"So what do you guys do for fun around here, huh?" Cari asked, stretching from her long sleep and then looking to them expectantly. They blinked a couple of times and exchanged looks of bewilderment.
"…fun?" Katara asked, wrinkling her nose at such an unusual question. Toph, however, was just counting down until Cari asked this question. She was all about a good time. And guys. And teasing people, not to mention rude nicknames.
"Yeah- fun. The definition would be...a source of enjoyment, amusement or pleasure, often the result of a playful and often noisy activity."
They thought about the last half of this sentence, and decided not to make any remarks, because Nickelodeon is a place for CHILDREN and sad teenagers who need to get out a bit more. Or watch an actual anime that is suitable for their age group.
"Well, we don't really have time for fun." Aang told Cari, a little sadly actually. As a twelve/thirteen year old, as well as an Air Nomad, he required daily helpings of fun to keep him going, but with the whole invasion thing going down, the Avatar needed to remain serious. And sinfully bored.
"Exactly," Sokka butted in, and with that, he pulled out a ridiculously long scroll and shook it out, trying valiantly not to be consumed by it himself. It was around the length of two Appa's, "We have to keep to our schedule, and there really is no time for fun, I'm afraid."
"But Toph had all that spare time just to wander down to the shops for yourmedicine." Cari pointed out, which drew everyone's attention to the red patches that had remained on Sokka's skin, Lemur milk or no Lemur milk.
"Well that was an emergency. In fact, because of that slight…mishap, we had to cancel a very important part of the schedule." He sniffed and patted it consolingly, whilst pulling his clothes around to cover up the worst of the little red marks.
"Yeah, because washing your clothes is so important to you, right?" Katara sighed, raising an eyebrow.
"Well it's an annual thing!"
"So you guys don't have fun?" Cari gasped, dismayed at this scandalous lifestyle. I still can't believe they've managed to survive without the Internet for this long! It's been three long series for those guys.
"No, we do have fun." Toph argued, "It's just it doesn't abide by the Stupid Sokka Schedule."
"Excuse me?" Sokka hissed, hastily rolling up his beloved scroll with such indignant violence that it tore quite a bit. He squeaked and clutched it to his chest passionately. But his wistful mood changed as he raised an eyebrow at Toph.
"If it wasn't for the schedule, we'd probably just end up the Fire Lord's doorstep and be burnt to crisps! Besides, the schedule includes MANY 'Sources of enjoyment, amusement and pleasure'thank you!"
"Most of the amusement is because of you." Toph pointed out. Sokka took this as a compliment and smiled.
"Thank you!" He said warmly, "Ok, you're forgiven- oh," He paused, "Laughingat me…And here was me thinking you'd given me acompliment, Toph...!"
"Hah! Don't get your hopes up!" Cari piped up, "I think the last time Toph gave me a compliment was when I'd managed to do my own hair for the first time, when I was four. But even then, she said: 'Wow, you have a talent for making your hair look like it's exploded.'" She nudged Toph accusingly, who simply made her friend sink considerably into the earth.
"I think we have fun just being in each other's company!" Katara said, in her typical 'Let's resolve things' manner.
"Aw how sweet, Mother!" Cari joked idly, but Katara gave a flash of her eyes and clenched her fists. Sokka and Aang cringed and slid back slightly, but Cari didn't know her well enough to understand that she had unleashed a monster.
"Well." She breathed, with the heat and fury of a true fire bender, but no one was about to tell her that. Yet… "I was only trying to raise the morale in this group, since you came along and made them realize how we don't organize enjoyment!"
"Really, cos I thought Sokka was pretty big on it…?" Cari said, her eyes wide, innocent and completely adorable, but she ruined the moment by lashing out, as the scary and violent person she is.
"What's the problem Katara? You're Joke-Intolerant as well as strict and bossy?"
"WHAT!?!"
Sokka and Aang made wild gestures behind Katara's back, drawing their hands across their throats and waving their arms. Finally Carrie took heed and shrunk back to her normal size. She flapped her arms as if trying to scatter the tension and smiled wanly.
"Sorry, Katara. It's the morning, so I'm a bit highly-strung."
"What, so you're admitting this just because Katara's getting all pissy? I've been in much worse moods than her!" Toph hissed, poking Cari indignantly.
"No rude language." Cari snapped, switching the subject. She was very self-righteous and didn't like to be blamed for anything. She always had a way of wiggling out of sticky situations.
"Well, I'm sorry too, Cari," Katara sighed, rubbing her forehead, "What with the whole Fire Nation wanting to kill us and all, tensions are running pretty high, especially since the rest of these guys are more immature than Momo."
There was a yelp of indignation from Toph, an accepting shrug from peace-and-love Aang, and a strange squawk noise from Sokka.
"If I could do magic water…" He muttered.
Luckily for the rest of the group, Katara and Cari's argument hadn't gone too far, and they had managed to maintain polite conversation for the rest of the day without bending each other's butts. However, Toph knew it was just the calm before the storm.
"May you pass my pouch, please, Cari?" Katara said, with a touch of unease in her voice.
"Sure." Cari said breezily, and tossed it over to her. Katara, who was expecting Cari to give it to her, not throw it at her, caught it with a wild gesture with her arms, and a glint of dislike glinted in her icy blue eyes. Sokka and Aang gabbled something about going for a walk and dashed off, leaving the three girls alone and saving themselves from an explosion. Momo chattered uneasily and zipped off after them.
"So that Ed guy asked me out." Cari said suddenly to Toph, who scrambled up from her lying position.
"He did?" She gaped in Cari's general direction, "I…did you say yes?"
"Well…" Cari sighed, enjoying the fact that she had Toph's full attention, "I thought about it for a while…and decided that he'd have to grow a bit before I accepted."
"He wasn't that short!" Toph protested, "Well…when he wore those boots he wasn't."
"In any case, he was too into Metal for my taste," Cari commented, "Electric Shamisens sound pretty awful." See Author's Note
"Have you got a boyfriend right now?" Katara asked, whilst she washed out some of Aang's clothes with sinister adoration. Cari shook her head.
"I'm a free woman." She announced proudly.
"Well is there anyone you like?" Toph pried, steeling herself for her best friend to gush for hours on end about some piece of eye candy, the newest candidate on a list longer than the Equator.
"Well, no not really." Cari shrugged, peering at her nails with a bored expression.
"…Sorry?" Toph said, not understanding why her bending told her that Cari was indeed telling the truth.
"Why, does Cari always have a boyfriend?" Katara asked, looking puzzled. She herself had been interested in quite a few guys, and most of them liked her back (lucky bitch- what is so attractive about those loopy things of hers?) but she had never had a proper boyfriend. She didn't see them as a necessity. Cari however…
"I used to think she needed a boyfriend to keep her organs going, she loves them so much…" Toph said dully, flumping back down onto her back again.
"Really? You did? They're just a nice thing to have!" Cari insisted, pulling up the grass and started to twine it thoughtfully.
"So what do you look for in a guy, then Cari?" Katara asked, forgetting her dislike for this girl and becoming interested in her romantic lifestyle.
"Welllll…They have to be hot of course. And funny! They should also stand to be humiliated a couple of times, because one of my favorite things is to tease people. Also, they have to be taller than I am…you must be at least this tall to go on this ride!" She held her hand up high above her head and laughed. Toph chuckled along with her. Katara just frowned and chewed her lip. But it wasn't because Cari's joke was a little self-indulging or because her lip was itchy.
That looks a lot like Aang's height…what's she planning…?
Of course Katara didn't know how absurd she was being at this point. But we do! We also know Katara's fiery temper quite well and her habit of jumping to rather silly conclusions. Therefore we can expect a bit of an uproar any minute now…
However…even though Katara's suspicions were ridiculously out of the blue and outrageously mistrusting and senselessly over-protective of Aang, she wasn't completely…wrong.
As Cari lay back on the grass her mind flitted to Aang.
Sense of humour, likes to have fun, could stand to grow a little…
And if Katara knew what Cari was thinking about, she probably wouldn't hold back from slicing Cari into pieces with shards of flying ice.
So Aang and Sokka and Toph would maybe have to be forced to suck up just about every drop of water and stow it away, very quickly, because Katara was about to see just what Cari was thinking about, who Cari was thinking about, because the young Avatar had just emerged over a hill, followed by a apprehensive Sokka, who suddenly relaxed as he saw no screaming, no hair being pulled or nails scraping flesh or any bending business between Katara and Cari.
But I'm afraid he relaxed too soon, folks; the war was only just about to begin.
Author's Note: Hey- A Shamisen is a Japanese Musical Instrument. I thought it was a nice touch because Guitar doesn't fit...Also I think there was a Shamisen like instrument in one of the episodes once.
Disclaimer: Carrie isn't really a boy-craving weirdo she's actually quite shy around guys! But she fancies SO many anime and book and tv characters...I can't keep up seriously. So I thought I should magnify her character a bit, just for a laugh and to add some interest...not that Carrie's boring. D
Keep checking for new chapters. And review if you have anything to say! I always like a long winded, babbling review ;-)
Happy New Year