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Burning Twice As Bright (ATLA Azula SI)

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midnightmissiles said:
I'm not sure what people will think if it goes the way of Smeagol/Gollum, but I'm sure it won't go that way. Hm. What do you guys think will happen once that aspect is realized?
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Well, if I'm interpreting the quote/double quote divide correctly, then from the perspective of everyone else Azula is already talking to herself, and not in the sort of musing way that many perfectly normal people do- she's addressing herself as another individual and using "we". For all that she's generally the only one in the room when she does, that's not a habit which can be concealed in the long term- particularly in a setting where people are explicitly superhuman in a way that at least to some extent includes sensory abilities like hearing. Switching who is in the driver's seat in the middle of conversation, as she's apparently now doing habitually as well, is also likely to be picked up on by others, particularly highly skilled others (like, say, Lo and Li) who will notice the shift in body language, attitude, and tone.

So one thing that they have incoming is people- at least some, possibly many depending upon how/if rumors are spread- coming to believe that Azula has a split personality, which makes her either possessed or crazy depending upon one's perspective. How they react to this will almost inevitably strongly affect the relationship between the two of you, because if, say, Ozai decides that a split personality is an imperfection that must be excised... well, that's a whole plotline in the making. And the cadre that Azula's building- they'll be closer to her than anyone else, so they'll inevitably notice and gossip with one another about it if nothing else; sooner or later (probably sooner) there will be a prevalent opinion amongst her minions about what the fact that Azula believes herself to be two separate people means, and Azula will notice.

The whole "I am you" concept was a very strong opener which could hold up almost indefinitely under casual scrutiny, and indeed from a certain perspective is actually the case. However, if placed in an environment where there's constant pressure on Azula to become hostile to, ignore, or attempt to excise her friendly other self, relations could deteriorate rapidly. The fact that body control is shared means that things could turn extremely ugly very quickly unless carefully managed, but on the other hand Azula's sources of positive reinforcement at the moment total exactly one, and it's the voice in her head that is with her 24/7, which is a very strong position from which to carry out emotional manipulation. Still, I suspect she'd utterly loathe having most people consider her critically flawed, and there is a very strong risk of that becoming a widespread reputation if things go as they currently are.


As for "not realizing it's a dream" and freaking out, at this point Ms. Headvoice absolutely cannot afford to freak out and should know it. Anything which reveals to Azula that the initial identity claim isn't true will make for an immeasurably less pleasant living environment in the however-long-this-lasts to come, and that's potentially an entire lifetime. A private bit of gibbering or nervousness could be okay, but anything that Azula can hear, or which involves taking over the body for a while? It simply can't be countenanced. Denial/repression of all existential panic issues, possibly forever but at minimum until Azula is so emotionally close to her head-twin that she would forgive her anything, is mandatory to avoid horrible, horrible things. Tiger riding, go!

Anyway, from previous works I'd say that the ability of this character to accept and roll with things is remarkably high; sharing the body of a Fire Nation princess isn't going to do more than slow her down a little as long as she doesn't get tied up in dwelling on dark thoughts, which she won't because she's busy effectively raising a child into a ruthlessly effective warlord and plotting world domination, and those are time-consuming matters. The first serious emotional shattering won't occur until after she's inflicted huge amounts of suffering on others while attempting to optimize her course of action, at which point she'll lose it briefly, probably have some kind of relationship-redefining moment with Azula, and then proceed onward to inflict further suffering.
 
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I think DarkLight nailed it pretty accurately, if a bit pessimistically on how your discovery might be reacted to. Azula essentially made an entirely new facet to Firrebending with your help help, so in a way you've already proven yourself, but it could still go over very badly I suppose depending on how it comes out.
 
DarkLight140 said:
Well, if I'm interpreting the quote/double quote divide correctly, then from the perspective of everyone else Azula is already talking to herself, and not in the sort of musing way that many perfectly normal people do- she's addressing herself as another individual and using "we". For all that she's generally the only one in the room when she does, that's not a habit which can be concealed in the long term- particularly in a setting where people are explicitly superhuman in a way that at least to some extent includes sensory abilities like hearing. Switching who is in the driver's seat in the middle of conversation, as she's apparently now doing habitually as well, is also likely to be picked up on by others, particularly highly skilled others (like, say, Lo and Li) who will notice the shift in body language, attitude, and tone.
*AND SOME MORE STUFF*
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ShadowAngelBeta said:
I think DarkLight nailed it pretty accurately, if a bit pessimistically on how your discovery might be reacted to. Azula essentially made an entirely new facet to Firrebending with your help help, so in a way you've already proven yourself, but it could still go over very badly I suppose depending on how it comes out.
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It'll also depend on how competent Azula fusion is because if she's crazy but in a manageable way (like having two voices), I'm sure they'll get cool with it. Especially if she keeps doing this kind of competency because of Voice 2.
 
You know the best thing of this fic so far? When I remember that Azula is 10-11 right now. Mind you, Azula is acting well enough to her characters, it's just that the image of a little kid bossing a small company of girl-inquisitors, giving rousing speeches about world domination, and investigating charges of corruption is rather hilarious. :p

And in other points: Azula always had that dragon-like charisma, that bigger-than-life kingship. Add a better drive and purpose than "making daddy happy", "tormenting Zuko"? Remove some of the sadism and bad understanding of loyalty (fear and only fear is not a particularly good way of keeping the loyalty of non-mooks :p )? These girls? They will follow her to the mouth of hell and beyond.

And in other subjects, I kinda half want to see her more or less doing a peaceful takeover of Kyoshi Island... Mostly because the Kyoshi Warriors would make an awesome addition to the inquisitors. :p
 
Felius said:
You know the best thing of this fic so far? When I remember that Azula is 10-11 right now. Mind you, Azula is acting well enough to her characters, it's just that the image of a little kid bossing a small company of girl-inquisitors, giving rousing speeches about world domination, and investigating charges of corruption is rather hilarious. :p

And in other points: Azula always had that dragon-like charisma, that bigger-than-life kingship. Add a better drive and purpose than "making daddy happy", "tormenting Zuko"? Remove some of the sadism and bad understanding of loyalty (fear and only fear is not a particularly good way of keeping the loyalty of non-mooks :p )? These girls? They will follow her to the mouth of hell and beyond.

And in other subjects, I kinda half want to see her more or less doing a peaceful takeover of Kyoshi Island... Mostly because the Kyoshi Warriors would make an awesome addition to the inquisitors. :p
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midnightmissiles said:
It certainly will be educational for every one of them.
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[Ichthyophobia intensifies.] The whole snapping scene was pretty great, and I liked the blue embers imagery—a rather scary picture, that it is.

If Red-Omashu Trading Company is provably crooked, you could probably quite easily push through a law that requires companies to user double-entry accounting for easier fraud detection. That would be much easier than disseminating it naturally because otherwise Azula doesn't have an apparently sensible reason to go mucking about in how companies do their book-keeping.

DarkLight140 said:
Well, if I'm interpreting the quote/double quote divide correctly, then from the perspective of everyone else Azula is already talking to herself, and not in the sort of musing way that many perfectly normal people do- she's addressing herself as another individual and using "we".
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I think you are—for the most part their mutual dialogue was set off in single-quotes and italicized, except for large chunks of this chapter, where it was presented as normal speaking. It remains to be seen whether anyone noticed yet, but there's a decent chance of that because if she can summon four people by speaking loudly, evidently they were listening in to some degree.

___
midnightmissiles said:
The only solstice I can take in these piles of paperwork is how disillusioned with the world and humanity Azula is becoming with each case we deduce.
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Solace, not solstice?

midnightmissiles said:
Did you know badgermole in this language is not written as 'badger and mole', but as one entirely new word that does not exist in Chinese?
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The local fauna was designed by horsedeer.
Ok, that probably only makes sense in Japanese.

midnightmissiles said:
Fifty of my girls are sixteen year old trainees entering for the sake of combat trained in fighting on ships, cavalry, and in darkness. Ten of them are non-bending archery specialists. Of the rest, fifteen are artists, artistic craftsgirls, secretaries, and the sort with miscellaneous skills. Ten more are originally career bureaucrats, from moderately well-off merchant families. These ninety are all educated finely with our Fire Nation's academies in combat, mathematics, scripts, history, and basic engineering and sciences, though some of them will not see combat at all.
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Wait, even with no over-lap (which would make the total even smaller), isn't that eighty-five rather than ninety?

midnightmissiles said:
Shenwu Li and Lo bow, receiving the word of the Fire Lord and do not dare question Ozai.
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There needs to be a comma after 'Fire Lord', because the phrase 'receiving the word of the Fire Lord' is a nonrestrictive clause.​
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Don't be sad, Fishie. The Royal Order of the Crown's Inquisition will see to his re-education.
 
Hey am i only the one here who is psyched about these kind of fics (any kind really) replacing all those damn worm fics? There is such a thing as too much.....
 
midnightmissiles said:
How little human contact Azula must have, to be left shivering, breathing hard, and with butterflies and a quivering heart, just from such simple, tender touching? It helps that she's so young, and thus she has not yet lived long enough to be desensitized.
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Of everything in this chapter I think this was the saddest; I mean can you imagine how staved for physical contact Azula must of been that she has this kind of reaction to what she believes to just be the voice in her head?
 
midnightmissiles said:
I like that you notice it specifically. It makes my heart flutter a little.
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It's definitely going to make the revelation that 'no, I'm not actually just a voice in your head' a lot more complicated for Azula too. My guess is she'll be conflicted between the feeling of betrayal caused by the fact that you've been lying to her about who you are the entire time, and all these warm and fuzzy feelings after it sinks in that you're a completely different person who actually likes her for who she is and has been helping her the entire time.
 
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