Hey! I never planned on writing a modern/AU. But after some reading some really great ones, (lalaandiki's The Gaang Takes Ba Sing Se University, sycamore17's Apartment 3E) I was inspired to take a crack.
I spent a lot of time formulating a plot that is unique to the usual university FF, while also capitalizing on that delicious 20-something-year-old angst we can't get enough of. These chapters are all drafted, so I will post regularly between edits. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 1 | Pilot
Katara could tell by the steady incline that the subway was making its ascent into Yu Dao station. She hopped up to retrieve her rucksack from the overhead and drank in her last gazes of the ocean outside the window. It was her first-ever trip using the underwater tunnel system that connected the web of southern population centers- South Pole, Southern Air Temple, and Yu Dao Colony. More truthfully, it was the first time she'd ever left the South Pole. Ever. Katara fidgeted with nervousness and excitement as her window view lightened rapidly and the subway crested without transition into an expansive bay. For all the Fire Nation's faults- and there were many- their tech investments were not one of them.
After a small-town lifetime in the sparsely populated southern water tribe province, the sight of Yu Dao's expansive downtown district with its gleaming skyscrapers and collages of bright, flashing billboards looming into view were already almost a sensory overload for the sheltered young woman. She attempted to swallow the knot creeping into her throat, and with it the nervousness that it suddenly accompanied. What if she wasn't ready for this? What if this is too much too fast? It hadn't even been a year since mom... Katara shook her head and forced the thought back into a box.
'She would've wanted me to move forward. She'd be proud of Sokka and I.' She reminded herself.
He was leaning against a red granite pillar, idling on his phone when she first spotted him in the crowd. He was taller than when he had visited in the summer, and visibly more muscular. Like everything else assaulting her senses, the sight of her big brother in plain clothes rather than the traditional water tribe they'd always wear at home was a bit of a culture shock. He LOOKED like Sokka, with his usual high-fade and messy bun combo, but in a grey hoodie, jeans, and sneakers she almost passed him. "Sokka?" Sokka glanced up from his phone and peeled into a grin. "Hey sis."
"So... what do you think?" he asked Katara as they hit the main thoroughfare. Attempting to absorb her surroundings- the unique blends of modern corporate towers inter-spliced with historic-era Earth Kingdom brick-and-mortars, the smells of food she had never tasted or seen, and the sheer number of people jostling for elbow room on the crowded sidewalk, she could only breathe softly, "it's...loud!" Sokka laughed. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it pretty quick. This is the business district so its busy like this on weekdays, but we have a few blocks to go to get to our place. It's...not bad. It could be worse." he cleared his throat while Katara raised her eyebrows. "Wow, sounds like it's bad. Why did you move out of the dorms in the first place? I thought you said you loved the cafeteria." "Oh, sweet cafeteria. My delectable 24-hour mistress, how I miss thee..." Sokka lamented sadly. "It's a long story though, you'll have to hear it tonight once we're all settled." There was something in his voice that alerted Katara. Sokka was hiding something, but she decided to leave the bone in favor of other questions, of which she had many.
"So, if we don't live on campus, where are we going?" she asked first. Sokka gestured for each cardinal direction. "So, our place is in the southeast district. It's not fancy, but we're walking distance to the bay and only two blocks from school. That's hard to come by. A little north of us is an awesome wet market- with seal blubber! Number 1 best reason to not be in the dorms: I can smoke my own blubber jerky." Katara didn't take her eyes off the city scenery as it transitioned into a much dimmer and less-than-clean one-way. "I wasn't really asking about the food situation, Sokka. We've always managed." she laughed. "Right, the less important stuff- we just came from the west side where the business sector is, and if we had gone south of the train station, we would have run into the other side of campus, the fancy stores and rich-people houses."
"And..." Katara pivoted, pretending not to notice the increasingly shabby buildings as they crossed a rubbled street. "Who all lives in our building?" Sokka steered her around a pile of something extremely odorous in the walkway (was that vomit...?) "Well, there's me," he puffed, flexing his muscles. "Boomerang Master. Pre-Engineering Extraordinaire. Wooer of Women. AND I've been training with swords. Swords are an elective, Katara. SWORDS!" Katara rolled her eyes.
"Then you've got my man Aang" Sokka continued, pointedly ignoring her attitude. "Oh! Your roommate from the dorms? I didn't know he moved out too." Katara remarked. "Yeah, you know we all had to" he blurted, but before she could ask what he meant, he continued. "You know, the irony is he's the youngest of us, but he's the furthest along in school. I'm sure you two will hit it right off—he's a geeky little bookworm too." Katara laughed. "What do you guys do for fun?"
"…Do you want an honest answer or a PG-version?"
"C'mon!" Katara shoved him playfully. "I'm joking! Mostly. No, Aang is probably the sweetest guy you will ever meet. His shenanigans leave a lot to be desired if you ask me. Wait 'till you see how many damn houseplants we have! All his. Ugh." Katara laughed again. "Well, I hope you haven't been too much of a bad influence." "If anything, he has more of a tendency to bring out the good in people. You'll see. YOUR roommate on the other hand…."
Katara's eyes narrowed. "You didn't say anything about another girl in the house." Sokka shrugged half-heartedly. "If you want to call her a girl, then I guess..yeah. There's another girl in the house. She's not….you know…like you." He rubbed the back of his neck and wore a curiously exasperated look on his face. Katara crossed her arms and slowed her walk. "What's that supposed to mean?" Sokka sighed, clearly struggling with the words to describe her. "You know, she's…. well, she's a materials science major for one, none of that 'soft science' you and Aang ascribe to. "I'm pre-med you dum dum! That's not soft science!" "You're not PRE-MED, you're Pre- VET-MED. Fluffy animals are a literal, physically soft science." Before she could retaliate, he held up his hand.
"Either way, she's messy and eats corn in her bed and you'll probably have to force her into a shower once a week. Oh, and she's blind. Oh! And she's a Beifong."