|
Post by prodigy on Apr 6, 2008 23:32:17 GMT -5
The princess's coral colored lips turned upwards into a smile as she glanced towards the cage with her bright, cat like eyes. Delicious thoughts danced behind her eyes as the Princess coyly smiled at the prisoners. Oh did she have their attention now? How wonderfully.. divine. She dropped her eyes for a moment as she glanced over the leader of the Warriors, her makeup messed and her hair like a rat's nest. The Princess let her eyes meet the woman's russet colored eyes, rimmed in dark makeup. As she smiled, her eyes narrowed just a bit, a sparkle coming over them before she snapped her head back to the Sergeant.
"No, Sergeant Zilong.. No questions.. yet. I do not think they know how to properly speak a civilized language. We will start interrogations when we have met up with the Minister who will be bringing.. our instruments. After all, we must ensure the truth... by any means necessary.." She smiled again as she spoke, a devious smile that was hardly one of happiness.. no, it was blissfully evil. The Fire Nation would have it's information.. she would ensure it. Azula lifted a hand and placed her fingers tips on the bars of the cage as she stepped away back from the imposing man. "You honor us with your impeccable service, Sergeant. Our Father will hear of your deeds.. as for you.."
The Princess turned and pressed her face against the bars, holding both of them in her hands. "I think.. you will be.... shocked at how hospitable I can be.." She pulled her face away from the bars and tilted her head to the side, inhaling quickly as she drew her hands back. Quickly, she lifted one arm up in a shallow arc, the other following close behind her. A step back as she brought fingertips to touch each other at the level of her stomach, joining the energy she had quickly gathered. Instead of pointing her fingers at the women like she had done last time, now electrically charged, the Princess merely grasped a bar with one hand, sending a high powered static shock through the metal bars of the cage and presumably the metal floor.
|
|
|
Post by suki on Apr 16, 2008 17:13:22 GMT -5
Just looking at the Princess, Suki could feel her anger starting to rise. Azula spoke with such an air of supriority and smugness that the Kyoshi warrior felt she was just begging to be knocked down a peg. If she had her way, Suki would have loved to be the one to do it, preferrably with her own hands or a blunt instrument of her choosing.
Unfortunately the current circumstances rendered that nothing more than fantasy. The Fire Nation Princess's absolute control over them was reinforced moments later as she stepped back and then charged her hands in the same way she had before using her lightning attack. Suki's widened as she realized what was coming, but for the life of her she had no real solution. They were trapped, and she did not know of the properties of electricity in order to insulate herself. All she managed was to warn the others with, "Look out!" before the bars suddenly were alive with current.
Sitting as she was with her rear against the cage floor and her back against the bars, a surge of electricity forced its way through her clothing and ran right along her spine. Her back arched and her limbs went rigid for several agonizing moments until the charge finally stopped. The other Kyoshi warriors were equally affected, some letting out shouts of pain while others simply cursed in phrases that were definitely not becoming of a young lady.
Suki, however, was unable to really draw breath during the ordeal and so she said nothing aside from a few gasping breaths afterward. She turned hers eyes toward Azula and shot her a look of utmost hatred and loathing. It was a stare filled with a promise of great pain should those bars not stand between them.
|
|
|
Post by zilong on Apr 18, 2008 20:08:21 GMT -5
Zilong straightened his back and nodded as the Princess addressed him, his hand gripping his weapon tighter as she spoke. He could scarcely believe his ears. She was going to mention him the Firelord. He felt his heart beat faster. After all these years, could his dream finally be realized? He snapped out of his thoughts quickly, however, not wanting to look poorly in front of the Princess, just in time to see her walking towards the cage. He watched stoically as she summoned her electricity, bracing himself for what was coming. As the Kyoshi warriors writhed and cried out in pain, he watched in grim silence. This was to be expected. The Fire Nation had blunt methods of extracting information. He’d seen similar things done before, though never with lightning, obviously. His eyes turned to the Princess, a distinct look of enjoyment on her face.
It was odd. Zilong had always enjoyed battle and fighting, and was a ruthless combatant. Yet, simple torture and pain had never interested him, not in the way it clearly interested the Princess. He didn’t exactly feel any empathy as he watched the scene, but he couldn’t say he felt anything positive. He didn’t care for it, he decided. How strange…he’d never even thought about it before. His brow furrowed slightly, then relaxed as he dwelled on the issue.
When it was all over, Zilong remained in the same position he had been, facing the Princess and awaiting any orders.
|
|
|
Post by prodigy on Apr 20, 2008 23:44:34 GMT -5
The Princess stepped away with a gleeful smile on her face, her lips pressed tightly together. Her fingers lingered on the bars an extra second or two, her finely manicured nails clicking against the bars as a final salute. There was much information to be extracted from these women.. these Kyoshi Warriors, Azula had learned they were called. Kyoshi.. there was an Avatar called Kyoshi. She narrowed her eyes as she watched them wither and scream, the electricity fading away as it was absorbed into the ground and neutralized.
"There's more where that came from, Ladies.." She hissed at them, lowering her head to cast a shadow into her golden eyes. The Fire Nation held no mercy for uncooperative prisoners and certainly not for women. She took a step back, and then another from the cage and once more folded her arms behind her, nestling her hand in the small of her back. "Sergeant Zilong.. I want these women watched round the clock. Make sure of that." Azula turned and looked up at the elder soldier, a man who towered over her. Yet she commanded so much power over him. The gold in her eyes sparkled, like how the sunlight caught the golden threads woven into her collar. "Record anything and everything that they say. I want information.. even if it seems trivial..." She pursed her coral lips, glancing away for a moment in thought before confirming. "..That is all. " With that, the Princess.. the deadly Daughter of the Fire Lord and the Heiress Presumptive to the throne turned her back to the soldier.
"Mai.. Ty Lee.. Let us go. We have things to discuss..." Lifting a hand over her shoulder, She beckoned her two friends to follow as she returned to the Royal Tent.
|
|
|
Post by zilong on Apr 22, 2008 19:36:25 GMT -5
The veteran soldier blinked as he tried to comprehend his orders. He was to…record what they said? He tried to keep confusion from showing on his face but failed. He opened his mouth to ask a question, but before he could the princess was gone. To be perfectly honest, Zilong hadn’t written anything down in…had it really been years? Spirits, his handwriting had to be terrible by now. He looked around the room and found a scroll of paper and some ink left by the previous soldier. He’d always liked to doodle, the buffoon. Zilong glanced back at the Kyoshi warriors, then the scroll and inkwell, and with a grimace, picked it up and sat down on the lone bench in the room. He picked up the scroll, looked at it, and put it down with a scoff, crossing his arms.
“Damn it, I’m a soldier, not a scribe,” he grumbled. “Why would she ask me to do this, anyway?
Still, he couldn’t get someone to come and do it for him, and orders were orders. The Princess had told him to do it, so he had to. He glanced back in the direction of the young warrior girls again. Maybe they’d be too tired to speak. After all, they’d been pretty quiet up until now, anyway. Maybe they hadn’t even heard what the Princess had said, but that was unlikely. If
|
|
|
Post by suki on Apr 27, 2008 0:39:24 GMT -5
Suki's intense glare did not soften in the slightest despite Azula's implied threats. The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors was not intimidated by the prospect of pain. Whatever the princess could dish out, she was convinced she could take it. Besides, she wasn't exactly privvy to any valuable information.
Hey blue-grey eyes followed the royal entourage like a bird of prey until they left the tent, at which point Suki's attention shifted to their assigned guard. The massive soldier didn't exactly seem pleased that he had been asked to write down their conversations.
"Maybe she's trying to discover the secret to our amazing hair?" Aoi said, suggesting that as an answer to Zilong's question. The girl wore a grin, perhaps put there simply to try and anger the guard. After Azula's shock therapy, her pride likely needed the boost that came from tormenting their captors. "Spirits know she could use some of our techniques to help those split ends."
Suki smirked slightly at Aoi's remarks. The small bit of humor did wonders in keeping group morale up. And though the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors was content to simply sit in silent defiance of Fire Nation authority, she couldn't deny that there was fun to be had while in captivity.
|
|
|
Post by zilong on Apr 27, 2008 23:17:45 GMT -5
Zilong’s face drooped into a frown, and he glared irritably at the girl who spoke. Surely he didn’t need to write that down, right? No, no he had to. The Princess had told him to write down everything. He looked down at the scroll in his hands and sighed with resignation. Taking the quill up awkwardly in his large right hand, he started to write…slowly. It was not a good start. His characters were sloppy, and they took a while to write. Fortunately, he remembered most of them, though “split ends” gave him some trouble. He grimaced as he looked down at his work. This was going to be ugly. Maybe he could get them to keep it down.
“I wouldn’t talk about the Princess like that if I were you,” he advised, his tone stony. “Your giggles aren’t worth what she’ll give you in return.”
Though he was not really being friendly, the truth was, it was really sound advice. No doubt, one of the purposes of him recording what they said was to pay back each and every insult. The thought of that was grim indeed. Suddenly, it occurred to Zilong that he may need to write down what he said, too. He grimaced. No, that could be omitted. He would have trouble keeping up as it was.
|
|
|
Post by mab on May 2, 2008 21:11:40 GMT -5
Azula certainly had a way with people. Waiting for her orders to the guards and her little talk with the warriors to wrap up, Mai stood to the side with her arms crossed over her chest. She was not needed for matters of this nature, though she did keep a sharp eye on each of the girls. Her stance was relaxed seeing as they were currently securely caged they posed no real threat. The trouble would come when they began conspiring and planning. No doubt they had begun already, which was why Mai found Azula's plan to separate them prudent. Better not give them any hope for escape.
Pale eyes glancing over to Ty Lee for a moment, she wondered what the other girl was thinking. Azula's display of her powerful bending did not interest Mai in the least and she stifled a small yawn. She could have stayed in their tent for this though she knew she had to stand and show the princess's support. Shifting her feat farther apart to balance her weight differently Mai nodded as Azula gave orders to the Sergeant. Better the man then her.
At Azula's order for them to follow her Mai's eyes livened up. A discussion sounded promising even if she didn't appreciate being told when to follow the princess. But since joining Azula's party Mai had no choice but to grow use to it. "Finally," she mumbled, taking leave behind her friend. Watching those girls any longer was definitely not on her list of things to do. And this talk from Azula might offer an opportunity to accomplish something more interesting.
|
|
|
Post by prodigy on May 6, 2008 0:40:44 GMT -5
She did not like that the women were talking. That meant they were thinking and planning and that was never good when those who thought were your enemies. It was not smart to keep them all in one cage, multiple birds squawked too much. Separating them would be the best course of action, yet the military forces here did not expect to take prisoners and were poorly unprepared.
The Princess walked with an easier gait now that they were further from them. Her head remained up, her lips pressed tightly as she chewed her cheek, a bad habit of thought she had never let anyone know of. What were they going to do? The Fire Nation military hadn't been close to Ba Seng Sei since her stupid Uncle had retreated.. after he had broken the outer wall! Her eyebrow twitched as she walked, keeping her hands folded behind her back as her thumb idly dragged a sharp fingernail across her palm.
"..Mai.." Azula questioned, tilting her head slightly to the side as they walked. Her golden eyes shifted to the side glancing at the tall, willowy and pale girl who walked alongside her, the tendrils of hair swept back from her face enough to allow her peripheral vision. "..Tell me your opinion of our next move. You've lived in the Earth Kingdom for half a year now.." Her voice was dry, and dull.. just like the girl she spoke too. Azula gave little care to what Mai or Ty Lee's personal opinion on matters were, but they could provide new insight to spur new ideas. Yes.. new insights. Occasionally the thoughts of men, soldiers and generals, were not enough.
|
|
|
Post by suki on May 6, 2008 15:07:04 GMT -5
"Your Princess is very mean," Kopa replied to the guard's word of advice. The youngest among the group foldered her arms over her chest and seemed to be disappointed with Zilong, "I don't see why you take orders from her."
The sheer naivety of that statement made Suki wonder for just a moment if Kopa had truly been ready for this mission. The girl might have been skilled enough in battle, but she still had the mentality of a child who was playing soldier. However, this was not exactly the time to show any sort of dissension among their ranks, and so Suki decided to back up her comrade.
"Because he doesn't know how to do anything other than fight and follow orders," the leader of the Koshi warriors said, looking directly at Zilong and speaking very deliverately toward him, despite the fact she was answering Kopa's question. "Look at the way he holds that quill... he can barely write, and if I don't end this sentence soon he won't even remember half of what I said." A slight smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, but Suki forced herself to remain serious.
"His princess can do whatever she likes, but she will know that we are not puppets like him. We will not bend to her whims, and she will know that the warriors of Kyoshi are not afraid." The little speech mayhave been a little more thn what was called for from the simple exchange, but Suki felt it prudent to remind everyone, herself included, that even though they had been captured, they were not dead yet. As long as they drew breath, the Fire nation was their enemy and should be fought tooth and nail.
|
|
|
Post by mab on May 7, 2008 19:52:16 GMT -5
It was not often that the princess asked the opinion of either of the two other girls, and when Azula addressed Mai directly she was taken aback. Not enough to make her falter in her speech, however. What she said was true. Mai had spent the better part of seven months or so in the Earth Kingdom, mainly Omashu. There were so many courses of action that were appropriate for taking Ba Sing Se down, each one as decent as any other. But Mai saw an opportunity to put themselves in the action. She knew Azula would have a direct hand in what happened, and Mai wanted to make sure she saw some action as well. Besides, the three girls were quicker than the whole legion of troops the princess commanded.
“The best course of action.” Mai murmured to herself. “Well, the outer walls will have plenty of the city’s best earth benders on them. The main wave of troops will meet the thickest resistance.” She remembered the dull drafts different officers had read off when her family had first arrived to take their seats in Omashu. One of the most painful moments of her life had been sitting their quietly while the nervous, bumbling solider had rambled off the ‘basis’ of what happened. It had taken hours to get through, but her father had still been so pleased with himself he hadn’t tried to speed up the supposedly ‘necessary’ procedure. Even Tom-Tom hadn’t been made to endure it. “A smaller party would be less noticed and easier to maneuver. Especially if it was not an obvious attack. Something covert or underhanded the Earth King and his generals would not see coming.”
This was often how Mai herself operated. Move under the radar in a discrete fashion and make a move at the right moment. She was not about power and show; simply knowing her own abilities was enough. For her small talk Mai had faced straight ahead but now she turned her eyes on Azula. A small nod, if that, was all she expected and all she wanted. She wanted to know the girls real plans so she could start mulling over how it would all work out.
|
|
|
Post by zilong on May 7, 2008 22:13:50 GMT -5
Either the Kyoshi Warriors were very brave, or they had a lot of faith in the steel bars that separated them from Zilong. Fortunately, he had just set down the quill, so only the parchment was subjugated to his tightly clenched fists. His eyes burned and he let out a breath peppered with hot sparks. His eyes did not hold back his fury as he glared at the girls. How dare they mock him? How dare they mock his loyalty, his oath to the Firelord? These children, though warriors, had not seen half the things he’d seen, yet they talked as though they knew everything. The arrogance of it, the insult, it was too much.
“You know nothing!” he retorted forcefully, his deep voice reverberating through the small room. “I the puppet? You are the ones whose strings are being pulled.”
He looked down at the crumpled parchment in his hand and tossed it aside. He picked up his guan dao and stalked over to the cage, rage still in his eyes, but now held somewhat in check in his voice.
“Your little island didn’t even enter the war until a few months ago. All you know about this war is what you’ve been told, lies fed to you by the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe to get you to help them, and like children, you listen, because that is all you are, children!”
He paused here and gazed at all of them. It was disgusting. The Earth Kingdom had really talked these girls into fighting for them, and sent them on a suicide mission, no less. How despicable. They had no honor left in them. He leveled his guan dao in the direction of their leader, glaring right into her eyes.
“I’ve seen this war with my own eyes. I’ve seen brothers crushed in avalanches of stone, and seen their heads waved on pikes by your beloved Earth Kingdom. You have seen nothing. You know nothing. You are the only puppets here! Not I!”
With another spark filled, snort, he turned on his heel and stalked back towards the bench, but he didn’t sit down. He was too angry to write. He would write down the general conversation later. He simply stood, his back to the warriors, fuming.
|
|
|
Post by suki on May 7, 2008 22:57:45 GMT -5
It was obvious almost immediately that Suki had touched a nerve with the guard. The leader of the Kyoshi warriors was unsure if she'd gone too far, and worried for just a moment that the man would roast them all alive while they were helpless. However, when it became apparent that the extent of his rage would just be an angry rant, Suki stood up and strode foward to meet him face to face.
The other warriors stood as well, and those in her way stood aside to allow her to stand directly in front of the massive soldiers.
"Some argument!" she shot back at him. "Coming from the people who burned down my village after our people maintained neautrality for a century! There was no Earth Kingdom or Water Tribe to ask for our help. We came here of our own free will." Suki grabbed the bars in front of her and puled herself close to them as if to forcinly continue the conversation.
"You're just stuck so deep in the trenches that you don't even know why you're fighting or how many innocent people you're hurting!" The leader of the Kyoshi warriors attempted to shake the cage, but succeeded in doing nothing more than rocking back and forth.
|
|
|
Post by vu on May 9, 2008 1:38:05 GMT -5
"How is this even going to pan out," Vu quietly conversed with himself as he straddled atop a log, open scroll before him.
He read over an earlier draft of what he hoped to one become his first published work and treatise on war crawlers. And eventually mechanized warfare itself.
The section he was now reading was a rough recounting of his experience and understanding to events in the siege made against the Northern Water Tribe. Virtually a success if not for the interference of that boy and the monstrosity he became.
He nipped at the tip of his ink brush then held it between his teeth while he continued reading.
"Can any of this even begin to apply to Ba Sing Se," he questioned, wanting to toss his hands up. "What are we supposed to do, just park there while they throw rocks down on us? Wait for seasons on end until they tear the wall down?"
|
|
|
Post by xiaofan on May 12, 2008 11:27:05 GMT -5
Looking over the peeled-open husk of one of the detatchment's tanks, Xiaofan stood balanced with one foot on either side of the hull that held the tank's driver controls and frowned. The rock wasn't supposed to be in there, and it was vexing her. It had taken an unexpected boulder in a recent conflict that had managed to mangle the drive shaft, making it impossible to shift the treads and flip the tank over as would be normal. They had tried everything, beating mechanisms back into shape and retooling the whole thing from the ground up, but none of it worked. Her assistant wasn't helping matters, either - the moron was looking at the dented mechanism with a blank expression that was doing little but frustrating the weary engineer. She lifted the goggles from her face, resting them on her forehead, and picked up a small nut that had fallen from the mechanism below her.
She flung it at her assistant's forehead, bouncing it off a grease stain there. Startled, the man lost his footing and fell backwards, landing in a nearby bush. Xiaofan put her hands on her hips and frowned. "Hey, Biyu! Pick up your feet! What's wrong with that thing? Have you figured it out yet, or are you just going to stare it back into functioning?" She lept down from her perch and came nose to nose with the boy, offering him her arm. He grasped at her wrist, and she effortlessly pulled him to his feet.
He struggled for words as Xiaofan tapped her large wrench against her leg. Finally frustrated with his stammering, she just walked off, leaving him there. She needed a stiff drink. Unfortunately, they were stuck in the middle of the Earth Kingdom without a decent cask of whiskey to their names. Xiaofan made her way to the somewhat imprompteau camp and squatted down, mumbling to herself about the condition of the tanks and their desperate need for a proper repair bay.
She would be glad when they finally sacked this city, for more than a few reasons.
Spotting Captain Vu, she brushed her hands on her pants and walked over to where he was, completely oblivious to the fact that he may actually be doing something important, and straddled the log a ways down. "Hey Ganesa, how much longer are we stuck here anyway? Guy like you would've downed these walls by now if it was up to him, eh?" She asked, running a hand through her grease-coated short hair.
|
|