(no subject)

[fan-warrior.livejournal.com]

Suki is sitting in the shade of a big beech tree, a little way removed from the buildings and goings on of the main farmstead. It's safe to say that her time at the Cooper Farm has not started very well, what with meeting Sokka and finding out that he's not the one that she left behind at the Western Air Temple, and having to swallow the fact that he's with some other girl here. Hence why she's distinctly unhappy right now.

There are other Sokkas here, allegedly, but she refuses to get her hopes up about that. Meditation hasn't helped at all. So she's just sitting there in her Earth clothes, brooding, and looking nothing like the proud Kyoshi warrior that some folk know her to be.

Comments

[alwaysroomforhope]

Hey, new girl.

"Hi, you okay?" Steph wanders over to sit next to her, all helpful and friendly and warm. "You're new here, yeah? Welcome -- or is it totally a bad time to be welcoming you?"

[fan-warrior.livejournal.com]

Suki glances at the visitor with no change in her expression.

Another pretty blonde. Apparently, they're a dime a dozen here on Earth. This one isn't attached to an alternate version of her boyfriend though, so that goes in her immediate favor.

"It's fine," she replies, and offers a half-hearted smile. "I just arrived last night."

"Hi. I'm Suki."

[alwaysroomforhope]

Heh. Heh-heh.

Steph nods, offering a hand to shake. "That's a pretty name. I'm Steph, Stephanie, or, y'know, just "You There" sometimes." Beam. "Is everything OK?"

[fan-warrior.livejournal.com]

"Pleased to meet you, Steph."

Suki completes the handshake cordially. She's not able to match the patented Steph Brown!beam, but it's infectious enough to make her own smile gain a little wattage.

"Uh... yeah. I guess," she says.

And then she sighs. Suki hates lying. It goes against all her warrior principles.

"Okay, not really."

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Oh, that's not good." Steph squeezes her hand sympathetically before letting go. "It's kind of hard changing worlds, huh?"

[fan-warrior.livejournal.com]

"Yes," Suki agrees.

"But it's not really that. I've been on Earth for a while now. In Japan. Barbara, Dinah and Zinda picked me and friend up from there yesterday, and brought us here."

As quickly as it grew, her smile fades away again.

"It's more... what I found here," she concludes, enigmatically.

[alwaysroomforhope]

"The Birds are wonderful, huh?" Steph agrees, grinning, but it fades with Suki's.

"What did you find? -- I mean, if you want to talk about it. Msybe I can help."

[fan-warrior.livejournal.com]

Suki lifts an eyebrow.

"The birds?"

They never introduced themselves that way.

"Yes. They're great," she answers, while thinking how to reply to Steph's question.

Eventually, she shrugs. "I doubt you can, but I don't mind. It's all just so weird. I show up here and find someone I'm very close to in my world. Except, it turns out that he's not from the same point in time as me. And he has a different girlfriend here."

Bitter Suki is bitter.

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Oh, no." Steph wrinkles her nose, sitting down next to her and looking sympathetic. "Oh man, that has to be hard. Doesn't he still care about you at all?"

[runaway-bandit.livejournal.com]

Toph doesn't hold with brooding.

She does hold with staking out a sunny spot near the beech tree, plopping down on her back and wriggling her dirty bare toes.

"Ahhhhhhh."

Farmwork is tiring.

[fan-warrior.livejournal.com]

This arrival brings Suki out of her sulk in a hurry. She blinks when sees the amazing little Earthbender settle down nearby, then immediately jumps to her feet and starts heading over.

"Toph!" she hails, much happier all of a sudden.

"You're here too?"

Given who else she's met today, perhaps she shouldn't be so surprised. But, Sokkas aside, she's still not expecting to see any other people from the Four Nations here.

[runaway-bandit.livejournal.com]

"Huh?"

Honestly, Toph had known that person wasn't a normal farm person, but it hadn't occurred to her she would be anyone else to recognise her.

Not that anyone has an excuse to not know Toph.

She drops her feet flat to the ground.

"I know you. You're the girl who I kissed!"

Or something less embarrassing for both of them.

[fan-warrior.livejournal.com]

Suki laughs, not too uncomfortably. That kiss was an honest mistake, and a pretty funny one in hindsight.

"Yes. It's me. Suki."

"Not Sokka."

[runaway-bandit.livejournal.com]

Toph blushes and immediately ducks her head in case Suki might notice.

"I've never kissed Sokka," she admits.

DARN THIS FACT TO HECK.

[fan-warrior.livejournal.com]

"That's a relief," Suki replies, a little wryly, and quite insensitively really.

She realizes this before it's too late

"Uh... sorry. It's just, it seems like everyone I meet around here is coupled up with a Sokka. Everyone except me."

That fact can be added to the darning to heck pile as well.

[runaway-bandit.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Toph says despondently, scuffing her toes into the earth. "I noticed that , too."

[fan-warrior.livejournal.com]

"I'd like to say you're not missing much," Suki sighs.

"But I'd be lying. He's a good kisser."

[firesifu.livejournal.com]

Zuko (who, by the way, is involved with precisely zero Sokkas) is crossing the farm with the vague idea of getting in some sword practise, since he's been neglecting it a bit, and doesn't stop when he sees Suki - but does slow a bit, wondering why she seems familiar.

Social interaction actually involves putting names to faces. It's tricker than he'd thought.

[fan-warrior.livejournal.com]

Suki double-takes when she spots Zuko. She's still not accustomed to the whole 'other people from her world have also been displaced here' thing. It's her first day at the farm! Give her a break.

She follows up with a wave and a smile, of all things. Sure, they got off to a bad start, but he also helped with the Boiling Rock rescue, and he's teaching Aang firebending. He's actually pretty cool in her opinion now.

"Hi Zuko!" she greets, buoyantly.

His continued lack of recognition dampens her spirits however. That can only mean one thing.

"You're not from the same time as me either," she sighs. "I'm Suki. The leader of the Kyoshi warriors."

"The girls with the fans whose village you demolished?"

[firesifu.livejournal.com]

"...Oh!" he says suddenly, staring at her in sudden recognition and looking shifty. "Yeah, uh- Sorry. About the demolition. I, er..."

He rubs the back of his neck in supreme awkwardness. "Didn't recognise you without the makeup. Um. How are you?"

That's normal, right? Right?

[fan-warrior.livejournal.com]

He seems fairly close to the Zuko she'd left behind, at least in terms of hair-style and the mellow way he bears himself. But it's clear that the Boiling Rock incident hasn't occurred for him yet.

"I've... had better days," she reveals, her smile flattening slightly as she gets up and makes her way over to him. "I'm okay though."

"How about you?"

[firesifu.livejournal.com]

The bitter twist to his smile is a little more like his former self. After all, he has a lot more practise with that.

"Yeah, I imagine so."

He drops his hand and heads a little closer to talk more easily, with a strange mix of formal stiffness and the desire to talk. "I'm getting used to it. Been a couple months, here. Have you just arrived?"

[fan-warrior.livejournal.com]

"Sort of," Suki says, shrugging.

"I've been in Japan for the last few weeks. Barbara, Dinah and Zinda picked me and a friend up in their plane yesterday, and brought us here. So far I've met one of the Sokkas and his girlfriend, and Steph, who's girlfriend with another one."

The Sokkas situation probably doesn't mean much to Zuko, but her disenchanted tone should be a clue as to how she feels about it.

"Oh, and Toph."

[firesifu.livejournal.com]

Zuko grimaces sympathetically. "Yeah, I get that."

Then he frowns and clarifies, "I have no idea where Japan is. But Dinah and Zinda found me somewhere too, after a while, and brought me here. Steph and Toph and the Sokkas were here already. Did you at least arrive with someone you knew?"

[fan-warrior.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Suki replies. "Rei's not from our world though. She comes from Japan on a different Earth—um... it's an island far far west of here, over the Pacific Ocean."

The Kyoshi waves her hand in a vague westerly direction.

"She was the first person I met when I arrived, and we stuck together from then on."

There's a short dry chuckle before she continues. "She has this special ability that seems to protect her from fire. Not 'bending. Something else. If she ever figures out how to control it, she'd be really useful in the war back home."