Sokka the 18th - [Action]

[markofthewise]

[So after Katara has had her counseling session (with Sokka naturally following her around and being even more Batman super spy than usual), the two will be heading deep in the forest to search for Zuko. They'll try to raise him a few times on the journals, but are otherwise prepared to stay a few nights in the forest, even packing enough gear to spend a few nights camping if need be. After the loss of Toph, Sokka has no intention of seeing their missing comrade suffering a similar fate.

If for some reason your character is out deep in the forest, they may run across the two Watersibs combing their way through the forest. They may not exactly be the most conversational, but they'll probably talk to you if there's good reason to. Feel free to run into them while they're either hiking or if it's late in the day, setting up camp for the night.

Note: Either Katara or Sokka (or both) will answer your character.]

Comments

[markofthewise]

After all the things they've done and after talking to that crazy old man, I still don't know what to believe. But if they are telling the truth, we can't afford to wait until someone worse shows up to simply wipe us out for good.

[markofthebrave]

I know that. [And she does. After this conversation, she'd pretty much made up her mind anyway. She's not going to even bother raising any of the same points that she raised with Caesar. She's just... tired. She pauses for a moment and then sits back down. After a moment, she'll lie down again and prop her hands behind her head.]

...it will be okay, Sokka. One day at a time. Right?

[And she can't help but be reminded of those days right after their dad first went to war, where maybe they didn't talk like this, but they'd stayed up staring at the sky together all the same. They made it then. They can still make it.]

[markofthewise]

[He sighs and bows his head. One day at a time. Only they were getting old in this place. He didn't want to spend a year in this place, but one day at a time...]

One day at a time adds up pretty fast. Three months here and what do I have to show for it? I've got one plan to capture one bad guy out of a dozen, which probably won't even work to begin with. I can't even make things work in here, I don't know what I'm supposed to do about getting us home. If we can even get home at all.

[markofthebrave]

[Damn, Sokka. Why do you have to be such a downer? And the world wonders why Katara is an optomist. Katara will reach over and pull up a clump of grass, turn, and throw it at his head. She props herself up on her side to lecture.]

Stop that right now. You're not in this on your own. It's not even just us anymore -- it's everybody they've taken. They're stronger than we are, they have more impressive 'science' and for all we know they could be doing anything to us at any point. But they still need us to help fight their war. They're not invincible. They're just doing everything they can to seem that way.

Somehow, people from all over have ended up here -- and they want to go home too. We don't have to do this all on our own -- Caesar said that people have been here for a long time, but they've learned things, and every bit we know that they don't want us to? Is a victory.

[Her voice breaks a little here.] We can't just go home. Things aren't the same. No matter how much we want to believe that this is something we can do ourselves, it's not. We have to accept that. But that doesn't mean we have to accept that we're going to stay here forever. It might take time, but they can't hold us, Sokka. I still have to go back and beat Azula, and you know that happened. You know we got home.

[She won't let herself believe anything else. She pauses for a breath and continues a little more softly.] As long as we're still alive, there's hope, Sokka. We can't give up.

[markofthewise]

[The nihilistic side of Sokka considers arguing the thought that the fact Katara hasn't fought Azula yet is proof that nothing in Luceti matters and that maybe they aren't even the real Sokka and Katara. On the other hand, if he said that out loud, it might stop becoming a theory in his mind and he might actually start believing that.]

Yeah, I know. [He sighs and brushes out the dirt from his hair.] You know, when we finally do get home and you beat Azula and catch up with me on the whole timeline thing, I'm going to be very annoyed if we don't get at least a minimum of one year of adventure free vacation.

[markofthebrave]

[Well, that was better. She couldn't tell if he believed her or not, but as long as he quit taking the whole thing on himself, they'd make it through this. They had to. Katara lay back down.]

You'd get bored in a month.

[markofthewise]

[He lays down too, having now finished his food. Time to move on to trying to have a stress free night.]

Just as long as I have time to get bored on my own, that's all I ask for.

[markofthebrave]

[Katara reaches over and throws a bedroll in his general direction.]

Good night, Sokka.

[She plans on waiting for him to fall asleep before getting up a little way from their camp and running through a few basic forms. She's too tired to do serious practicing, but she wants to loosen up and stretch a little before falling asleep anyway.]

[markofthewise]

Good night, sis.

[And after getting his bedroll out and tucking himself in nicely, he'll be out like a light in no time.]