"Come on Zuko! Don't be a sore loser!"
"Shut up Katara. Just because you haven't had to strip down almost completely doesn't mean you can mock everyone who has had to."
"Meaning just you?" The gang laughed hysterically as Katara mocked Zuko's lack of clothes.
The ace of strip poker was now down to his last piece of clothing while everyone else was still sporadically clothed. Katara had on her pants and breast bindings, Aang his pants and a shoe, Sokka was still fully clothed. Much to Sokka's dismay Suki was the next scantily clad, wearing only her villages equivalent of breast bindings and the tight wrappings from her waist to thighs. Toph was the only one still fully clothed, having been able to sense when everyone was cheating.
"Don't laugh too hard. The games not over yet." Zuko hunkered down behind his cards. He wasn't embarrassed to be wearing so little. He was used to be stared at because of the scar on his face. It was a pleasant change to have Katara and Suki glancing at him for entirely different reasons. The tattoo on his back had surprised them all when he had removed his shirt. The large phoenix was a gift from his Uncle.
As the game continued the pile of clothes in the center of the circle grew larger and larger. Katara was down to only her bindings. Suki had been forced to shed her lower bindings and a blanket covered her lower half. Aang had followed suit when he lost all of his clothes, using Sokka's blanket to keep himself covered. Sokka himself was still mostly clothed, and Toph was fully clothed. Despite being told not to cheat, she had done it anyway.
"I'm bored again. You guys are too easy to beat. I'm going to bed." Toph stood up, tossing her cards onto the clothes in the middle of the circle. She stormed off, disappearing through the door that led down the hallway to their bedrooms.
"You know, I think I am going to go to bed too." Suki slowly placed her cards on the ground in front of her, grabbing her clothes. She kept her blanket around her waist with one hand and not so subtly kicked Sokka. She walked quickly away, pausing at the door frame to wink at Sokka one last time before disappearing.
"Yeah…bed…" Sokka jumped up and ran after Suki, his footsteps thundering down the stone hallway and out of earshot.
"I guess that just leaves us three then." Katara shook her head at her idiot brother. No man could touch her without getting a boomerang to the face, but Sokka was allowed to run amok. His hypocrisy knew no ends sometimes.
"Actually I think I'm done. I'm not really wearing any clothes anyway." Aang laughed nervously. Seeing that no one was joining him, Aang cleared his throat and stood; wrapping the blanket around himself he walked nervously towards the door. "Don't be up too late. Okay Katara?" Aang glared quickly at Zuko before disappearing into the hallway, closely followed by Momo.
"I guess it's down to you and me Katara. Think you can handle it?" Zuko asked with a rakish smirk.
"I wouldn't be worrying so much about me there Zuko." Katara glared playfully at Zuko. "Seeing as we both have one piece of clothing left, the next hand wins. And I fully intend on being the winner."
"Want to make it more interesting?" Zuko asked, setting down the cards he had been shuffling to prepare for the next hand.
"Interesting? What did you have in mind?" Katara perked up at the idea of another facet to the game. Strip poker was fun but wasn't as fun as strip poker and another twist.
"Give me a second." Zuko stood, still wearing only his undergarment. Katara couldn't help but notice the muscles in his chest and arm flexing as he pushed himself up. She watched as the banished prince walked quietly into the hallway, clearly not wanting to alert anyone to his presence. The wings of the phoenix on his back seemed to flap in flight as Zuko's shoulders moved. Katara still couldn't believe that Zuko had such a large tattoo, but was unsurprised that it was a fire bird.
Pulling her thoughts away from Zuko, Katara rolled on her back, bending the water from a nearby jug into sparkling drops above her. The pretty droplets reflected the light from the dying fire, leaving a rainbow pattern across the stone floor. After about twenty minutes, Katara rolled onto her back, bending the droplets into one large waterball between her hands. She was starting to think Zuko wasn't coming back.
"Ready?"
Katara gasped in surprise. The water ball fell from between her hands and splashed her in the face. She was absolutely soaked, her white bindings absorbing the water completely. Katara self-consciously covered herself up; white clothes and water were never a good mix.
Zuko was looking down at her intently. He didn't even try to hide the smirk on his face. "Cute bending Katara. Get a little wet?" He teased.
"Very funny hothead. So…what did you get?" Katara asked as she sat up, grabbing a blanket and draping it over her shoulders.
"Firewhiskey." Zuko held up a rather sizeable bottle of the drink. The bottle was untapped, full of fresh, very expensive looking firewhiskey.
"Woah. Where did you get that?" Katara asked, standing and grabbing the bottle. She hadn't had a drink before, but she had always been curious.
"I brought it with me. I wasn't sure I would be able to stand all of you griping all the time and assumed I would need a drink every now and then. Your little airbending leader wouldn't be too keen on that though." Zuko sat back down, reshuffling the deck of cards. He was clearly annoyed with Aang's moral code but tolerated it as required.
Katara continued to inspect the bottle. Finding no obvious flaws or tampering, she looked back up at Zuko. "So every time someone loses a hand, they either lose their clothes or take a drink?" Katara asked, slowly lowering herself down to the ground.
"Correct." Zuko dealt out the necessary cards. "Ready to get smashed Katara? There's no way you are going to win this one."
"Don't be so cocky underwear boy." Katara smirked, picking up her cards. There was no way Zuko would win this round.