#also somehow convinced me to do it alliance side.

[autisticlancemcclain]

part one

———

Lance has no idea how powerful he truly is.

Seriously. Completely oblivious. He’s convinced that he’s the only one on the team who’s not powerful — and Keith knows this because those are the words Lance said with his own mouth. He’s so convinced that power is Shiro’s strength, Pidge’s intelligence, Hunk’s wit and compassion, Allura’s regality, and Coran’s wisdom. He’s even completely sure that Keith has power in his speed and initiative.

Somehow, though, the heart of Voltron does not know how he holds everyone in the palm of his hand. He does not see the picture of terror he makes; jaw clenched, brown eyes flashing with determination, back straight and shoulders set, demonic spider at his side, telepathic mice gathered on his head, poisonous, sentient vine wrapped around him — and the spirts of two lions, red and blue, growling in tandem behind him as he swears that no harm will come to the beast by Voltron’s hand.

Lance did not see the fear in the dignitary’s face. He did not notice his team staring at him with wide eyes, leaning far away from him and his own army. He did not see the pure, concentrated power rippling from him in waves.

If Keith’s being totally, completely honest, it’s kind of hot.

But it’s also a pain in the ass. As much as Lance’s greatest strength is in convincing people to listen to him, when he sets stubborn eyes on a task, the Universe herself cannot sway him. Keith has a snowball’s chance in hell of managing either.

“Just try,” Shiro pleads. “Please. Attempt to convince him that, as much as it sucks, killing the damn beast is the easiest way to secure this alliance and move on.”

“Shiro, your braincells are spilling out your ears like loose marbles if you think that I can convince him to even listen to the words I will attempt to say.”

“Holy idiom, there, cowboy,” Pidge teases, and Keith breaks away from the intense stare-down with his brother to stick his tongue out and shoot her the finger.

“That’s a normal idiom. Sorry that you grew up in Michigan where the most interesting insult you ever hear is someone saying please with a little more passive aggression than usual.”

“…Alright. Point to Keith.”

“Mhm. That’s what I thought.”

“Paladins!” Allura snaps, ignoring Hunk’s smartass comment that she is also, actually, a paladin, and as such is included in such snappish remarks and thus has lost a good chunk of ethos. “Focus! Stars, it’s like I have to do everything around here. Keith. Put your big boy pants on.”

Shiro chokes with laughter, desperately trying to pretend it’s really a cough, but it fools no one.

God, those two need to stop hanging out together. Shiro is dragging Allura down to his level. Poor woman.

“Talk to Lance,” she continues. “He only really listens to you.”

Keith looks at her incredulously. “Listens to me — have I missed something? I asked Lance to lead a briefing yesterday and he asked me what deity died and made me king of the jungle. He doesn’t listen to a goddamn word I say.”

Allura raises an eyebrow. “Did he?”

“Did he what?”

“Lead the briefing yesterday?”

Keith deflates. Because, well. “Yeah,” he mutters.

“So you’re just being a pussy, then,” she summarizes – why does Pidge insist on teaching her modern slang and why does she like it so much – and this time Shiro doesn’t even pretend he’s coughing. Hunk and Pidge also lose their shit.

“I resent that,” Keith says haughtily, denying nothing.

“Yeah. Okay. Off you go. Convince him to at least attempt to hear us out.”

Keith sighs, but does as asked, making his way to his and Lance’s rooms. He decides to take a minute and gather his thoughts — see, he’s learning, look at how not-impulsive he’s being — and heads to his room first.

When he gets there, he spends a few meditating beside his bed — he’d rather stick a hot iron through his eye than admit it, but Shiro and Black may be a little, teensy, itty-bitty bit correct about taking time to gather up thoughts and reflect or whatever.

Just as he’s about to get up and knock on Lance’s door, he hears Coran’s heeled boots click down the hallway.

Oh, fuck yes. If Coran talks to Lance, he might actually listen without argument! Lance has no issue following Coran’s instructions!

…On the other hand, Coran’s just as much of a — and Keith says this with all the fondness in his heart, believe him, if he didn’t find it so damn endearing he would not be spending his nights imagining what will happen when he finally grows enough of a pair to ask Lance on a date — tree-hugger as Lance is. He won’t be happy about the beast killing either.

But, hey. Coran’s a wise guy. It’s probably fine.

Just in case, though, he gets up as quietly as he can — he knows Lance’s goddamn bat ears will hear him if his fucking heart beats too loudly — and leans against the door to hear their conversation.

“Lance, dear, I was just coming to find you,” Coran says.

So far, so good. If Coran was already trying to find Lance, it was probably to try and gently convince him that saving the beast might not be the best option, right?

Keith heart sinks a little as a new thought worms into his brain: maybe, Lance isn’t just being stubborn, and he’s actually upset. Maybe Coran is going to make sure Lance is feeling okay, like a good person.

…Yeah. That’s more likely. Keith kind of feels like a jackass.

He startles out of his thoughts as Coran’s voice, notably louder than before, speaks again.

“Well, if you’re really feeling so much better, would you mind helping me recalibrate the fabricator?”

“Absolutely,” Lance says, and he does sound remarkably happier than he did when he stomped out of the bridge.

Huh. Maybe Lance convinced himself…?

As he thinks it, he knows it’s not true. But it might not be best to bring it up now, then. He’s only just gotten into a good mood, it will probably be better to bring it up over dinner, or something, when the good mood has enough time to settle properly.

Keith nods to himself. Yeah. That’s totally not an excuse because he doesn’t want Lance to look at him in complete betrayal again when Keith attempts to convince him that saving the beast is not an option, or anything.

Right.

Totally.

———

part three

[crossdressingdeath]

[A collection of letters between two correspondents, but all written in an unfamiliar code or cipher. At the end of the scrapbook is a sheet titled 'Plaintext Deciphered by G'.] Chosen of Bhaal - Your proposal is intriguing. Tell me more about the Crown of Karsus. Chosen of Bane - It was created to enhance and broadcast the dominance of its creator, but during the Folly it was inverted, turned inward. Now, instead of the wearer dominating others, others can dominate the wearer. Chosen of Bhaal - Useful. I like it. How do you exert this dominance? Chosen of Bane - The crown has three begemmed finials. They are the foci. And... they are detachable. Chosen of Bhaal - Three? So that's why our masters want Myrkul added to the cabal. With the Crown on the right cranium, we would rule from the shadows. But how do we get it? Chosen of Bane - We steal it from Mephistopheles himself. And I know who can get us there - a diabolist named Helsik.

Look at these two, scheming. Honestly all of these are so short it feels almost like they were passing notes during a meeting rather than writing letters to each other but I guess they did both have the influence to have things like this delivered directly without having to wait for whatever mail service Baldur's Gate has... I'm just imagining some poor messenger having to run back and forth across the city because these two refuse to have an actual meeting instead of writing to each other and no one on either side is brave enough to suggest that maybe talking in person would be more efficient. Not entirely sure how Gortash got his own letters when presumably Durge would've had them originally (unless he kept copies?), but it's very fun. Although there's something sad in Durge not recognizing the code that they and Gortash used to communicate; I know that it's just the same text that everyone gets, but there's a sort of tragedy in how this is something they used to communicate with someone important to them, they might even have come up with it with Gortash just so the two of them could write to each other privately, and now they can't even read it.

Also I'm still very curious about the timeline of events here. This seems to be the first time Gortash suggested they use the Crown of Karsus, but clearly they were at least able to get into contact prior to this point; did they decide to team up just in general before they had any sort of plan? Were they acquainted somehow before the alliance came up as an idea? Were they just aware of each other's presence in the city and one of them wrote to the other when the idea of working together occurred to them? And I am also once again wondering when exactly Myrkul joined the alliance. Obviously they haven't at this point since Bane and Bhaal want Myrkul added, and I get the sense that Ketheric joined at some point post-heist (in his journal he makes it clear that he thinks the Netherstones were used to convince him and the Bhaalists to join the alliance, when these letters show that Durge and Gortash were allies before the Netherstones and the Crown were brought up as an option; either Durge and Gortash lied to him about how the alliance first started or the Netherstones had been acquired and Durge had one before Ketheric was on the scene and he made an assumption), but beyond that it's hard to tell what happened when.

Also, Gortash? It's cute that you're keeping all the notes you exchanged with your ally, but a code isn't very helpful if you keep the plaintext right with it. ...Unless (if we want to make it angsty) that code was exclusively used between him and Durge and once they vanished he cared less about keeping it a secret because it was now useless...

[sparatus]

Sparatus? 🙂

🥺👉👈

Sexuality Headcanon: painfully bisexual. somebody please stop surrounding this old man with hot people his heart can't take it. also very much not xeno in the slightest

Gender Headcanon: turian gender stuff is complicated and doesn't fit into human binaries, so while he's generally understood to be and is fine with being perceived as a cis man because he's perfectly happy with the body he was born with, a closer approximation is masculine nonbinary, just... not the way humans understand nb to be

A ship I have with said character: i mean. [gestures vaguely to entire internet presence] do i even have to specify teia at this point.

aside from the obvious, sparatus/quentius is also a fave, i do so love boss and loyal dragon dynamics, and the two of them are that plus a flip side out of work where they're just best mean girl friends hanging out being catty old men together. plus for bad end it makes it so much juicier that not only was sparatus quentius's friend but also a sometimes-lover, bad end hurts but it's so so deliciously messy

plus also @thetrashbagswasteland put sparatus/desolas in my head and it bops around from time to time, just like, suave but chaotic military man with the personality of a mob boss "you wanna fuck me so bad it makes you stupid" vs prickly by-the-book law boy "i hate that you're actually as charming as you think you are you charismatic asshole" i think it would be fun okay someday ill write it teia and abrudas can also get in on it for fun or they can bang on the side it's fine

A BROTP I have with said character: sparatus & quentius, for reasons listed above. the more i dabble around the more sparkyteia and quentilea are becoming just a platonic polypile, oopsie, they're all good friends. also quite fond of sparatus & saren, because saren is very well-trusted and the council's golden boy and not every spectre is going to have shepard's experience with the council so it only makes sense for saren to have that sort of loyal right hand kinda dynamic with sparky. sparatus & valern is also fun for my usual political intrigue reasons but we don't have time to get into the complicated bullshit fueling the turian-salarian alliance rn

A NOTP I have with said character: sparatus/shepard, for reasons i should hope are obvious by now. guys idk how to explain this but sometimes characters just hate you without secretly wanting to fuck you. he has legitimate criticisms of shepard and ill die on this hill, there's no ust he isn't into you and mad about it he just doesn't like your fucking attitude. and you can't convince me your shepard somehow turns it around into genuine love, i don't fucking believe you, it's ooc some characters will simply never grow to truly Like you more than respecting your ability and that's fucking okay and normal

also sparatus/saren, because while i adjust saren's age in my work to bring him up to 70 in me1 (and closer to sparky, 76) the main works i know of for that ship have sparatus more than twice his age (in his 60s while saren was EIGHTEEN) and taking advantage of the age gap and saren's emotional turmoil after his brother's death to groom him into the perfect partner, which... oh my god no. and it was presented as romantic! as saren's first real love before nihlus!! i am calling the police!! and pretty much everyone ive seen who talks about that ship got it from that fic so. yeah that author is my parasocial enemy

A random headcanon: despite how closely they have to work together, and sparky being a prosecutor pre-politics (thus allegedly on the side of the cops), he and pallin have a rather... antagonistic relationship, mostly because of how sparky responds to pallin's complaints about spectres ("i'll let them know" which usually means nothing will be done and the spectres will continue treating civil misdemeanors and traffic violations like a game) but also because sparky himself has personal beef with like 7 different prominent cops, is from a "fuck the cops they're imperial shills we can police ourselves" background, and is so so good at being pedantic and annoying when he's feeling petty which is any time pallin isn't talking about an actual serious issue. he wants pallin to stop bothering him about traffic stops. pallin wants to fuck the smug look off his face. they're not allowed to have face-to-face meetings without quentius present because they WILL go straight to childish squabbling.

General Opinion over said character: he's my grandpa. he's Me. nobody in this fandom deserves him y'all need to remove the main character pov blinders and think about shit from his perspective and stop just assuming he's racist and stupid because he tells you no. the man has his position for a reason, and if you listen to what he's actually saying he's DEEPLY empathetic and concerned with how the public at large will be affected, he fucking cares about people it's canon it's canon it's CANON he literally goes behind his colleagues' backs to try to help you save palaven and stop the war right away that's not what a selfish heartless bureaucrat who only cares about his own small circle does i have ESSAYS dammit

.... oops i care about this old man So Much

send me a character

[italiangothicwriteblr]

Holii Joy!! I've missed you how have you been??? For Tiny Scene Sunday, Giacomo (my son) + relaxing?? (based on my need to live vicariously through someone who has the time to relax rip)

Have a good day/night!!!

@ink-fireplace-coffee

Hey! Thanks for the prompt!

Set during TKATF. Somehow this became “Giacomo relaxes for five minutes and everything goes to shit”

But also! Meet Damocles, Martino’s brother, who gets introduced properly in this scene

"Take the day off,” Martino wrapped his arm around Giacomo’s waist, keeping him in bed, “you never get to relax anymore.”

Giacomo’s first thought was the protest—he was royal now, he had duties to attend to. Basilio was the king, but Giacomo handled the official side of staging a revolution and running a country.

“He is in diplomatic meetings all day,” Giacomo leaned back in bed, deeply relishing the idea of taking a break.

“Exactly. There’s nothing you need to do until the feast tonight.” If that didn’t convince him to stay in bed a bit longer, Martino’s arms around him and lips on his neck certainly did.

With a wave of his hand, Giacomo locked the door with magic. One of the recently discovered joys of being a prince—private rooms meant no one would bother you, or barge in.

—

“Still don’t want to get up,” Giacomo mumbled into Martino’s chest, when a servant came through and told him he should start getting ready.

“You’re exhausted. Want me to tell him you’re ill?”

“No. It’s a peace summit, I don’t want to insult the Magnian diplomats by not being there. Besides, he needs me there. Being polite isn’t one of Basilio’s strengths, and this is important. Besides, isn’t your brother in town?”

“Yep,” Martino sighed, and he didn’t look happy about the news, “in the decade or so since I saw him, he’s apparently risen through court ranks, took down one of our royal houses, and became a foreign minister. Not sure how the reunion’s going to go.”

“You have to at least say hello while he’s here, he’s your brother!” Martino acquiesced under the weight of Giacomo’s big, green eyes, and they both dragged themselves to get dressed.

—-

When Giacomo made it downstairs, to a chorus of bowing heads, Basilio quickly caught sight of him and motioned him over.

He was talking to another man, dressed in impeccably tailored silver robes. His cloud of dark hair seemed to move on its own, and he gave more of a smirk than a smile, yet it still made Giacomo’s knees weak.

“I have someone to introduce you to,” Basilio gestured to the man, who seemed to be charm personified, "the Magnian ambassador to Circi, Damocles.”

“A pleasure, Your Highness.” Damocles swept a perfect bow, and reached out to shake Giacomo’s hand.

Martino hadn’t exaggerated when he described his brother’s meteoric ascent, and Giacomo could see how it happened.

After a few minutes, Basilio pulled Giacomo aside, and whispered: ”I’d like your opinion on something.”

“Yes?”

“Over the course of this meeting, me and the ambassador have become friendly. We were talking today, and realized that an alliance between our nations could be beneficial to everyone.”

“You know I agree with that.” Giacomo had been pushing for a Magnian alliance over a Candemeran one for almost a year, and it seemed Basilio was starting to listen.

“Exactly. So, how do you think the country would react if I married again?”

“There is still that rumor floating around, saying you killed Ippolito.”

“Oh, people will say anything. But certainly a foreign alliance with a diplomat would read positively?"

"Wait," Giacomo interrupted, suddenly seeing with shocking clarity what Basilio was suggesting, "you don't mean Damocles?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." Basilio had a rare pleased smile on his face, like a wolf that had finished hunting its prey, as he turned his gaze back to the man in question. "The apple that fell very far from the tree."

"Watch it," Giacomo growled, hitting his friend's arm. He suspected that Basilio and Martino's rivalry was turning more playful and less serious with each passing day, but he couldn't let the jape stand.

----

"I was wrong." Martino said to him later that night, after "The King's Joyous News" had been announced. "Apparently you can't take a day off."

[mcnypieces]

me: okay we’re gonna try to stay more on top of replies now that I have so few of them

WoW literally out of nowhere: hey ;)))

[hotxcheeto]

could I request a vi x female reader where the reader is viktor's younger sister who stayed in the underground but keeps visiting Viktor every now and then and meets Caitlyn who soon becomes her best friend and helps w her investigations while giving her insight from the underground

so cait realises pretty early on that the enforcers are shit and makes it her mission to reform the entire system

reader knows vi and powder as 'vander's kids" and when she finds out vi is alive, she convinces cait to get her Outta Stillwater in hopes of bringing jinx onto their side.

during this process she somehow ends up meeting jinx and absolutely loves her inventions and bombs

reader convinces Viktor to meet jinx. they really hit it off as science buddies and become close friends.

cait, vi, jinx, Viktor, jayce, the firelights and the reader together form an alliance against silco.

reader is a very confident and loud, loves to tease people.

when vi flirts w her, she outflirts vi and flusters her, they have a teasing, fun dynamic.

also, reader does not approve of jayce. this is mostly out of jealousy that he gets to spend more time with her brother than she does.

is this too long?? it feels pretty long, it's also a little more plot-y than romance-y lol sorry about that

it's up to you what you want to do w this lol, no pressure!!

━ 𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐔𝐆𝐀𝐑

𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜(𝙨) - Vi x Fem!Reader 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 - Cursing?

𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙? - Yeah/Nope

𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧'𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚 - This was a long request so I roped in what I could, hope you like it love <3

You were sitting at your usual desk. Helmet on as you welded a piece of metal to the other, trying your best to get the shape you wanted. You could barely hear anything over the loud music playing, everything on the table beside you would vibrate and shake from the heavy bass.

Though you barely paid any mind, continuing to stare at the bright light coming from the torch. Your mind was beginning to wander, wondering when Caitlyn would be back from her trip to the Undercity. Convincing you over and over again to focus on your repairs for the council, that she'd be back in no time. But it had been days.

You tried to ignore your thoughts, scraping at the walls of your brain telling you she needed help. But it was difficult, especially with her mindset. The girl was booksmart, not streetsmart.

"Y/n!" You heard it just barely over your music. Stopping the torch and turning to smack the radio on its head. The music immediately stopped. You turned to see Viktor, standing there with his cane, staring at you blankly. "What? I'm busy with a request for your stupid boyfriend."

"He's not..." Viktor began, but decided it wasn't worth it nodding behind him. "Your friends are here." "Friends?" He moved to leave as Caitlyn and another girl you didn't know suddenly came into view. "Holy fuck knuckles! Cait, what the fuck!" You damn near pulled your head off with the helmet, running at Caitlyn and pulling her into a hug.

"Dude, I thought you were dead!" You pulled back from her, eye to eye with the blue haired woman. "Sorry, I know I said just a day or two. But, I've got a lot of information, and now a guide." That's when you turned your head to meet the strangers eyes.

"So, who's the friend?" "This is-" "Vi." She answered for her, cutting Caitlyn off while staring at you with a smile. Or, more of a smirk. "Huh, she's cute, got you a nice looking 'guide' huh?" Caitlyn shoved your shoulder while Vi only looked away. Both of them watched as you swayed your hips walking back to your desk.

"I'm working on that moron's defense weapons for the bridge. As much as I disagree with him, I can't do anything else. My brother... he's counting on me." You huffed, sitting down on your stool and running a hand through your hair. "It's alright, Y/n/n. And Jayce is not that bad."

"He's stupid as all fuck and the guy can give a speech but he sure can't give my brother a little credit. I don't give a damn if my brother's name was douche nugget. As humble as he is, he deserves some credit." Caitlyn leaned on the table your radio was on, smiling at you as you complained. "What about that lead you had?" "Found the persons sister." "For real?"

Caitlyn looked at Vi as your jaw dropped. "That's fucking great. She's hot and has a psycho sister. What a steal you got." "Not funny." Caitlyn huffed and walked off, disappearing into the bathroom connected to yours.

"So, you're from the Underground?" "Yeah." Vi answered, watching you nod. "Cool, same." She stared at you with a look of slight surprise making a chuckle escape your lips. "Me and my brother are from the Underground. We were vouched for by the professor." "Huh."

"My brother is an amazing inventor, it's stupid that Jayce takes all his light I don't care how much he tells him it's fine. He deserves at least a mention." You slammed a wrench down onto the desk and stood up turning to Vi. You only stared at her, making the girl's cheeks begin to turn the color of her hair.

"What?" "Nothing, you're just nice to look at." You smiled, walking a bit closer to her. "I gotta give it to Caitlyn, she always finds the good ones." You winked before turning around to the table with your radio picking up a few scrap pieces of metal before tossing them onto your desk to use.

"How sweet of you." "Of course, sugar." You used the nickname as if it was nothing. The girl pausing, wondering if she heard you right. "Hey, that's my thing." "What thing? Being hot, cause damn I think we're both winning at that." She looked away from you bashfully, for the first time it felt like Vi's face was going to melt off from how hot it had gotten.

"C'mon, a girl's gotta go after what she wants. Reject me already, so I can move on." Vi then turned her head back towards you. "Oh yeah? What if I don't say no?" "Then I'll take you on a date. Make sure you get your trips worth, since you're so far from home." Vi stared at you for a second before she tore her eyes away from your smirk. Laughing slightly.

"You're good." "Thanks I try when it comes to pretty women." "Stop flirting with my friend Y/n." Caitlyn suddenly appeared from the bathroom, shaking her head at you as you put your hands up backing away from Vi. "Yes ma'am. But you're still up for it right?" Vi didn't get a chance to answer when you put your thumb up hitting your radio, the music began to blare again.

"Good, tomorrow's my deadline! See you then!"

A/n: My hands are so cold

[memryse]

okay actually I would LOVE to read a deep-dive on Lizzie in all this. Everyone still obsessed with Renchanting (myself included) is guilty of focusing more on Ren, but Lizzie is a FASCINATING character and player herself, and I would adore some analysis on her series so far.

oh hell yeah! i think part of the reason lizzie's character doesn't get much focus is the length of her episodes - not a bad thing, i appreciate having someone who makes shorter episodes tbh. but it does make it a little harder to get a read on her character when a lot of the time we have to rely on others' povs for her. i'll do my best though! :D

as one of the three new players, you can't talk about lizzie without talking about her comparative naïveté to the 3rd lifers. i think i'd have to touch on this for all three new members, because it really shapes how they interact with the others. session one, for example, sees lizzie be very very explicitly warned about the flammability of her base. she realises she's made a mistake, but commits to it regardless (despite how terrified she may be of cleo). this session is pretty terrifying for her; i'd say she has it the worst of the three newcomers, being first terrorised by scar and grian and then having to deal with cleo's threats on top of that.

but she adapts quickly. of course, the fairy fort is eventually burned to the ground by cleo. lizzie builds a new mushroom home in the grounds of the shadow tower, and it's still made of flammable materials. she says she clearly hasn't learned anything, but this time it doesn't feel like she's being naive to me. i mean, she could quite easily just tear it down and rebuild a little stone hut if she was truly that worried about it burning down again. to be honest, it feels more like lizzie is showing her defiant side. she'll build something beautiful, knowing full well that it could go up in flames within minutes, because she's not going to let cleo fully extinguish her spirit. genuinely putting effort into making something actually nice is rare to see on this server, and it's even more rare for that thing to survive - the monopoly mountain tower, the scottage, joel's cottage, etc. even the crastle was blown up a couple times. so... i don't know. lizzie refusing to give in and insisting on a cute little mushroom hut just stuck with me this session, for some reason.

i think what draws people to her is her down-to-earth nature. the shadow fairies revolved around her (even the name), despite her never insisting on being in charge or anything of the sort. lizzie, cleo and bigb all just happened to make friends, but lizzie had become the de facto leader of the alliance even before ren devoted himself to her. after ren becomes her knight, she still never refers to herself as the shadow queen or anything of the sort. actually, she directly tells martyn, "the shadow queen is more of a nickname anyway, i do not actually consider myself royalty in these lands". she later assumes the alias "the shadow fairy" too, rather than using this existing nickname. i think this nature of hers is also what made her such a convincing boogeyman; scott and pearl somehow didn't realise it was a trap, they trusted lizzie enough to follow her down.

another point of evidence about how smart and adaptable she is would definitely be her involvement with tango's bet in sessio 2. she sees joel's success (or lack thereof) in getting a boogeyman kill, and has the forethought to go and place a bet on him turning red. joel's deaths are publicly viewable, everyone can see he's having a terrible time and she's not the only one who knows he's the boogeyman, but she's the only one to think to go and place a bet on him. her handling of her winnings is fantastic too: many people think that having more lives equates to having more power. and it does, to some extent - rather, having a sensible amount of lives gives you power. but having five or above just makes you a target. lizzie recognises this and trades three of hers away - with the added bonus of earning herself three allies, one of whom is now a ride or die knight, and the enchanting table. the next session she gets rid of it in exchange for some much more valuable gear.

lizzie keeps to herself. she doesn't go looking for power or allies, but they seem to gravitate towards her regardless. she's loyal and empathetic - which only makes things harder for her in situations like the cleo and bigb one, where she's torn between her two closest allies on the server. ultimately though her empathy for bigb as a fellow victim of the curse wins out - she knows how it affects a person, and she won't throw him away, even if it means losing cleo. she stands by her decisions, not only keeping him in the alliance but warning him to hide from cleo, even opening her home to him, knowing that cleo has deemed her as equally traitorous.

(i just also feel the need to point out how amazing it is that she just casually set up an enderporter and got it to work first try, given that last season the enderporter was best associated with "my redstone didn't work". and then she had the forethought to trap it when she realised cleo might try and use it against her. queen.)

[wofworld]

The first WoF hot take I’ve made in quite a while, but I owe you guys some content, plus I really like complaining about these books :) I swear I don’t hate them this much, so pls don’t take me too seriously.

Anyways, logically speaking, what did Blister really have to offer her supporters? I mean, I know she’s supposed to be super-intelligent or smth but I don’t see no intelligence here— just…stupid luck. Her plan for killing her literal powerhouse of an older sister was mailing that woman two puny snakes on a box, and then what?? Did she even think about what would happen if Burn didn’t do things the way she expected her to? Honestly, I’m probably just overanalyzing a kid’s series at this point— it’s clear that Tui didn’t worry too much about the actual consistency of magnitude of Blisters ‘evil plans’ while writing her, which annoys me because I know she could’ve done so much more. Then again, I don’t think she expected her books to be criticized by people quite as old as me or by other such members of this fandom (looking at you, @shiftywing—ily and you are doing us all a great service with your wof critique<3).

Still, I believe that the buildup for Blister was such a good opportunity to present an intriguing character, but it was all just flushed down the drain bc the author couldn’t come up with any actual intelligent decisions for her to make. Girlie seriously had so much wasted potential— and not only that, but the way Tui tells us that Blister manipulated Coral into forming an alliance and somehow also made the Nightwings think she could achieve what they wanted would imply a character who is either extremely charismatic, clever, or conniving…all of which Blister is stated but never actually proved to be. I mean, just look at book 2– what’s the point of making us believe that she’s going to be some kind of manipulation mastermind and then when we finally meet her through the eyes of the DoD, she can’t even convince them to like her?

I get that the DoD must have been naturally more apprehensive to new dragons due to all the lessons and warnings they were given by their Guardians as well as the trauma they endured under Scarlet’s talons, but damn, Blister— we are talking about a group or impressionable and traumatized children, who should at least be easier to coerce onto your side than actual military officials and politicians, who you seem to have somehow succeeded in pleasing? She could only make her way so far using the treasure she stole from the Sandwing treasury…

Sure, there are still a few parts of her character that are believable and well-done, but none of them feel quite as impactful when you already don’t trust a character because you’re seeing them through the lens of others who also find them untrustworthy. She could’ve been so much more entertaining and imposing if it were clearer that some of the DoD, like perhaps Sunny or Starflight, were starting to approve of her a bit.

Blister deserved more depth— we, as readers, deserved more depth from her, even if the main audience were elementary age children…

but I digress.

[silverflame2724]

What if WWX succeeded in killing WR instead?

Ohhhh this is good. This is really good.

I’m mixing a bit of CQL here, but only in terms of Wen Ruohan choking Wei Wuxian.

But hmm, I don’t think much would change, but because you haven’t specified for a good or bad ending, I’ll give you a good ending!

(I also don’t know whether you’re asking me for my personal opinion or for a fic but here you go.)

Oh right, just to clarify in case you don’t read the tags but the only reason this is going to be a happy ending is because of a wonderful thing called a butterfly effect.

———————————

Wei Wuxian knew that something had to be done. As soon as Wen Ruohan stepped onto the battlefield, hundreds of their own died in an instant.

Something had to be done. And with all the dead around him, Wei Wuxian had more than enough resources to combat him. But he had to be sneaky. Wen Ruohan had cut down many of his corpses. He had to get close somehow and distract Wen Ruohan enough. He got the chance soon enough when he found himself gripped by the neck by Wen Ruohan.

As he ran out of breath, he slightly whistled, commanding a nearby corpse to rise and stick its arm through Wen Ruohan’s chest. He saw the movement of someone in the corner of his eyes but couldn’t pay attention as his vision started to turn black.

As he fainted, he idly wondered why it didn’t hurt as he fell to the ground.

…………..

Meng Yao felt like everything had slipped out of his hands. He had everything planned out.

He would go to the Wens and be a spy for the Sunshot alliance unless it came to a point where the alliance would lose. He’d stay on the Wen’s side if that happened. Otherwise, he’d wait for an opportune moment and kill Wen Ruohan himself. With the deed of doing that, Meng Yao would finally be able to gain the necessary means to get recognized by his father.

But no. He only managed to be a spy. And even then, he did give half completed information once and Nie Mingjue was captured and tortured. Meng Yao’s odds didn’t look good even though he managed to get into the good graces of Zewu-Jun.

Regardless, he did manage to become Jin Guangshan’s son because Zewu-Jun helped him, though he wasn’t recognized as an heir considering his name was Guangyao instead of Ziyao.

His father also didn’t seem to like him a lot…… Jin Guangyao sighed.

………………

Wei Wuxian woke up a few days later and attended the victory banquet that was held.

Many people congratulated him and clapped him on the back, though he stiffened at the gesture. After all that had happened to him, physical touch was something still unwelcoming to him.

But whatever. It was still nice to get a confirmation that he did indeed kill Wen Ruohan. He did manage to barely see his corpse stick its arm through the Wen sect leader’s chest, but he wasn’t sure he hit a vital point. His vision was starting to go black then.

He grimaced, though. After this, he’ll have to go back to Lotus Pier. And help rebuild. It’s not that he was unwilling to do so. It’s just.....without his core......what he could do was limited. Physically, at least. He could try to convince Jiang Cheng to give him more paperwork type stuff, but it was unlikely.

Ah.....this is why he was hoping, just a little, to die during the last battle. But he didn’t. And now he has to find a way to dodge Jiang Cheng every time he wants Wei Wuxian to do something that would involve his core.

*sighs* Wei Wuxian really was tired of all this.

............................

In the end, it was grating on their already strained relationship, but Wei Wuxian managed to dodge Jiang Cheng when it came to things involving core-related stuff.

But Jiang Cheng was really starting to show some genuine irritation at his behavior. 

Just as he wondered what to do, a familiar face brought him out of his thoughts. “Wen Qing?!”

.........................

They ended up breaking into Qiongqi Path where the Wen civilians - civilians for crying out loud - were being beaten and tortured to death.

As much as Wei Wuxian wanted to kill the Jin inspectors where they stood, Wen Qing told him to calm down otherwise, it would be a political mishap. 

“The only reason you’re this calm is because you see Wen Ning.” Wei Wuxian pouted.

Wen Qing rolled her eyes but didn’t argue. If she hadn’t seen A’ Ning helping the others with their rather ridiculous tasks, there’s no way that she would have been as calm as she is now.

“It doesn’t matter. Wait till they don’t pay attention and sneak them out one by one! It’s not like the guards will actually notice until they’re all gone.”

“Hmm.”

.

.

.

In the end, the guards all fell asleep as they did this. But Wei Wuxian needed to think of a long term plan. They were all clothed in Wen sect garments so the first step would be to get them a change of clothes. He had sufficient funds from his duties as head disciple - though he wasn’t really performing those duties per say - as well as funds Shijie had given him.

So he got them a change of clothes. And a map. And told them to head to Dongying since it was far removed from any sects. Wen Qing gave him a hug, which surprised him and she asked for some paper, writing something down and handing him some notes.

“I always felt guilty about the transfer. So throughout the war, I came up with this. Your meridians are still intact, after all.”

“Wen Qing....” Wei Wuxian was stunned.

“It is the least I could do. After all that you have done for my family.”

Wei Wuxian did not cry.

He did not.

...................................

Time passed. 

And eventually, Wei Wuxian formed a new golden core. It was not through traditional techniques though. Of course it couldn’t be. He was in his twenties and forming a golden core would be nigh impossible.

Wen Qing’s notes gave some insights though they were not complete. Wei Wuxian had to refine the method she had started. 

And so, through the use of medicines and his own genius, a fledgling core formed after two years. How was he able to have that much time on his hands, you ask?

He may or may not have told Jiang Cheng and Shijie that in order to purify the resentful energy in him that he had to go into secluded cultivation. 

They both reluctantly agreed but not before Wei Wuxian trained a successor, someone to take his place.

And now. Two years later, he has finally purified the last bit of resentment in him, has properly sealed the Seal away, and has finally formed a golden core.

[autisticlancemcclain]

wip tease number 5 or something

Lance has no idea how powerful he truly is.

Seriously. Completely oblivious. He’s convinced that he’s the only one on the team who’s not powerful — and Keith knows this because those are the words Lance said with his own mouth. He’s so convinced that power is Shiro’s strength, Pidge’s intelligence, Hunk’s wit and compassion, Allura’s regality, and Coran’s wisdom. He’s even completely sure that Keith has power in his speed and initiative.

Somehow, though, the heart of Voltron does not know how he holds everyone in the palm of his hand. He does not see the picture of terror he makes; jaw clenched, brown eyes flashing with determination, back straight and shoulders set, demonic spider at his side, telepathic mice gathered on his head, poisonous, sentient vine wrapped around him — and the spirts of two lions, red and blue, growling in tandem behind him as he swears that no harm will come to the beast by Voltron’s hand.

Lance did not see the fear in the dignitary’s face. He did not notice his team staring at him with wide eyes, leaning far away from him and his own personal army. He did not see the pure, concentrated power rippling from him in waves.

If Keith’s being totally, completely honest, it’s kind of hot.

But it’s also a pain in the ass. As much as Lance’s greatest strength is in convincing people to listen to him, when he sets stubborn eyes on a task, the Universe herself cannot sway him. Keith has a snowball’s chance in hell of managing either.

“Just try,” Shiro pleads. “Please. Attempt to convince him that, as much as it sucks, killing the damn beast is the easiest way to secure this alliance and move on.”

“Shiro, your braincells are spilling out your ears like loose marbles if you think that I can convince him to even listen to the words I will attempt to say.”

“Holy idiom, there, cowboy,” Pidge teases, and Keith breaks away from the intense stare-down with his brother to stick his tongue out and shoot her the finger.

“That’s a normal idiom. Sorry that you grew up in Michigan where the most interesting insult you ever hear is someone saying please with a little more passive aggression than usual.”

“…Alright. Point to Keith.”

“Mhm. That’s what I thought.”

“Paladins!” Allura snaps, ignoring Hunk’s comment that she is also, actually, a paladin now, and as such has lost a good chunk of ethos. “Focus! Stars, it’s like I have to do everything around here. Keith. Put your big boy pants on.”

Shiro chokes with laughter, desperately trying to pretend it’s really a cough, but it fools no one.

God, those two need to stop hanging out together. Shiro is dragging Allura down to his level. Poor woman.

“Talk to Lance,” she continues. “He only really listens to you.”

Keith looks at her incredulously. “Listens to me — have I missed something? I asked Lance to lead a briefing yesterday and he asked me what deity died and made me king of the jungle. He doesn’t listen to a goddamn word I say.”

Allura raises an eyebrow. “Did he?”

“Did he what?”

“Lead the briefing yesterday?”

Keith deflates. Because, well. “Yeah,” he mutters.

“So you’re just being a pussy, then,” she summarizes, and this time Shiro doesn’t even pretend he’s coughing. Hunk and Pidge also lose their shit.

“I resent that,” Keith says haughtily, denying nothing.

“Yeah. Okay. Off you go. Convince him to at least attempt to hear us out.”

Keith sighs, but does as asked, making his way to his and Lance’s rooms. He decides to take a minute and gather his thoughts — see, he’s learning, look at how not-impulsive he’s being — and heads to his room first.

He spends a few minutes when he gets there meditating beside his bed — he’d rather stick a hot iron through his eye than admit it, but Shiro and Black may be a little, teensy, itty-bitty bit correct about taking time to gather up thoughts and reflect or whatever.

Just as he’s about to get up and knock on Lance’s door, he hears Coran’s heeled boots click down the hallway.

Oh, fuck yes. If Coran talks to Lance, he might actually listen without argument! Lance has no issue following Coran’s instructions!

…On the other hand, Coran’s just as much of a — and Keith says this with all the fondness in his heart, believe him, if he didn’t find it so damn endearing he would not be spending his nights imagining what will happen when he finally grows enough of a pair to ask Lance on a date — tree-hugger as Lance is. He won’t be happy about the beast killing either.

But, hey. Coran’s a wise guy. It’s probably fine.

Just in case, though, he gets up as quietly as he can — he knows Lance’s goddamn bat ears will hear him if his fucking heart beats too loudly — and leans against the door to hear their conversation.

“Lance, dear, I was just coming to find you,” Coran says.

So far, so good. If Coran was already trying to find Lance, it was probably to try and gently convince him that saving the beast might not be the best option, right?

Keith heart sinks a little as a new thought worms into his brain.

Or, maybe, Lance isn’t just being stubborn, and he’s actually upset. Maybe Coran is going to make sure Lance is feeling okay, like a good person.

…Yeah. That’s more likely. Keith kind of feels like a jackass.

He startles out of his thoughts as Coran’s voice, notably louder than before, speaks again.

“Well, if you’re really feeling so much better, would you mind helping me recalibrate the fabricator?”

“Absolutely,” Lance says, and he does sound remarkably happier than he did when he stomped out of the bridge.

Huh. Maybe Lance convinced himself…?

As he says it, he knows it’s not true. But it might not be best to bring it up now, then. He’s only just gotten into a good mood, it will probably be better to bring it up over dinner, or something, when the good mood has enough time to settle properly.

Keith nods to himself. Yeah. That’s totally not an excuse because he doesn’t want Lance to look at him in complete betrayal again when Keith attempts to convince him that saving the beast is not an option, or anything.

Right.

Totally.

———

from this series of mine

[storytellerofuntoldlegends]

an icarus and his sun: chapter 7

A/N: scott's pov, finally!! as well as more of my "the empires smp gals deserve to go off, actually" agenda. also check out this rad art submitted by @dancinglifeboat! i also would like to apologize ahead of time, the updates from here on out are probably going to slow down a bit because while i am still extremely motivated to write this fic, it hasn't been as high as it was for the upcoming chapters as it has been for the previous ones. i honestly don't even know HOW i was so motivated to write several chapters so fast that i actually had a backlog of them for a bit and was able to post them daily. so the updates will likely slow down to being every couple of days or maybe every couple of weeks, depending on time/motivation. but yeah! anyway, enjoy!

Warnings: lying/manipulation, threats of violence, past violence, arguing, heartbreak

AO3 Link - Tumblr Masterpost

-

Scott felt just about sick to his stomach every time he looked at the slimeball Jimmy had given him. It was such a stupid little thing to get emotional over, and it was honestly kind of gross and sticky. But Scott couldn’t bear to get rid of it. It had stung more than he cared to admit when Jimmy had reminded him of how isolated and distant Scott was from everything. Staying up and away from the world kept him safe, kept his empire safe. But being safe didn’t make it any less lonely and isolating. And then Jimmy had looked at him like he was the world, and told him that he should be able to enjoy the little things too. Scott couldn’t bear to get rid of the slimeball, even though the memories were painful now. For as much as bluntly being reminded that he was alone stung, Jimmy telling him to leave stung even worse.

Looking back on it now, Scott didn’t really know why he had sided with Fwhip. It was long before Scott had really felt anything for Jimmy, mostly flirting with him to get a rise out of him. That flirting had always devolved into fighting, and it was after one particularly nasty argument that Fwhip had pulled him aside after the meeting and talked about how the House Blossom Alliance would be the downfall of their empires. And at the time… Scott had agreed with him. He loved Katherine, he really did- but there were too many rivalries in that alliance for it to ever truly work. So he went along with Fwhip’s plan- go along with the meetings until an opportunity arose. Then came the addendum of Scott keeping an eye on Jimmy to make sure he wouldn’t be a problem. And then came the plan of rigging the ballroom to explode and blame it on another empire. And even worse- Scott actually caught feelings for Jimmy, instead of it being an act like Fwhip had planned.

So before the night of the ball, Scott had struck a deal with Fwhip. If there was no argumentative behavior during the ball, then he wouldn’t set off the TNT. To his surprise and relief, Fwhip had agreed- and then went and purposefully antagonized Jimmy. And Jimmy- sweet, impulsive Jimmy- had fought right back. Scott didn’t get a chance to pull Fwhip aside and convince him to change his mind before Lizzie had asked him for a dance, then spun Jimmy right into his arms. Fwhip had been watching them the entire time they danced, then left as soon as the song ended, heading up the stairs. Scott snuck away from Jimmy to follow him- only for Fwhip to have flown off by the time Scott made his way up the stairs. Then Jimmy followed him too, and once he spotted Fwhip in the distance with his crossbow, Scott realized he had been used to draw Jimmy out. So he kissed Jimmy, and then Fwhip set off the explosions. It was then Scott realized Fwhip had lied to him about the plan- somehow he had rigged Katherine’s entire castle with TNT, not just the ballroom, and wanted to be sure that everyone knew it was Fwhip and the Wither Rose Alliance behind it all. A show of power, so that no one would mess with them.

So now Scott was alone again. Jimmy felt like Scott had betrayed him- and frankly, Scott had. He should have told the House Blossom Alliance about the TNT, instead of striking a weak deal with Fwhip. Now the House Blossom Alliance would never trust him again, and all Scott had now was the Wither Rose Alliance- which Scott wasn’t so sure if he wanted to be a part of anymore. And at their next secret meeting, Scott found out that he wasn’t the only one with this opinion. Usually they met in Gem’s hidden meeting room, but this time around, she insisted on meeting in the Grimlands, not giving a clear reason why. Scott had thought nothing of it, until the time for the meeting actually came.

“I’m done, Fwhip,” Gem said, not even taking a seat at the table. Fwhip leaned back in his chair, raising an eyebrow at Gem.

“What do you mean, you’re ‘done?’” he scoffed. Gem slammed her hands down on the table, purple magic sparking in the air. Everyone in the room had ranging expressions of shock and terror on their faces. Gem never got angry like this, at least not as long as Scott had known her. Fwhip, however, seemed unphased.

“You lied to us. You said you were going to make a point at the House Blossom Ball. Instead you blew it up! You could have killed us!” she fumed. Fwhip rolled his eyes.

“Gem, you know me. What other point would I have made that didn’t go off with a bang? Besides, Sausage and Scott knew about the TNT,” Fwhip replied with a shrug. The glare Gem sent him was deadly, and Pearl rose from her seat at the revelation.

“I was hoping that maybe Scott was clever and figured out your plan, and just wasn’t able to get the information to anyone in time- but you told him and Sausage?! And I’m not exactly pleased that neither of them felt it was necessary to tell Gem and I what was going on, but the nerve of you to hide information from your own allies, Fwhip!” Pearl scolded. Scott and Sausage didn’t say anything, a little embarrassed- but to be fair, it hadn’t really occurred to Scott that Fwhip didn’t tell everyone about his plan. He had told Scott one-on-one, and Scott had foolishly assumed that he had told the others as well. Yet another frustrating hoodwink courtesy of Fwhip.

“Because I knew you would react like this! But there’s no sense in arguing about it now, what’s happened has happened. Let’s discuss plans for the future, shall we?” Fwhip said with an overly charming grin.

“No,” Pearl said firmly, and Fwhip blinked in surprise.

“What?” he asked in disbelief.

“You heard Gem. She’s done, and so am I. I won’t be a part of this senseless destruction anymore,” Pearl said evenly. And before Fwhip had a chance to protest, Pearl and Gem stormed out of the room. Fwhip let out a dejected sigh, before sitting up straight in his seat again.

“Fine. Who needs them? We’ll be just fine- won’t we, boys?” Fwhip asked, and the smile he gave Scott made his stomach roll.

“Yeah! Now we don’t have to tiptoe around them anymore!” Sausage cheered, and Scott could only give a weak smile in response. Something in Fwhip’s smile turned sharp as he leaned towards Scott with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

“You know, I never properly complimented your acting skills. You really had Jimmy caught like a fish in a net. It’s a shame though- you got a little too wrapped up in the act- not to mention him- and we lost a valuable chance to deal with the Codfather once and for all. But that’s alright- I’m sure we’ll get another opportunity,” Fwhip said in a low and dangerous tone, the thinly veiled threat very clear to Scott. Don’t get in the way again, and don’t try and weasel out of plans. Or he’d make sure he’d regret it.

“R-right,” Scott said shakily. Fwhip seemed satisfied, and leaned back in his chair once more.

“Good. Now I suppose that advantage with you pretending to like Jimmy is gone now, unless you do a lot more than just kiss him this time around-”

“No,” Scott blurted, before he could really think about it.

“What was that?” Fwhip asked, raising an eyebrow. A lie about how Jimmy definitely didn’t want to see him again- which wasn’t really a lie per se, but it wasn’t the reason Scott said no- was at the tip of his tongue. But he couldn’t say it. And in that moment, he finally decided to do what Pearl and Gem had done.

“I’m not doing this anymore. It makes me sick to my stomach to even think about bringing more pain and destruction to J- to these lands,” Scott said, voice shaking a little but his eyes sharp as he glared at Fwhip. But Fwhip caught the wobble in his voice and how he nearly said Jimmy’s name. However Sausage spoke up and commented on it before Fwhip could.

“You WEREN’T pretending, you actually fell for Jimmy!” Sausage gasped, and the tone of his voice reminded him of simpler times, when Sausage would tease him about his flirting with Jimmy and Pearl would admonish him and tell Sausage to leave Scott alone. Then Fwhip had taken advantage of Scott’s banter with Jimmy, and brought Scott’s world crashing down around him as a result.

“You’ve gotten weak, Scott. What happened to the imposing, cold ruler of Rivendell?” Fwhip sneered. Scott rose from the table at that, glaring Fwhip down.

“I’m finally being the ruler I should have been. I’m not going to let other empires use me for their own gain, and I’m not going to be part of your destructive plans,” Scott fumed, wings flaring and making him seem taller, more threatening. Fwhip chuckled darkly.

“You walk out of here, and you’ll regret it,” he growled.

“I’ll take my chances,” Scott shot back, turning on his heel and exiting the room, ignoring both Fwhip and Sausage’s voices after him. He was done with the Wither Rose Alliance. In fact, he was done with alliances entirely. He was going to stay in the mountains and care for his empire, like he should have been all along.

-

Then the slimeball on the side table by his bed reminded Scott why he didn’t want to stay in the mountains. He would just be exactly what Jimmy expected of him- high and mighty, being too good for anyone. And being alone. Scott had a taste of what a sense of togetherness felt like, and now being alone hurt more than ever. But there was no one he could go to, no one who would trust him. Maybe he could form something with Pearl and Gem, or maybe the two new empire rulers, Shelby and Joey- but it wouldn’t be the same. Nothing would ever be the same, not as long as the mere memory of Jimmy’s goofy grin sent his heart fracturing a thousand times, over and over again.

He couldn’t stand being within the walls of his home any longer. His wings itched with the need to spread and take to the skies, and flying always made him feel better. So Scott did just that, taking to the skies and flying nowhere in particular, just far away from all the empires as much as possible. Maybe if he flew far enough, it would all disappear and Scott wouldn’t have to deal with his problems anymore. And maybe with enough distance, his heartbreak would disappear too.

-

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[seyaryminamoto]

Am I imagining things or is Ozai about two steps away from having a mental breakdown identical to Azula's in canon. Seems like Zhao and Seethus are the only two people keeping him from becoming an unstable, paranoid wreck. Zhao also seems to be secretly getting less confident in Ozai and might even side with Azula in the future for the sake of The Fire Nation's future, helping her in some long term plot to get rid of her father. Yep yep, I thin Ozai is in for another betrayal in future, hehehe.

... Weeeeell, not exactly.

I mean, there's definitely several similarities in both character arcs, many of them accidental, some of them 100% intentional because ultimately, Azula's downfall in canon is a consequence of following her father's footsteps way too closely even when she knew, deep in her heart, that it wasn't what she truly wanted (at least, that's how I've always interpreted it). Hence, it's only natural that Ozai's philosophies would burn him back if the situation were reversed somehow... and you could certainly argue that it is reversed in Gladiator.

But, this being said, Ozai's thought process is quite different from Azula's. He's a lot less prepared to doubt himself, even if at times there's a sliver of opportunity that he'll do a minimal amount of self-reflection... but in his case, that doubt, that self-reflection, only arrives AFTER he's done his worst. So... imagine Azula not having any moments of vulnerability in canon, no mirror scene, nothing of the sort, and only after utterly defeating her brother and Katara would she go "... wait, why don't I feel 100% happy about this?" That's, more or less, what Ozai's path of devastation looks like. The man's just... unhinged as hell right now. I honestly never imagined I'd hate him as much as I do after writing this arc x'D I always took him on as an interesting challenge of a character due to how messed up he is, I never shied away from showing him at his worst... but damn, the way he's betrayed Azula while pretending she's the one betraying him just makes me see red every time I think of it.

So, after that digression there, Ozai still has a lot to offer the story, there's much character exploration to be done still, so we're really not going to simply retread canon's footsteps by just switching around the characters taking each role... nah. There's a few points in common with canon for sure, a few concepts I've definitely tampered with and played around with in order to sort-of challenge canon in my own way, but I wouldn't inflict a fate like Azula's canon fate upon a character, not when I have pleeenty of story left to tell about said character, for better or for worse.

Zhao... well. I fear Zhao's relationship with Ozai is getting messier and messier, but... that doesn't necessarily mean an alliance with Azula is in the cards for him. As will be demonstrated once Part 3 begins... Zhao is actually a little bit more spooked by Azula (and Sokka) than he ever had been before. Even after growing to respect her some more, deep down he continued to treat her as a child when it came to her big "betrayal", he saw it as the whims of a young woman who fell in love carelessly, so on and so forth... never did he expect she and Sokka would be able to not only escape Ozai's wrath but get Combustion Man killed in such a brutal and dangerous way. So... he's apprehensive. Rightfully so, I would say, because he's finally seeing Azula and Sokka as more than just younglings without common sense... no, now they're fully-grown assholes with no common sense and a very strong attachment to each other that seems to have convinced them to set the whole world on fire if that's the only way they'll save each other.

So... to put it simply, Azula, Ozai and Zhao are in for a veeeeery messed up dynamic going forward. There's an underlying tinge of affection in a few of those relationships (... not really in Azula and Zhao's case, I'll admit), but more than anything, there's a toooon of resentment, hostility and fear of whatever the other one will do next. It's kind of like that scene in PoTC where everyone's aiming guns at each other? Yeeeeah, that's what these three will be like, going forward...

[crispy-chan]

Maze of Memories ch.3 | bang chan x reader (hunger games au)

➳ pairing: career!bang chan x f.reader (ft. felix)

➳ genre: hunger games au, action, angst, fluff if you squint, romance

➳ warnings: violence, language, arguments

➳ summary:

you're the unlucky reaped female tribute from district 9 with no fighting skills whatsoever. all you want is to enjoy your last few days of life before perishing in the arena, but you somehow manage to catch the eye of the volunteer from district 2…

➳ word count: 7k

➳ a/n: hello, i'm sorry it took so long to update. interactions are welcome and appreciated, I'm a bit iffy about this chapter... but I hope you'll enjoy <3

ps: listen to Maze of Memories by Stray Kids

⇦ previous | next ⇨ | masterlist | series mlist

***

“Felix, I think we should stop this.”

Felix looked at you with pure hurt and shock written all over his face.

“You can't be serious Y/n?” he asked in disbelief. “I promise I'll listen to you from now on, I'm really sorry for reacting like that but please, don't break off this alliance.”

You avoided looking him in the eyes. Breaking off the alliance was basically shooting yourself in the foot but you thought this would be the best option. You wouldn't be slowing him down anymore and he could focus on becoming the sole winner of the games.

He looked at you one last time as if giving you a chance to retract your statement but you just continued to stubbornly look at the ground.

With a heavy sigh, he got up and walked away, leaving you to yourself in the empty hall. You couldn't help the fresh wave of tears cascading down your cheeks. You really were pathetic. You had to stop yourself from calling after your ex ally, this was better for him after all…

***

How did this even happen?

You were buddies just this morning. But that's not the case anymore. You almost forgot that you knew Felix for only three days. All the time spent with him felt like ages, you practically thought you had been friends for years…

How could you be so foolish? This is the Hunger Games you're talking about! Whatever the two of you had couldn't be an actual friendship, right? It was something that just happened on the basis of survival instincts. 

This was never going to last anyway.

It would be better for you to forget about him as soon as possible. Although you felt terrible about breaking off the alliance you had, it was better that way, you tried to convince yourself. He could win that way and regain the honor of your district. 

Other than Yoongi, there weren't any living victors from district nine. It was quite infamous for losing both its tributes during the initial bloodbaths. Felix, you thought, could finally change that. You really wanted him to win so your strategy from now on was to let him focus on himself. He was charming and you knew he could get some of the sponsors on his side to aid him in the game.

You also planned to avoid the careers at all costs. You didn't know why district two kept staring at you but after that conversation with him in the hallway, you knew you had to steer clear of him. Whatever his intentions were, they definitely weren't good and you didn't even want to imagine, what would he do if he crossed paths with you in a few days.

Although that was what you decided on, it still felt weird not talking to Felix. After your argument in the hall, you tried your best to compose yourself and wipe off any evidence of your breakdown. This was quite useless as almost everyone had seen you crying when you stormed off, but you figured looking at least a little bit less pathetic was in your best interest.

You returned to the training center, all eyes on you as you made your way to the weapons station. There were currently only two kids there, both the tributes from twelve and they were practicing their knife-throwing skills at the moment.

You could see Felix across the room at the shelter-making station. He didn't spare you a single glance.

Sighing, you slowly approached the instructor who was standing a few yards away.

“Umm, could you please show me the basics of using a knife? I've never done anything like that before…”

The young man smiled, politely pointing you in the direction of the targets and small knives.

“Do you mean wielding or throwing?”

“Well, I've never tried either so I guess what you think would be easier for a beginner like me,” you trailed off sheepishly, rubbing the back of your neck.

“Sure thing,” he grinned, “we should probably start with how to use it in close combat.”

He positioned you in the proper stance, legs wide apart, and propped your hands up. He opened your palm and slid the base of the knife inside, his larger hand enfulging yours and motioning to the targets.

“Look, you have to hold the knife properly, swing the knife like this and make sure to use the blade as a shield,” he turned around to look you in the eyes, trying to read if you were following him. After deciding that you were, he motioned to the rubber dummy, and with combined strength, he drove the blade down the torso, effectively cutting through where the heart would be.

You inwardly grimaced at the act. Even if it was just a dummy, you couldn't help but gag at the prospect of stabbing someone to death. Call it wishful thinking but you honestly hoped that you wouldn't have any blood on your hands. 

***

The first day of training finally finished as you returned to your room absolutely devastated. Not only were you utterly exhausted but you now couldn't even talk with Felix as you normally would. Oh how you wished you could just talk on your bed like you did before, you'd give anything to hear his comforting voice again without the hostility it contained after you broke off the alliance.

Was it a mistake? You asked yourself, tears already threatening to spill. Why did you even break the alliance in the first place?

Right. Because you were scared. Scared that you'd have to face the possibility of turning on each other in the arena once the number of tributes went down. You were scared of what the arena would do to your starved and dehydrated body, scared that you would end up hurting him out of pure survival instinct. Or more likely, he could end up turning on you. The idea of sweet Felix possibly stabbing you in the back brought salty tears down your face. And the memory of him shouting at you earlier today didn't help at all.

You were fully aware he yelled at you in hopes of teaching you something. He was on edge, just like everybody else and you couldn't blame him but it scared you nonetheless.

No, you thought. Stop thinking like that. The alliance was off and now you were on your own. It didn't even matter, you'll be dead in a few days anyways…

“I'm just slowing him down...Like this, he c-can focus o-on w-winning,” you let the sobs rack through your throat.

“I-I, I wish I c-could have a l-least said t-thank you,” you whimpered, curling yourself into the covers. “He did so much f-for me, I wish I could h-have done t-the same”

Unbeknownst to you, Yoongi was just passing by in the hallway… he wanted to talk to you about the new strategy you were going to have to follow, but decided that he should give you some space.

***

The next day of training, you woke up early. It's not like you could get much sleep last night with all those thoughts running through your head. You groaned, slumping down your bed and walking towards the bathroom to freshen up.

After you returned to the room, you noticed your training uniform neatly folded on the bed.

“Huh? Did they bring it in just now?” you mumbled, picking up the article of clothing.

At least it looked bigger than yesterday. Maybe it was just a mistake and they fixed it…

***

Since it was your second day, there was no need for the introductory speech and you were all free to train. A lot of thoughts consumed you, like how the hell were you supposed to even make a plan? What was your strategy?

You didn't have a clue on what you were going to do, just like what you told Yoongi yesterday when he came to your room. 

Felix probably told him, you thought. Your mentor came in last night after dinner and asked about the situation. You explained to him how you thought it would have been better like this, how Felix could at least stand a chance, it seemed like the others already viewed him as a worthy contender so he should most definitely make use of it.

“If you say so,” was all Yoongi told you yesterday, after leaving you alone in your room to drown in your thoughts.

You slapped your cheeks in hopes of regaining some focus, you couldn't be distracted like that all day. Looking around, you could see all the tributes already training. You avoided the weapons station where all the careers were and the edible plants’ station where Felix was, attempting to memorize different plants along with the kids from district twelve. You could see he probably hadn't had much luck by the frustrated sighs he let out and by how his shoulders would slump every once in a while.

“Why are you so down dearie?” a melodic voice called out to you, handing out their hand for a handshake.

You just stood there stupidly, staring at the extended hand, completely at loss of words. After about twenty seconds of pure embarrassment, you pulled yourself together and reached out too, resulting in a firm handshake with the mysterious girl.

“I'm Hwasa from district eleven,” she swiftly introduced herself, a smile resting on her prominent features.

“H-Hi, I'm Y/n from nine,” you mumbled, still not sure what to say.

“You must be wondering why I'm here,” she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, “You see, my district mate isn't exactly the talking type and you seemed to be quite fun around, and since the boy from your district isn't with you anym-...oh,” recognition seemed to flash in her eyes, as she just awkwardly looked at you.

“Sorry, I didn't re-”

“It's ok,” you cut her off, trying your best to muster a hopefully realistic-looking smile. It was refreshing to have someone to talk to, you didn't realize it before but just a simple conversation with someone made you feel so much better.

“Felix and I had a bit of an argument,”

“—yeah, that was quite the scene… oh sorry, please continue.”

You pieced together the reminiscent of your smile and briskly continued, “And long story short, I broke off the alliance because I'd be just dead weight to him and I think he has a shot at winning.”

She looked at you for a minute, trying to comprehend what you just told her but confusion was evident on her face.

“So you’re trying to say that you broke it off with lover boy because you want him to win?”

“Well yeah, I'm not even sure why we made an alliance in the first place, I kind of felt like I was using him with how much he helped me. I'd regret it if he ended up dying just because he was busy helping me with everything,” you let out, releasing the breath you've been holding for a while now. It felt nice to vent for a while.

“Wow. I...I don’t have any words-”

“It's ok. Do you want to maybe train together?” you carefully asked, not sure if she was interested. For all you know, she could be just scoping out information but at this point, you didn't even care anymore.

***

You and Hwasa continued to train together for the rest of the morning until it was lunchtime. You didn't even realize it, but your stomach was already growling from all the practice you had today. The both of you walked up to the peacekeeper with the plastic box containing wrapped sandwiches, apples, and a bottle of water.

“Man, you'd think the Capitol would offer better lunches,” she groaned, unwrapping the sandwich with evident distaste.

“They obviously have the money, and by looking at the breakfasts and dinners we have, they have the skills too...why can't they just let us eat morning leftovers or something? It'd be way better than this, whatever this even is.”

You silently chuckled at her banter. You still weren't sure what was going on between you guys but you were glad that she agreed to be with you today. She was very easygoing and fun to hang around. You two practically joked the whole time, talking about anything that came to mind, ranging from (slightly) badmouthing the Capitol people, to talking about your districts.

At first, you thought the mention of your home would bring back tears but surprisingly, you found yourself smiling fondly at all the pleasant memories you had. 

“Wait, so you two only knew each other for a few days?” she asked, shock written all over her beautiful face.

“Yeah,” you chuckled lightly, “we bumped into each other on the day of the reaping.”

“No waayy, we all thought you guys were lovers or something.”

“Wait what? And we?”

“Well duh, it was quite obvious he liked you, we all saw how he would look at you.”

You blushed at her statement, thinking back to your interactions with the boy. Did he really? No! Of course he didn't. He just had a pure heart, there was no way he liked you…

“Nah man, Felix's just really nice,”

“Sure thing, if that's what you say,” she snickered.

From the corner of your eye, you could see him staring at you yet again. You felt chills run down your spine as you hastily looked back at Hwasa.

“Tell me Y/n,” she pierced you with her strong gaze, “why the hell is two looking at you like that?”

“Um, l-like what?” you asked nervously, feeling the beads of sweat go down your forehead, “he's not looking at me, don't be ridiculous.”

She looked at you again, that intensive scrutiny still present. She must have realized that whatever was going on, you weren't prepared to answer because she didn't ask any further.

***

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, you spent the afternoon training with Hwasa (who would have thought) and then just scurried back to your room. You headed towards the shower first and tried to mentally go through your day, recalling everything that happened.

You had a lot of fun with her, she talked a lot about her home district with nothing but fondness in her tone.

-

“Don't tell this to anyone but our district is one of the most rebellious ones, we're really poor so we have a lot of attempts of uprisings and rebellions. Sadly, it's nothing compared to all the weaponry of the Capitol and the peacekeepers but we aren't afraid to stand up for what we believe.”

-

You could clearly remember the passion in her eyes when she hushedly whispered that to you a mere two hours ago.

It was no secret that district eleven was a rebellious one. Everybody remembered the iconic three-finger salute they did to Katniss when she was on her victory tour. The people were honest and simple, showing their appreciation for what she did and how she treated Rue with the respect that she deserved.

Although district nine was a little better off than eleven, it still was poor and suffered from many food shortages. You could say that it was balancing on a thin line of people being unhappy but still having the bare minimum to survive and therefore trying not to involve themselves with the Capitol and its peacekeepers.

You sighed, happy that you could wash away all the grime and sweat from the day. You didn't exactly look forward to dinner with Felix, Yoongi, and Flaverie but you figured you couldn't avoid them forever. Plus, you guys had to talk strategy, the alliance was broken off so Yoongs had to come up with an entirely new plan.

***

“So...as much as it pains me, we have to address the elephant in the room. What now?”

Both you and Felix tried your best to evade his gaze and instead focused on looking at your plates. You still haven't talked since the whole hallway incident and things were painfully awkward, almost hostile between the two of you.

“It seems like you guys are dead set on going solo so I'm not gonna bother trying to change your mind, ok? But we have to agree on a strategy or you're both gonna die.”

You gulped and expectantly looked up at him, Felix seemingly doing the same as your mentor gave an appreciative hum.

“Finally. You two are so damn immature. We have to talk about the evaluations. Try your best to show something for yourselves but don't uncover everything, alright?”

“It's not like I have anything to show for myself,” you mumbled quietly, not realizing you said that out loud.

Felix looked visibly pissed as he grumbled, “you don't always have to play the victim Y/n.”

Hurt and shock were written all over your face as you gasped in disbelief. You decided that you weren't going to give him the satisfaction of an answer so you just closed your mouth and continued to glare at the cut-up steak in front of you. You weren't sure how could his demeanor change so drastically, it was less than two days ago that you were crying in his embrace as he comforted you.

“Easy for you to say, you actually have a shot at this.”

He just ignored you and that’s when Yoongi had enough.

“Shut up!”

The two of you snapped your heads up, slightly surprised at the sudden outburst of your usually calm mentor.

“I'll tell you the strategy and you two will zap and listen.”

You silently nodded.

“During the interviews, be mindful of what you say,” he paced around the table, authoritativeness already heard in his tone.

“The Flickermanns have a special gift of extracting information from you and putting words in your mouth.”

He suddenly stopped, turning around to face the both of you as if trying to implore you to further listen.

“And whatever happens, don't you dare try to badmouth the careers or any Capitol people.”

***

You got up from your seat, exhaustion slowly seeping into your bones as you made your way to the door. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife.

“Felix,” Yoongi motioned to your district mate, “stay behind, I'd like to have a word with you.”

Said boy didn't look too excited but stopped midway nonetheless, leaving you to walk away. As much as you wanted to listen to their conversation, your pride wouldn't allow you to eavesdrop.

As soon as the door shut behind you, Yoongi looked at Felix, hoping to get the boy to spill.

“Soo, what did you want to tell me?” he asked nervously, not liking where this was going.

“I wanted to ask you what's the deal between the two of you...one day you're all lovey-dovey and the next you won't even look at each other.”

“Well,” he folded his arms over his chest, “she broke the alliance off, and I saw her talking to pretty boy from two.”

Yoongi ran his hand through his locks, seemingly contemplating his choices before he whispered to him in a hushed tone, “whatever you think she did...just know that she was crying last night in her room?”

“What?”

“Like downright sobbing. Something about how she wishes she could thank you and repay you and how she's like dead weight to you...I don't really know but whatever you think she's plotting - it seems like she wants you to be the winner.”

Felix just stood with his mouth open, not sure if this whole thing was even real. He desperately wanted for you guys to go back to how things were but it almost seemed like you were betraying him yesterday. He thought that you got together with Chris or something, he wasn't even sure of anything now. He was so mean to you and you just wanted him to focus on himself?

Whatever it was, he had to get to the bottom of this. Maybe there still was a chance for you two to stick together the day after tomorrow.

“Ok, I'll go try to talk to her,” he blurted to the mentor, scrambling to get his thoughts straight and run after you.

“I trust that you'll figure something out, Felix.”

***

He ran through the empty hallway, scurrying to find your room. He was desperate to fix this whole misunderstanding so he inhaled deeply before pushing himself to run even faster. After finally reaching your door, he extended his hand to knock but something prevented him

***

You were rolling around in bed, trying to make everything stop. Trying to forget. You couldn't do this anymore! How could the people be so cruel? You've seen many instances of kids way younger than you competing but you would be damned if you thought that your teenage years were enough of a life. You didn't live your life to the fullest and you sure fucking regretted it now. There were so many things you wanted to do but never got the chance to (as you blurted out to Felix a mere two days ago).

I'm too young to die…

There it was, you finally said it: you were simply too young to have to face this. And not only you but all the twenty-four kids every year that were forced to participate in this shit-show. Of course, other than the careers that volunteered, you thought bitterly.

At this point, you didn't even know why, but you were crying...crying and crying and the tears just didn't seem to stop.

It's not like anyone would hear you, you told yourself.

You were crying so loud, that you didn't seem to hear the frantic knocking on your door, which after a few seconds stopped anyways…

***

You tried not to think about last night as you woke up with a groan. You didn't exactly get a good night’s sleep with all these thoughts running through your mind but hey, it's not like anyone cared. They were all just gonna prep you in the afternoon, get you all pretty for the interview where all the pretentious Capitol folks will enjoy watching you squirm in your seat, fearing for your life and vote for who they think will win.

Pulling on your training clothes, almost mechanically at this point, you head to the bathroom to brush your teeth and freshen up before making your way to the breakfast table.

The halls are dimmed and empty, giving off this creepy vibe. Everything seems so clean and polished here, it almost seemed like a hospital. 

Or maybe a psychiatric ward, you thought bitterly.

Granted, it's not like there were many hospitals back in district nine. There was actually only one, the district clinic and it was definitely in need of a proper reconstruction. You've been there only once when you were nine. You had a bad case of the flu, your fever steadily rising and your parents decided that it would be best to go there. You remember there was this one kind nurse that sneaked you in some food when you were recovering and your weak body was in need of some nutrients. 

The next day, you saw her on the main square being publicly whipped by one of the peacekeepers. You could see the pain and humiliation in her eyes when she caught your gaze. She gave you a tight-lipped smile before moaning in pain as another swift hit was delivered to her bare back.

You never knew if she was punished because of what she did to you but from that day onward, you didn't want to be the cause of anyone's pain. You didn't want anybody to go down because they helped you…

***

You entered the dining room with a tired look in your eyes, one that Felix and Yoongi noticed right away. Your stupid escort though of course didn't notice as she hopped up excitedly, already talking about how she was excited about the interviews.

With that much energy and enthusiasm, you at times wondered, if she was high or something.

“Y/n, here. Have some of the matcha latte, I think you'll like it,” she smiled kindly, offering you the glass filled with the peculiar green liquid.

Oh.

That was actually really sweet of her, she must have remembered you didn't get to try it yesterday.

Your expression mirrored hers as you gladly took the cup from her.

“Thanks.”

On the opposite side of the table, Felix was smiling contently at the fond exchange between the two of you. He had a late-night talk with the escort when she found him crying in the hallway and she was really kind. Who would have thought that beneath all the fakeness of a Capitol citizen could lay an actually genuine person?

All four of you continued your lunch in peace as there was no need to talk, all the tactics for the evaluation and interview being discussed the day before.

After that, both you and Felix walked briskly to the elevator without exchanging a single glance. Even though you guys weren't on speaking terms for quite a while, something felt slightly different. You weren't sure if you were imagining this but it almost seemed like Felix was trying to make eye contact, the nervous way he bit his lip making you wonder if he wanted to say something.

Your thoughts were disrupted as the elevator let out a low ding and the doors opened. You walked into the training center and to your surprise noticed, that some of the careers were already there. The ones from district two to be exact.

You smiled as you saw Hwasa and slowly walked up to her. The two of you had so much fun so you were wondering if you could go ask her to train together just like yesterday. You patted the girl on her shoulder before flashing her a closed eye smile.

“Hey, do you want to train together?”

She looked at you with a fear-stricken face before hurriedly turning around and walking in the opposite direction - away from you. To say you were confused would be an understatement. You had no clue as to why she chose to avoid you. Did you do something wrong?

You tried to recall any events where you could have possibly hurt her feelings but found none. You also noticed something weird, she looked absolutely frightened when you approached her which confused you. You weren't exactly the epitome of scary, more like confused idiot, you bitterly thought.

You could feel a burning gaze on you from the other side of the training center, around the weight lifting stand. You slowly turned around, already dreading to see the person that was looking at you like that. Unsurprisingly, you could see Chris nonchalantly standing with his arms crossed (and biceps on display) as he looked straight at you, a smirk curling at his lips.

You were flabbergasted until you noticed his knowing smirk...almost as if he knew something you didn't…

Of course.

The one person you manage to befriend and that bastard has to scare them away. You hissed at the thought of the attractive boy from two. Why the hell did he keep sticking his nose into your business?

***

It was currently past two o'clock and you all were served lunch. Yet again, they decided that they don't want to splurge on their very own guinea pigs so they handed you a meal akin to the one from yesterday and the day before, a wrapped sandwich, apple, and a bottle of water.

Groaning, you slumped down against the wall until you were sitting on the ground and started munching on the sandwich. From the corner of your eye, you could see Felix slowly approaching in a slightly nervous manner.

“Y/n,” he called out to you, letting his body fall down next to you and land with a soft “thud.”

“Hmm,” you looked up at him, not sure what to exactly say.

“Look, I've been meaning to talk to you...about the alliance and stuff. I-I think there may be a chance for the both of us to stay part-”

He was cut off by the blasting alarm that sounded at exactly two-thirty, signalizing that the beginning of the evaluation was near. You shot him an apologetic look before scrambling to get on your feet and head to the waiting room. Felix visibly paled at that, he hoped you two would have made amends by now but quickly got himself together and followed you to the designated room filled with chairs.

You all sat there nervously, not sure of what would wait for you in the room nor of how you would prove to the judges you were any good. The careers over at the front seemed excited enough though, which felt like a pang in the chest. Not that you didn't expect it but it just helped confirm that they were indeed cold-blooded killers.

The waiting room was cold and bland, the gusts of wind making you shiver every now and then as you patiently waited to be called into the room. You had no idea what was waiting for you behind those doors but you were definitely sure that whatever it is, it will probably greatly impact how everybody views you in the arena tomorrow.

“District one, female,” the speaker positioned in front of the entrance boomed as the metal gate opened and let the girl in. If you remembered correctly, her name was Rose.

After that, one after another, about five minutes apart, the tributes kept going in, being called by only their district number and gender. When Chris walked through those gates, he turned around to give you a piercing gaze, almost as if reading your face, before walking in. You shivered at that, already feeling uncomfortable for the attention he was giving you.

He's just trying to psych you out, ignore him, was all you could tell yourself. Felix who was seated next to you must have noticed your despair as he haltingly extended his palm, hoping to comfort you except he never got the chance.

“District nine, female.”

You slowly got up, trying not to tilt your chair in the process and show how nervous you actually were. Your hands were trembling when you walked through the gate and you unintentionally blocked out all foreign noise, not hearing the fond whisper of “good luck” from Felix.

***

A gruesome two hours later you were sitting on the comfortable couch along with Felix, Yoongi, and Flaverie, not so patiently waiting to hear your score. 

After the assessment, you ran straight to your room to take a shower as instructed by your beauty team and cried for almost an hour.

You knew the big day was awaiting but all of this was going just way too fast. It felt like mere minutes ago you were bumping into Felix, surprised at his velvety deep voice but here you are, less than twenty-four hours away from entering the arena and starting the Hunger Games.

No, you had to get Felix out of your head, granted, he lived there practically rent-free but you knew it wouldn't do you any good to think about the lovely boy with silver hair. For some reason, it seemed like he wanted to talk to you today but you weren't really sure. You were on edge all day so you might have misunderstood the ques. 

You proceed to wash off thoroughly, washing away all the sweat that had accumulated during the day. You dried yourself with the frothy towel, put on some of those Capitol-provided sweats and a t-shirt, and headed to the lounge where you would meet.

Flaverie was already gushing about how excited she was for the interviews, filling you in on the latest Capitol gossip. 

“You know, the mentor from district four is such a bitch. She only won because she was pretty and now she thinks she's the shit,” she ranted angrily, as if anyone gave two fudges.

Felix raised his perfectly arched brow at the sudden outburst before attempting to suppress the chuckle spilling out of his mouth.

You were currently trying to do the same thing, but you weren't as lucky. A rather ridiculous pout from the escort proving you that your attempts were indeed in vain.

The ice-breaker he is, Yoongi sat down on an armchair parallel to the couch you two were occupying and diluted the awkward situation.

“Anyone care to tell me how they did on the evaluation or are we going to just surprise ourselves?”

“Well, I'll be lucky if I score anything better than a five,” you quipped unhelpfully.

He nodded in understanding, turning to face Felix.

“From what I've heard, you're already establishing yourself as a threat to the careers, am I right?”

“How the hell would I know?” he shrugged his shoulders with a blank expression.

Yoongi sighed at that, turning to face you questioningly.

“I'd say he has, they were all looking at him during the first day,” you mumbled, evading Felix's gaze.

While you were having your little stare contest with the pillow, your mentor quietly mouthed to the boy, “have you even talked to her?”

“No but I'm working on it,” he whisper-shouted in response.

The screen suddenly lit up, showing the head game maker with a folder in hand, smiling at the camera.

He swiftly read out all the scores in a sing songy voice, excitement evident on his face.

“District two, male: eleven.”

You nearly choked on your spit. You knew he was strong but holy cow, eleven? You practically ignored all the other scores, patiently waiting for your own to be announced.

“District nine, female: six.”

Nothing to be surprised at, it's not like you expected anything better. To be honest, you were glad you didn't score a four or less as a few tributes have already managed.

“District nine, male: ten.”

Holy shit, you definitely didn't expect that. You knew Felix was strong but you didn't expect him to actually be on par with the careers.

“Good job Felix,” Yoongi smiled proudly, patting the boy on the back. He mumbled a small thank you before looking at you, almost as if waiting for your reaction.

You supplied a soft smile, whispering a “congrats man.”

A content smile lingered on his lips, he was excited to hear something from you other than you asking him to pass the salt.

After hearing the scores, Flaverie didn't wait any further, already pushing you and Felix into your designated beauty rooms where the stylists would prep you for the interviews. You were in shock after that, completely forgetting to pay attention to the other scores, only managing to remember that Hwasa scored a solid nine.

***

You were seated on a wooden stool in front of a mirror, just like three days ago, and felt the worst case of deja vu.

Everything seemed all too familiar, as the three stylists washed you, covered you in lotion, and dragged you to the vanity. They did your make-up, just lightly covering any blemishes and adding some shimmering silver eyeshadow to make your eyes pop. After applying the light pink lip gloss, Lavender pulled you behind the curtains to help you put on your dress.

You gasped. As much as you didn't want to admit it, they've managed to pick something incredible for the second time. It was a simple black dress with red accents that clung to your body in just the right places as you've realized when you stood in front of the mirror. They handed you silver flats to go with the theme and tied a red silk scarf around your shoulders for an extra bit of flare. After weaving your hair into an intricate hairdo, they called for Flaverie to come and collect you.

You stepped out of the dressing room feeling very nervous yet also slightly excited. Yoongi smiled again, nodding in approval.

“You look really nice.”

“Thanks, Yoongs.”

You stood in the awkward silence before the door next to yours started to slowly open. From the inside emerged a handsome Felix who stole your breath away.

He was clad in fitting black pants with an asymmetrical black shirt. On top of that, he wore a red and black sleeveless cropped vest that had strips of black leather placed over it. His thick silver hair was parted in the middle and had a slight perm to it. In conclusion, he looked really nice and you were trying not to stare. (basically his mnet god’s menu stage look)

“Um, nice hair?” you awkwardly piped, stating it almost as a question.

Felix only laughed at your visibly blushing state before smiling at you, “you look really nice too Y/n.”

You could feel the heat gather around your cheeks so you rapidly turned around to your mentor.

“So where are we supposed to go now?” 

“You guys will go to the shared lounge room from where you will be each called on stage.”

Great, you thought. You had to be in the same room as everybody else, including Chris. You weren't exactly looking forward to it but at least he'd be gone soon.

All of you patiently sat in your own little corners, usually staying near your district partner. But it seems like a particular career didn't exactly mind breaking the unspoken rule as he plopped down on the other side of you.

You kept your eyes on your lap, trying to avoid any interaction while Felix next to you was shooting him a stink eye. 

Chris ignored his visible distaste and just turned around to look at you, almost as if studying your face and every little thing you did. At this point, the whole room was silent and all eyes were on you. You felt a shiver run down your spine, not liking the attention you were receiving. You wished you could tell him to kindly fuck off and leave you alone but you couldn't deny you were scared.

Thankfully, they started calling the people on stage, the first being of course Rose of district one. She was welcomed by a loud applause and you could already tell that the Capitol folk loved her. You drowned out the blabbering from the stage (which you all watched live via live television broadcast), deeming that it would only make you feel worse about the whole situation.

It all flew by in a whim and before you knew it, Chris was on stage.

The roars of applause he received were unlike anything you heard before. The people cheered him on even more than they cheered for president Snow. He smiled and waved at everyone, flashing his dimples in the process making the whole audience swoon. You haven't noticed until then (since you were too busy avoiding his gaze) but he looked absolutely gorgeous. 

“Well here we go ladies and gentleman, the tribute we've been all waiting for. The handsome beast of district two: Christopher Bang Chan!”

He was clad in a black, denim-like jumpsuit with long sleeves, a collar and stylish ironed-on patches. The top few buttons were unbuttoned, a thick silver chain around his neck contrasting the two thin chains that were glued onto his face into an x. His short brown hair was permed, giving it an almost cute fuzzy look, and ended right above his ears in which he had plain black studs. His shoes were simple yet fashionable - black with white laces, contrasting the otherwise all-black look. (again, it's chan's god's menu mnet stage/ god's menu MV look lol)

The most noticeable thing was definitely how he went against the formal style that all the other male tributes wore. Except for Felix, you realized. The two of them actually had similarly themed outfits. Whatever the reasoning, it was clearly visible how he went against the norm, sporting a rather streetwear-ish look that definitely made him stand out.

Honestly, you preferred that over the boring suits and ties but like hell were you gonna ever tell him.

After the applause died down, Darius Flickermann, the son of the most popular interviewer Ceasar Flickermann, lead him to the seat.

“So Chris, you are the most popular tribute as of now, voted most likely to win. How do you feel about that?”

The boy smiled at that, flashing his pearls.

“Honestly, I'm not surprised...and they are right. I'm the strongest one here,” he drawled out, turning around to face the camera directly to give the audience a wolfish smirk.

“Wow… I mean, you are strong, handsome, and let's not forget you scored the highest number on the personal assessments. How are you right now? What's your thought process? You must be now clearly focused on being the last one standing and winning the games, right?”

The boy licked his lips, obviously stalling and enjoying how the audience hung on his every word.

“Well, that was my original intent. But now I have something else I want to achieve, something that motivates me even more.”

A chorus of gasps could be heard as he announced that. Darius turning around to properly face him and ask the question that probably was lingering on everyone’s mind.

“Would you mind telling us, what that thing is?”

“Someone. My new goal is to protect Y/n from district nine. This is a warning, if anyone dares to even lay a finger on her, I'll be coming after them.”

Everything went silent for a moment before they all started cheering like crazy at the sudden confession.

“A-Are you trying to say that you love her?” Darius asked incredulously, his eyes still wide as dinner plates.

“Yes.”

***

 next chapter >>

A/n: aaaah, I hope you enjoyed. I'm honestly not sure if this chapter is any good so feel free to tell me what you thought. Lots of hugs and stay safe <3 💞 ✨

[medusinestories]

Onwards to the episode in which we get to see Flint and Silver each having a very bad day (as well as two literal dicks that nobody had asked to see).

Black Sails VII (s1 ep07)

- We open on Pastor Lambrick's sweaty face as he intensely rehearses the Easter sermon and he’s obviously eaten up by what he did with Miranda. His sermon, unsurprisingly, focuses on sin, keeping sin hidden, and the hell that awaits the sinner. Which leads us nicely onto Flint, who’s distracted (by his own sin? by thoughts of Miranda? both?) during a meeting with Eleanor. Eleanor is pissed that Miranda let Richard Guthrie send a message to the Andromache and then waltz into town to close up his business; Flint tries to take the heat off Miranda, once again protecting her (at this point, he may not know the contents of the letter).

- During this meeting, Flint is startled when Silver first speaks up to say that the mob in the street was bad - clearly Silver is a sort of intruder in this meeting. But Eleanor, after Silver reminds her by unsubtly clearing his throat, tells Flint that he’s not to harm Silver because he was instrumental in setting up the Consortium. Silver looks so pleased with himself in these scenes, and Flint quite defeated when he tells Silver to follow him back to their camp. I love it.

- To parallel Flint/Miranda’s Sulky Sex scene from ep4, we have Anne/Rackham’s frustrating/disconnected sex scene. It shows us a few things about them mainly that Anne wants to keep a lot of control over what happens, hence Rackham being tied up (though of course this might also be his kink), her wearing a shirt that covers up most of her body, and the reverse cowgirl position that means that she’s both in control of what happens and completely avoids eye contact. The position reminds us of the Flint/Miranda scene, where Miranda was also on top, but their scene involved more eye contact (yes glaring counts, he’s still intensely focused on Miranda), gentle touching (on Miranda’s side) and her being naked and open to him. Another parallel is that both Flint and Rackham aren’t in the right frame of mind for sex, Flint being angry and Rackham lost in a sea of worries (and probably also somewhat angry/disappointed at Anne for forcing him into the plot to kill their crewmates). The difference between Flint and Rackham is that while Flint doesn’t seem to have any trouble performing, Rackham is miles away and doesn’t even notice that he’s lost his erection - again. Anne is frustrated by this, and apparently knows him well enough that she offers to put something up his arse, but he’s clearly not in the mood, and she leaves in a huff, abandoning him all tied up as a sort of revenge for his performance problems. Whatever the problem is between them isn’t put into words (because Anne can’t yet, for starters), unlike the one between Flint and Miranda. The intimacy between Rackham and Anne, so often described as close partners, seems much more distant to me than the one shown between Flint and Miranda. I’m not sure whether it’s because of anyone’s sexual orientation, or just the fact that they’re fucking but they’ve never discussed the big important things, such as Anne’s identity/feelings/etc.

- In this episode, Dufresne gains a lot of power: with a freshly (and badly) shaved head and a new tattoo, he’s been promoted to Quartermaster on the Walrus in Billy’s place. And very quickly he has a problem to deal with: Randall revealing that Silver stole the page. Gates had actually already told this to Dufresne, as is revealed at the end of the episode, which might explain why Dufresne is relatively calm during the whole conversation, while DeGroot wants Silver and Flint hanged and Howell is surprisingly ruthless: he brings up the idea that it may be better to kill off Randall in order to get to the treasure, if they can’t make sure he’ll keep quiet about Silver being the thief. Dufresne is actually quite kind towards Silver in the scene where he puts Silver’s memory to the test - a test that could result in his death if he fails it and that Silver constantly grumbles against (I love his grumbling!). Basically, at this point Dufresne remains quite a sympathetic character, which will change a lot as the show goes on, especially after Jannes Eiselen had to leave the show (such a sad story, RIP Jannes).

- In the meantime, the Flint and Gates relationship is crumbling. It's sad to see, especially since they're shown sharing chuckles as they talk about Dufresne's appointment in the beginning of the episode. But then Gates brings up the subject of Miranda and demands explanations about the letter Billy found. We're not shown exactly what Flint answers, but it's clear that he's actually trying his best to give him an explanation without incriminating Miranda too badly. The sad thing is that Flint is actually telling the truth: he actually wasn't involved in any betrayal of his crew and and can only guess at Miranda's motivations. But the fact that he's lied time and again in previous situations, including on the Maria Aleyne where he claimed Lord Alfred drew a weapon on him (and Gates secretly verified that this was a lie), and used men as pawns to advance his and Miranda's plans, is now catching up to him. Flint seems truly hurt when Gates accuses him of using the men for his own purposes, and turns spiteful, telling Gates that he should have been "a better father" to Billy and helped him "understand the world he was living in" (suggesting that such a forthright character as Billy can't really survive in a world of pirates who are all ready to stab each other in the back). After that slap in the face, Gates says he's exhausted from Flint and threatens to take it to the crew. Somehow, this pushes Flint to bare all: he tells Gates about his plan to keep a part of the treasure and use it to build up Nassau, depicting himself as a sort of saviour, doing it for the men's good: they'd rather be rich men in a safe place than dead thieves hanging from a noose. Gates sees this as delusions of grandeur, and tells him that while he'll see the Urca plot through, after that they're done. I actually think he sees Flint’s point, since he doesn’t just throw him to the crew, but won’t admit that out loud. The whole of this scene hurts bad, because you can tell that Flint is desperate and sad to be losing his closest ally and friend, and that Gates is hurting from the loss of Billy and exhausted from the toxic relationship he has with Flint, where he's played enabler to his manipulations for years.

- While Flint and Gates’ alliance is breaking, Silver has to forge one with Randall or die. Randall finds out in the beginning of the episode that he’s been voted out of the crew. This is apparently due to DeGroot’s fears that Randall could be a fire hazard, which the crew took disproportionately to heart. Randall is furious with Silver, who smugly tells him that in these situations, a setback often comes with a new or unexpected opportunity. He’s right, but at this point he doesn’t know that he is the opportunity Randall’s going to latch on. Randall reveals that Silver is a thief, and Silver denies it, saying that Randall is both a halfwit and was in a haze of opium when he heard what he thought he heard; he even tries to convince Randall that he was mistaken (this, my friends, is gaslighting). However, by revealing that Silver was the thief, Randall sets a chain of events into motion which could either end with his death (if Howell has his way, since Randall is an inconvenient witness) or Silver’s (if DeGroot tips the balance, not trusting Silver to remember the coordinates and not wanting to sacrifice Randall for nothing). Silver figures out that these are the outcomes, and tries to talk sense into Randall by making a deal with him: he’ll care for Randall and make sure he can stay on the ship. But it’s only when Silver finally admits that he is the thief and that Randall was right, that Randall accepts the deal. Later, Silver realises that Randall might have orchestrated the whole thing: he’s now got Silver to serve him, doesn’t have to take any risks on the ship, and gets to remain with the crew. Silver wonders if Randall is a genius rather than a halfwit (a word thrown about a lot to describe him). And it seems quite obvious, considering what happened, that Randall still has strong survival skills (an amputee with impaired cognitive skills doesn’t stand a chance of survival outside a crew and he must be aware of it), that he still has a good memory and an ability to pick out useful information and that he’s aware enough of what’s going on to be upset by the crew’s rejection and Silver’s attempt to gaslight him. I think it’s important to recognise that Randall is more than a comic relief or a grotesque character: he’s a disabled man who's lost parts of his cognitive ability and is struggling to survive.

- This episode focuses on Vane facing his past. He seeks out the island where he grew up and its master, Albinus. I’d forgotten or never really registered that Albinus was a pirate and that the men who work for him were mostly his crew - and likely slaves (or children, hence Vane?) that he managed to capture/press into service. He’s retired from pirating and set up a system where his men cut down trees for timber all day, without wages. It’s not clear exactly how he holds so much power over these men, although it seems that everyone is terrified of him. He’s extremely strong physically, seems shrewd, speaks rather well, and his tattoos suggest that maybe he’s involved in some kind of ritual (truly religious or just for show?) which would make him all the more scary to superstitious people. Vane is clearly still frightened: he barely makes eye contact and practically stutters when he first tries to make the deal with Albinus, which is that he’ll take some of Albinus’ men as crew and send Albinus part of their earnings as tribute. It says a lot about Albinus that Vane, after years of having run away, is still so scares that he’s willing to pay him a tribute. But he changes his mind as he stares at a boy bearing the same brand as he does: he tries to persuade the men that Nassau is a pace of pleasures rather than hard labour, and confronts Albinus. The fight is brutal and ends with Vane buried naked, just after Albinus tells him that he’s proud of him. But of course Vane wouldn’t be Vane if he didn’t rise from the dead at the last minute and kill Albinus, goaded on by his inner Eleanor voice.

- In the meantime, Mr Scott returns to Eleanor, apologising for what he did, telling her he betrayed her out of love. However he also reminds her of his slave status: technically, he belongs to her. The argument upsets her, and he quite cleverly uses this moment to ask her to free the slaves who were on the Andromache. And it works: by the end of the episode, she’s made arrangements for the men to work on ships and has bought the women’s freedom and found them jobs in her tavern. But Mr Scott has still decided to leave Eleanor to join Hornigold’s crew, to refrain from meddling with Eleanor’s affairs, since he disagrees with her so strongly re: the Urca. Hornigold approached him earlier in the episode, and the introduction to that scene is quite interesting: Hornigold says to Mr Scott “I’ll need to know your secret” and Mr Scott looks startled and frightened. It seems that he’s startled because he’d been giving food to the slaves, but in light of S3, it could be a much greater secret that’s being referred to. Mr Scott is relieved when he realises that Hornigold is simply talking about tolerating Eleanor, who he clearly can’t stand.

- Flint’s bad day continues, of course, with the big confrontation he has with Miranda. He’s furious about the letter (of which he now knows the contents thanks to Gates), telling her that it could have got him killed, or destroyed the plans they’d made and asking her whether she was trying to embarrass him. This sounds so weirdly petty, and yet it also sounds exactly like the kind of argument that would come up in a bickering couple. Miranda answers that she was trying to help him out of that life, because she wants to move on. This is where Miranda utters the famous “there is no life here, there is no joy here, there is no love here”. I noticed that, covered by Flint yelling at her, and distorted because her voice has gone very shrill, Miranda says another line, which sounds like “you used to love, then”. If that really is what she says, it’s extra-extra-extra heartbreaking to hear (if someone wants to check it for me, it’s around 35:40). It’s obvious that Flint and Miranda’s views on life are very different, and I can’t help but think back to the fact that, as a carpenter’s son from the country, Flint has had to struggle all his life to become who he is. So when he says that you can’t get a life without having a war, and Miranda tells him he’s wrong, she’s speaking entirely from the point of view of her privilege. She’s never needed to fight as hard as he has to be happy, because she got extremely lucky in marrying Thomas. And when she says that Thomas would agree with her, I’m certain she’s right. But life has never been like that for Flint, and there’s no way he’ll ever entirely agree with their point of view. Rewatching this scene is tough, btw, because they both have great points, they’re both hurting so much, and there’s so much to take in between the body language, the facial expressions, the tones of voice and the actual words that it’s a whole whirlwind. And it feels very, very real.

- It’s absolutely hilarious to see Rackham get robbed by the whores taking advantage of his lack of knowledge (and research). He should absolutely have done a better job and has no clue how to run a brothel. He’s lucky Max takes things in hand after having heard from Idelle that the girls were taking advantage.

- Then we have the beautiful Drunk Flint scene. Eleanor notices him feeling very sorry for himself after Gates has pretty much broken up with him and he’s still reeling from fighting with by Miranda. I think Flint feels very misunderstood here. He thought that he was doing something good, to save Nassau and avenge Thomas, and doesn’t understand why they can’t see it, why they only see the terrible methods he uses to reach his goals. So he’s full of doubt, clearly wondering if he’s the villain of the story, and puts the question to Eleanor: is their plan worth it? Eleanor is the only person who still believes in him, which leads us to the only scene that I would ever call straight-baiting. Flint hovers near Eleanor, breathing heavily, and a variety of emotions play over her face during this moment of tension, as she seems to think this is leading to a kiss. It does, he gives her a chaste little forehead kiss and leaves. All the elements are in place to make your average viewer start shipping these two. I actually find it hilarious that the ship barely exists in the fandom (though I wasn’t there in the beginning of the fandom and I guess the viewership changed a lot between S1 and S4).

- The scene with Flint and Gates glaring at each other from their respective ships and Parson’s Farewell playing in the background... epic! We know this is the beginning of a big struggle between them, especially since we find out that Gates has pretty much decided that he’ll hand Flint over to the crew once they get the money. But nnnnggh that scene! The ships leaving on their hunt! Awesome and heartbreaking!

[duckyfruitbat]

Why Princess Peach?

The other day I was only physically present at work and I started thinking of Mario.  Specifically, of all the kingdoms that surround Bowsers volcano, why go for the princess who hasn’t even really been coronated.  Especially with a pudgy plumber always there that can bring down his entire army by hopping around.  So then I started thinking, there must be some advantage to taking over the Mushroom Kingdom.  Then it hit me, so come with me and let us hop into the mind of King Bowser Koopa and find the answers to our question.

So you are Bowser Koopa, King of the Koopa Kingdom.  Your people are cold blooded turtles so they need a warm place to live.  Now your father was no dummy, he put the kingdom in a hotspot to keep the people warm year round.  However there is one slight problem, the land is infertile.  The ground is scorched and unsafe for plants of really any kind except for the odd piranha plant.  With crops unable to be grown here the kingdom has no choice but to import nearly all foods.  With imports comes of course taxes and tariffs, so food prices can be a bit high.  

This is the kingdom you have inherited, great at keeping your people comfortable, but not so much fed.  So what is a king to do but expand the empire, real life history proves this to be the most profitable option.  Now what are the realestate options around the kingdom, and invasion is very much on the table.  Just beyond the border are the mountains.  These mountains are very high and go beyond the tree line, so not much of an option there.  There is an ocean just beyond that can provide bounties of fish.  This could keep the peoples protein needs in check, and open up great trade routes for this landlocked country, but remember you don’t want to keep importing food.  What about the surrounding kingdoms, the Thwomps and Whomps provide the materials and build most of the masonry on this side of the continent.  They are also a close ally so not really good for invasion.  The Boos are in better lands for farming, but they can easily defend themselves from guns and bombs, mostly because they are already dead and will fiercely defend their home.  Next up is the Bob-ombs...This is a really bad idea because of the fact that all the people in that kingdom are very familiar with firearms.  The Desert?  Forget about it, can’t feed a country with sand, towns and villages cling to the few rivers for a reason.  There is just not much around, but wait what is that in the lowlands, giant mushrooms growing up from gorges and the hills, lush grasslands and forests doting the landscape, there are even farms already so it won’t be much work to start up production.

This land is perfect for your plans, but wait there is one obstacle to the taking over.  This land is ruled by a princess, and the people love her.  She is kind to the people and the people express their gratitude.  So what is a king to do here?  The land is fertile enough to support giant mushrooms.  You could always execute the princess, with no ruler surely the kingdom will collapse and you can swoop in and make it your own.  Unfortunately their is another heir to this throne, and this heir already has a kingdom.  Princess Daisy is Princess Peach’s cousin and the reigning monarch of Sarasaland.  She would have no issue taking the Mushroom kingdom into her own, and she would waste no time in getting her revenge.  After that they won’t be calling it the Mushroom Kingdom only for the fungus. 

Wait, what about taking the princess prisoner for life.  Well then the people will never except you as their king, you will be nothing but a false king whom the people revolt against whenever things seem to be calming down.  The idea of the revolts could easily shift over to the Koopa people.  In this scenario, your days on the throne are numbered.

Hang on though, there is another option.  All the kingdoms in the area have some common laws, one of those being marriage.  If you somehow convince the princess to marry you, you’ll be the legitimate king of both lands.  No questions, she could rule by your side as queen, as your equal.  Do this right and all the kingdoms will have no choice but to accept it as true.  Even Daisy will have to concede.  The mushroom people will have their ruler still and will not revolt.  What would they revolt against, the queens husband?  There are no downsides to this plan, so what are we waiting for?  It is time to  court the princess.  

This is the thinking behind Bowsers initial invasion, court the princess, aquire a great asset for the kingdom.  Of course he forgot to factor in one import detail.  The princess is just not interested, it doesn’t seem to have initially been anything to do with politics.  That’s not to say she wouldn’t have anything to gain from such an arrangement.  The Koopa kingdom has a powerful military, no one would want to invade such a defended kingdom.  The princess however, has no interest in marriage as of present.  Bowser is not a fan of that, and instead of trying to make a strong alliance and friendship between the countries, he figured he would marry the princess by force, as seen in Mario Odyssey.  

With how Bowser invaded and took over in the first game, he almost got away with it too, that is until a certain red and green plumber duo found there way into the Mushroom Kingdom on that faithful day, permanately earning a spot on Bowser’s list.

[eijie-cavies]

Wen Kexing and the great divide.

So as we all know Episode 32 and 33 has left us with a plethora of questions and the fans are divided in terms of their view on Wen Kexing's plan. Tbh that is to be expected if you look at it. It was an asshole move to hide everything from A-Xu and leave him to find his soulmate's dead body only to find holy shit this motherfucker is alive still what the hell. And so a lot of the fans sided with the argument that Wen Kexing never learned and was acting like a selfish lone wolf. But today i am here to try to analyze the plan between Scorpion king, Wen Kexing and Ye bai Ye.

Please keep in mind i haven't watched the entirety of the show yet and so some theories here might not fit in with the rest of Kexing's explanation for the next episode.

Also thid will contain spoilers so please be warned.

Alright let's start. I will be dividing this analysis into parts. 1st part is the show's script and budgeting and why they chose the route that the went with.

2nd part is my theories on the heroes conference and why it was rushed as well as the timeline.

And lastly Wen Kexing's POV and the analysis for his plan and why he did what he did keeping A-Xu in mind as well.

A few extra bonuses is the romeo and juliet plot and why i think it had to be in the plot somehow.

So lets start, sit down and grab a drink for this you will need it.

1st part.

Scriptwriting and budgeting.

This show was supposed to have 45 episode and so the plot would have had more time to marinate and kick in if it weren't for the shortening of the epsiode.

With this in mind the scriptwriter had originally planned for this 45 episode and sadly we won't probably know what was supposed to happen if it weren't cut to 36 episode. But we do have Wolong nuts to thank for giving the drama sponsorship and making the drama into 36 rather than 32. If we had only 32 episodes in this drama everything would have felt too rushed and fast paced. And so to have to cut 9 episodes worth of plot the screewriter was put in a tight spot on how to cram three different events. Namely the kidnapping, the exposing of Zhao Jing and of course the wedding plot as well.

Thus the Romeo and Juliet plot was born. We will be discussing this plot in depth later on in the analysis. Nonetheless if they have had all the freedom and budget it would have been nice to see a plot of Zhou Zishu, Wen Kexing and The Scorpion King all work together to bring Zhao Jing down. For now let us work on the plot given to us.

2.) Timeline.

The heroes conference is a huge deal, this is where EVERYONE of big sects and names gather in the martial arts world, its the equivalent of the whole world witnessing everything. This event is a big part of the plan that the three accomplices had, if they didn't act right away Wen Kexing and Xie'er (Scorpion King) wouldn't have had the chance to expose Zhao Jing in the future, because like what the beauty ghost relayed, once the heroes conference is over Zhao Jing planned on killing Xie'er and eradicating the ghost valley. There would have been no other time to take him down, no time to wait for another heroes conference as Zhao Jing would have risen in power already, they would have been too powerful to stop and the merits he would have gained by then would be multiplies, the people wouldnt see him as evil anymore. Therefore it was crucial to strike at the time where they are most vulnerable and the seed of doubt was still fresh, if they had waited, everyone would have disregarded Wen Kexing as a mad man and praised Zhao Jing for saving them from the purges of the ghost valley.

And scorpion king? Who would believe him if he was the only one to take a stand? His Godfather no doubt would have acted as if he didnt know what Scorpion was saying and act innocent. Even if he was spared Scorpion had no allies other than Wen Kexing who's allies was also born out of the same hatred they had for Zhao Jing. Everyone was forced to act swiftly, it was an all or none kind of situation. Now if we backtrack to the previous episodes, not two episode ago Zhou Zishu was heavily injured because of the kidnapping and was given no time to properly heal before everything needed to be set. As you can see in episode 31 Wen Kexing was in a hurry to meet Xie'er, don't you think it was iffy that he would leave A-Xu like that if he was still injured? The Wen Kexing that we all know would not have moved a single inch from Zhou Zishu's side if he were injured. And this is because of a lot of things which we will be getting to in the third part of the analysis.

Now on the subject of the plan and how Chengling had somehow gotten a hold of it. Simple, Ye bai Yi. He is free to roam around, sending messages and talking to people behind the scenes, we never really knew what he did after he left Wen kexing at four seasons manor and the reason why he had agreed on the rushed reopening of the heroes conference. but if you think about it it fits with the timeline. Zhao Jing wanted to reopen the heroes conference and Ye Bai Yi was sure that they were out to hunt down the chief of the ghost valley. If you remember the letter in episode 27 you will understand.

Why did they get that letter in the first place when the four seasons manor wasnt even fully restored yet? The martial arts world didnt even know that Zishu was on the road to reopening it and yet he got an invitation. This is Ye Bai Yi's first clue and a nudge for Wen Kexing to take action. This leads us to part 3. Wen Kexing's plan.

3. Wen Kexing's plan.

Now the question is why didn't Wen Kexing think to tell Zhou Zishu his plan? Simple. He is heavily injured. Now i was stuck here as well because i would have thought, why couldnt he just trust Zishu of his plan? BUT you all have forgotten this.

Wen Kexing has asked this two times, he wanted tell Chengling already so the kid could process it before he could stage his plan and possibly even tell Zhou Zishu on how he can use the heroes conference as an event where he can expose Zhao Jing. But Zhou Zishu was kidnapped, tortured and injured. There was no time to tell him of the plan without him having to stop Wen Kexing from doing it. At first i thought this didnt make sense, Wen should have trusted Zishu enough to carry on without distrubance right? Well a very nice person in Youtube provided some very interesting and eye opening points for me.

And they are right, if i were Wen kexing i wouldn't want to burden Zishu of having to wait around thinking where i went off to, why do you think he told A-Xiang to take care of Zishu and promised to go back in one piece?

A-Xiang was also kept in the dark of the plan, the only plan she knew was that Wen Kexing is planning to have an alliance with the scorpion king and thats it. He didnt fully disclose everything either.

Wen Kexing's plan was simple, after he was regarded as "Dead" he probably would have went home to tell Zhou Zishu he was completely fine and it was all a ruse to trap Zhao Jing. BUT the problem was that Zishu set out to find him, Bei Yuan and Da Wu couldn't stop him either as they had no time to explain everything without Zishu panicking. Like i said this was all too rushed of a plan for Zishu to comprehend specially when he needed to heal as fast as possible.

What they could only do is give Zishu a medicine to ensure that if he ever did take out the nails he would still be okay. And that was the downfall of Kexing's plan. He didnt expect Zishu to have escaped his friends watchful eyes and go to the siege, ever wonder why Kexing said this when Zishu arrived?

He was trying to convince Zishu to leave, make him believe that Wen Kexing is out for blood. But Zishu didn't fall for it, instead he stayed which was NOT a part of the plan at all. There was nothing Kexing could have done now, the siege was happening and he could only play along and move forward. And if you look closely again just as they were about to attack Kexing, Ye Ba Yi came to fight Kexing at the VERY right time, and who fought Zhou Zishu?

The three ghosts WuChang, his subordinate and Happy ghost. Why didn't anyone else go for Zishu? They could have had the scorpions attack him but they chose the Ghosts who are a part of Wen Kexing's valley, mind you these three ghosts were there when they rescued Zishu wouldn't it just sound stupid if they were fighting Zishu to kill him? No. What they tried to do is separate Zishu from Wen Kexing. Ye Bai ye could have eliminated Wen in 10 moves, he said this himself. But they had this complicated dance that somehow landed Wen Kexing at the edge of the cliff and left Chengling to do the rest.

And so he fell and Zishu followed. If you look closely even Ye Bai Yi was surprised that Zhishu jumped. NONE of it was part of the plan. From the moment Zishu entered to the moment he jumped no one planned for it.

And if you are upset of Zishu having to see Kexing's dead body and breaking his heart, this again was NOT A part of the plan. Beauty ghost was there to protect the corpse, if the corpse had not been burned it would have been presented to the martial art world and Kexing would come back as a different person and telling them "They got it wrong. That corpse is the chief of the ghost valley, i am Wen Kexing the disciple of four seasons manor" and it would have been more belieavable. But plans went south, Zishu found the corpse further solidfying that Kexing (in his mind) is dead and so he took out the nails. Ke xing couldn't show himself to stop Zishu either, there was so little time and he couldn't risk himself be seen.

Some others had been in the dark of the plan as well, not just Zishu, and the reason Wen Kexing didn't dare tell him was not because he didn't trust Zishu to stay away and let the plan carry out, instead he know EXACTLY what this will do to Zishu. Wen Kexing's plan was to HIDE Zishu away until the conference ended. Because with Da Wu and Bei Yuan, there would have been no news about Ke Xing dying that would have reached their place and Zishu would have had all the time to recover as Ke Xing took revenge and finally come back home as a new person.

He NEEDED Zishu to stay away from the fight to help himself heal just enough to get the nails out.

His revenge done and his new goal to be with Zishu for the rest of their lives. But unfortunate events happened, Zishu found out and there was other way to go but forward.

Ever wonder why Kexing had this look on his face on episode 33?

He wanted so bad to explain everything but the spotlight was on him and this was the only time he will be given the chance to take a stand. This is now between him and the Zhao Jing. Like everything there was nothing to do but move forward.

Now for bonus part.

Romeo and Juliet plot.

Romeo and Juliet plot is basically person A percieved as "Dead" and person B endagering their life to the brink of death only to find person A was alive and well but Person B is for real dying.

Now tbh i wasn't a big fan of the Romeo and Juliet plot, this was the reason why fans became so divided and saying Kexing didn't learn his lesson therefore lossing their faith in Kexing and Zishu's relationship. He was pervieved as childish and selfish, And tbh they would have had so many plot devices that they can use to maximize full on plotting and bringing down Zhao Jing. But going back to my first point of the budgeting im guessing the scriptwriter had struggled to cram it all in. It was already episode 33 and they still had two more plots to cram in (the wedding and curing Zishu) so im not as upset as much. In the end the whole staff gave their best and poured their heart and soul into the drama. On an ending note i'll just let this nice person do the talking for me

Thank you for reading! If you guys have your own theories feel free to discuss or voice them out.