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

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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"It won't be too long. Just six hours or so?" Hard to tell the time without the sun.

"C'mon. Let's talk."

To that, Sokka just nodded quietly, still lost in his previous thoughts and coming up with all new ones even as he followed Duo. At least he was versatile enough to go without his sword for the time being, but he really would have felt better with the blade at his hand.

Duo glanced back at Sokka and offered a smile, trying to at least work up some morale.

"Sokka?" He said as they got closer to his room.

"Toph told me you helped save the world. Bad as this place gets? Big as the threat is? I think we can take em'." Problem was, even though he said it, his words were still somewhat... empty. Like he didn't believe it himself. Like he didn't have anything to back it up with.

Like he needed a morale boost of his own.

Sokka heard it. It wasn't like Duo could hide it as well as he used to. Most of them couldn't anymore. He'd seen how even Toph had started to slow under the weight of what the castle brought. Shadow? Harth? The Queen? And that sense of being trapped... ? Some how it really was worse than any of the threats the Fire Nation and Ozai had brought down on them.

Still, he managed to echo the smile back if nothing else, half heartedly at that.

"... yeah. Thanks."

Once they arrived to his room he pushed it open, turning his eyes to check for anyone in the room. Everyone in here he trusted. Once Sokka was inside, he closed the door.

"So. Vampires. Sucks blood, killed by sunlight and a wooden stake to the heart." Not sure about what else.

"According to Haku, the sunlight doesn't hurt him. And I don't know if we can handle the rest of it. Crucifixes and holy water are supposed to work too, but I dunno. That's just from the stories, yehknow?"

"... I have no idea what you're talking about," Sokka admitted once Duo had finished explaining. The teen just blinked a few times after that. Crucifix? Holy water? What?

"Uuuh. Vampires are the living dead." He brings his hands behind his neck and unlatches the cross around his neck.

"This is a symbol for a religion back in my world. It's supposed to ward em' off, and the holy water? Just water blessed by a priest." Duo shrugs.

"Because it's the god of that religion that the vampires are supposed to fear or something so all this stuff hurts em'. And then cos' they're creatures of the night, the sun's suppose to hurt them too."

"I know what vampires are," Sokka said with a huff, crossing his arms over his chest, "I guess we just have different stories or somethin'..."

"I guesso!" Duo pouted.

"You have vampires?" Duo tilted his head at that, then smiled slightly.

"Whatever. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say we're dealing with standard dracula rules."

Sokka just shrugged. If that's what Duo thought, so be it. All they had to do was come up with a plan, right? And Duo obviously had some sort of experience here. Let him call the shots on which lore it followed.

"Did you make your crutch out of wood?" Duo asked, leaning back on his bed, an eyebrow raised at the boy.

"...If we get a cross bow we can make a snipe. Lure him in to an open space." Duo nodded at that. "And as for you?" He grabbed his machete.

"Take it until you get yours."

"Yeah," Sokka answered with a nod as he took the machete. He stepped back a few feet, clear of Duo so he could give a good couple of swings after testing the weight in his hand. Solid, not the best craftsmanship, but he was impressed they'd been able to come up with something like that with the limited materials of the castle anyway.

"Thanks. This'll work. I used to have one back home... shouldn't be too hard to get used to again."

"Hah. Actually? Considering who made it I'm not surprised. I think when she made it for me she mentioned something about water tribes." Heh. Still pretty fascinating how their world is laid out.

"... Toph made this?"

He stopped, taking a closer looking at it, inspecting the way the metal had been crafted. Well. Hell. That really was something Toph made. It actually earned a smile.

"Nice goin', Toph..."

"Taken a shine to her." He chuckles a little, leaning back on his bed, scratching the back of his neck as he speaks.

"Hard not to. She's got a... no pun intended, iron will. So hell, gotta respect that out of a little pipsqueak, powerful as she is." So he calls her pipsqueak. It's a term of endearment.

Congrats, Duo. You got Sokka to laugh. A lot. He was cracking up pretty hard at that, even if he hadn't meant it to be a pun.

"Pffft... y-yeah, she really is. If I gotta be stuck here, 'least I'm stuck here with her."

"And I don't say it often enough, but I'm glad I've gotten the opportunity to meet the two of you. Hermit, Ratchet. All of em." He smirks.

"The word, my friend, is awesome." He grins at him.

"And that's why we can take this dirtbag. Course, we'd be screwed all alone."

"I'unno about the world being "awesome" but we're lucky, I'll give you that."

As for being able to take Harth... well. That remained to be seen. He could hope, though, that Duo was right and strength in their numbers would be what did the monster in sooner or later.

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

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