paixaorpg | The Meat of Friendship [Completed]

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The Meat of Friendship [Completed]

Character(s): Zuko and Sokka
Content: Zuko brings Sokka food! YAY!
Setting: H-8 In a rock tent.
Time: Way too far past lunch.
Warnings: ...Hopefully none.

At least he had a roof over his head. That was about the only thing Sokka had going for him since Toph had taken off. Sitting in the stone tent Toph had earthbended for him, Sokka had little to do but play with the... journal, didn't they call it? It hadn't been so bad, but Toph hadn't still come back and Sokka was getting hungry. Not to mention his leg was really starting to ache and swell.

But now things were looking up. Not only did he hopefully have a healer on the way soon, but Zuko had offered to bring him food. That... was kind of surprising, given that Zuko had been barely willing to believe him about the whole weird memory thing going on, but Zuko had offered, and Sokka wasn't about to turn him down.

The way most of their memories didn't seem to line up though was really, reaaaally weird. Sokka really needed to try talking to Iroh and see what he actually remembered. He was the only one Sokka hadn't asked about that, and now he was kind of curious.

Shifting a bit, Sokka eased himself closer to the entrance, so he could peek out of the structure to keep an eye out for Zuko, since there really wasn't much else to do.

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"Let's see...The guy likes...meat, right?" Zuko scratched his head. He asked a couple people around him where "H8" was, then figured out where a restaurant was that was near Sokka. "Okay...there's one near him, good."

It took a while for him to walk that far, and then getting the people in the restaurant he found to understand he wanted to take the food with him, instead of sitting down to eat it, took even longer. The fact he then had to "pay" for it by threatening to burn the place down didn't make him feel very good, either.

By the time Zuko made it to where he could start looking for signs of Toph's earthbending, he was much less than amused. He had to console himself with the fact that her tents were easy to spot, and finding Sokka was probably the shortest leg of the journey.

...But actually confronting him, in person, was a different story. He wasn't very far from the tent, but...he couldn't get himself to go any closer.

Sokka had nearly dozed off by this point. There just wasn't anything to really keep him occupied, so sleeping was the next best thing, but he hadn't quite. Not when his stomach went making sounds like that.

"Yeah, okay stomach, I hear you," he muttered to his tummy, giving it a pat as he straightened up a bit to try avoiding dozing.

Maybe Zuko was finding a hard time finding this place? Or had he changed his mind?

That would reaaaaally suck.

Hopefully it was the former.

Peeking out the shelter of the tent, Sokka looked up and down the street, trying to see if he could spot the guy. He shouldn't be too hard to pick out. Anyone not from this place pretty well stood out. It was kind of hard not too with their looks and strange clothes.

Like Zuko thought, the tent wasn't very hard to find. After all, things made of rock in a place like Paixao stood out pretty well, since everything else was made of iron or brick.

Swallowing hard, Zuko took a few steps toward the tent. "...Sokka...?" he said carefully, spotting the topknot poking out of one side of it. He wasn't even sure he said it loud enough that the Water Tribe youth would hear. This...was going to be really hard.

Sokka didn't actually hear, but he did just happen to be still looking around to spot Zuko standing there. He was, of course, completely unaware of just how long Zuko had been there.

"Oh! Zuko! Hey, over here!" he called out, waving Zuko over eagerly. Especially seeing as clearly Zuko was carrying something with him that was hopefully the promised food.

Here goes nothing...

It took about half a minute for Zuko to take the first step toward the tent. The last time he saw Sokka...

"H-hey...Sokka..." Why can't I say anything else?! For a while, Zuko just...stood there. He didn't know what to do, even with Sokka's food sitting in his hand.

It was food! YEEEEEEEEES! Zuko came through for him! And... was... now just standing there. Well. This was awkward again.

"Uh... Hey! That didn't take too long!" Sokka began, trying to figure out what to say that might make this somehow less awkward. Nothing was, of course, coming to mind, but his stomach did take that opportunity to make itself known.

"Whatcha got there?"

"Oh, it's uh...some kind of meat. I didn't really ask..." Zuko answered, trying to sound at least a little less nervous than he felt. He handed the meat over to Sokka.

"The place isn't too far away, so if you don't like it I can...uh...go back...and get something else." Zuko found he was having trouble even doing so much as making eye contact, much less saying a full sentence without sounding like a total idiot.

"Well, whatever. I'm so hungry, I could eat practically anything right now," Sokka replied, as he gratefully accepted the food, and eagerly dug in.

"Oh man, this isn't half bad!" he mumbled, chewing away at it. Oh sweet meat! He wasn't even sure what kind of meat it was, but it was good and that's what counted, right? Although, if he had to guess, it seemed like it was some kind of bird. Of course, maybe if he'd been eating it any other time, like when he was less hungry, it wouldn't be half as good as it seemed like, but, hey, it was good right now.

"Don't worry, it's great!" Sokka said, after he'd swallowed another mouthful, pausing for a moment. Yeah, okay, it was still being awkward. He kinda hoped things wouldn't stay like this too long. "So, uh... Thanks Zuko."

"You're welcome," the prince answered.

Zuko rubbed the back of his neck, looking around for anything that wasn't Sokka. "I, uh...noticed your girlfriend's here," he said, trying to make conversation, and hoping that talking would help ease the incredibly tense air between the two of them. "...On those journal things," he clarified needlessly.

"Yeah, I spoke to her, but I'm not sure where she is. I'd go look but... you know," Sokka said, waving his hand at his leg. He seemed to be doing a little better at the whole making conversation thing than Zuko was.

"You know, it's kind of weird how us three all ended up here at kind of the same time, don't you think?" Sokka went on to say, his voice turning a little more serious, as he looked down at the meat in his hands.

That was starting to bug him. Toph and Iroh seemed to have been here for a bit, but him, Zuko and Suki all seemed to come at the same time, and yet, the things they remembered seemed to suggest they'd been brought here from different times. What it could possibly mean, Sokka didn't have the faintest. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the whole transporting to another world thing. Yeah, that one took some work. With nothing much else to do, but sit here and think, however, Sokka was definitely put some thought into their situation.

"I've been trying to figure out what it could all mean, but... yeah, I haven't really gotten any where."

"Oh...right." Zuko scratched his head when Sokka pointed to his leg.

"And it's really weird," the prince answered. But then, what Suki had said to him on the journals didn't sound that different from what Sokka had been saying, except she hadn't mentioned any of that Fire Lord stuff Sokka had. "Does your girlfriend remember different things than you, too?"

"Sort of, but not as bad as you and Toph," Sokka explained, finally taking a bite of the meat again. Man, it was good. Then again, almost anything would have been good about now. "Last thing she remembers was being on Ember Island. We were there hiding out, while Aang was finishing his training. We went and saw this play about us, that turned out to really suck, by the way. Anyways, apparently she was at the theatre before she ended up here."

Dropping the bone onto the plate, he picked up another piece, pausing to speak before lifting it to his mouth. "Whatever it is that brings us here, it picks the weirdest times to do it, that's for sure."

"Tell me about it..." Zuko said, clenching a fist. "Weird" wasn't the word the prince would have used.

"What does Toph remember?" He hoped, he really hoped, that Toph remembered him joining the Avatar. She was not someone he wanted to have to fight.

...Not that he wanted to fight anyone. Right now, Zuko had more to worry about with himself. Fighting wasn't going to help him figure out anything at all.

"The last thing Toph remembers was kinda a long time ago, for me," Sokka explained, leaning back, against one of the slabs.

He then paused, trying to figure out how to describe it to Zuko since he didn't even know where they'd been during that time. "Uh, a few weeks after what happened in Ba Sing Se," he finally settled on.

"So, she kinda thinks I've been drinking cactus juice again, when I talk about everything that happened since."

"...Great." Zuko gave a deep sigh. "So...she doesn't know that I ever joined up with you guys? ...Not that I remember that, either..." He scratched the back of his head.

"Do you think...she'll...be mad at me...?" Zuko knew the answer. Of course she'd be mad. She'd be furious.

...And he might be dead if he ever ran into her.

"She was definitely from way before that, so, yeah, she doesn't know," Sokka said first, replying Zuko's question. He then looked at Zuko, a bit puzzled.

"Mad? Why? You mean about Combustion Man? Or something else?" Sokka asked, with an arched eyebrow, not sure exactly what Zuko was referring to.

Zuko gritted his teeth. "Gee, I don't know, maybe for attacking you guys every time I see you? That ring any bells?"

Then Zuko thought for a few seconds. He'd...never actually had to fight Toph, had he? "What's...the last thing she remembers...?" As long as she didn't remember him betraying Katara, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

But then, he knew almost nothing about Toph. He'd hardly even seen her fighting.

"Well, a few weeks after Ba Sing Se, Aang took off and we had to follow him... I think she remembers some time around there," Sokka explained, recalling what Toph mentioned when she first found him here. He was pretty sure that's what she'd said, anyways.

"But, look, when you came to join us, we turned you away at first. We didn't trust you, for obvious reasons, but it was Toph who went to talk to you after wards," Sokka said, looking up at Zuko, his expression serious. "You don't have to worry about her."

"Really all you have to hope is that if Katara shows up, she remembers things like I do, and not from the same time as Toph."

Man, that would make things awkward and difficult. Of course, Sokka certainly hoped Katara and Aang wouldn't get dragged here too. Someone had to stay there and, you know, stop the Fire Lord.

That didn't bring Zuko as much relief as he would have liked. "I guess I don't know her very well," he said, looking at the ground.

Katara... If she showed up, the Prince of the Fire Nation had the distinct feeling his life here in Paixao would take a dramatic turn for the worse. And it wasn't very good to start with.

"She has every right to never forgive me." He paused for a moment. "I should go."

"That doesn't mean she doesn't... hasn't... won't..." Sokka tried a few times, not sure which exactly to fill in. He was pretty sure she had forgiven him by Sokka remembered. "Man this is confusing..."

"Huh? Oh... uh, right. Okay," he then said, as Zuko decided to leave. This was all pretty weird and awkward, so Sokka didn't exactly blame him. Although, he also wasn't too thrilled about being left alone again. Maybe Suki would let him know where she was soon.

"Uh, thanks for the food!"

"Why would she, after what I did? She probably wants to kill me, and I don't even blame her!"

Zuko turned around sharply, facing away from Sokka. "You're welcome," he said coldly, barely keeping himself from shaking. "I'll talk to you later. Or something."

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The Meat of Friendship [Completed]

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