(Untitled)

[someboywonder]

Okay, okay, I'll admit it.

I've been a tiny bit clingy with Steph lately. A little bit. I mean, I'm not crazy clingy. It's not like I'm worried she can't go to the bathroom all by herself or anything. But we sleep together (not like that) and we tend to eat together and go out for walks and all that together, so really, there's not a lot of time

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[notanoptimist]

It gives other guys a chance to step in on Robin's relationship with her, too!

Oh, look! There's a candidate!

"...You're Robin, right?" says the boy in the stoop, looking pleased, soehow, at the tossing of the batarang. His is put away for now, but there's a plank of wood in his lap and aknife in his hand and a pile of wood shavings on the ground directly under it.

[someboywonder]

Word gets around? Or maybe he's from my world, I don't know. But it's not like he knows anything important, so I nod, holding the batarang still in between two fingers for the moment.

"Uh, hi. Yeah, I'm Robin. Who are you?" I ask, doing my best to be polite and not let my mind wander back to Steph. "And how do you know my name?"

[notanoptimist]

Grinning now, Sokka sets the knife and plank aside to stand, wiping his hands on his jeans to get rid of the shavings. "Sorry, I'm Sokka. I kicked Steph's butt at the boomerang and she kept telling me you were better - not that it'd be real hard to b-- ... uh, I mean, I didn't figure there were a lot of other boomerang-holding, mask-wearing guys hanging around, so... took a guess."

Insulting Steph is becoming second nature after meeting her twice. That really says something about her.

Okay, and Sokka, too.

[someboywonder]

...so he knows Steph.

That's cool. I don't care. It's not like I have any reason to be jealous. He's just some guy, stuck here like Steph and I. It's nothing. I can just ignore the fact that he and Steph apparently spent time together, throwing boomerangs or something.

I stop gripping the batarang so tight, not wanting to break it, and force an easy, casual look. I'm sure he's nice enough, and I'm just over-reacting.

"Oh, so you met Steph, huh? Yeah, I guess I am better than she is; more training and all that."

[notanoptimist]

Sokka is... not so good at detecting the occasionally obvious from other people. Especially when it's focused directly on him. It's why he doesn't seem at all nervous in the wake of Robin's glare, or accusing tone when he talks about Steph.

Boy, will that be hilarious.

"I bet I seem creepy, but, uh... I never met anyone that knew the boomerang before, not outside of my village. So blame it on that, rather than, like... inherent creepiness or something."

[someboywonder]

"Oh, no, it's not creepy." Creep. I bet he's a sicko. I bet he's a sick fu- okay, calm down. Sloooooow down, Tim. You're just looking for reasons to hate him. Not professional at all. Just calm down, take a deep breath, and pretend he didn't say anything about Steph.

"I've got plenty of experience with boomerangs; boomerangs and shuriken are the sort of thing I use almost every day. You use them for what, exactly?"

[notanoptimist]

"Probably the same thing you do," Sokka replies with an easy smile, reaching back to pull his out of the sling on his back. It's slightly smaller than the largest bataraang that Steph had, but also bent further, smooth shiny steel with two razor-sharp sides, one jagged, and only one smooth and meant for catching.

He holds it out for Robin to see, easy as anything.

"Shuriken?"

[someboywonder]

"I somehow doubt it."

Which is true. I mean, unless he also tends to swing around rooftops and skyscrapers, fighting crime in a costume. It's pretty common where I'm from, but I doubt it's the same for him.

Reaching down to my belt, I pull out one of my R shuriken, holding it out so he can see it.

"Same principle, but these don't come back, plus they're smaller and faster."

[notanoptimist]

"Unless you use them for something other than throwing," Sokka replies easily, still smiling as he shrugs. The boomerang is replaced in its sling and he stands to inspect the shuriken when it's offered. "Steph had a bunch of smaller boomerangs - wouldn't that be easier? So you don't have to go picking all these up when you're done?"

[someboywonder]

I demonstrate the easy way; by reaching down, taking hold of two shuriken, and flicking them his way. They embed themselves in the wall a good two feet to his left almost before I can blink, but the point is clear; batarangs are good, but for speed? Shuriken are the way to go.

"Different situations call for different weapons. That's where these come into play. Plus, it's way, way harder to catch a shuriken without losing a few fingers."

[notanoptimist]

"...Point."

This is said by a startled Sokka as shuriken whistle past him. He turned with it, twisted to watch them stick in the wall and he's still watching them - walking over, even, to see just how far they went into the brick. "I can't figure out how you throw it without losing fingers," he says, and there's no point in hiding how impressed he is.

When you flatter somebody's ego, they tend to be more inclined to teach you how to do the thing that impressed you in the first place.

[someboywonder]

"A lot of practice," I reply vaguely, hiding my smirk well (part of the job, part of the training) and keeping my visage as neutral as can be. "Unless you'd like to study them further, I'd like those back. They're not easy to make."

[notanoptimist]

He was still just looking at them in the wall, but Sokka glances back to nod at him. "I wouldn't mind learning how to throw them, but I don't know how I'd make new ones. Not a lot of metal here, or anything to work it with."

Then he's just eyeballing the shuriken.

"...how do I get them out and keep my fingers attached at the same time?"

[someboywonder]

"Grip the flat edges with your fingers and tug. Should come out just fine, if your grip is strong enough."

And if it's not, well, I certainly won't take any secret pleasure in him not being able to do this, the simplest and most basic of tasks.

Really.

[notanoptimist]

Poor Tim. Once instructed, Sokka pulls the shuriken out of the wall with as much trouble as someone pulling a tack from a corkboard. On the plus side, he looks absolutely enamored with the little things, and that's probably in large part to how easy they were to pull out.

"Awesome."

[someboywonder]

Damn.

"Like I said, they're pretty handy. They can be made into easier shapes, of course. Shurikens come in many shapes and sizes, though the general principle is the same. If you have any scrap metal lying around, we might be able to make some half-decent shurikens for you."

I'm hoarding my own for the moment. Limited supply.