A soft rain pitter-pattered the ground decorating it in mud and slush. The gentle rain was quickly growing into a downpour as Azula followed the forest trail. A gentle steam rose from the ground as cool rain mixed with the hot Fire Nation ground. The princess hadn't a fondness for the rain and was hoping to come upon some form of shelter. Odds were she'd find herself burrowed up in a place shrouded by lore, this forest was thick with it. Talk of the town about feral spirits and half-man, half-beasts. In such a dismal forest she couldn't bring herself to be surprised in the slightest, the dark aura of the place was surly a breeding ground for tall-tales. The presence of tiny, moss-kissed, stone hokora—one or two every five feet or so—seemed to feed in to the bleakly spiritual atmosphere. If Azula let her eyes linger in any one place for too long she would find herself seeing tiny orbs. Tiny spherical bodies that glided by, things she tried to tell herself was just a trick of rain and reflection. The droplets were clinging thick to her lashes now and soaking her to her core. At any other time she would have bypassed the temple-shrine ruins, but the roaring storm lulled her towards it.
The somberness in the atmosphere swelled, warning her away with almost as much force as the storm willed her to it. The main honden was decaying and found itself a host to creeping vines and unchecked branches that dangled from its many jutting bamboo tiers or splattered themselves upon the shrine's once elegant walls. Seeing the edges of some type of bas-relief, Azula pushed some of the ivy aside. Most of the relief protruding from the wood told the story of slain wolves and half-wolves. While other portions of it showed beautiful women and men peeking through parts in carved bamboo. Perched on every corner of the lowest tiers were a collection of masked bamboo dragon gargoyles. The topmost gargoyles seemed to be miniature stooped squatting men and women with clawed toes and bat wings. Each and everyone of them had hideous snarls and a froth of fungus weeping from their eyes and mouths. Azula shuddered. Someone had taken a knife to the wood above the main entrance, runes and calligraphy to ward off evil. Based on the air of the place, Azula was willing to bet that it didn't work.
The yard itself was a complex of sessha grotesquely elaborate and dreary as the honden itself. Tiny trinkets and banners clicked and fluttered in the stormy gusts. Much of their offerings were either rotting or overturned. The surrounding tamagaki was in just as terrible disrepair. Whatever kami had been worshiped before, it took no praise now.
Wooden windchimes knocked against one another, the only sound aside from the beating rain. She walked up a deep jagati porch as the rain fell thicker. Her hair was clinging to her skin by the time she entered the haiden. She could hear the rhythmic pounding on the roof and knew the rain would be letting up any time soon.
The other woman sat in the corner with an expression that didn't seem to match the otherwise gloomy feel of the place. Azula felt as though the cheerful demeanor of the other woman is exactly how she'd come to notice her at all. The woman smiled a close-mouthed smile and held up her hand in a small wave. The woman must have been walking too and had the luxury of getting to shelter before she had. Taking the wave as a welcoming gesture, Azula stepped forward and took a seat beside the woman.
"Why are you here?" The woman asked.
Azula quirked an eyebrow and jabbed her pointer in the direction of the door. "Look at it out there."
"I like storms." The other noted.
Azula agreed, at least when there was more lightning and less rain. A storm like the one raging outside… she thought no one ought to be out there. The relentless torrent of water didn't let up for the rest of the night, nor the next day, nor even the day after that. Azula was coming to know TyLee quite well. Or maybe it was the other way around, TyLee was getting to know her quite well. She still didn't know all that much about TyLee aside from her name and that she had a liking for storms and little trinkets.
The nights were growing particularly cold and the rain only let up for half-hours at most, which wasn't ample enough time for Azula to make it home before the next pelting of rain. She figured it would be a tricky feat to navigate a flooded, mud soaked mountain path. So with TyLee she remained. She found that the longer she stayed with the woman, the more she both liked and coveted her. TyLee had a very generous figure, the kind she wanted to have. The woman had a nice face too, soft and gentle, and (Azula had to admit) a sharp contrast to her very sultry body. It was odd and alluring all at once. She decided that it was better not to look at her companion through such lenses in such a short amount of time. She tried to justify it with herself, it was only natural after all to make observations on a person's appearance. She tried to convince herself by making inward commentary on TyLee's outfit. The delicate pink hues of the kimono suited the woman's face perfectly. Though Azula herself would never wear anything embroidered with firelilies nor that color. But she liked it on TyLee. This method of distraction worked decently well until she noted 'critically' that the kimono was too small, especially in the chest area. The woman tugged at the kimono, gracing Azula with a momentary view as she adjusted the fabric. Faintly Azula could feel herself blushing, she averted her eyes and turned the other way before the woman could take notice.
She would find out later that the woman very much had already.
On the sixth night when she found herself huddled up and shivering, the woman-who seemed unphased by the chill-coaxed her to come closer. In that moment Azula craved the woman's body heat. She craved more than that and was happy for the invitation to familiarize herself with TyLee in a closer proximity. The woman trailed her fingers daintily through Azula's hair, cooing softly in her ear. The feeling of fingers running through her locks drew her attention away from something that would have otherwise struck her as odd; the body heat she had gone to the woman for, was not there. As soon as a fainter sort of awareness had a chance to set in, TyLee sapped it away by slipping her hand under Azula's shirt and brushing icy fingers over her back. Azula allowed those fingers to roam. She let them roam until both hands were on her hips and a tongue trailed down from her neck to her collar bone. Azula shuddered.
TyLee gave a coy smile, just one more thing that slid under Azula's radar. Her lips found Azula's and she held them there, sucking softly until Azula finally pulled back with a soft gasp. "You've never done this before." TyLee noted, her speech slow and lower than Azula thought it would be.
Azula flushed at both her own inexperience and the brazen way TyLee had called attention to it.
"Cute." TyLee murmured, pushing at Azula's tunic. She could take a hint and cast it aside. The way the woman rolled her eyes had her speculating if that was the right move. Perhaps the woman wanted to remove it herself. No less, things progressed and Azula had the woman's kimono unbound and falling in a heap around TyLee's wrists. The girl nibbled on her neck and bared her own, inviting Azula to give it a try. Instead, she brushed her lips over the tip of TyLee's nose and her hand over the woman's chest. She had more interest there than anywhere else.
TyLee stroked Azula's cheek before pressing her to the floor. Azula had only enough time to wonder if it was right to be doing this in a sacred temple-whether it was in ruins or not. Azula let out a sharp cry as TyLee took things a step further.
.oOo.
Azula stood before the mirror, with two fingers pressed to her neck. The rain had slowed to a drizzle, it was the only sound. It only added to the emptiness of the temple, TyLee was gone. Gone as though she hadn't ever been there in the first place. How could she have let her guard down so far. How could she have completely forgotten and disregarded the ominous presence she had felt initially upon setting foot in this acursed place? The town had been abuzz with vampiric tales. But they were lore, all of them were just tall-tales spoken by the unsound of mind or those who had nothing better to do. She knew so, she had ridiculed them.
Perhaps she ought to ridicule herself for doing so. Perhaps she ought to chastise herself aquiaring herself a story of her own to bring into town. Azula wondered if the hokora had done anything at all to ward off the evil that dwelled within the place.
She pulled her fingers away to reveal two perfect puncture marks, still faintly pink around the edges.