capeandcowllogs | A derp and a cute bruiser walk into a bar...

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A derp and a cute bruiser walk into a bar...

WHO: Toph and Bakura (derpface) (alternately anyone else who might happen upon them at Hell Towers???)
WHEN: Saturday afternoon
WHERE: Hell Towers! Aw yisss.
WARNINGS: Adorableness. Punching.
SUMMARY: Toph goes to see her friend Bakura. There will be punching because he went and got himself killed and that is Not. Okay.
FORMAT: WHATEVA WHATEVA I DO WHAT I WANT

It had been a looong time since Toph had gone to Hell Towers. It was back when Kogenta was around, she thought. Oh man, Kogenta. Those were good times, trying to teach the timid healer to defend himself.

...that was the wrong thing to think about. She paused in the lobby of the building, letting her face tip forward so her hair would hide the tears she was fighting back. Bakura had gotten himself killed, and she couldn't even help him. Nothing she could do. And that hurt almost as much. The guilt was overwhelming, but she shoved it back, pushed it down until she could breathe without trying to sob.

Damnit. Damnit damnit damnit, she thought as she got into the elevator, finding the right floor button by touch. Despite the girl's resistance to learning how to read with Braille, she'd picked up on the number system at least. It was still a little difficult. The need to 'read' the right floor distracted her from her frustration momentarily and helped her get her emotions back in control for the time being.

Once on the floor where Bakura lived, she frowned, not remembering which apartment he lived in. It had really been a long time. There were some people around, but at the distance she was from them and with her winter boots on, she couldn't figure out who was who.

So yelling worked.

"Hey, Bakura!"

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A few moments later the door to 1006 opened, the boy being yelled for peaking up in a moment before giving a smile. "Over here, Toph," he waved.

There was a "mrw" by his feet as Pelor took advantage of the open door to pad out into the hallway to see who was causing the noise.

"Hey!" She bounced toward him for a hug. A big strong hug, much stronger than one would expect from a girl her size.

And then Pelor got her own greeting when the girl leaned down to give her some proper petting for a few moments before tilting her head back up toward her friend.

"You moved to a different one."

"Eh?" Bakura blinked a moment after returning the hug (not nearly as strong as it had been given) before realizing just how long it'd been since Toph and been over to his place. "Aaa-- un!" he laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I've been living with Oniichan and Kiryu-kun for about a year now," he explained, feeling a little sheepish.

Had it really been that long? She sighed, shrugging helplessly.

"We clearly need to hang out more. I didn't even know you moved."

Bakura looked a bit guilty at that. "I'd thought I'd told you when it happened, sorry."

And really, most of the time when they hung out, it was going places, rather than having people over.

He rubbed the back of his neck a little. "I guess I could give you the tour now?" he offered. "Though really, the thing to see on the floor's the Mancave, not my apartment."

"Man...cave? Well, that's a fun name. You'd better show it to me, too."

Toph slid her arm around his and grinned up at him cheerfully, waiting for him to start off in whatever direction was interesting.

"We can see that first, if you'd like!" Bakura smiled, accepting the arm. "How good are you at feeling through water?"

"I can't see in water at all. Why?"

Okay, that got her curiosity up. Why would he have asked that? Did they have a pool up here? She didn't smell chlorine and the air wasn't as humid as it would be with a pool close by.

Not a pool. but a jumbo aquarium tank!

"Aaaa, that's a shame! Since one of the coolest parts of the Mancave is the shark Hiruma-kun brought back!"

"...Huh. A shark? Just a shark, not a sharkbear or komodoshark or pirhanashark or anything?"

Yeah, sharks are boring. Come to think of it, all animals in this world are boring. BORING.

Blink blink. "No, it's just a shark. Those sorts of things don't exist here."

A pause. "Does your world have owlbears too?"

"We probably do! I haven't seen any, though. I like sabre-toothed moose lions the best, though. They're the cutest things ever when they're little."

With her usual enthusiasm, she grinned up at him. Who knew if she was telling the truth or not? Hohoho.

"..sabre-toothed moose lions...?" Bakura repeated, blinking.

The resulting mental image looked sort of like one of Trowa's forms with antlers. Which made him cover a small laugh.

"Yeah, they're awesome. The adults are pretty big and scary but the babies are the best. I'll make you a statue of one, if you want."

The laugh was good. He needed more laughs. Things had been terrible enough for him lately.

"And I could tell you about the time that Sokka got stuck in a hole in the ground trying to catch one of the babies to eat it and had to be rescued. It was hilarious."

"I think I'd like to see one," Bakura nodded before listening to the rest of what she said.

"...he was going to eat it and nearly wound up being eaten himself, was it?"

"That's just Sokka. He's a meatatarian or something. I'll definitely make you a statue, then. Made one for Tony Stark once, too. He didn't believe me that they exist, so I had to show him."

"That'd be great," Bakura smiled happily. "If it's really cool, I might even add it to the TRPG!"

He paused as they reached the Mancave. Even if the shark wasn't impressive there was still the giant TV, the mini arcade, huge kitchen, couches and everything else that might be.

"Yeah? I know all kinds of animals from back home, but saber-toothed moose lions are pretty sweet. Badgermoles are the best." Biased in favor of the creatures that taught her Earthbending and opened up her world? No, never.

Well, the Mancave was interesting. Curiously, Toph wandered over to the giant tank and put her hands flat against the glass.

"This is where the shark is? Man, wish I could see him."

"You'll have to show me one of those too, then!" Bakura smiled before looking over at the shark. "Me too. Maybe if he comes close to the glass?" he pondered. He was pretty sure the glass was thick enough that the shark bumping against it wouldn't be a problem.

"That'd probably work, at least a little. And I definitely will. Just need to find the right stone to make them with."

Lightly, she tapped the glass with one finger, feeling its vibrations. Seeing on glass was kind of hard, she found. It only made her want to work harder to learn to 'bend it.

"..though I'm not really sure how to make it come closer besides just tapping the glass like you did..." Bakura admitted sheepishly. "I don't have anything to feed it with and I'm not really even sure where the tank opens to let food in..."

Though really, it wasn't too much trouble. There was something relaxing about trying to figure out something as mundane as this with a friend he didn't get to see that often.

"That's okay. I can always come back later, right? Maybe it'll wanna do something then."

She smiled up at him, still tapping lightly on the glass. Hopefully it wasn't enough to annoy or anger the shark, but she did want to 'see' it if possible.

"Of course! You can come over whenever you'd like!" Bakura assured. "I can ask Hiruma-kun when feeding time is, I'm sure it'll come over then."

"I'd like that," she replied, though which thing she was talking about was up for grabs. Both, probably!

"So how about your place? You like sharing?"

Bakura gave a nod, heading back across the hall to his apartment. "It's a lot better than living on my own!" Even if Alastair and Kiryu weren't the best at picking up after themselves. "Even with everyone on the same floor, it's just nicer, sharing a space with someone."

"I know what you mean, I think. I'd be pretty lonely if Lyra and them didn't live with me." She smiled brightly at him, following his lead.

Bakura nodded. "Yeah. And Jonah-kun lives right down the hall now, hopefully for the long haul this time! And Ben and Qui-Gon are downstairs. Almost everyone's so close together... it's really nice!" he smiled as he opened the door to the apartment.

"Cool. Sounds pretty nice. If we didn't have Awesome Base, I bet it'd be fun to live here."

Toph shoved her hands in her pockets and followed him inside, taking note of the layout of the place. "You're the one who does the cleaning, I'll bet."

Bakura gave a small laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. "Un," he nodded almost sheepishly. "Oniichan and Kiryu-kun lived in an abandoned motel before this," he half explained. That and there was a reason Hiruma called him "fucking housewife" more often than not.

"That couldn't have been fun. Or comfortable."

Toph had done a lot of traveling and hard camping, but she was still a sucker for a comfy bed.

"They didn't seem to mind it. Until it started to get cold," he amended with a smile. "This one's my room!" he smiled, opening the door to the neat and tidy bedroom. It was a bit smaller than the bedroom at his last apartment, but didn't seem it due to only having the one bed. The small household shrine had had gotten for Kogenta was up on the wall in the corner by the window, Pelor's pet bed (and by extension, many of her toys) next to the dresser under it.

"Nice. Feels pretty cozy. And way too clean for your own good."

But that was Toph for you. Her room wasn't precisely messy, but she didn't particularly care too much about clutter buildup until it was a problem for her to walk around.

Bakura blinked at that. "Too clean?"

There was no such thing in Bakura's world as too clean.

Yes, but this is Toph you're thinking about, Bakura. She likes a healthy coating of Earth at all times.

"Well, not for you I guess. But for me!"

"Aaa, that's something totally different!" Bakura smiled, rather aware of Toph's tendency. After all, she had good reason!

She snorted, then grinned in his general direction. Of course it was different.

"So what else have you been up to lately? We need to hang out more."

Bakura looked down a little sheepishly. "Mostly work and gaming," he admitted.

"Hey, as long as you've been having fun, yeah? At least I hope the games were fun. Weren't they?"

Surprise! Mock-punch to the good shoulder!

"Aaa-- most of them, um," Bakura smiled, wincing a little at the impact on reflex.

Though really, it'd more just been keeping his mind off things. That was good enough.

The wince made her a little sad, actually. She'd pulled that punch so much it barely touched him, but the startle reflex wasn't something most people could control. Still, it was an uncomfortable moment for her.

"Good. If it's not fun, you shouldn't do it."

Bakura wasn't used to that sort of thing much any more. Sure, every now and then Alastair would, but it was never a surprise. And he was a bit more on edge since... well...

"Things are never that simple," he said softly, almost a bit distracted sounding.

"Well, they should be." As if her determined statement was enough to force the world to change. Well, in her mind, it should've been enough.

She reached out to pat the spot she'd punched a minute ago.

Bakura gave a very soft laugh at that, smiling at the pat. "Un. They should be."

It would make somethings so much easier.

It totally would make everything easier. Also? It's hug time. Congrats, you're getting a hug, Bakura.

"I really miss hanging out with you."

There's a 3 second lag of confusion before he realizes that yeay hug and he happily returns it. "I've missed hanging out with you too. I'm sorry, I've really been a poor friend, haven't I?"

Yay, hugs! There is much hugging. It's sickeningly adorable. She was worried for a second that he wasn't gonna hug her back, though.

"Not any worse than me. We both suck at keeping in touch."

Oh Toph, when has Bakura ever not hugged back? He's a little junky for this kinda stuff, even when he's upset. Especially when he's upset.

"Yeah. Something to work on, eh?"

Oh yeah, she'd forgotten about that. Rofl. What an addict.

"Definitely."

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A derp and a cute bruiser walk into a bar...

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IDK what to do about the shark actually... so.. uh... :D

Lol

What do I know about a shark :D

sharks are cool.

and have less teeth than a Foglio character! :D

HEY NOW. B|

What? :D You know it's true :D

Shush, you.

0:)

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We can probably wrap this up. :3