playinginsand | AU: Street Eden

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AU: Street Eden

People who have known Sokka since he was fifteen, sixteen, or even seventeen have often shared a common hope - that he will, eventually, calm the hell down about his work. Or at least cut down on the questions and excited babbling.

At thirty-four, Sokka is dangling from the roof of one of the two-story buildings in Eden, sitting in a sling constructed entirely of scavenged blankets, replacing a broken bulb in one of the lights they'd long installed on the street. The source of the blood they found on the walls from the beginning was known now and, honestly, they all felt better knowing there was light on the street in the middle of the night.

So.

Dangling Sokka from a roof, replacing a bulb and checking out the wires. Possibly whistling. Though it might be a yowling animal of some sort. As Zuko likes to say, Sokka couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.

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"It's not their genes I'm worried about," Hana says quietly.

The smirk fades and Sokka blinks at her, eyes narrowed. Namely because he's worried when she's worried. "So what is it?" he asks, quiet in return.

"It's the rest of our family."

Zuko and Mel were exceptions.

They were also her parents.

Sighing deeply, Sokka squeezes her shoulder again, using his free hand to rub at the scruff on his chin. "Your aunt and uncle were psychotic. Harth wasn't nuts until after he became a lurk - your mom always said that. And Azula was a nutbag because your grandfather was a nutbag.

"...and you will not tell your father I said that."

Hana laughs sharply at the liberty at talking about her grandfather like that.

"So what do they mean?"

"The dreams?" Hair ruffling has turned into hair stroking, Sokka going quiet as he considers. Katara would be shocked to hell to see him now, he knows, sitting there and trying to interpret a dream.

But... Hana asked.

"So, you're... you're not in Eden in them, fighting lurks. So where are you?"

"All over," Hana says.

"But sort of in the same place. I think sometimes it's Mom's world. Where she was born. But then, it's a massive world if it is."

"All kinds of buildings? Real tall, can't see the sky?"

A working theory is still a theory, right?

"Sometimes."

She sighs, and rubs her head, trying to think of it.

"OK, one time, I was on a ship. On an ocean, like you and Dad described. And then lots of times it's just villages with buildings the size of in Eden, but then, there're lots of tall buildings, like what I think a city would be like.

"'Scept... there's a couple of cities that are the same city, but different. Some buildings are the same, some are different, and sometimes it's more crowded and stuff.

"I think it's different times."

Sokka remembers a particular point in Apocalyptica where he worried he'd have the wraps on his hands torn to shreds by now, picking at them like he did when he was nervous. He's getting that same feeling now - only this time, it's about having no beard left by the time Iroh hits sixteen.

Doesn't stop him from continuing to rub at his jaw, though.

"Hana," he says quietly, eyes stuck on the street, "are you... are you you in these dreams?"

Hana gives him a slightly irritable glance.

"It's not like I get a mirror," she says. But then she sighs. "I don't think so. Maybe?"

Sokka catches that glance and sticks his tongue out at her. "We'll, you'd know if your hair was the same color, with it flying in your face all the time."

RUFFLE.

Hana at least isn't as particular about her hair as her sister, who keeps it tied tightly back for training. But she's still a vain teenage girl and it's still a NO RUFFLE ZONE.

So she ducks and pushes Sokka's hand away.

"No," she says finally. "I'm not me. I'm someone else."

He grins at her, despite the ducking and pushing. If Loo or Iroh pushed and ducked, he'd be worried. Hana's been trying to get him to stop showing physical affection since she was five.

It falters, though - that grin, that is. But Sokka grips the edge of the roof rather than going back to rubbing his beard away.

"...I ever tell you about Buffy?"

"Buffy?"

Long pause, and Hana thinks. The name sounds vaguely familiar.

"If this is an ex-girlfriend, I don't wanna know."

"Right, because I regale you with tales of my love life all the time." Not never, but rarely enough that he can eyeball her with a raised brow. "Buffy was a girl in Apocalyptica. I got on with her all right, but your mom wasn't a fan."

And Mel liked everybody.

Hana doesn't really know that, not remembering her Mom that well at all. But Sokka does get an appraising glance. She's fairly certain Mom would have a good reason.

"Why not?"

Putting his hands to the roof behind them, Sokka leans back and shrugs. "I never asked. I can guess, though. Buffy had-- real specific ideas about what was and wasn't okay about lurks. I guess back at her home, that was her whole job, keeping people safe from the lurks. She had this older guy, Giles, who was some kind of mentor or something for it. And Giles... well, fuck Giles, he's not part of this story."

He's part of other stories that make Sokka want to beat things.

"Anyway, the way she talked about this, the beating lurks thing, and how interested she was in Mel..." He pauses and takes a deep breath, leaning his head back to eye the clouds and scratch at his head. "...look, I know your dad's told you a billion and a half Avatar stories, right?"

Zuko did have them all memorized.

"Yeah," Hana says with a trace of a scowl. "Do I have to have been paying attention?"

"I'm going to risk Eden exploding with irony if I tell you you have to pay attention to a legend that doesn't affect you," Sokka replies with a snort. "...but if you happened to catch something about reincarnation in there, that'd be helpful."

Hana frowns, looking straight at Sokka now. There's a beat, and she says, "Yeah. Cycling through the elements, right. Some fire guy then your buddy, Aang.

"What, are you trying to tell me I'm the Avatar? 'Cause I can't even bend as well as Iroh, and he's ten."

Sokka makes a face when he glances at her. "I'll tell you how awesome you are after we're done with the serious part, all right?

"And no, you're not the Avatar. I don't know if one can be born in another world if Aang's in another... besides, you'd have to be Water. --Anyway," he waves a hand, shaing his head at the same time, "that's not the point at all. Just... well, Aang used to be able to talk to past reincarnations of himself. They weren't dreams, but still.

"Your mom thought it was toy for a while. Which is why, I'm thinking, if Buffy had gone up to her and started babbling about lurks and destiny and dreams and strength and crap... she might have a pretty good reason not to like her."

"So," Hana says, trying to make sense of it. "Buffy had dreams like I did? What did that have to do with Mom?"

"I don't know, tiny - seriously, this is all guessing on my part. Buffy babbled at me about destiny and lurks and her mentor and crap like that, but I never saw her with your mom."

Fingers tap on the rooftop and Sokka tilts his head to look over at her, frowning and-- worried, perhaps.

"...'course, Mel was a twin. Buffy said that'd never happened before. And you got your strength from your mom."

Of course, if she got the dreams from Harth, that might not help her stop worrying about his psychosis being genetic.

"I'm a twin."

It's really special, the way that sentence can be filled with so much bitterness and so much love at the same time. Only someone else with a sister could understand it.

"So Mom, and Buffy, and me. OK, I think I get it."

She hunches up a little, and leans towards him.

"Is this cause she's dead?"

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