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Arsonist's Lullaby: An Azula Timeloop Quest

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[X] Your brother. It's clear to you now, at least, that when they choose him, it's not because they wouldn't choose you. But the universe has demonstrated at length they are the exceptions. Not the rule. So what is it that he has? What essential part of Zuko's soul makes him worthy of the grace you have never been given?
 
Ultimately, I think what I want most of all is to talk about why Ty Lee and Mai love Azula. Of how that has so little to do with being Ozai's princess, of how the story she (and likely Ozai) tells herself of being unlovable is a lie, of simply learning more about Azula's dearest and only friends.

[X] You. Princess Azula the Blue. Heir apparent to the Dragon Throne. Conqueror of Ba Sing Se. Half Roku—half Sozin. Where you are, so is the Fire Nation in all its rapacious glory. Yours is the blood and bone of empire. All the things you should have ever wanted to be. But sometimes you think of fire dancing under the Moon; of three girls and the horizon and a flight across half the world. Is that wrong? Are you wrong to dream—to think, so briefly, of being something more?
 
[X] You. Princess Azula the Blue. Heir apparent to the Dragon Throne. Conqueror of Ba Sing Se. Half Roku—half Sozin. Where you are, so is the Fire Nation in all its rapacious glory. Yours is the blood and bone of empire. All the things you should have ever wanted to be. But sometimes you think of fire dancing under the Moon; of three girls and the horizon and a flight across half the world. Is that wrong? Are you wrong to dream—to think, so briefly, of being something more?
 
[X] You. Princess Azula the Blue. Heir apparent to the Dragon Throne. Conqueror of Ba Sing Se. Half Roku—half Sozin. Where you are, so is the Fire Nation in all its rapacious glory. Yours is the blood and bone of empire. All the things you should have ever wanted to be. But sometimes you think of fire dancing under the Moon; of three girls and the horizon and a flight across half the world. Is that wrong? Are you wrong to dream—to think, so briefly, of being something more?
 
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[x] Your Father. In every life, they turn from him to save Zuko. Ty Lee has questioned him again and again. Mai has said you're 'weird' about him. But he's still—he's still your Father. The only one in the world who loved you from the start. Why is that supposed to be wrong?
 
[X] Your Father. In every life, they turn from him to save Zuko. Ty Lee has questioned him again and again. Mai has said you're 'weird' about him. But he's still—he's still your Father. The only one in the world who loved you from the start. Why is that supposed to be wrong?
 
[X] Your Father. In every life, they turn from him to save Zuko. Ty Lee has questioned him again and again. Mai has said you're 'weird' about him. But he's still—he's still your Father. The only one in the world who loved you from the start. Why is that supposed to be wrong?
 
[X] You. Princess Azula the Blue. Heir apparent to the Dragon Throne. Conqueror of Ba Sing Se. Half Roku—half Sozin. Where you are, so is the Fire Nation in all its rapacious glory. Yours is the blood and bone of empire. All the things you should have ever wanted to be. But sometimes you think of fire dancing under the Moon; of three girls and the horizon and a flight across half the world. Is that wrong? Are you wrong to dream—to think, so briefly, of being something more?
 
[X] Your brother. It's clear to you now, at least, that when they choose him, it's not because they wouldn't choose you. But the universe has demonstrated at length they are the exceptions. Not the rule. So what is it that he has? What essential part of Zuko's soul makes him worthy of the grace you have never been given?
 
[x] You. Princess Azula the Blue. Heir apparent to the Dragon Throne. Conqueror of Ba Sing Se. Half Roku—half Sozin. Where you are, so is the Fire Nation in all its rapacious glory. Yours is the blood and bone of empire. All the things you should have ever wanted to be. But sometimes you think of fire dancing under the Moon; of three girls and the horizon and a flight across half the world. Is that wrong? Are you wrong to dream—to think, so briefly, of being something more?
 
[X] You. Princess Azula the Blue. Heir apparent to the Dragon Throne. Conqueror of Ba Sing Se. Half Roku—half Sozin. Where you are, so is the Fire Nation in all its rapacious glory. Yours is the blood and bone of empire. All the things you should have ever wanted to be. But sometimes you think of fire dancing under the Moon; of three girls and the horizon and a flight across half the world. Is that wrong? Are you wrong to dream—to think, so briefly, of being something more?
 
I'm actually a bit curious about why so few people are voting for "[] Your brother." I personally feel like we've spent too much time dealing with Zuko already, but usually people really like to engage with him. He's by far the most popular character in the franchise.
 
[X] You. Princess Azula the Blue. Heir apparent to the Dragon Throne. Conqueror of Ba Sing Se. Half Roku—half Sozin. Where you are, so is the Fire Nation in all its rapacious glory. Yours is the blood and bone of empire. All the things you should have ever wanted to be. But sometimes you think of fire dancing under the Moon; of three girls and the horizon and a flight across half the world. Is that wrong? Are you wrong to dream—to think, so briefly, of being something more?
 
[X] Your Father. In every life, they turn from him to save Zuko. Ty Lee has questioned him again and again. Mai has said you're 'weird' about him. But he's still—he's still your Father. The only one in the world who loved you from the start. Why is that supposed to be wrong?

So much more thematic.

It'd be the final block before she can do proper self-evaluation.
 
[X] Your Father. In every life, they turn from him to save Zuko. Ty Lee has questioned him again and again. Mai has said you're 'weird' about him. But he's still—he's still your Father. The only one in the world who loved you from the start. Why is that supposed to be wrong?

I think she needs to loosen that chain.
 
Now that you mention it, yeah. It does seem like of all the things that keep jerking Azula up short right before she can have a liberating realization, the delusion that her father actually loves her and treats her this way for her own good is probably the... if not the strongest, certainly the one that she keeps slamming into and bouncing off the most.

[X] Your Father. In every life, they turn from him to save Zuko. Ty Lee has questioned him again and again. Mai has said you're 'weird' about him. But he's still—he's still your Father. The only one in the world who loved you from the start. Why is that supposed to be wrong?
 
[X] Your Father. In every life, they turn from him to save Zuko. Ty Lee has questioned him again and again. Mai has said you're 'weird' about him. But he's still—he's still your Father. The only one in the world who loved you from the start. Why is that supposed to be wrong?
 
[X] Your Father. In every life, they turn from him to save Zuko. Ty Lee has questioned him again and again. Mai has said you're 'weird' about him. But he's still—he's still your Father. The only one in the world who loved you from the start. Why is that supposed to be wrong?
 
[X] Your Father. In every life, they turn from him to save Zuko. Ty Lee has questioned him again and again. Mai has said you're 'weird' about him. But he's still—he's still your Father. The only one in the world who loved you from the start. Why is that supposed to be wrong?
 
[X] Your Father. In every life, they turn from him to save Zuko. Ty Lee has questioned him again and again. Mai has said you're 'weird' about him. But he's still—he's still your Father. The only one in the world who loved you from the start. Why is that supposed to be wrong?
 
somewhatLazy said:
Ultimately, I think what I want most of all is to talk about why Ty Lee and Mai love Azula. Of how that has so little to do with being Ozai's princess, of how the story she (and likely Ozai) tells herself of being unlovable is a lie, of simply learning more about Azula's dearest and only friends.

[X] You. Princess Azula the Blue. Heir apparent to the Dragon Throne. Conqueror of Ba Sing Se. Half Roku—half Sozin. Where you are, so is the Fire Nation in all its rapacious glory. Yours is the blood and bone of empire. All the things you should have ever wanted to be. But sometimes you think of fire dancing under the Moon; of three girls and the horizon and a flight across half the world. Is that wrong? Are you wrong to dream—to think, so briefly, of being something more?
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That's one of the reasons I like []you so much. Mai and Ty Lee are the only people in the whole world who ever chose Azula, who decided to like and love and care about Azula even though they didn't have to. And Azula chose them. She's been stuck with her awful family her entire life, but she chose her friends for some reason. There's something powerful in the why of their friendships that we have barely touched. Right now, we know and Azula knows far more about why Mai likes Zuko than we know about why Mai likes Azula. That's not something we should allow to persist. The same goes for Ty Lee.
 
[X] Your Father. In every life, they turn from him to save Zuko. Ty Lee has questioned him again and again. Mai has said you're 'weird' about him. But he's still—he's still your Father. The only one in the world who loved you from the start. Why is that supposed to be wrong?
 
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