Challenge #40: cringeworthy
Wordcount: 429
Warnings: faint Zutara pairing... um... cringeworthy?
Characters: Zuko, Sokka
Rating: Teen, for some graphic descriptions

:some vague point a few years in the future:

High Fidelity

"Zuko, my sister is not someone you can trifle with. If you ever--"

"Yes, yes. If I break her heart you'll hunt me down and make me regret it. I had a little sister once too."

"No."

"What?"

"No, that's not how it will happen. Of course, if you hurt her physically-- if you lizard-eyed men like to beat your wives--then of course I'll hunt you down and kill you."

"Isn't that what I just said? I thought you were actually going somewhere interesting with this conversation."

Sokka smiled. It wasn't a handsome smile.

"That's if you hurt her physically. If you break her heart... well, our people have special customs for men who are unfaithful."

He pulled his boomerang from his belt and set it across his lap, then began polishing it with a cloth and stone. "It begins with a ceremony. I take her hunting, and we find a sacrificial animal. Any mammal will do, but seals are best for carving. Then we kill it and clean it and set its meat aside to be cured and given to the widows of the village. As we clean it, we take one of the seal's bones and set it aside.

"I, being her closest male relative, will carveone of its bonesinto a dagger, the design and dimension according to her wishes. Then I will present her with the dagger in a wine ceremony, and she will pick two others besides myself to be her companions. The three chosen warriors and the wronged woman will then hunt down the betrayer. It may take a few hours, it may take months. But we will find you, wherever you hide yourself and no matter how many guards defend you."

Though all his instincts screamed at him to walk away from this conversation, Zuko was frozen in place. He hung on the other man's words with a sickened fascination.

"And when we find you," Sokka continued, "we will tie your arms and your legs and we will string you up like a side of steaming whale flesh. Once you are well-strung and at our mercy, Katara will cut your clothes from your body, so that you hang naked and weakened before the woman you have betrayed. Then she will cut off your testicles. This part of the ceremony may take a considerable amount of time. When it is done she will wrap your testicles in cloth and ribbon, and personally deliver them to your closest female relation, so that all your family will know the disgrace you have brought upon yourself."

Sokka slid the sharpening stone along the weapon's bladed edge. "Water tribe men are very faithful, Prince Zuko."