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[earthrhythms]

[ This'll hold some kind of voicemail eventually. ]

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[earthrhythms]

Okay. Let me just ... look.

[ She turns to the right and heads for the wall, because that's what she can use as direction. ]

[tonsofpun]

Will it help if you touch stuff on the way there?

[earthrhythms]

It's what I've got, until I can figure out that noise thingy.

[tonsofpun]

Gotcha. I think we can pull that off.

[So Ellie turns her loose, letting Toph figure it out, but leading her in the direction she needs to go. She points out things along the way. A hydrangea bush, the smell of fruit and honeysuckle from a nearby garden, how this corner always smells like burning rubber and she can't figure out why.

Ellie proves to be awesome at thinking of certain things and totally stupid about others, like leading being careful about things she could trip over, but totally forgetting to tell her to duck overgrown trees or bushes.

Hey, she's learning.

Jackson is also proving to be an unknowing help. He knows where they're headed, and consistently goes in the right direction, can be relied upon to avoid traffic and danger.

Then a scooter roars by and sends up a cloud of smoke, leaving Ellie coughing and Jackson sneezing and licking his nose, barking. Thankfully he doesn't give chase.]

[earthrhythms]

[ Ellie's known her only for a few days and she's already better at remembering she's blind than a certain someone usually is. (Cough, Sokka, cough.) Although to be fair, her friends at home have the excuse that she can see in her own way and doesn't always come off as blind because of it. Still.

Then there's the scooter and Toph shouts in protest, covering her eyes from the dirt kicked up but the damage has already been done. ]

Okay, seriously, what are those things?!

[ The things with motors rushing past, she means. ]

[tonsofpun]

I dunno, but I kinda want to ride one.

[Ellie stares after it appreciatively for a few moments before moving on.]

They've got two wheels, kind of like a bike. Ish. Anyway, we're almost at the park!

[earthrhythms]

[ She rubs at her eyes, blinking the dust out of them as she follows Ellie. ]

What's a bike?

[tonsofpun]

It's got a seat, two wheels, and pedals, and you push the pedals with your feet to make it go.

I don't know how to ride one, though.

[earthrhythms]

How's that thing that passed like a bike? Do they all look like that? The, [ she imitates a motor sound, ] thingies.

[ It's not the first time she hears noise like that, but it's the first time outside of battle. ]

[tonsofpun]

There aren't any trucks or busses here, so yeah, I think they're all the bike-type things.

I can drive a truck.

[earthrhythms]

And what are trucks and buses? I'm guessing they make the same sound.

[tonsofpun]

You can only fit about five or six people in a truck, and you can fit like forty in a bus.

They're no big deal, but yeah, they all have engines, so they make the sound.

[earthrhythms]

Right, that's the word. Engine.

Good to know they're used for other things than just tanks and stuff.

[tonsofpun]

You know tanks, but not trucks?

[earthrhythms]

There was a war for a hundred years. I think people were more concerned with making weapons than anything else.

[tonsofpun]

What happened when they had to move a bunch of civvies around? -civilians.

[Damn it, soldier talk still slips out.]

[earthrhythms]

I dunno. They walked, I guess? Didn't really happen a lot.

[tonsofpun]

Isn't that dangerous? Bunch of people who don't know how to fight going between towns with a war going on?

[earthrhythms]

Well, yeah. I mean, I guess it was mostly out of necessity? Most people were traveling to Ba Sing Se because it was the last stronghold and for a hundred years not even the best general of the Fire Nation managed to get through its walls.

[tonsofpun]

I guess I can't blame 'em, but they'd be easy pickings for hunters along the road, especially if they were moving in big groups with everything they had.

[She talks like she knows, like she's been on some side of it, but with the worry in her voice, it's probably been on the opposite side of the hunters.]

[earthrhythms]

They weren't big groups, for the most part. Not until they got to the dock for the ferrt that would take them to Ba Sing Se. That place was crowded.

[tonsofpun]

I wonder why the soldiers didn't just wait at the dock with the refugees and get in that way?

[earthrhythms]

They didn't know about it.

[tonsofpun]

Shit. People really kept that secret well, then.

[earthrhythms]

I guess they did.

Are we there yet?