storypaint (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
storypaint) wrote2010-12-28 01:14 pm
storypaint) wrote2010-12-28 01:14 pm
Entry tags:
[Avatar] we won't go until we get some (Iroh and Toph gen)
Title: we won't go until we get some
Fandom: Avatar
Length: 569 words
Prompt: Christmas-card fic!
Pairing: Iroh and Toph gen
Other: n/a
Excerpt: When Toph showed up at the Jade Dragon a week before the New Year, Iroh poured her a free cup of tea and asked no questions.
When Toph showed up at the Jade Dragon a week before the New Year, Iroh poured her a free cup of tea and asked no questions. She sulked quietly through her first sips and he noted her scowl and missing travel clothes. What she was wearing had probably started life as a nice dress, but he thought that Poppy Bei Fong wouldn't recognize it now.
"I would love a guest to spend New Years with," Iroh said. "Do you plan to stay in the city long?"
Toph's fingers relaxed on her cup. "Since you're asking," she said casually, "I could stick around."
Iroh smiled. "I appreciate it. I think my nephew is too busy with official business to visit his old uncle."
"His loss," she said, already beginning to cheer up. Iroh's tea was good for that.
He received the messenger pigeon two days later while Toph was in the market, intimidating the merchants into even better prices than the Dragon of the West could. The message, with the famous Bei Fong seal, offered grave apologies for the conduct of their daughter and any inconvenience her appearance may have caused. (Toph came to visit Iroh two or three times a year, and generally only one trip was planned beforehand. He was easier to find when she was upset than the nomadic Aang, and it was much warmer in Ba Sing Se than at the South Pole.)
It also went on to say that they would be honored to have her presence again at an early juncture, as they were entertaining guests. Iroh knew the name mentioned and the fact that they had a son about Toph's age. So that was it. He sent back a pigeon expressing his sorrow for being unable to help them.
Toph returned in high spirits, a basket high on her back. She was seventeen now, and if she were the type of person to appreciate those comments, Iroh would have told her that she had blossomed into a beautiful young lady. Her new clothes did their best to hide her small bosom and not-so-boyish hips – for ease of movement, he assumed, when he watched her practice her stances at sunset in the courtyard. But the clothes also helped to hide the reality that she was of marriageable age, and Iroh thought that was entirely intentional.
"You know, Toph," he said that night over dinner, "the new year is a good time for beginnings. Might I suggest something?"
Toph paused in slurping noodles. She didn't look at him, but he could hear the whisper of her feet under the table, checking his posture and heart rate.
"Sure," she said. "But even if my parents ask, I'm not going back for a while."
"And I am glad for your company, of course," he said. "No, I was thinking of a business venture."
"Now you're talking," she said, grinning.
By the next new year, Toph had scared away fifteen students, destroyed her building three times, and been fined for various business offenses at least six times. A successful year, all considered. Iroh told her as much as he poured her tea. She grinned.
"Happy New Year," she said.
"I can't wait to see what you do next year," he said, and meant it.
Fandom: Avatar
Length: 569 words
Prompt: Christmas-card fic!
Pairing: Iroh and Toph gen
Other: n/a
Excerpt: When Toph showed up at the Jade Dragon a week before the New Year, Iroh poured her a free cup of tea and asked no questions.
When Toph showed up at the Jade Dragon a week before the New Year, Iroh poured her a free cup of tea and asked no questions. She sulked quietly through her first sips and he noted her scowl and missing travel clothes. What she was wearing had probably started life as a nice dress, but he thought that Poppy Bei Fong wouldn't recognize it now.
"I would love a guest to spend New Years with," Iroh said. "Do you plan to stay in the city long?"
Toph's fingers relaxed on her cup. "Since you're asking," she said casually, "I could stick around."
Iroh smiled. "I appreciate it. I think my nephew is too busy with official business to visit his old uncle."
"His loss," she said, already beginning to cheer up. Iroh's tea was good for that.
He received the messenger pigeon two days later while Toph was in the market, intimidating the merchants into even better prices than the Dragon of the West could. The message, with the famous Bei Fong seal, offered grave apologies for the conduct of their daughter and any inconvenience her appearance may have caused. (Toph came to visit Iroh two or three times a year, and generally only one trip was planned beforehand. He was easier to find when she was upset than the nomadic Aang, and it was much warmer in Ba Sing Se than at the South Pole.)
It also went on to say that they would be honored to have her presence again at an early juncture, as they were entertaining guests. Iroh knew the name mentioned and the fact that they had a son about Toph's age. So that was it. He sent back a pigeon expressing his sorrow for being unable to help them.
Toph returned in high spirits, a basket high on her back. She was seventeen now, and if she were the type of person to appreciate those comments, Iroh would have told her that she had blossomed into a beautiful young lady. Her new clothes did their best to hide her small bosom and not-so-boyish hips – for ease of movement, he assumed, when he watched her practice her stances at sunset in the courtyard. But the clothes also helped to hide the reality that she was of marriageable age, and Iroh thought that was entirely intentional.
"You know, Toph," he said that night over dinner, "the new year is a good time for beginnings. Might I suggest something?"
Toph paused in slurping noodles. She didn't look at him, but he could hear the whisper of her feet under the table, checking his posture and heart rate.
"Sure," she said. "But even if my parents ask, I'm not going back for a while."
"And I am glad for your company, of course," he said. "No, I was thinking of a business venture."
"Now you're talking," she said, grinning.
By the next new year, Toph had scared away fifteen students, destroyed her building three times, and been fined for various business offenses at least six times. A successful year, all considered. Iroh told her as much as he poured her tea. She grinned.
"Happy New Year," she said.
"I can't wait to see what you do next year," he said, and meant it.