Chapter 37 – the taste test
"Are you sure you two don't want to take part as contestants?" Azula asked, glancing at Katara and Yue. She was busy preparing for a quick between the services entertainment for The Northern Lights crew, a taste test contest based on one of her father's successful TV cooking shows. "I have plenty of earmuffs and blindfolds for everyone," Azula said.
"I think I'll have way more fun as a spectator," Yue smiled in reply. Together with Katara, they were sitting at one of the dining room tables, watching Azula go through her preparations. "Also, this way I'll save myself from the embarrassment of getting everything wrong."
"I think you would do quite well, actually," Azula shrugged. "I'm not saying you have an executive chef's palate, because that's obviously not the case, but you definitely have an above average palate. The same goes for Katara."
"Thank you for that slightly backhanded compliment," Katara chuckled. She was watching the collection of earmuffs and blindfolds that Azula had laid out on the nearby table. "That's a lot of blindfolds," Katara remarked with interest.
"Yes, are those from your personal collection?" Yue winked at Azula. "Seems like those might have some interesting uses in the bedroom."
"Shut up," Azula blushed. "Anyway, if you want to borrow a blindfold, I don't mind sharing. But for now, I need to finish my preparations," she said, looking over the ingredients she had gathered. There were nine containers with finely chopped ingredients, which Azula had further split into three groups of three each, based on how challenging it was to identify them. The easy category featured chicken, carrot and coconut. The medium difficulty of ingredients contained fig, zucchini and cheddar cheese. Finally, the advanced difficulty had harder to identify ingredients like white asparagus, black truffle and boiled egg whites.
"Just remember not to feed some meet or cheese to our vegan contestant," Yue warned. "Competition or not, I doubt Aang would appreciate it."
"Don't worry, as always I've thought of everything," Azula grinned confidently. "I ordered some flavored baby food just for this very purpose," she explained, looking over the prepared ingredients one more time before covering the tray. "Anyway, since I'm ready, do you mind summoning our contestants?" Azula asked, looking at the two Water Tribe girls.
"We're on it," Katara nodded, and together with Yue they raced out of the dining room, returning with more contestants in tow than Azula had expected. The kitchen staff were accompanied by Sokka and Mingxia.
"Alright, it seems as if we have some extra contestants," Azula smiled. "But that's fine, this wasn't meant exclusively just for the kitchen staff."
"I don't mind bowing out if that's a problem," Mingxia quickly offered. "It's just that Suki told me that this might be g-good for me. Exercise my palate before I start this apprenticeship with your mom."
"Sure, it's not a bad idea, and you're very welcome to join," Azula nodded. She was a little curious about this girl from Kyoshi Island because thus far, Azula hadn't determined just how much potential Mingxia had. "Same goes for you, Sokka."
"Obviously," Sokka nodded. "I aim to demonstrate my superior palate and once again prove what a terrible mistake you made by kicking me out of the kitchen."
"Sokka, you have the palate of a drunken crack-smoking hobo," Toph laughed. "You're just going to make a fool out of yourself."
"I'm sure Sokka will get at least a few of them right," Aang felt the need to defend his best friend.
"I wouldn't bet on it, Aang," Suki chuckled.
"Anyway, if we could turn down the chatter, I'm going to briefly explain the rules," Azula spoke loudly to silence the contestants. "I'm sure you've all seen the competition on TV, but I figured that we all could do with a refresher. You will all be given a pair of blindfolds and earmuffs. When I tap you on the shoulder, open your mouth and I'll use a spoon to feed you the sample. When I tap you on the shoulder again, you give me the answer. Clear so far?"
"Clear as mud, boss," Suki mock-saluted.
"Ugh," Azula groaned. "Anyway, Katara and Yue will be keeping score for us." Katara raised her notebook and pen, while Yue cheered and waved a tiny cocktail flag. "And they will also laugh at your terrible answers." Azula then picked up the blindfolds and earmuffs, starting to distribute them among the contestants. When she got around to handing the items to Toph, Azula was surprised by Toph kicking her in the shins. "Ow!" Azula yelled. "What was that for?"
"For giving me the blindfold, you idiot," Toph snorted.
"Oh," Azula cringed. "Sorry, force of habit."
"Whatever, bitch," Toph laughed, clearly not actually offended, but merely delighted about the opportunity to engage in legitimized violence.
"Alright, here we go with the first ingredient, chicken," Azula said as she began to feed the samples to the contestants. In case of Aang, she stuffed a spoonful of chicken-flavored baby food in the Air Nation lad's mouth. "How hard can this be? Seriously, if they get this one wrong, they shouldn't be in the kitchen," Azula remarked once she had finished delivering the samples. She now returned to the start of this little queue of five, ready to hear the answers.
Toph and Suki delivered correct responses, but Aang then failed, identifying the flavor as salted tofu. "I suppose that's not very fair because Aang just doesn't stand a chance of guessing it," Katara shrugged as she wrote down the scores. "He's never had chicken in his life."
"Well, if these limitations make a vegan chef less versatile, then the scores should reflect that," Azula replied, refusing to accept Katara's criticism. "Anyway, moving on," she said, proceeding to tap Mingxia's shoulder.
"Is that… jackfruit?" Mingxia guessed.
"Oh, crap," Katara suddenly exclaimed. Azula turned towards her for an explanation. "Shit… we just fed Mingxia chicken. I only just remembered that she's a vegetarian."
"Ugh, that's horrible…" Yue groaned. "We're such awful friends. I knew that, too! Alright, she only mentioned it once, but I shouldn't have forgotten."
"Well, I hadn't even heard about her being a vegetarian," Azula said defensively. "I hope she'll accept our apology without any further drama." She then walked up to Sokka. "Let's see what this culinary genius thinks I just fed him," Azula chuckled, tapping Sokka's shoulder.
"Well, that was easy," Sokka declared confidently. "That was unmistakably a banana!"
"What?!" Azula yelled. "How… how is it possible to mistake chicken for a banana? They don't even have a remotely similar flavor or texture!" Sokka was still grinning victoriously, wearing his earmuffs and ignorant of Azula's ranting.
"I had no idea how badly Sokka has destroyed his palate with the junk food he's eating all the time, but apparently it's really bad," Katara laughed while helping Yue quickly wipe down the table. Yue had been drinking at the very moment when Sokka delivered his answer, and she had ended up spraying the table with soda.
"Anyway, I guess that puts Suki and Toph in the lead, which isn't surprising. Although, I totally expect Suki to win this. I will be disappointed if she doesn't," Azula nodded.
"My girl has it in the bag," Yue agreed confidently, sending a fond stare towards Suki.
"Right, here we go with the second ingredient, coconut. Very distinctive in both taste and flavor, it would be an absolute travesty to get this wrong," Azula said as she went from one contestant to the next to spoon feed them the samples. This time, everyone got their responses right, at least until it was Sokka's time to answer.
"This one's even easier than the last," Sokka laughed. "The answer is potato."
"How is the coconut a potato?" Azula was outraged as Katara and Yue were busy dying from laughter. "It's a completely different texture! Is he trolling us?"
"No… no, he really isn't," Katara wheezed, leaning in against Yue. Yue herself was shaking with laughter, almost about to fall over. "Trust me, for someone who kept bringing horribly prepared dishes back to Sokka because of customer complaints only to be dismissed because there was 'nothing wrong with the food', this makes perfect sense."
"I have to agree," Yue coughed. "We love Sokka, but he destroyed his taste buds by eating three packs of flaming hot Cheetos every day during his teen years."
"I guess that would do it," Azula sighed. "How likely is he to guess the next one on our ingredient list? It's carrot, by the way," Azula added as she resumed the task of feeding the contestants.
"Very unlikely," Katara laughed. "I'm bracing myself for another hilarious answer."
"He'll probably think it's some kind of a fish," Yue joined in. "I know, he'll say salmon! The carrot becomes salmon!"
"I refuse to believe someone's palate could be so horrible," Azula snorted as she got ready to collect the answers. Everyone once again guessed correctly as Azula approached Sokka, feeling very weary.
"How very kind of you to feed me my favorite food," Sokka grinned. "The unmistakable taste of hotdog!"
"Help!" Katara cried, laughing so hard she was soon hacking up a lung. "I'm going to pee myself!"
"I might have already done that," Yue wheezed, crossing her legs and shaking as she desperately tried not to die from laughing too hard.
"Alright, I think we need to remove Sokka from this competition before we proceed onto the next tier of ingredients," Azula frowned. "If he failed to identify even the basic ones, there's no chance he would succeed going forward. Also, I don't want you two to keel over from laughing too hard," she added, looking at Katara and Yue, struggling to recover from their bout of hysterical laughter.
"Aww, I was hoping to get even more ammunition to tease Sokka with," Katara pouted as Azula approached Sokka with the intent to remove his earmuffs.
"Valid, but on the other hand, my throat feels really raw already," Yue said.
Once Azula had removed the earmuffs, Sokka took off the blindfold himself, grinning broadly. "Impressive, right?" he stated confidently. "Three for three, baby, slam-dunk!"
"What are you talking about, you nincompoop?" Azula glared at Sokka. "You got everything wrong!"
"Eh?" Sokka looked very confused, then laughing awkwardly. "Ah, I see what you're doing, very funny. Well, you're not fooling me. I know I got everything right, banana, potato, and lastly, hotdog."
"It was chicken, coconut and carrot," Azula growled. "How did you-… you know what, never mind! You're eliminated for this pathetic performance, anyway. I have never seen anyone with worse palate than yours! It's remarkable for all the wrong reasons and probably demands urgent medical attention!"
"She's messing with me, isn't she?" Sokka glanced at Yue and Katara.
"No, it was as terrible as Azula says," Yue chuckled. "But thank you for providing us with endless laughter."
"Honestly, that didn't even feel real," Katara sighed. "Now that I know how bad Sokka's palate is, I almost struggle to believe that our restaurant was able to survive his leadership in the kitchen."
"Ungrateful brats, all of you," Sokka frowned as he sat down at one of the tables to watch the competition unfold. The frown didn't linger on his face for too long, however, as he apparently was able to find the funny side in his amusing failure, chuckling at Katara's teasing about the chicken that tasted like banana.
Meanwhile, Azula was ready to continue the competition by making the contestants sample cheddar cheese. Suki and Toph once again guessed correctly. Mingxia thought it was provolone cheese. Aang figured that the cheese flavored baby food somehow tasted of dill, an answer that rather baffled Azula.
"That's embarrassing," Sokka shook his head. "I would have gotten this one spot on."
"Don't be ridiculous," Katara laughed. "You would have thought the cheese was a strawberry or something." Everyone including Sokka himself snickered at that.
Next, Azula had everyone sample the zucchini. It was a tricky ingredient to identify because of its subtle flavor and soft texture, making it easy to mistake it for other similar vegetables. Azula was very impressed when her entire kitchen staff, as well as Mingxia, all identified it correctly. This put Suki and Toph both at five out of five, while Aang and Mingxia had three correct guesses.
The last ingredient of the medium difficulty tier was fig, which was another slightly tricky one. While fig had a very distinctive flavor and texture, it was a relatively rare ingredient and one they didn't use at The Northern Lights, so it was possible that the contestants simply hadn't tasted a fig in a very long time. Aang and Mingxia both went with dried apricot as their answer, which seemed like a reasonable guess. Suki surprised Azula by going with dried plum, also getting it wrong. Toph was the only one to get her answer right.
"Alright, this is not shaping up quite as I expected," Azula said as she removed Aang and Mingxia's earmuffs, since they were now too far behind to stand a chance at winning. "Three out of six for both of you, so not bad at all," Azula informed the two eliminated contestants.
"I'm happy with that," Mingxia smiled demurely as she took a seat at one of the tables, Aang coming to sit alongside her.
"Did you say Toph is winning?" Aang asked, receiving a quick confirmation from Sokka. "Yeah, I'm not surprised about that. Toph has an insane palate."
"Why have I never heard about that? It might have been important to know," Azula wondered, getting ready for the final round, preparing the samples that would be fed to Suki and Toph. White asparagus, black truffle and boiled egg whites were all tricky ingredients to identify, but for very different reasons. The Northern Lights used regular green asparagus for several of their entrees, mostly with fish. White asparagus was essentially the same as green asparagus, only sweeter, so it was easy to get it wrong. Black truffle was an expensive high dining ingredient that The Northern Lights didn't use, so Azula suspected that Suki and Toph wouldn't even recognize it. Boiled egg whites were obviously a very common ingredient, but the trick lay in them having nearly no flavor at all, only being possible to identify by their texture.
Azula decided to go with the egg whites first, expecting that Suki would be able to get it right and potentially claw her way back into the competition. And while Suki got the answer right, so did Toph, which meant that Suki still lagged a point behind.
"How is Toph doing it?" Yue wondered, looking bewildered. "She hasn't gotten a single one wrong yet! It's starting to feel like some kind of black magic."
"I have to admit, it is very impressive," Azula nodded. "But let's see if they pass the asparagus test," she said, feeding the finely chopped white asparagus to both Suki and Toph.
Having given the two contestants some time to come up with their answers, Azula approached Suki first, praying for her head chef to get this one right. "Asparagus," Suki said, after Azula had poked her shoulder.
"Alright, that's a partial answer," Azula said. "If Toph also goes for asparagus, they both get a point. If Toph says something like cabbage or artichoke, then obviously only Suki gets a point. But if Toph says white asparagus, then only she gets the point."
"That seems fair," Aang spoke up, the others also nodding.
Azula approached Toph and shook her shoulder. "Asparagus," Toph said confidently. Azula let out a sigh of relief, but then Toph opened her mouth again. "White asparagus, actually," she added.
"She's done it!" Sokka roared, jumping to his feet. "Eight out of eight! What a queen!" The others laughed at Sokka's display, but joined in giving Toph a standing ovation as Azula removed the earmuffs of the final two contestants.
"I didn't win?" Suki wondered at the small crowd chanting Toph's name. "Well, how did I do, then?"
"Six out of eight," Azula replied. "Actually, I would say six and a half, because asparagus was partially correct. It's a really good score, so you have nothing to be ashamed about."
"I suppose," Suki frowned. It was clear that she had expected herself to do better, or at least not to lose to Toph. Holding herself to the highest standard imaginable was a quality that Azula approved of, so she was glad to see her head chef being a little disappointed. "I can't believe Toph got eight out of eight. That's insane."
"Yes, it is," Azula said. "It's beyond impressive and better than I would have done," she was forced to admit.
"Wait, eight out of eight?" Toph asked. "I thought you said there were nine rounds?"
"There were, but you had an unassailable lead before the last round, so I decided not to bother with it," Azula explained.
"Well, I want you to bother and give me that last sample," Toph demanded. "I want to go for nine out of nine."
"Alright, but don't blame me for ruining your perfect streak," Azula said, picking up a spoonful of black truffle and feeding the ingredient to a very expectant Toph.
"Hmm," Toph mused, having chewed on the exotic mushroom for a good while. "This feels familiar," she said, in the face of Azula's skepticism. "Is that black truffle?"
"Yes," Azula said, feeling dumbfounded. "How were you able to guess it? I don't think you've ever worked with black truffle here."
"Well, you're forgetting that I haven't always been dirt poor, but I actually come from old money," Toph smirked. "I remember my parents taking me to the poshest restaurant in Gaoling for my sixteenth birthday, and I had this amazing black truffle and parmesan linguine."
"But that must have been more than… eight years ago?" Suki asked, sounding astounded. "How can you remember the taste of something you've had only once and such a long time ago?"
"Wait," Toph replied, chuckling awkwardly. "You mean that's not normal? Are you saying that you don't remember things like that?"
"I dare say that most people don't have such advanced taste memory," Azula said. "Especially not Sokka." Sokka groaned at that.
"Sorry, but the mocking will never stop, Mr. Banana Chicken," Katara laughed. "Anyway," she sobered slightly, giving Azula a firm stare. "We have something to say to Mingxia, don't we?"
"That's right," Azula nodded reluctantly, turning towards Suki's foster sister, eyeing her curiously. "So, the sample that you thought was jackfruit… unfortunately, that was chicken." Mingxia gasped. "Please accept my sincere apologies," Azula said. "I completely dropped the ball on that. For what it's worth, it was an honest mistake."
"Well… it's a little upsetting, but I suppose I never told you that I was a vegetarian, did I?" Mingxia said, managing a slightly strained smile. "You couldn't have known."
"We both knew," Yue said, pointing at Katara. "It just didn't occur to us to mention it to Azula, so it's our bad, really."
"Oh well, water under the bridge," Mingxia offered magnanimously. "Just don't make that mistake again."
"I feel like you're letting Azula off way too easy for being an inconsiderate jerk," Toph chuckled. Before Azula knew it, she had been kicked in the shins once again.
"Stop that!" Azula protested. "Or I will reconsider my suggestion to the owners about giving you a raise!"
"Wait… a raise?" Toph laughed, then reaching out to awkwardly pat Azula on the head. "Let's forget there was any kicking involved. Nobody saw anything, right?"
"Tell that to my poor shins," Azula muttered.
"Anyway, what was that about a raise for Toph?" Sokka reared his head. "I'm not sure that's within our budget. We barely have enough for my Rolex wristwatch, a brand-new sports car and all the designer clothes and fur coats that my girlfriend has been looking at."
"Ignore him," Katara scowled. "That's a very inappropriate joke, Sokka." She then turned back towards Azula. "What did you have in mind, Azula?"
"Well, it's clear that Toph's palate is a national treasure and an asset we have to utilize wisely," Azula mused. "In the future, every new dish we add to the menu will have to be greenlit by Toph, because she has the superior palate. Also, we need to put Toph in charge of quality control. Because of her near perfect taste memory, she's the one best suited to solve disputes with customers."
"The customer is always wrong!" Toph declared, laughing. "Anyway, I love all of this. Not only am I getting a raise, I'm also getting even more free food. What could possibly be better?"
"It would be even better if I could get that new sports car, or at least a Rolex," Sokka said dreamily, earning himself a few chuckles.
"Oh, shut up, dummy," Azula sighed, lobbing a piece of chicken at Sokka.
Sokka caught the chicken mid-air, swallowing the piece whole. "Yum! Tastes like banana!" he declared amongst the amused laughter.
Even though Katara was already missing her dad following his departure back to the Water Tribes, Azula sharing the news about having secured the forest cottage for another weekend had helped in distracting Katara from her sadness. As the week progressed, Katara was becoming more and more excited when looking forward to Sunday's trip to the cottage, dying from curiosity about the special plans Azula had alluded to.
And finally, here they were, on the forest road leading to the cottage, with Katara sitting in the front next to Azula in the driver's seat, accompanied by Suki and Yue, looking equally animated in the backseat. Whenever the four of them took these short mini vacations, Katara always had to know that the friends left behind would also be having a grand time, because otherwise Katara just wouldn't be able to properly enjoy herself. With Sokka and Ty Lee appearing more than happy to take care of Kya, and with Aang and Toph inviting Mingxia to hang out with them, Katara felt as if she had no immediate concerns to worry about, and she was quickly getting into the right relaxed mindset for their forest retreat.
Azula seemed to be in more hurry than ever to get to the cottage, and her driving on the narrow forest road left Katara feeling a little shaken. They arrived at the cottage a quarter past nine and the sun was still a few hours from setting. Being fellow speed monsters and adrenaline junkies, Azula and Suki looked energized from the crazy drive and they did the most work bringing the supplies from the car's trunk into the cottage. Katara and Yue took their time recovering from the wild journey, eventually following their friends into the house, welcoming them for yet another hopefully unforgettable weekend.
As always, they kicked off their stay at the cottage by cracking open a pair of wine bottles, lounging on the downstairs sofas and simply chatting about whatever nonsense came to mind. It was at some point during this idle chatter that Katara was about to put her phone away, only to notice that she had an unread message from Azula, sent some twenty minutes ago, shortly after they had arrived at the cottage. Katara opened the message, blinking when she realized that Azula had sent her pictures of some fruits and berries, namely cherry, strawberry and raspberry. The pictures were accompanied by a cryptic message that read as follows: 'Remember the order, it's important. And not a word to the others.'
'Lol, what?' Katara snickered to herself, quickly sending her confused reply. Azula took one look at her phone, but instead of replying, she gave Katara a stare that looked downright warning. It left Katara feeling incredibly confused, but since Azula appeared dead serious about whatever was going on, Katara decided to cease her inquiries, suspecting that perhaps it had something to do with Azula's secret plans. Fortunately, Suki and Yue were distracted with their own side conversation and hadn't noticed the exchange between Azula and Katara. Suki was busy ranting to Yue about how the upcoming Beetlejuice sequel was going to be shamefully safe and sanitized compared to the original movie, so that they would be fine taking Kya to see it with them. Yue looked rather enraptured while listening to Suki's passionate outburst.
"Anyway, if you're quite done bashing a movie that hasn't even come out yet, maybe we can get around to this evening's entertainment," Azula commented, once Suki was done with her rant that looked to have left her slightly out of breath. "It's a game of sorts. And I think it would be best if we played it upstairs, in my bedroom."
"Alright, now you're talking," Suki grinned. "Shall we undress right here and now, or wait until later?"
Azula sighed, shaking her head, as she watched Yue hit Suki in the face with a pillow. "While I appreciate the enthusiasm, maybe let's not jump the gun until you know what I actually had in mind?" Azula rolled her eyes. "Any of you ever heard of Edible Beauty?"
Katara and Suki both shook their heads, while Yue appeared uncertain. "I think so, but I'm not sure," Yue mused. "I do remember them being in the news for some reason. They're a cosmetics company, right?"
"That's right," Azula nodded. "They're both vegan and cruelty free, which is important to someone, I guess. What is important to me is that they're paying me bucketloads of money to promote them. And they also send me a lot of free samples, some of which are actually passable enough for me to consider using. Just now, they sent me samples from their latest lipstick line."
"Oh," Yue beamed happily. "You want us to experiment with different lipsticks? That's so much fun, I'm always game for that."
"I actually think Azula had something slightly different in mind," Katara smiled, starting to realize just what Azula's wicked plan entailed.
"See, Katara's getting it," Azula grinned. "I was thinking that we could have our own, slightly more risqué and not safe for work taste test. I would put on a lipstick without telling you what flavor it is-"
"And then we'd have to kiss you and guess it from eating the lipstick off your face?" Suki laughed. "Alright, that's… actually a really awesome idea. I just hope that lipstick doesn't give us all raging indigestion. That wouldn't be very sexy or romantic."
"Don't be ridiculous," Azula blushed. "It's all natural oils, waxes and pigments. They're not actually kidding about the edible part."
"Okay, it does sound like a fun game," Yue agreed. "I suppose we could play it downstairs, but maybe a bedroom setting is a more appropriate setting."
"Definitely," Suki nodded. "Anyway, what's the main prize? I'm curious to know since I'm obviously the favorite to win."
"Just because you have a great palate for food doesn't mean you have a great palate for lipstick," Katara added in a slightly prickly tone. She had by now realized that Azula had essentially texted her the cheat code for winning the game, and until Suki had made her cocky comment about being the favorite, Katara was having an internal struggle about actually using Azula's tip. But Katara was also desperate to win, and Suki's little remark merely served as a reminder that she and Yue had both shared intimacy with Azula quite recently, while Katara had been left out in the cold for months, and had, in fact, never had Azula all to herself. So, in that single moment, Katara dismissed all moral considerations about cheating being bad and decided that she was going to do whatever it took to win this naughty little contest.
"Oh, rivalry is heating up, I love it," Azula laughed. "Anyway, the main prize will be something for me and the winner to arrange privately. It could be many things, but all of them amazing, that much I promise."
"Okay, then what are we waiting for?" Suki exclaimed, the first to get up to her feet. "Let's go upstairs and get this show on the road!"
With Suki leading the way, the four girls all but ran upstairs, heading for the largest of the bedrooms which Azula always made sure to claim for herself. Once there, Katara, Yue and Suki perched on the massive queen bed, allowing Azula to take charge of the evening's entertainment.
"I left the blindfolds and earmuffs back at the restaurant, but no matter, this should work perfectly well without them," Azula said. She grabbed one of her many vanity cases and rummaged through it. "Alright, I have some flavors here that shouldn't be too hard for you to guess. To make it fairer, we'll go with a set order in which you will give your answers. First round, Yue will answer first, then Katara, and Suki, you'll be the last. Second round, the order will be Katara, Suki and then Yue. And in the final round, it'll be Suki, Yue and Katara."
"What happens if I want to give the same answer as Yue already gave?" Suki asked. "Can I do that?"
"You can," Azula nodded. "That's where some strategy comes in. You definitely have advantage in the round where you're answering last. You can copy the previous answers or you can decide to take a risk and diverge. I think it will be fun to do it that way."
"Sure," Yue agreed, smiling. "It seems like this method will also give me and Kat better chances against Suki." She then paused, looking at Azula. "Anyway, I'm ready to start. I think you said I was going first, right?"
"That's right," Azula nodded, then turning away to apply the dark red lipstick that Katara thought fit her perfectly. "Alright, I think we're ready to commence," Azula smiled, moving closer to Yue on the queen bed. For the briefest of moments, there was a slight hesitation between them, which Katara thought was only natural considering the very serious feelings that had blossomed between the two women not that long ago. Still, the hesitation passed quickly as they relaxed into a very soft looking kiss that neither of them appeared eager to break for the longest of time. Excitement mixed with light sprinklings of jealousy within Katara as she couldn't take her eyes away from the pair kissing, mesmerized and frozen as she dreamed about taking Yue's spot in Azula's arms, heat rising in her core from these thoughts alone.
"Whoa… okay…" Yue gasped lightly once she and Azula had separated. "I think I can tell the flavor. Do I give my answer now?"
"Not just now, let's wait until everyone has had a taste," Azula replied, sounding very composed despite her eyes still being a little glazed. She then turned away to reapply the lipstick before facing Katara with an inviting stare. "Alright, your turn, Kat."
"You don't need to tell me twice," Katara grinned, swiftly taking Yue's vacated spot next to Azula. She reached out to cup Azula's cheek before leaning in for a kiss. It didn't take long for Katara to identify the sweet taste of cherries on Azula's lips, just like how Azula had tipped her off. Obviously, just because Katara was certain that she had the right answer, she wasn't going to cut the kissing short. Katara put in as much effort as Yue had done before her, not letting go of Azula's lips until they were both starting to struggle for breath.
"That was certainly very enthusiastic," Suki laughed, pulling Katara away so that she could take her place. Meanwhile, a rather frazzled looking Azula was once again making good use of the brief pause to recover and reapply her lipstick.
"I'm definitely not complaining about the enthusiasm," Azula chuckled.
"Good, because you're about to get some more of it," Suki grinned, pulling Azula in for a kiss. Suki was definitely the more insistent and forceful kisser, but she also didn't make the kiss last as long as Katara and Yue had done. Suki appeared to release Azula once she had made sure that she had the right answer. "That should be an easy one to guess for everyone, I suspect," Suki smirked.
"We'll see," Azula said. "So, what's your answer, Yue?" she asked.
"It's cherry," Yue spoke confidently.
"Interesting," Azula remarked, turning towards Katara. "Kat?"
"I also think it's cherry," Katara replied, more than certain that Suki would also get it right. It was a little unfortunate that she hadn't been able to make good on her insider knowledge just yet, but the following rounds were sure to be more challenging and provide better opportunities for her to win the contest.
"Obviously, it's cherry," Suki laughed. "Only Sokka wouldn't get that."
"Well, Sokka won't get to kiss me, so your point is moot," Azula snorted. "Anyway, I did expect that everyone will get this, but let's see if your good fortune will hold in round two."
"Wait," Suki called out as Azula was already reaching into her vanity case for the next lipstick. "I had a rather wicked thought," Suki said, grinning at Azula. "Would you be willing to up the ante?"
"I'm not keen on changing the rules of the game midway through the contest, if that's what you're asking," Azula frowned.
"No, it's not really about the rules," Suki chuckled. "I was just thinking. You said that it's edible vegan lipstick, all-natural bullshit, right?" Azula nodded uncertainly. "So, in theory… you could apply it pretty much anywhere, right? We don't necessarily have to taste it off your lips?"
"Uh… what are you thinking?" Azula asked, blushing lightly.
"Take your top off," Suki said boldly. "I want to taste it from your tits." Azula blinked at Suki. "Oh, come on, don't tell me you're going to chicken out?"
Azula's pause didn't last very long before she confidently took off her top, followed by her bra, tossing both articles of clothing aside. "I hope that answers your question, Suki," Azula said coolly as she took the lipstick tube and began to draw circles around her nipples.
"Is this really happening?" Yue asked incredulously, looking at Azula with very wide eyes.
"Come on, it's not such a surprising development," Katara laughed. "The intent behind these retreats has always been to engage in sexual depravities, right?"
"Good point," Yue laughed awkwardly.
"Suddenly, I'm feeling very overdressed," Suki said, unashamedly eyeing Azula's breasts, with Yue and Katara doing the same. Suki then rose from the bed and quickly stripped herself completely bare.
"You're very quick to get naked around Azula," Yue remarked, sounding just a little jealous to Katara's ears.
"I am merely trying to set an example for the rest of you," Suki laughed. Yue rolled her eyes, but when Katara decided to also join Suki, Yue felt sufficiently peer-pressured to strip naked as well, though she and Katara both left their panties on.
"I certainly appreciate the view," Azula spoke up, her face looking rather flushed. "But aren't you forgetting about the contest? Katara? It's your turn to go first."
"With pleasure," Katara smiled, moving closer to Azula and surprising Azula with a kiss on the lips before slowly tracing her path downwards, kissing Azula's neck and collarbone, and only then moving on to the other girl's breasts. According to Azula's texted cheat code, the next lipstick was supposed to be strawberry. The flavor was much subtler than for the cherry lipstick, but already knowing what to expect, Katara was able to recognize it quickly enough. Still, she wasn't going to abandon Azula's breasts anytime soon, at least not before drawing at least a few sighs of pleasure from the Fire Nation girl.
"I think we'll have to pry Katara away from those titties with force," Suki laughed.
Katara released Azula's nipple from her mouth with an audible pop. "Hey, I'm not stopping you from joining in," she laughed before resuming her efforts.
"That's a good point, actually, what was I waiting for?" Suki grinned, diving in to join Katara. With double the stimulation, Azula's reactions quickly became more gratifying. Katara soon felt Azula's fingers becoming entangled in her hair, tugging insistently. Azula's breath became more ragged, low throaty moans escaping her mouth. Satisfied with what she had achieved, Katara eventually pulled away, and a while later, Suki did the same.
"Okay, I'm pretty confident I know the answer," Suki stated. "But I suppose Yue still wants to have a go."
"You're damn right I want my turn," Yue demanded. She was forced to wait a little longer than before because Azula needed some time to recover and then reapply the lipstick to her left breast. Once Azula was ready, Yue pounced on her as if she had been starved. Katara supposed that watching her and Suki have a go at Azula's breasts together had been quite the stimulating view, which certainly explained Yue's hunger.
"Damn, that's so hot," Suki gasped as neither she nor Katara could take their eyes off from Yue and Azula. Suki was already unashamedly touching herself, and even though Katara felt hot all over with flashes of arousal, she had just enough self-control left to avoid touching herself. Still, the sight of Yue sucking on Azula's nipples was making Katara feel like she was about to literally catch fire, and she wasn't sure how much of this she could take before bursting into flames.
Much to Katara's relief, Yue eventually released Azula's breast and pulled away to sit on her haunches. "Hmm, this is a tough one…" Yue mused, looking a little uncertain. "It's a much subtler flavor, isn't it?"
"Don't give anything away, remember that you're the last to answer in this round," Azula chided the blonde girl. "Katara has to answer first."
Even though Katara already knew the answer, she decided to act very uncertain, hoping to throw off her competitors. "It's tough… I'm not really sure about this one," Katara sighed dramatically. "This is a totally wild guess, but I'm going to say… strawberry?"
"Interesting," Azula smirked. "Suki?"
Suki frowned, looking deep in thought, probably pondering on whether to copy Katara's answer or take the risk and diverge. "I'll go with strawberry as well," Suki eventually decided against risking it.
"Hmm, I guess I could also say strawberry and then we'd be all tied before the final round," Yue mused. "But then Katara will have the last say in the final round, which could be a big advantage. And if you don't take chances, you're never going to win anyway, right?"
"Reasonable," Azula shrugged. "What is your answer?"
"I'm going to say… watermelon?" Yue tried.
"Sorry, Yue," Azula smiled. "Good try, but Suki and Katara got it right, it was strawberry."
"Damn," Yue grumbled. "Oh well, I guess I'm not totally out of it just yet."
"Not at all, we have at least one more round to go," Azula said. "Hopefully without any more depraved suggestions involving other of my body parts you want to taste the lipstick from."
"Well, since it's supposedly so healthy and natural, I don't see why we can't taste it from your pussy," Suki laughed.
"That sounds neither healthy nor hygienic," Azula frowned.
"I'm not telling you to stick it inside, dumbass," Suki grinned.
"I… suppose it could be safe as long as I apply it carefully?" Azula mused thoughtfully. She looked to be slowly coming around to the idea, because suddenly her denim shorts and lacy red panties came off in a hurry. "Let's face it, I'm too horny not to go for it," she laughed, setting to work and then leaning back against the pillows and winking at Suki. "Well, come on then, you wanted a taste, big girl."
Watching Suki dive in and settle between Azula's legs was a sight that drove Katara absolutely wild with a mixture of arousal and jealousy, but once Azula really started to respond to Suki's efforts by moaning and arching her back, both Katara and Yue could no longer refrain from touching themselves. The heat was reaching unbearable levels and Katara knew that it would only take a few more insistent touches to get herself off.
Fortunately, Suki eventually pulled away, smirking as she looked at the panting Azula. "Damn, I might have shot myself in the leg with this suggestion, because this was 90% pussy and 10% lipstick flavor," Suki laughed.
"Good," Yue remarked, having managed to recompose herself. "I think it will give me and Kat a better shot at winning this." With Yue's turn next, she had to wait longer than before for Azula to recover and get herself ready for a repeat performance. Soon enough, Yue was in position, setting to work and coaxing reactions from Azula that drove Katara and Suki absolutely wild.
"Oh shit," Suki moaned at the sight before her, boldly and unashamedly pleasuring herself. Katara still somehow managed to hold herself back, even if her hand occasionally slipped inside her panties. "Whoever of us wins this thing has to ask for a foursome as a prize," Suki continued, panting hard. "Anyone who doesn't do that is neither a team player, nor a good friend…"
"We'll see about that," Katara managed to reply, struggling to hold herself in check and just about managing to do so until Yue eventually released Azula.
When it was finally time for Katara to settle between Azula's legs for her turn in this improvised very-NSFW taste test, her focus was not at all on identifying the flavor. Katara already knew that the answer was raspberry. Her true goal now was to give Azula the kind of experience that she wouldn't forget in a hurry. Since the combined efforts of Suki and Yue already seemed to have pushed Azula close to the edge, it made Katara's job of getting Azula off all that easier. It didn't take long at all for Azula to be thrashing and moaning under her, trying to lift her hips off the bed. Katara would not be distracted, however, single-mindedly sticking to her task until Azula surrendered with a loud cry and went limp in her arms. As Katara pulled back, licking her lips in smug satisfaction, the stunned faces of both Suki and Yue didn't escape her attention, nor did the fact that Yue had managed to lose her panties during Katara's turn with Azula.
"Alright, I think you're the first to answer this time around, Suki," Katara spoke up a while later, when Azula still appeared out of it.
"Well, shit," Suki laughed awkwardly. "I have to admit, I really have no idea. The lipstick flavor seemed a little tart, so it could be a lot of things… maybe pineapple? Yeah, I'll go with pineapple. It's a popular flavor, after all."
"Alright, you're next, Yue," Katara said, cheering inwardly after Suki had guessed wrong, handing the competition to her.
"Ugh, so… pineapple would have been my first choice too," Yue admitted. "But if I go with that answer and it's the right one, then I'll still be behind Suki, right? So, I need to risk and pick something else," Yue mused, rubbing her chin. "It kind of tasted like kiwi fruit, but I haven't seen any cosmetics flavored like that, so I don't think that's right. I'm going to say… raspberry?"
"Okay, it's my turn now. I'm also going with raspberry," Katara announced. "Azula?" she poked the still unresponsive Fire Nation girl. "What is the correct answer?"
Azula slowly reared her head. "It's raspberry," she managed. "Katara wins."
"Damn, so close," Suki cursed. "Alright, Katara, prove that you're a real one and ask for a foursome," she said, making puppy eyes at Katara.
Katara felt a little conflicted even if she knew that there was no way she was going to listen to Suki's plea. It was easy for Suki to make the request when she had already hooked up with Azula, and so had Yue. "I'm sorry, I really love you girls, but the prize I want is Azula all to myself," Katara stated without hesitation.
"Granted," Azula smirked, finally having recovered enough to sit up in the bed. "Love you girls, but… get lost!"
"How rude!" Suki exclaimed. "What are we supposed to do then?"
"Why not do the same what Yue and I did while you and Azula hooked up?" Katara suggested. Suki and Yue both froze, pausing as they processed the idea. Mere moments later, Suki grabbed Yue's hand to pull her off the bed and then they both ran out of the room in a hurry. "They left all of their clothes behind," Katara laughed.
"I expect they won't need them until tomorrow afternoon," Azula snorted. "But enough about Yue and Suki. Let's focus on us."
"Good idea," Katara nodded. "I already know where to start," she grinned, leaning back on the bed, finally pushing her panties right off and then holding out the tube of raspberry lipstick to Azula. "Why don't you come and have a little taste…"