#the two times we've seen him he's been on his absolute WORST behavior and i maintain that he is totally capable of chilling tf out

[bengiyo]

I am curious for your perspective on the way the OF creators are interacting with fans and have even admitted to editing the show based on fan reactions. It strikes me as an unusual level of interaction and capitulation, though of course TV is a live medium that is nearly always responsive to reactions to some extent. My preference is for a lot less of this kind of thing, but I know you have experience with direct interaction with media creators and have found it enhances your experience sometimes. What do you make of how these dynamics are showing up in OF and the effect it’s having on the show?

TV and Critic Background

So, I am actually the worst person to talk to if you think the creators should be quiet about their work, because I really enjoy talking to directors, producers, actors, cinematographers, and especially editors about their work. I often go to film festivals just to talk to the creators about their processes.

I've also been in the TV space a really long time, and I am used to this kind of behavior. I don't think a lot of folks who are in BL are used to being in the process of TV itself, and I think a lot of people have let the Netflix binge model inform the way they view TV. TV is not like movies. When you get a movie, you are seeing the end product of filming, editing, test screenings, re-edits, etc. TV is usually only an episode or two ahead of the viewers.

It's extremely normal for a show to respond to feedback when characters test well. The 100 did this with Jasper. He was supposed to die in the pilot when that spear entered his chest, but he tested well with audiences so they revived him.

Fun Fact: This is why Kiseki: Dear to Me didn't just move their release schedule up when episode 8 was leaked early. They probably weren't finished assembling episode 9.

I followed Sense8 through its entire development process all the way from rumors and then J. Michael Stracynski's posts about it, to the things Lana and Lily said about it, to the commentary from the cast.

I have a special hatred for Rick Behrman over Star Trek.

I absolutely hate Russel T. Davies because of Cucumber.

I bailed on Supernatural because of the way the writers condescended to us at comicon after killing Kevin.

I know some fans are upset about the idea that scenes they wanted to see got cut, but I was there for Noah Galvin opening his fucking mouth to talk shit about other actors at ABC who were playing beloved gay characters and that subsequently getting The Real O'Neals canceled. The show had a very short second season and I feel forever salty about that.

What does this mean for Jojo and Ninew and Den?

I actually think Jojo, Den, and Ninew are fine. I don't think they usually poopoo on valid reads from what I've seen, and mostly they're having fun with the fans, too. I just don't think people are used to the creators being so honest about how feedback affects the editing process.

I think this is the first time we've had a big show in a while where the creator was fairly active on socials about the show. Aof and Au are usually pretty quiet when their shows are airing, and only give small tidbits while they show is airing. Jojo is silly and likes to play with fans. Den is feisty and has a gay agenda to pursue.

Truly, I don't think Jojo and friends are that bad about anything with this show, because they're mostly just laughing and stating things that are obvious to people who pay attention to how the sausage is made.

Shipping

That being said, the biggest struggle OF is having is shipping. The FK girlies are so loud and their heavy breathing has likely influenced the way Jojo and friends decided to write Ray. The FB girlies are so into them that it's made Jojo and them dial back some of their Top content because the audience hates him so much. Only Boston and Nick feel like they've made it through the shipping gamut intact because Neo and Mark aren't bringing a bunch of preexisting shippers to the table.

Coming off of episode 10, you can see this plainly with the nasty4nasty dynamic with Boston and Nick. The emotional core of their dynamic feels true, even down to the way their moments in the store mirror their first interactions again. Boston came in for service about his phone and intentionally showed Nick something on it.

I don't think Jojo has ever had to work with multiple acting pairs that were big branded pairs prior to this, and this is only his second time really dealing with that. With Never Let Me Go, Pond and Phuwin weren't that big yet, and he wasn't threatening their ship with anything complicated. OF is challenging for people who just watch BL as fap material and have to deal with their faves not being easy people to parse.

As usual, we go back to that post that goes around all the time, thought I think the OP deleted it:

"Never ever be normal about fictional characters but please GOD be normal about the people who play them, I am begging you" -tumblr user mantorokk-writes

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s5 ep1: Night

First ep of a new season! Not the end of a cliffhanger either, so we're dropped into an entirely new situation: Voyager is flying through a region of space with no stars, planets or anything, just empty blackness that the crew nicknames 'the Void'. They've been in it for weeks, and everyone is going a little stir crazy- some are bored, some are agitated, some are depressed, but no one is doing well.

This is definitely one of those places where last season's excessive nastiness undermined the storytelling here- having them snipe at each other and pick fights would be a more effective way to show that people are having a hard time if they hadn't had them all randomly doing those things for no reason so much last season. (And the anti-Klingon crap especially makes my blood boil, because there's no excuse for that in any context. The whole point of Star Trek is that people are supposed to be better in the future, so having Starfleet people say shitty racist stuff to someone who's their friend and colleague is not okay, and even more egregious when she's sensitive about her Klingon heritage because people used to be so shitty to her about it growing up. Having people casually drop mean racist microagressions, and then never addressing it, is not progressive. Giving it to Tom here is the absolute worst, because he knows how she feels about it- even at his worst, Tom's never been intentionally hurtful to anyone, even people who treat him badly, and I have no idea why they would make him say something so shitty. I can't imagine anyone in the crew being that shitty, but they give it to almost all the characters at one point or another, and it's just like wow. ok Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky, tell me you wish you could be racist and get away with it without telling me you wish you could be racist and get away with it! How bigoted must they be to think that giving characters these kind of lines isn't tearing down the characters or offending the audience??)

The Captain has isolated herself in her quarters since they entered the Void, retreating into depression over her guilt for stranding everyone in the Delta Quadrant. The crew misses her, and Chakotay goes to talk to her to convince her to come back to duty, but she says no and sends him away.

Just when everyone is at their wits end, unknown ships attack them, and use a dampening field to cut Voyager's power so they can sneak aboard in darkness. All of Voyager's lights going out in pitch black, starless space is pretty darn scary, ngl. Neelix is pretty much having a panic attack when Chakotay finds him in the dark corridor, and Chakotay actually being helpful and supportive to Neelix is an awfully refreshing change amid all the obnoxious behavior we've seen of late. As the crew tries to get power back online, Tom and Seven encounter one of the aliens, who stuns Tom, then Seven stuns the alien. (And this episode is the first time we see Tom's Captain Proton holoprgram, which he ropes first Harry, and then Seven, into playing with him.)

Another, larger ship comes by and chases the little alien ships away, and the larger ship's captain says that the little aliens are dangerous and attack his transport vessel all the time, but won't explain why. Janeway, who's come out of her quarters finally, is suspicious. She wants the other alien's side of the story, and goes to the alien in sickbay, and finds out that his people, who are indiginous to the Void, are being poisoned by radioactive waste being dumped from the larger ship. Janeway wants to help, and offers the waste transport ship's captain recycling technology so he'll stop poisoning the aliens in the Void, but he refuses, saying he'll lose all his profits.

Janeway and the crew know they can't just leave and let the Void aliens be poisoned, but if they destroy the wormhole the garbage ship uses to get in and out of the Void quickly, it means two more years of the Void for Voyager. Janeway, wracked with guilt, doesn't want to put her crew through more hell again, and tries to sacrifice herself to stay behind and destroy the wormhole after Voyager gets through. The crew, however, flat out refuse to let her, in a very touching scene where they all refuse to follow her order to leave her behind. They tell her they'd rather spend two more years in the Void than go on without her. Outnumbered, Janeway is forced to stay, and together they figure out a plan to go through the wormhole and destroy it behind them. With a little help from the Void aliens, they destroy the garbage ship, get through the wormhole, and close it behind them. The space battle looks really cool, Janeway has one of her ridiculous 'Die Hard'-esque one liners that she manages to deliever with such conviction it actually seems badass and cool, and, in a rare display of raw emotion on the bridge, the whole crew looks about ready to cry when they finally see stars on the viewscreen again on the other side.

A top-notch episode in almost every respect, the storyline was really strong, and there were lots of good character moments, but it was undercut by having characters treat each other so poorly. From season 4 on, watching Voyager was like spinning a roulette wheel to see if I would get to see the characters I loved in that episode, or mean-spirited caricatures that just upset me. The mean stuff in this one upset me enough to dampen my enjoyment of the good stuff, unfortunately.

Tl;dr: A really strong storyline for Janeway, with great spooky elements, and an environmentalist message. But the emotional impact was undercut for me by the crew being rude to each other again, particularly some shockingly mean lines they gave to Tom, which shouldn't have been in there in the first place, and upset me enough to detract from what was otherwise a superb episode.

[lucienne-thee-librarian]

For the choose violence ask game: 3,4, and 7 for The Sandman

Thanks nonny! I see how hard people lit up for the Choose Violence ask game and I'm like...you know what I gotta give the people the salt we've all clearly been craving 🤣

3 and 4 (worst take you've ever seen on tumblr/what was the last strae that made you block someone) I'm combining into one cause I fortunately haven't dealt with anyone actually harassing me on here, over fandom drama specifically anyway (yet). OKAY so you all are going to hear about the cold take I saw that lives in my brain rent free that made me unfollow and block a mutual in a fit of rage and bafflement.

Picture being me, a month or two ago. I'd recently followed someone on the spot cause they'd had such a good meta about queer!Rose headcanons. They followed me back. Cool. Everything's Gucci. And then I realize how much of their blog is Dreamling. Okay, I can tag filter or unfollow if it bothers me.

And then I saw them dead ass go into the part of the comics where Ishtar is talking to Dream in Brief Lives, and she says "You really don't like women, do you?"

(Which, ouch, but given his previous behavior, not at all an unfair comment.)

And this person's takeaway was, I shitteth you not, a rambling diatribe about how maybe the reason all Dream's relationships keep failing meanwhile he's friends with Hob Gadling, is that maybe...he's not that Into Women!!

Yeah. Seriously. Definitely not the emotional problems, lack of consistent communication and ability to maintain a relationship long term for various reasons, Definitely not the pride and anger problem that got him to send Nada to hell, which literally the entire arc of Season of Mists involved him trying to fix, no, all this can be waved away with what might as well have been a longer-winded version of that corny ass 2000s era meme "Sometimes a man...hurts a woman...because his soulmate is a man!!" And before you ask - no, this person didn't appear to be joking. I seriously wanted to believe it was satire but NOPE. So now you all have to suffer the knowledge that some people (because it was being just reblogged uncritically to praise) seriously think like this. I swear I lost braincells that day.

7. What character did you begin to hate not because of canon but the way the fandom acts about them? Well...oh you know. Hobert Gadling. Easy.

Look, I was never His Biggest Fan for. Obvious reasons stated below, but he's interesting when you look at him as a direct parallel and contrast to Dream - both of these men/man-shaped beings are immortal and have done absolutely horrendous, unforgivable things to others in their long lives, between Dream's sending a woman he supposedly loved to Hell for breaking it off with him, and Hob's participation in the slave trade. And now, the question is...what do they do with this? How do you live with yourselves, having done things you can never make up for? DO you choose to go on living? Then again the critical difference between them among others - Hob has the ability to choose to maintain his immortality, or not. Dream doesn't - or doesn't feel he can safely choose to abandon the role he was born into.

But the sheer SCALE to which the fandom has constantly, utterly erased the worst of this man's atrocities, like flat out refuses to acknowledge they even exist in both show and comics (it would be one thing entirely if they cut that bit out of the show I'd understand people going feral over show Hob then, but. They did not so where's people's excuse) so they can push him and Morpheus into the mold of their ship is...honestly kind of amazing (derogatory) and has driven me to wanting to grind my teeth every time I saw the ship and eventually, him, until I recently finally wised up and filtered tags. And what also irks me - that they've taken OVER the fandom to the point where it's getting genuinely hard to impossible to go into the tags of any other characters including Rose and Lucienne especially without MOST OF IT being about them being sidelined as cheerleaders in some way for this ship. And if you tag filter and block then that just means their tags are suddenly vastly diminished or full of "this post has filtered tags" "this post has filtered tags" "this post-" ughhhhhh.

[spicycreativity]

An angst prompt if you're up for it (no pressure): Patton bakes the others a batch of cookies/cupcakes to lighten the mood, but nobody seems to like or appreciate them.

Maybe one of the Sides comes in to help Patton feel better? But feel free to interpret this prompt however you prefer 😊

Thank you! This turned out to be a fun one. I used this scenario as a way to explore a potential friendship (or at least allyship) between Patton and Remus post-PoF. Hope you like!

The atmospheric pressure in the mindscape was at an all-time high. Everyone was acting on an odd sort of principle, maybe pride, Patton didn't know, but they all kept trying to be in the same room and sitting in icy silence until they all left one-by-one.

They were all pretending not to be upset and doing an absolutely awful job of it.

And the pressure rose and rose and rose. Patton handled it with his usual grace, which is to say he treated the symptoms and not the underlying issue, which is to say he made cookies. 

He woke up early and made batches and batches: frosted sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, chocolate chip, monster cookies. He found it all rather meditative.

But this peace was not to last. As the others filed in (first Logan, then Virgil, then Roman) and ignored him, Patton shattered the silence each time with forced cries of "good morning!" that went largely unreciprocated.

Logan nodded at him. Virgil gave him a lingering look. Roman's mouth quirked in a flash of a false smile. Not one of them spoke.

This only increased Patton's desperation to make it better make it better make it better take care of them take care of them--

When the final batch of cookies were cooled, he arranged everything on a massive tray. He brought this out to the others, who were sitting deathly still as they pretended to enjoy each other's company.

"I thought you guys might like some cookies!" The false cheerfulness in Patton's voice seemed to echo off all the hard surfaces in the living room, bouncing back and hitting him in the chest.

For a moment, they all just stared at him. Then Roman made a monumental effort. "Thanks."

"I can get some milk or make coffee if you want," Patton said, an edge of desperation creeping into his voice.

"No, thank you," Logan said, not even looking up from his laptop.

"Virgil?"

"Maybe later."

"Oh," said Patton, sinking down onto the couch. "Okay."

And the tray remained untouched.

After everyone had left for the day, satisfied in their daily quota of forced social interaction, Patton picked up the tray and went to find Janus.

He found Remus instead. He was sitting on the floor of a vast room, manning the controls of a model train. The track took up most of the floor and even extended up the walls. Patton paused, forgetting himself, and stared.

"Are you lost, little Puritan?" Remus asked, not looking up from his task. "I think Virginia is that way." He nodded toward the door.

"I was looking for Janus."

"He's working." Remus brought the train to a halt and finally looked up from the controls. "Okay, that's enough cookies to feed an entire youth soccer league."

"They were supposed to be for everyone," Patton said, unable to wholly control his curiosity. Playing with model trains was benign even for him, and try as he might, he couldn't see a single sinister thing about the setup.

"Aha!" Remus leapt to his feet. "I see you admiring my caboose! Care to take a closer look?"

"Oh," said Patton, already backing away, "no--" But Remus leapt over everything in one fluid, physics-defying motion and took Patton's arm. The tray teetered, unbalanced, but Remus just snapped his fingers and it began to float.

He dragged Patton over to where he had been sitting and steered the train to the tracks just in front of them. "This--" He pointed to one of the cars-- "is a perfect model of a UP 2612 caboose."

Seeing movement inside, Patton leaned in to take a closer look. "There are little people in there!"

"Well, of course." Remus took a cookie off the tray, which was still hovering beside Patton, and shoved the whole thing in his mouth. "Who else is gonna die in the crash? Come on, old man, I know you've seen The Addams Family."

"Oh," said Patton, sitting up straight again.

"It's not like they feel pain," Remus said, artfully inserting another cookie into his mouth. "I'm not a complete sicko." The words came out with a spray of crumbs, which Patton couldn't even bring himself to mind. At least someone was enjoying his cookies. As if reading his mind, Remus said, "These fuck!"

"Oh," said Patton, wide-eyed. "Is that good?"

Remus nodded. "These fuck severely and if your dumbass friends can't see that, then it serves them right that they don't get any."

"Don't call them--"

"Now check this shit out!" Remus started up the train. It chugged along the little metal tracks, picking up speed. On a downhill slope, it hit a hairpin turn and derailed, flew a few feet, hit a model water tower, and exploded.

Remus cheered and elbowed Patton in the ribs. "That was a good one!"

The idea of little people-shaped things dying in a horrible explosion still didn't sit right in Patton's stomach, but even he couldn't deny the sheer childish delight in watching things go boom. Still, he would have preferred a happy ending. He just didn't understand. He sighed and picked up one of the frosted sugar cookies. "Why do you have to kill people in order for it to be fun?"

Remus shrugged. "It's what I am. People die in train crashes."

"But why dwell on it?"

"Ooh," said Remus, creating a cookie sandwich out of two snickerdoodles and a chocolate chip cookie. "You're starting to sound like a certain sanctimonious snakey. You know--" He tried and failed to shove the triple decker cookie in his mouth and had to settle for taking a bite. "You guys are very similar when you think about it." He pointed at Patton. "Pretty lies." Then he pointed at himself and leered. "Ugly truth."

Patton stood up abruptly, suddenly very sorry he had asked. "I'm gonna go." Making his own model train sounded nice. And it would go around and around in circles and all the people inside would have tea and coffee and little desserts and nobody would have to die.

"Hate to see you go," Remus sang, "love to watch you leave!"

"Uh, Remus?" Patton paused in the doorway, not quite able to look Remus in the eyes.

"Yes, daddy?"

Patton managed not to flinch. "This was… This was nice. Thank you." He turned to leave.

"Pretty lies!" Remus called as he went.

Patton didn't bother to correct him.

[princeescaluswords]

Funny that the characters expected to do things for free (Scott, Deaton, Braeden) are all people of color. Scott is demonized for even considering keeping the deadpool money which can be argued is his after they made attempts on his life and how it comes from the family that upturned his young life and caused so much pain. Braeden is portrayed as an assassin without morals who dares to haggle with two rich white men about her prices and props her feet up on their precious Italian table in a barren high rise apartment. In the case of Deaton, he *has* done things without payment from the Hales or Argents, including but not limited to flying to Japan and Russia on his own dime, providing ketamine to the pack so they could tranquilize Jackson which could've cost him his license and business and maybe earned him jail time (especially if Jackson's parents found out and his rich lawyer dad sued him to hell and back), and his role of emissary. But Derek and Peter are entitled by birthright to money without having to work for it. They don't actually have to do any protecting of town but bear the surname Hale.

There have been several incidents in the last month where I've heard about conflicts over whether the discussion of racism when it comes to fandom motivations is necessary, accurate, or fair. I'm sure you realize that I believe that it is not only accurate and fair, but it's also absolutely necessary.

Nothing, to me, shows the need to discuss racism in this fandom space than the need for Peter stans to turn Alan Deaton into Peter Hale's archnemesis, a schemer in shadows whose malignancy pervades the story in his role as Sinister Tree Wizard.

We've all seen post after post defending the right of fandom to favor villains, even villains who murder and betray their own families, prey upon teenagers, whose barrel has no bottom. They all say that they just love him because he's sexy and funny and doesn't give any fucks, but they also defend themselves by saying that they recognize he's a villain and would never try to erase what he's done.

Except they do. Eventually, they'll begin to attack his victims by proving how they deserved what he did to them. Eventually, they will get around to excusing Peter's behavior by concocting elaborate fantasies, such as the Left Hand. Eventually they will transform the villain they love into ... not a villain. But in order to do the thing they stated they wouldn't do, they have to find someone to blame his crimes on. Isn't it funny how that, in this fandom, it often turns out to be the nearest character of color.

In Peter's case, this is often Alan Deaton, even though these two characters interacted in a hostile manner only once on the show, in Code Breaker (1x12). Deaton chose to protect Scott, a wounded teenager, from Peter, a violent murderer.

Then again Deaton also warned Derek about his uncle (which Derek chose to ignore) after Peter had used Derek to come back to life in Fury (2x10).

Deaton: She was right. And I have some advice that you need to listen to very closely right now. What Peter managed to do doesn't come without a price. He'll be physically weak, so he'll rely on the strength of his intelligence, his cunning. He's gonna come at you, Derek. He'll try to twist his way inside your head, preying on your insecurities. He'll tell you that he's the only way you can stop Gerard. Do not trust him.

I can see why people think of Deaton as Peter's nemesis, if you think that Deaton was trying to poison Derek against Peter. But here's the funny thing -- Deaton was 100% right. Everything Deaton warned Derek Peter would do, Peter did. We watched him do it.

As a digression, here's another hilarious thing about this particular scenario. You know how parts of the fandom go ballistic when they think about how Scott McCall is the worst person ever because he violated Derek's physical autonomy to defeat Gerard at claw point in Master Plan (2x12)? Where's the outrage for Peter violating rape-victim Derek's physical autonomy in Party Guessed? I've never seen it.

But back to Deaton. When they're not arguing that he must have planned to steal the Hale Spark for Scott -- without ascribing a method or a motive -- they're accusing him of not doing enough to save the Hale family or, worse, being actively involved in the plot against them. Even though we learned how the Hale fire happened and who was responsible, and even though we learned that the Hales -- even Peter -- trusted and relied on Deaton, as evidenced by Visionary (3x08).

Cora: And did she give you good advice?

Stiles: Actually, yeah.

Peter: That's what they do. That's what Deaton used to do for Talia.

Now I know anything is possible in fanfiction, but if you look closely at Sinister Conspirator Deaton stories, you'll find something strangely missing in 99% of them. Deaton is never given a motive for being Peter's or the Hales' enemy, and he seldom derives any benefit from his schemes. He does it for a nebulous 'power' that he never uses.

It's like they don't need to give Deaton a reason to betray the Hales, to break his promise to the woman he loves, or to be hostile to the people he canonically helps repeatedly. There's something about Deaton that makes him fandom's premium suspect for being the true darkness in Beacon Hills. I wonder, oh I wonder, what that could be?

And they better not damn say "Stiles didn't trust him!" because Stiles didn't trust Derek and he didn't trust Peter and he didn't trust Isaac and he didn't trust Liam, but they aren't turned repeatedly into the secret evil of Beacon Hills. He was right about Peter and Theo, but the narrative showed us he was right about Peter and Theo.

The inescapable truth is that when Peter stans (and Stiles stans and Derek stans) look for someone to blame for not getting what they wanted from the narrative, there is a reason they settle on Deaton (and Scott and and Braeden and Morrell). It's not clues in these character's behavior, it's not the clues from the narrative, and it's not even a fully-developed alternative universe.

BUT IT'S NOT RACISM.

[sokkathebluewolf]

Hi I have a question what would you describe Azula and Zhao relationship in your story?

... a disaster waiting to happen?

Some spoilers below, so read at your own risk:

Azula and Zhao have always had a complicated relationship in Gladiator's universe. She used to practically hero-worship the guy as a kid... until she realized he was actually underestimating her and looking down on her for a myriad of reasons. Thus, she set out to prove herself to him, and to everyone who dared look down on her, so she could make him respect her for real.

Zhao, on his part, has always treated and seen Azula as a child, with only the occasional moments of realizing that she's already fully grown up (such as when they met again once he returned from the north) or that she's actually damn epic (such as during her week as Fire Lord). But more than anything, Zhao's behavior towards Azula was decidedly arrogant for a very long time. It's not until Azula seeks him out for help her in one of her schemes that he finally tries to make amends for his failings with her... and then he spends most his time attempting to make amends still, even if Azula isn't quite as antagonistic towards him anymore, what with her being a little more mature and also having waaaay too much going on in her life to worry that much about this guy anymore.

So... in Part 1, Azula was hostile towards Zhao, and Zhao condescending towards Azula. In Part 2, their relationship evolves towards a wobbly sort of respect, in which Zhao frequently attempted to prove himself to Azula too, only to fail practically every time regardless of his intentions. She didn't care much about those failures at first... but she does once he vows to help her get Ozai to stop his rampaging madness only to fail catastrophically at it.

At that point in Part 2, Azula's opinion of Zhao swings back to the absolute WORST extreme because she starts to read his behavior so far, yet again, as manipulation and deceit at every corner, as opportunism and attempts to claw at power at her expense. At best, she thinks maybe he just doesn't care if he has to go over her to get some power... but all in all, she's just reading his behavior, and her father's choices, as what Zhao has been hoping for since day 1.

This isn't exactly correct of course, we've been working with a much more complex and nuanced Zhao than what canon gave us, but what brittle cordiality he had built with Azula, whatever common sense Zhao might still have in his head... all of it falls to the wayside when he starts to see Azula not as a child anymore, but as someone with actual agency and power to strike back when threatened, and with no apparent regard for whatever she has to destroy in order to get her way. It's ironic because that description fits Ozai far better than it fits Azula... but that's how Zhao starts to see her after his gladiator is the sole casualty after the horrific destruction of the Grand Royal Dome.

Hence... Part 3 will give us the absolute worst possible state of affairs between Azula and Zhao. There's absolute distrust on both sides, and there's a certain irksome Ozai pushing his agenda of forcing people into corners, his favorite way to manipulate the world around him, and he forces these two into a corner neither of them wants to be in, which makes their relationship even worse. Zhao will certainly have a few moments of trying to do right by his promise to Sokka, back when he last spoke with Sokka in prison... but there will be a breaking point for Zhao. Said breaking point arrives once he feels used, betrayed, manipulated by Azula and it pretty much makes him snap... which paves the way for our Zhao to pretty much become the worst version of himself he can be.

As for Azula, at that point in time... well, she's never going to lower her guard around Zhao, that much should be obvious, I think. She'll refuse to ever see him as anything other than a sneaky, conniving bastard waiting to make the most of whatever chances fall on his lap. Even so, she'll make a few attempts at cordiality at a few points in time, and she'll do right by someone who should matter lots to Zhao, someone we've already seen a few times but that we'll see far more often in Part 3... our soft-spoken, quiet and awkward Rei :') But as it happens, Zhao misreads Azula's behavior towards Rei as more and more manipulation... and things become a chaotic disaster because of his assumptions. Ultimately, there's only one thing Azula will ever cherish related to Zhao... and it's literally Rei, nothing other than that :'D

So... that's pretty much it. Azula and Zhao really won't have a good dynamic going forward, it deteriorates further over time too (so... we could say it's kind of uneasy, unpleasant and painful in the early arcs of Part 3, but that dynamic grows more aggressive starting from arc 4), so unfortunately, what awaits these two in the coming chapters is not easy stuff at all. If you were curious because you hoped they'd be allies and friends... I'm sorry to say that's not in the books, not for someone like Zhao who, for all his not-so-disagreeable behaviors in Part 2, is still 100% on board with the firebending supremacist ideologies of Sozin. If a refresher is needed, he was pretty casual about sacrificing a whole slew of innocents as scapegoats to deceive the general population of the Fire Nation and to drive across a message about the harsh punishments that await anyone who dares dissent against Ozai's regime. And that's without even bringing up his willingness to destroy the Northern Water Tribe, erradicate their culture and claim their oasis not solely for the sake of slaying the Moon Spirit as in canon... but to test if its waters will truly grant immortality :')

Zhao was always a chameleon-sort of character in Gladiator, and while I certainly have enjoyed making him much more complex than he was in canon, I also can assure you... he's not a good person, on just about any level you can think of. Even if he has a handful of not-too-terrible traits here, he's still someone who has been shaped by the cruelty of his nation and who has been enforcing the will of the Fire Lord since his early years. Much like Ozai is quite unwilling to change his ways... ultimately, so is Zhao if said change means discarding the entire ideological foundation of their actions and decisions since their teenage years.

Thus, the better days of his dynamics with Azula are long gone now. There's really nothing particularly positive waiting in the horizon due to a very strong mutual distrust... and also due to their personal agendas, which yes, they both will have. In short, if you were holding your breath for anything good to come from their relationship, I'm afraid it's not going to happen.