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Arsonist's Lullaby: An Azula Timeloop Quest

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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[x] With ennui. It always seems to end this way. You meet Zuko on the day of the Comet, and never see the day after. It feels like you've spent your whole lives chasing after each other's shadows, and everyone who ever mattered to either of you apparently made sure to encourage it. How many times have you killed him? How many times has he killed you? If there's a point to it, you've long lost it in these endless cycles. So why is he here?

Definitely considered Curiosity though
 
[X] With curiosity. Just this once, you'll hear Zuko out. Suppose your Father loses. Suppose you relinquish your throne. What does he plan to do? Where will he take the Fire Nation from here? How will he handle the fact that the war is almost won? What will he do with the soldiers, the factories, the fleets? How will the history books describe the reign of Fire Lord Zuko? And how will he react, when he realises he doesn't know?

I think having Katara is good leverage to keep people talking for more info, while frustration and ennui will draw a violent response.
 
[X] With frustration. In the end, everything always turns out for Zuko. Mother saves his life, Iroh holds his hand, and he hardly has to turn his back on your Father for a month to see him fall. You have bent your entire life to perfection—to the only way there ever was to win—and all it's given you is nine days, after nine days, after nine days. Why is he born lucky, while these days you sometimes find yourself wondering if you were unlucky to be born? Why? Why?
 
[X] With ennui. It always seems to end this way. You meet Zuko on the day of the Comet, and never see the day after. It feels like you've spent your whole lives chasing after each other's shadows, and everyone who ever mattered to either of you apparently made sure to encourage it. How many times have you killed him? How many times has he killed you? If there's a point to it, you've long lost it in these endless cycles. So why is he here?
 
[X] With curiosity. Just this once, you'll hear Zuko out. Suppose your Father loses. Suppose you relinquish your throne. What does he plan to do? Where will he take the Fire Nation from here? How will he handle the fact that the war is almost won? What will he do with the soldiers, the factories, the fleets? How will the history books describe the reign of Fire Lord Zuko? And how will he react, when he realises he doesn't know?
 
I understand the point of frustration but it seems lacking a certain feeling of self-awareness that this Azula just oozes. There's no self-deception in her, she's not "trying to make a better world", nope she's completely aware that she's doing awful awful things and why they're awful. She self describes as a monster even, and it's one of the pillars of her identity. I just don't feel like frustration is a good narrative follow up to that. She should already be more or less aware why everyone favors her NotAMonster brother, and I feel it would be better if her time was spent exploring the thoughts and plans behind Zuko's mindset instead of just saying how everything is not fair.

[X] With curiosity. Just this once, you'll hear Zuko out. Suppose your Father loses. Suppose you relinquish your throne. What does he plan to do? Where will he take the Fire Nation from here? How will he handle the fact that the war is almost won? What will he do with the soldiers, the factories, the fleets? How will the history books describe the reign of Fire Lord Zuko? And how will he react, when he realises he doesn't know?
 
At a glance I agree with Second Bear, curiosity has points going for it.

[X] With curiosity. Just this once, you'll hear Zuko out. Suppose your Father loses. Suppose you relinquish your throne. What does he plan to do? Where will he take the Fire Nation from here? How will he handle the fact that the war is almost won? What will he do with the soldiers, the factories, the fleets? How will the history books describe the reign of Fire Lord Zuko? And how will he react, when he realises he doesn't know?
 
[X] With curiosity. Just this once, you'll hear Zuko out. Suppose your Father loses. Suppose you relinquish your throne. What does he plan to do? Where will he take the Fire Nation from here? How will he handle the fact that the war is almost won? What will he do with the soldiers, the factories, the fleets? How will the history books describe the reign of Fire Lord Zuko? And how will he react, when he realises he doesn't know?
 
[X] With curiosity. Just this once, you'll hear Zuko out. Suppose your Father loses. Suppose you relinquish your throne. What does he plan to do? Where will he take the Fire Nation from here? How will he handle the fact that the war is almost won? What will he do with the soldiers, the factories, the fleets? How will the history books describe the reign of Fire Lord Zuko? And how will he react, when he realises he doesn't know?
 
Magery said:
"I hope whatever epiphany you think you came to about me
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I'm curious, will Katara and the others retain some ghost like fragment of Revelations they come to about Azula?

Also, I hope Azula gets to the point where she at least contemplates defeating Ozai herself to see if preventing the avatar from defeating him breaks the cycle.
 
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Randino Treviani said:
I'm curious, will Katara and the others retain some ghost like fragment of Revelations they come to about Azula?
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If they do, Azula has never really been in a position to notice. It'd be hard to tell, anyway—if somebody is a little different toward her, how much of that is the shadow of a memory on a cave wall, and how much of that is just that Azula, herself, is a little different toward them?

But you've asked a genuinely fascinating question, especially when you unpack it to the thematic level: how much do the little steps on the journey matter, the times where you could have been worse but weren't, compared to the big steps where you're not just better but good? Is unshelling yourself to someone irrevocable? What is the permanency of a choice?

You could say this quest is, in a lot of ways, about musing on those kinds of questions.

(Which doesn't answer yours, but such is the hypocrisy of a writer.)
 
[X] With curiosity. Just this once, you'll hear Zuko out. Suppose your Father loses. Suppose you relinquish your throne. What does he plan to do? Where will he take the Fire Nation from here? How will he handle the fact that the war is almost won? What will he do with the soldiers, the factories, the fleets? How will the history books describe the reign of Fire Lord Zuko? And how will he react, when he realises he doesn't know?
 
[X] With frustration. In the end, everything always turns out for Zuko. Mother saves his life, Iroh holds his hand, and he hardly has to turn his back on your Father for a month to see him fall. You have bent your entire life to perfection—to the only way there ever was to win—and all it's given you is nine days, after nine days, after nine days. Why is he born lucky, while these days you sometimes find yourself wondering if you were unlucky to be born? Why? Why?
 
[x] With frustration. In the end, everything always turns out for Zuko. Mother saves his life, Iroh holds his hand, and he hardly has to turn his back on your Father for a month to see him fall. You have bent your entire life to perfection—to the only way there ever was to win—and all it's given you is nine days, after nine days, after nine days. Why is he born lucky, while these days you sometimes find yourself wondering if you were unlucky to be born? Why? Why?
 
Magery said:
If they do, Azula has never really been in a position to notice. It'd be hard to tell, anyway—if somebody is a little different toward her, how much of that is the shadow of a memory on a cave wall, and how much of that is just that Azula, herself, is a little different toward them?

But you've asked a genuinely fascinating question, especially when you unpack it to the thematic level: how much do the little steps on the journey matter, the times where you could have been worse but weren't, compared to the big steps where you're not just better but good? Is unshelling yourself to someone irrevocable? What is the permanency of a choice?

You could say this quest is, in a lot of ways, about musing on those kinds of questions.

(Which doesn't answer yours, but such is the hypocrisy of a writer.)
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Well it least proved an interesting thought piece, which is certainly worth something.

Currently frustration is leading by about a dozen votes, ennui is in last 20 votes behind. Might be time to consider some consolidation. In particular, I feel we have to ask ourselves, what kind of mood do we want Azula in when she opens her eyes back at the boiling rock on day ten? Afterall, this entire loop has been characterized by a certain fragility or vulnerability that Azula was upon her return. The mood she starts the next loop in has a noteworthy impact, if not on the choices, than in the direction the actual dialogue between her and other characters takes. That in mind, what sort of mental state do you think it would be best to end on and begin anew with at the start of the next loop. I choose curiosity. I have questions, and if possible, I want to ask them of the person with the least dialogue with Azula in canon. Peasant Watertribe boy, with the boomerang. Ty lee probably knows his name.
 
[X] With curiosity. Just this once, you'll hear Zuko out. Suppose your Father loses. Suppose you relinquish your throne. What does he plan to do? Where will he take the Fire Nation from here? How will he handle the fact that the war is almost won? What will he do with the soldiers, the factories, the fleets? How will the history books describe the reign of Fire Lord Zuko? And how will he react, when he realises he doesn't know?
 
[X] With curiosity. Just this once, you'll hear Zuko out. Suppose your Father loses. Suppose you relinquish your throne. What does he plan to do? Where will he take the Fire Nation from here? How will he handle the fact that the war is almost won? What will he do with the soldiers, the factories, the fleets? How will the history books describe the reign of Fire Lord Zuko? And how will he react, when he realises he doesn't know?
 
[X] With curiosity. Just this once, you'll hear Zuko out. Suppose your Father loses. Suppose you relinquish your throne. What does he plan to do? Where will he take the Fire Nation from here? How will he handle the fact that the war is almost won? What will he do with the soldiers, the factories, the fleets? How will the history books describe the reign of Fire Lord Zuko? And how will he react, when he realises he doesn't know?

I find this or ennui to be the more interesting options
 
[X] With curiosity. Just this once, you'll hear Zuko out. Suppose your Father loses. Suppose you relinquish your throne. What does he plan to do? Where will he take the Fire Nation from here? How will he handle the fact that the war is almost won? What will he do with the soldiers, the factories, the fleets? How will the history books describe the reign of Fire Lord Zuko? And how will he react, when he realises he doesn't know?
 
[x] With frustration. In the end, everything always turns out for Zuko. Mother saves his life, Iroh holds his hand, and he hardly has to turn his back on your Father for a month to see him fall. You have bent your entire life to perfection—to the only way there ever was to win—and all it's given you is nine days, after nine days, after nine days. Why is he born lucky, while these days you sometimes find yourself wondering if you were unlucky to be born? Why? Why?
 
[X] With curiosity. Just this once, you'll hear Zuko out. Suppose your Father loses. Suppose you relinquish your throne. What does he plan to do? Where will he take the Fire Nation from here? How will he handle the fact that the war is almost won? What will he do with the soldiers, the factories, the fleets? How will the history books describe the reign of Fire Lord Zuko? And how will he react, when he realises he doesn't know?
 
[X] With curiosity. Just this once, you'll hear Zuko out. Suppose your Father loses. Suppose you relinquish your throne. What does he plan to do? Where will he take the Fire Nation from here? How will he handle the fact that the war is almost won? What will he do with the soldiers, the factories, the fleets? How will the history books describe the reign of Fire Lord Zuko? And how will he react, when he realises he doesn't know?
 
[x] With curiosity. Just this once, you'll hear Zuko out. Suppose your Father loses. Suppose you relinquish your throne. What does he plan to do? Where will he take the Fire Nation from here? How will he handle the fact that the war is almost won? What will he do with the soldiers, the factories, the fleets? How will the history books describe the reign of Fire Lord Zuko? And how will he react, when he realises he doesn't know?
 
The thing is, like, what about Azula's hangups really tie into whether Zuko has a fifteen part plan for Good Governance? Like she doesn't think she deserves to be Fire Lord because she has a superior tax policy, lol.
 
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