so, we could get into long discussions about gender and identity. we could theorize over whether Azula would be a "top" or "bottom" and have passionate arguments over why she is one and not the other, or both or none. (and it's been done. repeatedly.)

or I could have Azula make fun of all that!

Oct 2nd - "Cat & Mouse"

No one with half their senses about them will deny that boys pay attention to Ty Lee. She doesn't help the situation, adding fuel to the fires of their flirtation, but they seek her regardless of whether they are met with a quick second of her attention or an entire day's worth. Many of them are repeat offenders, the same faces day after day after romance-laden day. She is quite used to the play and its acts; she fills her role as leading lady with grace.

But neither will she deny that she is the only leading lady to exist.

She has heard queries about the Princess' status; whether Azula will ever deign to take on a significant other. This is to be expected, after all -- when hasn't there been some sort of juicy rumor or scathing gossip or loaded speculation regarding the royal family? It is all a part of court life and Ty Lee's status as a noble has taught her about court life since the day she came squalling into the world.

Sometimes the talk takes on a decidedly different tone -- usually when the audience is only male, and unaware that Ty Lee's ears are just as sharp as her chi-blocking attacks. The boys will speak in low tones, their gestures crude and their words twice as base. Instead of the Princess' relationship status they wonder -- in more vulgar terms -- how well Azula would perform in bed. Ty Lee flushes a darker shade of pink than any article of clothing she owns when she hears the boys ask themselves whether Azula is untouched or experienced, whether her royal blood would make her different to lie with or if she is the same as any other girl, if she would take command or submit herself to her lover…

Ty Lee squeezes her eyes shut, trying with all her being to disregard the blasphemy that nips enticingly at her imagination. But like her own indulgences fuel the boys' affections, so their words fuel the secret desire within her that has been growing since their childhood. She knows that Azula has known no other, so that question is put to rest. She does not know why Azula would be any different simply because she is of Sozin's bloodline, so Ty Lee does not waste her time thinking about that. No, what pulls at her thoughts is the last of their inquiries...

Sparrowmouse or catfalcon?

That is the question the boys sneer to themselves, their eyes too-bright with lust and the potential of what could be. Ty Lee knows Azula would see them all reduced to bone and ash before entertaining any of their fantasies, triply so if she knew the disregard they treated her with. But she cannot look at them with disdain while she wonders if the same thing.

Sparrowmouse. Azula's social ineptitude was no great secret. Perhaps-- perhaps it was the same in more intimate matters? Azula lies on the bed of Ty Lee's imagination, her body yielding to the other girl's touch. Her own caresses are tentative, the arch of her spine hesitant -- and she gazes at the acrobat with no small amount of trepidation. Quiet, almost timid, shy like the songbird -- here and only here can Ty Lee imagine Azula surrendering without a fight, the press of her lips against Ty Lee's throat an unspoken supplication.

Catfalcon. This was just as likely as any other alternative. Along with her inability to function normally during social outings, Azula's personality and temperament were well known throughout the Fire Nation's youth. It was not difficult to imagine she would be much the same way when it came to her personal affairs. It is now Ty Lee who lies spread out in her own fantasies, quivering as Azula puts that wickedly sharp tongue of hers to another use. It is she that Azula digs her claws and fangs into, purring feline arousal in the back of her throat as her prey submits to her will.

"So the insects swarm. Why do you listen to their buzz?"

Ty Lee starts, guilt in her eyes as she spots Azula standing behind her, arms folded. How long has the Princess been waiting there? ... certainly for as long as she has been eavesdropping on the boys. The acrobat tries to stammer an explanation but both her vocabulary and her tongue betray her; when she opens her mouth nothing escapes but a dry, uneasy exhale.

Azula's eyes narrow, considering. And then: "So what do you think I am?"

Now Ty Lee's entire mind fails her. So the Princess had heard-- but more humiliating than Azula knowing the shameful gossip was that she also knew that Ty Lee had been listening. Never had there been a more fervent prayer sent up that some rogue earthbender open the ground beneath her and drag her to the depths of the planet, for there was no other way that she could possibly--

"I ..." An elegant nail is poised on Azula's lips as she pretends to ponder, a veneer of mockery on her words. The hand then drops to her side as she strides up to Ty Lee and leans in close, her lips just barely stroking the outer curve of the acrobat's ear. "... am a dragon."

And as Ty Lee stares into the Princess' intense gaze, her first coherent thought is this: Of course. How silly, how ridiculous to try and categorize Azula, to place her in a neat little column or row. The Princess was no domestic animal, nothing that would plod around tamely and be caged or led about on a leash. The stories are wrong and Azula is right -- the last of the dragons yet exists. Whether the dragon triumphs or is defeated rests entirely upon Ty Lee, and they will battle nightly: sweating fingers grappling with animal muscle, dragon-fangs sharp against mammalian skin, human cunning versus reptilian instinct. Two parts of a whole, slayer and beast, locked in ceaseless struggle until one or both die with a shout or a roar or a whisper... and all to be born again and engage in combat the following night.

Azula's teeth sting against her neck, her tongue burns against the crevice in Ty Lee's throat. The acrobat doesn't mind. She doesn't even mind that she isn't a firebender and she has to face the fiercest dragon she has ever heard of, in myth or otherwise.

After all, the warmest place in the world is right next to the dragon's heart.