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[personal profile] beliefovermisery
When last we met with Sokka, he'd been through a lot.

Season One of Avatar: The Last Airbender, first of all.

Then Apocalyptica, for instance.

Followed by Eden.

He lost his mother, his father, his tribe, his first girlfriend.

He's gained a sister, a brother, two nieces, and a very serious girlfriend.

He's lost a sister, that girlfriend, the new community he'd made a second home, masters and friends and teachers and family.

And he's been stuck on a single street for years, keeping tenuous hold of his sanity... and sobriety.

To make an extremely long story (like 10 years worth of story) very, very short, the difficulties and danger of Eden were made even more difficult and dangerous by the appearance of a visitor known only as The Doctor.

"I can get you home!" he'd exclaimed, pleased and excited by this ability to help, and most residents had been beside themselves with joy.

Less joy when the limitations were explained to the mixed families on the street.

Individuals could only be returned to their birth worlds. Mel Fray could go back to Haddyn, Sokka and Zuko could go back to the Four Nations, Hana and Loo could be sent to Apocalyptica.

Not good enough.

They said goodbye to Claire, to Steph, Cass and Tim and Revan, even Marcus. They said goodbye to everyone while holding tight to each other. And while the Doctor and his companion checked again and again, needing to be certain, eventually they entered their blue police box and left the small family behind again.

New arrivals still came from time to time and Eden never really got better or more interesting unless they put some serious effort into finding activities. But they were together and that had to be enough.

After so long together, there are things you learn not to talk about with each other. Katara was never brought up, for instance, and even in Zuko's best moods, his father and the Fire Nation were utterly taboo. Harth Fray may as well never had existed for all they acknowledged him.

A mistake, as it turned out.

-

Eden was quiet, when the wretches weren't attacking. Quiet and calm and dull and boring and maybe they'd become far too reliant on howls and beasts to keep them on their toes, relaxing far too much without those particular warning signs.

Setting a trap, finding his bait, and continuing his favorite sort of torture turned out not to be too difficult for Harth at all.

-

The details are vague.

Sokka likes them that way.

The scars on his temples have been fading for years, though never truly gone. Harth still brings them up with cruel laughter but he doesn't spend too much time taunting. He tears the white bone necklace from Sokka's throat, finds the old puncture scars he's always hidden, and freshens the bite.

This time, unlike the last, he is not interrupted.

Sokka can only be glad Harth's newest torture to his sister is to leave her adopted brother's lifeless body on display, and not to change, twist, and distort him the way Harth himself has become.

-

So he's not glad, exactly, to wake up in Milliways, get his newcomer speech, and within a week, spot a Mel who doesn't know him, a Zuko who can walk and bend with ease, mutants who have heard of Paige and know for a fact she's still alive and thriving. He even meets a Batgirl who promises him Steph is okay, then cocks her head curiously and asks how he knows her.

He guesses that he doesn't, not really, and gives up for a while.

-

It's only a month before he makes a close enough friend to be offered a door out into their world, just for a visit. Sokka is more than a bit lost in Milliways and is happy for the entertainment, wandering around New Orleans to listen to music, eat new food, look at a sky and thriving world that isn't dead or dying. The space is a little nerve-wracking after so long in Eden, but it's a nice sort of nerve-wracking.

He sees quite a few tattoos and it only takes a day before he asks his companion about them. He doesn't touch his neck but he's also made sure his necklace is carefully in place everyday before leaving his rooms.

His new friend introduces him to body art studios and Sokka gets a running wolf across his throat. The temple scars, he leaves. They've mostly faded by now anyway and he's gotten used to a hairstyle that helps to hide them. But the bite, if not surgically removed, needs to be covered.

His necklace has been too small for far too long as he grew from a skinny 15 year old to a 20 year old man. He shortens the beads back to the original number with a bit of wire and turns it into a bracelet instead.

Sokka has fond memories of New Orleans.

-

He tends Bar quite a lot. It's an easy job and a nice way to talk to people without getting too serious. There's a forge with room for him and Bar helped him build up a new toolbox. He doesn't build as much as he used to and he's stopped carving wooden toys - they make him think of Hana and Loo and that hurts, hurts in ways even Mel, Zuko, and Katara don't.

Sokka doesn't like leaving anyone behind.

It's hard for the first six months, but it's a nicer, safer, more exciting and enticing place than the apartments had been, certainly better than Eden. If his family weren't missing, too, Milliways might just be paradise
[identity profile] allican-do.livejournal.com
Girls Night has been a regular occurrence in Milliways ever since Steph first convinced Katara that it was totally normal to hang out with other girls, eating chocolate and ice cream and giggling all night.

Sometimes Mel joined them, more recently Makita had been stopping by, sometimes Goldy wanted to be juvenile with them, and sometimes Aang butted in and there was just as much giggling and junk food, if decidedly less nail polish being used.

Tonight, the others are busy or don't feel like dogpiling on each other and watching whatever romantic comedy Steph has dug up. Katara is standing in the kitchen in her pajamas, frowning at an open package of cookie dough. "...I'm not sure what to do," she calls to Steph. "Make the cookies, eat it all like this, or make some cookies and eat the rest of the dough?"
[identity profile] fire-frays.livejournal.com
There's just something about the Frays that they manage to make any training exercise into a game, and any game into a training exercise.

Which is totally why they're still playing tag at age 15. Admittedly, it's high speed tag using ping pong balls as projectiles and combined with hide and seek using firebending to detect and control body heat.

Right now, Hana's 'it', and Hana's faster than any of them, which is why Louise has to run flat out into one of the empty buildings, turning to shut the door behind her. She grins in satisfaction when she finds no door at all. One of the quirks of Eden, working to her advantage.

But when she turns, and takes in her surroundings, the grin fades. Something wronger than usual has happened.

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