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[burnedbrighter.livejournal.com]

Azula hadn't had alot of luck with the Sensoriums before, typically they reflected her own shattered psych and that was miserable for her on every level.

But with Zuko's help sucker Azula had found ways to calm her mind when it began whirling too fast.

It was all about fire, the life giver, the destroyer. The fire inside her that kept her going.

And so she entered the Sensorium today with a controlled confident walk and brought the world up around her.

Fire Nation Capital during the Fire Days Festival had always been one of Azula's favorite times in the past. She could walk through the festival with respect and without fear. People moved to let her pass, she never had to stand in line for the things she wanted to buy and the entertainment was always top class.

And it didn't hurt that she had gone to more then a few of these with Mai and Ty Lee.

Still this recreation didn't fill her with the warmth and nostalgia she had been hoping for. She moved through the crowd of simulations quietly and felt something else, something different and all together unpleasant.

Regret? Homesick?

The stalls of colorful masks and puppets, spicy food and beautiful trinkets did little distract her from this and she turned her eyes to the sky as beautiful golden paper lanterns glistened and began to lift into the sky powered by the flames of her people.

"How many of you even wondered where I vanished to?" She wondered out loud though none of them made notice. "Did even one of you object to his rule? Or were you all too pathetic and cowardly to even consider getting involved in your own futures?"

She looked back to the lights in the sky and tried to focus on the fire again. Even if this simulation wasn't pleasing her she wouldn't let her own delicate mental state ruin her festival.

Comments

[alexaddin.livejournal.com]

And the small-for-his-age ten-year-old boy who walks into the sensorium with his nose stuck in a book on fire spells won't look up until he's already in.

"Wow! This is Brill!" Alex declared. It takes him a moment to realize that he's intruded. "Oh. Sorry."

[burnedbrighter.livejournal.com]

Azula gave him a glance and for a moment his dark hair and size made her think of her brother...though at that age she would have been even smaller.

"Who are you?" She didn't sound angry, but she wasn't pleased to see him.

[alexaddin.livejournal.com]

"I'm Alex!" Alex proclaimed enthusiastically. "And this." He raised his free hand, which was apparently empty, then looked at it, then switched his book to that hand and raised the hand with an arcane-looking ring on it. "Is Ifrit! And this city is terrific! Is this where you live when you're at home?"

[burnedbrighter.livejournal.com]

"Usually...my home is actually there." She gestured to the palace on the hill, "I am Princess Azula of the Fire Nation, and this is my kingdom."

He was a child, but not an annoying child...yet. And what was that book?

[alexaddin.livejournal.com]

Alex looks over at the palace. "Brill! Nice to meet you, Highness!"

[morganknight]

"I think I wandered into the wrong place entirely," the Akashic said to no one in particular as he strolled through the festival, looking curiously at the sights and sounds. "Not very sorry I did though!"

[burnedbrighter.livejournal.com]

"It's beautiful isn't it? To see the streets so full of life." She mused glancing at the fake crowds milling about. "The Fire Nation enjoyed generations of prosperity, it's people never having to worry about going hungry, over crowding. They had heroes they could look up to." She gestured to a puppet show of the Fire Lord fighting off Earth Benders that the children were cheering for.

[morganknight]

Oh hey, she's real. Well, he guessed SOMEone in this whole place had to be, to make the rest of it.

He walked a little closer to her as he watched the puppet show curiously, the better to converse. "Heroes. Not a bad thing to have. We were out, on my world; have been for a very long time."

[burnedbrighter.livejournal.com]

She smirked "I'm not entirely sure my world had many left by the time I was taken from it."

After all she had often thought of herself as one of the fire nations greatest heroes even if she was a monster.

[morganknight]

"Had a nice little festival atmosphere, though!" It kind of reminded him of a Rennfest, except for being current rather than nostalgic. That wasn't a bad thing, though.

[flowerglow.livejournal.com]

How she got here was a mystery. No, it wasn’t really a mystery given that she had been exploring every nook and cranny of the city she could possibly travel her bare little feet to. Somehow this exploration allowed her to find this particular area of the ship, one of which took on a whole new world entirely.

Everything about this festival managed o lure the unsuspecting long-haired maiden inside, particularly the way the lanterns seemed to light up the festival with its marvelous glow. It was nothing like she imagined it to be on her homeworld, but that didn’t stop her from admiring them.

"Incredible," She murmured softly to herself, unaware that all of this was a mere illusion. Like a moth to a flame or a Rapunzel to a lantern, she was drawn.

[burnedbrighter.livejournal.com]

Azula blinked and turned slowly to see Repunzel. "Oh, I didn't see you come in." She smiled softly, "Welcome to my home, the Fire Nation capital."

The festival radiated warmth and life. The scent of spiced food filling the air, and everything had a golden hue to it from the flames burning bright.

[flowerglow.livejournal.com]

Rapunzel didn't even seem aware that anyone else was present until Azula's voice soothingly graced her ears. "Oh! Heh, I didn't realize this was your area," She responded, eyes wandering back to the festival in all its glory.

"This is your kingdom?" She asked, unable to keep still for long and began to wander off again, mostly to admire every lantern she came across. "It's ... beautiful."

[burnedbrighter.livejournal.com]

"It's a memory." She explained taking up one of the lanterns which had come unlit. "The ship has rooms that can create whatever you like. And I have felt decidedly...homesick." Only partially a lie. She wasn't sure why she had summoned up the memory but it felt like it was helping.

In fact as she held out her hand the flame that appeared in it was no longer orange, but a cool cold blue. She felt her heart jump, and gently guided the flame into the lantern putting out a different shade of light.

[flowerglow.livejournal.com]

"This ship can recreate your memories? That's a little bizarre." She replied, giving one of the seen lanterns a strange look now that she realized it was most likely not real. "Though you know, I'm probably going to feel a little homesick too, sometimes. It's nice to know I can ... find somewhere to relive it. Sort of."

Not that she really wanted to recreate the scene of her tower room. She had spent the last eighteen years in it. There was no way she could possibly miss it. Right? Only time would tell.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"That's the thing about rulers," came a voice, and no, Kaya at this point didn't care about bothering Azula a little. She was still slightly miffed at what she had said when Katara ha pod popped. "AS long as their lives aren't uprooted too horribly, they don't care. What's one firelord over another to them? Rather, what you ought to be asking yourself is why you care more about setting the other nations on fire than just enjoying things like this."

Because even Kaya could see herself liking this kind of thing, outside of the war and all.

[burnedbrighter.livejournal.com]

Azula felt her muscles tighten up and coil sharply and she had to bite her lip to keep from lashing out. "I've beginning to wonder why it seems I can't turn a corner without running into you. Are you really so desperate for attention from someone from our world?"

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"I was out for a stroll. It's not my fault you happen to be here, as full of yourself as usual that I came in here just to meet you. In case you forgot, you're not on my list of favorite people."

She looked around. "It is nice, though. I never did like to linger much in the fire nation, but it has its good points."

[burnedbrighter.livejournal.com]

"And yet we constantly seem to run into one another despite just how big this ship is."

Azula scoffed, "A far sight more comfortable then the wasteland you savages call home." She folded her arms and smiled proudly at the explosion of life and passion that was the festival crowds, dancing and singing, laughing and celebrating everything that was their lives under the Fire Lord.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"A happy coincidence, I'm sure," Kaya said, rolling her eyes.

And here, she shrugged. "Us savages get along fine. Then again, I suppose you monsters going around subjugating people gives you plenty of free time to enjoy yourself. I mean, the best way to make the most out of slaving other nations is to enjoy yourselves at other's expense, right?"

Not that Kaya really held a grudge, not on Stacy: but she was all for calling a spade a spade.

[8wings.livejournal.com]

Everyone was so free.

People were moving at random, waving at others and changing direction, eating and laughing without the slightest care in presenting their best angles to the cameras. There were no vid-drones hovering overhead to catch the least error, the tiniest hint of gossip. These people were just here, enjoying themselves.

It was nothing like the celebrations from her home, which were as tightly controlled as beads sliding on a wire grid, shuttling back and forth with perfect precision – and about as much fun.

She stood with her face upturned, watching the floating lanterns swarm into the sky.

"So beautiful," she whispered to herself.

[bio-boosted.livejournal.com]

There's suddenly a tall, imposing figure in the middle of the simulated festival, wearing what looks like an alien suit of armor made the the very ship itself. There's no sign of it having ever entered the sensorium, it's as if it just appeared out of nowhere. It just stands there a moment before seemingly becoming aware of itself.

"Wha...what the...how did I get here?" Sho asks, then looks down to see he was wearing the Guyver. He's surprised a moment before he takes off the Guyver. The various parts detach from his body and vanish into the boost dimension.

"This is getting weird..." Sho looks around at the colorful displays of the Fire Days Festival. It's a bit of a sensory overload for him, but Sho keeps his head together.

"Am I still on the ship, or am I dreaming?"

[burnedbrighter.livejournal.com]

Azula watched the newcomers display with apprehension. It took some getting used to dealing with so many new people and their abilities.

"Would you be able to tell the difference?" She asked from her place behind him. She was sitting on the edge of the building and turned her attention back to some fire dancers. "When reality has become like a nightmare or a fanciful fantasy who can say where they end and life begins?"

[bio-boosted.livejournal.com]

Sho snaps his attention to Azula, who didn't seem too startled by him being here. He rubs his temple with the heel of his palm.

"I've already dealt with the nightmare part." Sho says before he finally recognizes her. "Weren't you at that party? I think I remember seeing you."

[burnedbrighter.livejournal.com]

"I did attend." Azula acknowledged tilting her head slightly letting her bangs drift in front of her eyes. "It was a quaint affair." That she spent only a short amount of time at.