#but a few days ago I looked through his voicelines again & now that we've met some other Masked Fools too (Sparkle being a major one)

[yeonban]

One thing I've been thinking about almost constantly since the release of the game is how DH subconsciously dislikes the Masked Fools and his instincts generally tell him who is one even when they're upholding the pretenses that they aren't. His own personal experiences with them until the current point in the game have been atrocious, and frankly speaking he will NEVER trust any of them - but he is willing to work alongside them if need be, and won't stop his friends from doing so either. All a Masked Fool will be able to see from his side is that he doesn't trust them whatsoever and that he is ready to end their lives the second they try to pull a fast one on him or his friends, nothing more nor less than that.

The reason for this? His character stories. It wasn't mentioned outright, but we do know that after leaving the Luofu he eventually found himself on a ship full of masked people who tried to steal his memories and who forced him to listen to mad ramblings as some sort of mental torture. Initially I thought it could be a different group than the Masked Fools, but Sampo basically showed us that it wasn't. How? He nicknamed Dan Heng "cold dragon young" on Belobog, an allusion to DH's vidyadhara roots ('dragon') as well as his recent rebirth ('young'). Now, if this was the first time they'd met (which is possible since DH didn't recognize him), then how could Sampo know about him unless through other Masked Fools, who we learned have a habit of "televising" their ventures to the others at the Tavern? I also took into consideration that maybe a Masked Fool was on the Luofu during DH's banishment walk, but we have to remember it was AFTER he left the Luofu that he changed his appearance into the one we know now, so I wager only the masked people from that ship could've noticed DH is a vidyadhara (possibly even the part about him being DF's reincarnation) during their attempt at stealing his memories.

Besides, although it's a running gag that no one trusts Sampo, no one thus far has come as close to jeopardizing his life as DH did when he thrust his spear in the snow at Sampo on their first meeting. We all know that DH is never one to use violence if it can be avoided (that's a big chunk of his voicelines too), so why would he choose to resort to violence right after meeting Sampo, when he didn't even know his name? Because of his traumatic experiences with the Masked Fools prior to his joining the Express.

#muse: dan heng. #* dan heng. / development. #DH stares at me intently whenever I add a Masked Fool related muse and I have to avert my gaze HADUISHJ Aha... Nikolai... I'm so sorry DH #I've been questioning why DH resorted to violence in .2s after meeting Sampo for like 10 months now and it kept evading me #but a few days ago I looked through his voicelines again & now that we've met some other Masked Fools too (Sparkle being a major one) #I suddenly realized Why. He's still so <3 for going along w them despite his personal experiences w their colleagues tho. #DH on Belobog after having been led to the underground ring by Sampo: (unimpressed. instinctively figured that would happen)