[T]he horrible thing was that she was still number two, because as you say Ozai had abandoned her and palmed her off with the suddenly-subordinate position of Fire Lord.
Oh, of course--that interpretation does make more sense. I think where I got mine from was she seemed so: "Wow! This is everything I ever wanted!" and yet terrified when Ozai gave it to her. (Just from how she said: "Fire Lord?!" and the expression on her face. Yes, I am silly). But your interpretation is even more interesting, because...Azula responding to a sudden downward shift in power! DUDE! Thank you The Universe canon!
But now I so, so want to put Toph and Azula together in some capacity. *Stares at your list, gulps*
Best Toph-as-Melon-Lord voice: Mwahahahaha! :) It is a very intimidating list. (Although I can see Azula thinking of Toph as a useful tool to get what she wants). But I forgot something extremely important:
10) Neither of them can ever, under any circumstances, lose any of their awesomeness. EVER. (Eep!)
Which is another challenge that Azula's mental illness presents: how to keep her awesomeness while acknowledging that she has more difficulty doing certain things than she used to, and may be unable to do some of them at all? And this is why, despite my craving for post-Azula fic, I'm wary of reading most of it. Either the mental illness is a vehicle for Zuko's woobieness or she's someone else entirely or she's an
Among other things, I don't know anybody who's neurologically atypical or who has a chronic illness who has the access to all their skills that non-disabled people do. (Or as much as they did before they became disabled).
For example, part of my disability is a spatial impairment. I can learn how to walk from my house to, say, the library. I can walk to the library many, many times successfully. And then one day, I'll totally forget how to get there--even if I did it the day before.
So I'm not sure that post-canon Azula could stage a coup/run a city/lie/etc. in the same ways she used to. But I'm sure skills she needed for power-plays or manipulating people would be easier to use than skills she needed for mundaner tasks, even if they seemed like very similar skills on the surface. Which is sort of how she is in canon. (Setting up elaborate nests of lies to infiltrate the Earth Kingdom > flirting with guys).
Some people with disabilities call this awareness of skills/energy you have and conserving or shuffling them spoon theory. It's basically the idea that all your skills/energy are like a bunch of spoons. And if you have 12 spoons for the day, you have to carefully plan and allocate your usage of spoons, as well as possibly borrow some from tomorrow.
So the mental illness makes her less able to do things than she was...and possibly less awesome? Which might be why so But! I can totally see Azula understanding spoon (uh, weapon?) theory as well as she understands the Villain's Handbook. If anyone can actually break the rules of spoon theory and get away with it, she can. I'm sure she could shuffle her skills more deftly and complexly and cleverly than us peasants. Not enough to make her mental illness negligible--just enough to make her even MORE awesome. ;)
How would Azula's mental illness interact with her set of skills/her personality in general? What kinds of spoons weapons would she have, and how would she use/shuffle them? I...don't know yet. Would Toph's very presence trigger some of the weapons? After all, she is someone that Azula has beaten in the past--spectacularly--without any firebending. (Toph as assistive device, OMG!)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-09-22 12:37 am (UTC)Oh, of course--that interpretation does make more sense. I think where I got mine from was she seemed so: "Wow! This is everything I ever wanted!" and yet terrified when Ozai gave it to her. (Just from how she said: "Fire Lord?!" and the expression on her face. Yes, I am silly). But your interpretation is even more interesting, because...Azula responding to a sudden downward shift in power! DUDE! Thank you
The Universecanon!But now I so, so want to put Toph and Azula together in some capacity. *Stares at your list, gulps*
Best Toph-as-Melon-Lord voice: Mwahahahaha! :) It is a very intimidating list. (Although I can see Azula thinking of Toph as a useful tool to get what she wants). But I forgot something extremely important:
10) Neither of them can ever, under any circumstances, lose any of their awesomeness. EVER. (Eep!)
Which is another challenge that Azula's mental illness presents: how to keep her awesomeness while acknowledging that she has more difficulty doing certain things than she used to, and may be unable to do some of them at all? And this is why, despite my craving for post-Azula fic, I'm wary of reading most of it. Either the mental illness is a vehicle for Zuko's woobieness or she's someone else entirely or she's an
Among other things, I don't know anybody who's neurologically atypical or who has a chronic illness who has the access to all their skills that non-disabled people do. (Or as much as they did before they became disabled).
For example, part of my disability is a spatial impairment. I can learn how to walk from my house to, say, the library. I can walk to the library many, many times successfully. And then one day, I'll totally forget how to get there--even if I did it the day before.
So I'm not sure that post-canon Azula could stage a coup/run a city/lie/etc. in the same ways she used to. But I'm sure skills she needed for power-plays or manipulating people would be easier to use than skills she needed for mundaner tasks, even if they seemed like very similar skills on the surface. Which is sort of how she is in canon. (Setting up elaborate nests of lies to infiltrate the Earth Kingdom > flirting with guys).
Some people with disabilities call this awareness of skills/energy you have and conserving or shuffling them spoon theory. It's basically the idea that all your skills/energy are like a bunch of spoons. And if you have 12 spoons for the day, you have to carefully plan and allocate your usage of spoons, as well as possibly borrow some from tomorrow.
So the mental illness makes her less able to do things than she was...and possibly less awesome? Which might be why so But! I can totally see Azula understanding spoon (uh, weapon?) theory as well as she understands the Villain's Handbook. If anyone can actually break the rules of spoon theory and get away with it, she can. I'm sure she could shuffle her skills more deftly and complexly and cleverly than us peasants. Not enough to make her mental illness negligible--just enough to make her even MORE awesome. ;)
How would Azula's mental illness interact with her set of skills/her personality in general? What kinds of
spoonsweapons would she have, and how would she use/shuffle them? I...don't know yet. Would Toph's very presence trigger some of the weapons? After all, she is someone that Azula has beaten in the past--spectacularly--without any firebending. (Toph as assistive device, OMG!)It's something I want to read so, so much