Video - 001

[seismometrics]

[There's a small girl onscreen. Tiny, pale, likely no more than 13, with a mass of heavy, dark hair and pale green eyes that spear outward from the feed.]

[. . . Though there's something off about that glare. It doesn't quite seem to focus like a glare should. And the screen itself is not quite centered on her; it cuts off her chin.]

[But there's certainly enough visible to say that she is decidedly Displeased.]

[And wet.]

I think I've gotten pretty tolerant of weird stuff going on around here. Bending suddenly getting yanked away? Managed. Invasion of the purring fluffy things? Whatever. Dream-sharing? Yeah, fine. Way, way messing up the timeline, until my-- . . .

[She cuts herself off there, though, her lips pressing together sharply. And when she pushes on, she lets that go.]

Forget it.

The point is, enough's enough. When I go to sleep in my own bed in Earth, I'd better darn well wake up in my own bed in Earth, not turn over and find myself tipping over into a fountain in the Water Sector. Whatever's going on, somebody had better speak up about it now, because I'm wet and I'm cold, and there's some kedan family living in my house, and I want an explanation now so I can smash the source into a pulp several times with a rock and get back to bed.

[A sneeze. But she looks no less fierce for it, jerking the back of her wrist across her nose.]

Start now.

Comments

[12goingon113]

[Aang stops what he's doing to look up at Sokka. He blinks a few times. How could Sokka not remember, oh right...

Aang smirks mischievously.]

That's not what she sounds like when she's scared and on a glider. She just sort of screams incoherently and keeps her eyes closed. Kind of like the same way you did.

[theideaguy]

That was because of the river of lava beneath us!

[Seriously, Aang, there's a difference there! And besides, he's tried to block that one out of his memory.

[But Sokka finishes collecting all of the things that he needs and closes the door behind him. He almost wishes Katara were there with them as well, but that can wait until another time. He's sure both Katara and Toph will be happy to see one another.]

To the Water Sector?

[And with that, they're off.]

[12goingon113]

[He's not laughing at you from behind his hand, Sokka. He's not.
He's laughing with you. It's just...that you haven't started laughing yet.

You should see to that.]

To the Water Sector!

[theideaguy]

[This is a picture of Sokka that has forgotten to laugh. But still, Aang is laughing, so he supposes that isn't all that bad, so he can't help but twitch into a smile accidentally.

[It's not long before the two of them head through the front door of the Midnight Hotel and head into the Water Sector, and from there, Sokka just lets Aang lead. After all, he figures that Aang's got a slightly better idea of where Toph has holed herself up at... which is potentially a mistake given how meandering the path Aang led Sokka on when finally bringing him to see Katara all those months ago. He fears sooner or later they're going to be seeing Aang's favourite spot to stand on his head or something equivalently pointless, but he really didn't have much option now, did he.

[Some time later, perhaps near wherever it is Toph is staying, Sokka can't help but stumble onto a question.]

So... what did Toph mean that she went to bed in the Earth Sector? She's never been here!

[12goingon113]

[It's not quite that level of meander, though...it might be close. This is less Aang's favorite spots, and more like wandering through Omashu with a 100 year old mental map. Streets that went one way no longer do so, and there are walls where there didn't used to be.

Aang winces at Sokka's question.]

She kind of has though. Toph was here when I got here the first time. She stayed with me in the hospital and we used to live together in the Earth Sector before she just...up and vanished one day. I always thought she went home, but....maybe she didn't.

[theideaguy]

Toph... was... HERE!?

And I missed her!?

[You know, if he had heard this any other time than the day of her reappearance, he would have sworn that karma was out to perpetually curse him from getting the things he wanted.]

You're not forgetting to tell me anything else important that I should know, right?

[He's joking. Maybe. But it is rhetorical. Mostly.]

But if she were here... why wouldn't she have just... been here?

[12goingon113]

[Aang's expression is apologetic even if he never really says he's sorry.]

I don't know, maybe? A lot happened here and back home and it's been years, sometimes the memories get confusing.

[Aang thinks instantly of Lin, but isn't really sure if now is the best time to bring her up either.]

Maybe she was? Just...hidden somewhere, like I was in the iceburg.

[theideaguy]

[Yes, it's probably not the best time to bring that one up.]

Being trapped in an iceberg in the Water Sector would explain why she's suddenly wet.

[Yeah, he's totally going to crack a smile at that. Sorry, Toph.]

[12goingon113]

Maybe, but...don't you think we'd have found her before now if that was the case? It's not like an iceberg is really all that inconspicuous, even in the Water Sector.

[There's so much of this that doesn't make sense in the slightest.]

[theideaguy]

[Sokka raised an eyebrow.]

How long was it before your iceberg got found?

[Beat.]

Okay, maybe that's a bad question. But still, where else could she have gone?

[12goingon113]

Ha. Ha.

[Is all Aang has to says about the iceberg remark.]

I don't know! I have a hard enough time being the bridge between two worlds, let alone three!

[theideaguy]

[Yeah, that joke wasn't nearly as funny as it played out in his head.]

Well, maybe when we find Toph, it'll all make sense.

[And then he says, quieter, but still not just to himself:]

Or we'll just be left scratching our heads even more since this turtle makes absolutely zero sense.

[12goingon113]

As much as I hate to admit it, I think that second one seems more likely.
And not just because she didn't seem all that happy.

[Though, admittedly, there's that too.]

[theideaguy]

Well, can you blame her in this case?

[He can't actually help but feel a little bit of sympathy here.]

But... yeah, the day things start making sense on this turtle is going to be the day that I get sent back home.

[12goingon113]

No, not really. It's not easy to wake up to find the world different than when you left it.

[His is a glum sigh. Then something occurs to him.]

Sokka, why didn't you go home? I mean...after the battle. Why did you and Katara stay?

[theideaguy]

[A very deep question.]

Right... you weren't there... with the airships. Well, two reasons.

The easy one: I took too long to find Katara. By the time I found her, the way home was gone.

[That was easy enough. The other one...]

The other one...

[He swallows hard.]

I didn't think I was going to survive the war.

[12goingon113]

[Aang is quiet for a few steps. This fear, this dread that Sokka speaks of, Aang knows it well.]

Even after hearing all the stories of the future?

[theideaguy]

Well, I really didn't... ask too much about the future. Until I was in the Dreaming. It wasn't until then that Korra told me that we'd get to meet again some day.

[He kind of waxes nostalgic back on Korra. He misses her a lot; he couldn't help but be fond of her.]

But I didn't ask because I didn't want to know. The last thing I remember from my time back home was falling off of an airship, breaking my leg, and... I didn't know if I would make it out.

[12goingon113]

[Aang smiles bittersweetly at both the mention of Korra and how Sokka's fondness for her is clear in his voice.

Friendships really will list more than one lifetime, he wants to remind his often cynical best friend.]

I didn't think I was going to make it out of Ba Sing Se, even with Korra and Toph telling me how I would. And...I still didn't, not really. Not until I did. So I understand.

Can we segue into the next bit? :D

[theideaguy]

[That brings a smile out of Sokka. Yes, he may be cynical, but he's glad he's got friends here to weather the storm with him.]

Well, now you have. So now it's just a matter of us getting through the next challenge together.

Shall we go get Toph?

/sliiiiiiiiiides in

[seismometrics]

[They'll find Toph in the cafe, next to the console she used to post. She's half huddled . . . Instinct is to pull all her limbs close for warmth, but to do that, she would lose contact with the ground. She hesitates between the two, giving into the urge to huddle one minute, reaching down to brush the floor with bare toes the next. She's a small, miserably damp lump on her chair, head tucked down against her knees.]

[Still shivering.]

[12goingon113]

[Aang grins back at Sokka.]

Kind of too late to turn back now, we're here.

[He pushes open the door and scans the room looking for Toph. If it wasn't for the still flickering screen of the console he might not have spotted her at all.]

There she is!

[theideaguy]

[Kind of late indeed. And if they were any later, she'd probably kill them for it.

[Sokka enters in after Aang and looks around. He's got his wrapped up blanket under and arm and he looks around, though it's Aang that finds her first. And when he looks over, his eyes light up with happiness.]

Toph!

[First thing's first; let's get her all bundled up.]

[seismometrics]

[They'd caught her with both feet up, though her head lifted at the sound of the door, hopeful, one foot reaching for the floor . . .]

[And suddenly there they were, both of them, swooping in on her.]

Aang!

[This is for the first voice, immediate. And then there's another, accompanied by hands sliding the thick folds blanket over her shoulders. Familiar hands. And a familiar voice.]

[Aang's told her that she's been gone a while. Which, frankly, is hard to wrap her head around when for her it's only been a night, but if she accepts it as truth, it makes sense that a lot of things have happened in that time. Including the arrival of the owner of those hands.]

[Still. It's hard to erase that feeling of only just having fallen asleep. She's accepted a lot of strangeness about the turtle . . . but this involves the betrayal of her own senses. And for someone who lives by the information that she gathers . . . this new truth is hardest of all.]

. . . Sokka? [Her voice lacks the bold notes it usually carries. It ventures into uncertainty. She wants this part of reality to be accurate . . . but almost worse would be to be wrong.]

[Too long waiting for them, the weight of the war lingering in the back of her brain.]

[So much worse to be wrong.]

[12goingon113]

Are you okay, Toph? Do you want me to bend you dry?

[He wants to swoop in and hug her, but doesn't. She's cold and possibly scared and...okay, maybe it's Aang who's afraid that she's still mad at him. Because they're still kind of fighting about Yang Chen's festival. Maybe. But maybe not.

It's all kind of unclear.]