minutia_r

Then her mouth meets Suki's, and it's only an awkward tangle--where do noses go, should Toph close her eyes if she's not using them to see anyway--but Suki is more practiced at this. Once the first moment of shock passes, she puts her arm around Toph to brace her, and the graceless position Toph has chosen shifts into something that feels comfortable and natural and not quite enough.

Toph has fought with non-benders before, both against and alongside, too much to underestimate them--but it has always seemed that their chi, however focused and graceful, never extends beyond their own bodies. Now Suki is holding Toph close, running her tongue against Toph's upper lip in a way that makes her gasp, the energy flowing through Suki into Toph and back into the earth. When Suki sets Toph onto her feet again, she's trembling. She frowns, and holds onto the stone railing hard enough to make finger-marks, and the trembling stops.

“The table soccer’s set up,” Teo calls from the archway. “Who’s in?”

“Oh, me!” says Toph.

“No bending,” says Teo.

Toph’s about ninety percent sure she can cheat and not get caught, but if she does get caught Zuko will be pissy the rest of the evening, and somehow winding Zuko up isn’t as fun as it used to be. Gloomily, Toph wonders if she’s growing up, or something. “You chuckleheads have fun then,” she says, waving a dismissive hand.