II:Starlet
Azula had ocean water in her nostrils.
In her hair. In her swimsuit. In her mouth.
The salt stung and there was a stench to it that she couldn't place. That wave had nearly drowned her and she could not be livider if she tried.
She also could not be more embarrassed than when the pretty girl in the shiny bikini was the one to grab her hand and help her to her feet. And then, as Azula shook with pacific hypothermia, the bikini girl helped her onto the beach.
"Where's your brother?" Ty Lee asked sweetly and she might as well have been asking Where's your mommy?
But Azula had a headache and felt half-drowned, and so she loosely gestured to her brother and his horrible hippie girlfriend. Ty Lee walked with Azula and did not notice Katara's silent snickering or Zuko's ajar lips.
"Your sister just got attacked by the ocean," Ty Lee said with this huge smile.
Azula stumbled away from her and sat down, pretending that she did not have vertigo. She looked up at beach bunny and leaned back weakly. No, that did not work at all. Azula just had to hope that her natural sex appeal would pay off.
"I'll make sure she's okay," Zuko said with an evil smirk and Azula fought hard to suppress her scream of rage.
"Thanks." Ty Lee snapped the string on her bikini, looked quite awkward, smiled graciously again like a Disney Princess and then disappeared back into the crowd.
Azula crossed her arms. "I hate the beach."
She lied back and was just glad that she loved the sunshine. It was the only reason she did not just run away from home when her dad decided to move without her.
When Azula rolled over to not face Katara and Zuko, she saw the only good thing that had happened to her in a month.
It was Ty Lee's bag. It was Ty Lee's bag.
She forgot it when she helped Azula over here.
And, remorselessly, Azula snatched it and shoved it into her own.
In Zuko's stupid ice cold apartment, Azula had dried off and made herself attractive again when she decided to open up the tote bag she found. Zuko was shaking his head admonishingly nonstop, but Azula ignored him as she looked through.
She found make-up, a magazine, other dull, girly things…
And then she found a laminated folder and hastily opened it. If anything had personal information, this would.
Azula glanced it over only once before she knew her plan and smirked.
"It's an acting resume," Azula said, looking up at her brother. Zuko now loudly groaned.
"You're turning into our father."
"I didn't even tell you what I was going to do with it. I could be planning to valiantly return it and have my good deed rewarded."
"You're going to exploit her young, somehow-uncrushed dreams of becoming a starlet in order to get her to have sex with you."
Azula turned up her palms. "Yes, ZuZu, yes I am."