A/N: So, this is so many levels of based on Titanic right now. Blank Pages has made me think about the scene where Jack paints Rose.
(Theme Seventy-Six) Picture Perfect
(As Prompted By) purplee
"Let me see that," Azula demands, reaching forward and nearly poking Ty Lee's eye out with her nails. The acrobat grimaces and promptly tucks the notebook between her thighs.
Well, that certainly did not stop Azula, as it would with most people. Ty Lee feels a rush of brief, unwelcome heat, as Azula pulls the notebook out, sliding across some very sensitive skin.
They are in Azula's bedroom, and Azula, who has never done a favor in her life, had decided to help Ty Lee unpack. It would have been exciting and shown genuine progress in their relationship, if Azula had not immediately plucked out the most embarrassing thing she could find.
"I've been journaling my travels," Ty Lee admits, rubbing her neck. "Writing about vivid moments, putting little pieces into scrapbooks─"
"And evidently painting people," Azula says, cocking an eyebrow. Ty Lee sighs and wishes Azula had flipped to a boring page and tossed it aside. "Who is that woman? Who is she so I can frame her for a crime and have her executed?"
Ty Lee scowls as she tries to think of a reply. Not that Azula's comment even warrants a response. "I've only painted clothed people since we really got together. My quest for self-discovery has only just ended, and all." Ty Lee is running her hands over her braid, a nervous habit.
Azula smirks faintly at her and slowly begins flipping through the pages of Ty Lee traveling through everywhere once occupied by the Fire Nation and documenting her experiences. It is evident that Ty Lee was looking for a reason to justify her actions, or some way to uncover a self outside of the girl who blindly obeyed the weapon of war.
The princess flips through and studies it, wanting not to feel so jealous and hurt about these trysts with dates. But then Azula notices the drawings, and how they are laden with imperfections. But are beautiful, so beautiful all the same.
It reminds Azula of how she fell for Ty Lee again because her old flame saw her imperfections as perfections, and Azula craved that.
Ty Lee looks briefly sad and Azula notices, and says, "I will absolutely forgive you ─"
"For painting girls I slept with before we were a couple?"
"Yes, for that. We were a couple once."
"I think that we had a pretty obvious break-up," Ty Lee says with a cocked eyebrow.
Azula is not deterred, and continues with, "I will absolutely forgive you if you paint me like one of your Earth Kingdom girls. I, as your true and only love, deserve at least that."
Ty Lee smiles faintly, glad that Azula did not get angry. Their fights are as passionate as their sex.
"I am happy to," Ty Lee says, accepting the notebook and trying not to watch Azula undress. "I won't paint you like them, in the, in the way of focusing on their flaws. I was going through a nasty phase right then, not at all aura friendly. You don't have any flaws anyway."
"I said," Azula states confidently as she strips out of the last of her kimono robe, "to paint me like one of your Earth Kingdom girls."
Ty Lee feels quite nervous about that prospect, but she does accept. Her eyes briefly drift away from Azula and her infinite beauty contrasted against the stark red fixtures and dull golden hues of her bedroom. Maybe their bedroom at some point. That thought makes Ty Lee's hand tremble as she starts unscrewing the lid of a bottle of ink.
Azula is silent and patient, although she is laid out like an empress. Ty Lee inhales and exhales slowly, examining the blank page in her journal. She cannot find anything wrong with Azula. She can't because she is perfect.
But there are the moon white scars. And the redder, uglier ones made from so many handcuffs pressed tightly against her wrists, chafing away. Ty Lee looks at her own feet.
"Shouldn't you examine your subject?" Azula purrs and Ty Lee wonders if she is trying to torture her beloved. "Or are you paid hourly?"
"I need a minute," Ty Lee says as she wonders what the repercussions would be of painting Azula's scars.
"Go right ahead. You know how I love it when you move at a glacial pace," Azula says sharply before reclining further. Ty Lee's eyes stick for a moment on the arch of her back, the rise and fall of her chest.
No, the painting cannot be sexual. Azula is not a sexual being or a cold weapon or any other kind of object other people have always wanted her to be. Azula is a person, despite her claims otherwise.
Ty Lee starts to draw. Azula is silent as Ty Lee focuses on every contour. The princess can remember having Ty Lee kicked out of art class at school because Ty Lee was so much better than everyone else (including Azula). It seems her talents have developed even further with practice.
It finishes, at last, and Azula steps forward to examine it.
"That isn't quite accurate," Azula whispers as she tilts the notebook towards her.
It is of the beautiful princess in chains, chained to a stone sacrificial slab, and not her lovely bed, and above her, a monstrous version of herself moves for the kill. But her eyes, her face, her small smirk, her peace that she had while reclining on her bed like a throne are present.
The painting is focused on the handcuffs and the beast that dwells within.
But, oddly, it feels more about Azula not fearing any of that anymore.
"It's perfect," Azula says and Ty Lee is stunned by the rare non-backhanded compliment. "It's perfect, now fuck me."
Ty Lee does not decline as Azula's thoughts remain on the picture perfect portrait, and then the warm girl above and under her.
