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Arsonist's Lullaby: An Azula Timeloop Quest

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[X] Sozin. The visionary. The genius. The conqueror. Every living person in the world must know his name—and for the last hundred years, most of the dead as well. What led him there? What made him decide to burn the world down, a century before you ever thought the same? And at the end… what did he think of it all?
 
This quest's mechanism of time loops is really freeing.
I don't feel pessure to pick 'optimal' options, I feel incentive to pick 'things I'd like to see that might have good outcomes'.

And the updates being so long and sprawling - the butterfly wings that are our votes cascading into so many unpredictable outcomes also contribute to this.

I'm invested, but not stressed.
 
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AKuz said:
Tbh, Iroh is prolly the better pick, but Azula's mother issues are fascinating and I'm wondering what kind of Ursa we're going to get, because the canonical Ursa from the comics is such a deeply shitty and awful person that basically everyone has to make a new take on her and I want to see the one for this quest.
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It's funny that one of the most universal things that the Avatar Fandom agrees on is that the comics suck shit and don't count.
 
[X] Iroh. Coward. General. Prince. Once, he was the favoured heir, a legendary firebender, the greatest hero the Fire Nation had known since Sozin—now he's a pathetic, doddering fool who thinks he can make everything right with tears and tea. How did he fall so far? How can he possibly think he's still able to rise?
 
[X] Iroh. Coward. General. Prince. Once, he was the favoured heir, a legendary firebender, the greatest hero the Fire Nation had known since Sozin—now he's a pathetic, doddering fool who thinks he can make everything right with tears and tea. How did he fall so far? How can he possibly think he's still able to rise?
 
[X] Iroh. Coward. General. Prince. Once, he was the favoured heir, a legendary firebender, the greatest hero the Fire Nation had known since Sozin—now he's a pathetic, doddering fool who thinks he can make everything right with tears and tea. How did he fall so far? How can he possibly think he's still able to rise?

With him stepping up at the end I think Azula will consider him a high priority to learn more about.
 
[X] Your mother. Zuko is obsessed with her. He won't hear a word against her—won't even think that she's capable of doing wrong. Especially not when you're the one saying it. But Lo and Li have been around since before Zuko was born. They've seen it all. They know it all. They can give you the evidence you need to finally drive home to Zuko only he was ever loved—and prove you right that you were not.

I can taste the hurt, and it deeply appeals to me.
 
[X] Iroh. Coward. General. Prince. Once, he was the favoured heir, a legendary firebender, the greatest hero the Fire Nation had known since Sozin—now he's a pathetic, doddering fool who thinks he can make everything right with tears and tea. How did he fall so far? How can he possibly think he's still able to rise?
 
[X] Iroh. Coward. General. Prince. Once, he was the favoured heir, a legendary firebender, the greatest hero the Fire Nation had known since Sozin—now he's a pathetic, doddering fool who thinks he can make everything right with tears and tea. How did he fall so far? How can he possibly think he's still able to rise?
 
[x] Iroh. Coward. General. Prince. Once, he was the favoured heir, a legendary firebender, the greatest hero the Fire Nation had known since Sozin—now he's a pathetic, doddering fool who thinks he can make everything right with tears and tea. How did he fall so far? How can he possibly think he's still able to rise?
 
[X] Iroh. Coward. General. Prince. Once, he was the favoured heir, a legendary firebender, the greatest hero the Fire Nation had known since Sozin—now he's a pathetic, doddering fool who thinks he can make everything right with tears and tea. How did he fall so far? How can he possibly think he's still able to rise?

[X] Sozin. The visionary. The genius. The conqueror. Every living person in the world must know his name—and for the last hundred years, most of the dead as well. What led him there? What made him decide to burn the world down, a century before you ever thought the same? And at the end… what did he think of it all?
 
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[x] Sozin. The visionary. The genius. The conqueror. Every living person in the world must know his name—and for the last hundred years, most of the dead as well. What led him there? What made him decide to burn the world down, a century before you ever thought the same? And at the end… what did he think of it all?
 
[X] Iroh. Coward. General. Prince. Once, he was the favoured heir, a legendary firebender, the greatest hero the Fire Nation had known since Sozin—now he's a pathetic, doddering fool who thinks he can make everything right with tears and tea. How did he fall so far? How can he possibly think he's still able to rise?
 
[X] Your mother. Zuko is obsessed with her. He won't hear a word against her—won't even think that she's capable of doing wrong. Especially not when you're the one saying it. But Lo and Li have been around since before Zuko was born. They've seen it all. They know it all. They can give you the evidence you need to finally drive home to Zuko only he was ever loved—and prove you right that you were not.
[X] Iroh. Coward. General. Prince. Once, he was the favoured heir, a legendary firebender, the greatest hero the Fire Nation had known since Sozin—now he's a pathetic, doddering fool who thinks he can make everything right with tears and tea. How did he fall so far? How can he possibly think he's still able to rise?
 
Magery said:
"Your mother did so love fire dancers."

A full-body flinch.​
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Oh, fuck you Ozai.

Magery said:
You're just going to save them because, after everything, they're still your friends.
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Daww, I'm so glad to see her internalise that. Now, I hope she remembers that actions from previous loops do not carry over and she will still need to make the effort to somewhat explain things.

[x] Iroh. Coward. General. Prince. Once, he was the favoured heir, a legendary firebender, the greatest hero the Fire Nation had known since Sozin—now he's a pathetic, doddering fool who thinks he can make everything right with tears and tea. How did he fall so far? How can he possibly think he's still able to rise?

I think, after being challenged to an Agni Kai, this choice makes sense
 
[X] Your mother. Zuko is obsessed with her. He won't hear a word against her—won't even think that she's capable of doing wrong. Especially not when you're the one saying it. But Lo and Li have been around since before Zuko was born. They've seen it all. They know it all. They can give you the evidence you need to finally drive home to Zuko only he was ever loved—and prove you right that you were not.
 
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Hmm.

We seem to already be doing a good enough job convincing Zuko about our mother -- and even if Lo and Li can give us better evidence, it would still be us giving that evidence to Zuko; there's nothing stopping Zuko from dismissing it as much as anything else we could say on the topic.

Sozin vs. Iroh, though... hm. The latter is a present threat, someone we may have to defeat eventually... but that may be in straightforward battle. More information about him could be useful... but asking about Sozin, that could be useful on a higher level. It may or may not be useful in getting out of these loops, but even if it isn't, it may be quite useful in preparing for and successfully navigating what comes after. The Avatar always wins, after all, and perhaps a better understanding of the Fire Lord at the start of the war will help us be the Fire Lord at the end of it.

[X] Sozin. The visionary. The genius. The conqueror. Every living person in the world must know his name—and for the last hundred years, most of the dead as well. What led him there? What made him decide to burn the world down, a century before you ever thought the same? And at the end… what did he think of it all?


(And aww, Azula's now able to freely admit that Mai and Ty Lee are her friends and she cares about them. :))
 
[x] Iroh. Coward. General. Prince. Once, he was the favoured heir, a legendary firebender, the greatest hero the Fire Nation had known since Sozin—now he's a pathetic, doddering fool who thinks he can make everything right with tears and tea. How did he fall so far? How can he possibly think he's still able to rise?
 
Randino Treviani said:
Azulon and Zuko. The desire to hurt, to punish hypocrisy by striking as deeply emotionally as possible is all Azulon, but the hurt, the rage, the need to lash out, is all start of the series Zuko.
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"To feel Iroh's pain you will kill your own firstborn child." - honestly, Azulon didn't seem like a stranger to lashing out when hurt too.

[X] Sozin. The visionary. The genius. The conqueror. Every living person in the world must know his name—and for the last hundred years, most of the dead as well. What led him there? What made him decide to burn the world down, a century before you ever thought the same? And at the end… what did he think of it all?
 
[x] Iroh. Coward. General. Prince. Once, he was the favoured heir, a legendary firebender, the greatest hero the Fire Nation had known since Sozin—now he's a pathetic, doddering fool who thinks he can make everything right with tears and tea. How did he fall so far? How can he possibly think he's still able to rise?
 
Reese said:
The Avatar always wins, after all, and perhaps a better understanding of the Fire Lord at the start of the war will help us be the Fire Lord at the end of it.
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Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that Iroh was able to tell Azula that her great grandfather from her mother's side was Avatar Roku. Which is a shame, because even Sozin's last testament (which Zuko had to sneak out for mind you) can't provide this information.
 
kylina said:
Daww, I'm so glad to see her internalise that. Now, I hope she remembers that actions from previous loops do not carry over and she will still need to make the effort to somewhat explain things.
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Agree. It's super cute that she is just going to save her friends because she knows there her friends.

She does, she just isn't going to bother with making things complex from this point. "Mai, as sweet as it is you want to make some grand gesture of love and support for Zuzu no matter how stupid his decisions, I really just don't have the stomach for it right now. Why don't you wax poetic about how Zuko's new haircut suits his irritable glower to Ty Lee while I intimidate the guards into silence?"
 
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.....tricky. I'm gonna go with my gut on this though.

[x] Iroh. Coward. General. Prince. Once, he was the favoured heir, a legendary firebender, the greatest hero the Fire Nation had known since Sozin—now he's a pathetic, doddering fool who thinks he can make everything right with tears and tea. How did he fall so far? How can he possibly think he's still able to rise?

It's more dramatically appropriate.
 
Reese said:
We seem to already be doing a good enough job convincing Zuko about our mother -- and even if Lo and Li can give us better evidence, it would still be us giving that evidence to Zuko; there's nothing stopping Zuko from dismissing it as much as anything else we could say on the topic.
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Ursa loved Azula, but was utter shit at actually being good mother to her.

Zuko got preferential treatment from her because Ozai was utter shit to him in more obvious ways than he was to Azula and Ursa apparently thought, whetever validly or invalidly so, that she could only ever shield the one. Not to mention that Azula, as any child would be, was proud of her fathers attention, which only further drove them away.

There is a lifetime of hurt in that relationship but Ursa did not hate Azula.

Finding more about her is not meant as some evidence locker that we can kick Zuko with, its about finding out more about Azula herself. Because Azula was a child, making assumptions on behaviour of adults she did not, could not, understand that she then built entire parts of herself around.
 
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