TGA 01

The Greatest Avalanche 01

 

The last thing I saw before I died in my first life was a grinning jackass wearing cherry red lipstick with great big hooters.

 

This was both metaphorical and literal. Literal in that the concrete wall of the bar I broke my skull on did, indeed, have a grinning, anthromorphic donkey with lipstick, a hefty chest and a cowboy hat. Metaphorical in that the hooters in question were two bug eyed cartoon owls painted staring at her chest.

 

I’d never liked Cowgirl’s Bar and Grill. The owner was nice, as were the burgers, but the drunks exiting always managed to throw up on my slice of the tenement’s yard. Today, one of those drunks killed me when I stepped out to grab groceries from my car that evening. They got pretty good airtime on me, too.

 

Was I bitter about dying? A bit. I was mostly surprised. I’d just been thinking about making cheeseburgers. I hoped my sister adopted my cat. Prince Rupert of Cattington the Third was twitchy and scared of his own tail but deserved a good home. I’d be leaving a girlfriend and a lackluster career in engineering turned teaching. The girlfriend would be sad, but I knew she’d move on.

 

I was more concerned with my mom. She’d be inconsolable.. I was her baby, her only child, and she’d given everything for me. I  felt an inky blackness weighing my heart down when I realized there was nothing I could do to help her now. I hoped she would one day see the sky and realize she could be happy again.

 

But back to the point:

 

I was very dead.

 

Evidently, the afterlife was managed by an overworked muscle fairy. Poor guy was a bit beleaguered. He tiredly said he couldn’t interact with or relay a message to my mom immediately,  but would let her know when her time come. I took what I could get, given the situation.

 

In lieu of other conversation topics, I’d mentioned his gains and he’d perked right up. To be fair, they were impressive, all natural, no steroid use. He even gave me a lecture on his workout regimen.

 

But all things end, and he eventually sent me off to my next life.

 

~~~~

 

My first moments of awareness in my second life were just confusing.

 

I woke up in total darkness. I couldn’t see, no matter how much I rubbed my eyes. They were definitely open and hurt a bit when I poked a bit too hard, but they just seemed to be on the fritz.

 

My body was weird, too. Everything felt off, proportions were weird, and I was on some hard surface that felt like wood, somewhere. My clothes were simple, but felt refined, like they had a high thread count.

 

Plus, the back of my head hurt. It almost felt like I’d taken a bottle over my head. Touching the back of my head revealed I had short hair and a rather nasty gash. It was currently sticky and wet with a warm liquid I very quickly realized was blood. I think some had even gotten on my cheeks…

 

I clamped down on the worry from that realization, and focused on trying to get up, but between the darkness and being really wobbly when I tried to stand, I fell over again with a thud. I gave up as I didn’t want a second concussion and just focused on trying to feel my way around.

 

The floor was wood, and really smooth. I bet I could even slide on it, if I got some speed. Blindly feeling around in the dark, I felt what I incredulously thought was a prison cell at first. What else do you conclude when you find square bars, but the realization they were carved wood dispelled that. Nice carved wood, if the little ridges and bumps were anything to go by. This thought was dispelled by the size of it and the soft everything in there: what felt like bedding.

 

Wait, it was a crib! I felt proud of my deduction in absolute darkness for all of two seconds as the ramifications sunk in:

 

Crib. Hard hit over the head. Darkness everywhere.

 

Sorry, I thought to whoever was in this body before. I didn’t mean to take your place.

 

I might’ve heard a tomboyish laugh, I might’ve heard nothing.  A weight, a pressure I hadn’t even noticed vanished.

 

A door slid open. I turned toward the noise, still seeing nothing. A woman screamed.

 

~~~~

 

There was a lot of angry talking. Shouts. Tears.

 

The first voice, the woman who screamed, patted my cheeks with a wet cloth and trembling hand. Then there was a second voice’s arrival followed by a gasp. The first voice called out, but the second was already gone. Stomps, great big lunges ensued that echoed, and a door slid open with a bang. There was yelling, screaming. Two new voices. The first woman broke into sobs and left, footsteps fading in the distance..

 

Now, two people were holding me, rocking back and forth like they were scared I’d fade to dust at a moment’s notice. The bigger one, a man, had a hug that was almost painful. The smaller one, a woman, was only slightly better. They were speaking, but it was too fast for me to understand, but I don’t think they were trying to be understood. They were trying to comfort each other and me.

 

I think they were my parents. Or… this body’s parents.

 

I pushed the morbid thought aside and listened. Their words sounded vaguely Chinese. I really regretted not taking that Chinese class in College. Metallurgy had been neat, but I was going to really regret that now.

 

~~~~

 

I slept with the couple that were my parents that night. They held me between them with Momom holding me like a teddy bear.

 

I couldn’t help but wonder if, just maybe, Mr. Muscles could have dumped me in an older body? That’d have been nice.

 

But I’m sure he had his reasons for putting me in a younger body of someone who’d died climbing out of their crib and hitting their head.

 

Or maybe it was a loophole situation.

 

I didn’t know.

 

Still, the contact was nice, even comforting. Just wished my eyes would start working soon.

 

~~~~

 

A cold man poked and prodded me the next day. I think it was the next day. I woke up and was set on a smooth surface.

 

His hands were cold, near clinical. He applied a goop, maybe a salve, to my head, said sharp words to my parents, and left.

 

I was brought to a room, different from the one from the night before. There were no hard reverberations as from a wooden floor. Instead, it was soft, almost padded sounding.

 

I guess they’d made adjustments. Understandable, but I hoped I grew quickly out of this and that my eyes started working again. Maybe they needed a different type of doctor or healer for my eyes.

 

…

 

I didn’t leave the padded room and crib for a long time.

 

~~~~

 

Life became a routine defined by sleep, eating, hygiene and nothing else.

 

Eventually, a woman other than my presumed Mom started caring for me. At first it was both my parents, but I guessed they had other responsibilities.

 

She’d feed me bits of mashed up foods, which spared me the indignity of nursing.

 

She’d wash me, care for my needs, and generally watch over me. In the crib.

 

I was only let out at specific “play times”. I said play times, but I don’t really know what it was.

 

I’d be let out, allowed to wobbly walk or crawl for a bit on the soft carpet of the flooring, then put back in.

 

I guess they were worried I’d crack my head a second time.

 

Reasonable enough, I guessed.

 

I wished I could see. Any day now, my eyes would fix themselves…

 

~~~~

 

At some point, while bathing, I realized I was a girl. Neat.

 

~~~~

 

It took a month of denial to admit the truth.

 

My eyes weren’t getting better. In fact, they were exactly the same as from the second I’d woken up in this world. I.e., non-functional.

 

I was blind.

 

It was a bitter pill to swallow.

 

I’d had okay vision in my first life. I wasn’t ever going to be some sniper or jet pilot, but I was fine with that. A set of glasses and I was good to go, especially for teaching.

 

I hadn’t even realized how much life was defined by sight until I just didn’t have it.

 

I wanted to be grateful for a second chance at life, an ability to do something elsewhere, but…

 

I think I was entitled to being irked at being denied one of the basic senses.

 

~~~~

 

I was beginning to hate the padded room and the crib, especially.

 

I never went outside it.

 

My entire life, what of it, was in that one room.

 

I wanted stimulation, to go outside, to feel plants, and I didn’t have that. Hell, I didn’t even have the language down.

 

I felt alone.

 

~~~~

 

I slowly learned the language.

 

This was helped by my favorite person in the world. Lan Lan.

 

How did I know her name and that wasn’t referring to some type of fish? That was easy.

 

She’d noticed I was losing it and had brought in some toys. Nothing fancy, just small, stone blocks with smooth finishes I could endlessly stack.

 

But that was the baby stuff. The real thing was she taught me.

 

She’d grab my hand, put it on an object, and say a word. It didn’t take me long to start figuring out words from there.

 

Block. Shirt. Floor. Pillow. Blanket. Pants.

 

She kept doing this, day by day, teaching me names for things she’d let me feel, smell, even hear. Ringing a bell had never been so much fun.

 

Then, she did something I really felt floored by.

 

She told me my name.

 

Toph, she’d said, tapping my forehead repeatedly before saying it again. I took a moment to get it, but after I pointed at myself, she’d excitedly clapped when I got it right.

 

Then, after a moment’s pause, she’d picked me up and put my hand on her face.

 

I’d hesitated. No one had ever done for this, in this life or before. Yet, at her encouraging and shifting my hand around so I could feel, I came to know her face.

 

It was strange, but I thought she was pretty. She had smooth skin, big round cheeks, a mole on her left cheek,  and wouldn’t stop smiling.

 

I did find a scar, right above her eyebrow. The skin felt different, the only blemish I’d found.

 

She’d stopped smiling when I touched that, but redirected my hand to her forehead. “Lan Lan,” she’d said.

 

I laughed happily for the first time in that world that day.

 

~~~~

 

Something weird happened with the blocks.

 

I was stacking them again for some mental stimulation when… something happened.

 

It was kinda a spark, and kinda wasn’t. I felt something, more than physical, in the block. I’d jumped. It shot off with a crash.

 

Lan Lan clapped and squealed.

 

~~~~

 

My parents were angry.

 

They didn’t like the block. They’d only stocked my nursery room with soft things. Lan Lan brought in hard things for me to learn.

 

They’d taken almost everything. Lan Lan ran off crying.

 

Mom and Dad hugged me, and…

 

Left.

 

I was alone.

 

Again.

 

~~~~

 

New maid, new frustration.

 

This maid was not interested in teaching me. She bathed, fed, and changed me, but did nothing else.

 

She was more interested in flirting with someone out in the hallway than she was me.

 

My breaking point was nothing specific.

 

Maybe it was her lightly pushing me away from the doorway when I tried to tug on her shirt. Maybe it was the days and days of nothing but the nursery. Lan Lan had at least tried. I still didn’t know the maid’s name. I don’t think she ever said it.

 

I threw a tantrum.

 

I screamed, I stomped, I pounded on whatever was in reach.

 

She tried to soothe me. I kept screaming.

 

That got a reaction.

 

~~~~

 

The man with the cold hands who I thought of as Doctor was back. He examined me. Poked and prodded. Talked with my parents.

 

I got some of the words.

 

“Healthy” was one of them.

 

My parents thought I was sick.

 

He asked a lot of questions. My room came up, followed by blocks and accident. I didn’t catch what he asked, but a comment from my Mom made him inhale. I didn’t catch it. Bending? Like with the soft rope?

 

After that, he got angry.

 

I’d never heard anyone get angry with my parents. Polite deference only.

 

Dad rose his voice. Mom tried to mediate. The Doctor didn’t back down.

 

It ended with a slap.

 

The Doctor spoke, coldly. He left. I could feel how stunned my father was.

 

~~~~

 

Lan Lan was back.

 

She’d given me a great big hug and tickled my belly.

 

I was brought outside, for the first time. I knew it was outside because I felt the wind, a heat on my skin that could only be sunlight, and heard birds chirping.

 

I felt grass, for the first time in this life. It was cool, crisp, and felt vibrant. It felt alive.

 

Lan Lan showed me a flower, let me carefully feel it, touch it, and smell it.

 

Honey Turtle, she said, warmly, guiding my fingers over its petals.

 

I felt happy.

 

~~~~

 

Time passed.

 

My eyes never got better. I was bitter about that, but there was nothing I could do.

 

I learned.

 

I was Toph Bei Fong, the only heir to a prestigious family. I knew it was prestigious because my dad said so and everyone listened to him.

 

But I was wrong.

 

I don’t think he minded I was a girl.

 

But I was blind. Small. Frail. Everything an heir shouldn’t be.

 

I now realize it was a minor miracle I was even let out. If the Doctor whose name I later learned was Bao hadn’t slapped my father, I may never have touched grass.

 

I was never left unsupervised outside my room.

 

Lan Lan was my usual caretaker.

 

I think I loved her more than I did my parents.

 

But, gradually, ever so slowly, I realized the family grounds wasn’t so different from the padded cell.

 

I wasn’t let out. Certain people weren’t even allowed to see me. I’d always be ushered away from new people even if I was just enjoying being in the garden.

 

I was being suffocated.

 

~~~~

AN:

 

HiddenMaster: And here we have the start of a fun commission from MosAnted. This time, a Toph SI with a few conditions:

The SI doesn’t know anything about the show

Blindness isn’t shrugged off.

Already off to an interesting start. I got very caught up in the whole overprotectiveness and just writing what it’s like to go from being able to see to being blind in this chapter. Next chapter we’ll see a bit more bending goodness, I imagine.

 

MosAnted: Hi all! This is an idea I’ve had tossing around in my mind but never really got the drive to sit down and type it, so I decided to poke Hidden about it after reading his Catgirl Isekai story. I’m really stoked at finally getting this off the ground and can’t wait to see what sort of butterflies SI!Toph gets to start flapping! Thanks so much for Hidden for agreeing and being a pleasure to work with!

 

HiddenMaster: Indeed! I’m looking forward to it as well.

 

As always, if you want to support me, check out my supports like Patreon and KoFi below:

https://hiddenmasterarchive.carrd.co/