markofthewise | Sokka the 77th

[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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[Oh, sure, he knew how difficult that was. Harsh lives, the both of them. But he wanted to keep this train of casual conversation going.]

Sometimes easiest to kill is tastiest. Other times, the harder it is to kill, the tastier it is. It's a very subjective meter.

[Casual was, in many ways, preferable. It was why she enjoyed spending time around Sokka. He wasn't like her. He didn't dwell on the hardships that he lived through like she did. And she envied him for that.]

I... think I can see that. [She spoke slowly, thinking them through as she did. For all she thinks she knows about all the types of hunger, about foods and tastes and preferences, she still finds herself surprised at times.] Sometimes something is better for the amount of effort put into it. Sometimes, you're hungry enough that anything is the tastiest food you've ever eaten.

[Maybe that goes for a lot of things.]

Exactly! And sometimes, if you're lazy, the best food is the kind you didn't have to do a single thing to get.

[Food is a very complicated subject, to be sure.]

[She nods in agreement. That had been one of the only positive parts of the Hunger Games, after all. The food. Food so rich and so utterly delicious, unlike anything she had ever tasted before. And she hadn't had to do a single thing to obtain any of it.]

That can go for other things, too. Sometimes it's nice to be lazy. It's a luxury I don't get very often.

You know, except in Luceti. Where we get that luxury three weeks out of every month.

Even then, it's not exactly all that luxurious.

[She shrugs in time with the movement of her paddle. It's not that the accommodations are awful. They're certainly better than most of the dwellings that exist in the Seam. But in comparison with some of the wealth and splendor she saw in the Capitol? It completely pales in comparison.]

And I guess I'm not very good at being lazy. [She pauses for a moment, considering something, and then chuckles.] I could start trying. Let you do the rest of the paddling to lake.

You do that and I'm throwing you in.

[He kid. Maybe. The stream may have been doing most of the work, but he wanted her to do her fair share too.]

[She rolls her eyes, not buying much in that threat - be it joke or otherwise. It doesn't scare her. She can swim. And anyway,]

You do that and I'll pull you in with me.

And risk your bow falling in?

[Well, her bow would float. His sword wasn't. He quickly made sure his sword was securely tucked in the boat so it wouldn't fall out if the boat capsized.]

It floats.

[She could swim for it if need be. Same with her quiver and arrows. The pans and cutlery in her bag not so much. But that could easily be replaced. Besides, this could be fun.]

And I can swim.

I can swim better. [... he assumed.]

[She honestly had no idea if he could or couldn't swim better. And she didn't care. She could hold her own no matter what. That's all that really mattered, wasn't it?

So she laughs and rests her paddle back on the edge of her canoe as she turns around to smirk at him.] Is this a challenge?

Only if you want to end this fishing trip here. It's too cold to keep going down river if you get us both soaked.

[Now he was worried that she was going to do it anyway. Fish or no fish.]

[It wasn't as if they'd starve were there no fish caught. They were both skilled hunters. And even then, there was all the meat that could be found within the store in town. But he had a good point. It was cold. And she didn't want to get sick.

Still, feeling as if she called her bluff, she kept her paddle in place. It was enough of a reply as she felt necessary.]

[He watched her carefully, not sure whether she was relenting or just waiting for him to make the next move. But he wasn't paddling either.

Two could play this game. The canoe was steering them towards land.]

[She glanced behind him when she noticed the canoe begin to drift and immediately began to scowl. What did he think he was doing? They wouldn't get anywhere if they crashed into the river bank!]

Sokka!

[He casually watched the other side of the river bank.]

Are those trees getting further away?

You think?

[She new that he wasn't dumb. Just... annoying. Stubborn. A lot like she was in that way. Right now, however, it wasn't endearing in any form or matter.]

The boat's drifting.

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