#writing all these fantastical names so seriously is a joy - bless u aabria for giving us wuvvy <3

[katsofmeer]

okay I simply must write out this whole sequence of events for myself to deal with it all

rue and kp hob share a tender, hand clenching moment of restraint and emotion together in the forest

the next morning, rue pens a vulnerable letter where they spill the truth of their heart - this is clearly difficult for them, and they are torn between desire and duty (what exactly this duty is and wtf is happening w the bloom tho!) but they feel so strongly they’re ready to risk it all!!!

but immediately rue second guesses themselves and despite wuvvy’s encouragement they spiral into self-doubt and command wuvvy to burn the letter (a million roses for oscar’s commitment in that scene 😭😫) in a tense and heartbreaking moment of station and power bumping against friendship, and leading to wuvvy running to the goblin pagoda

concurrent to all of this happening, captain kp hob is executing his sneaky political machinations and investigating the court of wonder. he returns to the pagoda, starts his second mysterious letter (to a friend? a sibling? a lover? are they even alive???) when wuvvy arrives

wuvvy demands satisfaction. I’m very curious to know if this was her intention the whole time, or if hearing part of hob’s letter made her conclude that hob was writing to a love, and therefore had made a fool of rue’s heart - at first I thought she was going to go speak rue’s letter to hob to be a little scheming matchmaker, but now this feels unlikely since she later pretty much says that she blames hob for rue casting magic on her/hurting rue

in any case, wuvvy demands satisfaction. here’s where shit starts breaking into multiple possibilities of player/character intention as I try to decipher how much of captain hob’s actions and brennan’s slick mastermind “i will do anything to win anything” brain overlap

kp hob is insistent in asking wuvvy to speak the nature of his slight. this is so interesting to demand and opens several possibilities

kp genuinely doesn’t understand/know why wuvvy would do this - feels fake. kp is a strategist and knows that the night after he had a private emotional misstep with the master of ceremonies that rue’s right hand showed up asking for duel… he can put the pieces together

so why insist? perhaps indignantly he wanted to defend himself by being allowed to explain? to diffuse the situation? perhaps he knew, already, that the scandal and embarrassment of admitting to heartbreak wouldn’t be spoken aloud and he realized he could test if wuvvy would cave alone and give her reasoning - and if not, he could use that against her later, as he ends up doing. you mischievous long armed goblin fuckboi

what I find very curious about all those hurt glances at the duel is this: does kp hob think delloso de la rue sent wuvvy to duel him on purpose? obviously rue and wuvvy are besties and while rue didn’t want either of them to be hurt, they give their boon to wuvvy - in hob’s eyes, he might think rue instigated this duel. brennan even makes a point in that moment of changing hob’s demeanor when he sees rue do this.

the duel, the rain boy, the wet sweatpants dick vs. pantsless furry wrestling match - hob’s victory is used to once again shame the court of wonder as he takes advantage of wuvvy’s loyalty to rue to imply a different purpose of the duel. heartbreak abounds.

all of this to say I fucking love every choice oscar makes and brennan’s full obsessive 5d chess I Must Win This Social Interaction mode and how they are leaning so hard into the best parts of regency romance (restraint, misunderstandings, lost letters, duels, glances, etc) makes me so verklempt. can’t wait to hear wtf was going on in the adventuring party and I also can’t wait for the inevitable scene we get at a big fancy ball when rue is looking fabulous beyond compare and hob gently takes their hand and asks for the honor of a dance 😖🎇