阿祖拉 | Azula

Character Name: Azula
Character Journal: sears
Status: Inmate
Pairing Information:
Azula desperately needs to learn some chill. Yes, the most obvious big-picture issues are that her feelings of Fire Nation supremacy, contributions to oppressive colonialism, and overarching goals of world domination are no bueno, but she's not going to learn any of that from someone lecturing her about Being A Better Person and Treating People As She Would Want To Be Treated. Tackling things like her extreme perfectionism (both as it pertains to others as well as to herself), her cruel treatment of those close to her, and her various complicated relationships with her family members will need to come first, and extrapolation can start to happen from there. A graduated Azula could take several forms, but there are a few things that will probably be essential: the development of a more healthy attitude towards both herself and those close to her; at least somewhat better treatment of people in general, including underlings and servants; and accepting the inevitable loss of the war, as well as the loss of her presumed right to the throne.

Above all, Azula would do best with a warden that she could respect from the get-go. That's a bar that she sets pretty high, but it's not unattainable by any means, especially considering the larger-than-life people that the Barge tends to attract. Someone who has experience with being in leadership positions would be a big, big plus, especially if they were particularly successful and effective in that role; she equates being a strong leader as synonymous with ruling with an iron fist, and so it would be beneficial to have it proven to her that anything less than complete authoritarianism doesn't necessarily always lead to weakness and failure. But at the same time, someone bursting with compassion and sparkles and light would not necessarily be the best thing for her, either: if she couldn't relate to her warden and/or their leadership style, it would be difficult for her to see any of their ideas as a valid alternative to that way that she does things.

One initial hurdle that a warden will encounter is how to navigate her social standing. As a royal princess, she both expects and demands a huge amount of concession from the people around her. A warden who played into this to some extent would find her a much more willing participant in their partnership right out of the gate, but one who more openly insisted on treating her like they would anybody else would be challenging her in a way that she pretty much never has been in her life. This would be a delicate balance to strike. Patting her butt the way that she's used to would go a long way towards keeping her from grating too much against the warden/inmate power dynamic, as well as giving her warden a shortcut to a good relationship with her (something that will, in all likelihood, be instrumental to her graduation). On the other hand, taking it too far might very well cause her to mentally slot them into the "servant" category, which would lead to an instant loss of respect, as well as an explosive reaction when they inevitably encountered a situation where they'd need to stand up to her. Overall, there's going to be a lot of this delicate line-walking with her, so a warden who could adjust well to that and develop a good sense of which approach fits a given situation would be a must.

User Name/Nick: Iddy
User DW: corknut
E-mail: ZieglerFan719@gmail.com
Other Characters: Tiffany Doggett | tucky

Character Name: Azula
Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Age: She's 14 at her first appearance, but given the time that passes from the beginning of the second season (in the early spring) to the middle of the third (in the late summer), I think it's safe to say that she could easily have turned 15 somewhere in there.

From When?: mid-2x11, "The Day of the Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse". She doesn't actually die or come close to dying in canon, but she'll come in from the middle of her battle with Aang & co., so she was in potential physical danger.

Inmate/Warden: Inmate. Azula is manipulative, violent, and ruthless, and while small doses of any of these things might be acceptable in someone who aspires to rule a country, she takes them all to the extreme. (That country she wants to rule is also currently controlled by an authoritarian regime that's been waging a hundred-year long war with the aim of colonizing and overthrowing the world's other nations, a goal that she actively aids and supports, so you know. There's that, too.) She's a fucked up teenage girl whose innate tendencies towards hardness and cruelty were carefully nurtured and encouraged by both her father and her environment, and while it wouldn't be realistic to expect her to walk that back so far as to become a kind, pure soul who'd never hurt a fly, there's plenty of room for her to learn some moderation.

Arrival: She'll be an unwilling inmate.

Abilities/Powers:
She's a firebender, which means that she can create and control fire. Fighting with bending generally involves a lot more than just standing around and shooting elements at people like cannons; there's a definite martial art aspect to it too, and bending battles typically involve a lot of body movement and leaping around. Even without her firebending, Azula is a damned good fighter - though in those cases she tends to work more defensively than offensively, using her strength and acrobatic skills to evade, distract, and generally run circles around her opponents rather than all-out attacking them like she would with her bending.

When she does use her bending, she's prodigious, and is capable of a few special techniques that require a certain skill level - such as the creation of blue flames, which are hotter and more intense than the more elementary red or orange ones. She's also a master of lightningbending, which is just what sounds like (that is, the creation and control of lightning). Very few firebenders are shown to be capable of this, and it's indicated to be exceedingly difficult to learn and become proficient in. However, it does have its limitations. Unlike firebending, which is fueled by strong emotion, utter peace of mind is needed to successfully bend lightning. Should someone attempt the technique without being completely calm, they risk things like self-electrocution, fiery explosions, or simply nothing happening at all.

Upon arrival, she'll be stripped of all her bending abilities.

Personality:
Azula expends a great amount of effort on presenting a carefully curated version of herself. Constant self-control and (her idea of) perfection are extremely important to her, even when she's on her own and especially when she's visible to other people. Failure of any sort isn't tolerated either in her associates or in herself, and neither are "weak", "useless" emotions such as sadness, vulnerability, and insecurity (she'll use them to manipulate other people, sometimes, but that doesn't really count; when she tells her brother to come back to the Fire Nation because she needs him, she's not really opening up and baring her soul to him, she's saying what she has to to draw him back into her web). When she's participating in war councils and addressing crowds of soldiers that are under her command, she's completely in her element. Children of the Fire Nation royal family are expected to serve in the military in some capacity, and Azula was overseeing armies by age fourteen, and likely sitting by her father's side as he did the same long before that. Favored and praised, but not pampered, she's her father's child through and through: this is what she was raised to do, what she believes she was born to do, and what she truly enjoys doing.

This curated self isn't a complete facade - she truly is a ruthless, cruel, unforgiving person, even deep down - but it is only part of the picture. Azula is not anywhere near as emotionally invulnerable as she'd like to be. Behind all that perfectionism is a deep-seated fear of not being good enough, which probably started at a young age - on top of all the typical pressures of being raised in the royal household of a warmongering, militaristic country, she saw the way her father treated her softer, more sensitive brother, and she would have known that she risked meeting the same fate if she stopped living up to his exacting standards. She knows that she's talented, she takes pride in how hard she works to hone that talent, and even on top of all that, she puts a huge amount of stock in birthright - she believes all that she has is no more than what she's owed. But since literally anything less than perfection is unacceptable to her, all her talents and accomplishments can't save her from the fact that she's only human, and perfection in everything at all times is an unrealistic goal. Cue the cracks that start to show whenever she's reminded of this - from minor snits and gritted teeth at the small things, to the full-on meltdown she has at the end of the series (past her canonpoint) after she encounters setback after setback and, finally, defeat at the hands of her enemies.

Going hand in hand with this is the fact that - despite the people she's hurt and the atrocities she's had a hand in - Azula is also very much a teenager. For examples of this, many people point to "The Beach" - an episode where, while vacationing in a resort town, she enlists her brother and friends in a scheme to pretend to be commoners, allowing them to try out regular teenager things like making friends, going to parties, and flirting. (She ends up failing miserably at this, and would be unlikely to want to try out the experience again.) But there are plenty of other scenes in her day-to-day life, when she's not a fish out of water, that highlight how young and immature she is just as much as her beach adventures. At one point early on, the captain of her ship tells her that they can’t pull into port yet because the tide is out. She asks him who commands the ship, her or the tides, and threatens to have him thrown overboard if he doesn’t pull in immediately. This is often taken as a scene that showcases how ruthless she is, and it absolutely does! But I’d argue that it also showcases her childishness, as well. Someone more mature, even if they were every bit as ruthless as she is, would get that some things just aren’t controllable and that needs to be allowed for. Azula, at this point, cannot accept that.

By this point, Azula doesn't have any healthy relationships, and it's arguable that she never had any to begin with. As is probably obvious, her father Ozai is and has always been the most important and influential figure in her life. He didn't completely make her what she is, but he did cultivate her; he recognized both her talent in firebending and her penchant for cruelty early on, and encouraged both. Azula eagerly rose to the challenge, happy to please him, particularly when she could do so at the expense of her older brother, Zuko. Though she and Zuko got along better as children than they did as they grew older, the temptation was too great to not only distinguish herself as talented, but to make it clear that she was more talented than Zuko, which further frayed their already-straining relationship. Their mother, Ursa, compensated for this by doting on Zuko, making sure that he got the love and encouragement that he needed. Azula's jealousy and hurt over what she interpreted as her mother's favoritism made her stick to her father even more - she likely didn't get much love and affection from him, but she did get approval, which she decided was preferable. Still, even now, her relationship with her mother continues to be a source of pain, albeit one that she buries. Ursa left the family when Azula was eight - something that Azula even at the time appeared outwardly nonchalant about, casually telling Zuko that no one knew where she'd gone. But then years later, in what might have been one of her only true moments of being even a little emotionally vulnerable, she expresses ambivalence towards her ("I could sit here and complain about how our mom liked Zuko more than me, but I don't really care. My own mother thought I was a monster. She was right, of course, but it still hurt" - that's some major flip-flopping for just a few short sentences!). And later still, after she's well into her end-of-series breakdown, she full-on hallucinates Ursa telling her that she loves her and that she's concerned about how she treats people. Azula's subconscious has a point here: though she does seem to care for her friends at least to some extent, she ultimately values them more as tools than as companions, and when they finally stand up to her, she has them thrown in prison for disobeying her orders (this, too, happens after her canonpoint). They'd been close to her since early childhood, yes, but they were also her subjects and subordinates, and when it came down to it, the latter fact was far more important to her than the former. Feeling otherwise would be - you guessed it - unacceptable weakness in her eyes.

Azula is, all in all, a product of both nature and nurture. She's far from a sad woobie who just needs a hug from her mom to make her all better, and there's probably nothing in the world that could have made her into a sweet, gentle person, but with better influences in her life, the worst of her innate personality traits might have been at least somewhat tempered. As it stands now, she's so far gone that her uncle - her wise, patient uncle who sticks with her brother through the worst of his Complete Asshole phase - considers her to be a lost cause. But, perhaps, she's not so far gone that there's no chance for improvement at all, if given the right circumstances.

Barge Reactions:
She's really not going to like it. The premise alone will rankle her: pulling her against her will through time and space, holding her as a prisoner, and judging her to be a criminal? Unacceptable. She has an extremely high opinion of herself and her abilities, but she's not completely delusional; she'll recognize pretty quickly that the Admiral is vastly more powerful than her and that escape attempts would be a waste of energy better spent elsewhere. She'll still keep planning and scheming - she's a strategist; it's what she does - but the utter unpredictability of the Barge will throw her off-kilter. To top it all off, she has a low tolerance for zaniness, and will look at a lot of the more out-there Bargizens (not to mention some of those floods, ports, and breaches) with disdain; people who manage to get through her stay without being judged by her at least once will likely be few and far between.

She may tamp down on these feelings of anger, frustration, and powerlessness in an effort to keep up the appearance of being in control and above it all, but it'll simmer under the surface, dovetailing nicely with those perfectionism and control issues of hers until she's forced to deal with them head-on. More than likely, it'll bubble up sometimes, the way it does in canon when she's confronted with unexpected stress that she can't beat into submission.

Path to Redemption:
Azula desperately needs to learn some chill. Yes, the most obvious big-picture issues are that her feelings of Fire Nation supremacy, contributions to oppressive colonialism, and overarching goals of world domination are no bueno, but she's not going to learn any of that from someone lecturing her about Being A Better Person and Treating People As She Would Want To Be Treated. Tackling things like her extreme perfectionism (both as it pertains to others as well as to herself), her cruel treatment of those close to her, and her various complicated relationships with her family members will need to come first, and extrapolation can start to happen from there. A graduated Azula could take several forms, but there are a few things that will probably be essential: the development of a more healthy attitude towards both herself and those close to her; at least somewhat better treatment of people in general, including underlings and servants; and accepting the inevitable loss of the war, as well as the loss of her presumed right to the throne.

Above all, Azula would do best with a warden that she could respect from the get-go. That's a bar that she sets pretty high, but it's not unattainable by any means, especially considering the larger-than-life people that the Barge tends to attract. Someone who has experience with being in leadership positions would be a big, big plus, especially if they were particularly successful and effective in that role; she equates being a strong leader as synonymous with ruling with an iron fist, and so it would be beneficial to have it proven to her that anything less than complete authoritarianism doesn't necessarily always lead to weakness and failure. But at the same time, someone bursting with compassion and sparkles and light would not necessarily be the best thing for her, either: if she couldn't relate to her warden and/or their leadership style, it would be difficult for her to see any of their ideas as a valid alternative to that way that she does things.

One initial hurdle that a warden will encounter is how to navigate her social standing. As a royal princess, she both expects and demands a huge amount of concession from the people around her. A warden who played into this to some extent would find her a much more willing participant in their partnership right out of the gate, but one who more openly insisted on treating her like they would anybody else would be challenging her in a way that she pretty much never has been in her life. This would be a delicate balance to strike. Patting her butt the way that she's used to would go a long way towards keeping her from grating too much against the warden/inmate power dynamic, as well as giving her warden a shortcut to a good relationship with her (something that will, in all likelihood, be instrumental to her graduation). On the other hand, taking it too far might very well cause her to mentally slot them into the "servant" category, which would lead to an instant loss of respect, as well as an explosive reaction when they inevitably encountered a situation where they'd need to stand up to her. Overall, there's going to be a lot of this delicate line-walking with her, so a warden who could adjust well to that and develop a good sense of which approach fits a given situation would be a must.

History: Wiki link!

Sample Journal Entry:
[Here's Azula, sitting straight-backed in a plush chair, camera centered right on her. She has her hands folded in her lap, and she's staring at the screen dead-on, a stern look on her face.]

I've been here for a few weeks, and there's something that's come up several times. Many of you don't understand why it's necessary for you all to call me Princess.

It's not because I think that I'm better than all of you--

[-- even though, yes, she absolutely does think that--]

-- it's because where I come from, heritage is important. Being a princess is part of my heritage. I never have been just Azula, and I never will be. Calling me only by my given name would be like making up a nickname for a total stranger and expecting them to take it well. Would you do something like that?

[There's a pause; they're clearly meant to be thinking No, I would never here. But just in case they're not:]

You shouldn't. It's disrespectful. I'm well aware how many of you don't care about paying respect where respect is due, but consider this your warning: any disrespect from this point forward will be your problem, not mine. I'm a very reasonable person when I'm not pressed. Don't press me.

That is all.

[And off goes the camera. Click.]

Sample RP:
Every morning, without exception, Azula wakes up early and goes to the gym. There are a few other early birds, but mostly it's quiet, which is just how she likes it: the people who socialize as they work out, chatting amiably as they lift weights or labor at their machines, annoy her. She is, she thinks, one of the only people on this ship who is really serious about her training. For most of the rest of them, it's just a distraction; a way to stave off boredom. They'd be better off taking themselves somewhere else and staying out of her way.

Even without her bending, she goes through the forms diligently, striking out with hands and feet just as she would if she were still shooting fire out from them. It's not only about staying limber, after all - it's essential that those puffs of flame be the only thing missing from her regimen. There's a common trap that she's always been warned about, and that she's seen firsthand in off-duty soldiers. They think that it's enough to stay in shape, to eat well and keep their muscles conditioned. It isn't. The ones who don't spar regularly or go through fighting forms on their own always end up performing more poorly on the battlefield. Stretches and strength training are all well and good, but anyone who doesn't use their fire regularly puts themselves at risk of losing any ease and effortlessness that regular practice had netted them - and Azula is determined not to make her current predicament even worse than it already is.

Still, she feels the loss keenly. She'd manifested her bending early - she doesn't have a single memory from before her first fire. She's been told her earliest attempts were elementary, and a little clumsy, but that was to be expected; she could bend even before she could properly walk. Somewhere, deep in the back recesses of her mind, there's a faint, filmy remembrance of toddling along the winding path in the palace's turtleduck garden, holding onto an adult (Mother? Father? it must have been Father) with one hand and shooting thin wisps of red fire with the other.

She now has less ability than she did at age three. It's maddening.

Steeling herself, Azula pushes those thoughts out of her head. They're good fuel for anger, but anger isn't what she needs - it's time for some of her newer, more difficult forms. Planting her feet, she inhales and exhales, inhales and exhales, until her heartbeat steadies out and her mind goes clear. She lunges forward and arcs her arms through the air, finishing the move with two fingers pressed together, pointing towards the ceiling. With her eyes closed, she can think back to the hundred of other times she's done this, and imagine what should be: a perfect, crackling line of lightning, shooting into the sky.

*****

In addition, this TDM link has copious amounts of both sample styles; it's from November, so a bit past the three-month limit, but I'm including it for completion's sake.

Special Notes: n/a

This journal is no longer being used for dramadramaduck, so feel free to remove! Any future entries/continuity for the game will be at emberandash.

Have I ever made it clear how much I hate mind-readers?

[once again, the community is recording the tail end of a long fight between Azula and a vampire-- it's her first since Kefka healed her leg with magic, and unlike the one that broke her leg in the first place, this one actually seems to be going her way]

[they're both fighting pretty hard, but Azula's slowly but surely backing him into a corner, hoping to get him at close range so it'll be easier to work against his haste mode; when he's against a wall and she's about five feet away, she suddenly stops using her fire and pulls out a gun, shooting him point-blank several times in the chest and head... aaaand he goes down, dead, the wounds hissing and fizzing]

[walking over to where she stashed her stuff while she fought, Azula notices that she's been recorded... and decides to play it cool by pretending to be The Most Badass and responding completely casually:]

That was a bit of a challenge, I suppose. I was impressed with his stamina. All in all, that was one of the better fights I've had in a while.

[... the effect is sort of ruined, though, when she turns back to collect the body and realizes that his head was nearly severed from his body by the force of the bullets-- she suddenly sways with nausea, closing her eyes tightly for a few long seconds]

Why does it always have to be beheading.

[she quickly turns off the feed]

Of all the viruses to repeat, it had to be that one.

I had no idea people here were so hormonal.

[that is sort of a joke, and an attempt to make things less awkward]

[it probably won't work]

It shouldn't have made her come back.

This place is dangerous.

I did it. I succeeded in my mission. I don't care that I'm stuck in bed, or with a cast on my leg. It'll heal eventually, as it always does.

This is the best mood I've been in for some time, and I don't think anyone could knock me out of it if they tried. I have a feeling I'll end up bored and in need of something to do, so I suppose I'll take suggestions-- but for now, at least, even lying around doesn't feel dull.

[...]

What's the best way to cut through strong metal without damaging it? I gave away some of my old armor a while ago, but apparently it needs wing holes now, and I'd hate to see it ruined. I'm rather attached to it.

( {LOCKED TO LILITH} )

First of all, I don't really have any major problems with you. I don't even dislike you, and I meant it when I said that you seemed like you were probably a good friend. But we need to clear something up.

I may not be a good friend or "moirail" or any of those things, but the idea that I'm attempting "pale infidelity" or trying to steal anyone away is completely untrue. You don't need to protect Aradia. If she has a problem with me, she'll tell me herself, and the fact that she hasn't means that she doesn't need to. I don't like Vriska because I want to be her moirail or take her away from anyone. I like her because I know what's going on with her, or at least I think I do. I know what it's like to do things that make people hate you, and to be dismissed no matter what you're saying. I know what it's like to grow up as a fighter, and even though I'm glad I was raised the way I was and I largely don't regret having my father or doing what I did, I know what it's like to not have a choice unless you want to be killed, punished, or banished. I know what it's like to have a parent who would destroy you if you failed them. And I know about a lot of other things that might not apply to her, but may in the future-- being made strong at the expense of everything else, not knowing how most people work, hurting people you like (even by accident or with good intentions), and sometimes even being really lonely.

I don't really care about most people, and I understand even less. But she's like me, and I care about her, and I'll help her out anytime she needs it. She's not my "moirail" and I'm not trying to make her be. She's like a younger sibling or a smaller version of me; I don't know.

Just quit worrying about it; everything's fine.

[hey DDD, here's Azula standing in front of the camera to show off her TOTALLY BADASS PRIEST UNIFORM GUYS OH MY GOD SHE LIKES IT SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE NOVICE DRESS YOU HAVE NO IDEA]

[and of course when she talks, she sounds quite pleased and proud of herself]

I've completed my training, I've graduated from the novice level, and I am now officially an AX Agent-- an elite soldier of the Vatican. I'll be working as an assistant bodyguard, but I'll also be sent on special assignments and missions-- of course, I can't divulge much information about those.

[she then turns more somber, directing a steady gaze at the camera]

Obviously, it's a dangerous job-- extremely dangerous, sometimes. I don't plan on dying, but it would be foolish not to make plans just in case. First of all, I need to speak to someone who would be able to show me how to make one of those private posts that unlock automatically if I don't log onto the community after a certain amount of time. I'll also be contacting a few of you individually, for various reasons.

( {LOCKED TO ITSUKI} )

( {LOCKED TO VRISKA} )

( {LOCKED TO TAVROS} )

( {LOCKED TO DARK} )

( {LOCKED TO THE TENTH DOCTOR} )