The Kent farm was warm and safe and friendly; sleeping in an abandoned house that still seems to smell of blood Steph shouldn't feel safer, but she does.
"Kiss it better!" is a common demand when either of the girls get hurt, and Sokka is just as much of a target as Mommy is when it comes to delivering; it's no surprise, then, when Steph gets a splinter during scavenging, that Hana and Loo grab her hands and drag her to their Unca for help, though neither girl can figure out why the adults start to blush.
In spar they bruise each other, in spar they tear skin and strain muscle, in spar Steph is fierce and wild and Sokka fearless and unstoppable -- but when they're done, when they're patching each other up, both the light and the dark hands are tender and gentle, and Mel rolls her eyes at the pair of them.
They've broken bones and torn muscle, scratched and bitten by wretches, shot by other humans on the street - the first time Steph ever hears Sokka scream is when he doesn't have a scratch on him but Mel, crumpled in the dirt after a wave of wretches, is in his arms.
"They're not meat." "They're good for you." "We have meat! And you're making me eat these?" "Eat it or wear it, Socks." She laughs; he grumbles; another night passes on the road.
It's so hard to explain that Sokka rarely ever tries - even Mel doesn't completely understand, it wasn't all that important on her world - but when the clouds appear and his hair and clothes are damp and he still isn't making a move to find shelter, he looks back to Steph, standing in the downpour and beaming; not because she missed it, but because she loves it.
They'd had plenty of chocolate in Eden, and it hadn't been too much of a thrill then -- but now, finding a bar left in a near-empty store, Steph squeals with glee and insists he have half, and tries not to watch him lick the smudges off his fingers.
"When was the last time you were this happy?" Steph asks him, teasing as she looks to him with a grin on her face, the both of them sitting on the roof of a tall building and watching the sunset; he doesn't answer, but his smile says enough.
"It need electricity to work," Steph points out, but she helps him disconnect the handset and does her best to explain the circuits and the wiring, because he cares.
Sokka doesn't have a last name; Steph declares that she doesn't want one either, insisting she just wants to be Just Like You, Sokka, You're My Hero -- she doesn't mention her father and why she doesn't want his name any more, but she figures Sokka could guess if he wanted.
He's cold in her arms, stiff and frozen, blue eyes gazing sightlessly into the sky, he's cold and he's gone, she lost him and she hadn't saved him -- Steph wakes trembling and shifts closer to him, on the pretext of cuddling Hana, and listens to him snore for half an hour before she can sleep again.
He walks in on a bit of girl talk, Mel and Steph giggling over things they've heard, things they've done; Steph asks a question, probably rhetorical, completely teasing, but it's Sokka and Mel that laugh at the look on her face: "You're joking, never?"
They've been sparring almost every day for most of the year, wrestling and tumbling and fighting; touching him really shouldn't still make her stomach do flips.
It has nothing to do with blonde hair and blue eyes, the way his gaze lingers on her, and it has nothing to do with strength or how much of a warrior she is, how well she takes care of the twins, how she looks out for he and Mel; Steph does two things that captivate Sokka as much as stun him: she makes him laugh and she never leaves.
She's faster than he is, he knows that, he's fought with her enough to know her every mood; it's why he screams at her, orders her to go ahead of him, but she never leaves his side.
They reach Gotham, and at the harsh, foul scent that hits them as they crest the Heights and move down towards the city, the smoke and stench and decay and despair, Steph turns her head away and accepts his comforting hug with silent gratitude -- but they go on in anyway. They don't have a choice.
He tells her once, exhausted from travel and not really thinking, that he's glad he's here, glad he's out of Apocalyptica - and he could kiss her for not asking why.
In Eden, Steph was bored and restless and pale, irritable when she didn't remember to be bubbly, tired and miserable and grey; in this world, despite the destruction, her face is bright with health and cheer.
He doesn't much like Kansas - in Eden, he'd been one of the more cheerful inhabitant, but here, most people are hopeful, excited, like this is one big adventure, like it hasn't ruined their lives to be pulled here; and he hates them almost as much as he wishes he could feel the same.
Whenever Steph wanders in on him washing his wraps clean in the sink, she leans over his shoulder to watch his bare hands with obvious fascination; she never tells him why or what she's thinking.
When a scorpion falls from the rafters and Steph has to ask for help, Sokka is more than a little surprised to find himself removing the poison from her shoulder - but it could, he guesses, have to do with having his lips against her skin while he does it.
Some things Steph would willingly kill for, kill humans, if she had to; she freely admits that Hana and Loo are among them, but she turns the conversation into teases and laughter rather than admit that so are Sokka and Mel.
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alwaysroomforhope) wrote2007-11-16 09:46 am
Comfort
Kiss
Soft
Pain
Potatoes.
"They're good for you."
"We have meat! And you're making me eat these?"
"Eat it or wear it, Socks."
She laughs; he grumbles; another night passes on the road.
Rain
Chocolate
Happiness
Telephone
Ears
Name
Sensual
Death
Sex
Touch
Weakness
Tears
Speed
Wind
Freedom
Life
Jealousy
Hands
Taste
Devotion
Forever
Blood
Sickness
Melody
Star
Home
Confusion
Fear
Lightning/Thunder
Bonds
Market
Technology
Gift
Smile
Innocence
Completion
Clouds
Sky
Heaven
Hell
Sun
Moon
Waves
Hair
Supernova