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Post by Azula on Apr 24, 2010 14:32:41 GMT -5
Azula chuckled, glad to put the topic aside and not honestly sure how deep her feelings for the other girl went, how far dependence and manipulation on her part had gone the other way. "Basically their equivilent to the Fire Supression Teams we have at home minus the Firebending and plus 'water pump' wagons," she answered, "It's something I can help with. Serve without leading, at least until I get promoted up the ranks."
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Zuko
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Post by Zuko on Apr 24, 2010 14:46:07 GMT -5
"Oh, speaking of those. A few Waterbenders have volunteered their abilities and are serving on the Suppression Brigade in the capital. Most of the younger generation are interested in travel and cooperation, despite our... previous aggression. They've been very effective."
Several younger Firebenders had gone to the Northern Water Tribe to learn about their culture as well. Sick the war of their parents and grandparents, most young people were keenly interested in the idea of an "era of love and peace." With convenient airship travel gaining footage, traveling was easier, and much of the youth was taking advantage of opportunities to do so.
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Post by Azula on Apr 24, 2010 16:14:37 GMT -5
"Interesting," Azula replied after putting down her cup, hiding her own thoughts on the wisdom of letting waterbenders into the capital with a faint smile, "I have a feeling ours will be back before too long. I've heard dreadful tales that the sun doesn't come up for months at a time up north."
She chuckled, "But enough politics. How's Mai and bethrothal going? I do have the dress needed to attend such a wedding, but I would need warning to arrange transport there via your Offcial Ten."
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Zuko
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Post by Zuko on Apr 24, 2010 21:46:30 GMT -5
"You don't really need to be worrying about a royal wedding anytime soon," he said sheepishly, turning kind of pink. "She dumped me for working too much."
Seriously, he was the Fire Lord; it was kind of hard to make time to make out on couches and order fruit tarts when you were running your country during a war-to-peace transition and trying to rebuild another one.
Given, they were betrothed, and him being dumped really just meant she wasn't talking to him for a while. In truth, he was glad he didn't have to worry about getting married on top of all this.
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Post by Azula on Apr 24, 2010 23:37:59 GMT -5
Azula *almost* managed to heroically supress the smirk of satisfaction this new brought on, one corner of her lips quirking upward slightly. Somethings never changed and one of them was Zuzu being such a dufuss around Mai. And Mai being such a far cry from the monotone fighter she affected being about it.
"That's unfortunate. I was hoping to have a niece to teach all my harmless bad habits to by this time next year," she teased, "But at least you're better off romantically than I am. I'm zero for one. If I cared to worry about such things."
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Zuko
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Post by Zuko on Apr 25, 2010 10:18:27 GMT -5
Thinking of Azula as a romantic being was kind of terrifying, just as much because she was his little sister as because she had been very messed up in the head for quite a long time.
"Hey, if there's anyone you need me to send an assassin after..." he joked. Though she could pretty much take care of herself, in other circumstances, he would have made a very good protective older brother, and some of that instinct bled over. In addition, she was his sister. He had never hated her, even if she had been less-than-stable and more-than-a-little-dangerous.
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Post by Azula on Apr 25, 2010 10:38:49 GMT -5
"Don't worry. One, It's at most a agravating gap in my skill set. Two, even if there was someone worth spoiling the good reputation you seem set on building, letting them know I'm alive and sane somewhere is far more punishment. hrrm, that might dig up some of father's diehards too if you're so inclined, now that I think of it," she answered, warming her tea in her hands.
"Say, did Uncle have any obnoxious habits while you two were living in Ba Singh Sae? I swear, if Yomiko leaves any more books in the kitchen or the bathroom or the walkway, I'll just torch it then and there."
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Zuko
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Post by Zuko on Apr 25, 2010 10:50:47 GMT -5
"Uncle... has very smelly feet. And he sang a lot, and sometimes played the Tsungi horn at three in the morning. And tried to set me up on a date, though I think that's just what Uncles do rather than a habit particular to him." He looked long-suffering, though it was obvious he was fond of his uncle.
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Post by Azula on Apr 27, 2010 22:51:13 GMT -5
Azula frowned, mask slipping as she examined her brother's words for some deeper meaning before giving up and just admiting what was bothering her, what escaped her understanding. "Why did you put up with it, Zuko? Why do you put up me? I, he... We all took more than our share in turns, shouldered far less than our fair burden for what we cost, yet... It doesn't make sense."
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Zuko
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Post by Zuko on May 1, 2010 19:29:18 GMT -5
"Nobody wants to be alone forever. Burdens are always easier to bear when they are shared, even if only a little. It's just what family is supposed to do."
It seemed that even though his own father had banished him, he'd had more of a family experience spending his adolescence on a boat with his uncle.
"There doesn't have to be logic in love."
Their mother had loved both of them. She would have done anything for them--and had--though all they had done was take. It was what parents were supposed to do for children, what siblings were supposed to do for each other, even what friends were supposed to do for friends.
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Post by Azula on May 2, 2010 2:16:34 GMT -5
Azula had no answer to that, no reflex action, no prepared thought to launch from her tongue if silence would not solve the problem at hand for the second time in her life.
And the first in her life had marked the difference between what she called the Before and the After.
The former princess sat there and gripped her cup of tea in one hand, golden eyes abstracted as she tried to process one little word that she had always scorned and how it... No. Impossible. Yet... And...
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Zuko
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Post by Zuko on May 3, 2010 10:15:59 GMT -5
He took a sip of his own tea, coughed awkwardly because it was hot, and motioned for more from the waitress.
"Not to be awkward, or, you know, anything..."
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Post by Azula on May 3, 2010 12:29:13 GMT -5
Although Zuko wouldn't know it unless he was a much more acute student of human nature than he usually appeared, he had just earned a couple dozen brownie points with Azula in his awkward conversational flailing by giving her something to hook against and avoid thinking about the... idea. The mask came back, a smile dancing wryly on her lips as she gave him the gift of a mostly honest answer.
"Oh, don't mind me. Sometimes even the charming and confident Perfect Princess Azula has her moments of uncertainty," she joked, "Especially when she's shown to not be 100% right about her ideas."
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Zuko
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Post by Zuko on May 3, 2010 19:14:14 GMT -5
"So... Uncle Iroh has a girlfriend." Zuko looked kind of terrified every time he talked about Bai Wa, the lady who owned the produce market in Uncle's neighborhood in Ba Sing Se. She was really quite formidable, and Uncle Iroh seemed enamored.
((Cue teen old-people-are-gross bonding?))
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Post by Azula on May 4, 2010 23:16:23 GMT -5
(A little bit, mind you these two do come from a world where teenagers are regarded as simply very young adults and would have been trained to emphasize such maturity as royal heirs...)
Despite all her training, Azula had to supress a small shudder of distaste at the image, mask not outwardly cracking one iota. "Just so long as he doesn't marry and sire an heir off of her," she commented wryly, "The royal line of succession is complicated enough already, especially if you ever make my recovery public and I persuade your Alexsi to give me a ride back home."
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