𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵. That said, when speaking of his paramour with the mention of Mystra, it is not a slight. After all, Mystra, the goddess, wasn't just his lover; she, as she'll remain, controls the Weave.
As a scholar of magic for all his life, Gale is thoroughly enamored with it. He's always had the Weave, casting spells and enchantments for as far as his long memory goes, and there's no power on earth that can pale that devotion. When Gale says Mystra's name, in love, it is never with yearning. When he tells his lover that he forgets his goddess when he stands beside them, he means quite literally that he foregoes his faith. He doesn't mention her like a quality benchmark with which they've somehow surpassed, but to punctuate how wholly he has fallen for them. With a new, honest love, he is turned entirely from Mystra. In fact, so utterly bewitched, he's like a born again man. He isn't besotted by his goddess, held stalwart in her sway and seemingly, abundantly, and frustratingly stubborn. After that disastrous relationship, I promise you, Gale spares not a single thought toward her. She might have control of the Weave, and as such, stands still his only patron deity, but his new, doting lover? They become something of a new religion for him; he is most devoted, taken by, and so loyal to them.
He does not see Mystra. Do not assume he still feels for her.
He's a man of one love, and they will have all of him.
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The man tilts his head back leisurely, blows out a thick haze of smoke before leaning forwards and sliding a photograph across the low table.
"His name is Vegas," the man says. "Vegas Kornwit Theerapanyakul."
The boy sitting on the other side, who up until this moment has carried himself with an infuriatingly self-righteous air, blanches at the sound of the name. "You want me to take out a Theerapanyakul?" he hisses.
The man laughs, deep and full-bodied and condescending. "Believe me, kid," he says, gesturing at the photo with his cigar, "this one's gonna be real easy."
"He has recently, shall we say — fallen from grace," a smooth voice says from the darkened corner of the room. The woman standing there swirls the wine in her glass delicately, blood-red lips curving into a smile. "Stripped of his title, exiled from his mansion to a small apartment on the west side of the city. He's injured, too — multiple bullet wounds to the stomach, still in recovery. And his bodyguard count is pitiful."
The boy stares at the photograph of Vegas. The fire slowly returns to his eyes. "How many guards? Do you have their patrol schedule?"
The man passes him a folder, and the boy flicks through it rapidly. "Four guards in total. Their rotation puts two of them on the property at any time, but their coverage has lots of gaps." He nods at the floorplan that the boy is now scrutinizing. "Optimal entry points are marked on there, along with the time windows when they're most accessible. Your odds are best at night."
The boy grins. "Sounds easy." He looks up at the man, then glances over to the woman. His grin falters. "Is there a catch?"
The woman glides over, perches on the settee next to the man as she flicks another photograph between her fingers. "This might be the catch." She slides it over, rotates it to face the boy. "Pete Phongsakorn Saengtham. Vegas's boytoy of the month."
The boy snorts at the plain, placid-looking man in the photo. "So, not a threat."
"Not quite." The woman crosses her legs, rests an arm on her knee. "He's an ex-bodyguard. Used to work for the main branch of the Theerapanyakul family."
"Apparently Vegas rotates through men like tissues," the man sneers. "Uses them," he waves his hand aside, "and tosses them away. But his type is skinny twink, or overly fawning. Pete doesn't... quite match his MO."
"He's seduced other men away from the main branch before," the woman adds. "Never a bodyguard."
"He any good?" the boy asks.
"We don't think so." The woman purses her mouth. "He was guarding the main branch's castoff son. The invalid who never leaves the house. If he was of any use, he would have been guarding the real heir."
"Kill him if you need to," the man says boredly. "It's probably easier that way. Expect him to put up a fight, otherwise."
The boy nods sharply. "Understood."
The man looks at him for a long moment. Then he smirks. "You get this right, kid, and you're in."
The boy straightens up immediately. "Yeah?"
"Yep. Boss says so. You'll be family proper. This job's a big one, important client and all that."
The boy smiles wide, crazed with adrenaline. "I won't let you down, sir." He rockets up, drops into a deep bow.
"Good," the man hums. "Dismissed."
Once the boy leaves, the man turns to the woman. "Want to make a bet?"
The woman scoffs. "The kid's dead meat. You can't get me to bet on him." She sips at her wine. "No one's expecting him to pull it off."
"You think this Pete will be an issue?"
"If he's gullible enough to switch sides for a man? Not in the slightest." The woman leans back, self-satisfied. "But Vegas always has a trick up his sleeve. Time to find out what it is."
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man ok kind of obsessed w the way amanda overton talks abt writing fight scenes in that new bridging the rift episode! so i have thoughts about the vi/sevika fight
first off: i don't really think vi did that in order to win and kick sevika's ass. i think she's smarter than assuming she's just going to take her on no problem, and i think the reason is as simple as... that's kind of who she is what she does. we learn from her records (and the everything about her actually) that vi got into a LOT of fights in prison, but from arcane/context clues, it seems like when she starts it, it was always people associated with silco and his gang. vi beats up silco's crew. it's what she does.
i feel like that singleminded tunnel vision from stillwater is still super there (bc. when did she ever get downtime to heal it lol); she didn't get to have an identity for years in a literal sense. she didn't even get a name- just 516 or pink, which side note makes me Cry but anyways. she's not vi, not powder's sister or the leader/strength of her group. she's prisoner 516 who punched a man's eye out. she's the scary bitch down in the hole half the time. she's pink, who beats up silco's goons. that's all she had to define herself as for most of her formative years. this is what she is.
building on this, i think the meaning of the fight gets a lot clearer: this is vi trying to fight her past and all of its pain, and it's her beating herself up because of it. sevika isn't just a traitor that vi wants to fight, she's the idea of powder being taken away and it being all vi's fault (in her mind). she only ever did it out of that self-hatred and a need to somehow atone for that night anyway? vi goes up against her, already kind of knowing she won't win, knowing it's gonna fucking hurt, because she has to. it's like self harm (don't get me started on my hc of vi starting fights to punish herself-); she thinks she deserves to be hurt by her past just as much as she explicitly states she doesn't think she'll ever grow and move past what she did that night, how she wasn't enough for powder.
and it almost kills her. sevika is going to finish it and let her bleed out in an alley, that's pretty clear.
so then there's the best fucking part at the very end- caitlyn saves her, and that's the most obvious symbolism in this thing, and i fucking love it. she's even placed up above the fight and the lighter colours are behind her head like a halo- she's literally an avenging angel, it absolutely slaps!! but it's super clear what she represents in this scene, bc it's kind of what she always represents.
caitlyn is hope here. she always is- joining the enforcers to help the cities, solving a mystery nobody wants her to figure out that doesn't even affect her because it's the Right Thing To Do, later dreaming of a world where zaunites won't have to live the way they do and piltovans will make things fair again, and i absolutely love that about her- but here especially, because she's vi's hope for the future (their future!). vi is saved from her own self-hatred and pulled out of hurting herself via her own past by a force she doesn't expect or understand yet. things get better by themselves out of nowhere for her in a way they never have before, and maybe... that means that could happen again. she has hope now.
and then with this understanding, of course that's the turning point for their relationship, of course now vi can treat her as an equal ally (and maybe even more). vi has literally fucking seen the light and she's getting pulled right into it. here is a chance for things to get better: a girl she's supposed to hate who shouldn't give a damn who genuinely wants to help everyone she meets, including vi, despite all of her flaws and baggage.
and you get all of this in like... fifteen minutes or less, without directly saying any of it. fucking incredible.
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