Perhaps part of Iroh's problem is that he sees too much of himself in Zuko and too much of his brother in her, as this story suggests
Yeah, I was definitely playing with that idea here - and it's another case of Iroh really not getting the full picture (or seeing what he wants to see - I mean, here, the man is grieving: he's lonely, and he's lonely for a son) - because Azula, fearsomely competent and skilled at tactics and bending, isn't so different from himself as Iroh might want to believe. And Zuko of course has a surprising amount of his father in him, I think - both of them ENTIRELY LACKING IN SUBTLETY.
What would expressions of love that Azula would need or accept be like?
Well, she can accept love (or at least adoration) from Ty Lee, and she certainly needed it - I mean, she even apologises to her at the party! But of course Ty Lee is very much subordinate to Azula, not to mention picked out by her in the first place, so she's a special case. And, also thinking of the party episode, she does actually go and fetch Zuko when he's angsting at their old summer house - I can see their relationship as having come to enough of an uneasy rapprochement, perhaps, that she might have let Zuko get close enough for him to want to offer her love fairly overtly and unconditionally? And she might have felt able to accept it, because he'd still be demonstrably inferior by her standards. But then he went off on his Avatar-crusade.
Outside of relationships with pretty clearly defined power structures where Azula is on top, though... I'm really not sure. I think that's one thing the 水火 fic does really well, actually: tracing Azula's gradual acceptance of her sifu without softening her edges too much. And, hm, perhaps I was too dismissive of the voices - I'll have to read it again. I did enjoy what the author did with Mai and Katara, mind you! And, yes, fandom the echo-chamber is good times.
no subject
Yeah, I was definitely playing with that idea here - and it's another case of Iroh really not getting the full picture (or seeing what he wants to see - I mean, here, the man is grieving: he's lonely, and he's lonely for a son) - because Azula, fearsomely competent and skilled at tactics and bending, isn't so different from himself as Iroh might want to believe. And Zuko of course has a surprising amount of his father in him, I think - both of them ENTIRELY LACKING IN SUBTLETY.
What would expressions of love that Azula would need or accept be like?
Well, she can accept love (or at least adoration) from Ty Lee, and she certainly needed it - I mean, she even apologises to her at the party! But of course Ty Lee is very much subordinate to Azula, not to mention picked out by her in the first place, so she's a special case. And, also thinking of the party episode, she does actually go and fetch Zuko when he's angsting at their old summer house - I can see their relationship as having come to enough of an uneasy rapprochement, perhaps, that she might have let Zuko get close enough for him to want to offer her love fairly overtly and unconditionally? And she might have felt able to accept it, because he'd still be demonstrably inferior by her standards. But then he went off on his Avatar-crusade.
Outside of relationships with pretty clearly defined power structures where Azula is on top, though... I'm really not sure. I think that's one thing the 水火 fic does really well, actually: tracing Azula's gradual acceptance of her sifu without softening her edges too much. And, hm, perhaps I was too dismissive of the voices - I'll have to read it again. I did enjoy what the author did with Mai and Katara, mind you! And, yes, fandom the echo-chamber is good times.