... Perhaps that would work in our favour, though?
Should he act out in the moment, and we are the ones to stop him and not Forden nor his men, those who trust in Forden's protection may find their hearts moved in a different direction.
[ thinking about how she doesn't really like baiting this sad louis stan to his demise but this is where we are, this is what she's becoming. ]
That's a good point, actually. Might be bad if we actually have to fight him, but as long as we've managed to get the lance back, we could probably rely on the king's magic to take care of him.
[ he hates that fucking king but his magic is really coming in clutch in these scenarios ]
Make it look like the Sanctists are weak ‘cause they let their enemy walk in right under their nose? [ hehe. ] He vanished after the whole Day of Calamity shite he was tryna pull, but— [ he glances over at del ] I don’t think we knew he an’ Louis were plannin’ somethin’?
So, how he got into the Sanctist ranks, specially lookin’ the way he did, is… kinda bonkers. [ imagine if he accidentally thoughtshared the whole teeth-torso nightmare zorba became. imagine if i did that…
Louis mentioned havin' an operative on the inside a few times, but he never got me involved in whatever those plans were. Sure as hell didn't know it were—
Messed up, ain't it? Though Zorba was bloody proud of the whole change.
[ ... ]
Surprised he kept his mouth shut long enough to pull off a long con. He was pretty quiet 'round us but you can't tell me they were never badmouthin' Louis in the church. That'd set him off somethin' fierce.
Don't know how long he was in that exact position, at least. Could've been hangin' around on the periphery and just replaced one of the inner circle more recently once he had the intel on 'em. Or maybe Louis just gave him real specific orders to let them say whatever they wanted about him.
Either way, this is probably a good weakness to put the spotlight on.
It'd at least get them scrappin' among each other for a bit. Although, ey, if we can unmask Zorba when he were pretendin' Louis was dead, they'd lose that element of surprise.
[ maybe that's something they can work with? ]
-- Although, somethin' to keep in mind. Will and the others didn't exactly trust us still, at this point. We'd have to get them trustin' us real fast for them to listen to one of our ideas.
[ also trying not to think too much about it because something something sad empathy for zorba at the last moment energy. ]
Junah’s got her biases— ah, not sayin’ I don’t appreciate her goin’ to bat for us. But it seemed like me an’ Del joinin’ you guys was the match spark for a lotta arguments with you guys, until it everythin’ went down the way it did.
[ he nods though. ] You vouchin’ might be a little different, but you’d have to explain why you suddenly trusted us and that might be kinda… complicated.
Well, that might not be much of an issue depending on the timing.
[ looking at his murder flowcharts ]
It's a big gamble, but if we can get everything done that night... Our chances get worse as soon as we let Zorba heal Louis. This time— what if we help Eupha get the lance back out of his chest before he crashes through the glass, so she's got it back in her hands? That solves a whole bunch of problems, actually, and gives that group reason to trust us. Think we still gotta let him fall down there or else we're not gonna be able to play the Zorba card against Forden, but...
The glass broke real fast after he cracked it— but I guess if we got the lance and broke the glass instead…
[ glances at eupha and then at del. and then back at eupha. ]
Back in the timeline we’re from, you lot really beat him down. Granted, he were pretty badly injured but I reckon it’d be enough that he’d struggle to stop both of us before he dropped in on Forden and that lot.
Wonder if it differentiates when you’re pullin’ somethin’ outta someone versus attackin’ ‘em? [ and would it count shattering the glass as a killing blow versus the people who declared the duel doing the most damage? ]
The lance gets past the magic though, yeah? If we break the glass with the lance like Louis did—
We'd just have to grab it soon as he started stumbling, and let him break the glass himself.
Pretty sure takin' the lance out wouldn't trigger it, since that's basically the opposite of an attack. Just make sure we're thinkin' real hard in that moment about getting the lance back and not about hurtin' Louis, so it can't read our intentions as threatening.
… Reckon we can manage that. Point’s not letting Forden get his hands on it, yeah? [ it’s thought week so everyone can have a little blast of him thinking get the lace back get the lance back a few dozen times, like he’s practising. ]
Right. Forden doesn't get it, and then even if we don't get down to deal with Zorba in time, they're not gettin' it either. That's our insurance that they're not gonna be able to touch Will.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[ frowns at the page he was starting to chart this out on ]
That's gonna be a problem later too then, isn't it? If we kill Louis while he's there.
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Should he act out in the moment, and we are the ones to stop him and not Forden nor his men, those who trust in Forden's protection may find their hearts moved in a different direction.
[ thinking about how she doesn't really like baiting this sad louis stan to his demise but this is where we are, this is what she's becoming. ]
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[ he hates that fucking king but his magic is really coming in clutch in these scenarios ]
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[ the king's magic. if he's caught up in the moment... ]
We would also be wise to raise the question of how he infiltrated Forden's ranks to begin with.
[ if they can't convince forden's fans that he sucks because of the racism, they could at least make him look like a loser. ]
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Make it look like the Sanctists are weak ‘cause they let their enemy walk in right under their nose? [ hehe. ] He vanished after the whole Day of Calamity shite he was tryna pull, but— [ he glances over at del ] I don’t think we knew he an’ Louis were plannin’ somethin’?
So, how he got into the Sanctist ranks, specially lookin’ the way he did, is… kinda bonkers. [ imagine if he accidentally thoughtshared the whole teeth-torso nightmare zorba became. imagine if i did that…
does that. ]
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Louis mentioned havin' an operative on the inside a few times, but he never got me involved in whatever those plans were. Sure as hell didn't know it were—
[ thoughtshared ]
—Yikes.
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Messed up, ain't it? Though Zorba was bloody proud of the whole change.
[ ... ]
Surprised he kept his mouth shut long enough to pull off a long con. He was pretty quiet 'round us but you can't tell me they were never badmouthin' Louis in the church. That'd set him off somethin' fierce.
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[ zorba you are so fucking weird ]
Don't know how long he was in that exact position, at least. Could've been hangin' around on the periphery and just replaced one of the inner circle more recently once he had the intel on 'em. Or maybe Louis just gave him real specific orders to let them say whatever they wanted about him.
Either way, this is probably a good weakness to put the spotlight on.
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It'd at least get them scrappin' among each other for a bit. Although, ey, if we can unmask Zorba when he were pretendin' Louis was dead, they'd lose that element of surprise.
[ maybe that's something they can work with? ]
-- Although, somethin' to keep in mind. Will and the others didn't exactly trust us still, at this point. We'd have to get them trustin' us real fast for them to listen to one of our ideas.
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but as for who would trust a couple of louis's henchmen... ]
Junah did.
She would vouch for you, as would I.
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Junah’s got her biases— ah, not sayin’ I don’t appreciate her goin’ to bat for us. But it seemed like me an’ Del joinin’ you guys was the match spark for a lotta arguments with you guys, until it everythin’ went down the way it did.
[ he nods though. ] You vouchin’ might be a little different, but you’d have to explain why you suddenly trusted us and that might be kinda… complicated.
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[ looking at his murder flowcharts ]
It's a big gamble, but if we can get everything done that night... Our chances get worse as soon as we let Zorba heal Louis. This time— what if we help Eupha get the lance back out of his chest before he crashes through the glass, so she's got it back in her hands? That solves a whole bunch of problems, actually, and gives that group reason to trust us. Think we still gotta let him fall down there or else we're not gonna be able to play the Zorba card against Forden, but...
[ STARTS ANOTHER FLOWCHART ]
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The glass broke real fast after he cracked it— but I guess if we got the lance and broke the glass instead…
[ glances at eupha and then at del. and then back at eupha. ]
Back in the timeline we’re from, you lot really beat him down. Granted, he were pretty badly injured but I reckon it’d be enough that he’d struggle to stop both of us before he dropped in on Forden and that lot.
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And we should be careful not to trigger the king's magic, should the lance be removed...
[ specifically for the brothers, who did not declare themselves. ]
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Wonder if it differentiates when you’re pullin’ somethin’ outta someone versus attackin’ ‘em? [ and would it count shattering the glass as a killing blow versus the people who declared the duel doing the most damage? ]
The lance gets past the magic though, yeah? If we break the glass with the lance like Louis did—
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Pretty sure takin' the lance out wouldn't trigger it, since that's basically the opposite of an attack. Just make sure we're thinkin' real hard in that moment about getting the lance back and not about hurtin' Louis, so it can't read our intentions as threatening.
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