11. both/and
You know, there are times when a guy just doesn't know what to think.
What am I talking about? The usual. Thinking about life. About what's real. You know... about stuff. You know what I mean. Or not. Right.
Okay, how to explain this? Well, it's kinda weird.
Let's start with something close to home. Well, close to my home, anyhow. There's this thing that's kind of important to us, down in the Southern Water Tribe. The wolf thing. You know. The whole painting our faces before going into battle. The warrior's wolf-tail, like the one I'm wearing here--and if you pull on it one more time, then so help me...
Right. Rightrightright. Physical threats don't work on you. You've made your point, Suki. Now will you please stop twisting my arm because it's really not supposed to bend in that direction.
Anyhow, like I was saying. Wolves. Yeah, it's all supposed to bring the spirit of the wolf... no, not a wolf-bear, or a wolf-seal, or a wolf-anything. I told you going in that this was going to be heading into some weird territory--cactus juice weird, I'm tellin' ya. So, this is all supposed to bring the spirit of the wolf to us, and maybe it's just a metaphor for how we're like a pack, just one big family looking out for each other, and yeah, that's kind of how I think about it most of the time. But there's part of me that thinks that way and does those things because it feels right. It's who I am, if that makes any sense, and maybe I do believe in the whole wolf thing just a little.
Of course, now that I've met Aang, and seen the whole Avatar thing (which is kinda cool in a "please, please don't let me die" sort of way, so if the little guy starts in with the glowing and the floating and the spinny winds--run). Well, now that I've seen that, and been kidnapped into the spirit world by some really cranky forest spirit... well, maybe there's more to it than that. Maybe there really is a spirit of the wolf, and--
The spirit world? What was it like? Well, it was...
It was dull. Really, really, really dull. But also kinda sparkly. Blue and sparkly. And man did I have to pee when I got out of there. Barely made it to the outhouse... and no I don't know why I couldn't pee while I was in there! What kind of question is that, anyhow?
Then, there was the library spirit--that was freaky--and the ocean getting up and walking and smashing up the Fire Nation navy. All very, very freaky and very, very convincing. If it didn't mean giving up meat and having to go live in a remote place where there would be no girls (meaning no you, which would be no good at all), I might even consider becoming a monk. That's how convincing it all was. Anyhow, that's the woo-woo side of thing, so now that that's done, we get to move on to the part where I say "now, on the other hand--"
Huh? Why did I leave out Yue and...
...yeah.
Yeah, I saw it. Her. The moon. And you know what? I don't really want to talk about that right now. Actually, I don't want to talk about it ever. In fact, if you could just put that on your "this is something I will not talk to Sokka about" list, that would be a fantastic idea.
No. Forget I said that. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. Anyhow, you know that story, or enough of it, at least.
Nah, I'm fine. Just give me a second here. It's just that you got me thinking about wolves and the moon and...
Right. Moving on, now.
Now, on the other hand, there's all this other stuff. And at first, it was weirder than all the woo-spookity-woo that I've been dealing with.
I've always been Mr. Practical. I've always been good with things, and with figuring out how thing work. Heck, I even was able to come up with ways to fake firebending and earthbending. So the firebending thing didn't work...it was still a good idea!
Sheesh.
The big thing, though, was when we went to the Northern Air Temple. It kinda sucked for Aang, because we're flying up and wow! Airbenders! Only, not so much. I felt so bad for the little guy, but then I realized that these people had figured out how to fake airbending. They could fly.
And that--that was just cool.
Meeting that inventor guy? Even more cool (although the whole working for the Fire Nation thing--not so cool).
In a way, it was even spookier than all the stuff with giant snake-owl librarians or Aang getting possessed by Avatar Kyoshi (a whole species of weird unto itself, let me tell you, but I kinda wish you'd been there to see it).
It was spooky because it felt right, kinda like painting my face before going into battle felt right, back at the South Pole. All those numbers and stuff? The properties of air and solids and gas and aerodynamics and metal fatigue and vector analysis and fluid dynamics all that other stuff that makes Toph not even pretend not to be bored when I try to explain it?
It was easy. All he had to do was show me a few things and teach me a few concepts, and off I went. Just like that. Just like I figured out the planetarium in the Library after being shown once and damn I wish we could have had some more time in there, but anyway...
It was kinda like Katara with her waterbending, you know. It came easily to me, and it always had--I just didn't know how much there was to come easily.
The whole science thing... amazing. Just amazing. No woo, no spirits, no homicidal librarians, no blue-floaty-please-don't-hurt-me spells. It's like... I could bend air without actually being an airbender.
You see, I'm the idea guy. It kinda freaked me out when the others pointed that out, but then again, Katara kinda freaked when she first started with the waterbending thing. But anyhow, that's me. The guy who helped invent a warship that could sail through the air. The guy who figured out how to take down a Fire Nation tunneller.
You know--the idea guy.
But I'm also the guy who sometimes paints his face like a wolf and who won't kiss you in the moonlight.
Like I said... weird.