magical uh...avatar verse...thing? I don't even know, it's suki and sokka shut up.

[fansoffury]

"Alright girls, that's enough. Now do a run around the island and I'll see you all in the morning. Go!" Suki clapped her hands together, and the newest generation of Kyoshi warriors went jogging off down the beach towards the distant rocks and trees, in sets of two and three, racing and laughing and generally not taking her instructions seriously.

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[lovedthemoon]

Though he'd expected the answer, that didn't make it hurt less, and trying to keep it from his face was futile at best. He just wanted to wrap her up again; to revel in what little time they did have. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Sokka forced himself to nod, looking down at her slightly. Had he always been able to do that? It gave him a misplaced thrill of glee. This was too grave a topic for such insignificant realizations. Even if it had seemed far less insignificant mere moments ago.

"I understand," he pushed out with a shuddering breath, knowing he was wearing all the disappointment right out there in the open for her to see. Try as he might to force it back in, it was to no avail, every emotion plainly on his sleeve for her to behold. He couldn't ask her to pick up everything for him, on a whim. It was beyond optimistic; it had been foolish, even to come here.

"Of course, I know, you have-- it's okay." His words were gentle and perfectly understanding, though his smile was as sad as it was small. He hadn't come out here for nothing, if even one hug was more than he'd had in too long, even if he knew it would hurt all the more when he set sail again.

[fansoffury]

She could actually see the disappointment on Sokka's face and it made her insides curl up on themselves, unable to hide the frown on her own face or the tears in her eyes. Which was all the more frustrating because she was a warrior and she was not supposed to be this, this...emotional. Even if she knew that was a stupid thing to think and that this was a perfect moment for emotions.

She stared at him for a long few moments, and then gently slipped from his grip, turning her arm to catch his hand in hers and slip her gloved fingers through his. She squeezed, a hard, firm grip, trying to be reassuring, trying to be...something...and set her green eyes on his, forcing herself to not look away.

"I'm sorry," a little pause, letting out a breath she hadn't even realized she had been holding. "Come back to the village and have dinner with me. Maybe...maybe I can..." It took everything she ahd not to look away, and she smiled some. "Maybe I ..." Her mind was already racing. Could she? She honestly didn't know, she had become so...important...since she had come home. But...a few days, a week, a month, any amount of time with Sokka was so alluring...could she just throw the rest of it away and go? No, she was certain she could. But...should she?

[lovedthemoon]

He brightened instantly, nodding his head. As if he could say no to anything she had to say in the first place. "I am hungry," he admitted, punctuated by the growl of his stomach. He had forgotten to eat on the ship, which said enough of his state of mind all on its own.

When her words catch, he tried not to hold his breath, squeezing her hand in his. Would she change her mind, if he stayed for dinner. It compelled him back toward the village even more. It was difficult not to expect anything, with leading words like 'maybe,' but he tried to quash his excitement, nodding again as if she had said something else.

"I don't expect..." He trailed off, smiling again; and shaking his head to clear it. He really couldn't expect her to run off, but if he could have it, he would soak it up greedily without one look back.

[fansoffury]

Suki almost laughed when Sokka's stomach growled along with his acceptance of dinner, and her smile was twice as wide as a moment before, even with her mind racing. Just seeing him for dinner, for a few hours...it wouldn't be enough of course, but it would be something. Some small part of her, some little voice in the back of her mind, said it would make everything worse. Fondness made the heart grow fonder but sometimes it just made you lonely, after all.

She shook her head as he started to speak again, and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek lightly. "We'll worry about it after dinner, alright? And you'll have to stop in and see the Elder, he'll be thrilled. Oh, and maybe the girls..." She was already talking to herself as she turned and started towards the village, though after a few seconds she stopped and looked back at him. She had intended to just drag him along but, he was heavier than she remembered. Everything really had changed. Her smile settled, and she moved to slip her arm through his, hugging the limb between her own as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I guess we can take our time."

[lovedthemoon]

Flushing slightly, he glanced down his arm at her, feeling himself go instantly warm from the contact. He let her go on about all the things they should do, knowing he couldn't stay longer than a few hours, but he wasn't about to shatter the illusion--that they could stay here forever, that it wouldn't be just as soon that he'd have to shove off again.

"I can't wait to see their faces when I walk in," he joked, an easy grin making an appearance on his face. He thought back to her last letter; how long it'd been since she'd written it, and if there was another still waiting to be delivered to him somewhere. How far behind was he in her life? And her, in his?

Clearing his throat as he tugged her a little closer, he adopted a more somber expression. Somber for Sokka anyway, which didn't actually scratch the surface of somber at all. "How's everything been going...here?" He nodded, quashing the urge to stop walking and just pull her in all over again. "Good?"

[fansoffury]

Suki tilted her head slightly, still resting against his shoulder as they walked, to peer up at him as he asked her that question. "It's..." The same? That wasn't what she wanted to say, honestly. She wanted to say something exciting, something amazing, that she was having grand adventures, and yet Kyoshi never really changed. The village got larger, the island felt smaller, but in the end everything was just...the same.

"Everything has been...fine," she shrugged slightly, her armor shifting with the movement. "Mostly nothing changes here. There are seventeen Warriors now, though, each of the girls trains them at different times during the day, usually. I have been going along with the boat to the mainland once a month for supplies because we had a fire in one of the crop fields..."

"Honestly," she paused, trying to sort out some fancy way of putting what she wanted to say and then giving up. "It's usually just boring. Nothing compared to the war, or even just coming home from the war. It's just..." She shifted, not finishing her sentence, and turned to peer up at him again.

"What about you? How's home? How's Katara? And your grandmother?"

[lovedthemoon]

"You know Katara, she's always off on some grand adventure. Sometimes with Aang." He shrugged, taking her arm with the movement. Sometimes he barely saw his sister, but he didn't want to add to the pained nature of their conversation. Any contribution he could come up with had to do with Suki taking off with him to cure her boredom, and the last thing he wanted was to push. "And grangran is... grangran. No change there. My life is pretty boring too actually."

Laughing once, almost nervously, he wondered when even simple banter had become so difficult. When exactly had the changover been from knowing Suki better than he knew himself to her being a stranger all over again. It made his heart race, like on the Boiling Rock, but it was better too because she wasn't in danger. He never wanted to see her like that again.

"I'm running some supplies for Dad, and I have a message for Zuko, but it's nothing like, really important." Which he hated. Sokka sighed, glancing back to the path as they walked. Things were so much different while the war was going on, though he could hardly use the term better. Maybe easier was closer to the term, even if it seemed wrong to say it. Everyone had had a role; they knew their place, but now was... now was an awkward transition period, and he never felt as needed as he once had.

[fansoffury]

Suki nodded, because she did know that about Katara. Unlike, Sokka she had actually seen katara several times in the last year, when Aang would swing by to trade letters with her. But that was never the same, not really. None of it was the way it should be, she sometimes felt. Those days in Ba Sing Se after the war when they were all still together, those had been...the way it should have been.

And then they all went off to do their duties and responsibilities and it was just lonely half the time. Not that she was unhappy, exactly. Just..well, she didn't know a good word for it. And it didn't matter right now, damn it. She squeezed his arm tighter absently and turned her gaze towards the path.

"So you're going to the Fire Nation? Where else are you headed? Kyoshi isn't exactly on the way..." Her voice was slightly teasing. She had a hunch that he had swung by to see her, a tiny little hopeful hunch that made her smile and made her stomach tighten in that happy, nervous way.