gemsofformenos: Thank you. Happy to hear that it was touching. I was in a kind of somber mood when I wrote that, it's basically how I was feeling the day I wrote it so I guess that kind of bled into the writing a lot more than I realized. "As a reader I could fill in the outspoken, but unwritten words for myself and this fact had connected me with your story." I feel like this is just a relatable theme; so many people go out of their way to be a shoulder to cry on. But who comforts those people? Naturally, I think that those people end up helping each other because they know what it is like.
It's been a while since did a forbidden love story thing. So I figured why not give it a go. I feel as though Azula would find it very hard to balance her goals with her love. In the end I feel as though she's the type that would always choose goals; at least where she stands now."To me it seems, that she is stuck in a dead end for now, because she knows, that she will never be happy if one part is missing." Agreed there. I feel as though she's the type who likes to have it all. "Maybe becasue she fears that she would blame him for leaving the Palace and her Nation and that this fact would also ruin the other thing, she cannot live without." It's also because she fears that he will leave her and then she will have nothing at all. Thanks, I had to leave a little sparkle of hope for them. Leave the ending up to the reader. And thank you again.
"A tipsy and vulnerable Azula stepping in the wrong room." Tbh this prompt was my favorite from the week because I love working with awkward Azula. "and cute because Sokka was acting like a gentleman and didn't take advantage out of this situation" I can't see Sokka as the kind of guy to take advantage of someone like that. He's has his moments but at the end of the day, he's a good guy. "I hope I got the differences between these two words right" you did :D And thank you once more! 3
Azula shivered to herself, pulling her sleeping bag as tightly around herself as she possibly could. Still she couldn't seem to keep the chill out. She dragged herself closer to the fire and put her beanie back on. Just when he wasn't looking, she snatched Sokka's flannel sweater and added it to the layers she already wore.
"Camping is better in the fall." She muttered to herself, shivering. "Much better than in the summer." She hadn't bought it then and she certainly wasn't falling for it now. Summer was clearly the prime time to camp.
"Here." Sokka held out a marshmallow on a stick.
"What am I supposed to do with this?"
"It's a marshmallow. You eat it. Or is that not something that happens in your family?"
"Not when the marshmallow is on a stick that was on the ground for who knows how many autumns." Azula rolled her eyes. Even if that weren't the case, she had no intention of taking her mittens off and she vocalized such.
It was Sokka's turn to roll his eyes. "I don't think I've ever met anyone with such a low cold tolerance, until now."
"You've met ZuZu." She points out.
"Just take the marshmallow." He jabbed it at her once, missing entirely and, twice, smearing sticky fluff onto her cheek. Her lip curled up and she cringed. As if it couldn't get any worse, Sokka leaned in and licked it off.
"You have no idea what you're missing out on." He remarked.
She narrowed her eyes. He probably should have known he was a goner when the mittens came off. Of course she had to play it a little safe, build up the suspense until it was so great it was unbearable. She let him fret over it for a few hours and watched him settle right back into a comfort zone. She had to give another eye roll because he should know much better by now. But his guard was fully down so she began roasting a marshmallow of her own. The first, she eats. The second, she smushes right into his nose.
He let out yelp that sounded around the forest's entirety, echoing all the way.
A sense of petty satisfaction overtook her. She found that it somehow warmed her soul to see Sokka trying to get a messy smear of marshmallow off of his face, only to have get it onto his fingers as well. She had no intention of licking it of for him either.
Quietly, she slipped her gloves on and watched the spectacle with a smug smile.
.oOo.
She quite adamantly promised him that she wouldn't be getting any sleep that night because the ground was too hard and it was too cold. But he kissed her anyways, undid her ponytail, and bundled her up in her sleeping bag and a nest of pillows and blankets. Because he knew that it did the trick every time. She would be asleep within minutes, especially if he wormed his way into her sleeping bag next to her.
He always did.
He kicked off his hiking boots and crawled in next to her, despite muffled grumbles that might have been, "this sleeping bag is too small for both of us" and, "don't hog the blankets this time." Something that humored him every time as she already had the majority of the blankets draped around her. But he muttered okay regardless.
"You're something else, you know." He muttered, partly to himself but she still replied with an, 'oh, is that right?' He could already detect the grogginess in her voice. Though she would never admit it, her ability to fight off sleep was terribly lacking. When the woman was tired, the woman would drop.
He brushed her hair until he thought that she was asleep, all the while relaying what he thought was the best camping story he had.
.oOo.
She shifted in her sleeping bag, hearing the crunch of leaves beneath her body. She sat up and picked one such leaf out of her hair. She had to confess that she was a little confused as to how a pile of dead leaves ended up in her hair and all over her blankets.
The confusion didn't last when she found herself met with a chilly, almost nippy breeze. It set in that she was colder than the night before. She gave Sokka a healthy thump, "you idiot, you forgot to zip the tent flap."
"You didn't remember either." He mumbled sleepily.
"You were the last one to leave the tent and come back." She argued.
"Hmmm…" he hummed, sitting up. "Maybe I like my tent a little drafty."
"Well that certainly matches the conditions in you head." She tapped his forehead.
"Gee, thanks. And to think I bundled you up nice and cozy too. I even warmed some coffee over the campfire for you." He paused. "You have no idea how hard that was."
She took the cup in her hands. "I suppose this will make up for it." The blanket began to slip from her shoulder. Before she could catch it, Sokka was bundling her up again. With the sun in the sky again, it was beginning to warm some anyhow. She did like the autumn better in the daylight hours. The gold of the sun added a brilliance to the reds and oranges of the trees. The same draft that had pulled her from her slumber rustled the branches. She supposed that camping in the fall—though it paled in comparison to summertime camping—was rather nice.
