"Ah! Who's there?" Sokka yelled, followed by the sound of something hitting the bottom of the bathtub. "Spirits that hurt," Sokka said to himself. A few seconds later, his head peeked around from the white shower curtain.
"Suprise Meathead, its me," Toph chuckled, not quite able to see Sokka. The bathroom floor was made of wood, covered by fake tiles. This made it impossible for her to be able to see him unless she touched the shower base, which was made out of stone.
"What are you doing in here? Cant you see I'm taking a shower?" Sokka replied sternly, with a scowl on his face.
"I don't know how many times Im going to have to remind you people but I'm blind!" Toph shot back, dragging her bottom lids down with her fingers. "I just need your help Sok, I'll be waiting in your room."
"Toph, wai-" he called out but it was too late, the earthbender had already left. Sokka let out a long sigh, quite disappointed that his long-waited shower would have to be cut short. He finished up his shower by washing away the soap from his long hair. Toph didn't have to wait long, for he was out in just a few minutes.
"Alright, can you like take your feet off the floor so I can change or something?" Sokka questioned from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist.
"Sure snoozels, not like I haven't seen anything before," she snickered as she plopped her feet onto Sokka's bed.
Sokka came out from the bathroom and changed into his comfy clothes, a blue t-shirt and gray soft shorts. He left his hair down, leaving it to hang on the sides of his face. "Alrighty Toph, what did ya want?" he questioned as he sat down beside her on the bed.
"Well, as you can see, Im blind," she grinned and waved her hand in front of her face. "Im pretty hungry and the kitchen cabinets are made of wood. Care to get me some bean curd puffs?"
Sokka gave her his normally annoyed expression, one eyebrow up and his lips in a frown. "I suppose I could, but what would I get in return?" he asked curiously, resting his hand on his chin.
"Just go get it!" she snapped and punched him in the upper arm.
"Ow! Fine!" Sokka whined, rubbing his arm. He stood up to go retrieve Toph her request. Meanwhile, Toph supposed she could share some of her puffs with him. He was the one getting them after all. Toph needed a distraction anyway, the day was rough for her. She was very close with Iroh and his death made her uneasy. She hoped a small conversation with Sokka would cheer her up. In fact, Toph couldn't stop thinking about Iroh and the memories they made together. She thought about how when they first met, Toph was rude to him at first, but Iroh was gentle and caring. One of her favorite memories with him was the day she attempted to help him serve tea. Every now and then when Toph had been visiting Ba Sing Se for the week and had time to visit Iroh. It didn't go well, but she ended up helping serve tea. At the end of each day, the two always had a relaxing conversation.
"I'm back!" Sokka spoke as he walked in, breaking Toph's thoughts. He had a rather large bowl of puffs and two cups of water. "I brought enough for us to share and two cups of water," he explained to Toph.
"Thanks, Snoozels." She immediately reached for the bowl, taking it in her hands. Sokka sat down beside her on the bed, taking a small handful. He munched on his little handful of puffs while Toph ate from her bowl.
"So have you spoke much with your parents recently?" Sokka questioned as he shoved some more bean curd puffs into his mouth. Toph sat quietly after Sokka's question. Her cloudy green eyes stared off into the distance.
"Yes," she sighed. "I went and visited them the other day actually," she continued. Last week, Toph had left the city to go visit her parents in Ba Sing Se. After months of her parents inviting her, she had finally decided to go see them. She wasn't there long and returned to the city about 3 days later.
"Well how was it?" Sokka asked as he moved around to get comfier. He reached beside Toph, grabbed a pillow and laid on his stomach. He pushed the pillow under his chest for more comfort.
"It didn't go well. They kind of bashed me for not being married yet. They say by this age, I should've already been married and considered having children," she snapped. Toph's parents weren't wrong though. Aang and Katara were married as well as Mai and Zuko. All over the city were many married couples younger than her. Toph just never found the time to get married and settle down. She had her metalbending academy and now she was Chief of Police. Although Republic City was small and barely any crime happened, Toph did not wanna risk it.
"Well just ignore them, you do you. Suki and I haven't even married yet. I'm older than you and I still haven't put a ring on it." Sokka replied, stretching out his left hand and twirling it around.
"Sokka, its not just that," Toph said. "They could have said anything else and it would still bother me. I just hate the way they treat me and they always make me feel like garbage!" she raised her voice, almost yelling.
"Woah there Toph, quiet down some, I don't wanna wake the others. Katara is like an angry wolf bat when she is mad." Sokka spoke softly, putting his hand on her knee.
"Oh yea," she chuckled, remembering some moments where Katara got all angry. One of Toph's favorite memories was a few days after she found Aang and the group. Her and Katara had been at each other's throats and gotten into an argument. That was the night Toph developed her nickname for Katara; sugar queen.
"How are you and your dad?" Toph asked, deciding to take the attention off of her. Toph's parents was always a touchy subject for her.
"It's going well. My dad has been down in the tribe, kinda helping me out with "Chief" duties," he grinned, rubbing the back of his head. "We've been sending messages back and forth, eventually I have to go down there for a month or so."
"Ahh okay, that's good to hear Snoozels," Toph replied, nodding her head. "Anyways, thanks for the food and the talk, I appreciated it. It's time I head to bed."
"What? Already?" Sokka frowned. It was late yet Sokka didn't feel tired. He found himself enjoying Toph's presence.
"Yea, I'm quite tired honestly." she explained as she stood up and head towards the door. "Plus you stink anyways," she smiled, turning away to hide the the rosy blush on her cheeks.
"Hey! I just showered! If anything you stink!" he shot back, laughing. "Anyways, night Toph."
"Night Snoozels," she responded as she left the watertribes man's room.
Toph woke up to a delicious smell which came from the kitchen. She also heard multiple voices in the kitchen. With a groan she pulled her pillow over her ears. 'Why did my room have to be so close?' she thought to herself. She could nearly make out the words that were being spoken. From what she could tell, everyone was up and moving except for her and Sokka.
Deciding it was time to wake up, Toph slopped out of her bed and searched around her bag. She ran her fingers over the tags of her clothes to determine what item was what. Back in her home located in Republic City, she had a friend help her indent tags which identified what item was what. It took some time but she eventually found the properly marked item. She tossed on a dark green t-shirt and black pants. Typically it wasn't something Toph would wear but she was with her friends.
After getting dressed and putting her hair up into her classic bun, she stepped out of her room. Her vibrations immediately picked up where everyone was at. Katara and Aang sat at the end of the table together, talking with Mai and Zuko. Behind them was the front door and to their left was a stove.
"Oh Morning Toph!" Aang announced the moment he saw the earthbender.
"Good Morning!" came from Mai and Zuko, followed by Katara.
"You sleep well?" Aang questioned.
"Yea actually, I woke up to you fools and a delicious smell. What's cooking?" Toph replied, pointing towards Aang.
"Im making pancakes," Mai responded in a Monotone voice.
"They're quite tasty Toph! I bet you would enjoy them!" Katara added as she stood up, heading for the stove. "Would you like some? I can fix you a plate."
"Sure! Just two though, i'm not super hungry if i'm being honest," Toph answered. Katara immediately took two freshly cooked pancakes and put them on a metal plate. She also placed a knife and fork on top. Turning around, she placed the plate in front of Toph who dug in quickly. The two pancakes didn't last long and were gone in seconds.
"Hey! Nobody woke me up!" a voice came from behind Toph.
"That's because we tried earlier and you continued snoring like a hog monkey Sokka," Aang answered followed by a laugh from everyone.
"Whatever," Sokka replied annoyed. He grabbed and fixed himself a plate of pancakes which were also devoured in seconds. The group sat at the table for a while, discussing plans and other things. After about 30 minutes of talking they started to clean up. The group continued talking amongst one another but not as much as earlier. Once the kitchen was nice and tidy, Katara and Aang announced they would be packing to leave. Toph figured she should do the same. She went back to her room and had began to gather her things when she heard her door open.
"Hey Toph!" she heard Sokka call from the door.
"Hey meat head," she replied as she continued to pack away her night gown. In her younger years Toph was a mess and didn't clean up much after herself. She eventually learned to do so. Due to this, Toph didn't have much to pack. All she really had to pack was her night gown and make her bed.
"So I have a question," Sokka said with a rather nervous tone.
"And that is?" Toph asked, pausing at making her bed. She put her hands on her hips.
"W-Would you wanna travel with me back to Republic City?"