Dirt Pride

Author's Note: this is a fic I was asked to write on a board I visit. Someone asked if anyone was willing to work on a fic starring Toph from Avatar and Annie, a girl who appeared in an episode of Batman who could... well, you'll see. This is a WIP, so expect there to be some massive changes to the whole thing before long. And if anyone can figure out the appropriate tags for this tale, let me know, because I'm clueless.

Thanks to Sage for the idea, Dr. Sivana for the title and dbc/snd for the odd input.

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The blind girl walked into the middle of the clearing. She'd heard someone following her for a while, but hadn't been able to sense them. Idly, she wondered if it might be an Airbender, but quickly dismissed the idea.

She strode into the center of the clearing, threw her bag on the ground and stood motionless, waiting for the other person to make the first move. She listened closely, the only sounds being the wind in the branches, and the occasional chirping of a cricketlouse in the distance.

"Whoever you are," she said finally, "you'd better show yourself now - you don't want me bringing you out here." Still silence. Bored with this game, she made a stance and fired a few rock pillars up out the ground randomly. After the third, he was rewarded with a high-pitched yelp. Thinking quickly, she created a wall and hurled it at her stalker's back, flinging them into the center of the clearing. What she saw with her earth sense surprised her - or rather, it was what she didn't see that was weird. The form was of a girl, about her age, maybe a little older. But for some reason, she seemed fuzzy, indistinct. There was a kind of heartbeat, a kind of pulse, but it seemed... wrong. She immediately trapped the girl's hands with rock to prevent her from trying anything. the girl squealed with alarm, struggling to get free. Toph allowed her a moment or two to realise she wasn't going anywhere, then spoke.
"Okay, who are you and why the heck have you been following me?" she said, her voice clearly stating that she wasn't in the mood to play games.
"Please!" the girls said, "I didn't mean any harm, I just- I just heard you were one of the best Earthbenders out there, I thought you could help me." Okay... Toph was used to people trying to kill her, but asking her for help?
"What's your name?" she asked the girl.
"Annie," she replied. "My name is Annie."
"Okay 'Annie'," she said, wondering what kind of a weird name that was, "why have you been following me?" What Annie told her both explained a lot, and left her more confused than ever.

According to her, she wasn't actually human. She was a piece of an earth monster ('a cast-off', she said with a hint of bitterness) that came from a land far away. She had traveled far and wide to find someone to help her understand herself better.
"And that's when I heard of you. I thought... I hoped, you could help me find out who... or what I am." Toph pondered this. She didn't entirely believe her story, though the part about being made of earth explained why she couldn't see her and why her pulse felt wrong. And if she was actually made of clay, then she had to find out more.
"Okay," she said, wanting to see where this would go, "there's a cave not far from here. Follow me. But if you try anything in any way, clay or not, I'm going to hurt you before you can blink, got it?" She could hear the smile Annie nodde4d her head frantically, before doing something Toph couldn't quite understand with her hands and legs that enabled her to escape the bindings.
"Wait, could you have escaped that at any time?"
"Yes," she replied. But I didn't to show you I was being honest." Toph stood, confused. This was proving to be a very strange day.

On the way to the cave, Annie talked a little about herself. She told Toph that he was capable of molding her body into anything she could think of - a result of her 'father's' powers. Unlike Toph, she couldn't exert her will on other rocks, but she did possess a sense close to Toph's own.
"Well that's good," she replied, "because I never bring any torches with me."
"Why not?" Annie asked.
"'Cuz I'm blind," she replied, matter-of-factly.
"Oh," Annie said.

Eventually, they reached the cave and went inside. They kept walking until they came to a large chamber that felt like it was a fair way underground. It was dark, but to the two girls, it was as clear as day. Toph dropped her bag and raised a pair of large flat rocks for them to sit on.
"Okay," Toph said, by way of explanation, "I'm going to test you a little. Don't take this the wrong way, but I need to see what you're made of and what you can do. This might hurt a little. Actually, this may hurt a lot, I have no idea what I'm doing here. Are you sure you want to do this?" Annie took a calming breath.
"Yes," she said. Toph nodded and began.
Toph took the girl's hands lightly in her hand. It was weird - they felt... real. Slightly cool in her hands, a little moist from nervousness, but other than that, she'd swear this was a real girl sitting in front of her. Of course, her other sense, the one that she 'saw' with told her the same thing she'd thought earlier - that, to all intents and purposes, she may as well be sitting in front of a statue.

She crossed her legs, and invoked her will on Annie's hands. She felt the flesh ripple slightly at her thoughts. Annie let out a yelp of alarm.
"It's okay," Toph told her, "this is just part of the test. Let me know if it gets painful or anything, alright?" Annie nodded, then said 'Right, sorry,' remembering her blindness. Toph shook her head and continued.

Toph sent the ripple up and down Annie's arms, making the girl wince slightly. Everything Toph sensed confused her - she was made of clay, but it wasn't clay. It had the properties of earth, but it was something else altogether. Probing further, she felt Annie's breathing (if that was the right word) quicken. She asked if she was okay, but Annie could only nod. Toph shrugged and moved on. She extended her senses further, feeling like she was enveloping the girl with her will, but everything she felt told her the same thing - that this girl was both alive *and* mud. She sent out a small pulse to a part of her 'brain', when she got a most unexpected result. Out of the blue, Annie's breathing became rougher, a small moan behind it.
"What, what's happening," Toph asked, suddenly tense.
"I, I don't, know just, keep-" Toph, confused, lost control and sent out a stronger pulse than she'd intended. Annie let out a loud moan, almost a scream, before literally, collapsing in a puddle on the cave floor.
"Annie!" she shouted, running over to see what she'd done. She scooped the clay girl up, trying to help her reform as best as she could. Her breathing was still ragged, but she seemed more able to control herself.
"Are you okay?" she asked. She gazed up at Toph as her eyes started to refocus.
"Yeah," she replied, "I'm... yeah."
"I'm so sorry," Toph said, scared she;'d hurt her companion. "What happened?" Annie stood up gingerly.
"I'm not sure. First it felt really weird, like something was under my skin. Then it felt warm. Then it felt really warm, like someone had put the sun inside me. Then it felt..."
"It felt...?"
"I don't now how it felt," she said, turning to face the blind girl. "But I can tell you one thing," she said, a predatory note in her voice.
"I want more." Before Toph could react, Annie had pounced on her, pulling her down into a warm, tight embrace. As she was assaulted by caresses from every direction, all she could think was that this sort of thing never happened when she was traveling with Aang and the others...