#villainous strategy

[enchantingepics]

Story Prompt 58

There lived a clever prince. Tasked with a mission, an agent of the crown set out to end the prince's schemes once and for all.

The agent's footsteps echoed softly in the grand halls of the palace as they made their way to the prince's chambers. Sword at the ready, they steeled themselves for the confrontation ahead. Bursting into the room, they found the prince lounging lazily upon a velvet chaise, a book of poetry in hand.

"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" the prince drawled, his gaze flicking up to meet the agent's with a mixture of curiosity and amusement.

"I am here to put an end to your devious schemes, once and for all," the agent declared, brandishing their sword with a flourish.

The prince merely chuckled, setting aside his book with a graceful motion. "Ah, another misguided soul sent to do the bidding of those who fear my intellect," he mused, rising to his feet and circling the agent like a predator assessing its prey.

"You underestimate me," the agent retorted, their grip tightening on the hilt of their sword. "I have seen through your facade, and I will not allow you to continue your machinations unchecked."

But as the prince spoke, weaving words like a master craftsman spinning gold from straw, doubt began to creep into the agent's mind. Was this truly a villain they faced, or merely a man misunderstood?

[save-the-villainous-cat]

i uh may or may not have just binge-read through all of your writing over the past few days...it's so good!!!!!!! im screaming crying throwing up etc. 🥹🥹🥹 can i request: villain challenges hero to a game (could be a card game, chess, tug-of-war lol anything that you want!). the terms are if the villain wins then the hero steps aside and lets the villain carry out their evil plan without resistance. and at first the villain is super cocky because they think the hero is out of their element...but then the villain loses. >:)

Responding with the Sicilian Defense is usually seen as aggressive and the hero had to learn the hard way that this term perfectly described the villain’s play.

Their moves were calculated and anything but irrational. They attacked where they could and took piece after piece. It made the hero think of an unforgiving conquest as they struggled to protect their bishops and knights.

“You seem nervous,” the villain purred. They smiled to themselves when they moved a pawn to threaten the hero’s rook. “Which you should be. Your defense is laughable.” 

“I am sure it is,” the hero said, moving the rook quickly. “I usually play chess for fun and not with the pressure of thousands of lives on my shoulders.”

“Oh, come on. This is fun,” they said as they attacked the rook again. 

“Feels more like war.”

“Same difference.” The hero looked up at their opponent, raising their brows at the delusional impudence. At first, they had been surprised that the villain had chosen black. White always starts, so it was somewhat capable of controlling the start of the game. In the hero’s mind at least. 

But when the villain moved their pieces, they saw in the patterns that they used them to mock the hero. Hunting their queen across the board with their bishops, threatening them with pawns — black was answering white’s calls and it was to embarrass the hero. 

They swallowed. 

“I sometimes forget how violent you are,” the hero lied. They took the villain’s knight and lost a bishop. Definitely not ideal but sadly necessary to protect their queen. 

“You insult me, really,” the villain said. They hummed as their eyes went over the board with a wild interest the hero had never really seen before. The whole game entranced them, brought out a side of them foreign to the hero. 

The hero castled before the villain could check them. 

“Didn’t mean to,” the hero said. If you weren’t a criminal, the hero thought, if you weren’t like that, I would like to be your friend. It was a silly thought, a childish dream that was quite impossible to achieve. The villain was an interesting person but the distance put between them would never allow the hero to actually get to know their enemy. 

They didn’t like going into battle without knowing the one they were fighting but they were also aware of the dangers of understanding someone. Long ago, they had trusted people they shouldn’t, understood their motives, felt for them and if that happened with the the villain, they didn’t know if they could call themselves a hero after that. And yet…

“Oops,” the villain said, placing another piece.

It dawned on them too late, chatting too much and thinking about their relationships was throwing them off. The villain had cleverly put pressure on the hero’s queen and the hero hadn’t been able to defend her. They would have to sacrifice her. Shit, they couldn’t even trade. 

“She wasn’t my type anyway,” the hero said casually, shrugging as they put another pawn forward. The villain giggled and as stupid as it was, the hero liked that they’d made the villain laugh.

As they took their queen, the villain was as cheerful as a kid with a full supply of candies. However, that was the villain’s first mistake. 

In this exact moment, the hero became aware of their own slip-ups. They’d been so afraid of understanding the villain. They’d been so afraid that if they actually got to know them, they would end up miserably. 

The thing was, they already knew them. They knew them ever since their first move.

The battle across the board went on slowly, and concentrating more on the villain’s moves than their hands, the hero forced themselves to be careful with their pieces. One time, the villain commented on the hero’s pawn placement, saying it was adorable but the hero only nodded absentmindedly, slipping into offense instead of defense. 

Step by step, the board cleared and the villain found themselves with a knight and their last rook while the hero could only rely on their pawns. 

“You wanna give up? Would be less painful.” The hero was more confident than before, especially because they had stopped thinking about the villain and started thinking like the villain. 

They knew the villain would chase them across the board again. 

That was their second mistake. 

While the villain had been busy humiliating the hero, the hero had decided to push their pawns forward. One of them had gotten to the end of the board.

“My queen, please,” the hero said politely. It was the first time that the villain didn’t yap a snappy comment. They just gave them the piece in silence and got checkmated in four moves, losing the battle.

The hero smiled as they stared at the villain with their mouth agape.

“Oops,” the hero said. “You were right. This was fun.”

[thisisadonaldduckblognow]

i just feel for raph constantly like for one thing there’s the emotional mess of the fact that splinter never once said anything about team-leading to the boys throughout the series, even after going on missions w them and training them and seeing them in action. it was not some big important assigned duty, it was something raph (as always) put on his own shoulders for his brothers

and like something raph essentially had to learn and figure out alone, no guidance, no mentor.

the first thing his dad ever says to the team about the lineup is “anyway now leo is in charge instead”. like cool im sure that didnt leave him wondering what he did wrong!

and then in the movie you can see him trying so hard to give leo what he didn’t have!! training wheels, a safety net, someone who knows how bad it can be if you mess up! but leo is going overboard pretending not to care bc instead of saying ‘i am scared i can’t do this i do not want this’ he’s just decided that the best plan is ‘dad said i’m in charge but i’m not if raph gives up on me and says i’m not, 10/10′

yknow raph ‘110% run my face into it’ hamato, raph who is only just overcoming the misinformed trust issues that made him afraid to lean on his own family, like damn cool okay!!!

[triangle-strategy-notes]

Lyla, Booker, Tenebris, Sorsley, and Exharme Concept Art

Concept/reference art for Lyla, Booker, Tenebris, Sorsley, and Exharme. Translation notes and text id beneath the cut.

Translation notes:

Gonna be real haha, I kinda gave up on the note that's pointing to the sash. The handwriting style is a little disjointed/vague, and I wasn't able to tell what exactly the characters were. But there seemed to be some reference to "inner" there, so I made reference to that.

The comment about Booker being an assassin might have been something more like "Booker plays the role of an assassin" or "Booker acts the part of an assassin" (with the implication that he's not literally an assassin).

Tenebris's name in Japanese is phonetically "Enigma." His name is probably the one that changed the most in the Japanese -> English localization.

Text id:

[id: The first image is of the full first page. It has portraits of Lyla, Booker, and Tenebris. There is another caption with an English translation of the caption on the first page. The first part reads, "I feel like Tenebris is the correct way to dress the Saints (lol). Everybody else dresses up too much. (Tatsuaki Urushihara)". The second part reads, "I was in charge of finishing Lyla. She is a wonderful character with many subtle gold elements. I like the fact that she's holding the blade of the dagger, which seems to show her mad-scientist-esque personality. (Rina Yoshiura)". The next image is of the full version of the second page, with several WIP drawings of Lyla, Exharme, Sorsley, and Booker. The next two images are English translations. The page is titled "C5House_Mad_Scientist." There is an image of Lyla walking toward the viewer, with some bowing men behind her. These men are labeled "Homunculi". Next to an image of Exharme and Sorsley, there is a diagram of their hooded capes and the purple sash they both wear. The same drawing is repeated below it, but with slightly different designs; Sorsley has a turban and Exharme has shorter, lighter brown hair. There are also beta designs of Lyla and Booker next to them. Lyla is labeled "Shaman", Booker is labeled "C1 House Subordinate", Sorsley is labeled "C1 House Head", and Exharme is labeled "C2 House Head." At the end of the page there is are some illustrator's notes. The first reads, "Since Booker turns out to be an assassin, we had him wear black gloves to give the impression of a professional killer. (Tatsuaki Urushihara)" The second reads, "Is this the rough draft for Lyla and the Hyzante characters? I thought Lyla was very nice from the first draft, and I think she ended up being a good character in terms of the story. (Yasuaki Arai)". /end id]

[travalerray]

what I am amused about the Magnus Protocol statements and the voices is that. Jon, Martin and Jonah ended up getting trapped in a digital hell to speak random statements to try and influence reality in whatever way they could. They couldn't really....die fully, so now they are doing whatever the fuck they can.

[rose-ramblings]

you'll never guess what I've been playing lately

[deadboyswalking]

Not me writing an in-universe justification for why Muscular was where he was during the summer camp attack because putting a close-range brawler on the outskirts of the perimeter seems fucking stupid.

[yourqueenb]

I think it’s also important to note that my opinion on there actually being two different murderers might be changing as well because I had gotten to a point where I was thinking Sebastyan killed Nadja and Vasili killed Juliana. But if Sebastyan didn’t kill Nadja, I’m not too sure that he was the one to kill Juliana. So now I’m mulling over the possibility that Vasili is the sole killer 🤔

Originally, I didn’t think Vasili killed Nadja because her murder seemed very personal and sloppy and Vasili seems more calculated. But it’s really only been implied that he’s calculated. We haven’t actually been shown that yet. OR (and I think this is more plausible)… what if that is the case and he purposely murdered Nadja in such a way so as to throw suspicion off of himself? No one would expect someone who’s so cool, calm, and collected to brutalize a person like that after she’s already dead. No one would expect a calculated person to leave evidence like drops of blood and a dagger (that he doesn’t even own as an illegitimate child) behind.

A lot of focus has been placed on the chaos that exists within the palace and Trystan’s family and how it’s been affecting MC’s ability to find the culprit. I think instead of trying to create order or avoid that chaos, Vasili has been using it to his advantage to throw all of his siblings under the magnifying glass before him to ultimately set himself up to be successful at getting away with murder. After all, some of these people…*cough* Kaspar and Emika *cough… are making it extremely easy 🙄

[enchantingepics]

Story Prompt 56

In a world plagued by darkness, where the skies were a permanent shade of gloom and the land lay shrouded in despair, two figures emerged as opposing forces. One was hailed as a hero, revered for their courage and selflessness. The other was branded a villain, feared for their ruthless ambition and disregard for life.

The hero, adorned in armor gleaming with the promise of protection, stood tall against the shadows. Their every action spoke of duty and honor, a beacon of hope amidst the encircling despair. But beneath the facade of valor lay a heavy burden—the knowledge that to save the world, they might have to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Across the realm, the villain plotted in the depths of their fortress, surrounded by flickering torches and whispered secrets. Their gaze pierced through the darkness with a chilling intensity, driven by a singular obsession—to protect one individual at any cost. For them, the lives of countless others paled in comparison to the value of that single soul.

As fate would have it, the paths of these two opposing forces collided on a fateful day when the skies trembled with impending doom. The hero, with sword in hand and determination in their heart, confronted the villain atop a windswept cliff overlooking a desolate landscape.

"You cannot comprehend the magnitude of your actions," the hero declared, their voice ringing with conviction. "You would sacrifice the lives of innocents for the sake of one."

The villain, unfazed by the accusation, met the hero's gaze with a chilling calmness. "You speak of sacrifice as if it were a sin," they replied, their tone laced with icy resolve. "But what is the worth of a world devoid of the ones we cherish most?"

[scribblingface]

oak meeting haarlep like noo stop threatening me with a good time 😏 but then he did have to turn them down because it would've upset astarion. the things he sacrifices for love 😔

he got as far as taking his clothes off during negotiations though and thus fought that battle naked, something that his friends are never ever going to let him live down

[morfanerina]

Headcanon that I've been playing around with in my head but Leon refuses to play any strategic game outside those he fully trusts because he loves being underestimated and also, it makes it easier to manipulate people for fun (there's a 50% chance it will go very wrong but he's getting Better the more he does it to strangers!).

If he either proposes or accepts a game of chess or checkers or go from anyone, it means that they have his trust.

There can be exceptions, like, say, playing a game for information but chances are he will play the 'beginners luck' excuse as far as he can.

[afandomroom]

I want more Aaravos + chessboard imagery. I can’t remember if this has ever actually been used in promotional material but I think it’d work for him very well. 

[999-roses]

so many people are tagging that post on using sinophobia to combat gun violence with "well, if it works" and "its could work". completely missing how, on the face of it its horrific, and also wouldn't work since american exceptionalism attitudes fuel both anyway.

like, clearly people without understanding WHY we keep getting mass shootings, but ready to ok racism if it claims it will stop it.

referencing this post

for real!

tbh I actually didn't remember who David Hogg was when I initially read the post. Survive a school shooting... to, now, market gun control to Ted Cruz (of all people!!) by trying to do a handshake over sinophobia??? another mark on the 'liberals kissing fascists' tally.

idk the specifics of reform(s) that he advocates for, but I'm already distrusting whatever he's selling if he's shipping it out on the cresting wave of hawkish sinophobia. Racial hatred is literally #1 recurring social factor fueling gun violence... wtf man. Serve it up like Mike Minihan, tell your soldiers to be ready to "aim for the head[s]" of Chinese people, I guess.

[villain-in-love]

Prefect: Hey, looks like you dropped something Jamil: What? Prefect: Your standards. Hi, I'm Katarina.

[stars-in-our-skies]

there was kinda no reason for horikoshi (and therefore hawks) to kill off twice if toga is just gonna use his quirk in the final war anyway. Wasnt the whole point that his quirk was “too dangerous” so hawks killed him? like. You still have to deal with his quirk now. why bother killing him