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.