Need fluff? Check out my (finished) FF, "Seeing Stars: The ATLA Dating Gameshow!" The pairings are purposely unlisted. You'll understand why if you read it.
CH 26 | An Overdue Event
The patola-mined rubble that once was the 2nd floor corner of Yu Dao's City Hall made for a dramatic background for Azula's public address. For the occasion, she chose a full-figured black peplum dress and pumps. She wore a pin-up hat with a small lace veil, as if to signal mourning. The only extra adornment was a strategically placed Fire Nation emblem pin above her heart.
"History will rightly remember this week's violence at our esteemed city hall, incited by a terrorist organization which has continued to baselessly aggrandize the inequity of our Nation. This tragedy will be remembered as a moment of great dishonor and shame for Yu Dao."
"For years, enemies of our Glorious Leader and their thuggish black-market sponsors have too often been unwilling to tell their followers the truth — that the Colonized have every opportunity to improve whatever conditions that make them unhappy, and that the Fire Lord encourages them to do so! Their fantasy narrative has spiraled further and further from reality, and it builds upon years of sown resentments. Now we're seeing the consequences, whipped up into a violent crescendo." Azula feigned a dramatic look of sympathy.
"That is why, effective immediately, my father—our Esteemed Fire Lord Ozai, has ordered the registration of all Colonized non-citizens benefitting from living on our land. Understand that His Majesty knows the importance of…non-Firebenders…and the roles they play in serving us. However, we cannot allow unregistered criminals to continue perpetrating crimes with such devastating effects." Azula gestured to the rubble behind her in example.
"Furthermore" she continued, "The Firelord has ordered that water, air, and earth bending are banned for public use. Offenders caught using these offensive forms will be subject to removal." Azula did not bother to explain what "removal" stood for. Let each person interpret it as they will. "The Firelord cares deeply about each and every one of you," Azula concluded with false genuity. "These measures will keep you all safe and productive—respect the curfew, respect your station, and most importantly respect our Great Nation. May the flames burn evermore!"
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Katara turned off the TV, muttering foul words under her breath. She was trying hard to give Azula the sympathy Aang insisted she deserved, but it continued to fall flat. Especially when she was on TV espousing new restrictions to the "Colonized."
"Welp, that's that. I need to get to midterms…" she said, loading her laptop into her bag. "Me too, but we all need to meet back up and start talking about what comes next. Suki's been waiting long enough." Sokka called from the kitchen.
Aang and Toph sat at the dining table and made no indication of moving, but Toph did agree with Sokka. "We already know this is going to take more than three people plus Sokka." She said, sipping her coffee. "Hey!" Sokka complained, but Toph continued. "We're going to have to bring in some more sympathizers. The hilarious thing is Azula may have just done us a favor. We can use the new restrictions as the basis for recruitment. HOW we get everyone together is what we need to figure out."
Aang snapped his fingers with a face full of grin. "Secret Dance Party!"
The rest of the gang stared at the Avatar blankly. "Explain yourself." Toph demanded dryly. "Secret Dance Party." Aang repeated. "We invite people to a secure location under the guise of a "dance party" so as not to arouse suspicion, and we induct the new members of the order and hollow out our invasion plan! But with music and snacks!"
"That…might actually work. Except we would be bucking curfew, and we don't want everyone we recruit to get "removed" as your obnoxious princess friend put it…" Sokka responded acidly. Aang chewed his tongue but made no reply. "Well, if we had a citizen escort, it would be fine. And I happen to know a guy—or gal, rather, that can help set this up. I'll invite her over and we'll get this rock rolling" said Toph.
"Alright, c'mon everybody midterms!" Katara reminded and clapped her hands as if she were a mother trying to usher her kids out the door. Sokka and Toph grabbed their bags and stood to follow, hands in his pockets.
"Where's your bag, Aang?" she asked, poking his shoulder. "Oh. I'm not doing midterms…" he responded, blush rising on his ears. He hadn't planned on telling his friends just yet. "Of course you are? Go get your bag, lazy." Katara reaffirmed. "Man, she's going to be an awesome mother someday. Terrifying, but awesome…" Aang thought to himself, allowing an inward chuckle.
"No—I... I dropped out." Toph and Sokka stopped in their tracks at this new information, stunned. Aang rolled his eyes.
"C'mon, it can't really be a surprise? First of all, when am I supposed to find time to study? I'm meditating at 5 AM, I'm sparring with Sokka by 7, I'm waterbending with Katara every evening, I'm about to add earthbending training to the list, and I'm now a wanted terrorist busy subverting the largest nation on the planet. Was I supposed to work in my poli sci flashcards in before or after we blew up City Hall?" Aang didn't mean it to come out so bitterly, but now that he had started, he couldn't stop.
"Secondly, the whole idea of going to school was to do habitat restoration and work on rebuilding wild animal populations the Fire Nation destroyed. I'm going to go public about being the Avatar, so it's not like I get to do that anymore…what's the point?" He took a steadying breath. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to vent all that it's just…it's what comes with the job, you know? I'm still dealing with it. I'm NOT asking for a pity party, guys." He gave them a serious look. "It just is what it is. The dance party will be fine. I'll be fine." It seemed more like Aang was trying to convince himself. "I'm coming to campus with you guys, though. I need to rescind my scholarship and make sure Appa can still use the barn…"
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Later, Aang and Sokka sat on the lawn that cascaded along the side of the Grand Staircase. It was a popular spot for a nap when the weather was nice—the hill was steep enough that one could lean against the incline quite comfortably. Team Avatar planned to meet up here and make their way out to south central in search of food. Having finished first, Sokka now waited with Aang for the girls to get out of their tests.
"I'm sorry, buddy." Sokka started.
"Don't be." Aang responded with a bland but resolved tone. "It comes with the gig. It's like-phenomenal cosmic power!…itty bitty personal life." "You know, I haven't really seen you do any crazy bending or anything. It's a little weird to think of you being able to tap into power like that" Sokka murmured, not taking his eyes off the clouds. Aang didn't move to meet his eyes, either. "I hope you never have to." He responded. Before he'd finished his sentence, however, both their phones lit up.
"Oh, it's Toph…" Sokka said, looking at the group chat. Toph always left audio texts. Pressing play, they both jumped to their feet after her first sentence.
"Yeah…you guys are gonna want to meet us in the chem building. Katara is busy re-arranging Azula's face."
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Katara caught up with Toph in the hallway after exiting her labs midterm. "Phew! I'll admit, Aang was right about one thing—study time has been cut pretty thin. I'm not sure I pulled that one off…" Toph shrugged. "Mine are pretty easy. They usually give me an oral exam on account of…you know…" she waved her hand in front of her face sarcastically "—and then they forget that blindness does not equal dumbness and ask me stupidly easy questions. It's always been a thing."
The pair cut down a side hallway leading out into the quad only to come face-to-face with the Fire Princess in the flesh. Having changed out of her public attire, she now looked much more like her spiky self in black leather, a red jacket and steel-toed boots. Katara's reaction came viscerally, practically irrepressible. "You're a real piece of shit, you know that?" she spat.
Toph backed up quickly as Azula stopped mid-stride and immediately seized Katara by the collar, slamming her up against the wall. It was strong enough to make the classroom door next to her head rattle. "You want to run that by me again?" She growled.
Katara shoved her back. A handful of students were being drawn by her raised voice. "I am so sick of seeing your face everywhere I go" Katara roared, her temper flaring. "You're on the TV. You're on my boyfriend's video chat ("boyfriend…?" Toph muttered). You're slinking around the hallways like a wet slime mold. When are you going to take a hint and slink your sorry ass back to Caldera?"
For all the heat of the moment, Azula was able to remain calculated—a special talent honed through a lifetime of these types of slander. She prided herself on the ability to calmly, rationally, deconstruct an individual, often in a way that caused permanent psychological damage. To Katara, the passage of time was only moments, but for Azula the process could sometimes feel like time was on pause altogether.
Southern Tribe hair beads, but Northern Tribe choker necklace. One is heritage, one is some memento. A dead female relative. Gentrified, but probably because she worships her brother and followed him here. Otherwise, she would have married young and already have a handful of children…
STEM major obviously, but with limited raw intellect. She puts in untold hours of study to get by, she's exhausted right now.
Core strength, but no muscle. She probably does Vinyasa flow and barely anything else. Waterbenders are stupid. One burn and she'll be off balance—after that I can fold her with my hands if I feel like it.
She's with Aang. Aang is always a weakness. Her anger is rooted in our association, meaning she wants me to back off because she's insecure. Conclusion= poke that open wound until she bends, burn her sorry-ass element, subdue on ground until she gets arrested.
"Oh, this is adorable" Azula began, letting her words run like thick honey. "You think he's your boyfriend. Do you have any idea how many Water Tribe tramps that man-child has bowled through? You're just his flavor of the month, sweetie… I bet he calls you that too. Just like the others."
Katara was shook. She started back for a moment, wondering if it was true. She thought about something Sokka had mentioned in passing; "guys share…material. You're his type, let's just leave it at that." Her confidence withered, but she was still angry, "well, what the hell does that make you?"
Azula smirked. "I'm the one he crawls back to. See, he thinks he likes those sweet, submissive little tribal girls. I bet you make him tea, and rub his back, and help him feed his bison. He rewards you with those sweet little kisses, and big fluffy grins that make it all worth it, doesn't he? And its true! You'll probably get a few romps in the sack with him before he gets bored…good for you. But I know. And you know- that you can't give him what he really wants, what he needs."
Azula strode around her like a wildcat closing on cornered prey. Katara's mouth was wagging open and closed, torn between her hatred of the Princess and the way her words seemed to ring true. Some of the bystanders in the hallway were now filming their interaction.
"I bet he fed you some cock-and-bull story about the carnival, didn't he? "Oh, he didn't want to go with mean old Azula! He wanted to stay and dance with sweet, pretty Katara! Azula beat him up and forced herself on him even though he's 6'2 and fully capable of defending himself!" Azula leaned in to whisper in Katara's ear, "You see, he really wants to be that victim and he tries so hard. He doesn't like that he can't get off with a sweet little peasant like you. He likes it the way I give it, and he was already giving it to me in the alley before you made it off that dance floor."
"She's lying" said Toph. Katara glanced back to see that the earthbender had divested herself of a flip flop and was patting a foot to the ground. "She's trying to play you, Katara." The waterbender responded by lowering herself into a position, and Azula followed in kind, summoning her favored fire whip. "Go ahead. Hit me" Azula beckoned. One waterbending move and this bitch is gone.
But Azula miscalculated—Katara was not in a bending stance. Katara was wheeling back a ham-handed fist which she plowed right between the firebender's eyes. The force hit Azula so hard she lost a boot heel as she flew back onto the concrete floor. Her look of shock and terror was one that no one except her own father had ever seen.
As Katara rounded on her, the Princess tried to regain her footing, tripping clumsily on her shoeless foot. "I'm going to give you that last clue you couldn't figure out" Katara growled darkly as she stood over her. "I'm from the Southern water tribe" she sat down on top of Azula's stomach, pinning the panicked girl to the floor. "—and that means that I clubbed my first Tiger Seal two years before I even knew I was a bender." With that, Katara began to pummel, alternating between elbows and fists. She didn't plan to stop until she had a tooth for a souvenir, as was the Southern tradition.