Prince Zuko 🔥 祖寇 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rediscovering) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
avalononline2021-05-02 08:48 pm
rediscovering) wrote in avalononline2021-05-02 08:48 pm
Entry tags:
- alice in wonderland: alice liddell,
- avatar: the last airbender: zuko,
- beastars: louis,
- danganronpa: mukuro ikusaba,
- dragon age: inquisitor lavellan,
- dramatical murder: noiz,
- ducktales: fenton crackshell-cabrera,
- hypnosis mic: rosho tsutsujimori,
- ikemen sengoku: oda nobunaga,
- katekyou hitman reborn: tsunayoshi sawad,
- my hero academia: eijiro kirishima,
- my hero academia: izuku midoriya,
- tales of symphonia: colette brunel,
- twisted wonderland: azul ashengrotto
text; un: fireprince
1. what do you know about job interviews?
i didnt know you have to interview to get jobs. even if it's just at a restaurant!! regardless of whether the job itself involves talking to people at all!!? stupid
[ Guess who's been bombing interviews as a part-time busboy all over town. And who's only bothering to ask about proper employment beyond random quests, um, now, after several months of just getting by...? He must be getting tired of stealing hotchips from the cornerstore. ]
2. what do you know about going to school as a full-time student here?
i heard you can make a living like this
insight about going to school in other worlds could be useful too. i was homeschooled....
[ But at least he's thinking in terms of solutions. ]
i didnt know you have to interview to get jobs. even if it's just at a restaurant!! regardless of whether the job itself involves talking to people at all!!? stupid
[ Guess who's been bombing interviews as a part-time busboy all over town. And who's only bothering to ask about proper employment beyond random quests, um, now, after several months of just getting by...? He must be getting tired of stealing hotchips from the cornerstore. ]
2. what do you know about going to school as a full-time student here?
i heard you can make a living like this
insight about going to school in other worlds could be useful too. i was homeschooled....
[ But at least he's thinking in terms of solutions. ]
no subject
[Nobunaga just waves a hand to the first part.] It was better for her that way. She was already in mourning, and better not to see the politics and chaos that came after if she could avoid it.
[He listens attentively, curiously, and mentally does his best to piece it out in his head with the other pieces he's gathered so far.]
That does sound lonely. [To the last part though--] But you didn't kill each other.
[A beat. Most siblings don't. Uh. BUT Rather than figure that out--] Or did you try to?
[A head tilt. HOW TO EXPLAIN.]
[Nobunaga has never learned to guard his emotions or his face, on account of being brought up by royalty, mocked and teased through his childhood, and then just using his reputation for his temper and exposed emotions to his advantage. So in Camelot, he really is an open book more than most!]
[He rests his hand above his eyes.] Perhaps you saw the recent post requesting assassination of other heirs to a demon's fortunes? Such things cease in the future, but in my time they're taken for granted.
[Another head tilt.] I don't know that our father had favorites. Which I suppose means it must be me, right? Nubuhiro was older than me, but born to a woman before our father was married, so he wasn't legally entitled to the Oda domain. [Nobunaga just sort of-- flatlines. Weird to explain ancient history, but important, especially since it explains the more important part: why he wanted to break the castes system so desperately!]
He was given a castle and some political and war control --
[A beat.] Ah, perhaps I should explain my father's role first. [A smile, and he's actually proud! He's a totally Daddy's boy. IRONICALLY.] As I mentioned, Japan was split into 300 factions in my father's time. That many lords, and controlling royalty with different villages and terrain. Oda Nubuhide, my father, was a general. He was actually quite soft-hearted and believed in giving everyone second chances, that's what got him killed.
[Think think think.] When I was very young, even as the heir to Oda domain, it was... [A small squint.] Not a fortunate position. Through several war campaigns, Nobuhide helped alliances, and tried to keep his territory from burning, but Owari, our province, was surrounded on all sides by bigger, wealthier, and stronger factions.
[Back to resting his chin in his hand.] Whenever he wasn't at war, I spent all my time with my father, he was training me to be a general like him, but this also meant I was taken into battles even when I was young.
I mentioned Ieyasu a couple of times, yes? Our families were warring for generations. No reason other than that they didn't know how to stop anymore, I think. When Ieyasu was six, his father sent him to one of our enemies, one of his allies to prove his sincerity in their war efforts. My father had him kidnapped and threatened to kill him if his father didn't withdraw his alliance, to try to pressure him not to fight us. Nevertheless, as I said, my father was notoriously soft-hearted, so Ieyasu's father called his bluff. My father took Ieyasu in instead, and I spent more time with Ieyasu than Nobuhiro. Ieyasu's father died from an illness soon after, so maybe it was for the best? Our world's time is like that.
When Nobuhiro's castle was besieged I must have only been a child still but... [Squints in thought, and shakes his head.] Nobuhide traded Ieyasu for Nobuhiro's release when Nobuhiro was kidnapped. The next time I saw Ieyasu, I was already a general myself, just barely holding control of the Oda forces together, but I was able to free him and he's been on my side ever since.
When my father died, my younger brother Nobuyuki tried to have me killed. [A headshake.] I could have ignored that, but he kept fomenting rebellion, using my reputation as reckless and an idiot who disrespected traditions, and hung out with commoners and embraced foreign ideas and new things for the sake of it being new, which made it harder for everyone else. The first few times, our mother begged me to forgive him, so I did. But he pulled our Uncle into it -- and then I had no choice politically. [A sigh.] That's the kind of world I wanted to force Japan to move beyond. And they did. [Leans his chin into fist again.] But not for centuries, I suppose.
Nobukane is a samurai. He would often train with swords with me in our youth, but he was given to the Nagano clan, again, to try to achieve a temporary peace. When I freed him too, he's religious now, and doesn't bother trying to convert me, but he certainly tries to temper some of my demonic ways. He shaves his head though, and sometimes messes it up still. [SMIRK!] Ah, that's a thing the monks do. They believe keeping hair is a worldly attachment that must be ~transcended.~ [Sips his tea and snorts.]
Nagamasu is also religious. I should explain there are 5 major religions fighting for control in Japan. [Ticks them off his fingers.] Buddhism is from India, and is the most bothersome of them. They believe in strict caste regiments, they don't allow for candy or worldly desires, like hair, fun clothes, actually fun in general, and that is where I am considered the Demon King from. Confucianism is Chinese, and not too annoying, but it also believes strongly in a hierarchy of bloodlines and fate. That if you are born royalty, it's divine. But usually believes that a land is only as prosperous as its poorest citizen -- so most of the lords didn't allow it wherever they had control. [Another derisive snort.] Taoism believes that [Holds up both hands.] Yin & Yang. Two halves of the same whole. Black and white always keep each other in balance, ebb and flow. Any attempts to disrupt the balance could cause catastrophe. It's also Chinese, but doesn't conflict with Buddhism, because they believe in upholding the status quo.
Shintoism is the belief in -- [He furrows his brow. It really IS weird to explain it to an offworlder. With Luis Frois when he was explaining the religions, and indeed, why Nobunaga despised them, the European missionary still had a lot of first-hand experience with seeing it, and would usually just have specific questions about specific traditions or quirks.] Spirits. [He closes both eyes in thought. Trying to put the words from his faithful brothers to use.] Animism. It's generally a little superstitious. Things like, snowstorms are caused by mountain gods, or snow witches. Or typhoons are god's way of protecting us from other countries, or punishing the wicked on our own islands. Admittedly... This one I have the most trouble proving impossible. Dragons in rivers, could be true. Oni are Buddhist and I know aren't, but most of the familiars from anyone from Japan have been part of this, Shintoism. Youkai, demons, or just things like that. Our founding goddess was called Amaterasu, a great white wolf. It's believed she mothered the Emperor, and that the descending line is still holding some of that divinity. That's whom my father was the General for, but the only bloodline left of the Emperor had no political or military power. My father was protecting him just out of loyalty, but then I did it out of ambition.
[A headshake.] I wouldn't even try to disprove the heritage thing. It holds too much emotion, and cultural pride among the people.
Kitsune are from there as well. [Tilts his head the other way, thinking even harder.] Foxes with more than one tail, tricksters who enjoy pranks, but can be benevolent should they so choose. We used to joke on a regular basis that Mitsuhide is a kitsune, and now he actually has one here. And Kitsuno... at minimum in her realm, was a kitsune princess. [And Nobunaga was always the Demon King. Weird.]
[A shrug.] It's uniquely Japanese, and with no real intention to spread it, unlike all the other religious philosophies. All the other religions believe they should be everywhere. Spread through the whole world. Most of Shintoism is just superstitions though. Traditions for the sake of traditions, or things that people forget the original reasons behind. A few truly religious things, stories, holidays, shrines, but I get the impression by the 2000s, even that is mostly considered just for fun, nothing serious. And they stopped the sacrifices, that was a big thing I hated.
The fifth religion is Christianity. It's completely new to Japan. It's from Europe. A lot of warlords had banned it when they could, but a few saw the opportunities it presented, and I specifically -- Their god is against the castes. A king born in a farm shed. [Snorts and shakes his head, and laughs.] I don't believe it much either, but politically... [Shrugs.]
[And chin hands.] Nagamasu does though. He's very taken with it. All my brothers and I like trying new and foreign things, especially from Europe. The one advantage we had as Owari Province was shipping. Because we were in the center and surrounded by everyone, we were where everyone wanted to be for trading.
[A distant thought.] Not unlike Celliwig, as a matter of fact. Even with the trials; that was much like my father & my policy of not letting anyone simply pass through on the way to other things. We weren't a stopover, we were a destination. No major resources of our own, and being surrounded made it more difficult, so the least we could do was play it to our advantage and make the most of it.
Nobutoki was Nobuhiro's full younger brother, same mother, but he died fighting in the war on my Uncle's side. [Did he mention that much. SIGH.] The larger time my brothers tried to have me killed, they said it was to get my Uncle as Lord. Nobuhiro backed down, I think he didn't really want to be in power, just felt cornered. But Nobuyuki had been trying to have me assassinated since he was 8. Some of the others tried off and on. The other clans or provinces would try to bribe them or promise stupid things, the monks kept trying, but usually until I was an adult they would just call me an idiot and stay out of the family war, but even after I made it clear to Nobuyuki I wouldn't be killed, he kept trying. So that was when I sent our mother away. [And yanno, killed a bunch of his brothers.]
Oichi is the last one worth mentioning, because I'd move mountains for her. [Soft sad smile.] She's brilliant, stubborn as anything, and only barely less reckless than I am. She's the youngest, she was only four or five when our father died, and if it wasn't for her, I don't think I'd have any humanity in me at all. I certainly wouldn't have lived this long. She saved my life, despite being something of a princess, she would have been a good warrior, heart of steel, fangs like a tiger. I had arranged for her to marry Azai Nagamasa to cement an alliance with his clan, but he opted to betray me... Politics. [Just hand over his eyes again.] She warned me though. Sent me a coded message. When she was little I used to use the same kind of metaphors and analogies to explain the fighting to her as best as I could, and again, if it wasn't for that, I don't think I'd have ever figured out how to explain anything to Hideyoshi and the others either. And that's how she warned me. She remembered all the metaphors and used that.
Ah, she's one of the ones I refuse to look up other timelines of. I don't need to know. Although now I wonder if Kitsuno's realm has another version of her. Kitsuno's Demon King is -- [Wait. Should he explain about the Kitsuno of his own world?] Very literal. As opposed to mine being a grandiose despicable title from religions I don't even follow. If I believed in reincarnation and the rest... I might wonder a lot more. Kitsuno was the name of -- [No, but seriously... that's so weird and embarrassing...]
[He glances away, actually blushing!] my lover. Um. She doesn't have much in common with the Kitsuno here, beyond names, but... [Shrugs.] It's weird, right? [Nod!]
It kind of makes me want to kill the other Demon Kings though. I'm not good at sharing. [Nobunaga FFS.]
[But yes, Nobunaga is like inverted Flame Emperor. Ish. Except with the burning monks staying same.]
no subject
That must be hard... Fighting with your family like that. I, um— I know how that goes. Azula and I did more than fight, but— not anymore. And I've come to realize, you know, she's so talented and the perfect warrior and a brilliant strategist— if she'd really wanted to kill me, she would have. She was just... playing.
[ This sounds so much sicker than it should. And it is! They're not normal! Nor healthy! But they've conjured some peace and that's something, even if Zuko's done some impressive mental and moral gymnastics to justify such a truce. ]
What happened to Nobuyuki? You forgave him, even after all the trouble he gave you all those years? What did your mother say? Our mother wanted me and Azula to get along; but now Uncle doesn't seem to think we should. Even when we were little, Azula had it out for me, but— I dunno... it's hard to describe when you don't know her... It's like— that's her way of bonding. Like any reaction from me is better than no reaction. I don't know if I'd call us allies now, but we're not enemies anymore, and— it makes me question if we ever truly were... But she's from years in my future here. She's technically my older sister now, which is weird— I'm supposed to be two years older than her, but now she's two years older than me, but I— ...I don't want to know, either. I don't want to know what happens in her timeline. If our future allows for us to build a truce, I don't want to learn anything early and fuck it up, just in case we do remember these places when we go home. And— even if we don't— ...what's relevant now is that we're here for each other after everything that's happened, even if I don't know what's happened. I don't know if that just makes me willfully blind, or stupid to trust her, but— ...getting along feels more valuable than knowing my future, even if it's her past.
[ He finds particular interest in the contents of his teacup as he speaks, eyes boring a hole as he shares more than he'd intended to, which snaps his realization to, as well, suddenly. ]
S-Sorry— I don't know why I'm telling you all this...
[ He raises his gaze up again nervously, blushing faintly as he becomes self-aware of how much more emotional he's leading the conversation than it had been. ]
I, uh— I'd like to meet that Ieyasu guy. If he ever shows up here. If my friend Aang ever shows up here, you should meet him, too. He's very important in our world, a wise kid. And he's a monk, too — he also shaves his hair. Air Nomads did that, too. But I don't think our worlds have any religions in common... Everything in my world is centered around the elements. And besides, Aang's unique anyway, he has powers unlike any other — he's someone called the Avatar, the only person who can control all the elements, reincarnated over and over, and he's uh, sort of like a peacekeeper, a-and the bridge between our world and the Spirt World— we have Spirits, too. I don't think it's like the ones you describe, although we do have such a concept as yin and yang as well, but our spirits are present, tangible, not really speculation. Although, I mean, I guess, neither are yours, especially in a place like this, which is kinda like a Spirit Realm, if you think about it... And there are kitsune and stuff here, too... I met one. My friend Hikaru's familiar Yoshiha. We don't have foxes in my world– not like those— but maybe we do and they're just spirits and I never knew about them, I dunno. I don't know a lot about religion in your world, from what my friends have told me, and what I've learned, but— religion in my world... it's less complicated... The Avatar is kind of the central figure no matter what way you slice it, no matter where you're from. And his role is pretty direct and active... provided he's around for it, I mean. Definitely real, though.
[ Oh, boy. He's better off rambling. When in doubt, rant about the Avatar. An uncomfortable hand searches for the back of his neck to rub at while he speaks, losing his train of focus. He's also not touching the remarks about his lover Kitsuno, or the variations of her. Zuko doesn't want to imagine that there can be any more variations of his loved ones than a linear backwards-or-forwards in time scenario like has been the case with his sister. If an alternate version of Mai shows up, Zuko'll just about lose his mind. ]
1/2
Nobuyuki would rather be dead than live with me as clan leader or more. He made that abundantly clear, and insisted if I didn't kill him, he'd never stop. So I did. By my own hand. [He's not... happy about it, but his eyes are just icy all the same. As Mai (who rescued him from Honno-Ji) has yet to tell him; it's not that he doesn't feel pain, but he's buried it so deeply he doesn't even know it exists.]
[And indeed, Nobunaga considers forcing people to live in his prisons actually torture for them given the sort of messed up state of Japan and romanticized ideals of honor and suicide.] Gozen, our mother, hasn't forgiven me. I don't expect her to. [He hasn't forgiven himself, but he doesn't see any thing he could have done differently either. Nobuyuki wasn't just trying to kill Nobunaga, after all.]
I get it. [He still expects a sort of "oh shit I'm having tea with a demon king" reaction from Zuko for the Nobuyuki thing, but all the same, he likes Zuko!]
[He tenses at the idea of meeting a monk. A devout monk. But... Zuko continues on, and he relaxes.] I spoke with Hikaru, I think. He was familiar with my -- In his timeline, I reportedly died in a fire at Honno-Ji, believed to have been set by Akechi Mitsuhide. Mitsuhide is my left hand, and here with me, and also has a kitsune familiar. Though in my time, I was rescued from the fire, it was rather recently. [Headshake.]
Ah admittedly... I have a bit of a terse relationship with religion. Not specifically religious beliefs, but to go back to Nobuyuki...
To become the Demon King, you have to kill all the other demons, and become the most extreme of them. The worst of them.
Nobuyuki wanted to be clan leader for the same reason plenty of other demons abused their power. Wealth, status. Things like that. No. More than that... Tradition. [Sort of distant for a bit, and then shakes his head, snapping mostly out of it.] The--
[Shifts his jaw.] It might be better if you ask Hikaru, though I don't know how much is written. It seems like Hideyoshi scrubbed certain parts of my reputation, and the monks were all killed, so they didn't exactly have too many survivors, never mind victors, to write about our wars.
There were a few extreme sects that acted much the same as Nobuyuki. Worse. They wanted traditions upheld. Politics. They reinforce the barrier I mentioned holding everyone back.
2/2
I don't think you're foolish for trusting Azula, just stay on your toes. I think, had Gozen --
[GLANCES COMPLETELY THE OTHER WAY.] As a child, I was known around town and everywhere as the Fool of Owari. Baka-dono. Idiot-Lord. I befriended commoners, spent all my time with falcons, fishing, hunting, playing with guns, and trying to convince my father to embrace new techniques both at war and getting rid of the hierarchies. My mother had no patience for it. More than that, she wanted Nubuyuki for a bit of a political puppet, to parley as giving away protecting Owari into letting other politicians take the lead, and that was something I could never allow.
Hideyoshi was born a commoner. Samurai had to be born into it. Making Hideyoshi my right hand was unheard of. A lot of my father's allies and soldiers resented it, and mothers in Japan are expected to have great shame for their sons sticking out. [Sardonic smirk!] There's a saying they're very fond of. The nail that sticks out gets hammered down. I was always that nail. But instead, whenever anyone tried to hammer me into place, I sucker-punched them right back twice as hard.
Samurai, lords, kings... [EYEROLL.] So much foolishness. As I said, the European merchants didn't even view us as worthy because it was too out of their way with too many politics to field and too little to gain.
The monks were the biggest source of those telling others not to do anything new. Worse, many of them knew their power politically among the people, and constantly tried to choose who was allowed to live and die. Samurai had to be born into it, but monks allowed the poor to send their children to the monasteries to learn from them martial arts. It didn't do anything for the children who weren't sent there, but it meant the samurai couldn't kill monks for no reason without repercussion.
They would tell the people to give up worldly desires for food or material goods, the only source of power outside of them, beyond their control, and let people live in misery all while praising it as something good. Don't try to get rid of the nobility, just pity them for not having a better after life or reincarnation. Never mind what was happening right here and now.
[Another eyeroll.] I set all of Mount Hiei on fire. [Drinks his tea, and gauges Zuko's reaction.] The monk sect there -- I did try to negotiate. [His eyes narrow. Because it's relevant with the faerie and Celliwig relationship! He doesn't kill willy-nilly, but yeah, he's not above genocide.] They wouldn't have it.
As I said, it was part of the world I wanted Japan to move beyond.
Emet-Selch often says the world can't be made better from war, but I don't think that's what I'm doing. Not at all. No war can be won from just trying to survive. The monks often said they were in the right and were trying to make a better world, while not doing anything to it. Better world? No. Just a prosperous Japan was enough for me. [Small smile.] Someone called me the First Unifier of Japan the other day. It's got a nice ring to it. [Head tilt.]
Mitsuhide is my left hand, and here with me. He's known me since I was a child, Gozen hates him too. [Gozen hates all his vassals, it's almost a litmus test.] And Hikaru and others knew him as the one to betray me and end my reign. I do trust him with more than my life.
But the thing about being the King of Demons... For all the ones you get to join you instead of destroying, it will always increase your power, but you should never trust a demon, Zuko.
I always have to fight for my army's ambitions first, or my own don't stand a chance, they'll betray me, and they'd have every right to. Whether that's Mitsuhide, Ieyasu, Hideyoshi, Kitsuno, or anyone else.
It's good that you have the chance to get along with Azula here and now. Don't waste it. But don't lose sight of her ambitions, especially if you aren't sure what those are; and even more so if she doesn't know either.
no subject
...I'll talk to Hikaru about what he knows about you. And Mitsuhide. And I'll ask my other Italian-Japanese friend Gokudera, too. He knows about a lot of stuff. Maybe he knows something different about how history remembers you.
[ That's what it comes down to. History's remembrance. These moves are hard ones to hear casually off the cuff, but he comes from royalty and a military state in the midst of a century-long war culture, so he's much more desensitized to things like "I killed my brother" and "I burned down a village" than maybe most. In fact, he doesn't bat an eyelash at the comment about burning down Mt. Hiei. Zuko's burned down villages himself, and he's not even seventeen yet. Whoops. The cockiness that Nobunaga nonchalantly shrugs off, though, that fade from dark tones to haughty arrogance, "I won, whatever," chills Zuko a bit, and leaves him with a complex, simple question. ]
...Why were the monks killed?
[ He glances aside, uncertain whether he should share as much about his world, too fascinated by Nobunaga's, but bits must be, he figures, and meets his eye with a strange steeliness. ]
...The Air Nomads were all killed in my world, decades ago, almost a century. There was a genocide. The Fire Lord at the time, Sozin, was responsible — it started off a century-long world war my nation has spearheaded ever since.
[ He frowns, eyes finding the tabletop again uncomfortably. ]
Sozin betrayed his best friend on his quest for power. His best friend was the Avatar, as well — but his last incarnation, Roku. Roku spared Sozin's life in the name of their friendship. But if he hadn't— the Air Nomads would still exist today, and the world wouldn't be so burned and scarred. The war would have never happened and the Fire Nation wouldn't be what it is today. He showed mercy instead of foresight. I think about them a lot lately... ...They were like brothers. They grew up together. Even shared a birthday.
[ He looks up once more, emotive, complex, earnest, meeting Nobunaga's eye at the brothers comment. He's not mentioning that these men both happened to be his own great-grandfathers. Not just yet. ]
I think any leaders are all forced to be crabs in a bucket, in a way. But even in war, still part of them keeps them soft-hearted humans by nature, too — still just regular people. That makes it scary to me, honestly. It's easier to be one or the other. I worry about being able to tell which way the scales are tipping... I've always been the nail that sticks out, too. After so much hammering— sometimes it's hard to see straight, I guess...
[ This got way more intimate than he expected it to, and he looks away again, rubbing the back of his head nervously with a soft scowl. ]
1/3
2/3
[Why were the monks killed? Why were the nomads?]
[But then Zuko explains some of it, and it helps. A little.]
[But he still doesn't answer right away, collecting his thoughts instead.]
3/3 TW: Ikko-Ikki cult, genocide, sacrifice, anti-Buddhism
He is a healer, and while that is my magic here, I feel completely inadequate at it next to him. Mitsuhide has been teaching me off and on some of the magic as he learns it, but my teacher committed suicide to try to shame me into my responsibilities. I doubt I'd have that exact effect these days, but I was never a good student, so I don't want to find out. I'm sure it would surprise Tokugawa to be teaching me to tend others wounds rather than just letting him tend mine, but that's how much I trust him.
I don't regret listening to Gozen the first time. Many... No, almost all of my allies were once my enemies. I don't let the more dangerous ones have access to weapons anymore, but forcing nobles to live the peasant life so they can understand it, is my terrible sense of humor.
And more, it serves three purposes. [Ticks off on fingers.] One, it undermines who works for them, as people come to understand, lords are just humans, and spirits aren't protecting them for being born there. Two, it means they'll surrender. You may have heard how Japanese culture never allows for surrender. People like Nobuyuki who would rather die than suffer such a blow to their pride. Give them another option, and some will take it. Not everyone, but enough. And three: it's an opportunity. For me as well as them. Dead is dead. Alive they can still provide something.
As I said, my family was warring with Ieyasu's family for so long they forgot how not to. Ending the endless revenge wars was another part of it.
How is the Avatar reincarnated? Along bloodlines or criminals or pure of heart? Sozin wanted to kill the Air Nomads because he was scared they'd stop him?
That isn't how I felt about the Ikko-Ikki. Did the air nomads do anything with the fire nation?
As I said, of the five major religions vying for influence in Japan, the ones I had the most troubles with were Buddhism and Taoism.
The Buddhist monks were the worst. They wanted a total monopoly on everything. Whether it was theology, politics, everything. They kept allying with lords, sometimes hired themselves out as demons to exorcise and would require sacrifices sometimes in the form of children or lives, how coincidental they didn't give themselves though.
The Ikko-Ikki kept fighting with Ieyasu. They didn't respect his position, they thought they could use his history against him, manipulate him via the politics, and mentally use a pincer attack on him.
We tried constantly to get them to at least stop encouraging open rebellion among people, stop courting other royalty, quit with the banditry bribery, but they kept seeing our attempts to negotiate as weakness.
They also at least pretended in part to believe that our morals could never see eye to eye. I want people to enjoy luxuries. They wanted people to forgo them utterly, and transcend such desires. They wanted to maintain an elite status while I wanted those removed entirely from society. They wanted to ban and execute or imprison missionaries, even other Buddhist missionaries they didn't get along with, and generally I wanted them to do something productive instead of wasting everyone's time with their nonsense.
Mount Hiei was their shrine stronghold. After they sent back bodies of our messengers, to flaunt that they were too holy to talk to the Demon King and his corruptive influence on the world, I'd had more than enough. Likewise, I wanted to send a message that I wouldn't allow for it. Direct consequences. Not imaginary hypothetical spiritual ones that no one can prove would happen.
I don't go about exterminating all monks. Luis Frois is a Jesuit missionary from Portugal, and we've been writing letters for years, when I don't get to ask him as many questions as I can in person.
I don't think I was scared, but to do that kind of thing in cold blood... The only reason more history books don't call me a monster is Hideyoshi scrubbing my reputation I'm sure. I wasn't scared. But I wasn't even livid. They made their stance as clear as Nobuyuki and I couldn't see an alternative. I couldn't let them continue, or things would just fester and our goals would be impossible. That simple.
Being born royalty is a trap, of expectations and demands. Marriage is political, you get sold as a knight or samurai, or bargaining chips, and just to stay alive means having to kill others who want to kill you to take your place. But it's worse for children of criminals even of centuries ago. Or people who have to take jobs no one else wants. The very flaw with reincarnation...
If you want to do good things or whatever, just do them! Why does there have to be royalty, just so you can try to be reborn as one? How does that even make sense? Just do what you want in this life and get rewarded here. [Irritated growl. It's this that gets him worked up.] One life is all anyone needs, but once they get convinced there's more... It's like Nobuyuki. They think they can choose death rather than learn to be useful to someone else. Or that being born a noble is because they earned it in a past life? Utter nonsense.
[Stubborn headshake!] No matter what, I'll always go to war for that.
It's not for peace, it's just quality of life. Someone like Emet-Selch who doesn't only live fifty years can never understand. There are plenty of things worth dying or killing for. Power isn't one of them. But refusing to let someone else control you, or dictate not just your life, but all your descendants? Seems like a good reason to me.
So I guess that's not fear, but it is anger. Pride too. I can't stand the idea of Japan staying weak and petty and continuing to hurt itself like this out of fear. Hm. Maybe even the whole of Earth eventually. Since Bean and Matt, those who have made contact with non-Earth life and so forth, it applies to them to. Even then, I can't stand the idea of letting the castes remain. Of people, transcending normal desires. Not having fun. Not allowed to eat candy, or whatever they want. No fun with clothes or hair, music, dance, art, whatever makes life enjoyable. That's what life should be about, and that is exactly what they, the monks, refused to allow.
oof i didn't realize i'd never responded to this, sorry for the wild delay! i'd love to continue tho
...I've said it before and I'll say it again, too — you should really talk to my uncle. He feels very strongly about the value of pleasure and leisure. You guys would have some interesting discussions, that's for sure.
[ Would they see eye-to-eye on everything? Of course not. That just makes it more interesting. Zuko's not sure where he stands exactly, himself, but he isn't afraid of Nobunaga, or as alarmed by the things he describes as one might think. Frankly, he likes his perspective. He likes the ruthlessness combined with the pleasure — it's a good middle of the road for the two extremes Zuko's always had as role models. It makes sense to him. ]
It sounds like you've done what you had to do — played the cards you were dealt to win the game against people who weren't playing fair, either. But I see where you're coming from. It's complicated. There are lots of good reasons to kill and to die, but you're right — power and greed and highfalutin traditions aren't good reasons. Self-sacrifice for the sake of pride and being entirely unwilling to change — that's not a good reason, either. It took me... a long time... to realize that. A lot of misused fire.
[ He pauses, examining his teacup. ]
...What you said about how being born into royalty is a trap... ...I lied before. Online, when you asked about my username. I am the fire prince. [ Lol Zuko he figured it out like an hour ago... But Zuko delivers it like it's breaking news. ] But— it's complicated, too... I never met my father's expectations. And— my father wasn't meant to be Fire Lord. It was supposed to be my Uncle, the firstborn. But once my father took the throne instead after my only cousin Lu-Ten died, and I became Crown Prince, the pressures just increased tenfold. In my father's eyes, I was a failure of a son, a failure of a prince — and ultimately, a disgrace to our nation. When I was thirteen, he banished me for speaking out in a war council meeting to defend a division of new recruits they'd planned to use as bait in a stealthy siege in the Earth Kingdom. I disrespected my father in front of the generals and was exiled and told not to return home unless I found the Avatar. That was... almost four years ago. A lot has happened since then — a lot has changed... I've changed. I've lived as a traveler, as a fugitive, as a refugee, as a beggar, a vagrant, a commoner — hell, we were even stranded at sea for three weeks once, floating on a piece of driftwood without food or water, sea vultures circling above us waiting to pluck out our livers! That's not exactly a princely life! But— it took all those experiences... traveling the world outside the Fire Nation, seeing it for myself what our occupation of the Earth Kingdom looks like firsthand, being invited into our "enemies'" homes for dinner... to realize how small my world had been until that point. That I'd been lied to all my life. And how wrong I was. How wrong my father is — how my nation is blinded... It changed me. And I joined a resistance group to help dethrone my father — the Avatar and his friends. So I think it's the best thing you could do, to turn enemies into allies, and force them to live as commoners for a time, to humble them, to give them a new chance at something better, more useful, than being nobility. A chance at real life... How else can they understand people they rule over if they've never stepped foot outside their estate without a palanquin and a slew of servants?! How can you help someone you don't understand, when you think you share nothing in common with the majority of people?! The greatest illusion in life is that sense of separation — of people, of nations, of the elements...! Everything must flow and work together, or else it doesn't work at all! Not without a steep cost. Sometimes costs you don't even know you're paying! But until you experience that yourself— it's hard to comprehend, I guess...
[ He rubs a ruminative fingertip along the lip of his teacup, holding it with both hands and staring into it before taking a long sip. Nobunaga is now the second person in this world he's told he's royalty — the other being, in fact, also royalty. But both of them seem likeminded about it as Zuko does. His sister, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoys being royalty and misses it sorely. Zuko's relationship with his title is far more... complex. ]
I'd really like to meet your friend Ieyasu. Vassal. Whatever he is to you. If he ever shows up here— let me know.
[ He means that, which is a rarity. He feels a strong click with Nobunaga himself already and if Nobunaga is saying he should meet Ieyasu, how alike they are, then he trusts that. Surely the man would have his own slew of interesting insights just like Nobunaga does. ]
As far as the Avatar and the Air Nomads... The Fire Sages know more about the fine details than I do, because mind you, there was no Avatar for a hundred years. The reincarnation of the Avatar follows a cycle, though: fire, air, water, earth. Each respective of the nation and native element the Avatar will be born into. The last Avatar was a firebender, and my great-grandfather, Avatar Roku — I mentioned he was best friends with my other great-grandfather, Fire Lord Sozin. But when Sozin decided he wanted to expand the Fire Nation's reach and begin occupying foreign territory, Roku disagreed with him and told him he'd have no part in it. So Sozin knew... with the Avatar out of his way, no one else could stop him. After Roku died, Sozin ordered an extermination on all the Air Nomads, to be thorough, and ensure the next Avatar would be killed. He and his son, my grandfather Azulon, also eliminated all the waterbenders in the Southern Water Tribe. The Northern Water Tribe is too cohesive an army, and the North Pole was a much more challenging terrain for us. But when no Avatar was ever found after a hundred years, there was no reason to search for an earthbender Avatar... So the occupation just continued full-force, with no one to stop us. That is — until it turned out the airbender Avatar had somehow survived... And there was one waterbender left in the Southern Water Tribe, too, in fact. They're only children. But both Aang and our friend Katara are incredibly powerful. Enough to undo three generations of tyranny. And now — when I return home and inherit the throne — it's my turn to have a hand in that. Aang does not want to kill my father; he's a pacifist at his core. I don't know if that's the right decision. But if he did kill him... ...I don't think it'd be the wrong decision, either.
[ It's an indirect answer, feeling far more comfortable sharing things about himself, but he hits most the parallels and questions that had been raised hearing Nobunaga's story by choosing to share his own. Zuko's not sure he could kill his father himself like Nobunaga did with his brother. But that's not his destiny; that's Aang's decision, not his. He knows that. Zuko already won his fight with his father twice by choosing not to fight him, he feels now. ]