A/N: I haven't written Avatar in such a long time that it should be warned that I don't know how in-character these guys will be. Did my best, will probably get better as this competition goes on and I remember how I write the whole herd of 'em. In the meantime, enjoy a slightly AU, post-canon, probably doesn't have much of a plotline, story! Written for Round 1 of the Pro-Bender Circuit, Season 5.
Task: Write about the persons being reunited, or alternatively, regretting not being reunited (eg. someone passed away, someone's married now, etc). They can be happy, sad, hopeful, anything!
Prompt: AU: Everyone's an animal
Word Count: 1,470
Animals Everyone Is (with brief descriptions - I tried to pick them best for each character's personality):
Zuko: Cat Owl - head of a cat, wings and tail of an owl. Body of a cat, covered in fur.
Aang: Penguin - four flippered friend, very tall.
Sokka: Buffalo Deer - reindeer like creature, very tall, pure white color coat, grooved horns that go backwards along the head, shaggy hair.
Brief Summary: The boys (™ ?) get back together after a long separation for the ATLA world's version of a bachelor party for Aang.
With a loud sigh, Zuko flew to the dusty rafters of the large building as he waited for the others to arrive. It was only to be figured that they would be late. Leave it to Aang to decide last minute that he wanted to explore another market for food. Or maybe it was Sokka's fault: Zuko enjoyed blaming it on the biggest one of them all for being slightly slower than the rest.
He wasn't the one who was supposed to be anxious, so the time shouldn't matter to him anyways, right? This was just your ordinary, old, get-together. Only, it wasn't. It was a celebration for Aang - although there were only three of them coming which gave it a greater sense of camaraderie.
Right as Zuko started wondering what sort of things one did to celebrate another's day of happiness, a certain person waddled into the room, followed by the sounds of hooves and a large white head thrusting through the doorway. Zuko didn't miss a beat in flying down to greet them.
"Zuko!" Aang let out a happy call, and started approaching the other before he backed off, remembering the no-touching rule they'd had in place for a while. It wasn't going to be changed right yet.
"Hey there, Zuko." Sokka said, moving into the building with careful footing.
The Firelord hadn't seen the two of them since two winters ago, but nothing appeared to have changed about either's appearance. Sokka seemed a little shaggier as if he were working off his winter coat on a daily basis - which was certainly the case - and Aang had more of an air of pride about him that probably came with the concept of marriage. Other than that, there were no evident changes to the two.
"I thought neither of you were going to make it here." Zuko said, smirking a little. He knew their weaknesses.
"Well, we had to stop somewhere - oh. I should've figured you already knew that." Sokka started, and promptly stopped.
"You're easy to read, and I didn't think your habits had died off just yet." He lifted a wing in a lazy attempt at a shrug. "So, what did you have planned?"
"I thought we could come back here after we go out to the square or something."
Aang usually had plans, and this was Ba Sing Se, after all. There were tons of options when it came to eating or going out.
The Cat Owl nodded to show his agreement. "Then go out it is."
"Great! Hop on up, buddy," Sokka bent down so Aang could climb aboard his back. It enabled them to move faster, without Aang constantly waddling beside him. Even if the Penguin could Airbend all the way down the street faster than anyone cared for, the crowded streets of the Earth City were not the place to have wind blowing down stands and people.
Zuko took flight as Sokka started moving out of the door, and followed them out into the sunny streets. For a place that had such a high reputation of being so busy, it was quiet for an afternoon in Ba Sing Se.
Some time ago, Aang and Katara had decided their wedding would be held at the Southern Water Tribe. The city of Ba Sing Se was serving as Aang's party place for now, seeing as how Katara didn't want him around at the tribe until she was ready for the wedding, which took place tomorrow. Zuko couldn't quite believe they'd made it this far in the first place - he considered himself lucky to have friends who were letting him into their lives this much that he could be counted on to be a part of their plans.
As they moved, Aang was chattering endlessly about where he wanted to go. The others they passed only nodded in greeting. It was a rather strange group: the Avatar, the Firelord, and a member of the Southern Water Tribe; but around these parts, most people knew of their existence and there were no reactions that were noteworthy. For once they walked down a street without having anyone take much notice of their existence.
"I was thinking maybe it would be better to leave it all to tomorrow - oh look!" Aang stopped suddenly, spotting what Zuko had already seen, "Sure is nice to see kids practicing Earthbending these days."
They were passing the large grounds kept for Earthbenders primarily, and it appeared Toph had allowed her kids to go ahead and practice without her. The Fox Antelope was off with Katara, of course, all the way in the Fire Nation where Katara had determined was a good place to have her own little celebrations. They would be returning to the Southern Water Tribe that night, unlike Aang who was stuck here for the night and early morning hours
Zuko tore his mind from those thoughts as they passed by, watching a Panther kick up a large amount of dust as they succeeded in forming a large dirt wall. It was destroyed and then put back up again: these actions were constantly repeated. Toph was known for her constant reminder of repetition to her students.
"Ah, here we are. My favorite city square." Aang gave a sigh as he looked around at the buildings from his seated position on Sokka's back. "Alright, I say we try… that place!"
He pointed with all four flippers at one building in particular. It was a decent restaurant, that was something Zuko knew from past experiences. They marched up to the doors, and Aang hopped off of Sokka's back. Zuko remained in the air, not feeling like landing until they were at a table.
"Come right over here, we've got a table for three over here," the Cat Gator host said. They followed her to the table she had mentioned.
As soon as all was set, with everyone in a good seated position, and things ordered, they sat in a brief silence. Zuko had settled onto the stool offered to him.
"So, how's the Fire Nation doing?" Aang asked inquisitively.
"Quite well. Very few riots, and the crime rate seems to be going down significantly. I haven't needed to request any help from my soldiers for quite a while,' he replied.
"That's good." Aang grinned. "Well, I can report that the students have been managing themselves decently. Such a messy bunch; Katara says that's why I tolerate them, but I'm not sure how much more toleration I've got left in me."
"Haven't they managed most things?" Sokka looked up at him. "Can't you just say, oh you're done now, have a good rest of your life?"
"You've never worked with Bender students before, Sokka." The other chuckled.
The rest of the evening passed rather calmly. They made small talk, not really mentioning anything about why they were actually here. There was no need to. Somehow, that was rather comforting.
As soon as they wandered out of the restaurant, Aang proclaimed they needed to see the stars a bit before they tried to go back to the reserved building. A roof of some unowned home served as their star gazing spot for the night. Zuko lay down along his stomach, staring up at the sky as the other two arranged themselves accordingly.
"I always wondered what would happen if I actually were to be married." Aang murmured.
"It's certainly a tough road." Zuko, in turn, supplied his thoughts on the topic.
Marriage wasn't something he had ever focused on at all. It seemed Aang was made more for the material of a married life than any of them, since Sokka wasn't making any moves either, despite having Suki at his side constantly. But to Zuko, marriage was yet another thing he didn't want to risk. After learning how his father's marriage had gone, he had determined that the path of marriage was only one he would risk if it came to be that the person he married was worthy of his attention.
Since no one seemed to be so, Zuko had decided he could go without marriage his whole life, and pass the legacy onto some distant relative.
"What about you, Zuko?" apparently, Sokka and Aang had gone on talking while he had faded into his own mind. With a shake, he twisted his head to look at them.
"If you're referring to marriage, I think I'll wait a little longer. Business needs to be first for now."
"Well be a buzzkill, then," Sokka snickered, "I wouldn't wait your whole life for some lucky woman."
Zuko wasn't about to tell them what his real thoughts were. It was better that some things were kept to himself - besides, things were going so well right now for Aang and Katara. Ruining the mood was a horrible idea.