TEA SALT SUMMER

[fulselden]

I jumped on an open prompt (theme: 'dinner party') at fic_promptly. Series: Avatar, naturally. Characters: Iroh, Zuko, Azula.

The theme of the day was 'food', so how could I resist?

(currently eating: 'Supreme Preserved Plum': not as all round awesome as wah plums, but less tooth-achingly sweet than the poignantly-named 'Seedless Lover's Plum').

TEA SALT SUMMER

Comments

[fulselden]

Thank you! And, yes, as I say above, Iroh is so very much the big brother and fond uncle - he's so conventionally functional in many ways! Unlike, y'know, the rest of his family.

And, yes, oh, Azula. This piece was really in part an attempt to see Iroh, once again MISSING THE POINT ENTIRELY in some ways when it comes to his niece: his 'go build a nest' proverb was intended as pretty much a repeat of his hilariously inapropos gift of the doll.

And thinking of Azula (and specifically your Azula) - have you come across this post canon Azula piece yet? It's doing very different things with her than the stuff you might want to (I, um, guess), and I actually love its world building a bit more than its characterisation, I think, but it's a fantastic bit of writing and satisfyingly insistent on tracing the female roots of Azula's power.

[terajk]

This piece was really in part an attempt to see Iroh, once again MISSING THE POINT ENTIRELY in some ways when it comes to his niece: his 'go build a nest' proverb was intended as pretty much a repeat of his hilariously inapropos gift of the doll.

Oh, Iroh! I think of he and Ursa trying to show Azula love, but neither of them can do it in a way that she needs or accepts. (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). What would expressions of love that Azula would need or accept be like?

have you come across this post canon Azula piece yet?

Oh, YES. I'm reading it right now. I like it a lot--especially everyone's voices. It is, as you say, very different from what I'm thinking...but can I live in a universe where both happen? I guess that's what fandom is for.

[fulselden]

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.