Demon'Verse, Round Two
Now that I've got a better idea of the history, I can take more free-ranging prompts. Plus I've got some surprises tucked away that I want a chance to spring on people.
Two requests, four to suzukiblu, dark_puck, spyridona, gigabomb, and floranna. I reserve the right to fill one and call it done. If I don't like a prompt, I'm just going to skip it entirely.
Have at.
MEME IS CLOSED.
Two requests, four to suzukiblu, dark_puck, spyridona, gigabomb, and floranna. I reserve the right to fill one and call it done. If I don't like a prompt, I'm just going to skip it entirely.
Have at.
MEME IS CLOSED.
They found the children in a kitchen, though this couldn't possibly be the working one. It had an aura of showiness about it, a little too clean and carefully-arranged.
There was another female demon in the kitchen, this one a deep blue that reminded Ursa of Lu Ten. Like Lu Ten, too, she had a tail, though rather than the heavy barbed thing Lu Ten had, this demon had a long flexible whip-like tail ending in a sharp-looking spade.
She smiled to see Ursa and Ozai, revealing pretty silver teeth like a cat's. Graceful silver antlers rose from a mass of pale gold hair- literally pale gold, Ursa realized after a moment. Deer-like ears flicked to focus on Ilah's voice as she talked to Zuko and Azula, showing them a bowl of some sort of batter.
"Zolena," Ozai said formally. "This is my wife, Ursa. Ursa, this is my brother's wife, Zolena. Her father is an important man in the Ministry of Wealth."
"I'm pleased to meet you," Zolena said politely.
Ursa raised her eyebrow to hear the familiar tone of polite disinterest here in Hell. But she supposed it made sense for Hellfolk to master the art of neither offering insult nor friendliness. "Likewise."
"Ozai," Ilah said, standing and closing the oven door on the cookie sheet. "Go join your brother and his son. Take the children with you. I want to spend time with my daughters-in-law."
Azula and Zuko visibly brightened at the prospect, dashing across the kitchen to grab their father's hands. Adoration shown on their upturned faces as his wings spread to shield them, and Ursa felt a pang of regret. They got to see him so little, far less than she did. He mostly came to her in the night, rarely staying after dawn to spend time with his children. He said it was to avoid drawing her brother's ire on them, but how it had to hurt Zuko and Azula.
Ozai gave her a guarded look, and she raised her chin slightly. He could leave her alone with her mother and sister-in-law, thank you very much. She'd be fine.
He frowned, then carefully began to walk the children away. She sighed, resisting the urge to tell him they weren't that breakable. At least it was better than how Lu Ten reacted to them.
***
Zuko clung to his father's hand as they walked through the halls and up the stairs of his mansion. It was so much smaller than the palace, but it felt empty. There weren't servants constantly bustling around, or any guards at all.
Azula was peering around, her head turning this way and that and all the way around as she tried to take everything in. Zuko found it much brighter than the palace was, but way way more ugly. Everything was so much, like it was all competing for your attention.
Father's wings flicked back as he led them through a doorway. Here was a small lounge, and Cousin Lu Ten sat in a seat by a fireplace burning yellow-white.
In the chair opposite him, another demon sat. This one had skin like bronze and tiger-stripes like Zuko sometimes had and Azula didn't have at all. He also had stubby horns like a dragon and long whiskers, which flicked and curled. His claws were heavier than Father's, though his feet were just as backwards. Small tusks jutted from his lower mouth, black and sparkling with colors when he turned to face them.
"Iroh," Father said, a hint of chill in his voice. Zuko looked up at him worriedly; that was almost like how Father sounded with Uncle Daiki, except he was worse with Daiki.
"Ozai," the other demon said jovially. "Your wife arrived all right? Mother didn't kill her, did she?"
"Mother did not," Father said, tugging his hands out of Zuko and Azula's grasp. Zuko shot his sister a look, and she flicked her eyes towards Cousin Lu Ten, but neither of them made a move to step away from the safety of their Father's wings.
Especially not with the strange demon around.
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"You have no idea how glad I am Ozai found a woman," Ilah said, pouring most of a decanter of brandy into her glass. "Even a human one. I was so worried he'd accept if Lu Ten proposed."
Ursa eyed her glass, wondering how it had gotten topped off again. "-They can do that?"
"Lu Ten wouldn't have proposed," Zolena dissented, one delicate silver hoof clicking down on the marble tile. "He knew Ozai wasn't interested in carrying children."
"He can do that?"
"Only when he's female," Ilah said, her tone obviously meant to be reassuring. "And Ozai never did like gender-switching. A bit of a pity, since he's the only one of my get who inherited the ability."
Ursa stared.
Ilah gave a tinkling laugh, then shimmied. When her motion ceased, a handsome male demon stood there. "I make it look much easier than it is, of course," he purred. "But it's not terribly uncommon in lust demons."
Ursa took a long gulp of her brandy. Ozai had some explaining to do when she got him alone again.
***
"What are you going to do with your children, Ozai?" Iroh asked as he leaned forward in his chair to look at the two of them. His whiskers waved gently, almost seeming as if they were reaching towards them.
Azula peeled back her lips to bare her teeth, then spat fire. Zuko winced, but Iroh only laughed.
"A firebender!" He said with obvious delight.
"They're both firebenders, Father," Cousin Lu Ten said, sounding as annoyed as he usually did by that. "They're very human."
"Ursa is raising them as Fire Nation royalty," Ozai said, stalking over to a chair for himself, this one backless.
Zuko grabbed Azula's hand, and she shot him a dirty look but didn't try to pull away.
"That's all very well," Iroh said, "but there's no future for them in the mortal relams. Demon blood is wasted there, and they're descendants of Azulon and Ilah. Doubly wasted."
Zuko felt his claws start to slide out, and he hastily pulled them back in before he hurt his sister. He wasn't wasted! They were the prince and princess of the Fire Nation, the only heirs the Firelord had until his babies stopped dying!
"We're not wasted!" Azula snapped, not bothering to pull her claws back in. "We're going to rule the world!"
Iroh smiled genially. "We'll see how that goes, young lady."
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Also, Iroh's friendliness here is almost creepy; he's a little like how you see him in Zuko Alone in the flashback, making jokes about Ba Sing Se burning down. He's still nice, but he isn't good. So thank you, this is cool.
I'm also going to take a wild guess about something slightly off-topic: Long Feng is the Jade-Eyed Emperor.
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Ding-ding-ding, yes! Though it's rather more complicated than that, and I'm going to have a devil of a time explaining it in Spyri's Song Feng prompt.
For one thing, Long Feng doesn't know about that aspect of himself.
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Second, Zuko and Azula are adorable, so excited over getting to spend time with daddy. And Zuko keeping a hold of somebody's anybody's hand is just... *huggle*
Third, Ursa "He can do that?" snerk, oh Ozai, you really have some explaining to do.
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I am so very glad I wasn't drinking as I read that. Snorting soda out your nose is painful.
This is all so deliciously rich, and everyone's fascinating and dangerous.
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