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 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.]

[theideaguy]

[Really, Toph? Really?]

No, it's Sparky Sparky Boom Man, and I've come to dry you off with the heat ray that I shoot from my forehead. Of course it's me!

[He's going to put an arm around her while the blanket's around her... lest she shove him off.]

[seismometrics]

[One foot unfolds, gropes for the floor. Makes contact. Rests against the tile.]

[More than anything, in the end, Toph trusts what she can "see." Heartbeats. Breath moving in and out lungs. The weight of feet against earth. She takes them both in -- their signatures unique, unmistakable.]

[And then grins, slinging an arm around both of them, half-up on her chair for a hug.]

[12goingon113]

[A shocked laugh bubbles up from Aang, and he quickly wraps his arms around both Toph and Sokka. At least as well as he's able to from his now glomped position.]

You smell like a wet bison.

[theideaguy]

Seriously, [Sokka adds to Aang's comment.] Though it's still better than a wet Momo.

[And for a few moments, he just stays mostly silent, relishing the hug and grinning widely. He missed Toph tons, even if he's not going to say it directly with words.]

Hey, you know what that means? Team Avatar is almost all back together!

[seismometrics]

[She holds on. Maybe for just a little longer than she should, her grip fierce. They might feel her shiver once, tight.]

[Before she pulls away and socks them both in the arm, hard.]

That's for taking so long.

[Definitely shivering now that she's pulled away, burrowing back under the folds of Sokka's blanket.]

Look, I don't care how you get the water off me. Just get it off, okay? I'm freezing.

[A sneeze -- which probably lands on Aang. Just desserts for the wet bison comment, right?]

[12goingon113]

[There's a sharp intake of breath from Aang as Toph's punch lands true.]

Yeah, I guess we had that coming.

[He's smiling even as he shakes his arm out in an effort to make the pain dull that much sooner. When it does, he shifts into a waterbending stance. Tendrils of water begin to wind their way out from beneath Toph's blanket, coalescing into a single ball which then freezes solid and drops to the ground with a thud

With that taken care of, Aang shifts his stance again, this time moving a bit backwards before he warms the air around his friends with breath-of-fire.]

[theideaguy]

[Sokka will rub his arm just a little bit at that. Toph hits hard, and it's been a long while since his Toph-induced bruises there healed since he'd remembered that.]

Well, I would have been here earlier if you hadn't stopped talking to me. [Ha! He's got an excuse. Even if it's not a good one.] But for old time's sake, I'll let you get away with that one.

[Besides, he knows that's how Toph expresses her love to people. Right?

[He lets Aang go about his business of waterbending and earthbending to heat the poor girl up, making sure he's nowhere near that large chunk of ice that plunks down on the floor or standing within the fire used to warm Toph up.]

All that's left is to get you back to the Hotel, though... your feet are going to have a rough time out there in all that cold.

[seismometrics]

I thought you were-- . . . [It's a retort, but she cuts herself off.] Never mind.

[Meanwhile, Aang seems to have pulled the water off her in the fanciest way possible -- into a sphere of ice that echoes into her brain as it bounces solidly to the ground. (That kid never could do anything straightforward -- always had to add some twist to it.) She sneezes again, burrowing, looping a fold of blanket over her head. There's way too much insanity going on. Right now she really, really wants to burrow into bed and try to block it out for a few minutes.]

[The warmth from Aang's bending, though, begins to spread through her, and her muscles start to ease, welcoming the heat.]

Thanks. [The word itself is warm, and grateful. Warmth. She will never leave it again.]

[Which means, as far as Sokka's comment:] I'm not walking around out there. Already tried it. Not happening.

[Which leaves how she's going to get to the hotel a mystery, but. Never leaving warmth again, remember?]

[Muttered,] Just come get me when it's spring or something.

[12goingon113]

I don't think that's going to work out all that well for anyone, Toph.

[Not you, and certainly not the proprietor of this particular establishment.]

Oh I know! Sokka can carry you!

[theideaguy]

[There's a brief moment where Sokka almost volunteers to do the task that he just suggested, but now—now that he's been volunteered by someone else—Sokka now chooses to be half-indignant about the whole thing.]

Aang, do I look like a camel yak to you? Or Toph's seeing-eye Sokka?

[Sokka sighs dramatically, perhaps overdramatically. He's not really as ill-disposed to the task as he makes it seem. In fact, if Toph had her feet on the floor, she might even be able to feel that in his voice.]

Come on, you, up you go. Besides, you could probably do with a nice bed.

[He kneels down in front of her and hoists her legs up to carry him on his back.]

Just... if you're going to sneeze, don't do it in my ear.

Forever and a day later . . .

[seismometrics]

[Were she in any other frame of mind, Toph would totally be making commentary about this. But as it is, she's worn and she's tired and the world isn't making sense. Frankly, bed would be really, really good about then.]

[So she doesn't resist when Sokka tugs at her legs, feeling out for his shoulders -- while keeping the blanket around her as well as she can. She lets out another sneeze that, to her credit, is only half in his ear, settling in against his back. At least he's warm.]

Fine. Just . . . don't take the scenic route, okay?

[That's right, Aang. She's talking to you.]

We're totally judging. Totally. And judging.

[12goingon113]

[Aang winces when Toph sneezes.]

Don't worry, Sokka. It'll wash out.

[Because, you see...he's helpful. Yes. Helpful. That's Aang all over.]

I'll do my best. Sokka, yip yip!

[What?! He's just happy his friends are here!]

Always judging. Guilty. So guilty. And guilty.

[theideaguy]

[Sokka does more than wince. There's Toph cooties and germs all over his coat. Thankfully, it will wash out; Aang's right about that. But...]

Not worried about that, [Sokka says while making a face.] Going deaf on the other hand...

[And he definitely is also worried that Aang thinks he's suddenly a sky bison as well, hence the marginally dirty look that he shoots Aang. Again.]

Ah, the things I do for my friends. Enjoy this while it lasts.