(Untitled)

[notanoptimist]

Eventually, the Eden Team gets the car going, by the grace of Sokka's brilliance alone.

(Granted, he's not entirely sure what was wrong with the car still, as it had started up while he was busy kicking and cursing at the damn thing to just start already! ...but no one else needs to know that

Comments

[i_spoiled_it]

Steph snorts, eyes on the road, at one of those glances. She genuinely is a safe driver; they're going slowly even when she's obviously itching to put her foot down and just get there, navigating potholes and cracks in the road with care.

"You know, Socks, not only have I been driving safely since I was fifteen, but I've also never lost someone out of the back of the car."

Beat.

"Or out of the front." She flashes him a quick grin. "Except when we were vigilante-ing and they wanted out, but that doesn't count."

[notanoptimist]

"Don't flatter yourself," Sokka warns her, smirking and turning one of his glances backward into a glance at her and her smug face. "There are a lot of things more worrying than your driving right now.

"...not that it's exactly smooth either, but not what I'm thinking about."

[i_spoiled_it]

Steph sticks her tongue out at him, and frowns intently at the dashboard, under the wheel, around the ignition --

"Damn! I knew I should've picked a car with an ejector seat." She sighs, eyes back on the road, very sad. "I guess I'll just have to ask what you're worrying about instead."

[notanoptimist]

"Being stuck with you and your face in a small vehicle for a couple of days, that's what I'm worried about."

His smirk doesn't entirely agree with the harshness of the words, nor the teasing tone he says it all with, but that doesn't make Sokka apologize for any of it, grinning while he turns back around. "I'm not worried about anything specific," he admits, leaning back against his seat to get comfortable. "Just making sure they're all right."

[i_spoiled_it]

Steph nods, smirk softening into a smile, although the road they're driving down now is shattered and clogged with vehicles and she can't spare the attention to look back at them herself.

"If they start fading away, I'm grabbing onto them and going with. And you too. But we only just landed here, I figure we've probably got about a year before whatever's doing it yanks us off again."

It's a good thing to have the road to focus on -- it means she doesn't have to make him uncomfortable by looking at him when she says, with a hint of genuine concern squished under the teasing tone, "How about you, while we're talking about looking after babies? You sleeping all right?"

There hadn't been any booze left in any of the places they'd checked; Steph figures it'd be the first thing evacuees and looters would go for, but she worries about him.

[notanoptimist]

Sokka pauses before answering, and it's obvious that he's holding back from giving her a bit of a look. But his voice isn't insulted, and he isn't snappish when he replies, shrugging a bit with his eyes on the road. "Yeah, I was fine. We must've walked maybe fifteen miles the last two days, even with other-me whining for a lot of it. Too tired to do much else than sleep at the end of the day."

Including looting any liquor stores they passed.

[i_spoiled_it]

Steph grins with relief. She doesn't mind Looks, as long as he's okay.

"Sweet. Does that mean you should be getting out and walking now, so you're tired enough later? Cos I'll totally let you. You can jump out now."

She's obviously teasing, though, not actually slowing down.

"Must've been a change, you being the one having to put up with the whining."

[notanoptimist]

Smirking a little, Sokka pauses. This time he does give her a look, one brow arched high.

"...you have met Zuko, haven't you?"

[i_spoiled_it]

"Like, twice," she protests, but she grins. "...and okay, yeah, you have a point.

"There's just so many mocking opportunities, with a tiny version of you running around."

[notanoptimist]

"It's a good thing he's far away, then, isn't it?" Sokka asks, grinning a bit back at her. "You'd like him - he can make anybody look good."

There might have been an 'even you' added onto that sentence, but a row of derelict trucks beside what must be a crumbled car dealership steals his attention for a moment.

[i_spoiled_it]

Steph laughs. "He did all right. Hey, I didn't know you could use a sword as well as a boomerang. I'm totally impressed, how come you never told me?"

She slows down so he can ogle the trucks, grinning.

[notanoptimist]

He notices - which is why she gets an extra grin thrown her way before he slumps back against his seat.

--and sends a quick glance back toward Mel and the girls in the process.

"That was after me - I've never even held a sword. He's not bad with it, though, I was pretty impressed."

[i_spoiled_it]

"Oh, well, that's a relief," Steph says cheerfully, grinning over at him. "I was afraid I was gonna have to work harder to kick your ass after that display. They okay?"

She's apparently forgotten that she was mocking him ten seconds ago for needing to reassure himself that everyone's here and well.

[notanoptimist]

Sokka sticks his tongue out at her, a tease quickly interrupted by drawn, worried brows as he twists further in his seat. "No-- no, Steph, they're gone! There's just this note!

"We couldn't take Steph's constant lies so we ran away to live under rocks where she can't find us." Turning to look at her, deadly serious, Sokka shakes his head and frowns disapprovingly. "Look. What you. Did."

[i_spoiled_it]

The car jolts -- Steph's foot slamming on the brakes -- until she realises he's joking, and panic melts from her face.

"Oooh, if I wasn't driving, I'd smack you so hard for that, you jerk," she informs him haughtily, but she's laughing by this time, at herself as well as at him. "Soooo maybe I'm a little clingy. Can you blame me? As far as I know, this is my world." She gestures one-handed at their surroundings.

[notanoptimist]

Sokka's too busy laughing, though it isn't nearly as hard as it should be, grinning at her and holding tight to the arm rests when the car jolts. "You're the one that was teasing me for checking on them every couple of seconds - I'm not allowed to bug you about it?"

As for it being her world, Sokka shrugs a little, but his sigh is deep as he looks out the windows again. "I'm not blaming you. And... I hope we find your mom and all, but a bigger part of me is hoping this isn't your home."

Like walking into the Northern Air Temple and finding corpses and rotting buildings where there had just been life - life Aang recognized.