Scene #5010:

Owner	Pose
Sokka	Sokka was lounging on the couch, his pad open in front of him as he perused it. Books and papers were strewn over the coffee table. Why? Well, he was doing a LOT of studying. He didn't just have paladins, he had the college classes and his training with lloyd, not to mention some of the other stuff he did with Staren. Frankly, the fact he was able to keep up with it at all was a miracle in and of itself. Still, he didn't seem to be dying and was keeping up rather well. Also, there was a big plate of ham in front of him. Which he occasionally just nibbled from. It was a slow cooked ham he'd made and, yes, there was more in the fridge. Sure, he'd cook their food and eat it. But he'd always leave them at least some. He wasn't an awful guest!
Toph Beifong	Perhaps it was naive of Toph to believe that there would be less reading when she decided to join the Paladins. How many times hadn't she bitched and moaned about the reading assignments that Jarvis had given her? Too many to count for most people. But at least those books had actual plot and a narrative to hold her interest. These though... are just books on /law/. And there are many laws out there in the multiverse. It's no wonder that Sokka is more eager than her to study, considering he actually enjoys reading. But still, Toph has opted for less whining since it doesn't seem like it will do her much good this time. After picking up her own book from her room Toph carries them out to the living room, then sighs and flops down next to Sokka, all while she reaches out to grab some of the ham. "Man, how many books /do/ you have?" she asks. And how many is he reading at a time anyway? Here she has problems with some of the introduction books on law, and here Sokka is doing everything all at once... College, Paladins, training... It's gotta be rough.
Sokka	Sokka glanced over and scooped her into his lap, hugging her close. "Well, for the paladins I have the paladin handbook, common law, most common earth laws, our world's laws, the laws from most traveled worlds we're likely to go to. But those are all on my tablet. Now, for school I have three books for one of my classes, basic computer hardware, basic programming, computer coding, beginner. I also thought taking a class in basic engineering might be fun, so I have basic engineering book for that. But I'm also taking some rudimentary math classes, to help me get a grasp on that so I'm learning algabra which does not, in fact, require an algae bra. And then--" A few books later and he was grinning. "It's all really fascinating, you know? Jarvis has actually been helping me by cross referencing and finding the common relationships between all the different laws. Once you figure that out, it's a lot easier to..." Lecture lecture lecture. His head resting on her shoulder, he sighed. "Sorry if I've been too involved in studies lately. I know I haven't held you in a while."
Toph Beifong	Oh well, might as well get comfy when Sokka begins listing all of his books. It's not like she wanted a description of each book, but eh, he sounds happy explaining all the books he's busy reading at the moment. So Toph begins putting on her reading glove as she leans back against Sokka's chest. "Isn't it hard to read it on a tablet though?" she asks, arching an eyebrow slightly. Personally she likes the ones she can listen to while bending, but not all of them have been published as an audio book yet. It sounds like Sokka has enough to read to say the least, and Toph swears her head is hurting just having to imagine all the stuff that Sokka is trying to get through. "Are you /sure/ your eyes won't just melt in your skull though? All that reading, ick...!" But she does understand why he's reading so much. "As long as you're not overworking yourself, I guess it's okay... and you don't have to hold me all the time, you know," she huffs. Not that she's complaining! Especially when he's doing things like this. "It's not like we have been split up into different regiments or something when we joined the Paladins, right?" They get to hang out everyday, after all! It's not like she wants to be held all the time either, especially not with people watching.
Sokka	Sokka shrugged. "Nah. I don't have to read every line, I just need to read the important things, you know? Brush over the stuff that doesn't matter, focus on the stuff that does. Get the general idea. I'm never going to be able to memorize every little tiny detail on these, but I can get enough to understand how everything works and from there, just go on." Then he leaned in and gave her a kiss on the lips. "Besides, I've still got to study you, my little Tophie, and figure out what things make you tick~ After all, if I'm going to be dating someone so special and amazing, I'll need to endeavor to be almost as special and amazing, won't I?" Gently his arms snaked around her, holding her to his chest. "And it's hard, sometimes. But that's why I've got to work extra hard, you know? This is what I can do and... I'm already really behind as it is. Most the people in this verse already KNOW this stuff. It's simple to them. So... I need to figure it out before I can get into the tougher stuff.
Toph Beifong	Memorising all of this... is it even possible? Some people know a lot of math and stuff, like how to solve everything they see. That must be surreal. And to use that stuff to build things... heh, that's advanced. For the most part she's more curious about the building process when it comes to what Tony builds anyway. "Yeah, just find the stuff that you can use, huh?" she agrees. As Sokka leans in and kisses her she is a bit distracted from fastening her reading glove. Though it's his comment that makes Toph blush slightly. "Study me? What is there to study? I'm a simple earthbender like that, you should know me well enough by now Meat Head!" Special and amazing? "Just... be yourself, okay?" Because that's who she fell in love with to begin with. Even as Sokka's arms wrap around her to hold her close, Toph does pick up her book and opens it up. "You're not behind if you ask me... I mean, with all these books... I wonder if I'm ever going to catch up. Seriously, how does the Paladins expect us to memorise all of these laws?" Perhaps it's not what they meant, but still... knowing the gist of all the laws for the areas they will be operating in isn't going to be easy either. A slight groan of frustration leaves Toph, and she leans her head against the side of Sokka's head as she begins reading. "Maybe we should make study groups for these things... sometimes the books explain things a bit difficult, you know?"
Sokka	Sokka shook his head. "Not at all~ After all, it wasn't just any ol' earth bender that fell in love with me, it was you. And you're the world's first metal bender, on top of it." His hands gently guided down to her stomach and he cupped it, pulling her in close to him. "So I need to study everything about you, too~" he teased. He then nodded. "Don't think of it like that. Just... here." He set the book down and took her hand. He then hummed, gripping about ten pages and then squaezing her fingers against it. "This whole section here? It's laws about building codes and such. There's only about three lines in all those pages we need. Otherwise, we'll have to look it up as we need it." Flip flip flip. Ten pages this time. "These pages? Don't steal from people, and all the different penalties and such needed for them. We're not the judges, just those who capture people. We just need to know theft is wrong and we capture them. These ten pages? Murder is bad. See? It's a lot more simple than it looks. It's mostly just finding out all the little things that we'll learn as we go."
Toph Beifong	"I mean," Toph continues, "I'm not that complicated. Just... if there's anything, just ask okay? I don't think you can really study a person as well as you can study information, you know...?" And she can't help but feel her cheeks turn warm as he speaks those words and holds her close like that. For now Toph had thought she would just skim over the building code sections, though the moment Sokka moves her hand the blind teenager looks confused. At least until Sokka explains his study methods a little better. Skim read it, which is easier when you can actually shee, she guesses. "So... you're saying we dont' need to memorise /everything/ in these books? Unless we want to become judges, you mean?" Ugh, that sounds boring. "We aren't doing this just to capture people though, right? I mean, aren't there lots of loopholes and such in the law?"
Sokka	Sokka grinned and then gave her neck a little nibble. "Oh? I beg to differ~ Why, you can spend days studying a beautiful young lady such as yourself. For example, finding out what your favorite meals are, how you like them prepared, your favorite flowers and..." He paused. "Oh, hey, you found the necklace! I thought I was going to have to buy you a new one, cool." He nodded. "There are. But there's no way we could possibly memorize every little detail. Whenever we go to a new world, we'll get a packet of the most basic laws that we need to know. The important stuff. But most laws don't really need to be memorized. Especially considering the task force we're in. We're not inspectors, so inspection laws don't matter to us a lot. And a lot of things we can look at."
Toph Beifong	A surprised 'eep' leaves Toph as she nearly jumps where she sits, squirming a bit. "S-Sokka!" Okay, that is not fair! "And I told you, you can just ask me! I like spare ribs, sushi, dumplings... and I don't really care about flowers, you know that!" Their scent might be nice, but eh, might as well get something else that smells nice and is easier to care for, right? The fact that he notices the necklace she's wearing makes the blind girl blink, then nod. "Yeah, I had misplaced it," she says, reaching her right hand up to touch it. Just a little white lie... "You mean /you/ can look at them," Toph teases a bit. But he's right, isn't he? With how many worlds, how many laws there are... it wouldn't be easy to memorise all of them. "So... do you think we'll get different jobs when we're done with training? Like... inspectors, police cops and so on? I mean, just as long as I don't get an office job I guess I'll be happy..."
Sokka	Sokka nodded, reaching up and stroking it. "Good. I think it looks cute on you. I could always just buy you a new one if you'd lost it." Then paused. "Wait, it's made of metal, right? How did you lose it? Could it be the great Toph's metal bending isn't omnipotent?" he joked, before kissing her once more. "And yeah, I guess. But it's funner to study and find out what you like best, silly~" "You can voice record them. Maybe get an AI program to carry around and quickly look them up for you. And probably. Stadler said we're low on numbers, so he'll probably have us working all kinds of jobs. And I do make a FINE detective," he said with a smirk. Watch her get desk work...
Toph Beifong	It looks cute on her? That statement makes Toph blush just slightly. And oh... right, that explanation made no sense. "It was close with other metal, I guess," Toph excuses herself with a casual shrug before Sokka kisses her again. "You... just wanna figure things out yourself, don't you...?" It would make sense to have Jarvis help her out a bit with some of the laws. Or maybe she could get a VI program to help her with the laws and where to find them. "Kinda like the Union... how we all had to be ready to face all sorts of missions... I just hope I can do some fun ones, like fighting, dealing with dangerous stuff... I mean, I /am/ a metalbender. Perhaps it's something the lily livers could work with too..." she muses, her gloved hand still resting on the book as it's sliiiightly forgotten.
Sokka	Sokka nodded and then grinned. "Of course. After all, you're worth studying and learning all about, right? And it means more if I find out on my own, rather than just asking~ Besides, this way I can find out things about you even you don't know." "Exactly, just like that. I'm sure you'll get fighty missions. But you'll just need to be more careful and keep a good view on what laws to follow and what ones not to follow, you know?" he said before stroking down to her arm and grabbing her book. "Now, come on. Let's study together, okay? If you have any questions, I'll help you. Always." Just another soft, delicate kiss to her neck before he started reading. Softly. Into her ear. "See? This one's not so hard. There's a lot of procedures, but most of them take place after our job. During containment. The important stuff is here, the stuff we need to know off the top of our head. Got it?"
Toph Beifong	Now those words make her heart skip a beat. And she does nod her head a bit. Yet... "Good luck finding out stuff about me that /I/ don't know, heh," she mutters with amusement. Okay, back to the book. It /is/ more fun studying with Sokka, but it is easy to get distracted too. "I don't really think we get a choice regarding which laws to follow or not," she comments wryly. But yes, let's study. Even if Sokka does distract her a bit again with that kiss that sends shudders down her spine. "Oh yeah, procedures..." Probably not their job, she muses as she turns her head and snuggles up against Sokka's chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. "Apprehension and Containment law," she reads out as she runs her fingers across the page.
Sokka	Sokka grins and leans in, whispering in her ear. "Challenge accepted~ What do I get when I inevitably find out something cute and adorable about my little tophie? Do I get a... Trophy?" he asked with a grin. "Now, we need to learn a little bit about everything. Adaptablity will be our forte. And while we can't choose the laws we follow, we can make sure that we know the laws we need to know. For example, if it's illegal to break property during a chase, that'd be an important law to memorize. While a law that requires us to process a criminal a certain way would be something we could look up after they have them captured, you know? Once you understand the difference between which laws need to be memorized, and which ones can be delayed, the easier the job is to learn. Got it?" He did take her ungloved hand in his, gently swirling his thumb along the top of her hand in a tight little circle.
Toph Beifong	The whisper in her ear... now that makes Toph tense up slightly for a moment... only to snort when he comes with a pun that would make most people want to /groan/. "How long did you want to come with /that/ pun?" she asks, cheeks slightly flushed. Sure, Sokka can talk and talk about law, never finding it boring. Though even he explains what their focus should be, the blind girl can't help but let out a yawn where she sits. She does give a nod at the end though, blinking her eyes a bit as she leans her face against Sokka's neck. "Yeah, I got it," she mumbles sleepily, her own hand shifting to entertwine her fingers with his. "I wish they didn't write it so boring though..."
Sokka	Sokka chuckled. "Been holding it in alllll day. Been waiting to use it." And then he pulled a blanket over and wrapped it around her. "Here. See, this is why we're a team. You learn what you can and be the kick butt metal bender. I'll work with you, learn all the little law things, then make sure we don't break any laws, okay? Like a good team." He moved her so he was holding her close. "But, for now, I think I'm getting tired. How about we take a little nap, okay?" He lied. He wasn't tired. But... she was. And so he'd just study around her while she got some sleep. If he wanted any chance of keeping up,that meant studying. Lots and lots of studying. But... at least that was something he could do.