Dreaming of Death Note: 12 - Interference
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Author's Note: Important for anyone who read chapter 11 on the day it was posted- there were some cut and paste mistakes, my fault completely, as I was half asleep as I did it. Thank you to Redshirt Army for bringing that to my attention! I have gone back and corrected the missing conversation which happened just before Shikako/Michiko asked if Hideo was 'serious about the boyfriend/girlfriend thing'. It's almost a fourth of the way down the page. I was adding two files together and forgot to transfer that part over to the finished chapter! There were a few other things I didn't move into that chapter mistakenly, but I managed to fit them into this next part, so problem solved.
How come the ability to insert a horizontal line isn't always there in the tool bar when I initially copy-paste/upload the file? *sigh*
OH, it's there when I edit it in Doc Manager. *grin* (Here's where we put THE MORE YOU KNOW rainbow™)
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Dreaming of Death Note: 12 - Interference
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It was just after sundown when Shikako went into the women's bathroom after class the next day. She had walked in, intending to use the stall closest to the door, when a hand suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm to stop her in place. Shocked, she turned her head to glare at him, realizing instantly who it probably was since she hadn't felt him there, but he'd been seen in class earlier. The room was empty aside from the two of them, though the boy was invisible. This not being able to sense him thing was becoming troublesome. His face materialized in front of her before the rest of him melted into sight like water trickling down his body as it suddenly became visible.
She shoved him back though he held on, and spoke in a hushed tone knowing Rei was outside the door, "If I'd truly been in an hurry I might have pissed myself from the startle you just gave me, popping out of the woodwork like that!" She was thinking darker thoughts, of all the ways she could have ended him, had she not have reacted better. This brought up memories of Kakashi and his damn marker, too.
"Sorry! Something came up. Wendy just called. Dan is doing something, and it's not good." his grip tightened, but it seemed to be out of stress.
"What is it this time?" Hideo reached for the door to the bathroom and locked it so that no one else could enter. Shikako tossed her bag on the floor, and turned her head to look Hideo in the eye. His eyes were red, like he'd been crying. She'd never seen him unhappy like that before. In fact, aside from the occasional bout of anger, he'd never had anything other than a positive or possibly over protective emotion portrayed on his lively face, that she had seen.
"The shit hit the fan, now that he has that data you got for him. Whatever the hell it is, it was exactly what he wanted. Wendy's crying, she called me a minute ago because two of our friends in America vanished when Dan went there. They're just gone. She can't even see any daydreams from them, just poof! She said that's what it's like when someone dies. They were like us, and wanted out. Dan got rid of them! If I'd have known that I wouldn't have let Wendy send it to him yesterday."
"I- I'm sorry, but that's not my fault."
'Not directly, anyway.' She said, "I think I can help the three of you to hide, though you seem to be pretty good at doing that yourself." she said wryly, eyeing him up and down. "If you want. I did offer."
"I'm not worried about myself personally. I can handle it. There's others to be concerned for though, like Wendy and my sister." Hideo finally released his grip on her arm, voluntarily making some space between the two of them. "But if we go, and Dan knows stuff ahead of time, doesn't that mean he'll just know where we'll go? And what about the others that want out?"
"I doubt it. He seems to know only things that pertain to himself in the future. Think about it. He sends you out to investigate something, then has to hear your answer, but he already knows your answer when you come to tell him. He doesn't know how I get into the building, just that I will meet him there. If he knew how I got into the building, then that means he could look at my future, not just his. He can't see things that don't pertain to himself." she concluded.
Having said that, there was still a nagging sense of doubt in the back of her mind. She couldn't quite place it, until she realized something important: Dan gave her personal messages about meeting one of the Kiras in the future, and claimed she had already met one of them. But Dan wanting his people to find Kira means he doesn't know who Kira himself is. Did he already come into contact with another Kira? The message he gave her wasn't his own future, or even his own past, it was hers. Unless she meets this Kira in his presence, she wasn't certain how he could have come up with that information if he could only see his own future. So it must be something he'd known would happen, because he instigated it, or someone near him had.
Was she wrong about that? It contradicted what she'd just assured Hideo... but Dan's lack of knowledge about her means of climbing the walls to enter the building pointed to the fact he doesn't see everything. Maybe he was limited in how often or how much he could see? Or how far into the future? Maybe he only got bits and pieces?
There were too many unknown factors to be truly conclusive now. She would just have to consider the possibility that she was wrong and he could see more than she assumed, or had people in positions to make certain things happen. His questions on how she did it could very well have been a ruse. She didn't want to frighten Hideo, but he really had no other options at the moment.
He thought her words over and nodded, "Then we should be ok, if we go. But the thing is, will we be safe for long? Wendy told me her friend texted her before he vanished, saying Dan's going to reveal psychics to the world." He waited a beat, taking a deep breath, "Dan is going to have someone go on television and state that Kira is a psychic that is controlling the world.
"He's claiming that Kira is one of his people, though you can bet Dan himself won't make an appearance. He won't want his face seen, after L told everyone Kira needs a face an a name to kill. He's gonna say that anyone that defies his Psychic Children will pay the consequences, through 'Kira's divine intervention'. We know it's not true because he's asked us to keep a look out to try to find Kira for him, not like we would. Since we've failed to get results he says this will draw Kira out. I don't know what to think now, Michiko!" Hideo pulled at his ponytail, agitation written across his very expressive face. "You've got to get Kira to help us! You two live together, so- so you can..."
'Oh, Light...'
"And Dan's in America right now, on a so called business trip, so it's not like we can confront him in person and make him stop."
'Well, now I know what he was doing with that knowledge he has been hoarding. And any psychic not aligned with him will be hunted and alone. He's set it up so he has a secure safe zone for them, and once it's revealed that they exist publicly, they'll have no place to go but to him Unless we change that...'
She began to think aloud, running her thoughts by Hideo, "He's going to reveal psychics. I didn't want that, didn't need the problems it can cause. None of us do. What is he playing at? It's one thing to have a secret power that no one knows of that you can use to get the upper hand one-on-one, it's another to have a potential army of people mobbing you. No, the entire world turning on you. Too many is too many, even unarmed opponents, no matter how skilled you are. If they want to attack they'd take out a psychic easy. Someone like Wendy wouldn't stand a chance. Most psychics are like Wendy, right? Not something you can use to fight and defend yourself with, or run and hide the way you can." at this question, Hideo solemnly nodded his agreement.
"And the governments would be quick to get involved, probably in a bad way if they're seen as a threat with the Kira angle. That's never 'unarmed' that's 'armed to the teeth'. We're not bullet proof. We really don't need this to be a manhunt. Wait until religious groups get wind of this," they both grimaced. That could go both ways to the extreme, either the groups would embrace psychics, maybe even offer them protection, or it would be a serious witch hunt and they'd kill them on sight. It could be divided, even within the same religion, based on individual perceptions.
Hideo said, "Dan's already given his people their instructions; Even I'm supposed to help. It's happening whether we want it to or not. He wants me to watch the police and L for their reactions, and to tell him if they find Kira as a result. He told me through a text to 'follow Michiko and spy on L' can you believe that?"
'And if you really are still working for Dan, I guess I'd better keep an eye on you. The enemy you know is better left closer... is it wise to bring him with me? Hell, why not.'
"Of course I can believe that. You know people can trace texts, right? Or do you have one of those burn phones?"
"He's got some guy that can take our network off the grid somehow, so our communications are invisible, if it's the phones he assigned us. I never use that one, though. I dunno how it works," he shook his head. "And that tech guy has nothing to do with us, so he'll keep doing what Dan wants, all loyal to the cause and whatnot. I wouldn't trust any phone he gave me. I left it at home. The one I've been using is one I bought with cash at the mall."
"Right. Ugh, every time I think I can focus on one problem another crops up. I'm going to call Saito, he's an old friend of mine. He can help you three to vanish for a while." she suggested, pulling out her secret cell phone. (Yes, she's one to talk, but no one knew she had this one...) She'd done her best to secure this phone from prying eyes, but she often replaced it. When she dialed Saito's number, he answered on the third ring. She got directly to the problem, because Saito liked to get to business fast since his time was valuable, "I need a place for three people to hide out, please help?"
"Of course, sensei!" Saito said, calling her by the title he'd assigned to her back in school when she used to teach him Shogi. He was the boy who had moved on to go to the professional shogi school when he was barely in elementary classes. One of Light's classmates, just slightly older than him. Wavy brown hair, faintly tanned skin, piercing dark blue eyes, and a serious, studious disposition hid a sharp mind and focus that had knocked men four times his age out of the rankings many times. Even without his family's influence and money, he was going places. She was quite proud of him, even if he did choose an odd occupation. She couldn't really blame him though. She knew if Shikamaru could have earned a living playing Shogi the way that this boy already was, he might have done so, all while complaining about how troublesome having to play teaching games always was.
She had stayed in contact with all of her 'students' and had all of their phone numbers memorized. She had had the opportunity to go to a school in a well-off area, to her advantage, and there were many children there from families that had connections. She had made acquaintances of all of them, from every school year. This boy was the son of the very wealthy owner of a large and profitable hotel chain, and his parents had gifted to him his own section of several of their hotels for his personal use. He usually rented them out to wealthy customers and used the money to pay for his professional shogi education and other hobbies. His closest friends were always welcome to use rooms that Saito owned and rented out himself, free of charge to his friends. If Shikako needed a place for someone, it was readily available in just about any city in Japan, and that was probably the most convenient thing she'd gained from her regular childhood shogi classes to date.
"You'll be safe. Just don't ever tell anyone where you'll be. Here, talk to Saito." She handed the phone, in its dull dark blue protective case, to Hideo who took it with a hopeful look. Once they had finished their conversation, Hideo contacted Wendy to give her instructions to take his sister to the safe house, or safe hotel, as the case was. Shikako mulled over the details and came to a conclusion before the phone was handed back to her.
It grated on her that she felt she had to reveal what she was trying to hide, and it seemed like such a waste. Now she kinda felt bad about having killed that security guard, but there was nothing for it. It was a necessity at the time. She shouldn't dwell on things she knew for a fact she couldn't change. It just showed how things, and priorities, were so easily altered. If she didn't adjust to her new surroundings and use the flow rather than moving against it, it could take her down with it.
That was a prominent airbender philosophy, now that she remembered it. They moved with the wind and like the wind. With that way of thinking, they could tear down mountains, one grain of sand or one massive boulder at a time. What did it mean then, that she found she needed to embrace that free flowing way of being, when all along she was always more akin to the stubborn earth and the solid, strong, boulders? She mentally snorted at the comparison. She could always be the tornado. More potential for destruction. That felt superior, for some reason, even if it was all in her head.
"We didn't want this, but it's not the end of the world. We can make the first move, and cut him off before he gets the word out. One of his people will do it regardless, so if we have to reveal the supernatural side to the world, we'll do so under our terms. I have an idea, and I have connections that can make it happen." Shikako stated. She placed a hand on Hideo's shoulder and asked, "Can you do something for me?" she hastily conveyed to him her plan. Hideo nodded, smiling brightly.
Someone beat on the bathroom door, yelling that they needed to get in. With a sheepish grin, Hideo moved one of the garbage cans to make space in the very corner, then pulled it in front of himself, subtly telling Michiko that he wasn't hanging out just outside the stall doors and was behaving himself as he disappeared from sight with a formal looking salute. The only way out of that tiny corner was if the garbage can moved, and it would have been heard. She unlocked the door and someone ran in, to disappear into a stall. Michiko headed into one as well since Rei came in during this time to inquire whether Michiko was all right, and was informed that Michiko had a stomach ache, and so the agent would have to wait. Rei sighed and headed back outside. She really was not very good at this 'watch her every move' job, but Shikako wasn't going to point that out to her. She hadn't even asked about the locked door, which made her wonder how much the agent might have overheard.
After the other women left Hideo reappeared, scrunched in the corner of the room. He shoved the can out of the corner as she locked the door once more. "Does no one ever wash their hands in here?" He looked around the room in disgust, then washed the trash bin off his hands. Michiko pointedly washed her own, then flicked the water in his face.
She wadded up a paper towel and bounced it off of Hideo's head, for it to land all the way across the room in the trash bin he'd just relocated, "Hey! Oh, good toss."
She mused that if the world was going to learn about psychics, she'd be damned if she let Dan call the shots. She was going to out them herself, under her terms. Dan would not be using Kira's name to control the world. She wouldn't allow him that privilege.
If she aired it on even just one station, it would end up on the internet, and as it gained interest it would migrate to the other networks shortly. That was how the information network tended to spread itself around, social media at its finest. She was going to cut Dan and his threats out of the initial message, and then prevent him from making those threats and having them taken seriously, by disproving them before they could be made. It did have the added bonus of possibly drawing one of the Kiras out, but at least it wouldn't be on Dan's side. Provided he didn't have one already.
She reasoned that this would work if she could counter it before the man threatened anything. If his message got out first, then fear of Kira through this group's influence would prevent anyone from believing anything else. She had no doubt that Dan had a plan to make it look like Kira was involved, using psychics or other means. If there was a specific assurance that Kira was not involved with this psychic group first then people would remember that upon hearing a threat, and know someone was actively investigating it at the very least. There would be believers in Dan's threat, but it would plant the necessary seed of doubt. The timing of the assurance would hint that they were prepared for the threat, when the message from Dan finally gets delivered. They had no way of stopping the delivery, as Dan had too many unknown followers to stop them all, so lessening its impact was more important.
It still wouldn't stop Kira from deciding to side with him though, so she'd have to include incentive in the message somehow. She could turn Kira or one of the Kiras against Dan, and have them target one another. But how? Tell Kira how this organization wanted to use him? No, that would make the world see that the psychics are trying to manipulate not just Kira, but anyone they want to use, and paint them in a negative light. She had to go about it more delicately than that. She wondered if she could have L do it, then L would take the blame instead of psychics at large.
Maybe paint them as a force to control or counter Kira? Then people might fear them, but also respect them. That would still make them seem dangerous, though. Would it defeat the purpose? She supposed it was no more so than saying that soldiers go out to fight wars, but you only need fear the ones that belong to your enemies. With the psychics, it could be anyone. She had to make them appear to be the good guys, and Kira was clearly the villain.
Having foreknowledge of a psychic threat might start government conspiracy theories but that was the least of her concerns. Even if people thought it a joke, it would still get the message out there. Anyone who was a psychic, and was hiding it, would know the truth. What if she could get them to side with her instead? She just had to get the message out there before Dan could. She pulled out her phone once more and dialed a number from her memory...
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...The phone rang six times before it was answered, "Whoizzit?" the young woman's voice on the end of the line sleepily slurred her words then yawned. Yuko had been taking a nap in the back of the large camping trailer which she occasionally had to share with the other stars of the seasonal film. The young actress had just finished recording the final scene for the new romantic comedy that had a Christmas theme, which had unexpectedly gone on all night since someone kept bungling their lines. (No one could blame that on Yuko! Hah! Hers were perfect every time, even the crying scene.)
The last take had had a guest appearance by an up and coming actress and singer in it, and she'd even gotten an autograph from the starlet! Not that she was that pumped about it though, considering she herself could act better, she was certain. She was still annoyed that she got passed up for the lead romantic role in favor of being the 'klutzy sidekick best friend' role instead. The real klutz was the blonde boy she was paired with that kept forgetting the English words he was supposed to say and pronouncing them in such a garbled manner that they had to do a voice over in the end.
The young brown haired actress with the wide green eyes that she was famous for in mascara commercials was dead tired, but her phone was always needing to be answered. She didn't dare let it go to voice mail, just in case it was her manager, or producer, or even worse, her slave-driver mom who owned shares at the Sakura network and insisted that her 'daughter become a rising star'. She'd even been denied the chance to go to college, so that she could begin her acting career instead. She disliked that at first, until she got sight of her first paycheck from Shiseido's local advertising branch. Having connections in the industry had landed her better roles, and she was living it up.
She held the phone to her ear, wincing at the loudness of the voice on the other end, knowing that it was just her phone pumped up to its loudest volume causing the discomfort, rather than the volume of the person talking to her, "Hey, Yuko! It's your shogi sensei! Been a while. I need some help though, care to change the world?"
"Change... the world?" The voice perked up, as this caught the girl's attention. Within a heartbeat, she responded, "I'm in." She switched it to speaker phone, and leaned back against her headboard, listening to the phone she sat on the small table next to her travel bed.
"We need something... special... to show on television. You're my best bet of getting it seen, and quickly."
"What do you need, Michiko-sensei?"
"Well, first, you have relatives in the media industry in America, right?"
"Sure, my aunt helps her husband's family run a major network over there. We know all kinds of movie stars, major news anchors, politicians, hey, guess whose autograph I just got! I met Mis-" Shikako interrupted her gloating, as the girl tended to like to show off. Knowing she needed to stop her before she got going, she quickly jumped in with, "Can we do something, real fast? Get something shown on television?"
"-a! It's..." The other girl didn't sound so certain now, her words slowing, forgetting what she had wanted to say in her tired state, "It's not that easy, sensei. They have to do that months or weeks in advance, unless it's a major news broadcast happening live."
"Make it one of those, then. This is news. We have a way to catch Kira, that mass murderer everyone's scared of, and I'd like your help with it. But first we have to lay a trap for him, on the television in and outside of Japan." Shikako had lied, knowing that this was the best way to get to Dan at the moment to foil his plan, without having to explain about Dan to everyone she wanted to convince. Using Kira as motivation was more immediate and would get her better results. Dan was an unknown. Since he was planning on using the networks himself tomorrow, she was going to take it before he could. She explained her plan to the girl.
"If I tell my aunt that, she'd salivate over the chance to air it!" Yuko sat up, more awake now. She stared blearily at the harsh brightness of the phone in the dark, wondering at this possibility.
"Tell her it will up her network's ratings. If you could get your mom whose working at Sakura TV, to do the same thing there, it would help." her sensei suggested.
"Hah! That would do it. They'd flip over it." Shikako gave the girl the details, then gave the phone to Hideo to have him give her the numbers of some of his friends that were still alive and on board with the 'Anti-Dan Plan' so they could send her some videos of their psychic powers in action for the broadcast. Hideo had explained that those were the very same videos Dan wanted them to send to him, for his broadcast, actually. It was better if they used them first, so it looked like it was their own source material.
"So, we have to show that there are psychics in the world but they're harmless, and Kira isn't working with the psychics? I have the video links you've mailed to my phone, now."
"We need it done fast, tonight. We're counting on you!" Yuko balked at the time sensitive nature, not certain how fast she could get her people in America on board. They had a matter of hours to work with, really. Her connections to her family in America were tentative at best, as they were busy producers and managers and she was really a small time actress, but she could talk to them quickly and possibly convince them. They were always up for a bit of entertainment with shock value. With a bit of encouragement, Shikako got her to agree to a game plan, and left her to it. Yuko wrote the information down in a notepad app on her phone.
It was as Yuko was hanging up the phone after saying goodbye to her shogi sensei that she heard the soft rustling of a blanket behind her, followed by a familiar, sweet sounding voice inquiring, "You're going to catch Kira? I won't let you."
With a shriek, Yuko spun in place, dropping her slim phone to clatter to the floor of the camper trailer. It slid along the floor and stopped to tap against the intruder's black and grey striped sock clad foot.
There sat Misa Amane on the camper's couch which could be converted into a bed, clearly having awoken from a nap as well. She must have slipped into the camper to sleep after the filming, as some of the other actresses did on occasion since this was a shared space. Yuko usually slept through such disturbances, and hadn't noticed anyone entering.
The girl glared at Yuko, clutching a notebook to her chest in shaking hands. There was a pencil in her hand as well, but the force of her shaking had snapped it clean in half. She didn't seem to notice. She reached down and plucked Yuko's cellphone off the floor, inspecting it, then slipped it into her own pocket.
"It's too bad, I liked you. You were a good actress, Yuko." The girl's eyes were red, and almost looked like they were shining in the dark, illuminated only by the dim brightness of a tiny nightlight Yuko had left on in an outlet above the headboard. She had liked the nightlight because it was shaped like a fish and gave off a peaceful orange glow, but that once comforting luminescence seemed eerie and warped, as she looked at the blonde girl through the darkness.
'Sensei talked about psychics. This girl... she must be...' Yuko didn't get to finish that thought. Her eyes closed as her head fell against the pillow. She never woke up.
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Second Flashback Omake from 'Nukka of Avatar'
Nukka tried to read the waterlogged map, and couldn't make sense of the running ink and blotchy patches. Aang's fingerprints had muddied one half of it after he'd fished it out of the water, and she could no longer tell if it had been an island, a body of water, a part of the legend, or some smear from the airbender's blueberry filled lunch on the surface. It was printed on thick paper, but that didn't save it from being ruined when the map hit the water. They would just have to try their best to navigate without it.
Appa was resting under the overhanging branches of a tropical tree, barely hiding his enormous head from the harsh sunlight. After parking himself under the tree, and smacking his massive bulk against its side as he got comfortable, a total of three coconuts fell to hit him on the head. He ate two of them, crunching them to pieces in his massive jaws, which just made Nukka think she should avoid getting her limbs too close to those giant teeth. The third was shared by the humans in the group, and Momo. After their impromptu snack, Aang had curled up on his side, nestled in the creature's long silky hair as the two of them fell into taking a mid-day nap. His little flying lemur curled up in a ball of fuzz beside him, snoring loudly.
Sokka had gone out to fetch more food and clean water while Nukka and Katara had made camp, having hurriedly built a fire with what they had found near the beach to try to dry out the map. They had some fish that Katara had caught with her water bending already cooking, but Sokka had gone to find more edible plants to suit Aang's diet, complaining the entire time about how meat was the only thing really worth eating, but still making a fuss over Aang 'needing to eat like a panda-gazelle, always munching on grass'. He'd been gone for quite a while now, so Katara had left to check on their brother.
Toph sat nearby on a rock she'd no doubt bent into a chair shape, which looked vaguely like the throne that belonged to the Earth Queen. To all appearances she was whittling- cutting away at stone with stone, and carving something small out of a crumbling rock held in her palm. Nukka wasn't going to question how the earthbender was doing that, or even what she was making, so long as the abrasive girl was occupying herself and not causing more trouble than she was worth. The two of them hadn't really been getting along as of late, especially after she had jokingly half turned Appa upside down in an attempt to get them to be quiet for a change. (And to just scare them a bit. She had memorized the sound of Sokka's scream, intent on using it to pick on him in the future. That had been priceless.)
The end result of her little joke had been Katara releasing her hold on the map, accidentally letting it fly out of her hand as she had switched to a death grip on Appa's saddle. Toph was no longer speaking to 'Miss Whispers', which suited her just fine. The 'promise to end her' was still hovering somewhere behind Nukka's left ear, every now and then.
The map had landed in the water, thus their current predicament.
The island Katara had wanted them to go to could be anywhere from here, and they would have no way of knowing if they were even on it now, what with the map having been destroyed by her mischievous moment of silliness which turned out to be a big mistake. Oh well, no one is perfect. They could make do, they'd just have to navigate on their journey by watching the movement of the sun and stars, now. No real big deal. They could get another map at the next settlement they found, she was certain.
She laid the map out to dry, wondering if it would be more readable once the ink stopped running and the air lightened it a bit, but decided as she balanced a rock on either side of it to keep the wind from stealing it again, that it was a lost cause.
"Nukka, our idiot brother got himself stuck in a rock, and almost got trampled by a creature he was hunting! And after all of that he needed me to pull him out." Katara said, dragging Sokka along behind her, limp as a rag doll in her iron grip. His defeated expression summed up how he was feeling without anyone needing to ask. "Weren't you after plants and fruits? What happened to nuts? How did you get stuck in a rock?"
"Not surprising. His head is as thick as one. He must have fit right in." Nukka shrugged, placing the last rock on the map and surveying her work. It wouldn't be flying off any time soon. They'd tried their best to splay it out and let the heat from the fire draw the moisture out, and Katara had tried her water bending to pull the water out as well. It was now up to the air to dry it. They didn't let Aang try because any time he did that he bent the air too forcefully, and Katara had warned him against turning the map into shreds.
Sokka slumped. "You probably think I deserved this. The universe hates me."
Nukka was about to respond to Sokka's sulking, when the tiny rock that Toph had been whittling was suddenly held in front of Nukka's face, and she could clearly see the resemblance between herself and the miniature stone figure, right down to the hair style and clothing she wore. The earthbender held the tiny stone statue just in front of Nukka's face, and turned it slowly in her hand so that she could get a good view of it on all sides. It was surprisingly well crafted and accurate considering the one who made it was unable to see such details. It was as Nukka was about to reach to take it and thank the girl for the pretty trinket that Toph's hand collapsed on the rock and crushed it to dust. "End... you." she whispered, her breath tickling Nukka's ear.
"I'm sorry!" Nukka said, her voice raising. Toph's level of standoffishness just kept increasing, and that little stunt wasn't helping things at all. Usually Nukka was the more withdrawn one, in some of their more awkward social situations she didn't mind letting the others talk things out unless she needed to add to it. Rather than being simply on the fringe of the group Toph was on another level, pushing people away with her brash personality. If they didn't need her to teach Aang earthbending... well, she doubted they'd be able to tolerate her presence for long. Sure, the girl needed some help what with her suffocating situation at home, and probably learned the hard way to stand up for herself and be more forceful, but still, enough was enough. She was a newcomer to their little gang, and they were still working out the kinks in their new relationship. They did not need to be at each other's throats over every little mistake, misunderstanding, or petty prank (the likes of which there were many, truthfully.)
Sokka blinked at the pile of dust the blind girl had left at his sister's feet then nudged it with his boot. He gave the girl an appreciative glance, while under his breath he was heard noting 'Never piss off the earthbender.'
The atmosphere did a sudden shift, as if Toph turned off her venomous killing-intent stand in, and was suddenly all smiles, "Oh, you are sorry? Good. No more upside down flying-bisons, then. And no more vomiting over the side of Appa's saddle, for me! Good talk. I'm glad I got my point across." She smacked Nukka on the back roughly, then spun on her bare feet and headed back to her little stone throne. Plopping down in the seat, she rested her chin on her hand, wiggling her toes into the dirt.
"You're... no... n... fun." Aang said in his sleep as he rolled over to face the other direction. The fuzzy lemur next to him yawned in its sleep, almost sounding as if in agreement, turning to do the same.
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Author's Note: I do my own editing, which means I end up sleeping on it, then looking at it again with fresh eyes the next day, reading it through. If I end up just posting it too fast without doing that step then there's usually mistakes. I tend to want to get it out the moment I get it done, so sometimes I miss things. In that case, I end up catching it within a day of actually publishing it, so sometimes I need to re-upload and fix things, sorry! I don't have spell check as I've been using a basic WordPad to write, since I don't have Word program, so most of my final edits happen just before I post it since the copy-paste document manager has a spell-check. *wipes brow* That saves me some mistakes right there. The drawback though, I lose my formatting when moving it, so have to italicize and embolden things again. If you see something I missed, don't hesitate to tell me and I'll try to fix it fast.