Fuck It. AtLAland Secret Santa Gifts

[beckyh2112]

They are in the comments. There are a lot of them. Because I wrote a fuckton for this.

suzukiblu was my giftee. dark_puck and spyridona are my buddies. neldluva, crystaldrake, and banditjoeykuba are also my people. chameleon_pete and takatohedgehog got random things written for them for various reasons.

Comments

For Dark_Puck

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Title: Summer Daze
'Verse: slave!Liu
Characters: Ichiro, Liu

---

Ichiro crouched in the shade of the cranapple orchard, panting slightly. Sweat trickled through his hair and rolled down his back. He'd shrugged off his shirt around midmorning, but with the sun approaching its zenith, he felt like he had way too many clothes on. When was the last time summer had been this hot?

Last year, he thought wryly, reaching for the bucket of water and scooping a handful out to drink. If he could manage another hour's work, he'd finish with this field. Then he could take a siesta until it got cooler again.

Grumbling, he climbed to his feet and reached for the hoe. He paused, catching sight of movement, then waved as he saw the earthbender slave coming in from the outer fields. "Hey, Liu!"

The farmers in the area had pooled their money during the winter and bought him. There were all sorts of uses for an earthbender in a port like New Sozin, especially with farmers. It had fallen to Ichiro's family to keep him, which everyone knew was a bad idea - Ichiro's father loathed Earthfolk. But no one else had wanted him either, so somehow Ichiro had found it was his job to deal with the earthbender.

He was an older man, even older than Ichiro's father. Not much older, but it was hard to tell his age when Ichiro never saw more than half his face. The earthbender always wore a scrap of green cloth over his lower face and throat, hiding something. He was mute, too, and Ichiro had seen the way he flinched from firebending. Just slightly, ever-so-slightly. But just enough.

Except for the green cloth over his face, the earthbender wore reds. Simple, patched clothes and shoes that even the most wretched Fire Nation peasant would have disdained. His hair was dark, streaked with white, and a little wild. Kind of like Ichiro's own got when it was growing out after having been cut.

As far as Ichiro knew, he and his siblings were the only ones who'd bothered to learn his name.

Liu raised his hand in reply, and it belatedly occurred to Ichiro that the earthbender wasn't wearing his shirt. Not surprising, given the heat.

"There's water over here if you need some," Ichiro called out.

Liu nodded and headed in his direction. As he got closer, Ichiro suddenly found himself feeling much hotter. He'd never really noticed how muscular Liu was, and he'd certainly never seen those scars before. Guh.

The earthbender knelt by the bucket in the shade and pulled a dipperful of water out of the bucket. His eyes flicked to Ichiro briefly, then he shifted his scarf slightly and drank. A few mouthfuls only, though, and then he poured the rest over the top of his head.

Ichiro gleeped.

Liu glanced at him, looking concerned.

"Nothing," Ichiro said hastily. "It's nothing."

Just the way water was running down Liu's back and over his shoulders. Just those muscles. Just those scars. Just the way the water drops were channeled by muscles and scars, and the way his skin shone briefly, and- He wanted to lick that droplet running down Liu's stomach so badly- Earthfolk don't do that, he reminded himself sternly. Besides, Liu's a slave, it'd be rape.

Sozin's balls, he bet those muscles were as hard as rocks.

End

Re: For Dark_Puck

[dark-puck.livejournal.com]

Glee! *bounces and claps her hands* So I kinda love you. Lots. And lots.

For Dark_Puck

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Title: Morning After
'Verse: Uh. Canonish?
Characters: Jae/Huan
Author's Notes: So technically Jae's braid should be cut off by now, but it's prettiful.

---

Huan woke up sore the morning after. Which, given he and the earthbender had gone all night, made complete sense. Whoa. He'd always heard that Earthfolk had stamina, but he'd figured people had to be exaggerrating.

Yeah, so much for that theory.

He stretched and listened. He heard someone moving around in the other room in the apartment. Probably Jae. He wondered if the man had rebraided his hair yet, or if it was still flowing all pretty and loose down his back. Mmm. It had been nice to tangle his hands in it while Jae fucked him. And yanking hair wasn't as good as blazing his passion, but the earthbender didn't know he was a firebender and that was so not the way to tell him.

The smell of steaming dumplings caught him, and Huan pulled himself out of bed. He got dressed quickly, wondering if Jae planned to feed him before kicking him out or what.

The earthbender glanced up from the stove when he walked in. His hair, Huan noted with some disappointment, was braided again. On the other hand, he hadn't put a shirt on. Mmm, earthbender back.

"There's breakfast," Jae said, jerking his head at the table.

Huan blinked at the rather impressive spread, and his stomach rumbled. Well. Who was he to complain? He ate fast, though. Just in case.

"You remind me of me at that age," Jae said after a bit, and Huan glanced up to see him holding a cup of tea and a bit of steamed bread.

"How so?" He asked, curious. He didn't see how he could remind Jae of anything like himself. Jae was Earth Kingdom, after all, and even if he thought Huan was too, Huan really wasn't. He was only hiding his proclivities to keep from scaring the people he performed. Heck, he wouldn't have realized about Jae at all if the man hadn't kept running into him while he danced. Running into him all over the Lower Ring, which had been a little worrying until Huan figured out Jae worked as a courier.

So it made sense why Jae kept running into him. Though not why Jae always had money for a street-performer. At least not until Jae had invited him to get some tea.

Huan knew how to handle that once he figured out what was really going on. The tea and conversation were just the polite forms, things the Fire Nation didn't bother with for a simple roll in the hay. But he understood why Jae needed them here in Ba Sing Se. Earth Kingdom men didn't do this kind of thing, after all.

"Didn't get to have sex until I left home," Jae replied, "But we pretty much went all night and were only marginally awake the next morning. Thanh rolled his eyes at how much we ate - he's dealt with sixteen-year-olds and their sex-drives before."

Huan coughed and suddenly found the bottom of his mug very interesting. Um. Earth Kingdom men didn't talk like that, either. No one in the Earth Kingdom did.

Jae chuckled. "Just because no one talks about it doesn't mean we don't know."

"You're actually the first to have kept me around for so long," Huan admitted, giving the man a lopsided grin. "Wore me right out."

"Can't say much for the rest of them if they didn't even want you around until morning."

Huan flushed at the compliment hidden in those words. Jae was nice, and he was glad to have had last night with the earthbender. It'd been the first time in- in, well, ever that he'd had sex just for having sex. "They only wanted one thing, and I wanted another. There's a word for people like me."

Re: For Dark_Puck

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Jae leaned against the stone shield of the stove-front and took a bite of his steamed bread. His eyes were on Huan, brown eyes intense. Not the same sort of intense they'd been last night when he'd pressed Huan against the wall with his body, just before he dove into a kiss. This intensity made Huan feel like he was being weighed, evaluated.

Part of him knew he couldn't possibly measure up to whatever Jae was measuring him against.

"When'd your father kick you out?" The earthbender asked abruptly.

"I ran away, actually."

Jae nodded. "When?"

"I was just about fifteen." Fifteen and due to go into Basic Training the next year. No way in the inferno he could have done that. Being a firebender didn't make him a killer.

Jae nodded again. "Sixteen. Disowned on top of it. At least I had a place to go - a lot of people like us don't. So you either don't love who you want, or you trade in for a shitpotfull of trouble and unpleasantness and doing what you have to do to get by."

'People like us' warmed Huan far more than it should have. He wasn't like Jae, not even a little bit. No one had cared he was gay, just that he could firebend. But it felt awful nice to pretend he belonged, to pretend he deserved the earthbender's empathy. (Deserved the earthbender's soft mouth and wicked hands. Deserved the same kind of look in the earthbender's eyes when he said the name Sang Min.)

Huan winced. "Fire men had their uses. Got me here, at least."

"Don't know how much of a blessing that is. You could pass for Fire pretty easily - they don't think the same way we do about this kind of thing."

"Could and did. Sometimes they care about who they're fucking." It wasn't really a lie that he had passed for Fire. Not really. Huan tried hard not to think of the way Jae picked fights with Fire soldiers. Better to think about how Jae's cock felt or of maybe getting worn out like that again. He liked the man, he wanted the man, and-

And Jae thought he was Earth Kingdom. Continuing to lie to him about that felt, well, it felt dangerous.

Of course, not lying to Jae about it felt even more dangerous.

Huan reached for another steamed roll and decided to wait and see. The point might be moot entirely, after all. One night of hot, crazy sex did not mean Jae was interested in him staying around any longer than necessary after breakfast. Or even ever seeing his face again.

End

For Dark_Puck

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Title: Flutter
'Verse: Thunder God
Characters: Torako/Kouji

***

There was a woman.

There were a lot of women in the Fire Nation court. This one didn't look especially different from all of the others. She dressed in skimpy red silks that flashed her scars and ivory-pale skin, she wore her dark hair in mimicry of Lady Mai's style. She carried a fan, though, and she fanned herself as she sat in the shade, lips slightly parted in the heat.

Kouji found his face heating up as he followed the path of a drop of sweat from her hairline down to her jaw.

Her fan fluttered, paused, and he realized he'd stood still too long.

"Hello," she called as her fan resumed its motion, revealing tantalizing glimpses of a smile.

He gulped and bowed. "H-hi."

She delivered a bow in turn, exactly the appropriate amount for a noblewoman to give to a commoner of rank. Her voice was kind, though, when she spoke, rather than merely polite. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm doing w-well, my l-lady. And you?"

"Well enough in this heat. I really do envy firebenders sometimes. They never seem to feel it." Her fan fluttered, the motion catching his eye and drawing it down from her face. He blushed harder and his gaze snapped up. Then realization hit him, and his eyes drifted down again.

She wore a high collar. Her stomach was bared by her top, but her breasts were covered. Accented, certainly, especially with the bronze tiger-stripes. But covered. Most of the unmarried women her age didn't do that, and the married ones wouldn't be baring their stomachs.

His eyes flicked back up to hers, and he realized with a start that they were grey.

"Y-yeah. My brother is th-that way," he said, mouth going dry. There wasn't anything unusual about grey eyes. A lot of people in the Fire Nation had them, though not as many as had the more typical amber and gold.

His eyes were grey.

The edge of her fan touched lightly against the tip of her nose for a moment, then resumed the deceptively lazy motion that kept catching his eye. "You have a brother? Lucky. All I've had are sisters."

"I have o-one of those too. M-my twin." Worry briefly twinged in Kouji, and he instinctively checked that part of him that knew where Yui was. Far, far away to the east - Earth Kingdom then. But she wasn't hurt, so everything ought to be all right.

It wasn't as if he could do anything if she wasn't. But she was a woman in her twenties, and more than competent. She didn't need him to save her. (She'd saved him, more often than not.)

The woman tilted her head slightly. "Is she well?"

He wondered a bit why she was talking to him so casually. He was a colonist peasant, whether or not he was Firelord Zuko's personal secretary, whether or not he was in bed with the Firelord like the rumors all had him. She was definitely a noble-woman, nearly as pure an example of classical Fire Nation nobility as Lady Mai or the Firelord's family.

Her fan fluttered, and the flash of her mouth made his blood heat.

"Yes," he said. "Sh-she stays w-with our brother."

"That's good. Families should stay together," she said with a touch of wistfulness in her voice.

He can't help but remember the night Ichiro was arrested. All the fire, blue and red, and Ichiro's snarl, and the soldiers' armor turned bloody by the lurid light- "Sometimes."

She lowered her fan, an expression of concern on her face.

He stiffened, mind racing as he realized she must be worried because of the way he'd said that. He didn't want to explain it, couldn't explain it. It still hurt too much, even years later. "I-it's nothing t-to worry about now. It's done and over w-with now."

She nodded. "That's good. With the Comet or with the new Firelord?"

He really didn't want to explain it. It would take too long to tell and get too personal. But he owed her some sort of answer, and he realized he could give her one without going into details. "...It's a bit complicated. The w-worst of it was handled before the Comet. The rest with Firelord Zuko."

"I wish I could say the same."

He blinked. "Oh?"

Re: For Dark_Puck

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Her fan came up almost to cover her eyes, still. It hid much of her face and led him to look in her eyes. "My father and Firelord Ozai disagreed, and the Firelord sent him to war in the Earth Kingdom. It was all right." The way her eyes tightened told him that was a lie. "Mother and I would visit him when it was safe to do so." Her voiced hardened. "Firelord Azula loathed my father, and she forbade us to go to him, or him to come home."

Ozai tried to kill her father. Politely, circumspectly, but Kouji had learned enough of Fire Nation politics to know a murder attempt when he heard one. But- He'd met the Phoenix King. Once. Once was enough, more than enough. Even burnt out, Ozai seemed the type to take it to Agni Kai as was his right. Her father must have been a very powerful daimyo for him to do what he did.

(Some part of him wished being separated from his father would have hurt half so much as the telltales suggested it did to her.)

Ozai tried to kill her father, and Azula left him to rot in the Earth Kingdom. Slag, and the woman spoke almost calmly about everything.

Zuko was a good Firelord. He'd fixed everything Azula had broken, even if she was the one who'd sided with the Avatar and he'd sided with his father. Well, that just proved again that the Avatar had been wrong.

"Oh- I'm s-sorry..." He said quietly, clenching his fists to keep from shaking the earth.

Her fan snapped closed, and her expression was- It hurt in the best ways, the ways that made him proud to be Fire Nation, because her anger was frightening in its restraint. "It's done with. Firelord Zuko changed things."

Kouji nodded, unable to look away from the way her eyes burned.

She paused for a moment, closed her eyes, opened them again. Her body shifted, loosened, and the anger drained away from her until it was gone like it had never been. The fan fell into her lap. She smiled at him. "Have you attended any of the performances lately?"

He blinked at the sudden subject-change. "P-performances?"

"Theater. There's been several troupes coming through town. And-" She leaned closer, as if sharing a secret. "I've heard Flame's Edge will be playing in the capital soon. They were always Ozai's favored troupe."

Theater? He'd never really looked into the theater in the city. It existed. And they did plays. They did do plays, right? He glanced around the little garden, wondering if someone else might come along soon. "I -- uh --"

Her smile widened. "There's a performance of 'Love Amongst the Dragons' in three nights. I'm getting too old to attend performances with my Father, and none of the other ladies want to go see it."

For Dark_Puck

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

'Verse: Lu Feng
Characters: Hyo

---

Hyo drums his fingers against his thigh, watching as Long Feng- Lu Feng, he's melded his names now - runs through firebending katas. He produces no fire; except for that one moment with Iroh - his father - it seems his firebending is gone. But he still practices firebending.

Lu Feng looks different from Long Feng. It's the way his face moves, Hyo thinks. The Fire Nation parts of him aren't slammed under so much mindbending he can hardly breathe anymore.

And the gold eyes, of course.

The gold eyes disconcert people. Especially Jae and Qin. Both of them have been a bit of a mess since- since what happened was revealed. Hyo knows he and Long Feng are going to have to- Lu Feng, he corrects himself. He and Lu Feng are going to have to address what actually happened and take steps-

Long Feng is NOT Lu Ten.

Hyo killed Lu Ten. He killed the Fire prince with his bare hands and earthbending. He watched the light go out in the man's eyes, and that man was not Long Feng.

But if Long Feng is Lu Ten-

If.

If he is, then what Hyo remembers doing never happened.

And he knows exactly what that means.

Re: For Dark_Puck

[dark-puck.livejournal.com]

I do believe Xin Wan is a dead man. Poor Lu Feng. Poor Hyo. Poor Ba Sing Se.

For suzukiblu: Selkie Katara

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Katara wrapped her skin around herself, slipping from human to seal. She paused on the shore for a moment, then slithered through the surf until the sand fell away beneath her flippers.

For the first time since she was a child, she swam. She arrowed through the too-warm, too-bright water. Instincts rose up as if she'd never left the ocean, never become a human girl for her mother, never stayed a human girl for her father. Fish-motion caught her eye, and she gave chase, delighting in her swiftness and grace. Teeth closed around a fish, and she swallowed it down happily.

She should have come back to the ocean a long time ago.

Sokka should have been with her. He should have, but he'd all but thrown his skin at Suki. The Earth girl didn't even know what she had, didn't know anything.

(Aang didn't know anything either, not about the important things. Not about the sealskin she left lying around oh-so casually.)

At least Yue had known what Sokka had offered her.

Katara flicked her fins to rise, breaking the surface to breathe, then diving down again. There were more fish to chase, though they were hardly more than morsels to a selkie of her size. She needed penguins if she was really going to eat.

She turned back towards the shore, slithering up on the beach again. Her spine made a little twist, and the skin split so she could climb out as a girl.

She stood there on the beach, wearing nothing, holding nothing but her skin. She could turn back to the sea still, take the chance on swimming to where there was real food. To where there were others of her kind, or maybe find the Fire Nation selkies. Maybe fall in love with a gold-eyed selkie boy.

(No, never.)

She laid her skin on the sand to dry and went to find her clothes.

(Aang would come looking for her soon.)

Re: For suzukiblu: Selkie Katara

[avocado-love.livejournal.com]

This is so cool and an instant favorite. (I'm gonna have to look up some Selkie legends now)

For suzukiblu: Sharkmer Katara

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Aang perched on a tree-branch over the pond, swinging his legs as he watched Katara swim. Her long grey tail cut through the water, propelling her forward with a speed a normal human could never achieve. 'Course, since she wasn't a normal human, that totally made sense.

She was a mermaid. A type of mermaid, because there were a couple of different types out there. Aang had never encountered any besides her, but Monk Gyatso had made sure he knew about them. Especially that they were all man-eaters.

Which kind of explained the shark's teeth to go with Katara's shark's tail.

Her particular kind of mermaid was weird. Most mermaids were mermaids all the time, but the shark ones were sometimes fully people. Nice, normal happy people. Until they got wet, and then they were man-eating monsters.

Cool man-eating monsters with long pretty backs and long pretty hair.

Katara twisted suddenly, jumping up, and Aang yanked his legs up. Her hands clapped together in the air, and her hair clung wetly to her chest as she stared up at him.

He flushed and focused on her black eyes. She smiled at him, revealing a flash of white, white teeth.

"Come and swim," she said, her voice unchanged by the transformation-mermaid. "The water's fine and full of fish."

He's really, really tempted. Especially as water droplets run down Katara's stomach and- He's really tempted.

Katara was still smiling up at him, lips slowly peeling back from white-sharp teeth.

"I like it up here," Aang said brightly. "Maybe when you're done, we can hunt for blackberries? I'm getting hungry."

"So am I," Katara muttered and slipped all the way underwater.

Re: For suzukiblu: Sharkmer Katara

[suzukiblu.livejournal.com]

. . . . . Aang you are totally thinking about riding her do not even pretend otherwise. "Long pretty backs" HMMMMMM? And I love how Katara repeatedly tries to DEVOUR HIM and he just takes it in stride. *cackles*

Oh god of all the things to happen to a waterbender when she gets wet. XDDD;;

This would've made the fight against Pakku glorious. >>

For suzukiblu: Satyr Aang

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

The music of pipes caught Katara's attention. She stopped on the edge of the Earth Kingdom market, neither her father nor Sokka noticing that she'd fallen behind them. The piping sounded so wild and strange, and she suddenly needed to find the piper.

She turned and did what she had promised her father she would not do - she left the little town. The piping called to her, guiding her through the streets and miles of fields around the town, leading her to a deep old forest some ways inland from the Earth Kingdom port. She followed the music into the woods, pushing past briar and bramble until she came to a clearing.

Sunlight fell into glade, and a brook tumbled merrily through. Perched on a large rock near the center of the clearing was a boy. His fingers flashed up and down a wooden pipe, his orange clothes fluttered in a breeze. Black goat's hooves rested against the rock, and the brown fur of the satyr's legs stirred gently in the breeze.

His eyes opened after a moment, the piping fading to silence as he caught sight of her. Then he grinned, and Katara smiled back.

Run, some part of her thought. Don't bother, the rest of her knew. You could never escape a satyr in the woods.

Besides, with the stream at her back, why did she need to run? Her fingers twitched, remembering Gran-Gran's lover's teachings.

"You're pretty," the satyr said, voice high and young. Younger than her, and she wasn't yet a woman in the Tribes.

Her cheeks flushed. "Why did you call me out here?"

The satyr looked startled for a moment, his face so open and vulnerable. She wondered if it was a mask, or if he really was as young as he seemed. It was so hard to tell with creatures like him.

"I didn't," he said. "Well, not you in particular. I was calling-" He broke off, cheeks growing pink. "I wasn't calling for you. I didn't mean to bring you here."

Katara could not help the flash of disappointment, nor the thought of 'what had he been calling?'. "Well," she said, smoothing her hands on her dress and still holding the feel of the water in the back of her mind. "You should bring me back to my family then."

The satyr nodded and hopped down from the rocks, pipe in hand. "Sure! Where do you come from? I've never seen a girl like you before."

She smiled gently. "I'm Southern Water Tribe."

"Whoa. I didn't know my piping could reach that far!"

Re: For suzukiblu: Satyr Aang

[suzukiblu.livejournal.com]

*GIGGLES*

IT IS SO VERY AANG. As is Katara's ass-kicking practicality so very Katara. <3

But who was he caaaalling, I want to know! *flail* You sir are a TEASE.

For suzukiblu: Centaur Aang

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Aang was hardly more than a colt when he saw the girl. She was dark-skinned and lovely, with hair the color of Water Tribe seal-pelts and clothes the color of Water Tribe blues. Which, considering she was Water Tribe, made sense.

She was also fighting like hell against a young man in blood-red armor. He was pale with a shaved scalp except for a black horsetail, one side of his face horribly burned. The scar was bloody-red too, though maybe Aang was just biased.

He liked wine-red better than blood-red, and he didn't like this young man holding the girl.

He was only a little palomino colt, but he was fast.

His front hooves pawed at the ground, and he thought about the wind. He thought about the feel of it streaming through his tail, the feel of his body as he ran and ran until he was part of the wind. He thought of the bite of it in winter, and the relief of its touch in summer. He thought of all that, and his hindquarters bunched.

Aang surged forward, hooves thundering against the dirt of the street. People scattered out of his way, and he yanked at the air all around, threw it at the young man to push him away from the girl.

He could have just hit him, but getting struck by a centaur at full-charge could break ribs. Both of their's, really.

The young man cried out in rage, and the girl cried out in shock but she grabbed at Aang's hand when he offered it, and he heaved her up on his back. The sudden weight slowed him, and the young man sent a blast of fire at him.

Aang cut it on the teeth of a winter-wind, then took off, the wind in his mind and the girl's arms around his chest and her legs around his body.

Re: For suzukiblu: Centaur Aang

[suzukiblu.livejournal.com]

Ooo, I dig the way Aang talks about airbending here. <3 It's interesting, and I haven't seen anyone do it like that before. Fandom needs moar bendingfic.

And somewhere Zuko is really pissed off and fails at courting AGAIN. <<

WORSE THAN THE PIRATES, ZUZU.

. . . and the last line can stop being sexy anytime now. >///>

For suzukiblu: non-canon Bedrock stuff

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Jet, Smellerbee, and Longshot go to the Northern Air Temple. Why the hell not?

("Why the hell?" Smellerbee asks when Jet informs her of the plan. He doesn't answer her, and he doesn't say anything about little kids with too much hope and not enough common sense.)

Surprisingly, there's Earth Kingdom people living up there. Adults mostly, but there's some kids, and they're glad to take the three Freedom Fighters in. It's the first time in a long time Jet has gotten two hot meals three days in a row, and there's a kind of wild hope in the air that Jet recognizes. It touches everyone, especially the kid in the wheeled chair.

Smellerbee likes Teo, so Longshot likes Teo. Jet, though...

It takes Jet a week to realize there's a boy his age in the temple. Besides Longshot. The other boy is a fucking ghost, and Jet has to use everything he learned as a Freedom Fighter to catch up with the boy.

Tall, broad-shouldered, hair hacked off, angry (broken). It's like looking in a mirror, except a mirror doesn't throw him into a wall hard enough to crack his ribs.

Mirrors would be a lot more interesting if they did.

Re: For suzukiblu: non-canon Bedrock stuff

[suzukiblu.livejournal.com]

GLEE. :DDDDDDDDDDD

BEX LOVES ME. <333

Bex is also a murderous tease. *flails* Wonderful Jet is wonderful, though, and broken Haru is fucking sexypants I'm sorry but it's true. *goes to Hell AGAIN* Guh.

Randomly, you know how you've posted those f'locked parts of Bedrock and all? >> *tugs ponytail* I can't read them 'cause I know I'd WHINE at you when there wasn't any more LIKE I'M BARELY NOT DOING RIGHT NOW. I thought I should mention that (WANTS IT, PRECIOUS, WE WANTS IT).

Last line = <3, btw. Win.

For spyridona: Counting Coup

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Title: Counting Coup
'Verse: Fire Avatar Ozai
Characters: Piandao, Ozai
Summary: The swordsman would like to have a few words with the Second Prince.
Author's Notes: I'm rather uncertain about how to characterize an "evil" Piandao, besides "want, take, have", so this is rather experimental.

---

The Avatar was practicing his earthbending. Barefoot, like any man of the Earth Kingdom, but the Avatar wore red.

Piandao had heard that the previous Fire Avatar wore the clothes of the people he trained among. Rumors of the Avatars after Roku were few and far between, though. They'd never even known the name of the Air Avatar, the Water Avatar had died seeking a firebender teacher, and the Earth Avatar... Well, Avatar Farid had been a dangerous man, or so they said.

Not dangerous enough, because Piandao was watching Avatar Ozai train now. The young man couldn't be more than ten years younger than himself, but he was scarred like a warrior thrice his age. Weapon-slashes, the strange curving scars that Jeong Jeong claimed came from waterbenders, burns. So many burns.

Iroh had been pulling his punches, too, for the sake of their shared blood.

Piandao tested the edge of a knife against his thumb. He shouldn't be this deep into Omashu by himself, not with the Avatar's young friends about. Nor the Avatar's old friend, especially not the Avatar's old friend. King Bumi could break Piandao's ribs without hesitation, if he was any judge of 'benders and madmen.

He was friends with Jeong Jeong. He was a very good judge of 'benders and madmen.

He should get out like he'd gotten in, report back to the Prince and Commodore. Tell them the king of Omashu was kindly disposed to Ozai because of a previous incarnation. Tell them Ozai was beginning to learn earthbending. Show them how to get into the city so they could take the Avatar by surprise.

The corners of his mouth turned up. He'd gotten this far. He could get a little farther.

***

Something disturbed Ozai through his earthbending, and his concentration wavered. Rock split and clattered in shards on the floor of the stone courtyard. Then someone was behind him-

Ozai was the Second Prince of the Fire Nation, a master firebender and a fighter long before he was the Avatar. He reacted as naturally as breathing, trying to disable his opponent with fists and flame. He kicked like a mule, felt the slight touch of a hand at his thigh, brought his elbow back as he turned, heard a grunt of impact, flame roared-

It was short, ugly, and useless. 'Bending wasn't designed for close-in combat, and Piandao never let Ozai get the range he truly needed. The fight ended when he wound up on his back, knife at his throat, dark hand on his chest hard enough to make ribs creak, knees pinning his arms. He could still move his legs freely, but Piandao leaning on the knife convinced him that was a bad idea. For the moment.

Piandao's shirt smoldered, and he spat blood to the side. "You're neglecting your hand-to-hand, Second Prince."

"Duly noted," Ozai hissed.

"Don't be so angry, Prince Ozai." Piandao grinned, leaning a little harder on the knife. "You didn't stand a chance, anyway."

Ozai's eyes narrowed, and he snarled at the swordsman, who just laughed very softly.

"You thought you were safe," Piandao said, lifting the knife away only to lay the edge against Ozai's cheek. "That was your mistake, Second Prince. You'll never be safe until you're in the Palace again, doing what you're supposed to do."

"I am doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing as an Avatar," Ozai growled, legs shifting to press the soles of his feet against the stones.

"But not what you are supposed to do as Second Prince of the Fire Nation." Piandao's knife slit Ozai from cheek to chin, and the swordsman leaned over him. "Remember that, Prince Ozai. Remember that I'm always close enough to kill you."

End

Re: For spyridona: Counting Coup

[spyridona.livejournal.com]

*Happy and delighted sounds. Will write a more coherent squeal of joy tomorrow.*

For spyridona

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

This is probably OOC and self-indulgent and rambly. I don't care.

---

Ursa- His mother, Pana corrects himself, she is his mother, she is- (Not his mother, his mother is Water Tribe and the Hope of the South and kind and sweet and terrible).

Ursa says Aomezuki is of no relation to him. Not by blood, though sort of by marriage but that's only by Fire Nation rules. By Earth Kingdom rules, they're both illegitimate bastards and products of adultery. By Water Tribe standards, well, Water Tribe standards don't really have much to do with him and Aomezuki. They're children and they're 'benders, and it would make everyone comfortable if they were not attracted to each other.

They aren't. (Not even a little bit, not even when she snaps fire to life and her blue eyes shine.)

Ursa is his mother, though. She is Zuko and Azula's mother, too, so they are half-siblings. But she is not Aomezuki's mother, and Ozai is not Pana's father. They share none of the same blood, never even realized they might perhaps ought to. She was just another one of Ozai's strangenesses, a Water Tribe firebender raised in the South. Raised by her mother and sometimes her father, and the best Fire Nation trainers and tutors that money could entice down here.

(Dark skin and seal-dark hair, blue eyes and generous hips - she is so Water Tribe. She is so very Water Tribe and she moves like a firebender, and she keeps catching his eye.)

Re: For spyridona

[spyridona.livejournal.com]

I love the subconscious confusion and dissociation Pana has about his mother (who becomes more and more alien to him) and the attraction he has to another 'steambaby'. And of all steambabies, an Ozai steambaby. (Hakoda wrings his hands at night, Bato tells him to stop worrying, and Nityan teases Pana about 'Ol' Blue Eyes'.) I think this could fit right before he starts rebelling over his Water Tribe culture. (I *grinned* over the comment about hips. Pana loves hips.)

For spyridona

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

You know what to blame for this.

---

Kya wakes in warm darkness. The man next to her in bed is still asleep, breathing softly. She lies curled up as far away from him as the bed will let her, the blankets kicked off onto the floor. Only her hair protects her modesty, and she feels like she is baking even in her nakedness.

It is too hot in the Fire Nation.

She sits up, and the man in the bed shifts. She glances at him but he remains asleep. His fists are clenched, though, and she wonders what he's dreaming about.

She wonders if he ever dreams about the wife who left him. He must. She cannot understand him if he does not.

She does not think she understands Firelord Ozai even if he does.

The commander of the Southern Raiders delivered her to him at a gift to celebrate his coronation. A gift, an "exotic beauty", "untouched" by any man of the Fire Nation. Well. That was certainly true. Still true, for the Firelord has never touched her, not once.

It is for the same reason he clothed her in his robe when she was gifted to him, she thinks. He loves the wife who left him, loves her beyond all reason, and Kya is nothing compared to that woman. But he did wrap her in his robe and all the court saw it. They pamper her during the day, wash her hair and oil her body, clothe her in beautiful garments of silk and lace, arrange her hair, drape her in jewelry. Present her to the Firelord.

Who does not touch her.

She is just fine with that, really.

She is less fine with the way her heart goes out to him. The mixed desperation and hurt when he can go no further than stripping her makes her want to take him into her arms and stroke his hair. Tell him to cry. Let the pain out.

He is the Firelord. She should smother him in his sleep, free her people from a hundred years of suffering, spare them from another hundred years.

She can't do that anymore than he can touch her.

Re: For spyridona

[suzukiblu.livejournal.com]

. . . *wants moar* >>

BEX WHY ARE YOU MAKING ME GREEDY WHEN YOU'RE BURNED OUT? DDD: THAT IS JUST NOT ON.

For neldluva: Catching Fire

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

'There is a firebird haunting the land,' the peasants said to her father. How could they pay their due to their lord when the phoenix burned their crops and scorched the very stones of the earth?

Her father fretted, because he was the worrying sort. Mai, however, merely checked her weapons. The peasants were correct - no one could expect them to give to their lord with a monster terrorizing them, and she knew her father well enough to know he could not face a phoenix. But it was a noble's duty to protect their people. If her father could not, then Mai would.

She left in the dead of night, quiet as smoke.

It took her two days to reach the mountains where the phoenix supposedly nested. The land all around was scorched bare, and the smell of smoke was heavy in the air.

She did not make a fire that night. This was not a place to attract attention in.

As she lay down to sleep on the burned earth, a dazzle of red brilliance caught her attention. It came blazing down out of the mountains, and she shielded her eyes as it drew closer. Through a crack in her fingers, she could just make out burning feathers. It passed overhead with the roar of flames and the scream of a hunting hawk.

Firebird.

The heat of its passing hit like an oven, and Mai licked her suddenly dry lips. Could she really-?

She had to. It was her duty.

(It was the most exciting thing she had ever done, and her heart still pounded from the thrill of seeing the phoenix in flight.)

The roar of its return woke her near-dawn, and she watched it fly into the mountains, marking the peaks it disappeared between. Then she gathered her supplies and set off after it. The mountains were barren crags of rock, sharp and hard. The ground cut her shoes, the slabs of rock tore at her clothes. But near sunset, she heard a trickle of water, and she veered from her course to follow it.

She found a small valley. Lush, verdant, green. Growing with ancient, ancient trees. Streams poured down from the sides of the mountains cupping it to gather in a pool. Tired, sore, and dirty as she was, she made her way there to at least wash her face.

She dipped her hands into the water and flinched at its coldness. But she gathered up a handful and splashed it on her face, scrubbing away the dirt and tiredness.

When she lowered her hands, there was a man behind her reflected in the pool. She took him in - soot-black hair, ash-pale skin, fire-red clothes embroidered with gold. Long hair and long beard like one of the great desert kings. Older, as old as her father, but handsome nonetheless. Very handsome.

Heat hit her like an oven, and she plunged her hands into the pool.

His mouth quirked in a smile, and a flaming wing brushed her shoulder. The sleeve of her outfit burned away, baring her left arm and all of its myriad concealed sheathes of weaponry.

His smile widened, and Mai feared to turn to see what the phoenix might actually look like.

"Fierce little pretty little noble daughter. Did you come to fight me?"

Her lips were dry again. She licked them before she spoke, and the heat somehow became even more intense. "Yes."

He threw back his head and laughed, and she heard a city burning in the sound of it. "To what purpose, fierce little pretty? I am the firebird. Reduce me to ash, and I will ignite myself anew."

"I did not say I would kill you," Mai said levelly, and the phoenix suddenly focused on her, bright and hot and intense. "But I cannot allow you to rampage among my father's people."

In the water, his hand touched her hair, but she felt the hardness of a beak arrange the fine black locks. "Pretty little fierceness." A hawk's beak, sharp curved and more massive than any bird in her father's aviary, lightly stroked her scalp. "I think I'll keep you. That seems a fine bargain, does it not?"

"No." She whirled, kukri sliding into her hand, and stabbed upward.

The phoenix laughed in delight.

End

Re: For neldluva: Catching Fire

[blue-lacquer.livejournal.com]

Very nice! It's good to see Mai in action, and that is one creepy phoenix. :)

For banditjoeykuba

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Stocking stuffer!

---

Prince-General Iroh had a wife waiting at home, heavy with his first child. Right here and now, he had his favorite naval captain.

Of course, his favorite naval captain was trying to climb the cabin wall to get away from him. This was definitely putting a crimp in Iroh's womanizing. Manizing. Seduction.

"Captain Jeong Jeong," Iroh said firmly, hands on his hips. "Stop damaging your ship and get down here."

"You grabbed my ass!"

"That is no cause to be burning handholds in the wall like that."

Jeong Jeong hissed something that commoners probably shouldn't be saying to princes. Naturally, Iroh had stopped caring about that sort of thing three days after joining the Fire Nation military because soldiers not swearing seemed as impossible as the sun not rising.

"You have a very fine ass," Iroh pointed out.

Jeong Jeong spluttered.

Iroh sighed. "Please come down so we can properly enjoy the rest of the night."

"There will be no we enjoying anything tonight!"

Re: For banditjoeykuba

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

*cracks up*

For crystaldrake

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Stocking stuffer!

A little bit from during the War.

---

The edge of the sword rested against Pakku's throat. The swordsman's wrist and swordhilt pinned Pakku's hand. Fingers darker than Pakku's own twined with his, preventing him from waterbending the man off of him.

The swordsman's skin was warm. Everyone was warm to Pakku, but the swordsman was moreso.

Of course, the swordsman was Fire Nation.

"You are handsome," the swordsman said, his thumb rubbing against Pakku's wrist. "Dangerous, too. You've given me new scars."

For some reason, the swordsman sounded pleased by that.

Pakku said nothing, ignored the way the soft touch of the swordsman tried to warm something within him. He was cold, he was ice, and frost whitened in the swordsman's hair.

The swordsman smiled and leaned forward. His sword bit into Pakku's throat as his kiss struck Pakku's mouth.

Re: For crystaldrake

[crystaldrake.livejournal.com]

This makes me love Piandao/Pakku even more. :)

Thank you.

For crystaldrake

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

He still has the admiral uniform. Somewhere. Buried under more useful things. (What is more useful than armor?) He does not fetch it out when they bring the lady to his camp.

He does his hair. It's the first time in years, and he nearly breaks the comb half a dozen times in frustration. In the end, he wears a soldier's topknot again.

He looks at himself in a bowl of water, and he wonders how his own face can be so alien.

***

She still has the crown. She wears it inside her robes most of the time. But for this, prisoner of these strange but oh-so-definitely Fire Nation men, she takes it out. Her fingers comb through her hair as she redoes her topknot to accommodate the crown.

It feels heavy, her head unused to its weight.

The flap of the tent sweeps open and a man ducks inside. Skin roughened by exposure, double-blade scar against his right eye, yellow eyes fell and burning, body drawn taut as a bowstring by the war.

Admiral Jeong Jeong strikes her as more dangerous now than he was when she first met him.

***

Princess Ursa strikes him as more dangerous now than she was when he first met her.

She looks up at him proudly, a prisoner in an Earth Kingdom camp, her crown blazing, her eyes molten, her body tense with restrained rage. The very epitome of a Fire Nation woman.

"Tea?" he growled.

***

"Tea," she agreed.

Re: For crystaldrake

[crystaldrake.livejournal.com]

Aww, that was sweet.

For chameleon_pete

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Spirit Masks

***

The Spirit World is and is not a mangrove swamp. It is. Many of its denizens prefer a mangrove swamp, however, and so it seems to be one.

Prince Iroh slogs through it. Some part of him is aware that he does not need to slog through the swamp. It is the Spirit World. Travel is no more real than water or trees. Perhaps less real.

But he does not know where he is going. He is seeking Lu Ten, but he cannot find his boy, why can't he find his son, don't they know who has come here, where is his boy?

Movement catches his eye, and he turns sharply, placing himself side-on to the threat.

A spirit of darkness perches on one of the great mangrove roots. Its face is a leering blue demon-shape, and it grins at him. A sword rests across its back, but the rest of it is shadow-stuff. Only its grotesque face is clear.

Iroh turns to face it fully and bows respectfully. "Greetings."

The spirit cocks its head.

"I am seeking Prince Lu Ten of the Fire Nation. Do you know where he might be?"

The spirit's head tilts in the other direction. "Dead."

"Yes. I am aware of that," Iroh says, shards of patience still in him. "I am still seeking him. He should not be dead now."

The spirit laughs softly.

Iroh feels anger building in him, but he has no flames here, nothing with which to strike this insolent creature. "Thank you," he says through gritted teeth and turns away.

The spirit stands in front of him. It smiles, reaches up and lays black hands on its face. Then it pulls its face off.

A mask.

Perhaps.

Underneath, there is a man. That is all Iroh can say. There is a man with a massive red burn scar across his left eye.

"Live for the living," the spirit says, dropping its mask carelessly. It grins for a moment then sinks down into the water that barely comes above Iroh's knees. There is not even a ripple to mark its passing.

The mask floats on the water, grinning blue.

-End-

Re: For chameleon_pete

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

I know none of these are for me, and I'm a bit unsure about the etiquette of me posting anything, but I just had to squee at this. Wow, wow, wow, I love this, and then it's all grown up Zuko and... I love this!

On a side note, given that I'm his assigned gifter, and so I know what I wrote, I'm wondering if someone else, anyone, wrote the guy something that doesn't take place in the spirit world. At least yours isn't creepy and depressing.

For takatohedgehog

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Parting

Ty Lee goes to Kyoshi Island. Azula goes to Ba Sing Se with Ursa.

Mai stays in the Fire Nation.

Ty Lee sounds happy in her letters. Azula doesn't write letters, but Ursa's letters to her son say Azula is not unhappy.

Mai hates the letters. She hates that Ty Lee is happy in the Earth Kingdom. She hates that Azula is not unhappy in the Earth Kingdom.

She hates that she is unhappy at all.

She loves Zuko.

She loves Zuko.

She doesn't love being his consort. She doesn't love all of the thousand and one ceremonial duties of the Firelord's wife, or the subtle machinations of court politics. She grew up with court politics going all around her, with silence as a weapon and armor both.

She is bored.

She has her husband after giving up everything for him, and she. Is. Bored.

It's not supposed to be this way.

It's not.

What did she expect, the part of her that had liked Azula asks. Did she really expect happily ever after? Did she really expect she would get to keep having fun? That being the Firelord's wife would be anything like what she wanted for herself?

She thinks she didn't expect the Avatar to win, honestly.

She thinks Zuko doesn't know anything about politics, and the daimyos would make him into a puppet if she isn't here.

She stops answering Ty Lee's letters, and Zuko is the person who actually writes to Ursa anyway.

Ty Lee keeps writing. Mai keeps not answering. One month, two months, three months.

Four months, and Ty Lee shows up at the gates to the palace, bright and sunny and dressed in the ugliest green dress imaginable with that hideous facepaint. "Mai! Come out and play!"

What did she expect, the part of her that still liked Ty Lee asks.

Mai goes out to play.

-End-

Re: For takatohedgehog

[avocado-love.livejournal.com]

Aw Poor Mai. I think you may have a point (or several) in there I haven't thought of before regarding the future and what Mai has to give up to be with the man she loves.

For takatohedgehog

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

What's the Worst That Could Happen?

Jet has never seen a more Fire Nation girl in his life.

Okay, there's the gold-eyed bitch who absconded with Lee earlier. But his dick wanted to curl up and hide from her. This girl, though? Oh, his dick definitely wants to curl up and hide, if you know what he's saying.

Because, really? A girl with that many knives? A girl with that many knives deserves a real man to show her a good time, not some pansy-ass Fire Nation guy who probably can't go more than three or four times in a night. A girl with that many knives deserves a man who can go for at least half a dozen rounds and more if she's still up for it.

Jet's not actually sure if he wouldn't be begging for mercy by round eight, but he'll burn that bridge when he comes to it.

"Hey," he says, hoisting himself up over the windowsill. He jerks his head to the side with a grin as a three senbon needles go outside. "Good shot."

"Not good enough," she growls, and he has to duck another spray of needles.

He comes up grinning, though part of him is really tempted to draw his swords. It'd be easy to snag her dress on the hooks, rip it open, press close to her, and purr in her ear... He bet her skin was scorching hot. Lee's had been.

'Course, drawing his swords would probably make her seriously try to kill him, instead of half-assing it like she currently is.

"So, you got anything planned between now and when the bitch-queen gets back?" He asks, because it's as good a lead-in as any. Though, seriously, he's blaming the fact that he's trying to pick up a Fire Nation girl on Lee. Definitely Lee and not at all her gleaming black hair or her pale eyes or her pretty mouth. Definitely not the challenge of making her expression tighten with ecstasy.

...

Okay, he's blaming the Dai Li and the mindbending too.

She probably isn't a screamer. Which is a good thing because he so does not want to deal with guards right now.

"Why?" She asks, eyes narrowing in suspicion. A longer, heavier knife drops down into her hands.

He grins and tries not to think of how fun "disarming" her would be. "How well do you know this palace? There's a lot of ways in and out that I bet none of you Firefolk know a thing about."

She raises an eyebrow. "And you are offering...?"

"Come explore." Jet holds a hand out to her.

"With you." She sounds unimpressed. "A strange Earth Kingdom boy who just climbed in my window."

"Yep."

"... I should kill you."

"Backatcha."

"Do you ever stop grinning?"

Jet's grin widens. "Well, if you want to find out, you're going to have to come with me."

He twists on the windowsill and slides off, half-running down the side of the palace as fast as he possibly can until he tumbles onto a lower balcony. Then he hops over that, catches hold of a garden trellis, and clambers down into the gardens.

The Fire Nation girl follows him.

"You're crazy," she says levelly. Then her mouth curves very slightly into a smile. "But not boring."

-End-

Re: For takatohedgehog

[spyridona.livejournal.com]

... yeah, this is my favorite take of Mai/Jet in ever.

For takatohedgehog

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Possessive Warrior-Girlfriends

Toph likes guys with muscles. Twinkletoes pretty much lacks in that department. Sparky's got 'em nice and fine and tight, but he's also got a girlfriend who could nail Toph's eyes at a mile. Or so Toph assumes from the way Mai acts. Snoozles's has got a similar problem, even if he wouldn't exactly call Suki a problem.

Toph wouldn't either if Suki would share.

Haru, though. Haru's got possibilities. He's an earthbender, too, so she knows she won't wear him out. Much.

Well. Maybe a little bit.

It turns out there's a minor flaw in that plan. That minor flaw is named Ty Lee, and apparently all Firefolk come in 'insanely possessive' flavors when you grab their boyfriends' asses in public.

Jeez, if Toph had known Haru was dating Ty Lee, she wouldn't have done that.

Maybe.

Haru does have a damn fine ass.

Teo does have some really nice arms, but she kind of has to climb up off the ground to do anything with him. It's way disconcerting not to be able to feel anything except what's under her hands, body, and mouth. On the other hand, lack of possessive warrior-girlfriend is definitely a plus.

Except now he does have a possessive warrior-girlfriend.

Toph.

-End-

Re: For takatohedgehog

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

*grins*

*grins widely*