Ch 2 | Welcome Home
They had come to what appeared to be the oldest section of the city. Most of the buildings were still made of plastered adobe, and those that weren't still sported the same dense, rounded architecture of their neighbors. The street had become dense and narrow, and every building overlapped so that all the roofs were interconnected in a complicated hodge-podge of improvised tar paper and aluminum sheeting. "Oh wow! These HAVE to be pre-colonial!" Katara exclaimed. "Oh wow!" Sokka teased, mimicking her starry-eyed wonder, "I forgot what a nerd you are!" which earned him a swift kick in the shin. "So yes, according to Aang, this entire street and its buildings existed before the Fire Nation colonized Yu Dao. He also said they used to be painted in tons of different colors and had green banners with lanterns that lit the street. I have no idea how he knows that...might be a flex. Anyways, I'm glad you like it because...ta daaa! Welcome home!"
Sokka flourished his arms wildly in front of the final unit on the street. The walk-up was much taller than it was wide with a white plastered exterior like the rest of the apartments on the street. It was just as shabby as the others, but something about it- the plants hanging in the upper windowsills, the laundry line on the roof with white cotton sheets softly fluttering in the breeze, the chubby hedgehog-cat napping on the stoop- gave her a warm, comforting feeling. "It's nothing like home...and yet this feels like where we were meant to live? It's incredible, Sokka. Really" she said with genuity. Sokka puffed his chest proudly. "Let me show you inside." When Sokka opened the door, he needed to prop it up as it skidded on the stone tiles, as if the floor were wildly unlevel (the gang would later use this to their advantage to create a gambling game by racing rolling beer bottles from one side of the room to the other). The entry opened into the first studio; a small, unsegmented room separated by a rickety staircase moving up the center. On either side of it were curtained spaces and bookshelves. One side had the curtains open, revealing an untidy bed roll and a laptop haphazardly teetering over a cluttered floor. "That's Toph's side" Sokka muttered. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
Sokka opened the curtain on Katara's side. It was sparse, containing a bed roll, a low table for her laptop, and a small chest of drawers. On top of the drawers was a cute, fuzzy succulent plant inside a penguin-shaped planter. She picked it up, giggling. "Courtesy of our live-in arborist" Sokka deadpanned. "I know it's pretty bare, but I figured you'd prefer to decorate your own space." After Katara dropped her ruck, they climbed to the second floor. With windows on either side, this area was much brighter, and sun streamed in over a small kitchenette space with a bar-top immediately flagged by an even more shabby metal spiral staircase leading to a third floor. On the other side was a door to a small room, clearly a modern add-on. "That's the bathroom over there, and this whole floor is like our common area. There isn't much furniture yet, we only have what Aang and I brought from the dorm and what I got you for your space..." Sokka said apologetically. It was true, the room was empty except for a few unpacked boxes, a beanbag chair, and a TV perched on top of a milk crate. Plants already hung in the windowsill outside the kitchen, and a few shiny red anthuriums sat in a yellow pot on top of the bar.
Climbing the spiral staircase was a bit nerve-wracking as it shuddered violently under the weight of two people. The top room had a lower roof and looked much more like an attic than a studio. There were also two bedrolls in this room, but without a partition. It was very clear, at least to Katara, which side of the room belonged to whom. Sokka's side closely resembled Toph's with unpacked boxes that had been opened, rooted, and left with clothes hanging out the sides.
His bedside table was a cinder block with his laptop desk perched on top, and his toiletries sat in a beer bucket. The other side of the room was neat and colorful. Aang's bedroll was elevated on a platform and was neatly made up with a soft yellow pillow and duvet. A chest at the foot of the bed presumably held his sparse belongings, because nothing else was out besides a rolled-up meditation mat, a laptop, and some headphones. Katara hadn't even met this boy yet, but he had already earned some of her respect.
"Here's the best part" Sokka said, now genuinely excited and reaching for a cord hanging from the ceiling. Pulling it down revealed the final set of trap stairs to the roof. The view was stunning. Looking south, Katara could see the open bay. "Oh! School is right there!" she said, being able to see the campus built on a sloping hill. After gazing out for some time Katara pulled out her phone and pulled up her campus map. "I think I'm going to head over to school first. I'd like to walk around and see where everything is before on-boarding." Sokka pulled in a resolute breath. "Katara, there are some things you need to know before you leave the block." he gestured for her to sit in the lawn chair beside his own. "Things are very different here in Yu Dao."