Hakoda left the room after reminding Sokka to take extra supplies for the trip, inwardly grinning at himself for his prowess in manipulating the situation. It wasn't entirely fair to Toph by shanghaiing her into camping with his son, but it would do her some good.

Sokka, having again forgotten Toph, had begun selling himself on the whole idea. After all he'd been planning this getaway for some time now. It wasn't fair that Katara leaving on a moment's notice should capsize his plans. Sure it wasn't exactly how he'd intended it, but things never worked out exactly how you planned them, even if you were Sokka, Grand Master of All Greatness in Things to be Planned. Toph was just a minor addition, and if that was the worst to happen to his planning then he might as well sleep the entire time, which didn't sound like bad idea right now.

Toph was much less enthused than he was. Having heard the man's departure Toph sat up and frisbeed the pillow in her hands with accidental accuracy, striking Sokka square in the chops. "Sounds FAIR? What in spirits name about that entire conversation sounded 'fair' to you?"

"It seemed like- … What? Do you not want to go?"

Toph gritted her teeth, clasping and releasing her hands in the air like she was restraining physical assault on the boy. "Guhh. That's not the point, Sokka."

This wasn't making any sense to him. The Toph he knew should have been jumping at the chance to get away from civilization. A camping trip was the one thing he'd expect her to actually enjoy down here. "Toph, what's wrong? I thought you might like to-"

"You thought … it seemed… I might … are you even listening to yourself? You know so little about what's going on you have qualifiers coming out your armpits." Toph flopped back down to a laying position and crossed her arms, scowling up at the ceiling.

He instinctively raised his arm to look, as if such a thing was really possible, but Sokka's brain soon caught on to just what she'd said. He cringed, realizing that he never even questioned her about what she wanted to do. He'd just assumed she wanted to go camping. Whether he was right or not was beside the point and he knew it.

He opened his mouth to speak but Toph cut him off. "And don't even try asking now."

Sokka's mouth clicked shut, shame keeping him silent while Toph rolled over to glower at the back of the couch. He needed to say something. He wanted to say something. But as his arm reached up and scratched the back of his head he couldn't think of anything to say. He looked awkwardly around the room, hoping the answer would be written on something there. He knew such divine inspiration would never come to him, but it didn't keep him from trying.

His eyes came to rest on the pillow down at his feet and decided it was his fault she'd thrown it, thusly making it his responsibility to put it back where it belonged. The only problem was that Toph's head was-

His eyes twinkled with mischief as evil thoughts began slinked their way to the forefront of his mind. He formed a quick plan and changed his demeanor to appear more innocent. Sokka then sauntered as quietly as possible around the living room, whistling a cheerful tune in an attempt to sound absent minded.

Toph's expression at the couch contorted from irritation to confusion. She knew that whistle. She'd often hummed along with it whenever they were trying to pull one over on Katara. She didn't know what he could possibly be up to but decided not to wait too long to find out, he was getting closer. So she turned her body to face the ceiling again. "What are you doing?" she charged, not quite in the mood for shenanigans at the moment.

He was standing at the armrest by her head now, looking down the length of her body. "Oh nothing," he lied, quietly raising the pillow up. "Just doing a little … SNEAK ATTACK" and with that he shoved the pillow down at her face.

Toph didn't need to feel his movements to guess where his 'sneak attack' was going to strike and raised his arms to stop him. The pillow stopped on her forearms and she was prepared to tell him to can it because she wasn't in the mood. But all that escaped her mouth were peals of laughter as Sokka's hands dashed over her now exposed sides. She screamed and twisted and squirmed, trying to wriggle away. "STOP IT," she yelled, between bouts of uncontainable laughter.
She flailed her arms, trying to get his to go away, but it was to no avail. Turning to protect one of her sides against the couch only exposed the other to greater torment.

She finally managed to grab his wrists and force his hands away from her. "I said stop," she said as her giggles subsided.

Sokka let her keep hold of her wrists and looked at her much happier looking, upside-down face. "You look much prettier when you smile," he commented honestly.

This caused her cheeks to heat and she turned away. She let go of his hands and began feeling the ground next to the couch trying to find the pillow. "I'm still mad at you."

"You don't look mad anymore," he said with a mild amount of triumph coloring his voice.

Toph's eyes narrowed and, finding the pillow, she stood to shove it in his general direction. "I am."

He caught the pillow with both arms but didn't let it distract him. "Look, Toph, I didn't mean to offend you. I just want you to enjoy yourself while you're here. And I figured you'd have more fun outside than you would inside. That's all."

"Just because I want to but can't do it on my own doesn't mean you get to dictate when and how I do it. That's just as bad as- …" Toph stopped herself there, but knew she'd said just a little too much.

"…As bad as what?" He prodded.

"Nothing," she said, turning away. "I didn't mean what I was going to say."

"Well, what was it?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Then why'd you say it."

"I didn't say it"

"You wanted to."

"That's not the same."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is."

"Sokka, I'm not going to say it."

The boy paused for a moment and decided to try mischief again. "I'll tickle you again if you don't tell me."

Toph put her hands up to try and block him, cautiously taking a step back. "Sokka, don't you dare."

"Then tell me."

"Sokka, I'm serious."

"I'm getting closer."

"If you do, Sokka, I swear I'm never going out wi-..."

Toph's sudden silence mid-threat caused him to withdraw his own ultimatum. "Huh?"

Toph looked away to the right as her mind scrambled for something different to say. "I ... I was going to say what you did was as bad as my parents."

"No no, what you said before."

Toph's mind was still scrambling but she was able to make a convincing adjustment. "I won't go camping with you if you keep on tickling me."

Sokka grinned devilishly. "Okay," he said.

"Good."

"I'll just wait till we're out there."

Toph scoffed and swung her fist, catching him the arm with the same satisfaction it gave her in the good old days. "Don't you even dare," she said, not quite threatening through her broad grin.

"I'll go make sure we've got plenty of supplies. Is there anything special you want?"
A mildly inappropriate thought entered Toph's mind for an answer but responded with a half lie. "Nothing specific."
"Alright," He leaned in to give the girl a one armed hug, "I'll be right back."