001 | audio

[firefell]

I kind of figured being assigned a job would blow, you know? I mean, how many times do people really get something that isn't totally shitty in that kind of system? Usually you get like... scrubbing toilets or something.

[Riley is outside the animal shelter now, trying to get a good look inside and mostly failing. There's the tap of her phone against the windows every so often while she's cupping her hands on the glass to look in and she sounds pretty damned excited about the whole thing.]

This, though? Taking care of animals all day? Good fucking job, whoever picks. You nailed it. And I guess thanks for all the other stuff, too. This definitely beats home.

So my name is Riley and I'm new, like a lot of other people I guess. Is there anyone else who works in the animal shelter? It can't just be me, right?

1st Stomp: Is it an Earthquake? [Accidental Video/Audio/Action in Nonah and Residence #002]

[rockthisworld]

[The feed clicks on to show a stretch of sky over Nonah, North Carolina. There's a snatch of someone mumbling to themselves, clearly unaware of the video being recorded.. The voice quite obviously belongs to a young girl.]

- this thing work?

[There's a sniffle, then an impatient huff. Oh sure, how it works was explained to Toph when she arrived. Doesn't really mean she listened much, bit too busy staring at the ground with unseeing eyes so those pesky authority figures would see no tears. Self-taught is the way to go... even if that means messing up a lot.

The communicator is being moved around. Small, stubby fingers move over the camera, knuckles recently scraped red. There's a flash of an arm, the ground, then bare and dirty feet. The toes flex, burrow in the dirt a little. Finally the camera catches a face, more by accident than design. It's only half visible, and turned at an angle.

The girl is young, no older than 12 maybe. Looks East Asian, except not quite, with strange green and yellow clothes, black hair falling into her face, unruly. The child's face is round and sweet, but the small mouth pressed into a concentrated frown. She's still got some sand in her hair, on her clothes, hint of sunburn on her cheeks and nose, as if she didn't quite bother getting cleaned up in the short while she's been here. Clearly not a priority. Her wide eyes are noticeably milky, almost entirely white - she's blind.

Her head tilts away from the journal - she really is entirely unaware that she's managed to record herself on video, unfamiliar with the technology and unable to see the visual feedback on the device. Toph, as the girl's name is, lowers the communicator. It briefly shows Nonah's residence #002, lovely red brick and all. Everyone watching this will get a lovely, if shaky view of her walking into the building - by stomping the ground and punching a 12-year-old-girl-sized hole into the wall. Doors are for sissies. But hey, at least she stomps the ground inside, and the rattle indicates that the wall gets raised right up again. Convenient, isn't it?

Toph fumbles with the communicator, and the video feed ends. But audio is still working, so either she's getting the hang of it, or randomly pressing buttons is just getting her somewhere.]

Anyone hearing this? Still not convinced the library didn't collapse on me and this is just the spirit world's idea of a prank - lame one, the whole fame thing is kinda neat, gotta say. Finally the recognition I deserve. So who's ready to break some rules, or are all you imported folks just little do-gooders? 

[Look who's bratty and brash, not at all secretly a bit scared or anything stupid like that, okay, shut up.]