#volo did nothing wrong actually but THIS guy did EVERYTHING WRONG AND THEN SET IT ON FIRE

[voloswag]

the world's most evil volo ever pulling pro gamer strats to shield-jump in battle

[fairymint]

There is perhaps, a reason both meta and ic, that overall, Volo here has multiple routes. Possibilities, so to speak. He himself is wildly....indecisive, due to having ADHD, which Felix (muse, mun) shares. Moreover that he’s probably considered all of the paths, and the one he takes for the current thread verse is the path that he chooses to walk....for whatever reason. His ultimate goals remain the same....at least in the abstract. He never loses. point out what you will, but he will make excuses, adapt, or even....’accept’ some things, but mind you that he is still persistent and to be dealt with. He will never come close to seeing himself as ‘the villain who gave up and turned hero.’ Regret doesn’t suit him, only remorse. He feels guilty, but he is not sorry. Big difference there.

So, how he’d feel about other Volos of course would depend on exact timeline and circumstances; I write the canon ‘loss’, and the win.

You could really say that he takes ownership of what he does.

The short version of his God Verse is that he is on his worst behaviour because nothing goes wrong for him in that one. He gets endless little successes, positive feedback for all that he’s doing....justified....and absolutely no discipline. The only thing that may not go his way is hypothetically people treating him worse; his self-defence is legitimized, his plan works all through, he even gets to win against the protag/Felix. (and poor Felix indeed, who gets kidnapped at bare minimum. It gets worse from there, best worst case scenario.), and win against Arceus’s Fragment, in a way. Everything happens the way he planned...though, after such a remake of the world, it’s still not.....infallible, or perfect. Things do start to go wrong, but the guy gets a long-ass time of intial high to keep him riding.

Now as for the good verse, the canon end....that is a bit more complicated. I obviously need to plot outcome shit. But as I’ve slowly come to realize, to my own confusion, that......Volo is not so much forced to pick this end, it’s actually not likely. It’s more that he chooses it. His motivations could vary wildly, which is where the questions start; this probably depends even on ship verse. Because.....presumably........he changes gears. Decides for himself, that this is better???? than what he was doing??? Godverse could reasonably stretch for a long, long time of opportunity post canon, I do realize, as he only needs to win against Arceus once. But. presume he doesn’t go with that, and lets the timeline continue. Why????

I’m going to jokingly say that this muse here is too busy being bisexual to be the Most Volo. (just kidding, that is an awful kind of thing to say;;;)

But, while I did set up the idea of ‘lol Volo PVP’ in the starter I wrote, there’s actually a reason outside of paranoia that I didn’t clarify ‘spoiler’ wise, he doesn’t just ‘hate’ other Volos for just the sake of it, mistrust (although there is a bit of that, too.) His first theory and concern is that he’s interacting with himself from another point in the timeline- that he might fuck himself up. Perhaps his duplicate would spoil something yet to be known, or be blissfully unaware of what he knows- He’s scared of his past and future self. If it is established that this is indeed ‘another’ Volo, not of he persé....then yes, he clings jealously to his world. If their views are different, they may try to take what’s rightfully his, after all. From the new world thing, down to...his people. Yes, he hates them, but they are his people. To play with, mostly, as prey and clay like a cat with a mouse, or, To Keep, for those more worthy, they should consider themselves very lucky.

However! muse wise and such, his default motivations are probably.....his children and s/o. Definitely a theme I write often, but Volo here does have storywise and IC stakes on this. I do think something like his blood, and their future perhaps, could be powerful enough to make him switch gears, that seems to be what he’s giving me for the most part. Perhaps even positive feelings with the protagonist, but of course this all comes with a catch.

It is less ‘guess i won’t be god anymore haha i am just a man’, than Fine, Sure, Yes, I will be the ‘god’ of this world instead. His devotion doesn’t come buckling, it comes with conditions.  Exact scenario tbh, can vary even with the same muses involved- this is where I can trip up with this shipping wise. So many potential first confessions, revelations, and milestones hit in different ways, with how their paths happen to cross.

Basically, even ‘good guy Volo’ is domineering, makes demands, takes the reins. He’s the one who changed his mind, nobody else. The man will deny any sense of agency for the influences that he gets from others, it’s his idea. Even if it’s ‘just’ because he likes somebody, be it Arceus themself, the protag, his s/o, and more.