Sorry about the delay, chaps, things have been busy lately, what with teachers breathing down my school collar for some up-to-scratch homework and a mother who can bellow louder than even Cari looking for someone to do the housework so she can put her feet up and enjoy her exclusive, out-of-bounds fruit and nut chocolate stash.
Now! Not many people could write a Tokka fic, and hardly concentrate on the subject of Tokka at all…so sorry about that, but Cari usually manages to snatch all the attention.
Our perfect little duo (now that Suki's dead) have been happily pigging out from the little shop they had previously been too poor to buy anything from. This was because Tokka had managed to repair all of the damage in the village with a few punches to the ground, and sweep of her foot and a tweak of her eyebrows.
Because of this, she and Sokka (who did nothing but stand next to her) were heroes, and food, beverages, accommodation and other such things (things such as prostitutes, which Toph firmly, and Sokka reluctantly, declined) were completely free, no strings attached! What would be the point of wasting this lovely treat just to find themselves stuck in the middle of a nasty bitch fight between Cari and Katara, which Toph insisted would take at least a week to blow over?
So our little couple, whom we are watching over with adoration and notepads so we can scribble down sonnets and words of love as a tribute to them, are happily enjoying themselves, free from the pain of mud fights and Aang snatching. One bright afternoon, they strolled over to spectate some wrestling matches, Toph using her bending to trip up the opponents she didn't like.
This was a rare treat for them, and Sokka was a bit overly-enthusiastic, at one point leaping up to join in with the scuffle, before realizing that he may not return with an arm and sitting back down in his seat quietly.
SLAM! A particularly weedy contender desperate to impress a pretty girl at the sidelines had his jaw slammed against the hard earth, and was sat upon by a huge beefy man, with a resemblance to pipsqueak. All that came out of his mouth was a pathetic wheeze, that wouldn't have blown a butterfly off course.
"Snoozles, I'm not sure it's a good idea."
We have just joined the conversation half-way through, and Sokka is insisting that he should take part, flexing his muscles and jutting out his chin. Toph sat with a façade of pacifism on her small face, looking quite refined. She couldn't quite disguise her skeptic expression, though.
"What are you talkingabout?" Sokka demanded, "I could floor even thatguy! You of all people should know that size does not matter."
"Exactly, that is why I make no comments about your backside." Toph agreed.
Sokka nearly broke his back trying to peer at his rear, clearly forgetting even entering at all. Toph relaxed and returned to concentrating on the vibrations of the fight again, noticing the departure of the pretty girl, throwing her hair back in disgust at the poor boy's weakness.
"You know, I'm all for meat, Sokka, but it may be a good idea to widen your horizon a little bit. Right now all you could fit on it is a Moose Lion and a Leopard Bear."
"I don't need anything but meat!" Sokka insisted, tearing another chunk of meet from the bone and gulping it down enthusiastically. Toph sighed and nibbled delicately at some noodles, once again her rough side slipping to show some long awaited feminism. Sokka found himself staring at her, his chewing slowing.
Heck!He said, for this was the limits of his cussing on the show, She makes me forget to chew!
"You know, Toph, you're not as tough as you think you are."
Toph thought about this for a while as they walked through the deserted streets. The sun was off entertaining the other side of the earth, and the moon was doing its shift on their side, gleaming picturesquely against the midnight velvet of the glittering sky. Lanterns lit their way, leading off into the inky darkness, fading into dim glows at the very end of the street, waiting for them.
"What d'you mean?" She said finally. Sokka rolled his eyes loped alongside her, exhausted from the long day.
"Well, most of the time, you're willing to jump in for anything, wrestling, eating meat…" He failed to come up with any more elements of his lifestyle and left it at that, "But sometimes…like say, when we're eating: I stuff my face like a pig, but you…you eat like a Lady. And when you laugh…it's like water running…a real girl's laugh. Spending so much time alone made me realize that you're…a girl."
There was a thoughtful silence; the only sound was their feet slapping the pavement, the wind singing its sweet-
SMACK!
"Took you long enough!" Toph yelled, shattering the serenity. Sokka yelped and held his arm, knowing that there would be a life-long dent in his arm after that fantastic thump.
As long as I always have her mark…
"I was a boyto you until we had to spend a few weeks together and then finally you realized all because I laugh like a Fairy Princess and eat like a CIVILISED HUMAN BEING!!!"
"Toph, it was a compliment!"
"HOW so?" She demanded in a growl.
"You know…you're not acting as lady-like as when-"
"SHUSH! It's not a compliment Sokka! It's an insult! How do you think-"
Toph was cut off from her sentence. But we shall not feel outraged that she, a supposed feminist of the Avatar World has been interrupted mid-rant, for Sokka had seized her shoulders and crashed his lips against hers. And no,it wasn't like a car-accident, you fools, it was like tide pounding the white sands, or like Sokka's heart bouncing against his ribcage, which Toph could only feel too well as she wondered what the hell was going on, but this was hardly heard over the pink fuzzy feeling slowly crawling across her brain...
Eventually, like every kiss, it ended, and after a dramatic sigh, Sokka stated:
"That's what happened after I realized you were a girl."
"Cari, may I ask you to pass the ladle?"
"Yes."
Silence.
"Are you going to pass it to me?" Katara asked edgily through clenched teeth.
"Are you going to ask? You only asked permission to ask." Cari reminded her cheerfully. Obviously their attempts at a polite conversation weren't going so well. I think Katara would've sooner embraced Zuko as a boyfriend. But that will never happen. HAH!
"I don't need your permission for anything!" The Water Bender's voice was growing steadily higher and throatier.
"Well then, just take the damned ladle."
"Don't say damned!"
"Mother, I'll say what I like."
"Well, then I may have to-"
"GIRLS PLEASE!" Aang's voice rang through the conversation, unfamiliar and exasperated. He stood between the two girls. Cari had the ladle raised, Katara was about to take off her shoe just to have something to hit Cari with, "Stop it! You're both driving me crazy! I thought we were MEANT to be concentrating on getting Sokka and Toph together?"
Silence.
"I guess you're right…" Cari admitted, which was very hard for her.
"I didn't want them to in the first place!" Katara growled, shoving her shoe back on sullenly.
"Now…why are they taking so long?" Aang thought, suddenly throwing himself back into the story line and taking control. They thought about this for a moment.
"I think they're pretty close by." Cari piped up, "They must've heard the…misunderstanding and decided to steer clear. Sokka knows Katara and Toph knows me. They've probably decided that it would take a while for the…misunderstanding to cool down."
"So they'd have stopped off at the nearest town I supposed…" Katara mused, "Maybe it was that cute little village where they hold all those wrestling matches."
"Yeah Sokka and Toph would love to stay there.' Aang agreed.
So between the three of them, they'd actually managed to thinkby putting their little brains together.
"They've been alone together for a few weeks now," Cari said, a smile creeping across her face, "It's time we put a more obvious and effective plan together."
"Katara! You've got the net?"
"Yes!"
"Aang! You've got the meat?"
"Yef." A much muffled reply from Aang.
"Don't. Eat. The. Meat."
A gulp.
"Well, don't eat anymore…" Cari decided, rolling her eyes, but fondly, "And I've got the fake wrestling leaflets. They definitely won't be able to resist!" She held up a few folded pieces of parchment, beautifully designed by her, as Cari is an exceptional artist, sporting two men with chunky arms and terrifying scowls, running at each other.
"Now, Aang, make sure you keep in character, and DON'T mess up your disguise." She threatened, tugging one of her gothic costumes straight on Aang's spindly frame. He looked a bit like a priest; except for the threatening mask he was wearing, with a mouth hole just big enough to shove some meat throu- WAIT! Aang's a vegetarian!
"Aang, I thought you were vegetarian?" Katara said suddenly, taking just as long as I did. BUT WE ARE IN NO WAY SIMILAR! Aang shrugged passively.
"Cari made me a Poodle Chicken sandwich earlier; it was too yummy to pass up." He confessed, smiling at Cari, who beamed. Katara swelled up.
"You're giving up your beliefs for a sandwich?" She demanded incredulously, "I have made plenty of meat soups for the group before now, and they've never converted you!"
"Not everyone has an obsession with water, even with their food, Loopy." Cari reminded her, forcing a pink hat onto Aang's head to cover the streak of his arrow, "Now goAang, we'll set up the rest!"
So Aang teetered off down the hill to the nearest village where Toph and Sokka were staying…the pilgrim of Mayhem.
What are they planning that sounds so ludicrous? This chapter is a short one, but you SHALL find out in less than 36 hours, that's a promise! A pretty shoddy one…but WHO'S the writer here?!