Azula burns bright (bornoffire) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2012-11-01 12:58:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, azula, ty lee |
"Together we shall show this city what it's missing by not having us live here!"
Who: Azula and Ty Lee
What: They go on vacation to Canada. There are feels
When: Over Halloween. As set up here and Here
Where: Vancouver
Status: Complete
Rating: PG-13
Azula had plans. She'd picked up a pair of titanium rings, had booked the best suite at the best hotel in Vancouver. She thought they might be able to ski - or at least she ski and Ty Lee watch. She hoped her woman would be able to at least walk around with ease. There were things to see, like a normal tourist couple, and maybe they needed a dose of normal.
There was no real opportunity to renew their mile-high club opportunity - Azula had decided not to abuse the business plane. It was uncharacteristic of her.
It may have been uncharacteristic, but Ty Lee liked it. It made it feel like this vacation was all about them and not at all about business. This was just a nice getaway, and she thought they desperately needed that.
She'd spent most of the flight playing bejeweled on her phone or other games with Azula, along with naming a few of the places she wanted to visit while they were there. She'd printed out some research about tourist sites before they went. It was a nice break from looking over paperwork!
The girl might still be using a cane, but she was in high spirits and didn't seem to have a hard time getting around the airport when they landed. She grinned at Azula, "Where do you want to go first? I'm thinking somewhere with coffee."
That Ty Lee had printed out something had surprised Azula. She shouldn't have been, but she was, and it pleased her. She took Ty Lee's hand, after stretching out sore legs and back, "Not Starbucks. But yes coffee. I could use some. Then what do you want to see first?"
"There's a Canadian coffee chain here, we should try them," Ty Lee pulled her paper out of her pocket and looked it over, then looked at the luggage they had, "I think there's a place on the way to the hotel. If we check in we can put our bags away instead of dragging them around."
It was as much a suggestion for everyone's convenience as it was a suggestion that would help her from having to do a lot of extra work trying to get around.
"Okay. We'll get the coffee to go, then go to the hotel." Azula squeezed Ty Lee's hand and laughed, "That's so brilliant I wish I'd thought of it myself!"
From there it was a bit of a whirlwind to get the coffee, and then get to the hotel. Azula was eager to see Ty Lee’s reaction to the suite, with it’s hot tub and cozy living area.
It was a suite that Ty Lee wished she could crawl into and never leave. She looked around it with wide eyes and a bit slack-jawed, then made her way around it, poking various things and checking out how soft the bed was, "Ooo... you may never get me out of this thing once I crawl into it."
Resting her hands on Ty Lee's shoulder, Azula leaned in from behind and kissed her ear, trailing a warm, wet tongue around the lobe, followed by a gentle, if promising bite.
"Together we shall show this city what it's missing by not having us live here!"
She could still be awkward at times.
It was adorable. Ty Lee giggled a bit, "Maybe I should do all the talking, so that we don't scare the natives?"
Azula was tempted to spend a few hours getting to know the hotel room, but she always got the impression that Ty Lee was worried it was just about the sex.
Sex was a major part of it, but there was always more to it. Azula just struggled with expressing that. She always had, with her friends. Expressing emotions (positive ones). Being anything not demanding. She welcomed the struggle though.
It wasn't always about sex, and Ty Lee knew that. For her, it was more that she didn't seem to need it as often as Azula did. She delighted in other expressions of their love for each other, and enjoyed when Azula thought of something new. Like this vacation.
That said, she was looking forward to some life-affirming love making in the suite later on that night. For now, she collected her still warm coffee cup and pulled out a map of Vancouver, then pointed at it, "I think we should go here first."
Azula just tended to want to make up for a lot of lost time, especially when her dreams of her madness and incarceration repeated themselves. She peered over her shoulder at the map, "There? Are you sure?"
She reached for her coat and purse, "I'll call a cab." She was content to let Ty Lee drag her around. That had always been true, when it came down to it. Ty Lee had dragged her around Ember Island quite a bit.
"A cab would be good!" Ty Lee hoped they had enough money to call a lot of cabs, and halfway wished they could rent a car here and do the driving on their own. But she didn't know if the driving laws were that much different, and renting one would probably be as expensive.
She got up from her seat and grabbed her own purse, then took a quick look in the mirror to make sure she looked generally presentable. She didn't remember a lot of Ember Island yet, but she enjoyed the moments when Azula let her be in charge.
Nodding, Azula called up a cab. Money wasn't going to be an issue. It never had, and now, it never would. Really, they could probably buy their way to just about anything they wanted.
She smiled fondly at Ty Lee, and though she put on a more neutral expression when glanced at, her eyes still gleamed. She wondered how she could bring up her plan.
It was nice to act like money was an issue, though, sometimes. Ty Lee had had to budget conservatively for too long on her own to give up trying to be frugal, now.
In the cab on the way to the tourist attraction in question, Ty Lee thought maybe Azula was up to something. She had a certain gleam in her eye that always meant trouble, but usually the best kind of trouble. She wondered what her lover was up to, and squinted at her suspiciously a few times before saying anything, "Are you planning something? You've got this look in your eyes."
Azula turned up her nose, as though the mere suggestion that she was up to something was offensive. So very, very offensive, "Whatever gives you that idea, Ty Lee? I'm here to have fun, with you."
And ask her to be her wife, even though she was fairly certain she knew the answer. She had to ask. Had to.
"What makes this place we're going to interesting?"
"Well it says in the tour guide that it's the best first stop! It's 50 stories above the pavement, see, and 360 glass so we can see the entire city and landscape from high up," Ty Lee was obviously excited about this, because she was chatting very animatedly.
The place was easily seen from the window of their cab, in fact, and she pointed it out as they approached it, "There!"
Azula looked up. That was probably one of the taller buildings she'd ever be in, but the height didn't bother her. It obviously wouldn't bother Ty Lee either. She waited until the cab stopped, then got out of the cab, and held out her hand for Ty Lee. Her eyes were fixated on the tower and she took a breath - it would probably be one of the better opportunities, but she didn't want to ruin their vacation either.
It had a glass elevator all the way up, and Ty Lee was looking forward to the view. She allowed Azula to help her out of the cab, and took her cane, then casually pointed it in the direction of the tower. In the afternoon sun, it sparkled like it was on fire.
Ty Lee decided she'd probably blinged it out a little too far. But that was alright, "Onward! There's all-day admission so we can come back and take in the view again at night if we want to. The night lights should be gorgeous."
It sparkled like fire, dazzlingly, and Azula wanted to add blue sparkles to that. But she refrained and slipped her hand through Ty Lee's. She revised her plan. She'd wait until they came at night. With the city, and the dazzling lights below. She could even ignite blue flames around them to add mood lighting. It was perfect, "I promise you we'll come back at night."
Azula was favored with a beaming smile before Ty Lee dragged her off to the admissions counter and the elevator. There was much 'ooh'ing and 'aah'ing on the way up, and Ty Lee took a few pictures of the ride with the camera on her phone.
One thing about Starkphones she loved was how good the camera was. She made a mental note to congratulate him on that and give good feedback when they got back to the states. When they reached the top, Ty Lee took advantage of the tourism booth to grab a few pamphlets, then led Azula over to the outer ring with its big glass windows.
Leaning against the window, Azula stared down. She hadn't really been this high up in anything except the airships of the Fire Nation, and that was another life. It was such a long distance down, and she wondered if her fire would be strong enough to save her. There was a flash in her eyes as she considered the challenge.
Ty Lee had only been this high up in airplanes, and that didn't really count. She took in the view, in awe of how beautiful the world was around them. The city, the harbor, the country off in the distance.
She walked around the rim of the place, snapping photos through the glass here and there, "There's some gardens out there somewhere I want to visit while we're here if we can, and right there at the harbor... they have a dinner cruise, I thought that might be nice and romantic..."
"We have all week, we'll cram as much as we can into each day," Azula promised. She'd turned from the window, watching Ty Lee move around. Her vision was superimposed with the younger girl she'd forced to do terrible things. Looking down at her hands, Azula wished she'd said something sooner.
She walked over to Ty Lee, "Can I ask you something? Do you remember Ember Island?"
"I remember the party. You needed boy advice, and you..." Ty Lee scrunched her nose up a bit, "You made me cry. It was very upsetting. And then we escaped to the beach, and there were a lot of confessions, and we went back to the party and trashed the place."
She recalled to mind the painting that had mysteriously appeared in her room when they'd gotten back from London, "I have a painting of us afterwards, with fire in the background. It's in my room back home."
"That's.. .all you remember?" Azula bit her lip. There had been parts before that. The volleyball, and a few minutes when they'd been alone... She blinked her eyes, "A painting? You have that painting of us? I have... my crown."
"There's more before it. Mai remembers some. I just haven't had those dreams yet, I guess." Ty Lee shrugged a shoulder. She didn't seem nearly as worried about it as Azula was, "I'll show you the painting when we get home. I wasn't sure how you'd feel about it, so I never mentioned it."
"Tell me when you remember," Azula said. She wanted to know if Ty Lee had seen it differently. Just thinking about it made her want to punch Zuko. And Mai. For craptacular timing. Mostly Zuko.
She swallowed, "I think it would mean a lot to me."
"When I dream the rest, I'll let you know!" Ty Lee agreed, with a nod of her head.
She wondered what it was that had happened, now. It seemed extremely important to Azula, whatever it was, and Ty Lee could only think of a few things that would have been that important between the two of them. Some in-depth discussion, perhaps? Declaration of emotions?
Ty Lee tried to think back to the memories she did have. She'd certainly loved Azula then. She'd wanted Azula's attention and had been sad on some level, that Azula was more angry about her own lack of conquests than the fact that Ty Lee had so many and none of them mattered.
"... None of those boys mattered, you know. I liked the attention, but they didn't matter. I... was trying to get yours."
Azula nodded, letting the subject drop for now. Maybe it was for the best - she'd just wanted to know how Ty Lee had felt about all of that - there hadn't been much time before everything between them had gone to hell. She closed her eyes, and put her arms around Ty Lee.
"I see that now. At the time I just thought I somehow wasn't good enough for you."
"You were... The Fire Princess, I thought it was Me who wasn't good enough." Ty Lee frowned a bit. Her voice sounded a little forlorn, but with Azula's arms around her it was hard to stay that way for now. Here, in this place, they were together. That was really all that mattered, wasn't it?
"At least we can be together here."
"You were always good enough. Even when I couldn't see past my own ambition." She balled up her fists, then pulled Ty Lee closer, hands on her stomach, nails digging into her lover's skin possessively.
She turned Ty Lee around, and kissed her, "If I lost everything tomorrow, would you stay with me still?"
"Of course I would!"
The answer came without even a second's hesitation. It had never been about anything but Azula, to Ty Lee, "It's not about what you have or the power or even the fire. I love you, not all of that."
She opened her mouth, then closed it, her eyes following as she let emotions wash over her. Only for Ty Lee did she let her veneer crack so easily and so obviously. She reached into the back of her pants and fished for the ring.
"We should... I want to... give you... all of myself."
"... We could go home and... explore the hotel room more if you want?" Ty Lee didn't sound like she'd mind that at all, and was pretty certain that what Azula was asking for was christening their suite.
She, of course, had no idea about any rings and was oblivious to what Azula really had planned.
A grin crossed Azula's face, "I thought we were saving that for later." It wasn't something she'd ever say no to, especially when Ty Lee was the one offering. It was, in fact, extremely difficult to direct the track in her brain back to the task at hand.
Of course, if this went well, they'd probably 'explore' the suite anyway.
"I wanted to wait for night, but I'm impatient." She put the ring box into Ty Lee's hand, looking both expectant and nervous. Of course Azula's 'nervous' expression was pretty much 'haughty', but there you go.
The ring was like nothing Ty Lee had ever seen before. Polished silver-looking metal, engraved with flames that had been inlaid with a red alloy, set with a diamond flush to the band so that it wouldn't snag on anything. Her breath caught in her throat, looking at it.
It was the kind of thing that said Azula had taken a lot of time to pick it out, and the flame pattern on it was so indicative of the person who had given it to her that no one would ever question who she belonged to if she wore it.
And Ty Lee was certain this was the kind of ring that made that kind of statement. That she'd belong to Azula. And Azula would belong to her. She caressed the pattern on the band with her finger, then looked up at Azula and smiled at her, "Is this... what I think it is?"
She was pretty certain it was, but she wanted to hear it from Azula.
"You've wanted to be my equal, Ty Lee, for as long as I can remember." Azula seemed subdued, her voice soft, maybe even a little shaky. She genuinely thought this was a lost cause, that Ty Lee wasn't ready for it yet.
"Probably longer. And I can't think of any better way to have you be my equal than this. When you're ready."
She was just impatient.
Unlike Mai, who was still trying to figure out her own way in life, Ty Lee had spent the years from 16 until now being completely herself. She'd already done the soul searching. She'd already broken free of whatever chains her parents had wanted to put her in.
Through all of that time, it had always been Azula. Even her brief dalliance with Zuko had been about Azula. There was no one else, her eyes wouldn't see anyone else, and her heart would recognize no other, either.
The recent car accident had only driven the point home, that she wouldn't live forever, and some things were better done sooner than later. So she slipped the ring onto her finger, wrapped her arms around Azula's neck, and kissed her.