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Jan. 26th, 2012 06:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tophbeifongPlayer Name: Laurasaur
Player Contact: AIM: Nutikwolfhawk
Currently Played: No one.
Character Name: Toph Bei Fong
Canon Name: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Canon Point: End of first series (A:TLA, not Legend of Korra)
Personality: Simply put, Toph is tough. Even as a young child, Toph was no push over. She was strong and resilient, despite what her parents thought of their poor, innocent little blind daughter. Maybe the Bei Fongs were embarrassed by their disabled child. Maybe they truly actually just wanted to protect her from the world because they didn’t think she could handle it. Either way, the overprotective couple were never known to have bred, despite being as high-society and well-known as they were.
Being hidden away from the world fostered a resentment in Toph that grew and defined her. While she loved her parents with all her heart and in their presence did everything she could to be a good, obedient little daughter, her free time was spent being anything but. She became rebellious, but silently so. She didn’t want to destroy the image her parents had of her. However, when they weren’t around, or wouldn’t notice her missing, Toph would head out into the gardens, crawl her way out through a hole in the wall, and explore the world beyond only by touch, sound, and smell. During one of her escapades, she found a cave. It wasn’t much- just a hole in the side of a mountain. She claimed it as her own sanctuary and retreated to it often when she couldn’t handle her parents any longer. It was in this cave that she learned her greatest talent from the masters who invented it. She could bend earth.
She couldn’t have been happier! Now, she wasn’t helpless. Now, she wasn’t weak. So she couldn’t see, but who cared? Her badgermole friends couldn’t see, either, but that didn’t stop them from being the most feared creatures in the mountain. They were an inspiration for Toph. Like her, they were blind from birth, they were stronger than they looked, and they valued their independence. She began sneaking out more and more, though now it was to practice more than it was to escape her parental clutches. She spent hours each week- each day, if she could manage it- practicing her new found ability. When she could get out of the garden, she went into the mountain to move big boulders and sinkholes. When her parents were still around, she’d merely find a secluded corner behind the house and create sculptures out of garden soil. Even at home after she’d been laid to bed, Toph would bend the floor of her room. She was addicted to bending. It made her happy.
After a while, Toph began to find that there was something else that came along with learning to bend the earth. She could read vibrations through the ground. It started out with large ones- she could tell when a badgermole was digging in the ground under her house. She could tell when a cart was driving by outside. She could feel lightning hitting the ground. Eventually, as she focused more and more on this talent, she began “seeing” more and more of the world around her. She could tell where the table was, where the wall ended, where the steps began, even where a spiderfly was scurrying across the hallway.
This was a serious confidence boost for Toph. It opened up a world of possibilities for her. She could take care of herself now. She didn’t have to rely on a chaperone any more to go outside and play with the family winged boar, and she certainly didn’t need to rely on finding that hole in the wall to escape the garden. She could make her own doors now, or just save herself the trouble and create a tunnel. She was unstoppable and the world was her oystertrout.
She regretted it almost immediately when her parents gave into her request to find her an earth bending tutor. He was stuffy and refused to let her show him how good she’d become on her own. He wouldn’t advance her. He made her feel like she was lower than dust. She needed somewhere to let her talents fly. She needed something to help her improve and strengthen her abilities. She knew as well as he did, THAT wasn’t going to happen under his tutelage. She found a solution to this in the belly of another nearby mountain- Earth Rumble competitions. For several weeks, she merely sat, felt the matches, and learned. Before long, she found herself in the ring… and never losing a match, no matter how big the opponent. She dubbed herself the Blind Bandit and guarded her trophy belt like nothing else.
Toph values her independence. As a child, she was waited on hand and foot and never allowed to go anywhere without someone to act as her eyes. She was fine with that back then, but now she doesn’t need them. At least, not usually. Materials like wood, dense rugs and carpeting, loose sand, ice, and generally anything that doesn’t carry vibrations very well can stunt her “seeing” capabilities and render her as blind as the day she was born. She understands that situations like these can be dangerous for her, and she’s not too proud to accept help from someone who loves her. The Avatar team was always more than happy to be her eyes when the earth couldn’t. She didn’t mind them helping her, because Sokka, Katara, Aang, and the others never saw her as a blind little girl, but only as a loud-mouthed, rough edged companion who saved them more than once, and gave up a pretty cushy life to help the Avatar become what he needed to be.
In fact, to her amusement, it seems to Toph like she’s the only one on the team who even remembers she IS blind, and often has to remind each of them. She honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. They don’t see it as a handicap any more than she does. As her parents raised her, they treated her blindness like an illness that turned her into nothing more than a porcelain doll. It was as if they never could comprehend that her blindness was what made her the most fearsome earth bender ever.
Toph was always taught that her blindness WAS something to be embarrassed about, and it was something that made her less than what she was in their eyes. For a long time she believed it. The more she delved into the fine workings of earth bending and strengthened her seismic senses, the more and more she began to feel that her blindness wasn’t anything more than something to laugh about. She doesn’t feel it’s necessary to pander to something that’s never held her back that much. This comes in handy with her friends, too, because when they see her laughing and joking about what’s not a disability, they feel better about it and learn to ignore it that much easier.
Toph’s family is high class and well known. Although she’s rarely taken to parties and gatherings, Toph knows her etiquette and manners. She knows how to dress and how to put on her make up, even without seeing. She knows the dainty walk and the proper way to hold herself so that she’s small and compact next to a powerful, lordly father. She knows how to be seen and not heard. Toph, though, finds this lifestyle incredibly boring and maddening. She’s given up that way of life in exchange for one that constantly has her in the driving seat of her own destiny. She’s only happy when she’s the one making her own calls.
She struts around, confident and cocky in every way possible. Some may call this a weakness, but she knows better than to overestimate her abilities or to underestimate someone else. She’s her best example- looking at her small frame and short stature, not many people would know that she can, and has, moved mountains and more.
Having grown up blind, there are things that most people in polite company will do that Toph doesn’t, because she doesn’t know she’s supposed to do so. For example, Toph doesn’t make eye contact when speaking or listening to someone. It’s a foreign concept to her, and even if told to do so, she wouldn’t understand why. If turning her head towards someone will improve her hearing and understanding of their words, she will, but generally, as long as she can clearly hear someone speaking she won’t look at them. This isn’t to be rude, it just isn’t something she knows she’s supposed to do. This can make it difficult to know who she’s talking to, though she does her best to either state their name or make physical contact before speaking. Vice versa, she often isn’t sure who the target is when someone else is talking. Usually, she can gather context clues to figure it out (such as, “Can you bend this?” when referencing an earthen object, or “Do you need help with this?” because she hears THAT one a lot) but sometimes there won’t be a response from her until the speaker makes it clear that they want her attention.
As Toph grew up and learned to work around her disability, she learned that she has a few advantages over the sighted. The biggest advantage, she feels, is that she can’t judge people based on their appearances. She has to judge them on their personalities and hearts, and by being forced to do that, she’s become a great judge of character.
The only other way for Toph to take in the world is by hearing. Often, she finds relaxation by laying on something soft and removing her self from the hard ground, and letting her ears do the work. Some people like to people watch, but Toph likes to people listen. She listens to their conversations, their movements, the ruffling and shuffling of scrolls, the swishing of plants, the noises of animals around her, and even the weather. Regardless of her being disconnected from the earth for a short while, she feels safe and secure because even though she can’t use her seismic senses to feel when someone’s trying to sneak up on her, her acute hearing and quick wits have her on her feet and defensive before it becomes an issue.
Abilities: Toph is the best earthbender she knows. She has the ability to run her chi along that of the earth’s and pull it into doing whatever she wants with it. She can build and manipulate statues, or she can dive into the ground like it was liquid.
This ability extends to by-products of the earth, such as concrete, cement, gems, and even basic metals, such as iron and various cosmic metals. More purified metals such as steel and titanium are not entirely free from her influence. It can stand up against her since it generally has too few impurities for her to bend, but she can still shake it to its foundation.
Materials with very little resonation can hinder her abilities, including her sight. Even leather and cloth shoes have been known to cause interference. She has no control over earth she’s not touching at least indirectly. For example, if she was standing in a concrete room with a thick rug beneath her feet, she’d have no control over the floor. However, if she were able to touch a concrete wall, her abilities would extend to the floor, but because her range of motion and thus chi control would be limited, she’d only have a short selection of things she could do with the flooring.
Toph also cannot perform or see well on loose sand, such as in the desert, and only has moderate control and detection over dense sand, such as on a lake bed. Mud and sludge are easier for her to handle as it is more dirt than water, but her talents with it are neither as strong nor graceful as her control over hard, solid ground.
Her blindness has left her with acute senses of hearing, smell, and feeling. Thanks to this, she can detect changes in a person’s body if she’s in close proximity. She can use this to determine with great accuracy if someone is being honest or not.
Writing Samples: You must include any TWO of the following:
1. I’m back. But don’t say anything yet, okay? Just listen! … I did as you suggested. I went home and tried to talk to Dad. I told him I’d stay home with him and Mom if it meant that I would be able to keep doing what I love doing. You know, fighting. Earthbending. At first it seemed almost like he’d changed from when I left the first time, but he hasn't. It’s like he doesn’t accept me or something! I trained the Avatar himself! I have a flawless streak in the Rumbles! But all of that means nothing to my dad! I don’t think he trusts me and my abilities, or maybe he just doesn’t like what I do. I don’t know, but I’m not staying there anymore. I can’t stay. I’ve fallen in love with the freedom I have away from him. … is that offer of the spare room still up for grabs? I promise to earn my keep. Besides, with Zuko all high, mighty and kingly now, you’re short staffed and need some help around the tea shop, don’t you?
2. Early morning, just before dawn, when the nocturnal creatures of the earth are snuggling down in their dens and holes, and the diurnal creatures are stirring. When half the world is preparing to sleep and half the world is waking up and the entire world is generally dozing in and out… that’s when Toph finds herself one and centered with the earth. Vibrations from the fauna die and she’s left in the calm, soothing, soft hum of just the planet and her. She rises from her bed of dirt and heads to the highest point she can find. There, she faces the rising sun. She can’t see the light or the colors in the sky, but she can feel it. With honed senses, she can feel the warmth of the fresh sun on her face, contrasting against the cool of the night air. She can feel the plants for miles away shaking awake and spreading their leaves. The heat of the sun is always on the heels of its light, chasing it for all it is worth through the solid ground. Trees, rocks, hills, grass, flowers, clover, water… not even Toph is immune from being run over in the warmth’s attempts to out run the light. She feels it surge through her, and it never fails to bring a smile to her face.
She’s broken out of her concentration by the rapport of light, tender feet. She’s not sure how long he’s been awake or how much of her occasional ritual he saw, but as always with Aang, she can practically SMELL him smiling, and the feel of his heart thump thumping in his chest and through his feet suggests that he’s amused at the least to have seen a side of Toph that only rarely gets out past her tough, mighty veneer. Perhaps he’s even touched to have stumbled on it and caught her with pink in her cheeks. She doesn’t care about that sentimental horse ostrich slop, though. The Avatar doesn’t have time to dwell on it either. He’s in need of serious practice and she’s all too happy to instruct him into it.
Player Contact: AIM: Nutikwolfhawk
Currently Played: No one.
Character Name: Toph Bei Fong
Canon Name: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Canon Point: End of first series (A:TLA, not Legend of Korra)
Personality: Simply put, Toph is tough. Even as a young child, Toph was no push over. She was strong and resilient, despite what her parents thought of their poor, innocent little blind daughter. Maybe the Bei Fongs were embarrassed by their disabled child. Maybe they truly actually just wanted to protect her from the world because they didn’t think she could handle it. Either way, the overprotective couple were never known to have bred, despite being as high-society and well-known as they were.
Being hidden away from the world fostered a resentment in Toph that grew and defined her. While she loved her parents with all her heart and in their presence did everything she could to be a good, obedient little daughter, her free time was spent being anything but. She became rebellious, but silently so. She didn’t want to destroy the image her parents had of her. However, when they weren’t around, or wouldn’t notice her missing, Toph would head out into the gardens, crawl her way out through a hole in the wall, and explore the world beyond only by touch, sound, and smell. During one of her escapades, she found a cave. It wasn’t much- just a hole in the side of a mountain. She claimed it as her own sanctuary and retreated to it often when she couldn’t handle her parents any longer. It was in this cave that she learned her greatest talent from the masters who invented it. She could bend earth.
She couldn’t have been happier! Now, she wasn’t helpless. Now, she wasn’t weak. So she couldn’t see, but who cared? Her badgermole friends couldn’t see, either, but that didn’t stop them from being the most feared creatures in the mountain. They were an inspiration for Toph. Like her, they were blind from birth, they were stronger than they looked, and they valued their independence. She began sneaking out more and more, though now it was to practice more than it was to escape her parental clutches. She spent hours each week- each day, if she could manage it- practicing her new found ability. When she could get out of the garden, she went into the mountain to move big boulders and sinkholes. When her parents were still around, she’d merely find a secluded corner behind the house and create sculptures out of garden soil. Even at home after she’d been laid to bed, Toph would bend the floor of her room. She was addicted to bending. It made her happy.
After a while, Toph began to find that there was something else that came along with learning to bend the earth. She could read vibrations through the ground. It started out with large ones- she could tell when a badgermole was digging in the ground under her house. She could tell when a cart was driving by outside. She could feel lightning hitting the ground. Eventually, as she focused more and more on this talent, she began “seeing” more and more of the world around her. She could tell where the table was, where the wall ended, where the steps began, even where a spiderfly was scurrying across the hallway.
This was a serious confidence boost for Toph. It opened up a world of possibilities for her. She could take care of herself now. She didn’t have to rely on a chaperone any more to go outside and play with the family winged boar, and she certainly didn’t need to rely on finding that hole in the wall to escape the garden. She could make her own doors now, or just save herself the trouble and create a tunnel. She was unstoppable and the world was her oystertrout.
She regretted it almost immediately when her parents gave into her request to find her an earth bending tutor. He was stuffy and refused to let her show him how good she’d become on her own. He wouldn’t advance her. He made her feel like she was lower than dust. She needed somewhere to let her talents fly. She needed something to help her improve and strengthen her abilities. She knew as well as he did, THAT wasn’t going to happen under his tutelage. She found a solution to this in the belly of another nearby mountain- Earth Rumble competitions. For several weeks, she merely sat, felt the matches, and learned. Before long, she found herself in the ring… and never losing a match, no matter how big the opponent. She dubbed herself the Blind Bandit and guarded her trophy belt like nothing else.
Toph values her independence. As a child, she was waited on hand and foot and never allowed to go anywhere without someone to act as her eyes. She was fine with that back then, but now she doesn’t need them. At least, not usually. Materials like wood, dense rugs and carpeting, loose sand, ice, and generally anything that doesn’t carry vibrations very well can stunt her “seeing” capabilities and render her as blind as the day she was born. She understands that situations like these can be dangerous for her, and she’s not too proud to accept help from someone who loves her. The Avatar team was always more than happy to be her eyes when the earth couldn’t. She didn’t mind them helping her, because Sokka, Katara, Aang, and the others never saw her as a blind little girl, but only as a loud-mouthed, rough edged companion who saved them more than once, and gave up a pretty cushy life to help the Avatar become what he needed to be.
In fact, to her amusement, it seems to Toph like she’s the only one on the team who even remembers she IS blind, and often has to remind each of them. She honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. They don’t see it as a handicap any more than she does. As her parents raised her, they treated her blindness like an illness that turned her into nothing more than a porcelain doll. It was as if they never could comprehend that her blindness was what made her the most fearsome earth bender ever.
Toph was always taught that her blindness WAS something to be embarrassed about, and it was something that made her less than what she was in their eyes. For a long time she believed it. The more she delved into the fine workings of earth bending and strengthened her seismic senses, the more and more she began to feel that her blindness wasn’t anything more than something to laugh about. She doesn’t feel it’s necessary to pander to something that’s never held her back that much. This comes in handy with her friends, too, because when they see her laughing and joking about what’s not a disability, they feel better about it and learn to ignore it that much easier.
Toph’s family is high class and well known. Although she’s rarely taken to parties and gatherings, Toph knows her etiquette and manners. She knows how to dress and how to put on her make up, even without seeing. She knows the dainty walk and the proper way to hold herself so that she’s small and compact next to a powerful, lordly father. She knows how to be seen and not heard. Toph, though, finds this lifestyle incredibly boring and maddening. She’s given up that way of life in exchange for one that constantly has her in the driving seat of her own destiny. She’s only happy when she’s the one making her own calls.
She struts around, confident and cocky in every way possible. Some may call this a weakness, but she knows better than to overestimate her abilities or to underestimate someone else. She’s her best example- looking at her small frame and short stature, not many people would know that she can, and has, moved mountains and more.
Having grown up blind, there are things that most people in polite company will do that Toph doesn’t, because she doesn’t know she’s supposed to do so. For example, Toph doesn’t make eye contact when speaking or listening to someone. It’s a foreign concept to her, and even if told to do so, she wouldn’t understand why. If turning her head towards someone will improve her hearing and understanding of their words, she will, but generally, as long as she can clearly hear someone speaking she won’t look at them. This isn’t to be rude, it just isn’t something she knows she’s supposed to do. This can make it difficult to know who she’s talking to, though she does her best to either state their name or make physical contact before speaking. Vice versa, she often isn’t sure who the target is when someone else is talking. Usually, she can gather context clues to figure it out (such as, “Can you bend this?” when referencing an earthen object, or “Do you need help with this?” because she hears THAT one a lot) but sometimes there won’t be a response from her until the speaker makes it clear that they want her attention.
As Toph grew up and learned to work around her disability, she learned that she has a few advantages over the sighted. The biggest advantage, she feels, is that she can’t judge people based on their appearances. She has to judge them on their personalities and hearts, and by being forced to do that, she’s become a great judge of character.
The only other way for Toph to take in the world is by hearing. Often, she finds relaxation by laying on something soft and removing her self from the hard ground, and letting her ears do the work. Some people like to people watch, but Toph likes to people listen. She listens to their conversations, their movements, the ruffling and shuffling of scrolls, the swishing of plants, the noises of animals around her, and even the weather. Regardless of her being disconnected from the earth for a short while, she feels safe and secure because even though she can’t use her seismic senses to feel when someone’s trying to sneak up on her, her acute hearing and quick wits have her on her feet and defensive before it becomes an issue.
Abilities: Toph is the best earthbender she knows. She has the ability to run her chi along that of the earth’s and pull it into doing whatever she wants with it. She can build and manipulate statues, or she can dive into the ground like it was liquid.
This ability extends to by-products of the earth, such as concrete, cement, gems, and even basic metals, such as iron and various cosmic metals. More purified metals such as steel and titanium are not entirely free from her influence. It can stand up against her since it generally has too few impurities for her to bend, but she can still shake it to its foundation.
Materials with very little resonation can hinder her abilities, including her sight. Even leather and cloth shoes have been known to cause interference. She has no control over earth she’s not touching at least indirectly. For example, if she was standing in a concrete room with a thick rug beneath her feet, she’d have no control over the floor. However, if she were able to touch a concrete wall, her abilities would extend to the floor, but because her range of motion and thus chi control would be limited, she’d only have a short selection of things she could do with the flooring.
Toph also cannot perform or see well on loose sand, such as in the desert, and only has moderate control and detection over dense sand, such as on a lake bed. Mud and sludge are easier for her to handle as it is more dirt than water, but her talents with it are neither as strong nor graceful as her control over hard, solid ground.
Her blindness has left her with acute senses of hearing, smell, and feeling. Thanks to this, she can detect changes in a person’s body if she’s in close proximity. She can use this to determine with great accuracy if someone is being honest or not.
Writing Samples: You must include any TWO of the following:
1. I’m back. But don’t say anything yet, okay? Just listen! … I did as you suggested. I went home and tried to talk to Dad. I told him I’d stay home with him and Mom if it meant that I would be able to keep doing what I love doing. You know, fighting. Earthbending. At first it seemed almost like he’d changed from when I left the first time, but he hasn't. It’s like he doesn’t accept me or something! I trained the Avatar himself! I have a flawless streak in the Rumbles! But all of that means nothing to my dad! I don’t think he trusts me and my abilities, or maybe he just doesn’t like what I do. I don’t know, but I’m not staying there anymore. I can’t stay. I’ve fallen in love with the freedom I have away from him. … is that offer of the spare room still up for grabs? I promise to earn my keep. Besides, with Zuko all high, mighty and kingly now, you’re short staffed and need some help around the tea shop, don’t you?
2. Early morning, just before dawn, when the nocturnal creatures of the earth are snuggling down in their dens and holes, and the diurnal creatures are stirring. When half the world is preparing to sleep and half the world is waking up and the entire world is generally dozing in and out… that’s when Toph finds herself one and centered with the earth. Vibrations from the fauna die and she’s left in the calm, soothing, soft hum of just the planet and her. She rises from her bed of dirt and heads to the highest point she can find. There, she faces the rising sun. She can’t see the light or the colors in the sky, but she can feel it. With honed senses, she can feel the warmth of the fresh sun on her face, contrasting against the cool of the night air. She can feel the plants for miles away shaking awake and spreading their leaves. The heat of the sun is always on the heels of its light, chasing it for all it is worth through the solid ground. Trees, rocks, hills, grass, flowers, clover, water… not even Toph is immune from being run over in the warmth’s attempts to out run the light. She feels it surge through her, and it never fails to bring a smile to her face.
She’s broken out of her concentration by the rapport of light, tender feet. She’s not sure how long he’s been awake or how much of her occasional ritual he saw, but as always with Aang, she can practically SMELL him smiling, and the feel of his heart thump thumping in his chest and through his feet suggests that he’s amused at the least to have seen a side of Toph that only rarely gets out past her tough, mighty veneer. Perhaps he’s even touched to have stumbled on it and caught her with pink in her cheeks. She doesn’t care about that sentimental horse ostrich slop, though. The Avatar doesn’t have time to dwell on it either. He’s in need of serious practice and she’s all too happy to instruct him into it.
