Bending the Truth
You were a risk. A giant risk. You reminded me why I didn't take risks. You flipped my whole world upside down... and the scary thing ? I liked it.
Disclaimer No, I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender...I do however own my fantabulous sunflower cup!
Chapter One : In which Sokka goes to Plan B.
Sokka 's eyes peered dully through the dank enterior of one of the Earth Kingdoms seediest pubs. The air was filled with rancid smelling smoke and the scent of stale alchohal. Outside it was gray and depressing, the sky had been drizzling off and on all day. Sokka brought his gaze back inside, eyeing his half empty glass. The ice melting in his glass chinked loosely together as Sokka rattled it to get the bartenders attention. An old man in a dirty white apron clomped his way over to Sokka and sloshed the rank smelling liquid over his ice, then moved away to his next patron. Instead of gulping his drink down like he had the last three, Sokka amused himself with tracing patterns through the condensation on his glass. Sokka knew that if he could cry anymore he would. But it seemed like his tear ducts had, had enough of crying thank goodness. His eyes were still rimmed red from all his crying and that didn't do anything for his ego or manly good looks.. Tilting his head back Sokka looked blearily at the rotten boards that composed the ceiling of the 'Drunken Badger' as his memories assailed him.
"I'm sorry Sokka, it just won't work." That's what Suki had said to him a week ago.
Four years ago after the war had ended, Katara, Toph, Aang and he had been travelling around settling disputes on the borders and helping rebuild towns, when they ran into the Kyoshi warriors again. It only seemed natural that they should split up the group and help settle the skirmishes faster. Naturally Sokka, went with Suki and her warriors. They took the eastern border of the Earth Kingdom between the Firenation while Katara, Aang, and Toph went to help rebuild Ba Sing Se and Omashu. One month from now would be the fifth year anniversary of the end of the war. That would've been the time that Sokka would've proposed to Suki. But, as his luck would have it, when he talked to Suki last week about her opinions on settling down and family, it had become clear that Suki's only interest at that time was her warrior duties. Sokka of course being Sokka had pushed the issue, which had lead into a big fight.
Now, a week later, Sokka found himself at the port of Kuson - a tiny village on the border between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation - while the Kyoshi warriors moved on toward Ba Sing Se for the Fifth Anniversary Festival. Suki had offered that he could still travel with her and the girls until reaching Ba Sing Se where they would go their seperate ways. Sokka decided that it was best to just stay here for a while.
He regretted bringing up that conversation, if only he had waited. He could've been with Suki and the girls right now instead of some dingy pub. He could've been planning his proposal speech. They could've worked things out afterwards. Sokka knew he could still run after her if he wanted to. But because of his pride, he remained at Kuson licking his wounds. He was pretty sure that was why Suki hadn't turned around for him either. He knew it would take a miracle to patch up their relationship now. The watertribe warrior groaned and banged his head onto the unsanitary bar. It hurt. After another groan and another hit to the head by means of the bar, Sokka had decided that he worked himself up into a good melancholy. He felt that now he was about ready for his stiff drink. The ice clinked in his glass again as he drank it all in one gulp. Sokka's tear ducts jumped into action making his eyes water as the liquid seared down his throat. Yep. They still worked. Damn it.
Outside the sky decided to drizzle again, making muddy puddles here and there. Sokka pushed back the bar stool he was perched on, tossed the proper amount of money on the counter for his drinks and stumbled haphazardly toward the exit doors.
The rain pelted Sokka as he trudged through the puddles of mud toward the direction his inn was located. At least he thought this was the direction it was located. A cool breeze flitted around Sokka's body pushing him back upright when he tripped over a clump of mud that didn't seem to be there before. Sokka stopped in the middle of the street and knit his brows together.
Now what was off about what just happened? Before he could contemplate the matter any further, a loud feminine voice rang out from behind him.
"You reek Snoozles! What have you been doing? Bathing in rum!?
Sokka whippped around to see three grinning Avatars and two irritated looking Tophs. The Aangs scratched the back of their heads sheepishly. "She's just upset because you went bar hopping without her."
The druken warrior gave them a lopsided grin and a un-warriorlike hiccup. "When dids you get here guys"? he slurred out happily. Sokka scanned the group of Aangs and Tophs. There seemed to be a person missing. "Where's Katars-Kartas...Where's my sister?" Sokka said finally.
The Tophs spoke up this time. "We left Sweetness at your Inn. She didn't want to accompany us to the bar, she's got a hoity-toity attitude about it.
Aang laughed nervously. " It's only because she can't handle her liquor and her bending gets her in alot of trouble." The Avatar shot a meaningful look at Toph.
Toph gave the air nomad a dry look. "Yeah, considering that almost everything in a bar is made of liquid."
Sokka let out a dorky laugh and wobbled unsteadily. Toph let out a sigh. "Come on Ponytail, lets get you back to the Inn." The Aangs and the Tophs all came forward to grab an arm and turn him the opposite direction that he was headed.
How they all managed to latch on to him, Sokka never knew.
..-.:.-..
Katara looked at her brother in frustration as he lay sprawled across his bed -if you could call it that- and drukenly sang old watertribe love ballads. From the looks of his room, he hadn't attempted to wash his clothes in weeks. The mismatched socks in the corner were beginning to look particularly frightening.
Katara sat down on the edge of the bed and heaved her brother up to a sitting position. Beneath the druken stupidity that he was currently sporting, Katara could tell that her brother was hurting. Sokka's head lolled forward and hung limply as he mumbled something to himself. Katara pushed his head back up to its natural position. "What was that Sokka?"
Sokka cracked open his eyes a little. "I said I think that my drinks were soured. I don't feel so good." Before Katara could respond, Sokka took a running leap off the bed, at which point he tripped on his sheets, and made a bee-line to where the bathroom was. Katara winced at the wretching noises she heard coming from it. It was a good thing that she sent Aang and Toph away for food, the Earthbending master had problems with throw-up. It seemed she only had to hear the person throwing up to start throwing up herself. Katara didn't much feel like dealing with that...again.
After a little while Sokka came back into the room looking less drunk now that he had gotten it all out of his system. He sat heavily on the end of his bed and gave his sister a sheepish look. Katara shook her head at him and gave him a worried smile. "Sokka what happend? Why aren't you with Suki and the girls anymore?" The goofy look that her brother had on his face, slipped off as one of saddness came to the front.
"Did you see her?" Sokka asked.
Katara gave her brother a worried look. "Yeah, we finished up our last job earlier and decided to come and meet up with you and Suki for a few days. But when we saw her and the girls on the road, they said that you had decided to stay in the last town. When we asked why, Suki just told us to ask you. She seemed kinda miffed. What's going on Sokka?"
Sokka placed his head on his palms and ran his fingers through his wolf tail. "We just got in a fight and decided to go our separate ways is all...She's still mad?"
"That's all you have to say? Katara snapped. A fight?! I bet it was your fault wasn't it!? Did you get all over protective again?"
"Slow down Katara! Sokka said, frustrated. We just had different views on relationships...Family... Marriage... I was going to ask her to marry me at the festival...Apparently, she cares more about her warrior duties than she does about settling down."
The changes in Katara's disposition occured immediately. "Oh, Sokka! I'm so sorry!" She sat down beside Sokka and gave him a comforting hug.
It was during that time that Aang,Toph, and Momo burst through the door laden with food and other various items that looked like a ping-pong paddle and huge oriental vase that Toph claimed was perfect for her and that she couldn't live without. The Beifong heiress who was holding the smaller packages deposited them neatly on the floor, while Aang waddled around trying to find a spot to accomodate Toph's life altering vase. How they would get it on Appa was something that Aang didn't look forward to finding out. He was sure that the only reason Toph bought it was to see how long Katara could put up with it before blowing her top.
Sokka who was watching the whole procession pushed off from the bed and staggered slightly over to where Toph had set down the food. The earthbending master was currently helping Twinkletoes decide where to put her vase. Her help consisted of "A little to the left. No. Your other left." Katara just continued preaching about how he should get out more, and to come and join them again.
Sokka just wanted a break. And food. Food would be nice, preferably meat. Katara chattered on, helping Sokka unpack the food as she went. Toph wandered over, bored of 'helping' Aang, and listened in on the one-sided conversation that Katara was having. Sokka bit off a piece of jerky as a muffled voice came from the back of the room.
"Uhhh Toph? Is this ok?" Aang panted.
Toph picked at the lettuce of her sandwhich. "A little to the right Aang."
Aang's head craned around from the left side of the vase. "Um. I don't thing it can go any more to the right."
The blind bandit now concerned herself with tearing the crust off of her bread and giving them to Momo. "Your other right Aang."
Aang grunted and craned his head around the other side of the vase. "Toph! You aren't even paying attention!" Aang gave an indignant huff and lowered the huge vase painstakingly to the ground. Then went over to join everyone.
Sokka scuffed his boot on the packed dirt of his floor and tore off another bite of his jerky.
"Speaking of paying attention," Katara started, "I don't think that Sokka was either." Katara gave him the 'mother hen' look as Sokka liked to call it.
"Well Katara, when a man like me gets hungry, there's not much else going on up here." Sokka jabbed a finger at his head. "Men have a one-track mind. And in some cases a short attention span." Sokka eyed an unassuming Aang who was trading Toph a papaya for a mango.
Katara rolled her eyes and started eating on her sandwhich.
"So," Toph mumbled around a mouthful of papaya, "what exactly happened with you and Suki, Snoozels?" Aang perked up from teasing Momo with a slice of fruit and turned around to listen to the conversation.
Sokka just grunted and gave a muffled reply before he bit off another peice of jerky.
Katara sighed and put down her sandwhich as both Toph and Aang swivled their heads toward her. "Sokka and Suki broke it off because they couldn't see eye to eye on a couple of things. " She then proceeded in telling them the rest of what happened while Sokka tried to look like he didn't care. When she had finished, the watertribe warrior hated the sad looks he recieved from the group. Well mostly Aang and Katara. Toph just cleaned her teeth and told him that he was better off without her. Aang turned to Katara and agreed that Sokka should get out.
"Actually!" Aang said excitedly. "I have just the thing that will get your mind off Suki!" Sokka gave him a doubtful look. Aang held his his finger up to indicate that everyone should wait. He then proceeded to give himself a thorough pat down, stopping when he patted something crinckly in his pocket. The Avatar flashed everyone a triumphant smile and brandished a wrinkly looking piece of paper from out of his pocket.
"This here's the answer to all your problems Sokka!"
Sokka gave the paper a skeptical look. "Wow. My very own piece of paper."
Aang took a moment to unfold the peice of paper. A sketch of two entwined dragons with funny smiles was printed out on the paper. Up at the top a bold headline in red and gold writing read, "Come and visit the Dancing Dragons Circus!"
The Avatar continued on with his exicted chatter. "They'll even let us ride the Hog Monkeys! It'll be just the thing to put a little pep in your step Sokka!"
"I think I'll pass Aang." Sokka stated dryly.
"Come on Sokka, think about it." Katara pleaded. "We all need this, not just you. We can't just leave you here!"
Toph leaned over to Sokka and in a conspiratorial whisper added "I heard they have great food."
Sokka gave Toph a hopeful look. "Does that mean meat?"
"Only the best." Toph replied.
Sokka stretched and gave a yawn. "I'll give it a shot."
"That's great Snoozels, but we're not taking you anywhere until you get a bath. I'm serious. You reek." Toph wrinkled her nose.
Katara leaned forward toward Sokka "And she means that in the most loving way."
"Speak for yourself Sweetness." Toph drawled.
Aang scratched the back of his bald head and laughed sheepishly. "Well it does smell like you haven't had a bath in a long time, it wouldn't hurt anything." Aang shrugged.
"Ok I get it. I stink, and I need a bath." Sokka got up and made his way dejectedly to the bathroom.
"Hurry up and finish Sokka!" Aang yelled after him. "The sooner we get back from the circus the sooner we can think of a way to get Suki back for you!"
That statement hit the stinking warrior like a load of bricks and stopped him in his tracks. How come that thought hadn't occured to him yet? Well he knew why, he was to busy wallowing in self pity to actually think straight at the time. Slowly Sokka turned around to face the gang with an open mouth. All of them were grinning in his direction. The warrior looked like he was thinking about saying something, but then shut his mouth, and did an about face toward the bathroom. This was going to be the quickest bath of his life.
..-.:.-..
Sokka grumbled as he stood in line for the food vendor at the Dancing Dragon Circus. He had finally made it to the head of the line and was just about ready to order the whole menu. He definitely wanted to see what the big deal about 'popcorn' was. Upon entering the circus the first impression Sokka got was controlled chaos. How Aang could believe that this was relaxing for everyone was over his head.
They had all split up in different directions, Sokka toward the food section. Toph toward the extreme stunts, and Katara tagged along with Aang to keep an eye on him as he rode the Hog Monkeys. They were all supposed to meet up in the big tent for the main attractions in thirty minutes. Sokka now had ten minutes left to get there thanks to the long line. As the watertribe warrior gave his order to the vendor he tried to remember where the main attractions would be. Was it the Red tent or the Yellow tent?
Everything in this circus had a different color to make it easier to get to where you wanted. All you had to do was look for the color tent. There were green tents, blue tents, orange, pink, and various other colors. There was only one flaw in this spectrum of a circus. And that was remembering what color tent. Sokka pushed those thoughts away for more important ones. Like ideas on how he could get Suki back. He hadn't gotten very far. The farthest he'd gotten in his master plan was to join back up with Katara, Aang, and Toph and ride with them to Ba Sing Se for the Festival. He knew for sure that Kyoshi warriors would be there.
After collecting his mountain of food, Sokka then set to the problem of remembering the color tent. Using his specially honed instincts, Sokka decided to follow the majority of the crowd and see if it led to the main event. Five minutes later, the lost warrior departed from the bathroom area of the circus. It seemed that the majority crowd needed a toilet.
So he went with Plan B. Follow the loud cheering noises. A couple minutes later Sokka was at the entrance of a huge red tent. How in the world could he have missed the tent was beyond him. It was enormous. Sokka peered through his food to see if he could find the others. Thankfully they were easy to spot, due to Aang's signature orange.
Finally making his way to his seat, Sokka plopped down next to Aang only to be accosted by his baby sister about being late and have his drink stolen by Toph. He could tell it was going to take awhile getting used to this again.
The noises were deafening inside the huge red tent, and the smells were overwhelming. Thanks to Aang being the Avatar, all of their little group had gotten first rate seats. Toph had her feet securely on the ground and was 'seeing' all the activety going on behind the rear tent curtain. "Some one's fixing to come out." Toph notified everyone as she took a big gulp of Sokka's drink. Sure enough, someone put out half of the torches in the big top, dimming the enterior considerably. A hush fell over the crowd as the torches in the ring were lit one by one, and a loud fanfare of sungi horns announced the beginning of the show.
The red curtains were slowly pulled backwards as two pink and yellow costume dragons weaved into the center of the ring shaking their heads for effect every now and then. When they were finished with their display they turned their huge shaggy heads back toward the opening where they came out. The Ring Leader, a graying old man with a nicely trimmed beard, appeared a few moments later, riding on top of a huge full grown saber tooth moose lion. He spurred his ride to the middle of the ring where he took off his hat and waved to the crowd. The crowd errupted into cheers and applause, waiting to see what happen next. The Ring Leader put his hat back on top of his head and went into description of the amazing feats that they would soon witness tonight. When he was done, he bowed and spurred his ride into action and rode back the way he came with the two dragons.
After that the inside of the tent was a whirl-wind of activity. There were Giant Porcupine Boars that shot their quills into moving targets, Hopping Llamas which hopped through hoops, Trained Hog Monkey Riders, Dancing Platypus Bears, A Singing Gopher Choir, - which Toph and Aang whistled different notes to when the fluter wasn't looking much to his frustration- and Clowns with funny skits about how the Avatar and company saved the world. Sokka had a particularly good time watching this.
Aang's clown was portrayed as being an airbender by the use of a giant fan that he drug behind him, and Katara's clown had a blue mop like braid and carried around a bucket of water that she used for her "waterbending" which consited of tossing water on everyone and everything. Toph's clown was dressed all in green and stood in the background pelting the firenation clowns with dirt clods. Toph got a kick out of that. And last but not least Sokka's clown, which was dressed in blue and also had a blue mop for a ponytail, tripped over his own feet and threw his colorful boomerang around but often didn't catch it when it came back. Katara had a good laugh at his exspense for that one.
Sokka enjoyed himself thoroughly that was for sure, but he couldn't help his mind from wandering off and trying to think of plans for winning Suki back. Sokka leaned his head back against his seat, and wished that the show would end soon, so he could think clearly. As if his wish had been heard, a loud roar filled the entire tent as the Ring Leader rode back into the ring to announce the final act. Sokka positioned himself back up in his seat so he could watch better. The Ring Leader rode back out again as the lights were dimmed. You could practically feel the excitement thrumming through the crowd as the torches were lit again, not only around the ring, but fifty feet up in air.
Everybody's neck craned looking upward as a figure in pink stood illuminated on the edge of a platform and waved. A loud applause followed and died down when the pink acrobat made her first move. Taking a running leap, she flipped smoothly through the air and landed, balancing by her hands, on a vertical pole at the midpoint of the wires. From there she lifted herself into a one-handed handstand. She balanced precariously for a moment before she went into a full split. The crowd held it's breath as she bent supporting arm at her elbow and launched herself off the stake and neatly onto the wire. That earned a gasp from the anxious crowd. The girl in pink then carefully bent down and placed her hands on the wire, using her legs to raise her delicately onto her hands. She then walked herself hand over hand to the otherside of the platform. Needless to say, the crowd went wild. The acrobat in pink grinned widely and bowed before she flipped into the saftey net below.
While the other torches around the tent were being re-lit, the Ring Leader came out for his final words of closing on his unsual steed, "Give it up for our best acrobat Ty Lee!" Upon hearing her name the group turned to look at each other in surprise. The Ring Leader continued on with his closing speech. "Thank you all for coming, and don't forget to come and see us for the Big Festival in Ba Sing Se! What you have seen here, will be nothing in comparison to what we will do there!" The crowd roared again, as the Ring Leader made his dramatic exit.
All the torches were lit now, and the crowd began to make their way toward the exit flaps. Sokka looked around the rest of the group in astonishment. "What was she doing here?!" Katara looked just about as disturbed as her brother. "Well, this is close to the firenation border."
Aang airbended himself out of his seat excitedly. "Come on guys! Lets not worry about her! We still have to explore this whole circus!"
Toph got up after him and grabbed a fistful of the back of his orange shirt. "Hold on there Twinkles. I hate to put a damper on things, but have you forgotten just what Pinky did to us? She took away mine and Katara's bending, helped in getting you zapped, and not only took down the Kyoshi warriors but impersonated them!"
Aang sighed and loosened Tophs hand from the back of his shirt. "I haven't forgotten Toph. But the war has been over now for five years. I think it's time to move on and not hold a grudge."
Katara moved forward to stand by Toph. "He's right Toph, lets just let bygones be bygones, and enjoy ourselves before we get summoned off to duty again."
Toph let out an un-lady like huff, and dropped the issue. "Alright, lets go see you try to beat me at hog monkey riding Twinkles."
Katara grinned as she started off after Aang and Toph, who were now racing to the 'wild animal area' over in the orange part of the circus. She stopped when she realized that her older brother wasn't following. "Sokka? Are you coming?"
Sokka picked up his pace and quickly caught up with his little sister. Katara was saying something or other about Toph and Aang, when a cute giggle caught Sokka's attention.
He'd know that giggle anywhere. There, a few 10 paces in front of them were the performers from the circus signing their names on the Dancing Dragon's ad posters for all the fans.
Sokka stopped in his tracks as Katara walked on, oblivious.
He knew what he should do, of course. He should continue right on with Katara and watch as Toph and Aang get thrown from some wild Hog Monkeys.
But what he wanted to do. Now that was a different matter completely.
He wanted to see how the pink acrobat had changed over the years, and find out what had made her laugh. Why? Curiosity surely.
Throwing good, but commonly used sense to the wind, Sokka stealthily approached the group of circus performers. The last thing he wanted was for Ty lee to take notice of him.
Said acrobat was twisting into some unbelievable pose as a awkward looking young man from the crowd approached with a circus flyer. Ty lee grinned up at him un-abashedly as she coquettishly unfolded herself from her position and grasped the outstretched piece of paper. It appeared that she had gotten to be more confident and charming if that was at all possible. Her hair had grown longer, the brown braid swishing back and forth as she swayed from side to side. When Ty lee was done signing her name, she handed the flyer back with a wink. Even standing five feet away Sokka could've sworn he felt the young man's blush. It also seemed that the young man's girlfriend felt it to, because a few seconds later she was there dragging him back away from the pink acrobat. Ty lee looked on with a confused little smile as the angry girlfriend turned around to deliever a glare. Ty lee gave a wave to the couple then went back to signing more flyers.
Sokka moved from person to person as his mind contemplated the beginning of a plan. A risky plan...But if he played his cards right, a good one.
Another cute giggle drew Sokka's eyes back to Ty Lee's twisting form, as another young man approached her. Gracefully balancing on one leg, the pink contortionist flirtatiously signed another flyer.
So he had a month to win Suki back.
As Sokka's eyes met with Ty Lee's for the first time in five years he suddenly knew how.
---------------------------------
To Be Continued.
A/N
I'm back with another story! My first multi-chaptered fic! Heads up to all the readers, I do like to write loooong chapters. So if you aren't fond of long chapters...you're just going to have to deal with it. (:
Well, not much Sokka and Ty lee interaction at all, but at least the stage is set. (First chapters are so hard for me to write. lol ) There's definitely going to be some interaction between them in chapter 2 so yayness! Anyone care to take a guess at what Sokka's genius plan is?