Sokka the 74th - [Action/Voice]

[markofthewise]

[THE FIRST DAY.]

[Two weeks. It's a long time to be on a mission, but Sokka has no regrets. The mess with Kin'cora had gotten to him and he found a kind of relief in working with other people from other enclosures. There was a lot of talk among him and the others. He spread the word. Maybe it wouldn't do Luceti much good, given he learned very little, but the more the others knew, the better. But boy was he glad to be back in Luceti. When he emerges from the tunnels at around 6PM, he's tired out from a hard day of work, but it's a good kind of tired. He makes going home his first priority. He'll miss dinner, inevitably, but with any luck there's leftovers. Catching up with the others takes a few hours before he ever breaks away to wander the village.

What's on the agenda? Hitting up the smithy to see where things are at. He never got to find out how much was lost after the Kin'corans left, so it's time to see if one of his minions smithy buddies took an inventory. And you know, he wants to check in on them too. That's cool. Also, he heads to Good Spirits because he was informed very sternly by one of his buddies on the mission that the only proper way to end a hard day's work is a good stiff drink. Sokka, the adult that he is, was inclined to agree. THAT IS HIS ENTIRE DAY.

But there is another.]

[DAWN OF THE NEXT DAY]

[Sokka wakes up and does his usual morning routine and goes to NOT the smithy, but the BATTLE DOME. That's right. Record scratch. After talking to the main console for awhile, he heads into one of the rooms and in something that takes some finagling at first, he starts... building a sub. A holographic sub. One that is small enough to fit into his hand, but can expand if he gives the command, so he can work on specific details. It's like working on a blueprint, but in 3D. His nights on his mission had been spent trying to recreate the submarine made by the Mechanist. He's been steadily improving on the design, specifically built to be powered by waterbending, but done in a way to streamline the process and make it faster. And sturdier. He's not sure it will be easy to build with Luceti's technology, but...

Well, Haruhi got him excited. And he spends the better half of the day on this. Because of the Dome time limit, he's constantly seen going in and out to restart the program or grab a snack. For those hoping to fight, this is probably annoying, since there's only six chambers that tend to get used a lot. At one point during the day, he loses the dome to some short and grumpy guy, so Sokka turns to the journal.]

Has anyone really tried the stuff in these vending machines before? I mean, I usually just get a soda or something, but this stuff is amazing. Like... look at these. [He lifts up an oreo to the camera.] It's two cookies, but with some kind of paste between them. But the paste tastes like sugar! And then there's these! [Sokka lifts up an red lump of candy.] Apple gels. They're great, although I don't think they taste like real apples. There's something unusually refreshing about them. I had about ten just now and it made my fingers all tingly. Actually, I'm kind of feeling tingly all over and-- [Sokka looks away and spots something else] Oh! And check this out! [He pulls out a WORM. A multicolored worm.] It's a CANDY worm. I was thinking I could use it for fishing, but it's actually kind of tasty. Oh, and then there's these fished shape crackers...

[He'll go on like this for awhile. People can listen or ignore him, but he'll be casually highlighting the awesome contents of the Battle Dome vending machines.

He'll be coming home later with the stomach ache from hell.]

Comments

[markofthebrave]

She's... excited to see all her friends again. She adjusted pretty well to moving back in here.

[It's all one big magical adventure.]

[markofthewise]

Well. Good for her, I guess.

[As much as it's nice seeing her again, it's communicated clearly between the two that her being back is not a relief.]

[markofthebrave]

[Communicated clearly indeed. Katara moves to sit down by where he was sitting.]

I missed you, Sokka.

[Which of course he knew, but it was rarely something she'd come out and say.]

[markofthewise]

[Indeed. It struck him that this was kind of a big deal. He sat back down beside her.]

I didn't mean to be gone so long.

[markofthebrave]

It's all right.

[It's just... a lot happened while you were away.

Her mission to the hospital.

Her post on Lucetilocked.

Nami's mallynap affect and her subsequent date with Ling.

And it just wasn't the same, dealing with things related to Luceti with anyone who... hadn't been here as long as they had.]

I'm just glad you're back safe.

[She worries more about you than she used to, after the last draft.]

[markofthewise]

So am I. It's nice to come back in one piece, for once. [He leans back a bit, still feeling pretty worn out. There was quite a rush of work they had him do at the end.]

So... anything interesting happen while I was gone?

[markofthebrave]

It's... been pretty busy, actually. Do you want to talk about it after you've had some rest?

[markofthewise]

Just let me drop on the couch. I'm ready to die there. You can tell me everything there.

[markofthebrave]

Right, so you can fall asleep while I talk with you?

[She smiled wryly and poked him.]

No thanks.

[markofthewise]

The loud snorting sounds I will be making are just my enthusiastic way of encouraging you to keep on.

[markofthebrave]

[Mock huff.]

Keep that up and I won't tell you anything at all.

[markofthewise]

[He is able to mock argue right back.] Fine, be that way. I'll just sleep and be restful. See how you like it.

[markofthebrave]

"I'd like it fine," she said, suddenly serious. "If you're tired, you should go rest. We can catch up tomorrow."

its prose because its serious now

[markofthewise]

"I'll be fine. I'll just grab a soda on the way in. That'll wake me right up."

He wasn't sleepy tired anyway, just physically exhausted. He'd rather sleep at his normal time. Get his sleep schedule on track.

it's prose because I wanted to say 'she said, suddenly serious' and it didn't work in []

[markofthebrave]

"You're interrupting my practice, you know."

But she was smiling a little as she followed him inside.

[markofthewise]

"Because you never get enough of that, right?"

He led them around the house, to the front door. For what was not the first time, he told himself that they really needed a back door. A project for another day.

[markofthebrave]

"Never," and while she spoke with a bit of wry humor, they both knew she was perfectly serious. And in fact, after talking with Sokka, she'd probably sneak out to pick up where she left off.

[markofthewise]

He knew very well. If he missed his morning practices, he'd always make up for them later. It was too ingrained now to skip it. Once inside, Sokka opened up the fridge to pull out a soda. It popped open with a familiar and satisfying hiss. Oh how he missed these. They didn't get to have any on the beach.

"So, big stuff first. I'm assuming no experiments, so... did anyone turn evil and wreck the town again?"

[markofthebrave]

The sad thing was, Katara didn't really even blink at that question. It was almost normative here. "Actually, yes. There was a huge fire down by C5 and some kind of... singing based attack?"

She didn't really get it, but that was because she hadn't been on the scene. Only heard about things in the aftermath at the Med Lab.

"Apparently she wanted to 'burn all the suffering away.'"

And with that line, she decides she wants a soda too. Cherry Coke. Because 'burn all the suffering away' warranted it.

"But she was stopped and no one died."

[markofthewise]

Sokka knocked some of the soda back, shaking his head as Katara concluded the recap.

"Why it always girls? Sometimes I think all the women here are ticking time bombs, waiting to go off."

[markofthebrave]

Katara rolled her eyes, popping open her own soda can. "Ha, ha. Very funny."

[markofthewise]

"Hey, I'm just saying. It's a pattern. How much you wanna bet the next time it'll be another girl?"

He ignored the male examples. He knew, after all, that something went down in the woods not long ago. That was all he really knew, though.

[markofthebrave]

"I'm pretty sure the time before this it was Ragna. Maybe it's alternating."

[markofthewise]

"I don't know, he was probably an exception." He shrugged. "So what else?"

[markofthebrave]

And wasn't there that big green guy after that?

...anyway.

"I went on a mission," she said, moving to sit on the arm of the sofa.