markofthewise | Sokka the 77th

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[voice]

Sokka the 77th - [Action/Voice]

[On February Twenty-Fifth, Sokka turned nineteen. On the Twenty-Sixth, he left on a routine mission to work as a mechanic on one of the Malnosso's three space vessels high up in orbit. There was no battle, this time. Just good honest work, people to relate to, and a small bunk to call his own. Seven days, just like that.

On March Fourth, one of the mechanics triggered a malfunction on the hangar doors. The crew quickly fled, just as the power went down. They needed to close the hatch leading to the hallway. But without power, it could only be closed from one side. The one about to be opened up into space. The hero, the stupid hero, closed the door. In those brief moments, he thought that maybe if he reached a Tyr Fighter, he could climb in one of those. He ran. Hard.

He didn't make it.

Today, he fell into the sea, nearly drowning, and was saved by the Avatar. It distracted him from what happened, but now that she was off exploring town, he had the chance to go in his room, get dressed, and collect his weapons. It was a good thing he chose not to bring them. They'd be out floating in space right now, otherwise. One thing was strange, though. He wasn't upset. He wasn't distressed. He could only look back on it and regret that it even happened. That was a week's worth of points he wouldn't be getting. Damn Malnosso cheapskates.

After a bit of cleaning up, he went to go approach this new day. He'd be gone from Luceti for two weeks. People would probably miss him. But his first destination was the smithy.

The only problem was that once he got to the smithy, he found himself looking at the walls. They were barer than he left them. People had been picking up some of the weapons he'd made. Well, that wasn't going to do. He wasn't running a charity here.]

Hey Luceti. Looks like I got back in time for the new feathers to roll in. I'm Sokka. Hope you guys are settling in fine! I run the Slash 'n Crash, the local smithy and weapon shop. I make most of the weapons here. I do take commissions if people want stuff. But since there's no money, just talk to me and we can work out a trade. No point in breaking your back for nothing, right?

Anyway, did I miss anything important?

[For the rest of the day, Sokka can be found at the smithy. Later he does about an hour of catch up work at the library, before going home to dinner. Remarkably enough, he doesn't feel like drinking today.

Today is a good day.]

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[Deep down, he knows he should be okay. He wasn't 'yesterday'. His own feelings of having no self worth made him do something big.

But he was fine. He was honestly fine.]

I guess I just had an epiphany. Life goes on.

[Life does go on. It's something Peeta had stressed to her again and again and again whenever it got to be too much for her. But she's never really been good at finding that optimism. Noticing the daffodil in the burgeoning spring.

She's gone through so much. Seen so much. Why can't she have an epiphany like that? What did Sokka do different? Did--]

Did you meet someone else?

No, not really. I mean, I could, I guess. But it's just me. By myself.

[Which isn't so bad. Though he does think it would be nice to have the perks of a relationship again.]

[She shakes her head. It's not making all that much sense to her. Some big epiphany. Something to get over the way he felt about his ex-girlfriend. An ex-girlfriend that she knew he loves, maybe loves as much as she loves Peeta.

Richard had said the best ways were to keep busy and to move on. To find new loves. To drown yourself in your work. There had been nothing about random epiphanies.

It's confusing. He's confusing. Are all boys this confusing? She sighs in frustration, hands falling hard on the table.]

Then what is it?

I don't know. It's just... I'm happy now. Like everything's going to be fine.

[Sure, there's still experiments and drafts. Fighting and struggle. But he can live with all that. One step at a time. It's like a new lease on life and he likes it.]

[That. That's exactly what she wants. The happiness. The idea that life is going to be okay. What she had felt when Peeta was here. It hadn't been easy, but somehow, Peeta always succeeded.

She frowns and slumps into her seat. When her foot hits his shin this time, it really is an accidental act of violence.]

That's what I want. I want to be happy, too.

[He cringes. It wasn't hard, but it was still sore. But he doesn't hit back. Frankly, he doesn't know what to do with her. She's a mess and he has no practical ideas for how to fix her. But it's not like he can just shoo her away.]

I don't know how to just turn that on. It might just take time.

[Time. So so sick of it taking time. Especially when this sudden change in demeanor seemed to have come so quickly for Sokka. Is it really supposed to work like that? Getting over a girl - or a boy - you love in a matter of weeks? With new epiphanies and none of that hard work Richard had mentioned.

Richard.]

Richard said Peeta would want me to be happy. He said that after G- after he lost someone he had cared about, he had thrown himself into his work and then met someone else. And another girl after that. He said he loved them all differently but that even when things ended badly, he was happy to have had them.

It almost sounds... nice. [It also sounds impossible. But it is, at the very least, easier to think in the daytime. When the nightmares have truly faded until the next eve.] But I wouldn't know where to start. I don't really know how any of this is supposed to work.

Well, he is kind of old. He's had a long time. I know I can look back at Yue and even though I lost her, I don't regret knowing her. [I don't feel anything about her...]

That took a long time, too. It was Suki who helped me get to the point where I could even look at the Moon without feeling guilty.

[Her nose wrinkles a little and she tries to bite back a laugh at that kind of a description of Richard. In reality, he's probably not much older than Haymitch. Than her mother.

...okay. She smiles just a little. He is old, isn't he?

But the moment of amusement comes and goes rather quickly. It's replaced not so much by the sorrow from before but a different kind of emotion. Jealousy also does not sit well with her. And she makes a face at that.]

I don't know any boys here.

You know me. That wasn't so hard, was it?

[He's not exactly putting himself out there. But at the same time, he's not not putting himself out there, either.]

[She did know Sokka. And it had been relatively easy to get to know him, too. That common bond of hunting had made it easy. A lot like getting to know Gale had been.

But Sokka's different than Gale. In some ways, he's a lot easier to be around. He makes her grin and smile through humor that isn't so much at the expense at others or the government around them. He doesn't have quite the same fire.

So she shrugs, looking a little flustered at the thought.]

No. No, it wasn't. I like spending time with you.

[She'd become a good friend to him lately. He recalled being rather happy to see the delight in her eyes when they went up on Appa.

Though, presently, it didn't much matter to him. So his answer was frank. He smiled anyway.]

I like it, too. Any guy would be lucky just to be your friend.

[She looks a little doubtful at the last bit, clearly uncertain as to whether or not she disagrees. Maybe a guy would be lucky if he had a suicide wish. She seems to excel at that, getting her friends killed.

She ultimately shrugs off the compliment and gives a shy smile in return.]

Thanks.

Just hold on. You'll be fine.

[He gives her an encouraging smile in turn and reaches over to squeeze her hand, because that seems like the sort of encouraging conclusion to this type of thing.]

[She glances down when his hand covers her own, feeling surprisingly flustered by the gesture. She's grown accustomed to physical gestures of comfort with some people, like with Teddy and Zevran and even Richard to some degree. But there's never really been much in the way of that kind of interaction with Sokka before.

That one kiss notwithstanding.

After a second or two, she squeezes his hand back in return. And keeps holding on even when changing the subject.] You want to go fishing again sometime soon?

[Keeping busy. That was the other thing Richard suggested, right?]

[He nodded approvingly.]

How does tomorrow sound?

[Strange as his day had been so far, something like that would be fun. Give him time to think, reflect, and catch something delicious. Especially after eating spaceship food for a week.]

[She grins a bit broadly at the affirmation. This could be fun. A good way to keep busy, a nice change to her normal routine. He's a good fisher, too. Much better than she is. The odds that they'll catch something are already in greater favor if he's there.]

Lunchtime? I can bring a pan to cook whatever we catch in.

Good. But how do you feel about spear fishing?

[Sure. The lakes were melting now. That means breaking out the canoes and line fishing is just time consuming.]

[She quirks her head a little, staring at him in confusion before finally shaking her head. She remembers Finnick using his trident to stab at some of the passing fish in the waters of the clock arena. He had offered to teach her and Peeta both. But both of them had been too distracted in their own little game of sacrifice to care.

Remnants of her dreams come flooding back to her - Wiress' death - and she grips his hand a little tighter.]

I've never gone spear fishing before.

[Something must have upset her to cause her to squeeze his hand again like that. Something important.

But anyway, fishing!]

It's like fishing. But with spears. In a boat. I mean, line fishing is nice and all. But spear fishing is for people with things to do and actually want to catch things.

[The kind of thing people did when fishing wasn't just something you did for fun.]

[He doesn't pay any attention to the way she squeezes his hand and she's grateful for that. Grateful that he doesn't pry into what worries her. So far, she's dealt with enough prying questions today.

He stays on topic and Katniss, in return, does her best not to remember the way the spear looked jolting out of Rue's chest.]

Do you usually catch more?

Well, we usually didn't starve.

[Though he wasn't nearly so good a hunter back then as he is now. But he's also a little rusty. Time will only tell how well they do.]

[She considers this for a moment, finally moving her hand away from his. Then, she nods.]

I'll bring my bow just in case.

[A bit pointless to say, really. She rarely goes anywhere without it.]

[He pulls his hand back. He's kind of glad for it.]

Katniss. You were going to bring your bow anyway.

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