markofthewise | Sokka the 73rd

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Sokka the 73rd - [Action/Voice]

[The house was demolished. And apparently it didn't have the decency to start putting itself together again. Not to mention the whole town was soggy. Most of Sokka's stuff in his room had been damaged. Some of it was salvageable, much of it he had to just throw out. His important valuables were in the basement and though there was a few inches of water down there, his stuff was up high and out of reach. Still, another mess to clean. At least there were two waterbenders in the house to clean that up. For a lover of stuff, Sokka was pretty put out by it. He hadn't been able to sleep in his room because of it. In a way though, he couldn't be upset. It felt right. Like starting over.

And then there was the smithy. Or what was left of it. The whole thing was rubble now. He wasn't even sure if there was a point in trying to pick through it. Best to wait until the Malnosso fixed it, right? It was freeing up his schedule considerably, anyway. At least he was back to his normal practice schedule in the mornings. Even if two straight weeks of combat had left him... weary of it, to say the least. All the same. He found himself to be glad to be back in Luceti. Back in the library, studying his alchemy. Sure, he lost all his notes and would have to start over, but it would be easier since he already knew what needed to be done again. Still. There was so much to go over.]

A guy can't leave for a few weeks without the town getting demolished, huh? Anyway. So uh. A lot of stuff has happened this past week. If anyone wants to, you know, spare some of the good details? I'll be around. Interested. And if you want? I can tell you all about space. Which was pretty great.

[Very around. Like hanging out in the plaza around. No smithy kind of leaves him with no daytime hangout spot. Especially without Suki to spend time with. So besides his training and time at the library, he's very much a man with nothing to do. Evidenced by the fact he's sitting at a bench near the fountain, lazily sprawled out as he counts his one hundredth consecutive hit on a paddle ball. It's uncanny how good he actually is with it.]

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[How does he even put this? There's no way of easing into it. Making it sound like no big deal. "My heart stopped working?" That doesn't quite cover it.]

I was fighting an Elite. I defeated her, but... [But. But. But.]

I was gone. Not just... down. I was gone. Really gone. Dead.

[And I haven't told anyone. And the fact it happened terrifies me.]

What?

[Moving quickly, Katara comes to stand directly in front of him. She has to look up now to look in his eyes, and for some reason that's disorienting right now, because he can't be saying this, he can't be telling her this, she would have noticed, she would have known, she would have been there.]

Sokka, what happened?

I did it. I did it. I was stupid and thought...

[He stops. Confessing this hurts. He can't stand it. It's not just the humiliation. Or the feeling stupid. It was realizing... how reckless he had been How fragile his life was.]

I thought I could control it. It was too much.

[She reaches up to put both hands on his shoulders, both to brace him and get his attention, and to reassure herself that he was right here.]

Sokka, I don't know what you're talking about. What did you think you could control? What did you do?

[A deep breath. He needs to explain it. He doesn't want to. But.]

We were fighting an Elite. She was good, too good. Neither one of us could even touch her. She was winning and I knew neither one of us would last much longer. So... I used the only advantage I had. We were in a building, so I used my sword to get electricity from the wall. And then Tsinku to direct it.

[He closes his eyes. Holding his arms tight around his chest.]

It worked. It was just enough to knock her out. But it was too much for me. I couldn't stop it from coming. When it did... I was gone. It stopped my heart.

[She inhales sharply.

It was too much.

Everything that Sokka had been through, from Suki leaving to being wounded on his mission to this - it was all too much. She hadn't stopped worrying about him since Suki left, and everything had just piled on top of that. Worries about Catherine, worries about Aang and Toph, the draft, worries about Shikamaru and Masaomi and the mission and - moon and stars, Masaomi and his stupid, stupid "good luck" token and his birthday present and broken arm and opened surgery, and leaving her dearest friends behind to face something so unknown on their own and one of them with a useless arm and others acting as decoys - and then the draft itself, the tension on the ship, the lack of stars, the utter foreignness of the whole thing - Aang, being forced to see them kill, as they killed, and nearly being burned alive and bloodbending and still not being there to stop Aang from entering in the Avatar state and...

...finding Temari's dead body on the ground.

She should have been there. She should have done something.

Her brother had died.]

[He'd been electrocuted.

He electrocuted himself.

And he'd died.

She surges forward to give him a fierce hug.]

You idiot.

[It was almost a release. Almost. He'd been keeping it inside. Acting like nothing had happened. Pretending it had just been nothing. Acting like his normal self. But he'd confessed. Let it out And it hurt.

He didn't fight the hug. He needed it more than he realized. And for the first time since he found Suki gone, tears were in his eyes. His voice cracked.]

I'm sorry.

[She doesn't say anything, because - because he should be, because how dare he be so careless with his own life except... he'd always been like this. He'd done it again and again and she was terrified for him, and she hadn't been there--]

You should be.

[But that was her anger, her guilt, her fear.]

[She pulls back just enough to look at him, blinking away her own tears.]

I'm sorry too - I'm sorry that I wasn't there, and I'm sorry that you had to carry this by yourself this whole time - I'm so sorry.

[I wasn't there. You were so hurt and I wasn't there.]

[He's disappointed in himself. Ashamed, even. Seeing Katara like this is... well, he expected it, but he knows it would have been so much worse if he hadn't been brought back. Or worse yet... what if this wasn't Luceti. It couldn't have just been a one week loss. It could have been the end. The real end.]

Katara, listen, I... [Don't know what to say. He wishes she was there. But he's also glad she wasn't. He'd seen her when they lost Aang. She was so hurt and upset. He couldn't bear to think of her looking that way for him too.] I don't want the others to know, okay? No one.

But Sokka, I really don't think this is the kind of thing you should keep to yourself. Keeping that kind of secret from everybody...

[It might be harder on you in the long run.]

They don't need to know.

[Bluntly. He came back. That's all that matters. Maybe some of them will find out eventually. For now, she's the only one who needs to know.]

Edited 2012-07-03 01:57 (UTC)

But maybe you need to tell them.

[When this happened with Aang and Zuko, they were all there for each other. Katara's worried about what keeping this a secret will do to him.]

[He shakes his head.]

I don't know. Just... not yet.

[She still doesn't like it, but she's not going to push... right now.]

Sit down and let me take a look at you.

[This is not actually asking for permission.]

That much electricity can really harm your system, even after...

[...you come back to life.

Look, just sit down. 8|]

The healers at the infirmary treated it already.

[But he's not resisting. He doesn't see a point and she could be right, after all. Didn't Aang have chakra problems or something? Who knows what Sokka has going on right now that's screwed up.]

[She frowned.]

When did you go to the infirmary? How did they treat it?

Pretty much right after. I was kind of out of it.

[So he's pretty vague on what they did.]

[She just looked at him for a long moment.]

I'm going to go get some water.

[Turning, she began to make her way up the stairs.]

Edited 2012-07-06 06:03 (UTC)

[He nods, but doesn't answer. He'll just stay here.]

[Good. She needs the time to herself. She ascends the stairs and has a moment where she stands by the sink and braces her hands against the counter, trembling.

He's all right. Don't live in fear. He's all right.

...I can't believe this.

Breathe.]

[After a few moments, she comes down with a glass of water - tact. She's got it.

What she doesn't have is anything to say.]

[He knows what to do. He stands up to pull off his tunic, figuring this is where she'll want to start. For the second or third time since he arrived on the Liberator, she'll have another look at that scar left by the Shift Hunter. Another close brush with death, with a permanent mark left behind.]

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