markofthewise | Sokka the 74th

[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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He's worried about being bored, huh?]

I can tell you stories!

Stories. Like, what kind of stories?

[She shrugs.] Stories about me being awesome.

I don't have all day, Toph.

[HIGH FIVE.]

What, you got somewhere to be? Candy factory?

[Even in death he can praise her.]

Uuuuugh. Just tell a story, alright?

Alright, alright. [Now where to begin...] Did I ever tell you about the first time I competed in the Earth Rumble tournament?

I don't think so. Did you win? [Look at him. Skipping to the end.]

Well, duh! Of course I did. But that's not the whole story!

Fine, fine. Let's hear the whole thing.

Well, for starters, they didn't even want to let me in. How many kids do you think just get into to the Earth Rumble tournament?

I'm assuming not a lot?

I was the youngest competitor ever. But I kind of had to break the judges' table to get them to let me in.

Really? Because that, to me, seems like it would get the opposite reaction.

You don't know these guys. You gotta intimidate them a little to get your way.

The earthbender way, huh? So what then?

Exactly. They finally let me in 'cause otherwise I would've kicked their sorry butts. And then I totally swept my first tournament. No one even stood a chance against me. Undisputed champion.

Really? No offense, but that's kind of boring. You must have had SOMEONE who gave you trouble, right?

Well, the previous champion was a pretty huge knucklehead. The Boulder-level knucklehead. He was good, but I'm the best. You know that.

Well, I mean, as cool as it makes you look, I can't help but think you're lacking as a protagonist to your own success story. You need a big bad guy to beat up! But not just beat up. Someone who makes it really hard for you to succeed. Like, you're the toughest kid around. But then you run into, I dunno, Rockmaster, and suddenly you're up against someone out of your league. And he beats you!

But then you train, muscle up, and someone makes an inspirational speech. Bam, you have a rematch and win. Classic material.

[Wow get out Sokka, this is her story and she'll tell it how she likes!!]

What's so great about that? It means I'm not awesome for all of it. That sounds like a pretty lame story to me.

There's no tension, that's all I'm saying. Take Katara, for instance. She's a great waterbender, right? But she got completely stomped by Pakku. And plenty of others, including a smelly guy in a swamp! And Zuko-- well, Zuko almost never won. But it's compelling, that's all.

Isn't my triumph over not being what anyone expected enough?

Well, sure. There is that. But that seems to be more of a theme. Cute little blind girl is secretly an awesome earthbender. It makes for a great reveal, but it doesn't really carry well in the arena. That's where the story really matters! Take the Fire Nation guy. He's Fire Nation. But an Earthbender! Nobody likes him, but he tries his hardest anyway. Even if you hate the Fire Nation, you're still kind of rooting for him to at least get a few hits in. Just so he doesn't completely embarrass himself.

[...Seriously Sokka. Seriously.]

See if I ever tell you a story again. I didn't realize it was gonna get analyzed to death.

action day 2

markofthewise - 2012-10-02 02:32 (UTC) - Expand

metalbends - 2012-10-02 03:33 (UTC) - Expand

markofthewise - 2012-10-03 14:53 (UTC) - Expand

metalbends - 2012-10-04 19:15 (UTC) - Expand

markofthewise - 2012-10-05 03:35 (UTC) - Expand

metalbends - 2012-10-05 04:13 (UTC) - Expand

markofthewise - 2012-10-05 18:26 (UTC) - Expand

metalbends - 2012-10-06 06:26 (UTC) - Expand

markofthewise - 2012-10-06 23:57 (UTC) - Expand

metalbends - 2012-10-07 03:10 (UTC) - Expand

markofthewise - 2012-10-07 03:48 (UTC) - Expand

metalbends - 2012-10-07 18:44 (UTC) - Expand

markofthewise - 2012-10-08 01:57 (UTC) - Expand

metalbends - 2012-10-08 05:58 (UTC) - Expand

markofthewise - 2012-10-09 17:26 (UTC) - Expand

metalbends - 2012-10-09 18:18 (UTC) - Expand

markofthewise - 2012-10-10 15:28 (UTC) - Expand

metalbends - 2012-10-10 18:33 (UTC) - Expand

markofthewise - 2012-10-11 03:11 (UTC) - Expand

metalbends - 2012-10-11 05:34 (UTC) - Expand

markofthewise - 2012-10-11 12:48 (UTC) - Expand

metalbends - 2012-10-11 17:17 (UTC) - Expand

markofthewise - 2012-10-12 02:01 (UTC) - Expand

Re: action day 2

metalbends - 2012-10-12 07:43 (UTC) - Expand

markofthewise - 2012-10-13 03:36 (UTC) - Expand

metalbends - 2012-10-13 06:45 (UTC) - Expand

markofthewise - 2012-10-14 02:11 (UTC) - Expand