Yep, I'm back with a quick update (by comparison). Yes, it is shorter than the other chapters, but as of now, I'm going to be trying to update once a week or once every two weeks—more than likely, it'll be a combination of both. Thanks to the advice of feliipsun (author of The Search for Precious and Footsteps to the Wedding and one of the most consistent Tokka updaters around—feel free to check out those stories; they're quite good for one's Tokka fix!), I'm trying to improve my work and make this fanfic all the better for you readers! Please let me know if there's anything you think needs improving, (outside of length of chapters) and enjoy! Even if it is mostly dialogue….

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender, or much anything else for that matter. Comic books came, saw my wallet, laughed, and took my lunch money.

…

Toph's nose twitched. What is that smell… Smoke? Toph's unseeing jade eyes opened and she hurriedly sat up; her faux betrothal necklace shook with her rushed breathes. The covers fell to floor as she leapt out of bed and ran through the doorway into their living room. "Sokka?" She called. She heard a loud thud and a quick yelp of pain.

"Ow! Son of a bi—Toph! You scarred the shit out of me!" Sokka scowled and rubbed his now sore foot. "Good morning to you, too…."

"I smelt smoke and thought—"She paused; what had she been thinking?

"Thought what? That we were under attack by some dragon spirit? Nope, sorry; the only thing burning here are these bits of meat—apparently, it's some new product called bacon…though I was told not to ask where it came from, so I suppose I should've treated it with more caution…." She could hear the smile in his voice; she had been worried about him and the bastard just humored her? "Was poor, whittle Toph having a bad dream?"

She crossed her arms and scowled; already, she could tell this day would suck. "W-well, if you didn't suck at cooking, I wouldn't have nightmares of getting killed by food poisoning." He didn't have to know what she had actually been dreaming. Toph sighed and seated herself on the couch and rubbed her forehead. She risked a glance at Sokka as he hummed while he continued to manipulate utensils with what seemed like a practiced grace. I suppose not having a mother would teach a guy to cook. She winced as she heard another muffled yelp. Just not very well. "So, how was the couch? Doesn't feel too comfortable."

"Just because you have an ass of granite doesn't mean we all do, Toph." Sokka called. Toph sniffed the air again as the smell of meat and eggs drew closer. The Water Tribe warrior grunted as he kicked the table closer to the couch and set the plate before Toph. He put a fork in her hand and nodded, satisfied; Toph briefly contemplated stabbing him with it. The couch shook as he seated himself next to the earthbender and she found herself squished between the armrest and Sokka's surprisingly toned torso. "Anyway, I'll have you know that the couch can be quite comfortable—especially when there's a pretty girl to share it with." He smirked. Toph flushed and did her best to hide it as she smacked him on the arm.

"Oh, shut up." She mumbled. "Idiot."

"Ow…! Geez, who said I was talking about you anyway?" Sokka groaned, but Toph smirked; his heartbeat had said enough. It was all she could do to keep herself from toying with her necklace, hidden under her scarf; despite her not being able to see, she had to admit that as she had gotten older, she had begun to care about her appearance more, not that she'd ever dare let Katara know that—she'd never hear the end of it. She shivered at the thought of the waterbender's girlish squeal and probable babbling of beauty care methods. "What's wrong?" Sokka asked, mid chew.

"Nothing! Nothing…," She could tell he didn't buy it, so she sighed instead. "I just thought of your sister's reaction to me being called 'pretty'…."

Sokka's jaw fell and he suppressed a shiver himself. "Do-don't even joke about that. As it is, I can barely think about him and my sister…together…with th-those oogies…." Toph rolled her eyes; she knew exactly what he meant, and she hadn't even have to deal with them while they were in couple mode nearly as often.

"If I ever act like that, kill me. You have my permission," Toph stated.

Sokka nodded. "You got it…'honey'." Before she could retort, preferably with another punch but directed a little lower, there was a knock on the door. "I got it!" Sokka practically threw himself off the couch and out of her arm's reach. I could hit you anywhere in this room and you know it, Toph thought; however, she let him have the victory. After all, it didn't happen often and she didn't quite want to tip off anyone that she was an earthbender—not yet, anyway; if anyone found out, it would be a short guess or two until people put earthbender plus vacant clear eyes and black hair and get "Toph Beifong". Instead, she settled for putting a booger on Sokka's plate and looking nonchalant. From what her feet could tell, it was Mr. Fuin at the door.

"Hey Sou…" Fuin said, and then lowered his voice conspiringly. "Here you go—the master guest list for all the tenants in this building. Go over it and get back to me with something as soon as you can." He shook his head and coughed as he subtly handed a packet over to Sokka. "Well Mr. Sou, it seems that everything is in order here; I'm glad that you are getting along okay in here; you have the best neighbors in the building!" He nodded and took his leave. Sokka peeked outside the door to check if anyone had overheard.

"You're good, dumbass." Toph called to him. "From what I can tell, the whole floor's empty—maybe they actually have real jobs and money, unlike a certain bum I know…." Sokka ignored the jab and sat down on the couch again; he was already absorbed in the packet. Toph shrugged and went back to her breakfast; if he found something important, he'd let her know.

"Toph, check this out." He mumbled as Toph heard the rustling of papers. She waited a few seconds before she coughed pointedly; he got the hint. "Right. Anyway, I was going through these papers and found at least two interesting cases: second floor Fi and first floor Gai. Says here that they haven't been paying their rent…." He paused for Toph to ask the obvious "and we care why?"; when she didn't, he slumped a little, but pressed on—after living with his younger sister for much of his life, he knew how to deal with being ignored. "…because no one's seen them for three weeks."

"Any chance they just ran off together or something? I hear Ba Sing Se's got some good "spur of the moment" marriage places that don't ask questions."

Sokka smirked but shook his head. "Nope, nothing like that. As far as Fuin could tell, they didn't even talk to each other. Not to mention they left all their money and items in their rooms. And no, they don't work at the same place. No, all they have linking them together is…." He trailed off.

"Their bending." Toph finished. "So….!"

"…we have our first victims! Chances are, they got taken by whatever's been taking benders. And Fi was a waterbender and Gai an earthbender, so it fits the M.O. pretty well. Aang did say that these disappearances had been going on for a while now, so I doubt it's a coincidence…."

"…that these two go missing, off all people. Though…."

"…we shouldn't assume that's the problem; you're right, Toph." Sokka grinned as he attempted to give her a pat on the head, but the changed his mind. "We'll have to find out if they were in with any bad crowds…."

"But it's safe to say that Fuin's thingie doesn't have that kind of info? I mean, they could always…."

"…lie. No, our best bet for now is gossip, probably Mrs. Fink, and, when we have a chance to get an in with the local police, we…."

"…deal with it then." Toph finished. They paused and blinked, as they realized they had just spent the past minute finishing each other's sentences. Sokka coughed and turned back to the papers. "Anyway," Toph began, as she tried to break the awkward moment. "…what about those schmucks we saw last night at the meeting? Anything about them we could connect to the dragon thing? An earthbender, perhaps?" Sokka shrugged. "…maybe you should just go through all of them, just for the sake of the sight-impaired people in the audience."

Sokka shrugged again, but set his unfinished breakfast down on the floor as he replaced it with the stack of papers. "Well, what do you want to know? We have this Gin guy…." He squinted as he tried to read Fuin's sloppy handwriting. "Huh. Turns out the guy's about 600 gold in the red—he hasn't paid rent for the past three months." Toph gapped.

"How much? How expensive is this place? Can we even afford it?" She didn't have to see to know that Sokka was looking sheepish. "Oh you idiot."

"Remember, we're living off Aang and Zuko's dime—why shouldn't we try to get into a respectable building? No one's going to try and hire us if they have to track us down through a minefield of hobos and 'service' workers!" Sokka protested, and then shifted his focus back on the papers. "Ahem, anyway…it seems he isn't even the worst one here. No, that honor goes to Tiguh." He glanced at his partner-in-crime. "2400 gold—she hasn't paid in a year."

"Ho-how in the hell do they keep staying here? Seriously, what do they have on Fuin? Anywhere else, they'd be out on their asses."

"Well, it says here that he was going to kick them out, but Gin has helped Fuin out around the place, when Bu was busy…."

"Bu?"

"That guy who left before we talked to Fuin, remember? Anyway, he was apparently the handy man around here, but Gin works freelance and has a wide variety of experience…especially in being a tightwad."

"Sounds like someone I know," Toph rolled her eyes. Sokka slumped, but refused to retaliate—he was on an exposition role and, spirits knew, that meant he would keep talking long after everyone else had stopped listening.

"Anyway, it doesn't say anything about why he hasn't kicked Tiguh out, but he was getting close to getting past whatever it was; last month, Fuin told her that if she didn't pay at least half by next week, he'd have her arrested."

"…you know, Fuin takes very thorough records…." Toph commented. "Almost seems a little too convenient."

"You think he may be faking these to cast suspicion on someone else?"

Toph shrugged. "I'm just saying, we shouldn't rule anything out."

"That's fair, but I don't think it's him—from what I can tell, it's just his personality….besides, he has to have such detailed records; this is a developing city after all, so things are bound to get lost and bite you in the ass if you're not careful." He coughed. "Anyway, from what I can tell, Tiguh works at a local factory—apparently, she helps build pipes for the plumbing systems around the city."

"She a bender?"

"Not that Fuin knows, but it seems awfully convenient that this dragon would appear right before she was supposed to pay up…with so many people avoiding this place, it makes her debt a lot easier to ignore, doesn't it?"

"Yeah…you have a point there, not to mention I felt her heartbeat last night—she's hiding something." Sokka smiled.

"That's the partner I know!" She smirked back.

"Well, it's somewhere to start, at least. What about the others? Anyone else suspicious?"

"There are Ao, Shi, and Saku: three brothers from the Fire Nation colonies; they're apparently working at the power plant. The Mechanist's system involves firebenders bending lightning at generators or something—I'm still trying to wrap my head around it—but they seem pretty solid financially, according to Fuin, despite his distrust of Fire Nation people. Still, they pay their rent and work for most of the day—other than that, they keep to themselves for the most part.

"Other than that, there's Mrs. Fink; as far as I can tell, she's been here for as long as this place's been built—or eternity. Outside of a few stalkerish tendencies…."

"How stalkerish?"

Sokka stroked his chin as he considered her question. "I'd say…Meng level. She's gotten complaints, but she's a lovable enough old lady, most just chalk it up to a mother's instinct and tolerate her. She's got two kids in the Dai Lee, but as far as Fuin knows, she's not an earthbender; they're the ones who support her financially. Otherwise, she appears to be clean…."

"What about those two guys last night? Tea and Khan?"

"Ti and Kahn live on the second floor. They both have their own room, but they are brothers. Ti is a waterbender and works for the park service, while Kahn is a grunt for the police force—he can't bend, it seems. Money-wise, they seem to be fine and are under the radar, though Kahn is known to be something of a hothead and has destroyed more than his fair share of furniture."

"Why separate rooms though? That seems to be a bit expensive; hell, even we have to share a bed."

"Since when do I get to sleep on the bed?"

Toph smirked. "I was speaking rhetorically; besides, you couldn't keep with me anyway."

Sokka flushed and Toph smiled again at the increase in his heart beat. "A-anyway, outside of them, there's Hina, their neighbor. An innocent kid and consistent with her rent, though Fuin isn't aware of her job or where she lived before; given his current desperation, the old man doesn't seem like he's going to question it either." Toph frowned. After Azula's deception in Ba Sing Se, she and Sokka knew that rarely was there a good reason to be mysterious—secretive people were always seemed to be hiding from someone or plotting something. Whether it be they kicked a baby or were plotting killing the moon, secrets always seemed to bite someone in the ass. Not that they were ones to talk, of course.

Sokka seemed to share her thoughts, if his troubled sigh was anything to go on. "We should try looking into her—she may know something about either the dragon or the missing benders." A thought seemed to strike him and he smirked.

Toph gave him a confused look. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well, we need to get to know our neighbors, right? See how they act, talk…right now, we have some facts but, my dear partner, that is not enough!" He folded his hands and stroked his scruffy chin as he tried to look distinguished; Toph was to curious about where he was going with this that she didn't even bother to point out that the effect was wasted on her.

"Obviously…so what do you have in mind?" She repeated. "We should probably check out their work places, get a feel for how they act outside of Fuin's supervision…they may hang out with some crazy people or something."

Sokka nodded. "An excellent idea, and one we could use, but the problem is that until we get some more street cred or at least some kind of authority, we'll just call more attention to ourselves if we get too close or questioning. Maybe we could get away with being a curious couple looking to get into the power trade or something…no, but our big idea is that we need to get Fuin away—you're definitely right about that…."

As much as Toph liked Sokka, if he kept up this melodramatic buildup, she was going to kill him. "And…?"

"'And' my friend, we're going to be hosting a party."

…

And that's it for this week! I hope you liked it, even if it was mostly dialogue…. From now on, I will try to update this story once a week or at the least, once every two weeks. As I say, I'm a slow writer, but I hope that I'm improving. If you have any requests (ideas, cameos from other characters, etc), feel free to mention them and if I use them, you will get credit/a shout out! Anyway, on the subject of that "guess the villain" contest thing, here's that summary of the building again! Remember, first one to figure it out and say so in a review or PM, gets to request a oneshot from me! (Preferably an Avatar or Korra one, and not YAOI or YURI):

Saint Bara: 22 rooms

3rd floor: Sokka and Toph, Mrs. Fink, Tiguh (water tribe, massively over due on rent; dragon's appearance makes her desperate rent acceptable), and 3 fire nation colonials work at steam plant.

2nd floor: Fi (missing water bender), Kahn, Ti (Kahn's brother, water bender), Gin (earth nation nonbender, lazy, and over due on rent), Hina (water bender, works at a fabric shop and Kahn loves her)

1st floor: Gai (missing earthbender), Ed (moved out, has secret wooden trapdoor for bad guy's), Ji Fuin and his wife, Bu (guy who was checking out the day Sokka and Toph arrived, earth bender and handy man)

Basement: Secret wooden room, piping and stuff, and storage space.

Thanks for reading and please read and review!