The group and I made the decision to take a brief break on our way to Omashu. We came across a small body of water on a nearby cliff.
Everyone stripped out of their clothing and jumped into the water.
While Katara and Aang are facing each other while practicing waterbending. Sokka chose to lie on a floating leaf that was nearby while he was floating above the water with Momo sleeping on his stomach.
Along with my friends, I stripped out of my clothing and changed into my swimwear. I felt a little self-conscious about my body. Yes, I wear revealing clothing when I'm not wearing my warriors gear, but only to my stomach.
"Where's Venus?" Sokka inquires of the avatar and his sister, who were practicing waterbending a few meters away.
Before the benders could reply to Sokka. I emerged from behind a rock. My hands folded around my chest awkwardly as my legs walked into the lake.
As I made my way over to Sokka, the water surrounded my entire body, leaving only my head and shoulders. "Hey,"
Sokka had his hair down and wet, covering his face as he removed his hair away from his eyes. "Where have you been?"
"Sorry," I murmur. "I was just in my head like usual."
I had a good view of Sokka as he sat up from the leaf. I tried my best to avoid looking below his belly button as my eyes scanned his entire body.
I assume Sokka saw my wondering eyes scanning his chest, he let out a cough. "Uhh, you...look cute,"
As I looked down at my light green two-piece bathing suit, which showed off some of my cleavage, but not too much because my breasts were not that developed. I spread my hands a little.
My bottom wear had a knotted sash around it, covering the back of my ass, but showing the front through a slit, and my hair was still in the fishtail braid that Katara had braided for me.
"You think so?"
Sokka eagerly nodded his head, he then grabbed my arm as he pulled me into him as I fell onto his chest on top of his leaf.
My back side was basically on top of him. "This leaf is kind of small, don't you think?"
Sokka hummed, "then I guess you can lean a little more towards me."
For some reason, I listened to him; leaning my body more into him as we fit on the leaf as one.
My back was pressed against his swimsuit base. Thank spirit, I had my sash around my back because pressing my rear near him would have been awkward, so I decided to switch positions.
"Venus, what are you doing?" Sokka lightly shouts. "Stop moving around, we're gonna fall off this leaf!"
"Sorry," I murmur, now facing my head towards Sokka, and my body away from him. "I just wanted to look at you."
Red began to spread over Sokka's cheeks. "Oh,"
As I looked around Sokka's neck, my closed-mouth smile slightly twitched. "Hey, what's this?" I ask by stroking his choker with my pointer finger and running it along Sokka's neck.
"Oh, this old thing? It's my dad's bracelet."
I raise an eyebrow at the boy. "So why is it around your neck?"
"My father gave it to me before leaving to fight in the war, but it was too big to fit around my wrist at the time or even now, so I just decided to wear it as a choker."
I couldn't help but lovingly stare into Sokka's eyes the whole time he was talking, not breaking eye contact once. "That's so smart,"
"It's nothing," he shrugged.
"You're very intelligent, Sokka." It was true that he was smart; he was always the one asking questions, coming up with ideas, and finding solutions to problems. He was also pretty stupid, but I like that about him. He alternates between being extremely serious and extremely silly, and I liked both sides.
Sokka's hand reached over my shoulder and behind my back, smushing us even closer together, in a hug. "I think you're extremely smart too, V."
I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to contain the enjoyment I felt. What is going on with me?
"Hey, lovebirds!" Katara shouts from behind.
Sokka and I snapped out of our moment. I flinched and ended up rolling off the leaf and into the water.
As he watched my head emerge from the water, Sokka gasped, holding onto the leaf's ledge. "You okay?"
I spit out a pool of water that had gotten into my mouth.
"Look what you did, Katara!" Sokka shouts at his sister. "When are you guys going to be done? We've got a lot of ground to cover if we want to make it to Omashu today."
Katara rises from her hunched-over position; turning to face Sokka. "What? Like you're ready to go right now, naked guy or should I say lover boy?" She smiles at him smugly.
Sokka leans his body back on the leaf. "I could be ready in two minutes. Seriously," he looks at his sister as he pulls back the hair covering his eyes. "Whenever."
Katara turns her attention back to Aang as they continue their practice.
I rest only my arms on Sokka's leaf as I looked up at him.
Sokka immediately smiles, "you look like a sea mermaid,"
I do my signature scolding look, scrunching my nose up. "Sorry to break it to you Sokka, but sea mermaids are not real. They're a myth."
A scuff is heard from the water trivet. "Really, Venus? I've seen one with my own eyes,"
I remove my arms from the leaf, crossing it over my chest. "When?"
"In-uh...back home," he stutters. "Back in the south."
"Why would a sea maid be in the South Pole? That water is freezing, she surely would freeze to death."
Before Sokka could reply, he intensely stared at my features.
"What's wrong?" I ask blushing from his deep stare. "Is there snot dripping down my nose?"
"No," he leaned in, our faces growing closer together. Sokka hummed. "Your nose cuff is gone."
"Huh?" My thumb and pointer finger go in between my nasal septum, not feeling my septum piercing.
"You must have lost it when you fell hard into the water,"
"Yeah," I sigh a little disappointed. I've always liked my septum piercing. I've had it for a few years now, some of the Kyoshi warrior girls and I got them done around town.
Sokka noticed my sad expression. "Oh no, V. Don't be sad, I'll look for it for you,"
I waved my hand dismissing him politely, "it's all right, Sokka. The ring is too small to find in all this body of water."
Sokka furrowed his eyebrow but his eyes softened. "I'll get you a new one when we get to Omashu, okay?"
I tried my best to hide my smile, but failed miserably, causing Sokka to lightly chuckle. "Okay."
Suddenly, music can be heard in the distance. Sokka and I witnesses a strange group of people playing music on instruments and singing as they approached us.
"Da, da, da. Don't fall in love with the traveling girl. She'll leave you broke and brokenhearted,"
With a loud shriek, Sokka unexpectedly falls off his leaf, crashing into me in the water as the leaf covers our heads.
Sokka and I emerge our heads from under water, I slightly push him away from me.
I notice Aang and Katara speaking with the strange group.
"Hey, River people!" The man said, him and his group were dressed very...how do you say it, hiply? I liked their style though.
"We're not River people," Katara answers.
The man looks puzzled. "You're not? Well then what kind of people are you?"
"Just..." Aang gestures his arms out. "People."
"Aren't we all, brother?"
Sokka angrily grips my wrist and pulls us over, closer to the group.
We stop in front of them. "Who are you?" Sokka asks accusingly.
The man points to himself. "I'm Chong and this is my wife, Lily. And our friend, Moku. We're nomads, happy to go wherever the wind takes us!" He suddenly strums his lute-like instrument in a crazy fashion much like a rock star strums crazily on their guitar.
Aang starts out with a somewhat puzzled tone, but changes it to an excited one. "You guys are nomads? That's great! I'm a nomad!"
Chong seems just as excited. "Hey, me too!"
I observed the group, okay this man definitely had to be high on some leaf rolls. I tried my best to not think about it. I blankly stare at the man. "We know. You just said that."
"Oh," Chong seems to notice Sokka who was standing beside me, our hands still intertwined. "Nice underwear..."
Sokka's eyes bulge at the sudden realization that he is wearing very little in front of complete strangers. He grabs Momo and places him strategically over his underwear and slides rapidly away.
I let out a light giggle until Chong was weirdly looking at me. I actually felt very uncomfortable from his gaze.
Sokka appeared from behind the rock. "Hey, don't look at her like that," he stormed over to me as he gripped my hand, pulling me away from the scene.
Once we were far from view, Sokka immediately cupped his palm on both my cheeks, as he examined my features. "Are you okay?"
I felt like kicking myself. Sokka was making me so shy.
"Y-yeah," I truthfully answer. "He probably didn't mean any harm in his gaze, he seems a bit zooted to me. I'm just being sensitive,"
"Don't hold your feeling in Venus."
Is he referring to my past or is he talking about us?
"W-what, do you mean?"
I could see Sokka's eyes wonder to my lips. He shook his head, removing his hands away from me. "Uh...nothing, sorry."
✼ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ✼
Sokka and I changed back to our regular clothing and began to look for Aang and Katara back at the waterfall, but they had disappeared.
We decided to look near the area, were we had left Appa. As we approached closer, we saw Katara and Aang along with the band of nomads lounging nearby Appa, whose fur is braided. Chong is casually strumming his lute. They all were teased on Appa's body.
Aang is wearing a wreath of pink flowers on his head. "Hey, Sokka, hey, Venus, you should hear some of these stories. These guys have been everywhere!"
Chong stops playing. "Well not everywhere, Little Arrowhead. But where we haven't been, we've heard about through stories and songs."
Sokka's eye raised to the top of his forehead as we listened to the two talk.
"They said they'll take us to see a giant night crawler!" Aang continued.
Moku is lying on the ground; as he speaks in a dreamy voice. "On the way, there's a waterfall that creates a never-ending rainbow!"
"Look, I hate to be the wet blanket here, but since Katara is busy, I guess it's up to me."
I look over to Katara who is peacefully getting her hair done by Lily. I dash over to them, sitting by them and admiring the flowers in Katara's hair.
Lily smiles as she looks at me like a child. "You're so beautiful, would you like your hair done as well?"
I grab the back of my hair as I swung the fishtail Katara had braided for me a few days ago. "It's okay."
Lily nodded her head.
"We need to get to Omashu." I hear Sokka's voice from the distance. "No sidetracks, no worms and definitely no rainbows."
"Wow, sounds like someone has a case of destination fever. You're worried too much about where you're going." Chong lightly chuckled. "Ha ha."
"You got to focus less on the where and more on the going." Lily makes gestures with her hand, accidentally tugging on Katara's braid. I giggle.
I turning my attention back on Sokka, who looks impatient. "Oh...Ma...Shu!" He sounds out.
"Sokka's right. We need to find King Bumi, so Aang can learn earthbending somewhere safe." Katara says.
"Sounds like you're headed to Omashu."
Sokka smacks his forehead in frustration.
"Who wants a permanent body ink tattoo?" Chong asks out of nowhere, he begins digging into his bag, looking for something.
My hand suddenly rose up as I made my way over to Chong and sat on the ground in front of him. "I do,"
"I knew there was something I liked about you, little lady."
I smiled, okay now I feel bad for being a bit dramatic earlier about him. Chong seemed like a free spirited dude.
"Are you serious, Venus?!" Sokka shouts at me. But-"
I quickly shush him. "Be quiet and come hold my hand, I hear tattoos are quite painful and sting a lot."
Sokka's mouth drops as his body dangled to the ground.
"Uh...your boyfriend is a strange, little man," Chong whispers to me.
I didn't even dare to correct him. "Yeah, he is."
"Stop being a whimp and hold your ladies hand," Chong calmly shouts at Sokka. "Or Moku will."
Sokka immediately crawls over to me as he takes my hand in his.
"What type of symbol do you want and where on your body?"
I faced Sokka, asking for his opinion. "What do you think I should get?"
The water tribe boy, silently gazed at me before speaking. "You should get a flower. You remind me of one. You're beautiful and sweet to look at, yet sensitive and delicate at the same time. Also, you smell great; I think you should get a flower."
My eyes were about to burst in tears. The way Sokka had just described me. I think I'm in love.
"You've got a keeper," Chong loudly whispers.
I lightly squeezed my hand in Sokka's palm. "Yeah, I do."
"So, where are you getting this flower?"
My head tilted down my body and stopped near my collarbone. I've always been a person who loved collarbones, but did I really want a tattoo on it? I hummed, "Mhm, my left shoulder."
"Great," Chong chirped, he took out a feathered ink and began to draw an outline of a long flower.
While Chong was drawing my flower he began to tell us a mystical story about a secret pass right through the mountains to lead us to Omashu quickly. While he was drawing my flower he managed to also be playing his lute and sing.
"Two lovers, forbidden from one another, the war divides their people and the mountain divides them apart! Built a path to be together!" He stops playing. "Yeah, I forget the next couple of lines, but then it goes... he resumes singing. "Secret tunnel! Secret tunnel! Through the mountains, secret, secret, secret, secret tunnel! Yeah!"
Sokka angirly crushes my hand as he yells at Chong. "Just finish the drawing!"
Chong puts his lute down. "Lady, your boyfriend has some serious anger issues."
I turn my head to Sokka, who was furious. Yeah, he did, but that's what I liked about him.
Chong was done with the outline. I moved my head downward to view the flower, "This is pretty."
"Yeah," Sokka rubs the back of his neck with his available hand. "It's...pretty."
"Now here comes the hard part," Chong said pulling out a large needle.
My eyes widened as I soon began to regret my decision. "Actually-"
"Shut up, little lady." I closed my eyes tightly from Chong yelling at him, he never raised his voice.
Chong let out an exhale as he dug into his bag. "Here's a pillow to muffle your screams,"
My lips quivered as I took the pillow from him, I turned to Sokka who looked like he was about to faint from the size of the needle. "Uh..V, m-maybe you should back down."
I was seriously considering it.
"Hey!" Chong shouts, "you only live once."
He was right. Aang is a child for crying out loud and he has arrows tattooed all over his body. Maybe those were applied differently, but still.
"You don't have to do this!" Katara says from afar. "Don't let him peer pressure you."
"It's all good, Katara. I want it." I close my eyes, breathing in my nose and exhaling out my mouth. "Stick it in me."
Chong began dipping the thread of the needle in soot or seal oil, before the needle could press into my skin, I could feel Sokka's grip in my hand, slowly loosen.
I turned to the water tribe boy to see that he had already fainted beside me. I worriedly observed him.
"Ppft," Chong scuffs. "Some boyfriend you have."
"Just get it over with," I reply with a roll of an eye.
The needle goes through my skin, poking at it.
I tightly gripped Sokka's hand, feeling the needle go in and out of my shoulder.
I guess my hand squeezing had woken Sokka up because he quickly rose up. "Oh hey, V- Ahhh!" He screamed as he watched the needle pass through skin.
Tears watered in my eyes, I closed them, but they prickled down my cheeks.
Sokka saw my visible tears and tried to wrap his arm around me, but Chong stopped him. "Don't move her! Are you crazy?! She's getting a needle through her on her shoulder and you want to hug her, right now? HOLD HER HAND!"
Through my watery eyes, I lightly chuckled at Chong scolding Sokka.
Aang, Katara, Lily, Moku and even Appa and Momo watched from afar.
After the longest hours of me crying, groaning, and screaming into a pillow, the tattoo was finally done.
Chong took a soaked cloth full of water and wiped the area of the tattoo, revealing the darkening of the drawn out flower. "What do you think?"