"Great compliment for me, thank you :) Feel free to add every name you like." No problem and thank you! "'Cactüsheads' was another name, but maybe a bit to obvious or cheesy. Have listened to some Motörhead this day and the name was suddenly there." I like it lol. I have to listen to more Motörhead. *Opens a new tab*.
"Okay ... just WOW. This is really, really awesome. You write fanfiction and own stories, you make music, you can sing... Now tell me, that you also can draw and I'm officially jealous ;)" Thanks! I would say that I make music very loosely though. I'm just starting out with the EDM thing and I'm still learning my way around the DAW. Unfortunately I can't draw, not very well lol. If I could I'd have art for all of my fics lol. It's a lot of fun though, even if most of them are just hobbies.
"I'll do so. Hope I'll find the time and money for it. But I'm hopeful." Finding the money is always the pain in the ass part.
"And which one of them would draw a red line, first. I think Zuko or Mai." I'll let the story reveal that one for itself lol.
"It's interesting but also very professional to read also the hateful letters, in order to search for some hidden truths between the lines." I feel Kuvira would be the type to try to find advice in criticism. As I interpret her, I feel like she would handle critique well. I also feel like, as a seasoned rock star, she'd have gotten thicker skin when it comes to hate mail. "It's interesting to see, how Kuriva is older and wiser than Azula. Both doesn't like the other band, it seems, but Kuriva is able to switch her point of view. She is able to recognize what Azula and FoA are doing right, what t is, which makes them special." Likewise, I feel as though she'd be able to admit what rivals do right and use that to better her own work. "Azula could easily do the same, but she doesn't want to. Her pride seems to be much stronger in this case, than her professionalty." Azula's pride is a fatal flaw. "The challange will be, to find a balance between redefying the band without loosing themselves. It's one thing to know, where to start and finally making the step out of the comfort zone." Kuvira has a plan for how they will do that. Or I do, Kuvira doesn't just yet lol. A"I liked Kuriva's commanding reaction and her known habit to clasps her hands behind her back. There her canon version shined through." Thanks, I was hoping to let canon Kuvi come into the fic. This is kind of the first time that I'm really working with her as a character, so I'm still getting a taste for how to write her. "Good chapter and so happy to know, that some of my band names will find a home in your universe." Thanks and I'm happy for the opportunity to use your idea.
Zuko pushes his chair in with a force that shook the table. "Careful with the equipment!" Azula snaps. Zuko has steadily
grown more and more irritable as their recording session went on. "What's going on with you?"
"What's going on with me!?" He asks. "What's going on with you?"
Azula rolls her eyes. They don't have time for this.
"I want a break Azula!" He declares. "We haven't had one since we began touring. I though that you left this next week
concert free so we could have one."
"I was kinda hoping for a day of too." TyLee mumbled softly.
Azula sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. Did they really need an on-tour recording session? Perhaps she is pushing
them too hard. She must admit that her throat hurts like hell. "Alright, fine." She caves. "We can have the week off..."
"You sound like you need it." Mai remarks off-handedly. She hopes that Mai is referring to her hoarse voice and not her demeanor.
"Oh, thank you Azula!" TyLee exclaims. "You're the best!" She throws her arms around Azula. "Now I can go and get my hair
done and give Haru a call."
"Haru?" Azula asks. "Why would you call Haru?"
"Because he's sooo cute." TyLee beams.
Azula begs to differ but she won't tell TyLee how to waste her time. She watches Zuko and Mai wander back to the tour bus, she could follow them but she knows what they have in mind. She has kept them deprived for a while. So that left her to decide how she wants to spend her day. She supposes that she can fill it with exploring the Earth Kingdom. Gaoling was a nice enough city, wedged within steep and craggy hills. It hosts an assortment of shops and traditional Earth Kingdom eateries. For awhile she and TyLee walk side by side making mundane conversation but then TyLee breaks off to step into the hair cutter's building and Azula is alone.
She decides to give the closest restaurant a try. Azula had never been particularly fond of Earth Kindom cuisine, vastly preferring the spice and tang of the Fire Nation. By comparison the food here seems almost bland. She pushes it around with her chopsticks for a few minutes before actually eating it.
Eventually, she pushes her dishes aside and heads back to the tour bus. She doesn't put any thought into her team of bodyguards, or lack thereof, until she feels a hand on her shoulder.
"You're from Fire Of Agni aren't you!"
She lets the fire die in her palm. "That's correct."
"Oh. My. Raava!" The boy squeals.
"Not so loud." Azula hisses. She doesn't particularly mean to be rude, not to a fan, but the last thing she wants to deal with is a swarm of camera wielding, question spouting, paparazzis. And, Agni, with the kiss scandal fresh out of the press, they would have a lot to ask.
"Oh...sorry." His voice drops. "I'm just so excited! Where are the other three."
"Enjoying their day off, I suppose." Azula shrugged.
"I'm so glad I get to meet you!" He holds out a pen and paper.
Azula takes it and signs it. She supposes that she will either have to remember her bodyguards or get used to encounters like so. Not that being a princess hadn't earned her plenty of attention. But subjects and fans were different breeds. She is still trying to get a feel for Fire Of Agni's fandom. A good lot of them were as fierce and crude as the image Azula and the rest of her band try to craft.
.oOo.
As wonderful as this little waste of a week has been for her voice, it is horrid for her state of mind. She is growing restless. It leaves her too much time to think, dwell, and regret. She looks around the tour bus bedroom. It seems that, once again, she is the last one awake. She lies on her back with her hands clasped atop her middle, staring at the ceiling.
She is more than okay with Zuko slumbering, in fact she avoids him as much as she can. She rolls onto her side with a drawn out exhale. She has too much to think about. Mostly she thinks of home. For as many songs as she writes about it being broken and dreadful, she misses it. She misses her father. The very man who they regularly tear apart with vulgar lyrics and unkind shoutouts. She misses him so terribly. Misses when he would tuck her bangs behind her ear and tell her how much potential she has. She misses having not failed him.
Azula draws the covers more tightly around herself.
"You still awake?" Zuko's voice cuts through her dismal thinking.
She pretends to be asleep.
"I know you're awake. You used to do this when we were kids…" he trails off.
She shifts slightly.
"You're going to have to talk about this some time." He grumbles. "How long do you think we can avoid it before it starts to affect our music?"
Azula groans. "It was a kiss Zuzu." She pauses. "That's it." And it served its purpose.
"If it was just a kiss then why have you been avoiding me?"
"I want to make sure others know, that it was just a kiss." Azula replies. But that's just the thing, as much as she wants to put that drunken publicity stunt behind her, she may need to exploit it again.
"Just admit that we were drunk."
"And what, have the police squad handing us a fine? We need that money for our videos and equipment. How many cymbals has TyLee gone through already?" The girl isn't exactly careful.
She doesn't confess that she has every intention of bringing their scandal to a new peak if her voice can't draw as much attention as she wants it to.
"Well...well…" Zuko trails off. "Well. Just stop making things weird." She can practically see the pout on his face. "We were just starting to fix what our dad messed up. I want us to be real siblings…"
"Will you two go to bed." Mai grumbles.
"You have one more day off." Azula replies. "You can sleep in." Even so, she doesn't fancy Mai peeping on a touchy and borderline sappy conversation like this. And to Zuko she closes the discussion, "look, Zuzu, I'm not going to let it affect our music. Not now that we've been invited to S.A.S."
"We were invited to…"
"We'll talk about it tomorrow."
"Or after our day off?" Mai asks.
Azula rolls her eyes. "Fine." She needs to fine tune her attack plan anyhow. She knows that they will need a few new songs, she simply needs to decide if they want to go for quantity or quality. If she gets her way, they will have both. She knows that the thought will follow her to sleep.
She starts to drift into it when Zuko speaks again. "I'm not worried about the music." He reiterates. "I'm worried about how it will affect us."
"It won't." Azula vows. Yet, somehow, she isn't quite convinced herself. Fire Of Agni seems to be revealing more uncertainty and instability than she had initially anticipated. She is no longer thinking of how to approach S.A.S. The image of she and Zuko won't leave her mind. That is what follows her to sleep.