I wrote this because I got into a car crash this morning, but it was pretty much as serious as the one in here. After it happened, I just kinda thought, Huh. Which of my fandoms could I squeeze that into? And the one that has anything close to a car was the ATLA/LOK fandom. So this weird thing was born.
Lin was sitting in front seat of a satomobile. Which was, honestly, a first. The nine-year-old turned slowly to look into the back, where her mother sat, decidedly grumpy.
Fighting back a giggle, she turned to the front again. If her mother knew she was up here— No, Lin thought, unable to resist grinning, She must not know. Otherwise she wouldn't let me sit up here.
It was hard to not bounce or do anything stupid while Uncle Sokka got into the driver's seat. But she knew better than to do that. While Toph's seismic sense was impaired by the satomobile, there was no saying that she wouldn't be able to hear/feel a small girl jumping and squealing in the front seat.
Uncle Sokka winked and asked, "Ready, kiddo?"
She nodded giddily. But once the satomobile started, she wasn't looking at him. Lin gazed, wide-eyed, around. "The window's so big!" she gasped before she could help herself. Quickly clapping her hand to her mouth, she whirled around to look at her mother.
But Toph just muttered, "I hate these things. Sure, they're made of metal. But do you know how hard it is to know where I'm going?"
Sokka replied easily, grinning openly at Lin's reaction, "Sure I do. If you need to barf—"
Toph threw something in Sokka general direction, but it went out the window instead. After not hearing him yelp, she asked, "Was that important?"
"Those were my papers for work!" Sokka exclaimed, sticking his head out the window.
"Oops," Toph muttered sarcastically.
"Eyes on the road!" Lin snapped, then quickly shut up, casting a furtive glance at the backseat. But then she followed her own advice and looked at the road, the cars, the people, and the buildings. The windows were so huge up here, and she could see so much more than she could in the backseat.
She also couldn't help the smug grin that flickered across her face. She'd always begged to sit up front ("Kya, Bumi, and Tenzin get to!") but Katara, if she was there, would say she was too young ("And you're still so little.") and Toph would just roll her eyes and pull her daughter into the backseat with her.
The novelty of the fact that she was sitting in the front seat didn't wear off for a good half an hour. She kept bouncing for a couple seconds before stopping and sneaking furtive glances at her mother.
Toph finally asked, "This is going to sound weird coming from the only blind girl, but why are we going in circles?"
Lin froze, looking over her shoulder. She'd wanted to go around this park several times, simply because it was too big to look at in one go, and Sokka was just humouring the girl.
"We're looking for the very important papers you threw out the window," the Water Tribe warrior lied easily.
Lin grinned at him and clapped silently as she caught sight of a few turtle-ducks swimming in the pond.
"If you're trying to make me feel guilty, it's never going to work," Toph informed him.
Sokka only shook his head fondly.
Then she went on, "Because it was your fault in the first place."
"Wait, what?"
Lin suddenly screeched, forgetting her need to be quiet, pointing ahead of her.
"Shit," Sokka swore, wildly twisting the wheel. But it was too late and the satomobile ran straight into another.
Lin was thrown forwards, then back, silently thinking, Glad I had my seatbelt on. . . . Sokka was sitting very still, eyes wide and round.
The satomobile they had hit had the front right corner banged in, and shiny metal pieces littered the street. Other satomobiles around them swerved or stopped.
Suddenly Lin's door was open, and Toph was there, touching her face, her arms, her legs. "Spirits, Lin, are you alright?" she demanded.
"I'm fine," she hastily assured her mother, not even realizing that Toph had probably known she'd been up here all along.
Sokka unbuckled and got out of the car. Thin filmy smoke filled the car and he got out to talk to the owner of the other satomobile.
Lin wasn't afraid, strangely. Should she be? She was just . . . calm. Slightly shocked — no, not shocked. Surprised, maybe? Or a mixture? "Mama," she said slowly, waving a hand at the swirling white mist-smoke-thing, "There's smoke. Should I get out?"
Toph closed her eyes briefly, nostrils flaring. Then she shook her head. "It's not smoke. You're fine."
"But I smell burning!" Lin protested. She wasn't afraid, but she didn't want to die because of smoke inhalation.
Toph made to stand up, anger flashing in her sightless eyes, but Lin tugged her sleeve.
"I smell burning!" Lin pressed, because she could see Uncle Sokka talking to a man and a woman, a cross of anger and shock flickering across their faces. She didn't want to go and make his job harder, because she knew how stubborn her mother could be; she shared that trait as well.
"There's no fire," Toph assured her daughter, "You know how the seat belts pulled really hard when the car stopped?"
Lin nodded, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. She had a feeling eye-rolling would not be considered appropriate at a time like this.
"When two things rub against each other really hard and fast, they make smoke. It's friction." Toph made to stand again, but this time Lin let her, sighing.
She couldn't help thinking, Doesn't friction create fire?
Lin poked her head out of the satomobile, not getting out yet. Toph had stormed over to the couple and Sokka, her steps sure and steady now that her feet were firmly back on her precious earth.
Lin hesitantly got out and examined the satomobiles. Sokka's wasn't too badly damaged. The front was slightly banged up, and the paint was scraped away. The other car's front right tire was slowly getting flatter, and the front of the car was pretty banged up, and it probably wouldn't be able to drive again, but nobody had been hurt.
"Who are you two?" Toph demanded.
Sokka quickly interjected, "Toph, calm down! They're nice people!"
The man looked startled. "Chief Beifong! I—"
The woman groaned and buried her head in her hands. "This is the worst day ever. I'm late to work, and now we hit the Chief and a council member!"
"Just Sokka is fine," said council member muttered.
Toph opened her mouth, but Lin sprang out and ran to her mother. She honestly thought the two were hassled enough, and didn't need the famous Toph Beifong yelling at them.
The woman froze, eyes widening. "And her daughter! This is the worst day of my life!" she wailed. Her husband put an arm around her, rolling his eyes at Sokka.
The Councilman immediately brighened. "Exactly! There was this one time Suki—"
"Save it, Snoozles!" Toph interrupted. Then she rounded on the poor couple, ignoring the stares of the other people. "What did you think you were doing, driving like that?"
"Mama," Lin leaped up at the blind earthbender. On instinct, Toph caught her daughter, grunting. The girl added, hissing into her ear, "Mama, you couldn't see them. You don't know how they were driving."
She sighed and whispered back, a small smirk flickering across her face, "Doesn't mean I can't yell at them."
Sokka, who was standing close enough to her, hissed, "What are you teaching your daughter?"
Toph opened her mouth, but the man asked, "So . . . are we screwed?"
The blind earthbender smiled hesitantly at him. "Nah. Sokka'll take care of you." She let Lin down and walked her across the street towards the park, weaving through the now stuck cars. People were staring at the crash, but looked away under the Chief of Police's gaze.
"You're welcome!" Lin called gleefully, holding her mother's hand.
Short. But I like it. At least, I'm pleased with it. Review, tell me what you liked, disliked, hated (although please no flames), and if I need to fix anything. Thanks.