A/N: I'm going a bit meta again. I apologize, but I have a lot of interesting discussions with various people about this romance novel trope and this commonality that is in almost every Tyzula and it gave me an idea for a story.
Disclaimer: all generalizations of young women with romantic sides and/or impressions of boys exist solely for satirical exaggeration and do not reflect my actual beliefs.
#104: Fantasy
Prompted By: SlytherinSchoolgirl
"I want to tame the dragon," croons Ty Lee to Zuko, solely because he happens to be the only one listening. She has stopped on her way out of the palace to congratulate herself.
Zuko merely asks with a displeased twist of his lip, "Is that a sex thing?"
"Kind of?" Ty Lee stops to think, and then nods. "I guess. If that's how I tame the dragon."
Zuko accomplishes the great and incredible feat of not retching. "She is my baby sister. Don't go into more detail or I'll be forced to imprison you."
Ty Lee chimes, smiling and waving her hand dismissively, "What would you charge me with?"
"Because I Said So. It's a surprisingly common crime I prosecute," jokes Zuko, and she laughs too loud and too long.
The private conversation, of course, does not stay private long because Mai walks in to give her unwarranted opinion. No, never an opinion. She is too apathetic to have opinions, but she does like to make everyone else feel stupid.
Mai says with a pitying sigh, "She wants to tame the bad girl and make her into something she's not and make Azula love and cherish her instead of see her as a means to an ends. It's a common female fantasy. I personally haven't ever cared about that and not every girl feels that way, but the idea of slaying a dragon of—well, usually a bad boy—is appealing. Unrealistic, but appealing. I highly doubt Azula will ever reform and certainly not via the act of cuddling with her darling love, but it's not like Ty Lee has ever dated someone good for her."
Zuko grimly interjects, "Ick? Is ick the right word right now?"
Ty Lee adds, ignoring Mai's insult, "It would be so dreamy if this brutal, terrifying, really mean to me woman ended up so in love with me and it changed her whole life and we just get married and it's perfect, you know? And sexy. So sexy. Like kiss me tenderly for the first time after so many years."
Ty Lee feigns a grandiose swoon for emphasis.
Zuko grimaces. "Yes. Ick is the right word."
"That has literally never worked out for anyone," says Mai, looking Ty Lee up and down, and then Zuko. "Never. People don't change. Ever. Shut up, Zuko. People don't change because of other people. But in the passionate and daydreaming good girl's sweetest dreams she imagines being a powerful force who can change the unchangeable jerk. With every single boyfriend and Azula. And all of her reading material, which only exists so people can live vicariously."
Ty Lee's eyelashes flutter. She briefly looks irritated, which stuns Zuko. "I really think I can change her and I bet you guys would love that too." She shifts into an inaccurate impression of Zuko with, "You're all like, oh Ty Lee she really likes you and you're the only person she kind of likes so you should date her and—"
"Okay, firstly," says Zuko, "I don't know why every girl has a 'dumb guy' voice. Secondly, I would never ask someone to date my baby sister, which I can't stress enough. I asked you to apologize to her because you kept crying about how she'd never love you again and she has… the fantasy of people groveling."
Mai interrupts, "That's not a fantasy. That's… a lost part of her real life."
"How is that not a common fantasy but reforming bad boys is?" Zuko demands, still confused by all of this far-too-overthinking-ness.
"I bet you anything that Katara wanted to reform the bad boy called Zuko at some point," says Mai dryly, locking eyes with her boyfriend.
Zuko growls, "No, because we're not romantically involved. She's my best friend's girlfriend."
"So?" Mai says, shrugging. "I'm your girlfriend."
And Azula interrupts from the doorway, making everyone engaged in the intense conversation flinch, "Jealousy is an ugly emotion, Mai."
` "I don't want to disagree with you, but I think jealousy is really sexy," says Ty Lee quite frantically, only serving to prove the accusations directed at her this afternoon. "But you're not wrong. It's really ugly when Mai does it. She's ugly."
Mai coughs. Azula shoots her a glare.
"I am perfectly happy with who I am and no one will ever change that. But that is no reason to stop trying. Your desperate attempts to make me sweet and caring are very fun." Azula turns up a palm.
And Zuko says, "Ick is, again, the appropriate word."
Azula draws out a sigh of presumed superiority and says, "But the only person who truly could change me would have to be loyal and attractive, which only one person in this room is."
"Thank you, princess," Ty Lee chimes.
Azula laughs. No one knows why until she lays the topic to rest with, "I was talking about myself, not you."
