i think its interesting to point out that azula and katara are both people that value and strive for control, however they value different types of control
katara is someone who's been forced to become an adult at a very young age. she was given the responsibilities of a caregiver without the room to be a child. i think she focusses on an orderly, stable emotional/domestic dynamic and laboriously denies her own needs to achieve that. its also the fact she is, no doubt, attempting to emulate her mother in a way that a child cannot really comprehend. there's an expectation afterall for her to fulfil that empty space. so it comes off as controlling, perhaps even emotionally manipulating at times, while she in turn can be stubborn and wild with her own emotions. it's a fascinating dynamic because she constantly needs to be controlling people, not so much their action but their manner, headspace and so on, but also accepts help from others (when shes not being stubborn)! it's not healthy, per say, but she accepts people as people with their own thoughts, feelings and desires, and moves to accommodate that after they push back
azula on the other hand needs to control everything, all aspects, at all times. she too was forced to be an adult as a child, but she also never had a healthy example of an adult to begin with. her caregivers either left her at a key developmental stage or were. ozai. and as a princess, she's been taught to be a certain role with a country wide responsibility as soon as she could talk. alongside her military training, too! (all of this is taught, might i add, by people who are required to maintain a professional distance. even if she's a child, their society requires her emotional isolation) azula values absolute control and order in all aspects of her life, she's never allowed herself room to contemplate what a fufilling emotional dynamic is. she views everything on a wider scale, so much so she's always a politician, military leader and absolute ruler in every aspect. and in turn, everyone else is not allowed to have their own desires in the face of that. azula quite literally cannot approach people on an equal level, her background and her desperate need to control actively dehumanises them. while intellectually, she's a genius with an innate knowledge as to how people tick, they are always below her in class, in skill, and in her eyes, maturity in itself. which is ironic, really, since that very mindset is more childish than anything - viewing people like toys to play with, rather than humans with thoughts and desires outside her own
there's just. no separation for azula between her inner self and outer self need to control - unlike katara. because despite katara's need for control too, she's FAR more conscious of how a relationship should function. she's far more mature, really, than azula ever will be. in fact i'd argue katara being 'immature' is more an indicator of how stable she is than azula's demeanour. she feels her emotions, feels others emotions, and takes them at a human level. azula tantrums when someone doesnt dance to her tune
It's the battle of the bridge. Barbara wants to end this fight against Bular, once and for all. However she is not only buisy with helping Blinky (who got caught), fighting off Bular and trying to prevent to open the bridge, but she is also buisy with thinking about Jim. Jim, who stands on stage to perform as Romeo. Her boy, her everything. It might seems unimportant in a literal war but she can't stop to think about his disapointment...how hurt he will be if she dosen't show up. However...she can't just leave Blinky and the other...(I mean, technically she could but-)
As she tries to fight back her enemys (as well as her toughts), a familiar figure appears behind her. With one quick and smooth movement, he managed to not only disarm her but also to smash her down onto the floor. Her sword bore into the dark floor of the museum. Her head spins for a second as she hit the floor, her vision is blurry for a few blinks, but even through the cracks of her glasses, she can see him.
His heavy foot pressed one of her arms onto the floor as he kneeled down to hover above her. She grabbed his ankle trying to free herself but he is heavy, too heavy for her. She squirms as he pinned her harder. Her calls for daylight, her sword, didn’t work. But...did she wanted it to work? It was still Walt-. No. It wasn’t. It was Stricklander, the changeling, the...Impure. A Monster.
He hovered above her, doing nothing but looking down at her, cold almost emotionless. But...this couldn’t be it. Everything they shared, everything they did...everything they went through. Something must have been real...even if it was just one tiny thing. She spoke his name, not his troll name...the name that she had used for him...with a shaky voice "please...Walt." Her eyes are close to tears and for a very brief moment she thought that his expression changed, that she could see some tears in his eyes too... whatever she thought that she saw, it was gone. His cold expression returned.
"You won’t 'save' me Bar-...", he stopped for a second, "...Trollhunter...no matter how hard you try. So why do you even try at all?" His cold words made the tears roll down her cheek. "...Because I believe that you want to change, Walt. I know that you can change...so please...let me help you..." She was pleading but he gave out a bitter chuckle. "You can't even help yourself." His claws grabbed the wrist of her free hand to pin it down, while his other leg pinned her legs. (Under other circumstances she might even would've enjoyed it-) His gaze changed to a disapointed and...scared?...look "I want to trust you...but-" His eyes close and he looked away before returning with a dark and cold expression. "This war will end. Here. Now..." He held her down while he used his free claw to grab the amulet on her chest. "Walt...please....for the sake of the world...." his grip tightened and he starts to pull wich gave her a hurtful sting in her chest. "...for your students...Toby, Claire....Jim..." He hesitated, just for a second before pulling harder with a growl. "...for me..." He stopped, just looking at the glowing amulet that was attached to her amor. "Please..." His mouth opened and closed again as if he wasn’t sure if he should say something.
"Useless Impure!" The dark prince, known as Bular, gabbed the Changelings neck to throw him against the wall. The wall cracked as the changeling hit it, his body fell limb onto the floor. Barbara couldn’t even react as the dark troll grabbed her. "I knew that the Impure couldn’t even follow one simple task. He will pay for that but first...we will let you pay." With that he ripped the amulet from her body and the amor vanished. Bular stepped onto the bridge, pinning Barbara’s head down onto the edge as he placed the amulet on it's place. "My father will enjoy smashing this small head of your's. Now watch your failure, human. Watch how pathetically you lose." She wanted to scream, she wanted to free herself but all she could do was watch. Blood runs down her forehead and her glasses are almost completely destroyed, yet she could see him...
'...s-sorry...' Stricklander mouthed as he tried to get up. Their gaze met in one last glance as the amulet burned blue and opened the bridge...
I sweat and I ache for / Your eyes and the way you breathe
OH GOD I HATE THIS ONE and i hate this paper. And it was such a fucking rollercoaster oh my gooooood. Do you remember when I've said yesterday that I have plans for Calcutta? WELL I'VE LIED. THEY'VE CHANGED AT LEAST 5364587 TIMES SINCE THIS MORNING.
Originally, I have decided on the "Melting skywards more than silence broken / I'm whole again for just a moment" part first. And halfway drawing the last idea for that line I had a moment of realisation that what I'm doing is ACTUALLY MORE FITTING FOR THE OTHER LINE. That was me for five whole minutes (pun not intended) after it struck me:
Have an alternative blurry shot to show the shiny parts that are not so visible in the main shot:
Frankly, I put the silver line + some black pointliner there, because everything melted skywards too much into each other, because if you try to have various things in different shades of black on this paper, it all just goes to shit <3