Chapter Text
The streetlamps and passing cars illuminated Mai as she glared out the window, watching the snow fall to the ground and melt into gray slush.
Mai felt her back curving forwards as her shoulders slouched and she actively rebelled against her minds instinct to straighten herself.
"Lift your chest towards the ceiling, dear" Her mother's voice echoed in her head, but her mother wasn't here right now, and Mai was going to fuel the overwhelming boredom in her chest by refusing to do anything her mother wished of her, even if she wasn't there to see it. The cars kept screaming through the glass as they sped down the street, and Mai turned her focus on the wall in front of her and tried to keep her back curved forwards.
This had been their "exciting" ski lodge retreat, another excuse for her father to brush elbows with those higher up and for her mother to parade her around like a porcelain doll.
Agni forbid they ski.
Agni forbid she skis.
Agni forbid she considers doing anything except sitting still where her mother last placed her.
"Mai!" Her mother's voice rang through their suite, cutting through Mai's internal monologue.
Showtime. Mai grimaced. She kept her shoulders hunched and her eyes on the wall. Maybe her mother would abandon her hunt, leave Mai for a night of peace.
"Mai!" Mai sighed. What were the odds of a night in?
"Mai, Where are you?" Not likely. The clicking of heels grew louder as she reached the door and Mai resigned herself to her doom, bracing against the wall as the door flew open.
"Oh! Here you are," Michi marched into the room, her steps as precise as ever. Mai's mother was a woman made of hard steel, tempered down into the perfect Senator's wife after years of oppressive heat. Mai herself was still too sharp to the touch.
"Stop frowning so much dear, it leads to wrinkles" Michi turned towards the mirror, swiping at a nonexistent flaw in her dark brown lipstick- powerful, but not intimidating. Her mother insisted that women like them were meant to live in such contradictions. Mai would rather pick a side.
She stayed seated, stayed frowning, stayed hunched. Picking the side of the silent rebellion for now would do.
"Now-" Michi turned towards Mai, and stopped to place her hands on her hips, "Mai. Stop hunching like that, it's unladylike. Remember? Chest, to ceiling." She drew her hands down towards the ground, and back up towards the sky, showing Mai the proper way to breathe.
As though that was the natural way to breathe.
As though it was natural to force yourself to do everything.
Mai thought that her mother would need a lot less breathing exercises if she didn't care so much what other people thought of her, and more importantly, what other people thought of Mai.
"Mai. Mai! Are you even listening to me?" Michi had stopped the heaving to stare, and Mai released a heavy sigh, standing up and allowing her back to fully extend up towards the ceiling.
"Yes." Michi huffed, and continued to smooth invisible flyaways and straighten invisible wrinkles. Mai wondered how much battering it would would take for metal like her to smoothen like that. She looked at her own reflection in the mirror next to her mother, seeing similar features that translated wrong. The same eyes, but Mai's were sharper, meaner, more sunken. The same strong jaw, but Mai looked dangerous next to the softness of her mother. Mai's eye makeup had smudged, leaving to a ghostly, sad look that she almost liked.
"-And then we'll leave tomorrow morning so your father can make his meeting with- Mai. Agni, Can you at least pretend to pay attention?" Mai snapped her attention back to her mother, who was apparently talking this whole time.
"Sorry."
"No you're not"
No, she wasn't.
"It doesn't matter. Listen now. Me and your father have the New Year's party with all of the higher ups, and your father is hoping he'll be able to talk that pesky environmentalist into supporting him over Bumi. Tom-Tom is staying with Jun, and You're going to go down to the teens party."
"How exciting." Mai examined her fingernails. At least she wasn't going to the adults party, but-
"Why do I have to go out at all? Can't I just stay and watch Tom-Tom?" Mai hated watching Tom-Tom, but it beat hanging out with a bunch of rowdy teens wanting to get drunk without their parents around. Plus, Jun deserved a night off.
"It's important that every sees that you are perfectly well-behaved and sociable girl, Mai. It's not good for you to be locked away all the time." As though you're not the one locking me away Mai thought, but Michi kept talking "And who knows? You might even have some fun. You must start seeing the bright side of things, it's not good for your complexion to be so gloomy."
Michi patted the side of Mai's face, then took a final glance in the mirror before leaving Mai alone in the reflection. Like she always was.
"Mai! Come on, I've laid out your best clothes!"
Mai sighed, and went to go find this stupid teens party. Might as well get it over with.
"Ah- Holy shu- C'mon!" Ty Lee giggled as Suki tripped over her own feet, the ball swishing through the net just as Suki hit the ground.
"That was totally unfair, Kyoshi you had to have seen that!" Suki panted from her spot on the ground, while Ty Lee went to retrieve the ball.
Kyoshi laughed from the sidelines, and stuck her arms out for Ty Lee to send the ball sailing towards her.
Ty Lee bounded over towards Suki, reaching a hand down and pulling her up to stand.
“Spirits, How are you still going?” Suki slung an arm over her shoulder, flashing a sweaty grin over towards her sister.
“Because she isn’t practicing after she just recovered from the flu!” The three girls froze, spinning to look at the doorway to the basketball court.
“Rangi!” Kyoshi sheepishly grinned, jogging over to her wife, still dressed in basketball shorts and a t-shirt.
“Nope!” Rangi stuck a hand out to press against Kyoshi’s chest, leaving her kissing air. “I said one week without basketball. One week!”
“Aww Rangi, C’mon!” Ty Lee slipped out from under Suki’s arm to run towards her adoptive mothers. “She’s all better, see?”
The three turned towards Suki, and Ty Lee grimaced. Suki was failing to convince, her skin pale and sweaty, and eyes half shut as she flashed a thumbs up towards Rangi.
“Mmhmm.” Rangi hummed, “Just know that if she throws up again, You are cleaning it up my dear”
Kyoshi frowned, but allowed Rangi to land a kiss on her cheek.
Ty Lee watched the pair of them silently, taking the time to thank the spirits yet again for leading her to such luck. She couldn’t remember if she’d ever seen her birth parents do anything but argue, let alone show affection openly like this. Seven daughters were expensive, and apparently they’d lost their love for any of them along the way.
Ty Lee had been homeless for 2 years after she ran away from home, bouncing from shelter to shelter in an attempt to find a home. When she was 14, a blizzard came through in October, catching the city off guard. Ty Lee had been huddling in an alleyway when Kyoshi had walked by, and brought her back to her house with Rangi.
They’d adopted her as soon as they could.
Suki had been with Kyoshi and Rangi for 7 years before Ty Lee, after they adopted her at age 8.
Suki had been the child they already loved, before Ty Lee had pushed her way into their lives. There was nothing she could do to combat the fear at first, especially when she realized Suki played basketball too. Just another sister that Ty Lee had to outshine. But, Suki never made it a competition between them. She knocked Ty Lee down, and laughed when Ty Lee hit her back. Taught her new tricks, and corrected her mistakes.
Kyoshi and Rangi never split up their love into parts. It was a family of wholes, and it was a warmth Ty Lee had never experienced before, and now all she wanted to do was make them proud.
“YESS!” Suki’s yell broke Ty Lee out of her spell, where Kyoshi and Rangi chuckled in Suki’s direction.
Still looking faint, Suki smirked triumphantly in Ty Lee’s direction before slumping against her side in a half hug.
“Ha-ha, You have to go to the paarrttyy!” Suki sang into Ty Lee’s ear, laughing merrily despite her pallor and clammy skin.
“Uhh, What?” Ty Lee asked brightly, turning towards her parents. The couple snickered, and just then did Ty Lee notice the dress shirt and pants that Rangi had put on, and grinned.
“Oh Shu! I totally forgot today was New Year’s Eve, Am I heading to the party with you guys?” Ty Lee blinked at the two of them, her smile falling when they continued giggling at her.
“You get to go to the kid’s party!” Suki explained, still pushing half her weight against her, and Ty Lee furrowed her eyebrows, swiveling her head again.
“Why me and not Miss Sack of Potatoes over here?” Ty Lee jostled Suki on her shoulder, who groaned and poked Ty Lee’s side.
“Uh, Have you seen her?“ Rangi moved to grab Suki’s other arm and drape it over her shoulder, pointing to direct Ty Lee back to their suite “She’s on her deathbed”
“Okay well,” Kyoshi stopped the three to stoop down and Suki climbed up onto her back, “Can’t I just stay here with her then?”
Ty Lee flashed her puppy dog eyes, and instantly knew she’d done it to the wrong parent when Rangi rolled her eyes.
“Oh hush, You’re going.” Ty Lee opened her mouth but Rangi kept talking, “All you three have done this whole vacation is play basketball, eat, and sleep.”
“And throw up!” Suki cut in sleepily from her spot on Kyoshi’s back.
“And throw up,” Rangi nodded, “But this is supposed to be fun, and it won’t kill you to talk to somebody besides your sister. Give your sister some time alone.” She looked meaningfully at Suki's limp body "I don't need the both of my girls throwing up."
Rangi moved forward to unlock the hotel door at the end of her speech, and Kyoshi moved to deposit Suki onto the couch. Suki’s head lolled to the side, already deep in sleep. Ty Lee chewed at her lip. Not much company anyways, and it would make her Moms happy...
“I’ll go.” She conceded, brightening at Rangi’s smile.
“Not like you had a choice!” Kyoshi laughed, and Rangi swatted at her as she moved to shower and get ready.
“Maybe you’ll even make a friend!” Rangi placed a gentle hand on her shoulder before moving to go help Kyoshi get ready.
Ty Lee smiled at a sleeping Suki. She didn’t need anything except her family, but, a friend might be nice. Maybe.