Toph and Sokka, middle of the party

[om_ricochet]

Sokka is surprised by Toph's costume. Toph takes every opportunity to mess with Sokka--and only punches him a little. It's how she shows affection.

Sokka had shed the fur vest after the first few minutes. Seriously, it was hot as balls here, and these people were just wandering around in their giant dresses and suits--

Well, okay, most of the guys had taken off their jackets and most of the dresses didn't have sleeves. And then there was Lil, who Sokka had sort of waved to, but been terrified to approach suddenly. Easy camaraderie eating maktak Lil did not track with... her.

But everyone looked different, which he guessed was kind of the point?

He was just coming around the corner to grab something to drink when he noticed a very short someone who was only vaguely familiar from the back. With a dragon mask. In a short dress that was actually pretty awesome. And--

Sokka did a double take, hand mid-air, still reaching for a cup that it never found. "Toph?!"

"Hm?" Her name drew her attention right away, but one of the awesome things about being Toph was that she didn't even have to turn in his direction to tell who it was. "Hey Sokka," she said almost offhandedly, brushing at the mask over her face. And then stopped with a slight frown. "What's with the surprise?" The mask wasn't that big.

"You look--" But Sokka wasn't even sure what he was trying to say, exactly. She just--she wasn't Toph-like at all. She seemed even tinier than usual somehow, and while the mask was definitely bad-ass, she was all... her hair was pretty. And she was wearing a dress. And. "You look different!" he finally sputtered.

"Well yeah," she said slowly, finally twisting in his direction to give him the full force of the look she was wearing. "That's the point of this whole thing, right?"

"Oh," Sokka said slowly. "I guess it is. Yeah. Huh." A slight pause wherein he evaluated Toph's dress anew. And then, "You look. Kind of. I mean. Nice. Really nice."

"Thanks," Toph said, shifting a little awkwardly before her expression almost immediately shifted into a mischievous smirk. "You look good too."

For some inane reason, Sokka flushed; he quickly covered it up by flexing, tongue between his teeth, and saying, "Right? At first I thought I'd look completely stupid, but Audrey convinced me it was kind of awesome, so I--"

Then his face fell as he realized. "Why do you feel the need to do that?"

"It's funny," Toph declared with a wide grin.

Sokka slumped and sighed dramatically. "I sometimes think I exist for your entertainment. I really do."

"I sure hope so," she agreed, punching his arm lightly. And it was actually light for once.

He still said, "Ow," and rubbed at his arm, but it was more amused than anything else. For once. Also. "Really though who talked you into wearing that? It's not, like, a Toph-thing. Or--is it?"

He didn't think he could handle that. It would completely blow his mind. Which was already blown. So... did it matter? Hm.

She scowled at him a little, but since she had actually been talked into it there wasn't much force behind the expression. "Lydia, my roommate," Toph admitted with a slight grumble. "She's really into making me dress up and stuff. I dunno why."

"Lydia?" Sokka sounded vaguely horrified--because he was. By Lydia. She was. Horrifying. Somehow.

Sokka hadn't actually realized she was Toph's roommate. Mainly because Sokka didn't think much about Toph having, like a room. Or stuff. Or a life outside of throwing rocks around and making him look ridiculous.

Huh. "Well. I mean. You do look good, so I guess it's not that bad?"

"You got a problem with Lydia?" Toph returned instantly, all trace of humor gone. She could complain about it, but like hell anybody else could. Even Sokka.

"No!" Sokka said quickly, throwing up his hands in surrender... and then realizing again that she couldn't see. Damn it! "No, I mean, she's fine. I don't even know her. She's just kinda terrifying. In a good way! Like really-pretty-girl terrifying."

Really Mean Girl terrifying, more like, but Sokka was prrrrrrrrretty sure he was about two seconds from getting actually punched.

Toph let that hang for a minute longer before she made herself relax. "Okay then," she said, tone still slightly suspicious. There was something Sokka wasn't quite saying about the whole thing, but he seemed honest enough. She could always beat it out of him later. "Because she's pretty awesome."

Awesome like a supersmart femme-bot drill sergeant, Sokka thought, soooo grateful that Toph was not a telepath. "Well, um, she has good taste in dresses, right? I mean, not that I know anything about dresses. But still. It really does look nice."

See, that was the thing, just keep complimenting until the girl was happy with him again. Smooth, Sokka. Super smooth! Even if it was really weird thinking of Toph as a girl.

"Thanks," she said with a little shrug. "It's a little weird, but not bad."

"Kinda like the whole party," Sokka said, voice dripping with doubt, of a sudden.

"Yeah kinda." Toph made a face, but drifted a little closer to Sokka out of a strange sense of solidarity. "People like 'em though."

"People are weird," he said conspiratorially, taking a step towards her too and crossing his arms over his chest. Then he admitted, "Though it's either rubbing off on me or I'm just kind of inoculated now, because it seems less weird now than it did before."

"Plus you're as weird as the rest of us," Toph said with a wide grin. "So I guess you'd get used to it."

"I am not weird." Sokka stuck his tongue out the corner of his mouth at her. Then said, his smile evident in his voice, "Hey, by the way, I just stuck my tongue out at you. It was epic tongue-sticking."

"I know," she said, just a bit snippy. "I'm blind, not oblivious."

"Ha!" Sokka laughed out loud, smacking her (gently!) on the shoulder. "Good one!" See, he could have a sense of humor about it, too!