gemsofformenos: "Both Sokka and Azula are willing to talk about their emotions." Which of course works out much better than keeping it all inside and it clears up misunderstandings. I feel like, in this universe, Azula has a more nurturing upbringing that makes it easier for her to be open with people even if she's an awkward dork about it. "This lines out how much she's trusting Sokka and how important this relationship is to her." But yes, she trusts Sokka enough to be very forward with him and he reassures her that she is able to keep trusting him. "This was so important for Azula to hear." It definitely erases a lot of stress for her. She can be a bit lighter and more carefree. And it also helps take some pressure off of Sokka. He'll have lots of support in re-adjusting. "I love her caring side here, her soft side when she enjoys and seeks comfort and affection." I live for soft and gentle Azula lol. "Both can use this affection and loving touch so much." Indeed they can after being so touch starved for so long. "I love the humor you're adding here as well about Sokka's "true family". " xP Thanks! Needed to add some comic relief in their. I think that they would have one of those witty, sarcastic relationships. Thanks again and you have a lovely week!
SOKKLAFIL: She did indeed and she is glad that she did. Like you said, Jet might be a different story though.
kingeddie16ne: "Jet got played like a fiddle, damn." Lmao he certainly feels like he did lol. I was thinking of dragging the drama out a little longer but I also felt like they were too relieved to be reunited for it to go on for too long. Like they have missed each other too much.
The sky was a watercolor backdrop of searing oranges and yellows and pastel pink. Against it, holding a surfboard was a petite silhouette. "She's too small to be any good." Chan remarked.
"I thought that it was the other way around, dude." Ruon Jian shrugged.
"Maybe if you have the right size surfboard. That one's too big for her."
To this Ruon had nodded in agreement. It didn't bother Jet like it bothered the rest of the team. Chan and his girlfriend were particularly annoyed by the mistake. They could tell that she was new to the sport, unlike themselves. They have been doing it since childhood.
Truth be told, they were afraid of her. Afraid that her mistakes would cost their team a victory that they hadn't even had a chance to begin working towards. That first practice was a mess. Jet had watched her rather closely; every time she lost balance and every time she charged towards the wave too early or too late. She never seemed to have them timed right, could never seem to sense the water in the way a seasoned surfer would. She just didn't have the connection.
She took a deep breath. It was an hour and a half into a three hour long practice and she had yet to pull off even the most basic maneuver. But more than anything, Azula wanted to make her father proud. Truthfully, she had come to decide, within the first twenty minutes, that she hated surfing. It didn't come naturally to her as volleyball did. She was furious with herself for having missed volleyball tryouts in favor of trying something new.
She could have been on her way to becoming the star athlete of the middle school team. She could have been an hour and a half into praise and cheers. Instead her teammates were glaring at her. Even the coach's formerly sympathetic eyes were clouding with impatience. She knew that he'd only let her on the team because of her father and his father's legacy.
She also knew that it was becoming abundantly clear that she didn't share the family talent. She cast one more forlorn and longing glance at the volleyball in her sports bag before closing her eyes, readying her surfboard, and dashing towards the water.
This time she was going to do it. She knew that she had timed the wave right. If only she had timed throwing her surfboard down correctly. Another wave took the board out from under her feet.
No one bothered to tell her that she was supposed to go belly down and paddle out to the wave.
Not even the coach.
She was never one to quit. The only thing more dishonorable than a failure was a quitter. She would ride the failure out and probably with more success than riding any wave. A week into her new sport and she was only just starting to catch onto paddling out.
Azula was certain that balance wouldn't be a problem. Toph had been kind enough to let her borrow her skateboard. The way she and Toph saw it, skateboarding was basically surfboarding without water. She did just fine maintaining her balance on the skateboard and by the end of the night she was even doing some decent tricks.
So why the hell couldn't she catch onto surfing?
She came to find that it was a simple as not being able to catch a wave. As simple as not knowing what to do when she finally did. She knew that once she figured out how to pop up that she would be able to stay standing and ride it out, but the waves were relentless and knocked her into the blue before she had a chance.
Three days into week two was when she finally broke down. She was crying on Sokka's bed about how Zuzu was mad at her for trying to one up him and how it wasn't worth it because she wasn't even good. How she wished she would have just gone for volleyball.
He treated her to ice cream that she didn't think she deserved, but Kya had insisted and Hakoda and Katara made it special.
Jet watched her cross the beach. "I'm surprised she's even showing up still." Chan's girlfriend had commented.
"I wouldn't if I was that awful." Ruon noted.
"I wonder if her dad beats her for not being able to carry on the family legacy." Jet didn't know the girl's name but even Chan looked at her and muttered, "too far." Jet might have slapped her if he didn't have a moral code.
Azula held her head as high as she could for how many times the waves pulled it under. She had enough grace, he could see it in the way she paddled, the way she cut seamlessly through the waves. He could tell that she was getting used to timing and catching the waves. But she never managed to fully stand up and the one time she did, she hadn't known what to do next.
He watched her drag herself and her board back to shore. Long locks of hair hung down her back, shimmering in the setting sun. She wore a seashell bracelet around her slender wrist. Her skin was tanned nicely and her eyes reflected the sunlight so well.
The rest of the team called her the weak link but he called her beautiful.
The rest of the team called her the weak link but he called her untrained.
He spent his entire weekend doing what their coach should have done. And she caught on fast. Who would have thought that actually teaching her what to do would have made such a significant difference.
When Monday came around, she walked onto the beach with a surfboard fitted to her smaller stature and a more confident stride.
If she could have some success with a board that was not properly sized, she could do wonders with this board.
For the first time she'd managed to catch a wave. Albeit, not on her first or even fourth try. But ten minutes in, she caught one and rode it out. Practices went that much smoother, she was beginning to learn and perform the basics.
It wasn't the remarkable and impressive transformation she had hoped for.
It was so ordinary.
But it was enough to bring her from dead last to third from the bottom-and on a good night, four away from it.
The season had ended and she vowed to do volleyball next year. But the next year rolled around and her teammates were disappointed to see her dragging her board up the beach.
A summer practicing with Jet and Sokka had done wonders.
Chan, his now ex-girlfriend, Ruon, and the rest of the team hadn't been there to see her practice. It was just as well. It was more satisfying.
She went first. Her paddling was stronger, her carves smoother, her balance expectedly impeccable. She pulled off her first roundhouse cutback.
Azula was a thrill for Jet to watch, she always was. That determined and driven look and the victorious one that usually followed. They were stunning. She was stunning. Especially now that confidence was thrown into the mix. He more than admired her haughty stride back up the beach and past the rest of the team, "you're up Chan."
.oOo.
Azula takes Sokka's hand and they slowly pad along the sand. He is so close to the sea that almost took him and yet he grins, wide and beaming. It is probably because he is with her. He stops to brush the hair out of her face.
He leans in for his kiss only to get a mouthful of hair courtesy of the wind throwing it back across her face. He sweeps it aside again and this time she holds it back.
She closes her eyes and tilts her head up, she looks serene and blissful.
It makes him want to hurl.
Jet turns away before their lips make contact. With more force than necessary, he takes another bite of his chili dog. He doesn't even like chili! Yet the flavor is still more pleasant than the look of Sokka locking lips with his ex.
He feels bad for feeling so appalled considering how much less tense she is, but it hits him quite mercilessly that he could have never made her feel that way. If only he'd met her first. If only he had been the childhood friend.
If only he'd asked her for a date when he'd first had the urge. That day when he saw her silhouetted against the sunset with a surfboard in hand.
Maybe if he'd held her a little closer when teaching her to balance. Maybe if he'd cheered her on a little more, she would have asked him.
Maybe he would be walking down the beach with her. Instead he finds himself furious. After everything he'd done for her, she'd snub him like this? It was he who helped her work from no skill whatsoever to the surfer that the rest of the team strived to be.
He helped get her through the past few months of summer and now she was ignoring him more or less completely.
"Still brooding?" Katara asks.
He takes another angry munch of his chili dog.
"Why are you watching them make out if it makes you angry?"
He thinks that maybe he wants to be angry because that is better than feeling let down, used, and miserable. "Maybe if I watch hard enough, she'll see my charm and makeout with me instead." He mutters.
"Ew." Zuko grumbles. Apparently the concept of it is enough to drive him right back to the smoothie bar. Granted, he makes a similar face when he gets within sound range of the couple. Jet swears that if Sokka had the strength, he would quite literally lift her off of her feet.
Thankfully he is still too weary for that and has to settle for a careful hug. "I'm going to go share a smoothie with Zuko, you want anything?" Katara offers.
He shakes his head.
"You sure? We're going to be heading back tomorrow, so now's your last chance to have one."
"I'm sure."
He hears that light and warm laugh and frowns deeper. He wants to be happy for Azula, he truly does. But he can't force happiness. He hears the shifting of sand and a shadow falls over him.
"Exactly how long do you plan on staring at my daughter for?"
Jet tenses up. He gives his body enough slack to muster up a single shrug. "Until she stops being so annoyingly beautiful, I guess." He, to Ozai's dissatisfaction, slips up.
"If that is the only reason you are upset to have lost her, than you didn't deserve her."
He wonders how many times Sokka was told that he wasn't good enough for Azula, if he had been told at all. "It isn't. It's just the easiest reason to explain."
When the girl's father doesn't respond, he continues. "She's talented and clever. She's…" his mind wanders back to the stormy beach. "Strong and determined. I think that she might be unstoppable…"
Ozai nods. "Even so. You knew what this trip was about when you stepped aboard the ship. It is not her fault that you were not prepared for the outcome." He pauses and clasps his hands behind his back, fixing Jet with a stern look. "If you trouble her over her decision, I assure you that there will be a free spot on your surf team."
Jet suppresses a scowl. The old man did more to hurt his daughter than Jet himself could ever hope to do and he had half the mind to inform him of such. He curbs his tongue. "I don't want to hurt her." But he wishes that she wouldn't hurt him. "Should I talk to her?"
Ozai shakes his head. "Unless it is about surfing or another mundane topic. She will speak to you about it when she is ready."
Jet sighs and rests his chin in his hands as Ozai makes his way towards the smoothie bar. He feels as out of place as Azula must have while carrying a surfboard much too large for her. He doesn't belong on this trip. With this family.
Azula leads Sokka back to their beach towel and, in the shade of their umbrella, begins unpacking lunch. It probably has all of Sokka's favorites.
He hears the sand sift again and the clunk of a glass on the wooden table. "There's a shot of rum in yours. Don't you dare mention it to anyone on this beach."
Jet takes his beverage and sips it. "And yours."
Ozai holds out his receipt. There is only one alcoholic drink and Jet can taste the rum on his.
"You could use a drink, boy."
Azula settles into Sokka's arms and Jet can't disagree.