A/N: And another repost of a deleted fic to my drabble account. This is an AU, that just kind of... floats. Canonical events are implied to have happened, but I didn't really place it anywhere in the series. It was a scene I just couldn't get out of my head after getting a tattoo.
Pins and Needles
"You have an important client request," Ty Lee's boss says loudly. He is a bulky colony trash immigrant with barbed wire tattoos and a picturesque waterfall scene on his back that reveals he has an artistic side as well as a tough side. "Don't make any mistakes."
"I won't," she says pleasantly, sipping her coffee and sterilizing needles.
Tattoo artist is a few steps below circus freak to Ty Lee's parents. But it is her calling. Her latest calling, after art teacher, animal tamer and street performer did not work as well as she expected. She is twenty-six, and currently seeking a soul mate, while constantly tattooing soldiers who think they are tough but burst into tears once the needle hits their skin.
It feels like a butterfly-wasp sting. Several butterfly-wasp stings to be exact, but it is nothing compared to the ranges of pain Ty Lee has felt in her life. But she is empathetic and kind, flirting until the poor guy stops blubbering.
Her client arrives and she has to catch her coffee from nearly dropping it in shock. Hot tip: don't spill coffee on Princess Azula, who just walked into the tattoo parlor as if it is an ordinary occurrence. And, of course, she turns up when Ty Lee least needs her in her life.
"Ty Lee, that couldn't possibly be you," Azula says, walking directly past Ty Lee's boss and standing by Ty Lee's station. She is frozen before flashing a forced grin, eyes glittering. "You never fail to amaze me with your career choices."
"And you never fail to show up at my workplace," Ty Lee says and Azula's smirk flickers and fades. "Not that I have a problem with that, princess. Or anything. Of course." She is stammering by the end.
"I want to get a tattoo, and I don't want to die of infection. I trust that you won't kill me." Azula sits down uninvited. "Or are you going to betray me terribly and infect me with a disease?"
Her words come with much beneath the surface. But Ty Lee simply fills her mouth with coffee to avoid answering. She takes a few deep breaths to stop her hands from shaking.
"What do you want? Of a tattoo, I mean," Ty Lee asks, tapping her foot nervously.
"A blue dragon," Azula says, and dragon is an normal request. Blue, less so, given that most people evade wearing anything other than red or gold due to strict regulations on the populace. "Right here." She touches the space between her clavicle and breast. Of course.
"It's going to hurt," Ty Lee says, forgetting her script of lines and legal jargon.
"Well that wouldn't be anything new for us, would it?" Of course.
"This isn't going to end well for me, is it?" Ty Lee asks bluntly and Azula is startled. She never has protested to the surprise appearances of the crown princess; this is the first time. Clearly working with such peasant ruffians has given her an edge. It is... kind of attractive.
"I'm not sure yet." Azula smirks and Ty Lee suppresses a genuine smile.
"You tattooed yourself? You're crazy," Azula murmurs, lying in the courtyard and squinting at the sky. She breathes in the sun as Ty Lee just wrinkles her nose in attempts not to sneeze all over her girlfriend.
Azula touches the dragon on Ty Lee's ankle. In small characters beneath it reads, "The Girls of Ba Sing Se." Easily interpreted as a song lyric, obviously meaning more than that.
"I'm crazy to be doing this with you after your father explicitly said no," Ty Lee replies, making an astute observation instead of her boring airheaded small talk.
"We're both a little off." Azula smirks and runs her fingertip around the extended tongue of the ruby dragon. "So how did you do it?"
"With a needle." Pause. Ty Lee realizes Azula wants more of an answer. "I got a book about it and decided to try it. I'm currently searching for something to do with my life.
"So you just jammed a needle into your leg?" Azula snorts derisively.
"Pretty much."
"What was the book about?"
"Earth Kingdom warriors from before the One Hundred Year War. They used to get tattoos of animals, and they always drew the eyes last, so that the tattoos would come alive."
"That's a very romantic kind of thought. A living tattoo."
"Yeah."
"So, I guess, uh, take off your shirt," Ty Lee says, still too blunt. She was less barbaric when she lived in the circus. But Azula slips off her shirt and lies back.
"Don't do this with your hands shaking like that," Azula says and Ty Lee calms herself again.
Azula does not cry, flinch or express any pain. Nor does she make eye contact with Ty Lee over the nearly two hour process of the detailed dragon. It flies away from her heart, towards her shoulder, slipping away. It is just the right shade of blue, standing out harshly against the raw, red skin.
"You forgot the eyes," Azula says, staring in the mirror.
"The Earth Kingdom warriors always drew the eyes last; that way the tattoo would come alive," Ty Lee says softly and Azula's eyes flicker, remembering.
She draws on the eyes.
She colors them gold.
"Well this was interesting," is not what most people say after sitting still as ink was driven into their skin. "I suppose I'll see you at your next job."
"That's it?" Ty Lee does not know why she was expecting more.
"I paid in advance." Azula stands up, slipping her shirt back on. The dragon can still be seen, the shirt cut low and draped over her cleavage. "I think you may have found your calling."
"You're always welcome to call a little louder," Ty Lee murmurs, but Princess Azula is already gone.
[X]
"You got a tattoo?" Mai looks, well, unimpressed. Azula was hoping she would at least show some expression. "Are you sure your father is okay with that?"
"I'm sure that I'm over twenty years old and can do as I please," Azula replies sharply. Mai touches the skin, fingers brushing against it. It is the welcome touch of someone close to Azula, but she misses different fingers than Mai's. The fingers that were last holding a needle and drawing the dragon.
"I heard that these started with the warriors in the Earth Kingdom," Mai says flatly and Azula tenses slightly. She kisses Azula's neck gently. "Did the tattoo artist do the eyes last?"
Azula hesitates as she kisses her wife of three years back.
"Yes," Azula breathes.