I often find that having the obviously dominant character in a couple top can be... predictable, you know?
Heh, yeah, but at the same time, having the really ragingly real-life-powerful, dominant personality who is secretly a deeply submissive bottom in the bedroom is also a bit of a cliche, so really, damned if you do, damned if you don't... Personally, my general default since it allows for the most flexibility is to assume most characters are potentially at least a little bit bi and a little bit switchy; this comes out especially in slash/yaoi settings because I really, really hate it when folks write that sort of thing with the roles set in stone and the uke being very feminized, so it ends up playing out like really *bad* gender-role-stereotyped het. Be it het or slashy, even if you've got a character who plausibly has a very strong preference in one direction, I'd still generally like to see a relationship that has enough trust and comfort built up that there can be occasional role reversals.
As for Azula, heh, this is why in the triangley AU stuff we had her as very, very dominant until she found herself with someone who had a strong enough personality to begin standing up to her occasionally, and she found she enjoyed the unpredictability of the power struggle. But even there, it was definitely more than a hint of topping from the bottom, as she still was very much the controlling one on the emotional side of things.
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timeasmymeasure
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Heh, yeah, but at the same time, having the really ragingly real-life-powerful, dominant personality who is secretly a deeply submissive bottom in the bedroom is also a bit of a cliche, so really, damned if you do, damned if you don't... Personally, my general default since it allows for the most flexibility is to assume most characters are potentially at least a little bit bi and a little bit switchy; this comes out especially in slash/yaoi settings because I really, really hate it when folks write that sort of thing with the roles set in stone and the uke being very feminized, so it ends up playing out like really *bad* gender-role-stereotyped het. Be it het or slashy, even if you've got a character who plausibly has a very strong preference in one direction, I'd still generally like to see a relationship that has enough trust and comfort built up that there can be occasional role reversals.
As for Azula, heh, this is why in the triangley AU stuff we had her as very, very dominant until she found herself with someone who had a strong enough personality to begin standing up to her occasionally, and she found she enjoyed the unpredictability of the power struggle. But even there, it was definitely more than a hint of topping from the bottom, as she still was very much the controlling one on the emotional side of things.
(And Mai, IMO, is totally into knifeplay.)