Peace or Not (Avatar Roleplay)

"Fine, fine. Both of you come," said Toph. "Aang and Katara can look after things here, or whatever. Iroh's here too, so he can play temporary Fire Lord until you get back."

"Shizuka can stay behind too. I don't want to leave the Blue Spirit alone here and I'd doubt he'll want to come. Since he likes her, maybe he'll be focused on her enough not to destroy the palace while we're gone," Zuko said. He nodded at Mai, glad she was coming.

"If that's settled, I'll go get ready then," said Toph.

She left without another word, and ran to her room in the palace. It did not take long for her to throw her clothes into her knapsack. She would worry about organization later. Getting to Gaoling soon, before Hahn heard about the ruined plot in the Fire Nation, was important.

"Well, I suppose I better get ready too," Sokka told them before following Toph out. In his room, he neatly folded his clothes and packed his other possessions neatly before strapping on his new sword. It wasn't as good as his space one, but it was still better than nothing.

*

"I suppose we should tell Iroh," Mai commented.

"Should have known you'd tagalong on this one too."

Toph stood at Sokka's door. She walked in and stood beside him. She was silent for a moment or two. She sighed.

"How are you feeling? You've never... told that story, about her, in public before, right?"

Sokka opened the door so that he could see her and sighed. He shook his head and told her, "No. I'm sorry for not telling you about it."

"Why are you sorry? It's your choice whether or not to talk about that. It was rough on you," said Toph. "I get that. I'm not going to hold it against you. Right now, I'm more worried about how you're feeling."

"Yeah," Zuko said, though he wasn't looking forward to it. He knew Iroh would be mad that Zuko was leaving. But he knew he had to.

Sokka smiled at her, grateful for her understanding. He nodded, "Thank you. I feel fine. It's just that, I get a little scared when I think about it. Makes me scared of losing you."

(Who plays Iroh?)

(no one has him)

(No.)

(My post was a statement. I knew no one had him. So would you like to control him?)

(Oh. Well, I will if no one else takes him.)

"Don't be," said Toph. "You can't go through life being scared of something like that. It'll tear you up inside."

She did understand, though. It meant he cared about her. She sometimes became scared for his sake, too.

Toph gave his arm a small punch. "Seriously, I'll be okay, Sokka."

"Yeah, I know," Sokka told her with a grin, "You can take care of yourself. You're a lot better fighter than I am."

*

"That's the thrill of it, not knowing whether you will survive or not. The thrill is hard to resist," the masked man told Shizuka with a grin.

*

"I'm sure they are," Suki reassured him with a smile, "They're perfectly capable."

"Then don't beat yourself up over it, okay?" she said, smiling. "Everything's gonna be fine."

"Just promise to take care of yourself," he told her, not being able to help but smile back. Toph always knew how to cheer him up. Without noticing, he drew closer to her, "I'll try to do the same."

"I'll hold you too that," she said, giving him a good bear-hug now that he had pulled her closer. "And I'll be careful. You won't be too far behind anyway, either." She grinned. "We are alone now, you know."

Sokka felt his smile widen at her observation. He hugged her back and murmured in her ear, "I guess we are. I don't think we leave until tomorrow, anyway, so we're not expected to be doing anything yet."

"No. Probably not," she said, shivering a little. It felt funny, but good too, for him to whisper in her ear. "We better shut the door though. We don't want to be interrupted like last time, right?"

"Nope. Not at all," Sokka told her with a grin before pulling her inside and closing the door quickly. He felt his heart beat faster as he once again kissed his new girlfriend.

She was glad they decided to close the door. Toph had a feeling she would be too distracted to search out would-be eavesdroppers.

His heartbeat was thumping loudly. So was hers, for that matter. She wondered if he could hear her heart like she could his.

Toph surged against him, her arms holding him tighter as she returned his kiss.

Instinctively, Sokka wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground a few inches as he kissed her deeper. After about a minute, however, he knew that he had to pull away.

"Best kiss ever," he asked her with a grin.

Toph grinned too, blushing. "Yeah. But seeing as how I've got little to go on, that's not saying much." She laughed and gave him a small peck of a kiss by way of an apology for the small tease.

Sokka laughed a little but shrugged, "Well, it's the best kiss I've ever had. I'lm not complaining."

He felt himself smirk a little, receiving a brilliant idea to make Toph flustered. He quickly picked her up bridal style and dropped her gently onto his bed with a laugh.

"I always wanted to do that. You're light or I've gotten stronger over the years," he bragged.