Another drabble. About Mai this time. Prompt was "This was what I thought".


Why was it that dreams were always more exciting than real life?

During the waking hours, the world seemed to be dreary. Time would drag on relentlessly, sometimes threatening to stop completely. Life and time were boring, she couldn't bring herself to care. How could she when life wasn't appealing?

"If you ever tried, Mai, life wouldn't be boring."

Mai's mother had said the phrase over and over again when she was young. The words, spoken with with cautionary scorn, went without notice. Her mother had said them so many times that the words became meaningless, if they had any meaning to begin with. Somehow Mai felt that they never had meaning, they were far too boring.

Her skill with knives came out of life's eternal boredom. Throwing stolen kitchen knives against a target in her bedroom was her way of relieving some of the boredom that plagued her life. At first she had mostly missed but had gradually grown better over time.

She would simply pick up a knife and throw it at the target. It wasn't exactly exciting but it passed the hours. It was much more fun when the target breathed in and out until the knife hit it. Most of the time in those early days it was the rodents in the kitchen that was the victims. Then birds, snakes...any animal her blades could catch, really.

Did it bother her? No, not at all. Mai did those poor animals a favor, in her own twisted way. When she was older and helping Azula, it was basically the same. Except the targets were larger, more dangerous...more exciting.

Mai was supposed to be the sentry the night the Avatar's group attacked. As usual, she had found the duty boring...Perhaps that was the reason the blind earthbender's quick attack and strong from behind caught her off guard.

"If you even tried, Mai..."