Because I lost a bet, there is fiction
Miss Maggie and bluirinka on the Television Without Pity boards won the betting pool on how Nickelodeon would screw us over this week, so I owed them each a drabble (a short work of fiction). Maggie requested something with Suki. Since that's one of my favorite characters, I was happy to oblige. (Bluirinka wanted an Iroh story, which is here.)
Title: Morning Person
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Rating: G
Pairings: Sokka/Suki
Spoilers: Through The Day of Black Sun. Speculation, rather than true spoilers, for the second half of Book 3.
Length: 384 words (Yes, four times the length a drabble is supposed to be. I don't know when to shut up.)
Suki never thought she’d be so happy to see the inside of Sokka’s old tent, but every morning when she wakes up and the first thing she sees when she opens her eyes isn’t the ceiling of her cell in that Fire Nation prison, it’s like a weight has been lifted off her chest.
The first few nights after she broke out she slept under the stars, wanting to be outside and free of walls, and woke each morning certain that she was going to discover that escaping was just a dream and that the nightmare about being back there (and there was one every night, the first few weeks) was the truth. But it wasn’t, and each morning the sunrise that greeted her instead of the inside of a metal box had always seemed like the most beautiful one she’d ever seen.
The feeling lessened, but she still woke up every morning a little afraid inside that she’d find she was trapped alone in that place. Then seeing the inside of this patched-up old tent told her she wasn’t back there, wasn’t trapped, and hearing the gentle rhythm of Sokka breathing next to her told her she wasn’t alone. (Not that she wouldn’t be perfectly fine on her own, she reminded herself, because she was a Kyoshi Warrior and dependent on no one, but it was good having someone you loved close by.) She was free.
Not safe, of course. She was a warrior and lived a warrior’s life. There would be a battle today, dealing with some bandits who had been terrorizing the local populace, and fighting was always dangerous, but she didn’t fear that. She was willing to risk a little danger to make the world a better place. She didn’t need to be safe. What was important was that she was free.
From outside Suki heard the sound of the earth tent on the other side of the clearing flying apart as Toph started her day in the usual manner. Next to her, Sokka groaned as he awoke. “Why does everyone I travel with have to get up so early?” he grumbled. “I am not a morning person. Mornings suck.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Suki said with a grin. “I think there’s something to be said for mornings.”
Title: Morning Person
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Rating: G
Pairings: Sokka/Suki
Spoilers: Through The Day of Black Sun. Speculation, rather than true spoilers, for the second half of Book 3.
Length: 384 words (Yes, four times the length a drabble is supposed to be. I don't know when to shut up.)
Suki never thought she’d be so happy to see the inside of Sokka’s old tent, but every morning when she wakes up and the first thing she sees when she opens her eyes isn’t the ceiling of her cell in that Fire Nation prison, it’s like a weight has been lifted off her chest.
The first few nights after she broke out she slept under the stars, wanting to be outside and free of walls, and woke each morning certain that she was going to discover that escaping was just a dream and that the nightmare about being back there (and there was one every night, the first few weeks) was the truth. But it wasn’t, and each morning the sunrise that greeted her instead of the inside of a metal box had always seemed like the most beautiful one she’d ever seen.
The feeling lessened, but she still woke up every morning a little afraid inside that she’d find she was trapped alone in that place. Then seeing the inside of this patched-up old tent told her she wasn’t back there, wasn’t trapped, and hearing the gentle rhythm of Sokka breathing next to her told her she wasn’t alone. (Not that she wouldn’t be perfectly fine on her own, she reminded herself, because she was a Kyoshi Warrior and dependent on no one, but it was good having someone you loved close by.) She was free.
Not safe, of course. She was a warrior and lived a warrior’s life. There would be a battle today, dealing with some bandits who had been terrorizing the local populace, and fighting was always dangerous, but she didn’t fear that. She was willing to risk a little danger to make the world a better place. She didn’t need to be safe. What was important was that she was free.
From outside Suki heard the sound of the earth tent on the other side of the clearing flying apart as Toph started her day in the usual manner. Next to her, Sokka groaned as he awoke. “Why does everyone I travel with have to get up so early?” he grumbled. “I am not a morning person. Mornings suck.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Suki said with a grin. “I think there’s something to be said for mornings.”