(Theme Fifty-Three) Shopping! (Or How Ty Lee and Azula Got Matching Tattoos)
(As Prompted By) Guest
"Azula, you know what you need?" Ty Lee asks loudly, throwing open the curtains. "A treat yourself day."
"How about a treat myself to a few hours more of sleep day?" Azula suggests weakly, punctuated with a yawn. "There, it's decided. I will sleep, you can go have fun."
Azula is then roused by something pouncing onto the bed with the velocity and form of a wildcat. Ty Lee growls at her and then crawls up the bed as Azula shrinks beneath the covers. The princess is realizing that this is a battle she is going to lose and that kills a small part of her.
"You need to relax and unwind because you are a mess," Ty Lee says, poking one finger towards Azula's face. Azula knocks it away with her shoulder before it makes contact with her nose. "Come on, no stress, complete bliss..."
Ty Lee rests her head on Azula's abdomen and peacefully closes her eyes. "See I can relax anywhere I go. But we are going shopping. And then perhaps to a spa."
"Hmphm," is Azula's response as she once more futilely tries to go back to sleep. Ty Lee stands up and jabs Azula. The princess falls silent and refuses to cave in to this game.
Frustrated, Ty Lee stands up and starts jumping on the bed. Azula has to cling to the crimson sheets as she is bounced around, her slender body flailing. She secures herself and kicks up one heel, knocking Ty Lee onto the bed, her face colliding with the multitude of black, gold and red pillows.
"Alright, I'll do your treat yourself day," Azula sighs as Ty Lee sneezes and a feather flutters off of her lips from the force. "I hope you're happy."
"I am," Ty Lee says, pecking Azula on the lips. "We are going to be so much useless stuff. Because what is my motto?"
"Love dies, but things are forever," Azula responds, smirking. She does like Ty Lee's misarranged priorities. She finds them endearing. "Alright, let's get some forever things."
Ty Lee kisses her again, this time a little messier. Azula is painfully reminded once more of how, when she moved in for the first kiss, she missed and hit Ty Lee's nose.
She slowly gets out of bed and gets dressed as Ty Lee is dancing around, unable to sit still and wait patiently for Azula to perfect her appearance. Azula has learned the value in making yourself look perfect. No one assumes that there is something wrong with you, or that you have secrets, or that you are in pain. It has, in her life, served her well to not have a single hair out of place. But it makes Ty Lee want to chew through her own wrist from the monotony and her own impatience.
"Are you ready?" Ty Lee asks for the thousandth time, and, finally, Azula nods. "Yay! Shopping and spa and relaxation and total sex later!"
Azula can only nod. She sincerely hopes there is not a surprise planned for her in the shopping district. But Ty Lee grabs her hand, humming happily as if it is such a great day, although it is a bit cold and wet outside and Azula finds it to be a painfully ordinary day if it weren't interrupted with this absurd relaxation outing Ty Lee has planned.
"Why do you find this relaxing?" Azula asks as she is forced through the doors of the palace.
"It's fun," Ty Lee replies as if Azula has asked something completely ridiculous. Azula just surrenders herself and allows Ty Lee to tug her and talk to her, and all but drag her to the shopping district of Caldera.
"I don't know about this," Azula says slowly as she starts examining the first store she is in. It feels as if a tornado has pulled her out of her room and dropped her here, surrounded by spoilt teenage girls. Azula might possibly qualify as one of those, but she does not want to think about it.
"Azula, treat yourself," Ty Lee says, jabbing her again.
"Ow," Azula murmurs, rubbing her arm. "I'm going to have you executed if you poke me again."
"Treat yourself!" Ty Lee shrieks as Azula glances at the door longingly.
"Okay, okay, I'm treating myself," Azula purrs, sounding far too stiff and regal. It kills Ty Lee internally.
Ty Lee is up to something quite dark. Zuko has ordered her to remove Azula from the palace and to keep her distracted all day. Hopefully, Azula will not catch on. Ty Lee finds that staying a step ahead of Azula is easier than one would think. Being the dumbest one in the room at all times makes you the one the smartest person in the room is quickest to trust.
They meander through the stores, Ty Lee buying whatever she can get her hands on. Azula forces Ty Lee to hold her bags, which Ty Lee does willingly despite her own purchases weighing her down.
"This is an intriguing date. It's low in romance but heavy on frivolous spending," Azula comments and Ty Lee only smiles in response. "So, what is it you want, other than ten bags of useless bullshit? Why did you lure me out of the palace?"
"Oh, look, boats!" Ty Lee has broken out into a sweat and Azula thinks it is kind of cute. "They're very... metal!"
"Mhm. Cough it up. You can't keep a secret if you tried," Azula says, wrapping one arm around Ty Lee. She feels very much like a little insect being wrapped up by the slender limbs of a spiderfly. "Tell me. Tell me."
"No. Here, candy!" Ty Lee presses a fire gummy against Azula's lips, but she closes them in time. Ty Lee groans and drops the candy to the ground as passersby stare. "Okay, okay, I give in. You don't have to rip my fingernails out."
"All I did was ask."
"I said you don't have to rip my fingernails out, Azula."
"Oh. Oh, Agni." This is painful.
"Alright, alright, I'll tell you," Ty Lee whispers, clutching Azula's hand. Her palms are sweaty and stick to Azula's, but the princess does not mind. "Your mother is visiting."
"Oh, and I thought this would be interesting," Azula sighs. "Well, that gives me an intriguing idea..."
"No, no sabotaging your mother's visit. We don't need a reprisal of last time, Azula. There's a reason Zuko is trying to hide you from her," Ty Lee says as Azula starts walking towards a tattoo parlor. Oh, Agni, no... why? Ty Lee would trade her soul and her fortune for the ability to keep secrets.
"I've always thought about getting a tattoo."
"You're not sixteen, Azula. You are an adult and a politician and─"
"If I'm an adult and can make my own choices, why can't I get a tattoo?" Azula suggests and Ty Lee grimaces.
"I guess there's nothing really stopping you..."
"Zuko isn't my father," Azula says, bursting through the door. Ty Lee clenches her jaw and wishes this could all just disappear. "I think I want to celebrate my freedom, if you can call it that."
Azula again expresses her resentment towards being Zuko's ward. But when you run off for four years and attempt to murder people, sometimes you lose your freedom. Ty Lee is amazed at Zuko's restraint and compassion for not just sending her to the Boiling Rock at times.
And so, Ty Lee finds herself sitting anxiously as the tattoo artists fumble around frantically. Azula's presence terrifies them utterly and the princess enjoys it. Ty Lee, however, is wringing her hands and picking at her fingers, and sliding off and on her engagement ring repeatedly.
"You," Azula says, grabbing a man by the neck. He looks about to cry, despite all of his army and prison tattoos and toned muscles. "I know what I want. I was thinking maybe some patterns on my hands so when I firebend it looks like it's coming out of the tattoos." Pause. "Or is that too blunt? I considered a dragon, but now, that's just cliché. Blue dragon?"
"I... uh..." he stammers, turning bright red.
"Ty Lee, tell me what tattoo I should get." Azula releases the man's collar and he gasps for breath.
"I think we should get matching tattoos," Ty Lee says after endless pleas for Azula to change her mind.
"I like the way you think," Azula says with a smirk. "Two dragon tattoos. Make them pretty. And make them identical. Identical. So help me if there is even the slightest difference or disproportion in these dragons I will have all of your hands chopped off."
"I love you," is all Ty Lee can say to that. She kisses Azula on the lips as a woman hastily clears a chair for her beside Azula.
"You are a terrible babysitter."
Another kiss.
