Toph wasnât good at this. At people, adults, mainly. Iroh had infinite patience and had been the exception to the rule, and she wouldâve beat anyone up if theyâd disagreed with her there.
So far, Wanda had hit the same markers of gentle and patient, sheâd listened and not pressured, and made Toph feel like she was welcome, even when the earthbender was being a shithead.
But then Wanda had Tommy and Billy as kids so her tolerance was pretty high, right? It had to be.
It didnât stop Toph from worrying or fussing over what she was even doing here, entering the tea shop when she knew Wanda was inside (her seismic sense was really good for stalking people but she couldnât tell them that because they got weird about it) just to-- Be around her or whatever. Asking for advice was almost definitely out of the question, there was no way she wouldnât report back to Tommy anything vulnerable Toph might say.
But she put on her big girl pants and visited anyway, because tea sounded good and Zuko didnât want to keep his tea shop open so sheâd had to find a replacement at some point. That was definitely the only reason she was coming up to the counter, hands shoved in her hoodie pockets, sizing up the nearby Wanda. âHey. Got any good white teas?â
Managing a tea shop had never been on Wandaâs bucket list (did she ever have one?) but she found the mundane task of operations curiously therapeutic. It was a drop of normalcy in a sea of all things strange; a welcomed change of pace in-between bouts of what Stephen would eloquently call Vallo Fuckery. Magic wasnât required here.
Sometimes when it comes to difficult recipes - yes. Other times when there was a particularly difficult customer and her eyes would flash a dangerous red - maybe. (Fine, yes to that too.)
It served as neutral grounds to meet someone too, much more low pressure than the Sanctum with all of its arcane magic bleeding off the walls and several residents. Wanda may have snuck in a not-so-subtle invite through one of her last online interactions with Toph so she could pay her a visit whenever it fancied her on her own terms. No expectations, no pushing. Last month was an emotional time for everyone. Processing was necessary as was space.
So when Toph actually walked through the door, Wanda did her best to smother how elated she was.
âPlenty,â she answered, and her tone was enough to give away the fact that she was smiling. âMostly loose leaves. Are you interested in any blends?â
Toph could in fact, feel that smile. Or sense it. Whatever it was in Wandaâs tone, it both made her want to run away and stay, it was a weird feeling. Her own relationship with her mother had been.. Well, nonexistent, Toph not really being anything more than a weak blind girl to both of her parents until the moment sheâd stood up to them about that, and resolved to help Aang.
Then sheâd been the nonexistent one. That still stung, obviously, but sheâd had months now of seeing Wanda get to know Tommy and Billy, and that had made her like the woman. Begrudgingly.
âUh, sure.â She both knew what she liked and had no real clue what she wanted here. Toph shifted awkwardly. âSomething floral I guess? Iroh used to make a jasmine tea that was good.â
Wanda hummed, thinking about the options. Something floral - like rose, perhaps lavender? There was a white tea blend fused with lavender flowers that had just come in too with hints of mint and orange. âIâll let you try a new one I just got,â she said, moving around behind the register to begin the process. A cute porcelain teacup was selected with the assumption that, maybe, Toph was here to chat a little? And not take this to go.
âBy the way - itâs good to see you,â Wanda tacked on as she obtained some steaming water. âI thought I would have the chance to chat with you during the dinner and I⌠guess I did, technically?â With Tophâs future-self who had given her some pointers on how to approach this present version of her. âIf you decide to come over for dinner another time Iâm hoping itâs less hectic.â
Toph didnât complain about Wanda moving to make the tea, because if sheâd been given the opportunity to go, she might just do that. Sometimes she had to be forced into things, or guilted, or needled. It worked, letting her keep her independent streak and protest even if a tiny part of her brain wanted to stay.
âUh, yeah, ditto.â She didnât remember the dinner party, being old, but she remembered the anxiety leading up to it and Silâs stories of others in the past. âHow hectic are we talking? Is there a range? I know sticking Tommy and Billy together in any room is bound to make things loud but-- just for reference. Or whatever.â Toph openly winced at herself. âNot that I care how loud Tommy is or anything.â
âItâs usually a noise issue,â Wanda chuckled and the boys had a habit of, ah, being loud. Lots of affectionate yelling and bantering over silly things (much like she remembered their little versions doing at Westview) but she didnât mind it. When they had thrown the dinner she had reveled in the chaos of it all - it was happy and wholesome with a touch of bittersweetness. âAnd you may be subjected to a lot of nonsensical debates from the two of them. Future dinners will probably be scaled back in attendance anyway, but - here, your teaâs done, do you want to sit?â
They had little bistro tables scattered around the shop for those who wanted to sit down and enjoy their beverage with a snack - plus, Toph would have an option for condiments like milk and sugar. It wasnât busy, and there was a staff member cleaning wiping down the display glass of little pastries nearby so that meant Wanda could sit too.
All part of her subtle plan to have a conversation with Toph, really. But she wonât admit that.
âTell me about it,â Toph retorted back with a snort. She took the tea and didnât really object to sitting, just found a nearby table and slid both chairs back from the table with a slight nod of her head - not in a show-off move but mostly just so she didnât spill tea on herself, not being able to see exactly where the liquid moved. Wrapping both hands around cups was for the better.
It also left room for Wanda to sit down, if she wanted.
âLast time they got into an hour-long debate about how to make the perfect peanut butter and jelly sandwich.â That was a while ago though, weeks at this point. Even if Tommy hadnât stopped coming to visit her at work on a regular basis, it felt weird now. âBut that was before everything got weird.â She took a sip of the tea without adding anything to it, and nodded. âThatâs good, Iroh would like it.â
Wanda noticed the spot for her, and she took it - and did her best to not outwardly beam or anything. Toph was sightless but her other senses were sharp, she wouldnât be surprised if she could just tell that, internally, she was a little giddy at this opportunity. Maybe she could just chalk it up to her stamp of approval over the tea, if anything. âThey have strong opinions about -â Hmm. Her eyes squinted. âAbout just about everything, honestly.â
It was entertaining to either read or witness with her own ears and eyes, but she could probably tolerate it better than most since she was kind of their mother. In this weird, soul-way that her magic allowed.
The part with the whole but that was before everything got weird did not go unnoticed, and she knew that Tommy was, ah - struggling? âWe donât have to talk about Tommy,â she said gently. âAnd I hope you know that me talking to you isnât about Tommy.â
If they went down that route and fulfilled the path that led them to have Sil in their lives, Wanda would be elated but she knew that the expectation of it must feel awkward. Especially if they hadnât come to terms with how they felt for each other yet. âI got along very well with the older version of you - and if I were to get to that point that means I should know about who you are now, yes?â
Toph knew how to take an out when she was given one, and Wanda was gentle enough that she didnât lash out or do more than snort into her tea. With nothing to really look at, she focused on just making sure she didnât spill it all over herself.
âI mean, I donât think you learned all that stuff overnight.â Okay, so she didnât go completely sarcastic-free, but then Wanda mightâve thought something was wrong with her if she played a little too nice. Toph shrugged. âI donât know, normal stuff. You already know Iâm a badass. We got a cool car with two engines in at the shop today so I get to rebuild them and make it better?â She didnât know how to talk about herself in ways that werenât just talking up her earthbending.
Wanda did little to hide her smile because fair. Future Toph was more of a crash-course into Toph overall so she got the basics at least - fierce independence, completely capable of handling herself, the obsession with jalapeno poppers. How she and her friends had a penchant for manipulating elements, the shop job. Surface stuff. Normal stuff, like she said.
âWhat about home?â she inquired, elbow on the table so she could prop her cheek into her palm. âYou have a lot of friends from your world here but - do you miss it? Family and everything?â
Probably a highly personal question to ask right off the bat but from what she gathered Toph didnât talk about that much on the network, at least not in any public interactions that she noticed. Mother, father - siblings? Hopefully without a tragic backstory.
Toph tensed up. She could tell just from sitting closely that Wanda didnât mean anything sinister by the question, she was just-- friendly. Asking the sort of shit most people asked. Well, some people asked. But she didnât really want to answer, either, because she knew full well no one really wanted the actual answers Toph had to give.
âNope.â She let the p pop as she said the word. âThe best family Iâve ever had is here.â That was sappy enough that itâd probably make Aang and Katara cry, which meant it was good. âI miss running my school and teaching metalbending, but thatâs about it. My parents havenât wanted to be in the picture for years.â It was a matter-of-fact statement, that sheâd practiced in her head a few times just so it could come out without a shred of emotion tied to it.
Ah. There it was. Wanda noticed the way she stiffened. It made her brows shoot up, regretting the question but she did receive an answer. It was vague, yet oddly telling. Obviously a sensitive spot. âI think this place serves as a best case scenario for a lot of people,â she said with a shrug. And the comment about her parents not being in the picture did make her heart sting a little.
It reminded her a bit of Tommy and how the parents he was reincarnated to wanted nothing to do with him. Wanda didnât understand that kind of thinking, couldnât fathom it with her own children (whose business she wanted to be involved in forever except she had to show some restraint) but she wasnât going to dish out pity. Toph didnât seem like the type to need it.
She straightened her posture and fiddled with her sleeves, pulling them over her hands a little. âIt looks like youâve done really well for yourself, though? You should at least be proud of that,â she chuckled, elbowing her gently. âIâve known you for a short time and I am, at least. At your age I barely had my shit together.â
What was she doing again? Oh, right. Odd jobs, signing up to be experimented on by a terrorist organization. Normal young adult things.
Toph sat up a little straighter in a way that was full of pride. She had done well, against all odds, but even Toph couldnât take all the credit for that. âYeah, I am. We saved the world! I was even younger for thatâ Probably too young to be in a group saving the world, but when you only had one adult that took you seriously, sometimes kids had to take things into their own hands.
âAang had a lot to do with it though, all of it. Me getting out of there, us saving everything. Without him, I might still be in the Earth Kingdom, unhappy, sneaking out to win underground finding tournamentsâŚâ She was still proud of that, too, even if she had to sneak out for it.
Oh, she was adorable. Wanda unfortunately could relate to dangerous situations at a young age but not exactly in the âsaving the worldâ terms but look at her - and even though she most likely had to grow up faster than those her age (who didnât nowadays), she didnât seem too world weary. It was hard not to smile at that little spike of enthusiasm.
âAang is the friend that can control all the elements, right?â she squinted, recalling some chatter on the network about that. Wanda may have also read some interactions between her and her friends, just to get more of a background of where Toph was currently and who she was with. âI know there is the one with fire that tends to be a little - um, grumpy and tends to argue. He was the one trying to sell a tea shop?â
And that argued with Tommy, a lot. But Tommy had a habit of picking fights too.
Toph started with a little smile but schooled it down just a tad. She didnât want to show she was too fond of Aang, even if it was obvious he was her best friend. His head was big enough. âYeah, heâs the Avatar. He did the real world saving but we all helped.â She finished off her tea and leaned back in the chair, not rushing out the door like she could have.
âFirebreath is Zuko. Heâs got reasons for being like he is.â That didnât mean they were always good ones, but still. âThereâs Katara too, sheâs a waterbender. And Sokkaâs her brother, heâs not a bender but he has a sword and a boomerang thatâs dumb. His girlfriend is Suki, sheâs part of an ancient group of warriors or whatever. And thatâs it, Team Avatar. Zukoâs uncle used to be here but he got sent back a while ago, he was the one that had the tea shop.â
And she was still more than a little grumpy he was gone.
Firebreath. Wanda let out a short laugh. She liked that. He seemed like a good kid behind the abrasiveness and obviously close to Toph. Hopefully he and Tommy would âsort their shit outâ and learn how to play nice. Or civilly, at least - before they broke something in Vallo. âMost people I know are here too, and it helps make it feel more familiar,â she said. âMore like home. Saving the world is very much a team effort thing though. When we did it, it felt like it took an actual army.â
Back then, in that final fight with Thanos where it was literally going to be all or nothing. He had his own soldiers, a massive spaceship - it was literal chaos but everyone played a part. âTeam Avatar sounds impressive. And the uncle was the main adult around, Iâm assuming?â
Not that Wanda thought they needed supervision. They were all probably battle-hardened enough to take care of themselves and Toph in particular wasnât a kid, but having someone that occasionally reminded you to hydrate properly could be comforting to have.
Toph could feel the vibrations in the air change just a little, it was how she knew to focus on Wanda a slight bit more. She didnât read into the other womanâs heartbeat though, she reserved that for people she was suspicious of or when she was too close to ignore it. Here it felt more like an invasion of privacy.
And there was kind of no point, war sucked no matter who you were, even for an uber-powerful witch like Tommyâs mom. âYeah, I guess. He helped Zuko a lot, and he was nice to me.â She shrugged, like she was trying to shrug feelings away and change the subject back to Wanda. âYou guys dealt with a lot of weird stuff, didnât you? Aliens and whatever? I guess weâre all aliens here but you know what I mean. Is it more or less weird here?â
âMm.â Wanda hummed. âAliens mostly showed up at the end but they played a big part. Our world has a lot of enhanced people. Whether it was from a serum that gave you super-strength to a metal suit. Thereâs been - an artificial intelligent robot that tried taking over the world? My brother and I helped him out for a bit,â she admitted. âBefore we came to our senses, anyway. Then there is the whole⌠thing with cosmic stones that tied a lot of us together and then were responsible for wiping out half of the universe.â
According to Mobius, several copies of the stones existed in the TVA and were used as paperweights, which - gave her a slight existential crisis, as if all the grief they went through making sure Thanos didnât get his hands on them didnât matter. She tried not to think about it too much. It would inevitably lead to a headache. âBoth worlds are weird in their own ways, but Vallo⌠kinder, usually I have Billy and Tommy. Friends who have died back home are here. I donât mind dealing with the occasional army of monsters the forest tends to reproduce if it means I get to have all of this.â
Wanda reflexively gestured at the shop despite Toph being unable to see because she liked this gig, too. It was a simple life compared to the Scarlet Witch mess she was about to unfold with back home.
Toph was eerily quiet while Wanda spoke, she got it, to be thankful they were here. It wasnât that she hated home - she liked what sheâd built there - but not having the weight of rebuilding the world on all of their shoulders was nice. They got to be normal - or however normal this was.
Wanda got the benefit of having all that family out of it too, and they were okay. Mostly.
âYeah well, for whatever itâs worth, Iâm glad youâre here. Youâre pretty cool.â But that was as far as Toph would go - it was still good, a reach that she wouldnât have made a month before. âHey when do you get out of here? All this lovey-dovey shit has worked up an appetite and I want some chorizo tacos. You can come with if you want an adult break.â
Pretty cool, hm? Wandaâs brows flared up in amusement but that was her sole reaction to it. She wouldnât press her luck. At least Toph didnât react with some sound of disgust and didnât recoil from befriending her love interestâs soul mother. Sheâd work on being persistent with her but in a gentle way. Her work here wasnât done.
âActually - I could go for those,â she shrugged, eyes scanning around the shop a bit. Not like she was the scheduled cashier or customer service rep or anything; she wouldnât do that to herself or the customers (she could be patient, just not towards the general public). âI come to delegate work and help out but as for dealing with people constantly, I do not like that. Let me grab my things and we can head out?â
Too bad she didnât have any embarrassing stories about Tommy growing up to mention, except for what she remembered from her Westview incident but that could kind of count, couldnât it?