Arsonist's Lullaby: An Azula Timeloop Quest

[X] The future. The one place you cannot seem to reach, throne or no throne. Has Zuko ever wondered what it'll be like? No, not whether the mantle is heavy enough to cramp the shoulders, or what his first command as Fire Lord could be—just about the shape of the Sun's path through the sky, the day after Sozin's Comet, and what the world will have become in the face of that light. What does he see? What do you?

[X] The present. Here you stand, before your brother. Here doubt has driven you. Does Zuko doubt, too? Is he still angry at himself? If you were him, you would be. But maybe that's his secret. Maybe he's always angry. Maybe you're angry too. The world isn't what you thought it was—and you think Zuko can relate. What will happen if you let him?

[X] The present. Here you stand, before your brother. Here doubt has driven you. Does Zuko doubt, too? Is he still angry at himself? If you were him, you would be. But maybe that's his secret. Maybe he's always angry. Maybe you're angry too. The world isn't what you thought it was—and you think Zuko can relate. What will happen if you let him?

Astartes said:

Oh yeah, I've never watched the show and I'm enjoying this quest regardless of that fact but could someone please help to clarify what even is the relationship between Azula, Ty Lee and May? I just googled it but I'm more confused now.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Ty Lee and Mai are noble kids who a young Azula decided to "befriend" and train into minions. Ty Lee hung around because she was happy to have people who knew her and not her identical sisters, and Mai had a crush on Zuko (and both of them feared Azula, though that goes without saying). Shortly before the start of the show, they were separated; Ty Lee had ran away to join the circus (no, really), and Mai's father was awarded governorship of a conquered Earth Kingdom city (Omashu) so she was forced to move there. When Azula was tasked with hunting Zuko, Iroh, and the Avatar, she hunted down Ty Lee to intimidate her into joining the mission, and from there they went to Omashu to recruit Mai. Who immediately joined without even needing to be told what the mission was, because she was so incredibly bored.

Throughout most of the show, they more or less go along with everything Azula says (because it was either interesting/fun or out of fear/respect/friendship), but during the events of the Boiling Rock (specifically, shortly before the point where this Quest's timeloop starts), Mai betrays Azula and saves Zuko's life (who had at that point went full traitor and was helping certain high-profile prisoners escape). At the climax of the arguement:

Magery said:

"You miscalculated," Mai says. "I love Zuko more than I fear you."

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Azula, who at that point was getting extremely stressed with Zuko "abandoning" her and Mai having just revealed that she "cared more about Zuko than her", finally snaps and tries to murder Mai. Ty Lee (who had been on the sidelines trying to talk them (Azula, mostly) down) intervenes and chi-blocks Azula before trying to escape with Mai. They fail, get captured, and Azula decided to just let them rot in prison instead of killing them. Their betrayal of her contributes to Azula's eventual mental-breakdown, and even after Mai and Ty Lee are freed their relationship with Azula never recovers. It is worth mentioning that they meet again after the main story ends in the comics (surprise, nobody is happy and it ends poorly), but nobody actually likes the comics.

As for the other possible meaning of your question, no, they're not dating, though Azulee remains one of the most popular of Azula's potential ships.

I really liked this update. It's not the one that hit me the most with the eye-punch writing or with getting lost in my feels but it's so...ruminating and uneasy and warm, and I feel like I can see the story more clearly. I don't think I know the whole shape of the game but I feel like I understand the stakes, and I feel like I get some of the arc of this Azula's journey rather than just being on board for a cool exploration of AtLA.

[X] The present. Here you stand, before your brother. Here doubt has driven you. Does Zuko doubt, too? Is he still angry at himself? If you were him, you would be. But maybe that's his secret. Maybe he's always angry. Maybe you're angry too. The world isn't what you thought it was—and you think Zuko can relate. What will happen if you let him?

Magery said:

"So how could he bring himself to go on,"​

"when, eventually, the only love he had left,"

"was our ageing brother's?"​

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

How could Azula bring herself to go on, when eventually, the only love she had left, was her aging father's?

For all that Azula presents herself as a one-in-a-thousand-years prodigy too brilliant to ever need anyone else, her obsession over being loved is probably much stronger than Iroh's. By even unhealthier since because she thought she couldn't be loved in the first place, she only consciously sought love from Ozai…

…and Ozai has never been a fire that warms you.

Magery said:

The Pillow Book, which strikes you as a peculiar thing for a prince to be reading about, especially as a quick glance confirms that, yes, Lu Ten's pillows are just as luxurious as your own

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Oh Azula

That's not the sort of pillow Lu Ten is reading about

This is simultaneously very funny and a harsh reminder that despite the way she presents herself, she's literally only fourteen.

[X] The present. Here you stand, before your brother. Here doubt has driven you. Does Zuko doubt, too? Is he still angry at himself? If you were him, you would be. But maybe that's his secret. Maybe he's always angry. Maybe you're angry too. The world isn't what you thought it was—and you think Zuko can relate. What will happen if you let him?

Astartes said:

Oh yeah, I've never watched the show and I'm enjoying this quest regardless of that fact but could someone please help to clarify what even is the relationship between Azula, Ty Lee and May? I just googled it but I'm more confused now.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

InfinityDivided gave a great breakdown, but I'll add that fans are mixed on exactly how toxic the relationship between the three of them is.

It's worth noting that in canon, Azula got Ty Lee and Mai to join her on her Zuko hunt by implicitly threatening them. Ty Lee, by burning the safety net during a circus performance, and Mai, by refusing to trade Mai's brother for King Bumi. (Mai's brother wandered off, accidentally got evaced from the city by rebels, and found by the Gaang; they offered to give him back in exchange for Bumi.)

Now, is that a sign that Azula is an abuser, or that she's a child with a toxic mentality on how to maintain friendships? You decide!

[X] The present. Here you stand, before your brother. Here doubt has driven you. Does Zuko doubt, too? Is he still angry at himself? If you were him, you would be. But maybe that's his secret. Maybe he's always angry. Maybe you're angry too. The world isn't what you thought it was—and you think Zuko can relate. What will happen if you let him?

[X] The present. Here you stand, before your brother. Here doubt has driven you. Does Zuko doubt, too? Is he still angry at himself? If you were him, you would be. But maybe that's his secret. Maybe he's always angry. Maybe you're angry too. The world isn't what you thought it was—and you think Zuko can relate. What will happen if you let him?

The past is a wasteland which Azula will refuse to truly dwell, and the future is so beyond her reach that to consider it is meaningless (Also she's way too stubborn to consider actually changing her plans beyond "maybe megagenocide is bad" and even that took a couple of existential crisises.) Best we focus on what is not beyond her reach (Also knowing for sure that Zuko isn't as much of an angry lil babyboy anymore might help change some truths, which will get her ever so slightly closer to maybe considering that regular genocide is also kinda a bad idea.)

Besides, why focus on the future when we'll see it right after this loop because THIS IS IT AZULA WILL KILL TIME AND HER FRIENDS WILL FINALLY REALISE SHE'S ALWAYS RIGHT AND DAD WILL FINALLY BE PROUD AND SOZIN WILL PERSONALLY COME BACK FROM THE GRAVE TO CONGRATULATE HER TRUST💯💯💯💯💯🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[X] The present. Here you stand, before your brother. Here doubt has driven you. Does Zuko doubt, too? Is he still angry at himself? If you were him, you would be. But maybe that's his secret. Maybe he's always angry. Maybe you're angry too. The world isn't what you thought it was—and you think Zuko can relate. What will happen if you let him?

[X] The future. The one place you cannot seem to reach, throne or no throne. Has Zuko ever wondered what it'll be like? No, not whether the mantle is heavy enough to cramp the shoulders, or what his first command as Fire Lord could be—just about the shape of the Sun's path through the sky, the day after Sozin's Comet, and what the world will have become in the face of that light. What does he see? What do you?

Maybe you can plant the thought of 'my future as the Firelord' in Zuko's head and then he'll dither over it until the Comet is long over.

[X] The future. The one place you cannot seem to reach, throne or no throne. Has Zuko ever wondered what it'll be like? No, not whether the mantle is heavy enough to cramp the shoulders, or what his first command as Fire Lord could be—just about the shape of the Sun's path through the sky, the day after Sozin's Comet, and what the world will have become in the face of that light. What does he see? What do you?

[X] The present. Here you stand, before your brother. Here doubt has driven you. Does Zuko doubt, too? Is he still angry at himself? If you were him, you would be. But maybe that's his secret. Maybe he's always angry. Maybe you're angry too. The world isn't what you thought it was—and you think Zuko can relate. What will happen if you let him?

[X] The present. Here you stand, before your brother. Here doubt has driven you. Does Zuko doubt, too? Is he still angry at himself? If you were him, you would be. But maybe that's his secret. Maybe he's always angry. Maybe you're angry too. The world isn't what you thought it was—and you think Zuko can relate. What will happen if you let him?

[X] The present. Here you stand, before your brother. Here doubt has driven you. Does Zuko doubt, too? Is he still angry at himself? If you were him, you would be. But maybe that's his secret. Maybe he's always angry. Maybe you're angry too. The world isn't what you thought it was—and you think Zuko can relate. What will happen if you let him?

Maping said:

InfinityDivided gave a great breakdown, but I'll add that fans are mixed on exactly how toxic the relationship between the three of them is.

It's worth noting that in canon, Azula got Ty Lee and Mai to join her on her Zuko hunt by implicitly threatening them. Ty Lee, by burning the safety net during a circus performance, and Mai, by refusing to trade Mai's brother for King Bumi. (Mai's brother wandered off, accidentally got evaced from the city by rebels, and found by the Gaang; they offered to give him back in exchange for Bumi.)

Now, is that a sign that Azula is an abuser, or that she's a child with a toxic mentality on how to maintain friendships? You decide!

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Mai called the deal off herself and joined Azula completely willingly without her needing to resort to threats.

It is possible that they planned to attack the Avatar during deal beforehand to try to get both king Bumi and Tom-Tom. And after they failed Mai didn't seem too distraught that her brother still missing and was rather excited to get the chance to get to see Zuko again.

[X] The past. It's what has driven you here. It's what you're trapped in. It's what you want to break out of. But it's Zuko's past, too. You've spent the whole of your lives chasing each other's shadows—on your whole family's encouragement. Has he ever realised? Does he even care? And why does it seem so impossible to escape?

[X] The present. Here you stand, before your brother. Here doubt has driven you. Does Zuko doubt, too? Is he still angry at himself? If you were him, you would be. But maybe that's his secret. Maybe he's always angry. Maybe you're angry too. The world isn't what you thought it was—and you think Zuko can relate. What will happen if you let him?

[X] The past.

[X] The present. Here you stand, before your brother. Here doubt has driven you. Does Zuko doubt, too? Is he still angry at himself? If you were him, you would be. But maybe that's his secret. Maybe he's always angry. Maybe you're angry too. The world isn't what you thought it was—and you think Zuko can relate. What will happen if you let him?

[X] The future. The one place you cannot seem to reach, throne or no throne. Has Zuko ever wondered what it'll be like? No, not whether the mantle is heavy enough to cramp the shoulders, or what his first command as Fire Lord could be—just about the shape of the Sun's path through the sky, the day after Sozin's Comet, and what the world will have become in the face of that light. What does he see? What do you?

Being fair here, not trading a captive child for an enemy King is... honestly an entirely reasonable tactical decision?

Compared to Azula being the one to voice the, "Hey, we could try genocide again" thing, it basically doesn't even rate.

[X] The present. Here you stand, before your brother. Here doubt has driven you. Does Zuko doubt, too? Is he still angry at himself? If you were him, you would be. But maybe that's his secret. Maybe he's always angry. Maybe you're angry too. The world isn't what you thought it was—and you think Zuko can relate. What will happen if you let him?

[X] The present. Here you stand, before your brother. Here doubt has driven you. Does Zuko doubt, too? Is he still angry at himself? If you were him, you would be. But maybe that's his secret. Maybe he's always angry. Maybe you're angry too. The world isn't what you thought it was—and you think Zuko can relate. What will happen if you let him?

Yeah, decision made, I'm liking this one most.