ensemble fic: cumulus
Title: Cumulus
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Sokka, Zuko, Toph, Ty Lee, Katara, Suki, Aang, Mai, Sukka, anti-Maiko, anti-Kataang. mild Zutara and Taang if you squint.
Wordcount: Right under 5200 words. D:
Genre: Humor, Friendship
Summary: In celebration of one full year of peace, Aang and King Bumi conspire to host a dance party at the Fire Nation palace. Meanwhile, Sokka makes a huge mistake and is forced to re-learn the fine art of crossdressing, Mai and Toph bond over makeup, of all things, and Ty Lee makes herself a nuisance.
cumulus --
Sokka, spirits help him, was trying. In the space of only a few short hours, he had managed to royally piss off eighty percent of the women he regularly contacted with (Mai being the only one who wasn't furious with him, and that was only because she was too busy directing her rage at newly-ex-boyfriend Fire Lord Zuko), and now he was facing the truly daunting task of fixing this.
And he was determined to do it on his own, although Zuko had offered to help him -- Sokka suspected it had more to do with escaping Mai than with brotherhood, however, and he declined the help. Besides, Zuko coming along would mean a whole battalion of guards and courtiers following him, and they would have the attention of the entire capital, who was already creaming themselves over his new single status, so Zuko coming along would mean wading through drooling fan-girls and skittish guards with pointy things and he just didn't think it sounded like a good time.
He was beginning to regret that, however, as he wandered aimlessly around the market square, completely unsure of what boutiques were better than others, which were ridiculously overpriced or made clothes that fell apart when you touched them, and which stupid little trinkets were actually supposed to be offerings to the spirits of dead sisters or something.
(That last one became a problem when he picked up a really cool looking statue of a jolly fat man who reminded him of Iroh, and the seller had given him a strange look and asked him multiple times if he was sure he wanted to buy that statue, and he had finally caved to his suspicions and put it back on the shelf, but the encounter left him distinctly unsettled.)
Hair things, he thought, spying a table laid out with gloriously beautiful jewelry in all sorts of colors and styles. That was safe enough, right? Jewelry was always safe, and the Fire Nation seemed to have a fixation on hair... stuff. It would be unique, at least for Katara and Suki (Ty Lee, not so much, but well, he was desperate and kind of poor). He found a very pretty lotus comb and bought four of them, grinning triumphantly. He would have to separate the girls and give them to them separately so they didn't immediately figure out that they were all the same (except for colors; he wasn't a complete idiot). Hopefully, by the time they realized that, they would all be over their anger and would laugh it off good-naturedly.
The seller grinned hugely when he handed over his money, an odd leer in his eyes.
"Stocking up, are we?" he asked. Sokka laughed.
"Oh, yeah. I'm in it deep," he replied, drawing a hand across his throat. "So, these are gonna save my life."
"I'm sure they will," the man said, still grinning. Sokka gave him an odd look, but figured that, hey, he'd be grinning too if he just got a bunch of money in exchange for some combs.
Stupid expensive females.
--
Zuko was horrified. Slightly amused, but more horrified.
"Toph..." he asked, and the girl hastily quit terrorizing the turtle-ducks, whistling unconvincingly as though she hadn't done anything. The turtle-ducks, however, were squawking with relief and swimming desperately away from her. Zuko gave her an admonishing look which she ignored. "What are you wearing?"
She patted her clothing down, confused, "Um, Earth Kingdom formal wear. I just escaped from that stupid meeting with Kuei and Bumi. They said I had to look like a lady," she snorted. "Why?"
"I didn't mean..."
Ty Lee burst into the garden suddenly, eyes wide and fearful. "Oh, no, Zuko. We've got a problem." Her eyes landed on Toph and she pointed. "See?"
"What problem?" Toph shouted, completely thrown. She hadn't felt any problems, and usually she was first to know when things were going haywire. Well, usually that was because she was causing them to go haywire, but still. Zuko coughed, and tugged something from her hair.
"Where did you get this?"
"The comb?" she asked, incredulous. What was wrong with the comb? "Sokka gave it to me."
Ty Lee and Zuko groaned. "Of course," Zuko said. "Well, look, this comb is kind of -- "
"It means you're a mid-class prostitute," Ty Lee said shortly. "Sokka didn't know. How many did he give out?"
"What do you mean?" Zuko asked, turning. "He gave out more than one?"
Toph was suddenly struck with hysterical laughter. Zuko took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"Please tell me he didn't give these to Suki and Katara."
"Oh," Toph cried, howling with laughter, "he did! And guess what? They left to go shopping like two hours ago!"
"See?" Ty Lee groaned. "Problem."
--
"Everyone's so... nice," Suki said, looking around them. Katara, half-buried in silk kimono, shrugged.
"We did save the world, you know."
"Yeah, but I never would have expected the Fire Nation to be like this." She made a face, and peered at a massive blue silk... thing. It called itself a susohiki, but it looked to Suki more like a monster that had grown silk fur and set up shop in the store, snapping at passersby. She looked closely at the name, trying to figure out what it meant and whether it would be formal enough for this ridiculous dance party that Bumi and Aang had insisted they have. To celebrate a full year of peace! they had said, which Suki thought was really rich, because they had been all cozy up in Omashu and... wherever Aang had been, rather than out fighting off stupid people who thought that "peace" meant "let's kill that other guy".
She also wasn't particularly happy about being dragged out to shop with Katara, but at least it was a nice day. She was trying to be positive, even though the past few days had put a real strain on Suki's not-inconsiderable reserves of patience.
"Ooh," Katara said, noticing the blue thing that Suki was trying to make sense of. "That's really pretty."
"And expensive," a woman behind them said, and they turned. She was fantastically dressed, with a huge, flowing kimono and face painted white. She was also looking at them like they were insects. "Far more expensive than you can afford, I would think."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Katara replied indignantly, drawing herself up to her full height which was somewhat lacking compared to the gorgeous, tall woman.
In response, the woman simply snorted and glided away, leaving Katara gaping after her furiously, looking between her and Suki, who shrugged.
"I did think it was weird that they were being nice. She's probably one of those elitist hags and hates you 'cause you're Water Tribe."
Katara huffed in annoyance. "Let's get out of this stupid shop. It's all overpriced anyhow."
They were halfway out the door when Zuko and Ty Lee, running like mad, crashed straight into them. Everyone shouted, and Suki hit the floor, closely followed by Zuko, who snatched something out of her hair hastily. Beside her, Ty Lee did the same thing, only with less falling on the floor.
"Hey!" Katara said, mood clearly souring at being hit in the chest with ninety pounds of pink acrobat. Zuko helped Suki to her feet, laughing nervously. The tall woman shuffled over, suddenly interested.
"Fire Lord Zuko!" she breathed, bowing and twittering confusedly, "What are you doing with... these women?"
Zuko gave the woman a blank look, and mouthed something, as though trying to wrap his head around the situation.
Katara, however, had had enough. "You!" she shouted, poking the woman in the shoulder and trying not to look as dwarfed and insignificant as she felt next to the exotic woman. "You can just get off your stupid Fire Nation high ostrich-horse and just deal with the fact that the war is over and you are not better than me! Ty Lee, stop it!" she yelled, swatting the other girl's hand away.
Zuko coughed, and leaned over to whisper something in Katara's ear. She froze, and then her eyes widened.
"Mid-class?" she replied hoarsely. Zuko nodded. She began to laugh nervously. "Oh. Oh. And she's --?" Zuko nodded again.
"Geisha, yeah. High-class."
"Oh."
"This is all just a really big misunderstanding," Ty Lee implored, stepping between the steadily-reddening Katara and the incredibly pissed-off geisha. "See, Katara, she's not from around here, and she thought you were attacking her. She didn't know what the, heh," she held up the lotus comb and smiled brightly, "the comb meant. Her brother bought it, just thought it was pretty, you know..."
The woman glared icily at Ty Lee and Katara and swept out of the shop, bowing shortly to Zuko as she left. Ty Lee coughed and rubbed the back of her neck.
"What a horrible person," Suki muttered, glaring, and turned to Zuko. "Now, what does the comb mean?"
--
Suki and Katara had their revenge: the giant blue kimono was lovingly presented to Sokka later in the day, with one of the combs, and he was encouraged to spend some time wandering around the capital, on pain of death and even further humiliation should he return in different clothes than he left in.
--
"On the plus side," Sokka told Aang, tugging on a formal jacket for the dance, "I discovered that apparently, I'm a very attractive mid-class prostitute. I could make a lot of money."
"I think you'd have to do more than just wander around and flirt, though," Aang said, not really paying attention, struggling with the obnoxious buttons.
"Nah, I figured the whole thing out. I mean, okay, mid-class, yeah, I'd have to, um," he coughed and tugged at his collar, "but if I became a geisha..."
"You can't be a geisha, Sokka."
"I'm not talking for a lifestyle change," he replied, like it was obvious, shuddering, "Spirits, no. But it's a useful thing to know, you know, for the future."
"In case you have to go incognito as a geisha?"
"Yeah," he shrugged, "I ran into this cool bounty hunter chick who told me all sorts of tips about going incognito. She seemed to think the cross-dressing thing was funny. She was kind of familiar..." he mused, trailing off. Aang shrugged.
"Why would you ever have to do that, though?" he asked, growling at the buttons and searching through Zuko's wardrobe for a different jacket. Neither of them had exactly told the Fire Lord that they were raiding his closet, but eh, he wouldn't get too mad. He paused at a lurid purple shirt and showed it to Sokka, who shrugged and made a hand motion as if to say he's just crazy.
"That's the whole point with gathering that kind of information, though. It's because you never know when you'll have to do something crazy like dress up as a geisha. I mean, how many times did we dress up in stupid costumes when we were running around with you?"
Aang appeared to think about that for a moment, and then conceded. "Okay, but a geisha costume isn't exactly a mask you can just pull out of your pack. There's a lot that goes into one of those outfits."
"It's not a perfect disguise," Sokka said, considering a shirt with an overabundance of ruffles. "And who shops for Zuko? His grandmother?"
"Considering that's Uncle's closet," Zuko's voice drifted in from the doorway, sounding amused. Sokka and Aang both yelped and turned sheepishly.
"Oh, hey, Zuko..." Aang started, but Sokka just barreled forward.
"Man, that explains so much. So, Zukes, my friend," he said, throwing an arm around Zuko's shoulders, "mind if we raid your wardrobe for something to wear to this party?"
"I didn't, but since you were trying to do it without asking..."
"Aw come on," Sokka cried, acting deeply wounded, "I would let you raid my wardrobe."
"Your wardrobe consists of three pairs of shirts and one pair of pants," Aang cut in, ignoring Sokka's frantic shushing motions. "Seriously, though, Zuko, I don't have anything to wear to a Fire Nation Ball, and I've gotta find something really nice to convince Katara that she wants to stay with me!"
"She's having doubts?" Zuko asked, ignoring the look on Sokka's face. Aang sighed.
"She says there's no spark," he whined, shoulders slumping. Sokka leaned over to Zuko.
"Great, now he's gonna be down all night. Do you have any idea how long I've been working to cheer him up?"
"Well," Zuko said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, both feeling bad for Aang and undeniably curious about Katara's single status. "I mean... I've got some old clothes that might fit you."
"Great!" Aang said, bouncing in place. Zuko sighed and waved a hand for the two to follow him to his actual room.
--
"Okay, so you have to wear this," Ty Lee cried, holding out the pink monstrosity and shaking it, like it would suddenly appear less hideous if shaken up. Katara groaned.
"I prefer blue..."
"You always wear blue, though!" Suki, on the other side of Ty Lee and very, very firm in her green outfit, snickered while brushing her hair.
"Ty Lee, let it go. She'll wear what she wants to wear. Why don't you wear that massive thing we sent Sokka around in?" Suki asked, swatting Ty Lee's hand away from the brush. On the other side of Katara, Mai rolled her eyes. Katara made a face.
"It's all sweaty," she said. "Sokka sweats like a... I don't know, something gross."
"Aww, Zuko paid good money for that," Suki said, and then yelped as Ty Lee stamped on her foot, having forgotten the Don't Mention Zuko Around Mai Rule. The girl in question didn't seem to notice, although she did drag her brush through her hair with more force than was strictly necessary.
"Why don't you wear red?" Ty Lee asked, tugging a slinky, low-cut number out of the closet. Katara gaped at it.
"I'm not trying to seduce someone!" she cried, but Suki whistled at it, pawing at the fabric.
"If you don't wear it, can I?" she asked.
Mai snickered, "I don't think that's a good idea. That dress... used to belong to Zuko's mother."
Something shivered through the group at the realization of where this dress had been -- and, more than that, where it had not been. Ty Lee dropped it like it was covered in acid, and, of course, took everyone's discomfort one step too far. "Eew, Ozai-germs."
"Okay, so no red," Katara said, tugging at her hair unhappily. "I'm not wearing that pink thing, Ty Lee, don't even try, and I can't wear green because Suki and Toph will both be wearing green..."
"Yellow?" Ty Lee asked, and Suki winced, motioning for her to stop oh please don't -- but she didn't. "Aww, you and Aang can be all matching and stuff."
Katara growled. "Aang and I are no longer together."
An odd noise broke the silence. It took everyone a moment to realize that it was Mai, and she was laughing. Granted, it was a dark, under-the-breath laugh, but from Mai, that was huge. Everyone turned, and she seemed to notice the attention all of a sudden, and controlled the laughing.
"What's so funny?" Katara asked, still looking for a fight after yesterday's comb fiasco.
"This is just," she began, snickering again, "the most awkward post-breakup party ever."
"Well," Ty Lee said, floundering, "Well, forget men!" she cried, trying desperately to control the awkward situation before it got out of hand. "Single women unite! Come here, Katara, Su... ki..." She trailed off as she realized her error.
Mai gave up all pretense and laughed outright at this. In spite of herself, Katara began laughing as well, and Suki soon joined in, all at poor Ty Lee's expense.
"It's okay," Suki said, picking up the slinky red dress and putting it back in the wardrobe, "I'm all for men-hating. Sokka's just an exception to the rule."
"So, um," Ty Lee started, tugging on a pretty gold number, "what happened?"
"It's complicated," Katara said, looking at a different red and gold patterned dress that was rather pretty, until she noticed that it had clearly been made for a very pregnant woman. "He and I... We're great friends, but there was just no spark. I mean, I love him, I do, but..."
"You don't want to sleep with him," Mai finished for her, raising an eyebrow. Katara flushed.
"He's barely fourteen," she sputtered, horrified at the thought. "And I'm... Well, my father keeps talking about all these people in the Water Tribes who want to marry me because I'm sixteen now, and..."
"Sixteen is marrying age in the Water Tribe?" Ty Lee asked, flabbergasted. "That's terrifying! I'm already an old maid!"
Katara laughed. "Well, since I'm a diplomat, things are kind of different for me, so I'm not required to be there to filter all of the... options, but now that he's found out that I broke up with Aang, he's been laying it on pretty thick."
Suki wrinkled her nose. "Tell him you're gonna run off to Kyoshi Island and become a lesbian. That'll stop him dead in his tracks."
Ty Lee nodded sagely, and shrugged. "It worked for me," she chirped, grinning.
Just then, the conversation was broken by Toph shuffling in the doorway, wearing the most hugely oversized green kimono Katara had ever seen, and a (miserable) face covered in makeup, her hair elaborately styled high on her head. She looked like she had been attacked by a fish-monster and swallowed almost whole, with only her head poking out. "Help..." she whined.
"Toph!" Suki and Ty Lee cried, both grabbing one of the girl's arms and pulling her over to the bed. "Oh," Suki said, "what happened? Here, let me get all that make-up off..."
"The attendants," Toph muttered, nodding off, "they've been at it all day. I thought it was a good idea to tell them to just do what they wanted, but..."
"What is this you're wearing?" Katara asked, tugging at one of the huge silk sleeves. Toph groaned.
"Apparently, it's common formal wear for a young, unmarried woman," she growled. "But it's hot."
"Here, stand up," Mai commanded, and Toph raised an eyebrow, but stood. Like a military officer, Mai directed her in how to remove the kimono, helping only when it was physically impossible for Toph to deal with it herself, such as in untying the needlessly elaborate obi. "This is a stupid kimono," she said, tugging angrily at the fabric, "I've always hated it."
"It was yours?" Katara asked, watching the proceedings with fascination. Mai nodded.
"It was a gift from some distant relative for my fourteenth birthday. It's awful."
"Can I destroy it?" Toph asked gleefully, apparently unconcerned with her current state of undress. Mai raised an eyebrow, but cracked a smile.
"Only if I'm there to witness it."
"Yessss," Toph hissed, looking far more cheerful than she had when she'd come in. Suki returned with a heavy cloth and began wiping at Toph's face. She wrinkled her nose, but didn't object, probably because she was too busy imagining setting the kimono on fire with Mai or other such things.
"Okay," Suki said, wiping over Toph's face one last time, "that's about it. There, now, let us do your outfit and makeup... and hair..." she trailed off as she looked at the elaborate hair, dismayed at the concept of dealing with it.
"No, the hair is fine," Ty Lee said, jumping into the conversation, rummaging hastily through the wardrobe and pulling out a delicate green dress. "It'll go great with this!" she trilled, holding it out. Katara and Suki glanced at the dress, and then to Toph, who shrugged.
"I don't care, as long as it's lighter than that thing," she said, waving in the general direction of the kimono, which was, unfortunately for the maids, all over the room in multiple pieces.
"It is," Suki said, helping Toph into the pretty dress and arranging it so that it covered all of her bindings. It had been made for someone slightly larger than her, but it fit well enough after a couple of on-the-fly pinnings from Ty Lee. "There, now that that's over with... Mai, can you do her makeup?"
Mai smirked. "Sure. Come into the washroom with me," she said. Ty Lee caught her by the arm.
"Lighter than your usual, Mai," she implored. "Toph isn't... you." Mai waved her off carelessly and gestured to Toph to follow her, which she did, with a magnificent grin. "I think Mai is a bad influence on Toph," Ty Lee said, watching with a little concern for the younger girl.
"Nah, Mai'll teach her everything she needs to know," Katara said, continuing to paw through the dresses.
"That's what I'm afraid of," Ty Lee muttered.
--
"Okay, so, what kind of awesome makeup can you do?" Toph asked, swinging around in the cool twirly seat that they certainly didn't have at her parents' house.
"I can do a lot of makeup," Mai replied, pulling out massive numbers of pots and pallets from the drawers, mostly Ty Lee's. "I was going to just give you normal makeup with some light eyeshadow..."
"No no no," Toph said, shaking her head. "I want you do something crazy. Awesome, but crazy. Like an actress!"
Mai watched her warily, and then caught on. "Your parents are coming to this, aren't they?"
Toph sighed heavily, and nodded. "Yeah, and they're gonna be all... annoying. You know how it is, don't you?"
Mai gave a small, slightly vindictive smile. "Yeah, I do. So... what kind of awesome-but-crazy makeup do you want?"
The other girl's whole face lit up. "Can you do fairy makeup? That would be so cool!"
"Fairy makeup, huh?" Mai said, tilting her head and peering at her pallets. "I can do that."
--
"You have to make a decision," Ty Lee said firmly, holding two dresses out, one in each hand. One was beautiful royal blue and crazily elaborate while the other was much simpler but was an odd tone of fuchsia that worried Katara to imagine wearing.
"Can I take a third option?" she asked meekly, but Suki groaned.
"You've been doing that all day. You're running out of time, Katara. Go with the blue," she said, getting annoyed. Katara sighed.
"Okay, fine. The blue one."
"Finally," Ty Lee said, and she and Suki began to wrap her into the elaborate formal outfit before she could change her mind -- again. Just as they were beginning to tie the ridiculous, heavy obi, Toph and Mai returned from the washroom, and everyone froze. "Mai, what...?" Ty Lee began, gaping, but Mai simply shrugged.
"She wanted fairy makeup, so I did fairy makeup."
"Objectively speaking," Suki said, cutting off the rant before it could leave Katara's mouth and 'accidentally' stabbing her with a pin, "it's really good makeup."
"It's... not formal ball material," Ty Lee said as evenly as possible.
"We don't have time to fix it," Toph said gleefully, and Suki was struck with the thought that Toph had planned it to be that way. Mai smirked.
"Katara still isn't dressed?" she asked, deftly changing the subject, and joining Suki and Ty Lee with the obi, which was good, because Suki was starting to get very, very tired of silk and was contemplating just tearing the whole thing up and sending Katara to the ball naked.
Ty Lee gave Mai a look and then turned to Suki. "Okay, while she's doing... that," she said, disentangling herself from the silk awkwardly and looking around, "we are going to do your hair and makeup. And then mine, and then hopefully, Katara will be ready."
"I wouldn't count on it," Mai muttered around a mouthful of pins. "You two have no idea how to tie an obi, do you?"
"Not a clue," Ty Lee chirped, grabbing Suki by the shoulder and shoving her down, ignoring the other girl's cry of protest. "Okay, I was thinking a braid..."
"It's not long enough for a braid," she cried, annoyed, and rubbed at her scalp. Katara glanced behind her.
"Sure it is, just has to be a thin braid or two."
"Ooh, that'll be pretty," Ty Lee said, and began to do so, twisting Suki's bangs into a pair of twin braids while Mai finished tying Katara's obi and began rummaging through the wardrobe for the rest of the accessories that went with it, which included an elaborate head-piece that jingled like bells when it moved and a large, delicate water-lily.
"What's with all the hair stuff?" Suki asked, glaring as fiercely as she could and hoping that, behind her, Ty Lee could feel it. "You Fire Nation people are obsessed with hair pieces."
Mai shrugged. "It's just how things are. This outfit is supposed to emulate flowing water, hence the pattern and the bells and the flower."
"It's perfect for Katara," Ty Lee added unnecessarily, and then pushed away from Suki's head. "Done!" she trilled.
"Finally," Suki muttered, and then Mai gripped Katara by the shoulder and directed her into the washroom.
"Katara, you next. This will take a lot of work, so Suki and Toph, you help me, and Ty Lee, once you're done...?"
"Of course!"
Toph sighed and shuffled back into the washroom, muttering, "Jeez, Katara, did you have to choose the most elaborate outfit possible?"
"I didn't intend to!" she cried, hoisting the skirts up and trying not to fall flat on her face. "I would have gone with the other one but it was that horrible fuchsia color."
"Well," Mai drawled, fitting a holster of knives onto her upper arm, just in case, "if you were looking to draw everyone's attention, you'll succeed."
Katara groaned. "That's not at all what I wanted," she whined. Toph punched her on the arm, but the effect was diminished by the layers of silk.
"Man up, Katara," she said. "Think of it this way: I'm a fairy, Mai's all glowering and knife-y, Ty Lee is pinker than pink, and Suki is gonna be wearing Sokka all night. You've got to have something different and out-there of your own. And look, you can be... a river! How cool is that?"
Katara stared, and then seemed to realize something. She leaned over to Suki. "Is she... drunk?"
"I am starting to think so," Suki replied.
"Oh no," Katara said.
--
"When are we allowed to start making 'girls are always late' jokes?" Sokka asked, tugging on the shirt he had borrowed from Zuko, inwardly wondering if he could somehow escape the Fire Nation with the shirt, which was sure to sell really well somewhere else. And besides, it looked absolutely fabulous on him.
Red was, he decided, most certainly his color.
"Give them fifteen more minutes," Zuko replied, leaning against the wall and tapping his foot impatiently. "And then we leave without them. I can't be much later," he groaned, "we're already over a quarter of an hour late. And this stupid crown," he muttered, glaring upward as though he could make his crown suddenly disappear.
"It's just a hair thing," Aang said, poking it. "How annoying can it possibly be?"
Sokka heaved an over-exaggerated, long-suffering sigh. "Spoken like a true bald man," he said, shaking his head sagely.
"It's just irritating," Zuko sighed, "and I'm getting sick of waiting. What's taking them so long, anyhow?"
"Probably doing their makeup and hair," Sokka replied flippantly. "Girls are always wasting time with stuff like that."
"I can't see Mai and Suki wasting too much time with makeup and hair," Aang mused, kicking at a loose rock, feeling oddly lonely.
"You'd be surprised," Sokka said sagely, assuming the role of Mentor in All Things Female. "It's always the ones you'd never suspect. I bet Ty Lee can get ready in ten minutes, but Mai's the one who takes forever and ever. Right, Zuko?"
"Mmm-hmm," Zuko answered, not really listening. Finally, a door on the far end of the hall opened. Mai walked out first, looking not very different from her usual appearance, but her hair had been arranged in a fashion that screamed "Ty Lee" and she was now wearing a tasteful black dress, although her gloves were still in place and Zuko was quite sure that she still had several knives on her person, just because Mai always had knives on her person.
She raised an eyebrow at the three men standing awkwardly in the hall, but didn't have time to say anything, as Ty Lee and Suki followed her out of the room, bickering over what appeared to be a half-empty bottle of wine and how long it had been in its current state. Ty Lee grinned and preened, even though Zuko and Aang weren't paying attention and Sokka was too caught up in staring at Suki. Following Suki and Ty Lee came a scowling Toph who appeared to be dressed up for a summer solstice play, down to the flamboyant fantasy makeup on her face, which was admittedly confusing.
And then Katara entered the hall, looking for all the world like a majestic Fire Nation Lady in an exotic royal blue kimono that Zuko remembered seeing in a portrait somewhere. Even Sokka was caught off-guard by his sister's otherworldly appearance.
"Katara?" he asked, gaping, and she flushed.
"It was Mai's doing," she complained, tugging at the silk. "And there's so much fabric..."
"She's lying," Mai drawled, pleased with the results of her work but unwilling to show it, "she chose the dress. I just made sure it was on her properly."
"Okay, well," Katara spluttered, unnerved by the surprised attention of Zuko and Aang, "Ty Lee made me choose between this or some hideous bright pinkish purple thing and then there were so many stupid ornaments and hair things and..."
"Shut up," Sokka snapped, looping an arm into Suki's and glowering at his sister. "You look beautiful and you know it. Now let's get to the party. We're already late! And you know what that means?" he asked accusingly, but Suki answered with a laugh.
"That all the food will be gone! Oh, no, Sokka, how will we live?"
Aang tried to escort Katara, but she gave him a sympathetic look and continued forward on her own, so Toph snatched up Aang's arm and trotted with him to the ball. Ty Lee linked arms with Mai and tried to skip, but the other girl simply glared at her until she stopped and began maintaining a normal pace.
Katara came up behind Zuko and linked an arm into one of his. "This is so awkward," she muttered.
"Tell me about it," he groaned.
Together, but in what seemed like all the wrong ways, they went to the ball.
(Three hours -- and a string of deeply confusing propositions -- later, Sokka realized that one of the lotus combs was sitting in his wolf-tail.)
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Sokka, Zuko, Toph, Ty Lee, Katara, Suki, Aang, Mai, Sukka, anti-Maiko, anti-Kataang. mild Zutara and Taang if you squint.
Wordcount: Right under 5200 words. D:
Genre: Humor, Friendship
Summary: In celebration of one full year of peace, Aang and King Bumi conspire to host a dance party at the Fire Nation palace. Meanwhile, Sokka makes a huge mistake and is forced to re-learn the fine art of crossdressing, Mai and Toph bond over makeup, of all things, and Ty Lee makes herself a nuisance.
cumulus --
Sokka, spirits help him, was trying. In the space of only a few short hours, he had managed to royally piss off eighty percent of the women he regularly contacted with (Mai being the only one who wasn't furious with him, and that was only because she was too busy directing her rage at newly-ex-boyfriend Fire Lord Zuko), and now he was facing the truly daunting task of fixing this.
And he was determined to do it on his own, although Zuko had offered to help him -- Sokka suspected it had more to do with escaping Mai than with brotherhood, however, and he declined the help. Besides, Zuko coming along would mean a whole battalion of guards and courtiers following him, and they would have the attention of the entire capital, who was already creaming themselves over his new single status, so Zuko coming along would mean wading through drooling fan-girls and skittish guards with pointy things and he just didn't think it sounded like a good time.
He was beginning to regret that, however, as he wandered aimlessly around the market square, completely unsure of what boutiques were better than others, which were ridiculously overpriced or made clothes that fell apart when you touched them, and which stupid little trinkets were actually supposed to be offerings to the spirits of dead sisters or something.
(That last one became a problem when he picked up a really cool looking statue of a jolly fat man who reminded him of Iroh, and the seller had given him a strange look and asked him multiple times if he was sure he wanted to buy that statue, and he had finally caved to his suspicions and put it back on the shelf, but the encounter left him distinctly unsettled.)
Hair things, he thought, spying a table laid out with gloriously beautiful jewelry in all sorts of colors and styles. That was safe enough, right? Jewelry was always safe, and the Fire Nation seemed to have a fixation on hair... stuff. It would be unique, at least for Katara and Suki (Ty Lee, not so much, but well, he was desperate and kind of poor). He found a very pretty lotus comb and bought four of them, grinning triumphantly. He would have to separate the girls and give them to them separately so they didn't immediately figure out that they were all the same (except for colors; he wasn't a complete idiot). Hopefully, by the time they realized that, they would all be over their anger and would laugh it off good-naturedly.
The seller grinned hugely when he handed over his money, an odd leer in his eyes.
"Stocking up, are we?" he asked. Sokka laughed.
"Oh, yeah. I'm in it deep," he replied, drawing a hand across his throat. "So, these are gonna save my life."
"I'm sure they will," the man said, still grinning. Sokka gave him an odd look, but figured that, hey, he'd be grinning too if he just got a bunch of money in exchange for some combs.
Stupid expensive females.
--
Zuko was horrified. Slightly amused, but more horrified.
"Toph..." he asked, and the girl hastily quit terrorizing the turtle-ducks, whistling unconvincingly as though she hadn't done anything. The turtle-ducks, however, were squawking with relief and swimming desperately away from her. Zuko gave her an admonishing look which she ignored. "What are you wearing?"
She patted her clothing down, confused, "Um, Earth Kingdom formal wear. I just escaped from that stupid meeting with Kuei and Bumi. They said I had to look like a lady," she snorted. "Why?"
"I didn't mean..."
Ty Lee burst into the garden suddenly, eyes wide and fearful. "Oh, no, Zuko. We've got a problem." Her eyes landed on Toph and she pointed. "See?"
"What problem?" Toph shouted, completely thrown. She hadn't felt any problems, and usually she was first to know when things were going haywire. Well, usually that was because she was causing them to go haywire, but still. Zuko coughed, and tugged something from her hair.
"Where did you get this?"
"The comb?" she asked, incredulous. What was wrong with the comb? "Sokka gave it to me."
Ty Lee and Zuko groaned. "Of course," Zuko said. "Well, look, this comb is kind of -- "
"It means you're a mid-class prostitute," Ty Lee said shortly. "Sokka didn't know. How many did he give out?"
"What do you mean?" Zuko asked, turning. "He gave out more than one?"
Toph was suddenly struck with hysterical laughter. Zuko took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"Please tell me he didn't give these to Suki and Katara."
"Oh," Toph cried, howling with laughter, "he did! And guess what? They left to go shopping like two hours ago!"
"See?" Ty Lee groaned. "Problem."
--
"Everyone's so... nice," Suki said, looking around them. Katara, half-buried in silk kimono, shrugged.
"We did save the world, you know."
"Yeah, but I never would have expected the Fire Nation to be like this." She made a face, and peered at a massive blue silk... thing. It called itself a susohiki, but it looked to Suki more like a monster that had grown silk fur and set up shop in the store, snapping at passersby. She looked closely at the name, trying to figure out what it meant and whether it would be formal enough for this ridiculous dance party that Bumi and Aang had insisted they have. To celebrate a full year of peace! they had said, which Suki thought was really rich, because they had been all cozy up in Omashu and... wherever Aang had been, rather than out fighting off stupid people who thought that "peace" meant "let's kill that other guy".
She also wasn't particularly happy about being dragged out to shop with Katara, but at least it was a nice day. She was trying to be positive, even though the past few days had put a real strain on Suki's not-inconsiderable reserves of patience.
"Ooh," Katara said, noticing the blue thing that Suki was trying to make sense of. "That's really pretty."
"And expensive," a woman behind them said, and they turned. She was fantastically dressed, with a huge, flowing kimono and face painted white. She was also looking at them like they were insects. "Far more expensive than you can afford, I would think."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Katara replied indignantly, drawing herself up to her full height which was somewhat lacking compared to the gorgeous, tall woman.
In response, the woman simply snorted and glided away, leaving Katara gaping after her furiously, looking between her and Suki, who shrugged.
"I did think it was weird that they were being nice. She's probably one of those elitist hags and hates you 'cause you're Water Tribe."
Katara huffed in annoyance. "Let's get out of this stupid shop. It's all overpriced anyhow."
They were halfway out the door when Zuko and Ty Lee, running like mad, crashed straight into them. Everyone shouted, and Suki hit the floor, closely followed by Zuko, who snatched something out of her hair hastily. Beside her, Ty Lee did the same thing, only with less falling on the floor.
"Hey!" Katara said, mood clearly souring at being hit in the chest with ninety pounds of pink acrobat. Zuko helped Suki to her feet, laughing nervously. The tall woman shuffled over, suddenly interested.
"Fire Lord Zuko!" she breathed, bowing and twittering confusedly, "What are you doing with... these women?"
Zuko gave the woman a blank look, and mouthed something, as though trying to wrap his head around the situation.
Katara, however, had had enough. "You!" she shouted, poking the woman in the shoulder and trying not to look as dwarfed and insignificant as she felt next to the exotic woman. "You can just get off your stupid Fire Nation high ostrich-horse and just deal with the fact that the war is over and you are not better than me! Ty Lee, stop it!" she yelled, swatting the other girl's hand away.
Zuko coughed, and leaned over to whisper something in Katara's ear. She froze, and then her eyes widened.
"Mid-class?" she replied hoarsely. Zuko nodded. She began to laugh nervously. "Oh. Oh. And she's --?" Zuko nodded again.
"Geisha, yeah. High-class."
"Oh."
"This is all just a really big misunderstanding," Ty Lee implored, stepping between the steadily-reddening Katara and the incredibly pissed-off geisha. "See, Katara, she's not from around here, and she thought you were attacking her. She didn't know what the, heh," she held up the lotus comb and smiled brightly, "the comb meant. Her brother bought it, just thought it was pretty, you know..."
The woman glared icily at Ty Lee and Katara and swept out of the shop, bowing shortly to Zuko as she left. Ty Lee coughed and rubbed the back of her neck.
"What a horrible person," Suki muttered, glaring, and turned to Zuko. "Now, what does the comb mean?"
--
Suki and Katara had their revenge: the giant blue kimono was lovingly presented to Sokka later in the day, with one of the combs, and he was encouraged to spend some time wandering around the capital, on pain of death and even further humiliation should he return in different clothes than he left in.
--
"On the plus side," Sokka told Aang, tugging on a formal jacket for the dance, "I discovered that apparently, I'm a very attractive mid-class prostitute. I could make a lot of money."
"I think you'd have to do more than just wander around and flirt, though," Aang said, not really paying attention, struggling with the obnoxious buttons.
"Nah, I figured the whole thing out. I mean, okay, mid-class, yeah, I'd have to, um," he coughed and tugged at his collar, "but if I became a geisha..."
"You can't be a geisha, Sokka."
"I'm not talking for a lifestyle change," he replied, like it was obvious, shuddering, "Spirits, no. But it's a useful thing to know, you know, for the future."
"In case you have to go incognito as a geisha?"
"Yeah," he shrugged, "I ran into this cool bounty hunter chick who told me all sorts of tips about going incognito. She seemed to think the cross-dressing thing was funny. She was kind of familiar..." he mused, trailing off. Aang shrugged.
"Why would you ever have to do that, though?" he asked, growling at the buttons and searching through Zuko's wardrobe for a different jacket. Neither of them had exactly told the Fire Lord that they were raiding his closet, but eh, he wouldn't get too mad. He paused at a lurid purple shirt and showed it to Sokka, who shrugged and made a hand motion as if to say he's just crazy.
"That's the whole point with gathering that kind of information, though. It's because you never know when you'll have to do something crazy like dress up as a geisha. I mean, how many times did we dress up in stupid costumes when we were running around with you?"
Aang appeared to think about that for a moment, and then conceded. "Okay, but a geisha costume isn't exactly a mask you can just pull out of your pack. There's a lot that goes into one of those outfits."
"It's not a perfect disguise," Sokka said, considering a shirt with an overabundance of ruffles. "And who shops for Zuko? His grandmother?"
"Considering that's Uncle's closet," Zuko's voice drifted in from the doorway, sounding amused. Sokka and Aang both yelped and turned sheepishly.
"Oh, hey, Zuko..." Aang started, but Sokka just barreled forward.
"Man, that explains so much. So, Zukes, my friend," he said, throwing an arm around Zuko's shoulders, "mind if we raid your wardrobe for something to wear to this party?"
"I didn't, but since you were trying to do it without asking..."
"Aw come on," Sokka cried, acting deeply wounded, "I would let you raid my wardrobe."
"Your wardrobe consists of three pairs of shirts and one pair of pants," Aang cut in, ignoring Sokka's frantic shushing motions. "Seriously, though, Zuko, I don't have anything to wear to a Fire Nation Ball, and I've gotta find something really nice to convince Katara that she wants to stay with me!"
"She's having doubts?" Zuko asked, ignoring the look on Sokka's face. Aang sighed.
"She says there's no spark," he whined, shoulders slumping. Sokka leaned over to Zuko.
"Great, now he's gonna be down all night. Do you have any idea how long I've been working to cheer him up?"
"Well," Zuko said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, both feeling bad for Aang and undeniably curious about Katara's single status. "I mean... I've got some old clothes that might fit you."
"Great!" Aang said, bouncing in place. Zuko sighed and waved a hand for the two to follow him to his actual room.
--
"Okay, so you have to wear this," Ty Lee cried, holding out the pink monstrosity and shaking it, like it would suddenly appear less hideous if shaken up. Katara groaned.
"I prefer blue..."
"You always wear blue, though!" Suki, on the other side of Ty Lee and very, very firm in her green outfit, snickered while brushing her hair.
"Ty Lee, let it go. She'll wear what she wants to wear. Why don't you wear that massive thing we sent Sokka around in?" Suki asked, swatting Ty Lee's hand away from the brush. On the other side of Katara, Mai rolled her eyes. Katara made a face.
"It's all sweaty," she said. "Sokka sweats like a... I don't know, something gross."
"Aww, Zuko paid good money for that," Suki said, and then yelped as Ty Lee stamped on her foot, having forgotten the Don't Mention Zuko Around Mai Rule. The girl in question didn't seem to notice, although she did drag her brush through her hair with more force than was strictly necessary.
"Why don't you wear red?" Ty Lee asked, tugging a slinky, low-cut number out of the closet. Katara gaped at it.
"I'm not trying to seduce someone!" she cried, but Suki whistled at it, pawing at the fabric.
"If you don't wear it, can I?" she asked.
Mai snickered, "I don't think that's a good idea. That dress... used to belong to Zuko's mother."
Something shivered through the group at the realization of where this dress had been -- and, more than that, where it had not been. Ty Lee dropped it like it was covered in acid, and, of course, took everyone's discomfort one step too far. "Eew, Ozai-germs."
"Okay, so no red," Katara said, tugging at her hair unhappily. "I'm not wearing that pink thing, Ty Lee, don't even try, and I can't wear green because Suki and Toph will both be wearing green..."
"Yellow?" Ty Lee asked, and Suki winced, motioning for her to stop oh please don't -- but she didn't. "Aww, you and Aang can be all matching and stuff."
Katara growled. "Aang and I are no longer together."
An odd noise broke the silence. It took everyone a moment to realize that it was Mai, and she was laughing. Granted, it was a dark, under-the-breath laugh, but from Mai, that was huge. Everyone turned, and she seemed to notice the attention all of a sudden, and controlled the laughing.
"What's so funny?" Katara asked, still looking for a fight after yesterday's comb fiasco.
"This is just," she began, snickering again, "the most awkward post-breakup party ever."
"Well," Ty Lee said, floundering, "Well, forget men!" she cried, trying desperately to control the awkward situation before it got out of hand. "Single women unite! Come here, Katara, Su... ki..." She trailed off as she realized her error.
Mai gave up all pretense and laughed outright at this. In spite of herself, Katara began laughing as well, and Suki soon joined in, all at poor Ty Lee's expense.
"It's okay," Suki said, picking up the slinky red dress and putting it back in the wardrobe, "I'm all for men-hating. Sokka's just an exception to the rule."
"So, um," Ty Lee started, tugging on a pretty gold number, "what happened?"
"It's complicated," Katara said, looking at a different red and gold patterned dress that was rather pretty, until she noticed that it had clearly been made for a very pregnant woman. "He and I... We're great friends, but there was just no spark. I mean, I love him, I do, but..."
"You don't want to sleep with him," Mai finished for her, raising an eyebrow. Katara flushed.
"He's barely fourteen," she sputtered, horrified at the thought. "And I'm... Well, my father keeps talking about all these people in the Water Tribes who want to marry me because I'm sixteen now, and..."
"Sixteen is marrying age in the Water Tribe?" Ty Lee asked, flabbergasted. "That's terrifying! I'm already an old maid!"
Katara laughed. "Well, since I'm a diplomat, things are kind of different for me, so I'm not required to be there to filter all of the... options, but now that he's found out that I broke up with Aang, he's been laying it on pretty thick."
Suki wrinkled her nose. "Tell him you're gonna run off to Kyoshi Island and become a lesbian. That'll stop him dead in his tracks."
Ty Lee nodded sagely, and shrugged. "It worked for me," she chirped, grinning.
Just then, the conversation was broken by Toph shuffling in the doorway, wearing the most hugely oversized green kimono Katara had ever seen, and a (miserable) face covered in makeup, her hair elaborately styled high on her head. She looked like she had been attacked by a fish-monster and swallowed almost whole, with only her head poking out. "Help..." she whined.
"Toph!" Suki and Ty Lee cried, both grabbing one of the girl's arms and pulling her over to the bed. "Oh," Suki said, "what happened? Here, let me get all that make-up off..."
"The attendants," Toph muttered, nodding off, "they've been at it all day. I thought it was a good idea to tell them to just do what they wanted, but..."
"What is this you're wearing?" Katara asked, tugging at one of the huge silk sleeves. Toph groaned.
"Apparently, it's common formal wear for a young, unmarried woman," she growled. "But it's hot."
"Here, stand up," Mai commanded, and Toph raised an eyebrow, but stood. Like a military officer, Mai directed her in how to remove the kimono, helping only when it was physically impossible for Toph to deal with it herself, such as in untying the needlessly elaborate obi. "This is a stupid kimono," she said, tugging angrily at the fabric, "I've always hated it."
"It was yours?" Katara asked, watching the proceedings with fascination. Mai nodded.
"It was a gift from some distant relative for my fourteenth birthday. It's awful."
"Can I destroy it?" Toph asked gleefully, apparently unconcerned with her current state of undress. Mai raised an eyebrow, but cracked a smile.
"Only if I'm there to witness it."
"Yessss," Toph hissed, looking far more cheerful than she had when she'd come in. Suki returned with a heavy cloth and began wiping at Toph's face. She wrinkled her nose, but didn't object, probably because she was too busy imagining setting the kimono on fire with Mai or other such things.
"Okay," Suki said, wiping over Toph's face one last time, "that's about it. There, now, let us do your outfit and makeup... and hair..." she trailed off as she looked at the elaborate hair, dismayed at the concept of dealing with it.
"No, the hair is fine," Ty Lee said, jumping into the conversation, rummaging hastily through the wardrobe and pulling out a delicate green dress. "It'll go great with this!" she trilled, holding it out. Katara and Suki glanced at the dress, and then to Toph, who shrugged.
"I don't care, as long as it's lighter than that thing," she said, waving in the general direction of the kimono, which was, unfortunately for the maids, all over the room in multiple pieces.
"It is," Suki said, helping Toph into the pretty dress and arranging it so that it covered all of her bindings. It had been made for someone slightly larger than her, but it fit well enough after a couple of on-the-fly pinnings from Ty Lee. "There, now that that's over with... Mai, can you do her makeup?"
Mai smirked. "Sure. Come into the washroom with me," she said. Ty Lee caught her by the arm.
"Lighter than your usual, Mai," she implored. "Toph isn't... you." Mai waved her off carelessly and gestured to Toph to follow her, which she did, with a magnificent grin. "I think Mai is a bad influence on Toph," Ty Lee said, watching with a little concern for the younger girl.
"Nah, Mai'll teach her everything she needs to know," Katara said, continuing to paw through the dresses.
"That's what I'm afraid of," Ty Lee muttered.
--
"Okay, so, what kind of awesome makeup can you do?" Toph asked, swinging around in the cool twirly seat that they certainly didn't have at her parents' house.
"I can do a lot of makeup," Mai replied, pulling out massive numbers of pots and pallets from the drawers, mostly Ty Lee's. "I was going to just give you normal makeup with some light eyeshadow..."
"No no no," Toph said, shaking her head. "I want you do something crazy. Awesome, but crazy. Like an actress!"
Mai watched her warily, and then caught on. "Your parents are coming to this, aren't they?"
Toph sighed heavily, and nodded. "Yeah, and they're gonna be all... annoying. You know how it is, don't you?"
Mai gave a small, slightly vindictive smile. "Yeah, I do. So... what kind of awesome-but-crazy makeup do you want?"
The other girl's whole face lit up. "Can you do fairy makeup? That would be so cool!"
"Fairy makeup, huh?" Mai said, tilting her head and peering at her pallets. "I can do that."
--
"You have to make a decision," Ty Lee said firmly, holding two dresses out, one in each hand. One was beautiful royal blue and crazily elaborate while the other was much simpler but was an odd tone of fuchsia that worried Katara to imagine wearing.
"Can I take a third option?" she asked meekly, but Suki groaned.
"You've been doing that all day. You're running out of time, Katara. Go with the blue," she said, getting annoyed. Katara sighed.
"Okay, fine. The blue one."
"Finally," Ty Lee said, and she and Suki began to wrap her into the elaborate formal outfit before she could change her mind -- again. Just as they were beginning to tie the ridiculous, heavy obi, Toph and Mai returned from the washroom, and everyone froze. "Mai, what...?" Ty Lee began, gaping, but Mai simply shrugged.
"She wanted fairy makeup, so I did fairy makeup."
"Objectively speaking," Suki said, cutting off the rant before it could leave Katara's mouth and 'accidentally' stabbing her with a pin, "it's really good makeup."
"It's... not formal ball material," Ty Lee said as evenly as possible.
"We don't have time to fix it," Toph said gleefully, and Suki was struck with the thought that Toph had planned it to be that way. Mai smirked.
"Katara still isn't dressed?" she asked, deftly changing the subject, and joining Suki and Ty Lee with the obi, which was good, because Suki was starting to get very, very tired of silk and was contemplating just tearing the whole thing up and sending Katara to the ball naked.
Ty Lee gave Mai a look and then turned to Suki. "Okay, while she's doing... that," she said, disentangling herself from the silk awkwardly and looking around, "we are going to do your hair and makeup. And then mine, and then hopefully, Katara will be ready."
"I wouldn't count on it," Mai muttered around a mouthful of pins. "You two have no idea how to tie an obi, do you?"
"Not a clue," Ty Lee chirped, grabbing Suki by the shoulder and shoving her down, ignoring the other girl's cry of protest. "Okay, I was thinking a braid..."
"It's not long enough for a braid," she cried, annoyed, and rubbed at her scalp. Katara glanced behind her.
"Sure it is, just has to be a thin braid or two."
"Ooh, that'll be pretty," Ty Lee said, and began to do so, twisting Suki's bangs into a pair of twin braids while Mai finished tying Katara's obi and began rummaging through the wardrobe for the rest of the accessories that went with it, which included an elaborate head-piece that jingled like bells when it moved and a large, delicate water-lily.
"What's with all the hair stuff?" Suki asked, glaring as fiercely as she could and hoping that, behind her, Ty Lee could feel it. "You Fire Nation people are obsessed with hair pieces."
Mai shrugged. "It's just how things are. This outfit is supposed to emulate flowing water, hence the pattern and the bells and the flower."
"It's perfect for Katara," Ty Lee added unnecessarily, and then pushed away from Suki's head. "Done!" she trilled.
"Finally," Suki muttered, and then Mai gripped Katara by the shoulder and directed her into the washroom.
"Katara, you next. This will take a lot of work, so Suki and Toph, you help me, and Ty Lee, once you're done...?"
"Of course!"
Toph sighed and shuffled back into the washroom, muttering, "Jeez, Katara, did you have to choose the most elaborate outfit possible?"
"I didn't intend to!" she cried, hoisting the skirts up and trying not to fall flat on her face. "I would have gone with the other one but it was that horrible fuchsia color."
"Well," Mai drawled, fitting a holster of knives onto her upper arm, just in case, "if you were looking to draw everyone's attention, you'll succeed."
Katara groaned. "That's not at all what I wanted," she whined. Toph punched her on the arm, but the effect was diminished by the layers of silk.
"Man up, Katara," she said. "Think of it this way: I'm a fairy, Mai's all glowering and knife-y, Ty Lee is pinker than pink, and Suki is gonna be wearing Sokka all night. You've got to have something different and out-there of your own. And look, you can be... a river! How cool is that?"
Katara stared, and then seemed to realize something. She leaned over to Suki. "Is she... drunk?"
"I am starting to think so," Suki replied.
"Oh no," Katara said.
--
"When are we allowed to start making 'girls are always late' jokes?" Sokka asked, tugging on the shirt he had borrowed from Zuko, inwardly wondering if he could somehow escape the Fire Nation with the shirt, which was sure to sell really well somewhere else. And besides, it looked absolutely fabulous on him.
Red was, he decided, most certainly his color.
"Give them fifteen more minutes," Zuko replied, leaning against the wall and tapping his foot impatiently. "And then we leave without them. I can't be much later," he groaned, "we're already over a quarter of an hour late. And this stupid crown," he muttered, glaring upward as though he could make his crown suddenly disappear.
"It's just a hair thing," Aang said, poking it. "How annoying can it possibly be?"
Sokka heaved an over-exaggerated, long-suffering sigh. "Spoken like a true bald man," he said, shaking his head sagely.
"It's just irritating," Zuko sighed, "and I'm getting sick of waiting. What's taking them so long, anyhow?"
"Probably doing their makeup and hair," Sokka replied flippantly. "Girls are always wasting time with stuff like that."
"I can't see Mai and Suki wasting too much time with makeup and hair," Aang mused, kicking at a loose rock, feeling oddly lonely.
"You'd be surprised," Sokka said sagely, assuming the role of Mentor in All Things Female. "It's always the ones you'd never suspect. I bet Ty Lee can get ready in ten minutes, but Mai's the one who takes forever and ever. Right, Zuko?"
"Mmm-hmm," Zuko answered, not really listening. Finally, a door on the far end of the hall opened. Mai walked out first, looking not very different from her usual appearance, but her hair had been arranged in a fashion that screamed "Ty Lee" and she was now wearing a tasteful black dress, although her gloves were still in place and Zuko was quite sure that she still had several knives on her person, just because Mai always had knives on her person.
She raised an eyebrow at the three men standing awkwardly in the hall, but didn't have time to say anything, as Ty Lee and Suki followed her out of the room, bickering over what appeared to be a half-empty bottle of wine and how long it had been in its current state. Ty Lee grinned and preened, even though Zuko and Aang weren't paying attention and Sokka was too caught up in staring at Suki. Following Suki and Ty Lee came a scowling Toph who appeared to be dressed up for a summer solstice play, down to the flamboyant fantasy makeup on her face, which was admittedly confusing.
And then Katara entered the hall, looking for all the world like a majestic Fire Nation Lady in an exotic royal blue kimono that Zuko remembered seeing in a portrait somewhere. Even Sokka was caught off-guard by his sister's otherworldly appearance.
"Katara?" he asked, gaping, and she flushed.
"It was Mai's doing," she complained, tugging at the silk. "And there's so much fabric..."
"She's lying," Mai drawled, pleased with the results of her work but unwilling to show it, "she chose the dress. I just made sure it was on her properly."
"Okay, well," Katara spluttered, unnerved by the surprised attention of Zuko and Aang, "Ty Lee made me choose between this or some hideous bright pinkish purple thing and then there were so many stupid ornaments and hair things and..."
"Shut up," Sokka snapped, looping an arm into Suki's and glowering at his sister. "You look beautiful and you know it. Now let's get to the party. We're already late! And you know what that means?" he asked accusingly, but Suki answered with a laugh.
"That all the food will be gone! Oh, no, Sokka, how will we live?"
Aang tried to escort Katara, but she gave him a sympathetic look and continued forward on her own, so Toph snatched up Aang's arm and trotted with him to the ball. Ty Lee linked arms with Mai and tried to skip, but the other girl simply glared at her until she stopped and began maintaining a normal pace.
Katara came up behind Zuko and linked an arm into one of his. "This is so awkward," she muttered.
"Tell me about it," he groaned.
Together, but in what seemed like all the wrong ways, they went to the ball.
(Three hours -- and a string of deeply confusing propositions -- later, Sokka realized that one of the lotus combs was sitting in his wolf-tail.)