hopeful (and possibly willful, on Zuko's part) misinterpretation all around. And Iroh probably understands all of it from the start, but keeps quiet.
Definitely a little bit wilful, I think, given that this Zuko’s got the chops to actively wish the war would end asap. And of course Iroh would be nodding along from the sidelines – though, incidentally, I can see him being a bit less to the fore in this world, at least when it comes to aca!Zuko, because this Zuko doesn’t need him quite as much, since he has his own area of expertise which he knows he’s good at, or at least that it’s something revealing and interesting above and beyond pleasing his dad and capturing the Avatar. Although I guess you could tilt Iroh in a more scholarly direction as well pretty easily, if you wanted him to be a more involved guiding hand for Zuko – which, OMG, the idea of Zuko capping one of Iroh’s proverbs just popped into my head. For some reason I find that unreasonably delightful. And also surreal. Anyway! That’s a fascinating possibility, for sure – and an instance of Ozai, rather than Zuko, failing at court!speak.
Though ... as you sorta go on to say, this does pretty much redeem Zuko, or at least put him on the path to recognising the need for peace and balance, more or less from the get-go. Which dilutes the need for his Earth Kingdom trek and his table-waiting stint in Ba Sing Se. But, then:
Aang hearing Zuko say something that sounds a little odd to modern, MEK-speaking ears, and going "Did you just just reference the poem I think you just referenced? About the princess and the lady general and penguin-sledding for international co-operation? Because that's my favourite one." (And Zuko automatically replying with "Oh yeah? Well, gently drifting pine needles on a late winter's night," to which Aang responds "NEWLY OPENED PLUM BLOSSOMS IN EARLY SPRING, let's do this tentative yet hopeful alliance!")
... ok, that was QUOTED IN ITS ENTIRETY, as they say, FOR THE WIN. That is just such a charming (and plausible!) scenario. I can’t decide whether it would be improved or not by the addition of Azula, examining her nails nearby while her guards immobilise Aang and Zuko or Ty Lee Vulcan-punches them, and not getting in the least why Zuzu and the Avatar are babbling about blossom to each other. Not that Azula wouldn’t know the appropriate texts and their implications back to front, I guess. But she might miss, I don’t know, a more emotive connection that Aang and Zuko would see without a problem? Or simply fail to believe that anyone could be soppy enough to base an alliance, let alone a friendship, on poetry.
(Heh. Genji: gulp).
There aren't actually a lot of powerful women outside the Fire Nation + Kyoshi Island, come to think of it. :| (The deaf university student friend you are planning to write for Zuko does not count, self.)
Yeah – and it kinda gets tangled up on a meta level with their failure to have powerful female adult mentors in general (who aren’t traumatized ex-prisoners, that is). I mean, I buy the idea that the Fire Nation is by far the most progressive, gender-wise (head canon: they’ve been drafting all benders of either sex for several generations, and probably all young people full stop in recent decades – quite apart from anything else, that’s got to have an effect), but that doesn’t mean there couldn’t have been important women elsewhere, and fewer missing mums in general. Ah well, at least they had Kyoshi (island and Avatar both). And, wow, a deaf friend for aca!Zuko sounds interesting – a lot of potential for her to pick up on, say, tell-tale foreigner!body-language cues which hearing people might miss.
It's the common tongue rather than the artful one, so naming them in it doesn't give them the power of highly valued words, but it's still respectful?
Oh, wow, I love the idea of an ‘artful tongue’ for the really spiritually active stuff, and it makes complete sense that Old Fire would get co-opted as another layer of formality between the Sages and the spirits – also suggestive, perhaps, of the Fire Nation loosing its link with the spirit world as it descends into warmongering and genocide?
And Asian spirits, so fascinating – though my knowledge of them comes largely from Miyazaki, heh. And actually, I could see aca!Zuko perhaps cultivating a much closer, more Fire Sage-ly relationship with the Spirit World – though how he’d get along with Earth Kingdom spirits is I guess a moot point. I could almost see him going off on some Spirit World journey of vital import to, um, something, while all kinds of elaborate political machinations/Avatar-mandated smackdowns take place in the Fire Nation (and, hey, Mai could totally come out on top – that would be awesome!). Aca!Zuko could emerge into the here and now at some critical moment but end up, perhaps, actually refusing the throne and going off to be all learned and Fire Sage-ish... Hm.
Yep, fun! And you’re not so bad yourself :) I’m glad I gave into my urge to moan at length about my issues with aca!Zuko, even if I have kinda derailed your meme – oops!
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Definitely a little bit wilful, I think, given that this Zuko’s got the chops to actively wish the war would end asap. And of course Iroh would be nodding along from the sidelines – though, incidentally, I can see him being a bit less to the fore in this world, at least when it comes to aca!Zuko, because this Zuko doesn’t need him quite as much, since he has his own area of expertise which he knows he’s good at, or at least that it’s something revealing and interesting above and beyond pleasing his dad and capturing the Avatar. Although I guess you could tilt Iroh in a more scholarly direction as well pretty easily, if you wanted him to be a more involved guiding hand for Zuko – which, OMG, the idea of Zuko capping one of Iroh’s proverbs just popped into my head. For some reason I find that unreasonably delightful. And also surreal. Anyway! That’s a fascinating possibility, for sure – and an instance of Ozai, rather than Zuko, failing at court!speak.
Though ... as you sorta go on to say, this does pretty much redeem Zuko, or at least put him on the path to recognising the need for peace and balance, more or less from the get-go. Which dilutes the need for his Earth Kingdom trek and his table-waiting stint in Ba Sing Se. But, then:
Aang hearing Zuko say something that sounds a little odd to modern, MEK-speaking ears, and going "Did you just just reference the poem I think you just referenced? About the princess and the lady general and penguin-sledding for international co-operation? Because that's my favourite one." (And Zuko automatically replying with "Oh yeah? Well, gently drifting pine needles on a late winter's night," to which Aang responds "NEWLY OPENED PLUM BLOSSOMS IN EARLY SPRING, let's do this tentative yet hopeful alliance!")
... ok, that was QUOTED IN ITS ENTIRETY, as they say, FOR THE WIN. That is just such a charming (and plausible!) scenario. I can’t decide whether it would be improved or not by the addition of Azula, examining her nails nearby while her guards immobilise Aang and Zuko or Ty Lee Vulcan-punches them, and not getting in the least why Zuzu and the Avatar are babbling about blossom to each other. Not that Azula wouldn’t know the appropriate texts and their implications back to front, I guess. But she might miss, I don’t know, a more emotive connection that Aang and Zuko would see without a problem? Or simply fail to believe that anyone could be soppy enough to base an alliance, let alone a friendship, on poetry.
(Heh. Genji: gulp).
There aren't actually a lot of powerful women outside the Fire Nation + Kyoshi Island, come to think of it. :| (The deaf university student friend you are planning to write for Zuko does not count, self.)
Yeah – and it kinda gets tangled up on a meta level with their failure to have powerful female adult mentors in general (who aren’t traumatized ex-prisoners, that is). I mean, I buy the idea that the Fire Nation is by far the most progressive, gender-wise (head canon: they’ve been drafting all benders of either sex for several generations, and probably all young people full stop in recent decades – quite apart from anything else, that’s got to have an effect), but that doesn’t mean there couldn’t have been important women elsewhere, and fewer missing mums in general. Ah well, at least they had Kyoshi (island and Avatar both). And, wow, a deaf friend for aca!Zuko sounds interesting – a lot of potential for her to pick up on, say, tell-tale foreigner!body-language cues which hearing people might miss.
It's the common tongue rather than the artful one, so naming them in it doesn't give them the power of highly valued words, but it's still respectful?
Oh, wow, I love the idea of an ‘artful tongue’ for the really spiritually active stuff, and it makes complete sense that Old Fire would get co-opted as another layer of formality between the Sages and the spirits – also suggestive, perhaps, of the Fire Nation loosing its link with the spirit world as it descends into warmongering and genocide?
And Asian spirits, so fascinating – though my knowledge of them comes largely from Miyazaki, heh. And actually, I could see aca!Zuko perhaps cultivating a much closer, more Fire Sage-ly relationship with the Spirit World – though how he’d get along with Earth Kingdom spirits is I guess a moot point. I could almost see him going off on some Spirit World journey of vital import to, um, something, while all kinds of elaborate political machinations/Avatar-mandated smackdowns take place in the Fire Nation (and, hey, Mai could totally come out on top – that would be awesome!). Aca!Zuko could emerge into the here and now at some critical moment but end up, perhaps, actually refusing the throne and going off to be all learned and Fire Sage-ish... Hm.
Yep, fun! And you’re not so bad yourself :) I’m glad I gave into my urge to moan at length about my issues with aca!Zuko, even if I have kinda derailed your meme – oops!