"Rotting Cabbage', also Punk Rock, was a new idea for a band name." Lmao at the thought of Cabbage Man with his own band.
"Same here. Not really hopeless, but not really good and so definitely not good enough for my own taste." I ended up commissioning a few artists on another site. Naturally they needed reference pics so I had to draw my own OC lmao. It turned out pretty alright, but I can't draw clothes for the life of me. "And because I couldn't get my visions on a paper with a proper result, I got frustrated." But yeah, that's how I am.
"My patience is a strange thing in these cases. As long as I think, that I'm making progress, my patience nearly couldn't run out, but when I start to think I'm really stuck and things doesn't work like I had expected or planned, no matter what I try to do... oh man I could get really pi**ed." I feel like that's how I am as well. Though it also depends on what I'm doing. With writing I have a fuckton of patience. Drawing, it isn't so much that I get mad, more so I get bored. "Clay could break in the kiln or the workpiece could stay too soft and isn't stable after the burning progess (right term used, I hope)." I did it in high school and there was this one kid whose artwork literally exploded because he didn't poke an air hole into it.
It was an electric guitar, more my speed. Not that I have anything against acoustic. "So sad to know, that some persons are using this power in order to achieve the opposite." For the most part I haven't run into any artist like that yet. At least not artists who are openly detrimental. "If you should be interested in it, write a PM and I'll try to work out a translation." Why not lol. I'm gonna try to read and reply to your last PM and we can do that then.
"That's such an important aspect, I think! She's definitely setting the wrong focus, in my opinion." Yeah, she's putting her attention in the wrong place a bit. "It gives her band a quick publicity, but this whole thing might backfireing at her on long term." I'm trying to channel her inner teen, in not thinking in the long run. And that's not even getting into the mess that will be kicked up when it sets in that their teens and probably shouldn't be drinking and what not.
"Damn I like it, when you start to deal with some heavy past." Backstories are always fun, especially if the character's canon one is so ambiguous. Hopefully in the new Korra comic we'll get to see some canon Kuvira backstory! "Being send into the streets, because of her dream. It has forged her will to make it." She had a lot to fight for and to prove to herself and her parents. "I see the parallels, you started to draw between Azula and Kuriva." They have more things in common than either would like to admit. The main one being parental issues. "I like the way, you have made Baatar comforting Kuriva. He has reminded her of her new family, where she seems to have found the love and support for her dream." A reminder like that certainly never hurts. "But she's setting the right focus, in my opinion. Less thinking about FoA, more focus and energy on their own music. She's about to find the right balance, I think." She's trying to be mature. She's kinda like, 'shit man, I'm too old for this kind of feud.' "The idea of using metalbending for the show on stage was great." Thanks! This was a literal last minute change because I knew that I was going to have FOA do a pyro show and I didn't want to be repetitive. "A mixture of metal- and firebending at the same time, which would create shining and glittering effects, would be a mindblowing new stage show." If only WIM and FOA could get along. They could put on a pretty wicked show together. "I could almost see Azula getting angry and jealous." *Mischievous chuckles* "The idea of Kuriva making parkour is nice." It's a headcanon that I was glad to work in."My new favorite chapter of this story, great job! Keep on banging head and having fun with your stories." Thanks, I was happy with that chapter myself.
Sometimes she likes to pretend that the crowd below her are her subjects. It makes it easier, for a time, to accept that her title has been striped from her. They act like subjects; they cheer for her, they idolize her, they sing when she tells them to sing and scream when she tells them to scream.
But for the time, the screaming is left to her and it is beginning to take its toll. Agni, she hopes that she has enough left in her for the recording of new songs. TyLee is beating her drums at what Azula thinks is record speed. For herself, she shouts out lyrics so heavy in harshness, the lyrics are indistinguishable. There is a comfort in that; no one will be able to tell if she stumbles over the words.
She is growing tired. It is an effort to put on the kind of show that Fire Of Agni is known for. To claw at her hair and scratch at her skin, but with a very conscious effort to keep from doing any real damage.
She falls to the floor and Zuko with her, and finishes off the last song. Typically they finish with pyrotechnics, but this time she mixes it up. A little tester for something she'd like to do at Southern Air Sounds.
Faking a breakdown, she decides is almost more tiring than the real thing. The real thing leaves her feeling numb. In fact, she barely remembers the real thing. Whereas this…? This, she can feel everything; the cold of the floor against her cheek, the scratchiness of her throat left raw from screaming. At S.A.S there will be the discomforts of fake blood.
When the echo of the instruments dies down, she picks herself up. The crowd is terribly loud. Loud and excited. Chanting, "F! O! A!" endlessly. Azula wants to feel a sense of accomplishment at such a wild and excited energy. It is the sort she has been looking to elicit since their debut. But her body feels weak. The days she has gone without a break between shows are finally catching up with her. She wants to crumble back to the floor. She mumbles a few hasty parting words, a quick thanks for coming-she'll leave the rest to Zuko-and lays herself down behind closed curtains.
She listens to Zuko close, something-something, "and join us for another kickass time at the Southern Air Temples!" She isn't really paying attention, she just wants to sleep. And now that their last show of the tour is over, she can. At least for a few days before it is time to attend an interview and then hit the recording studio.
"Did you see that crowd?" Zuko asks as he enters the backstage area.
On a normal day, Azula would have rolled her eyes and muttered something akin to, "Zuzu, I was facing them the whole time." That day she realizes that she actually hadn't. The performance itself had taken so much energy.
There has to be some sort of balance, she thinks to herself as the conversation carries on without her.
"They were going nuts!" TyLee remarks of the crowd.
"I think that that was the largest pit, we've had so far." Mai comments.
"What encore song are we doing?" Zuko asks. Just like that, Azula is aware of the chanting.
She cringes. Tired as she is, she can't end the final show of their first Earth Kingdom tour with a disappointed crowd. Rubbing her eyes and then her head, she stands herself back up. "We're going to try something new."
She notices Zuko tense.
"I haven't even told you what we're doing." Azula grumbles.
He looks at her expectantly.
"This time you're going to be doing the screaming and I'm going to sing." She pauses. "Mai and TyLee, the two of you are going to pray that Zuzu doesn't fuck it up." That I don't fuck it up, but she leaves that unspoken.
.oOo.
Azula is asleep as soon as she flops onto the bed. It is the first time they have dropped money on a hotel in a while. Zuko turns to Mai with a hint of concern. The same kind he can see in TyLee's wide-eyed stare. Mai only laughs, "maybe now we'll get a real break."
Zuko pulls her out of the room. "I'm worried about her."
"I don't know, I kinda like her like this." Mai shrugs. "No more orders, less stress."
"I think that she might be getting sick…"
Mai sighs. "Relax, Zuko. She's just tired."
He returns the sigh. Maybe she was right-tonight was the last show of their tour and she has been pushing herself very hard. He follows Mai back into the room to find TyLee rubbing Azula's back as his sister slumbered. She is out cold, he doesn't remember the last time he has seen her sleep like that.
He doesn't want to anyways.
But he does…
He tries not to dwell on it, instead taking in how nice it is to have so much space again. Tonight he and Mai will have their own room, they have been due for some alone time. He can imagine that Azula wants some alone time with TyLee. But he also isn't sure that she will actually awake until late in the afternoon the next morning. He turns to Mai, mustering the most stern and serious look that he can. "Don't give her a hard time for waking up late tomorrow." He mutters. Spirit World knows that she'll push herself twice as hard if she got shit for giving herself a break.
Mai rolls her eyes. "I'll keep it to myself." But he detects a very rare hint sympathy in her voice.
He spares a glance over his shoulder at Azula. She is still dressed in her stage costume, hasn't even showered. She is definitely and indisputably wiped.