Better nate than lever

[12goingon113]

Characters: Aang and...you?
Date: *cough*January*cough*
Location: Outskirts of the Metal Sector
Situation: Aang has just arrived, his memory is a bit fuzzy.
Warnings/Rating: None yet, but we'll keep you posted


"Tell me, then. What are the terms of your agreement?" he asked the other Avatar seated across the table from him. Not just any other Avatar, but Yang Chen the Air Nomad that had preceded him in the cycle.

"First," she started to respond, but was cut short when the earth beneath them moved. No, that wasn't right. It didn't move, it jolted. And not like any earthquake that Aang had ever felt before. Something was wrong. Very very wrong, and he didn't need Yang Chen's expression to tell him so.

There was a loud crack and then....everything around Aang went white.
Something had pulled him from the Spirit World and thrown him back into his body...hard.

His eyes hurt as he opened them, the light of day blinding his vision until he adjusted. The ground...wait, why was there light of day at all? He was in a restaurant with the Air Acolytes. Why ground? Where were the floorboards?

Aang's mind reeled. None of this was right. His first attempt at sitting up resulted in a wave of nausea that kept him down for another ten count. Steeling his resolve, as well as his stomach, he finally managed to sit, and then eventually stand.

The world around him was not the one he started from. This wasn't the town or the refinery.
Maybe this was a glimpse of the future?

"Yang Chen?" he called to no one in particular...

Comments

[theideaguy]

Sokka just raises an eyebrow at Aang as he folds his arms over his chest. "Wait, you made friends with Zuko, beat the Fire Lord, and then went and found his mother?" Geez, why didn't he get invited? Oh wait, technically he did. "Well, I hope that side of Zuko's family is a little less messed up than the other half..."

[12goingon113]

"Well when you put it like that it makes us sound really busy all the time," he says smiling sheepishly.

"I thought so. Ursa's really very nice, and so is her new husband, and Zuko's little sister."

[theideaguy]

Sokka gives Aang a rather dubious look. "Don't tell me. You've also been going around trying to ride kimodo rhinos bareback and also playing tug of war with fox antelopes in between all of that..." Because so help him, if Aang is dragging him around to do all that...

"Zuko's got a little sister, too??" He pauses a bit and just looks even more puzzled. "Well at least there won't be any future Loser Lord traits in her."

[12goingon113]

Oh now you've done it, Sokka. Now you've gone and given him ideas.
Ideas, Sokka. And they're all your fault.

Mwahahahahahahaha!

"Well now technically he's got two little sisters, but this one's way little. like...little little," he says lowering a hand to roughly waist height.

[theideaguy]

"Well that's actually not too bad," Sokka says with a rather content tone. "Once those two grow up, they will actually outnumber the number of crazy sisters that Zuko has." A rather good thing indeed.

"So... what else have you... or... we... been up to?"

[12goingon113]

"Well," he says sheepishly when it's clear to him that...well, that he wasn't clear. "Just the two. Azula and Kiyi. But...fifty-fifty isn't bad?"

Hopeful optimism?

"We stopped the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation from going back to war over the colonies, they've set up a coalition government, and there're people who want to help me keep the Air Nomad culture alive."

[theideaguy]

"Well, it's better than one to none, for sure," he says, finally in defeat. Even though he hadn't known about Zuko's new stepsister until a few moments ago, not having two just seemed like one more defeat in karma's everlasting war against Sokka's psyche.

But Sokka listens to the string of events that Aang goes over, but it's only the last of those three that catches his attention. "Wait, you've managed to find people who actually want to give up eating meat!? Are you absolutely sure those people are actually in fact not crazy!?"

[12goingon113]

"Oh no they're totally crazy," he says easily. "Just...my kind of crazy."

[theideaguy]

Sokka just looks downward, shaking his head and sighing.

"The future of the Air Nomads... well, at least your future kids will have a lot of support when they grow up." Pause. "You... don't have kids yet. From your future. Right?"

[12goingon113]

"Sokka...I'm fourteen and Katara's sixteen" he deadpans. "Of course we don't have any kids yet."

Did he...oh, yeah, he did just say that out loud...didn't he.

1/3

[theideaguy]

"Whew!" Sokka says, extremely relieved. "For a second I was—"

2/3

[theideaguy]

Wait.

3/3

[theideaguy]

"YOU AND MY SISTER?"

Wait.

"Was THAT what you came to me about all that time ago!?"

[12goingon113]

It's not until Aang's own words start to sink in for Sokka that Aang even realizes what he's accidentally owned up to.

He backpedals like the airbending master that he is.

"What?! No! No I was just kidding. Ha. Ha. See! Funny! Classic Aang."

Unfortunately, Classic Aang...like regular Aang, is a horrible liar.

[theideaguy]

Sokka just pauses for a moment and puts his hands in his face, taking a few breaths before he tries to straighten this out.

"Okay, let me get this straight. Before the whole Dreaming thing and before the whole Creep Lord thing, you came to me to ask me about Katara because she liked Zuko. And Katara came to ask my opinion because she liked Zuko, but Zuko was dating Wan. And now you come back to tell me that magically everything just works out, and I've been going through all this drama and stress for nothing!"

An observant Aang might notice that nowhere in there is a rant about Aang and Katara actually dating, just that the whole love triangle thing stressed him the heck out.

[12goingon113]

"I wouldn't say it was for nothing, you were there for your friends and your family when they needed you. That...that's everything."

[theideaguy]

Well, it does make him feel a little better about it. It doesn't mean he won't bring it up later as a minor complaint another time, but he's not going to hold any sort of grudge about it. He'll still just give Aang a slight frown, but he doesn't even bring it up.

"Well, what can I say? I trust you with with Katara way more than I did Jet. That's got to be something." He looks at Aang with a vaguely approving look, but then he grows a little more serious. "Just don't do anything I wouldn't do."

[12goingon113]

There's a moment where Aang wants to make light of Sokka only trusting him more than Jet, but the joke never gets made because he realizes the importance of this conversation. Sokka's approval means more than Hakoda's, and only slightly less than Katara's.

He nods in understanding.

"I won't. Actually, I won't even do some stuff that you would do."

[theideaguy]

Sokka smiles a little bit. "Oh believe me, I already know you won—wait, what's that supposed to mean?" Sokka for a moment can't help but wonder if Aang found out about some of the things he and Suki were sneaking off to do while in the Fire Nation. His mind is going back to Zuko invading his tent that one night. Gosh that was embarrassing.

"But nah, I don't mind," he says, recovering from the embarrassment by forcing himself away from the question and onto a new line of conversation. "Just don't be too oogie about it."

[12goingon113]

"Considering she's probably still in love with Zuko, I don't think that's going to be a problem."

Sad Avatar is sad.
He's also possibly in need of a hug.

[theideaguy]

Wow, suddenly this conversation got super sad. Sokka puts a hand on Aang's back and passes him a sympathetic look. However, thankfully, Sokka has... good... news?

"Weeeeeelllllllllllllll, about that," Sokka says with a bit of hesitation, "let's just say that my sister isn't... exactly... the most... fond... of Zuko right now."

[12goingon113]

"...oh no. He didn't light her on fire again, did he?"

Do NOT make Aang have to take your bending away, Zuko.
BECAUSE HE'LL DO IT!

[theideaguy]

"What? No... no no no no no no no. Nothing like that!" Sokka grins so wide right now. Look, classic Sokka! Joking around! Nothing as serious as that.

"Naw, Zuko went back home with you, but... something about not saying goodbye or something? I don't even know. She just got all super huffy over it. Girls, am I right?"

[12goingon113]

Sokka might mean for that smile to be normal and reassuring, but its sudden appearance is anything but.

"Why are you smiling at me like that? That...sounds really hard for her."

[theideaguy]

Because you haven't been here to deal with the whole thing.

The smile disappears as soon as Sokka says it, and finally his truer emotions start coming out. He sighs and nods. "Because I'm trying to keep it from frustrating me just trying to keep the peace and make sure Team Avatar sticks together. This isn't one of those things that's just blowing past easily. A quick, silly joke doesn't fix it, so I don't know what to do other than just wait it out. You know how Katara gets when she's in a stubborn mood."