#96: Goodbye to the Circus
Prompted By: GuitarBOSS & cranapplesurprise
"I think you misunderstand the meaning of crime spree," Azula says, casually picking at her fingernails. "We take the money and run."
Ty Lee pouts and contemplates for a moment. "Well, I can't really say that doesn't sound super fun. What do we need the stolen money for?"
"That's for me to know, and you to find out," Azula purrs, caressing the side of her wife's face.
"You are so confusing about this. But I want to make it clear that we're going to use this for both whatever you brought me into this for, and a house."
"Just a house? I was thinking of something more lavish than that."
"I still want a garden."
"A courtyard?"
Ty Lee wonders for a moment if Azula is thinking about taking the throne. That thought makes Ty Lee very nervous, because many things Azula has said have implied that she wants a palace and crown. But Ty Lee overlooks it, because Azula makes her happy.
"I want a garden. I'll have one. We'll have a garden. Not just with flowers and pretty stuff like that, but with, like, veggies and stuff."
"You don't cook and you hate eating vegetables."
"You don't know me! I… love those things." Ty Lee is such a bad liar. Azula would teach her if it were not for the fact that she does not like the idea of being lied to by her wife. Which is fairly hypocritical, which even Azula herself will admit.
"I know you."
"You were pretty missing for a while."
Azula had hoped Ty Lee would continue avoiding that topic.
"I wasn't… wholly gone. I did… watch people. My brother, you, other people I wanted to keep tabs on. And I had eyes other than my own. There is an unsurprising amount of people loyal to me."
"Yeah," Ty Lee whispers. She decides to keep ignoring Azula vanishing on her more than once.
"Now. Let's take the money and run, shall we? We'll spend some on your dream, I promise."
"You don't keep too many of those."
"I didn't keep too many of those. Have I not changed?"
"In some ways," Ty Lee admits. She shrugs. "Take the money and run. Got it."
She gives a mock salute to her princess.
Even though she is a princess too now, she supposes.
[X]
Azula is an endless summer with flames so hot that they turn blue and a knockout appearance that almost makes up for her personality.
"Thank you for the jewelry," Ty Lee says as she lies in bed with her knees pointing towards the ceiling. "It's so me!"
"You picked it out. I simply stole enough money to buy half of the store. I used to have anything I wanted if I just asked. That has changed."
"It was your choice," Ty Lee says as she examines the rings on every finger. Azula hopes she does not go out looking so tacky. "You vanished again and I don't know why."
"I don't like being caged up. I could have so much more than that."
"Well, good you brought me this time you disappeared or else I'd be really mad."
"You couldn't stay mad at me that like."
"Is that a challenge?" Ty Lee laughs.
Azula sighs. This girl is amazingly impossible.
[X]
"Azula, we have to stop!" Ty Lee shrieks in the middle of a town.
"We can't stay here; do you understand? We are shopping briefly, then we are moving on to our next target."
"I don't want to stay here. Look at this flier!" Ty Lee rips it from the bulletin board. She holds it up.
It is torn down the middle from Ty Lee's carelessness, so Azula reaches out to hold it in place. Their fingers brush against each other and they both get that butterfly-moth feeling that they refuse to admit.
"The circus is in town? Oh, no, no, no. I have been to enough of those to last a lifetime," Azula says.
"I want to. Really bad. We can spend some money," Ty Lee argues.
Azula purses her lips. She thinks for a moment as she releases the parchment. Ty Lee balls it up and stuffs it into her pink pocket.
"I did marry you, and, therefore, your happiness is in my job description. We will look at the circus. If it is dangerous at all, we will leave."
"It won't be that dangerous if you don't release any animals."
Azula almost snaps at her, but she starts to smirk, and then starts to laugh.
She cannot help it.
[X]
The circus seems harmless until it ends.
Then Azula's plans are put into jeopardy, because these pathetic failures turned performers apparently recognize Ty Lee. She should have known, and Ty Lee should have listened.
Four freaks approach them with a burning excitement to see Ty Lee. Kissing her cheek, hugging her, generally making Azula feel blue hot jealousy.
"I heard you were a songbird in Republic City."
"No, that's so wrong. She moved to the North Pole because of some Spirit Oasis."
"That's actually absurd. Can you even imagine Ty Lee in the snow? I know for a fact that she was on Ember Island teaching rare martial arts."
Rei snorts. "I guess she could do that. But it's pretty obvious from her gorgeous date that she became a model after the war."
"And she was in prison for charming that assassin to kill her competition. I remember that part. The model and prison has two parts; it's way more credible than you two."
"She became a Royal Bodyguard, and y'all five believe rumors too easily."
Ty Lee exchanges a befuddled glance with Azula. "Oh, well, it's actually the last one. So, this is the princess that I'm body-guarding so she can safely go away from Caldera for a vacation. She's pretty helpless without me."
"I thought that princess almost won the war."
"Yeah, but almost just isn't good enough," Ty Lee says brightly. Azula hates her wife at this moment. "She's just a real mess."
That is somewhat accurate, but it does not stop the flush on Azula's cheeks as she tries to remain expressionless.
"Well, welcome, princess," says the woman who gave the Royal Guard idea to Ty Lee. She extends a hand and Azula ignores it.
"I don't want to touch someone who did handstands in those filthy tents," Azula coldly explains and the woman awkwardly rescinds her hand.
Ty Lee smiles at Azula; it does not make her feel any better. "I didn't know people talked about me so much."
To be honest, she always figured no one would even notice if she fell off of the face of the Earth. The idea that people were hypothesizing wild adventures she could be on after the war makes her feel so special. She cannot believe it.
"Stay for some drinks," offers Rei.
"I'd love that," Ty Lee chimes.
Azula crosses her arms, but relents. She admits she is a bit curious about Ty Lee's friends for whom Ty Lee abandoned Azula at the age of thirteen.
[X]
Ty Lee stands with Azula by the lake nearby the circus.
"You didn't look so happy at that dinner," Ty Lee whispers as she reaches out to hold Azula's hand. It works.
"Well, I, like most people, dislike being confused by inside jokes and bored by pointless stories. They were there and you were too; why must you all retell those memories?" Azula flatly says, staring at the water. It gently ripples in the wind. "I tolerated the circus for you, but you refuse to decline those freaks for me. Me. I am your future; they are your past."
Ty Lee sighs.
She turns up her palms and tells the truth. "I'm done with that part of my life. But I did like the wild speculations about what I've been doing for so many years." Ty Lee grins as she remembers people arguing over the strange but somewhat flattering rumors.
"You agree to follow me into a future. You agree to abandon your life as a Kyoshi Warrior, or my brother's loyal servant, or circus freak?" Azula asks and Ty Lee laughs. She then realizes it is not rhetorical.
"Obviously. I'm committing treason by helping a fugitive. Don't you know how bad I want to be with you?" Ty Lee asks, taking Azula's other hand so that they face each other.
Azula takes a deep breath that Ty Lee does not really like.
"You did leave without saying goodbye last time. I kind of whisked you away that time too, so I will give you this for your cooperation all of those years ago," Azula says and Ty Lee shrieks, clapping her hands excitedly.
Ty Lee hugs Azula tightly before softly saying, "I have a request other than my garden."
"Yes?" Azula does not like the sound of this.
Ty Lee smiles and hopes for the best. "Let me say goodbye to the circus. With you, seeing as you're kinda good at making me do that."
"Fine. Goodbye to the circus. Goodnight and we hope you enjoyed the show, or whatever they said," Azula purrs. She kisses Ty Lee on the lips, hard.
Ty Lee kisses her back.
That is what they do until they're breathless.
Well, no, it is what they do until some trapeze guy whistles at them and then makes a comment about Ty Lee's flexibility.
Azula decides Ty Lee ought to say goodbye to the circus and he ought to say goodbye to his intact nose.
[to be continued]
