castleinthemist | 2 | rain rain go away... | open

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atla: sokka [ou]

2 | rain rain go away... | open - Friday afternoon/evening

With his cast finally off, Sokka had taken to doing a little exploring on his own, though he always made sure to not go far unless he had some one else with him. Toph was back, but that didn't stop him from remembering vividly seeing her as a shadow not that long ago. It was an image that had settled in his mind firmly, making his skin crawl and his stomach turn whenever he thought about it. He was trying hard, very very hard to not, and to act as though nothing was wrong, but even that was starting to strain on him as the days wore on in to weeks.

This day he was in the long room, the area next to the stairs that led to the trolley platform, not doing much except wandering about in the open space, looking at the stone work thoughtfully. His thoughts weren't on the immediate area, though the gears were clearly turning in his head.

At least until the thunder outside boomed so loudly he thought his heart had stopped. He turned and headed to one of the windows, having to haul himself up to the ledge just to lean against the glass and watch as the rain came down and the lightening crackled across the sky.

"Whoa..." he mumbled to himself, marveling at the sudden change in weather. It was impressive, but he was more than glad that he was currently under a roof that wasn't open or leaking.

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"Yeah, you-- h-hey! No! Don't kick me!" Sokka cried out, instinctively jumping back out of leg's reach of her.

That was enough to get a chuckle from her. She refrained from kicking him, but a solid punch in the arm was another matter.

"Glad to have you back to normal Sokka, instead of Dead Leg Sokka."

Okay, she still felt a tiny bit apprehensive and awkward around him, but he wasn't showing any signs of being mad at her.

"Erf..." The punch earned a grunt and a bit of a wobble. No matter how many times she did that to him, his arm never seemed to get any tougher for it.

"Can't keep me down that long," he replied with a faint grin, rubbing his arm.

"But we're probably stuck here until the rain lets up..."

Of course it wouldn't. Nothing ever became resistant to The Toph.

Stuck here?

"Pfft. When has a little rain ever kept us down?"

She moved to lean against the wall. His words kept repeating in her head. Why'd he even bring up the rain? Was he alluding that he wanted to go somewhere else?

"... but if you're worried about melting in the water, I can Bend a tunnel or two."

Another crash of thunder sounded outside, making him wince. An additional sound joined it, though - something small but hard striking the windows repeatedly. Hail. Figures. As if the weather couldn't get any worse, he was halfway expecting a tornado next.

"... might have to, if we wanna get back to the common area. Sounds like hail out there now."

Ew. Hail. Toph wasn't too fond of hail. Thankfully, the castle proved to be somewhat useful. With it restraining her abilities, she wasn't being plagued by every bit of ice that hit the ground.

"That sounds good. Lets do it," she told him, leading the way. Some distance down the hall, her pace slowed to a stop. Her head was down and her fists were clenched. It was probably a bad idea to bring up what happened, but she had to get it off her chest.

"Sokka... Sorry about almost attacking you..."

Sokka followed, stopping only when she did. He hadn't expected her to say anything, or even remember enough to say something, but there it was. In the air, just waiting for something from him.

"... you... weren't yourself, Toph. I can't blame you for what happened," he finally said after a long pause, looking at the floor.

While she did enjoy the feeling of the heavy weight lifted off her, she wasn't comfortable with the new gravity around them.

"Yeah you can," she told him, continuing to walk. "I do."

And who wouldn't? She wasn't herself, no. She had little, if no, control over her body at the time. Still, she had her mind. She could see herself, and if she tried hard enough, she could talk. It only made sense to her that if she continued to pour effort into it, she would have eventually been able to control her actions. At least, that's what she thought.

She'd barely kept herself from hurting him. It was just as good as actually doing the deed as far as she was concerned.

He swallowed hard, reaching forward before he could stop himself to grab her arm and yank her back. Thunder boomed over head, lightening casting weird shadows around the area again. He hated seeing her like this. It wasn't right. None of it was.

"I don't blame you. Okay?"

Whoa.

She caught that. Whether it was by the force and energy behind his words on his own, or the power poured into their immediate atmosphere by the ambient weather, she didn't know, but she felt more than heard what he said. That time, he said he didn't blame her. He didn't say he couldn't. So, maybe he knew that by some logic, he could have blamed her for what she did... but chose not to. That was... actually kind of touching.

It was only after her mind stopped running that she noticed his hand on her arm. Her own hand raised and rested on his wrist, squeezing enough to have a grip but not so much that he couldn't break it with minimal effort.

"Thanks, Sokka," she said, and she meant it. She couldn't face him, though. She couldn't see his eyes, and yet she still couldn't face his way.

She dropped her hand from his and motioned to move farther. She cleared her throat and gulped before speaking again, her voice as short and confident as it used to be, albeit shaky for those who knew her.

"Let's go before you get all mushy."

Edited 2012-04-30 04:22 (UTC)

He let go as well, wishing quietly that she would at least look at him, but still grateful he had gotten that much out of her. It would take work. No one came back from something like that completely alright.

"Yeah yeah... you'll never let me live that down."

He chose to ignore her shaking voice. Better to not point it out.

"Of course not," she chirped, waving a hand at him, a grin on her face. She wasn't 100% yet, but the portion that was still broken and shattered was being swept under the rug by what part of her wasn't destroyed by everything. The castle. The weather. The feeling of being truly helpless for once. Dying. Coming back to find that everyone was against each other.

"I'll just add it to the list of things I have to make fun of you for, for the rest of time! Especially in front of your kids and Suki."

She flashed her grin at him as they walked.

"Aw, but Toph, I wanted to tell them epic war stories and how awesome we all were! If you do that they're gonna think I'm not awesome!" Sokka whined, dramatically slumping forward as he did so.

Joking, laughing, teasing each other... right then it was all the had that was anywhere near normal. Weird as it may have been to do so, he was just as determined to hang on to that as she was.

"Oh, they'll think you're awesome, alright. Anyone who hangs with me is second-hand awesome by default. You just won't be awesome until that night at the Earth Rumble competition," she told him, nudging his arm.

When they were close enough, she held out a hand to stop him, keep him out of the way as she did her work to construct them a safe tunnel across the walkway. It wouldn't do them any good to be brained by falling ice.

She didn't worry about windows, so she imagined it was more or less dark, but it would get them across dry and pommel free.

"Uhuh," Sokka just rolled his eyes at her. All teasing aside, he knew better than to question Toph's view of her own perceived awesomeness. Still, he had to smirk just a little. Strange as the castle was, there was a certain familiarity to being stuck in an uncertain situation with her.

He stopped when she motioned, watching as the tunnel was formed.

Okay. Maybe it wasn't all perceived.

"Well? Come on," she urged, grabbing his arm when he was close enough.

It was dark so he wouldn't be able to see. It was likely going to be loud, so he wouldn't be able to follow her voice. She'd lead him herself. How many times had he and the others done the same for her, on sand, water, wood, ice, and snow, and when burns and blisters kept her from walking for nearly a week?

Give help, and accept help. When they were across, she regarded it over her shoulder.

"... should we leave it?"

Sokka wasn't expecting the tug, but he followed along with it easily enough. There was a bit of limping still, the bone still sensitive from healing. It likely always would be a little bit, especially with weather changes like the one they were experiencing then. New injuries turn in to old aches. That's how it had been for his father and many of the older males of the village.

He followed along quietly, wincing at the loud pounding on the stone tunnel from the hail. He didn't speak until she asked him that on the other side, getting his attention on it for a moment.

"Some one else might need it."

"Yeah," she agreed, giving it a shrug before turning away and continuing on beside him.

She was quiet as they walked.

She didn't find it uncomfortable. Sometimes one just ran out of things to say, and instead just let a still quiet between friends rear. However, a worry dug at her head and she couldn't ignore it for too long.

"So... what are the plans for this place?"

Silences between them wasn't uncommon either. They'd traveled enough that there were plenty of moments where they all simply ran out of things to talk about. More than that, the moments where they simply needed the presence of another for one reason or another, and no words were required.

But the question got an odd, thoughtful but worried look from Sokka, breath being pulled in deeply to let out in a sigh that rose and slumped his shoulders in one fluid movement.

"Honestly? I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? You're the man with the plan, Sokka. Trust your instincts, right?"

For what he lacked in Bending, Sokka made up in Brain.

And, knowing that he had no idea what to do? That... might have made Toph feel a little hopeless.

Not that she'd ever let it show.

"I mean I don't know!"

It didn't come out as an angry snap. It was closer to a desperate whine of some one already at the end of their rope. Plans worked when people knew what they were dealing with. And they came easier when there was at least some small hope of them working.

If Toph felt hopeless, Sokka felt even more so.

"I don't know..." he repeated quietly, shoulders slumping. "What are we even up against? This isn't the Fire Nation or any of that stuff."

Sokka was right. It was worse than the Fire Nation.

Worse than the Dai Li.

Worse than Azula and all her craziness.

Toph fell back into a stone chair that wasn't there a second before. She slumped, a loud sigh escaping her.

"I don't know. You're the thinker, I'm the fighter."

"Hng..."

Sokka made a displeased noise and dropped down on to the stone floor, ignoring how cold it was even as he folded his legs up and put a fist to his chin.

"Shadows. Castle. Who knows what else..."

"Talk to Duo. He thinks he has some idea, I think," she told Sokka as she took a moment to dig in her nose.

"But whatever it is, we need to find it and deal with it so we can all go back home before something bad happens."

"Right... Duo..."

He let out a sigh, tugging on his messy ponytail thoughtfully. Well, two heads were better than one, especially if both of them were halfway decent strategists.

It was a start at least.

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2 | rain rain go away... | open - Friday afternoon/evening

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