(no subject)
I had a dream a night or two ago, which in presentation was not unlike a first-person action/puzzle game, such as Portal. Unremarkably, it took place in a large research facility, which was being evacuated due to some disastrous mishap. Throughout most of the dream, the precise nature of what was going on remained vague, though our efforts to escape it had a very definite urgency.
Immediately before waking, the threat was revealed to be manifesting as groups of huge moths, fluttering aimlessly. Some were the black of deep space; others glowed orange, like molten iron. They were singing people to oblivion, like Sirens.
It was a striking image, and I'm not sure of its provenance.
On an unrelated note, here is a story that I wrote the other night as a joke. The characters being parodied come from the television show Avatar: The Last Airbender, which has at this point completely taken over the "obsessive fandom" slot in my brain that Exalted used to occupy. Might have some humor value even if you're not familiar with the Avatar cast.
Once upon a time, there lived a lovely and talented girl named Azula. Her parents loved her very much, for not only was she smart and pretty, but also wonderfully gifted in firebending, able to call flames as bright and blue as the summer sky. But one day, her mother became ill and died. Azula's father, who had loved his wife more than anything else in the world, fell into a deep gloom, becoming distant and withdrawn. After two years of mourning, he remarried to a beautiful woman from the south. Azula hoped that this would raise her father's spirits and make their family happy once again, but no sooner had the wedding ceremony concluded than her new stepmother showed her true colors. Though beautiful and elegant, she was also haughty and vile-tempered. Worse, she brought with her two daughters by a previous marriage, equally terrible girls by the names of Katara and Mai.
Being the horrid, envious shrews they were, the two sisters could not stand the sight of Azula, who was a hundred times more beautiful, intelligent, and well-mannered than both of them combined. They conspired to give her all the most demeaning, tedious chores they could find. They forced her to scrub the floors, wash the dishes, clean the chimneys, and anything else they could think of. No sooner had she finished one task than they set her another, all the while scolding her for doing such a terrible job at the last. By the time she had finished everything, she had barely enough energy to practice her firebending. When Katara and Mai came each morning to berate her for not already having begun her chores, they would always find her curled up on the floor amidst the cinders. As a result, Azula's stepsisters gave her the spiteful nickname of Cinderzula.
It came to pass that the Firelord's son threw a ball, to which all families of quality were invited. Azula's stepsisters could scarcely contain their delight, and spent all their time discussing how they would dress and how smitten the prince would be with their pretty clothes and ladylike bearing. Since Azula was the one who had to iron and mend all their dresses, this only meant more work for her.
"I think I shall wear my blue velvet dress," said Katara, "with an ermine stole, and of course my favorite mother-of-pearl choker."
"For my part," said Mai, "I shall wear my black gown with red petticoats, which will be sure to catch the eye of Prince Zuko."
"What shall you be wearing to the ball?" Katara asked Azula.
Azula knew that her stepsister was only taunting her. Ever since she was a little girl, she had dreamed of visiting the Firelord's palace and showing him her firebending. "Alas, I have no clothes fit to be seen by the Firelord," she sighed.
"That's right!" Katara replied spitefully. "A grubby little Cinderzula like you would ever be permitted within sight of the palace."
"You're so boring that even if you did get in, the prince would never notice you," agreed Mai. "Now stop daydreaming and finish putting up my hair."
Finally, the day of the ball arrived. Azula helped her stepsisters put on their finery and fix their hair, and watched despondently as they departed with her father and stepmother in a fine carriage. Poor Azula was left all alone in the cold, dark house, with no one for company but mouserats and spiderflies. She tried to cheer herself by practicing firebending, but even though it was the first time in ages she had been able to do so while not exhausted from a day of backbreaking labor, all it did was remind her that her terrible stepsisters were even now enjoying themselves in the Firelord's ballroom. She sat down in the soot left by her fire, and hung her head.
"I guess I am just a worthless little Cinderzula, after all," she sniffled. A tear ran down her cheek and dripped into the cinders.
All of a sudden, there was a flash of blinding pink. Azula cried out in startlement, and stared with wide eyes at the creature who had appeared before her. It was a very sparkly girl dressed all in pink, with a cheery smile and a jaunty braid.
"What manner of spirit are you?" she asked.
"I'm Ty Lee, your fairy godmother!" explained the fairy.
"You look kind of like someone from a circus sideshow," Azula said doubtfully.
"Good guess!" chirped Ty Lee. "I WAS in the circus for a while! But now my job is to watch over you and make your wishes come true. Your aura has been getting so dingy!"
"I wish to go to the Firelord's ball," said Azula, "but I don't have anything to wear except these worn-out rags, and even if I did have a dress fine enough, I have no way of getting to the palace."
"No problem!" said Ty Lee. She waved her magic wand, and Azula's worn-out clothes suddenly transformed into robes so elegant and luxurious that queens and princesses would weep in envy upon seeing them. "Now, come outside with me, and we'll see about getting you to the palace."
Azula followed the fairy out the door. With another wave of her wand, Ty Lee changed a cabbage into a fancy carriage. Then she sprinkled pink fairy dust on four little black spiderflies and a fat mouserat, and they immediately became a team of ostrich-horses to draw the carriage, and a uniformed footman to drive it.
"Now you're all set to go to the ball!" said Ty Lee. "But remember, you'll change back at midnight, so be sure to hurry home before then."
Azula hopped into the carriage and sped off to the Firelord's palace. As soon as she stepped through the door, everyone was entranced by her beauty and poise.
"Who is that girl?" wondered Prince Zuko. "Never before have I seen a lady as graceful, with such a noble bearing! How can it be that I have never met her before?"
"Meh, she's not all that special," said Mai.
"I bet she has a terrible personality," said Katara.
Ignoring the two jealous stepsisters, the prince rushed to Azula and offered his arm. For the rest of the evening, he paid scarce attention to anyone but her. She was given the seat of honor at the banquet table, and later on, the prince asked to dance with her. All the other ladies were terribly envious, but it soon turned to admiration as they beheld her grace and composure, and marveled at the wondrous azure flames that she conjured during the Fire Dance. Even the Firelord on his throne took notice.
"That's not so special," groused Katara. "My waterbending would have complemented to the prince' firebending ever so much better."
"Blue is such a drab color," said Mai.
Despite their complaints, however, both sisters could not look away from Azula, and indeed were already thinking of styling their hair like hers for the next party, and copying the pattern of her dress.
Far too soon for Azula's liking, the clock showed ten minutes til midnight. Mindful of Ty Lee's warning, she quickly excused herself and fled to her carriage, which whisked her back home just in time. No sooner had it pulled up at the door than the carriage turned back into a cabbage, the ostrich-horses turned back into spiderflies, and the footman into a mouserat. Azula found herself once again clad in her ragged hand-me-down clothes.
The next morning, Azula overheard Mai and Katara talking about the ball.
"Who was that mysterious princess?" wondered Katara. "I can't believe her nerve, stealing the prince away from us like that!"
"And she was such a show-off, too," said Mai. "What's so special about blue firebending, anyway?"
"Perhaps he simply recognized that she was a woman of exceptional ability and impeccable breeding," suggested Azula.
"Hah!" said Katara. "What would you know about such things, Cinderzula? If you'd been there, even a clumsy little mouserat like you would have immediately recognized that she was simply putting on airs. I'm sure Prince Zuko will come to his senses soon enough."
Katara was mistaken; a few days later, word went out that Prince Zuko had proclaimed that he would search the entire Fire Nation until he found the princess from the ball, whose blue flames had been unlike any other's. His royal procession traveled to all the noble households in the land, giving every nobleman's daughter the opportunity to reveal herself as the one he sought. After visiting dozens of young women, none of whom were able to produce anything but the most ordinary sort of orange flame, Prince Zuko came to the home of Azula and her stepsisters.
"I come in search of the lady I met at the ball a fortnight ago," he told them, after all the necessary pleasantries had been observed. "So entranced was I by her magnificent sapphire flames that I cannot recall her face. Can it be that either of you fine ladies are the one I seek?"
Naturally, Azula had been ordered to stay out of the prince' sight, but she peeked through the keyhole into the sitting room where he was meeting with her father, her stepmother, and the two stepsisters.
"I can bend blue fire," lied Mai, "but I got tired of doing it. It was so dull that it completely put me off firebending, and I never do it at all anymore."
"Then it couldn't have been you I danced with," said Prince Zuko, "because I have never seen anyone look so joyful as she did when she called her fire. You are nothing like her; you're just a big 'blah.'"
"Whatever," said Mai, and pretended not to care.
"It must have been me," said Katara. "I take great pride in my waterbending!" So saying, she took the water from the teapot and swirled it through the air, teasing it into steaming, fanciful shapes. "I'm sure that you were simply so smitten by my loveliness that you mistook the water for blue fire."
"That," said the prince, "is the stupidest thing I have ever heard."
"You're the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" retorted Katara.
"I could have you arrested for saying that," said Prince Zuko, "but it doesn't seem worth the trouble. I have searched far and wide, but nowhere has there been any trace of the one I seek! My father has already grown exceedingly cross with me for spending so much time on my quest; I fear that he will soon compel me to stop searching. Are there no other young ladies in this house?"
"What about me?" said Azula.
"Who is this?" asked the prince.
"It's no one," said Katara. "She's just our cleaning girl. She couldn't possibly be the princess you're looking for!"
"Well, it can't hurt to ask," said Prince Zuko. "Can you bend blue fire, young lady?"
"Cinderzula, don't you dare!" shouted Katara.
Azula struck her with lightning, and set Mai's hair on fire with a blast of azure flame.
"It is you!" cried the prince. Leaping over Katara's twitching body, he swept Azula up into his arms. "At last, my search is over! I shall take you back to the palace at once."
Leaving Azula's father and wicked stepmother to try and revive Katara and put out the fire on Mai's head, Prince Zuko whisked Azula away in his carriage. In no time, they reached the Firelord's palace, where servants scrubbed the dirt from Azula's face and dressed her in finery. After they had finished, the prince returned and escorted her to the throne room, where Firelord Ozai sat behind his curtains of roaring flame.
"Father," said the prince. "My search has finally succeeded. This is the young lady from the ball, the princess of my dreams! I humbly beg your permission to take her as my bride."
"You have my blessing, Prince Zuko," replied the Firelord, "but only if she agrees to it, as well. What is your wish, young lady?"
The Firelord and the prince both watched expectantly as Azula considered their offer. After a bit, she made her decision.
"I wish," she said, "that Prince Zuko and I should FIGHT AN AGNI KAI!"
"What!?" exclaimed the prince.
"Ha ha!" laughed the Firelord. "I like you already, girl. Your wish is granted! When do you desire the duel to take place?"
"Right now would be fine," said Azula, cracking her knuckles and assuming a firebending stance.
"That is acceptable," said the Firelord. "Prepare yourself, my son."
"This is madness!" wailed Prince Zuko. "I refuse to fight her."
"What's the matter?" asked Azula. "Afraid you're going to get beaten by a girl?"
The prince remained steadfast. "I won't fight you."
Azula shrugged, and struck him in the face with a bolt of fire. The prince screamed horribly and collapsed unconscious.
"You are ambitious and ruthless," the Firelord told Azula, "willing to endure any hardship and crush any opponent in pursuit of the power you desire. Fine qualities for a princess of the Fire Nation, and ones distinctly lacking in my pathetic failure of a son. From now on, you will no longer be known as Cinderzula, but Princess Azula, the Blue Dragon, heir to my throne."
Azula bowed before the Firelord. "You honor me greatly... but what of Prince Zuko?"
Firelord Ozai cast a disdainful look at the prince' crumpled form. "He is no longer my son. From this day forth, Prince Zuko is banished from the Fire Nation. I shall send him to wander the earth with his equally soft-hearted and weak uncle. Perhaps one day, he will find a way to restore his honor and return home."
Immediately following her coronation as Crown Princess of the Fire Nation, Azula banished Mai, Katara, and their mother to the far corners of the earth, and razed her old house to the ground. Burning away the last vestiges of her former life like the cinders among which she had once cried herself to sleep, Princess Azula ascended to the blazing glory of her new destiny like a terrible, magnificent phoenix.
THE END
Immediately before waking, the threat was revealed to be manifesting as groups of huge moths, fluttering aimlessly. Some were the black of deep space; others glowed orange, like molten iron. They were singing people to oblivion, like Sirens.
It was a striking image, and I'm not sure of its provenance.
On an unrelated note, here is a story that I wrote the other night as a joke. The characters being parodied come from the television show Avatar: The Last Airbender, which has at this point completely taken over the "obsessive fandom" slot in my brain that Exalted used to occupy. Might have some humor value even if you're not familiar with the Avatar cast.
Once upon a time, there lived a lovely and talented girl named Azula. Her parents loved her very much, for not only was she smart and pretty, but also wonderfully gifted in firebending, able to call flames as bright and blue as the summer sky. But one day, her mother became ill and died. Azula's father, who had loved his wife more than anything else in the world, fell into a deep gloom, becoming distant and withdrawn. After two years of mourning, he remarried to a beautiful woman from the south. Azula hoped that this would raise her father's spirits and make their family happy once again, but no sooner had the wedding ceremony concluded than her new stepmother showed her true colors. Though beautiful and elegant, she was also haughty and vile-tempered. Worse, she brought with her two daughters by a previous marriage, equally terrible girls by the names of Katara and Mai.
Being the horrid, envious shrews they were, the two sisters could not stand the sight of Azula, who was a hundred times more beautiful, intelligent, and well-mannered than both of them combined. They conspired to give her all the most demeaning, tedious chores they could find. They forced her to scrub the floors, wash the dishes, clean the chimneys, and anything else they could think of. No sooner had she finished one task than they set her another, all the while scolding her for doing such a terrible job at the last. By the time she had finished everything, she had barely enough energy to practice her firebending. When Katara and Mai came each morning to berate her for not already having begun her chores, they would always find her curled up on the floor amidst the cinders. As a result, Azula's stepsisters gave her the spiteful nickname of Cinderzula.
It came to pass that the Firelord's son threw a ball, to which all families of quality were invited. Azula's stepsisters could scarcely contain their delight, and spent all their time discussing how they would dress and how smitten the prince would be with their pretty clothes and ladylike bearing. Since Azula was the one who had to iron and mend all their dresses, this only meant more work for her.
"I think I shall wear my blue velvet dress," said Katara, "with an ermine stole, and of course my favorite mother-of-pearl choker."
"For my part," said Mai, "I shall wear my black gown with red petticoats, which will be sure to catch the eye of Prince Zuko."
"What shall you be wearing to the ball?" Katara asked Azula.
Azula knew that her stepsister was only taunting her. Ever since she was a little girl, she had dreamed of visiting the Firelord's palace and showing him her firebending. "Alas, I have no clothes fit to be seen by the Firelord," she sighed.
"That's right!" Katara replied spitefully. "A grubby little Cinderzula like you would ever be permitted within sight of the palace."
"You're so boring that even if you did get in, the prince would never notice you," agreed Mai. "Now stop daydreaming and finish putting up my hair."
Finally, the day of the ball arrived. Azula helped her stepsisters put on their finery and fix their hair, and watched despondently as they departed with her father and stepmother in a fine carriage. Poor Azula was left all alone in the cold, dark house, with no one for company but mouserats and spiderflies. She tried to cheer herself by practicing firebending, but even though it was the first time in ages she had been able to do so while not exhausted from a day of backbreaking labor, all it did was remind her that her terrible stepsisters were even now enjoying themselves in the Firelord's ballroom. She sat down in the soot left by her fire, and hung her head.
"I guess I am just a worthless little Cinderzula, after all," she sniffled. A tear ran down her cheek and dripped into the cinders.
All of a sudden, there was a flash of blinding pink. Azula cried out in startlement, and stared with wide eyes at the creature who had appeared before her. It was a very sparkly girl dressed all in pink, with a cheery smile and a jaunty braid.
"What manner of spirit are you?" she asked.
"I'm Ty Lee, your fairy godmother!" explained the fairy.
"You look kind of like someone from a circus sideshow," Azula said doubtfully.
"Good guess!" chirped Ty Lee. "I WAS in the circus for a while! But now my job is to watch over you and make your wishes come true. Your aura has been getting so dingy!"
"I wish to go to the Firelord's ball," said Azula, "but I don't have anything to wear except these worn-out rags, and even if I did have a dress fine enough, I have no way of getting to the palace."
"No problem!" said Ty Lee. She waved her magic wand, and Azula's worn-out clothes suddenly transformed into robes so elegant and luxurious that queens and princesses would weep in envy upon seeing them. "Now, come outside with me, and we'll see about getting you to the palace."
Azula followed the fairy out the door. With another wave of her wand, Ty Lee changed a cabbage into a fancy carriage. Then she sprinkled pink fairy dust on four little black spiderflies and a fat mouserat, and they immediately became a team of ostrich-horses to draw the carriage, and a uniformed footman to drive it.
"Now you're all set to go to the ball!" said Ty Lee. "But remember, you'll change back at midnight, so be sure to hurry home before then."
Azula hopped into the carriage and sped off to the Firelord's palace. As soon as she stepped through the door, everyone was entranced by her beauty and poise.
"Who is that girl?" wondered Prince Zuko. "Never before have I seen a lady as graceful, with such a noble bearing! How can it be that I have never met her before?"
"Meh, she's not all that special," said Mai.
"I bet she has a terrible personality," said Katara.
Ignoring the two jealous stepsisters, the prince rushed to Azula and offered his arm. For the rest of the evening, he paid scarce attention to anyone but her. She was given the seat of honor at the banquet table, and later on, the prince asked to dance with her. All the other ladies were terribly envious, but it soon turned to admiration as they beheld her grace and composure, and marveled at the wondrous azure flames that she conjured during the Fire Dance. Even the Firelord on his throne took notice.
"That's not so special," groused Katara. "My waterbending would have complemented to the prince' firebending ever so much better."
"Blue is such a drab color," said Mai.
Despite their complaints, however, both sisters could not look away from Azula, and indeed were already thinking of styling their hair like hers for the next party, and copying the pattern of her dress.
Far too soon for Azula's liking, the clock showed ten minutes til midnight. Mindful of Ty Lee's warning, she quickly excused herself and fled to her carriage, which whisked her back home just in time. No sooner had it pulled up at the door than the carriage turned back into a cabbage, the ostrich-horses turned back into spiderflies, and the footman into a mouserat. Azula found herself once again clad in her ragged hand-me-down clothes.
The next morning, Azula overheard Mai and Katara talking about the ball.
"Who was that mysterious princess?" wondered Katara. "I can't believe her nerve, stealing the prince away from us like that!"
"And she was such a show-off, too," said Mai. "What's so special about blue firebending, anyway?"
"Perhaps he simply recognized that she was a woman of exceptional ability and impeccable breeding," suggested Azula.
"Hah!" said Katara. "What would you know about such things, Cinderzula? If you'd been there, even a clumsy little mouserat like you would have immediately recognized that she was simply putting on airs. I'm sure Prince Zuko will come to his senses soon enough."
Katara was mistaken; a few days later, word went out that Prince Zuko had proclaimed that he would search the entire Fire Nation until he found the princess from the ball, whose blue flames had been unlike any other's. His royal procession traveled to all the noble households in the land, giving every nobleman's daughter the opportunity to reveal herself as the one he sought. After visiting dozens of young women, none of whom were able to produce anything but the most ordinary sort of orange flame, Prince Zuko came to the home of Azula and her stepsisters.
"I come in search of the lady I met at the ball a fortnight ago," he told them, after all the necessary pleasantries had been observed. "So entranced was I by her magnificent sapphire flames that I cannot recall her face. Can it be that either of you fine ladies are the one I seek?"
Naturally, Azula had been ordered to stay out of the prince' sight, but she peeked through the keyhole into the sitting room where he was meeting with her father, her stepmother, and the two stepsisters.
"I can bend blue fire," lied Mai, "but I got tired of doing it. It was so dull that it completely put me off firebending, and I never do it at all anymore."
"Then it couldn't have been you I danced with," said Prince Zuko, "because I have never seen anyone look so joyful as she did when she called her fire. You are nothing like her; you're just a big 'blah.'"
"Whatever," said Mai, and pretended not to care.
"It must have been me," said Katara. "I take great pride in my waterbending!" So saying, she took the water from the teapot and swirled it through the air, teasing it into steaming, fanciful shapes. "I'm sure that you were simply so smitten by my loveliness that you mistook the water for blue fire."
"That," said the prince, "is the stupidest thing I have ever heard."
"You're the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" retorted Katara.
"I could have you arrested for saying that," said Prince Zuko, "but it doesn't seem worth the trouble. I have searched far and wide, but nowhere has there been any trace of the one I seek! My father has already grown exceedingly cross with me for spending so much time on my quest; I fear that he will soon compel me to stop searching. Are there no other young ladies in this house?"
"What about me?" said Azula.
"Who is this?" asked the prince.
"It's no one," said Katara. "She's just our cleaning girl. She couldn't possibly be the princess you're looking for!"
"Well, it can't hurt to ask," said Prince Zuko. "Can you bend blue fire, young lady?"
"Cinderzula, don't you dare!" shouted Katara.
Azula struck her with lightning, and set Mai's hair on fire with a blast of azure flame.
"It is you!" cried the prince. Leaping over Katara's twitching body, he swept Azula up into his arms. "At last, my search is over! I shall take you back to the palace at once."
Leaving Azula's father and wicked stepmother to try and revive Katara and put out the fire on Mai's head, Prince Zuko whisked Azula away in his carriage. In no time, they reached the Firelord's palace, where servants scrubbed the dirt from Azula's face and dressed her in finery. After they had finished, the prince returned and escorted her to the throne room, where Firelord Ozai sat behind his curtains of roaring flame.
"Father," said the prince. "My search has finally succeeded. This is the young lady from the ball, the princess of my dreams! I humbly beg your permission to take her as my bride."
"You have my blessing, Prince Zuko," replied the Firelord, "but only if she agrees to it, as well. What is your wish, young lady?"
The Firelord and the prince both watched expectantly as Azula considered their offer. After a bit, she made her decision.
"I wish," she said, "that Prince Zuko and I should FIGHT AN AGNI KAI!"
"What!?" exclaimed the prince.
"Ha ha!" laughed the Firelord. "I like you already, girl. Your wish is granted! When do you desire the duel to take place?"
"Right now would be fine," said Azula, cracking her knuckles and assuming a firebending stance.
"That is acceptable," said the Firelord. "Prepare yourself, my son."
"This is madness!" wailed Prince Zuko. "I refuse to fight her."
"What's the matter?" asked Azula. "Afraid you're going to get beaten by a girl?"
The prince remained steadfast. "I won't fight you."
Azula shrugged, and struck him in the face with a bolt of fire. The prince screamed horribly and collapsed unconscious.
"You are ambitious and ruthless," the Firelord told Azula, "willing to endure any hardship and crush any opponent in pursuit of the power you desire. Fine qualities for a princess of the Fire Nation, and ones distinctly lacking in my pathetic failure of a son. From now on, you will no longer be known as Cinderzula, but Princess Azula, the Blue Dragon, heir to my throne."
Azula bowed before the Firelord. "You honor me greatly... but what of Prince Zuko?"
Firelord Ozai cast a disdainful look at the prince' crumpled form. "He is no longer my son. From this day forth, Prince Zuko is banished from the Fire Nation. I shall send him to wander the earth with his equally soft-hearted and weak uncle. Perhaps one day, he will find a way to restore his honor and return home."
Immediately following her coronation as Crown Princess of the Fire Nation, Azula banished Mai, Katara, and their mother to the far corners of the earth, and razed her old house to the ground. Burning away the last vestiges of her former life like the cinders among which she had once cried herself to sleep, Princess Azula ascended to the blazing glory of her new destiny like a terrible, magnificent phoenix.
THE END