Thinking about young Azula.
When I was a young I used to try to capture and engage my parents attention when they were disappointed with my brother. Conversely he often learned to become invisible. Now that I’m grown I know this is a really common dynamic adopted by children of disfunction.
I see this in media a lot as one sibling trying to show the other up, but I think Azula probably didn’t like watching her dad be frustrated at Zuko. I’m not saying she was compassionate exactly, kids rarely are, just that it was better all around when Ozai was happy & she knew how to make that happen, keep his focus off of Zuko. She’s a definitely show-off, but there’s a chance it developed as a coping strategy.
If Dad’s going to be drunk, he’d better be happy drunk, and I can ensure he stays that way if I command the group focus.
Quality Lala and Zuzu meta. <3
This is exactly how I think Azula and Zuko dysfunctional dynamic origin story took place, at least in STS verse. Azula always cared for him, in her own focus-on-self-preservation-sing-the-pretty-song-sharpen-your-claws-to-be-safe way, but when their Father wasn't around and there weren't so many ears to listen in, she could be caring in small doses.
That belief is also why I don't think in canon she took Zuko back to the Fire Nation and gave him the credit for the Avatar solely out of her conniving bones, but because she missed him, and the blame him for the Avatar fiasco was just too good of an opportunity to miss.
Also another reason why Zuko and Azula would be such a powerful team if they weren't like... That. Zuko with the sneaky sneaky Blue Spirit thing, Azula with the gaslight gatekeep girlboss a whole Kingdom to the ground, they would be unstoppable.
