares.” There was a pause. “Well there was that one time, but I was drunk and – um – exhausted. That’s fine once in a while, making a habit of it might be unhealthy.”
Toph’s hand drifted, her fingers brushing Calla’s cheek, then the slope of her nose, dragging lightly to her lips before leaving her face. “Grey seems to think I’d be a good friend to you. Guess that proves he keeps to the surface thoughts only. I’m a mess, teach. You just don’t know. But today, teaching you bending, learning how to touch nature… for a little bit I actually felt like I’ll be okay.”
Toph sighed. “Know something, teach? The docs back home are full of crap. Talking about it doesn’t help at all.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Sablerose on Jul 26, 2010 6:31:25 GMT -5
The words reached through to Calla in her dream world with surprising clarity. Smiling, she gestured and the hand of earth reshaped itself into a ball. Then it settled down on the ground. She stretched and closed her eyes...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The hand pulled back from Toph's face and turned back into the sphere before settling down in the makeshift bowl.
"Don't be so hard on yourself," Calla said, mumbling as she began to awaken. "What is broken can be healed, with enough patience and time. And talking helps...with someone to listen."
|
|
|
|
Post by Toph Bei Fong on Jul 26, 2010 8:32:41 GMT -5
Toph grimaced as Calla woke up and stated speaking, the lowered her head and faced toward the foot of the bed. "Great... you would wake up in time to hear all that," she mumbled under her breath.
After a moment, Toph lifted her head and squared her shoulders. "You've got to tell me what you were dreaming about," she said, her voice more normal. "I had brought the earth you bent earlier with us for practice, but I'm not sure you'll stay at that level for long. You were sleep-bending out here. And you were damn good at it too."
All in all, it was a pretty transparent attempt on Toph's part to change the subject.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sablerose on Jul 26, 2010 10:20:18 GMT -5
Calla's eyes fluttered open, though the exhaustion still showed. She groaned as she sat upright. Without preamble, explained what had gone on in her dream. When she had finished, she looked at the earth that she had struggled to make move before, and had manipulated with surprising ease while asleep.
"I didn't think about it, Toph. I just thought about it and did it. And, honestly, that scares me a bit. With spells, I have to consciously activate them, call out to Nature and hope that Its willing to agree to help me. This" -she gestured to the lump of earth- "is completely out of what I know."
She looked down at her hands. "What if I...What if I have a nightmare and I call up an earthquake?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Toph Bei Fong on Jul 27, 2010 8:15:23 GMT -5
Toph's response was to lightly (very lightly, she wasn't trying to bruise the woman) slug Calla on the upper arm. "Hey dont you worry about all that," she said. "I mean I get why you'd be concerned. Hell I've done that a few times myself, but dont worry. The most you'll be able to do unconsciously is shake the ground a bit, maybe knock some pictures off walls. To cause any significant damages with an earthquake, you'd need to go through the needed forms."
Toph figured some additional explanation was in order. "Like I said, bending is martial arts. Like all martial arts, its has positions and forms. Our forms are away to get our chi flowing in a manner so that the bending manifests itself in was that can be predicted and controlled. Its one thing to shape a lump of dirt. Its another to mentally take the very bedrock under your feet and shake it like it owes you money.
"There's a degrees of discipline involved when it comes to mastering the forms. We'll get to that eventually. Though I'm not sure how much you like me afterwords; I'm told I'm a pretty tough teacher. And by tough I mean b*icthy. But once you have it down, you'll have nothing to fear from accidental bending. Just don't put your fine dishes on the wall."
There was a short lock of hair running down the side of Calla's face. Without thinking, Toph reached out and gently tucked it behind her ear. Then her mind caught up wither actions and she quickly dropped her hand into her lap. "Anyway, Grey's seeing about dinner. You feeling any better? You kind of freaked us out when you passed out."
|
|
