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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.

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That single motion of fingers had her eyes drawn to the flame. "Real..?" It certainly felt real. In fact, everything in this supposed room felt almost too real. But to learn that it was nothing more than magic almost made her heart sink.

"Can it help with fulfilling dreams?"

"I suppose, if your imagination is good enough."

The flame died out and Azula cast her gaze sullenly out over the city, "If only for a little while."

For a moment, she was thrilled. Finally, she thought, she could see the lanterns just as she always wanted! If this area would recreate the scene for her and allow her to experience it, then she could see them as much as she wants. Waiting for her birthday would be a thing of the past!

But eventually that smile faded when one minor detail made that dream impossible to replay here. “Except, well … I’ve never actually seen the lanterns, so…” Her imagination wouldn’t be able to capture it well. Only what she managed to see from outside her window. "Oh well. It would have been great if I could, but ... I guess it actually has to be a memory."

Azula nodded in quiet understanding, "I suppose that is a difficult issue. Well if we can't have that dream perhaps another?"

She smirked...and soft white flakes began to drift down from the sky, snow in the fire nation? Who'd ever have imagined? The people at the festival seemed delighted and began to celebrate even louder.

"Another?" Said Rapunzel, looking a little confused at the sudden proposition. If she was unable to fulfill this one, what chances were there of completing another.

She frowned and lowered her eyes, unsure of how to give an answer without disappointing Azula. Whatever intentions she had was masked behind an allure of friendless that the poor blonde was not entirely keen at picking up. All she knew was that she was here to help, here to listen, and here to promise her something more than the lanterns ... perhaps.

"What other dream is there?"

"Haven't you ever had any others?"

Azula smiled softly as she watched the snow drift peacefully down, "This is one I had after the first time I saw the snows of the north. That night as I slept I had a dream of it snowing in the fire nation. It never happened but I'm beginning to see the appeal of this room."

She turned back to Repunzel, "Go on, think of it as a canvas. And you're the painter. Anything you can imagine." She encouraged.

"Other dreams?" Rapunzel paused for a moment to think on it. Was it really the only dream she had? Surely there were others, maybe minor things like painting the biggest mural or decorating a palace. Something that fit her way-out-there fantasy to fill in the unknown voids she had of the world. Yet it comparison to her one true dream, only one managed to outshine everything.

"I ... can't say that I have. Seeing the lanterns ... it's always been the only thing I've only wanted." For now.

Edited 2011-07-19 02:54 (UTC)

Azula sighed and looked disgruntled now, "You really are a simple thing aren't you? This room can let you travel anywhere you imagine or play whatever little game. Experience things that you may never have had the chance to experience, and you can't even imagine how to have fun with it?" It was utterly baffling and yet entirely expected. She shook her head apparently deeply disappointed.

Rapunzel frowned, feeling a little foolish about that. She was right. Here she was in a room where her imagination could absolutely run wild, but she couldn't even allow herself to recreate the one thing she wanted most. Was it really foolish or was it simply not possible.

She quirked her lips to one side and gave it another good thought before turning back to face Azula. "You really think I can do it?"

Azula smiled that honey mixed with venom smile, "Of coarse you can. You can do anything you put your mind to." She paused letting her eyes settle into Repunzels almost like she was peering through her. "Maybe you should start with something small. Like your home? Imagine it, picture it."

Her home. Now there was one image she wasn't sure she wanted to imagine. For eighteen years she lived in that tower knowing nothing more than what she could see outside her window whenever permitted. Yet the paintings on the walls and decorate dwelling was considered her home. If she had to choose between home and this setting, well ...

"Alright. I'll do it." Said Rapunzel firmly, determined to try her hand and see if it could recreate everything just as it was able to do so for Azula. All she needed was to imagine it, right? It couldn't be that difficult. With eyes closed, she focused her thoughts and emotions and centered it on 'home'.

Azula watched silently nodding with approval as the world shifted around them. As usual the sensorium seemed to have such a ridiculous amount of attention to detail that Azula suspected it had to be much more invasive on ones memories then she'd like to imagine.

Only when it was finished building the world around them did she speak, "Open your eyes Repunzel, see where you've brought us."

For a moment she stood suspended in darkness, afraid to open her eyes out of fear that what she'd see would turn out to be the opposite. Yet the moment she stole a quiet peek from behind her hands, the rest of her once world slowly unveiled itself before her.

Except, it wasn't really her world but merely her home. Her tower. The room she had grown up in for eighteen years. It was odd standing there surrounded by her books, paintings, and collection of other hobbies. To see her guitar in the corner, the stacks of books piled in various places, and the large quantities of unused paint and coloring utensils.

"Wow..." She murmured, standing in the center of it all, her eyes gazing upward toward the ceiling then lowered to gaze ahead at the last thing she remembered painting. The lanterns.

"You're quiet the artist." Azula praised approaching behind her and letting her eyes wander the walls. "I'm no professional but I like these."

Rapunzel's gaze was broken when Azula's voice crept up from behind her. It was that intrusion of the feeling of being home that made her realize that ... it really wasn't home. She lowered her head gently, flattered by the appreciation of her work but still overwhelmed with a sense of sorrow.

"It's what I used to do when I was up here so often. Painting was my only escape sometimes."

"You led a sheltered life." Azula guessed as she began to pick through the room examining everything. "Let me guess even further, sheltered by your parents?" She peered out the window and gauged the distance to the ground. Much to far to jump if you weren't particularly skilled.

"No?" Rapunzel answered gently, puzzled at first. "Mother only wants to protect me. It's ... it's why I live here. Or ... at least ...was living here. I was going to make a quick trip to the town square and return home, nothing more! I-" She winced, the guilt of knowing her Mother's heart was perhaps shattered. Then again, there was no telling if her Mother was even still alive.

"She just wanted to protect me..."

"And now you're all alone drifting through space." Azula decided this might be an interesting place to rub the salt in.

She leaned on the edge of the windowsill, "She must have loved you very much to give you such a safe place."

Rapunzel didn't have a proper reply. Being in this room seemed to only amplify the guilt that always lingered when she was reminded of her disobedience. The fact that all of this may have very well been avoided had she simply did what her Mother had always told her -- stay inside the tower.

She lowered her head, the weight of disappointment heavy on fair shoulders.

Now an innocent tone, "What's wrong dear?" Azula approached and gently placed a hand on Rapunzel's shoulder, "Missing her?"

"I ... I miss her a lot." She confesses softly. "I can't believe I'm such a terrible daughter! I should have went back..."

Azula took the moment to slip her arm around Repunzel, "There there, nothing you can do about it anymore is there?"

Rapunzel shook her head sadly, further and further down that well of disappointment, it wouldn't be long until she was swallowed whole by it. "No, no there isn't..."

"Do you suppose..." Azula offered softly, "You could simply apologize? After all a good parent is very forgiving." Unlike her own parents that is...

Rapunzel went silent, imagining the scene as it played out. Her mother's reaction to her leaving and if an apology would even be feasible. It was definitely somewhere in the possibility of maybe, yet on the otherhand, it could potentially lead to her being forbidden to do even more things. Her mother loved her though, there was no question that she'd forgive her. It wasn't her fault that she was a terrible daughter for simply not listening.

"Of course, I... she loves me. Forgiving me wouldn't be much of a question! I think."

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GAH! Sorry I didn't realize you' responded

<3

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Praise Stacy LJ is working for me again!

YAY LJ WORKS

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