Anon asked: Why do you support zucest? Not trying to be rude that's gross.

Before I answer, let me address the whole "It's gross" thing. I know the ship is not for everyone. I fully understand why an incestuous ship would bother people, especially when the characters involved have such a dysfunctional relationship like the one Zuko and Azula have. And obviously, I understand people who can't stand it because it brings up painful memories for them. Now on to the gushing! (Warning, it's a looooooooong answer)

Part one: Unexplored possibilities - "It's about the potential"

Azula and Zuko are my favorite characters ever, not just in Avatar, and their dynamic, even ignoring the shiping aspect, fascinates me. There's a lot of unexplored emotions (both positive and negative), unanswered questions, and unfinished business between them. They make a great team when they're not being pitted against each other, and they both ache for the loving, healthy family they never got to have. Their rivalry was mostly fabricated, and did love each other as children.

And the more I thought about it, the more I kept imagining then finding a way to heal together, to truly be each other's family, to be friends. They'd be unstoppable if they had each other - Azula would find enough support to get better, and she could use her understanding of politics to help Zuko be a great ruler (plus, it'd be the best "Fuck you" to Ozai).

It could also lead to more tragedy. They could be extremely codependent on each other, or develop a full-on toxic relationship. Loving someone doesn't mean you will show that love in healthy ways or even that you should be in their life. It just means you love them. Nothing more, nothing less.

There is a good story there. It could have a tragic ending or a happy one, but it will be beautiful either way. And when you add in a romantic angle, said story goes from good to great.

Part Two: "Incest is taboo!" "Yes, but the drama"

I'm a dramatic bitch. I've loved good disastrous love stories my whole life. I enjoy seeing characters lose everything because of a doomed romance, I enjoy seeing broken people change for the better because of love, and I fucking live for the whole "I love you, and you love me, but we can never be together" thing.

Zucest appeals to me despite being "wrong" and because it is "wrong". How Zuko and Azula deal with having incestuous feelings for each other? How would they hide those feelings and the inevitable relationship that would develop from it? How would their already messed up family deal with it? How would Zuko's friends deal with it? How would it affect Azula's recovery? How would the people of the Avatar world react if the Fire Lord, one of the most powerful rulers in the planet, was in an incestuous relationship?

That would a long, messy, fun story to write/read about. And i want to tell it and hear it over and over, in with every variation possible.

Part Three: The clues are there

Many people talk about how obviously incestuous the bedroom scene in "The Awakening" was, and for good reason. But somehow, but most of them miss the fact that this is one of the rare cases in which context makes it worse.

On it's own, the scene looks incestuous and stands out because it was on a Nickelodeon show. When you add in the rest of the show, the scene fits perfectly - and looks even more incestuous than it did before.

Zuko saw Azula as the embodiment of temptation in his fever dream. Azula brought him home before knowing Aang might have survived, even though she wouldn't gain anything from it, and then advised him to be careful if he was going to keep visiting Iroh in prison, without any hidden motivation to do so. Azula gets waaaay too touchy with him (comforting him after he betrays Iroh, in the bedroom scene, at the beach) - aren't they supposed to hate each other? Zuko talks about her, completely unprompted, to an unconscious Aang in book 1, and asks himself "What would Azula do?"… in book 3 - aka when he is trying to be a good person, and should ask what people who are very much NOT like Azula would do.

In the comics (which are mostly bad, but mostly got their dynamic right) Azula says they're one in the same and that they can rule together. She pines him to the ground and straddles him during a fight, getting her face really close to his. There's a moment in which Mai says "love hurts" while Zuko is chasing after Azula. And last but not least, Zuko and Azula watch love Amongst The Dragons, look all cutesy talking about reenacting it - and we're shown characters about to kiss, professing their love for each other.

In an old panel, the creators of the show talked about many ships… including Azula and "The Blue Spirit". Grey De Lisle, aka Azula herself, said she voiced the bedroom scene seductively, is a Zucest shiper and is always joking about Zuko and Azula getting together - after one of said jokes, Dante Basco, aka Zuko himself and the captain of the Zutara ship, said the Fire Nation is "A bit like the Lannisters". How can I miss it, when they're constantly making me see it?

Part Four: They look good together

They're hot, and hot people getting together is even hotter. It's the truth, and I won't apologize for it.

Conclusion:

"Wait, Zucest is now the best ship?"

"Always has been"