CW: Ozai being absolutely gross in every imaginable way
Chapter 91
Considering the importance of the tournament in which Katara and Yue were about to take part in, the three girls arrived in the Fire Fountain City a couple of days early. The day before the official start of the world championship finals, several publicity events had been scheduled to further promote the tournament, involving multiple photo shoots with all the participants. This was also the first actual closer interaction with Ozai Nakamura that either Katara or Yue had ever experienced. Azula was watching everything that took place like a hawk, anxious and ready to swoop in to defend her girls if necessary, but fortunately Ozai seemed to be in a good mood, joking with his two cronies, Zhao Sakamoto and Long Feng. Ozai had left early, much to Azula's relief, although he had blown a kiss in her direction when he had thought that nobody was looking, and that had seriously rattled Azula's nerves.
Of course, Azula wasn't going to let the effects of her father's influence be known to her girlfriends. She was here to fully support Yue and Katara, to provide them with everything they needed so that they could perform at their best. Azula couldn't do it if she was falling apart herself, so she had made the decision that she wasn't going to fall apart despite how much her father tried to trigger her by being a creepy asshole. When she had played support role for Yue and Katara during the tournament in Agna Qel'a back in the fall, the two girls had remarked how vicious and terrifying Azula could be when everything hadn't been handled to perfection by the hotel staff or just anyone they had to interact with for any reason. If Azula had been intimidating in the fall, she was going to be ten times worse during the finals. Nobody was going to mess with her girls and get away with it, nobody.
Azula knew that the tournament would be an absolutely grueling experience, something that Yue and Katara had never been subjected to in the past. The six best players in the world would play each other four times, for a total of twenty games, with a day off after every game. This meant that the tournament which started on the last week of August would end up only by the first week of October. Held in the Royal Theatre of the Fire Fountain City, the oldest building on the Shuhon Island, it truly was an intense test of endurance.
By the time all the publicity events were done, it was already late in the afternoon and having enjoyed a lavish dinner feast at the best restaurant on the island, the threesome retired to their shared hotel suite. They hadn't been able to secure the same penthouse suite they had occupied several times before, as Ozai had already made arrangements to have it for his own use. Azula had been quite annoyed about that, despite how splendorous their current suite was. It felt like Ozai was taunting them with this move. It also left Azula feeling a tiny bit uncomfortable, knowing that her father was staying only a couple of floors above her. It was just a little too close for her comfort.
The day before the start of the finals was also special in another way, because it was Azula's twenty second birthday. Obviously, with Yue and Katara having to play the following day, they couldn't really live it up by going out and getting sloshed. The best they could do was to hold a little party in their hotel suite, and the kitchen staff of the hotel had really gone out of their way with the cake and other refreshments, including a bottle of Moët champagne. Azula had also made sure to invite the only friendly face which had arrived in the Fire Fountain City with them, and upon hearing the knock on the doors of their hotel suite, Azula knew that their sole party guest had arrived, hurrying to let her in.
"Suki!" Azula exclaimed with genuine joy as she opened the doors to let in the girl from Kyoshi Island. As always, Suki Arya was the reporter of choice for The Harmony Ring to dispatch for coverage of the most important Pai Sho event, taking place only once every two years. "So glad you could make it, girl," Azula said, welcoming Suki inside, Katara and Yue hurrying to greet Suki as well.
"And this is for you," Suki said once the hugs had been exchanged, handing a wrapped box to Azula. Azula quickly opened it to find an expensive case of the finest Kyoshi Island rum. "I know Yue and Katara can't have any tonight, but if you want to crack it open, I'll join you," Suki winked at Azula.
"Oh, we're totally doing that," Azula nodded with certainty. "We'll leave some for the girls when they can have it, maybe tomorrow evening," she added to placate Katara and Yue before the two Water Tribe girls had started to whine about it.
"So, what did you two get for your girlfriend?" Suki asked Yue and Katara once they had all sat down to gorge on the cake and other snacks.
"Oh, you're going to love this, Suki," Katara giggled, elbowing Yue in the side. "Love, show Suki the photo!"
"Hah, alright," Yue grinned, rummaging about in her purse before withdrawing a photo and passing it over to Suki. The Kyoshi girl took one look at the photo and gasped. Suki then broke into a broad and admiring grin as she regarded the picture of Azula's Chevy Corvette, only now featuring an intricate paint job of a large Pai Sho flower tile surrounded by an elaborate caption spelling out the words 'Pai Sho Queen'.
"That is damn amazing," Suki said, looking suitably impressed.
"I know, right?" Azula chuckled. "And these sneaky bitches arranged for everything to be done in a way that I never found out about it until today when they showed me the photo. Honestly, I can't wait to get back to Ba Sing Se and bask in the beauty of the real deal."
"It looks great," Suki grinned. "But hey, at least you can enjoy my gift right now," she pointed at the bottle of rum.
"That's true," Azula nodded. She then gave Yue and Katara meaningful stares. "Also, these two have reassured me that I have the second part of my birthday gift to look forward to later tonight." Yue and Katara immediately turned an interesting shade of red at her comment. Honestly, Azula had already guessed what Katara and Yue had in mind. Back in Ba Sing Se, she had spied Yue packing away two sets of very interesting looking sexy lingerie. It was no surprise that Yue was handling that part of the gift, Katara was way too shy to shop for sexy lingerie… and for that matter, so was Azula. Still, Azula was very much looking forward to receiving the second part of her gift.
"Just remember that you have to actually get up and play tomorrow," Suki winked at the threesome.
"Pfft, don't tell that to us, Azula's the only one who's going to be sore," Yue smirked, her words making Azula and Suki both choke on their rum.
"Damn, your girlfriends are wicked," Suki laughed. "Anyway, I meant to ask you two about your first impressions. Don't worry, I'm not asking as a reporter. You know that I respect those boundaries."
"I don't know, everything seemed normal enough," Katara shrugged. "I expected Ozai to be really annoying, but he was totally opposite of that, like he was super charming and everything. I mean, it was totally an act, the way he was all smiles, talking me and Yue up to the reporters, complimenting us a lot. Though I wish it had been all about our talent for Pai Sho without a word about how attractive we supposedly are," Katara scowled a bit.
"Yeah, but that's typical patronizing older male behavior," Yue shrugged. "The way he gushed how our participation is important for representation of female players and expanding the popularity of Pai Sho to broader audience… he really knows how to turn on the charm and spin a good yarn. Although he is right about representation, I actually didn't know that no female player had made the finals since the Great War."
"My father definitely knows how to manipulate an audience," Azula nodded. "Even if he has a massive PR staff that does it all for him, he's really kind of a PR wizard himself. I mean, he has an entire nation eating out of the palm of his hand, and I know for sure that not everyone in the Fire Nation is gullible. Ozai is just that good at persuasion, I'm afraid."
"I actually found Zhao a lot more annoying," Yue confessed. "I swear, every time I turned to look at him, he was checking out my legs. He's such a slimy creep."
"I told you to wear pants, love," Katara sighed. She had gone with an elegant blue pantsuit for the photo shoot, while Yue had stuck with a fringed suede miniskirt and a paisley print blouse.
"I know you did, but I just hate the idea that creepy older men should dictate what I choose to wear," Yue sighed. "It's still so hot outside, so I want to wear skirts without being made feel uncomfortable about my choice of clothing."
"I can't argue with that," Katara nodded. "And it really is very hot, so I think I might join you in getting salivated at by Zhao Sakamoto," she added with a sigh. Azula didn't want to say anything to that, even if she was full of understanding. Zhao being creepy had been a very unwelcome part of her teenage years, so she knew exactly how Yue and Katara felt. Of course, the attentions of her father had been far more subtle and dangerous than those of Zhao.
"In a way, I still can't believe that you're going to be a part of what starts tomorrow," Suki said, shaking her head. "I'm supposed to be a neutral reporter, but you can be sure that I'll be cheering the both of you on all the way. And not only because your success is likely to boost the sales of The Harmony Ring even further." Suki had been really focusing on both Yue and Katara on the eve of the finals, doing extensive profiles on them for The Harmony Ring, and simply pushing them as a brand as much as she could. Their popularity was really blowing up across the Pai Sho world and it was dipping into the mainstream media as well. Suki's magazine had been forced to print additional issues because by focusing on Yue and Katara, The Harmony Ring was selling like hotcakes. Even the men's magazines had taken notice, some of them offering Yue and Katara almost astronomical sums for nude photo shoots. Katara had rejected the offer instantly while Yue had pondered about it for a few days before also rejecting it.
"I honestly can't wait, even if I'm playing Ozai in the opening round," Yue admitted. "I thought I'd be more nervous about it, honestly, but I'm mostly just curious about how good he really is."
"Unfortunately, he's very good," Azula grumbled. "I thought that the close to three hundred games we've analyzed would have told you as much, Yue."
"I know that, all I'm saying is that without playing him I can't be absolutely sure where I stand in relation to his level," Yue replied. Azula nodded at that, acknowledging that her girlfriend's words made sense.
"Well, I doubt that Gyatso is going to be a much easier test in the first round," Katara chuckled. "We've always struggled with him, haven't we?"
"But we have also beaten him in the past, so keep your cool and stick with the plan, Kat," Azula said encouragingly. "You know our tactics for Gyatso. Play for a draw in the early rounds. Gyatso is getting on in years and his health isn't what it used to be. In a long and grueling tournament, he's going to play the early rounds really well, but then he'll fade towards the end." Katara nodded at her to acknowledge that she did remember their plan.
"Seems like you have prepared well," Suki smiled at them all.
"You have no idea," Yue sighed, falling with her back on the sofa in a display of exaggerated tiredness. "The past month it's been at least eight hours of practice every day. At one point I thought I was going to lose my mind."
"At least Azula let us have a few days off before we got on the plane to come here," Katara smiled. "It's all for a good cause, though. I've never felt more ready for a tournament than I feel right now."
"Same here," Yue echoed the sentiment of her girlfriend. Azula couldn't help but feel a sense of pride at that. She was the one behind their preparation schedule and she was the one cracking the whip hard, pushing Yue and Katara to the breaking point. She had to admit, her two loves had taken the punishing schedule well, with very little complaining. Azula could only hope that all the hard work would pay off now.
"By the way, Suki," Azula said, suddenly remembering something else she had wanted to discuss with Suki. "I wanted to ask about that work placement thing."
"Oh?" Suki perked up with immediate excitement. "I told you that my bosses were super excited about that possibility, but I thought you wanted to stick with the Herald. They don't want you anymore?"
"No, it's not that, they want me plenty," Azula explained. "It's just that the Dai Li have told the Herald that they shouldn't want me because I'm a suspicious Fire Nation expat."
"Well, we definitely want you at The Harmony Ring, Azula," Suki gushed. "You writing for us would absolutely skyrocket our profile into the mainstream. My bosses also had an idea about what they wanted you to write in case you ended up working for us."
"Oh?" Azula frowned. "I'm usually not very good with people trying to set very tight boundaries for me. I mean, I used to be very good with that when my father was setting those boundaries for me, which probably explains my aversion to it now."
"I understand that, but hear me out," Suki said. "You're going hard at the next qualifying cycle once it resumes anew, right?" Azula nodded firmly to that. She had lost out on the opportunity to play in the finals this time, but it wasn't going to happen again. Not even Katara was going to stop her for the second time. "Well, my bosses thought that it would be great if you could document your participation in the tournaments in a sort of a diary form. It could be very much free form, whatever you feel like. And they don't want you to focus exclusively on the Pai Sho side. I think they want to have that mainstream outreach, focusing more on letting the general public know about the mindset of a young woman competing with all these crusty old men, successfully challenging their orthodoxy."
Azula felt her brow wrinkling as she carefully considered Suki's offer. In a way, putting herself and her thoughts out there was not something she was interested in doing, but the mainstream appeal and the growth of her profile were powerful motivators. Besides, nobody said that she had to put her authentic thoughts out there. The public actually didn't want to know what her real thoughts were, and Azula would never share the occasional darkness still plaguing her mind, regardless of how happy she was these days. People just wanted to read an inspiring and empowering story of a young woman's struggles in a man's world. Azula thought that it was well within her to give it to the public if that was what they wanted.
"That seems more than doable, Suki," Azula smiled. "Tell your bosses that we have a deal and once we get back to Ba Sing Se, we can set up a meeting and iron out the details."
"They're going to piss themselves from joy," Suki laughed. "I'm serious, Azula, thank you for choosing to do this. I think I'll enjoy being coworkers with you."
"Likewise, if you're the kind of girl who treats her coworkers to delicious rum," Azula chuckled, raising her tumbler to Suki.
The celebrations continued uninterrupted for a while, until there was an unexpected knock on the doors. Frowning, Azula walked up to the doors and opened them to find one of the hotel's room attendants with a large cart standing outside. Without Azula's invitation, the young man began to push the cart into the room, revealing a massive chocolate cake and three bottles of Dom Perignon. "What is the meaning of this?" Azula barked at the attendant.
The attendant gave her an elaborate card with flower patterns and hearts on it. "With compliments from Mr. Nakamura," he said joyfully.
Azula felt sickened as she opened the card to read the saccharine sweet words of her father, wishing her only the best for her birthday. She cringed visibly at his flowery declarations of undying love for his very special daughter, wishing she hadn't read this insincere poisonous spewing of toxic garbage. "We already have cake and champagne, we don't need any of this crap," she snarled at the confused looking attendant. "Remove it. Remove all of it," she repeated when the young man refused to move.
"But I was told to deliver it by Mr. Nakamura himself," the attendant insisted fearfully. "He would be very displeased if I didn't do as I was told."
"I don't care!" Azula shouted at him. "If you don't take your cart and bugger off, I'm going to toss this cake down the balcony and if it hits someone below, that's going to be on you!" The attendant looked rather frightened by now.
Suki walked up to them, looking concerned. "Look, we don't want any gifts from Ozai Nakamura, okay?" she told the scared looking young man. "Just take it all back to the kitchens. Ozai Nakamura doesn't have to know that we didn't accept his grand gesture. I'm sure that you and your fellow staff members know how to make a chocolate cake and three bottles of champagne disappear."
"I… guess we could do that?" the attendant managed uncertainly.
"Well, figure it out," Azula glared at him, pushing the cart back out through the doors, the attendant being forced to follow her out of the room. "And take this fucking card with you," she added, sticking the card in top layer of the cake and then setting it on fire with one of the lit candles from the cake. "Now get the hell out of here and don't bother us again, especially not on orders from Ozai Nakamura," she added, shouting after the hapless attendant, retreating in a hurry.
"Well, that was unpleasant," Katara remarked, eyeing Azula with worry as she and Suki rejoined the two Water Tribe girls.
"Eh, ignore it, it's not worth worrying about," Azula said, trying to shrug off the whole incident. Inwardly, she knew exactly what this gesture of her father meant. The mind games had begun.
Finally, the tournament got underway. Katara was in high spirits despite having to play Gyatso in the very first round, and Yue seemed to be feeling relaxed as well even if she was up against the defending champion and Azula's monstrous sire. Their preparations had been smooth and extensive, and with barely any Pai Sho in the five days preceding the tournament, Katara felt both ready and refreshed. Also, celebrating Azula's birthday had been the perfect way to set the tone for the tournament. It had been a lovely evening, capped by an unforgettable second part of Azula's gift, memories of which still made Katara blush the morning after.
As the matches of the opening round began, Katara did her best to follow the plan previously laid out for her. Gyatso was a strong player, but Katara by now had a good grasp on his style of play. Back in Ba Sing Se, they had prepared for Gyatso by playing dozens upon dozens of practice games with Aang. Aang's style mirrored Gyatso's almost identically, only slightly lacking in maturity. Now when Katara came up against Aang's foster father, she felt almost like playing Aang himself, it felt so familiar. Gyatso probed the occasional avenues of attack, but Katara would always be there, ready to offer strong counter play and each time Gyatso was forced to back off. Having made several attempts and starting to struggle for time, Gyatso eventually settled for a more defensive approach in order to save time.
Katara briefly entertained the idea to try for something more than just a draw, but Gyatso was too well entrenched to be dislodged. As a result of Katara's chosen opening, going for more at this point was too risky, and so she decided not to push her luck. Later in the tournament, as Gyatso began to tire, their plan was to select far more aggressive openings, creating opportunities and exploiting them. But that was for later. Both Katara and Yue agreed with Azula's assertion that this tournament was a trial of endurance. Going for too much too early was a recipe for disaster. They needed to distribute their strength evenly, which was why Katara settled for copying Gyatso's defensive play, and the two opponents shook on a draw on the forty sixth move.
The other two games lasted a little longer. Azula considered Zhao the slightly better player when compared to Long Feng, and it seemed that Zhao was about to prove Azula's assessment correct as he was a couple of tiles up heading into the endgame. Katara was far more interested in the other game, anyway. Yue had joked that she would be delighted to last more than forty moves against Ozai Nakamura, but they were now past fifty and Yue was still in the game. She was at a disadvantage, but it was a minor one, and a draw still appeared possible. Katara tried to spot whether Ozai was attempting some gamesmanship already, but she couldn't notice anything obvious just yet, save for him trying to stare at Yue far too intently than was considered good manners. Still, they had been told to expect it and they had even practiced to resist this sort of intimidation. Azula possessed the sort of intimidating glare that came close to her father's stare. Back in Ba Sing Se, they had endured long sessions of Azula just glaring at them angrily, unblinking, while Katara and Yue simply sat there and tried to get used to being constantly stared at. It had been a bizarre experience, but it seemed to be paying off because Yue appeared unaffected and was still playing quite relaxed.
Long Feng finally resigned on sixty second move after he had become too bold with his Orchid tile, allowing it to wander way too far behind Zhao's lines where it was eventually trapped and annihilated. Yue held on until the sixty-eight move when Ozai finally managed to create some muddy complications on the left flank and in the ensuing wild exchange of tiles, Yue somehow ended coming up a couple of tiles short. It was quite disappointing, because until then Yue had managed to avoid any such unpredictable complications, but it had taken Ozai just one opportunity to sway the game into his favor as Yue was forced to resign shortly after.
Katara was glad to see that Yue didn't appear too disappointed about the outcome, however. She would have loved to exchange more words with her girlfriend, but for now only a brief hug had to do as all the participants made their way to the press zone to be subjected to a barrage of questions from the reporters. Unlike at the junior level, they would be exposed to this sort of interrogation after every round of play, and it was not something that Katara was looking forward. It was especially daunting after a heartbreaking loss when you just wanted to hide and reflect on what had happened, instead of getting grilled by the press. But this was the side of professional Pai Sho tour that they simply had to accept and cope with if they wanted to make it to the very top.
It was a good hour later when Katara and Yue finally managed to flee the Royal Theater and link up with Azula, already waiting for them outside in the rented black Cadillac. Knowing their girlfriend, she had already reserved a table for them at some fancy restaurant to get them well fed after a grueling introduction to the world championship finals. Azula was an absolute monster when it came to making sure that everything was perfect for Katara and Yue away from the Pai Sho board, and the two Water Tribe girls loved Azula so much for it. Nothing was ever left to chance and unplanned, not even the tiniest detail. There was only one exception to that rule, and that was sex. If Azula had tried to schedule sex, then Katara and Yue would have rioted. And Azula must have known that because she had never brought that idea up.
"I'm very proud of you two, I want you to know that," was the first thing that Azula said upon starting to drive. "That was a very good first showing."
"Yes, it went a lot better than I had thought it would," Yue said, sitting in the backseat. "And after coming so close to at least a draw, I now actually feel almost disappointed. But one thing is perfectly clear, Kat. We can play with Ozai as equals. I'm absolutely certain of that now. He's not untouchable and he's not impossibly far above us."
"Of course, he's not untouchable," Azula said. "It was a good first effort, Yue. When you play him for the second time, you're going to do even better. Since he didn't actually lose any points against you, he'll probably be complacent and won't bother with serious prep. Then you can strike."
"So how was it psychologically?" Katara asked, curious. "It seemed like you were handling it well, Yue."
"Nothing much beyond some uncomfortable staring," Yue shrugged. "Azula, your glaring lessons really paid off there, I wasn't at all intimidated."
"That's good to now," Azula nodded, keeping her eyes firmly on the road. "I'm glad that the crowds here aren't as partisan as they would be back in Caldera. You both seem to have decently sized fan clubs of your own," Azula added, sounding just a tiny bit jealous. That by itself was simply ridiculous as far as Katara was concerned. Azula got just as much fan mail as she or Yue did, often even more than them. "You could have probably doubled your support if you had only done that Hustler photo shoot," Azula said then.
"Eww, no thanks, I'm fine with not attracting that kind of horny fans," Yue groaned.
"Yes, I can't believe you would even say that Azula," Katara sighed at her Fire Nation girlfriend. "They'd love to get you for a nude photo shoot as well, but somehow I doubt that you would agree."
"I obviously would never do anything so vulgar and crass," Azula shook her head, her lips tightly knit.
Yuen laughed at that. "Ah, that's classic Azula for you: do as I say, not as I do."
"Alright, fine, I'm glad that you both turned those offers down," Azula sighed. "I'm just thinking strategically, and from that point of view it would have been wiser to accept them."
"Not everything needs to be about strategy, Azula," Katara gave her girlfriend a mild glare of admonishment when Azula looked like she was about to argue some more. "What about the love between the three of us, and our relationship. Is that strategic as well?"
Azula shook her head vehemently. "Okay, you win, Kat," she said with a soft smile on her lips.
"I'm glad you said that, Zula," Yue commented as Azula finally pulled into the parking lot of their favorite gastro pub. "Because if you had said that our relationship is strategic, you would have been put in the doghouse until the end of the tournament."
"To a good start," Zhao Sakamoto raised his glass of wine to a toast, then clinking glasses with Ozai Nakamura and a rather sour looking Long Feng, who hadn't actually made a very good start to the tournament.
"I'll get you the next time, Zhao," Long Feng grumbled irately.
"You talk a big game, but I don't think you can back it up," Zhao grinned at him. "You can't even beat me at this." They were standing over a pool table in Ozai's penthouse suite, enjoying themselves to expensive drinks and cigars, as well as some high stakes billiard.
"Double or nothing, Zhao," Long Feng insisted. He gulped down the wine and set the glass aside in disgust. "I need something stronger than this weak piss," he snorted.
"Cheer up, old friend," Ozai slapped Long Feng on the shoulder, although his expression remained mocking. "I'm sure you'll get your first points in the next round. For now, let the fire whiskey from my personal supplies cure what ails you," he added, pouring a generous tumbler of the amber colored liquid for the leader of the Dai Li.
"Don't look so smug, Ozai," Long Feng scowled at him. "You almost had to settle for a draw with Arnook's wayward little girl."
"Yes, Ozai, we tried to tell you that they're both better than what you think," Zhao nodded in agreement.
"Don't be stupid," Ozai laughed. "The only reason why I struggled to put her away was because I kept getting distracted thinking about how good she would feel while bouncing on my cock. Those two might be inferior Water Tribes, but they're far more fetching than most of the whores I take to my bed."
"No argument there, my friend," Zhao agreed with an oily smile on his lips.
"Speaking of whores, Ozai," Long Feng gave their host a pointed stare, at which point there was a sudden knock on the doors of the penthouse suite.
"No, speak of the devil, Long Feng," Ozai grinned. "I believe our escorts are finally here, my friends."
Next chapter: the finals continue, Katara and Yue try to find their groove and Ozai remains his charming loathsome self.