Tai Li is the only boy out of his family's seven children.
He would do anything not to feel special.
* *
There are certain duties required of a noble family's scion, many of which Tai Li has singularly failed to uphold. His scholastic studies are an uphill slog despite the many tutors his parent's have wasted on him. The Royal Academy for Boys chips away at Tai Li's spirit; the ruthless competition it breeds is antithetical to his personality, and the yearly list of influential boys his parents order him to make friends with quickly become enemies.
Athleticism is the one areas he excels in, studying under the best dim mak specialists money can afford, but he lacks the bloodlust to make a proper Fire Nation soldier (and his test scores are bad enough that even a large bribe might not suffice to get him into a military academy).
Tai Li doesn't need to ask his parents if they think he's a failure of a man. He already knows it. Still, they try. They send him to interview with other families to court their daughters despite the handicap of his flighty, un-Fire-like personality. Few families ask for a second interview. None ask for a third.
None, save for one.
They're both damaged goods. Him, because of who he is. Her, because of who she'd once been betrothed to. But he and Mai can at least protect each other while they wait for... something.
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branchandroot
Dude Ty Lee. [1/1]
Date: 2011-05-02 12:05 am (UTC)He would do anything not to feel special.
* *
There are certain duties required of a noble family's scion, many of which Tai Li has singularly failed to uphold. His scholastic studies are an uphill slog despite the many tutors his parent's have wasted on him. The Royal Academy for Boys chips away at Tai Li's spirit; the ruthless competition it breeds is antithetical to his personality, and the yearly list of influential boys his parents order him to make friends with quickly become enemies.
Athleticism is the one areas he excels in, studying under the best dim mak specialists money can afford, but he lacks the bloodlust to make a proper Fire Nation soldier (and his test scores are bad enough that even a large bribe might not suffice to get him into a military academy).
Tai Li doesn't need to ask his parents if they think he's a failure of a man. He already knows it. Still, they try. They send him to interview with other families to court their daughters despite the handicap of his flighty, un-Fire-like personality. Few families ask for a second interview. None ask for a third.
None, save for one.
They're both damaged goods. Him, because of who he is. Her, because of who she'd once been betrothed to. But he and Mai can at least protect each other while they wait for... something.
It's not love, but at least they're not alone.