- Location
- Australia
Hehehehehehehehehe :3
Not quite sure what happened in the chapter but Fishzula is going to play~
Not quite sure what happened in the chapter but Fishzula is going to play~
Burning Twice As Bright (ATLA Azula SI)
- Thread starter midnightmissiles
- Start date
noahgab1133
Fluffy?
IT LIVES!
ALL HAILRED FISHIE AZULA FISH!
ALL HAIL
I think the idea here is that instead of giving in or resisting the torture/interrogation, Jolt is just plain getting fucked up. If I understand the strategy right, it sort of tenderizes the victim. If they have some goal or focus they can latch on to that. AzulaFishy is just straight up fucking with him. Meaning nothing to center himself on. This will theoretically grind down his willpower until the whole resistance is futile thing is carved into his bones. Then comes the Q & A.
Also Azula(no Fishy) is probably disturbingly eager to make him suffer, so this also gives her an outlet.
Oh I am slain!
Wynaut?
- Location
- Tatooine
I likely missed some, but these were the ones that stood out.
Slightly confusing mixture of plural and singular, and storage is rarely referred to using "a"
Were these lessons in the past? If so, I'm guessing you meant "we had learned"
(I think) it's supposed to either be "was no doubt" or "were no doubts"
Usually one word?
lowercase "we", I think.
effect
on his body (or whichever body you're referring to)
when it has swallowed (Or sometimes informally, "when it's swallowed")
Last edited:
Oh I am slain!
Wynaut?
- Location
- Tatooine
I was going to skip the SB version till you said this, so I proceeded to do the same as you. Then I noticed the threadmark titles on the SB version. My goodness.
rofl:
LastStandZiggy
Last To Fall
- Location
- Kingman, Az
You are essentially correct. The actions FishZula is showing that they don't need the information from him since they can get it elsewhere, which is most likely bunk. They work him over for a little bit, not enough to cause permanent damage, but to make it hurt.
In time he will start talking, and reveal whatever information he might have that would be valuable, then when he says whatever FishZula wants, they turn around and say they already know from another source. It breaks the subject physically over time and shatters whatever's left of their psyche...
It's art, really.
23
midnightmissiles
Princess of Memes, Shitposts, and Puns
20.3
The war had gone on for almost a hundred years, but trade—trade never changed. It never stopped, and its hubs were cities that never slept. While the northern ports of the Earth Kingdom had become like Hong Kong, the city of Gaoling had become like Shanghai. The scale was, of course, greater than the cities of China since the continent was a couple sizes larger, but those five or six ports were more spread out and still technically under a single political entity.
There were dozens of small fishing villages that led up to Gaoling, many of them closer to the waters. But before this hundred years of war, the Southern Water Tribes were on no means friendly terms with the Earth provinces—they had often had criminals on both sides raid each other. Yet another reason for Gaoling being the southern hub of trade was that it was on the pulse of the imperial road—a road which led into the Earth Kingdom proper and also to various villages of the south. In being on the crossroads, Gaoling was destined to grow into a trading hub.
So why was it that we stationed ourselves away from Gaoling and its subsidiary port, which was protected by a large, natural peninsula and tight gulf?
The reason, of course, laid in the rivers of the Earth provinces. Earthbenders are unnaturally discomforted by running water, and few of them ever even bother to learn to swim. It could explain why what little navy the Earth Kingdom has is populated by what they might consider the 'lower orders', people who couldn't bend at all. Was this a spiritual apprehension of water or some deep seated, genetically inherited fear? We had no way of knowing, but their dislike for water is clear (though there are strange outliers, such as mudbenders).
The rivers, the rivers! They would rather drink well water than from the rivers. But trade travels so many times faster by water than by land. And that... is something to be exploited. It was also the reason why we landed upon a small fishing village sitting at the mouth of a river. It wasn't particularly wide, nor was it directly connected to any of the main rivers, but there was a reason why we selected this location.
Seafaring junkers were different from our ironclads; they could not simply land by running into land. The sight of one of such a beast running aground so close to their shabby, little pier must have so frightened the villagers.
It didn't help that we were running pirate colors on the open waters; it helped keep any other opportunists from seeking us out.
'To be honest, I didn't even expect there to be a village here,' Azula grumbled as she glanced about at the utterly unworthy hovels that welcomed us. It was a show of how the Fire Nation, over the course of this war, had not pursued civilian casualties that the villagers were now approaching our vessel with curiosity rather than running away in fear. Not that we shied away from such things, but it was just so inefficient.
Such a phenomenon was by no means due to our psychotic father; it was likely because we had such skilled, low-level military administrators and civil servants coordinating the war effort.
'That isn't a bad thing. We can use the manpower, as long as we do this correctly,' I replied. 'Time to put on our game face.'
Our lips twitched. 'I can handle it.'
"Ty Lee, Mai... and two of you, come, we will be negotiating with whoever is in charge here. The Captain can go bargain for supplies without us." We stepped out onto the deck, studying how closely this small piece of land mass reminded us so much of Manhattan. It would be a great central hub of power—a seat of region power—once the correct canals have been put into place. For now, it would be the base from which we would spread into the south. "Tell the rest of the girls to go camping."
It was code for setting up shop somewhere more in-land. While we drilled our girls in the art of law and finance throughout the trip, their survival training (mandatory in schools approved by the Fire Lord) had not been forgotten.
While injured, Lin was no longer in critical condition. She would be our administrator for this expansion, since she could still perform admirably in all situations outside of battle. "Commander, would you like to choose the location?"
"No," We studied our nails lazily as the villagers below gathered the courage to approach more closely. The old man in the middle of the small crowd seemed like their mayor from the way he was being deferred to, but we could be mistaken. "I'll leave that to your judgment, Private Lin. I want to see a hill fort complete at the week's end. A good, strong, and defensible location will do. And do attempt to keep the pretense that you are merchants, would you?"
"Of course, Commander."
We were going to turn towards our much reduced entourage, but Ty Lee chose that moment to hug us from behind. The action sent our spine into a ramrod as we nearly shot lightning in all directions. "Why so serious, Azula?" She giggled. "This is our adventure! Come on, I've been copped up in that ship for too long!"
"It's only been a week," We attempted to retort. It was a futile effort.
"Oh my gosh! A whole week?" She babbled.
"... We're going down now. Come on." We sighed mentally. "Our hosts are expecting us. Mai... help me. She's not letting go."
Mai took one second to make eye contact, in which she turned away, clearly not interested in becoming tangled up in Ty Lee's limbs. After a moment, when she thought we had turned our attention elsewhere, her lips twitched upwards for a second. We saw it!
Knowing that this was another exercise in futility, we walked down the steps in defeat with a Ty Lee-shaped 'backpack' on our back. "Come on, girls. Parade formation, let's give a good show."
Of course, it helped that this whole silly display connected with our troops in some odd manner. Some of the sailors even chortled. But they always did it when they thought we weren't able to see them. It was better this way, after all. Something, something... fear and adore us at the same time, something, something complete, wouldn't you think? Mai certainly picked up on that, in that uninterested, dissatisfied tone of her's as she whispered her observation out of the corner of her lips, "You're enjoying this."
"My dear Mai, you might well think so, I couldn't possibly comment," We whispered back with equal lack of outward reaction.
Our eyes made a cursory glance over the village.
'It's pathetic.' She was not impressed. She had all rights to be. There were less than thirty hovels here, more than half of them made from some sort of flimsy looking wooden material. The worst were made of mud and on the verge of collapse. The few at one end of the village (the far end away from the pier) were of brick. It was the classic display of income inequality, even before we go into detail about how the brick houses were built on a hill looking over the rest of the village. And no doubts all traders who pass by will stop at the affluent homes, further increasing their wealth.
Squinting, we noted the family name-plate carved artistically into wood above the gates of the largest residence. Again, there were little doubts that this would be the name of the mayor.
I shrugged at her mentally. There wasn't anything to disagree with, and to be honest, it might have been better to start with nothing than with something that might be hard to cleanse of later. A bad foundation was much more detrimental than having to start with nothing, after all. 'There's about twenty to thirty families in this village. At least a portion of them will be somewhat unhappy. Feel out the sentiments of the youthful, yet able. As a village of such a size, it's most likely that to keep order, the stability and happiness of the majority is at least somewhat sated.' We paused and blinked. There were many ways to find sympathizers. 'Divide and conquer.'
Our eyes rolled, 'Stating the obvious again? Silly me. There are many ways to go about this. I know better than to simply go about roughing them up, you've been repeating it too many times already. Diplomacy, intimidation, spirituality, ideology, bribing and financing... why not use them all?'
'Why not indeed?'
The war had gone on for almost a hundred years, but trade—trade never changed. It never stopped, and its hubs were cities that never slept. While the northern ports of the Earth Kingdom had become like Hong Kong, the city of Gaoling had become like Shanghai. The scale was, of course, greater than the cities of China since the continent was a couple sizes larger, but those five or six ports were more spread out and still technically under a single political entity.
There were dozens of small fishing villages that led up to Gaoling, many of them closer to the waters. But before this hundred years of war, the Southern Water Tribes were on no means friendly terms with the Earth provinces—they had often had criminals on both sides raid each other. Yet another reason for Gaoling being the southern hub of trade was that it was on the pulse of the imperial road—a road which led into the Earth Kingdom proper and also to various villages of the south. In being on the crossroads, Gaoling was destined to grow into a trading hub.
So why was it that we stationed ourselves away from Gaoling and its subsidiary port, which was protected by a large, natural peninsula and tight gulf?
The reason, of course, laid in the rivers of the Earth provinces. Earthbenders are unnaturally discomforted by running water, and few of them ever even bother to learn to swim. It could explain why what little navy the Earth Kingdom has is populated by what they might consider the 'lower orders', people who couldn't bend at all. Was this a spiritual apprehension of water or some deep seated, genetically inherited fear? We had no way of knowing, but their dislike for water is clear (though there are strange outliers, such as mudbenders).
The rivers, the rivers! They would rather drink well water than from the rivers. But trade travels so many times faster by water than by land. And that... is something to be exploited. It was also the reason why we landed upon a small fishing village sitting at the mouth of a river. It wasn't particularly wide, nor was it directly connected to any of the main rivers, but there was a reason why we selected this location.
Seafaring junkers were different from our ironclads; they could not simply land by running into land. The sight of one of such a beast running aground so close to their shabby, little pier must have so frightened the villagers.
It didn't help that we were running pirate colors on the open waters; it helped keep any other opportunists from seeking us out.
'To be honest, I didn't even expect there to be a village here,' Azula grumbled as she glanced about at the utterly unworthy hovels that welcomed us. It was a show of how the Fire Nation, over the course of this war, had not pursued civilian casualties that the villagers were now approaching our vessel with curiosity rather than running away in fear. Not that we shied away from such things, but it was just so inefficient.
Such a phenomenon was by no means due to our psychotic father; it was likely because we had such skilled, low-level military administrators and civil servants coordinating the war effort.
'That isn't a bad thing. We can use the manpower, as long as we do this correctly,' I replied. 'Time to put on our game face.'
Our lips twitched. 'I can handle it.'
"Ty Lee, Mai... and two of you, come, we will be negotiating with whoever is in charge here. The Captain can go bargain for supplies without us." We stepped out onto the deck, studying how closely this small piece of land mass reminded us so much of Manhattan. It would be a great central hub of power—a seat of region power—once the correct canals have been put into place. For now, it would be the base from which we would spread into the south. "Tell the rest of the girls to go camping."
It was code for setting up shop somewhere more in-land. While we drilled our girls in the art of law and finance throughout the trip, their survival training (mandatory in schools approved by the Fire Lord) had not been forgotten.
While injured, Lin was no longer in critical condition. She would be our administrator for this expansion, since she could still perform admirably in all situations outside of battle. "Commander, would you like to choose the location?"
"No," We studied our nails lazily as the villagers below gathered the courage to approach more closely. The old man in the middle of the small crowd seemed like their mayor from the way he was being deferred to, but we could be mistaken. "I'll leave that to your judgment, Private Lin. I want to see a hill fort complete at the week's end. A good, strong, and defensible location will do. And do attempt to keep the pretense that you are merchants, would you?"
"Of course, Commander."
We were going to turn towards our much reduced entourage, but Ty Lee chose that moment to hug us from behind. The action sent our spine into a ramrod as we nearly shot lightning in all directions. "Why so serious, Azula?" She giggled. "This is our adventure! Come on, I've been copped up in that ship for too long!"
"It's only been a week," We attempted to retort. It was a futile effort.
"Oh my gosh! A whole week?" She babbled.
"... We're going down now. Come on." We sighed mentally. "Our hosts are expecting us. Mai... help me. She's not letting go."
Mai took one second to make eye contact, in which she turned away, clearly not interested in becoming tangled up in Ty Lee's limbs. After a moment, when she thought we had turned our attention elsewhere, her lips twitched upwards for a second. We saw it!
Knowing that this was another exercise in futility, we walked down the steps in defeat with a Ty Lee-shaped 'backpack' on our back. "Come on, girls. Parade formation, let's give a good show."
Of course, it helped that this whole silly display connected with our troops in some odd manner. Some of the sailors even chortled. But they always did it when they thought we weren't able to see them. It was better this way, after all. Something, something... fear and adore us at the same time, something, something complete, wouldn't you think? Mai certainly picked up on that, in that uninterested, dissatisfied tone of her's as she whispered her observation out of the corner of her lips, "You're enjoying this."
"My dear Mai, you might well think so, I couldn't possibly comment," We whispered back with equal lack of outward reaction.
Our eyes made a cursory glance over the village.
'It's pathetic.' She was not impressed. She had all rights to be. There were less than thirty hovels here, more than half of them made from some sort of flimsy looking wooden material. The worst were made of mud and on the verge of collapse. The few at one end of the village (the far end away from the pier) were of brick. It was the classic display of income inequality, even before we go into detail about how the brick houses were built on a hill looking over the rest of the village. And no doubts all traders who pass by will stop at the affluent homes, further increasing their wealth.
Squinting, we noted the family name-plate carved artistically into wood above the gates of the largest residence. Again, there were little doubts that this would be the name of the mayor.
I shrugged at her mentally. There wasn't anything to disagree with, and to be honest, it might have been better to start with nothing than with something that might be hard to cleanse of later. A bad foundation was much more detrimental than having to start with nothing, after all. 'There's about twenty to thirty families in this village. At least a portion of them will be somewhat unhappy. Feel out the sentiments of the youthful, yet able. As a village of such a size, it's most likely that to keep order, the stability and happiness of the majority is at least somewhat sated.' We paused and blinked. There were many ways to find sympathizers. 'Divide and conquer.'
Our eyes rolled, 'Stating the obvious again? Silly me. There are many ways to go about this. I know better than to simply go about roughing them up, you've been repeating it too many times already. Diplomacy, intimidation, spirituality, ideology, bribing and financing... why not use them all?'
'Why not indeed?'
Well little Azula sure has taken to the advice to not be a strait-up sociopath quite nicely hasn't she. Why the first thought out of her head inst to destroy the village for not meeting her standers . Progress!
And right you are Ms.Urquhart, something like this needs to be handled with a delicate touch.
midnightmissiles
Princess of Memes, Shitposts, and Puns
Alternatively, you could view at default style instead of something silly like flexile gold. You know, help yourself. Up to you.
Last edited:
I thought default was Flexile Dark? Its what mines set to and I never bothered to change it in the settings, and that font is horrible on it as well. I need to highlight to read it, which isn't much of a problem admittedly.
midnightmissiles
Princess of Memes, Shitposts, and Puns
Default sets it to a white background for me, so I guess that's weird.
*Shrug* Whatever. Highlighting for the win.
Onmur
Archangel of Nutella.
Alternatively, right click on 'Reply' and then on 'Remove Formatting', or select all text and remove color.
Lenimentus
Ignorant but learning.
As fascinating as this discussion of formatting is I'd prefer to talk about how hilarious and adorable this chapter was. Ty Lee is a wonderful foil for Azula.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
A hyperactive kung fu koala, that's what she is.
Malbutorius
C'est le bien qui fait mal
I don't know about you guys, but I use the Space theme and I can read the font just fine.
Anyways, another amazing chapter.
Anyways, another amazing chapter.
24
midnightmissiles
Princess of Memes, Shitposts, and Puns
Note: Please discussion. Lack discussion make sads. Sads make slow write. Slow write become no write.
20.4
People often thought that it was resources that the Fire Nation lacked after such a long period of strife. That was not exactly wrong—we were ever hungry for resources—but we did not lack it. What we wanted and did not own, we took. In doing so, it fed into the Fire Nation war machine and fueled further expansion in search of more resources, fueled by our taken resources. This was a cycle that would eventually come to an end, but to what end? If we stayed stagnant then it would lead to the downfall of our nation. Yet we were not a nation of idiots; unlike the tribes or the empire, we saw that we must adjust and we adapted. Technology will eventually take the place of resources, we would grow to be more efficient with each year.
Yes, this was improvement not just on the efficiency of economy and bureaucracy, but also in the art of killing. Nevertheless, it was efficiency that we prized, and thus resources have become less of a problem as we developed throughout the years. Development came in other forms as well. The majority of the Earth still used wood for fuel in its most primitive form; the Winter Palace of the Earth King was heated by the systematic chopping and burning down of a small forest each year.
Yet we moved from wood to charcoal and to coal. We had little doubt that we'd be moving onto petroleum and electricity within the decade... yet the older fuels still had their place.
There was a type of oak native to the southern provinces of the Earth Kingdom (that we did not know the local name for, but was called the ubame in the Fire Nation), which produced perhaps the finest form of charcoal known to the Fire Nation engineers at the moment. Yet such a processed product could then be used to make soap, shampoo, and various cosmetics products as well, in addition to fueling our newer ships and trains. It was underused, but we could change that—creation of a new market was one of my specialties, as it were. And yet this was but one of ten resources we were here to exploit.
But that wasn't why we were here, and that wasn't what the Fire Nation lacked.
In such an efficiency-focused society, pushed to the brim, we required only really two things. One was resources, which was seen to, and the other was manpower.
Indoctrination and training that made the soldiers of the Fire Nation so feared throughout the world required both supplies and time, both of which we had little of. But we could save time by having the unindoctrinated produce our supplies, couldn't we? We would then save manpower for where it was needed and—if we controlled the right channels—can create the indoctrinated society over time. That was not taking into account that the creation of such a society is an argument for the eventual takeover of the world... but that could wait.
We were here, in essence, not for their beautiful oak or their unused saltpeter or their misused sulfur (as much as we would be taking such stuffs for our use), but for their people. We were hungry for it. Greatness hungered and we would take their men, women, and children, and they would thank us for it.
And why wouldn't they?
"Hello, I am Executive Lee, but my friends all call me Ty Lee," Our deliciously cute mouthpiece spoke for us. She hopped on over ahead of the entourage, dressed in dab colors of dirt and grass—the colors of Earth. We all were, yet she made it look good.
That was her duty and her purpose. Appearances, as they say, were everything.
In the same slightly naive, yet polite tone, she continued, "This is Secretary Mai and her assistants and servant. I represent the South Earthen Trade Company, from north of here."
Mayor Cheng, a portly man (in comparison to his citizens) with a graying, short beard and obviously in the age of having grandchildren, hobbled forward and nodded. He was used to people deferring to him, without a doubt, but 'from the north' could be anything between the next village over to the Imperial Court in Ba Sing Se. It would be rude to ask for clarification, but such was the way of communication in China, Korea, Japan, the Fire Nation, and the earth Kingdom. Such things were typical of such a similar culture. Instead, he fiddled with his beard and smiled kindly, "And I welcome you, Ty Lee. I am Cheng Deng Bin, mayor of Fishing-in-the-Cape Town. Please, come to my home, so that we may have a proper feast." The smile might have been kindly, if he wasn't rubbing his palms together and all but seeing money in his eyes.
What a dick, 'We're renaming this place Capetown after we're done.'
"Aren't you a little young to be a boss?" The mayor began immediately.
"Aren't you a little short to be a mayor?" Ty Lee replied, but without a hint of the displeasure we might have colored our words with. As well as we might be able to control ourselves within, it was Ty Lee who held the greater acting talent. And more so, while we might inspire with overwhelming charisma, Ty Lee has a certain charm that soon became obvious.
For the mayor, who was just about equal to Mai while his back was hunched, his height might have been a sore point. Many of his townsfolk were taller than him. Yet perhaps it was the way Ty Lee put it, or perhaps it was because she was actually shorter than him, it caused him to laugh so heartily, we knew it could not be faked.
'Worthless small talk,' Azula narrowed our eyes.
Our shoulders shrugged, 'Perhaps, but it lubricates our business, so it is necessary. The mayor is not ambitious, and he does not lust for many things. In such a village, he is like a king. In doing so, he is more willing to preserve what he has rather than to seek for more.'
We sighed and turned away from the scene as the crowd followed Mayor Cheng and Ty Lee towards the largest compound in the village. '… And so he would not be receptive to our method. I understand.'
But it felt like pulling teeth—more so because what she felt, I did too.
The mayor's inquiries into our business and such matters would come later, of course, during dinner. Of course, it would be Ty Lee who would do this job, though she knew well what she was doing. She was experienced in such talks, and perhaps even more so an experienced actor than us. Maybe. No compromises, no deals, or anything of the matter would be made, proposed, or settled then, but both sides would use the opportunity to feel each other out.
And as it were, the four entered the household while I was left outside, to dine with the peasants.
It seemed that this Mayor Cheng was a stickler for traditions... but that too was within our projections and plans. Mai and Ty Lee were to push our deals for raw material and land usage forward, test the weaknesses within the Mayor's household, and all sorts of silly, drama-filled intrigue... the sort of thing Azula delighted in so much.
'So why is it that we have to go the other way? Why this... game?' She was unhappy, not only with the loss of the sensation of superiority, but also with the whole charade. It was natural, but inevitable.
'You know why,' We had worked on our plans for weeks.
'I want to put the Mayor in his place,' She changed tactics. Still, it was a bit unreasonable for me to expect the ten-year-old Azula to have the same mental fortitude and resilience as the fourteen-year-old who infiltrated and took over the Dai Li, the most powerful shadow organization in the continent.
But she was getting there already. 'A man like the mayor cannot hold the town, once it grows. He will be insufficient. He will prove inadequate. Think of this as a game... as much fun as the business show that Ty Lee will have put on, it is only that and a simple thing. We won't be missing out... after all, we too are here to create an image.' That any contracts would be null once he was replaced and us remaining the village's suzerain master was perhaps the last thing on our mind.
Perhaps.
Many of the worst leaders in the world used this method to get what they wanted. It allowed them to reach for what might have been absolute power in their eyes. As we knew well, power corrupts.
We might have tried to justify ourselves, though why would we?
These were the steps taken to greatness, the road we willingly took. What was building a cult of personality around us compared to the steps we would take afterwards? And it wasn't as if we wouldn't enjoy this...
20.4
People often thought that it was resources that the Fire Nation lacked after such a long period of strife. That was not exactly wrong—we were ever hungry for resources—but we did not lack it. What we wanted and did not own, we took. In doing so, it fed into the Fire Nation war machine and fueled further expansion in search of more resources, fueled by our taken resources. This was a cycle that would eventually come to an end, but to what end? If we stayed stagnant then it would lead to the downfall of our nation. Yet we were not a nation of idiots; unlike the tribes or the empire, we saw that we must adjust and we adapted. Technology will eventually take the place of resources, we would grow to be more efficient with each year.
Yes, this was improvement not just on the efficiency of economy and bureaucracy, but also in the art of killing. Nevertheless, it was efficiency that we prized, and thus resources have become less of a problem as we developed throughout the years. Development came in other forms as well. The majority of the Earth still used wood for fuel in its most primitive form; the Winter Palace of the Earth King was heated by the systematic chopping and burning down of a small forest each year.
Yet we moved from wood to charcoal and to coal. We had little doubt that we'd be moving onto petroleum and electricity within the decade... yet the older fuels still had their place.
There was a type of oak native to the southern provinces of the Earth Kingdom (that we did not know the local name for, but was called the ubame in the Fire Nation), which produced perhaps the finest form of charcoal known to the Fire Nation engineers at the moment. Yet such a processed product could then be used to make soap, shampoo, and various cosmetics products as well, in addition to fueling our newer ships and trains. It was underused, but we could change that—creation of a new market was one of my specialties, as it were. And yet this was but one of ten resources we were here to exploit.
But that wasn't why we were here, and that wasn't what the Fire Nation lacked.
In such an efficiency-focused society, pushed to the brim, we required only really two things. One was resources, which was seen to, and the other was manpower.
Indoctrination and training that made the soldiers of the Fire Nation so feared throughout the world required both supplies and time, both of which we had little of. But we could save time by having the unindoctrinated produce our supplies, couldn't we? We would then save manpower for where it was needed and—if we controlled the right channels—can create the indoctrinated society over time. That was not taking into account that the creation of such a society is an argument for the eventual takeover of the world... but that could wait.
We were here, in essence, not for their beautiful oak or their unused saltpeter or their misused sulfur (as much as we would be taking such stuffs for our use), but for their people. We were hungry for it. Greatness hungered and we would take their men, women, and children, and they would thank us for it.
And why wouldn't they?
"Hello, I am Executive Lee, but my friends all call me Ty Lee," Our deliciously cute mouthpiece spoke for us. She hopped on over ahead of the entourage, dressed in dab colors of dirt and grass—the colors of Earth. We all were, yet she made it look good.
That was her duty and her purpose. Appearances, as they say, were everything.
In the same slightly naive, yet polite tone, she continued, "This is Secretary Mai and her assistants and servant. I represent the South Earthen Trade Company, from north of here."
Mayor Cheng, a portly man (in comparison to his citizens) with a graying, short beard and obviously in the age of having grandchildren, hobbled forward and nodded. He was used to people deferring to him, without a doubt, but 'from the north' could be anything between the next village over to the Imperial Court in Ba Sing Se. It would be rude to ask for clarification, but such was the way of communication in China, Korea, Japan, the Fire Nation, and the earth Kingdom. Such things were typical of such a similar culture. Instead, he fiddled with his beard and smiled kindly, "And I welcome you, Ty Lee. I am Cheng Deng Bin, mayor of Fishing-in-the-Cape Town. Please, come to my home, so that we may have a proper feast." The smile might have been kindly, if he wasn't rubbing his palms together and all but seeing money in his eyes.
What a dick, 'We're renaming this place Capetown after we're done.'
"Aren't you a little young to be a boss?" The mayor began immediately.
"Aren't you a little short to be a mayor?" Ty Lee replied, but without a hint of the displeasure we might have colored our words with. As well as we might be able to control ourselves within, it was Ty Lee who held the greater acting talent. And more so, while we might inspire with overwhelming charisma, Ty Lee has a certain charm that soon became obvious.
For the mayor, who was just about equal to Mai while his back was hunched, his height might have been a sore point. Many of his townsfolk were taller than him. Yet perhaps it was the way Ty Lee put it, or perhaps it was because she was actually shorter than him, it caused him to laugh so heartily, we knew it could not be faked.
'Worthless small talk,' Azula narrowed our eyes.
Our shoulders shrugged, 'Perhaps, but it lubricates our business, so it is necessary. The mayor is not ambitious, and he does not lust for many things. In such a village, he is like a king. In doing so, he is more willing to preserve what he has rather than to seek for more.'
We sighed and turned away from the scene as the crowd followed Mayor Cheng and Ty Lee towards the largest compound in the village. '… And so he would not be receptive to our method. I understand.'
But it felt like pulling teeth—more so because what she felt, I did too.
The mayor's inquiries into our business and such matters would come later, of course, during dinner. Of course, it would be Ty Lee who would do this job, though she knew well what she was doing. She was experienced in such talks, and perhaps even more so an experienced actor than us. Maybe. No compromises, no deals, or anything of the matter would be made, proposed, or settled then, but both sides would use the opportunity to feel each other out.
And as it were, the four entered the household while I was left outside, to dine with the peasants.
It seemed that this Mayor Cheng was a stickler for traditions... but that too was within our projections and plans. Mai and Ty Lee were to push our deals for raw material and land usage forward, test the weaknesses within the Mayor's household, and all sorts of silly, drama-filled intrigue... the sort of thing Azula delighted in so much.
'So why is it that we have to go the other way? Why this... game?' She was unhappy, not only with the loss of the sensation of superiority, but also with the whole charade. It was natural, but inevitable.
'You know why,' We had worked on our plans for weeks.
'I want to put the Mayor in his place,' She changed tactics. Still, it was a bit unreasonable for me to expect the ten-year-old Azula to have the same mental fortitude and resilience as the fourteen-year-old who infiltrated and took over the Dai Li, the most powerful shadow organization in the continent.
But she was getting there already. 'A man like the mayor cannot hold the town, once it grows. He will be insufficient. He will prove inadequate. Think of this as a game... as much fun as the business show that Ty Lee will have put on, it is only that and a simple thing. We won't be missing out... after all, we too are here to create an image.' That any contracts would be null once he was replaced and us remaining the village's suzerain master was perhaps the last thing on our mind.
Perhaps.
Many of the worst leaders in the world used this method to get what they wanted. It allowed them to reach for what might have been absolute power in their eyes. As we knew well, power corrupts.
We might have tried to justify ourselves, though why would we?
These were the steps taken to greatness, the road we willingly took. What was building a cult of personality around us compared to the steps we would take afterwards? And it wasn't as if we wouldn't enjoy this...
- Location
- Australia
WAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
The beginning of the Cult ofthe God Emperor of Mankind only intentional! the Avatar of the Sun!
Again, I liked this twice. Because it's worth it.
The beginning of the Cult of
Again, I liked this twice. Because it's worth it.
Tachikoma's Aunt
Priestess of Yog-Sothoth
- Location
- Variable
Helen: Not gonna lie. I lol'd.
Dani: And I approve of the "blind them with moe" tactic Fishzula are using here. After all, it doesn't matter how good you are at a particularly method--if you never use anything else, you are a fatally predictable one-trick pony, easily thwarted.